President Rawlings arrives home from Cairo Summit
Consultants to be sanctioned for irregularities
NDC youth wing demonstrate against DCE
No defection in Asante-Akim North - NPP Chairman
Special co-ordinator of ACRI meets three parliamentary sub-committees
Cape Coast Census Office sacks three enumerators
Research into marketing for agric produce – Arthur
President Rawlings arrives home from Cairo Summit
Accra
(Greater Accra Region) 6 April 2000
President
Jerry Rawlings returned home on Wednesday after attending the first ever
Euro-Africa Summit in Cairo, Egypt. Mr Dan Abodakpi, Minister of Trade and
Industry, Mr Daniel Ohene Agyekum, Minister of State Protocol and Chieftaincy
Affairs accompanied him.
Briefing
newsmen on the highlights of the Summit, Mr Abodapki said the two-day forum was
an effort aimed at creating a partnership between the two continents based on
clear values and as equals. He said Africa took advantage of the meeting to put
its case across in the area of debt cancellation, unfair trade as well as
proliferation of arms across the continent.
Mr
Abodakpi said the African Heads of States noted the adverse effect of the debt
crisis on their economies, which they suggested must be addressed immediately
to enable the continent catch up with developed economies.
He
said the proliferation of arms continues to aggravate conflicts in Africa and
retards the progress of the continent.
Mr
Abodapki dispelled rumours that African Heads went there to be lectured about
good governance adding that the whole meeting was the promotion of strategic
partnership between Africa and Europe.
Professor
John Atta Mills, some Ministers of State, Chief of Defence Staff,
Lieutenant-General Ben Akafia and members of the African diplomatic corps were
at the airport to welcome the President.
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Consultants to be sanctioned for irregularities
Cape Coast
(Central Region) 6 April 2000
Major
Timothy Tara, Director of Budget, Ministry of Finance on Tuesday, has warned
that consultants would henceforth have their contracts terminated or surcharged
for irregularities in projects they supervise.
He was
speaking at a four-day workshop organised by the Centre for Development Studies
of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) for Budget Planning Officers and District
Co-ordinating Directors in the Central Region.
Major Tara
said the sanctions have been imposed to check the numerous irregularities in
projects in the districts and expressed regret that most Budget Officers
condoned with contractors to cheat the government.
Major Tara
said one hundred and forty-one, representing 21 percent of the 675 certificates
presented by contractors for payments at the Ministry of Finance last year were
fictitious.
He said
this became evident when in 1999, the Project Implementation Monitoring Unit
(PIMU) conducted physical inspection of 675 projects nation-wide for which
certificates had been submitted for payment.
He said
most of the irregularities identified were over-statement of project levels on
certificates, shoddy or no work done and unauthorised variations.
Major Tara
said other measures instituted to curb the problem include ensuring that tender
boards award only approved contracts and ministries, departments and agencies
keep strictly within their budgets for projects.
Mr Jacob
Arthur, Central Regional Minister in a speech read for him, also expressed
concern about the execution of projects in the region. He called on
participants to take the workshop serious in other to sharpen their planning
skills to enable them contribute meaningfully to the development of the nation.
The
Regional Minister urged district assemblies to find innovative ways of
generating more revenue.
Dr John
Micah, Director of the Centre commended the government for establishing the
District Assemblies' Common Fund and expressed the readiness of the Centre to
put its services at the disposal of the Regional Co-ordinating Council and the
districts.
The
workshop treated topics including "decentralisation in Ghana and the
planning process," "district level planning" and
"preparation of annual budgets".
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NDC youth wing demonstrate against DCE
Goaso
(Brong Ahafo Region) 6 April 2000
A
platoon of policemen and soldiers from Sunyani was rushed to Goaso on Wednesday
to forestall an imminent demonstration by the Youth Wing of the NDC against the
Asunafo District Chief Executive, Mr Solomon Opoku Gyamerah, for alleged
corrupt practices.
By
8 a.m., the Goaso Constituency Youth Wing of the NDC from Mim, Akrodie, Kukuom
and other neighbouring towns started arriving at Goaso to participate in the
demonstration.
A
military spokesman for the security personnel, drawn from the Brong Ahafo
Regional Police Task Force and the Sunyani Three Garrison, told the GNA that
they had come to stop the demonstration to avoid disrupting the town's market
day activities.
The
officer in charge of the Goaso Police Station, ASP D.K. Agyare, said the police
and the military were trying to meet leaders of the demonstrators to find a
more suitable date for their action.
"We
are not against the demonstration per se but we think today is not an ideal
time for such an action," he said.
The
demonstrators, in spite of the presence of the security personnel, vowed to
carry out their action.
Neither
Mr Gyamera nor leaders of the Youth Wing of the NDC could be reached for their
comments on the issue.
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No defection in Asante-Akim North - NPP Chairman
Konongo
(Ashanti Region) 6 April 2000
The
Asante-Akim North constituency of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Tuesday
denied the alleged defection of 100 of its members to the National Democratic
Congress (NDC).
A statement
issued in Konongo and signed by Nana Adu Asabre, constituency chairman, said
one Berchie who allegedly signed the statement used on some FM stations in
Kumasi is not known to the party.
The
statement challenged her to publish her photograph with the alleged defectors
from Konongo, Odumase, Juansa and Agogo.
The
statement appealed to supporters of the party to remain calm and to forge ahead
in unity to enable the party win the next elections.
"All
our supporters should disabuse their minds about the dirty tricks being
employed by the NDC in their propaganda because their days are numbered".
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Special co-ordinator of ACRI meets three parliamentary sub-committees
Accra
(Greater Accra Region) 6 April 2000
Mr Aubrey
Hooks, special co-ordinator for African Crises Response Initiative (ACRI) on
Wednesday met members of the Parliamentary Sub Committees on Foreign Affairs,
Communications, Interior and Defence to brief them on ACRI's activities.
ACRI's
long-term objective is to build a peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance
capacity of about 12,000 trained military personnel in Africa. The meeting was
the third since the formation of ACRI in 1997.
Ambassador
Hooks said there was a difference between humanitarian and peacekeeping
missions and so there was the need to establish formal structures and
mechanisms to deal with the latter.
He said the
activities of ACRI was complementary and would fall on Ghana to share its rich
experience in peacekeeping to help stop the refugee problem, which poses
security, economic and political problems to most countries.
Ms Theresa
Tagoe, NPP Member of Parliament for Ablekuma South, appealed to ACRI to
concentrate on preventing crises and establish an African Peacekeeping Command,
which would be trained together for a long time to manage crises if they erupt.
Mrs Grace
Coleman, NPP Member of Parliament for Effiduase Asokore, called on ACRI to help
prevent sophisticated weapons, which are used in war-torn countries in Africa
from getting to warlords.
Mr Kofi
Attoh, Chairman, Sub-Committee on Foreign Affairs thanked Mr Hooks for the
briefing and said he hoped that many people would become aware of ACRI.
ACRI has
since 1997 conducted battalion training in Ghana, Senegal, Uganda, Malawi,
Mali, Benin and Cote d'Ivoire and provided non-lethal equipment including
uniforms, boots, generators, mine detectors, night vision devices and water
purification units to almost 6,000 peacekeepers from six African militaries.
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Cape Coast Census Office sacks three enumerators
Cape
Coast (Central Region) 6 April 2000
The
Cape Coast Municipal Census Office on Wednesday said it had sacked three
enumerators who tried to incite their colleagues to strike over what they
termed "the low amount of money being paid to them as transport
allowance".
Mr
Kwaku Apatsu, Municipal Census Officer, told the GNA that the dismissed
enumerators - Mr Mark Larbi, Mr James Buckman, and Mr Adolphus Ackon had been
made to hand over all census materials and logistics in their possession.
He
said Mr Larbi and Mr Buckman, who had completed counting in their enumeration
areas, were to have been reassigned to other areas, while Mr Ackon was yet to
complete his assignment.
Mr
Apatsu said the transport allowance of 15,000 cedis, which the three
enumerators said was too small, was meant to supplement the actual allowance of
85,000 cedis to be paid to enumerators after the exercise.
His
office, however, decided to pay the 15,000 cedis to them on humanitarian
grounds, and described the attitude of the three dismissed officials as
"very disturbing".
Mr
Apatsu said in addition to having their services dispensed with, the three
would be paid only part of the 85,000 cedis they were to have received after
the exercise.
On
problems encountered, Mr Apatsu said when the exercise first began, enumerators
assigned to Ebubonko, a village near Cape Coast, had a hectic time convincing
the people to participate in National Population
and
Housing Census.
The
people initially refused to co-operate because they alleged that their village
was yet to be connected to the national grid.
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Research into marketing for agric produce - Arthur
Cape
Coast (Central Region) 6 April 2000
Mr
Jacob Arthur, Central Regional Minister, has called on the Ministry of Food and
Agriculture to research into marketing and agro-processing techniques to curb
post-harvest losses.
Mr
Arthur made the call on Tuesday when executive members of the Regional Award
Winners Association of the Ghana National Association of Farmers and Fishermen
paid a courtesy call on him at his residence in Cape Coast.
Mr
Arthur noted that farmers often have problems with finding markets for their
products, especially with the introduction of modern farming technologies.
Mr
Arthur said to help curb post-harvest losses in the Region, the Regional
Co-ordinating Council would liase with the Central Region Development
Commission and the district assemblies to provide technical and financial
assistance for the establishment of small-scale agro-processing factories.
He,
however, urged the association to be vigilant and help expose members who are
thwarting government's efforts to support them, adding that subsidies on
pre-mixed fuel and farming inputs had to be removed due to the dubious
activities of some members of the association.
The
Regional Minister commended the Agricultural Development Bank for its
assistance to farmers and fisherman and said the government, with support from
the district assemblies, would do its best to ensure that loans granted by the
bank to farmers were repaid.
The
Regional Director of Agriculture, Mrs Mary Opoku Asiama, who accompanied
members of the association, said the inability of farmers to find market for
their produce had worsened their socio-economic condition.
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