Rawlings calls for an end to use of children
as combatants
War and suppression
of minorities are anti-child
Unit Committee petitions against new car
park
National Media Commission launches publications
NPP intensifies campaign in rural areas
Rawlings awards former Nigerian leader
Abubakar
WAJA President calls on Asantehene
IDA and Veterinary Council board inaugurated
Eighty million-cedi transit quarters for
soldiers commissioned
Rawlings calls for an end to use of
children as combatants
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 April 2000
President Jerry John Rawlings on Thursday painted a bleak picture of children being used as combatants in some West Africa countries and suggested measures to curb the practice.
He said West African countries should be among the first to ratify the Optional Protocol on the Convention of the Rights of the Child, raising the minimum age for recruitment and participation in a justifiable combat from 15 to, 18 years.
"By forming a critical mass in favour of ratification, we can indeed set an example for the rest of the world and help to gain global momentum behind this critically important protocol" he said, at the opening of a two-day conference on war-affected children in West Africa at the Accra International Conference Centre.
The conference, sponsored by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), has brought together delegations from West African countries and non-governmental organisations.
Also attending are Mr. Llyod Axworthy, the Foreign Minister of Canada and Mr. Lansana Kouyate, Executive-Secretary of ECOWAS.
He said the sub-region could also add its weight to the ratification of the statute establishing the International Criminal Court, which would have the power to adjudicate on those who perpetrate the crime of utilising child combatants.
President Rawlings said children are not only victims of the atrocities committed during wars, but are also actual combatants conscripted by force into rebel and national armies, drugged, sexually abused and taught to kill.
"Many of our children have been lost to war either through actual fighting or through the disease and starvation that characterise conflict situations", he added.
He also said child combatants are rarely to blame for the crime they are forced to commit. "To this end, we must look to our traditions as a family, religion and community-centred cultures and seek to employ every means at our disposal to see to it that these precious lives can be saved" he said.
President Rawlings appealed to West African countries to work collectively to put this sordid past behind them.
"We must take action now to see to it that West Africa and its peoples face a future in which regional co-operation, integration and development are real and attainable goals and where our children are armed with books and pencils rather than the weapons of war."
President Rawlings called for help for the children of Sierra Leone and Liberia to enable them to recover from the horrors of war.
He said support should be given to the idea of calling on parties in the conflict to observe a week of truce to enable the international community to provide relief and vaccinations to war-affected children. "This initiative, while starting in West Africa, should aim to become a world-wide campaign."
President Rawlings suggested child protection be integrated into ECOWAS and UN peacekeeping operations by training peacekeeping personnel on the rights and protection of children.
Mr. Victor Gbeho, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Axworthy and Mr. Kouyate, in their speeches, decried the atrocities perpetrated against children during conflicts and called for strong action to stop children being used as combatants.
Mr. Gbeho said warlords who use children as soldiers should be punished and added that children who took part in conflicts should be rehabilitated.
Mr. Axworthy said Canada would build on the experience to be gained at the conference to prepare for the global conference on war-affected children to be held in Winnipeg, Canada, in September.
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War and
suppression of minorities are anti-child
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 April
2000
Panelists at the "Conference
on war-affected children in West Africa" on Thursday called on African
political leaders to be committed to good governance based on the collective
will of the population. They identified war and suppression of minorities as
the major obstacles to child development in Africa.
The panelists were Mr. Olara
Otunnu, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Nigel Fisher,
UNICEF Regional Director, South East Asia and Dr Amos Sawyer, Former President
of Liberia.
The two-day conference is being
organised by the government of Ghana and Canada under the auspices of the
United Nations.
Mr. Otunnu, said: "the best
way to ultimately protect children is to prevent conflicts before they occur or
to resolve them before they assume destructive proportions."
He said ensuring a more equitable
pattern of distribution of resources to avoid the emergence centre-periphery
relationships within countries should be greatly encouraged.
"Building unity within
diversity and developing and strengthening genuine democratic practice should
never be taken for granted," he said called for the evocation of African
traditional norms, customs as well as conventions that insulate children and
women in time of war to guide combatants.
Mr. Otunnu said the scourge of war
and deprivation on the continent is a "betrayal of the dreams of the
freedom fighters. Great African freedom fighters never envisaged such a tragedy
after political independence."
Mr. Fisher blamed the plight of
the African child on bad leadership and a "pervasive climate of impunity"
adding that history has shown that poverty and deprivation ignited most of the
conflicts in Africa.
In cases where the political
actors are not held responsible by anybody for their acts, there tend to be a
deliberate abuse of rights and exploitation of some sections of the population.
The UNICEF official cited the 1994
Rwanda massacre "as a perfect case of national and international
abandonment of the depressed," which resulted in 'the nightmare'.
Mr. Fisher appealed to African
leaders to exhibit enough political will in the implementation of conventions
and laws that protect children and minorities.
"As the issues of sovereignty
verses intervention in internal affairs gain weight, we should remember that a
crime committed in one country can easily spread to the other."
He said the sovereignty of a
nation should be questioned when leaders are not committed to the welfare of
their people.
"Invincibility breeds
impunity; so the time has come for the supporters of warlords to be exposed
since bad publicity undermines business and credibility" he said.
Dr Sawyer argued that war has
compounded the plight of the African child, whose welfare has for a long time
been ignored by a generation of leaders and called for child-centred
development programmes for all African countries "and we will see how
wonderful life could be."
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Unit Committee petitions against new car park
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 28 April 2000
Members of two electoral areas in the Kumasi metropolis have appealed to the Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Council (ARCC) to stop the conversion of the proposed sanitary site near the Kumasi Central Prisons into a car park.
In a petition, the members of Nsuase and Baamu Unit Committees alleged that the area has been sold to a foreigner and would soon be turned into a car park.
They said in a similar manner, the Kumasi Metropolitan Authority (KMA) sold another sanitary site within the same electoral area opposite the Railway Police Station, to the management of the Ghana Airways for offices.
The petition, addressed to the Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr. Samuel Nuamah-Donkor, was jointly signed by Mr. Alfred Yaw Manu, Ananta Unit Committee chairman, Mr A. Osei Banahene, Nsuase Unit Committee chairman, Mr. Steve Appiahene and Mr. Osei Yaw Akoto, both members of the Baamu Unit Committee.
It said the area is the only sanitary site left serving as both refuse dump and place of convenience for the people since all available lands have been sold for residential purposes.
"Any delay by the ARCC to act on this petition is likely to create clashes between the youth and the KMA."
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National Media Commission launches
publications
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 April 2000
Mr. Justice D. F. Annan, Speaker of Parliament, on Thursday said institutional and operational independence of media bodies and outlets must go beyond the level of freedom from state or government control.
He said independence of organisations and media outlets should manifest itself not in bold or confident declarations of independence only. It should also demonstrate a true commitment to fair, even-handed, balanced and objective analysis, presentation and conclusion".
Speaking at the launch of four publications by the National Media Commission (NMC), Mr. Justice Annan said one way to achieve such a status is to avoid a one-track addiction to negative images of the government or to a systematic denial of space or time to any positive images of government.
Mr. Justice Annan said although absolute freedom cannot be attained, with proper equilibrium and balance between freedom and responsibility, "we shall get to generally acceptable levels of freedom of the media and of the public expression."
"It becomes imperative, therefore, for media personnel to strike a balance between freedom and responsibility to make the freedom meaningful and productive to the growth of democracy" he said.
The Speaker said with proper balance between freedom and responsibility, the media would impact more qualitatively on national development efforts and empower the people to open up and participate concretely in policy formulation and implementation.
Mr. Peter Schellschmidt, Resident Director of Friedrich Ebert Foundation, said the impact of the media over the past seven years is conspicuous.
"Both the print and electronic media continue to play very important roles in terms of general education for the citizenry, feedback to government policies, gauging of public opinion and promotion of accountability."
He said through these activities, the media had helped to set the agenda and, to a large extent, influenced the national psyche.
Mr. Schellschmidt said despite these achievements, there were still some problematic areas such as standard programming in the electronic media, failure to publish rejoinders and fair and balanced political reporting that need to be addressed.
Mr. John Mahama, Minister of Communications, who presided, said the publication is the result of the mandate given to the NMC in the 1992 Constitution to promote high journalistic standards.
He said that although the government is drafting the National Communications Policy, it would not conflict with that of the NMC because they both share the same dream; to see Ghana's progress.
"The National Communications policy takes complete overview of the communications industry while the National Media Policy only looks at some aspect of the industry".
The publications were; "National Media Policy", "Broadcasting Standards," "Guidelines for Rejoinders" and "Guidelines for Political Reporting" published in collaboration with Friedrich Ebert Foundation.
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NPP intensifies campaign in rural areas
Nintin (Ashanti) 28 April 2000
The Asante-Mampong Youth Wing of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has intensified its campaign in the rural communities to capture more votes for the party in the December general election.
Mr. Peter Sarkodie, Mampong Constituency Secretary of the NPP, told a rally at Nintin, near Mampong, that the incessant strike action by workers was an indication that the ruling government has "lost track of its economic drive".
Mr. Sarkodie said the government had grown stale and lacks the ideas needed to redeem the nation from its economic woes, and therefore appealed to Ghanaians to vote the ruling National Democratic Congress out in the December elections.
He cautioned the electorate not to bow to the NDC government's deception of increasing workers' salaries and attempting to dot the landscape with development projects during every election year saying the NPP now has absolute grip of the Mampong Zongo electoral area, which has been the stronghold of the NDC for the past years.
Mr. Sarkodie said more than 100 people in the Zongo community expressed their regret openly at a recent youth forum at Mampong, for voting for NDC in the last elections.
Madam Amma Yeboah, a member of the party, said most parents have lost effective control over their children because they cannot provide their basic needs due to the harsh economic situation in the country which she blamed on the government.
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Rawlings awards former Nigerian leader
Abubakar
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 April 2000
President Jerry John Rawlings on Thursday conferred on General Abdulsalami Abubakar, a former Nigerian head of state, the Honour of Companion of the Order of the Star of Ghana (Honorary Division).
President Rawlings placed a sash across the shoulders of the man who steered Africa's most populous country to democracy last year and pinned a medal on his chest, drawing applause from several dignitaries who filled the Banqueting Hall of the State House in Accra.
Present were Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, the First Lady, Vice-President John Atta Mills and his wife, Council of State members, Ministers, Service Commanders and Chiefs.
Gen. Abubakar assumed leadership of Nigeria when then Head of State General Sani Abacha died suddenly. He lifted the ban on party politics, conducted a general election and handed over power on May 29 to elected President, Olusegun Obasanjo.
A citation said, following the death of Gen. Abacha, Nigerians had no hesitation in entrusting to Gen. Abubakar the destiny of his country. It said he restored the spirit of reconciliation, maintained the peace, security and unity of Nigeria at a most volatile moment while reinforcing the atmosphere of human rights and freedom through the early release of detainees.
"By such determined force of character, you were able to restore the country to its enviable position among the comity of nations within a relatively short time.
"At the same time, your tireless efforts for peace and security in the West Africa sub-region as evidenced by your leadership role in restoring normalcy to Liberia, Sierra Leone and brokering the cessation of hostilities leading to peace in Guinea Bissau through the Abuja Agreement of 1st November 1998 all represent the high quality of leadership that your humility and self-effacing nature failed to obscure."
Gen. Abubakar said he did not consider the award a personal honour. "It is for the people of Nigeria who made our success possible through their co-operation and support. It was also through the support of friendly countries like Ghana."
He spoke about the volatile political situation in Nigeria at the time and said: "we had to move correctly to avoid a shipwreck. We tried to run a good race for the sake of our country".
Gen. Abubakar said the difficulties Nigeria is going through now would eventually end, adding: "This is what democracy is all about. You face challenges. It is not smooth sailing but once we are able to go through the difficulties, Nigeria will emerge strong".
He thanked Ghana for its support during Nigeria's dark days, saying: "Ghana kept us company when the rest of the world left us". He told President Rawlings: "it was an act of courage on your part".
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WAJA President calls on Asantehene
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 28 April 2000
Mr. Kabral Blay-Amihere, President of the West Africa Journalists' Association (WAJA) on Wednesday called on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at the Manhyia Palace to wish him a happy anniversary.
The Asantehene celebrated his one-year of enstoolment as the 16th Asante King on the Golden Stool last Wednesday.
Mr. Blay-Amihere, who is also editor of the "Independent" newspaper, presented a plaque with a citation, a framed copy of the newspaper and two copies of "Tears of a continent", a book he has written to the Asantehene for winning the paper's outstanding personality of the year award for 1999.
The paper instituted the award three years ago to honour deserving Ghanaians. Mrs. Agnes Dordzie, a High Court Judge, was the first recipient. Dr Kwabena Duffour was the second.
Making the presentation, Mr. Blay-Amihere said the paper selected the Asantehene "because of the sterling qualities he has displayed as the occupant of the Golden Stool within this relatively short period of his reign."
He expressed the hope that the Asantehene would continue to show the same qualities in the coming years and wished him a peaceful, successful and long reign.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu thanked Mr. Blay-Amihere for the gesture and expressed appreciation for the gifts and honour done him.
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IDA and Veterinary Council board
inaugurated
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 April 2000
The Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr. J. H. Owusu-Acheampong on Thursday inaugurated board of directors of the Irrigation Development Authority (IDA) and Members of Veterinary Council of Ghana in Accra.
They are to help formulate and execute plans that would bring about positive changes in the development of both crop and livestock production.
Mr. Kwaku Sosthenes Moris Nyahe, an agricultural economist and Former Deputy Director, African Development Bank; chairs the 11-member IDA board while the nine-member Veterinary Council has Dr S. K Quartey of the Ghana Veterinary Medical Association (GVMA), as chairman.
Mr. Owusu-Acheampong said the Ministry has projected to put at least 100,000 hectares under irrigation by 2020 up from the present estimated 10,000 hectares and charged the two bodies to help the Ministry to resolve all problems that are likely to militate against the achievement of the goal.
The Minister said the government, in recognition of the important role that irrigation is expected to play in the achievement of targets set for the agricultural sector under Vision 2020, has contracted loans and grants from donors to implement various irrigation projects.
He said a Japanese grant of about 12 million dollars is being utilised for the rehabilitation and expansion of some five existing irrigation schemes located at Asaiman, Okyereko, Mankessim, Kpando-Torkor and Aveyime for the cropping of rice and vegetables.
A loan of 31.2 million dollars has been taken from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and other donors for the development of small-scale irrigation schemes that would cover 2,590 hectares at 31 locations.
Another 39 million dollars has been taken from the AfDB and Arab Bank for Economic Development (BADEA) for the Kpong Irrigation Project.
The Minister said problems such as marketing and reluctance of farmers to change with the times by diversifying into crops for which they have obvious advantage, are some of the problems militating against the full utilisation of the scheme.
Mr Owusu-Acheampong said the Veterinary Council of Ghana was established to enforce and secure the highest standard in the practice of veterinary medicine in Ghana adding that the privatisation of the Council as well as the problem of the African swine fever should be of great concern to members and called on them to help solve those problems.
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Eighty million-cedi transit quarters for
soldiers commissioned
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 April 2000
An 80 million-cedi transit quarters financed by the Ghana Army was on Thursday commissioned at the Fifth Infantry Brigade (5BN) by Lt. Col. E. K. T. Donkor, Minister of Defence.
The junior rank quarter, which was named after Ex-Forces Sgt Major Isaac Frimpong of the Ghana Army, includes two big rooms with 60 beds and a mess while that of the officers contains eight bedrooms.
The Army Commander, General Joseph H. Smith said the project would bring relief to soldiers, who travel to Accra for special duties and find it difficult to get accommodation.
Gen. Smith said the construction of the quarters underlines the concern and commitment of the command to the welfare of soldiers.
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