Government committed to dialogue to bring peace to Bawku
Three gates protest the outdooring of Wa Naa
Accra (Greater Accra) 10 April 2002- Mr Joseph Henry Mensah, Senior Minister, on Monday said government is to spend about 200 million cedis a month to feed the 444 police and military personnel deployed at Yendi under the State of Emergency declared in the Dagbon Traditional Area of in the Northern Region following bitter fighting that claimed the lives of at least 28 people including the Ya-Na Yakubu Andani.
Mr Mensah, who is also the Chairman of the Ministerial Fact-Finding Team on Yendi, was expressing concern about the economic impact of deploying peacekeeping troops around conflict areas in the country.
Mr Kwabena Agyepong, Deputy Government Spokesman, told newsmen that Mr Mensah was speaking when Bawku-Naba Asigri Abugrago II led a delegation from the Bawku Traditional Area to pay a courtesy call on President Kufuor at the Castle, Osu. Among the issues discussed were proposals to achieve peace in the area and the settlement of the long-standing chieftaincy dispute between the Kusasis and Mamprusis.
Mr Agyepong said Mr Mensah in his contribution at the meeting noted that such huge amounts for peacekeeping troops in the conflict areas could have been used to provide key social amenities to improve the lives of the people.
Government has said it was seeking a long-term solution to the Yendi crisis and that it was fully aware of a number of reports, protocols and decrees on the Yendi Skin. A high-powered team from the Police Criminal Investigation Division (CID) has been dispatched to the area.
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Kumasi ((Ashanti Region) 10 April 2002- A police constable was killed when a gang of suspected armed robbers engaged the Kumasi Police in a fierce gun battle at Sawuah on the Kumasi-Lake Bosomtwe road on Monday afternoon.
Five of the suspected armed robbers were also killed during the battle while three others who sustained gunshot wounds had been arrested and placed in police custody. Police have identified the three as Fiifi Amponsah, Kwaku Agyei and Kwame Nyantakyi.
The body of constable Godwin Twumasi had been deposited at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) mortuary while those of the armed robbers that were displayed at the Central Police Station, drew thousands of people.
The Police retrieved two AK 47 assault rifles fully loaded with ammunition, one locally manufactured pistol, two imported shotguns, cutlasses, car keys and 15 million cedis from the robbers.
Briefing the press in Kumasi on the incident on Tuesday, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) George Asiamah said at about 1600 hours on Monday, the Police had information that a gang of 16 armed robbers had attacked the warehouse of Kimescom Limited, a rice producing company at Kaase in Kumasi, shot two persons and bolted with a vehicle as well as large sums of money.
He said while the Police were mobilising to go to the scene, they had another information that the same armed robbers had blocked the road at Atonsu, terrorising people and attempting to cut down telephone lines in the area.
ACP Asiamah said the Police chased the robbers on the Kumasi-Sawuah road where the robbers engaged them in a shootout. The robbers' vehicle got involved in an accident at the Saape village and some of them tried to flee into the bush.
The Regional Police commander said unknown to the Police, some of the robbers, who were hiding under the accident vehicle fired at constable Twumasi, who had then jumped from the Police vehicle and killed him instantly.
He said the Police returned fire and killed two of them on the spot while the residents of the village also reported the discovery of the bodies of three others the following morning. Mr Asiamah said the villagers also arrested two wounded ones and brought them to the Police and the third one was arrested at Akyawkrom in the Ejisu-Juaben District.
He commended the people in the area and gave assurance that the Police would continue to pursue the robbers and arrest the rest of them. He appealed for peace in the Kumasi Metropolis and called for public support for the Police to enable them to deal with criminal activities in the region.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 10 April 2002 - The Government on Tuesday appealed to the Dagbon Traditional Authority, the Andani and Abudu Gates and the general public to desist from media wars and trials on the tragic incident at Yendi.
Mr Ferdinand O. Ayim, Special Assistant to the Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, told the press in Accra that the government had assumed full responsibility and was in firm control of the Yendi crisis with the adoption of two-pronged approach to resolve the conflict.
He explained that through the effort of the Mediation and the Police criminal investigative teams, the government was confident to resolve the short, medium and long-term issues relating to the tragedy.
It, therefore, advised the general public about the potential danger of engaging in a media war and called for patience while both teams worked independently without any distractions and influence that might endanger the outcome.
Mr Ayim stressed that the media war has the potential of denting the high credibility of the teams and the possible outcome of their work, whilst the media trials have the potential of defaming innocent personalities.
He reiterated governments call on the media to exercise the greatest caution and high level of professionalism in their reportage especially news items from both factions in the crisis and gave the assurance that the government was committed to apprehending any one or group of people found to be involved in the crisis.
The Special Assistant also denied a news item on Tuesday, April 9, alleging that some officials of Ghana Telecom at Tamale including a watchman have been the arrested in connection with the temporary break in telecommunications link to Yendi during the crisis.
Mr Ayim said both the Inspector General of Police Mr Ernest Owusu-Poku and Brigadier George Ayiku, Commanding Officer of the Northern Sector, who is in charge of the State of Emergency, had denied knowledge of any arrest.
He urged the media to contact and depend on the state machinery responsibly for disseminating information on the Yendi situation to avoid unsubstantiated reports. "This is a responsible government, which would not sit down for any individual or group to influence and distract its focus and aim of resolving the Yendi crisis."
The Special Assistant said Mr Seidu Alhassan, who hails from Yendi and was arrested last Sunday on board a Tamale-Yendi bus at a checkpoint with two locally manufactured pistols had claimed ownership.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 10 April 2002- Mr Kofi Attoh, MP for Ho Central, on Tuesday, stated that civil society groupings must hold governments accountable to the letter and spirit of the constitution for the consolidation of democracy in the country. Civil society groupings must play their watchdog role effectively to ensure that governments adhered to good governance and complied with the constitution, he said.
Mr Attoh who is also the Deputy General Secretary of the NDC, was speaking at one of a series of lectures to mark the 25th annual week celebration of the Political Science Students Association (POSSA) under the theme, "The consolidation of democracy in Ghana in the 21st century, the role of civil society groups, individuals and the executive."
He said "good governance would make constitutional democracy more attractive to the populace, whilst making other forms of governance less attractive, reduce and eliminate military involvement in governance."
Mr Attoh noted that the constitution mandated the State to take all necessary action to ensure a well-managed economy to promote the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of the people.
The State should also provide adequate means of livelihood, assist the needy and take steps to ensure a sound and healthy economy. Mr Attoh said the constitution guaranteed fair and realistic remuneration to encourage productivity.
Mr Attoh said parliament had relatively performed creditably within its constraints and explained that the institution had suffered more than any arm of government through military interventions, which had affected the development of structures for effective performance.
However, "since the inception of the fourth republic, the house has demonstrated and played its watchdog role quite well." Mr Abraham Osie Aidoo, MP for Tema West said, "Ghanaians through the development of a democratic culture have resolved never to give the military any opportunity to interrupt the democratic order."
He described the role of parliament in consolidating democracy as crucial and urged civil society groupings to help the country to face the harsh economic challenges, saying, there had to be a linkage of democracy and development.
POSSA members suggested the fostering of relationship between parliament and the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana to nature democracy and said they could provide a resource and research base for parliamentarians.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 10 April 2002- Ghana and Britain would undertake a joint military exercise in Ghana between November and December this year, Mr Kwabena Agyepong, Deputy Government Spokesman, announced on Tuesday. The exercise code-named "Ntemboafo" (Peacebroker), would be the largest of its kind the British Army had held in West Africa.
Some 500 British troops and supporting logistics would be involved, Mr Agyepong told reporters after Brigadier Andrews Stuart, Director of International Operations for the British Government, paid a courtesy call on President John Agyekum Kufuor at the Castle, Osu.
Mr Agyepong said the exercise was designed to increase the skills and co-operation between the military groups involved, improve the skills of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and also to strengthen Ghana-Britain military partnership.
He said the visit by Brigadier Stuart was a visible sign of the military co-operation between Ghana and Britain and as a follow-up to the renewed military partnership between the two countries. Mr Agyepong said there had been a significant step in the programme of co-operation between them to increase the operational efficiency and combat readiness of the GAF.
He said the joint exercise also builds on the visit of British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Ghana in February and demonstrates Britain's commitment to the democratic credentials of the Ghana government. Brigadier Stuart, who is in charge of Africa and the Middle East at the British Ministry of Defence, said he was on a fact-finding mission to Africa.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 10 April 2002- President John Agyekum Kufuor has congratulated President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, President of Angola, for a peace agreement his government signed on 4 April with the rebel UNITA Movement.
In a letter to the Angolan leader released on Tuesday, President Kufuor wrote: "The Republic of Angola now has a wonderful opportunity to achieve its full potential for the benefit of Angolans. "Lasting peace in your country will, no doubt, also witness closer ties of friendship and increased co-operation between our two brotherly countries and peoples."
President Kufuor said he received the "pleasant news" of the signing of the agreement "with great joy and satisfaction" noting that Ghana had on many occasions praised President dos Santos' untiring efforts in the search for peace in that country. "My country has also been expressing its sincere desire to see your laudable endeavours for peace crowned with success."
President Kufuor wished Angola "unqualified success in managing the peace that they had been achieved as well as success in tackling the daunting tasks of reconstruction and of national reconciliation."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 10 April 2002- Mr John Mahama, Member of Parliament (MP) for Bole on Monday lauded the framers of the 1992 Constitution describing it as unique and a model for several African countries.
He said the hybrid of the presidential and parliamentary systems of government made it very rigid and cumbersome to amendments but yet flexible enough for democratic governance.
Mr Mahama was speaking at the first of a series of lectures to mark the 25th annual week celebration of the Political Science Students Association (POSSA) under the theme: "The consolidation of democracy in Ghana in the 21st century, the role of civil society groups, individuals and the executive."
He explained that the 1979 Constitution adhered to strict separation of powers between the executive arm of government and the legislature, which demanded that any Member of Parliament given ministerial appointment must resign from Parliament.
However, the 1992 Constitution adopted the hybrid system to help enrich the work of Parliament. He said in theory, it seems practicable and laudable but in practice it was very difficult combining the work of Parliament, ministerial post and the constituency.
Mr Mahama called for a second look at the theory as most of the time the work at the House had suffered. He said the Constitution had become a reference point to several African countries in the development of their constitution, while others used it to tighten the loopholes identified in their constitutions.
He stated that if governments especially the executive would adhere to provisions under the Directive Principles of State Policies, the checks and balances among other things, democracy would be consolidated in the country.
Mr Mahama said, even though, the four-year term of office of a government was considered by some political analysts as tolerantly short in terms of developmental programmes, it sought to reduce the level of agitation in terms of democratic governance.
Mr Mahama described the notion that the minority had been whipping on infractions to divert government's concentration as unfortunate, explaining that the Constitution mandated the minority to raise red flags even on what people might consider irrelevant.
He said; "if minor infractions are not checked, it would lead to major abuses of the rule of law and endanger good governance as well as the consolidation of democratic rule in the country".
Mr Mahama urged government to ensure the integration of all ethnic groupings in the country, promote political tolerance and the fertilisation of shades of opinion for good governance.
The former Minister of Communications expressed concerned about the intolerance of some members of government, saying; "in government your best friends are those who criticise you and not those who sing your praises".
Mr Mahama also called for a fair distribution of national resources; creation of an environment for expansion of employment avenues and decried the concentration of development in the "Golden Tri-angle" of Accra-Kumasi-Cape Coast/Takoradi.
He said this had been responsible for the rural/urban drift. Mr Balley Harrison, POSSA President, appealed to past students of the Department of Political Science to assist with the development of the faculty.
He said the department had not seen any major development for a long time leading to the deterioration of facilities, whiles the large student population put extra burden on the facilities.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 10 April 2002- The Association of Health Services Administrators of Ghana (AHSAG) has called on government to expedite action on the implementation of the recommendation of the Appellate Body on the Ghana Universal Salary Structure for health workers.
"The continued delay has the potential of generating tension among health workers," Mr Ebo Hammond, Public Relations and Information Officer of AHSAG, warned in a statement issued in Accra on Tuesday.
The National Executive of AHSAG at a meeting in Kumasi on April 4 said it was convinced that the speedy implementation of the recommendations of the Appellate Body would help check the exodus of health professionals from the country.
The statement said the executives also recommended that maximum caution should be exercised in the process of separating the Ghana Health Services from the Ministry of Health in order to achieve the ultimate aim, which would be in the interest of the people of Ghana.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 10 April 2002- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Monday said government was committed to dialogue to solve the long-standing dispute between the Kusasis and the Mamprusis to bring peace to the Bawku Traditional Area.
Mr Kwabena Agyepong, Deputy Government Spokesman, briefing newsmen after Bawku-Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II led a delegation from the Bawku Traditional
Area to pay a courtesy call on President Kufuor at the Castle, Osu, quoted the President as saying government would adhere to its policy of non-interference in chieftaincy disputes but maintain law, order and peaceful co-existence.
He said President Kufuor told the delegation: "Government will do all it can to give credence to the peace accord and facilitate dialogue between the two groups." Mr Agyepong said among the issues discussed were proposals to achieve peace in the area and the long-standing chieftaincy dispute between the Kusasis and Mamprusis.
He said the President told the delegation that anytime government involved itself in chieftaincy disputes it had disastrous effects on socio-economic development. The President appealed to the National House of Chiefs (NHC) to implement measures that would ensure that the investiture of royals to the various stools and skins were well documented to reduce chieftaincy disputes.
Mr Agyepong said President Kufuor expressed concern about the absence of a District Chief Executive (DCE) for Bawku, the only district in the country without a DCE, and appealed to the Bawku-Naba, his elders and Parliamentarians in the area to help resolve the problem and bring lasting peace to the area.
Mr Agyepong said Vice President Aliu Mahama also expressed concern about the time it was taking to bring peace to the area and urged all civil servants and teachers, who fled Bawku to return.
He said the proliferation of arms in the area did not augur well for development and appealed to the Police and chiefs to endeavour to retrieve all arms to bring about peace. The Bawku-Naba appealed to government for assistance to rehabilitate the 2,600 people, who were displaced and the 203 houses that were destroyed during the conflict.
He called for an expansion of the Bawku Hospital to take care of the increasing population. He also appealed for the provision of educational facilities, enforcement of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme and the creation of employment avenues in the area.
The Bawku-Naba pledged his commitment to peace and commended the government for the establishment of a military barracks at Bawku. He appealed to government to create a separate district for Garu-Tempani.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 10 April 2002- Work on the dual carriage Kumasi-Accra highway is set to start before the end of this year, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation, has announced.
He said the government has secured one-third of the funds for the project. Dr Nduom was addressing the opening ceremony of the three-day Ashanti Economic Forum at the Prempeh Assembly Hall in Kumasi on Tuesday.
The theme for the forum being attended by high profile business executives, bankers, Members of Parliament (MPs), District Chief Executives and traditional rulers, was: "Maximising Ashanti's contribution to the economic development of Ghana".
It is being organised jointly by the Manhyia Palace and the Ashanti Region Co-ordinating Council. Dr Nduom said the first phase of the road project would begin from Accra to Nsawam, adding that if additional money could be found, the lanes would be increased to six.
The Minister told participants at the forum that infrastructure development had been made the topmost priority of the government for the next three years with a view to helping to position the country to take advantage of investment opportunities.
He decried the situation where productive areas in the country happened to be the most deprived and said this was not right. Dr Nduom said it was the view of the government that resources should be put to work in a way that benefit the ordinary people in parts of the country whose riches support the nation.
He mentioned the improvement of the country's energy supply, the telecommunications system and the ports as the main critical areas that, together with the road network constituted, the core of the infrastructure development activities that would be seriously tackled.
Dr Nduom welcomed the forum as a good idea and a positive development and asked that its objectives should fit into the overall national agenda of taking advantage of the fruits of globalisation.
He challenged the forum to come out with ways of shifting the region from being largely producers and exporters of primary products to producers of value added products. Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, gave a detailed overview of the vast economic potentials of the region that had remained either under exploited or unexploited.
He mentioned the 350 million metric tonnes of unexploited bauxite deposits at Nyinahin in the Atwima District, large clay deposits and tourism potentials as some of the areas where investors could go into.
The Regional Minister spoke of plans to resuscitate the bast-fibre factory in Kumasi to save the country from importing sacks with its hard earned foreign currency. Mr Boafo announced that arrangements had been made to ensure ready market for cashew and sunflower and asked the people to take seriously to their production.
Nana Otuo Serebour II, Omanhene of Juaben Traditional Area and a Member of the Council of State, who chaired the opening ceremony, asked that the district assemblies should be mandated to use part of stool land revenue and the District Assemblies' Common Fund they receive to engage consultants to identify economically viable projects in their areas.
This, he noted, could help investors to make decisions on where to put their monies. Nana Otuo Serebour urged the participants to come out with ''home grown'' solutions that would be acceptable to the people and help to boost the economy of the region and that of the nation.
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Akim Oda (Eastern Region) 10 April 2002- The Akim Oda Police has arrested a teacher, who resigned from his employment in June 2001 but continued to draw his monthly salary from the Ghana Education Service (GES).
Godwin Annan, a former technical instructor at the Akyem Ayirebi Local Authority Junior Secondary School in the Birim North District, was said to have left the teaching service and later had an employment with the Cape Coast branch of Ghana Telecom.
A GNA report quotes a Police spokesman at Akim Oda on Tuesday as saying that the suspect continued to enjoy his monthly salary from the GES from June 2001 to January 2002 when he was arrested upon a tip-off.
The suspect, who collected a total of 10.9 million cedis from the Nkawkaw branch of the Agriculture Development Bank (ADB), has since been granted bail pending further investigations.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 2002- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday signed a book of condolence, which was opened at the British High Commission in Accra in memory of the late Queen Elizabeth I, Queen Mother of Britain.
The Queen Mother, the 101-year-old mother of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, died in her sleep on Saturday 30 March, with her daughter at her bedside at the Royal Lodge, Windsor, in London.
President Kufuor flanked by Mr Hackman Owusu Agyemang, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the British High Commissioner in Ghana, Dr Rod Pullen, wrote " Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth I, the Queen Mother lived a charmed and blessed life. She straddled epochs, generations and centuries."
"She epitomised the best of Great Britain and graciously influenced all British connections. She is immortalised in history and will be rightly remembered not only in Great Britain but also by all the friends of Britain".
She was buried on Tuesday at the Windsor Castle, when Britain came to a standstill for the funeral. The Queen Mother, the widow of King George VI and a rock of support for her eldest daughter Queen Elizabeth, 75, died after a period of declining health.
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Wa (Upper West) 10 April 2002- Three Royal Gates to the Wa Skin have protested to the Upper West Region Security Council against moves by the Nakpaha Gate to outdoor Alhaji Yakubu Seidu, as paramount chief of the Wala Traditional Area.
The three gates - Yijiihi, Najeri and Jonyuohi, in a letter to the Council appealed to the council to take steps to stop any attempt at outdooring him to avert any confrontation.
The three gates said before Alhaji Seidu's enskinment on 8 March, they had informed the Council about their appeal at the Supreme Court against the ruling of the National House of Chief that went in favour of Alhaji Seidu, on 27 February.
They said the Council overlooked it with the reason that it did not receive any notice of appeal. The protest letter, signed by the Sing Naa, Ducie Naa and Kampaha Naa, said on 11 March, the Council was served with a notice of appeal by the Supreme Court, but since then, it had taken no action.
The three Gates said the appeal was being sought against the ruling of the National House of Chief and no party should be allowed to treat with contempt, an issue that was before the Supreme Court.
"We have been silent all that while because we want peace to reign in the area and more so, not to engage the government in settling issues that could be amicably settled through legal channels".
They warned that in as much as they longed for permanent peace and did not want to see Wa involved in a similar situation as in Dagbon, they would never sit unconcerned while their traditions were being trampled upon.
They urged the RESEC to stop using the military and the police to support Alhaji Yakubu to carry out his illegal action while at the same time barricading and molesting members of other communities, namely, Nayiri, Bomiyiri and Gombiliimuni. "We would henceforth resist all arm twisting tactics by the powers that be," they cautioned.
On 27 February, the Judicial Committee of the National House of Chiefs ruled against an application for an appeal against its earlier judgement that favoured Alhaji Yakubu Seidu as the rightful successor to Naa Momori Bondiri, who died four years ago. The ruling paved way for the enskinment of Alhaji Seidu Yakubu as Wa Naa on 8 March.
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