DCE, others die in motor accident
Two mining companies clash over concession
Court discharges Volta Land Valuation Board officials
ISODEC condemns mass arrests in Soweto
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April 2002 - The University of Ghana said on Thursday that it has taken action against some students for examination malpractice during the 2000-2001 academic year.
A statement issued by the University Relations Office in Accra said action had also been taken against other students who gained admission to the University in August 2001 through fraudulent means.
The statement said three students who were involved in examination malpractice during the second semester of the 2000-2001 academic year, had been given various punishments. It said Daniel Vanderpuye, a student of the Music Department, attached to Mensah Sarbah Hall, had been awarded Grade Z in the second semester examinations and suspended from the University. He has also been barred from taking any University examination for four semesters or two academic years.
It said Eric Adiamah and Godwin Ziggah, both of the School of Administration and Commonwealth Hall, had been expelled from the University and awarded Grade Z in the second semester examinations. Four students, who were found to have forged WAEC SSSCE results to gain admission to the University in August 2002 have been expelled with immediate effect.
It named them as Emma Ankamah (Volta Hall), Lamine Sulley (Legon Hall), Benjamin Effah-Boachie (Commonwealth Hall) and Cynthia Bright-Fasintel (Legon Hall). They were all Level 100 BA students.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April 2002 - Mr Joseph O. Amui of the Legal Aid Board has been assigned to defend Charles Quansah, an alleged self-confessed serial killer. Mr Amui's appointment followed an order by an Accra High Court to the prosecution to arrange with the Board to provide counsel for Quansah, who has been charged with murder.
At Thursday's sitting, the court presided over by Mrs Justice Agnes Dordzie said she had seen a letter from the Legal Aid Board assigning Mr Amui to defend the accused. Mr Amui was, however, not in court and Mrs Justce Dordzie adjourned the case to 7 May 2002.
"In view of the absence of defence counsel, the case is adjourned to 7 May 2002 for definite hearing," she said. Mr Anthony Gyambiby, Principal State Attorney, appeared for the Republic.
At its last sitting the court could not continue with proceedings, because Quansah, a 33 year-old mechanic, who made his maiden appearance at the High Court, said that he did not have counsel to represent him.
The court, which is yet to take the plea of the accused, remanded him in prison custody. Quansah had earlier been committed by an Accra Community Tribunal to stand trial at the High Court.
Quansah is alleged to have confessed to the killing of eight women in Accra and Kumasi. On 15 March 2002, this year, an Accra Community Tribunal committed Quansah to a High Court to stand trial for the alleged murder of Akua Serwa, a 24 year-old hairdresser in Kumasi.
Quansah, while serving a prison term for robbery at the Nsawam Medium Security Prisons in 1996, met an inmate, William Bittar, a Lebanese, who helped him to secure a job in Kumasi.
While in Kumasi, the accused befriended Serwah and allegedly strangled her after a drinking spree at a drinking bar, near the Kumasi Sports Stadium. A Police statement issued on 15 May, last year, alleged that Quansah killed women at Kumasi and Dansoman, Matehako and Adenta, all in Accra.
The statement said Quansah, who hails from Komenda in the Central Region, allegedly killed the women by strangulation. He was arrested at Adenta in February last year following intensification of investigations into the serial murders. The Police said Quansah had served jail terms at the James Fort and Nsawam Medium Security Prisons for rape.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April 2002 - General Emmanuel Alexander Erskine, former commander of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, has been invited to join the Advisory Group to Eminent Persons Advisory Group (EPG) on small arms and light weapons.
A statement issued in Accra on Thursday said General Erskine had received a letter signed by Mr Albrecht Gero Muth, Executive Secretary of the EPG, to join the Group "in order to help advance cooperation on implementation of the programme of action adopted by the UN Conference on the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in all its aspects."
EPG is an international commission of 24 world notables under the co-chairmanship of former OAU Secretary-General Salim Ahmed Salim and Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare, which operates along the UN Secretary-General's efforts to advance a global small arms non-proliferation regime.
The Advisory Group consists of representatives of NGOs under the co-chairmanship of Mr Owen Greene of Bradford University, UK and Mr Richard Mugisha of People with Disabilities, Uganda.
The statement said the objective of the advisory group was to avail members of the EPG of the benefit of their expertise. Their work is limited to advising members of EPG on how to advance implementation of the programme of action, especially on marketing, tracing and norms for transfer.
"Eradication of illicit proliferation depends upon cooperation among states and civil society including industry and NGOs in joint efforts to implement the programmes of action." The statement said the illicit proliferation of small arms had increasingly become a critical security issue in Ghana in recent times.
To complement the efforts of government, a number of NGOs hosted by the Foundation for Security and Development in Africa came together to establish the Ghana Action Network on Small Arms whose steering committee General Erskine chairs.
Since the end of the Cold War, Africa has experienced several unrests, which have been attributed to the plethora of small arms. Out of the estimated 49 wars fought in Africa between 1970 and 1996, small arms were the weapons of choice of 26 of them. There are more than eight million illicit small arms in circulation.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April 2002 - Professor Aaron Lawson, head of the Anatomy Department of the University of Ghana Medical School, on Thursday, called on government to support nurses with attractive incentives that would boost their morale.
He said the low morale among nurses was affecting their relationship with patients. Prof. Lawson said this when he addressed members of the Nurses Christian Fellowship, Ghana, at a day's seminar in Accra. The seminar was part of the fellowship's annual week celebrations. Other activities included community clean up, visitations and evangelising in hospitals.
Speaking on the topic, "Communication skills and human relation in hospital", Prof. Lawson said, "The nursing profession is a call, but because many enter out of frustration, the love and smiles for the work are no more there".
He appealed to the nurses to continue working hard despite their frustrations and hardships. Lieutenant Augusta Wellington, Second-in-Command at the 37 Military
Hospital's Nurses Training College who presided, urged Christian nurses to continue spreading the gospel to patients who are on admission.
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Agona Nkwanta (Western Region) 19 April 2002 -The first translation of the Gospel of Saint Mark into the Ahanta language has been launched with a call on Ghanaians to develop literacy in the national languages to enhance communicationskills for development.
In a speech read for him at the launching of the book at Agona Nkwanta on Thursday, the Western Regional Minister, Mr. Joseph B. Aidoo, expressed regret that the importance of many Ghanaian languages was gradually being lost since there are no mechanisms to preserve and teach the languages to thepresent and future generations.
He therefore, congratulated the Ghana Institute of Linguistics Literacy and Bible Translation (GILLBT), which undertook the project on their efforts to translate that part of the bible into Ahanta.
He further praised the GILLBT, a Christian NGO, for undertaking similar projects on many other language groups in the country. Mr. Aidoo said it is significant that part of the Bible has been used to facilitate literacy in the Ahanta language because Ghanaians, who are predominantly Christians, could understand and appreciate Christianity better.
The project manager of GILLBT Mr. Samuel Ntumy, said the institute is undertaking a ten-year project to produce publications, which would facilitate literacy in the Ahanta language, establish non-formal literacy classes for the people and streamline the alphabet and orthography of the language. He said apart from the Bible translation, the institute has produced publications in Ahanta on AIDS, Tree Planting, Primers and Abridged version of the 1992 Ghana constitution.
Mr. Ntumy disclosed that the institute has established 12 literacy classes with 150 learners and 30 facilitators in the communities. He said the learners, made up of 77 women and 73 men have so far completed six months course in reading and writing the language proficiently in the literacy classes.
Mr. Ntumy said the misconception that "Ahanta is a dead language and could not be written has now been disproved". A senior lecturer in political science at the institute of African Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon, Dr. Kwesi Jonah, pledged to offer 600,000 cedis per year for three years towards the Ahanta literacy project.
The member of Parliament for Ahanta West, Mr. Samuel Jonfiah, also pledged one million cedis from his common fund allocation towards the project. The first copy of the Gospel of Saint Mark translated into Ahanta was auctioned and bought for one million cedis by the Omanhene of Ahanta Traditional Area, Nana Baido Bonsoe the fifteenth, who chaired the function.
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Cape Coast (Central Region) 19 April 2002 - Nana Egyiri, a 37-year old car-wash at Cape Coast, who is believed to have strangled his ex-wife, one Madam Adjoa Mansah aged about 38 years, on Wednesday evening, is helping the Cape Coast police in their investigations into her death.
ASP Henry Amankwatia, the district police commander, told the Ghana News Agency at Cape Coast on Thursday that Egyiri was brought to the station by a group of people on Wednesday evening on suspicion of killing his former wife, who was found dead with blood oozing from her nose.
He said some time afterwards at about 6 pm, Madam Ekua Abaduwa, the mother of the deceased also came to the station to report her death, saying she suspected her daughter had been killed by her ex-husband, since he had been threatening her with death.
ASP Amankwatia said the police then went to the deceased's house at Kawanopaado, a suburb of Cape Coast and found the body of the deceased, who appeared to have been strangled. Egyiri has been placed in custody pending further investigations, while the deceased's body has been deposited at Cape Coast Central Hospital, he said.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 19 April 2002 - The Ashanti Region branch of the Co-ordinating Committee of the three Northern Regions and Zongos (COZONGO) have declared their support for the former Minister of Agriculture, Mr J. H. Owusu-Acheampong on his intention to contest for the national chairmanship position of the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) in the forthcoming congress of the party. The declaration of support was contained in a statement issued in Kumasi on Thursday and signed by Alhaji Mohammed Moro, the Regional Chairman of COZONGO.
The COZONGO made it clear that their support for Mr Owusu-Acheampong, also a former Majority Leader in the First and Second Parliaments of the Fourth Republic, is unshakeable and that they would explore all available avenues to ensure that he was elected national chairman of the NDC.
The statement explained that the decision of the Ashanti COZONGO stems from the realisation that Mr Owusu-Acheampong was a selfless man and a seasoned politician imbued with the attributes of honesty and practical leadership skills needed for moving the NDC forward.
The COZONGO also stressed that it was their firm conviction that Mr Owusu-Acheampong was the "only candidate who can save the NDC from any fragmentation and salvage it from its present woes and predicaments".
The statement said "the bold decision of Mr Owusu-Acheampong to contest the chairmanship portfolio is a welcome relief since his intervention was the surest guarantee to uniting the party and the feuding factions struggling for occupation of the national chairmanship position of the NDC".
The COZONGO commended all those, who persuaded Mr Owusu-Acheampong to enter the race for the national chairmanship position since their initiative was timely and would help to save the NDC from collapse.
"It is our avowed belief that if Mr Owusu-Acheampong assumed the national chairmanship office, sanity will be brought to bear on the rank and file of the party with a landslide victory fully assured for the NDC in the next parliamentary and presidential elections", the statement said.
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Suhum (Eastern Region) 19 April 2002 - The Sissala District Chief Executive (DCE), Mrs. Florence Yeyie Bentie, six other persons including a baby died on the spot when an articulated truck crashed into their stationary vehicle at Suhum on 17 April 2002 night.
According to the police at Suhum, the DCE, her driver, four women and the 3-year-old baby were traveling in a double-cabin pick-up from Tumu to Accra. The articulated truck with registration number GW 9891 R, loaded with rice, which was traveling from Accra to Kumasi, crashed and fell on the pick-up in an attempt to avoid a head-on collision with a stationary Benz cargo truck.
It took the police and people around over an hour to remove the articulated truck from the pick-up before conveying the bodies to the Suhum Government Hospital. The DCE for Suhum/Kraboa/Coaltar, Mr. Michael Kofi Mensah and the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayensuano, Mr. Godfried Okyere had visited the scene and were also at the hospital.
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About 108 pupils displaced by rainstorm
disaster.
Somanya (Eastern Region) 19 April 2002 - About 108 pupils of the Kpanorkle Local Authority Primary School in Yilo Krobo District are having their lessons under trees following destruction of their school by a rainstorm on Saturday.
The rainstorm also rendered about 200 people homeless. The Headmaster of the school, Mr. H.K. Awusanya, in a distress message to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), called for urgent assistance to restore the school to normalcy, "so that the future of the pupils would not be adversely affected."
The school, he said, that suffered a similar fate in 1995, had its walls caved in due to the battering of the winds and destroyed furniture and textbooks. The Yilo Krobo District Chief Executive, Christian Tettey, told the GNA that temporary arrangements were being made to enable the pupils to resume normal lessons whilst money was being sought to construct a new structure. The Yilo Krobo District Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr. Nicholas Addai, said efforts were being made to provide relief items to the displaced persons.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April 2002 - An Nkawie Community tribunal has remanded nine persons including two chiefs in police custody following a clash between security officers of two gold mining companies in the Amansie West District.
Nana Kofi Akwaboah, Chief of Geninso and Nana Atuku Barfour, Nkosuohene of Akataniase and seven others were allegedly implicated in a clash between the security officers of Bonte Goldmines Limited and Lost Valley Mining Company over concession rights.
Their pleas were not taken and would reappear on 25 April 2002. Assistant Superintendent of Police Samuel Obuobi Anyafo, Abuakwa District Police Commander told the Ghana News Agency, that he received a complaint from a security officer of Bonte Goldmines that Lost Valley Mining Company, which is also known as King Midas Company, had trespassed and was mining within its concession.
He said on 10 April, Mr Francis Nkansah Agyare, Deputy Chief Security Officer of Bonte, came to the police at Abuakwa to ask for permission to go and drive away the workers of Lost Valley from their concession.
ASP Anyafo said he refused to give them the permission because the Lost Valley Security officers were also armed even though Bonte had many more officers. He said he reported the matter to the Atwima District Security Council, which wrote letters to both companies on 12 April to come for settlement.
However, on 14 April 2002 two security officers of Bonte came to report that Nana Akwaboah had mobilised young men in his town to attack workers of Bonte, who were repairing a broken down excavator about three kilometres from the disputed land.
The attackers deflated the tyres of a pickup vehicle the mechanics had used to get to the place, locked the glasses and took away the keys and threatened to return to burn the excavator and the pickup.
ASP Anyafo said he reported the matter to his Divisional Commander, Chief Superintendent I.K. Kugbey, who directed him to go and assess the situation. When he got to Geninso with seven policemen, he met Nana Akwaboah in his palace but the chief sent for his people, who flocked into the palace.
In the face of the confusion that was brewing they retreated. He said on Tuesday with a team of 16 soldiers and 12 policemen they were able to restore peace in the area and Nana Akwaboah was arrested at Manso Nkwanta, where he had gone to see the Paramount Chief.
ASP Anyafo said Patrick Wallen, a Dutch but resident in Canada, Kyei Kwarteng, Mining Engineer and Kenneth Kunkyebe, Site Manager all of Lost Valley, who were arrested have been given police inquiry bail, while investigations continue.
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Brigadier Aryiku commends journalists.
Tamale (Northern Region) 19 April 2002 - The General Officer Commanding the Northern Command of the Ghana Armed Forces, Brigadier George Aryiku, has commended journalists in the Northern Region for the manner they handled reports on the Dagbon crisis.
He said journalists could now use their discretion to report from the Dagbon area on condition that their reports would booster unity and bring about peace. Brigadier Aryiku was interacting with journalists in Tamale during a familiarisation visit to the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation FM station (Radio Savanna) on Thursday.
He asked journalists to collaborate with the security agencies to sustain the prevailing peace in the Dagbon area. He advised those who need urgent medical attention during the curfew hours to contact the security patrol team for assistance, adding, "we are your brothers and not a bunch of heartless people".
The regional director of the GBC, Mr Evans Acheampong, expressed the hope that the visit would enhance relations between the military and the media.
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Tamale (Northern Region) 19 April 2002 - Mr. Issah Ketekewu, Deputy Northern Regional Minister has called on traditional rulers in the three northern regions to release information on the slave trade to people who are interested in collecting data on it.
"We are now in the era of information technology and so any information that is worth knowing should not be treated as mystic. "The north has a lot of history that was not yet brought out to the light for the people to know", he said.
Mr Ketekewu made the call when Mr Julian T. Roberts, President of Innovative Connections, Ghana Limited, an organisation specialising in information technology, called on him in Tamale on Wednesday.
Mr Roberts is in the Northern Region to collect information on the slave trade, which could be used to develop a curriculum for study in primary and secondary schools, as well as universities in the United States.
The information would also be put on the internet for all those interested in the slave trade to study. The Deputy Minister noted that there were a lot of distortions in most history books about the slave trade in Northern Ghana.
"We are happy that people now want to come to the source to get the correct information on the slave trade and to develop on it", he said. He told Mr Roberts that most of the slaves from Ghana that were sent abroad came from the three northern regions.
Mr Ketekewu expressed regret that some people were taking advantage of the financial assistance they get from African-Americans to distort stories about the slave trade. He pledged the support of the Northern Regional Co-ordinating Council to facilitate the project.
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 19 April 2002 - Mr Kwaku Asamoah-Cheremeh, a Sunyani lawyer, was on Thursday detained briefly by police on the orders of the local community tribunal chairman for showing contempt to the tribunal.
Mr Charles Adjei Wilson, the tribunal chairman, ordered the lawyer's arrest for accusing him of being biased towards his client. The accusation had led to hot exchanges between Mr Wilson and Mr Asamoah and the chairman ordered his arrest by security men at the tribunal who quickly whisked him away into custody.
Barely an hour later, Mr Asamoah-Cheremeh phoned-in to render an apology to Mr Wilson but he rejected it, saying, "since he (lawyer) showed impudence towards the tribunal before the litigants and the general public, the tribunal would only accept the apology on condition that he came to render it openly before it."
Mr Asamoah re-surfaced at the tribunal later and openly apologised to the tribunal. I am sorry for the inconvenience I created in the court and like the prodigal son it is my heartfelt apology to the court that I have exhibited myself in a manner that is not in consonance with the ethics of the profession."
Mr Wilson, in accepting the apology said "there are occasion that litigants provoke the court but are forgiven. Lawyers are also human beings who must be forgiven when they offend the court."
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Ho (Volta Region) 19 April 2002 - Five employees of the Volta Region Land Valuation Board (LVB) and its former Regional Director, Emmanuel Ampiaw, who were being tried at the regional tribunal for fraudulently causing financial loss to the state and abuse of public office for private profit were last Monday discharged for want of prosecution.
George Sika, a businessman and Felix Adjasoo, teacher, who were jointly charged with them were also discharged. Ampiaw, Kwadwo Gyapong, Vincent Okanta Budu, Kingsley Ansah and Sampson Obeng, all of the LVB, Sika and Adjasco pleaded not guilty to fraudulently causing financial loss to the state, dishonest abuse of public office for private profit, stealing and falsifying documents.
Mr. Emmanuel F. Dzakpasu, the tribunal chairman, said given the very chequered history of about 27 adjournments, "it is our considered opinion that the prosecution lacks the courage to prosecute this case". Mr. Dzakpasu said: "the case is accordingly struck out for want of prosecution."
He said the state is however, at liberty to re-file the case for prosecution. The state was represented by Mr. Charles A. Ofori of the Serious Fraud Office and Mrs. Aba Opoku and Mrs. Felicia Otchere both of the Attorney-General Department. Mr. J.B. Quarshie-Aidam and Mr. Jones Dotse represented Sika and the other accused persons respectively.
According to the prosecution, the accused persons, between August 1997 and June 1998 at Ho, acted together with a common purpose to collect specified sums of money meant for crop compensation in respect of government acquired land for the construction of Kadjebi-Asato Senior Secondary School from the LVB that they were not entitled to.
The prosecution said Sika and Ampiaw fraudulently benefited from 335,797,650 cedis being 30 percent of the total compensation due to the landowners. In addition, Sika alone fraudulently benefited from 659,967,555 cedis.
The prosecution said Ampiaw further benefited from 92,339,000 cedis being compensation meant for James Oko and Stephen Nyame. Gyapong fraudulently received 12,462,000 cedis while Budu took 33,838,250 cedis meant for Kofi Sarpong (deceased) with Obeng collecting 21,215,000 cedis also meant for Kwaku Dua Mensah.
Ampiaw was also cited for dishonestly appropriating 259,900,000 cedis belonging to LVB. The prosecution said Ampiaw again dishonestly abused his office for private profit by withdrawing 125,000,000 cedis of the compensation money and placed it in a fixed deposit account at the Ho branch of the National Investment Bank (NIB) thereby making a profit of 7,729,452 cedis.
Ansah and Adjasco received 3,500,000 cedis and 500,000 cedis respectively from Sika for their role in assisting him (Sika) to dishonestly appropriate monies of the LVB. The prosecution said Budu and Obeng used forged affidavit to collect 33,838,250 cedis and 21,215,900 being crop compensation in respect of Kofi
Sarpong (deceased) and Kwaku Dua Mensah while Gyapong collected 12,462,000 cedis.
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President Kufuor inducted into Ghana Scout
Association.
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April 2002 - President John Agyekum Kufuor was on Thursday inducted into office as the honourary Chief Scout Executive of the Ghana Scout Association.
President Kufuor swore the Scout oath and was decorated with a scarf of the association by Mr Isaac Newton Addy, Chief Scout Commissioner while Mr Lamine Diawara, Regional Director, West Africa Office of the World Scout Bureau pinned a badge on him at a brief ceremony at the Castle, Osu.
A citation read by Mrs Jemima Nartey-Adjirakor, Deputy Chief Scout Commissioner said, "As you accept this honourary position, you help to set the example that the nation's youth need to better understand and live by scouting principles.
"When leaders demonstrate honesty and integrity, a precedence of good is set and a standard of excellence is shown for all to follow". Mr Addy appealed to the government for assistance to rehabilitate the headquarters at the Baden Powell Memorial Hall in Accra and the training grounds at Sekyikrom, near Nsawam.
He said this would encourage the youth to join the association aimed at ensuring moral strength, character, good citizenship and the development of the physical, mental and emotional fitness. President Kufuor recounted his experience as a young scout in the 1940's when he joined other colleagues to welcome Lady Baden Powell to Ghana in 1949.
He said the country was at crossroads to ensure discipline among the youth and required an institution like the association to restore confidence into the people. President Kufuor said government would offer the needed assistance to institutions and organisations that would ensure discipline among the youth and advised all such institutions to assist the Ministry of Youth and Sports to draw up policies that would benefit the youth.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April 2002 - An official of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) on Thursday urged students to avoid corrupt practices that might affect their future careers. "Students must have the moral courage to avoid corrupt practices for them to have good records to face future job opportunities since any act committed now, may affect their future careers," Miss Evelyn Bekoe, Acting Head, Public Relations, said.
She was speaking at the first of a series of public education programmes on fraud and corruption for students at the Kinbu Secondary and Technical School in Accra. Her topic was; "The effects of fraud and corruption on developing countries."
The occasion coincided with the swearing-in of the new Students' Representative Council. Miss Bekoe said fraud and corruption were the result of greed, materialism, ostentatious lifestyle, collapse of moral values, insufficient wages and salaries, excessive bureaucracy and dictatorship.
The effects of corruption, she said, were national indebtedness, a vicious cycle of under development; disincentive to hard work, political instability and civil strife. Ms Bekoe, therefore, urged the students to be honest in their dealings by paying in full their school bills and to stop deceiving their parents and peers.
Mr Tetteh Mensah, Assistant Director in charge of Investigations at the SFO, said the programme would be organised in all schools in the country by SFO's regional offices to sensitise the youth and the public on the need to minimise the effects of fraud and corruption.
He said, even though, fraud or corruption could not be eradicated, it could be minimised by society, especially by the youth who were the future leaders. He said corruption that had not been discussed in public in the past, had since the beginning of the 1990s been talked about openly.
Mr Johnson S. D. Omudie, Headmaster of the School, said the programme was timely since a number of students had been engaging in falsification of school bills and examination malpractices.
"Students who normally engage in such practices, add figures to their bills and deduct the difference before they pay their bills while some also pay only half of the amount and pocket the rest." He said three students were involved in falsification of bills this term. He, therefore, asked parents to pay their wards' school bills themselves or visit and check on the correct figures.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April 2002 - Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama on Thursday said African Parliamentarians had a crucial role to play in the success of initiatives that would ensure security, stability and sustainable development of the continent.
"Whether the initiatives succeed or not depends largely on African Parliamentarians, who have the responsibility of extricating the masses from poverty and underdevelopment by the kind of laws they enact," he said.
Alhaji Mahama said this in a speech read on his behalf by Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, at the African regional conference for Parliamentarians in Accra.
Alhaji Mahama called on African Parliamentarians to harness their creative talents and resources and to exploit their comparative advantage in pushing these initiatives forward and also to ensure that they translated into improved living conditions for the continent.
The recent African initiatives were the Conference on Security, Stability Development and Co-operation in Africa (CSSDCA) and the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU). The Conference organised by the African Leadership Forum (ALF) in collaboration with the Foundation for Security Development in Africa (FOSDA) would discuss an agenda for the continent.
It is designed principally to promote and foster African interest with the active involvement of the international community. They are expected to discuss, analyse and take a common position on the initiatives.
The Accra Conference has attracted over 80 parliamentarians from about 40 countries including Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Malawi, Senegal, Togo, The Gambia, Uganda, Botswana, Tanzania, Zambia, Cameroon and Guinea. There are observers from US, Canada, Britain, Norway and The Netherlands.
Alhaji Mahama said: "If these initiatives are to achieve their objectives and make sufficient impact, the people must understand them and be committed to them." He urged the participants to study, analyse and deliberate on the three initiatives, isolating all the strategic issues as well as areas of convergence and complementary within them.
The Vice President also urged African Parliamentarians to device a means of engaging their various governments to ensure that development became a continuous process, while adopting more accountable form of government to the people.
He called on parliamentarians to improve upon the quality of their oversight role both at the regional and national levels. Alhaji Mahama stated that it was now obvious that development would continue to elude Africa unless urgent and "dramatic steps" were taken to redirect actions and resources.
Alhaji Mahama also expressed concern about decades of wars, violent conflicts, political instability and economic crisis, the continent's huge external debt and debt servicing cost and the general negative impact on the development of numerous African countries.
Dr John Malacela, Former Prime Minister of Tanzania, who chaired the opening session, said African parliamentarians were well placed through their functions and potentials to provide the required political leadership for the continent to achieve its objectives of transformation.
"Parliamentarians have the capabilities of releasing and galvanising the creative energies of civil society and also of defining a framework for the political liberalisation of states and institutions."
"We appear to be the Messiah of the continent that can fulfil the expectations of the people." Dr Malacela, who is also a member of the Tanzanian Parliament, however, questioned the capacity of African Parliaments to effectively face the challenges.
He said there was a growing concern to reinforce the overall relevance of parliaments on the continent as agents of change in line with the obvious challenges of sustainable development in Africa's democratic setting.
Dr Malacela said Africa had started showing overall economic growth for the first time in more than a decade. "There is a renewed sense of hope and determination as stability is being rediscovered, investment is returning to many countries."
On the African Initiatives, Dr Malacela, said they demonstrated a clear departure from previous initiatives that were more often than not imposed on the continent by others.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April 2002 - The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyeman returned home from Dakar, Senegal on Thursday after participation in the summit on the private sector financing of the New Partnership for Africa's Development.
A statement in Accra said the minister, who represented the President was accompanied by Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation, Mr. Kwamena Bartels, Minister for Private Sector Development, government officials and representatives of the private sector, including Alhaji
Asuma Banda, Chief Executive of Antrak Ltd.
The summit was at the invitation of President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and was attended by 12 African leaders, including President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Joachim Chisano of Mozambique.
The objective was to provide a platform for representatives of the private sector to engage in a dialogue with African leaders and other stakeholders on how they could, together push forward the Development agenda envisaged under the NEPAD.
There was a consensus among participants that, to engage the private sector in a constructive way, African governments would have to put their houses in order by creating the necessary enabling environment for the private sector to operate.
African countries were also asked to mobilise their vast internal resources as well as capital invested by their citizens abroad. It was acknowledged that if the estimated 320 billion dollars believed to be invested by Africans abroad could be brought back to Africa, would represent a substantial portion of the capital needed for Africa's development requirements.
The private sector finance for major projects required for Africa's development, including infrastructure, education, capacity building and sustainable health including programmes to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic and other communicable diseases were also discussed.
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Akwatia (Eastern Region) 19 April 2002 - The Eastern Regional Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Adi Ankama has stated that the party is not perturbed by the negative propaganda of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) machinery network seeking to negate the achievements of the government so far. Nana Ankama made the assertion during a constituency meeting of the party at Akwatia in the Eastern Region.
He said knowing the positive impact of the changes which have begun to take place in the social and economic lives of the people since the NPP came into power, the NDC was doing all it could to confuse the people instead of admitting its failures during the 20 years that it was in power beginning from the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) era.
Citing the government's decision to join the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) as an example, Nana Adi Ankama said, Ghana was already a HIPC nation before the NPP came into power. "So what crime has the NPP government committed by being sincere in joining the HIPC nations in order to benefit from the decision which has already started yielding fruitful results"? Nana Adi Ankama asked.
The regional chairman asserted that at the end of the first four years of the NPP government in office, Ghanaians would be the better judges. The Kwaebibrem District Chief Executive, Mr Yaw Yiadom Boakye said, he would not relent in the efforts of ensuring that each community had its fair share of development projects in the district.
Mr Yiadom Boakye said his main focus was to ensure massive developments in response to the confidence reposed in him by the President and the people. The DCE expressed happiness at the level of co-operation between him and the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area. He cautioned against undermining and factionalism and called for unity within the party.
The MP, Mr Kiston Akomia Kissi said even though his share of the common fund was not much compared to the volume of work needed to be done, he would ensure a fair distribution of development projects.
Mr Kissi therefore, pleaded with the people to exercise restraint since he would not discriminate against any area in terms of projects. He warned that he was not prepared to dish out money to people in order to win their confidence.
The constituency chairman of the party, Mr Richard Ofosu said the government was ready to open up all rural areas by rehabilitating feeder roads to facilitate the easy movement of goods and services. Mr Ofosu appealed to the people to assist the security agencies to check the spate of armed robberies and other crimes in the society by reporting all suspicious characters to the police.
He warned all party supporters who would benefit from the Poverty Alleviation Fund not to consider it as a gift but rather ensure that they repay it on schedule so that others could benefit from it.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April 2002 - The Democratic Party of Cote d'Ivoire (PDCI) on 18 April 2002 expressed its appreciation to the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for honouring its invitation to their just-ended congress in Abidjan.
Mr Edward Annan, third Vice Chairman of NPP, led a delegation to the congress. The congress overwhelmingly elected ousted President Konan Bedie as its presidential candidate for the 2005 election.
Bedie was overthrown in a military a coup in December 1999 by a junta led by Robert Guei for alleged misrule. The military organised an election that was won by Mr Laurent Gbagbo but Guei attempted to steal the vote. A popular revolt kicked out Guei and Gbagbo was inaugurated as the new president.
Mr Konan Bossou, Special Representative of the PDCI in Ghana, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the NPP's presence at the congress demonstrated the party's belief in democratic principles.
"We see the NPP as a sister party, we have to collaborate with to strengthen democracy in the sub-region." Mr Bossou said Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire had common ties that must be nurtured for the mutual benefit of their people.
The PDCI, founded by former President Felix Houphouet-Boigny, founder of modern day Cote d'Ivoire, ruled the country for 40 years before it was overthrown. He said the re-election of Bedie to lead the party by over 80 per cent of the party's delegates indicated that truth has triumphed over lies about his stewardship of the country."
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Koforidua (Eastern Region) 19 April 2002 - The demand for passports in the Eastern Region is rising steadily in recent times following the introduction of the computerisation processing procedures by both the Directorate of Passports and the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS).
Records at the Eastern Region GIS at Koforidua indicated that 527 passports have been issued between January and March this year. While 1,581 passport applicants were served in 2000, the figure rose to 2,365 last year.
The Eastern Regional Immigration Officer, Mr. Odartey Lamptey, told the Ghana News Agency on Thursday it takes up to six weeks to process and deliver passports to applicants in any part of the region.
He attributed delays to the need to ensure that an applicant was "security straight," based on the information provided on the application form. ''In a few cases, the applicant is invited to clarify certain issues''. Mr. Lamptey said the two agencies are trying to live up to the four-week period of processing and delivery of passports as announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs recently.
''Sometimes delays are due to either computer breakdown or checking of information provided by an applicant''. On the presence of expatriates in the region, he said those with resident permits were mostly spouses of professionals and missionary workers.
Mr. Lamptey said most tourists reside in Accra and pay short visits to tourism attraction sites. Such persons are not obliged to register their presence at the GIS offices once they possess their visas and stay permits.
Mr. Lamptey expressed concern about the failure of most hoteliers to furnish the service with returns on non-citizens who lodged in their facilities even though they had been supplied with the appropriate forms to do so fortnightly. To improve the situation, he announced that the GIS had plans to mount education fora for hoteliers in the region on their obligation towards enhancing national security.
He appealed to the public, especially landlords and hoteliers, to inform the GIS about any suspicious aliens in their communities to ensure that their movements were monitored for possible interrogation before they indulged in any criminal activities.
On the issue of Fulani herdsmen and the destruction of the environment by their herds, Mr Lamptey explained that in view of its "sensitive nature", the government was handling it, saying the service was waiting for a directive on them.
Mr. Lamptey, who complained about the lack of adequate accommodation for the Regional Office, appealed to the Eastern Region Co-ordinating Council to come to their assistance.
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Mampong (Ashanti Region) 19 April 2002 - Two youngsters suspected to belong to a gang of armed robbers that had for sometime now been robbing traders on the Ejura-Yeji road have been arrested by the Asante-Mampong Police.
Yaw Amos, 18 and Kwaku Ameyaw, 14, all hail from Banda-Boasi, in the Brong-Ahafo Region. A locally manufactured pistol, five rounds of ammunition, a catapult and a bicycle were retrieved from them.
Alhaji Hamidu Mahama, Mampong Divisional Police Commander, told the Ghana news Agency that following a tip-off, the police launched a search for the suspects and apprehended them at their hideout.
He said the modus operandi of the robbers now was to recruit and train young boys to spy on the movement of the traders and assist in transporting their ammunition to their hideouts and give them the time and when to strike. Alhaji Mahama said prior to the arrest of the two, speculations were rife that leaders of a gang of armed robbers were in town, but they quickly scattered when the two scouts were arrested.
He has, therefore, cautioned the public to be on the look out for suspicious youngsters in their midst or in their vicinities. Yaw Amos told the GNA in the presence of Police that he had access to the pistol about four years ago during the Banda-Boasi chieftaincy crisis. He said he knows how to handle different types of guns.
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Koforidua (Eastern Region) 19 April 2002 - Twenty-five armed robberies were reported in the Eastern Region between January and March, up from the nine recorded during the same period last year.
Most of the robberies occurred on the Nsawam-Nkawkaw Highway and the Koforidua-Somanya-Senchi trunk road, the Regional Police Commander, Mr Selwyn Bart Mettle, announced at a meeting with leaders of three motor unions in Koforidua, on Wednesday.
He said in most cases, the robbers seized vehicles from drivers to execute their crimes, adding that this could be checked if drivers were vigilant to provide the Police with information on suspicious characters, who invariably study the movement of vehicles and passengers before waylaying them.
He asked the union leaders to warn passengers with huge sums of money to bank the money for cheques or bankers drafts. They should also look out for owners of luggage that might contain firearms, implements for robbery or narcotic drugs and "not be content with only the fares and charges."
The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) expressed concern about the divisions and acrimony within and among the various transport unions and called for a united front to enable them to become reliable allies of the Police in combating crime.
Mr Mettle urged the unions to form watchdog squads at the lorry stations and join others in their communities to form similar squads, stressing that, "every law-abiding person is important in the creation of crime consciousness and vigilance against criminal activities."
The Regional Commander also drew the attention of the unions to the current exercise against illegal timber operations in the region. He asked them to caution their members to be on their guard against being lured to cart chain-sawn lumber since the vehicles would be confiscated to the state when caught.
Spokesmen of the unions assured the Police of their full co-operation in the anti-crime crusade and urged the Police to help them rid the lorry stations of wee peddlers and vendors of alcoholic beverages.
The transport unions represented were the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Co-operative Transport Union (CTU) and the Progressive Transport Owners Association (PROTOA).
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 April 2002 - The Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC) on Thursday condemned the use of the South African security apparatus to intimidate and suppress people who had embarked on a peaceful protest to back their demands.
In a statement signed by its Head of Communications, Mr Steve Manteaw, the organisation said it was dismayed that "the ANC government which came to power on the back of popular revolt and long struggle for justice, has very quickly turned against its own people sustaining that same struggle."
The statement followed reports of the arrest of over 100 members of the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee, who were protesting against mass electricity and water disconnection as a result of the country's privatisation policy.
"We call on the government of Mr Thabo Mbeki to release without delay all those being held on account of asserting their right to social justice and the charges against them dropped unconditionally," the statement said.
"We join in solidarity with the poor of Soweto to assert their right to basic public goods, such as electricity and water," it added. The statement urged the government to re-examine the policies that had led to the mass unrest in the South African society and make the necessary policy changes to address the fears and concerns of the people.
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