Ghana Institute of Journalism holds 41st graduation ceremony
Accra (Greater Accra) 22 April 2002 - Dr Obed Yao Asamoah, a Leading member of National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Monday called for a merger with other minority parties to work closely to recapture political power. "Politics is a game of numbers and anyone who does not appreciate that does not understand the implications of party politics."
Dr Asamoah, who is aspiring to become the chairman of the NDC, was speaking at a news conference to denounce the recent spate of verbal attacks on his personality by people, who were against his candidature for the chairmanship.
He said; "it is a pity that certain persons, who are anxious to chase me out of the party are adding more to their list of persons they cannot do business with. Can you imagine what will happen to the party if we all leave the party?"
Dr Asamoah, who was a former Minister of Justice and Attorney General, said that it was important that the party worked towards bringing back some personalities, who had left for one reason or the other.
"It is essential to create conditions for the return and active participation in party affairs of personalities like Captain Kojo Tsikata, Mr P. V. Obeng and Dr Kwesi Botchwey. Even if feasible, we should ensure the return into the fold, members of the Reform Party."
Dr Asamoah disagreed that he has dictatorial tendencies and was ambitious to become the flag bearer of the party and that as chairman he would prevent Professor John Atta Mills from becoming the flag-bearer of the party.
"This is politically and legally impossible not to mention the fact that it is inconsistent with my fight for the right of any member of the party to vie for any post of his choice. This is obviously a mere propaganda designed to eliminate support from pro-Mills supporters for me."
He said because of his intention to contest, he had suddenly been turned into a criminal being accused of all sorts of crimes, adding " even if all the crimes I am accused of were true, it is not for one person or a cabal to disqualify me from holding office. Democratic culture requires that this be left to the National Delegates' Congress to determine."
On election of a flag-bearer, Dr Asamoah said there was no need to rush it, adding, " except for those who lacked political savvy, the flag bearer is unattractive if the party is not sufficiently re-organised to ensure success at the polls.
He said his fight for the chairmanship was to help create a fighting machine capable of challenging the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2004 race. The Former Minister of Justice said; " Don't let us be distracted by a guessing game as to what I want to do in future. I cannot tell you now what my future will be."
He warned that determining a flag bearer now for the party would set off an early presidential campaign, which would require a great amount of finance that was unavailable, and it would also prejudice the requirement of putting up a broad front to challenge the NPP.
He said he did not believe in the Swedru declaration type of democracy but in the elective principle and expressed his commitment to the party, saying he would not leave the party just because he was not voted to the office of chairman.
"I have remained in the party, in spite of attacks, vicious smear campaigns and even threats of assassination. I could long have taken the line of least resistance and abandoned my membership of the party to avoid the mudslinging I have been subjected to, but I didn't." The Police in March detained two NDC activists in Kumasi for plotting to assassinate Dr Asamoah. They were later released.
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Bolgatanga (Upper East) 22 April 2002 - Alhaji Iddrisu Mahama, former Defence Minister in the erstwhile NDC government at the weekend launched his campaign for the National Chairmanship of the party in the Upper East Region.
Addressing the Upper East executive of the party in Bolgatanga, he said he had no ambitions for the presidential slot of the party. ''My ambition for campaigning for election to be the national chairman of the party is to unify it,'' he said and called on supporters of NDC to unite and learn to trust each other, putting the party first instead of individual interests.
Mr. Moses Asaga, MP for Nabdam constituency and a member of the Northern caucus in Parliament, noted that former President Jerry John Rawlings and Dr. Obed Asamoah, were both needed in the party's quest for unification and added that everything should be done to foster a positive relationship between them. He urged all contestants to see the party emerging from its pending congress as a strong, unified body for the good of the country's politics.
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Ho (Greater Accra) 22 April 2002 - The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) on Sunday appealed to the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and National Media Commission (NMC) to collaborate with it and other stakeholders to fight the menace of unethical advertisements on health and quack healthcare practices to protect the health of the people.
The association noted with concern the high rate of unethical advertisements by quacks and some healthcare practitioners in the media and advised FM stations especially to be circumspect in their talk shows on health matters. These were contained in a communiqué issued at the end of the association's Second Quarterly Meeting of its Representative Board on Sunday in Ho.
The GMA noted in particular advertisements diagnosing, treating and prescribing in the media false information on health provided by untrained people and the many unverifiable claims of efficacy attributed to many medicinal preparations and called for a check on this menace.
The communiqué also called on all stakeholders in the transport business to take the necessary and urgent steps to ensure the safety of travellers on the highways because the country could not continue to lose innocent lives as the "wealth of a nation is in its people".
The nine-point communiqué signed by its president, Dr Jacob Plange-Rhule and Dr Koma S. Jehu-Appiah, Honorary Secretary, urged government to expedite action on negotiations with doctors and other health professionals for improved salary and conditions of service to forestall possible closure of some health facilities due to lack of adequate staff.
It encouraged the government to also collaborate with all stakeholders of the proposed health insurance scheme and intensify information and education of the scheme to ensure its smooth and early implementation.
The GMA called for adequate provision of resources for the establishment of the college of physicians and surgeons of Ghana. It also called on the Ministry of Health to streamline the procurement system in the ministry and set up, as a matter of urgency, an investigation into the recent supply of unwholesome drugs to the psychiatric hospitals.
It congratulated the security agencies for their recent successes and urged the government to provide them with the necessary resources to enable them fight the menace of armed robbery.
The communiqué expressed its condolences to the people of Dagbon and urged to government to enhance a peaceful and permanent solution to the Dagbon crisis and all other chieftaincy disputes and ethnic conflicts in the country.
It announced that the 44th Annual General Conference of the association would be held in Accra in November, this year, under the theme "Continuous Quality Improvement in Healthcare". Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, immediate past president of the GMA, said during interactions with the media that urine was a waste and could not cure any disease. He, therefore, warned the public about the current adverts in the media that urine could cure diseases.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 22 April 2002 - A committee under the chairmanship of Dr. E. M. Debrah, a veteran Senior Civil Servant, has been established to produce a plan on an accelerated way for improving public service motivation and performance within six weeks.
This was one of the outcomes of a four-day Ministerial workshop on the delivery of the government's promises to the people, which ended on Sunday at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration in Accra.
A statement in Accra signed for Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, said the workshop under the theme "Maximising our Impact" reviewed public service reform programmes among other topics.
It said the meeting reached agreement on short-term goals, especially the President's five priority areas for the year and the framework of the National Development Plan for consultation and compilation to commence. The meeting also assessed the government's performance and programmes and approved a strategy for effective communication with the people and stakeholders.
The Fifth Ministers' Residential Workshop, which ended at GIMPA in Accra on Sunday, was attended by Ministers and members of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC). It discussed topics like "Maximising our impact as ministers", "Working with the media" and "Civil Service reform".
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 22 April 2002 - A private pharmacist on Saturday attributed the exodus of Ghanaian trained pharmacists abroad to the solid foundation given them by the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi.
Mr Kwabena A. Ohene-Manu, Managing Director of Oyster Health Care Limited, said such a broad-based training enables Ghanaian trained pharmacists to branch into other areas such as cosmetics and soaps/detergents production.
Delivering the sixth in a series of lectures as part of the KNUST's Golden Jubilee Inter-Faculty Lectures held by the Faculty of Pharmacy at the weekend, he said the basic Bachelor of Pharmacy degree programme offered By the Faculty gives such a solid foundation to its graduates that they easily qualify to practise pharmacy in other countries.
Mr Ohene-Manu noted that since its inception in 1964, the Faculty of Pharmacy had produced 1,445 pharmacists but expressed regret that "only about 1,000 of them are in the country with the remaining lost to the Diaspora". He said: "Although we have lost the remaining to the Diaspora, I believe they are still making significant contributions towards advancement of Ghana."
Mr Ohene-Manu who is also the chairman of the Ghana Chapter of the West African Post-Graduate College of Pharmacists, was speaking on "The Impact of Pharmacy on National Development".
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Kumasi (Ashant Region) 22 April 2002 - Miss Christine Churcher, Minister of State in charge of Basic, Secondary and Girl-Child Education, said at the weekend that the Ministry of Education is not prepared to use scarce resources to repair or replace school property destroyed by indisciplined students.
She said the Ministry needs more money to provide additional dormitories and hostels, laboratories and workshops, masters bungalows, office accommodation, computers, vehicles and books to create a conducive atmosphere for teaching and learning.
Addressing a three-day first national conference of the various cadets at the Saint Louis Secondary School in Kumasi on Saturday, Ms Churcher noted that the rampant sexual harassment and disrespect to authorities were seriously affecting the ability of students to learn. "No wonder the results of students who involve themselves in such acts are always poor," she noted.
Miss Churcher told the students that the government would do whatever it could to assist brilliant but needy students and deprived areas but added that the choice to take advantage of the situation lay with individuals. She, therefore, asked them to take advantage of the opportunities before them since education would enable them to cope with all circumstances.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 22 April 2002 - Christian youth organisations in Kumasi on Saturday called for a separate ministry to address all issues concerning the youth. They contended that putting the youth and sports under one ministry had caused great harm to the youth since sports had dominated the activities of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
The organisations, which embrace Scripture Unions of the various institutions in Kumasi, made the call at a press conference organised by the Scriptures Union Youth Evangelistic Fellowship.
Addressing the press conference, Mr Clement Achim-Gyimah, Project Director of Ashanti Conference of Evangelisation (ASHCOE), noted that several policies and about 80 per cent of the Ministry's time and focus were concentrated on sports.
Mr Achim-Gyimah said there was a consensus that the youth, who are the assets and investment of the nation, were gradually degenerating morally and attributed this to a number of factors. These, he said, included awareness created by some products that are very harmful to the youth and pornographic books and pictures circulating freely on the market.
The other factors are the Internet and use of immoral and profane words in music and advertisements on the electronic media as well as the importation of video films shown on national television and the changing rate of fashion depicting nudity.
Mr Achim-Gyimah called on the government to review the disciplinary code for schools and dismiss heads of institutions whose actions and deeds lead to the degradation of their schools.
The Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Achim-Gyimah said, should set up functional counselling centres in schools to provide counselling services and advice to confused youth while strengthening the existing counselling centres to function effectively. He also advised the youth to be mindful of their actions and set high goals for themselves for a better future.
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Japekrom (Brong Ahafo) 22 April 2002 - Mr Yaw Adjei-Duffuor, Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, on Saturday called on religious bodies and organisations to complement the efforts of the government in finding solutions to problems of the youth.
He explained that a major concern of the government was the welfare and socio-economic future of the youth. "Most of the youth are alienated from a stable family atmosphere and are restless, which leads them to misuse their leisure time," he said.
Mr Adjei-Duffuor was speaking at the opening of the 36th annual conference of the Brong Ahafo Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana at Japekrom in the Jaman District of the Brong Ahafo Region.
A total of 120 delegates including pastors, catechists and members of the Regional Presbyterian Council are attending the six-day conference under the theme: "Advancing the Course of Christ in Change".
The conference would take stock of activities of the Presbytery in the past year and plan to make a stronger impact in the socio-economic and political transformation of society.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 22 April 2002 - The Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, on Friday called for a massive education on tourism as a cross-cultural activity to enable Ghanaians to appreciate each other's cultural values and tourist attractions. He noted that the majority of the people were yet to consider tourism as a tool for national development.
Baffour Osei Hyeamann Brantuo VI, the Asantehene's Manwerehene, was speaking on behalf of Otumfuo Osei Tutu at the first anniversary celebration of the Tour Operators Union of Ghana (TOUGHA) in Accra. He urged other stakeholders in tourism to assist TOUGHA in creating and sustaining tourism awareness among Ghanaians.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu said tourism plays a significant role in the socio-economic development of the country and asked individuals and organisations to co-operate with government in developing the sector.
He said the culture and traditions of the people, which revolved around chieftaincy, could be developed to make Ghana the best tourist destination in Africa. Nana Prempeh Annin-Bonsu, President of TOUGHA, said the event had afforded the union the opportunity to establish benchmarks that could assist in facilitating its work.
Mr E.V. Hagan, a Director at the Ministry of Tourism, urged the Union to travel extensively in the country to enable it to identify attractions that could be developed to boost the tourism industry. Mr Osei Bonsu, Deputy Director, in charge of Finance and Administration of the Ghana Tourist Board, appealed to TOUGHA to work assiduously to achieve its objectives.
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Cape Coast (Central Region) 22 April 2002 - The water problem in Cape Coast municipality has worsened following an announcement by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) that it was not operating due to the low level of water in Broimsu River.
The announcement, which was made on the local Atlantic FM radio station, monitored on Saturday said the GWCL had consequently engaged the services of water tanker operators to help solve the problem.
The company was regulating the supply of water to the municipality until this development. Meanwhile, residents are relying on wells for supplies while others have to travel long distances for water.
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Teshie (Upper East) 22 April 2002 - Small-scale miners, popularly called 'galamsey' operators, have invaded Teshie, a farming community in the Bawku West District in the Upper East Region, to prospect for gold discovered recently, causing extensive damage to the environment.
The miners, who are working without permission, harass the people and landowners each time they attempt to prevent them from operating. The presence of the galamsey operators has also cause prices of goods and services to go up. For instance, transport fair from Teshie to Zebilla, the district capital, a distance of about five kilometres, has increased from 600 cedis to 1,000 cedis and the price of coca cola from 1,500 cedis to 2,500 cedis.
Most of the youth, mainly schoolchildren, have abandoned the classroom to join the invading galamsey operators to search for the mineral. Teshie has rocky terrain and is surrounded by mountains with little land for farming.
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Winneba (Central Region) 22 April 2002 - The National House of Chiefs, in collaboration with the Chieftaincy Secretariat, has initiated a programme to ensure the proper documentation of procedures for the enstoolment and enskinment of chiefs in the country.
A special team has therefore been mandated to conduct a research and write a book on all traditional areas on the subject matter to serve as a guide for handling chieftaincy matters.
A consultant to the Secretariat, Nana Professor Abayie Boateng, Asoromaso Kwaberehene, at the weekend announced this at Winneba, where he delivered a lecture on " Preserving our Culture Amidst Globalisation" organised by the University College of Education, Winneba branch of Asanteman Students Union (ASU) to round off its weeklong anniversary celebration.
Nana Prof. Boateng, who represented the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II said the team would cover all traditional areas in the country and indicated that it had already completed work on 20 areas. Nana Prof. Boateng condemned the involvement of the youth in chieftaincy affairs, which often results in violence and undermines development.
He reminded Ghanaians that kingmakers, who are abreast with the traditions and customs of the people, are responsible for the enstoolment and enskinment of chiefs and also assist in the settlement of disputes.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 22 April 2002 - The Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) on Saturday, held its 41st graduation ceremony with a plea to the government to revamp the institution, which had not seen any facelift for over 40 years.
The ceremony, which coincided with the Institute's 43rd anniversary, was under the theme "Communication Education and professionalism for Democracy in Ghana". A total of 178 students passed out in both the Diploma in Journalism and Diploma in Public Relations (PR) programmes with two PR students passing with distinction.
Mr. David Newton, Director of the Institute, stressed the need for the training of journalists to be given the attention it deserves to enable the media to play its proper role as a watch dog of people's rights and freedoms and to promote democracy and rule of law.
"This should be reflected in the provision of adequate funding, provision of infrastructure and training facilities and above all improvement in salaries and conditions of service for teaching and non teaching staff".
Mr. Newton said the Institute lacked adequate space, classrooms and facilities such as books and computers and said lows salaries made it difficult to recruit and retain teaching staff.
He noted that the Institute in spite of the problems had endeavoured to upgrade its programmes for higher professionalism through the addition of marketing on the curriculum and the updating of the journalism and public relations and advertising programmes to meet the demands of industry.
The Institute last year started a degree programme in communication studies in affiliation with the University of Ghana as part of the upgrading process. Mr. Newton said admission into the institution had become very competitive with about 1,500 applications for the diploma and 500 for the degree programme.
He noted that even though many were qualified only 300 and 40 respectively for the diploma and degree programmes gain admission due to lack of space and said Parliament had approved 1.4 billion cedis to start the upgrading programme including the building of a 12-classroom block and two hostels for students.
The Institute had also established a five billion-cedi endowment fund, into which every alumni was expected to contribute a minimum of 200,000 cedis and supported by donor agencies and corporate bodies.
The Director thanked the French Embassy for donating a satellite dish and five computers to the Institute and the UNHCR and Cote D'Ivoire for accepting to train students in population reporting.
Mr. Kwabena Agyepong, Deputy Government Spokesman said dramatic changes had occurred in the media since the 1992 constitution came into being and the coming to power of the NPP government, recalling the repeal of the criminal libel law and the freedom of information bill before parliament.
"All these are aimed at ensuring honesty, transparency and equity" he said and asked journalists to uphold the highest professionalism, objectivity, fairness and confidentiality in playing their watchdog role.
Mr. Bruno Lefevre, UNESCO Representative in Ghana said the media had a greater responsibility to combat ignorance, make people knowledgeable and better informed, adding that, "It is not enough to report on issues and allow people to comment".
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