"Dollar a month for Ghana" for national development
Ghanaians abroad should help with development
$20,000 needed for Wa water expansion
EC issues writ of by-election for Amenfi West
"Dollar a month for
Accra
(Greater Accra) 01 April 2003 - The "Dollar a month for Ghana", a
project under which Ghanaians resident in Freetown, Sierra Leone, contribute
towards the development of Ghana, on Monday donated 300 dual-desks and 2,000
spectacles all valued at 124 million cedis to the government.
Making the
presentation through the Minister of Defence, Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor,
The
contributors were made up of professionals, the fishing community and soldiers
working with UN Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).
He said the
project was in response to the call by President Kufuor to Ghanaian missions
abroad to focus on economic diplomacy. He said the Ghana High Commission in
The High
Commissioner said the project, which was launched by the Minister of Defence on
12 February last year, had as by 12 March this year yielded $20,000.
He thanked
Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, outgoing Foreign Minster, Brigadier Samuel Odotei, Chief
of Staff of the Ghana Armed Forces, who was the Commander of the Ghanaian
contingent in
Dr Addo
Kufuor observed that
He, therefore,
suggested to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to consider setting up a division
to encourage and organise Ghanaians staying abroad to help with the nation's
development.
The Ghana
Armed Forces Educational Unit would receive 200 dual desks. Schools at Burma
Camp would get 100 while Ho Mortar Regiment Primary School and
The Ghana
Education Service would receive 100 dual desks. Fifty each would go to a
primary school in Afram Plains South in the Eastern Region and a primary school
in the Jirapa-Lambussie District in the Upper West Region.
The Ghana
Eye Secretariat would receive the 2,000 spectacles for school children in four
districts in the Western and Central Regions.
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Ghanaians abroad should help with development
Dr
Addo-Kufuor said this during a presentation of dual desks and chairs for first
cycle schools and 2,000 spectacles costing ř124m to the government.
Blay-Amihere
said the donation was made from a project known as the "Dollar a Month for
This is in
the form of contributions of one dollar a month by Ghanaians in
He said the
Ghana High Commission in
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$20,000 needed for Wa water expansion
Wa (Upper
West)
The
treatment plant, which is estimated at $20,000, has the capacity to produce 2.4
million gallons of water a day to alleviate the perennial water shortage in the
regional capital and its environs.
Kwaku
Asare-Kumi, Regional Engineer of GWCL, who made the appeal in an interview,
said the regional capital, with a population of about 90,000 residents, is
dependent on 16 mechanised boreholes for its water supply, which is not
adequate.
He said the
16 boreholes have a capacity of only producing 300,000 gallons of water a day
for the growing population. Asare-Kumi said the opening of the University for
Development Studies (UDS) and a polytechnic regional capital has resulted in
the influx of people into the region while the volume of water supplied still
remains the same.
He said the
water situation becomes critical in the dry season because the wells owned by
individuals in the regional capital dry up and all residents turn to the GWCL
mechanised boreholes for their water supply.
He said the
GWCL is at present seeking funds under the Public Sector Investment Programme
to construct two more boreholes as an interim measure while awaiting funding
for the
Asare-Kumi
said the regional capital cannot continue to rely on underground water for more
than the next five years, since it is drying up while the capital is expanding
into a municipality.
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EC issues writ of by-election for Amenfi West
The
statement said the bye-election followed a notification by the Clerk of
Parliament of a vacancy in the House as a result of the resignation of
The EC said
nominations of candidates shall take place at the office of the Returning
Officer at Asankrangwa on Thursday and Friday 10 April and 11 between 0900 and
1200 hours and 1400 and 1700 hours each day. The statement said nomination
forms could be obtained from the Returning Officer at Asankrangwa.
Every
proposed nomination should be seconded by two registered voters and supported
by 18 other registered voters from the constituency. The statement said the
nomination papers should be delivered to the Returning Officer with the
required deposit of a bank draft of 200,000 cedis and two recent post-card
photographs in colour with a red background.
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Four to five hundred vehicles would be provided under the programme to
enable health workers to purchase these vehicles based on their ability to pay
through monthly deductions over a number of years.
Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Minister, announced this at a meeting with
staff of the Amasaman Health Centre in the Ga District of the Greater Accra
region at the start of a three-day tour of health facilities in the region.
He said the government was concerned about the remuneration, career
development and the exodus of health workers and was, therefore, establishing
mechanisms to address some of these problems.
The Health Minister said 60 vehicles were already in the country ready
for distribution to the three Northern Regions and the Central Region to boost
the morale of health workers in there.
On the way forward, he said that the private sector was expected to take
up 50 per cent of curative health service delivery as against the current 35 to
40 per cent in the next 10 years. This, Dr Afriyie said was part of the
government's response to make the private sector a partner in health care
provision.
He explained that curative care was capital intensive and bringing in
the private sector would help free resources needed by the Ministry for public
health services. Dr Ernestina Mensah Quainoo, Ga District Director of Health
Services, said the facilities at the Amasaman Health Centre were in a bad shape
and appealed for more funds to complete the theatre, which he said could take
care of accident victims on the
She said irregular electricity and water supply and telephone services
were some of the problems the Centre faced. Dr Quainoo said the Centre handled
a lot of buruli ulcer cases and was in need of financial support to enable the
patients to have proper treatment.
She explained that the treatment of the disease, including that for
surgical operations was very expensive. Dr Quainoo said the Ministries of
Health and Education had set up a temporary school at the Health Centre to take
care of children of school going age who were suffering from buruli ulcer and
had to stay at the Centre for several months or years for treatment.
During a tour of Phyto-Rika GIHOC Pharmaceuticals, a drug manufacturing
company, the Health Minister called on local drug manufacturing companies to
liaise with the Trade Ministry for assistance.
Muye Akinkuotu, Managing Director of the company, said the company was
committed to producing quality drugs for the West Africa Sub-Region. The tour
also took the Minister to the
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Mampong (Ashanti Region)
He said this posed a great challenge to local soap manufacturers to
indicate the expiry dates on their products. Osei was speaking at the close of
a two-day workshop for 20 local soap manufacturers drawn from Mampong, Nsuta
and Bonkrong in the Sekyere
West District of Ashanti at the weekend.
The workshop was organised by the Business Advisory Centre (BAC) of the
National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI) and jointly sponsored by the
district assembly and the NBSSI.
He asked soap manufacturers to price their products reasonably to enable
them to capture more customers, particularly in the rural areas where they
operated. The soap manufacturers later formed an association and elected Mrs
Alice Baffour as their president with John Takyi as her vice, while Miss Gladys
Ntri and Mrs Christiana Larbi, financial secretary and patron respectively.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 01 April 2003- Professor Sakyi Amoa,
Director-General of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), on Thursday said the draft
policy on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) would be put
before parliament for approval in August this year.
The draft, which has been in existence for sometime now, is the first
step in efforts to stem the tide of the HIV/AIDS in the country. Speaking to
the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in
He noted that the policy would also encourage employers and other
members of society to have positive attitude towards people living with the
menace and keep them in productive employment for as long as possible.
Prof. Amoa said the draft policy was circulated for comments,
suggestions, recommendations but it was so well written and comprehensive that
nothing was taken out of it.
"The only areas that our attention was drawn to were the issues of
rape and defilement cases and their legal implications, which were not captured
in the policy and those issues have been well noted".
The policy would address issues such as the situation of orphans, AIDS
education in schools, human rights, treatment and care, research ethics and
also design programmes that would create the necessary conducive environment
through advocacy, to ensure sustained political commitment and support for
effective action against HIV/AIDS/STI.
Prof Amoa said the policy when passed into law would ensure that access
to social and economic opportunities remained open to people living with AIDS
without any discrimination or stigmatisation.
He called for the commitment and co-operation of all stakeholders to
ensure that the policy is translated into action to fight the HIV/AIDS, which
was depleting the productive workforce as well as the reproductive segment of
the population.
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Wassa Amenfi (Western Region)
Samuel Alberto Takyi, Wassa Amenfi District Chief Executive (DCE),
announced this at the inauguration of the Wassa Amenfi Students Union at the
weekend. He said the split was in line with the government's decentralisation
policy and that documents on the proposal had been forwarded to the Electoral
Commission for study.
Takyi urged graduates from the area to take advantage of the arrangement
and apply for employment in the departments that would be created. The DCE
attributed the low standard of education in the district to inadequate
logistics and the uneven distribution of infrastructure. He appealed to
citizens living in and outside the country to compliment the efforts of the
government by contributing to the development of education in the area.
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The Registry said for people to know their correct ages has a lot of
socio-economic implications that would have to make it sit up and educate the
people of the need to register Births and Deaths.
Samuel Pedro Ankrah, Registrar of Births and Deaths told the Ghana News
Agency (GNA) in an interview that Birth and Death Certificates were important
determinants for many developmental issues.
People due for retirement would not, as it was being alleged, go on
swearing affidavits to change their ages to remain at post. "When one's
birth date is registered it helps to determine the population of the country,
it helps job determination, to plan for education and it helps in crime detection''.
Ankrah said, "there are people even though they have all the
chances to register their birth fail to do so and cannot state the exact date
they were born and keep on referring to historical events to identify dates of
births".
He said registration of deaths helped to remove dead names from the
voters register and to avoid rigging during voting and helped in the
administration of the estate of the deceased. Ankrah said data on deaths assist
health officials to know the number of people who died through a particular
disease such as "cholera" so as to protect the living from being
infected. Some people, he said, don't report deaths for the fear that their
relatives might fight with them over properties.
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"What the country needs at present is a contingency approach where
the socio-economic and political issues confronting the nation should be
perceived with the "fear of God", a condition that seemed to have
never been given recognition by our politicians," he said.
Rev Dr Tetteh said this on arrival in the country for a week-long prayer
and fasting programme being organised by the University of Cape Coast as part
of this year's Students Representative Council's (SRC) Week Celebrations.
The weeklong activity is under the theme: "Heal Our land,
Lord." Rev Dr Tetteh said "if the fear of God becomes part of our
national life, the fundamental aspirations and the basic needs of both the
leaders and their people would be met because God has become the centre and director
of affairs in the national life".
He said students basically were vulnerable and, therefore, all attention
should not be on achieving academic pursuits alone but also their moral life
must be pursued with earnest. Rev Dr Tetteh urged lecturers and teachers of
educational institutions to see themselves as key partners in the instilment of
disciplines and good moral values in their students.
He said the expected good future of a student or person rested largely
on the amount of moral discipline instilled in him or her at their youthful
stages adding: "The prayer and fasting on the campus of the UCC will be a
stepping stone to launch such a crusade in the country."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 01 April 2003- A Prosecution Witness on Monday
told an Accra Fast Track Court that he received a letter from the Ministry of
Trade and Industry requesting payment for a proposed study into the creation of
the Science and Technology Community Park.
Wilberforce Tackie Nunoo, a former clerk at the Ministry of Finance,
said the letter dated
Nunoo, now Senior Security Officer, was giving evidence in the case in
which Abodakpi and Victor Selormey, former Deputy Minister of Finance, are
standing trail for causing financial loss to the state.
They are facing seven counts of conspiracy to commit crime, defrauding
by false pretences and wilfully causing a loss of 2.73 billion cedis to the
State. They have denied all the charges and are on self-recognisance bail in
the sum of three billion cedis each.
The Witness said when he received the letter he stamped it, gave it a
number and logged it in a receipt notebook and forwarded it to the Selormey's
secretary. Miss Eva Mends, another Prosecution Witness, said she was a Desk
Officer for the
She said she was involved in the negotiation and management of loans and
aid. Witness said she was aware of the Trade and Investment Programme (TIP)
that was aimed at supporting institutions involved in trade. She said the TIP
began in 1992 and ended in 1998.
She said before TIP took off, an agreement was signed by Kenneth Brown,
a representative of the
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