NRC records emotional day as witnesses sob
Accra (Greater Accra) 17 April
2003- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Wednesday warned that government would
not tolerate any clash of personalities in the performance of Ministers.
"The speculations in the
press about clash of personalities in the Ministries would not be tolerated.
There is one leader to every Ministry," he said. The President was
administering the oaths of allegiance, office and secrecy to a Minister, three
Ministers of State and two Deputy Ministers at the Castle, Osu.
They were Alhaji Mustapha Ali
Idris, Minister of Works and Housing, Alhaji Rashid Bawa, Minister of State at
the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, Edward Martey Akita, Minister of
State at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) in charge of Fisheries and
Dr Samuel Nii Ashong, Minister of State in charge of Planning at the Ministry
of Finance and Economic Planning.
The rest were Stephen
Asamoah-Boateng, Deputy Minister of Information and Mr Joseph Akudibillah,
Deputy Minister of Defence. President Kufuor said Ministries that had Ministers
of State and Deputy Ministers should be aware that within them, there was only
one individual at the top who is the Minister.
Referring to the Ministry of Education,
Youth and Sports, President Kufuor said it had one Minister, three Ministers of
State and the two Deputies, who work up to the Minister.
"He is the mouthpiece of
the entire Ministry but could delegate. Everyone should know his or her
position within the team. "If any of the Ministers of State, who cannot
accept the leadership of the Minister and wants to get out, it is just fair to
go about things decently through the acceptable channels.
"There should be no doubt
about it at all, the speculations in the press about clash of personalities
would not be tolerated." President Kufuor said government knew of their
individual competences and they had come together to form the government
because they could make the winning team to move the nation forward to
prosperity.
"The positive change we are
talking about is definitely on course. It is coming and we make the team that
would bring about the positive change and hope we would prove equal to the
task".
President Kufuor said the
government was perhaps the most national in composition since independence and
had bounded the people of Ghana together, adding that its performance could not
be quantified in monetary terms.
He said most people complained
about the cost involved in maintaining many Ministers and asked: "How much
does a Minister earn? How much do we expect from a Minister in managing his/her
Ministry effectively and efficiently?
"This government is not
large but everything we have done was with an eye to finding solutions for the
society, economy. The Ministers should be seen as investments for the State
because the returns from the Ministers will far outweigh whatever we spend on
the Ministers."
President Kufuor said the
government was not into finding jobs for the boys as some of its opponents
would want the people to believe. "That is not our way at all. It is a
very serious matter governing our State. We have confidence in Ghana; we
believe Ghana could do better for it than it had been done so far.
"I believe we have the team
and anybody, who would put the government as it is now under scrutiny, would
find that this government is very well composed for the purpose of
governance."
President Kufuor, therefore,
asked those who had been invited to serve in the government to accept the
challenge and play their part well in whatever position they would be put.
"If you do not fit, the
Team Leader would respectfully beg you to step aside. It could happen. Count
yourselves as honoured to be invited to serve Ghana and play your role in a
fitting manner," the President said.
President Kufuor said government
was established to find solutions to the problems confronting the nation. A
government should be an effective machinery to find solutions for the people
and it was of no use going out for a machine that did not produce results.
President Kufuor debunked the
assertion by some people that the number of Ministers was too large and said,
"from my perception, they are not appreciative of the problem".
He said government was a machine
that must deliver results and be effective. Numbers should not become a
critical issue provided the Ministers helped to find solutions that would make
life easier for the people of Ghana.
"I will dare anybody to
examine critically the number of Ministers in this government to see if there
had been any wastage in terms of the number engaged in finding solutions to the
problems confronting the country now."
Giving instances, President
Kufuor said at the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, the tertiary level
of education was so big and so important that there must be somebody to
specialise in the Ministry with political authority to the leadership to help
the Ministry to come to terms fully with finding solutions to the problems of
tertiary institutions.
He said sports in Ghana was done
by the youth and to offer the required pedestal for sports, then educational
institutions should be used as the nursery grounds to discover and tap talents
and also prepare them to become competitive in the sports arena whether
internally or internationally.
"It is, therefore, logical
to bring education, youth and sports together and not leave them for
businessmen, exploiters and all sorts of manner of people to milk the Youth and
Sports Ministry as in the past."
President Kufuor said apart from
the quality and handicap of the youth, they should be in educational
institutions from the early age up to about 20 years. He said the much talked
about concept of equality and opportunity for the girls' education could not
materialise if an opportunity was not created and spread equally among the very
young people from the pre-school, through primary, the Junior Secondary School
(JSS) and the Senior Secondary School (SSS).
This is also a huge sector of
education that needed special attention and required to be given a political
leadership at a very high level. President Kufuor said the transport sector
that included aviation, maritime and road transport, all being important
sectors, had in the past been placed under one Minister and a Deputy, adding
that no matter how effective they were, they could be found wanting in managing
that complex sector.
He said the government wanted to
have separate sectors to work effectively and efficiently and to modernise them
to have efficient rail, ports and aviation systems in current times when most
of the ports were containerised and computerised.
President Kufuor referred to the
Takoradi Port that had been disused for sometime now and said all these
required serious political direction and investment to enable it to operate
efficiently.
Alhaji Idris on behalf of his
colleagues said they had accepted to work in their various capacities and gave
the assurance that they would work diligently to achieve the goals and
objectives set for the country.
He said they were aware of the
difficulties and problems they would encounter in the discharge of their
responsibilities and duties but pledged to work hard to justify the confidence
reposed in them. Alhaji Idris said they were also aware that they were part of
the team and would endeavour not to let the President, government and the
people of Ghana down. Among those present was Vice President Alhaji Aliu
Mahama.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 17 April
2003- The Co-Chairs of the International Contact Group on Liberia (ICGL) have
urged all stakeholders in the Liberian crisis to accept negotiations on an
early cease-fire as an integral part of round table talks to be convened under
the auspices of ECOWAS.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo,
Minister for Foreign Affairs, representing the Chairman of ECOWAS, President
John Agyekum Kufuor and Mr Hans Dahlgren, Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs of Sweden and the European Union Special Representative to the Mano
River Union, made the appeal during a two-day working visit to the region.
Accompanied by officials of the
African Union, ECOWAS Secretariat and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of
Ghana and Sweden, the Co-Chairs visited Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia in
efforts aimed at revitalising the Liberian peace process so as to promote peace
and stability in the Mano River Region.
A statement from the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs said the Co-Chairs held discussions with the Head of State of
Sierra Leone and Liberia, Presidents Ahmad Tejan Kabbah and Charles Taylor,
respectively, and the Prime Minister Lamine Sidibe of Guinea and also conveyed
to them the conclusions of the second working session of the ICGL held in New
York in February this year.
They also met with leaders of
the LURD, Liberia's registered political parties and representatives of civil
society, women's organisations and religious bodies, the statement said.
The Co-Chairs welcomed the
Liberian government's decision to formally invite the United Nations to send
immediately a UN/AU/ ECOWAS needs assessment mission to evaluate the conditions
for free and fair elections in the country.
They also expressed their
satisfaction for the support of all the parties for the ICGL's mission and
efforts aimed at achieving an early end to the fighting in Liberia. While in
Liberia the Co-Chairs formally introduced the local ICGL, made up of
representatives of the Group based in Monrovia to the Liberian Government,
which expressed its willingness to co-operate with them. The next meeting of
the ICGL to follow up on the issues has been scheduled for Accra.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 17 April
2003- A Commissioner of the National Reconciliation
Commission (NRC) on Wednesday
advised a Witness to change his mental attitude and find a job so that the
money used to train him would not have been wasted.
"Your troubles with the
GWSC are not the end of life and it is sad to spend 20 years just writing
petitions that have yielded no results," General Emmanuel Erskine, Member
of the Commission, told John Hayford, who was dismissed as Chief Accountant of
the then Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation (GWSC) in 1983.
"I appeal to you to try and
reconcile your own self and seek employment to give your wife and four children
some hope," he said. He urged Mr Hayford, who looked depressed and tearful
throughout his testimony, to avail himself of the services of the Commission's
counsellors to help him come out of the trauma.
Hayford, who said he trained in
Britain for 10 years and belonged to the British Institute of Accountants as
well as being a Fellow of Chartered Management Accountants, said the Citizens
Vetting Committee through an announcement on radio cleared him as not being responsible
for the embezzlement in GWSC in 1983.
However, no organisation would
employ him, he said. "As a management accountant or accountant in general,
when you are said to have embezzled funds, no organisation would employ you
despite your calibre or your standard," he said.
Hayford told the NRC that he
sent petitions to Alhaji Abubakar Alhassan, then PNDC Secretary for Works and
Housing and appealed to officials at the Castle as well as to the Attorney
General, but did not receive any reply.
"When government sacked you
in those days, you had no chance to appeal," he said. He said he tried to
seek legal redress and though his lawyer wrote to the corporation, no action
was taken. Rather, a Committee that was set up recommended that he was
redeployed from the GWSC and put in another government organisation where his
services would be more useful.
Hayford expressed regret that he
worked for the GWSC for 10 years but the corporation did not pay him his End of
Service Benefit (ESB). He said though he appealed to the Commission on Human
Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), he had not received any response.
"This country does not want
the truth and it is regrettable for a professional to be treated as though I
was a criminal. If I had the means I would leave this country and would never
return."
Another former employee of the
GWSC, who said he was wrongfully dismissed in 1989, appealed to the NRC for his
immediate reinstatement with full payment of damages. Joseph Kwabena Asamoah, a
former Internal Auditor, said he worked for three-and-a-half years for the
corporation and was 42 years when he was dismissed.
He said his dismissal was later
changed to retirement. Asamoah as well as Mr George Ayittey Abby, Principal
Officer and Emmanuel Asare, Workshop Manager for the GWSC, were dismissed for
alleged embezzlement.
According to the letters of
interdiction, the officers were said to have claimed that they used the money
to purchase items, including spare parts and tyres, for the corporation's
vehicles and stationery.
Asamoah said Abby and Asare were
also within the same age group and had worked for 19 years for the Corporation.
"The dismissal and premature retirement was an abuse of our constitutional
rights as the Constitution pegged the age of retirement at 60 years."
Asamoah said the dismissal was
also a breach of the Senior Staff condition of service. He said that though
Management of GWSC claimed their retirement was based on a directive from
government, it was not true because that claim could not be substantiated.
He said he and his colleagues
were arrested with three other top officials in October 1989 and he spent seven
weeks at the Achimota Police Station. He said the Police did not take their
statements.
Asamoah said they appeared
before the National Investigations Committee (NIC) that froze their accounts,
took their statements and seized their passports and asked them to report
everyday for three months to help with investigations.
In August 1991, a report from
the NIC said they had been exonerated and no charge of financial malpractice
was levelled against them. "It (NIC) advised the GWSC that we should be
recalled."
Asamoah said Amprah Twum, then,
Secretary of the GWSC, promised that the letters of recall would be forwarded
to them but after six months nothing was forthcoming. They rather saw a
publication in July 1992 that their interdiction had been changed to
retirement. Asamoah said the publication was fictitious because it based its
source to a "Statement issued in Accra," adding it was rather meant
for some 23 interdicted and dismissed public servants.
He said they petitioned former
President Jerry John Rawlings and former Presidential Adviser, Nathan Quao but
nothing positive came out of it. They also petitioned Kwamena Bartels, former Minister
of Works and Housing, but he was changed in a Cabinet reshuffle.
He said a response to a petition
they later sent to the Ghana Water Company Limited claimed the company could
not reinstate them. He said that only one-third of their interdiction salary
had been paid to them as at 1992.
Mrs Jemima Toseafe, Legal
Adviser of GWCL, said the Company paid Asamoah his ESB, which he mistakenly
took for his long service award. "You cannot be paid a long service award
when you worked for only three-and-a-half years."
The Reverend Father Samuel L.
Lamptey, Head of Personnel of GWCL, said 75 per cent of the salaries, including
the ESB, transport to convey their belongings, back pay and outstanding leave
were paid to Asamoah and his colleagues and only 25 per cent of their salaries
was withheld.
He said vouchers for some of the
payments that were made were missing from the company adding since the company
was not computerised at the time, they could not be retrieved.
Rev. Lamptey said the company by
then did not know about the NIC investigations. He said although it was the
Ministry of Works and Housing, that ordered the dismissal of Asamoah and his
colleagues, the company could not do otherwise because "those days it was
obey before complain".
Justice Amoah Sekyi, Chairman of
the NRC, said changing interdiction to retirement was one of the most
interesting things he had heard since the Commission began work and promised
that the Commission would look into the matter.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 17 April
2003- The National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) on Wednesday said Act 611
that established the Commission grants it the discretionary power to hold
in-camera hearings "for good cause".
A statement signed in Accra by
Dr Kenneth Attafuah, Executive Secretary, said where the Commission decides to
hear a case in private, it has the power to direct that no information from the
proceedings shall be made public.
It said a person shall not
disclose the identity of a Witness in the proceedings and records of
proceedings be kept in such a manner as to protect the identity of the Witness.
"In effect, a decision by members of the Commission, using their
collective wisdom and experience, to hear a case in private triggers a number
of statutory obligations on members and staff of the Commission, as well as any
other persons who may be present at the private hearing."
The statement said among these
is mandatory observation of confidentiality and secrecy. "Such persons
have a duty to preserve and assist in the preservation of the confidentiality
of any matter which the Commission may designate as confidential and to which
such persons have become privy, including, in appropriate circumstances, the
identity of Witnesses."
The statement said in
appropriate cases, the Commission might issue an order prohibiting the
publication of any identifying characteristics of a Witness. The NRC said the
Commission might "for good reason" direct the disclosure or
publication of some information about the identity of a Witness or the
proceedings.
This may be the case, for
instance, where the Commission believed that such a publication was in the
national interest. The NRC said under the Act, the Commission had the power to
decide the extent to which the identity of any petitioner, witness or informant
may be disclosed in any report it might issue.
"Under Section 19 (5), no
person (including a Journalist) may disclose or make known any information that
is confidential by virtue of any provision of this Act. "Any person who
breaches the confidentiality imposed on him/her by the Act commits an offence
and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding 500 penalty units
or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding two years or both."
The NRC said although the Act
did not define the scope of "good cause", there were three principles
in common law to govern the circumstances under which courts and administrative
tribunals might hear evidence in camera.
These are where the security of
the state may be jeopardized, for example, evidence relating to the policing
strategies used by the security agencies in apprehending persons suspected of
sedition and where the personal safety of a witness or other person may be
compromised.
The third principle is where
public decency or morality may be gravely offended by the nature of the
testimony, for example in graphic details of rape or sexual assault. The NRC
said under the Act, a prospective witness may apply to the Commission to hear
his/her evidence in private, but it might or might not oblige after hearing the
grounds of the request.
It stressed that where the
Commission decided to hear a case in private, it had the power to direct that
no information from the proceedings should be made public. Also, a person shall
not disclose the identity of a witness and records of proceedings shall be kept
in such a manner as to protect the identity of a witness.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 17 April
2003- Canada is to provide four million dollars to the Economic Community of
West African States (ECOWAS) for its peacekeeping efforts in Cote d'Ivoire.
Miss Susan Whelan, Canadian
Minister for International Co-operation, who announced this in Accra on
Wednesday, said Canada had already provided 500,000 dollars to the ECOWAS.
Miss Whelan currently on a visit
to Ghana said this when she paid a courtesy call on ECOWAS Chairman President
John Agyekum Kufuor at the Castle, Osu. She said Canada and Ghana had had cordial
relationship in the past but this had seen a remarkable improvement under the
current government.
In Africa, Miss Whelan said
Canada's assistance had been in the fields of peacekeeping, security, water and
good governance. President Kufuor said that more assistance was required to
continue with the peacekeeping process through the ECOFORCE in Cote d'Ivoire.
This is because funds to
maintain the forces had been depleted and efforts were being made to solicit
more funds from donor countries. On Ghana-Canada relations, President Kufuor
said both countries had co-operated well and expressed appreciation to Canada
for its concern for the country's socio-economic development, especially in
human development, rural development water and health sectors.
He said Canada had proved to be
the voice of Africa on the G-8 and taken an effective position in the
implementation of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
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Accra (Greater Accra) 17 April
2003- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Wednesday said the National
Reconciliation Commission (NRC) was not for vindictiveness but an exercise to
recapture the country's lost soul and for the people to move together as one.
He said since independence, the
country had undergone sad and unfortunate experiences as a result of which it
had lost its spirit of showmanship and wealth. It is to regain its soul that
government found it necessary to launch the NRC.
"Government had sworn to
respect the human rights of Ghanaians and the NRC was to recapture the soul of
the country and move together as one people," he added. President Kufuor
said this when a seven-member delegation from the Western Regional House of
Chiefs paid a courtesy call on him at the Castle, Osu.
He said the reconciliation
exercise was not for petty political gains but for those who were maltreated or
suffered human rights abuses to come forward and those who perpetrated these
deeds to show remorse in order that all and sundry would move ahead together.
President Kufuor said government
would not relent in its efforts at developing all parts of the country. He said
government would never use intimidation, vote buying or any means or
malpractice to induce the people.
"Government will never do
such a thing but will continue with development projects in all parts of the
country. Let it be so and let anyone complain." President Kufuor said
about 95 per cent of the Ministers, Ministers of State and Deputies had been
appointed members of government for the first time and would need some time to
settle down and work efficiently.
He therefore appealed to chiefs
to transfer their experiences to them in their activities and at the national
level. Kasapreko Kwame Bassanyi III, Omanhene of Wassa Akropong Traditional
Area and President of the House, who led the delegation, expressed appreciation
to the government in its socio-economic development efforts to improve the
living standards of the people.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 17 April
2003- Open tears, sobs and wailing, accompanied by anger marked proceedings at
the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) on Wednesday as one witness after
another narrated their ordeals in the aftermath of the 4 June 1979 military
Uprising and Halidu Giwa's abortive coup in June 1983.
Madam Sikiratu Dogbe Ajane, who
brought with her a briefcase full of papers and documents with yet another sack
of documents, sobbed most of the time as she re-lived how soldiers stormed her
house, arrested her, a son and her husband's nephew, and detained and
manhandled them for 11 days at Arakan Barracks in July 1979.
Not only did she later lose her
son and her husband's nephew but also her husband's properties, including
houses, articulated trucks and buses were seized. Building materials and
vehicle accessories were also auctioned but the proceeds were not given to her.
She prayed the Commission for
the release of the seized properties, which have since been occupied by
operatives of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI); frozen bank account
and vehicles.
Madam Sikiratu Ajane said just
after she had returned from the bathhouse early in the morning of 23 July 1979,
she saw a group of soldiers in front of the gate in their house at Kokomlemle.
They ordered her to shut up when she asked them of their mission.
Soon they joined her in the room
and asked her of the whereabouts of her husband, the late Alhaji Yussif Ajane.
Madam Sikiratu Ajane said when she told them he was sick and had travelled; the
soldiers arrested her and threw her into a military vehicle waiting outside.
They also fired a shot, which hit the ankle of her last born.
The soldiers arrested one of her
sons and a nephew of her husband and sent them to the Arakan Barracks. Madam
Sikiratu Ajane said they made her crawl on her knees and was slapped from
behind when she asked why she was being maltreated. She bled from her knees,
she said.
She added that she was stripped
naked after crawling and in the evening she was taken into a room where she met
other detainees. Madam Sikiratu Ajane said during the 11 days that she was at
the Arakan Barracks; she had no bath.
On her return home, Sakiratu Ajane said, the soldiers placed her under
house arrest for three weeks. She never went outside the house and no one
visited her.
Madam Sikiratu Ajane said the
soldiers returned and after asking her not to disclose what had happened to
her, they demanded the keys to the room where her husband kept her property.
They also went to her husband's workshop and took away his articulated trucks,
buses, and building materials.
The soldiers later brought a
paper, which they said was a copy of an inventory of the things they had
seized, but ordered her to shut up when she asked them where they were sending
them.
Madam Sikiratu Ajane said seven
Benz buses were seized and three broken down articulated trucks were auctioned.
She said the BNI has since 1979 been occupying the buildings that were
confiscated.
She said the family wrote to the
Assets Confiscation Committee, but she was often asked to exercise patience.
Now she lives in a rented home. When Commissioner General Emmanuel Alexander
Erskine asked when her husband died, she began sobbing and Dr Araba Sefa Dede,
Head of the Counselling Department went to her side to offer comfort.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to
hurt you, but I'm sorry we have to gather some courage so that we can move
through the process," General Erskine said. "I want you to be strong.
I want you to be proud of him. We will see what we can do, but in the meantime,
you have to keep strong," he said.
Muftawu Yussif Ajane, Sikiratu
Ajane's son who said he was 15 years old at the time, corroborated the military
assault and seizure of the family's property. He said his father was always
worried of his huge loss, even on his sick bed before he died in 1992.
He produced documents from which
he read that the inventory of seized assets was signed by Warrant Officer Class
Two Fred Tabia, Sergeant Korda, Staff Sergeant Babanao and one Asante of the
then Ghana National Trading Corporation (GNTC).
Appearing angry and worried at
different times of his evidence, Ajane said the soldiers seized their
properties in what they called "housecleaning". He said Nyarko from
Kumasi and Baah, who, he said, has a workshop adjacent to the Police Depot in
Accra were the auctioneers. Adjane said only two of his father's houses had
been de-confiscated, but there had not been any letter from the government to
that effect. Ajane said the one Jecty and Owusu at the Assets Confiscation
Committee intimidated his father on his efforts to recover his assets.
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo)
He said the unequal distribution of the inadequate national resources
already favoured urban dwellers. "With the creation of the new Ministry
the inequity and unfair distribution of the national resources, which creates
all sorts of socio-economic problems for the rural people, is going to
worsen", he said.
Arhin was speaking on "The 2003 Budget and the Plight of the
Child" at a public forum on the 2003 national budget, organized by the
Centre for Budget Advocacy of the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC)
and sponsored by Save the Children (Ghana), a non-governmental organization,
for the promotion of the cause of children and ISODEC.
The one-day forum, under the theme: "2003 Budget and Citizen",
was aimed at broadening participants' understanding of the 2003 national budget
and promoting public debate on what constituted the appropriate policy
directions and means by which the country's scarce public resources could best
be managed.
Arhin said the budgetary consideration for children's issues in future
might be adversely affected with the existence of the new Ministry. He called
on Ghanaians in the rural areas to oppose the lopsided development in favour of
the cities, as it impoverished the rural dwellers and their children.
The CHRAJ official described the 9.7bn cedis allocation for the Ministry
of Women and Children's Affairs in this year's national budget as woefully
inadequate in relation to the Ministry's objectives for the year.
He said part of the Ministry's budget would be employed to train 1,000
women beneficiaries on micro-finance, undertake workshop for 100 women in
iodised salt production and the granting of other credit facilities.
''These measures are indirectly aimed at improving the quality of life
of children. Directly for children, the
Ministry would distribute 1,500 leisure boxes to 500 communities and rehabilitate
just 500 children.''
Arhin, however, expressed regret that no specific budgetary allocation
was made for combating child trafficking, child-abuse, child-labour and
child-neglect. Arhin described as ridiculous and a big joke the rehabilitation
of only 500 street children when there were several thousands of them in the
country.
He said there was the need for substantial budgetary allocation for
child welfare bodies or institutions like Ghana National Commission on Children
(GNCC) and Department of Social Welfare.
Arhin commended the Government for its laudable and well-intended
budgetary support for education but noted that it fell short of expectation
"because the focus of the budget is on quantitative improvement more than
on the qualitative improvement of the child".
Arhin said, "the present policy of learn, learn and learn does not
seem to appreciate the fact that a sound mind is found in a sound body",
adding that the provision of library facilities or children libraries at the
basic level was not catered for in the 2003 budget.
He called on the Government and the Ministry of Education Youth and
Sports to ensure that the gap between budgetary policies on paper and their
implementation was bridged. Nana Kwasi Gyau Gyan III, Akrofromhene and
Atipimhene of Berekum Traditional Area, who presided, commended ISODEC for the
organization of the forum and urged other NGOs to emulate it on other pertinent
national issues. He suggested the printing of copies of national budgets in an
abridged form for the benefit of corporate organizations, students and the
general public.
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The Court presided over by Anin Yeboa said: "After perusing the
records, I herby grant leave as prayed for to enable Counsel apply on notice
for the order of certiorari," an order requesting the records of a case
for review.
The SEC on Monday 7 April announced sanctions against Amoa after it said
it had found him culpable of unethical conduct. However, Amoa challenged the
jurisdiction of the SEC and said he had taken to case to the courts.
A statement signed in Accra by Mark Anthony Made, Board Secretary of
SEC, said: "The Securities and Exchange Commission wishes to announce for
the information of all securities market operators and the general public that
following the determination of a complaint of unethical conduct made against Yeboa
Amoa" it was sanctioning him.
The statement said: "The Commission received a written complaint on
"It also alleged that Yeboa Amoa had used the facilities of the GSE
to promote the business of Investek and had on an occasion directed an
enquirer, who intended doing business in the market to first link up with
Investek before contacting the Licensed Dealing Members of the GSE.
Yeboa Amoa told the Ghana News Agency that he did not breach any ethical
code since none existed in the industry and showed the GNA a copy of a letter
from the GSE Council dated
The letter stated among other things: "That according to the GSE's
policy of disclosure by Council Members, Members are required to declare their
holdings in listed equities only. Since ICSL (Investek) is not a listed
company, Yeboa Amoa did not declare that interest on the Council Members'
Shareholding Declaration form.
"That neither the GSE's company regulations nor the MD's contract
of employment had any clause prohibiting him from making an investment in a
private company." "Based on facts available, Council decided that on
the whole Yeboa Amoa had not engaged in any unethical conduct as alleged by the
complainant."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 17 April 2003- Kwesi Osei-Adjei, outgoing Deputy
Minister of Trade and Industry, on Wednesday gave a two-week ultimatum to
traders still keeping their wares in the Accra yard of the Railway Corporation
to clear them.
The ultimatum, which ends on
It was agreed all the parties that traders be allowed till after the
Easter vacation to clear their goods. Osei-Adjei said the whole exercise would
be conducted under the strict supervision of the Police to ensure law and order
and also secure the property of the traders.
He stated that there was no way the AMA could relocate the huge number
of squatters, adding that the only solution to the problem would be for the
traders to apply to the AMA to be fixed into the suburbia markets in the city.
He said though the AMA might not be able to absorb all the traders into
the Osu, Salaga, Dansoman and Nungua markets, at least the exercise would
provide an interim solution to the problem, while plans on a long-term solution
was sought.
Osei-Adjei said the current lawless situation and indiscipline in the
society could no longer be tolerated, adding that the city had a definite
design that should not be changed under the circumstance.
He, however, told the traders that he would personally demand a vivid
account and payment for goods and property destroyed, from the Railway authorities,
"since they gave me their word to protect those properties till the issue
is resolved".
Kofi Danquah Osei, a representative of the Town and Country Planning,
said the AMA was willing to do all it could to relocate the traders into
established markets in the various suburbs.
He said the AMA had plans underway to create a bulk breaking market, to
be situated at Amasaman, where goods could be purchased in bulk, without having
to travel to the Makola market.
"This project would be completed hopefully by the end of next
year", he said. Osei urged the traders to meet with the AMA to discuss
their relocation into the suburbia markets, since that would be the only
interim solution to the current situation.
Charles Adu-Boahen, Secretary, Unity Traders Association, reiterated an
earlier appeal to the AMA and the Ministry of Trade, to allow the traders to
resettle in the interim at the onion market at Agbobloshie.
He said the markets were already full and their presence in those places
could create congestion and problems for residents but told the Minister that
the traders would abide by the ultimatum.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 17 April 2003- Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene,
on Wednesday urged the Kwabre District Chief Executive, Alhaji Akwasi Yeboah to
place emphasis on the development of education to engender the rapid
transformation of the District.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu gave the advice when Alhaji Yeboah called on him at
his
Otumfuo Osei Tutu said the presentations were intended to improve the
teaching and learning environment to facilitate the delivery of quality
education and encourage parents to enrol their children in school.
He expressed his satisfaction about the level of education in the
district and charged the DCE to ensure that the standards of education were
further enhanced. Alhaji Yeboah commended the Asantehene for his practical
demonstration of affection for the development of education as demonstrated
with the establishment of the Otumfuo Education Fund and other support packages
for education.
The DCE pledged to work much harder to improve upon the quality of
education in the District. Joseph Akwabeng, District Co-ordinating Director and
Anthony Boafor, the District Director of Education accompanied the DCE to the
Palace.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 17 April 2003- A Photojournalist of the Graphic
Communications Group Limited on Wednesday told an Accra High Court that he saw
the six Police Officers directing some Policemen to fire at the Accra Sports
Stadium on 9 May.
The Photojournalist, Peter Kweku Arthur further stated that he also saw
fans at the North Stand tearing and throwing plastic chairs on to the inner
perimeter. Led in evidence by Anthony Gyambiby, Principal State Attorney, the
Photojournalist said he took shots of all those events.
He said he could not count the number of shots fired by the Policemen
because he was focussing on the photographs he was taking. Arthur said due to
the firing of tears gas, some of the fans fled the stands covering their noses.
He said on
During the match Hearts of Oak won 2-1. He said he took most of the
shots at the stadium including the dead fans, at the
"We are tracing the photographs, which had been mixed up with some
items at the Castle, we therefore pray for an adjournment." The court presided over by Mr Justice Yaw
Appau obliged and adjourned till 7 May.
The officers on trial are John Asare Naami, Faakyi Kumi, Frank Awuah,
Francis Aryee, Benjamin B. Bakomora, all Assistant Superintendents of Police
and Chief Superintendent of Police, Koranteng Mintah. They have denied the
charges, and are on a 20 million-cedi bail each with two sureties.
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This was because Alhaji Shawomi Williams, former National Chairman and
Ben Wodjogbe, former National Secretary and others, who were dismissed after
all legal procedures under the Association's Constitution had been exhausted,
were parading themselves as Executives.
Addressing a press conference in
He said the former Executives had been engaged in certain activities in
the name of the Association and cited a petition they sent to President John
Kufuor calling for investigation into certain auctions made at the Tema Oil
Refinery.
Kotey said the former Executives had no mandate to act as they did
saying: "They lack the mandate, capacity to write letters, petitions,
complaints, let alone issuing statements on behalf of the Association".
He also said the former Executives were on the neck of all individuals,
especially government officials, whose avowed agenda was to bring sanity into
the auctioneering industry. He, therefore, appealed to the general public to
avoid dealing with the dismissed former Executives, saying those who transacted
business with them did so at their own risk.
Kotey told the Ghana News Agency after the Press conference that:
"The Chief of Staff is the custodian of all government property and has
the mandate to dispose of them either through an auction or a private
treaty".
When the Ghana News Agency spoke to Alhaji Williams, he described
Kotey's group as rebels. He said his Executives were elected in 2001 for a
four-year term in an election conducted by the Electoral Commission and were,
therefore, still in office.
He said the government was losing billions of cedis through improper
auctioning of its property and that informed the petition to the President to
probe the sales at TOR.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 17 April 2003- Mrs Susan Whelan, Canadian Minister
of State for International Co-operation, arrived in Accra on Wednesday for a
day's visit to the country with a six-member team from the Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA)
The visit forms part of the Ministers three-day tour of
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Takoradi (Western Region)
Owusu-Baah, who was speaking at a breakfast meeting at Takoradi on
Wednesday, said most of the people lacked knowledge about civic education. He
said the NCCE intends to address market women and business people without
taking them away from their location and this would be effective if the
municipal authorities and district assemblies collaborate with the commission.
Owusu-Baah appealed to the Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan Assembly to
mount civic messages on bill boards at vantage points in the metropolis and
also assist strengthen the civic education activities and institute more civic
centres within the communities. John E. Mensah, NCCE officer for the
Juabeso-Bia District, appealed to Ghanaians to support his office with bicycles
to ensure its smooth running.
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Sekondi (Western Region)
Benjamin Whyte, Western Regional Population Officer, announced this at a
one-day sensitisation workshop on the national population policy for the media
at Sekondi on Wednesday. He said the policy was last revised in 1994 and the
forthcoming revision is to enable the government to accelerate the pace of
economic modernization and improve the quality of life of Ghanaians.
Whyte expressed regret that the country's population growth rate is
still 2.7 per cent, 25 years after the formulation of the policy. He said the
high growth rate negates the country's effort at economic modernization,
sustainable development, eradication of poverty and the realisation of
government's vision of ensuring quality life for Ghanaians.
Whyte said the new challenges in the area of population include HIV/AIDS
pandemic, stigmatisation and discrimination, street children, orphaned children
due to HIV/AIDS, refugees and influx of migrants. John Hackman, Regional
Coordinator of the Ghana National Commission on Children (GNCC), said the 1994
National Population Policy had not been widely disseminated to the public. The
workshop was therefore to enable the media to disseminate parts of the policy
to the public.
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Dr James Samman, Head of Environment, Health and Biological Division of
the Water Research Institute (WRI), said living organisms in river beds were
able to recover and survive in spite of the spraying of these areas for a
number of years ranging from 15 to 20 years.
Dr Samman was speaking at a day's workshop organised by the WRI on 28
years of Onchocerciasis Control Programme (OCP) in
One of the major concerns of the OCP was to preserve the aquatic
environment that was being subjected to insecticide spraying through the use of
helicopters. The workshop was aimed at evaluating the environmental impact on
the ecosystem and living organisms including fishes and invertebrate in the
rivers.
Eleven countries including
Dr Samman said results from the monitoring showed that in rivers, where
regular spraying and other onchocerciasis control programme had gone on for
years, the affected "invertebrate population recovered and re-colonized
the rivers when treatment was suspended for some time or when treatment stopped
completely.
"In cases where the river and its catchment area were subjected to
intense human activities re-colonization usually took several years after
treatment had stopped." Dr Samman said it was human activities including
the use of chemicals for fishing and farming along riverbeds that destroyed the
ecosystem. He said the rivers that were regularly sampled were the Black, White
and Red Volta and the Oti, Pra and Asukawkaw.
Dr Alex Anim Opoku, Senior Research Scientist of WRI; said there was the
impression that the impact of onchocerciasis in the forest areas was less
severe as compared to the Savannah areas in Northern Ghana where there were
high incidence of blindness.
"It is an erroneous impression," he said. He said this had to
be proved since there were cases of people going blind even in the forest areas
such as East Akim District, which recently recorded 829 cases, with 16 per cent
of the figure being as a result onchocerciasis.
Dr Opoku said some observations on the "distribution, biting
activities and parasite infectivity of the black fly as well as the prevalence
of the disease in the District showed that there was the need to look at what
was happening in the forest areas.
He urged the Government to operate the spraying activities on the ground
in forest areas since canopies of the forest prevented the insecticides from
reaching the ground. Onchocerciasis or river blindness is a parasitic disease
contracted through the bite of the black fly and could result in blindness and
skin lesions among other health and socio-economic problems.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 17 April 2003- The Ministry of Energy on Wednesday
released three agreements covering the Saltpond Off-Shore Production Company to
throw more light on agreements the Ghana National Petroleum Company (GNPC) entered
into with Lushann in 2000 under the administration of the former Chief
Executive, Tsatsu Tsikata.
The Ministry in releasing the agreements was responding to the
challenges Tsikata threw to it and its immediate past Minister of Energy,
Albert Kan-Dapaah, who he accused of messing up facts about the agreements at a
recent press conference following the announcement of a missing oil vessel from
the Saltpond Oil Fields.
The agreements are the Sub-Contract Agreement dated
Kobina Tahir Hammond, Deputy Minister of Energy in an accompanying
statement he signed said "the joint venture agreement signed by Tsikata,
which he accused the Minister of not having read and which parades under the
guise of a sub-contract is not for the provision of services as defined by the
law but rather for the production of oil and gas."
The statement maintained that parliamentary approval was a critical
requirement of the petroleum regime and for Tsikata to say that, that was not
necessary under the agreement was not correct.
It declared: "Today, the improvement in the joint venture package,
as we reported in our
"It is sad to note that Tsikata trivialises the issue of approval
into insignificance by making some weird comparison of the Lushann agreements
with the Sahara Crude Oil Management contract.
Tsikata would no doubt know that the petroleum laws of
The statement said: "In the joint venture agreement signed on
"There was no mention of the assigned value of the wells or the
data in that agreement. It is to be
stressed that when Lushann entered the
It said; "As Tsikata himself stated, a valuation of $500,000 was
placed on the production rig (platform).
In effect, therefore, when it entered into the agreements with Lushann,
GNPC offered the operational control of the field to Lushann at $500,000. This implies that the data and the wells
were handed over with no value assigned."
The statement said that was ludicrous as it was unacceptable and that
Lushann had been given prior access to historical data during their exploratory
discussions with GNPC and once any data was given any third party there was no
way of retracting its value.
"The historical data mentioned in our 3 April press statement is
quite different from the data Tsikata referred to in his statement. He was talking about future data that would
belong to GNPC."
The statement said the Ministry had dismissed as spurious the claim by
Tsikata that the higher figure of 10 million dollars was a result of
refurbishment of the production rig and that the new value was on the assets as
they were.
"In the renegotiation of the agreements by this Government, not
only was the rig re-valued but also value was put on the data and wells. The combined value was the 10 million
dollars that was announced."
The statement said the Ministry "reiterates that the assets that
have been discussed above have not been sold to Lushann or to any third party.
They remain the bona fide property of the Government of Ghana. Lushann has only under the agreements been
granted access and rights of use of these assets for the duration of their
agreement with Government/GNPC."
The statement said: "We are proud to state that through the
application of the petroleum regime, it has now become possible for the
Government to derive up-front benefits" and asked how could Tsikata accuse
the Government of wrong doing and why he did not spend more time to secure
those benefits for Ghana.
It said: "The claim by Tsikata that financial benefits in the
original agreement were better than the just renegotiated agreement is again
false. There is no basis for comparison
between the two.
"Under the original arrangements, the only financial benefit that
was to accrue to GNPC and
The statement said: "Nowhere in the joint venture agreement was
there any reference to royalties, taxes, carried interest and others. Since
Tsikata claimed that the petroleum agreement was not applicable because he was
working under the framework of a sub-contract and a special purpose joint
venture, we want to question where the Government and GNPC were going to derive
any benefits beyond the 40 per cent.
The Ministry is convinced that Tsikata's actions with respect to the
sub-contract and joint venture agreements were a deliberate attempt to
circumvent the law and give away the assets of the nation for a pittance.
The statement said the sub-contract was simply a sham and no amount of
name-calling would make it otherwise adding: "Whatever rubric the contract
fell under, it was an agreement that needed to comply with the petroleum
law."
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They observed that in spite of public utterances and assurances from the
top hierarchy of the NDC that all was well with the party, infighting and
conflicts still persist amongst them. The members were expressing their views
at a forum held in
The forum was also to brainstorm members to come out with appropriate
strategies to propel the party to victory during the 2004 presidential and
parliamentary elections. They said unless positive measures were taken to
reconcile members of the party especially those at the helm of affairs, victory
in the 2004 general elections would be illusive. Mohammed Maidok, Treasurer at
the ward, disagreed with speculations that the NDC is hard hit in terms of cash
and hoped members who are resourceful would finance the party.
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