Accra (Greater Accra) 22 April 2003 - The ruling New Patriotic Party’s maverick Kofi Wayo, last Wednesday urged University Students to demonstrate against government's intention to lodge monies accrued for the Ghana Education Trust Funds (Get-Funds) into the Consolidated Funds account.
He said "it is unlawful, criminal and fraudulent practice which must be resisted, for the NPP had created the platform for demonstration which is the Constitutional rights of all and you must utilise that right to send strong signal to policy makers of disgust for illegal and bad policies."
Wayo who styles himself a Socio - Political Commentator was contributing to the Second "Legon Speaks" a platform for University of Ghana students to interact with leaders and also contribute on general national issues to make an input. The occasion was under the general topic, "Funding Tertiary Education the role of the GetFunds in Full Cost Recovery," was organized by Akuafo Hall.
Wayo who was hailed by the students for his call, prescribed a strategy when he urged them to find out the day parliament would debate the proposed Bill and organize a massive demonstration that would take them to parliament house where they would sit on the grass and "sing we no go sit down make them cheat us every day" for hours -on-end," stressing that it should not be an hour long demonstration but one that would last a long time.
He advised the students not to allow the Police and other bodies to provoke them during the demonstration into violence even as they ensure that their rights are protected because "I will fight against any one who would attempt to frustrate, arrest or stop you," which was greeted with laud cheers and support.
Attempts by Hon. Kosi Kedeem, Opposition National Democratic Congress Member of Parliament for Hohoe South who was a discussant and the Hall Master Asiedu Yerinky who chaired to persuade the students to resort to dialogue and also study the GetFunds Act was greeted with boos and no, no, no from the charge student.
Kedem appealed to the students to first understand the issues at stake, use all channels for redress before if need be they consider demonstration, stressing "it is premature now to consider demonstration." Wayo again debunk the attempt to persuade them saying, "Kosi is an NDC and does not understand the use of demonstration hence his stand against it, but NPP understands demonstration as powerful weapon which must be utilised in a democratic state.
The Hall Master who was disturbed about the turn of events reminded the students of the original purpose of the Legon Speak which was for academic inputs for national development. The GetFunds Act 2000 stipulates that the Value Added Tax Service shall within 30 days of receipt of Value Added Tax Revenue pay directly into the bank accounts opened for the funds.
The Ministry of Finance this year had directed that about 500bn cedis accrued for the funds be paid into the GetFunds and requested the Parliament to allow the ministry to disbursed the money in five t ranches over a period of five years. This had been considered as violation of the law establishing the funds.
Others speakers includes the leader of the Great Consolidated Popular Party. Unfortunately the outgoing Minister of Education Professor Christopher Ameyaw Ekumfi and the GetFunds Administrator who were invited failed to turn up.
During the open forum most of the students who spoke supported the call for demonstration and even demanded accountability from their Student Representatives Council, while others made wild allegations against the Executives. - Network Herald
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Afram Plains (Eastern Region) 22 April 2003 - At a time that many nurses are leaving the shores of the country to other countries to seek greener pastures, a midwifery superintendent, Mrs. Agnes Dentaah Darko, has chosen to work at the Donkorkrom Presbyterian Hospital, in one of the deprived areas of the country for almost 19 years.
Mrs. Darko came to the hospital in November 1984 after working at Sandema hospital in the Upper East region for six years. She first served two years at Jirapa hospital where she pursued her nursing training course. Chronicle met this dedicated and selfless woman in its recent visit to the Afram Plains district.
According to Mrs. Darko, many of the colleagues she met at the hospital, and those who came later, have left, but she resolved to stay and assist the people who needed health services most. She said during those days there were no electricity, potable drinking water and several other amenities.
Mobile health services were also very difficult due to the bad nature of roads in the area. Mrs. Darko, who now heads the maternity department of the hospital, said most of her colleagues cited lack of social amenities and proper educational facilities for their children as their reasons of not accepting postings or leaving the area but she stayed and enrolled her kids in the available school there.
At the moment, her first son is in the University of Cape Coast, the second, a female, is in the Teachers training college at Kibi with the third one holding City and Guilds certificate in dressmaking. The last is in the Akim Swedru Secondary School.
She advised all her colleagues to be dedicated to their work and have compassion for patients since, as health workers, they are trained to save the lives of their fellow human beings.
She also appealed to them not to think only of the monetary gains of their jobs but to think how best they could help to improve the health delivery system in the country. - Ghanaian Chronicle
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Accra (Greater Accra) 22 April 2003 - Military Intelligent Experts have caution politicians over exhibition of luxury in the mist of poverty. They said "politicians who entered government and parliament with virtually nothing only to starts showing off after a few months in posh cars and expensive lifestyles only confirm perceptions that they enter politics to enrich themselves to the detriment of the ordinary person".
The Officers who included both servicing and retired soldiers and diplomats stated this when contributing to a round table discussion organized by the African Security Dialogue and Research (ASRD) recently in Accra. They said such life style sends the wrong signal to their counterparts especially those in the security and other services whose incomes and remunerations are very poor that politics is a lucrative venture. The Military Officers therefore advised political office holders and government appointees "to chop small in the interest of national security."
Speaking on the topic "Developing ECOWAS Rapid Reaction Capability in the west Africa sub-region," Brigadier Francis A. Agyemfra (rtd), a former top notch of the Ghana Army described the sub-region as the most volatile on the African continent. He said the brutal ten year civil war in Sierra Leone, the separatist struggles in the Cassamance province which still threaten the territorial integrity of Senegal and the resurgence of the Liberian conflict poses great danger to sub-regional integration.
He submitted that the recent turmoil that has lasted almost eight months in la Cote d’IVoire, which led to the division of the country into government and rebel held areas have proved the efficacy of and necessity for collective action in the maintenance of peace and stability in the sub-region. Brig Agyemfra lamented that despite past accomplishment in handling crisis, the regional body ECOWAS had proved incapable of mobilizing its peace operations quickly to meet crisis situation.
He said the Ivoiran crisis confirms that in spite of the existence of the ECOWAS Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peace-keeping and Security sub-regional leaders still lacks the manpower to rapidly responses to crisis. He said "a response to a crisis of the order of the Ivorian situation, sparked by a few disgruntled soldiers, must be swift, within hours and days, like the French intervention, not months, if the response is to effective."
"Had ECOWAS been able to demonstrate a robust military presence in Cote d'IVoire to buttress the October 17th cease-fire immediately after the agreement had been concluded, it is quite possible that the scale of the conflict would not have widened, and perhaps, it would have been unnecessary for President Gbagbo to have engaged the services of mercenaries," Brig Agyemfra said.
He therefore called for a rapid response force with the ability to acquire, analyses timely decisions based on early-warning data from a wide variety of sources with organizationalty to prepare generic plans, including provision of transportation and logistic support advance of a crisis.
Other capability, he said should include the ability to undertake concurrent activities, such as allowing implementation actions to be initiated at early stages of the decision-making process and to deploy the minimum necessary operational-level command and control facilities to a theatre of operations within seven days.
Brig Agyemfra said "it is time West African states acknowledged that an effective rapid reaction capability could curb the political instability which denies the sub-region as whole the opportunities to attract foreign investment and development.
"The need for sub-regional rapid development capability should also be seen as an attempt to blunt neo-colonial tendencies in the management and resolution of African conflicts. "Certainly, foreign interventions in conflicts in Africa do not serve the best interests of Africans, since the foreign powers naturally tend to promote their own interests rather than those of the countries in which they intervene." - Network Herald
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Boston (USA) 22 April 2003 - When six former African heads of state gather tomorrow for a press conference at Boston University's School of Management, it will be a historic convening for the area.
''Outside of New York City and the United Nations, it's unprecedented to have this many former heads of state gathering in the United States. It's quite a coup for Boston,'' said Charles Stith, a long-time Boston activist and President Bill Clinton's ambassador to Tanzania, who now heads BU's African archives.
Those gathering for the two-day summit (and the press conference) are: Nicephore Soglo of Benin; Sir Q. Ketumile Masire of Botswana; Jerry Rawlings of Ghana; Ali Hassan Mwinyi of Tanzania; Dr. Navinchandra Ramgoolam of Mauritius; and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, the BU African Presidential Archives and Research Center Balfour African president-in-residence.
The former political leaders will be joined at the two-day summit by Walter Kansteiner , assistant secretary of state for African affairs; Andrew Natsios , director of the US Agency for International Development; and James Harmon , former chairman of the Export-Import Bank, to explore how to attract business and increase the flow of capital to Africa. We're told time has been set aside to discuss the short-term impact of the war in Iraq on African economies. - Boston Globe
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Ho (Volta Region) 22 April 2003 - The Police in the Volta region say they are yet to substantiate reports that armed men from Nkonya have encamped at Akrofu near Ho in readiness to attack the people there. The reports, which started spreading last weekend, led to a rush by inhabitants of Akrofu to flee the town.
The Ho District Police Commander, Nicholas Blewushie told the Ghana News Agency that his men are still on surveillance for any eventuality because of the serious security implications of the allegation.
It was rumoured that the alleged attack was to be in retaliation against the people of Akrofu who, the Nkonyas suspected of giving moral and material support to the people of Alavanyo.
The Nkonyas have a protracted land dispute
with the Alavanyos. A joint Police/Military detachment is in the
Nkonya/Alavanyo area to maintain law and order following renewed fighting
between the two factions in February this year, during which three people died.
- MyJoyOnLine
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