"Government must as matter
of urgency, separate the political, security, traditional, economic, criminal,
burial and succession and rebuilding of the
Dr Mahama
said government's effort to solve the problem over the past 12 months had prove
to be "ineffective and must look at other measures such as separations of
the issues involved".
He said the
The PNC Leader said recent
alleged political clashes between the supporters of the National Democratic
Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) might be the evolution of the
people's frustration.
"I totally condemn the use
of politics and violence to settle differences, government should spare the Dagbon state another unfortunate carnage and slaughtering
of its sons and daughters."
Dr Mahama
called for the 'fast tracking of criminal proceedings of the suspects since
justice delayed is justice denied." The PNC Leader also appealed to the
government to de-politicise the Bimbila dispute to
avoid another catastrophe in the North.
"Government must allow
traditional authorities and local chieftancy dispute mechanism
to handle the issue", he said. He said Dagbon is
in crisis and we must not allow Bimbila to follow the
same line stressing "the poorest part of the country is in flames and government
seems to have no solution to the problems." Dr Mahama
said: "an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure".
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Winneba (Western Region)
This, he said, was the only way
"the nation's young democracy would be sure of growing into full maturity, and progress from strength to strength as the
years go by". Speaking on the topic, "Indiscipline in the Ghanaian
society" at the Winneba Police Training Depot on
Saturday, as part of the Constitutional Week activities, he said for the 1992
Constitution to work satisfactorily, every Ghanaian must show his or her love,
desire and commitment to embrace and practice what the document says.
"This would ensure its
sustainability and growth of the country's democracy, which has made the nation
famous among developing nations once again," he said. Mensah
enlightened the Police Trainees on various aspects of the constitution and
advised them to make self-control, self-discipline and hard work their hallmark
to enable them to make positive contributions towards national development.
He said the Week was introduced
to enable Ghanaians to participate in the work of the NCCE "so that
collectively we may achieve excellent results at the end of the day". Mensah appealed to the authorities to help the District
Office repair it's broken down motorbikes and to provide other logistics to
enable the staff reach out to more people in remote communities.
The Depot Commander, ASP Oscar Kofi Amevenku, expressed his appreciation
to the NCCE for the interaction, which he said had gone down well with the
trainees. He expressed the hope that it would be a regular feature to inject constitutionalism
in the trainees.
Amevenku commended the NCCE for
instituting the Week and urged Ghanaians to take advantage by attending lectures
and other programmes of the Commission.
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Nkoranza (Brong
Ahafo) 28 April 2003- The NDC executives at the Nkoranza Constituency in Brong Ahafo, have held a meeting at Nkoranza
to discuss matters pertaining to the 2004 elections in the area.
Owusu Baffoe,
the Constituency Chairman, stressed the need for the members to do away with
petty squabbles in order to help the party to win the elections. Baffoe urged the youth of the party to be disciplined and law-abiding
to save the image of the party.
He advised members never to be
worried about news being peddled against some of the leaders of the party,
particularly, Ex-President Jerry John Rawlings. Baffoe
said NDC members should stand firm and never allow themselves to be deceived by
false politicians who may lure them with monetary promises to join their fold.
He gave an assurance that he was
hopeful that NDC would once again come back to power. Thomas Owusu-Ansah, the Constituency Secretary advised zonal branch secretaries to submit regular reports to the
District Secretariat in order that the constituency executives could know their
problems.
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Nkoranza (Brong
Ahafo)
Dr Kudom
who addressing about 200 youth of the party in Nkoranza
at a get-together described party politics as a game, which needed team work to
be successful. He urged them to lead lives worthy of emulation and to serve as
role models in the communities.
Dr. Kudom
urged members of the party to redouble their efforts towards the 2004
elections. The Chairman said the government was committed to the development of
the nation to improve the living standards of the people.
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"The Northern part of the
country is now the most volatile and has the potential of destabilising the
whole country if government fails to apply the necessary mechanism in conflict
management and prevention," Dan Lartey GCPP
Leader told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra on the recent Tamale
political clashes.
Dan Lartey
said the inability of the security forces to control what started as political
clashes by some disgruntled butchers and political party supporters could serve
as a catalyst for rebel movement.
He said: 'the political
antagonism between the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic
Congress (NDC) is sparking serious conflicts, deepening communal enmity and
widening the scale of tribalism'.
The GCPP Leader noted that the
history of rebel movement across the continent should guide the government, security
forces, political party leaders and the media about the dangers of the
conflicts in the North.
He said timely intervention in
any conflict situation and government's assurance of giving the protagonist a
fair and speedy justice could prevent a humanitarian disaster, "as the
cost of intervention are fairly low in terms of human, financial and material resources
when the situation is relatively fluid."
Lartey appealed to the government,
politicians and other interest groups in the area to show magnanimity, and
maturity to prevent an escalation of conflicts, which this country cannot
afford.
"It is the President and
his government's responsibility to ensure peace and security of all citizens
irrespective of political, tribal, religious and any other persuasions." Lartey who is aspiring to be a flagbearer
of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) in the 2004 elections appealed to the
security forces to exercise the greatest military professionalism and abide by
international conventions on handling of combatants.
"Military brutalities could
send the signals to guys and force them into the bush for a
warfare." He, therefore, condemned media reports of alleged
brutalities against those arrested. Their human rights must be respected even
in conflict situation, he said.
The use of torture and other
forms of inhuman treatment to extract truth from suspects is wrong and must be
condemned, Lartey emphasised. The Ghanaian Times on
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Sekondi (Western Region)
He said NCCE does not operate
under government influence as people speculate, rather it is an independent institution
established under the Constitution to ensure that every citizen knows his or
her rights and obligations.
Owusu was briefing the press on this
year's Constitution Week, slated for 28 April to 4 May on the theme: "A
Decade of Constitutionalism in
He said the NCCE, in collaboration
with the Western Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) had outlined a number of
activities to explain the Constitution to the people to ensure peace and
development.
"There are some rough edges
that the NCCE has to smoothen such as extending the education to homes, workplaces,
churches, schools, market places and many other places." Owusu called for the collaboration from the Commission on
Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Media Commission to discharge
their duties effectively to the people.
He appealed for more funding for
the NCCE, saying the district assemblies could allocate some of their Common
Fund to support the Commission's work. Owusu
announced that this year's Constitution Week in the region would be launched at
Tarkwa, adding that a series of forums had been
planned for religious leaders, fishermen, security services, a visit to the
inmates of the Sekondi Prison and radio talk-shows as
part of the celebration.
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Ho (Volta Region)
He, therefore, called on those
countries to reduce prices of such drugs to make them affordable and available
for millions affected by the disease in
'Volta Star,' a Ghana
Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) FM station in Ho, whose coverage areas include
Eastern Region and Southern Togo, would air the programme, designed by
Community Action and funded by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC).
He said the developed countries
now record fewer deaths from the disease because the people have the economic
means to purchase the retroviral drugs. Dr Margaret Kwaku,
Ho District Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) said the social stigma
suffered by victims of HIV/AIDS caused them severe traumas that kill them
gradually.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 28 April 2003-
Delegates from Africa and Asia begin a two-day meeting of the Technical
Advisory Group on the Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants (MIKE) in
Accra on Monday to discuss the long-term management of elephant populations.
A statement issued by the
Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission on Saturday, said MIKE is a
programme adopted by parties to the UN Convention on International Trade in
Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora (CITES) in 2000 with the main
purpose of providing information needed for elephant range countries to make
appropriate management and enforcement decision.
The statement said the MIKE
Technical Advisory Group has the responsibility of ensuring the standardisation
of methods used to monitor elephant populations and ensure that sound analytical
methods are applied to field data that are able to detect trends of elephant
populations throughout
CITES is a system of monitoring
of illegal killings of elephants, established to develop methods of ensuring
that the trade in elephant products does not negatively affect the survival of
the species. The two-day MIKE Technical Advisory Group meeting would be
followed by the MIKE Database Training workshop at the
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 28 April 2003-
The Right Reverend Ben Nuh Abubekr,
Methodist Bishop of Kumasi, has called on all Ghanaians
to help create a generation, free of HIV/AIDS and make virginity a virtue the
youth would be proud of.
Addressing the closing session
of the seventh biennial delegates conference of the Kumasi
Diocesan Youth Fellowship in
The theme for the three-day
conference was, "Living a consistent Christian Life", and was
attended by over 90 delegates from the diocese. Bishop Abubekr
commended the fellowship for their activities and said the church needed a
vibrant youth who know the Lord, have faith in the Lord and are able to act
courageously to the glory of God.
Reverend Joseph Owusu-Atuahene, the Diocesan Youth Organiser, urged Christians
to lead decent lives no matter the trials and difficulties they would experience.
He stressed the need for Christians to seek guidance in all their endeavours
and to exhibit good moral lives.
Samuel Osei-Nkansah,
Chairman of the Fellowship, told members to be wary of the HIV/AIDS and
stressed that the underlying principle is total abstinence and not the use of
condom.
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Koforidua (Eastern Region)
Charles K. Baah,
Head of the Pharmacy Department of the
Mepha Company Limited, a drug manufacturing
company in Koforidua sponsored the seminar. Baah, has therefore, called for a determined effort to
ensure that all health workers in the country got acquainted with the policy
and put it into practice to ensure effective clinical cure of the disease.
He called on Hospital Management
Teams (HMTs) to conduct frequent auditing of
prescriptions and those found to be inconsistent with the National Anti-malaria
Drug Policy, should be assisted to conform to the approved national guidelines.
Dr (Mrs) Mira Taylor, a
paediatrician of the
She explained that, the absorption
of such a large quantity of chloroquine by already
weak children could lead to the "poisoning of the blood stream of the
child and could lead to death."
Dr (Mrs)
Dr. Samuel Osei Agyei, a Koforidua-based private
medical practitioner, called on drug manufacturing companies to contribute
towards public health to support the fight against malaria.
The Eastern Regional Director of
Health Services, Dr. Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyirah, who
chaired the function, called for the improvement on data collection on malaria
effects on child and maternal mortality.
He urged medical practitioners
to build a network so that when they received referrals, they could communicate
among themselves when necessary and give feedback to their colleagues.
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