GRi Newsreel 12 - 08 -
2003
President Kufuor arrives home from Liberia
Annan hails Taylor's decision to leave office
"My head was used as football by soldiers" - Witness
LURD says Taylor's departure means the Liberian war is over
Government is insensitive to plight of Ghanaians - NDC
Taylor enplanes for Asylum
NDC will not boycott 2004 Elections - Bagbin
National Health Insurance will not affect pension benefits
Keep records confidential - Health Director
Judge advocates prosecution of indecently dressed women
Minister urges citizens abroad to woo investors
President Kufuor arrives home from Liberia
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 August 2003 - President John Agyekum Kufuor returned home this evening after attending the handing-over ceremony of President Charles Taylor of Liberia.
Accompanying the President on his return were Dr. Mohammed Ibn Chambas, Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, Nana Akuffo Addo, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Kwabena Agyepong, Presidential spokesperson.
At the airport to meet the President were Kwadwo Mpiani, Chief of Staff, Nana
Owusu Nsiah, Inspector General of Police, and some ministers of state.
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Annan hails Taylor's decision to leave office
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 August 2003 - UN Secretary-General Busumuru Kofi Annan on Monday welcomed the resignation of President Charles Taylor from office saying this development may at last mark the beginning of the end of the long nightmare of the Liberian people.
"With that in mind, (the Secretary-General) strongly urges all parties in Liberia to observe the ceasefire, and to allow humanitarian assistance to reach the population in all parts of the country," a statement issued in Accra on Monday said.
The statement said Busumuru Annan also urged all member states to give whatever assistance they can to the Liberian people in restoring security and stability, notably by supporting and contributing to the multinational force authorised by the Security Council.
"The Secretary-General notes the progress achieved by the Liberian parties in the negotiations in Accra and believes that all of them should now make every effort to reach agreement quickly in a process leading to a transitional government, which can bring about national reconciliation, and in due course enable the Liberian people to choose a fully representative leadership through free and fair elections."
Annan expressed his appreciation for the efforts made by African Leaders, notably, President John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana; President Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, Chairman of Africa Union; President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, to resolve the crisis.
He particularly thanked President Obasanjo for the timely deployment of Nigerian peacekeeping troops and former Nigerian President Abdulsalami Abubakar for his "able facilitation of the Accra (Peace) Talks".
Busumuru Annan expressed the hope that regional leaders would remain closely
engaged and would do whatever they could to maintain and help Liberians reach a
peaceful resolution of their differences.
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"My head was used as football by soldiers" - Witness
Sekondi (Western Region) 12 August 2003 - A witness at Monday's sitting of the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) at Sekondi told members of how in February, 1982, 24 soldiers used his head as football and kicked him several times at the Cape Coast Regional office for allegedly hoarding beer.
The witness, Reverend Roland Amegbor of the Assemblies of God Church said, when the commanding officer, one Squadron Leader Lamptey came on the scene, they quickly stopped when one of them shouted "CO, CO".
However, when the Commanding Officer was told of the offence of Rev. Amegbor, he retorted, "why didn't you kill him to serve as a lesson to the people of Cape Coast".
He told the Commission that, during that time he was acting as the manager of the Cape Coast Parliament Hotel because the then manager, one Thompson had been taken ill.
On the day in question, Rev. Amegbor said he closed the hotel to the public to enable the workers to tidy up the premises as a routine exercise and a notice board placed at the entrance of the hotel to inform visitors.
He said at about 9 pm that day, four armed soldiers entered the hotel and asked him why he refused to sell beer to earlier in the day, he explained that there was a cleanup at the hotel and he was bundled into a taxi and taken to the house of the manager.
The two were taken to the Regional office where the torture began, Rev. Amegbor told the Commission.
After sometime, they were asked to mention their names and when he did, one of the soldiers demanded from him why he, being a citizen of the Volta Region should disgrace the people of the region and he ordered that he should be punished more for that.
When they were released, Rev. Amegbor said he left to his village and about a month later heard the death of Thompson whose body was seen floating in the sea.
He was said to have committed suicide. Rev. Amegbor said for the first four years after the incident, he experienced severe headache.
He told the Commission that he had forgiven those who took part in the torture but said he always remembered the brutalities meted out to him for doing no wrong when he sees scars in his face anytime he looks into the mirror.
He called on Ghanaians to jealously guide and protect the constitutions and the democratic dispensation, "so that we don't go back to the era of the animal kingdom", and said as a man of God he was not expecting any compensation for the ordeal he went through.
At that juncture, The Most Rev. Bishop Palmer-Buckle, a member of the Commission spoke about the dangers of tribal sentiments in the society and advised that, everything must be done to make the country a happy one for all.
Nana Intsiful Asare II, who was the chief of Bonsa, also told the Commission of how in 1983, his 14- year-old daughter was hit in the ribs with the butt of a gun by one of four soldiers who had come to arrest him for trying to settle a land dispute between two of his subjects.
The girl died at the Effia-Nkwanta hospital the following day. Nana Asare said, in order to arrive at a fair decision in the dispute, he asked Obeng Yaw, one of those involved in the dispute to submit documents on the land under litigation but instead he went to bring armed soldiers to arrest him.
It was during his arrest that his daughter was hit with the butt of the gun. He said, he was taken to the Apremdo barracks, and after interrogation by a Sergeant Bawa he was released.
Madam Akuba Eduku narrated how her husband, a security officer in the first republic was detained at the Usher Fort and Nsawam prisons for two years after the overthrow of the regime of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah in 1966.
Her husband, Kofi Yankey was on the president's entourage to Hanoi when the incident happened but he decided to come home only to be arrested and detained.
All their property got lost, Madam Eduku said. Mark Anthony Koomson, a police officer stationed at Kumasi Zongo told the Commission that he was jailed three years in 1979 by the AFRC special court for allegedly taking bribe, a charge he denied.
He said he was invited to tell the court about the alleged bribe in a murder case that his superior officer, one Chief Inspector Hamound was handling and when he denied knowledge he was asked to go only to see his name in a national daily, five months later that he had been tried and jailed for the offence
Three soldiers and two policemen arrested him and sent him to the Nsawam prisons, Koomson, now unemployed said, adding that, he was not maltreated.
Emmanuel Akrofi a farmer resident in Accra said soldiers shot him in 1981, when he visited his wife at her home in Takoradi.
He said he came from Daboase to visit his wife who was living near the former Cape Coast-Mankessim lorry station in Takoradi when he learnt that a soldier had been killed and was lying at the station.
Akrofi said the entire neighbourhood became frightened and remained indoors until 9:00am the following morning but just then, soldiers started shooting and ordered every tenant within the area to come out of their rooms.
He said the firing continued and as the soldiers came closer to his room he came out and was followed by his wife and 15- year- old daughter but just then, they shot him in his right elbow.
Akrofi said he fell down instantly and pretended to be dead but managed to go to the hospital as soon as the soldiers left.
He said the angry soldiers killed Tamakloe and Kofi Frafra who were co-tenants. Major Dominus E. K. Edjameh (RTD), said he joined the army in 1963 and was in the Recce regiment when the June 4 1979 coup took place.
He said at 1:00 am he heard gunshots and did not know what was happening but when he went to the guardroom to handover the following day, he saw a large number of people in the guardroom.
He said, just as he left the guardroom, he was shot in the chest and collapsed but recovered at the 37 military hospitals, where he had undergone surgery to remove the bullet, which was between his heart and the rib cage.
Major Edjamah told the Commission that he lost three ribs, while part of his heart was destroyed due to the effects of the bullet.
He said in 1983, the Workers Defence Committee (WDC) accused him of stealing a Bedford engine and a Special Investigation Board instituted, put him under house arrest but was acquitted for lack of evidence.
Major Edjameh said he was discharged from the Army in March 1984 without any benefits but in 1998, the Armed forces, paid him 91,000 cedis through his bankers.
He said he petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) but to no avail and in December 2000, the Armed Forces informed him of his release and paid his salary and pension from 25 March 1984 to 12 January 1992.
Moses Kainyah-Erzuah, now a farmer at Agona Nkwanta was formerly a security officer at the Flagstaff house.
He said one day around 12 midnight in 1966, he heard gunshots and when he investigated, he realized that a coup had taken place.
Kainyah-Erzuah said he quickly took his wife and children to the State Transport Corporation (STC) yard and dispatched them to Agona Nkwanta.
He said when he tried to get back home, he realized that soldiers had surrounded their house, he therefore, left for Kumasi where his senior brother was.
Kainyah-Erzuah said his brother, who was then working in Kumasi, had also been detained so he left and settled at Agona Nkwanta where he began a coconut plantation.
Salifu Nombre, a former warden at the Takoradi Airforce station, told the Commission that his son, Seidu Nombre was shot and killed at Kokompe light industrial area barely three days after returning home from overseas.
He said his son decided to visit his friends at the Kokompe when soldiers, surrounded the place and arrested all the young men.
Nombre said they were beaten, drilled and asked to drink water from a nearby drain and when Seidu refused, he was shot in the forehead.
Thomas Amoah a farmer resident at Awudua near Tarkwa recounted how his brother, Joseph Quantson and uncle, Peter Boafo were killed by soldiers at the Mfantsi Mines at the Goldfields Mining area.
He mentioned the names of Killer, Nyantakyie and Sherrif as the perpetrators of the crime. Amoah said his uncle, who was the secretary of the local distillery association, was arrested by the soldiers for allegedly selling above the approved price.
Amoah said, while Boafo was being escorted to the Police Station, he met Quantson, who had closed from work at the Ghana Manganese Company (GMC) and gave him his keys.
Amoah said Quantson therefore, rushed into Boafo's and collected all the provisions but just when he was about to throw them away, he was arrested by members of the People's Defence Committee (PDC) and handed over to the soldiers.
He told the Commission that members of his family were severely beaten before they were executed and dumped into the abandoned mine.
Amoah said Boafo's mother died two weeks later while his wife also died a
year later from shock.
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LURD says Taylor's departure means the Liberian war is over
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 August 2003 - The main rebel group that was fighting to oust former Liberian President Charles Taylor from office said on Monday that the departure of the embattled President signified the end of the war.
"The war is over now," Mr Sekou Damate Conneh, Chairman of the Liberians United for Democracy (LURD), the rebels, told the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
President Taylor left Monrovia, Liberia aboard a Nigerian aircraft, possibly for Abuja, on Monday shortly after resigning as President and handing over to Vice President Moses Blah.
Three African Leaders - President John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and Mozambique's Joachim Chissano - witnessed the handing over ceremony, heavily guarded by Nigerian Peacekeepers and special troops flown in from South Africa.
Taylor has been offered asylum in Nigeria. Conneh, whose forces had made Mr Taylor's departure, a non-negotiable condition for ending the fighting, said he would go to his territories in Liberia immediately to impress upon his men that it's all over.
"I will be leaving soon for Bome County and the other areas to tell my men that we have reached the end of the war and that it is time to make peace," he told the GNA.
Conneh said, however, that he would not go to Monrovia now until a transitional government takes over power from Mr Blah.
"But the most important thing is that the war is over. We are all happy.
My people are in jubilation because we have achieved our goal - Taylor the
terror is gone."
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Government is insensitive to plight of Ghanaians - NDC
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 August 2003 - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Monday said the government's dead silence on major national issues raised by Professor John Evans Atta Mills, Flag Bearer of NDC for Election 2004, is a manifestation of its insensitivity to the plight of ordinary Ghanaians.
Prof Mills told Journalists in Accra that since the Party's "March for Survival Demonstration", the NDC have raised serious issues on the governance of the nation and the current economic hardship visited on the people of Ghana but the government through its spin-doctors have continuously diverted attention from them.
He said the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP), Government has failed to deliver on its campaign promises of bringing down the cost of living, providing employment for the youth and making education less costly, especially at the tertiary level.
A sudden downpour on July 16 prevented Journalists from asking questions at a press conference that Prof Mills addressed and Monday's interaction was to offer them the opportunity to ask some questions.
He said: "We need to know why the national debt has increased by 22 trillion cedis. We want to know the full content of the Volta River Authority Report. We need to know how much the Ghanaian taxpayer paid for the numerous forensic audit reports. Ghanaians have the right to know the killers of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II, Paramount Chief of Dagbon Traditional Area.
"When is the Tema Municipal Assembly Probe report going to be published? What is the government doing about the numerous allegations of financial malfeasance against some Ministers of State? When are the dubious awards of contracts by some district assemblies going to be investigated? he asked.
"To give meaning to President Kufuor's slogan of 'Zero Tolerance for Corruption', we expect that the allegations would be investigated and those found to be corrupt or have caused financial loss and betrayed the trust of the people prosecuted."
Prof Mills also urged the government to furnish Ghanaians with the names of all the forensic auditors, their appointment and how much was paid to each auditor in relation to each forensic audit conducted and its outcomes and benefits to Ghanaians.
"This is important, because the payment figures being bandied about are staggering and it is critical that those who are insisting on accountability are themselves shown to be accountable," Professor Mills said.
The NDC Flag bearer said lack of a credible response from President Kufuor's Administration would show its aloofness to public concern.
Prof Mills also described the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Fund as
an NPP political moneybag used to woo voters.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 August 2003 - Former Liberian President Charles Ghankay Taylor on Monday left Monrovia, aboard a Nigerian plane, shortly after stepping down as the President of that beleaguered country after nearly six years rule.
Reports reaching the Ghana News Agency in Accra said the former Liberian President, who handed over to Vice President Moses Blah, was heading for Nigeria, which had offered him asylum.
African Leaders, including President John Agyekum Kufuor of Ghana, Chairman of ECOWAS, President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa and President Joachim Chissano, of Mozambique, Chairman of African Union, witnessed Mr Talyor's departure formalities.
Speaking to the GNA in Accra Mr Kabineh Ja'neh, Leader of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), the main rebel group that has been fighting President Taylor's government forces, welcomed his departure.
"It is a step forward in our search for genuine peace," he said.
Ja'neh said he and other leading members of LURD, including its Chairman, Sekou
Damate Conneh, watched the proceedings live on television, and would be issuing
a statement in due course.
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NDC will not boycott 2004 Elections - Bagbin
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 August 2003 - Alban Bagbin, the Minority Leader in Parliament, on Monday said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) would participate in the 2004 General election.
Bagbin was speaking in an interview with Journalists in reaction to a statement attributed to Haruna Iddrisu, NDC National Youth Organiser, to the effect that the party would boycott the 2004 elections if they were postponed in the Dagbon Traditional Area.
The Minority Leader said the NDC would make sure that nothing would prevent residents of the troubled Dagbon Traditional Area from taking part in the 2004 general election.
Bagbin said Iddrisu was expressing his personal views as a Ghanaian on the Government's "lackadaisical attitude" towards the handling of the Dagbon crisis.
He said government should make sure it finds a lasting solution to the Dagbon crisis to avoid any postponement of the election in the Dagbon Traditional Area.
Bagbin said the nation learned a lesson from the boycott by the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and other parties of the 1992 elections so the NDC would not stay out of the 2004 elections nor encourage its teeming supporters or other parties to do so.
He said the boycott of the elections would not be in the interest of the democratic development of the nation.
Bagbin said the Government lacked a clear road map to the handling of the
Dagbon crisis and urged it to find a lasting solution to enable the residents
there to exercise their franchise at the same time as other Ghanaians in 2004.
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National Health Insurance will not affect pension benefits
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 12 August 2003 - Kwaku Agyeman Manu, Deputy Minister for Finance and Economic Planning has sated that the government is working with the Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) to ensure that reduced pension benefits will not happen with the implementation of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
He said already, a new investment policy has been introduced in SSNIT with the aim of eliminating bad investments or low yield investments from SSNIT's investment portfolio.
Manu was addressing a Regional Consultative public forum on the National Health Insurance Bill organised by the joint Parliamentary-Select Committee on Health and Finance in Kumasi on Monday.
He said, "With a little more efficiency in management of the fund, it is anticipated that pension benefits will rather be enhanced despite channelling a portion of contributors fund into the National Health Insurance Fund".
The Deputy Minister indicated that the whole scheme could not be sustained without a very reliable, regular, convenient to collect source of funding.
He said there was therefore, the need for the introduction of two and a half percent levy on expenditures, a portion of workers contribution to support the fund, payment of premiums by individuals who register with the scheme, government's own contributions, and donor's contributions.
Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Health said it is envisaged that there will be a District Health Insurance Scheme in the districts and a board, which will be answerable to the District Health Assembly to be created.
He said various hospitals that would be allowed to operate the Scheme would be asked to provide the necessary potentials and merits of status and standards.
Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister called on all stakeholders to make frantic and relevant contributions to the Bill to ensure a sustainable Insurance Scheme that would enhance access to health care delivery.
"Let us put aside all our political differences and address issues as objectively as possible", he said.
Moses Asaga, a Ranking Member and NDC shadow Minister for Finance and Economic Planning said the forum was an idea to build consensus and credibility of the scheme.
He pointed out that the very critical issue of the scheme was funding and said this is where "we need the support and co-operation of all to make the scheme permanent and sustainable".
Alan Kyeremateng, Minister of Trade, Industry and Presidential Initiatives
said anybody caught in a fraudulent deal with the scheme would not be spared.
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Keep records confidential - Health Director
Emina (Ashanti Region) 12 August 2003 - Dr Agatha Bonney, Kumasi Metro Director of Health Services, has appealed to health personnel, non-governmental organisations, Community Based Organisation (CBOs) and all those who deal with People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) to keep records of such people secret and confidential.
She said because of stigmatisation and lack of confidentiality a lot of PLWHAs have refused to report to hospitals and other organisations for counselling, medication and support that could prolong their lives.
These were contained in an address read on her behalf to about 150 PLWHAs to educate them on how to prolong their life.
Dr Bonney said it would be beneficial for pregnant women to go for voluntary HIV test as it had been proved that 30 per cent of women who were HIV positive and who took the anti-retroviral drugs after 32 weeks of pregnancy gave birth to children who were not HIV infected.
She advised partners who are PLWHAs to use condom anytime they want to have sex to avoid viral load that would shorten their life.
Mrs Afranie Appiagyei, Chief Executive Officer of the Animwa Medical Centre
and founder of the NGO, appealed to NGOs and CBOs not to concentrate only on the
prevention and spread of the disease but must assist PLWHA to play a major role
in curbing the pandemic.
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Judge advocates prosecution of indecently dressed women
Berekum (Brong Ahafo) 12 August 2003 - Justice Robert Kofi Asaase, Circuit Court Judge at Berekum, has called for the arrest and prosecution of female youth, especially, who dress indecently.
He noted that the police could help check such indecent dressing if they arrested young women and girls who paraded in the streets in dresses that exposed their sensitive body areas and prosecute them in court.
Justice Asaase was speaking to Ghana News Agency at Berekum after the commissioning of a five million cedis urinal for the court. It was constructed by a Kwasi Gyan, a Berekum businessman.
Justice Asaase said the measure would compel the youth to lead morally upright lives and not blindly follow foreign and strange cultures.
"Any woman arrested for indecent exposure should be prosecuted at the
court and punished accordingly to serve as a deterrent to others," he
reiterated, noting that indecent dressing often enticed morally weak men to go
in for such women, thereby increasing sexual promiscuity, "and we cannot
rule out rape and defilement."
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Minister urges citizens abroad to woo investors
Ho (Volta Region) 12 August 2003 - Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa, Volta Regional Minister on Monday called on citizens of the region living abroad to aggressively woo investors to the area for its rapid socio-economic growth.
Owusu-Yeboa was addressing a six-member delegation from the First Presbyterian Church (FPC) of Stanford in the United States of America during a courtesy call on him at Ho.
The visit, which was at the instance of Peki Union, was aimed at exploring avenues of forging mutual development and religious partnership with the people of the Volta Region.
He said citizens must be aggressive in attracting investors since the development of the area was solely in the hands of its citizenry. "Citizens sojourning abroad should be the main agents of development in their areas. The time has come to hold the bull by the horn".
The Regional Minister appealed to the citizens abroad, particularly the Council of Ewe Association in North America (CEANA) to sell the contents of the Regional Business Advisory Council's reports on the region's potentials to investors to speed up development goals.
Owusu-Yeboa reiterated government's commitment to providing a congenial atmosphere towards a mutually beneficial partnership with investors and urged citizens to collaborate with foreign partners.
He said the Regional Co-ordinating Council was sourcing for funds to help turn around the declining trends of education in the region and urged partners to explore such ventures.
Owusu-Yeboa said government would continue to enhance the existing cordiality between the Church and State towards fulfilling the material and spiritual growth of all.
He commended the Church in its efforts at nation building, particularly in
the educational and health sectors, agriculture and poverty reduction.
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