Newsreel 27

1100 - The National Consultative Forum on funding of elections and political
parties opens @ La Palm Beach Hotel

1500 - The committee set up by the Ghana Journalist Association to investigate
electoral dispute presents findings @ the Press Centre

Citrus farmers upgrade skills in harvest techniques

Akim Ofoase (Eastern Region) 27 August 2003 - Seventy citrus farmers in the Birim North District on Tuesday ended a three-day training programme at Akim Ofoase to upgrade their skills in post-harvest handling techniques.

The programme was organised by the Citrus Growers and Marketing Association of Ghana (CGMA), in collaboration with the African Project Development Facility (APDF) and the International Centre for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development (IFDC).

Appiah Amankwaa, Founder and National Chairman of the Association said the training programme was aimed at preparing the members to grow good quality citrus for the international market.

He said the demand for oranges was high, adding that the Association was making efforts to bring all the farmers together to meet the world market requirements.

Bonney Young of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) urged citrus growers to join the Association, saying that would open up opportunities for them to obtain credit and to export their produce. Miss Georgina Koomson of the Ideal Providence Fund, a resource person took the participants through citrus planting methods, different types of citrus and post-harvest handling techniques among other topics.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 27 August 2003 - Five people - a Journalist, Minister of Religion, Auditor, a former Magistrate and Trade Unionist on Tuesday prayed the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) for redress for a number of human rights abuses they had suffered.

Retired Journalist Gershon Kwaku Dompreh, former Senior Editor of the Ghana News Agency (GNA), told the Commission, that he spent eight years in detention after a tribunal had tried him for "an act detrimental to the sovereign people of Ghana".

To date, however, the reasons for his conviction, which the Tribunal then deferred, are yet to be stated. Dompreh said he was arrested on the orders of the then District Secretary for the Aflao Area, in Volta Region, on an allegation that he was carrying classified documents to a businessman in Lome, Togo.

He denied the allegation and said that his friend in Togo sent someone to collect a parcel from him and while the bearer was sending it, he was accosted by some members of the then People's Defence Committee (PDC), who seized it from him.

Dompreh said he was sent to the cells of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) for four months and then to the Tribunal. The Tribunal initially slapped him with a 20-year jail term but later changed it to 10 years.
He spent eight years in Nsawam Prison before he was released on a Presidential Pardon in 1995, after he had petitioned.

Earlier petitions from the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the Commonwealth Press Association to the then government of the Provisional National Defence Council were not granted.

The former Editor said the Prisons Authorities did not give him any letter when they released him adding that they told him he was just in their custody and could, therefore, not give him any covering letter. Dompreh said his wife died because of the trauma of his incarceration. Two of his children also died during the period.

The former Editor, now resident at Nkonya Wuropong, said he has not been receiving any benefit from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust, even though, he worked for 28 years. He explained that he filled the forms for his benefits but since he did not have money he could pursue it.

The Reverend Emmanuel Kwasi Titiati, another Witness, said he was arrested on 3 January 1982, at his home in Adidome, without any charge by two Policemen, Corporal Amewovi and Garblah.

He said he was detained in the Adidome Police cells, where he developed high blood pressure and requested that he should be sent to hospital. During his one-week stay at the Adidome Hospital, soldiers came there and attempted to bring him to Accra for interrogation but he resisted.

However, when they came for the second time they succeeded in removing him forcibly to the Adidome Police Station and was later taken to the Ho Mortar Regiment, Ho Police Cells, Ho Prisons and finally to the Police Headquarters in Accra.

On his release from Prison, he discovered that one Kotoka, a soldier, had seized his tractor and was using it for his personal purposes. Rev Titiati said he petitioned the Regional Secretary, and his tractor was released to him, but in a deplorable state.

He, therefore, asked that it should be sold and some money given him to top it to buy a new one. He said he had received nothing since then.

Barrister Michael Komla Adzovie, who described himself as was a former Magistrate Grade One, said he was removed by a radio announcement on 3 April 1986, in an exercise by then government in which a number of judges were stepped down, citing corruption and drunkenness among other malefactions.

He said he was very traumatised and could not petition because he was shocked and afraid to do so. "What was done to me was so shocking; if I went ahead, something worse could have happened to me," he said.
Magistrate Adzovie said he tried getting into private legal practice, but he saw he was not suited for that.

Adzovie said he was placed on reduced pension, after serving for 20 years on the bench and prayed the Commission to intervene to get him placed on full pension. He, however, could not produce documents on the said removal and members of the Commission asked him to produce documents on his removal.

The Commission's Chairman Justice Kweku Amua-Sekyi, then a serving judge with the Ghana Judicial Service, noted; "we can easily get hold of any such document".

He said the circumstances of the removal, which occurred in April 1986, could be found in the papers, adding that a law was passed to effect the removal but it was later repealed.

Another Witness Grespin Agbadzi, an employee of the Audit Service, then working with the Volta Regional Development Corporation, complained of a false charge of diverting 80,000 bags of cement and 6,000 bags of wheat flour in November 1981 by then Acting Volta Regional Minister that led to his interdiction.

He was subsequently placed in detention in Ussher Fort Prison, and although the National Investigations Committee, asked his employers to pay his salary they did not.

After his release from prison he discovered that his parcel of land at Ojobi had been resold and all the attempts he had made to reclaim it had been unsuccessful. He prayed the Commission for appropriate compensation.
Trade Unionist Rockson Amos Yeboah, who was then a building contractor and later became the People's National Party Constituency Chairman for Ga Rural, said his block manufacturing business collapsed in 1979 but he was later able to revive it. However, it collapsed again after the 31 December 1981 coup.

He said he went into prison without charge for three months after the 1981 coup and also lost his two houses. He said since 1989 he had been a sojourner in USA, Hungary and Russia but life had still not been easy for him.
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Bechem (Brong Ahafo) 27 August 2003 - The National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) will include in its final report to the government a recommendation to set up a reparation fund to take care and address the needs and interests of victims who have lost breadwinners and properties.

Ms Annie Anipa, Director of Public Affairs of the NRC said in response to a question on measures being put in place for victims from a member of the public at a day's public forum on victims' mobilization and public education on national reconciliation at Bechem in Brong Ahafo.

The forum, a collaborative programme by the Centre for Democratic Development/Civil Society Coalition on National Reconciliation, the NRC and Tano District Assembly, aimed at educating the public on the work of the Commission and its importance to national development.

Ms. Anipa announced that scholarships would be given to young children of victims to enable them to continue with their education or acquire employable skills.

The Commission will organize public forums to discuss how funds could be organized for this purpose since the government alone cannot provide the funds, she added and urged charitable organizations, religious bodies and individuals to contribute generously towards the proposed reparation fund.

The Public Affairs Director expressed the hope that the public would accept and support the fund in good faith, disclosing that some charitable organizations and religious bodies had started donating both cash and in kind, such as wheel chairs, directly to some affected people or through the NRC.

Ms Anipa reiterated that the Commission was set up to contribute to justice and accountability and to promote reconciliation as well as to reduce tension resulting from the country's sordid past but not to punish perpetrators.

On the question of some victims feeling dissatisfied with the work of the Commission and therefore, seeking redress in court, Ms Anipa said victims could do so, "but cannot use statements made at the Commission's sittings as evidence in court".

She urged people to learn to forget about the past so they could move on with present and future development issues.

Richard Apronti, member of CDD/Civil Society on National Reconciliation said zonal offices of the NRC would be closed by August 31 this year and victim mobilization and support committees would be set up in the districts for victims to have their cases heard.

The committees have become necessary in order to cut down on the travelling expenses of victims from their destinations to Accra to write their statements, as the committees would be trained to do so and forward their reports to the NRC in Accra.
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Gen. Erskine did not use the word "intransigence"

Accra (Greater Accra) 27 August 2003 - The National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) said on Tuesday that Lieutenant General Emmanuel Erskine, a Member of the Commission, never used the word "intransigence" when he advised factions in the Dagbon conflict during the testimony of a witness.

"He rather advised the two factions in the Northern conflict to shift from their entrenched positions", a statement from the Commission, signed by the Commission's Public Affairs Director, Ms Annie Anipa, said.
The reporter introduced the word "intransigence".

The NRC attached the verbatim report of the testimony of the witness, Alhaji Ibrahim Mahama, on July 24. The Commission expressed the hope that despite the current difficulties, peace would be achieved in due course in Dagbon.

The verbatim report said: "Well, I'm happy to note that you are playing that role. I, personally, would hope that both positions, both sides do make a shift, a shift, from the entrenched positions so that there could be some sort of amicable resolution of the crisis. I think it's been going on for a very long time and you and I and this Commission, I think we have an important role to play.

"If indeed, we can make an effort to reconcile this country, some compromises are important. Entrenched positions cannot help. We have to shift and I'm appealing to you. You are my very, very respected brother. I'm appealing to you to your brothers in the North to try and see how best you can help us, not only the Commission, but also the whole country to have some peace. "I thank you very much for coming. Ibrahim."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 27 August 2003 - The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) on Tuesday said it has accepted the request by Mawusi Afele, the Association's Election Officer, to be relieved of his membership of the Ad-hoc Election Dispute Committee for personal reasons.

Consequently, Kofi Arhin, Director of Elections of the Electoral Commission, has been appointed in his place to serve on the three-member committee set up on Monday by the GJA to investigate all issues surrounding the electoral dispute between Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo and Yaw Owusu-Addo, who contested for the presidency of the GJA.

A statement from the Association, signed by Mrs Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, President, said Yonny Kulendi, a legal practitioner and member of the committee takes over the chairmanship.

Under the terms of reference, the committee would determine the eligibility or otherwise of Boadu-Ayeboafo, President-elect to be elected as president of the Association.

The other member of the committee is Mrs Bernadette-Chinery-Hese, a Journalist, Lawyer and Administrative Manager of Ghana News Agency.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 27 August 2003 - The Ad-hoc Elections Dispute Committee set up by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) to investigate the electoral dispute between Yaw Owusu-Addo, a presidential contestant and Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafo, President-elect will present its findings and verdict on Wednesday, 27 August.

A statement signed by the out-going GJA President, Mrs Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, in Accra said this follows the conclusion of the committee's hearing. The statement invited all Editors, Chapter Executives and interested members of the Association to attend.

The Committee had K. Arhin of the Electoral Commission and Mrs Bernadette Chinery-Hesse, a Legal Practitioner, Journalists and Administrative Manager of Ghana News Agency, as members with Yonny Kulendi, also a Legal Practitioner, as Chairman.

The term of reference of the Committee was to investigate all issues at the centre of the electoral dispute between Owusu-Addo, Director of Radio; Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, who lost the contest for the Presidency to Boadu-Ayeboafoh, Editor of the Daily Graphic.

It was to determine the legibility or otherwise of Boadu-Ayeboafoh to stand for the elections, which is the centre of the controversy. Owusu-Addo lodged a complaint to the GJA Electoral Officer, Mawusi Afele alleging that Boadu-Ayeboafoh was not a paid up member of the Association at the time he filed his nomination papers and should not have, therefore, held himself for election.
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Tamale (Northern Region) 27 August 2003 - The government is spending seven million dollars on the Northern Savanna Biodiversity Conservation Project as a step forward to minimising the endemic poverty that has been the bane of Northern Ghana, Professor Dominic Fobih, Minister of Lands and Forestry has said.

He said the government is also making efforts to support water harvesting in the Northern Sector to provide the basis for halting desertification and providing local communities with the capacity to grow cash crops.

Prof Fobih, who said these in an address read for him at a day's seminar on the Ghana Land Administration Project (LAP) in Tamale on Monday, said in the 1970s, the Northern Region used to be referred to as "the granary of the country".

"With such an important natural resource base the socio-economic development of the region and the country would very much depend on how well it is managed".

The Ministry of Lands and Forestry organised the seminar for traditional rulers, representatives of civil society organizations, NGOs and other stakeholders to provide an overview and rationale for the LAP and solicit stakeholders' opinions and feedback, among other objectives.

Prof. Fobih expressed concern about the management of natural resources in the country and particularly in the Northern Region and said, "We are all witnesses to the rapid deforestation taking place as a result of our own activities".

"These activities have led to the drying up of our water sources. Farms are frequently destroyed during the search for grazing lands by transient herds of cattle. The spate of unauthorised developments in our urban communities is serious and land ownership conflicts keep dogging us", he said.

The Minister said these issues of concern regarding the rapid uncontrolled dissipation of resources moved the government to support the design the Ghana Land Administration Programme and the Northern Savanna Biodiversity Conservation Project.

He said LAP is the first phase of a 15 to 20-year programme aimed at poverty reduction, facilitating access to land, enhancing security of tenure to land and improving the institutional arrangements for land management.
Prof Fobih said the government is taking steps to improve forest resource management, developing the capacity of traditional authorities to manage their own lands and making public institutions more efficient.

He said as part of the pilot activities of the LAP the Gulkpe-Naa's (Chief of Tamale) land administration set-up would be assisted to improve processes and procedures such that all landowners and acquirers could easily document their ownership land rights.

He said the assistance would be expanded during the Project to cover as many traditional land areas as possible and also help demarcate their land boundaries.

Alhaji Sulemana Mahama, National Coordinator for the LAP, said the first five years of the project (first phase) would aim at developing a sustainable land administration system that would be fair, efficient, decentralized, cost-effective and capable of enhancing land tenure security.

He said the project has been divided into four components, namely, a harmonious policy and legislative framework for sustainable land administration; institutional reform and development; improving land titling, registration, valuation and information systems and project management, monitoring and evaluation.

Alhaji Mahama said to enable the project to take off smoothly some pre-implementation arrangements had been made, which include the setting up of the project secretariat and the training of staff. There is also in place a provision for conducting legislative and institutional studies; preparing project operational manuals; deepening stakeholder consultations and information flow; commencing validation of state and vested lands and piloting the strengthening of customary land secretariats in seven selected areas.

In a welcoming address, Justice de-Veer, Northern Regional Lands Officer, noted that there is an increasing pressure on limited land resources as a result of rapid expansion of urban land use in both the developed and developing countries.
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Anyinasu (Ashanti Region) 27 August 2003 - Five people were injured and a woman had a miscarriage while a chop bar was set on fire at Anyinasu near Sekyedumase in the Ejura-Sekyedumase district of Ashanti on Monday, following a clash between two chieftaincy factions.

Madam Yaa Meah, 28, who had the miscarriage and the five who sustained injuries were on admission at the Mampong Government Hospital.

Briefing the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the incident, Chief Superintendent Kwaku Ayesu Opare-Addo, Mampong Divisional Police Commander, said Nana Achiaa Oyiakwan II, Queenmother of Anyinasu enstooled a new chief last Thursday, 21 August under the stool name, Nana Pira Yeboafo I.

He said Nana Kwasi Abu II, who was purported to have been destooled but was still holding himself as the chief of Anyinasu, also enstooled a new Queenmother with the stool name Nana Yaa Badu II.

Opare-Addo said on Monday, Nana Abu attempted to outdoor his new Queenmother and was met with a fierce resistance from the old Queenmother's faction, leading to the clash.

He said the police confiscated an unlicensed locally manufactured gun but no arrests had so far been made.
Meanwhile, peace had returned to the town.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 27 August 2003 - Provident Insurance Company, on Tuesday, at a short ceremony in Parliament presented a cheque of ¢135m to the family of the late John Achuliwor, former Deputy Minister of Communications who died in a motor accident early part of this year.

The insurance, which covered the car involved in the accident was in the joint name of Achuliwor and Parliament. The cheque, which was presented by Ato Ewusie Wilson, Head of Legal and Administration Provident Insurance was received by the Clerk of Parliament, Kenneth Takyi.

Wilson said the presentation of the cheque is in fulfilment of his company's commitment to its customers and assured that Provident Insurance would always ensure that they meet their contractual obligations.
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Zebilla (Upper East) 27 August 2003 - The Bawku West District in the Upper East Region is almost hitting the five per cent HIV/AIDS prevalence rate with the district hospital recording 21 cases as at June this year.

The District Director of Medical Services, Dr Jonathan Adda made this known when he briefed the second ordinary session of the assembly at Zebilla on the situation of the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the district.
He said there were 24 reported cases in 2001, while in 2002 the district recorded 19 cases.

Dr Adda said these figures were a tip of the iceberg because the district is rural and most cases were not reported at the hospital. He urged assembly members to liase up with community base organisation approved by the Ghana AIDS Commission to fight the spread of the disease within the communities.

The District Chief Executive, Moses Abaare Appiah said the Ghana AIDS Response (GAR) Fund has released ¢145m to the district to fund variety of activities on HIV/AIDS programmes.

He said the fund was released based on the District Assembly, NGOs and Community Based Organisations (CBOs). The DCE said it is the ardent hope of the government to check the spread of the pandemic to give hope to the nation.

Appiah urged all and sundry to act as good will ambassadors to preach the gospel on the prevention of the disease and rehabilitation of people living with AIDS.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 27 August 2003 - Mrs Gladys Asmah, Minister for Women and Children's Affairs on Tuesday called school drop-outs to make it their aim to go back to school since education is the key to life.
She said education has no end, adding, "education of women has always lagged behind with the excuse that the kitchen would always be their office and this should be the thing of the past".

She said there are many children of school-going age on the streets petty trading adding, "these children are on the streets due to financial constraints" and urged benevolent organisations to assist the children pursue their education.

Mrs Asmah made the call when she invited Ms Elizabeth Boakye the 52-year-old senior secondary school form one student, who had decided to pursue her education to congratulate her for the bold decision taken.

Ms Boakye, a mother of three is attending Seventh Day Adventist Senior Secondary School in Akyim Sekyere in the Eastern Region. It is her ambition to become a teacher of the orphan.

Mrs Asmah encouraged her to be serious with her books and be a role model to other young ones have lost hope in education. The Minister, on behalf of the Ministry presented one million cedis cash to assist her pay fees and books.

Ms Boakye, who expressed her sincere appreciation to the Minister also appealed to her to help settle a court case she had at the Koforidua High Court.

According to her, the case was over a piece of cocoa farm her late father left her and her siblings and had since 1987 not been called, adding, "anytime we go they tell us the case has been adjourned." "This has been my only headache and I would be very grateful if you could help me solve this problem", she added.

The minister however assured that she would contact the district chief executive in the area to see how best that case would be settled. Ms. Boakye was accompanied by William Boachie Agyekum, the assembly member of Sekyere and Julian Jacob Annor, Ms Boakye's guardian.
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Atibie-Kwahu (Eastern Region) 27 August 2003 - The Kwahu Government Hospital at Atibie-Kwahu has been detaining Miss Akosua Amoafoaa since seven months ago for her inability to settle her hospital bill of ¢1.55m.

Miss Amoafoaa, who is epileptic, was delivered of her baby through a caesarean operation. As a result her detention, Miss Amoafoaa, who hails from Asakraka-Kwahu, is reported to have taken to excessive drinking and this is affecting the feeding of her baby boy.

The Senior Medical Officer in-charge of the Hospital, Dr Alex Osei-Bonsu said when the Kawhuman Association of the Netherlands presented items worth ¢100m to the Hospital on Saturday.

He said personnel of the Department of Social Welfare have been tasked to investigate the background of Miss Amoafoaa to see if she could be declared a pauper. Dr Osei-Bonsu said the Hospital loses several millions of cedis through the non-payment of bills by some poor patients.

An Executive Member of the association, Afriyie Siaw, donated ¢500,000 for the upkeep of the baby boy.
Kwasi Abankwa Bediako, a representative of the Association, presented the items, which included; 16 beds, 27 mattresses, 41 pieces of bed sheets, 57 pillowcases, 18 mattress covers 2 wheelchairs and 152 theatre gowns.

Bediako said the donation is to help to solve some of its problems and added that the Association had decided to adopt the Labour and Maternity wards and would soon undertake major rehabilitation works on them.
Nana Adarkwa Boadi Yiadom, Kwahupasohene, Chairman of the Institutional Management Committee of the Hospital, received the items on behalf of the Hospital.
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Mob attack police station at Amoanda Praso

Amoanda Praso (Eastern Region) 27 August 2003 - Two police personnel and four civilians were severely injured when a mob attacked police personnel maintaining peace and order at Amoanda Praso in the Birim North District on Saturday.

The Police station in the town was also vandalised with property worth millions of cedis destroyed.
Constable Bright Appiah sustained wounds on the right arm and is on admission at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital and Constable Daniel Kujo had a deep cut on his forehead and was treated and discharged at the Nkawkaw Holy Family Hospital.

The injured civilians included Mike Kyei, who sustained gunshot wounds in the stomach and has been referred to the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, George Benneh, Esther Pinamang and Alex Amponsah, who sustained various degrees of injuries and are on admission at the Holy Family Hospital.

Briefing journalists at Amoanda Praso the Nkawkaw District Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Emmanuel Amamoo, said about two weeks ago one Kwesi Nyamekye, a 23-year-old welder in Accra and a citizen of the town, died and when some family members consulted an oracle they were told that the deceased's mother, Madam Yaa Afi and stepfather, Opanin Sarkodie were the cause of his death.

He said during the burial and funeral rites last Saturday some of the youth attacked the couple, who rushed to seek refuge at the Amoanda Praso Police station.

Chief Superintendent Amamoo said as the three police personnel at the station could not contain the situation they sent the couple to Nkawkaw Police station for protection and asked for Police re-enforcement to maintain peace and order at the funeral.

He said when the mourners conveying the corpse to the cemetery got to the police station they abandoned the coffin and attacked the police personnel and tried to seize their riffles.

In the process, two riffles went off causing injuries to the police personnel and the civilians. The District Police Commander said the mob entered the police station and vandalised the police property. He said three people, including Yaw Frempong, the ringleader, Amo Tuffour and Thomas Prempeh have been arrested and are assisting the police in their investigations.

The chief of the town, Nana Opuni Kwagyan, III, expressed concern about the behaviour of the youth towards the police and appealed to the IGP not to close down the police station since assistance would be given to the police during investigations to bring those involved to book.
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