Police and Military in firm control in Bawku
Agriculture students call for more efficient marketing system
NGOs being networked to co-ordinate activities
Journalist Association objects to committee on print media practice
We will not sacrifice rights and freedoms – Seidu
Bawku (Upper East) 05 December 2001 - The death toll in the bloody ethnic clash between Mamprusi and Kusasi at Bawku has risen to 26.
Although calm seemed to have come to the area, with the beefing up of military and police re-enforcement, life was dull and brisk commercial activities had reduced drastically because of mounting fear, suspicion and tension mounting among the people.
The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mahami Salifu, the Officer Commanding the Northern sector forces, Brigadier George Aryiku, the Regional Police Commander, Mr Paul Quaye and officials of the Bawku District Assembly toured the area to assess the extend of destruction caused by the conflict.
Property destroyed included the Kumasi Number Two Station popularly called Justice Station. It contained foodstuffs and petroleum products that was still burning during the visit. Shops, two Datsun Pick-up vehicles, a Mitsubishi taxi, a 207 Benz bus with registration number GR 540 N and a cargo truck carrying oranges were also burnt.
Three other Kumasi stations, Numbers One, Three and Four, the Ghana Co-operative Transport Association office, the Miami old station and several houses were burnt.
Addressing the soldiers, Brig. Aryiku warned them against aligning themselves with any of the factions. He said they should remain neutral and conduct themselves professionally during the operations.
Brig. Aryiku urged them to use their reputation won during international peacekeeping operations to disarm all persons with illegal arms. He said they should respect the rights of the people because their mission was not to bully, but to bring peace to the area as well as to sustain it.
The Regional Minister commended the security personnel for their timely interventions and assured them of the Regional Co-ordinating Council's preparedness to provide logistics to enable them accomplish their mission.
Earlier, Mr Salifu held separate meetings with opinion leaders of both factions. He urged them to bury their differences and forge ahead to build the district that "had been left to the mercy of conflicts and wars." Both parties agreed to respect the peace and pledged to cooperate with security personnel to maintain order.
They requested the withdrawal of media speculations that the conflict war sparked-off by an argument over Osama Bin Laden. Both parties refuted the allegation and asked for apologies from the authors of the story.
On Tuesday afternoon, 17 persons with gun shot wounds were transferred to the Bolgatanga General Hospital for attention. The Upper East Regional Tribunal at Bolgatanga had meanwhile, remanded 48 suspects on charges of indiscriminate firing of arms, obstructing traffic through blockade and causing damage to property.
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Bolgatanga (Upper East) 05 December 2001 - The official death toll in the Mamprusi and Kussasi conflict during the weekend remained at 18 dead with 21 seriously injured, the Upper East Regional Security Council told newsmen on Tuesday.
The injured, some with gunshot wounds, have been sent to the Regional Hospital at Bolgatnaga. It said 48 persons had been arrested and were being sent to the Tamale and Navrongo prisons.
Sixty Policemen from Wa and Tamale and 130 soldiers from Accra and Tamale had arrived at Bawku and were in firm control of the situation at Bawku and surrounding areas. Health workers, who deserted the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital, had returned.
Students of Bawku Secondary School and Bawku Technical Institute had deserted following what they said the Kussasis had dubbed: "Chasing out our enemies from our land" campaign.
Seven students, who had been stranded at the Regional Administration at Bolgatanga said they did not have money to travel home and arrangements were being made for them.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 December 2001 - The University of Ghana Branch of the Ghana Association of Agricultural Students on Tuesday called for a more efficient way of marketing agricultural produce.
In a statement to mark this year's Farmers' Day, which falls on Friday, the students said high inefficiencies in the marketing of agricultural produce had contributed to high prices of food items and sharp differences in the profit margins along the chain.
"We suggest that to promote efficient marketing, an award scheme should be instituted for firms and individuals involved in processing, financing or moving produce from the rural areas to the urban centre or for export," the students said.
They expressed the hope that when this was done, some competition would be injected into the marketing of agricultural produce so as to bring prices down.
The students expressed concern about the deteriorating conditions at agricultural colleges and research stations and said these should be improved to encourage the youth to participate in agriculture.
They said the conditions of service for agricultural personnel should be improved and regular training seminars organised for them. "It is the hope of the Association that these measures, if implemented, will motivate and retain personnel, who will work hard to boost agricultural production."
The students also called for an improvement in the low extension agent -farmer ratio and wider publicity on scholarship for children of farmers, most of who cannot look after their children in high institutions.
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NPP Government is out to Unite Ghanaians
Kokoben (Ashanti Region) 05 December 2001- Alhaji Ahmed Akwasi Yeboah, National Chairman of the Young Elephant Movement (YEM), a youth wing of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has stated that the party had come to unite Ghanaians.
He has, therefore, called on all Ghanaians to exercise patience since the government would ensure judicious use of resources and avoid discrimination in the sharing of resources.
Alhaji Yeboah was inaugurating the YEM branch at Kokoben near Akropong in the Atwima District at the weekend.
He asked them to be honest in their dealings and try to expose bad nuts that had infiltrated their ranks and were bound to thwart the positive changes of the government.
Alhaji Yeboah, who is also the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Kwabre, stressed that the NPP had come to stay and there was the need for them to rally solidly behind it to keep the nation moving forward.
The National Chairman urged them to embark on meaningful economic ventures to raise funds to support the activities of the movement, the party and development of the area.
He stressed the need for them embark on membership drive and educational programmes aimed at educating the people on health-related issues and government policies and programmes.
Mr Kwabena Nsenkyire, Vice National Chairman of YEM, praised the young men and women for mooting the idea of forming the Movement to support the ruling government. He urged them to have the self-help spirit and work hard to facilitate the work of the government.
Nana Akwasi Abayie, National Secretary of YEM, said the government was committed to the socio-economic well being of Ghanaians.
He, therefore, advised them to close their ranks and work as a united body working to help the government to succeed and also come to power again.
Alhaji Abu Mohammed, an Ashanti Regional Patron of YEM, observed that the Movement was the pillar of the NPP and President Kufuor.
He emphasised that YEM was fuelling the NPP as at now and members should desist from backbiting, rumour mongering and squabbles and help sustain the Movement and the Party.
A nine-member Executive inducted into office by the National Chairman had Mr Eric Adjei-Dapaah as Chairman, Mr Johnson Boakye-Yiadom, Secretary, Mr Francis Nkrumah, organiser, Madam Rebecca Boahin as treasurer and Miss Helina Sarfo, Women's Organiser.
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Tema (Greater Accra) 05 December 2001 - The Department of Social Welfare is networking the activities of all non-governmental organisation (NGOs) according to their fields of operation to ensure proper co-ordination in their attempt to support the needy.
This was meant to bring together all NGOs in the same field not to merge them but to educate them on government's programmes in their fields of operation so that they could effectively collaborate to avoid conflicts and repetition in programmes.
Mr Peter Amos Tweneboah-Kodua, Tema Municipal Welfare Officer of the Department of Social Welfare, announced this at the graduation ceremony for 81 students of the Solid African Mission (SAM) Computer Training School at Tema on
Tuesday.
The SAM, a Christian NGO established by Mr Gil-Jin Yang, a Korean missionary and his wife, Ko Kyung-Hee provides free computer training in Micro Soft Dos, Windows, Word Excel and Power Point for adult workers, the youth and the unemployed and further teaches them Christian values.
Mr Tweneboah-Kodua noted that with globalisation and Information Technology (IT) eating the fibre of every society, there was the need for all to acquire computer training to stay abreast with the time.
The SAM must be commended since the courses run so far, benefited a number of civil servants, students and unemployed and saved them a lot of money. It would have cost each student about 500,000 cedis in fees to acquire the skills they now had at any computer school.
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NPP Urged to capitalise on NDC's omissions
in UW
Wa (Upper West) 05 December 2001- A leading member of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) on Sunday urged the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government to take full advantage of National Democratic Congress' (NDC) omissions in the Upper West region to significantly improve its electoral chances in the region come 2004
elections.
In the view of Alhaji Ibrahima Mahama, the CPP Presidential Running Mate in the last elections, in spite of the solid support of voters in the region for NDC, there was nothing to show for their loyalty for the former ruling government in terms of development.
Alhaji Mahama made this observation when he addressed a meeting of supporters and activists of the CPP at Wa on Sunday.
Poverty among the people was wide spread while the road network was deplorable and many schools were without teachers, resulting in some parents withdrawing their children from school to help them on their farms.
Alhaji Mahama, therefore, called on the government to seriously address the poverty situation in the region by making adequate provision for funds for the people under the government's Emergency Social Relief Programme.
He said solving the poverty problem among the people in the region the government would also be endearing itself to them, which was likely to be paid for in electoral terms.
The veteran Tamale Politician gave a scenario of changes in the fortunes of political parties in the Upper West since the time of the defunct Northern People's Party in 1954 to present day.
The scenario he said indicated that no one particular party or political tradition could claim the region as its own, adding that with organisation, the NDC strong hold in the region could be broken.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 December 2001 - The Trades Union Congress (TUC) on Tuesday affirmed that it would assist in ensuring that good governance prevailed in the country.
Mrs Winifred Amugi, Second Vice-Chairperson of the TUC, said in a statement issued in Accra at the end of one-week workshop organised to sharpen the skills of 30 stringers of "The Ghanaian Worker", an official mouthpiece of the TUC.
The workshop, the fourth to be held by the TUC in collaboration with the American Solidarity Centre, was aimed at ensuring the paper's effective contribution to labour activities.
Mrs Amugi said the congress was committed to assisting government to ensure good governance and national development. She said: "These would be based on mutual respect, tolerance and fair play on the part of all social partners."
Mrs Amugi said the participants have the responsibility to support the struggles of the Union Movement to overcome obstacles in its way to ensure a fair deal for workers.
Madam Selina Dabouh, Course Prefect, urged her colleagues to be fair, accurate and objective in their reportage. Participants were taken through topics like; news gathering, news presentation, styles, feature writing, ethics and law of the press as well as gender issues in the trade unions and national budget and its impact on workers.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 December 2001 - The national executive of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) on Tuesday stopped the National Media Commission (NMC) from inaugurating a committee to set guidelines for print media practice.
The GJA President, Mrs Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie and her executives arrived at the offices of the NMC at about 0945 hours when the NMC members and staff were preparing for the inauguration ceremony scheduled for 1100hours.
Members of the committee and representatives of the media in the waiting rooms of the NMC waited for well over an hour while the GJA and NMC met behind closed doors to resolve the differences.
When journalists assigned to cover the event threatened to boycott it after waiting till 1145 hours without being told anything, Mr Yaw Boadu Ayeboafo, Executive Secretary of the NMC, came out of the conference room and told them that the GJA executive had raised questions about the inauguration of the committee.
These were said to be the mode of selection of the members, questions on some of the members and the scope of representation of the committee, among others.
Mr Matthew McKwame, a GJA executive member, told the GNA that the work of the committee was going to have an impact on the practice of journalism in the country and it was only proper for the GJA to have been consulted at all stages of its constitution.
"Such a committee may have legal powers and we therefore need to know what our members stand to face under it before we subject ourselves to their dictates," he said.
Mrs Affenyi-Dadzie said: "We cannot sit by and watch such an important committee to be inaugurated with powers to guide our members without making the necessary input, only to be asked what we did during its inauguration."
The NMC Chairman, Mr Nutifafa Kuenyehia and his executive thought the concerns of the GJA leadership were justifiable and therefore upheld them and postponed the inauguration.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kuenyehia has applauded journalists for the good and extensive coverage of last year's elections. This was during the launch of a Report on "Media Coverage of the Political Parties Election 2000."
He noted that the media did a yeoman's job, but added that there was still room to improve in news coverage in the country. Mr Kuenyehia observed that after the election the trend of political party coverage had changed from an anti-government intensive to a pro-government one.
He urged journalists to adopt a professional approach to the coverage of governments and political parties as a whole to ensure that the focus of media coverage was towards national development rather than a partisan course.
"It is high time journalists stayed away from the majority and minority party leanings and focused on promoting the national cause," he said.
"Journalism must focus on bridging divides in society rather than supporting factions." Mr Kuenyehia described as regrettable the lack of adequate resources available to the NMC to carry out its constitutional mandate of regularly monitoring the media landscape.
He therefore appealed to the government and the people to provide the needed resource for the NMC to ensure high standards in the practice of journalism.
He thanked collaborators and sponsors of the 30-page report and expressed the hope that it would be a point of reference for high standards in journalism.
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Wa (Upper East) 05 December 2001 - Mr M.A. Seidu, Member of Parliament for Wa Central, has said the NDC would cooperate with the NPP government in the Upper West Region but warned: "We will not acquiesce our rights and freedoms to them if they try to trample upon them".
Speaking at the delegates conference of the Wa Central Constituency, Mr Seidu said despite the fact that NDC lost the elections last year, its members had demonstrated their faith in the party by campaigning relentlessly to reclaim victory in the 2004 elections.
The conference attended by 150 delegates re-elected all the old executive members except the Women's Organiser. They are Alhaji Seidu Jamatutu as Chairman, Mr Jalaldean Seidu, Vice Chairman and Mr Muteu-Rahaman Abu Secretary.
Others are Alhaji Ankihu Sumaila, Organizer, Mr Mogtari Samani, Treasurer Alhaji Abudu Siddique, Propaganda Secretary and Alhaji Mumuni Mankama, Youth Organiser. Hajia Amamata Issahaque beat Madam Marie Seidu 20 - 11 to become the new Women's Organiser.
Mr Alban Bagbin, Minority Leader in Parliament said NDC lost in the last elections as a result of God's intervention to enable the electorate to compare the performance of both parties, adding that by 2004 the people would reverse their decision "as they cannot find solace in the NPP government".
He said NDC stood by its stand that the timeframe for the proposed reconciliation commission should cover all post independence regimes, including constitutionally elected governments.
In a three-point resolution signed by Mr Abdurahaman Yahaya, Regional Secretary of the party the NDC called on the government to continue work on the Bole-Bamboi road, which the NDC government started.
"We also call on the government to consider the stand of the general public that reconciliation should start from 1957 and cover all regimes up to date," it added.
The resolution asked the government to take a look at the rising cost of living, saying the Upper West Region would need food aid on account of poor rains experienced this year.
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