NDC regional election campaign heats up
Bawku (Upper East) 08 December 2001 - At least 50 houses were burnt during Sunday's ethnic clash mainly between the Kusasis and Mamprusis.
The worst affected areas were Dauri, Misega and Zoko electoral areas, where most of the people sensing danger fled. Food barns were burnt down and there is general shortage of food and immediate food supplies are needed to save people from starving.
The bungalow of the Bawku Secondary Technical School Headmaster, Mr Awudu Agyerimia was completely burnt down. A computer and its accessories, official documents and all his personal effects were affected.
The Bawku East District Co-ordinating Director, Mr Ibrahim Alhassan, who conducted the press on a tour of some of the affected areas on Wednesday said the immediate cost of damage was not known, but from every indication it would run into billions of cedis.
Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) seeking to bring peace to the area have been organising seminars, dialogues and brokered peace accords endorsed by the two main factions, the Kusasis and Mamprusis.
This year's United Nations (UN) day for peace and reconciliation was specially dedicated to Bawku to get the people to appreciate the need for peace. In addition, the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mahami Salifu had initiated moves aimed at ensuring peace in the area.
In spite of these efforts the dispute got worse anytime it erupted. This time, for instance, the fighting was not between Kusasis and Mamprusis only. It embraced the numerous ethnic groups that have sought to protect themselves by also acquiring arms.
Advocates for peace in the area have suggested the combination of extensive military tactics to retrieve arms and diplomacy and education to bringing lasting peace to the area.
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Bolgatanga (Upper East) 08 December 2001 - Security personnel in Bawku have arrested three suspects for questioning in connection with the death of a 24-year-old man at Garu, near Bawku.
The body of the unidentified man was found on the Garu-Bawku trunk road at about 4:30pm on Monday by a military/police patrol team. The body had a deep cut in the throat.
A wireless message released by the Regional Police Command in Bolgatanga on Thursday morning said information gathered indicated that the man was murdered by a group of Kusasi youth in Garu, who later deposited the body at the spot where the patrol team found it.
The message added that unknown persons damaged a major water pipeline that served the Bawku Township on Wednesday. However, a team from the Ghana Water Company Limited was sent to fix it under military and police guard and water supply to the township had been restored, the message said.
In a related development, the Regional Police Command in Bolgatanga disclosed on Thursday that Policemen on duty at the Binduri checkpoint near Bawku found two Russian-made SB guns during a search on a Vanef-STC bus last Tuesday, December four.
One of the passengers on the bus, Mousa Ouaba, who claimed ownership of the weapons, is assisting the police in their investigations. Another search on a mini bus at the same checkpoint the same day, led to the retrieval of eight bows and arrows. Just like the Vanef/STC bus, the mini bus too was on its way to Bawku.
The Police source added that one woman who was only identified as Akolpobilla, claimed ownership of the bows and arrows concealed in a fertilizer sack. She has been detained for questioning.
Meanwhile, military and police patrols have been extended to Garu, Zebilla and Kanga in anticipation of a spillage of violence to those areas.
At a meeting with non-governmental organisations (NGO's) in Bolgatanga on Wednesday, the Regional Minister, Mr Mahami Salifu, urged them to contribute humanitarian relief to help rehabilitate the displaced victims in Bawku.
He said food, blankets and medical supplies were urgently needed to cater for the victims and added that the magnitude of the problem was too much for the government alone to shoulder.
As at Thursday, the death toll in the conflict had risen to 28, following the death of one of the 16 wounded victims who had been put on admission at the Bolgatanga Government Hospital. Fifteen others had severe gunshot wounds had been flown by helicopter to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra.
Meanwhile, reports say uneasy calm is currently prevailing in Bawku as a combined team of armed soldiers and police patrol the town. The curfew that was imposed on Monday was generally holding and life seemed to be back to normal during the daytime.
The GNA reports that a visit to the Bawku Township indicated that commercial institutions that were closed down in the heat of the conflict have resumed operations. However, first and second cycle schools were still closed.
Officials of the Ghana Red Cross Society were busy taking census of displaced persons to enable them assess their needs. In all over 50 houses, 20 stores and kiosks and about 15 vehicles were destroyed.
The Bawku East District Co-ordinating Director, Mr Ibrahim Alhassan told the Ghana News Agency that most of the displaced persons had been absorbed by the external family system.
Though the Bawku Presbyterian Hospital had resumed operation, some of the health workers, who fled in the wake of the conflict, had not yet returned. Patients, therefore, preferred travelling to Garu, about 18 miles from Bawku for treatment.
On the casualty figures, Mr Alhassan said the 28 reported dead were rather on the low side as many more died on the battlefield. He said those who died on the battlefield and those who were killed in revenge attacks were buried by relatives without reporting.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 08 December 2001 - A group of persons with disability on Thursday morning took to the streets in a demonstration against an alleged public announcement by the Information Services Department that it is illegal for people to give alms to the disabled.
They blocked the main road at the Cathedral Square near the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, saying it was wrong for the department to spread such information. ''This shows disrespect to us. The van is spreading this information at a time when registration of people with disability has not even started,'' said one of the protesters.
He said they were also not happy that only one registration officer had been assigned to register them. According to the GNA, Mr Joseph Kojo Attigah, Officer-in-Charge of Accra Rehabilitation Centre, where the group had gathered to be registered, said they complained about the announcement by the ISD van and threatened to boycott the exercise.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 08 December 2001 - A group of child-related NGOs on Thursday organised a peaceful march through some principal streets of the city to create awareness on the need to rise up against child rights abuse.
The group, including the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) and the Ark Foundation, marched from the Kwame Nkrumah Circle through the Kojo Thompson Road before converging at the British Council.
They sang songs and carried placards some of which read: "Stop sexual abuse of teenage girls", "Give us Fast Track Court for Sexual Violence", "Kufuor, where is our Social Policy? Give the Girl Child Education" and "Respect the Rights of the Child".
Ms Theresa Tagoe, Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, told the gathering that stories of children being raped and sodomized, were disturbing and called on all to join forces to help protect them.
She said the government's commitment and keen interest in issues affecting women and children were demonstrated by the creation of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs.
Ms Tagoe gave the assurance that Parliament would work with NGOs and other bodies that championed the rights of children. She urged the Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU) of the Ghana Police Service to set up a monitoring mechanism to check practices such as Trokosi and Female Genital Mutilation.
Mrs Ernestina Hagan, President of the Ghana Chapter of FIDA, said the federation was prepared to work to make the rights of the Girl-Child a reality. Mrs Gifty Affenyi-Dadzie, President of the Ghana Journalists Association, called on the media to play a watchdog role to help expose the perpetrators of child rights abuses.
She said the media should always protect the image and reputation of victims.
Mrs Joana Opare of the United Nations Gender System assured the organisers of the UN's preparedness to assist FIDA and other institutions to help champion the cause of women and children.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 08 December 2001 - The Fiaseman Co-operative Pineapple Growers Society at Tarkwa on Thursday appealed to the government to intervene in a resettlement issue between farmers of Damang-Kyekyewere and the Abosso Goldfields Limited in the Western Region.
Mr Kwaa Arku-Korsah, Executive Secretary of the society, told a press briefing in Accra that Abosso Goldfields Limited in 1997 decided to remove the farming community of Damang-Kyekyewere since the community lay within its operational zone.
He said Mr Tony Aubyn who is the Human Resources Manager of the company led a delegation to the community who gave farmers an option of either relocation or resettlement.
According to Mr Arku-Korsah, the option of resettlement was to put farmers far away from the mining lease with some amenities, while relocation was to compensate for farms, households as well as backyard gardens. A relocation allowance for transportation was also to be paid.
He said 85 per cent of the inhabitants opted for relocation after signing forms that were endorsed by Nana Bene Koampah, Chief of Kyekyewere. "After compensating each household with very scanty sums and a relocation allowance of three million cedis to each household, the company decided not to pay compensation for the farms of relocated farmers."
He complained that while the farmers were still in consultation with the company to resolve the issue, the company brought in the police to forcibly eject them.
Mr Arko-Korsah said Abosso Goldfields had been sold to another company and expressed the fear that its Managing Director, Mr David Hatch might leave the country any moment from now.
He said the society was asking Abosso Goldfields Limited to pay compensation for farms and backyard gardens. It should also produce legal documents that permitted them to demolish the village or bear the cost of the damage caused and pay the balance of the actual value for their households.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 08 December 2001 - The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) has been called upon to re-test drivers at least on road signs before issuing them with the new computerised licence to help reduce motor accidents.
Mr Kwaku Nkansah, Manager of Rabonni Driving Institute at Madina, said in a statement issued on Thursday that Ghana was now known world-wide for its high accident rate with six to 10 people dying everyday on the roads.
He said this statistic was based on people who had been driving for the past three to forty years and these people would be handed computerised licenses on a silver platter.
Mr Nkansah recalled that the commercial transport operators, notably the GPRTU, once threatened strike action if their members were to be re-tested before being issued with the computerised licence, "their misconception being that they were going to be deprived of their livelihood."
He said statistics showed that most of the fatal accidents involved one or two commercial vehicles, and because they always carried more passengers at a time, they tended to kill more people than the private car drivers.
"So is the nation going to sit down for the GPRTU and the other commercial drivers to hold us to ransom, collect licenses en masse and continue killing innocent people?" he asked.
Mr Nkansah said it was better to take off the road a commercial driver who did not know anything about road signs and train him than to keep him on the road for him to kill people and make other families lose their bread winners forever.
He said road safety was a human rights issue and the DVLA must not miss this chance to re-test drivers, adding that this should not cost the Authority or government an extra pesewa.
He said instructors from driving schools; NVTI and other driver education centres could be requested to volunteer their services for a worthy national cause.
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Agona Nsaba (Central Region) 08 December 2001 - Nana Kofi Agyekum II, Adontenhene of Agona Nsaba Traditional Area has expressed concern about the large-scale cultivation of Indian Hemp (Wee) and abuse of the drug in the district.
He has therefore called on landowners to report tenant farmers who indulged in these illicit activities to the law enforcing agencies.
Addressing the people to round off the annual Akwambo Festival at Agona Nsaba, Nana Agyekum appealed to the government and civil societies to intensify the campaign against drug abuse as was being done against the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Nana Agyekum who is also Agona District Chief Farmer suggested to the government to institute stiffer and deterrent punishment for drug offences.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 08 December 2001 - The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development on Thursday said it was working to ensure that ex-District Chief Executives who had no financial irregularities against them were paid.
A statement said the minister, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, had over the past five months been working, based on audited reports from the Auditor-General's Department, to ensure a smooth payment for ex-DECs who were cleared.
He was reacting to media reports that ex-DCEs had petitioned the Council of State for the minister to pay their end of service benefit.
Mr Baah-Wiredu said the government, as part of its constitutional duty, would ensure that public servants were paid after the end of their service to the state.
He said the ministry had sent a memorandum to the Secretary to the President to ensure that ex-DCEs not surcharged by the Auditor-General were paid their ESB.
The minister said the auditing of district assemblies was a constitutional responsibility of any government to ensure that public service holders accounted for their stewardship.He asked the ex-DCEs to exercise restraint while the government found ways to settle them.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 08 December 2001 - The Minority in Parliament on Thursday called for the cancellation of the impending bye-election of district assemblies saying it was a waste of resources.
According to a GNA report, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, the Minority Spokesman of Local Government and Rural Development, said since there was no urgency about the elections, district assemblies should be allowed to complete their terms with those few vacancies.
The Electoral Commission is to spend about 700 million cedis to organise bye-elections to fill vacancies in the various assemblies caused by deaths, accidents and resignations.
The spokesman said none of the assembly's work would be hampered if those vacancies were not filled. "After all, the two thirds majority mostly needed for serious consideration can always be gotten. What bother us most is that the next general
District Assembly election is due in June 2002. It is just around the corner so why do we have to spend this huge sum in filling those few vacancies", He said
"Or is it also a case of job for the boys. There is nothing urgent about this election. We shall not be breaching the Constitution if we don't do it."
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said the government would do more good if the money were channelled into rural development. "We still have many villages without potable water and electricity. Many communities are struggling to get hooked to the national grid. We could help them with this money."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 08 December 2001 - The winners of the three top national best farmers' awards, on Friday said they were happy with their award package describing them as "very rewarding to our efforts."
The three gave their impressions in separate interviews at the National Farmers Day ceremony, the first to be organised by the Kufuor administration since its inception in 1985 under the PNDC and NDC regimes.
The national farmers day was instituted to honour farmers, fishermen and their service providers for their contribution to meeting the food needs of the country and to encourage the youth and potential investors to go into agriculture.
Potential award winners must have a total minimum of 200 acres of various food crops and livestock. They are also required to have contributed to the development of their communities in remarkable ways.
Since its inception, the national best farmer award has risen from the initial two cutlasses and a pair of Wellington boots valued at a few thousand cedis to what now runs into millions of cedis worth of prizes.
This year's national overall best farmer, Nana Matthew Kwesi Bonsu, 51, from Sefwi Yawmetswa in the Juabesubia District of the Western Region, receives a three-bedroom apartment to be built at a location of his choice, one-year insurance cover and a water bore-hole on his farm.
Nana Bonsu told journalists, "I am very elated about this award - I did not hear my name mentioned - I only knew I had won when I was whisked shoulder-high by those sitting around me amidst shouts of Nana o...nana o."
He said he had hoped to win but that was just a hope since there were equally good farmers contending for the topmost award. The announcement, he added, took him by surprise but he thought he deserved it.
Nana Bonsu said over the past 35 years, he had cultivated 250 acres of different crops and had some livestock without any financial support from any source. "I have always ensured that the proceeds of one crop goes to support the cultivation of the other, and through that I have been self-dependent over the past 35 years," he said. "There is no crop in Ghana I have not cultivated."
He said he has 10 children with one wife, adding that some of his children are in tertiary institutions and others are in senior secondary school in Accra. "I have chosen to locate my award house in Accra, the capital to ensure that its significance would not be limited to my hometown," he said. "Moreover my children are schooling in Accra so they could use the house."
Mr. Mohammed Gonja, first runner-up from Asuokaw in West Akyem District of the Eastern Region took home a Toyota pick-up and other prizes. He has 250 acres of a variety of crops and livestock. This was the fifth time he had won an award since the inception of the farmers' awards scheme.
"I have won four district and regional awards in previous years but this is the biggest," he said. "I expected to win the overall best but this is okay, I will try again for the next five years and I am sure to win."
He said as a farmer, one wife was not enough for him so he has two by whom he has 10 children. He employs 12 people whom he trains on the job. "I already have one vehicle which I use on my farm but this new one will make the conveyance of food and my staff to and from the farm even easier," he said.
He urged the elite in society to take up farming, saying "farming used to be regarded as a domestic exercise for school drop-outs but it has become the lifeblood of society and a big business worth the while of anyone, no matter your status."
Mr. Augustine Sosi, the second runner-up award winner, who also took home a Mitsubishi pick-up vehicle and other prizes, said with a smile that it was a fitting reward for his 25 years of providing food to his countrymen.
From Abrewanko in the Nkwanta district of the Volta Region, Sosi is also the proud winner of four regional and district award prior to the national one, obviously his biggest.
He said he could not believe his ears when he heard his name mentioned as the third prize- winner. "I dedicate this award to my 12 children and four wives, who toiled with me on the farm," he said. "This award has challenged me to do my best and win the national overall best next time round."
Ten regional best farmers' awards and 40 crops, livestock, fisheries, vegetable and other special awards were also presented.
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Wa (Upper West) 08 December 2001 - Mr Mark Abugnaba, Upper West Assistant Regional Population Officer has called on the traditional authorities of the region to abolish widowhood inheritance, which he said had the potential of contributing to the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Widow could transmit the disease to the next husband if the previous one died of AIDS, Mr Abugnaba said at Wa on Thursday at a seminar organised by the National Population Council (NPC) for journalists in the region.
He also called on the Regional Coordinating Council to construct dams to encourage the youth to do dry season farming instead of travelling to other areas to look for greener pasture.
He said the regional secretariat of the NPC was collaborating with the Sissla District Assembly to establish an HIV/AIDS fund to fight the disease at all levels and called on other districts to institute similar programmes.
"Whether we like it or not the disease has come to be with us and the only way we can get it out is to collaborate and fight it collectively".
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Tema (Greater Accra) 08 December 2001 - The Greater Accra Regional Delegates' Conference of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) comes off in the Tema West constituency on Saturday December 8.
About 150 delegates would attend the one-day conference. Mr Alfred Agbesi, a member of the party's Regional Re-organisation Committee said in an interview on Wednesday that party members, who wanted to contest for executive positions, had intensified their campaigns.
Two names being mentioned for the position of regional chairman were Mr Eddie Palmer, Deputy Regional Chairman since 1994, and Mr Joshua Alabi, current Chairman of the Regional Re-organisation Committee and former Greater Accra
Regional Minister and MP for Krowor.
The position of Vice-Chairman is being fought for by, Mr M. G. Tackie. Mr Agbesi, a lawyer, is vying for Secretary, while the name of Mr Addo Mills had filtered in for Assistant Secretary.
Names mentioned for organiser were Mr Jerry Acquaye Thompson and Mr Doe Nani, while the position of Treasurer had Hajia Cash, who at the time of filing this report had filled her nomination.
Mr Agbesi said contestants for chairmanship position were to pay one million cedis, while that of vice-chairman was 700,000 cedis. The rest of the positions attract a fee of 500,000 cedis.
Sources close to NDC Regional office said those who intended to contest for executive positions would be disqualified from vying for parliamentary seats because it had been realised that such executive members had no time to attend meetings.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 08 December 2001 - The African Women Development Fund (AWDF) established about a year ago has so far awarded grants of up to 334,000 dollars in its first funding cycle to 38 women's organisations from 19 African countries.
The recipients were groups working at local, national and regional levels in communicating the work and achievement of women organisations, a statement from the AWDF in connection with its Africa launch in Accra on Saturday said the newly established fund would add immense value to philanthropism in Africa.
The statement mentioned some of its recipients as Femme de Demain Togo, which got 5,000 dollars to support micro credit programmes, training and purchase of equipment while Benishyaka Association of Rwanda received 8,000 dollars for the purchase of machinery to expand and improve the already existing grain milling project for 210 widows in the Bugesera region.
Soroti Women Entrepreneurs Association of Uganda was given 10,000 dollars over two years towards the organisation's economic empowerment projects, Maata-N-Tudu Association of Ghana got 7,500 dollars for capacity building workshops and training programmes and the Ark Foundation also of Ghana received 20,000 dollars over two years for women's leadership, advocacy and human rights projects.
The launching will provide an opportunity for the fund to be introduced to philanthropists and corporate institutions in Africa willing to support the empowerment of African women.
Mrs Stella Obasanjo, First Lady of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, will be the special guest of honour and Mrs Chantal Compaore, First Lady of Burkina Faso, would be a special guest at the launch to be performed by Alhaji Aliu Mahamah, Vice President o at La Palm Beach Hotel.
Ms Joana Foster of Ghana, Dr Hilda Tadria of Uganda and Ms Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi of Nigeria who have been noted for working actively on social justice and women's rights issues for many years founded the AWDF.
It receives its funding from international institutional donors, private foundations, and individual donors within and outside Africa.
The AWDF has received grants and multi-year commitments from Carnegie Corporation of New York, Ford Foundation, Comic Relief (UK), the John D. and Catherine T. MaCarthur Foundation.
The rest are the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Match International (Canada), Global Fund for Women (USA), Mama Cash (The Netherlands) and the Global Board of Methodists Ministries (USA).
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