Government says fuel price cannot be reduced
Partnership in energy sector must provide efficient services
Tobacco firm calls for laws to ban children from smoking
Kufuor launches Women Development Fund
Ghana could reap benefits of trade liberalisation
Kufuor says govt policies geared towards wealth creation
Electoral Commission clarifies Bawku East DCE elections
Addae-Amoako wants 1960 bomb throwers to own up
Information Ministry says minister’s action not
interference
We'll help all to achieve better life - Minister
MP dismisses rumour on NDC disintegrating
Hairdressing school for NPP members opened
Mampomg (Ashanti Region) 19 December 2001 - Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of Energy, has said that the government could not reduce the price of fuel in the face of its 2.3 trillion cedis indebtedness to the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) plus the annual interest of 268 billion cedis.
Speaking at the commissioning of an electrification project at Kofiase, near Asante-Mampong on Monday, he said he expected the NDC Members of Parliament to show remorse for the huge debt their government left behind instead of arguing for reduction in fuel prices.
Mr Kan-Dapaah said the previous government's refusal to sell fuel at the standard price benefited only the privileged Ghanaians, who owned private vehicles of whom NDC activists formed the bulk. This, he said, was done at the expense of the ordinary people, especially farmers.
He said private vehicles consumed over 50 per cent of the nation's fuel adding that it was the ordinary taxpayer and farmers who were cheated in the long run when fuel was sold at a reduced price.
The minister said Ghana was conscripted into HIPC because of the NDC government's financial irregularities and that the country's low annual income as against its high expenditure pushed her into the HIPC web.
He said the NPP government's development programme was geared towards the rural areas and urged the people to seize the opportunity to improve their lot.
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Partnership in energy sector must provide
efficient services
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 December 2001 - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday said only investors who would provide an efficient and affordable energy for the nation would be involved in the privatisation of the energy sector.
"We are into privatisation of the energy sector that would continue to provide energy for the society, efficiently and at affordable prices," he said.
"Investments in the sector are huge and the state alone cannot afford it. We need partnership," he said when he administered the official oath and oath of secrecy to the members of the seven-member board of the Energy Commission at the Castle, Osu.
The Board is to monitor and supervise the sector and advise the government to fashion and implement policies that would be beneficial to society.
Daasebre Osei Bonsu II, Asante Mamponghene and Chairman of the Board, said the sector formed the pivot of industrialisation and the government's Golden Age of Business and pledged they would perform their duties creditably.
He stressed the need to harness the tremendous renewable energy sources that existed in the country by thorough scientific research.
Daasebre Osei Bonsu said such energy sources as solar, hydro and biogas could be used to diversify sources of energy supply. Other members of the Board are: Professor F.K. Allotey, Professor Fred Akuffo, Mr Seth Asante, Mr A.K. Addae, Mr Kobina Hagan and Mr Kofi Asante, the Executive Secretary of the Commission.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 December 2001 - British American Tobacco-Ghana, one of Ghana's biggest cigarette manufacturing companies, on Tuesday called on the government to initiate a legislation that would ban children below the age of 18 from purchasing tobacco products, especially cigarette.
This is to protect minors from cigarette-related diseases such as lung cancer, respiratory and heart diseases and help the youth make informed choices about life when they are matured to do so.
Mr Jimmy Idun-Ogde, Managing Director of BAT, told a ceremony to launch the "Youth Smoking Prevention Campaign" in Accra that the choice to smoke had always been considered as exclusively for adults. "No responsible person wants minors to smoke and neither do tobacco companies," he said.
"The youth smoking prevention campaign that we are launching in Ghana is one of 130 such programmes that we are involved in, in over 70 countries."
Mr Idun-Ogde said the problem of youth smoking was a societal one that needed to be analysed from a broader context of adolescent behaviour. "It involves peer pressure, parental influence and the desire to fit in."
Mr Idun-Ogde added: "We all therefore have a stake in addressing this important societal issue."
He said one of the most effective ways to stop children from smoking was to prevent them from having access to cigarettes, adding, "Enforcement is made easier if laws exist on proof of age."
Mr Idun-Ogde said an education campaign aimed at helping teenagers to quit smoking as well as help younger children to avoid the temptation to begin would soon begin. The initial focus is on retail access prevention to be followed by the education campaign.
Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, who launched the "Youth Smoking Prevention Campaign", said smoking kills but the government could not ban the product outright.
"What we can do is to prevent our youth from indulging in smoking.... As a youth there were several opportunities that I missed because I started smoking at a very early age," Mr Obetsebi- Lamptey said and added that he has, however, quit smoking.
He said the government could not put a total ban on the product because it would lead to the creation of an "underworld" operation, which would not be in the interest of the nation.
"We will, however, do all we can to make the producers responsible by enforcing education on the product."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 December 2001 - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday launched a 21-billion cedi Ghana Women's Development Fund in Accra.
The fund is to support women in micro and small-scale economic ventures and to empower women economically to improve on their financial capacity to enhance their partnership in corporate Ghana.
The 21 billion cedis is the seed capital for the fund and the government would make additional contributions annually through budgetary allocation.
President Kufuor therefore appealed to the country's development partners and donor agencies to support and contribute to the Fund.
A Seven-member National Steering Committee would manage the fund under the supervision of the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs. It would be operated through the network of rural and community banks as well as those banks with suitable rural networks.
To be operated as a revolving fund the scheme has an interest rate of 20 per cent and retrieval of loans from beneficiaries would be the responsibility of the banks that would retain 20 per cent of the interest charged.
It is the hope of the government that this will encourage women to save and buy shares from the banks and those to benefit mostly would be farmers, fishmongers, food evacuators, traders and agro processors.
President Kufuor said the entrepreneurial spirit of the Ghanaian woman was legendary and the country could develop and modernise when women were educated and empowered to be in the vanguard of the modernisation battle.
Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance, said there was the need to provide credit facilities to sections of the society who were not able to have access to the financial and banking institutions due to their plight in society.
He said it was women who were engaged in the distribution and marketing of most of the food produced in the country and they should not be left out, adding that his Ministry would help them to solve the problem.
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Ho (Volta Region) 19 December 2001 - Ghana could only reap the benefits of trade liberalisation if it became an important player in the global economy, Mr Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa, Volta Regional Minister said on Tuesday.
"While being critical of the system, we must admit that globalisation has often become a powerful force for economic growth and poverty reduction", Mr Owusu-Yeboa told the opening session of a two-day seminar on Multilateral Trade System for members of the small-scale business sector at Ho.
It was the government's recognition of that reality that it declared the "Golden-Age of Business" and other initiatives to strengthen and spur on the private sector to venture into the world trade system.
He said the Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) had accordingly set up an advisory committee to identify viable projects that could be marketed locally and internationally to attract investors.
Mr Kofi Larbi, Deputy Chief Commercial Officer of the Ministry of Trade, (MOT), organisers of the seminar, said the country needed a "strong and boisterous" private sector to make its mark in the competitive global market.
Topics being discussed included: "Market access", "Agreement on subsidies", "Countervailing measures", "History of multilateral trading system from GATT to the WTO" and "Agreement on Customs Valuation".
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 December 2001 - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday said the crux of the government's economic policies was not only to alleviate poverty, but also to create wealth for Ghanaians.
President Kufuor told a four-man German Parliamentary delegation who paid a courtesy call on him at the Castle, Osu that savings to be realised from the debts cancellation when the country reached the decision point under the HIPC initiative early next year would be used effectively for more investments to create wealth for the people.
Briefing the delegation on the government’s policies and the achievements made so far, he urged them, as Parliamentarians, to be advocates of Ghana and inform German investors to invest in Ghana as a way of deepening the cordial relationship between the two countries. "We see Germany as a close ally of Ghana for development," he added.
Dr Klaus W. Lippold, leader of the delegation, said despite the economic and social challenges facing Germany, it would continue to support countries with whom she had bilateral relationship.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 December 2001 - The Electoral Commission (EC) on Tuesday confirmed that Mr Abdul Rahman Guma, the President's nominee for the position of District Chief Executive for Bawku East, obtained 50 per cent of the valid votes cast on May 17, 2001 and qualified for a second round of voting.
"The total votes cast in the case of the Bawku East is 76 and not 77 due to the single ballot that was rejected because it had no mark on it," Mr Kwadwo Sarfo-Kantanka, EC Deputy Chairman (Operations), told the Ghana News Agency in Accra.
"Mr Guma obtained 38 votes to his credit with 38 against him, making the required 50 per cent," he said.
"In accordance with Article 243 (1) of the constitution, Mr Guna has obtained the 50 per cent votes required and should thus be given a second chance."
The Commission, in an apparent reaction to sentiments expressed by some leading politicians and citizens of Bawku on the issue, explained that it was not true that Mr Guma failed to obtain 50 per cent of the votes cast by the members of the District Assembly on May 17.
Mr Sarfo-Kantanka said the confusion arose out of the calculations and whether to consider the rejected single ballot as part of the members present and voting.
He said calculating the results based on the 77 members present Mr Guma's 38 votes worked out to 49.35 per cent, but calculating without the rejected ballot based on the 76 members who cast valid votes, the nominee obtained 50 per cent.
Mr Sarfo-Kantanka explained that public elections regulations recognised percentage of valid votes obtained by candidates as the basis for calculation and not the invalid/rejected votes.
He said if the president wished to maintain the nominee or otherwise, the Commission was ready to conduct the elections, if it was dully notified. Mr Sarfo-Kantanka admitted the conflicting position of EC's regional director on the issue but said a letter from Accra dated July 4, 2001 signed by Mr Albert K. Arhin, Director of Elections, sought to clarify the position and confirmed the elections results.
The Model Standing Orders for District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies Act 15 (1) states that the DCE for each district shall be appointed by the president with the prior approval of not less than two-thirds majority of the members of the Assembly present and voting at a sitting specifically convened for the purpose.
Section 3 mandates the Electoral Commission to conduct the voting for approval of the president's nominee. On election of the nominee, the model Act 15, (7,8,9 and 10) specifically states that in the event of the president's nominee polling two-thirds or more of the votes of the members of the assembly present and voting, the EC shall notify the president of the assembly's approval within seven days of the approval.
However, where the nominee polls 50 per cent or more of the votes cast but fails to poll the required two-thirds of the members present and voting, there shall be another ballot conducted on the nominee within 10 days of the first ballot unless the president withdraws his nomination.
It further stated that where the president's nominee fails to win the required two-thirds at the second ballot, the president shall withdraw his nomination.
The Standing Orders mandates the president to withdraw his nominee who at any time fails to poll 50 per cent of the votes of the members present and voting.
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Addae-Amoako wants 1960 bomb throwers to
own up
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 December 2001 - A former National Organiser of the erstwhile People's National Party (PNP) on Monday called on the government not to restrict the period that the national reconciliation exercise would cover.
Mr Samuel Addae-Amoako, who returned recently from exile, told a news conference in Accra that; "as a CPP activist, I will be glad that those who organised the bombing campaign in the 1960s could own up and be forgiven by the entire state of Ghana."
"I am on the side of those who are campaigning for no restriction on the period that the exercise should cover but I do not believe reconciliation means we should throw our hands in despair and allow atrocious laws smuggled into the constitution to tie our hands," he added.
Mr Addae-Amoako also urged the Kufuor Administration to set up the necessary mechanism for the removal of the Transitional Provisions that, he said, had no place in the constitution and that it was based on libertarian values.
He said the provisions were a complete hindrance to the effective practice of democracy and an affront to "our willingness to give ourselves a constitution guaranteeing freedom and the liberty of the Ghanaian."
"The whole nation, I believe will support the government at the referendum. We cannot continue to be bonded by those who came by arms and misdirected our destiny in the course of which they enriched themselves at the expense of honest government founded on integrity."
The former PNP leading member also cautioned the NPP government to be wary of the many minefields associated with power. "Never again should this nation fall into the pit of disorder and arbitrary rule and plundering of state resources."
Mr Addae-Amoako also stated that most of the ministers of Ex-President Hilla Limann were highly incompetent and dishonest to hold public office. "I personally complained to the president on several occasions and made a submission at the party's congress for their removal but the government failed to act."
Mr Addae-Amoako who, many political analysts believe laid the foundation for the overthrow of the Limann regime with his court action against the party, said his action was to deal with dishonesty.
"It was to deal with the dishonesty on the part of some leading members of the PNP that I took court action against the National Chairman, the late Nana Okutwer Bekoe III, Acting General Secretary Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah, and the late Kofi Batsa, Chairman of the Publicity Committee."
He said the court gave a settlement judgment in which the party structures were clearly defined.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 December 2001 - The Ministry of Information and Presidential Affairs on Tuesday denied that the minister interfered in the activities of media houses when he met managers of a number of radio and television stations in Accra to discuss several negative contents of some of their programmes.
A news release issued in Accra in reaction to a statement by the National Media Commission (NMC), which described the minister's meeting as constituting interference, said the issues discussed centred "on the unacceptable spate of violence, sex, uncouth language and other unsavoury contents in some programmes of our stations".
The statement signed by Mr Kofi Sekyiamah, Chief Director, said the issues were discussed with a view to encouraging the managers to voluntarily address the concerns of the government and the general public.
It said the interaction, which was very constructive and friendly, revealed that the issues were of concern to the managers of the media houses present.
"It was therefore not surprising that views converged on the need to voluntarily check the content of programmes and to ensure that adult films for instance are not shown early in the evening," it added.
The statement said these and other shared views were submitted for further discussion with various related governing bodies for their consideration.
"In no way therefore has the sector minister prevented the National Media Commission (NMC) from exercising its constitutional authority to promote and ensure the highest journalistic standard in the mass media."
The statement said the ministry was happy that the NMC was currently discussing the unacceptable content of some media programmes. "Government and the public no doubt share this pre-occupation and urge early action as we approach the festive season of high media attention."
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We'll help all to achieve better life - Minister
Accra
(Greater Accra) 19 December 2001 - Hon Cecilia Bannerman, Minister for Manpower
Development and Employment has said that the vision of the NPP government is to
generate the appropriate environment and opportunity for all and sundry to
build up their potentials so as to contribute to the development of the
country.
To
this end, she said the recent registration of the unemployed has become
necessary as the subsequent registration of beggars on our streets is geared
towards the assimilation of the vulnerable in the society.
Hon
Cecilia Bannerman made these remarks at a fund-raising ceremony to raise funds
in support of Osagyefuo Amotia Ofori Panin's Fund for the Blind.
According
to her, it is a challenge for the government to establish the needed ambience
for the visually impaired to develop themselves by providing the suitable
materials and facilities for study at all levels of the educational structure.
Continuing,
she commended the laudable and dynamic efforts portrayed by some traditional
leaders notably Osagyefuo Amotia Ofori Panin and Otumfuo Osei Tutu for ensuring
an accelerated national development and also taking the initiative to develop
the potentials of the blind so that they will be of benefit to the entire society.
She,
however, called on Nananom, to also take the lead to eradicate obnoxious and
negative traditional norms and values which contribute to discrimination and
stigmatisation of PWDs.
She
also called on benevolent societies, NGOs, among others to contribute their
quota for persons with disability as the government needs the support of all
and sundry. Meanwhile, she appealed for the extension of the programme to all
the regions.
Present
was the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Ghana Society for the Blind,
Osagyefuo Amotia Ofori Panin, Okyenhene who gave the purpose of the ceremony as
an appeal for funds to raise ¢1 billion for the Osagyefuo Amotia Ofori Panin Fund which will be used to establish an
Agricultural Training Programme as well as a Computer Training Centre.
According
to him, the Computer Training Centre will help the 5000 blind men in the
country acquire knowledge on the use of computers and also empower them on the
HIV/AIDS menace to help them know what they were brought into the world for,
adding that the Agricultural Programme will also help them know more about
farming.
Stressing
on the theme, "Get the blind off the street", he appealed to
Ghanaians to minimise their spending this Christmas in order for them to
contribute monthly towards the fund for the blind to get off the street. Finally,
the Management and Staff of TV3, a
locally based television station donated
¢500,000 to the fund. - AllAfrica.com
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MP dismisses rumour on NDC disintegrating
Accra
(Greater Accra) 19 December 2001 - DR. Kwabena Adjei, MP for Biakoye has
dismissed rumours of disintegration in the NDC.
He
told listeners of LUV FM in Kumasi during a talk show last week Monday that
there is no problem in the NDC camp except that democracy was at play.
The
MP said perceived problems in the NDC are "one's own imagination". Hon.
Adjei said there were a lot of distortions and misinformation regarding goings-on
in the party.
Answering
a question by the host, Hon. Adjei said he was not aware of any deep seated
conflict between ex-President Rawlings and Dr. Obed Asamoah said to be at the
centre of rumours of division following the leadership struggle.
The
MP also defended the minority's stand against the National Reconciliation
Commission Bill and the authority of the President to appoint members of the
proposed commission. - AllAfrica.com
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Hairdressing school for NPP members opened
Cape
Coast (Central Region) 19 December 2001
- The member of Parliament (MP) for Cape Coast, Hon. Christine Churcher
has officially opened a hairdressing saloon aimed at training young NPP members
in hairdressing to be able to live on their own instead of depending on men for
their livelihood.
Situated
at House No. E 2/4, Bakaano, a suburb here, it is known as "Lady May"
Saloon to be run by Ms Mary Dadson, an NPP activist.
In
her opening address, Hon. Churcher stated that it is the avowed aim of the NPP
government to provide jobs for the numerous unemployed youth, adding that in
that direction, there are plans to establish a seamstress training school in
Cape Coast to train young women to become self-employed.
She
called on Cape Coasters to make use of the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr.
Muniru Arafat Nuhu, who is the representative of President J.A. Kufuor and
herself.
She
expressed regret that during the NDC era, all former NDC appointed MCEs only
came to thwart her efforts at any meaningful development project mooted by her
because they suspected and feared that any credit associated with the
development would come to her as the MP for the constituency. The former NDC
MCE, therefore, sat on her Common Fund.
She
stressed that this time round, our MCE is an NPP whose allegiance and aims are
geared toward the total development and progress not only of Oguaa (Cape Coast)
but the nation as a whole.
Hon.
Churcher told the gathering that some time early this year, Ms Dadson told her
about her plans to establish a hairdressing saloon to train the unemployed
young girls of the party who are currently roaming about without jobs in the
municipality.
According
to her, she agreed to the proposal and gave every encouragement to Ms Dadson to
forge ahead with her plans and was thankful to God that her plans have become a
reality.
Also
addressing the gathering, Arafat Nuhu assured the public that as long as he
remains MCE for the municipality, he is there to assist the MP in all matters
relating the development of the area.
He,
however, promised that he and the MP for Cape Coast would do everything
possible to assist the saloon in the provision of qualified teachers to train
the young women to become professionals in their own right.
Earlier
in a welcome address, Ms Dadson expressed the hope that the unemployed girls
could take advantage of her gesture for very minimal charge to become
self-employed to meet the future.
The
Very Rev. E. E. Williams, Provost of Christ the King Anglican Church of Cape
Coast who prayed at the commencement of the programme, blessed the equipment of
three hair-dryers and other items to be used in the saloon. - AllAfrica.com
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