NDC Youth Forum wants Obed vetted before vying for chairmanship
Govt
to fast-track use of sorghum in alcoholic beverages
Ghana
Police Endowment Fund receives donation
Public
reminded of Christmas holidays
NDC Youth Forum wants Obed vetted before vying for chairmanship
Kumasi
(Ashanti Region) 20 December 2001- Action Forum of the Ashanti Region branch of
the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has urged Dr Obed Asamoah to be vetted
by the party's vetting committee and cleared of any impropriety before he
contests the position of National Chairman of the party.
A statement
issued in Kumasi on Wednesday and signed by Mr A.K. Mensah, Chairman and Mr
Asamoah Atuahene, Co-ordinator of the Forum said Dr Asamoah must clarify the
whereabouts of the 100 million cedis he alleged was stolen from his house by
his police guards.
The Forum
said as Chairman of the Finance Committee of the party, he should be cleared of
all doubt before attempting to contest the elections.
The Forum
said Dr Asamoah had on several occasions been quoted as saying that the NDC had
no money with him and therefore asked whether as the Finance Committee Chairman
he never received, kept and disbursed money entrusted to him by the NDC.
The
statement quoted Dr Asamoah as having claimed in Tamale at the inaugural
meeting of the Re-organisation Committee that some people collected money from
him for party activities but did not use it and asked him to name the people.
The Forum
wondered whether Dr Asamoah as Chairman of the Finance Committee was telling
the truth about his handling of party money and whether he had accounted for
all funds given to him.
The
statement wanted to know the whereabouts of the over 200 pick-ups the party
ordered for the 2000 elections and queried whether the pick-ups belonged to the
party or individuals.
The Forum
accused Dr Asamoah of having some influence on the supply of vehicles to some
individuals in the regions who were campaigning for his National Chairmanship
aspirations and asked whether other aspirants to national positions on the
executive committee had the same access.
The
statement said in trying to rally all NDC members to "Fit under the
umbrella" for the 2004 elections, the credibility of its leaders would come into sharp focus.
"As a
party, we must be mindful of the current political atmosphere in the country on
issues of probity and accountability. Should the issues raised by Action Forum
come up in future on the national platform none should think that it will be
wished away. Ghanaians will be interested in them." The Forum said it
would therefore be more honourable for the present leaders of the NDC to
address these concerns.
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Kufuor in Senegal for ECOWAS Summit
Accra
(Greater Accra) 20 December 2001- President John Agyekum Kufuor left Accra on
Wednesday for Dakar, Senegal, on board the refurbished Fokker 28 Presidential
Jet to attend the 25th Summit of the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS).
This is the
first time President Kufuor is travelling on the plane outside the country. Mr
Kwabena Agyapong, Deputy Government Spokesman, said the plane, which arrived a
couple of weeks ago, was refurbished at the cost of three million dollars.
He told
reporters that the two-day summit would deliberate on issues such as regional
economic integration, peace and security and ratification of the various
protocols.
The heads
of state would also choose a new chairman to succeed President Alpha Omar
Konare of Mali and elect a new executive secretary to replace Guinea's Lansana
Kouyate.
Dr Mohamed
Ibn Chambas, MP for Bimbilla, who is already in Dakar, is in the race for the
post of executive secretary and Mr Agyapong said Ghana was confident that he
would be elected because President Kufuor had established good neighbourliness,
which gave Ghana an added advantage.
Mr Jake
Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, accompanied
the President. Already in Dakar are the
Foreign Minister, Mr Hackman Owusu- Agyemang, Minister of Economic Planning and
Regional Integration, Dr Paa Kwesi Ndoum, and the Deputy Finance Minister Dr
Agyesika Agambilla who attended the 48th session of the ECOWAS council of
ministers.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 20 December 2001 - A Ministerial Committee would soon be set up
to speedily consider the implementation of recommendations that would make the
breweries replace 25 per cent of the malt content of their products with
locally grown maize and sorghum.
Vice
President Aliu Mahama who announced this on Thursday when he received a report
on the project at the Castle, Osu, said the replacement would create jobs and
wealth for farmers, apart from the foreign exchange that would be saved from
the reduction in the importation of malt.
Following a
proposal by the breweries for a review of excise duty and the ad valorem tax
structure to make the replacement economically viable, Alhaji Mahama set up a
joint consultative committee with membership from the breweries and government
institutions to consider the proposal.
Alhaji
Mahama said the government would avoid bureaucracy when considering the
recommendations to ensure that the project would be implemented in the shortest
possible time to provide jobs for the youth.
"The
macro economic indicators are positive but the ordinary man would not
appreciate the drop in inflation and interest rates if there is no money in his
pocket," he said.
"This
project is going to put money in the pockets of farmers in the Northern, Upper
West, Upper East, Volta and Brong Ahafo regions and this is what the government
wants to achieve."
Guinness
Ghana Limited, for instance, proposes to invest an initial capital of seven
billion cedis in its sorghum project, which involves engaging 7,500 farmers in
15 districts in the three northern regions in an out growers' scheme.
It intends
to spend an additional 200,000 dollars on social amenities and 250,000 dollars
on eye care in the beneficiary communities. The farmers will, over the next
five years, earn about 90 billion cedis from the cultivation of 9,600 tonnes of
a special variety of sorghum developed with the support of the Savannah
Agricultural Research Institute.
The company
estimates that a net savings of 10 million dollars will be made from the
reduced importation of malt in five years.
Dr Chance
Jebuni, Chairman of the consultative committee, said the report suggested a
review in the level of excise duty and that of the ad valorem tax structure to
reflect the alcoholic content of products to ensure equity.
The tax is
at present charged on a uniform basis, irrespective of the size of bottle. He
said the committee, in asking for a review in excise duties, took into
consideration its effect on government revenue, adding that it did not want the
changes to adversely affect the revenue.
The
committee, Dr Jebuni said, also considered the need to increase production of
sorghum and maize to ensure food security. The quality of health of consumers
was also discussed.
Major
Courage Quashigah (RTD), Minister of Food and Agriculture, lauded the project
and said it was in line with the President's agenda of encouraging industries
to use local raw materials.
He said it
was unacceptable to spend 450 million dollars annually on imports while
opportunities were available to rely on local produce.
Major
Quashigah, however, advised the breweries to efficiently pursue the out
growers' scheme to increase production of maize and sorghum so that their
demand would not affect current national consumption.
Ghana last
year produced 930,000 tonnes of maize, with 30 per cent used by the poultry
industry. The production level, however, increased by 18 per cent this year and
the Agriculture Ministry has purchased 12,000 tonnes to store for the lean
season.
There is,
however, a shortfall in sorghum supply that stands at 312,000 tonnes with a
national consumption of 322,000 tonnes. Mr J.H. Mensah, Senior Minister
commended the breweries but advised them not to tie their innovation to tax
relief as the government's insatiable demand for taxes could influence policy
changes at any time.
"We
must appreciate the need to use local materials for production and implement
them on that basis so that their viability would be long-term," he said.
Mr Mensah
assured them that much of the relief from HIPC would go to support agriculture
in the next budget and their proposal could be considered in line with those
changes.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 20 Dec 2001- The Ghana Police Endowment Fund on Thursday
received donations totaling 18 million cedis from the University of Cape Coast
and Nestle Ghana Limited.
The Student
Representative Council of the University presented three million cedis on
behalf of the students whiles Nestle Ghana Limited gave a cheque for 15 million
cedis.
The SRC
President, Mr Aboagye Tandoh, reminded Ghanaians about the poor conditions in
the Police Service and said it was the responsibility of all to ensure that the
Police were well equipped.
Mr Tandoh
called on the general public, especially the youth, to stop mob attacks on the
police and instead help the police to weed out criminals and maintain law and
order.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 20 December 2001 - The public have been reminded that Christmas
day Tuesday 25th and Boxing day, Wednesday 26th December 2001 and New Year's
day Tuesday, January 1, 2002 are statutory holidays and should be observed as
such, a statement signed by Alhaji Malik Al-Hassan Yakubu, Minister of the
Interior, on Wednesday said.
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