Commonwealth concern about situation in Zimbabwe
Accra (Greater Accra) 21 December 2001 - Mr Johnny Paul Koroma, former Head of State of Sierra Leone, on Friday said no person or group of persons should be blamed unnecessarily in any reconciliation move since this had the potential of backfiring and throwing the nation into disarray.
He said constant references to past wrongs and misdeeds could inflame passions, adding, "Forgiveness is a vital ingredient needed to move the nation forward."
Mr Koroma, Chairman of the Sierra Leone Commission for Consolidation of Peace (CCP) and now a born-again Christian, told the Ghana News Agency that those in authority "should examine themselves and individuals should also reconcile with themselves and try to forget the past."
Mr Koroma is in the country to chair the technical preparatory committee for an international conference on the peace process in Africa slated for March 2002 in Accra.
The Africa Regional Office of the World Federation of UN Associations will host the conference under the theme: "The United Nations and the Consolidation of the Peace Process in Africa - The role of UN Associations and Civil Society". He said Africa could move forward only if people learnt to forgive, forget and ready to move their countries forward.
"Africa has the problems it has because people do not want to accept that they are wrong and have made mistakes. Many people in Africa find it difficult to say I am sorry'', Mr Koroma said.
"People should not seek reprisals either. They must forget the past and forge ahead and seek better ways of developing their economies.
"If we, as Africans do not adopt this style, we may end up creating a vicious cycle as is the case in Sierra Leone today.''
He said that was why he had decided to lead the crusade for peace and reconciliation in his country "and slowly, but surely, we are making progress towards peace. I was sorry for the things I did and apologised for my men."
Looking sombre and making frequent biblical references and quotations, Mr Koroma said it was important for people to talk about problems that had plagued their country, but it should be approached in such a way that everybody would realise their fault and be prepared to apologise to end the matter.
"Repeated references to past misdeeds are dangerous for the country. We do not need to play on the peoples' minds," he added.
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Dr Chambas elected Executive Secretary of
ECOWAS.
Accra (Greater Accra) 21 December 2001 - Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, MP for Bimbilla was on Thursday elected unopposed as the first Ghanaian to the post of Executive Secretary of ECOWAS at its 25th Summit of Authority of Heads of State and Government currently underway in Dakar, Senegal.
He would serve in that position for four years and has the opportunity for re-election at the end of his first term of office.
Sources at the meeting told newsmen that two other contestants for the post, Mr Jeggan Senghor of the Gambia and 72-year-old Professor Albert Tevoedjere of Benin withdrew from the race after lengthy negotiations, for Dr Chambas to be elected unopposed. He succeeds the out-going Executive Secretary, Mr Lansana Kouyate of Guinea.
President John Agyekum Kufuor told newsmen later: "I am elated that Dr Chambas has received the nod". According to him, fellow leaders in the West Africa sub-region approached Ghana to nominate a candidate for the post that was to become vacant at this year's Summit.
He said the election was not won on a silver platter since there was opposition initially, but after negotiations all the leaders in the sub-region who attended the Summit reached a consensus and Dr Chambas was given the post.
Dr Chambas said: "I am happy that it has ended well. Ghana put up a good fight and other States have agreed to support Ghana."
The victory shows the confidence the other leaders have in Ghana and President Kufuor to deliver and ensure socio-economic integration in the sub-region, he said, adding: "We would forever remain committed to ECOWAS and determined to do our best and not let the sub-region down knowing very well that they have put their trust in the right country and the right person."
GRi../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 21 December 2001 - Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, a lawyer and political scientist, was born in Ghana on December 7, 1950.
He attended Mfantsipim School, Cape Coast and Government Secondary School, Tamale. He holds degrees in Political Science from University of Ghana, Legon, (B.A. 1973) and Cornell University Ithaca, New York (M.A. 1977, Ph D
(1980). He has a law degree from Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio.
He was admitted to practice law in Ghana and the State of Ohio. His working in the United States includes teaching at Oberlin College, Ohio and practicing law with the Cleveland, Ohio, Law Office of Forbes, Forbes and Teamor.
He served as MP for Bimbilla in 1993-96 on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress. He was in that Parliament as the First Deputy Speaker from 1993 to 1994 when he was appointed Deputy Foreign Minister. As First Deputy Speaker, he was Chairman of the Appointments and Privileges Committees of Parliament.
Dr Chambas lost his seat in 1996 but was elected on December 7, 2000 on the ticket of the National Democratic Congress. He is the Ranking Member on the Parliamentary Select Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Minority National Democratic Congress. He is also a member of the Select Committee on Education and the Committee on Subsidiary legislation. In 1993-94, he chaired the Foreign Affairs Committee of Parliament with oversight responsibility for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dr Chambas first entered government in 1987 as Deputy Foreign Secretary of Ghana. He was a member of the Head of State's summit delegations to a number of countries including USA, China, UK, France, Malaysia, Nigeria and Zimbabwe. He led Ghana's delegation to several countries and conferences including the UN General Assembly, ministerial meetings of the OAU and ECOWAS, Non-Aligned Movement and the Commonwealth.
Dr Chambas was centrally involved in the ECOWAS mediation efforts in Liberia and directly participated in negotiations leading to the agreements ending the Liberian civil war. He was also a member of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group, which worked to facilitate a transition to constitutional democratic governance in Nigeria, Sierra Leone and The Gambia.
Between April 1997 and December 2000, Dr Chambas was the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of tertiary education. In that capacity, he had direct responsibility for the country's five universities, 10 Polytechnics and agencies/institutions charged with formulation of policies on higher education, accreditation and maintenance of standards in tertiary institutions.
Dr Chambas was personally involved in the adoption of bold new initiatives on tertiary education such as diversification of funding, cost sharing, the introduction of the Ghana Education Trust Fund all of which strengthened the quality and financial standing of tertiary institutions.
His tremendous skills in negotiations and conflict resolution clearly manifested themselves in the able manner he handled volatile student protests and industrial disputes involving university and polytechnic teachers and other Staff members. Dr Chambas, a Muslim, is married. His hobbies are soccer and horse riding.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Koforidua (Eastern Region) 21 December 2001 - The three Nkrumaist political parties, currently holding unity talks, would produce the final version of their Draft Constitution for the proposed united party by the end of this year.
The parties, namely Convention People's Party (CPP), Peoples National Convention (PNC) and the Reform Party are currently using The Common Political Platform (CPP) as a working document for their political agenda.
The General Secretary of the CPP, Dr Nii Noi Dowuona announced this in a message read for him at the Eastern Region CPP Council of Elders meeting in Koforidua on Wednesday.
All the three parties involved in the talks have shown great sense of mutual respect, goodwill and open faith, he said, adding that: "Our unity talks are yielding fruits."
Dr Dowuona, therefore, asked the rank and file of the party to relate to the members of the sister parties cordially in order not to undermine the progress of the talks.
The Regional Chairman of the Council of Elders, Nana Bosompem Frimpong said with hard work and dedication by members, the party could win power in the near future.
He urged the council members to encourage the youth to participate in their programmes and activities in order to explain the good works of Dr Kwame Nkrumah to them.
Nana Frimpong further urged members of the party to be truthful and unite to ensure a resounding victory for the party in the 2004 elections.
The First Regional Vice Chairman of the party, Nana Owusu Sekyere commended the members for their support during the year, which he said had made many people to join the party.
He said the party had reached a stage where it had to win back political power and urged constituency executives to redouble their efforts in their respective areas to win more people for the party.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 21 December 2001 - Former Sierra Leonean head of state Lt. Col. (rtd) Johnny Paul Koroma has arrived in Accra to chair a preparatory committee meeting for an international conference on Peace in Africa scheduled for next March.
Koroma will chair the Technical Preparatory Committee for the conference to be hosted by the Africa Regional Office of the World Federation of UN Missions on the theme: "The UN and the consolidation of the peace process in Africa - The role of UN associations and civil society."
A statement issued by the World Federation of UN Associations said the conference is a follow-up event of a similar preparatory meeting held in Geneva last September.
The statement said Col. Koroma would pay courtesy calls on some top government officials and NGOs. He is currently the Chairman of the Commission for the Consolidation of Peace (CCP) in Sierra Leone.
The CCP is an umbrella commission established by the Lome Agreement of July 1999 between the Government and Revolutionary United Front to oversee the implementation of the agreement and the welfare of the victims of the 10-year war.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Tuobodom (Brong Ahafo) 21 December 2001 - A mob set a taxicab ablaze after it had knocked down two female students, killing one of them at Tuobodom near Techiman.
Police Sergeant Tommy Thompson of the Accident Squad told the Ghana News Agency that 17 years old Miss Cynthia Akosua Serwaah, of form two, died from her injuries while she was being conveyed to hospital but Miss Rosekel Adutwuwaa, 15, of form one, was treated for minor injury. They were both students of the local Secondary/Technical School.
Sgt Thompson said the taxi, driven by Nazilbi Abass, was returning from Kintampo to Techiman. He said when police arrived at the scene, the front steering system of the vehicle had been damaged and three of its tyres deflated.
Sgt Thompson said the vehicle could, therefore, not be towed to the police station but on the following day information reached the police that it had been burnt.
The Driver, Abass has been placed in custody while police investigates the matter. No one has been arrested in connection with the burning of the car.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Agordeke (Eastern Region) 21 December 2001 - The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu has directed Kpando and Afram Plains District Assemblies to share the proceeds from the state-donated pontoon operating on the Volta Lake between Kpando-Torkor and Agordeke equally to ensure equity in the revenue being generated from the service.
Mr Baah-Wiredu gave the directive when the Afram Plains District Chief Executive, Mr Ben Anokye told him only the Kpando District benefited from the revenue generated by the pontoon.
Mr Anokye took Mr Baa-wiredu round to inspect facilities the assembly had provided at the Agordeke Pontoon docking site constructed after the 1995 boat disaster in which over 200 people lost their lives on the Volta Lake.
The facilities included a six-bedroom staff quarters for the pontoon staff, a 12-kilometre link road to Amankwa-Tornu, the former landing site, a passenger lounge and toilet facilities built at a total cost over 800 million cedis.
Mr Anokye recalled that after the disaster, which involved a boat owned by the Afram Plains District, the government procured a pontoon to ferry passengers between the two neighbouring districts.
He said due to the fact that the Afram Plains District Assembly had not yet completed the provision of the new facilities before the pontoon was provided in 1996, it had to berth at the Volta River Authority (VRA) Port Kpando-Torkor.
Mr Anokye, however, said since then, only the Kpando District Assembly had been the beneficiary of the revenue accruing from the pontoon till date. He also complained that after the pontoon departs at 5pm from Agordeke on its last lap for the day, patients from the Donkorkrom Presbyterian Hospital who needed immediate attention in Accra had had to suffer fatal consequences.
Mr Baah-Wiredu promised that an additional pontoon would be provided. He inspected the mass grave for the boat disaster victims and called on the District Assembly to develop the place as a tourist site, where annual memorial activities for the lost souls could be organised.
The Minister later inspected on-going road rehabilitation projects and the completed Forifori Clinic.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Denu (Volta Region) 21 December 2001 - The Ghana-Togo border at Aflao is to be relocated at Dzodze-Penyi in the Ketu District, following protest by the Togolese government that its proximity to the Togolese capital, Lome, posed security threats to that country.
Consequently, the proposed Trans-West-African-Highway from Elubo in the Western Region to Aflao is to be diverted at Akatsi through Tadzewu to Dzodze-Penyi.
Mr Stephen Nimoh Domfeh, Acting Director of Town and Country Planning presenting the strategic plan on the project to the Ketu District Assembly on Wednesday said the new project was in line with Dzodze-Penyi's strategic position as the country's new eastern gateway.
He said Dzodze-Penyi would assume a regional and sub-regional service centre in the exchange and flow of goods, generation of foreign trade, tourism entry and departure points, which would influence the settlement pattern of the area.
Mr Domfeh said stakeholders' meeting would be held after the assembly's approval, to be followed by government's gazette for subsequent approval by cabinet for the commencement of the project.
Mr Alfred Glover Akpe, a consultant of Gand & Consults, the firm engaged for the baseline study also showed the baseline map on the plan, which included construction of new commercial centres, lorry parks hospitals, offices, public cemeteries and palaces.
Mr Christian Klutsey, Presiding Member of the assembly thanked the team for the good work done and hoped things would move fruitfully.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 21 December 2001 - Ghana could succeed on its developmental path if the rights of women who constitute the greater majority of the population are respected, Professor Miranda Greenstreet, Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Gender Development Institute said on Thursday.
She said there was the need for every Ghanaian, both man and woman, to recognise each other as an equal partner in the developmental process of the nation. "The greater majority of the population is made up of women whose rights, instead of being respected and appreciated, have rather been trodden upon over the years".
Prof Greenstreet, a former Director of the Institute of Adult Education, University of Ghana, was speaking at an end-of-year luncheon the Institute organised in Accra.
"If we are going to do away with the ability and resourcefulness of more than half of the humanity endowed to our nation, then our development is going to slow down.
"We need to consider each other, both men and women as partners, and as partners, each other's rights have to be respected, because women's rights are equally human rights.
"This means as partners, we should not be jealous of each other, when we are not jealous of each other the family benefits and society at large also benefits," she said.
Mrs Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, Executive Director of The Ark Foundation of Ghana, said society had to start dismantling the system that encouraged men's dominance. “We are both born men and women, why then do we have to create a system that favours men to dominate in all areas?''
Mrs Dwamena-Aboagye said all over the world, where women had been recognised as equal partners, the rate of development was faster.
Mr Wilbert Tengey, Chief Executive of the Institute said as from next year it would concentrate its activities on 'gender and the youth'. The focus would be on both senior and junior secondary schools.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 21 December 2001 - the Government has been called upon to ensure that the sanctity and independence of the Electoral Commission (EC) was maintained to sustain the country's democracy.
Mr Samuel Yorko Aidoo, Acting National Chairman of the Senior Staff Association of the Commission, said any attempt either wittingly or otherwise to compromise on these would darken the democratic path and confuse everybody.
He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the first biennial general meeting of the association in Kumasi. Mr Aidoo said as a corporate institution that held great promise for sustainable democracy, it should be given every needed support and sympathy to enable it to execute its constitutional obligations with credit.
In spite of the negative perceptions of some sections of the public and the supposed imperfections of the Commission, "It is the same Commission that has earned for mother Ghana, high approval rating as far as credible elections are concerned", he noted.
The Acting National Chairman appealed to the Commission as a governance institution to leave no stone unturned in an effort to continue to attract and maintain quality human resource.
Its human resource policies should be made to conform to best practices to eliminate rivalry and unhealthy competition among staff members.
Mr Aidoo spoke of the need to improve on the administrative mechanisms of the EC to enhance amicably resolution of conflicts. He gave the assurance that the association would continue to be committed to the vision of creating peaceful and harmonious atmosphere to advance the cause of the Commission.
Mr S. K. Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, in an address read for him, urged political parties and civil society to support the EC and help it to continue to conduct credible elections. "This is because the success of Ghana's democratic process largely depends on nothing but credible elections."
Mr Boafo told members of the Commission to work towards establishing close collaboration with the association to help push the EC's agenda. "The reality in our modern day management system is that we do not only have to empower our workers in the entire process of governance but we need to equally allow their voices to be heard on almost all other pertinent issues of concern to our institutions and establishments."
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 21 December 2001 - The Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group on the Harare Declaration (CMAG) has reiterated its concern about the situation in Zimbabwe, saying it constitutes a serious and persistent violation of the Commonwealth's fundamental political values and the rule of law.
"The Group reiterated its deep concern about the ongoing situation in Zimbabwe especially the continued violence, occupation of property, actions against the freedom and independence of the media and political intimidation."
At its 17th meeting on Thursday in London, the Group agreed to draw the attention of the Zimbabwean government of its commitment under the Abuja Agreement and under the Harare Commonwealth Declaration.
A statement issued by the Commonwealth Secretariat of Information and Public Affairs Division released in Accra said the Group urged the government of Zimbabwe to proceed vigorously with implementation of these commitments.
The Group reaffirmed its support for the process established by the Abuja Agreement, the initiative by the Southern African Development Community (SADC), as well as the involvement of the United Nations Development Programme in assisting with the land reform in Zimbabwe, it said.
The CMAG, the statement said, however, noted that the repeated efforts of the Secretary-General to engage with the Zimbabwean government had proved futile.
"The government of Zimbabwe had not agreed to receive a Commonwealth Ministerial Mission proposed by the CMAG in the Commonwealth spirit of dialogue and co-operation," it added.
The statement said the Group welcomed the government willingness to invite international observers to be present at the forthcoming Presidential elections, but expressed the hope that invitations would be issued in sufficient time for early deployment of such observers.
It said the Meeting, chaired by Lieutenant General Mompati Merafhe, Botswana's Minister of Foreign Affairs, also reviewed developments in the Fiji Islands and welcomed progress made so far in restoring democracy. It, therefore, decided that Fiji's suspension from the Council of Commonwealth should be lifted.
The statement said the meeting resolved that Gambia had ceased to be on CMAG formal agenda in line with a decision reached at the last meeting in September, which brought into force the repeal of the schedule to Decree 89.
It said, the Group reaffirmed its support for the restoration of democracy in keeping with the Pakistan government's roadmap adding that it welcome the Secretary-General's continuing engagement with the government to provide technical assistance.
The CMAG, the statement said, requested that the Secretary-General should continue to monitor developments in the Solomon Islands which held elections on December 5, this year in order to achieve stability, good governance and economic development in the country. January 30, 2002 would be the next meeting date.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com