Interdicted Police Corporals petition IGP
Alleged robbers threaten attack on VSR
Bishop Kwadwo Owusu reported dead
Hwidiem (Ashanti Region) 29 December 2001 - The mortal remains of the late General Ignatius Acheampong, a former Head of State, and one of the eight top Military Officers, shot by firing squad in the AFRC era in 1979 were buried on Saturday at his ancestral home at Atwima Hwidiem, in Ashanti about 23 kilometres from Kumasi.
As the last post was sounded and the casket lowered into a grave on the compound of his residence by military pallbearers, family members, friends and sympathisers from all walks of life sobbed and wailed.
The atmosphere was reminiscent of the sad, traumatic and emotionally revolting event that took place, more than 22 years ago. Earlier the casket draped in the national colours and mounted on a military pick-up went on a procession through the principal street of the predominantly ginger growing community after a burial service at the local Catholic Church officiated by the Very Reverend Augustine Bio, Vicar General of the Obuasi Diocese of the church.
In a sermon, The Reverend Father Dominic Baffour Akowuah of the Pope John Paul II Retreat Centre at Ofoase-Kokoben said the re-burial of the eight top military officers was a manifestation of the wind of change in the country.
He asked the government to ensure that genuine national reconciliation stayed on course. The Reverend Father Akowuah told the bereaved family "you should recognise that the soul of the just is in the hands of God and that no one could touch it".
Tributes were paid in memory of late Gen Acheampong by his wife, children, family members and friends. The late General Acheampong was born at Atwima Hwidiem on September 23, 1931 and after his basic and commercial education taught as a teacher and was one time the Vice Principal of Agona Swedru Central College of Commerce and later became Principal of the Western Commercial Institute at Achiase.
He joined the Ghana Armed Forces in 1953 and attended the Mons Officers Cadet Training at Aldershot, Hamshire. He had an attachment with the British Army on the Rhine at Wupertal, Germany and attended the General Command Staff College at FortLeaven worth in Kansas, USA.
He also held Command positions in the Army before he staged a bloodless coup on January 13, 1972 to become the Head of state.
Mr Bright Addai Munumkum, the District Chief Executive (DCE), presented two cartons of beer, one carton of Guinness stout, one crate of soft drinks, two bottles of schnapps and 500,000 cedis to the bereaved family on behalf of the government.
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Navrongo (Upper East) 29 December 2001 - The remains of Colonel Roger Joseph Felli, one of the eight senior military officers executed by firing squad in the wake of the June four coup d'etat was re-buried at his Navrongo hometown, following traditional and Catholic burial rites.
Vice President Aliu Mahama, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, newly elected Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, Madam Hawa Yakubu, Minister of Tourism and other government officials joined the family members and sympathisers to pay their respects to the late Colonel.
After attending the burial service, officiated by the Reverend Father Akoboti, at the Lady of Seven Sorrows Catholic Church, Alhaji Mahama joined the funeral procession to the parish cemetery, where he laid a wreath on behalf of the people of Ghana. Alhaji Mahama later made a donation to the family.
Madam Yakubu, Mr John Achuliwor, Deputy Minister of Communications and Technology who is MP for Navrongo Central, Mr Mohamed Salifu, Upper East Regional Minister, Major Joe Felli, representative of the family and other sympathisers also laid wreaths.
Colonel Felli, born in Navrongo on May 2, 1941, was commissioned into the Ghana Armed Forces as Lieutenant in 1963, and rose to the rank of Colonel, having attended several career-related courses in Ghana and the United Kingdom.
In 1972 he was appointed as Commissioner for Works and Housing under the Acheampong military regime. He later became Commissioner for Trade and Tourism, Economic planning and Foreign Affairs.
Colonel Felli who retired from the government in 1979 was subsequently discharged from the army and executed with other senior military officers on June 26 1979.
His remains, exhumed form an unmarked grave at Adoagyiri near Nsawam, were flown to Navrongo in the morning accompanied by family members who had received it on Thursday at a ceremony at the Garrison Methodist and Presbyterian Church in Accra.
Deputy Local Government Minister, Alima Mahama, ministers of the three Northern regions, Dr Haroun Majeed, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture and Dr Adombilla Agambilla, Deputy Minister of Finance were among the government delegation.
Earlier in a tribute read by Joe Felli, a junior brother of the late Felli at the Garrison Methodist and Presbyterian Church in Accra on Thursday, he said relatives and sympathisers had the right to know what happened before his brother and the other seven senior officers brother were executed.
He said the spirit behind the nations motto "Freedom and Justice" was still a guiding principle in the conduct of the nation's domestic affairs as it was when the founding fathers adopted those words as the political creed of the nation.
"We have the right to know what happened, as a nation, we must ensure that never again will we allow such acts and utter disrespect for the sanctity of life to recur in our country."
He said the only lasting legacy that Ghanaians could bequeath to the memory of Roger Felli and his colleagues was to re-dedicate and recommit our selves "to the defence of, the rule of law, the defence of our constitution, even at the peril of our lives."
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Anyaboni(E/astern Region) 29 December 2001 – The government has secured a 40-million-dollar facility from the French government to tap water from the Volta Lake at Anyaboni, near Asesewa, to ensure constant water supply to the Koforidua Municipality.
The three-year project, which is to begin by the end of the first quarter of next year, involved the provision of a floating water intake mechanism, which would also supply water to some communities in the Manya and Yilo Krobo districts along the pipe-line route.
The Minister of Works and Housing, Mr. Yaw Barimah, announced this when he was led to the Intake Point on Friday by officials of the Ghana Water Company(GWC) as part of his first official visit to the Region.
Mr. Barimah, who is also the MP for Koforidua, was accompanied by the Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, Mr. Gustav Narh Dometey, the New Juaben Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Kwasi Agyei Boateng, the Acting Managing Director of the GWC, Mr Jonathan Nunoo, the Chief Director of the Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr Ohene Okai and the Omanhene of the New Juaben Traditional Area, Daasebre Dr. Oti Boateng.
He said the facility was obtained by President John Agyekum Kufuor, during his recent state visit to France.
The Chief Manager in-charge of Planning and Development of the GWC, Mr Emmanuel Ofosu, had earlier conducted the Minister and his entourage round the Densuagya Water Intake and Koforidua Treatment Points serving the Koforidua Municipality.
He reported that the government had also secured a Spanish facility of 10 million dollars for the rehabilitation of six water supply systems in the Eastern Region, serving Koforidua, Anum-Boso, Nkawkaw, Nsawam, Asamankese and Akyem Swedru, adding that the facility would help increase the daily Koforidua water supply from 1.2 million gallons to more than 2.4 million gallons.
According to him, the first phase of the Anyaboni Water Intake facility would involve the construction of the floating intake mechanism and also lead to the provision of an additional reservoir at Koforidua.
Later during a courtesy call on Daasebre Oti Boateng, Mr. Barimah recalled that during his manifesto in the 1996 and 2000 elections, he assured the people of his determination to work towards the solution of the perennial Koforidua municipality, which affected development and investment.
He called for unity and partnership between the traditional and political authorities to promote development in the area. Daasebre Oti Boateng, gave the assurance that with the solution of the water problem, both citizens abroad and foreign investors would come to invest in the area.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 29 December 2001 - The government has disbursed over eight billion cedis out of the 700 billion cedis earmarked for the Emergency Social Relief Programme (ESRP) to over 10,600 women in fishing communities.
Mrs Gladys Asmah, Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, who announced this on Saturday, said 1,000 women in major maize and cassava producing areas would be assisted next year to increase food production as part of the poverty reduction strategy of the government.
Mrs Asmah was speaking at the first anniversary victory rally of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in Accra, which was attended by a huge crowd and also addressed by President Kufuor and other leading Ministers and party functionaries.
The 700 billion-cedi programme was launched by President John Agyekum Kufuor as part of the government's effort to improve and reduce poverty in the rural communities.
It also aimed at creating employment and income generation opportunities for the poor in the most depressed districts. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are funding the three-year programme.
Mrs Asmah said the programme was also to ensure that beneficiaries were provided with the basic inputs and good atmosphere to work during the peak and lean seasons in the fishing or farming communities in order to repay the loans.
The Minister said the first year of the NPP was used to lay a solid foundation to build the nation from long years of economic decay and mismanagement.
She assured Ghanaians that the fruits of the government's prudent economic policies would manifest from January next year and urged the public to be tolerant with the government to fulfil its campaign promises.
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Koforidua (Eastern Region) 29 December 2001 - District Assemblies elections would take place in June, next year, Captain (rtd) Nkrabea Effa-Darteh, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development announced on Friday at Koforidua.
He, therefore, urged the electorates to ensure that people of integrity were elected to the Municipal and District Assemblies.
Capt. Effa-Darteh was speaking at a Christmas party organised by the Koforidua Constituency Branch of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to honour the 182 polling agents of the party in Koforidua constituency in the 2000 general elections.
He said Ghanaians had no cause to be poor but due to alleged corrupt practices by members of the previous government, the country was now poor.
The Deputy Minister assured supporters of the party that anybody who had stolen money belonging to the people of Ghana would be tried and made to suffer for it.
The Minister for Works and Housing, Mr. Yaw Barimah said "before the elections, the party never expected that the economy of the country had been destroyed to such a low level by the 19 years rule of the previous government".
He, however, gave the assurance that the government would use its first year in office to resolve the basic problems in the economy and by next year, Ghanaians would begin to feel the " positive change" that the NPP promised.
Mr. Barimah who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the constituency, assured the people of Koforidua Zongo that plans had been put in place to rehabilitate most of the major roads in the area. He assured the people of the municipality that the government would solve the perennial water problem.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 29 December 2001 - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Friday, presented instruments of commission, letters of credence and recall to two new envoys at the Castle, Osu.
Professor Michael Aaron Ocquaye, High Commissioner-designate to India and Mr Clarus Kobina Sekyi, Ambassador-designate to Algeria took the oath of allegiance, secrecy and official oath administered by President Kufuor.
President Kufuor said both India and Algeria were old friends of Ghana's and the assignments of the envoys should therefore focus on improving this relationship for Ghana to derive maximum benefits from their appointments.
President Kufuor said Mr Sekyi was assuming office during the era of the African Union and urged him to ensure that Ghana's viewpoint was appreciated in the most responsible way.
To Professor Ocquaye, President Kufuor said he should ensure that Ghana benefited from the Information Technology (IT) that India was well noted for.
President Kufuor said that country's agricultural potentials and her technical know-how should encourage Ghana to increase her food production for both domestic consumption and for export.
He said Ghana had enjoyed good cultural relationship with India and should secure best contacts in the private sector for the realisation of the government's vision of "Golden Age of Business".
Professor Ocquaye said they would be mindful of the government's vision in economic diplomacy to create a new path of development for the country.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 29 December 2001 - Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, said on Saturday that the country needed to take drastic measures to reverse the high illiteracy rate to achieve its developmental objectives.
He said results of last year's National Population and Housing Census showed that "43.4 per cent of those who are three years old or more have never been to school and 49.9 per cent of the adult population of 15 years or more are totally illiterate."
Professor Addae-Mensah was addressing more than 300 participants to the 53rd New Year School being organised by the Institute of Adult Education (IAE) of the University, on the theme: "good governance and sustainable national development."
He said the data painted a gloomy picture for the country's socio-economic efforts and a challenge to good governance and the sustenance of democratic principles.
He commended the New Year School, which he said had stood the test of time for 53 years as a "type of public education crucial for national development".
Professor Addae-Mensah charged the participants to avail themselves to the topics listed to justify the huge expenditure incurred in its organisation. He expressed the hope that the output of the school would constitute an important factor in imparting wisdom and knowledge to society.
Professor Kobina Asiedu, Director of the IAE said Ghana should focus on intermediate professional and non-formal technical education to train the large army of unemployed especially JSS leavers.
He said the School was paying attention to distance education for this group of people and called on stakeholders to provide the needed support.
Professor Asiedu spoke against apathy by people in responsible positions to the IAE's functional educational drive and called for a change in attitude. He expressed the hope that the school would provide references to facilitate government's efforts at good governance.
The Chancellor of the University, Oyeeman Wereko Ampem 11, who chaired the function, said good governance was now the cornerstone of political stability and any government who took its people for granted, "shall feel isolated".
He tasked the participants to be forthright in discussing the theme saying, " gone were the days when such views meant interference in the governance of a country."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 29 December 2001 - Nana K. B. Asante, Chairman of Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC), on Saturday tasked the media to live up to their constitutional mandate of exposing corruption and other forms of official malfeasance.
"This constitutional role imposes on the mass media a corresponding duty to maintain the highest standards of integrity. Like the judiciary, the press is not immune from accountability itself," he said.
Nana Asante expressed these views in a keynote address to the 53rd Annual New Year School, which is underway at the University of Ghana, Legon, on the theme: "Good Governance and Sustainable National Development".
His address, which focused on the imperatives of the theme, said the National Media Commission (NMC) had a responsibility "to take all appropriate measures to ensure the establishment and maintenance of the highest journalistic standards in the media."
Nana Asante's 23-page address covered the imperatives of governance conducive to sustainable development, the extent to which these imperatives had been met the country's constitutional system and practices and prescriptions for strengthening good governance.
He noted that since independence African leaders and development practitioners had wrestled with the thorny issues of the efficacy of authoritarianism or democracy for development.
He said the experience of Ghana within the last 10 years demonstrates that democracy and the rule of law constituted a critical component for development.
Nana Asante said these laudable efforts could be eroded by arbitrary use of political power, which acted as a disincentive for entrepreneurial or productive activities. "These practices may emerge as part of the process of democratic politics but are patently inimical for development."
He said the rule of law provided the secure environment for the protection of private interest, individual rights and productive economic activities.
Nana Asante said there could be little doubt about the crucial role of the judiciary in ensuring political stability as well as social and economic cohesion.
He said the constitution invested in the judiciary far reaching powers to determine the constitutionality of Legislative and Executive Acts. Nana Asante observed that good governance demanded that the Executive Arms of Government should be accountable for its acts and they should be the outcome of the transparent processes.
Prof. Miranda Greenstreet, Chairperson of the Managing Trustees of the Valco Trust Fund, who chaired the function asked the over 300 participants to dispassionately discuss the address.
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Offinso (Ashanti Region) 29 December 2001 - Two police corporals stationed at Offinso in Ashanti, Mr Kwasi Tetteh and Mr Victor Owusu have petitioned the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) against their interdiction by the Ashanti Regional Police Command on allegation of attempting to collect bribe.
They called for thorough and expeditious investigation into the matter that they attempted to collect one million cedis from a chainsaw operator.
The petitioners said on November nine, this year, they were travelling in a taxi with one Mr Appenteng, a Technical Officer of the Offinso Forestry Commission from Danase to Offinso when they intercepted a KIA Tipper Truck loaded with sawn lumber.
They stated that Mr Appenteng requested their assistance to arrest the driver, and as peace officers, ordered the driver to drive to the forestry commission at Offinso but the driver, Baba Issah drove to a filling station with the excuse that, the vehicle had developed fault.
The driver was later handed over to the officer on duty at Offinso police station and entries made in the station dairy. Later, the interdicted police corporals learnt that, the truck together with the lumber had been towed to the offices of the forestry commission and the matter referred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID).
The petition said, on November 19, 2001, the policemen were informed that the commission had imposed a fine of one million cedis on the driver and issued with a receipt.
They stated that they did not ask for bribe or behaved in a manner to suggest that they would be amenable to accept a bribe.
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Govt exploring legitimate means to fight
corruption
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 December 2001 - Mr Joseph Henry Mensah, Senior Minister and Chairman of Government's Economic Team, said on Saturday that the government was exploring all legitimate means to detect and deal with any form of corruption that would come to its notice.
"The time has come for us to put in place additional preventive measures and to impose appropriate drastic sanctions in order to combat this cancer which unchecked could consume the very fabric of our national well-being."
Mr Mensah was speaking at the opening of the 53rd New Year School at the University of Ghana, Legon, organised by the Institute of Adult Education (IAE) of the University. More than 300 participants from all the regions are attending.
The Senior Minister who spent about an hour discussing the theme of the weeklong School, "Good governance and sustainable development", said bribery and corruption could undermine laudable national goals.
"For you in the body politic the cost of the weakness and selfishness of corruption among public officials can partially be calculated when we consider the number of people who are denied rightful access to basic social services.
"How can anyone justify bribery and corruption among public officials, who at least have steady jobs, when the majority of our hardworking people, farmers and fishermen who have to survive on one dollar a day cannot and do not have the opportunity to collect bribes as a means of making ends meet?"
This comment attracted cheers from the audience which included Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister of Education, Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah, Vice-Chancellor of the University and Professor Kobina Asiedu, Director of the IAE.
Mr Mensah expressed dissatisfaction with attempts by scholars to rationalise bribery and corruption by attributing the practice to low salaries and high cost of living.
"Some have even suggested, even though humourously, that zero tolerance should be revived upward to five per cent for corruption."
He said the call to good governance, transparency and accountability must cut across and permeate every facet of the daily lives of the people. Mr Mensah said good governance was an essential component of the Golden Age of Business, which should not be the sole responsibility of those in political leadership but "an essential domestic common sense requirement for all".
He said government could not by itself create the Golden Age of Business it had promised, but could provide the environment in which business could thrive on law and order, political stability and sound management of economic affairs.
Mr Mensah commended the IAE for striving to maintain the uniqueness of the school's tradition as a public educational forum, which is one of the original pillars of the country's democracy.
He asked the participants to pursue a personal policy of life-long learning so that they would not be excluded from the benefits of science and technology.
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Ho (Volta Region) 29 December 2001 - Security agencies at Ho have beefed up
guard in and around the environs of the Volta Star Radio (VSR) in response to
threats of attack on the station by people suspected to be armed robbers.
Nicholas Blewusi, Ho District Police Commander said on Friday that the security agencies had been on constant alert following threats by alleged armed robbers to attack certain individuals and institutions in the Ho township.
Superintendent Blewusi said security at entry points to Ho has been strengthened, night patrols intensified and community committee watch re-organised.
He assured residents that although earlier threats had not been carried out, the security agencies were leaving nothing to chance and appealed for public co-operation in dealing with the threats.
The VSR received three calls between 6.20 p.m. and 6:30 pm. on Thursday evening from some persons claiming to be armed robbers.
One of the callers was reported to have said over the telephone "Hi jack, you heard what my brother is saying, we are coming," but did not specify when.
Mr Avornyo said the motive for the threat was unclear because the VSR did not have money, which armed robbers normally looked for.
He said following the threats, the VSR had made public announcements to alert the public to the threats and solicit their co-operation with the security agencies to deal with the problem.
Mr Avornyo said the management of the VSR was also reviewing its internal security arrangements in view of the threat.
Meanwhile following the VSR's public announcements on the armed robbery threat the usually noisy firing of fire crackers, which had characterised this year's Christmas celebrations abated considerably on Thursday evening and had remained so.
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Sunyani(Brong Ahafo) 29 December 2001 - The Most Reverend James Kwadwo Owusu, Catholic Bishop of Sunyani was on Friday reported dead through a motor accident at Portroase near Kibi in the Eastern Region.
He was returning to Sunyani after a medical check-up in Accra, when his car collided with an on-coming vehicle that was over-taking another one.
According a GNA report the Secretariat of the Catholic Diocese in Sunyani was quite and the priests holding a closed-door meeting when it’s reporters visited.
The late Bishop Owusu, a native of Kwasibuorkrom in the Jaman District in Brong-Ahafo, was appointed in 1973 as the first Bishop of Sunyani Catholic Diocese, which was carved out of the Kumasi Diocese.
The Bishop who was due for retirement, celebrated his silver jubilee as Bishop in 1998 and December 8, this year, marked his 45th anniversary as a Catholic Priest. Bishop Owusu was a Major in the Army as Chaplain before his election as a Bishop. GRi.../
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