Investors call on Mines Minister
Mass vaccination against Measles on begins on Monday
Let GCnet mark the rebirth of your new image - Aliu
Population
issues are not synonymous to family planning.
Accra (Greater Accra)
04 December 2002- The Ministry of Food and Agriculture on Tuesday received more
donations of about 350 millions cedis from 16 organisations towards the
National Farmers' Day celebrations on 06 December.
Auto Parts Limited
presented a single Cabin Nissan Pickup worth about 132 million cedis, Accra
Brewery Limited presented 200 cartons of Club Beer, 100 hand operated maize
shellers with benches worth about 34 million cedis and SSB Bank presented 60
spraying machines and 70 sewing machines worth about 52.6 million cedis whiles
the Bank of Ghana gave a cheque for 25 million cedis.
Other organisations
included Mistui Group of Companies, Allied Home Stores, Impact Ghana Limited
and Poly Group of Companies, who also made presentation of Sintex Tanks,
Radios, Organic Manure and Dustbins and polysacks.
The rest are UNILEVER
Ghana Limited, Ghana Oil Palm Development Company, Dahamas Ventures, Ghana
Engineering Support limited, Pioneer Food Cannery Limited, Georgido Motors (Gh)
Limited, Dizengoff and Afko Group of Companies who also made various
presentations.
Mr Fredie Blay, First
Deputy of Speaker assisted the sector Minister to receive the items.
Mr Blay thanked the
donors for the kind gesture and appealed to other organisations to make
donations to ensure the success of the Farmers' Day.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
04 December 2002- The Ethics Committee of the Ghana Journalists Association on
Tuesday said it has noted with utter disgust the description of the former Vice
President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills as "a poodle" by "The
Statesman," and condemned the use of such unacceptable language.
A statement signed by
Mrs Frances Ademola, Chairperson of the Committee, said it considered the
description "unethical, insulting and therefore, in very bad taste".
The newspaper's story is on the front-page of the newspaper on Tuesday 03
December 2002.
According to the
statement, apart from violating Article five of the GJA Code of Ethics, which
requires, among other things, that journalists should have respect for human
dignity and should guard against violating the sensibilities of other people,
the description is also unacceptable in Ghanaian culture.
"The paper had
every right to question the moral justification of the former Vice President to
question the wisdom of the government in pursuing the IFC loan against the
advice of the minority in Parliament, and then to withdraw later.
"But the
Statesman's editorial team could have made their point forcefully without
resorting to vulgar ridicule and such uncalled for disrespect." The
statement said the Committee considered the form of reportage a misuse of
freedom of expression and asked the Statesman's editorial team to offer unqualified
apology to Professor Mills in their next edition of the paper, giving it the
prominence and publicity it deserves.
"The Committee
wishes to take this opportunity to caution journalists earnestly, particularly
editors, to be mindful of their language in expressing their opinions and to
ensure that they do not in their desire to express their views, tarnish the
image of other people, and stir up unnecessary strife as we have witnessed
recently in another country," it added.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
04 December 2002- The Chiefs and people of Mumford in the Central Region on
Tuesday denied ever planning and attempting to attack the Apam Township, their
neighbours on Monday 28 October, 2002.
They described the
alleged attack that was allegedly made public by Nana Edu Effrim, the tenth,
Chief of Apam, as "totally false, mischievous and calculated to draw the
people of Mumford into an unproductive conflict."
In a release issued
by Mr Charles Impraim, General Secretary, Mumford Development Association
(MUMDA), the Chiefs and people of Mumford described themselves peace loving,
law abiding and hard working.
It said the people
are more concerned about developmental projects that would improve the standard
of living of the people.
The release said
"this is the second time that the Chief of Apam has mobilized his people
for war against Mumford on the basis of unfounded allegations." The
release urged the District Security Council (DISEC) to investigate the latest
incident thoroughly and bring any culprit to book.
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Tamale (Northern
Region) 04 December 2002- Mr Issah Ketekewu, Deputy Northern Region Minister,
said on Tuesday that the government's aim of ensuring fairness and equity in
national development would come to naught if society continued to discriminate
against the physically challenged.
"We must all
begin to show increased sensitivity to the problems of the disabled by making
provisions for them in our physical structures and planning," he said. Mr
Ketekewu was speaking at the 11th "International Day for the
Disabled" celebration in Tamale, which was on the theme:
"Accessibility and persons with disabilities challenged".
The Day was marked by
members of the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled, Ghana National
Association of the Deaf, Ghana Association of the Blind, parents and caress of
children with disabilities and women with disabilities
Mr Ketekewu said the
Northern Region Co-ordinating Council would continue to work closely with all
stakeholders, especially NGOs operating in the region and district assemblies
to pursue and adopt programmes that would enhance the interest of the disabled.
He said with the
break down of the extended family system, the needs of the physically
challenged had become the responsibility of society with government being the
major stakeholder.
He said it was upon
this recognition that the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy was paying attention
to supporting the disabled to overcome their problems. Mr Mumuni Seidu Justice,
National Vice-President of the Ghana Society of the Physically Disabled, said
since the inception of the poverty alleviation strategy, persons with
disabilities within the Tamale Municipality had never benefited from the fund
and urged the authorities to give due consideration to them.
He appealed to the
Tamale Municipal Assembly to provide them with a permanent building for use as
a resource centre. Mr Seth Alafa, a representative of Action on Disability and
Development (ADD) Ghana, called on development agencies, the private sector and
district assemblies to pool resources to integrate the disabled into the
mainstream of society.
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Takoradi (Western
Region) 04 December 2002- Mr Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General, has
said the commitment to full and effective participation of persons with
disabilities in economic and social development was deeply rooted in the
principles of the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and other human rights instruments.
This was contained in
the Secretary-General's message on the International Day of Disabled Persons
released by the United Nations Information Centre at the national celebration
of the day in Takoradi on Tuesday.
Mr. Annan said it was
reflected in the Millennium Declaration and the outcomes of all major world
conferences of the past decade. "It is the heart of the world programme of
action concerning persons with disabilities and the standard rules on
equalisation of opportunities for persons with disabilities."
"On this
International Day of Disabled Persons, let us renew our pledge to fight
exclusion, to create opportunities for all people and to build societies in
which persons with disabilities are seen not only as beneficiaries of society's
support but as an empowered and empowering source of social, cultural,
political and economic development."
Mr Annan said the
theme of this year's observance of the day "Independent Living and
Sustainable livelihood," highlighted recent efforts to find innovative
approaches to achieving the long-held goal of full and equal participation of
persons with disabilities in the lives of their societies.
He said one
initiative of the past year that stands out was the call by President Vincente
Fox of Mexico to establish a special committee to further the rights of persons
with disabilities in the context of development.
In response, the
General Assembly created an Ad Hoc committee to consider proposals for the
elaboration of an international convention on promoting the rights and dignity
of disabled people, he said.
Annan said the
committee is chaired by Ecuador, which has long been at the forefront of the
movement for equal opportunities for disabled people and was one of the first
countries to include the rights of people with disabilities in its
constitution.
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Cape Coast (Central
Region) 04 December 2002- Work has started at the high courts complex at Cape
Coast to modernise three high courts within the complex by January next year as
part of the reform and modernisation of the judicial system.
The work involves the
renovation of the building and these include painting, re-wiring, installing
computers, recording systems and other modern communication gadgets.
Justice George
Acquah, a Supreme Court Judge and Chairman of the ''Automation and Reform
Committee'' of the Judicial Service said this to the GNA in an interview on
Tuesday.
Justice Acquah, who
was leading a three-member team from the committee to inspect progress of work,
said renovation works were going on in all high courts throughout the country.
He said the team had
visited Koforidua, Ho and Tema and would next visit Takoradi and expressed the
hope that the renovations would be completed on schedule to enable the
computerisation programme to take off.
During the annual
general meeting of the Ghana Bar Association at Elmina in September the Chief
Justice, Justice E.K. Wiredu, announced that the World Bank had agreed to spend
over 14 billion cedis in the expansion projects at the high courts in all the
10 regional capitals.
He said Accra, Kumasi
and Takoradi high courts were to be automated while the remaining ones would be
equipped with computers and recording systems.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
04 December 2002- The contract for the Second Phase of the Accra Sewerage System
Improvement Study for treating and safely disposing of liquid waste from the
sewed areas of the nation's capital was on Tuesday signed in Accra.
The African
Development Bank (ADB) is funding the study at 1.045 million dollars as a
continuation of a feasibility study on the Accra Sewerage system, which was
completed in 1996.
The study will be
completed in 11 months. Jonathan Nunoo, Acting Managing Director of ADB
initialled on behalf of the Government of Ghana, while Martin Brown signed for
the LAHMEYEH INTERNATIONAL GMBH, consultants of the study.
Nunoo said the
objective of the current study was to improve environmental conditions and to
alleviate serious health risks in the city. It is also expected to address the
sanitation conditions in the city in areas outside the existing sewerage areas
and identify other appropriate forms of sanitation to be provided for on an
area-by-area basis.
Brown expressed the
hope that the completion of the study, the design and preparation of tender
document, would allow the long awaited measures to be implemented as soon as
possible.
Brown pledged
LAHMEYER's commitment to ensure that Ghana Water Company was provided with the
highest quality of engineering services and to ensure a fully successful
implementation of Accra sewerage improvement.
Asomani Nyarko, Study
Coordinator said the second phase of the study would cover updating of
information in feasibility study report, preparation of detailed design, tender
document and Environmental Management Plan.
The study, he said,
would be executed in two phases. Consultants would review and update the
relevant information, taking into consideration the Accra Waste Project as well
as the proposed Korle Ecological Restoration Project.
In the subsequent
stages the consultants would prepare more detailed designs, confidential cost
estimates, amend all relevant data made from various study and carry out
additional surveys where necessary.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
04 December 2002- To reduce poverty in developing countries, urgent action was
required to combat poor reproductive health, avoid unwanted pregnancies and
eliminate illiteracy and gender discrimination, the United Nation's Fund for
Population Activities (UNFPA) State of World Population Report 2002 has noted.
The report launched
on Tuesday in Accra said tackling the issue of high population growth was key
to meeting the Millennium development goals that aimed to halve world poverty
and hunger by the year 2015, reduce maternal and child deaths, curb the
HIV/AIDS menace as well as ensure sustainable development.
The Report, which
focused on the theme: "Poverty, People and Possibilities: Making
Development Work for the Poor," highlighted the negative effects of high
population growth on poverty levels, pointing out that developing countries
with lower fertility and slower population growth had witnessed higher
productivity, more savings and more productive investment than those with rapid
population growth.
Despite these
achievements in some developing countries, the gap between the rich and poor
countries continues to widen. "Poverty, poor health and fertility remain
highest in the least developed countries, where population is expected to
triple in the next 50 years from 600 million to 1.8 billion people," it
said.
The report said more
social investment in health and education, and gender equality was required to
promote better health, allow parents to have the number of children they wish,
encourage further declines in fertility and enable better education and life
choices.
It also underlines
the threat of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and said it has a close tie with poverty.
"Poor people were especially vulnerable to the infection since they lack
the knowledge and the power to protect them."
The report said
effective strategies to turn back the HIV/AIDS epidemic should go beyond
medicine, health care and reaches into the communities but should involve a
combination of treatment, education and prevention.
To effectively deal
with poverty and its related problems, the report recommended the targeting of
assistance directly to the poor and their participation in the formulation and
monitoring of policies and programmes affecting their lives.
It also asked
governments, communities, the private sector and the international community to
co-operate more closely. "Donors should encourage partnerships among
governments and non-governmental organisations," it concluded.
Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom,
Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation who launched the report
said much closer collaboration was needed to ensure that population variables
were used in the country's development process.
He said one way to
reduce poverty levels in the country was to ensure equitable distribution of
infrastructure and other development projects to the benefit of all. In a
speech read for her, Ms Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, Executive Director UNFPA said the
new evidence that lower fertility could help boost economic growth should
remind international donors that reproductive health programmes deserve
funding.
"Poverty
perpetuates a vicious cycle, which has the tendency to reinforce poor health
and insecurity." Dr Nduom and Mr Moses Mukasa, UNFPA Country
Representative unveiled a new logo for the Fund.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
04 December 2002- The Ministry of the Interior has declared Friday, 6 December
a statutory public holiday to commemorate Farmers' Day and Eid-Ul-Fitr. This is
contained in a statement signed on Tuesday by Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, Acting
Minister of the Interior and Minister of Defence.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
04 December 2002- A three-member multi-national investment delegation from BH-P
Billinton, Australia, on Monday paid a courtesy call on Mr Kwadwo Adjei Darko,
Minister of Mines.
The call was a
follow-up of an application the company put in for a prospecting licence to
review the potential of the bauxite deposits at Nyinahin in the Ashanti Region
and Krobreso, near Kibi, in the Eastern Region for the development of an
integrated bauxite alumina operation in Ghana.
A statement issued in
Accra said the delegation was led by Philip Galloway, Vice president of
business Development. The statement said the company would sink over one
billion dollars into the project and is looking for a minimum of 50 years
production and an annual extraction of 10 million tonnes of ore.
Anticipated spin-over
from the project would include infrastructure development in the catchment
areas, extended and improved railway system in the country, job creation from
exploration stage through mining to the processing stage, payment of corporate
taxes, royalties, ground rent, proliferation of aluminium-based industries.
Galloway said Ghana
has enormous reserves of bauxite and could boast of the existence of a smelting
plant being run by Kaiser's VALCO at Tema. "The missing link here is a refinery
to process the raw bauxite into alumina. Currently the bauxite deposit at Awaso
is being mined and exported in its raw state due to the absence of a refinery
of bauxite alumina plant in the country."
The statement said
BHP Billinton's investment would fulfil the country's dream of an integrated
alumina industry. The Minister assured the delegation of his support and
promised to do all he could to quicken action of the company's application
considering the enormous benefits the project is expected to bring to the
country.
BHP Billinton is the
world's largest mining company, which was established with the merger of BHP
Limited of Australia and Billinton PLC of the United Kingdom that engaged in
the production of basic metals including coal, nickel and aluminium. It has
integrated aluminium plants in Australia, South Africa and Brazil.
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Ghanaians
urged to take a look at the extended family system
Kumasi (Ashanti
Region) 04 December 2002- Dr Kofi Asare, Ashanti Region Director of Health
Services, has called for a critical look at the disintegration of the
traditional family system and called for its reversal.
''If immediate steps
are not taken to revert to the old traditional family system where family
members were held together as one people, efforts at giving care and support to
children orphaned by HIV/AIDS can be undermined.''
Dr Asare was speaking
at a meeting on the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of
HIV/AIDS in the Ashanti Region on Tuesday. The meeting that the Ghana Health
Service, World Health Organisation (WHO), Noguchi Memorial Institute for
Medical Research and European Union organised was aimed at reminding
stakeholders of their roles in order to ensure the successful implementation of
the PMTCT programme.
Dr Asare called on
Ghanaians to critically discuss the extended family issue and come out with
ways and strategies that would support children orphaned by AIDS in order to
make the PMTCT programme a success.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
04 December 2002- The Upper West Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) on
Tuesday said it was exploring all means possible to reduce the acute shortage
of doctors and retain the few to improve health service delivery in the region.
The Regional
Minister, Sahanun Mogtari said the RCC was working out an appropriate incentive
package for doctors and was also giving modest support to the 11 Cuban doctors
serving in the region.
Speaking at a press
encounter dubbed: "Meet the Press", Mogtari also appealed to doctors hailing
from the region and others serving in other regions to at least visit the Upper
West during their leave to help in the health sector.
The Ministry of
Information and Presidential Affairs initiated the encounter to throw light on
development projects in the regions since January 2001.
Mogtari said the
region faces acute staffing problems in its health institutions. One doctor
serves 32,032 patients and one nurse 1,237. There are only seven Ghanaian
doctors in the six government hospitals in the region with a population of more
than 576,000.
The region also has
only two private hospitals. There is no regional hospital and, according to
Mogtari, the government hospital at Wa, the regional capital, originally meant
to serve as a district hospital now takes care of all referrals in the region.
"The hospital is
now overburdened and is unable to cope with the mounting pressure. The need for
a regional hospital is therefore, overwhelming," Mogtari said. He
announced that a piece of land had been acquired for the construction of a
regional hospital and appealed to the Ministry of Health to expedite work on
the project.
Mogtari said in the
face of the high poverty levels, under the cash and carry system, access to
health services had become rather difficult. He said under the period, supply
of drugs and equipment increased significantly an accommodation for doctors and
paramedical staff improved.
The Nurses Training
School in Jirapa was also rehabilitated and expanded. Mogtari said the RCC in
collaboration with the Ghana Social Marketing Foundation and the District AIDS
Committees had intensified public education to create awareness, adding that
the focus was on supporting community-based organisations to get involved in
the fight against the disease.
The Upper West
Regional Minister said the youth must be occupied during the dry season and his
outfit was stressing the construction of dams to ensure an all year round
agriculture production to stem the tide of mass migration from the region.
Figures have it that 168,435 indigenes from the Upper West Region are resident
in the Brong Ahafo Region alone.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
04 December 2002- An estimated number of 7,883,188 children between nine months
and under 15 years would be vaccinated against measles during this year's
"accelerated measles control campaign" to effectively reduce the spread
of the disease in the country.
The campaign, which
will begin from December 9-15th, has targeted coverage of 95 percent in all the
regions with the exception of Central Region which had already been covered.
Dr Mercy Ahun,
Programme Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) of the
Ministry of Health said this in Accra on Wednesday when she briefed the press
on the campaign.
In all, about 25,000
health workers and volunteers would be at vantage points to participate in the
exercise. The World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, the Red Cross, United
Nations Foundation, Centre for Disease Control (USA), the Japanese Government
and the Government of Ghana are supporting the exercise.
She said measles was
still a leading cause of illness among the vaccine preventable diseases in the
country and major outbreak occurs every five years. Dr Ahun noted that measles,
a major killer of children was ranked second to malaria 20 years ago. A germ
called measles virus causes it.
Measles could be transmitted
from one person to another when another person inhales droplets of moisture
discharged from a patients' mouth through sneezing or coughing.
Dr Ahun said the
disease could cause complications like ear and eye infections, sores in the
mouth, pneumonia and even death if not treated. Two major outbreaks occurred in
1995 and 2000. About 43,177 cases and 85 deaths were recorded in 1995 with
15,173 cases in 2000.
The programme Manager
said guidelines from WHO indicated that providing one dose of vaccine at nine
months could not control measles and that an additional dose would only
dramatically reduce the number of cases of measles and the number of deaths to
almost zero.
"This is because
at nine months, some children still have maternal protection from their mothers
and this interferes with the vaccine". Dr Ahun appealed to parents to send
their children for the vaccination even if they have been vaccinated already
because there are no possible side effects if they should receive a double
dose.
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Spio-Garbrah
protests against Statesman's story.
Accra (Greater Accra)
04 December 2002- Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Chairman, Communication and Media
Committee of the Mills Campaign Team on Tuesday protested against a newspaper
story that described Prof John Atta Mills, former Vice President, as a
"Poodle."
A statement by Mr
Spio-Garbrah said the article had the prospects of causing immense global harm
to the hard earned reputation of Prof Mills now standing for election as the
National Democratic Congress presidential candidate for the 2004 elections.
Accordingly, it
requested the Media Commission to prevail upon the Statesman to retract the
story with the banner "Why Mills is a Poodle." Furthermore, the paper
should render an unqualified apology to the former Vice President and to his
supporters and to anyone else offended by the article with the same front-page
headline prominence as in the offending article.
The statement said
the newspaper must commit itself to the avoidance of any future recurrence of
such unprofessional misconduct against Prof. Mills and his political campaign.
It said the paper
should accept to publish in full any rejoinder on the main issues addressed in
the latter part of the article on the back page of the same issue with same
degree of prominence as in the offending article.
"It has been the
oft-expressed hope of Prof. Mills that political campaign in Ghana can be waged
with decency and civility." In this regard it called on the Media
Commission to instil "this sense of professionalism amongst
journalists.... and to enforce civility amongst the few journalists who seem
unable or unwilling to maintain high journalistic standards."
The Statement invited
the Ghana Journalist Association and all groups concerned about good governance
to condemn "this unwarranted attack on the person and personality of the
former Vice President.''
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Accra (Greater Accra)
04 December 2002- Vice President Aliu Mahama on Tuesday launched the Ghana
Community Network (GCnet), an electronic system that reduces the clearance of
goods from the ports from days to hours, and tasked CEPS to use the technology
to shed-off its bad public image.
With the
seven-million technology that replaces manual processing of documents, thereby
reducing the cost of doing business and increasing transparency, Vice President
Mahama said officials in the clearance process such as port handling, issuance
of permits, approvals and inspection report, should stop hiding behind excuses
that cause delays and offer quality services.
He said: "CEPS
has faced so much criticisms about the conduct of its operations...Mr
Commissioner and all CEPS officers, this is the opportunity for you to redeem
your image, and purge yourself of all the unfortunate practices that the public
complains about.
"I therefore
challenge you to chart a net path, and let the introduction of the new system
be the renaissance of CEPS." Vice President Mahama said to be successful
in turning into new leaves and meeting their revenue targets, officials of CEPS
had to resist the bad influence of trade operators.
"I also expect
that trade operators who indulge in negative practices will turn a new leaf.
You need to note that under-invoicing and other malpractices lead to shortfalls
in our revenue, which then make it difficult for us to generate enough for the
development of the country," he said.
He called for the
speedy installation of the system, now in operation at the Kotoka International
Airport (KIA) and the Tema Port before the end of the year and at the Takoradi
Port, Elubo and Aflao entry points and all others before the end of 2003.
Excellent standards
in operations, he said, should be adopted to make Ghana, which is the first in
the Sub-region to have the technology to become a role model. The GCnet
described as "a 24 -hour and seven-day one-stop contact point for trade
and customs processing," forms part of strategies under Ghana's Gateway
Project.
The project aims at
providing a conducive environment, to facilitate trade, increase private
investment and reducing the cost of doing business. It also aims at making
Ghana a major manufacturing value-added processing, transhipment and financial
commercial hub of West Africa.
Vice President Mahama
said in line with the Gateway Project, Customsprocedures were being streamlined
adding that the efficiency of CEPS in services delivery would be improved
remarkably.
Efficiency targets
include the reduction in the examination of cargo and documents at the entry
points from 100 percent to 10 per cent for statutory free goods and to 20
percent for all dutiable goods.
The Commissioner of
CEPS, Mr Isaac Opoku-Nsiah, welcomed the challenge from the Vice President,
saying with GCnet the service had been placed in a better stead to deliver high
quality services.
He acknowledged the
bad perception of CEPS officials as mediocre performers by the government and
extortionists by business operators, explaining that lack of relevant
technologies and manpower training contributed to the situation.
Commissioner Opoku-Nsiah
said GCnet could provide the platform for CEPS to implement its management
system through which manifests and single administrative documents would be
electronically received and processed.
He said greater
transparency would prevail as documents and transactions could be tracked and
monitored at every stage of the processing. "Operations at KIA so far with
the new system have shown that where proper documentation is in place the
declarations have been processed and the related consignments cleared in less
than two hours to the pleasant surprise of Declarants," he said.
He assured the staff
that the technology would not lead to layoffs, but rather the strengthening of
the preventive sectors.
Nortey Omaboe,
Chairman of GCnet, said the system would enhance the building of accurate trade
data and enhance business between the private and public sectors. CEPS, ECOBANK
Ghana Limited, SGS, Ghana Shippers Council and Development Finance Holdings
Limited, a subsidiary of Ghana Commercial Bank are the current shareholders of
GCnet.
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Population
issues are not synonymous to family planning.
Tema (Greater Accra)
04 December 2002- Miss Ellen Rockson, Greater Accra Regional Population Officer
has said, gone are the days when population issues were synonymous to family
planning.
At the moment,
population issues confronting Ghana range from environmental pollution,
sanitation, gender concerns, the aged, people with disabilities, housing,
health, education, youth, HIV/AIDS and poverty, meaning it affects all aspects
of life.
Miss Rockson, who was
speaking at the inauguration of the reconstituted Tema Municipal Population
Advisory Committee, noted that high rates of population growth perpetrate a
vicious cycle of poverty and underdevelopment at both personal and national
levels.
She explained that if
for any given period, the government succeeds in increasing the number of
schools, hospitals, clinics, safe water systems, houses, transport, among
others, it would appear the country is developing.
However, over the
same period, if population grows over and above what these facilities could
support, this seeming development comes to naught. Miss Rockson said the
results of the 2000 population and housing census show that only 53.3 percent
of the population above 15 years are literate in either English or a known
Ghanaian language. She said this is disheartening, adding that the fact that
nearly 45.9 percent of adult population is not literate is unfortunate and must
be a nation's challenge.
The rather large
proportion of the population that attained primary education (18.6 percent) as
the highest level of educational attainment is not encouraging either, since
the benefits of education do not show after basic education. There is, therefore, the need to raise the
literacy level of Ghanaian youth to appreciable levels.
Miss Rockson said
Ghanaian's national population policy directs the government to pursue policies
to enhance the well-being of Ghanaians. That is why currently, the National
Population Council Secretariat (NPCS) is co-ordinating the implementation of
the Government of Ghana/United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) fourth coming
population programme (2001-2005), which aims at managing the country's
population.
This takes into
account reproductive and sexual health needs, as well as the functional
integration of population into the country's development policies and
programmes. The reconstituted Tema Municipal Population Advocacy Committee has
a membership of 13, with the Municipal Chief Executive as the chairman.
In a welcoming
address, Mrs. Patricia Yakubu, Greater Accra Assistant Regional Population
Officer emphasised that family planning concerns are not the only challenges
confronting the Ghanaian society.
Issues like poverty,
environmental degradation, child labour and trafficking, drug abuse, armed
robbery, prostitution, HIV/AIDS, child and maternal health, unemployment and
sanitation, among others, affect the welfare of the individual.
Mrs Yakubu noted that
the ministries, departments and agencies are currently implementing a number of
policies and programmes to overcome these challenges and to pave the way for a
reduction in population growth rate to ensure sustained economic growth and
improvement of standard of living.
GRi…/
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