Five
each to vote at NDC congress
Circle-Achimota
six-lane project begins
Twist in
identity of murdered “surgeon”
Victims of crimes cannot go to court-Tumwai
Government will support all peace-building initiatives
More refugees from Cote d'Ivoire arrive in Dormaa Ahenkro
Be self-sufficient in food production -VC
Best
Cocoa Farmer expresses displeasure at award
Help
build strong foundation to enhance democracy -Prof Andam
My
intention wasn't to cover up my true role - Witness
Muslim
and Christian call for Abstinence and Faithfulness
Establish
a body on Solar Energy
NPP
member withdraws case against party
Learn to
discern truth from falsehood
"We
will not reward failure in Africa" - Development partners
Five
each to vote at NDC congress
Accra (Greater Accra)
17 December 2002 - The National Secretariat of the National Democratic Congress
(NDC) on Monday announced that only five persons from each constituency were qualified
to vote at its 21 December delegates conference, at Legon.
The five included the
Constituency Chairman, the Secretary, Organiser, Women's Organiser and the
Deputy Women Organiser. A release issued and signed by Bebe A. Ziedeng, Deputy
General Secretary of the party said the National Executive Committee (NEC) took
the decision at its last meeting.
The release said,
"In the absence of any of the above, or in cases of incapacity, the
deputies of the above office holders may be qualified to attend and vote in
their stead" "It should be noted further that every qualified
delegate could only vote once. Persons holding more than one office can only
vote in only one of such positions," the statement said.
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Circle-Achimota
six-lane project begins
Accra (Greater Accra)
17 December 2002- President John Kufuor on Monday cut the sod for work to
commence on the ˘210bn Kwame Nkrumah Circle-Achimota Road and said it is the
beginning of the big push to develop the country's infrastructure and build a
modern road network to open up the country for rapid development.
The seven-kilometre
six-lane road from the Nkrumah Circle to the former Neoplan Assembly Plant at
Achimota, forms part of the Accra-Kumasi road network being constructed by
Taysec Limited and is scheduled for completion in 32 months.
President Kufuor said
the nation expected good quality work to be done as fast as possible but there
should not be compromise on speed and quality. "I expect the supervisory
agency and the consultants to approach the job with the dedication that it
deserved and ensure the integrity of the work."
President Kufuor said
commencement of work on the road was in fulfilment of the promise he made in
his 2002 State of the Nation Address that work on the three strategic arterial
roads leading out of the nation's capital, as well as other roads which had
been on the drawing board for a long time would commence this year.
He said this was the
most important road in the country because not only did it connect the two
biggest cities in the country but also connected the northern parts and
neighbouring landlocked Sahelian countries.
"It is the road
that carries the biggest human and economic traffic and it had been the dream
of successive governments to build this road to a standard that will befit the
amount of traffic it carries. I am proud it has fallen on my government to make
this dream a reality," he added.
Dr Richard Winfred
Anane, Minister of Roads and Highways, said the road was noted for its high
traffic density and pollution, being a disincentive to production and service
delivery.
He said its reconstruction
would address these problems and pave the way or an effective free flow of
transport and service delivery. Dr Anane said the seriousness government had
attached to the road sector as reflected in the rehabilitation of many roads
throughout the country his year. He added that in furtherance of this policy
government had decided to rehabilitate many feeder roads.
He explained that
government was pursuing these road rehabilitations as well as the airports,
seaports and the railway system to bring comfort to the people to liberate
their potentials to create wealth and support development.
Dr Anane appealed to
commuters and road users on the road who will be affected to bear with the
government during the period of the reconstruction. A statement issued by the
Ministry of Information and Presidential Affairs on the project said the road
to be reconstructed would help ease the perennial traffic within the corridor,
cut down on travelling time between Accra and Kumasi and enhance the aesthetic
beauty of the capital city.
It said diversions
would be created at various points along the corridor to ease any inconvenience
during construction and hoped the public would cooperate to ensure the
successful completion of the project on schedule.
The statement said
apart from the six-lane carriageway, the project involved the creation of a new
access route to the Accra Industrial Area from the north and a flyover to cater
for the railway line at Alajo Junction, access road to Alajo would solve the
perennial problem.
Two pedestrian
footbridges would be provided at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and Avenor and
several junctions to be controlled by traffic lights would be created while
walkways and cycle ways, among others, would also be provided.
The statement said tro-tros
and taxis would be relocated to a new transport terminal to be constructed at
the Achimota School. The statement said the government had paid 106.44 million
cedis in "Supplemental Assistance" to 104 people whose kiosks and
containers would be affected by the project.
In all about ˘130m
would be paid as "Supplemental Allowance" to 131 people whose kiosks
and containers would be displaced by the project. The statement said 22
properties whose walls would be affected by the project have been reconstructed
at proposed positions and the old walls demolished with the full cooperation of
the affected landlords.
It said the
government had also instructed the Ministry of Finance to arrange the prompt
payment of a total of ˘1.2bn to eight people whose properties would be
substantially affected by the project.
The affected
properties include the Ghana Railway Corporation quarters at Alajo, Alhaji
Sinare's building at Avenor Junction, Habib Adam's building at Achimota and the
Kum Furniture Shop at Avenor Junction.
The rest are Enoch
Ago Quartey at Avenor Junction, Mary Thompson at Abeka Junction, Abdulai
Lamptey at Abeka Junction and the Aams Hotel at Kwame Nkrumah Circle. The
statement said meanwhile, assessment of frontage for about 60 others estimated
at ˘8.9bn cedis by the Land Valuation Board is ongoing.
It said this,
however, is not likely to affect access to the site for construction, as the
use of the affected properties have not been compromised in any way. "The
government wishes to state that the compulsory acquisition of land based on Act
25 of 1962 is standard practice in road projects and compensation is paid to
the person or persons who can demonstrate uncontested interest in the land or
property." It added.
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Twist
in identity of murdered “surgeon”
Accra (Greater Accra)
17 December 2002 - Police on Monday said they have unmasked the real identity of
a self-styled international surgeon, who was shot dead last Thursday in an
alleged car jacking incident at Liquart in North Kaneshie.
The police stated in
Accra that the girlfriend of the man, Joe Quartey, claimed that her friend was
a surgeon, while in deed, he was an electrical parts dealer.
The Police source
said Quartey had been posing as a medical officer hence that identity given by
his lady friend. It said preliminary investigations had revealed the suspect
was rather a confidence trickster who might have been killed by a gang he might
have betrayed earlier.
The man, according to
the police, was believed to belong to group of conmen involved in advanced fee
fraud. Investigations are meanwhile continuing.
Five armed men on
Thursday shot and killed Quartey, who was driving in his car with the lady
friend, when they were attacked around midnight. Police said the five men, who
were driving in an unlicensed taxicab pulled up in front of the Mercedes Benz
car Quartey and his lady friend were driving in near Liquart.
They ordered the
woman to lie on the ground, took her wristwatch and mobile phone. She, however,
escaped a physical attack. The source said Quartey, who tried to struggle with
the attackers was shot between the armpit and ribs.
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Zebilla (Upper East)
17 December 2002- An official of the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC)
at the weekend said victims of crimes and abuses, who would appear before the
Commission cannot take perpetrators to court because such action would be
illegal.
Lawrence Tumwai, the
Bolgatanga Zonal Member of the NRC, reminded Ghanaians that the Commission was
mandated to reconcile the country and not to compensate victims.
He was speaking at an
emergency meeting of the Bawku West District Assembly to elect chairmen of
sub-committees of the assembly at Zebilla.
The meeting could not
take place earlier because some members, who were absent from the inauguration
of the assembly, were not sworn into office and could not be elected as
chairmen of sub-committees.
Former assembly
members were paid their ex-gratia awards and the in-coming members were
interacted with their predecessors.
Moses Appiah,
District Chief Executive, commended the old and new members for their
commitment to the assembly and asked them to continue working hard in the
interest of the people. He urged the out-going assembly members to support the
assembly towards the development of the area.
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Tamale (Northern
Region) 17 December 2002- Mr Ben Akita, Deputy Minister of Defence, on Monday
affirmed government's support to civil society organisations that focus on
peace-building initiatives to complement its role of keeping and maintaining
peace in the country.
He noted that like
the government, the main objective of every civil organisation/NGO was the
development of the people but said: "this cannot be achieved where there
is no peace".
Akita, who was
launching the Ghana Network for Peace-building (GHANEP), a conglomerate of
civil society/non-governmental organisations in Tamale, called on such
organisations to let the preaching and sustenance of peace is paramount in
their development agenda.
The GHANEP is to
harmonise all civil society efforts at building peace and ensuring
collaboration for effective responses. It also provides a forum for member
organisations to acquire the skills of peace building to contribute to the
development of this emerging social science.
Mr Akita urged GHANEP
to serve as a moderating forum to ensure that member NGOs operate only "in
their own civil space and avoid political and partisan approaches to
events".
He called on civil
society organisations that have decided to use the forum of GHANEP to harmonise
the peace-building initiatives to avoid rivalry and unhealthy competition. He
said, "the government will need the complementary role of all NGOs to push
forward its development initiatives.
"Ghana has so
much untapped resources such that we need peace in the country to exploit them
but the government cannot do it alone and that is why you are all being
encouraged to come on board," he added.
The Deputy Defence
Minister said GHANEP, as a conglomerate of civil society organisations, cannot
venture into peacekeeping and peace enforcement. "GHANEP can however
evolve strategies such that conflicts do not erupt in the first place, to
compel us into peace enforcement and peace-keeping," he said.
In a welcoming
address, Mr Issah Ketekewu, Deputy Northern Regional Minister mentioned
peace-building and conflict transformation as the government's priority inn the
region.
He said: "the
government is leaving no stone unturned to ensure durable peace in the
region". "We are very much aware that without peace there can be no
development, he said, adding, "we are already a deprived and poverty
stricken region".
"Our situation
is further compounded by conflict and the resources that should have gone into
development are spent on addressing the effects of conflict", he said.
Mr Ketekewu noted
however that the region has cordial working relations with the NGOs and other
civil society organisations operating in the area saying, "this
relationship has helped us in many ways to cushion the hard effects of violent
conflicts through relief and rehabilitation programmes.
Introducing GHANEP,
Mr Emmanuel Bombande, Director of Programme, and West African Network for
Peace-building (WANEP), said "the network we are launching today should
provide us with the framework to be able to engage communities experiencing
conflicts to be their own peacemakers".
He said the concept
of working together through a network for peace-building would enhance
collaborative approaches to civil society organisations working with communities
afflicted by conflict.
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Dormaa-Ahenkro (Brong
Ahafo) 17 December 2002 - Eighty-six refugees from Cote d'Ivoire were at the
weekend registered at Kofi Badukrom, a border town, near Dormaa-Ahenkro.
The refugees, made up
of 42 Burkinabes and 46 Ivorians, arrived from Daloa. This last batch brings to
213 the number of refugees so far registered in the district due to the crisis
in the Cote d'Ivoire, Mr Stephen Adu, Dormaa District Co-ordinator of the
National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) told the GNA in an interview.
He said NADMO, Dormaa
District Assembly and Brong-Ahafo Regional Co-ordinating Council were making
efforts to convey the Ivoriens to the Bole Chache refugee camp in Northern
Region and the Burkinabes to Burkina Faso. Mr. Mihete Pale, 56, a spokesman of
the refugees, said more refugees were expected to arrive in the country since
the crisis had intensified.
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Mampong (Ashanti
Region) 17 December 2002- Professor Jophus Anamoah-Mensah, Vice-Chancellor of
the University of Education Winneba (UEW), has said Ghana needed to be
self-sufficient in food production if her industrial revolution was to take
off.
He, therefore,
stressed the need for Ghanaians to adopt improved agricultural practices and
encourage more people, especially the youth to take to agriculture. Professor
Anamoah-Mensah was speaking at the seventh matriculation of the Asante-Mampong
Campus of the University of Education Winneba at the week-end.
Some 171 students
comprising 143 men and 28 women were matriculated to pursue a four-year
Bachelor of Agriculture Education programme for the 2002/2003 academic year.
He said agriculture
constituted about 43 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and therefore,
charged all stakeholders in agriculture to contribute to raise production.
Prof. Anamoah-Mensah urged the students, who he said, should be agents for the
agricultural revolution to acquire knowledge that they could effectively communicate
to the youth for increased food production.
He expressed
dissatisfaction at the low female enrolment in agriculture education and called
for efforts to reverse the trend. The Vice-Chancellor announced that the Ghana
Education Trust Fund (GETfund) had approved 2 billion cedis for the
construction of an administration block, a science laboratory for the Mampong
Campus.
He expressed
satisfaction at the effort of the Mampong Campus for having put under
cultivation many hectares of land for cocoa, cashew, mango, citrus and coffee.
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Best
Cocoa Farmer expresses displeasure at award
Duokukrom (Eastern
Region) 17 December 2002- Nana Adwoa Obuom, Queenmother of
Duokukrom who emerged
winner of this year's Produce Buying Company's leading producer of cocoa award
in the Kraboa Coaltar District has expressed her displeasure at the award.
She said her prize of
a certificate and a pair of Wellington boot was not adequate. ''Although PBC
has been doing a lot for cocoa farmers its award programmes need to be
supported with adequate funds to enable them to present suitable prizes to the
farmers, '' Nana Obuom told the GNA in an interview.
She said she would
have cherished the award if it had been either a scholarship or something
presentable. Nana Obum said the PBC knew the important role cocoa farmers
played in the economy and for the company to present Wellington boot to the
best leading producer of cocoa is an insult to the farmers.
Nana Obuom advised
the PBC management to improve upon the items for presentation in future.
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Help
build strong foundation to enhance democracy -Prof Andam
Kumasi (Ashanti
Region) 17 December 2002-Professor Kwesi Andam, Vice Chancellor of the Kwame
Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), on Monday called on civic
educators to re-double their efforts to build a strong foundation to enhance
democracy in the country.
"We need to
sustain and maintain our democratic institutions to ensure proper and effective
socio-economic development of the country," he said.
Professor Andam was
opening a three-day Capacity Building Training workshop for civic educators of
the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) drawn from the Central,
Northern, Upper East and Western regions.
The workshop was to
train the participants to be versatile, knowledgeable in all fields, raise the
role of civic educators, to improve the quality of civic education delivery and
to strengthen civic education.
Professor Andam
called for a stable Ghana and stressed the need for all Ghanaians never to
allow religious beliefs to divide the country. "We must all do things
together to ensure peace and unity and we should not allow ourselves to be
divided by our faith".
''We should not allow
ethnicity to divide our ranks. This should even cement our relationship with
one another,'' he said.
Mr Larry Bimi,
chairman of the NCCE, stressed the need for the participants to sensitise the
public on the principles and objectives of the 1992 constitution and for people
to be proactive in resisting any violation of the constitution and freedom
enshrined in it.
He also urged them to
have the courage to point out the wrongdoings of public officers and
individuals to them and be prepared to pay the cost of that. Mr Bimi suggested
that civic education should be part of the education curriculum.
Mr Napoleon K.
Agboada, Director of Public Education of the NCCE, called for the
rationalisation of the content of civic educators in such a way as to teach
citizens the fundamentals of constitutional democratic outlook and to train
them to become constitutional democrats.
He said, "The
conscious participation of the overwhelming majority of our population in civic
work is essential for the progress of our young democracy and that the
blessings or benefits of our constitutional democracy must be made accessible
to all through civic education."
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My
intention wasn't to cover up my true role - Witness
Accra (Greater Accra)
17 December 2002- The star witness in the Ghana Rubber Estates
Limited (GREL)
divestiture case on Monday stated that it was not his intention to cover up his
true role in the matter in order to get the accused persons tried.
Dr Albert
Owusu-Barnafo, consultant of Societe Industrielle PlantationHevea (SIPH), the
French company that won the bid for GREL's privatisation, made the remark in
answer to a question put to him under cross-examination at an Accra Fast Track
Court.
The court is trying
four persons for their alleged involvement in bribery and corruption in
connection with GREL's divestiture.
They are Hanny Sherry
Ayittey, treasurer of the 31st December Women's Movement (DWM), Emmanuel Amuzu
Agbodo, former Executive Secretary of the Divestiture Implementation Committee
(DIC), Ralph Casely-Hayford, a businessman and Sati Dorcas Ocran, a housewife.
Through corrupt and
bribery means, the four allegedly influenced GREL's privatisation in favour of
SIPH.
They have all pleaded
not guilty to their various charges, and the trial judge, Mr Justice J. C.
Amonoo-Monney, an Appeal Court Judge, with an additional responsibility on the
case as a High Court Judge, has admitted each of them to bail in his or her own
recognisance.
Continuing with his
evidence under cross-examination by Mr Rodney Heward-Mills, counsel for
Casely-Hayford, witness told the court that he did not accept the prosecution's
invitation to implicate any of the accused persons, but to only tell the court
what he knew about the matter.
In answer to a
question on the shares he acquired in GREL, Dr Owusu-Barnafo said he negotiated
for 15 per cent shares in the company, to the tune of 390,000 dollars. Witness
told the court that SIPH's transactions with DIC on the privatisation of GREL
spanned the period 1996-1998. The case has been adjourned to Thursday, December
19.
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Muslim
and Christian call for Abstinence and Faithfulness
Wa (Upper West) 17
December 2002- Christian and Muslim speakers at a durbar on HIV/AIDS on Monday
were of the unanimous view that the only safe way for people to avoid
contracting the disease was for them to be faithful to their partners, and for
unmarried people to abstain from sex until they got married.
They expressed
disappointment at the low behavioural change by Ghanaians in spite of the
appreciable awareness rate of nearly one hundred percent.
This was expressed at
a durbar on HIV/aids prevention, care and support for people living with aids,
organised by a coalition of NGO'S in the north for opinion leaders, chiefs and
community based organisations.
Pastor Abraham Serbeh
of God's Glory Baptist Church said experience had shown that even the use of
condom could sometimes fail its users, thereby exposing them to the risk of
contracting the virus.
Mr A. S. Momeen,
Headmaster of T. I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School asked stakeholders in the fight
against HIV/aids to rethink their strategies in view of the apparent failure of
their campaign messages as people do not keep faith with their partners.
Mr Kofi Glover, Zonal
Manager of the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana for the northern sector,
advised Ghanaians to strive to promote the lives of people infected with HIV by
showing them love. ''Loneliness and worry can hasten the death of an HIV
patient,'' he said.
Mr Sahanun Mogtari,
Upper West Region Minister, said the government was sensitive to the rate of
HIV infection in the country, hence the establishment of regional and district
HIV/AIDS committees to focus on how best to tackle issues concerning its
spread.
He called on splinter
organisations dealing with issues relating to HIV/AIDS to register with
district AIDS committees for a holistic approach towards minimising problems
associated with virus.
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Establish
a body on Solar Energy
Accra (Greater Accra)
17 December 2002- Government has been urged to establish an autonomous body
under the Ministry of Energy to be responsible for the development and
promotion of solar energy resources which could set free more than 40 per cent
of the nation's electricity supply for industrial use.
A statement the Ghana
Solar Energy Society (GHASES) issued in Accra after its fourth Annual General
Meeting said the benefits that could accrue to the nation when it took to the
massive use of solar energy were enormous.
It said the cocoa and
the salt industry, which earned the country about 400 million dollars annually
depended on solar energy.
The statement signed
by Dr Kaku Kyiamah, President of the society said it was unfortunate that the
country was yet "to apply scientific and technological know-how for the
effective and efficient use of the abundant solar energy."
Very often the
application of the technology to use solar energy is brushed aside as being
uneconomic and expensive and yet this is energy underpinning the cocoa and salt
industries."
The statement said,
"Realistic demonstrations and calculations have shown that with the
relevant social and technical will, at practically no extra cost, the adoption
of solar energy can free more than 40 per cent of our electricity supply for
industrial use".
The body would serve
as a technical organ for the implementation of the policies of the Ministry of
Energy on solar energy, serve as the fulcrum for its promotion in the various
sectors of the economy and would serve as an advisory body on legislation to
encourage the use of the energy.
The statement
explained that the body would serve as a base for studies, research and project
initiation, provide information to Public Utilities Regulatory Commission
(PURC) on energy pricing mechanism to support agriculture and industry while
creating market channels for the use of solar energy.
It said the creation
of a renewable energy centre at Appolonia recognized the need to establish such
a body because that centre could not address the major role solar energy could
play to answer the question of sustainable and reliable energy generation and
utilization in Ghana.
It said a measure to
induce consumers to shift to solar energy by electricity consumers who have the
means to use more than 500kWh of electricity in a month should have the means
to pay commensurate rates for the extra electricity used since the current of
960kWh the PURC approved was low.
"Non residential
consumers who do not use electricity for industrial production such as offices
and shops who have the means to use more than 1000kWh of electricity in a month
should also have the means to pay commensurate rates for extra electricity
used.
It said the fall off
from the payment of such rates could create the relevant financial mechanism to
cushion the up-front cost of solar energy equipment.
The statement said
many countries have established such bodies to take care of the development and
utilization of solar energy and Ghana deserved one as well.
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NPP
member withdraws case against party
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo)
17 December 2002- Mr Anthony Ferka, a member of the Jaman
Constituency branch
of New Patriotic Party on Monday withdrew an application for interim injunction
filed at the Sunyani High Court to restrain Mr Kwadwo Yeboah Fordjour, Brong
Ahafo Regional Chairman of the Party, from contesting as a candidate in the
party's forthcoming Regional Congress.
Counsel for the
petitioner, Mr Adjei Frimpong, told the court that, "due to the sensitive
nature of the case we want to withdraw the application for interim injunction
to pave way for the election in the interest of the party."
The court, presided
over by Justice Kusi Appiah, granted the withdrawal of the application and
awarded a cost of five million cedis against the petitioner.
The writ filed at the
court by Mr Ferka stated that Mr Kwadwo Fordjour was disqualified and
incompetent to contest the position of a Regional Chairman of the party because
he had been convicted and fined by a court for defaulting in the payment of
Valued Added Tax (VAT).
The petitioner said
on July 26 officials of the VAT Service in Sunyani bought two gallons of
emulsion paint from the shop but the respondent failed to issue VAT Invoice.
The petitioner said
Mr Fordjour was arraigned before the Sunyani Circuit court on a charge of
failing to issue VAT Invoice contrary to section 57 of Acts 546 of 1998. He
said the wife of the respondent who represented him in court pleaded guilty and
was fined 400,000 cedis.
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Learn
to discern truth from falsehood
Gomoa Ankamu (Central
Region) 17 December 2002- Prof John Atta Mills, former Vice
President has called
on Ghanaians to discern the truth from falsehood to enable them make informed
choices during elections.
"People would
continue to take us for a ride if we could not make out sweet but vain promises
from the realities of the day," he said.
Prof Mills was
addressing supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) from Gomoa West
Constituency as part of his campaign to be elected presidential candidate of
the NDC for the 2004 elections.
He said the NDC lost
the 2000 general elections because some selfish and greedy members betrayed the
cause of the party that made some of their supporters to rebel against them by
refusing to vote.
Prof Mills said the
party had learnt its lessons the hard way and advised members and supporters to
put the past behind them and forge ahead in unity to work hard to clinch
victory in 2004.
Prof. Mills said the
electoral defeat had made the leadership of the party know the faithful members
and those who followed the party for selfish and personal interests. He gave the assurance that the
constituencies would be given free hands to elect their representatives if he
is elected.
Dr Ato Quarshie,
Central Regional Chairman of the party, assured the members that the party
would win all the 17 seats in the Region. "We would surely recapture the
eight seats we lost to NPP in 2000."
Mr Ekwow
Spio-Garbrah, a member of the Mills campaign team, said the disturbances in
certain parts of the sub-region had vindicated the call for peace that Prof.
Mills preached during the 2000 electioneering campaign.
Mrs Ama Benyiwa-Doe,
Member of Parliament for the area, advised the supporters not to be carried
away by the vicious campaign of lies being waged by detractors of the party on
its functionaries.
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"We
will not reward failure in Africa" - Development partners
Accra (Greater Accra)
17 December 2002- Development partners say they will no longer reward failure
on the continent anymore.
"Rather we will
seek and be seen to be rewarding successful countries whose governments are
moving to develop and promote democracy, good governance and peace and
security," Mr Robert Fowler, Special Representative of the Canadian Prime
Minister for Africa said in Accra on Monday.
"We believe that
in aggregate half or more of our new development assistance could be directed
to African nations that govern their people justly, invest in their own people
and promote economic freedom," he told the Ghana News Agency (GNA).
Mr Fowler who said he
was affirming the expressions of his fellow G8 members, made these comments
just before leaving Accra after attending the Joint G8- NEPAD Steering
Committee Meeting.
He also commented on
concerns about the "enhanced partnership" adopted by the G8 members
culminating in the G8 Africa Action Plan. The G8 Africa Action Plan is a
document that endorses portion of the NEPAD Agreement, mostly those relating to
good governance and peace and security.
Mr Fowler said aid
has been going to African countries over the last 40 years, but so have
conflicts and civil wars started by greed and misrule by their leaders in which
innocent citizens have suffered.
"Now we want to
ensure that we use the few success stories of countries which have shown signs
and commitment to democracy and good governance as a flagship to those stuck in
conflict," Mr Fowler said.
He explained that
countries stuck in civil strife would, however, not be left in the cold.
"For such countries, we will send in international humanitarian agencies
to help restore hope to displaced persons. We will not channel funding through
the governments anymore," he said.
He welcomed the Peer
Review Mechanism by African leaders and described it as a very innovative means
of ensuring that leaders and the ruled all subject themselves to one form of
review or the other. This, he noted, will bring about more transparency and
justice in African states.
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