DCEs sign memorandum with Rural Infrastructure Co-ordinating Unit

Muslims call for removal of MP

Recognise importance of soil resources - Braimah

Kumasi (Ashanti), 16 February 2000

The Rural Infrastructure Co-ordinating Unit (RICU) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and the 18 district assemblies in the Ashanti Region on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding between them in Kumasi.

The various District Chief Executives (DCEs) signed the documents, while their District Co-ordinating Directors (DCDs) witnessed.

All the documents were counter-signed by the Zonal Co-ordinator of the Rural Infrastructure Co-ordinating Unit.

The memorandum covers areas including the provision of rural transport, rural post harvest losses, rural water infrastructure and capacity building for the manpower base of district assemblies.

Also covered in the agreement are non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community-based organisations (CBOs) and beneficiary communities.

The accord entails the identification of rural projects, and the planning and management of monies allocated for implementation of such projects.

Under the agreement, technical assistance and training programmes would be provided to strengthen the capacity of the assemblies to successfully implement the projects in their respective districts.

Mr. Joe Issachar, Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Director, stated after the signing that the event was a challenge to the DCEs and asked them to follow all the procedures of the memorandum for the successful implementation of the projects.

Mr. Issachar urged the district assemblies to make the vehicles of the Village Infrastructure Project (VIP) available to the monitoring teams for supervision.

The Regional Co-ordinating Director said the Regional Co-ordinating Council would also monitor all such VIP projects to ensure their proper implementation.

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Kasoa (Central Region), 16 February 2000

Muslims in the Awutu and Senya Bereku traditional areas have called for the removal of the MP for the area, Alhaji Baba Lamin Abu Sadat, for allegedly showing disrespect to the constituents.

They said the MP has adopted what they described as "divide and rule tactics", which they stated was undermining the unity and progress of the NDC in the constituency.

Making the appeal at an emergency delegates conference of the party at Kasoa on Sunday, the participants warned that any attempt by the leadership of the party to retain Alhaji Sadat would "cause the party a great deal in the forthcoming elections."

Mr. Zakari Awere, a spokesman, asked the MP to step down humbly in the same manner as his predecessor, Mr. James Eric Nkrumah, did in 1996.

Mr. Awere said the majority of Muslims in the two traditional areas fully support the election of a highly qualified female candidate to contest the forthcoming elections and lead the party in the constituency.

He alleged that the numerous publications in the media caused by Alhaji Abu Sadat during his four years in office were meant "to throw dust into the eyes of the reading and listening public," because there was no "concrete proof" of what he claimed to have done for the people.

Alhaji Dauda Tamissiru, another spokesperson, called on the National Executive of the party to set up a fact finding committee to assess the work and behaviour of the MP.

He said he was prepared to testify if such a committee was set up.

Attempts to contact the MP proved futile.

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Tamale (Northern Region), 16 February 2000

Dr Farouk Braimah, Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, has urged sub-Saharan African countries to give due recognition to the importance of soil resources in the formulation of agricultural policies.

This is because they are the main determinant of agricultural production.

He was opening a three-day international workshop on soil and water conservation in sub-Saharan Africa organised by the University of Development Studies (UDS) in Tamale on Tuesday and sponsored by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom.

He told the workshop that the low yields associated with most of the countries in the region are reflective of the poor quality of soils often taken for granted but which is vital for sustainable development.

The workshop has brought together scientists, environmentalists, policy makers and representatives of non-governmental organizations from seven sub-Saharan countries and the United Kingdom.

The participants, who are from Ghana, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Togo, Nigeria, Uganda and Tanzania, will discuss reports on studies commissioned in 1998 on natural resources degradation in Africa and come out with a common policy on solutions to conservation problems.

Dr Braimah expressed the hope that the workshop would find beneficial Ghana's Soil Fertility Management Action Plan, the first of its kind in the region, in which are incorporated the effective management of the natural resource base, notably soils, water and forests, for higher and sustained agricultural production.

In a keynote address, the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Seidu Iddi, said although the relatively low agricultural output in sub-Saharan Africa could be attributed to inadequate mechanized farming techniques, other equally vital factors such as environmental protection are not given the necessary attention.

This lack of attention manifested itself in the famine that hit the Sahelian region in the 1970's, but an international workshop such as this "testifies to the fact that public attention is shifting in favour of soil fertility management for the benefit of poor farmers in semi arid areas.

He described the theme of the workshop "Rethinking natural resources

degradation in sub-Saharan Africa" as timely and said it lays bare the hindrances to agricultural development in the Northern region in particular and Ghana as a whole.

He expressed the hope that the interactions by the participants "will afford them the opportunity to discuss the inherent problems and come out with suggestions that will help boost food production".

Prof. R. B. Benning, Vice Chancellor of UDS, said, "it is one of the principal objectives of the university to find solutions to environmental problems, which characterise Northern Ghana and Ghana's rural areas."

He said efforts in addressing environmental issues, which are not limited by national boundaries, are fragmented, even though, the parties involved have common objectives and missions.

There is, therefore, the need for pooling of resources in order to learn from each other's experiences to make a bigger impact.

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