Kumasi Metro introduces street sweeper
Tema (Greater Accra) 13 February 2002 - A 19 year old mother, on Tuesday caused a stir at Tema Circuit Tribunal by dumping her five month old baby on the lap of her husband, who had been sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for raping a 15-year old girl.
Moments after the 25-year old convict, Kwasi Alhassan, a driver's mate, was escorted to the criminals seat after the sentence was passed on him, his 19-year old wife dashed to the front row and dumped the baby boy on his laps.
Regina Adonu began wailing, took to her heels and run for about 200 meters before the police apprehended her and escorted her back to the tribunal. Still screaming, Regina told the tribunal that she is unemployed so there would be nobody to cater for the baby, adding, "that is why, in my confused state, I decided to dump the baby on his father to carry him to prison."
Her behaviour drew tears from the public, while the prosecutors and lawyers remained in their seats quietly looking on. However, the chairman did not budge and asked that the baby be given back to the mother. Later, Regina, carrying the baby in her arms sat close to her husband, who was sweating profusely until the police whisked him away to begin his sentence.
Chief Inspector Alice Gyamfi had earlier stated that in May last year about 10:30am the victim was on her way home to the VALCO Flats, in Ashaiman. The accused then standing in the dark invited her and forcibly abused her sexually at a knifepoint on a bench and her screams attracted people around, who arrested him.
Mr Ringo Cass Azumah, Chairman of the Tribunal explained that the accused was given a long sentence because of the knife he pulled and this would serve as deterrent to others. Alhassan had pleaded not guilty.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 February 2002 - Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD) on Tuesday rejected the establishment of an Advisory National Disability Council" as envisaged under the National Disability Bill saying they would prefer an executive body.
"This kind of advisory council is unacceptable and will be resisted every step of the way," Mr Charles Appiagyei, President of GFD, said at a press conference organised by the GFD on its position on the bill.
"Not only is it contrary to the current trends in disability policy but it will also set back the clock of progress in the disability field and completely wipe out all the gains made by the disability movement in Ghana since independence."
Mr Appiagyei said the establishment of National Disability Council was recommended by the National Advisory Committee on Disability Policy in 1996 and was embodied in the National Disability Policy of 2000 and in the original draft of the Persons with Disabilities Act 2001.
"At this time, the Council was to have executive powers and was to be located at the then Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare. It will be responsible for the overall co-ordination of disability activities in Ghana."
He said at a review meeting on the Bill in September last year, however, the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment announced its intention to create an advisory council, stripped of all executive powers.
"The Organisations of Persons with Disability vehemently opposed this position at that meeting and later presented a resolution to the Minister on 3rd December calling for a Council with executive powers as previously stated."
Mr Appiagyei said such a Council would be identical to the national co-ordinating bodies on disability, which exist in Zimbabwe and Malawi, among other countries and would be in line with the requirements of the World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons (1982) and UN Standard Rules on the Equalisation of the Persons with Disability (1993).
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 February 2002 - Vice President Aliu Mahama on Wednesday said the managements of public sector institutions, which achieve financial successes would enjoy bonuses, while those whose inefficiencies result in poor performances would be sanctioned.
"Sanction will range from suspension of annual increments to withholding of salaries, suspension, termination of appointment and dismissals," Alhaji Mahama said at a ceremony at the Castle at which representatives of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Ghana Regional Appropriate Technology Institute and Industrial Service (GRATIS) and the Ghana Universities Press signed separate performance contracts with the Government and the National Institutional Renewal Programme.
The state-owned institutions are the first batch, among 11 Central government institutions and 50 sub-vented institutions, undergoing restructuring of their service structure, human resources and financial systems to improve their efficiency and make some of them independent of government subvention.
Alhaji Mahama, who is the Chairman of the National Overview Committee of the Public Sector Management Reform Programme, stressed that the Committee would ensure that discipline and accountability regimes of the public service were entrenched.
An independent evaluation of the restructured organisations, he said, would be conducted annually, adding that monitoring; evaluation and reporting would be on regular basis.
"The government is giving recognition to the Public Service because our economic programme for jobs, economic security and empowerment...can only be achieved with significant policy and implementation inputs from the public sector," he said.
The Vice President announced that work on the implementation of a new regulatory framework for the public sector would soon start. The sector would, consequently, have new rules and regulations to guide its functions in terms of governance relationships, accountability; discipline and performance management.
In addition, Alhaji Mahama said, a new Human Resource Management system, which would completely change the approach to personnel management and incentive management would introduce new parameters for deregulation and devolution of management.
Dr Stephen Adei, Director-General and Mr B. K. Mensah, President of the Court of Governors of GIMPA, signed the agreement for the Institute. Professor Atta Britwum, Chairman of the Board and Mr Ganu Kweku Mensah, Executive Director, signed for the Universities Press, while Dr Kwabena Dankyi Darfuor, Executive Director of GRATIS, initialled for his institution.
The Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani signed for the government while Dr Appiah Koranteng, Co-ordinator of the National Institutional Renewal Programme, which is the secretariat of the restructuring programme, signed for the secretariat.
The World Bank, Department For International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom and other development partners are supporting the reforms, which started in 1999.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 February 2002 - Participants attending the two-day international conference on reforming technical co-operation in Accra on Tuesday agreed that developing countries could only derive maximum benefits from donor-assisted projects if they drew up their own programmes.
They also called for the engagement of local professionals instead of foreign project advisors to enhance the success of programmes and to also make the transfer of knowledge broader and sustainable at both the individual and institutional level.
Mr Mark Malloch, UNDP Administrator, told a press conference after the closing session that the participants were resolute on the three issues to give impetus and to get technical co-operation to work better.
He said technical co-operation was absolutely indispensable as a pivot of development and financial support in most developing countries. However, he said, there was the need for reforms in the way technical support was given in order to break with the past in which such co-operation was donor-driven with set priorities for recipient countries to implement.
This, he stressed, made it difficult for the recipient countries to get the programmes to work effectively. Ms Fannie Leautier, Vice President of the World Bank Institute, said capacity building was fundamental in all spheres of human endeavour and emphasised the need to build on what the people had.
About 60 participants attended the two-day conference organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to examine the political steps necessary to ensure that international technical co-operation made lasting impact on indigenous capacities and helped to transform peoples' life. It was on the theme: "Reforming technical co-operation for capacity development."
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 13 February 2002 -The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has started using Street Sweeper in cleaning the central business district of the metropolis at night.
According to Maxwell Kofi Jumah, the Metropolitan Chief Executive, the introduction of the Street Sweeper, the first in the country, formed part of KMA's efforts at getting Kumasi back to its former glory and a good place to do business.
Mr Jumah said during a visit to the central business area to find out the impact of the decongestion exercise on businesses, particularly on the big stores, Mr Jumah said the sweeper and the tractor on which it had been hooked were abandoned over a long period because the tractor had broken down.
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