The
Foreign Affairs Minister, Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, the Energy Minister, Albert
Kan-Dapaah and the Minister for Economic Planning and
Regional Integration Dr. Paa Kwesi
Ndom accompanied the President.
The
two-day summit discussed issues affecting the sub-region, especially the Ivorian
crisis and the situation in the Manor River Region (
The
Deputy Foreign Minister, Alhaji Moustapha Idris, the Chief of Staff, Kojo Mpianim, the Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General
Seth Obeng and other government officials meet the
President and the delegation on arrival.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
The case before the Osu District Court involves Charles Bortier
Bortey Doku and three
others and the soccer star. “His worship George Nana Donkor
had shown open bias and we fear that true justice will not be meted out to the
accused, if he continues with the hearing of the case,” Stephen Akwetey, spokesman for council, stated at a press
conference in Accra.
Akwetey who was flanked with Numo Borretey Laweh
Tsuru, Gborbu Wulomo and other clan leaders of Nungua
urged the Chief Justice to expedite action on a petition it filed for a change
of the trial judge. The Council also accused sport journalists of whipping up
public sympathy against the four accused persons.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
He said the Service was also
proposing that a standard fee be charged for similar facilities and hospitals
to ensure uniformity in all financial transactions. Dr. Adjei was speaking at
the day's seminar for media practitioners to inform them about the
establishment and functions of the Service.
On making health affordable, Dr.
Adjei said what was needed was to find ways of providing health care promptly without
linking it to immediate payment of services while ensuring that patients did
not run away from their financial obligations.
Dr Ken Sagoe,
Director of Human Resource at GHS, said the Health Workers Union was
negotiating with the government for better service conditions, which when
implemented would stem the mass exodus of health personnel.
He explained that the GHS was
looking at various issues including training programmes, salaries, inefficiency
and delays in promotions to ensure that health workers were retained.
Dr Sagoe
said certain programmes for doctors, specialised courses for nurses and
clinical pharmacy training programmes were being established as part of efforts
to improve health care.
He said the establishment of the
local post-graduate programme would soon take place when the bill before parliament
was passed. Dr Frank Nyonator, Director of Policy,
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation at the GHS, said one of the key objectives
of the Service was to expand access to health care while managing available
resources. He said the service was also engaged in promoting healthy lifestyles
among the community.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
The $500m project will serve
mainly to generate electricity for industrial and domestic use by the four
project countries through a 600km pipeline, drawing from
Signatories were Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of
The treaty establishes a
comprehensive and harmonious legal, fiscal and regulatory framework for the
project, including a single authority to oversee project development and
operations.
The Executive Secretary of
ECOWAS, Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas
said at the ceremony that the project represents a model of concrete regional integration
for accelerated economic development and poverty alleviation, as well as
effective public/private collaboration.
“It will supply the largest
share of energy resources, dedicated to power generation in these countries and
eventually for domestic use - and it is expected that in the long run, other ECOWAS
states would sign into the project,” Chambas said.
The immediate benefits of the project
would be the provision of cheaper energy, clearer and more environmentally-friendly
energy supply, increased productivity and investment, eventual improved
standard of living and poverty alleviation.
Dr Chambas
commended the four Presidents for their leadership in creating another concrete
landmark in region integration for economic development and poverty reduction,
as well as an example of excellent collaboration between the private and public
sectors.
“By this project, you are about
to give West Africa a new lease of energy as well as energise our community
unto the road of accelerated economic development and the peoples of our region
should be the happier for it,” he added.
Albert Kan-Dapaah,
“The availability of gas will
ensure low cost and stable energy supply for the development of our countries
and spur investment in industries that are capable of competing in the World's
markets”.
On behalf of the consortium, Jay
Pryor, Managing Director of Chevron Nigeria Limited said, "we are proud to
be working in partnership with the governments of
Today's signing marks an
important step in establishing the necessary conditions for future Direct Foreign
Investment (DFI) into the region. The current estimate for the commencement of
gas deliveries from the pipeline is June 2005.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com