A statement issued in
It described GTV's refusal to cover an NDC
press conference on
"Whatever that means, it was a laughable excuse that underlines the
political bias of the GTV management. This bias is so deep that it even
reflects in the lop-sided selection of panellists for GTV programmes,
especially Breakfast Show, where known pro-government commentators are
carefully handpicked to run down the NDC on every single issue raised,"
the statement added.
"It is our submission that the refusal by GTV to grant the Party
time and access is a flagrant violation of the Supreme Court ruling of 1993,
which held that the state-owned media has a duty to present to the citizenry
divergent viewpoints, so that the citizens can make informed decisions."
It drew attention of GTV to what Nana Akufo-Addo,
Attorney-General and Minister of Justice said once when he quoted Justice A.C.
Francois, a former Supreme Court Judge in the case of NPP vs
GBC saying, "if (the state media) fails in its duty and proceeds further
to deny the articulation of alternative views, its transgression becomes
two-fold since as a state-owned media and contrary to what is expressly
required of it by the constitution, it has refused to feed the citizenry with
all the facts and has mischievously denied the citizens knowledge.."
It said the pronouncement in 1993 compelled GBC to grant equal time,
space and access to all parties. The statement urged GTV management to uphold
the professional integrity of GBC and guard against being used as a propaganda
organ of the ruling NPP.
"In this regards, the GBC should endeavour to give equal opportunity
to Ghanaians with different political views, to publicly assess the performance
of the NPP government without fear of been sanctioned or harassed by the powers
that be."
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Each member had his or her own message for the President, while some
advised him on international relations and national issues, others
congratulated him but some of them trivialised his appointment and scolded him.
Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu,
Majority Chief Whip, had issued a statement congratulating the President on his
election as Chairman of Ecowas. He said: "Two
years into the administration of President Kufuor, his untiring efforts at
ensuring good neighbourliness in particular with the three countries sharing
common boundaries with Ghana and the sub-region has caught the attention of his
peers.'
His crusade in the areas of peace, stability and development of the
sub-region has not escaped the spectacles of analysts. The Majority Whip said
the President leads a country which cherishes "Freedom and Justice",
a party that expounds development and freedom adding that these may not amuse
people who daily suffer the bullets of guns and the spillage of blood.
"West African needs peace and tranquillity, solutions to our
problems which have thrown up in the many conflict areas in the sub-region
particularly neighbouring
M.A. Seidu, NDC-Wa
Central, said Ghanaians should accept whatever sacrifice the President would make
for the sake of the sub-region. "President Nkrumah was blamed for the
sacrifice that he made for the sake of
Norbert Awulley,
NDC-Builsa South, called for mechanisms to solve
internal conflicts in
Kofi Attor,NDC-Ho
Central, advised Presidential aides
against organising press conferences on
personal conversations of the President. He said that attitude
undermines confidence and diplomacy among Presidents, especially when serious
issues are being solved. He asked the President to send aides rather than
himself on the numerous trips that may come his way adding, "he should resist the temptation of changing flights in the
air."
Papa Owusu Ankoma, Majority Leader, thanked
members for their advice and suggestions.
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In what has
been described as the longest statement made to the National Reconciliation
Commission (NRC), for close to two hours, he narrated circumstances that led to
his confrontation with the top hierarchy of the Police, the PNDC and BNI, and
his unlawful detentions and final dismissal from the police service.
He mentioned
almost all the IGPs during that period, Police
Commissioners, and also named former President Jerry John Rawlings, his
personal security man and Captain Kojo Tsikata as
perpetrators of his ordeal.
"I was
unlawfully detained on two separate occasions for six months eight days, all on
the orders of the Chairman of the PNDC and former President of Ghana Flt. Lt.
Jerry John Rawlings and on both occasions no specific accusations and charges
were given for my detention," he said.
Alhaji Alidu said after resisting attempts to frustrate him by
several persons in the top hierarchy of the Ghana Police Service, he was
finally given the boot out of the service on grounds of going public on a
smuggling matter without recourse to the Police Public Relation Department.
He said in 1981
he was the Organiser of the Police Committee for the Defence of the Revolution
(CDR) in Bolgatanga and at that time, he upheld the
virtues of the 31st December Revolution and therefore mounted an anti-smuggling
campaign in that region.
"My
campaign was so successful, smuggling was totally eradicated from that region
and I received at least two high commendation letters from Kugblenu,
then Inspector General of Police (IGP) and later from S. S.Omane,
former IGP," he said.
He said in the
course of his duty he received a wireless message inviting him to
Alhaji Alidu said Nanfuri told him, the
castle had ordered his detention although no reason was given for that, adding
that just on that account he was detained for three months eight days.
He said when he
protested against his detention, Nanfuri only made a
request for him to be given medical care, as he developed depression over the
three-month detention period.
"After a
two week medical care at the 37 Military Hospital, I
was brought back to the BNI cells where they asked him about one Ibrahim,”
Alhaji Alidu.
According to
him he only got to know Ibrahim, a Ghanaian exile when he approached him and
said he had a letter signed by Kwamena Ahwoi and
copied to Capt. Tsikata, which allowed him entry into the country but needed
assurance of safety.
"I took
him to Capt. George Pattinton to look into his case
and that was all," he explained.
Alhaji Alidu said though he was let go, he was called again two
weeks later and questioned about some two vehicles, one of which he had been
using on operational duties.
"I felt
frustrated along the line and I called Nanfuri a
stooge of the PNDC in his face and I challenged that genuineness of the
revolution which I had committed my effort to, in dealing with economic
saboteurs and saving the nation several millions of cedis," he said.
He said later
he sought audience with the then Director of BNI, Quantson,
but he (Quantson) told him that was the kind of
problem the PNDC government was dragging the BNI into and that he was not a
party to it.
Alhaji Alidu said three weeks after his release-armed soldiers
picked him from Bolga to
"Here
again I was detained for three months without questions in the Police
Information Room," he said.
He said later
he was told that a three-man investigation team had been set up to investigate
him, adding that after his release he was re-posted from Bolga
to Accra to serve in the Panthers unit, without being told the outcome of the
investigation.
Alhaji Alidu said whilst in the Panthers Unit he was made the
Director of Administration and he chanced on a file titled; "Issues from
Upper East" and in that file he saw a document containing about 15
separate allegations against him on how he was using his position to amass
wealth.
He named
Justice Atubuga, a Supreme Court Judge, then Lawyer Atubuga as one of the main informants. Atubuga
whom he said he had a confrontation earlier had sworn to teach him a lesson.
Apparently, Atubuga defended a smuggler in court in a wood smuggle case
and I asked the prosecutor at the time to object to his representation as he (Atubuga) was at the time, a member of the Committee
Investigating the case.
Alhaji Alidu said whilst in the Police Panthers unit he
established another anti-smuggling machinery, which
busted several under-invoiced import and export activities and raised at least
38 million cedis for the state in 1985 through fines.
He said in one
such anti-smuggling activity involving one Alhaji Munanga
Alla, who was allegedly connected to Capt. Kojo Tsikata, the smuggler was fined 14 million cedis for smuggling
about a 1,000 bags of sugar.
He said later
one Malm at the Customs Excise and Preventive Service
(CEPS) reduced the fine to 50,000 cedis.
"I did not
understand the reduction from 14 million to 50,000 so I went to CEPS for
explanation and I met the Legal Officer of CEPS, Pius Austin who told me he was
not privy to the deal," he said adding that "Later the new IGP, Coffie also expressed shock over the drastic reduction of
the fine."
Alhaji Alidu said when his immediate boss, Mr Dewornu
got to know of his investigations into the matter, he became furious and asked
him to make a choice between Central and Eastern regions for transfer.
"I pleaded
to be kept in any station in
"After
several pleas with him fell on deaf ears I went to press with the smuggling
issue for which I was being transferred." He said later the issue was taken
to the Police Disciplinary Board and I was warned and reprimanded, adding that
he however, managed to get the smuggler arraigned before the regional police
tribunal.
Alhaji Alidu said the tribunal, then headed by one Mr. Justice Agbesi sentenced the smuggler to five years imprisonment
with a fine, but Capt. Tsikata managed to get hold of that docket and in the
final analysis the tribunal was disbanded, Justice Agbesi
and myself were dismissed and the smuggler was let go free.
"In year
2001 when the current administration took over, I sent a petition to the
Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and they
investigated the matter and called on the IGP, Ernest Owusu Poku
to re-instate me, but the police legal department told CHRAJ they had a case
against me in 1993, for which they were going to prosecute me," he said.
He said he was
therefore, asked to direct his petition to the Police Council, which he has and
awaiting response. Gen. Erskine sympathised with Alidu, adding that it was unfortunate how people could be
victimised in this country for trying to uphold the virtue of honest.
He however,
urged Alidu to continue being honest without fear of
favour.
Justice E. K. Amua-Sakyi, Chairman of the NRC warned that witnesses who
are listed for hearing and do not show up would from this week forfeit their
chance of being heard.
He said,
"we have about 2,800 cases to deal with and we are working with a schedule
programme and we expect witnesses to make time and come at the times they are
invited otherwise there is no guarantee that their cases could be
postponed."
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Accra (Greater
Accra) 06 February 2003- Ex-Sergeant Abraham Kwaku
Botchwey, formerly of the Armed Forces Training School, Tamale, on Wednesday
told the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) that as operatives of the
Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) tortured him, he desperately craved for
death and asked them to fire only one bullet at him to end it all.
The ex-martial
arts, military drill and weapon-handling instructor, said he was lured by his
commanding officer, Lieutenant Colonel Brown and Lieutenant Iddrisu
of the Military Intelligence Unit, to be tortured.
Ex-Sergeant
Botchwey said the two men lured him to
He subsequently
spent seven years in incarceration in different cells. He said as a Christian,
he has forgiven Captain George Pattington, who was
then the Commanding Officer of the Commando Unit, one Max Pobi
and all the military people and the commandos that tortured him and asked them
to show a similar gesture of reconciliation.
Led in evidence
by Edmund Allotei Mingle, Ex-Sergeant Botchwey said
on
He said at the
BNI he was undressed with only his pants on and marched to a cell where there
were civilians, politicians and soldiers. These detainees told him that they
were there for an alleged plot to assassinate the then Chairman of the
Provisional National Defence Council, Flt. Lt. Jerry Rawlings.
He said the
soldiers hit him with the butt of their guns and as she struggled with them,
they handcuffed him from behind, blindfolded him and threw him into a car. After
45 minutes' drive, ex Sergeant Botchwey said, he slit open slightly the bandage
that was used to blindfold him and upon familiar sounds and scenes, he realised
that they were at Asuature.
He said at Asutuare he was threatened with death to tell "the truth,"
else he would be "finished and buried in one of the trenches". Ex
Sergeant Botchwey said later he was then driven to Legon, and then to the Recce Regiment where one officer ordered one night that he
should be taken out and water poured on him.
He said one Bawa Atalia and Bugri, both Military Intelligence officers, came again and
continued torturing him until he shouted, "fire
only one bullet into me; that's all". He said he told them that he would
rather die than continue to endure the torture.
Ex-Sergeant
Botchwey said the soldiers threatened death, saying, "This is the reason
why we were sent to
Ex Sergeant
Botchwey said he struggled with the soldiers, and they used the nozzle of their
guns to hit his legs, and that rendered him very weak.
The ex-sergeant
said he was shocked to see Captain George Pattington,
whom he said he had known as a friend, arrive there together with Max Pobi, and he Botchwey asked Captain Pattington
why he was being tortured.
He said Captain
Pattington then asked those beating him to stop and
he left the scene. Ex-Sergeant Botchwey said he continued to struggle with the
soldiers but they eventually overpowered him and his blood oozed out of his
face.
Ex-Sergeant
Botchwey said one of the soldiers hit his head with a gun and he fell
unconscious. He said later in the afternoon the torturing continued, and three
days later, he had a swollen face and was sent to the 37 Military Hospital
where one Dr Koranteng sympathised with him and
treated him.
Upon his
return, three soldiers at the BNI, Asase Gyimah, Annor Kumi and Ampadu, forced him to sign a paper, apparently on his
alleged conspiracy to overthrow the PNDC regime. Ex Sergeant Botchwey said he
was later sent to the Ussher Fort Prison and kept in solitary
confinement for six months and later made to join other prisoners.
Ex Sergeant
Botchwey said he was in incarceration until 1987, and when he thought his
release had finally come he was sent to Winneba Cells, and there he met people
with sores all around their body, and prisoners went for about three days
without food and no bath for about one week.
He said he was
finally released from unlawful detention in 1990, and at the time he came out
his wife who was forced out from the barracks divorced him and married another
man.
He said he
petitioned the Ministry of Defence to reinstate him, but that was to no avail
and was later prevented from entering the barracks as ex-detainees were
declared a threat to national security.
According to
him after 17 years of service he was paid 2.7 million cedis which was too
meagre.
Currently on a
pension of 205,000 cedis monthly, Ex Sergeant Botchwey said he had petitioned
the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice and President Kufuor
but had not yet had any reply from them.
Ex- Corporal Boye Okai, formerly a driver cum military intelligence
officer, who was led in evidence by Mrs Juliana Amonoo-Neizer,
told the Commission that, he was picked by Adambuga, Terkpor, Braimah and Giwa at the Kotoka International
Airport, on 25 May1982 with three other military intelligence officers just as
they were disembarking from the plane that had brought them back from a peace
keeping assignment in Lebanon.
He said they
were forced into a pick-up Vehicle and were driven through an alternative route
from the Airport to the Burma Camp.
Ex- Corporal Boye Okai said as they went along, the security agents
stopped at a bridge and he (Ex- Corporal Okai) and others were beaten up,
amidst slaps that had made him (Okai) to develop a hearing impairment.
They (those
arrested) were made to swim to and fro for three times in a gutter of plenty
water and then driven to the Ussher Fort Prisons,
where he spent a total of five years and 16 days.
The ex soldier,
who has five children told the Commission that after his 18 years of service,
he was given 96,000 cedis as his benefit, and prayed the Commission to get him
duly compensated.
He said he was
on a monthly pension of 203,000, with a bank charge deduction of 10,000 cedis.
Members of the
Commission were unanimous in expressing sympathy to the ex soldier. General
Emmanuel Erskine, a member of the Commission, and
former Commander of United Nations Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) praised the
gallantry of Ex -Corporal Okine, and expressed the
hope that "this sort of thing doesn't happen again".
Sitting
continues.
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The delegation
had discussions with the Minister on how it could work with the Ministries of
Local Government and Rural Development and the Ministry of Roads and Transport,
to improve upon the country's road network.
These were
contained in a release signed by Mr Frank Asante,
Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural
Development in
The call
followed the launch of the Rural Development Week at Kwasi
Doi in South Akuapem
District last year by President, John Agyekum Kufuor.
The statement
recalled that at the launching ceremony Baah-Wiredu announced that two foreign
based companies-Conaid and Consolid,
were ready to assist Ghana to improve its road networks by hardening road
surfaces, especially those in rural communities, by the application of the
chemical.
Philip Gressly, a member of the delegation, said the company was
grateful to come back to
Gressly, according to the statement, invited Ghanaians,
especially contractors in the building industry to witness the demonstrations
to be held at Adjei Kwadwo-Ojobi near Ashiaman and Kwasi Doi road on Saturday, 8 February and Monday 19 February
respectively.
It said the
Minister expressed the determination of the government to improve the rural
roads especially in providing all-weather roads into the countryside, adding
that travelling to rural communities in the country offered serious challenges
in both dry and wet seasons.
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Kokofu (Ashanti Region)
According to
the farmers, their appeal stemmed from the fact that farmers in the two
communities who cultivated the crop had not received the assistance promised
them, which motivated them to go into the project.
Making the
appeal on behalf of the farmers in an interview with the GNA, Madam Leticia
Adjei said they were now saddled with debts as a result of the loans they took.
She explained that following promises that they should embrace the President's
initiative on cassava and that they would be assisted financially, they took
loans and cultivated the crop.
Sadly, however,
Madam Adjei said nobody had even visited their farms to find out how they were
faring and what they had been able to produce and that this had left them in an
embarrassing situation.
She cautioned
that if the President wanted to see the success of his initiative, then he must
be personally involved in it’s monitoring.
Madam Adjei
said the villagers embraced the initiative wholeheartedly because it offered
them the opportunity to earn some income from the project but were very much
disappointed because of the turn of events and hoped something would be done
about it.
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This follows
the installation of a seven million dollar Arsenic Recovery Plant (ARP) at the Pompura Treatment Plant (PTP) in the town, which makes
arsenic trioxide, a white smoke from mining operations, disappear completely
from the atmosphere.
Speaking to
members of the
He said it was
not true that AGC has destroyed the environment completely as has been rumoured
in certain quarters. "The fact is that we (AGC workers) also live in this
community; so if we pollute the place, our families will also be at risk and be
infected."
He stressed
that AGC was conscious of the socio-cultural and physical environment in which
it operated and was well informed in its activities toward improving the
quality of life on the mine and its surrounding communities through
comprehensive environmental strategy of waste minimisation, recycling of waste,
cleaner disposal and proactive mitigation measures.
"
Azuah said liquid discharges directed from the PTP into the
"Other
liquid discharges which used to carry solids into the river have also
ceased," Azuah added. Azuah
noted that communities, whose traditional source of water was once affected,
have been provided with alternative water supply including 95 pump-fitted
boreholes valued at 980,000 dollars.
Under AGC's re-vegetative programme, currently in its seventh
year, about 900,000 teak trees have been planted.
"The
re-vegetation exercise involves planting selected seedlings on sites previously
mined, in some cases, after the pits have been backfilled with mine waste
materials. Besides the company has two nurseries with a combined capacity to
produce 1.5 million seedlings a year," Azuah
said.
On
environmental projects planned for this year, Azuah
said a full-scale cyanide detoxification plant would be installed at Dokyiwa tailings dam site at 1.5 million dollars.
He explained
that a pilot scale cyanide detoxification plant using bacteria to treat
effluent from the tailings dams commenced in May 2000 with Whitlock and
Associates of the
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Koforidua
(Eastern Region)
He said doctors
should protest when such incidents come to their attention, to take accurate
documentation with the intention of assisting future investigations on such
issues and to report to appropriate authorities for redress.
Short said this
when he delivered a paper on "Human Rights, Ethics and Legal
Responsibilities in the Medical and Dental Professions", at a seminar
organised by CHRAJ in collaboration with the Medical and Dental Council.
He cited an
example of a case that CHRAJ investigated in which a driver who allegedly
caused the death of four bodyguards of the former President on the motorway by
crossing his motorcade was denied adequate medical treatment and left to die in
hospital because of the personality involved.
Short said a
similar incident happened recently when a suspect who crossed the motorcade of
the current President resulting in the death of one of his dispatch riders was
chained to his bed in the hospital in the full glare of doctors and patients.
The
Commissioner, therefore, called on health professionals not to turn a blind eye
to such human rights violation by the security forces. He advised management of
health institutions to start thinking of taking medical malpractice insurance
against potential claims of negligence in the face of growing complaints
against allegations of negligence.
A former Deputy
Minister of Health, Dr Moses Adibo, who spoke on the
'Legal responsibilities of Government to the people in the delivery of good
health', suggested that new health policies and programmes be discussed at the
district assemblies to win their support for the programmes.
''Health
manpower production, their deployment and retention constitute the greatest
challenge to most governments, both rich and poor.'' He suggested to the
Ministry of Health to produce a manpower plan from pre-service training through
postgraduate training to career progression.
Dr Adibo said despite the efforts of the government to train
and recruit medical staff there was no way the people would remain if they were
not paid fair wages. ''I call on the government to see the issue of fair wages
as urgent and critical responsibility and do something radical about it.''
He appealed to
the district assemblies to start thinking of coming out with incentive packages
to attract health workers to their districts. The Rev. Fr. Appiah Poku, a Lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science
and Technology, described the medical profession as ''a commitment to go to the
aid of the sick and never to injure the requires
people of character and practised virtue.''
''People who do
not have such qualities do not belong to the profession.'' Mrs Alice Darkoa Asare-Allotey, General
Secretary of the Ghana Registered Nurses Association, said while it was morally
and legally wrong for health workers to physically or verbally assault a
patient or client it was equally wrong for patients or their relatives to do
the same to health workers.
She regretted
that often when a patient or their relatives assaulted a health worker society
played it down but "over-blow it when it is the other way round'' and
called for tolerance and understanding.
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Accra (Greater
Accra) 06 February 2003- Tempers flared up at an Accra Fast Track Court hearing
the Ghana Rubber Estates Limited (GREL) case, at it’s sitting on Wednesday,
when an argument ensued between the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and a
Defence Counsel.
During
cross-examination of a prosecution witness by the defence counsel, David Lamptey, when Osafo Sampong, the
DPP alleged that counsel was whispering words into the ears of Police
Superintendent Alhaji Bukari Yakubu,
sixth prosecution witness, to distract his attention.
Lamptey did not take kindly to the DPP's
remark, and wondered why such an allegation could be made by the DPP when the
witness was not even a defence witness.
In his fury, Lamptey said he was senior to the DPP at the bar, and
therefore asked the DPP to withdraw his remark and render an unqualified
apology.
Ms Gloria Akuffo, Deputy Attorney-General and a prosecutor in the
case drew the court's attention to the fact that Lamptey
did not go by laid down procedure in asking the DPP to withdraw the remark he
made because counsel failed to address the chair.
It was at that
juncture that the trial judge intervened to cool down tempers, and asked both
sides to forget about the matter. Supt. Yakubu was in
court to give evidence about a forensic test he conducted at the instance of
the prosecution on the handwritings of three persons connected with the case.
The three are Hanny Sherry Ayittey, treasurer of the 31st December
Women's Movement (DWM), and one of the four accused persons in the trial; Dr
Albert Owusu-Barnafo, third prosecution witness and
Madam Georgina Okaitey, member of the movement.
With Ayittey in
the dock are Emmanuel Amuzu Agbodo, former executive secretary of the Divestiture
Implementation Committee, Ralph Casely-Hayford,
businessman, and Sati Dorcas Ocran, housewife.
They are being
tried for their alleged involvement in bribery and corruption in connection
with the privatisation of GREL. All the accused persons have denied charges
against them, and have been granted bail in their own recognisance by the
court.
Testifying
earlier, Dr Owusu-Barnafo told the court that a note
he received from Madam Okaitey, was allegedly the
handwriting of Ayittey. It was this alleged hand writing, which was in dispute
that warranted the forensic test Supt Yakubu
conducted with his subsequent appearance in court to testify for the
prosecution.
Later in
response to a question by counsel under cross-examination as to what type of
camera he used to "blow" the extracts he took from statements of the
three persons, witness said he was not the one who took the pictures, and could
not therefore tell. The case has been adjourned to Thursday, 6 February for continuation.
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The adjournment
was announced by a "sister court" where the case was transferred to
when it was realised that the magistrate who was to hear the motion was on
leave. Nana Obiri Boahene,
counsel for the accused persons, Yidana Sugri and Iddrisu Gyanfo, had filed the motion on notice for bail for the two
men.
Sugri, alias Red and Gynafo, both farmers, have
been charged with conspiracy and murder. In a motion supported by an affidavit,
Mr Boahene is praying the court to admit Sugri and Gyanfo to bail pending
the preparation of a bill of indictment and arraigning of the applicants at the
High Court.
The applicants
contended that they have been detained since their arrest in November last year
adding that when they were arrested at Yendi, they
were quickly brought to
It said
initially they were being sent to court but for some time now they have not
been sent to court regularly adding, "there is no sign we are going to be
tried within the shortest possible." They further denied all the charges
levelled against them. The accused persons said a critical examination of the
report of the Wuaku Commission "glaringly
exonerate us".
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Also present at
the airport was Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas,
Executive Secretary of ECOWAS. The Ivorian leader has been under pressure from
his supporters and the international community since he signed a peace
agreement in the middle last month in
His supporters
have kicked against the French-brokered agreement under which the rebels would
take the defence and interior portfolios in a transitional government, while
the international community has described it as a first step towards peace.
President Gbagbo failed to attend last week's ECOWAS summit that
discussed the Linas-Marcoussis Agreement.
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Accra (Greater
Accra) 06 February 2003- President John Agyekum Kufuor returned home on
Wednesday morning from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, after attending the first
extraordinary meeting of the African Union (AU).
The Foreign
Minister Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang and Mr Kwabena Agyepong,
Presidential Spokesman accompanied the President. Also on board the flight were
the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States
(ECOWAS) Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas
and the Togolese Prime Minister Koffi Sama.
Speaking to
journalists, Hon. Owusu-Agyemang said the meeting dilated on the proposed
amendment to the Constitutive Act of the AU to ensure that the organisation
operates effectively.
He said the
meeting drew attention of member countries not to initiate any treaties that
were inconsistent with the AU Charter. The
According to
the Foreign Minister, President Kufuor led a discussion on the Ivorian crisis
and the way forward while the contact group would be engaged in shuttle
diplomacy to bring a lasting solution to the crisis.
President
Kufuor, Chairman of ECOWAS was tasked by the AU to ensure a speedy implementation
of the French accord on crisis in
President
Kufuor also took opportunity to hold bilateral discussions with leaders of
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Kumasi (Ashanti
Region) 06 February 2003- Owusu Ankomah, a presidential candidate in the 2000
elections, on Wednesday called on the government not only to build consensus
but put in place packages such as salary adjustment and lorry fares before
announcing fuel increases in future.
This, in his
view, would forestall the near chaos that characterised the recent fuel
increases. Ankomah said it was improper for the government not to have involved
all stakeholders in the decision to increase fuel prices.
''The way
government went about it gave the impression that it had a hidden agenda and
this should not have been the case.'' Ankomah said the majority of Ghanaians
celebrated Christmas to the extent that after the Christmas and New Year
celebrations many of them are left with very little money.
''Immediately
following these celebrations comes the opening of schools which also takes a
chunk of money from parents so that most parents, especially public and civil servants, were left with virtually no money to face the
remaining days of the month.''
Ankomah said
the increase in fuel prices was not in tune with salaries was therefore too
much. ''A caring government would not have unleashed this hardship on its
people.''
He said the
government must get its priorities right by thinking about the well being of
the people before taking any such a decision in future. Ankomah said it was
strange for the government to blame others for the increase in the fuel prices
having displayed a blatant insensitivity to the plight of the people and hoped
that it had learnt a great lesson.
GRi.../
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