Deputy Minister blames NDC for sabotaging
reconciliation effort.
More men died in Ghana last year
Deputy Minister blames NDC for sabotaging
reconciliation effort.
Agormanya (Eastern Region) 14 January 2002 - A Deputy Finance Minister, Dr Gheysika Agambila, has blamed the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for attempting to sabotage the National Reconciliation policy.
He said the NDC had some misgivings because "it does not want light to be thrown on its darkest past". Despite its objection, the exercise "will proceed as intended since the objective is intended to deal with the nation's gruesome past", Dr Agambila said on Thursday in response to a question at a "Peoples Assembly" at Agormanya in the Manya Krobo District in the Eastern Region.
The questioner wanted to know the import of the exercise and why the Minority Group staged a walkout from Parliament during deliberations on the National Reconciliation Bill.
Responding, Dr Agambila stated that the walkout signified that the NDC was not prepared to lend support to unification of the country and heal the wounds of the past.
The Youth and Sports Minister and Member of Parliament for Asokwa West, Mr Edward Osei Kwaku, said Reconciliation Bill was in the "best interest of the country" and the government would pursue the policy".
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NDC urges members not to use media to
address grievances
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 January 2002 - The leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has advised members to desist from using the media as a means of airing their grievances to undermine the unity and cohesion of the party.
"All genuine members of the party who have the interest and welfare of the party at heart should cease using the media as a means of putting across their cases." A statement signed by Alhaji Huudu Yahaya, General Secretary of the party said ever since the party's National Delegates Congress was announced, several unpleasant developments have evolved fuelling ill feelings against other members, which had adversely affected the image of the party.
"The practice does not appear to have stopped even after the postponement of the Congress." It said any member who has any grievance in whatever form should channel it through the appropriate constituency of regional leadership to the National
Secretariat for the necessary attention.
The statement stressed its displeasure about what it described as the letter of the so-called Action Forum of the Sekyere West Constituency of the party, which was reported by the Daily Guild newspaper on January 9.
"The so-called Action Forum cannot act as the mouthpiece of any of the organs of the party as it is not known in NDC official circles." Another displeasure story, it noted, took the caption "Alabi calls Rawlings Bluff" carried by the Independent newspaper, which it said portrayed some leading party members in a bad light.
The statement, however, assured members that the leadership was committed to ensuring complete unity in the party and nothing should be done to constitute detraction from the course.
"Accordingly any member who goes contrary to this directive will be considered as deliberately acting to undermine the party and his conduct will be treated as such under the disciplinary code of the party," it said.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 12 January 2002 - Mr Kwame Nti Fordjour, Ashanti Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has urged the party's national executives and the heads of the various constituencies not to support unpatriotic members who want to tarnish the image of the party.
All the charges and criticisms levelled against Dr Obed Asamoah, former Minister of Justice and Attorney-General and the Treasurer of the NDC for squandering 100 million cedis belonging to the party are untrue, he said.
Mr Nti Fordjour told the Ghana News Agency in reaction to a story in the "Daily Guide" quoting Mr A. K. Mensah of the NDC Action Forum that Dr Obed Asamoah has embezzled the 100 million cedis belonging to the NDC.
He said Mr Mensah and Mr Atuahene had been suspended for the past two years and could not count themselves as members of the party. Mr Nti Fordjour said even though the "Daily Guide" based its investigations on the statement by the Action Forum, the NDC constitution did not recognise the so-called forum.
He stated that it was because of the confusion in the party that the national delegates congress had been postponed and appealed to supporters to rally behind the party as it
re-organised to wrestle power from the NPP in 2004.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 January 2002 - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Friday said Ethiopia has a unique responsibility towards the rest of Africa for good governance to enable the continent to earn the respect of the international community.
"People of African descent look up to Ethiopia as the source of African identity", President Kufuor told the out-going Ethiopian Ambassador in Ghana, Dr Koang Tutlam Dung, when he paid a farewell call on him at the Castle, Osu. The Ambassador is leaving after five years' duty tour.
The President said his government would continue to deepen relations between Ghana and Ethiopia, established by the late President Kwame Nkrumah and late Emperor Haile Selassie, for the mutual benefit of the two countries.
He said although trade between the two had not been good, the government would improve upon it and commended Ethiopian Airlines for its efficiency, expressing the hope that the management of Ghana Airways would learn from their Ethiopian counterparts.
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Ho (Volta Region) 12 January 2002 - A group calling itself Elders Club of the NPP in the Volta Region has said it was committed to mobilising support for the party in the region.
The group said it would rekindle in sympathisers of the Danquah-Busia tradition a new fighting spirit to secure "real positive change in the fortunes of the party in the region in the 2004 elections".
In a press statement signed by the Secretary, Mr Alfred Koku Dumoga, a retired Educationist, the club described President John Agyekum Kufuor's recent visit to the region as ''highly successful'' and appealed to him to fulfil his promise to develop the area. The club appealed to the chiefs and people to co-operate with the government.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 January 2002 - A half-year report by the Department of Births and Deaths on Friday showed a mortality rate of 25,808 between January and June last year with males accounting for 51 per cent of the deaths.
Mr Kingsley Asare Addo, Assistant Registrar in charge of statistics, told the Ghana News Agency in Accra that out of the total of 49,913 deaths recorded last two years males accounted for 28,065 and females 21,848.
He said 6,552 of the deaths last year occurred among people of 70 and above whilst infant and child mortality accounted for 2,839. Mr Addo attributed the high mortality rate among men to strenuous economic activities and reckless social lifestyles such as over indulgence in alcohol, smoking and sex.
The Greater Accra Region recorded the highest mortality rate of 25 per cent whilst the least of 0.8 per cent went to the Upper West Region. A total of 246,713 births were also recorded during the first six months of last year with infant births accounting for 122,755. Delayed registration by people processing birth certificates, especially for passports, accounted for 123,958.
Mr Addo said a total of 427,215 births were recorded during the last two years. Women between 25 and 29 years topped the birth rate by 32 per cent during the half year followed by 20 and 24 years, 27 per cent, 30 and 34 years, 20 per cent, 35-39 years, 11 per cent, teenagers (15-19) seven per cent and 40-45 years, three per cent.
Greater Accra again topped the birth rate with 75,565 with Upper West Region recording the least with 4,594. Mr Samuel Pedro Ankrah, Registrar of Birth and Deaths, said the disparity in coverage in the regions was due to the high population distribution especially in the big towns and cities.
He said apart from Greater Accra and Ashanti Regions, most of the remaining regions lacked good health and other facilities to enhance record gathering. Mr Ankrah said the Department also lacked adequate manpower and logistics to ensure efficient service. "Remuneration of field staff is poor and I appeal to the government and the District Assemblies to come to our aid."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 January 2002 - A 56-year old man, who died a pauper on December 26 last year, is believed to have surfaced in Kumasi, bought a coffin and sent it through a driver for his own burial in Accra.
An accompanying note read: "Kinbus Garden Awuah Coffin" bore his signature. Baffour Awuah, whose body is still at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital morgue, was a squatter at the Kinbu Gardens until he was taken seriously ill and his friends sent him to the Ridge Hospital, where he died.
Nana Danso, a resident of Madina and a friend of the deceased for 20 years, told the Ghana News Agency that Awuah, who hailed from Kumawu in Ashanti, used to be in charge of the toilet at the Kinbu Gardens but was sacked.
His friends took care of him at the hospital and no help come from his relatives, who had written him off as a vagabond. Mr Danso said when Awuah died his friends met with representatives of the Greater Accra Regional Minister, who promised to give them a place for burial provided they could secure a coffin."We found it difficult to do this since we had no money."
However, on Thursday the driver of vehicle number AS 4652 S, Karikari Acheampong, brought them a coffin saying Awuah had asked him to deliver it to them for his burial.
Mr Acheampong said that he was loading his vehicle bound for Accra at the Neoplan Station at Asafo in Kumasi when a man in his 50s approached him and said he had some cargo to be conveyed to Accra. "When I asked what it was, he said it was a coffin. He then told me to pick it up at the Kumasi Labour Office on my way to Accra”.
Acheampong said when he got there Awuah assisted him to put the wrapped coffin onto the vehicle and he paid the charge of 100,000 cedis. The driver said after disembarking his passengers in Accra he then went to the Kinbu Gardens where he met the friends of Awuah. After narrating how he came by the coffin and describing the person who sent it he was told that the description met that of Awuah, who was dead and his body was at the morgue at Korle Bu.
The driver and the friends then went to the Police Information Department at the Police Headquarters where the vehicle was detained overnight. On Friday morning when the coffin was open it was empty and the Police subsequently released it to the friends for the burial of Awuah. Osei Kwame, a businessman and a friend of the deceased, identified the handwriting on the note accompanying the coffin as that of Awuah.
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