Controversy surrounding NAFTI Board member continues
Bride price too high at Yilo Krobo
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 January 2002- The controversy surrounding the credentials of Mr. Thyron Adusu, a board member of the National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI), has continued with the New York Film Academy (NYFA) saying that it cannot find his name in their files as an alumnus.
However, it said, there were short-term certificates and non-credit programmes for which they do not record their graduates as alumni. Mr. Adrienne A. Rulnick, Director of Education at New York University in-charge of alumni relations, wrote in reply to enquiries by Mr. William Ofori, a NAFTI alumnus, that more specific details could be supplied for then to make another check.
Mr Rulnick, in an e-mail dated January 14 made available to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Wednesday stated: "We have searched our files under the name and variations you presented, but cannot find any corresponding graduate of New York University.
"Please note that there are short-term certificates and non-credit programmes for which we do not record their graduates as alumni. "If you have his stated year of graduation, we could make one more check on our files."
The controversy started when a statement, which announced the appointment of Mr. Adusu, said he was representing the NAFTI Alumni. A NAFTI alumnus protested at the credential of Mr. Adusu, saying he was never a past student.
Mr. Kofi Sekyiamah, Chief Director of the Ministry of Information and Presidential Affairs, in a letter published by the Ghana Palaver, said the Ministry made a mistake in the designation of Mr. Adusu.
"The correction was therefore, made on the inauguration of the Board on December 7. Mr Adusu was therefore, sworn in as a media practitioner and not as a representative of the NAFTI Alumni Association.
"Mr Adusu's CV submitted to the Ministry does not indicate in any way that he had ever been an alumnus of NAFTI." The Ministry also explained that SMCD 1 Decree, which set up the Institute, did not make provision for alumni representation on the board.
Mr Adusu said in an interview two weeks ago that he was not an alumnus of NAFTI but rather of the New York Film Academy as stated in his Curriculum Vitae to the Ministry of Information and Presidential Affairs.
GRi…/
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Bride price too high at Yilo Krobo.
Somanya (Eastern Region) 24 January 2002- Traditional authorities have been called upon to reduce the high bridal cost as a way of discouraging the practice of the "lampoon" customary rites, which enabled some males to deny paternity of their children for a number of years.
The Yilo Krobo District Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Miss Ernestina Nartey, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Somanya on Monday, also appealed to chiefs to review the "Tessa" custom that enables some males to cohabitate with a woman for several years with the idea of "testing" the woman's suitability for marriage.
Under the practice, which is prevalent at Yilo Krobo, a man could "test" a woman for many years and could discard her without compensation if he found that the woman is not "suitable" for his needs without taking into account the support the woman rendered him during the "tessa".
According to Miss Nartey, her office has many cases of women seeking assistance to compel their former partners to compensate them for the number of years they spent under "tessa" period.
Miss Nartey intimated that both "tessa" and "lampoon" which are widely practised in the Yilo Krobo and Manya Krobo areas as they constitute an affront to the rights and dignity of women.
This, she explained, was because they allow men to take undue advantage of the women with little or no penalties even if they failed to take responsibility of their wards.
She said in the case of the lampoon rite, men who failed to perform a twelve step marriage rite before the delivery of the child could not name it, whereby the men invariably wait and offer a restitution of one live sheep, some bottles of schnapps and a token money to the women.
What this means, she said, is that the lack of recognition of the child meant that the child has no title to the properties of the father even if that child is the only one that survives the father.
Miss Lartey said her outfit had settled cases where the relative of a deceased father refused to accord recognition to or were unwilling to give out the deceased's properties because the lampoon was not performed.
She suggested the review of the 12 procedure men had to go through traditionally to marry a wife, which most men, because of the living cost and other excuses find difficult to respect.
Miss Lartey acknowledged that although some parents are now willing to waive some of the procedures the impact had been negligible.
GRi…/
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