Land guards wound three at Klagon
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 January 2002- The Ministry of Trade and Industry on Tuesday reminded the public not to buy or consume any beef and beef products manufactured in 2001 in European Union countries.
The Ministry said in a statement that its attention had been drawn to some brands of beef products that were on the Ghanaian market in spite of a ban following the outbreak of Mad Cow Disease in Europe last year.
"The ban on the importation of beef and beef products from European countries is still in force," the release said. Corned beef brands from France, Spain Portugal, Denmark, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Belgium currently on the market included Hereford Corned Beef, Max Corned Beef, Beef Pate and Ester Corned Beef.
In December 2000 and in the first quarter of 2001, the Ministry issued notices alerting the public on the dangers inherent in the consumption of beef and beef products from the affected countries.
The Ministry has instituted investigations into the sources of these products and asked anyone with information on the distributors of these products to inform it. "Any importer found to have contravened the ban would be dealt with according to the law," the statement said.
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Tema (Greater Accra) 24 January 2002- A group of about 15 land guards armed with cutlasses and clubs attacked land developers at Klagon, near Lashibi, wounding three persons.
The three, who were treated and discharged at the Tema General Hospital are Kwabena Donkor, Christian Ametowoxor and Christian Agbemebiase, all masons working on building projects.
A police source told the GNA that about four developers who had acquired plots from the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) went on the land on Saturday, January 19, this year to start their building projects.
However, to their surprise, they were attacked by the land guards formed by some elders of the area who are claiming ownership of the land from the TDC. The land guards also took away working tools belonging to the masons.
The developers said, to avoid any confrontation and litigation over the lands they paid monies to some elders of the area, who have commandeered several plots of TDC lands in the area but they were still attacked by thugs sent by the same persons.
The source said the police was informed when the incident was going on, but the land guards, on hearing the siren of the police patrol vehicle escaped before they arrived there. No arrest has yet been made.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 January 2002- Mr Kwadwo Adjei Darko, Minister of Mines, on Tuesday condemned the 'African Punctuality' syndrome and called for a system of remunerating workers based on man-hours worked instead of the general monthly payment.
Mr Darko said this when he addressed management and staff of the Mines Department in Accra as part of a familiarisation visit to departments and agencies under the mining sector.
"The African time has been the bane of the continent's under-development, retardation and economic crises as people pay little attention to time management in the scheme of events."
He said: "Ghana under Positive Change administration needs to assess developed countries that remunerate workers based on productive man hours worked for and adopt the mechanism for efficiency on the labour front."
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Twenty-two people die in road accident
Kodie (Ashanti Region) 24 January 2002-Twenty two people died on the spot and 40 others, including the driver sustained serious injuries when a 65-seater Neoplan Bus collided head on with a Tamale-bound articulated truck at Kodie near Kumasi in the early hours of Tuesday.
The driver of the articulated truck, however, escaped unhurt. The dead, who have not yet been identified, have been deposited at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) in Kumasi, while the seriously injured are also on admission at the intensive care unit of the hospital.
According to the Kodie police, the Neoplan bus was which was from travelling from Bawku to Kumasi was by-passing a broken down timber truck when the articulator loaded with cement popped out from the direction of Kumasi and collided head on with the bus killing the 22 passengers on the spot.
The police said the driver of the articulated truck had to whisked to Offinso to escape being lynched by an irate crowd who thought he was responsible for the fatal accident.
When contacted, Nana Yaw Owusu, Ashanti Regional Chairman of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), said the bus belonged to the Kumasi-Sefwi branch of the union.
He said he has sent officials from the secretariat to the accident scene to ascertain the circumstances that led to the accident. Meanwhile, Mr. George Asiamah, Ashanti Regional Police Commander has also rushed to the accident scene to assess the situation.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 January 2002- The Nanumba Youth Association (NYA) has appealed to parties and candidates that would contest the forthcoming bye-election in the Bimbilla Constituency to desist from the use of provocative language that was likely to disrupt the peace.
In a resolution at the 10th bi-annual congress held in Bimbilla in December and made available to the GNA in Accra on Wednesday, the Association said in view of the importance of the bye-election to all political parties, it was essential that the peace being enjoyed in the country be not disrupted.
A bye-election would be held in the constituency as soon as the Member of Parliament for Bimbilla, Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas resigns to assume his new position as the Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States at Abuja in Nigeria.
The NYA congratulated Dr Chambas on his election and commended President John Agyekum Kufuor for nominating him and backing his candidature. The NYA appealed to the Nanumba Traditional Council to resolve all outstanding chieftaincy disputes as well as ensure the smooth and peaceful enskinment of a new Bimbilla Naa.
It called on government to re-open the Bimbilla Police Station and District Magistrate Court to ensure speedy and effective dispensation of justice. "Congress commends the efforts of government and other stakeholders in ensuring the present peace prevailing in the area," the statement said.
The NYA noted with concern the low enrolment of children, especially girls in schools, the high level of dropouts of pupils and students, the rising cost of education coupled with the high poverty levels in the District and agreed to establish an educational fund in partnership with other stakeholders to assist needy students in the area. It appealed to government to consider establishing another district for Nanumba area in view of its size and population.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 January 2002- Mr Kwadwo Adjei Darko, Minister of Mines on Tuesday urged Mines and Minerals Department and other minerals regulating bodies to adopt pro-active monitoring mechanism on sand and salt winning.
He charged the regulatory bodies and the Foods and Drugs Board to monitor the production of salt, to ascertain its wholesomeness and other related issues to ensure that bad practices were eliminated.
Mr Darko said this when he addressed management and staff of the Mines Department in Accra as part of a familiarisation visit to departments and agencies under the mining sector. Mr Darko said the mineral base would be diversified to lay emphasis on industrial minerals and urged the Mines Department to assess its zoning system.
He said minerals needed a wider definition to include other non-traditional and natural resources that were in the past not considered in the mines geography of the country.
He urged the Mines and Minerals Departments to collaborate efforts in the regions to avoid duplication of functions and also reduce administrative expenditure on the Central Government.
Mr Ebenezer Sackey, Chief Inspector of Mines, who briefed the Minister on the historical development and geographic location of mine sites in the country, complained about the withholding of funds for its operations.
He said the Department depended on the Minerals Development Fund for most of its running cost, but unfortunately, the Ministry of Finance last year suspended payment of moneys into the fund.
"This has affected the operations of the Department that is virtually at a halt. We require 315 million cedis to cover service cost for the first and second quarter of the year."
Mr Sackey suggested the review of the Mines Department Law to merge it with the Minerals Commission and strict adherence to environmental assessment regulations to curb illegality in small-scale mining.
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Agona Swedru (Central Region) 24 January 2002- Two suspected armed robbers are currently under police guard at the Agona Swedru Government Hospital after their taxicab veered off the road on the outskirts of Gomoa Akropong, near Agona Swedru.
According to an eyewitness's account, the suspected robbers were five on board the taxicab but three of them, who sustained minor injuries managed to escape with the booty.
The two robbers sustained serious injuries on their heads, hands and parts of the bodies. The eyewitness said the matter was reported to the Agona Swedru MTTU personnel on duty that morning on the outskirts of Akropong.
According to the nurses at the hospital, one of the two robbers gave his name as Michael Amoah from Bubuashie, in Accra while the other one did not mentioned his name but was suspected to be a Nigerian.
A source at the Swedru Divisional Police Headquarters told the GNA that after a thorough check on the taxicab with registration number GR 8835 R, they found one AK 47 riffle, a pistol, six flashlights, knives, hammers and bullets.
Mr Justice Asante and Mr John Ackom, Swedru Divisional Commander and Crime Officer, respectively, who rushed to the hospital told the GNA that the Police would continue to guard them until they recovered. Meanwhile, investigations were continuing to find out information on the remaining three that escaped.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 January 2002- The government of Japan is considering support for the reconstruction of the 114-kilometre Accra-Yamoranza road, Mr Noro Motoyoshi, Charge d'Affairs of the Japan Embassy, said on Tuesday.
"The government of Japan is considering the reconstruction of the Accra-Yomoransa road which links some West African countries." Mr Noro made this known when he met Dr Richard Anane, Minister of Roads and Highways, to inform him of the completion of the Anwiankwanta - Kumasi road.
The 25-kilometre Anwiankwanta-Kumasi road was completed in November last year and would formally be handed over to the government soon. The Charge d' Affairs debunked some media reports that Japan had accepted to commence work and explained that until the Japanese Cabinet approved the grant work could not commence.
He said the Accra-Yamoranza road's loan of 10 billion Yen was being considered as a grant despite Ghana's decision to adopt Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. Mr Noro said "Cabinet (Japanese) will take a decision on the grant by the end of the year but we may have to conduct a new survey on the reconstruction of the road".
He said Japan was aware of the project's importance because the road would facilitate economic, social and political activities in the Sub region.
Mr Noro praised Ghana for the prevailing peace and stability and observed that without solving Africa's problems there could be no peace in the World. He praised the government for its efforts to ensure that the project received the Japanese government's attention.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 January 2002- Association of Retired Persons in Ghana [ARPLG] a non-governmental organisation, on Tuesday walked 15-kilometre to Kasoa in the Central Region as part of worldwide "Global Embrace Walk".
The walk was to create awareness about the importance of the aged and to promote their interest in the society and was organised under the theme: "Active Aging".
Speaking at the function a World Health Organisation Representative, Miss Sophia Twum-Barima, said that WHO's priority was to attend to the needs of the aged at all times.
She said to achieve this a draft proposal had been presented to the Minister of Health for consideration. ''If the proposal is approved it would seek to address the needs of the aged''.
The President of the association, Mr King David Affadzi, said that association was committed to support the welfare of the aged by providing them with shelter, food, clothing and basic health care services among other things.
He called on other stakeholders to accept caring for the aged as a collective responsibility. Mr Affadzi appealed to other philanthropists to come to the aid of the aged since the association alone could not shoulder the task of caring for them.
A UN information officer, Mrs Evelyn Sarpong called on the aged to exercise regularly to keep fit and expressed the UN`s support for the association.
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Ho (Volta Region) 24 January 2002- The National May Day Planning Committee has started preparations towards the celebration of the Day at Ho.
Chairman of the committee, Mr. Emmanuel Mensah, General Secretary of General Transport and Petroleum Workers Union (TPWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) on Tuesday briefed Journalists at Ho and called for media support for successful organisation of the celebrations.
He said the theme for the Day, which is observed every year on May one for workers to share solidarity among themselves, was yet to be determined.
The journalists expressed their appreciation for the committee's request and pledged their cooperation. Last year, the Day was observed in Accra under the theme "Consolidating Democracy in Ghana - the role of the Trade Unions".
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