24 Ghanaians
deportees arrive from Spain.
Accra (Greater Accra) 17 January
2003- The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey on Thursday returned from
the Island state of Jersey near the United Kingdom after attending a conference
of the Standing Committee of the Commonwealth Speakers and Presiding officers.
A statement issued by Mr Cyril Nsiah, Deputy Clerk of Parliament, who accompanied the
Speaker said the conference was under the theme: "Separation of Powers;
How Does it Contribute to the Effectiveness of Parliament in the Discharge of
its Responsibility."
The conference that was attended
by nine out of the 11-member executive committee, discussed and decided on the
agenda and deliberations for the 17th conference of Commonwealth Speakers and
Presiding Officers to be held in
The statement said the
conference decided on how to make the committee system more effective and find
new approaches to time management in parliament, which has been an old problem.
It said that the role of
Parliament in ensuring national was also discussed. The statement said the
Speaker visited the British House of Commons as guest of the Right Honourable
Speaker, Sir Michael Martins and discussed issues of mutual interest to the
Parliaments of Ghana and
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 17 January
2003- Professor Evan Atta Mills, National Democratic Congress (NDC's) Presidential candidate on Thursday sent a
congratulatory message to President Olusegun Obassanjo and Major Muhammadu Buhari on their endorsement by their respective political
parties to contest the Nigerian general elections in April this year.
Prof. Mills said, "we in
He said the election exercises,
which
"It is my firm belief that
after the electoral contests are fought on issues and concluded, anyone of us
who would find ourselves at the helm of affairs in our various countries will
nevertheless, work together in consultation and collaboration to fight towards
the eradication of poverty, hunger, ignorance, diseases and other
socio-economic conditions that retard the progress our continent".
Prof Mills said it should be the
pledge of the leaders to pursue the policy of NEPAD and implement the programme
within the context of the African Union generally and within that of the
ECOWAS, in particular.
He said he was optimistic that
their generation of political leaders would work towards building lasting peace
and security within the sub-region and to extend their hands of co-operation
and solidarity "to our brothers in conflict situations such as
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 17 January
2003- Madam Jacquline Aquaye,
alias Ama Akufo, on
Thursday told the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), sitting in Accra
that soldiers arrested her, seized a number of bags of flour, threatened her
with death and douched her with a mixture of hot pepper and gun powder in July
after the June 1979 military coup d'etat.
A glass of water and a tissue
paper could not stop her tears as she told her grotesque story that drew
sympathy from Dr Sylvia Boye, Professor Abena Dolphyne and Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, all the three female members of the
Commission.
They abandoned their seats on
the high table to the open floor to offer comfort, and restrain her from
showing a scar on her tummy as evidence of an operation she underwent as a
result of bleeding from the pepper douching.
The television and still
cameramen would not budge to suggestions not to snap the scars; and the women
later reported that a scar of about five inches was found below the naval of
Madam Acquaye.
Madam Acquaye,
a baker and a sister to the late General Frederick William Kwasi
Akufo, former Head of State and Chairman of the
Supreme Military Council II government, said the seizure and brutalities had
made her develop hypertension and she has become unemployed, weak, and her
children one of whom died last four years, could not get any good secular
education to be gainfully employed.
She said the daughter died
because she could not procure the drugs the 37 Military Hospital prescribed and
sought financial assistance from Mr and Mrs John Agyekum Kufuor, currently the
first couple to pay for the mortuary charges and organize a funeral for her
late daughter.
Madam Acquaye
said she was ready for any form of compensation, and the Most Rev Charles
Palmer-Buckle, Catholic Bishop of Koforidua and a member of the Commission
promised to visit her and her children to talk to them in a bid to come to
terms with their horrifying experience.
Madam Aquaye
told the Commission that one Major Kusi, alleged to
have masterminded the seizure and the brutalities had apologised to her, with
the explanation that it was their youthful exuberance and lack of wisdom that
made them to behave in that manner.
Madam Acquaye
told the Commission that on
She said she was taken to the
Police Station and at about 1600, she was threatened with death and was later
sent to the Peduase Lodge, where on arrival, a soldier
asked his colleagues, "you bring some meat?"
Madam Acquaye
said the soldiers brought her to the Akwapim Cells,
which were filthy with human excreta and other dirty materials. She said at
dawn they drove them to the Recce Department. Before he
left he slapped me from behind and hit me with a gun. She said she fell and was
later taken to a place called Acheampong House.
She said an officer ground
pepper and mixed it with gunpowder and used it to douche her, which made her
bled, but she was rather made to walk on her knees on a mixture of broken
bottles and gravel.
Madam Acquaye
said she was taken to cells at the Five BN and later fell unconscious, and
gained consciousness at the 37 Military Hospital. "When I returned from
the hospital, a Good Samaritan offered me a bed to lie on at the 5BN, but Awuah pushed me down."
She said she had to undergo an
emergency operation on her stomach at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, which
left a scar below her navel. She said this had left her hypersensitive and left
her very weak.
After her release, Madam Acuaye said an officer named JC Fumi
brought her letter informing her that the flour, which the soldiers seized,
which she said she bought at 63 cedis a bag had been sold at 70 cedis to the
small-scale bakers and the money would be given back to her.
She the money never came and she
petitioned the 37 Military Hospital, the Federation of Women Lawyers,
Confiscated Assets Committee, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative
Justice, among other bodies but to no avail.
Madam Gladys Atta Owusua, from Akweteman also told
the Commission of how a bullet hit her late husband, Sergeant C K Bosompem on the
Her five children could not have
a good education. The Commission said her husband's case would be examined and
the appropriate recommendations of compensation made to government.
Madam Francisca Dartey, a nurse said her husband, who she said resigned
from the Police Service because of harassment from operatives of the
Provisional National Defence Council was killed by a stray bullet in a vehicle
that gave him a lift on his return from the hospital.
The Police Administration had
not given her any compensation and her children, she said, were threatening
suicide if they could not have anyone to assist them further their education to
appreciable levels.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (greater Accra) 17 January
2003 - Samuel Nyimakan, Member of Parliament for Wulensi, on Thursday expressed shock at the Supreme Court's
decision disqualifying him to stand as a candidate for elections in the Wulensi Constituency and said he would seek a review.
In a statement issued in
The MP said in as much as he
respects the decision of the Court as the highest court of the land, "I am
nevertheless unconvinced that the Supreme Court is right at arriving at the
decision."
"I have therefore,
instructed my lawyers to take all necessary steps to seek a review of the
Supreme Court decision. I hope that the review will indicate my fight against
my removal from parliament where I have been overwhelmingly mandated by the
people to serve."
The statement appealed to his
supporters and sympathizers in the constituency to remain calm and not to be
agitated, saying there was still opportunity to seek redress. "The battle
is not yet lost, as I will continue to fight using every available legal means,
until justice is done."
On Wednesday 15 January the
Supreme Court ruled that the National Democratic Congress MP for Wulensi, Mr Nyimakan, should be
disqualified to stand as a candidate for election in the Wulensi
Constituency.
In a 4-1 decision at its
sitting, the Court, presided over by Mr Justice E.K. Wirewdu,
Chief Justice, ruled that it "has no jurisdiction to entertain an appeal
in a petition case under Article 99 of the Constitution, after an appeal to the
Court of Appeal."
"The respondent is held to
be disqualified to stand as a candidate for election in the Wulensi
Constituency." The Court said the Attorney-General was to be formally
notified to inform the Speaker of Parliament.
No costs were awarded. The MP
for Wulensi had filed an appeal against an earlier
decision by the Tamale High Court challenging his eligibility. The Tamale High
Court had ruled in favour of Mr Fuseini Zakari in a petition filed to unseat Mr Nyimakan
for allegedly flouting the residency clause in the electoral law.
The petitioner alleged that Mr. Nyimakan neither hailed from any part of the constituency
nor had any record of residency in the area, as required by law. The petitioner
alleged that the MP's records indicated that he was born at Saboba,
had his secondary school education at
The Court of Appeal dealt a
second blow to Mr. Nyamakan, when in a unanimous
decision it upheld the ruling of the High Court and, therefore, dismissed his
appeal brought before the court on 12 April this year.
Before the
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Goaso (Brong Ahafo)
Speaking at Goaso
in the Asunafo district of the region at a people's
assembly, he noted that on assumption of office, the Government, among others
had five main objectives of infrastructure development.
These include the construction
of new roads and rehabilitation of old ones, provision of electricity, inputs
support and credit facilities, provision of educational facilities and
establishment of agro-based industries.
The Regional Minister explained
that the achievement of these and other objectives could only be possible when
good governance, which provides the enabling environment for industrial growth
and smooth economic take off, was entrenched as part of the country's
democratic system.
He announced that a second High
Court, after Sunyani, had been opened at Wenchi, and soon another would be
opened at Goaso for the speedy administration of
justice in the region.
Debrah further explained a number of
government policies, including the HIPC initiative, benefits being derived from
the Health Insurance Policy, and the possible increase of fuel prices.
George Yaw Boakye,
District Chief Executive, explained that the people's assembly concept was a
practical means by which the government wanted the people at the grassroots
level to assess its performance to deepen participatory democracy.
He announced that the assembly
would this year disburse 90 million cedis out of the poverty alleviation fund
to various categories of people engaged in productive ventures.
The assembly distributed 25
pieces of hairdressing equipment and accessories to 25 beneficiaries in the Asunafo District at the function. Boakye
explained that the Assembly purchased each equipment and accessories, which
cost more than six million cedis, for the beneficiaries at a subsidised price
of 1.9 million cedis.
The gesture is part of the
Assembly's package to alleviate poverty in the district, he said, adding that
each beneficiary would deposit 300,000 cedis and pay the rest of the cost at
100,000 cedis a month. Each beneficiary is expected to train four persons at no
cost, who at the end of their training, will also be given the same package,
the DCE said.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Benson T. Baaba,
Director of Prisons and Rexford Ohemeng, the victim
who made allegations of brutality against the senior Prisons Officer at the
Commission, embraced to the admiration of members of the Commission and the
public.
The embrace came after Mr Baaba had apologized on his own behalf and on behalf of the
Prisons Service for excesses committed by prisons officers in the bid to curb
rioting by disgruntled inmates of the Nsawam Prisons
on
Amidst thunderous applause,
smiles and laughter by both members of the Commission and of the public
present, Mr Baaba and Ohemeng
posed for the cameras and shared a word as they smiled to each other.
In his statement to the
Commission Mr Baaba denied allegations of brutality,
death threat and embezzlement made against him by Mr Ohemeng
and Thomas Benefo, one of Mr Ohemeng's
witnesses.
He, however, submitted that he
and other prisons officers at the time had several confrontations with Mr Ohemeng, because he (Ohemeng) had
the attitude of interfering in issues, which did not concern him and in the
process made the enforcement of discipline, rules and regulations in the
prisons very difficult.
Baaba said on
"When the whistling
intensified, I followed up myself and I found out that some disgruntled
prisoners were on the rampage and had vandalized my office, the main office and
the administration block for reasons not clear to me at the time."
He said at the time he was in
civilian clothes and had no weapon so he advised the inmates who were wielding
cutlasses, clubs and other weapons to hand over their weapons and return to
their cells, but they refused.
Baaba said the prisoners charged
towards the gate and when the officers present realized that the prisoners were
serious, one prison officer went in for a weapon and was ready to shoot into
the rioting prisoners.
Baaba said he stopped the prison
officer and in the process developed a health problem, which he continues to
live with at his own expense. He said he gave a 15-minute ultimatum to all
inmates to return to their cells, which they did.
Baaba said on his way to the cells to
ensure that every prisoner was in, he saw a ladder placed at the back of the
window of Block One and some prisoners climbing down. He said when he
confronted them they threatened to kill him.
He said information got to them
later that some prisoners had held a meeting in the Catholic chapel in the yard
and planned to demonstrate against the government of the day, the Provisional
National Defence Council (PNDC), apparently because they were not happy for
being denied amnesty.
He said the prisoners were led
by one George Acheampong, who was in jail for 53 years in hard labour, Clement Tamakloe, Oliver Quist, Charles Antwi and one Mingle, all of whom had 10 years sentence in
hard labour.
He said information reached him
that other prisoners who did not take part had fore knowledge of the
demonstration. Baaba said due to the volatile nature
of the situation, he wrote a report to
"The emergency force arrived
just on time under the command of the Director of Operations of the Prisons
Service and they used several means including force to normalize the
situation," he said.
"The use of force in such
situations was legitimate under the law and the prisons regulations." He
said the police at Koforidua conducted their private investigations into the
demonstrations and prosecuted a number of prisoners for their involvement in
the demonstration and rioting.
Baaba said the force applied by the
emergency team was to weaken the rioters and not kill them and it was
unfortunate that in the process some innocent prisoners such as Ohemeng suffered brutality.
"The prison officers always
make sacrifices for the prisoners to the extent of staying long hours into the
night to allow prisoners to hold watch night services on December 31 and also
to watch world cup matches.
They were therefore, not ready
to allow the prisoners to deny them their end-of-year party with riotous
behaviour," he said. "I am sorry for the unfortunate incident that
fateful night, but I was only carrying out my official duty," he said.
"I am not a bad person as people think."
Baaba denied that he ever requested
that he be transferred to Nsawam Prisons to silence
the prisoners there, He said at the time the Nsawam
Prison and the Usher Fort Prison had so many political prisoners and records of
escape, and no prisons officer wanted to serve in those prisons, he accepted to
do so as a matter of duty.
He also stated that whilst he
was there he never handled money, explaining that one Salifu took care of money
matters and was the one who paid transport fares of prisoners who were granted
amnesty.
Baaba requested the Commission to ask
for his record file from the Prisons Service and find out whether he ever
embezzled any money and was made to refund. "This (embezzling funds) never
happened."
On the issue of using chains on
some prisoners, Mr. Baaba explained that when
prisoners go wild and are likely to harm either their colleagues, the officers
or even themselves, they are chained to prevent any such incident.
This, he said, was right in the
face of the Prisons regulations, but Justice E. K. Amua-Sakyi,
Chairman of the Commission, likened the act of chaining prisoners, for whatever
reason, to the infamous Preventive Detention Act (PDA).
The Most Rev. Father
Palmer-Buckle, member of the NRC, requested Baaba to
write a paper and make recommendations on how such situations and their
consequences could be averted, and he obliged.
Justice Amua-Sakyi
said everyone who appears before the Commission is neither an accused person
nor a complainant but a witness to help the Commission establish the truth.
"No one walks here to make allegation or complaints without first of all
presenting his statement to the Commission for investigation and subsequent
invitation based on our findings to appear before us and make his
statement," he said.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
It has also established that
there was no power outage while Mrs. Ampadu was at
the hospital in 7 June and
The statement stated the report
and recommendations of the five-member Committee that investigated the
circumstances surrounding the death of Mrs. Ampadu
and the loss of documents concerning the theatre at the hospital.
The Committee, headed by Nii Osa Mills, Vice President of
the Ghana Bar Association was given two weeks to complete its work and it
submitted the report to the Minister of Health on
It said according to provisional
diagnosis of the doctors, who saw and treated Mrs. Ampadu,
she died of gastroenteritis. The report said though she died within 24 hours of
admission in the hospital, no post mortem was conducted.
The statement said the medical
cause of death certificate dated
The report, according to the statement,
said the issue of lack of a generator did not arise as far as the case of Mrs. Ampadu was concerned though there was no functional
generator at the hospital.
The report also stated that the
doctors' notes on the patient were scanty and indicated that the Committee was
unable to establish conclusively who might have removed the missing pages from
the surgical cases record book.
This is because the books were
not appropriately secured and any of the doctors in the surgical teams and
theatre staff could have removed it as they all had access to those records.
The report said the committee
was doubtful that an outsider could have removed the page from the book but did
not rule out that a non-theatre staff of the hospital could do so.
The report said the committee
found that the page covering Mrs. Ampadu had been
removed from the emergency ward nurses report book for June, 2002 and that it
(Committee) was unable to pinpoint the culprit, as all nursing staff and
doctors had access to it.
The Committee therefore
recommended that the body of the late Mrs. Ampadu be
exhumed for post-mortem to determine the cause of death. The recommendations
also stated that quality care assurance practices should be improved at the
hospital.
The report said the matter of
missing pages from the two surgical record books and the emergency recovery
ward record book should be referred to the police for investigations.
The committee also recommended
that a specialist on duty should be required to routinely review patients detained
at the emergency recovery ward as soon as he or she started work in the
morning.
It said a doctor on duty at the
emergency recovery ward must be required to hand over personally to the next
doctor before going off duty. The Committee has also recommended that the
It also recommended that the
process for acquisition of a generator for the Ridge, regional and district
hospitals be expedited. The report recommended the provision of appropriate
voltage stabilizers to protect electrical equipment, mobile theatre lamps,
resuscitation trays with all resuscitating equipment and the provision of
security lights in the compound of the
An allegation was made by Mr kwesi Pratt Jnr. in the
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 17 January
2003- The Ministry of Health (MOH) has accepted recommendations of the
Committee tasked to investigate the death of Mrs. Gladys Ampadu
at the Ridge hospital on June eight 2002, that the matter of the missing pages
from the two records books of the hospital be referred to the police for
investigations.
This is contained in a statement
issued by Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Information and Presidential
Affairs on Thursday. It said the MOH and the Ghana Health Service (GHS) have
also accepted all other recommendations of the committee except that which
requested that the body of the late Mrs. Ampadu be
exhumed for post-mortem to be carried out.
It said the exhumation should be
done at the express request of her family since it had been established that
she died of natural causes. The statement said that though the Committee's
report was silent about the conduct of Dr. Kweku Sakyi-Obuobi
in the matter, the GHS views his role in the saga seriously and have referred
his unprofessional conduct to the Medical and Dental Council.
It said MOH would refer the
conduct of Mr. Kwesi Pratt Jnr. editor of "The
Insight", a private newspaper, to the Media Commission for redress. The
Ministry requested that Pratt render an unqualified apology to the family of
the late Mrs. Ampadu for his insensitivity to their
plight.
Pratt should also render
unqualified apologies to the
It said in view of the findings
of the Committee, Mr Pratt should retract the publication in the
An allegation by Mr kwesi Pratt Jnr. in the
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
An official statement signed by
Nana K. C Appiah-Num, a Director at the Ministry, said, "the term of
office of the Councils expired and government is in the process of
reconstituting the Councils of the Polytechnics."
The dissolution followed the
upgrading of Polytechnics to tertiary status and the need to reconstitute a
governing Council to oversee their development. Accordingly, the various
constituencies with representations on the Councils should submit or reconfirm
their nominations to the Executive Secretary, National Council for Tertiary
Education on or before
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
24 Ghanaians
deportees arrive from
It took three hours of
persuasion by Immigration officers before the deportees, who were accompanied
by 60 Spanish officials disembarked. The deportees, all men claimed they were
not Ghanaians but later gave themselves up when they started shouting "choo boi" while others were
heard speaking Twi, a Ghanaian language and war
chant.
King Authur,
one of the deportees, who said he hailed from the Western Region accused the
Spanish authorities of giving them a raw deal because they were camped in the
He said they were made to
believe that they were being taken to
Some of them claimed that they
were maltreated and others said they were deceived. According a deportee who
pleaded anonymity he refused to disembark because they heard that some of their
colleagues taken to
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 17 January
2003- Tsatsu Tsikata, former Chief Executive of the
Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), who is being tried by an Accra
Fast Track Court for allegedly causing the loss of more than 2.3 billion cedis
to the State is to open his defence on Wednesday, 22 January.
Mrs Justice Henrietta Abban, an Appeal Court Judge with an additional
responsibility on the case as a High Court Judge announced this at the court's
sitting on Thursday after the prosecution had closed its case.
In all, the prosecution team,
led by Ms Gloria Akuffo, Deputy Attorney-General,
called six witnesses to give evidence in the case. The former GNPC boss is
charged with four counts of wilfully causing financial loss to the State and
intentionally misapplying public property.
He has denied the charges and he
is on a 700-milion-cedi self-recognisance bail. Tsikata, who is being defended
jointly by Professor Emmanuel Victor Oware Dankwa and Major R S Agbenoto
(retired) allegedly committed GNPC to guarantee a loan facility from Caisse Francaise de Development,
a French Development Aid Agency, for Valley Farms, a private limited liability
company.
Valley Farms defaulted in
re-paying the loan, and GNPC being the guarantor was forced to pay it back. As
the head of GNPC, Tsikata allegedly authorised the re-payment, an furthermore
used the corporation's funds to acquire shares in the Valley Farms Project.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Police Chief Inspector Nyadi who made the admission when he testified at the trial
under cross-examination by defence counsel said that the error was corrected as
soon as it was detected.
Tsikata, former Chief Executive
of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), is standing trial for
causing financial loss to the State to the tune of more than 2.3 billion cedis.
He is accused of causing the
loss in a transaction in which he committed the corporation to guarantee a loan
facility to Valley Farms, a limited liability company. He has pleaded not
guilty, and has been admitted to bail of 700 million cedis in his own
cognisance.
Continuing with his evidence
under further cross-examination by Professor Emmanuel Victor Oware Dankwa, Chief Inspector Nyadi disagreed with a suggestion that between 29 November,
2001 and February last year when four different charges were preferred against
Tsikata at three different courts, the prosecution had not yet decided as to
whether the accused person had committed any offence.
Counsel pointed out to witness
that by changing the charges quite often the prosecution had "no basis for
arraigning Tsikata before the court." In response to another question,
witness denied being informed by Mrs Mary Sackey,
third prosecution witness, about the 58th Board Meeting of GNPC during which
issues on Valley Farms came to the fore, and told the court that he only read
about the matter in the dailies after Mrs Sackey had
testified in court.
Witness had earlier told the
court that after taking statements from Tsikata on
The prosecution rested its case
at today's proceedings after the sixth and last prosecution witness had given
evidence. The court directed that Tsikata should open his defence on Wednesday,
22 January.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 17 January
2003- Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister
of Education, on Thursday said government would not interfere with the charging
of school fees by the private sector.
However, it would continue to
play its supervisory role in ensuring that the fees charged were in conformity
with services provided. "Government would not in any way stifle private
sector initiatives but would continue to monitor, play its supervisory role and
dialogue with the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) in the
fixing of school fees," he said.
He said in trade every body
would ensure that value for money is attained, he told the Ghana News Agency (GNA)
in an interview in
Prof Ameyaw-Akumfi
said though the government does not interfere with the fixing of the fees, it
has the duty of ensuring that the facilities in each school conformed to the
fees charged.
Government, he said, would not look
on unconcerned and allow private entrepreneurs make profit at the expense of
parents adding that facilities, the environment and the level of the teachers
all count in the determination of the charging of fees.
Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi
said the Ghana Education Service (GES) would continue with its regulatory role
in ensuring that all first cycle schools conformed to the agreed curriculum for
schools.
On the issue of private schools
enjoying equal access to the provision of textbooks, teaching aids as well as
the GETFund, the Minister said government had no
problems with such argument since parents of wards in private schools were also
taxpayers.
"The problem is whilst
government may provide these facilities to them at approved prices, some
proprietors may over- charge the parents thus making undue profit at the
expense of the government."
He, however, pledged to continue
to dialogue with the GNAPS in finding an amicable solution to ensure that the
taxpayers do not pay twice in the provision of facilities towards the education
of their wards.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Axim (Eastern Region)
They said the name Kotoka still evokes fear, humiliation and human rights
abuse, among many Ghanaians. The forum called on the government to replace
names of people who disrupted the country's democratic process at one point or
the other with that of others who sacrificed their lives in the struggle for
independence and democratic rule.
The forum bemoaned the inability
of the authorities to compensate people whose lands were converted into rubber
plantation. Akwasi Osei-Agyei,
Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, assured the Chiefs and land owners that
he would investigate the matter and ensure that all monies due them were paid.
The forum was addressed by Hajia Alema Mahama, Deputy
Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Dr Matthew Antwi, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Mr Kwesi Biney, Ahanta
West District Chief Executive (DCE) and Kojo Armah, Nzema East District Chief Executive.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com