Commission warns witnesses against disrespect for counsel
Institute of Accountancy Training gets UK accreditation
Problems of street children to be tackled scientifically - Bannerman
Let us carve a new image for the Judiciary - Chief Justice
Cabinet approves recommendations to cancel Timber Utilisation Contracts
Create a Ministry for Social Welfare- Kwekecher Ackah
Maintenance works on roads to begin by end of year
Government adopts National Science and Technology Policy Document
Health Ministry signs agreement with Health Partners
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 06 July 2002- Mr Justice Isaac Newton Kwaku Wuaku, Chairman of the Wuaku Commission probing into the Yendi conflict on Friday warned witnesses to refrain from showing disrespect to the Commission and counsel representing the two gates. "The Commission will no longer tolerate cheeky answers and those who continue to do so will be shown the proper place to sit," he said.
Mr Wuaku gave the warning when an Andani witness, Mr Yakubu Mahama, alias Ayakuba, had an encounter with Nana Obiri Boahen, Leading Counsel for the Abudus when he appeared before the Commission on Friday. Mahama who had alleged in his statement to the police that he heard Abdul Razak alias Nyaba, a Yendi-based photographer and others from the Abudu Gate discussing the death of the Ya-Na on 27 March, appeared as the 62nd witness of the Commission.
The witness told the Commission that in the morning of Wednesday, 27 March, while urinating in front of his house, "I saw Razak in the company of others shouting on top of his voice that 'we have killed your chief, Yakubu'." Mahama alleged that Razak also said he took pictures of the severed head of the Ya-Na and this prompted another young man to remark that, "I am also going to take pictures of it."
It was when Nana Obiri Boahen took over the cross-examination and started to question witness about the authenticity of his statement to the police and evidence to the Commission that Mahama fumed and began with his cheeky responses to questions.
Mahama told the Commission that on the night of Tuesday (26 March) he became frightened because of the intense firing and had to take his wife and children to a safer place to avoid being hit by stray bullets. He said he did not join them although he was frightened since he could not leave his father behind.
Nana Obiri Boahen: You told your wife to take your children away since Wednesday, 27 March, was going to be a doomsday for the Abudus.
Mahama: I don't know anything about what you are saying. Nana Boahen: I put it to you that you were among a group of Andanis who set out to attack the Bolen-Lana's house on the Wednesday morning.
Witness then became angry and questioned: "Did you see it yourself or somebody told you?" adding: "I won't accept this because I don't know anything about what you are saying." Nana Obiri Boahen at this juncture told the interpreter to ask Mahama to exercise patience in his responses.
Mahama retorted that "What the lawyer is asking me is bad and if I accept it, then I am worse off than even an animal. "When Nana Obiri Boahen submitted that Mahama among others were preparing for war that was why he sent his family away, witness countered "I want to know from the lawyer if he saw me with his own eyes or heard it from somebody."
Mr Justice Wuaku then intervened and told witness not to be rude and evasive but to answer questions appropriately, to which Mahama replied that, "I still stand by my word."
The Chairman reminded Mahama that he (Mahama) had also told the Commission in his evidence about some of the things that he heard but did not rpt not see and should therefore not be angry with questions from counsel. When Nana Obiri Boahene resumed and wanted to know what witness went to do at the Gbewaa Palace in the morning of 27 March, he defied the Commission's directive to him to respond appropriately and said: "I will not rpt not answer questions that I don't know anything about."
Mahama: I want to tell the lawyer that all those who told him all these things are liars." It took the intervention of counsel for the Andanis to calm down the witness and an admonition by the Commission's Chairman before he could calm down and answer questions as expected.
Mahama, a farmer and butcher, said he heard shooting when he and others went to the cemetery to bury a fellow butcher at the precincts of the Gbewaa palace, and added that the shooting continued the following day so he remained indoors until the evening when he sent his family to a safer place.
After visiting his family on Wednesday morning, witness said he also went to his father's house and whilst there he heard sporadic gunshots outside. Mahama said he saw one Alhaji Bawa shooting into the air and shouting "we have killed your chief, weak people, if you are not rpt not afraid come out."
Commission: Did you see Alhaji Bawa shooting?
Mahama: I saw him shooting outside but he never saw me.
Commission: How did you know that he did not see you?
Mahama: If he had seen me, he would have shot me.
Witness laughed after giving this answer but Mr Justice Wuaku remarked:
"This is no laughing matter. We are here for serious business and you should endeavour to tell the truth."
Mahama told the Commission that his evidence was true and that he saw Alhaji Bawa.The Commission asked witness to indicate the distance from where he was and where he saw Bawa standing. He demonstrated by walking from the witness box to a spot outside the auditorium, which measured up to 105 metres.
It was all drama when the Commission asked Mahama to go the distance of 117 metres to shout to demonstrate where and how he heard the conversation between Razak and others about the death of the Ya-Na. The audience could not help but laugh when he shouted in Dagbani, which was interpreted as "we have killed your chief and cut off his head."
When Abdul Razak was invited to cross-examine Mahama, he (Razak) stated that he did not go near the palace and that he was being accused falsely but Mahama maintained that he saw him and others. When asked to question Razak, Mahama replied that, "I have no question for him since he will not tell the truth."
Before discharging Mahama, Mr Justice Wuaku reminded witnesses about the need to give truthful evidence "since the charge of murder is not a small matter for people to joke with." Imoru Shaani, 63rd witness, told the Commission that he travelled to Tamale on 23 March for a business transaction and returned to Yendi on Friday, 29 March.
When told by Mr George Owoo, Counsel for Commission that there was evidence before the Commission that on Wednesday 27 March, he, Idana Sugri and others were seen in jubilation at the scene where the Ya-Na's body was being burnt, witness replied that it was not true.
Shaani denied as untrue a suggestion by Mr Charles Hayibor, leading counsel for the Andanis that, he (witness) and others were seen by Nantogmah and his friend wielding guns and dragging the Ya-Na's body, to a cattle kraal. He told the Commission that he heard of the Ya-Na's death on the radio at 6.00 pm. while in Tamale.
Asked by the Commission what he went to do specifically in Tamale, Shaani said he went to arrange for a bulldozer for his friends who needed to construct a dam at a village in the Yendi District.
Commission: Why did you spend about one week in Tamale on that business?
Witness: The bulldozer I wanted to hire had broken down and the owners asked me to wait for it to be repaired.
Alhaji Alidu Abdulai, driver of Benz bus with registration number AS 9694 C, which was allegedly used to convey weapons and men from Tamale to assist the Andanis also appeared before the Commission. He stated that at about 7.30am on Tuesday, 26 March, he carried passengers from Tamale to Yendi, reaching his destination at about 9.30am.
Abdulai said after all the passengers had alighted at the Yendi Station two elderly men appealed to him to drop them at their houses to which he complied, "because of the respect I had for them." He said he dropped them at a place near their house, close to the Gbewaa Palace, because many people had gathered there.
Witness said after parking his vehicle at the Mobil Station to attend to nature's call, he came back only to be told that some Abudus had taken the bus away. Abdulai, who testified as the 64th witness said he reported the matter to the GPRTU and whilst there, a large number of the Abudus came to confront him.
He said the Yendi GPRTU Secretary then called in the police who escorted and placed him into custody till about 4.00 pm before he was released. Abdulai, who said he later found his bus parked at the police station added that he spent the night at Yendi because of the tense situation and departed for Tamale the following morning. He said he took 38 passengers, and did not take any cargo on the trip to Yendi.
To a question from Mr Owoo, witness replied that the passengers were not in uniform and there were both men and women.
Cross-examined by Nana Obiri Boahen, witness said he had been plying the Tamale-Yendi route since 1975.
Nana Obiri Boahen: Do you know lawyer Ibrahim Mahama?
Abdulai: I have heard his name but I do not know him personally.
Nana Obiri Boahen: What about Grupe-Na (chief of Tamale)?
Abdulai: I don't know him.
Nana Obiri Boahen: On Tuesday 26 March, he hired your vehicle to Yendi.
Abdulai: I swear by the Quoran that it is not true.
Witness also denied knowledge of Achana, Diba, Imrana Shaibu, who were alleged to be on board his vehicle that morning by remarking: "there is no law in Ghana that compels drivers to take down names of passengers who board their vehicles."
Abdulai told the Commission that it was not true that his bus was loaded with weapons since he would have been arrested at the Tamale and Yendi barriers.
Commission: Despite these barriers, weapons and ammunition managed to get to Yendi. Abdulai: My Lord, I swear that I did not carry weapons.
Witness stated that he was not told when his statement was taken that he (Abdulai) had been charged with carrying weapons although the statement was read back to him.Abdulai said he did not charge the two old men who requested him to drop them, neither did he charge for any small luggage carried by passengers on the bus.
He added that he did not know of the conflict before he reached Yendi and that he charged each passenger 5,500 cedis. Abdulai said he did not know how his bus was taken away to the Abudus since he went away with the ignition key. Witness recounted that his mate, whom he left with the bus later re-surfaced and when asked about the bus, he (mate) told him that he went to fetch water and did not know where the bus was.
Commission: Were the young men going to attack you because of the two old men?
Abdulai: I heard later that it was because of them, since the Abudus thought that I was hired by them to carry weapons to the Andanis. The Chairman then told him he would be recalled to testify, before discharging him conditionally.
Yakubu Mahama, 34, who appeared before the Commission on Tuesday, 2 July, as the 52nd witness but was not made to give evidence because of discrepancies in his statement to the police was recalled.
He told the Commission that whilst standing in front of the Gbewaa palace in the evening of Monday, 25 March, one Anyoma in the company of two others, Pashina and Sagyildo, shot at him hitting his buttocks. Anyoma and his accomplices took to their heels after shooting, he added.
Witness said the Ya-Na asked that he should be sent to the police station to lodge a complaint, but the policemen redirected them to the Yendi Government Hospital where he was admitted after a surgical operation.
Mahama said he remained on his bed in the hospital till Wednesday afternoon when his nephew, Nantogmah Alhassan Andani, who was also wounded, was also brought to the hospital. When I asked about the situation of the Ya-Na, Nantogmah shook his head and said "uncle, it is not good."
Mahama, who nearly shed tears at this point, said he wanted to go and verify what had actually happened to the Ya-Na but a policeman at the hospital restrained him, saying it was better for him to remain at the hospital because the sad end of the Ya-Na was unpleasant for him to see.
When leading counsel for Andanis asked Mahama to show the scar of the gunshot wound to the Commission, witness undressed half-naked in the full glare of the cameras, plunging the auditorium into absolute silence.
In answer to a question by Nana Boahen, witness admitted that it was exclusively the Ya-Na and his wives who occupied the main building of the Gbewaa Palace.
Nana Boahen: On 27 March, Ayoma, Sagyildo and Pashima did not come near the
Gbewaa Palace?
Witness: I saw them around the palace.
Counsel: It is not true that they attacked the palace.
Witness: It is true they attacked the palace and even shot at me.
Nana Boahen suggested to Mahama that on Monday, 25 March, the entire precincts of the Gbewaa Palace was massed up by the Andanis, holding guns in readiness to fight, to which witness replied cheekily, "If so, whom were they going to fight?"Nana Boahen retorted that it was the Abudus that they (Andanis) were going to fight.
The Chairman of the Commission asked witness to exercise patience when it was realised that he was fuming and being evasive with cheeky responses to counsel's questions. When the Commission asked about who shot him since in his statement to the police on 2 July, witness did not mention anyone. This was at variance with the allegation in his evidence that Ayoma shot him but Mahama maintained that, Ayoma was the one who shot him.
Mr Justice Wuaku announced before the end of proceedings that the Commission had adjourned sittings till Tuesday, 16 July. He, however, did not give reasons for the adjournment. The Chairman again reminded the elders of the two gates to comply with the directive of the Commission about the number of their members that the Commission could cater for.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 July 2002- Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, on Saturday asked the citizenry to view government's slogan of "positive change" as a component of the on-going but painstaking process of development that would eventually meet their socio-economic aspirations.
Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey said the process of change involved planning before implementation "and that is why there is the saying that Rome was not built in a day." The Minister expressed these views when he commissioned a 28 million-cedi community clinic at Nungua-Krowor, in Accra.
The project was funded by Mr Emmanuel Adjei Boye, Member of Parliament for the area, through his personal contributions and share of the MP's Common Fund. "This clinic is a good example of positive change in action," he told the small but jubilant members of the community that witnessed the ceremony.
Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey assured them that the dream of a hospital and other social amenities for their deprived community of over 50,000 inhabitants would eventually be fulfilled under the Kufuor administration.
The clinic, which is the first health facility in the community to be run by the Ministry of Health (MOH), has eight nursing staff, and comprises of a waiting, dispensary, consulting, recovery and treatment rooms, child welfare, family planning centres and a toilet.
Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey tasked the community to help maintain the facility to prolong its lifespan. Mr Boye said the clinic was the solution to the high mortality rate among pregnant women and children who died through simple ailments due to the lack of access to affordable health care delivery and the widespread poverty in the community.
"Simple ailments such as malaria, fever, convulsion...cannot receive prompt treatment because of poverty and the considerable distance from the nearest public health centre. Minor surgeries such as circumcisions and hernia are referred to traditional doctors and quacks. We can all imagine the consequences. To meet our health needs we are obliged to travel to Korle-bu, Tema, or La Polyclinic."
Mr Boye said healthcare was not only a need but also a human right, and pledged to raise about 50 million cedis to stock the clinic with drugs. Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Health whose speech was read on his behalf, said communities undertaking similar health projects should access the health component of the District Assembly Common Fund to ensure smooth completion.
Rev. Isaac Tetteh Sackey, the officiating Minister of the Nungua branch of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana announced a donation of two plots of land by the church to the MOH to build another clinic for the community.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 July 2002- The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) in the United Kingdom has accredited the Institute of
Accountancy Training (IAT) in Ghana to deliver its professional qualification in September.
The Institute becomes the first in Africa, South of the Sahara, to achieve this recognition. Mr Theophilus Hanson, Director of IAT, announced this at the launch of the Third annual Public Accountancy Week celebration in Accra on Friday.
Activities planned for the celebration under the theme "The Public Accountant: Enhancing government policy on poverty reduction for quality life," include lecture, clean up and sports. Mr Hanson said the purpose of the celebration was to review activities of the past year, assess operations of the public sector and identify the degree of harmonisation with the private sector as the engine of growth.
The Director said as public financial accountants and managers, an improvement in revenue collection for instance ''means nothing to us if it does not impact positively on the quality of life of the citizenry.'' He called on accountants and managers to provide the necessary guidance and direction towards ensuring sound public financial management and accountability.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 July 2002- The Executives of the Audit Service Division of the Public Services Workers' Union (PSWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) have denied allegations that they were making moves to remove Mr Edward Dua Agyeman, the Acting Auditor-General from Office.
They said any such allegation was false and should not be entertained because it had no foundation. This was contained in a press release signed by the executives including Mr Samuel Amoako, Chairman. It was in reaction to publications in Accra Newspapers; the Evening News and the Insight indicating that the workers of the Service were seeking the removal of the Auditor-General.
It said "the authority to appoint the Auditor-General is vested in His Excellency the President and not the workers of the Service or any other person." The statement said the union was ready to work with "any person that would be appointed to this august position."
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Amoako said the Divisional Union had not received any grievance or discussed any issue brought up by any worker about the service. He said at the divisional level "we cannot initiate any strike action without the blessing of our National Union."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 July 2002- The Ga Traditional Council on Saturday announced the programme for the celebration of this year's Homowo festival.
A statement signed by Mr J. K Tetteh-Kpodjie Senior Registrar of the Council indicated that the chiefs and people of Nungua would open the celebrations on Sunday 7 July, while Lante Djan We would follow up with the celebration on 27 July.
Tema would commence on 9 August, to be followed by Ga Mashie on 10 August, while the celebrations at Osu, La, Kpone, Prampram and Ningo would be on 20 August. The statement urged members of the public to take note of the dates and places of the festivals and participate actively in the celebrations.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 July 2002- The rewritten Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) ended successfully throughout the country on Friday. In all, 264,956 candidates made up of 144,997 boys and 119,659 girls from 6,795 schools were expected to take the four-day examinations in the cancelled papers.
However, a few failed to turn up for various reasons including pregnancy, travelling out of the country and deaths. The examinations were held at 958 centres with 833 supervisors and 9,300 invigilators.
Officials from the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) and Circuit Supervisors from the Ghana Education Service went round to ensure that there were no interruptions. Security at the examination centres was beefed up so that those who had nothing doing with the examinations did not go there.
Some of the candidates interviewed said they expected to do very well. They said the rewritten papers were "more manageable than the cancelled April one". Miss Andromeda Aryee of Bishop Girls' Junior Secondary School in Accra told the Ghana News Agency that she was expecting to score a number of alphas in the examinations, saying that she found the rewritten papers easier than the 1 April.
The Ministry of Education cancelled some papers in this year's BECE examinations following what had been described as massive leakage of some of the examination papers. A 54 year-old typesetter with the Commercial Associates Limited, a printing firm in Accra, is standing trial at an Accra Circuit Tribunal in connection with the leakage of the BECE question papers.
Daniel Poku pleaded not guilty to causing the leakage of the examination papers and thus causing economic loss to the West African Examination Council WAEC), a public institution. Police Inspector Emmanuel T. Boison told the tribunal chaired by Mr Imoru Ziblim that last year, the WAEC, Ghana, entered into a contract with the printing firm, where the accused worked as a typesetter, to print question papers for this year's BECE.
The Prosecutor said the accused was requested to typeset some of the questions and in the process got access to all the examination questions. He thus took illegal possession of some of the question papers in English Language, Mathematics, Agricultural Science, General Science, Religious and Moral Education, Pre-Technical Skills, Pre-Vocational Skills and Social Studies.
Inspector Boison said, Poku later made photocopies of the exam papers and gave them to his son, one Benjamin Poku, who is on the run, to sell to a number of schools. Some of the leaked questions got to Dambai in the Volta region and other parts of the country.
He said following a tip off, the Police were able to arrest some people with the leaked question papers at Dambai, Hohoe and Accra, which also led to the arrest of the accused. The Prosecutor said as a result of the mass leakage, the Minister of Education, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi cancelled some of the papers of the examination, which was conducted in April.
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Problems of street children to be tackled
scientifically - Bannerman
Accra (Greater Accra) 06 July 2002- Mrs Cecelia Bannerman, Minister of Manpower, Development and Employment, on Friday said the government was prepared to tackle the street children phenomenon through scientific methods.
She said it was in that direction that a loan had been contracted from the World Bank to be disbursed to key non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other government agencies engaged in the street children's project.
Mrs Bannerman, in a speech read for her at a day's workshop organised by the Youth Development Foundation (YDF) an NGO, in Accra on the dissemination of evaluation lessons on Sexual Health Project for street children said the loan would assist in expanding the interventions of NGOs and other government organisations to design better packages that would re-integrate children on the streets into mainstream of society.
"The government is looking forward to NGOs and other organisations to design programmes that would assist children in the streets, willing to accept voluntary repatriation or re-integration to their roots," she said. Mrs Bannerman urged them to come out with proposals that would help facilitate re-integration and also design programmes that would focus on the preventive aspects of "streetism".
She commended the YDF for the evaluation project and urged it to keep up the practice of evaluating programmes since modern trends of development required informed programmes with scientific database. The Minister, however, noted that it was unfortunate that many organisations and NGOs were not practising the monitoring and evaluation of programmes, which often led to poor execution of programmes.
Mr Nelson Agyeman, Chief Executive of YDF, said it was working to promote youth development and poverty alleviation and in opening up economic opportunities for the youth between the ages of 10 and 24 years in Ghana, Burkina Faso, Togo and Cameroon. He said the initiative started about 15 years ago in Ghana, where the evaluated projects proved successful and was replicated in the other countries.
The Chief Executive said the YDF and the Population Concern, another NGO, implemented the Sexual Health Project for street children at Kaneshie in Accra between October 1999 and March 2002. According to him the project was aimed at educating and counselling the youth on sexual health as well as providing contraceptives and clinical services. Mr Nelson said the project achieved positive results in the short-term of one year and was for this reason that the evaluation project was being launched.
He said the next project phase would be redesigned and to incorporate an employment component that would possibly keep the youth off the streets and reduce their vulnerability to AIDS.
Mr Nelson urged donors to include evaluation and audit plans in their serious engagement with partners ahead of time. "We can also assess and audit organisations we plan to engage to determine their worthiness long before we accept proposals and approve funds. "Mrs Wumi Onadipe, Programme Manager of Population Concern, commended the YDF for their efforts and urged them to work hard to meet the needs of street children.
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Let us carve a new image for the Judiciary
- Chief Justice
Accra (Greater Accra) 06 July 2002- Mr Justice Edward Kwame Wiredu, Chief Justice, on Friday underscored the need for members of the Judicial Service to help carve a new image for the service to ensure the effective administration of justice in the country.
In an address read for him by Mr Justice George Kingsley Acquah, a Supreme Court Judge, at the swearing-in ceremony of new officers for the Judicial Service Staff Association of Ghana (JUSAG) in Accra, Mr Justice Wiredu reminded the executives that they were taking office at a time when "our service is under the microscope and carrying the tag as very corrupt."
He, therefore, charged the officers to challenge management with new ideas in order to help move the Service forward.
Mr Justice Wiredu urged the new officers not to betray the trust and confidence reposed in them, but to combine ideas, people, things, time and faith in order to achieve the determined objectives. "Your Constitution and practices should be your only guide", the CJ admonished them, charging them to explore the possibility of investing in housing to alleviate the acute accommodation problem facing members.
He assured members of the Service that his administration was doing everything possible to improve their service conditions. The CJ, therefore, urged them to reciprocate the gesture by attending to their normal duties with a high sense of responsibility, dedication, commitment, zeal and patriotism.
The six-member executive has Mr Seidu Issaka as National President with Mr Idris Rockson as the Vice- President. The other officers were Mr Idris Daud Kumi, General Secretary, Mr E. O. Boachie, Assistant General Secretary, Mr Abdul Latif Adia, Treasurer; with Ms Patience Klu as National Women's Organiser. Mr Issaka said an Anti-Corruption Taskforce had been established to help weed out the "bad nuts", to redeem the sinking image of the Judiciary.
He said the new officers were aware of the challenges and expectations ahead and appealed to members to give them maximum co-operation. Mr Pius Abiwu, Deputy Financial Controller of the Judicial Service, who chaired the function advised the executives not to lord it over their members.
Mr Justice Acquah swore the new executives into office and reminded them not only to uphold, preserve, protect and defend the JUSAG's Constitution, but to also help develop the Judiciary into an efficient service that would promote the effective administration of justice.
JUSAG was formed in 1972 among others things, to protect the rights and interests of staff of the Judicial Service and to foster cordial relationship among members of the bench, bar and other bodies or organisations and individuals at all levels for the efficient administration of justice.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 July 2002- Cabinet last month approved the cancellation of the Timber Utilisation Contracts (TUC) and the allocation would now be done based on competitive bidding as approved by Cabinet. The previous Government recommended and sought Parliamentary ratification for the granting of 42 TUCs covering 3,041 square kilometres of timber resources for 30 companies in 2000.
Professor Kassim Kassanga, Minister for Lands and Forestry, said the allocation was ratified by Parliament in November 2000 but when the new government took over power, numerous petitions were received from some timber companies regarding the manner in which the TUCs were allocated.
The Minister said this in an answer to an urgent question asked by Mr John Kwekucher Ackah, NDC-Aowin Suaman, as to why the TUCs ratified by Parliament in 2000 had not yet been implemented.
Prof. Kassanga said since most of the petitioners were obviously not satisfied the ministry had to review the TUC allocations with a view to bringing about transparency, equity and sustainable resources development. He said in the ministry's review process anomalies were detected which rendered the TUC allocations null and void.
It was detected that the allocations were made contrary to the relevant provisions of the Administration of Lands (Amendment) Decree, 1979 (AFRCD 61) (Appendix 1) which was then in force. Prof. Kassanga said during that period, seven out of the 30 companies had more than 103 square kilometres, one of the companies had an aggregate TUC area of 621 square kilometres and 25 companies were given TUC terms of 40 years as against 30 years as stipulated by the law and which were all contrary to the law.
Prof. Kassanga said against this background, all the 42 TUCs had been withdrawn and reverted back into the pool of expired TUCs.
He explained that the Timber Resources Management (TRM)(Amendment) Act 2002 (Act 617) provides the legal basis for competitive bidding and furthermore, the TRM Legislative Instrument (Amendment) Regulations, 2002 which is currently before the Attorney General Completes the legal framework.
Dr Mustapha Ahmed, NDC- Ayawaso East, asked whether all the companies violated the regulations and the Minister said about 85 per cent of them broke the law and the cancellation was to ensure fairness to all. Mr Sampson Ottu Darko, NPP-Ga North, asked what measures were put in place to ensure that no activities took place and the Minister said the forest guards were there to protect the forest.
Mr Isaac K. N. Ofori, NDC-Sefwi Wiawso, asked how soon the competitive bidding would take place and the Minister said it was subject to the House passing the Forestry Regulation Legislation. Mr Modestus Ahiable, NDC- Ketu North, asked whether the Minister would agree that the cancellation of the TUCs had negatively affected investor- confidence, the Minister said it had rather boosted it.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 July 2002- President John Agyekum Kufuor has been urged to create a Ministry for Social Welfare to tackle the country's numerous social problems including the plight of orphans. "Social welfare issues have been relegated to the background. The child is abused everywhere. The President has to make a whole ministry for these issues."
Mr Kwekecher Ackah, NDC-Aowin Suaman, was contributing to a statement on orphanages presented by Mrs Theresa Joyce Baffoe, NDC-New Edubiase, on Friday. The member asked that the Ghana Trust Fund be restructured to make it more purposeful in the life of the disadvantaged in society. "When this is done, individuals, who are fond of giving alms to beggars on our streets could contribute to the fund."
Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, NDC-Fanteakwa, warned that if the country did not create social welfare structures, the consequences of the HIV/AIDS pandemic would overwhelm the society. "We should be thinking about making such structures integral parts of the Poverty Reduction Strategy. We must prepare well because more orphans and dependents are coming on board."
Mr Joe Baidoo-Ansah,NPP-Effia Kwesimintim, called for a revisit to the Ghanaian traditional family values system where children were nurtured in the family. "Society should rather help families to remain intact and nurture children rather than taking them into institutions. They become stigmatised."
He said where it was impossible to the family to take care of its own, workers of such orphanages should be well screened since all sorts of characters could hide there and abuse the orphans. "I know from research that orphans, who are abused have no one to report to. Even where the hierarchy exits they are very vulnerable."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 July 2002- The Ministry of Roads and Transport is to undertake routine maintenance on roads and rehabilitate bridges in some parts of the country to make them passable all year round. Dr Richard Anane, Minister for Roads and Transport, said this when answering two urgent questions in Parliament on Friday.
Mr Joseph Akudibillah, Ind. Garu/Tempane, asked the Minister when the broken culverts on the Garu - Tempane - Bawku road would be reconstructed to render the road passable in the rainy season. Dr Anane said the 32-kilometre Garu - Misiga road in the Upper East Region was gravel one and its condition ranged from fair to poor and that a portion of the top slab of the culvert was broken.
He said the ministry was aware of the problem and had, therefore, taken steps to have the culvert repaired by the end of July as well as carry out routine maintenance.
Mr Stephen Amoanor Kwao, NDC-Upper Manya Krobo, asked the Minister what plans the ministry had to replace the old and dangerous bridge on River Ponpong at Oterkpolu, which linked the Upper Manya, Yilo and Lower Manya constituencies in order to protect the life of both pedestrians and motorists.
Dr Anane said the bridge with a span of 52 metres is on the main Oterkpolu - Odumase road in the Eastern Region and was constructed in the 1930's but had never seen any rehabilitation.
He said the single lane bridge was structurally sound in spite of its age and it was only the hand rails that had been damaged, however, rehabilitation works on the road was completed in 2001 but the bridge approaches measuring 300 metres and the bridge itself were not done. The minister said the bridge and its approaches had, therefore, been programmed for maintenance works by the end of September.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 06 July 2002- Miss Theresa Tagoe, Deputy Minister of Works and Housing on Friday announced that the government had adopted the National Science and Technology Policy Document that was recently approved by Parliament, to promote Science and Technology.
She said the government by the document intended to increase funding from 0.3 per cent to one percent as approved by Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) under the Lagos Plan of Action for the implementation of the policy.
Miss Tagoe was opening a symposium on Affordable Housing for Improved Health organised for the Research Staff Association of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research in Kumasi.
It was part of the commemoration of the Day of Scientific Renaissance under the theme, "Science and Technology for Health," with the Sub-theme, "Affordable
Houses For Improved Health." Researchers, contractors, student scientists and businessmen attended the symposium.
Miss Tagoe observed that financing of science and technology was crucial for ensuring a healthy environment for development. She noted that CSIR was playing a significant role in the socio-economic development of the country.
Miss Tagoe said the government was making every effort to support CSIR to lead the country towards the achievement of its scientific and technological development. She stressed the need for the CSIR to liaise with her Ministry and other relevant agencies to produce a policy framework including suitable house designs to meet future challenges.
This, she said, should be under the guidance of the Building Planning Committees of the various District, Urban, Municipal and Metropolitan assemblies.
Dr. Joshua Ayarkwa of the Timber Engineering and Mechanical Processing Division of the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, who spoke on the "Use of Timber for Building," stressed the need for manpower training in the design and construction of timber houses. He called for a clear-cut national housing policy on timber housing, adding that people occupying such buildings should be freed from psychological bias through education.
Mr Kwaku Amoa-Mensah, Director of the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI), noted that housing in Ghana was a private-led activity whose process needed to be optimised to enhance efficiency.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 July 2002- The Ministry of Health (MOH) would solicit for 400 million dollars to enable it implement a number of projects in the sector, as part of its five year programme of work. The programme, which started this year, would end in 2006 and had so far, received pledges totalling 285 million dollars from development partners.
The World Bank promised to donate 75 million dollars while the World Health Organisation would release 15 million dollars and DANIDA said it would make available 38 million dollars.
The following outfits have also made pledges: UNICEF 20 million dollars, GAVI, in-charge of an international expanded project for immunisation, 16.3 million dollars, Department For International Development 71.5 million dollars, the Royal Netherlands Embassy, 75 million Euros and Global Alliance for AIDS, 15 million dollars.
This came to light when the MOH signed an agreement with its development partners at the end of a three-day joint business meeting that discussed the 2001 review report and the second Five Year Programme of Work. The agreement would be the basis from which agencies and development partners would derive directions for drawing their plans and programmes over the five-year period.
Projects to be implemented under the programme would include service delivery, HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis control, Malaria, finance and economics, health insurance and exemption scheme, human resource development and procurement.
Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Health signed for the government of Ghana while Mr. Ole Blicher-Olsen, Ambassador of the Royal Danish Embassy and Chairman of European Union, signed on behalf of the partners. Development partners reviewed previous projects and made recommendations.
The agreement took into consideration challenges that continued to face the sector and saw the need to ensure that policy of integration of services and programmes did not adversely affect priority interventions.
The agreement also noted that financing of the health sector was below expectation and had been compounded by problems with disbursement, while there was brain drain and strategies for attracting and retaining staff remained on the drawing board.
It said there was the need to incorporate funds from the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and to accept global initiatives, adding that the MOH should provide by the middle of July, a write-up on a proposed resource envelope. The agreement said the MOH should also take into consideration the allocation to the health sector by the government of Ghana and the capital budget among other things.
Keeping these deadlines would be necessary for completing the new phases of support from DANIDA, DFID and the World Bank to ensure the uninterrupted funding of the projects' it added. Dr. Afriyie who chaired the three-day session congratulated the partners for their contribution to the development of the five-year programme, which was under the theme "Bridging the Inequalities Gap".
Mr. Ole Blicher-Olsen said Ghana was one of the best performing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and expressed the need to maintain the high performance exhibited during the first five years. He stressed the preparedness of the development partners to support work and action in the health sector and other areas of development.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 July 2002- The President, Mr John Agyekum Kufuor left Accra on Friday for Durban, South Africa to attend the 38th Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Heads of Government summit from 8-10 July. Ms Elizabeth Ohene, Minister of State and Ambassador D K Osei, Secretary to the President accompanied him to the historic summit, the last for the OAU, which would be transformed into the African Union (AU).
Mr Hackman Owusu Agyeman, Minister of Foreign Affairs, is already in South Africa leading an advance party to the OAU Permanent Representatives and the 76th Ordinary Ministerial session considering the draft rules of the key organs of AU.
A statement in Accra by the Government Spokesman, Mr Kwabena Agyepong said the summit would consider recommendations and determine the shape AU would take and the objectives of the Constitutive Act.
Some of the issues to be discussed would be the draft protocols on the AU Mechanism for conflict prevention, management and resolution. It would also hear a report on the activities of the Organisation in the past year from the Secretary General and efforts to address conflicts on the continent and the NEPAD initiative. The statement said President Kufuor would hold bilateral talks with other leaders while in Durban.
Briefing newsmen at the Airport, the Deputy Foreign Minister, Alhaji Idris Mustapha said representatives to the G 8 meeting in Canada would be at the Summit adding that, Madagascar would also feature in discussions. Alhaji Aliu Mahama, Vice President, Ministers, Diplomatic Corps and service commanders saw him off.
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