President Kufuor leaves Accra for Sierra Leone on Friday
Ghana urged to increase exports under AGOA
Africa should adopt the right development paradigm - Kwapong
Workers to demonstrate against water privatisation
A Deputy Auditor-General reacts to allegations of embezzlement
Africa's woes are by-product of globalisation - Kelbessa
Prof. Kwapong calls for right mix for Africa's development
Victims of stadium disaster invited to collect ex-gratia payment
Graduate teachers in Central region asked to reconsider strike action
Saudi Funded Health Centres top be completed this year
Allowances to enhance basic salary for Doctors
and health personnel
Dzirasah criticises Attorney General on district level elections
Nsawam female prison to get unit for nursing mothers
Stop deducting dues from salaries of GHS workers - HSWU
World Population Day launched at Somanya
Education fund assists University
Government urged to appoint Research officers for Members of Parliament
President Kufuor leaves Accra for Sierra
Leone on Friday
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002- President John Agyekum Kufuor leaves Accra on Friday, July 12 on a day's official visit to Freetown, Sierra Leone to attend the inauguration of President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah for a second five-year term.
President Kabbah, 70, a former UN Diplomat for 20 years before he entered into politics won 70 per cent of the votes cast by the 2.3 million registered voters out of the 5.2 million Sierra Leoneans. Leading the Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) against a host of eight challengers during the elections held on Tuesday, 14 May President Kabbah also won a strong majority in Parliament winning 83 out of the 112 seats.
His nearest challenger Ernest Koroma of the former ruling All People's Congress had 22 per cent of the vote cast and 27 seats and the remaining two seats went to the party of the one-time junta leader Johnny Paul Koroma Mr Alimamy Pallo Bangura of the Revolutionary United Front Party (RUFP) had only 1.7 per cent of the votes cast and failed to take a single seat in the new Parliament.
Observers for the elections from the Commonwealth, European Union and the United States Carter Centre said the elections were free and fair. President Kabbah was elected for the first time in 1991 but after being in power for a few months the rebels took up arms.
Sierra Leone's government and rebel leaders declared an end to their decade-long civil war on Friday, 18 January when they watched thousands of weapons burnt in a ceremonial bonfire. President Kabbah and President Kufuor set the fire with torches to some 3,000 weapons in Lungi, across the Sierra Leone River from the capital Freetown. Of the Regional Leaders invited to the ceremony, president Kufuor was the only one to turn up.
The war in the West African country, the worst place to live on earth according to a U.N. league, had horrified the world with its images of mutilated civilians; their hands and feet hacked off by fighters, who were often children. Up to 50,000 people have been killed and thousands more maimed, raped or robbed. Hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes.
The ceremony rounded off many months of work on a UN-brokered peace plan, under which more than 47,500 rebels and government militiamen had turned in their weapons. Revolutionary United Front (RUF) Leader Foday Sankoh launched the war in March 1991 ostensibly to end decades of corrupt rule. The government detained him at a secret location since the last major flare-up of fighting in mid-2000.
The end of the disarmament marked a complete turn around of fortunes for the world's biggest U.N. Peacekeeping Force, which appeared close to failure after rebels took hostage hundreds of their rank in May 2000. That prompted former Colonial Power Britain to intervene to protect Freetown, which had been ransacked in two previous rebel advances and to train a newly formed army.
A ceasefire was signed in November 2000, broadly halting fighting and allowing the U.N. to deploy throughout the country. But obstacles remain to lasting peace not least the fate of the grizzled bush fighter Sankoh, who is widely expected to be among those to face a war crimes tribunal Sierra Leone and the United Nations had set up.
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Government would justify the confidence in Ghana - Kufuor
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Thursday said the government would justify the confidence the United States (US) has in the socio-economic development programme of Ghana. He said the provision of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) visa and the establishment of the Centre for Capacity Building for AGOA in Ghana were to create a viable platform for trade relations between the US and the West African Sub-Region.
President Kufuor said this when Mr Jon M. Huntsman Jnr, US Deputy Trade Representative led a seven-man delegation to call on him at the Castle, Osu. The delegation was part of a 21-member team of senior US government and business representatives attending the two-day AGOA trade capacity-building seminar for ECOWAS countries. The team is leading efforts to expand trade under AGOA in the Sub-Region.
President Kufuor commended the delegation for the call saying, "Ghana and the US are co-operating very well to their mutual benefits". He said initially there were some teething problems but gave the assurance that the government was committed to development, support for the private sector and encourage the inflow of capital to make Ghana the home for US investors in the Sub-Region.
President Kufuor said: "We are doing all these out of the best of motives for all concerned and cannot afford an avenue for continued exploitation. There is nothing like Ghana is not being positive to businesses with investors from the US but we want the best for our people and development partners."
Mr Hunstman said it was ideal to bring most of the investors and business representatives in the US to the meeting, which had fruitful deliberations. He said: "We are taking back home good impressions about Ghana. We have a lot to do to make the best out of our relationships in order to take advantage of AGOA". He said both Ghana and the US had the advantage of a common language and the will for better economic trade relations.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002- Ghana, last year, exported 43 million dollars worth of products to the United States (US) under the duty and quota-free programme of the African Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA). The amount constitutes 218 per cent increase in AGOA exports over that of 2000.
However, Ms Rosa Whitaker, US Assistant Trade Representative for Africa, said on Thursday that Ghana could do better by taking advantage of the special relations between her and the US to maximise the benefits under the Act.
She was speaking at the first seminar on the AGOA for Anglophone West Africa opened by Vice President Aliu Mahama in Accra. About 600 participants from Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia are attending the seminar. Ms Whitaker said few countries have so far recorded high profits since AGOA was enacted two years ago.
The whole of Africa lost 92 billion dollars from what she described as investment 'contractions'. She noted that the situation could be reversed, saying, "we want to see results from ECOWAS and especially, we want to help Ghana to maximise benefits of the Act. The AGOA was enacted to open up the US market for Africa to export more than 6,000 products to that country under duty and quota-free systems.
It is aimed to promote increased trade and investment between the US and Sub-Saharan Africa by providing eligible African countries with access to the US market. The Act is also to promote economic development and reform in the sub region and promote increased access and opportunity for US investors and businesses in Africa. Ghana and Sierra Leone are the only West African countries that have received visa to export products under the Act to the US.
However, Ghana's efforts so far have been to encourage entrepreneurs to form alliances and co-operatives in the cassava, textiles, garments and apparel production for exports to the US. Vice President Mahama said the government recognised the importance of the opportunities offered under and that efforts and programmes were underway to enable entrepreneurs take advantage of them.
He said: "Our government fully subscribes to the goals of AGOA. We have accordingly initiated measures that should enable our businessmen and women and farmers to take advantage of the opportunities offered by AGOA".
The Vice President said one of such initiative was the President's Special Initiative for cassava industrial starch and textiles, garment and apparel production for export. "We have determined that the market for industrial starch is huge and very lucrative and the Initiative would meet our goals of creating wealth and employment, reducing poverty and providing specialised support to the vulnerable", he added.
Vice President Mahama said government had established a national committee for the implementation of the AGOA in Ghana and as part of its programmes, the committee was expected to provide an incubatory service to train and resource small-scale businesses to link up with the PSI companies to produce directly for the US. The National Board for Small-Scale Industries (NBSSI) would provide technical assistance for this project, he said and appealed to the USAID to support it.
Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, Minister of Trade and Industry, said the revenue realised from exports last year signified that Ghana had the potential to maximise benefits of AGOA. He said, however, that there was the need for Ghana and the US to work together on support mechanisms to achieve this aim.
The Minister said Ghana had established a training centre to train people in especially, cutting and sewing but noted that there was the need to establish one more such centre to serve the Northern Sector of the country.
Ambassador John Huntsman, Deputy US Trade Representative, who led a 21-member delegation to the Ghana-US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement Council Meeting, said challenges to Ghana under the Act were great but not impossible to meet. He said the outcome of the Council's meeting had given him more confidence in the Ghana-US relations.
He said the seminar was to demystify and simplify the complexities of the framework to ensure that Ghana maximised its benefits of the opportunity. The theme for the seminar is: "Maximising the Benefits of AGOA in West Africa".
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002- Professor Alex Kwapong, Chairman of the Council of State on Thursday has urged Africans to draw a balance between mere survival instincts and the right strategies to develop the continent. "We must eat and philosophise," he said welcoming the newly born African Union and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) initiative as a development paradigm that offers hope for the under-developed continent.
Professor Kwapong was addressing the closing ceremony of the four-day African Conference on Youth Values organised by the African Chapter of the Swiss based International Society for Human Values in Accra, on the theme:" the youth and human values." 60 participants attended it from Africa.
He said development was not only about modernisation and westernisation, but also the development of the right cultural parameters. For Ghana to catch up with the challenges of globalisation, there was the need to encourage qualitative education of the youth to enhance the development of the continent. "We should make a transition to information based society on terms compatible to our culture and society."
This he said could be achieved when the youth were discouraged from violent crimes and other ill effects of globalisation. Professor Kwapong said the task of moulding the youth should be based on high educational values that encouraged excellent teaching from committed teachers and opinion leaders. He said the youth must not be mere tools of instruction but people that should be consulted by adults in all decision-making processes.
Dr Kwasi Agyemang, a lecturer at the University of Ghana and a member of the African Chapter of the International Society said globalisation was a reality nobody could run away from hence the need to reconcile African traditional values and the challenges of modernisation.
Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, Executive Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development, who chaired a panel discussion of the conference on globalisation said the phenomenon had been with mankind for over 15 years and there was the need for Africans to affirm the values and dignity of its people.
Mrs Rose Karikari Anang, President of the Ghana Employers Association, expressed the need to put African Values at the central stage of development. Professor Elizabeth Ardayfio-Scandorf, Director of Family and Development Programme of the University of Ghana, said the current maxim "seek ye first the economic kingdom and all other things shall be added to you" was threatening the family unit.
Globalisation she said had also affected the country's socio-economic development as the World Bank and other donor agencies were dictating it. Giving development a human face by emphasising on the core values of care and attention cherished by the African family system should be encourage, she said.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 12 July 2002- Investigations into child slavery and trafficking has revealed that children are sold some as low as 50,000 cedis at some markets in Accra. Miss Stella Ofori, a Labour Officer at the Child Labour Unit of the Ministry of Employment and Manpower Development, who disclosed this in Kumasi on Thursday, named the markets as Maamobi, Nima, Agbogbloshie and Makola but said the children are sold to buyers only known to the sellers.
She was delivering a paper on: "The Child Labour Situation In Ghana" at a day's seminar organised by the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in collaboration with the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA).
It was organised for assembly members, government officials, the media, chiefs and opinion leaders in the Metropolis to sensitise them on the vicious circle of child labour, illiteracy and poverty.
Miss Ofori said children were trafficked to Togo, Benin, Nigeria and Gabon, adding that child trafficking was a complete chain involving those who recruit the children, those who transport them, the receivers or distributors and the employers. She said there were over 800,000 children in Ghana involved in hazardous labour and that there was evidence to show that the menace was on the increase.
Giving statistics to show the extent of child labour, she said out of the 210,800 economically active children aged between four to 14 years, 186,300 were in child labour and 111,300 were in hazardous jobs, while out of the 140,900 of the economically active aged between 15 and 17 years 59,200 were in child labour while 59,200 were engaged in hazardous work.
Mrs Sylvia Hinson-Ekong, ILO/IPEC Programme Manager, said the ILO had been trying to fight child labour since its inception with the adoption of Convention Number One on minimum wage in industry during ILO's first international conference in 1919.
She said with the adoption of Convention Number 182 at the ILO Conference in June 1999 in Geneva, a new direction and focus had been given to the IPEC programme. Mrs Hinson-Ekong said Convention 182 re-directs attention to the eradication of the worst forms of child labour, adding that it was the most ratified Convention in the world.
She said, however, that if the worse forms of child labour were to be eliminated in the country, then district assemblies, area and town councils, unit committees, opinion leaders, chiefs and the people should play key roles because the children belong to individuals and countries.
In a welcoming address read on behalf of Mr Maxwell Kofi Jumah, the Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, he said that the character of every nation was judged by the way it treated its children. He said child labour was a barrier to socio-economic development and must, therefore, be given all the attention it deserved.
Mr Jumah said that was why the KMA did not condone child labour and exploitation and had joined hands with organisations including non-governmental organisations to eliminate this canker by taking the children off the streets of Kumasi to be sent back to their parents or to school.
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Tema (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002- Workers of Tema on Thursday said they would demonstrate on July 31 against the government's decision to privatise the Ghana Water Company. The decision was taken at a general meeting of Tema District Council of Labour (TDCL) after a lengthy deliberation on the water issue.
They were of the view that if water is privatised, it could bring hardship to Ghanaians and appealed to the government to re-consider its stand on the issue. The workers took turns to make their contributions and wondered why the government remained adamant to the objection of the majority of Ghanaians whom the policy would affect.
They said instead of the government looking on to the privatisation of water, there is the need to address the water wastage in the system and alleged that about 55 percent of water goes to waste. The workers said there is nowhere in the world where water has been privatised. ''The leadership of the country has been pushed to take the action because the foreign participants have their selfish interest".
They said it was the duty of government to ensure that the public had water for their daily activities but if this has not been achieved, there is no need to worsen the plight of the people by going private. Touching on the crime prevention fund instituted by TDCL to assist the police in their work, Mr Harry F. Pieterson, Greater Accra Regional Secretary of the TUC announced that, since April this year when the fund was launched, 47 million cedis has been realised. Each worker is contributing 1,000 a month for 12 months towards the fund.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002- Mr John Lartey, a Deputy-Auditor General has denied that he together with three other senior staff were arrested for allegedly deducting over 300 million cedis from staff salary arrears paid in 1999 to 2001 to bribe public officials.
Mr Lartey was reacting to Ghana News Agency report that quoted a source at the Criminal Investigation Department (DID) that the four senior officers of the
Audit Service were arrested for embezzling 37 million cedis, which they claimed, they used to bribe Public officials for salary increases in the service and Parliament to facilitate the passage of the Audit Service Bill in 2000.
He said "the fact of the matter is that in line with the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) the Audit Service Divisional Union of PSWU (TUC), levies totalling 37,833,000 were deducted from the salary arrears paid in December 2000 during the administration of the former Auditor-General, Mr. O.T. Prempeh.
"The entire amount was subsequently paid in January 2001 in two instalments of 10 million and 27,833 million cedis, respectively, to the Executives of the Local Union through the divisional chairman for their promotional and protocol activities.
"When the Acting Auditor-General Mr. Edward Dua Agyeman assumed office in April 2001, I handed over the Finance and Administration Department to another
Deputy Auditor-General in July 2001 following changes in portfolios.
"Under the terms of the same CBA levies totalling 12 million were similarly deducted from the arrears of salaries of the workers for 2001 paid in January 2002 under the administration of the current Acting Auditor-General, Mr. Edward Dua Agyeman.
"However, without any prior discussions with me, I received a letter dated 23 May, 2002 from the Acting Auditor-General raising a number of queries on the 37 million cedis staff levy made during the tenure of office of his predecessor. "I immediately registered my displeasure at his approach to this matter, which I felt would not augur well for healthy inter-personal relationship between us.
"Mr. Dua Agyeman noted that a cheque for 10 million cedis being part of the levies was jointly signed by Mr. George Appiah, former Director of Finance and myself, who was then Deputy Auditor-General/F&A, who were both authorized signatories to our bank accounts.
"He then enquired why the entire amount was paid to Mr. Samuel Amoako, a Senior Auditor. "I explained that the proceeds from the 10 million cheque I jointly signed with the Director of Finance as part-payment of the levy was not given to Mr. Samuel Amoako, Senior Auditor as an individual but rather the cheque was made payable to the Divisional Chairman, Local Union.
"If Mr. Dua Agyeman did not understand any part of my explanation with regard to the 37 million cedis levies deducted nearly two years ago, he could have sought further clarification from me through dialogue. "But instead, he wrote another letter dated 5 June 2002 in which he gave his own interpretation, conclusion and judgement on my explanation.
"I see this latest development and his inferences as far-fetched, highly mischievous and a deliberate ploy to divert attention from the main issue at stake namely my role in the jointly signing the cheque of 10 million cedis and its subsequent payment to the Union. "At this stage it was evident in that he has made himself a prosecutor, a jury and a judge of his own case. I did not therefore see the need to continue to engage in this seemingly endless polemics to the detriment of the Service.
"Precious man-hours and misplaced emphasis were being devoted to Union affairs, which could have been resolved by the Union itself, if there happens to be any genuine grievances and complaints. After all both the Acting Auditor-General and myself are not members of the Union.
"As rightly stated by Mr. Dua Agyeman in his letter dated 5 June 2002, to which I did not re-act, the Audit Service Bill passed by Parliament was gazetted in August 2000. "It finally received Presidential Assent on 10 October, 2000 as Act 584. The new salary levels were also approved in November 2000 and funds released to effect payment of the arrears arising thereof in December 2000.
"It is, therefore, highly incongruous and illogical that the 37 million cedis proceeds from the levies paid to the Union in January 2001 could have been used retrospectively as bribe for "paying monies to public officers to influence them to give unwarranted favour or to a Member of Parliament (MP) to accelerate the passage of the Audit Service Bill". For, both events were accomplished several months before levies were even deducted.
"Assuming there has been any misconduct on my part as widely publicised, the proper Disciplinary Authority should have been the Audit Service Board in accordance with Regulations 14 (b) and 15 of the Conditions of Service for Management Staff of the Audit Service. "Surprisingly, these issues and matters in so far as he seems to see them to be so important, have never been brought to the attention of the Board nor ever raised at its deliberations."
"The Acting Auditor-General instead referred the matter to the Police to conduct further investigations into the matter. I was accordingly invited by the CID on Monday, 17 June, 2002 to give a statement regarding my role in the signing of the 10 million cedis cheque paid to the Divisional Union chairman.
"I was immediately granted police enquiry bail to be contacted anytime I was needed. Since then, I have continued to perform my normal daily duties without any let or hindrance. "One would have thought that since Mr Dua Agyeman did not find himself competent to handle such an internal matter, he should have waited patiently for the outcome of the Police investigations.
"But instead, he rushed to the press with his inconclusive findings on the staff levy, a matter under police investigation. The question now is, have the police preferred any charge(s) against me? "Or has the Union denied receiving the proceeds of the 10 million cheque I jointly signed? If not, wherein lies the justification of my supposed arrest for embezzlement and bribery?
"Why has Mr. Dua Agyeman kept mute over the staff levies of 12 million cedis made in January 2002 during his tenure of office since he has refused to accept the binding effect of the CBA and maintained that the deductions made by his predecessor were unlawful? "One will equally ask under what authority or by what agreement of the workers were the same deductions effected under him?
In this connection, may I refer to a letter dated 21st June, 2002 addressed to the Acting Auditor-General by my solicitors and copied to the Board Chairman as well as the Union immediately after the Police intervention, which rightly warned: "In your position as the Acting Auditor-General you could have requested for a properly conducted audit into the affairs of the Audit Service and appropriate action taken on the findings and recommendations of the Auditors rather than hiding under non-existing grievances and complaints and be finding faults when none exists".
"I reiterate the perception of my solicitors in the said letter to Mr. Dua Agyeman on the implication of his action, prior to his going public, which is quoted in part "some of the measures being taken under the personal authority of the Acting Auditor-General might be misconstrued as deliberately targeting some specific individuals in the Service without just cause. "It is easy for some persons to see in it a kind of witch-hunting aimed at some people who are wrongly perceived as a threat to your office".
"No doubt the wide publicity given prematurely to his inconclusive findings in both the electronic and print media, has not only vindicated this perception, but has also brought the image of the Audit Service, into disrepute and put the credibility and integrity of its personnel at stake.
"It is in this vein that I find the unsubstantiated sensational headlines Auditors Arrested for Bribery in your paper as not only libellous but highly defamatory and a calculated attempt to tarnish my hard-earned reputation and expose me to general hatred, contempt and ridicule."
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Africa's woes are by-product of
globalisation - Kelbessa
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002- Dr Workinah Kelbessa, an Ethiopian academic, said on Thursday that the massive brain drain and declining moral values, which have become the bane of Africa's development efforts, were the bye-product of globalisation. He said the liberal migration policies of the developed countries, especially Western Europe and the United States, entice African intellectuals and other scarce human resources of the continent.
The use of the Internet is also encouraging the youth to engage in counter-productive activities such as trafficking in drugs, sex tourism and violent crimes. Dr Kelbessa was delivering a paper on "Globalisation and National Interest" at the just ended African Regional Conference on Youth and Human Values in Accra on the theme "The Youth and Human Values". More than 60 African participants attended the four-day conference organised by the African Chapter of the Swiss-based International Society for Human values.
Dr Kelbessa said out of 600 Ethiopian tertiary students who were offered scholarships to study in Europe, only 200 returned. He said although globalisation was a process, nobody should ignore its negative effects such as the breaking down of societal values, westernisation of Africa and neglect of national development priorities.
He said World Bank fiscal policies such as the Structural Adjustment Policy had led to the cutting of budgets to essential sectors of the economy like health, education and agriculture, leading to child labour, high maternal and infant mortality rate, and poor social insurance.
Mr Alfred Salia Fawundu, Resident Co-ordinator of the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) said global efforts to eliminate poverty should incorporate cherished African values such as equality and equity of opportunities to preserve the human dignity.
"Indeed, what purpose would poverty reduction strategies serve if capital cities had their streets and alleys occupied by armies of beggars and hawkers of dog chains? What end would any such strategies serve if huge proportions of slum dwellers as well as the rural folk wallowed in illiteracy and remained vulnerable to preventable morbidity because they could not make informed choices or had few or no opportunities to develop their potential?" he asked, amidst loud cheers from the participants.
Mr Fawundu, who is also the United Nations Resident Co-ordinator, said poverty reduction was in itself a fight for human dignity and that fight was likely to be won "if the human being is put at the beginning and at the centre as well as the end of the development process".
Professor Yakubu Konate, a Philosophy professor from Cote d'Ivoire, expressed dissatisfaction with the belief of most Africans that "the white man is a spirit" hence the fascination for western lifestyles leading to skin bleaching and the destruction of African philosophy of life. "Even if we want somebody to coach our national teams, we want the white man."
During a panel discussion, Dr Albert Schweizer, the Swiss Ambassador, disagreed with previous speakers that globalisation is affecting only Africa. "In Switzerland, people are lamenting over the same issues. In my country everything is foreign, from Coca Cola to music. To be realistic, if Africa wants to escape globalisation, they must build a wall around the continent."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002- Professor Alex Kwapong, Chairman of the Council of State, on Thursday asked Africans to draw the right balance between mere survival instincts and the right strategies to develop the continent.
"We must eat and philosophise," he said, while welcoming the newly born African Union and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) initiative as development paradigms that offers hope for the under-developed continent.
Prof. Kwapong was addressing the closing ceremony of a four-day African
Conference on Youth Values organised by the African Chapter of Swiss-based International Society for Human Values in Accra. The conference, which brought together 60 African participants, was on the theme "The Youth and Human Values".
The former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon (UGL), said development is not only about modernisation and westernisation but also about the development of the right cultural parameters. "One way by which Ghana can catch up with the challenges of globalisation is to encourage qualitative education of the youth to facilitate the development of the continent. "We should make a transition to information-based society on terms compatible with our culture and society."
This, he said, could be achieved when the youth were discouraged from violent crimes and other ill effects of globalisation. Prof. Kwapong said the task of moulding the youth should be based on high educational values that encourage excellent teaching from committed teachers and opinion leaders. He said the youth must not be mere tools of instruction but people that should be consulted by adults in all decision -making process.
Dr Kwasi Agyemang, a lecturer at the UGL, and a member of the African Chapter of the International Society, said globalisation was a reality nobody could ran away from hence the need to reconcile African traditional values and the challenges of modernisation.
Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, Executive Director of the Centre for
Democracy and Development, who chaired a panel discussion of the conference on globalisation, said the phenomenon had been with mankind for over 15 years and there was the need for Africans to affirm the values and dignity of its peoples.
Mrs Rose Karikari Anang, President of the Ghana Employers Association, expressed the need to put African values at the centre stage of development.
Professor Elizabeth Ardayfio-Schandorf, Director of Family and Development Programme of the UGL, said the current maxim of "seek ye first the economic kingdom and all other things shall be added to you" was threatening the family unit.
Globalisation, she said, had also affected the socio-economic development of Ghana dictated by the World Bank and other donor agencies. "Giving development a human face by emphasising on the core values of care and attention cherished by the African families should be encouraged," Prof Ardayfio-Schandorf noted.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002- Representatives of persons who died in the 9 May 2001, Accra Sports Stadium disaster who, collected government cash donations for the burial of the victims are invited to collect ex-gratia payments due to the affected families.
A statement signed by Mr Kofi Sekyiamah, Chief Director, Ministry of Information and Presidential Affairs, on Thursday said the representatives must report to the Ministry with two passport-size photographs. It said payments would be made to the accredited family representatives who were appointed to act on behalf of the bereaved families.
The statement said the modalities of scholarships for children of the deceased victims as well as extra-gratia awards for those who suffered injuries and other disabilities would soon be announced.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002- The Central Region members of the Tertiary Students Confederation of the New Patriotic Party (TESCON) on Thursday appealed to the Central Region branch of the National Association Graduate Teachers members to reconsider their position in the light of the unfortunate predicament of the students in the final year and return to the classroom whilst the authorities concerned take the necessary action.
The statement issued in Accra and signed by Mr Raymond Kwabi Atsey Avivu, Press Secretary said TESCON was saddened by the unfortunate strike action embarked upon by the Central Region members of NAGRAT to press home their demand for a better salary.
TESCON made the appeal, considering what these children had already lost regarding the acute water shortage that recently hit the municipality necessitating the late reopening of schools in the municipality.
The statement said, much as their rights to the course were respected most, especially on the prolonged anguish and disappointment that characterised the said struggle all these years culminating in their current strike action, it was also believed that the negative consequential effects of the said action would be detrimental to the future of innocent siblings concerned. The statement said TESCON still believes in dialogue as the only credible alternative to resolving the impasse.
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Saudi Funded Health Centres
top be completed this year
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002-Construction works on the Saudi Funded Health Centres throughout the country are to be completed by the end of this to allow the various communities benefit from basic health services. Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister for Health said this in an answer to a supplementary question asked by Mr. Cletus Avoka, NDC-Bawku West as to when the health centres numbering about 80 across the country would be completed.
Mr. Akugri Bernard Achidago, NPP-Binduri asked the minister when the Saudi funded health Centre for Binduri would be completed and made operational to serve the health needs of the community and its environs.
Dr Afriyie said the project was 95 percent completed and remains minor outstanding works of painting and installation of electrical fittings, adding that the works have been programmed for execution this August and it was envisaged it would be operational by the end of the year. Alhaji Abukari Sumani, NDC Choggu/Tishigu asked how many of the Saudi Funded health projects have been completed and were operational and the Minister said he was not absolutely sure of the figure but would have to contact his directors for an answer.
Mr. Enoch Teye Mensah, NDC-Ningo/Prampram in another question asked when construction of the proposed Hospital at Old Ningo would commence and the Minister said construction of a health centre at Old Ningo was currently on going. Dr. Afriyie said the policy was to provide each district with a hospital and since Ada as the district capital of Dangbe East has a new hospital to serve as a referral point, Old Ningo does not qualify for a district hospital.
However, Mr Mensah said Old Ningo was not in the Dangbe East District but rather the Dangbe West District, where there was no hospital but only health centre and that Ada was so far away that it couldn't serve as a referral point.
Dr Afriyie said since Old Ningo is not in the Dangbe East district as indicated it would be considered in line with government 's plan to provide each district capital with a hospital and gave the assurance that Old Ningo would be assisted to get a hospital under the HIPC initiative.
Mr Mike Gizo, NDC-Shai/Osudoku asked which health facility has been identified to be upgraded to a hospital for the Dangbe West District and the Minister said he did not have ready answer to the facility. Mr. Abraham Owusu Baidoo, NDC- Twifo/Hemang/Lower Denkyira asked when the only Health Centre in the Twifo/Hemang/Lower Denkyira District would be up-graded to a District Hospital.
Dr Afriyie said the Twifo/Hemang/Lower Denkyira district is one of the two Districts in the Central Region without a District Hospital, adding that however, in 1998, the Ministry for Health started the process of providing the district with a hospital and a theatre was completed and equipped followed with the construction of a laboratory and X-Ray block which, is about 90 percent completed.
He said the Health centre is situated in the middle of the town, which is making it difficult for additional wards, other structures and expansion. It has 20 beds half of which are at the maternity block. Dr Afriyie said the Methodist Church initiated the construction of a hospital complex in the town but was abandoned with 55 percent completion and the ministry was exploring the possibility of either assisting the Church to complete it or allow it to run as an agency district hospital.
He said the other option was to compensate the Church and run it as a public institution and it is envisaged that if the arrangement becomes successful, the current Health centre could then serve as the Maternity wing of the Hospital.
The other alternative, which the Minister said was difficult, was to compensate the people living in and around the Health centre and move them out to create room for expansion of the existing structures. Mr Abraham Kofi Asante, NDC-Amenfi-West asked why the hospital could not be expanded and the Minister said it was due to lack of space in the town centre.
Mr Harry Halifax-Hayford, NDC- Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese asked the criteria used for the creation and up-grading of health centres to hospitals and the Minister said it was based on technical and professional advice as to the health needs of the people and it should be community-driven.
Mr Mike Gizo, NDC-Shai/Osudoku asked whether it would be possible to expand the health centre if the Methodist Church refuse to release their uncompleted hospital and the Minister said the ministry has to negotiate and convince the Church to release the hospital.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002-The Ministry of Health has drawn up an incentive package planned for health professionals who accept postings to the rural areas as a means of encouraging them to remain at post.
The package include proposed allowances of 30 per cent for Doctors and 50 per cent for other health workers to enhance their basic salary, free housing with hard furnishing and vehicles and utility vehicles for the health facilities.
Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Health said this in Parliament on Thursday to a question asked by Mr Joseph Tsatsu Agbenu, NDC-Afram Plains North, as to what incentives the ministry has planned to induce Doctors, Nurses and other health workers who have accepted postings to the rural areas to remain at post. Mr. Kwakye Addo, NDC- Afram Plains South asked the question on behalf of Mr. Agbenu.
Dr. Afriyie said the incentive package include housing scheme for the personnel in areas of their choice, cars, motor bikes and bicycles for staff, Midwifery packs for midwives, basic household equipment such as Television sets radio, and fridges on hire purchase opportunities for attendance at conferences and further studies and enhanced salaries.
Mr Addo in a supplementary question asked when the package would be implemented and the Minister said within the next couple of weeks the ministry would come out with the terms. He said the ministry has realised that there are systematic problems in the ministry which have deteriorated over the years and which calls for urgent measures to rectify them.
Alhaji Abdulai Salifu, NDC-Tolon asked how many years a health worker has to stay in a place before he enjoys the proposed package and the Minister said the proposed duration was between three to four years but the key issue was mainly how to retain them, adding that there should be an agreement between the District Assemblies and the personnel to ensure their continuous stay.
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Sogakope (Volta Region) 12 July 2002- Mr Ken Dzirasah, Member of Parliament for South Tongu Constituency, on Wednesday described as unacceptable a statement the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo allegedly made calling on District Chief Executives and New Patriotic Party (NPP) functionaries to ensure that the majority of those elected to the District Assemblies and Unit Committees were NPP members. He said Nana Akufo-Addo made call at a mid-year review meeting for District Chief Executives (DCEs) from the Southern Sector of the country last month in Ho.
The Member of Parliament who, was speaking at the third ordinary meeting of the fourth session of the South Tongu District assembly at Sagakope, said the Nana Akufo- Addo asserted that district level elections had always been fought on partisan basis He said as the custodian of the laws of the land it was impermissible for the Minister of Justice to make such a statement.He said by his status and stature, he needed not to be educated on basic constitutional issues since "he is the chief government legal adviser".
Mr Dzirasah, who is also the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament asked if by his action he meant that his political opponents could campaign on party lines in the July 30 district level elections. He said Article 248 Sub-Section Two of the 1992 Constitution stated that a political parties shall not endorse, sponsor, offer a platform to or in anyway campaign for or against a candidate seeking election to a district assembly or any lower and local government unit.
Mr Dzirasah said the Attorney -General was responsible for the introduction and amendment of bills and motions of laws adding it was improper for him to lead a campaign to flout the tenets of the Constitution. He, therefore, urged assembly members and the general public to resist any attempt to make the election partisan.
Mr Kofi Dzamesi, Deputy Volta Regional Minister, said government was exploring avenues of making elections at the lower local government attractive to boost democracy, decentralization and development and would, therefore, not do anything to subvert the Constitution.
Nana Akufo-Addo in statement to the Ghana News Agency said: "As Attorney General and Minister of Justice, who is entrusted with the responsibility of upholding and enforcing respect for the constitution and all other laws in the land, I am committed to discharging those responsibilities to the best of his ability.” He, therefore, categorically denied making any of the statements allegedly attributed to him.
According to him he encouraged the DCEs to endeavour to ensure that only competent people with proven track record, whom they could work with to develop their districts, were elected to the District Assemblies and Unit Committees.
The statement said: "It is undeniable fact that under the NDC, District Assembly elections were openly conducted on a partisan basis in flagrant contravention of the Constitution.
"The NPP administration is, however, committed to entrenching respect for the rule of law at the very core of the nation's body politic, and the Attorney General as the principal legal adviser to the Government will in no way advocate any course of action which will flout the law”, the Attorney General declared. He said the allegations were malicious intended to score cheap political points.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002- Mr Richard Kuuire, Director-General of the Ghana Prisons Service, on Thursday announced plans to construct special unit at the Nsawam Female Prison to cater for pregnant female inmates and nursing mothers. Mr Kuuire announced this during a presentation of items worth 8.9 million cedis to the Prisons by the Ghana National Trust Fund (GNTF) for the upkeep of mothers and children in prison. The items included one mattress, towels, beverages, Napkins and baby toiletries.
The Director General said the plans for the construction were worked out to ensure that children were not exposed to life in the prisons. He said the problem of pregnant women, nursing mothers and children in prison was perennial and had been a headache to the Prisons Authorities.
Mr Kuuire said the permanent solution to the problem was for the courts to consider the imposition of non-custodial sentences such as suspended sentences bonds of good behaviour, especially where the crimes allegedly committed were not heinous. "What is most worrying is the fact that apart from us not having appropriate facilities for pregnant women, mothers and especially children in our custody, we also do not have appropriate budgetary cover for children in our annual estimates," he noted.
Mr Kuuire said at the moment there were six children in the various prisons nationwide and as a service they found it unsatisfactory for children to start life in prison through no fault of theirs. "In our small way, we however, ensure that mothers do not deliver in prison but in public hospitals and all documents relating to the birth of the child do not bear the name of any prison, but the hospital or the health facility where the child was born," the Director General pointed out.
Mr Mike Ezan, Chairman of the GNTF, who presented the items, said even though the aim of the Fund was to assist the disadvantaged and the handicapped in society, it was now focusing on mothers and infants in prisons.
He said the trust would work closely with the Prisons Service to ensure that the imprisoned mothers have adequate training to meet the challenges of life when discharged, adding that the children's welfare would also be monitored and supported. Mr Ezan used the occasion to donate five million cedis to the Volta School for the deaf to supplement the feeding cost of the pupils for this term.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 12 July 2002- The Health Services Workers Union (HSWU) of the Trade Union Congress on Thursday asked the Civil Servants Association to stop deducting dues from the salaries of the workers of the Ghana Health Service (GHS).
A statement signed by Mr Abu D. Kuntulo, Deputy General Secretary of the Union, also requested that to ensure fair play, the medical refund provided by government should be channelled through the GHS for distribution to its members and not through the Civil Service system. It said the action was taken because the staffs concerned were no more part of the Ghana Civil Service structure but rather the Public Service.
The statement said the demands were contained in a four-point resolution adopted by 30 Technical Officers of the Disease Control Unit of the GHS at the end of a day's seminar organised by the HSWU on capacity building and awareness creation in trade unionism. It appealed to the GHS to establish appropriate career development avenues for its members to ensure efficient health delivery required by Ghanaians.
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Somanya (Eastern Region) 12 July 2002- The Vice-President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, has launched this year's World Population Day at Somanya on Thursday, and declared the government's commitment to address population and poverty issues, particularly the "feminisation of poverty".
He referred to the theme for the celebration: "Poverty, Population and Development" and said since assumption of office, the government had taken concrete steps towards the creation of accelerated economic growth and development with a more efficient management of population programmes in particular.
In a keynote address read on his behalf by the Minister for Women and Children Affairs, Mrs Gladys Asmah, the Vice President said some of the programmes as the adoption of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), the President's Special Initiative Project, the creation of a Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs and the appointment of a female Minister of State responsible Basic, Secondary and Girl Child Education.
Alhaji Mahama also cited the reconstitution of the National Population Council (NPC) and the passing of the Ghana AIDS Commission Act as some of the signs of government's concern about population and poverty issues facing women and men.
The Vice President said the records indicated that about 40 per cent of Ghanaians were poor, 37 per cent "extremely poor" with nearly half of the adult population illiterate and only one-third have access to modern health facilities.
One clear indicator of poverty, he said, was the Maternal Mortality Rate in the country, citing that whereas less than 10 women out of 100,000 die in the developed countries through childbirth, it is estimated that 214 women out of 100,000 die annually in Ghana, saying the situation had been worsen by the emergence of the HIV/AIDS.
On population growth, Alhaji Mahama said Ghana's population had trebled over the last 40 years from 6.7 million in 1960 to 18.9 million in 2000, saying at current rate of 2.7 per cent per annum, the population was expected to double by the year 2024.
A message from Mr Kofi Annan UN Secretary-General, read on his behalf by the UNFPA Representative in Ghana, Mr Moses Mukasa, recalled that eight years ago, at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, the nations of the world committed themselves to the goal of providing universal access to reproductive health services by the year 2015, as well as empowering women, promoting gender equality, slowing and eventually stabilizing population growth and fostering sustainable development.
He noted that since then, improved levels of schooling, higher survival rates of children and better access to reproductive health services including voluntary family planning had helped to advance the Cairo agenda. Mr Annan urged governments in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia where poverty was widespread to emulate the other areas by putting in place economic and social policies that called for greater investments in health and education.
He called on governments to recognise reproductive health as one of the key tools in the battle against poverty and to mark the day by resolving to mobilise the resources and political will to work for reproductive health as a means to building a healthier and more prosperous human family.
The Chairperson of the NPC, Mrs Virginia Ofosu-Amaah said the revised National Population Policy of 1994 was one of the policies put in place to help reduce population growth rate, improve quality of life and alleviate poverty among the people. She said the NPC was working closely with the Ghana AIDS Commission in the implementation of a number of activities relating to the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS since "there is a strong linkage between poverty, HIV/AIDS and development."
The Kornor of Yilo Krobo, Nene Narh Dawutey Ologo IV, who chaired the function, urged all sections of the society to contribute their quota to help check rapid population growth and its negative effects of poverty, environmental degradation and under development.
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Tamale (Northern Region) 12 July 2002- The Ghana Education Trust Fund (Getfund) is giving priority to the University for Development Studies (UDS) in the disbursement of the fund to enable it to catch up with other universities. The Fund has therefore set aside 23.25 per cent of the fund meant for tertiary institution for the UDS.
Dr Slyvia Awo Mansah Boye Chairperson of the Getfund board disclosed this when she presented two buses and Toyota land cruiser valued at 600,25 million cedis to the University at a ceremony in Tamale on Thursday. She said the fund has so far spent over four billion cedis on the development of infrastructure, a 10,000-litre water tanker and the provision of equipment to the UDS.
Dr Boye, who was accompanied by other members of the Getfund Board, would visit the campuses of the University at Nyankpala and Navrongo to enable them to have first hand knowledge of the constraints facing tertiary education in the north. She said Getfund would construct a 200-bedroom hostel for UDS as part of the fund's investment venture. The students would be expected to pay rent.
According to her another priority of the Getfund is the provision of infrastructure and the maintenance of buildings at educational institutions. She said Getfund hopes to complete the several uncompleted buildings in both second cycle and tertiary institutions dotted all over the country.
Dr Boye tasked the UDS administration to come out with a strategic development plan for the University to enable the fund plan how to assist.The Vice-Chancellor of UDS, Professor John K.B. Kaburise thanked the Getfund for assisting the University and said an opportunity has been opened to develop bonds of friendship and partnership for the development of education, especially in the North.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 12 July 2002- Mr Opoku-Agyemang Prempeh, Executive President of the Centre for Moral Education (CEMED), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has suggested to the government to consider appointing research officers to be attached to Members of Parliament (MPs) in the country. He said the remuneration and allowances of such research officers if appointed, should be paid by the government.
Mr Prempeh made the suggestion at an educational programme in Kumasi organised by the CEMED to sensitise social clubs and societies from various communities in the Kumasi Metropolis on their role and contributions towards the development of their community.
According to him with research officers at their disposal, the work of MPs would become easier and less tedious since the research officers would maintain constant touch with the constituents and find out their problems and give feed back to the MPs.
Mr Prempeh said the current environment and arrangement under which the MPs operated did not augur well for efficiency since their workload was very tight, thereby making it difficult for them to make any significant impact in their constituencies.
He advised Ghanaians to desist from blaming MPs for any lack of development in the communities and rather put such lapses at the doorsteps of the metropolitan and district assemblies since it was their prime duty to promote, initiate and implement development projects.
Mr. Prempeh said youth associations, clubs, societies and traditional authorities have a moral and social duty to also initiate projects on their own to complement efforts of the assemblies. "The MP is a legislator with the prime focus of discussing and enacting laws to create peace, order and a congenial atmosphere for implementation of projects and conduct of work and life as a whole".
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