"We are on
course", Sonny Ugoh, Spokesperson at the ECOWAS
Secretariat at the M-Plaza Hotel in Accra, where the Talks is going on behind
closed-doors, made this known to the Ghana News Agency in an interview.
He said the
ceasefire agreement signed by the three warring factions - The Liberian
Government; Liberians United For Reconciliation and
Development (LURD) and Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) rebel groups
prescribed a 30-day period for all the stakeholders at the Talks to fashion out
a transitional process for
Ugoh said last week's break in the Peace Talks would not affect the progress
of the negotiations despite the varied positions of the papers presented by the
stakeholders for a comprehensive peace process.
"We are
harmonizing the various positions papers and hope to come out with
something," he said. Ugoh said back-door
negotiations were continuing without major setbacks. He said expectations for a
peace plan for
Ugoh said ECOWAS Chief Mediator General Abdulsalami
Abubakar was attending the two-day meeting.
Meanwhile, Louis Brown, Leader of the Liberia Government Representatives at the
Talks, had given a legal twist to the announcement by President Charles Taylor
to step down.
In reference to
the paragraph eight of the ceasefire agreement that made provisions for an
interim administration in
General Joe
Wylie, Military Spokesman of LURD, who expressed a contrary view, said the
resignation of Liberian Head of State would end years of bloodshed. "He
has to leave in the interest of peace in
On Monday MODEL
also welcomed the decision of President Taylor to resign and go into exile in
West African
states have pledged 3,000 troops to a 5,000 Robust Multi-National
Interventionist Force that would be deployed to end the present carnage and
grave humanitarian crisis in
West African
states had to deploy an interventionist force - ECOMOG - to restore order and
pave way for the elections that brought President Taylor into office.
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Giving evidence
at the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), Bediako,
who was arrested after the overthrow of Dr. Abrefa Busia, said about 15 former members of the PP were arrested
because they were to be put in protective custody. However, they were locked up
in the condemned cells with other criminals where the lights were on them
almost all the time.
Bediako, who was a storekeeper at the time and resident at
Somanya in the Eastern Region, said his three months
experience in prison had made him partially blind, adding that he could only
see when the object was very close to him.
He said during
his detention, soldiers sold the goods worth about 400 pounds in his store and
took the money. He said the building plan that he used as collateral for a loan
he took at the Ghana Commercial Bank was seized by the bank.
Witness, now
resident at Kasoa and unemployed, said he could not
educate his six children to the level he desired because of his arrest and
detention. He said he and the 14 other members of the Party first spent seven
days at the Somanya Police Station after which they
were taken to the Akuse Prisons where they were
released after a week.
Bediako said two weeks later they were arrested again and
sent to the Nsawam Prisons where they spent almost
three months. He said they were not maltreated but they were made to sleep on
the floor and fed with "bad food".
Another
witness, Madam Afua Gyesiwa,
formerly a baker and resident of Nungua in
Madam Gyesiwa said she fell unconscious a few minutes after the
gunshot and only regained consciousness three days later. Witness said the gun
was shot by some Naval Ratings who were then at the gate of the harbour, adding
that she felt the bullet grazed the left side of her lower abdomen and came out
through the left side.
An inspection
of the scars by the Commission showed the scars of the bullet wounds and
another four-inch scar from under her chest to her navel where the surgery was
performed.
Madam Gyesiwa said she became unemployed after the incident since
the doctor advised her not to go near hot fire and she had to stop baking. The
witness said the pain of what she went through made her develop blood pressure
and she has not been fit since.
She said her
three children whose father died about two years before the incident did not
receive good education because her work, through which she catered for them,
came to an abrupt end.
Madam Gyesiwa said though two personnel from the Navy visited her
at the hospital, meaning they had accepted responsibility, her numerous
petitions for financial assistance, especially for her medical bills yielded no
response. She said she paid all the medicals bills herself and had no
compensation.
Madam Gyesiwa pleaded with the NRC to help find gainful
employment for her three unemployed children, aged between 31 and 35 years as a
form of compensation.
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Testifying before the National Reconciliation
Commission (NRC) that resumed public hearing in
Led in evidence
by George William Sykes, Fynn said a day after the
They searched
the room and took his suitcases, watches and other valuable items away. After
45 minutes, another group of armed soldiers came to the house, explaining they
were from the Flagstaff House to investigate a case of stealing the soldiers
who came there earlier had committed.
He said the
five soldiers were drunk. They soon started firing, and in the process, his
son, Anthony Fynn, dropped dead from bullets from the
soldiers. "As soon as they shot the boy, they got into the car and sped
off," Fynn said.
He added that
he later found that there were bullet hole at the navel and back of little Fynn, who was then a pupil of
He said he made
a report of the death of his son to the Nima Police
Station, but the police failed to come for the body. He therefore, conveyed the
body himself to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital for
preservation but doctors and nurses were on strike.
He said upon
the advice of a nurse, he forced his way through dead bodies and deposited his
child in the mortuary. Fynn, who said he was an
electrician, told the Commission that he used to undertake contracts at the
Burma Camp.
He said he
reported the incident to Flt Lt. Rawlings who did not ask him of the culprits,
but said I have sacrificed my son and I would see that
He said he
consulted one Lawyer Mintah for assistance on his
case, but that was also to no avail. According to Fynn,
the bullets the second group of soldiers fired penetrated the window of his
room and some of the particles got into the eyes of his wife, who was then
pregnant.
She found it
difficult with the delivery of the child and has since become hypertensive. She
is now in
Commissioner
Prof. Henrietta Joy Abena Nyarko
Mensa-Bonsu remarked that it was necessary that the
name of little Anthony Fynn was recognised and
honoured if he died for the progress of
Madam Juliana Dogbe, a resident at Kotobabi Abavana Down in
She said the
young man was not satisfied with the price and after disclosing his identity as
a soldier arrested her mother, packed all the garden eggs available into a
basket and sent her mother to Burma Camp. Madam Dogbe
said at about 1300 hours, the soldier returned with a vehicle and three other
soldiers and also arrested her with a bread seller, Amy Fianu
and sent them to the Burma Camp.
At Burma Camp
when she questioned why she had been brought there, a soldier used glowing
cigarette butts to burn her arms and this had left permanent scars of burns on
her arms. "After burning me with the butts, he told me to undress, but I
resisted and removed only the top."
She said one
soldier fetched a container of dirty soapy water in which an army dress had been
washed and poured it on her. She said after that the soldiers beat them with
canes and electric cables. She said she and Amy Fianu
were shaven with broken bottle, and a cut she had had left a permanent scar on
her head.
According to
Madam Dogbe, they were also given the raw garden eggs
to chew. She said after the torture, they were asked to go home. A soldier
offered them a lift to the 37 Military Hospital where
Amy was treated and discharged.
Madam Dogbe said she also went to the Hospital's dispensary and
was given some medication, but after coming home, her condition became worse.
Her pains intensified and her complexion became like soot.
Her husband,
who happened to be a soldier, took her to the 37 Military Hospital
and she went on admission for three months. She was on admission again later
for two more months and has since been going on admission with her husband
bearing her expenses.
After
inspection in a private room, the Commission confirmed the scars on Madam Dogbe's body. She had scars on the head, dark spots on the
arms and loss of four teeth.
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Akotor, a former functionary of the Convention Peoples
Party (CPP), now has a hearing impairment and attributed that to his
incarceration for three-and-a-half years at the Ussher
Fort Prison.
Akotor, now resident at Teshie
in Accra, said he was invited to the Police Headquarters to give evidence about
the arrest of Tawiah Adamafio,
Ako Adjei, H. K. Kofi Crabbe and E. C. Quaye, all functionaries of the then CPP after the attempt
on Nrumah's life at Kulungugu.
He said he was
arrested without charge and thrown into the Usher Fort Prison and was released
after the 1966 coup. He said when he came back from jail, all his property was
vandalised and life became very hard for him. He said he had done his best
"to recover" his life without success and prayed the Commission for
resettlement.
He said he bore
nobody a grudge and extolled the virtues Dr Nkrumah, declaring, "Nkrumah
is still green in my memory." He said, his arrest
was masterminded by enemies.
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The Minister,
addressing Journalists in Accra on Tuesday, when he took his turn at the
Meet-The-Press Series, said Prof Mills had falsified the report that Ghana was
ranked among the least five attractive economic destinations among a total of
21 African countries studied by the World Economic Forum.
A statement
from the NDC Presidential Campaign Centre, issued in
It said Osafo-Maafo,
in a press statement earlier in the day confirmed the nation's total
indebtedness stood at 63 trillion cedis as stated by
Prof Mills. The statement said incidentally, the ¢63trillion debt was arrived
at, using the same method the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government used to
arrived at the ¢41trillion debt when it assumed office in January 2001.
The increase of
¢22trillion, the NDC Campaign Centre said, represented over 50 per cent
increase in the nation's debt stock in only two and half years of the NPP
administration. In the case of domestic debt, the release said Osafo-Maafo, conceded that an increase of ¢4.6trillion in
the then last two and half years but attributed mainly to the absorption of
debts owed by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) and Tema Oil Refinery.
"Typically,
the Finance Minister deliberately ignores an important fact: that the January
2001 domestic debts also included bad debts on the books of banks, (commonly
referred to as Non Performing Assets), End of Service obligations of workers
both in the Public Service and divested commercial enterprises, all of which
were absorbed by the previous government.
The statement
noted that the calculation of the farmers share of the cocoa price had never
been included in the in those other expenditures as construction of feeder
roads in cocoa growing areas, scholarship for education, disease and pest
control and the introduction of "so called " hi-tech cocoa growing
techniques.
Such expenditures,
it said, were normally borne by Central government. The release said the world
market price of the 1650 per tonne of cocoa quoted by Osafo-Maafo
ignored three inter-related factors, the first of which was that substantially
high prices had been recorded on the world market during the current cocoa
season.
"Second,
Ghana earns a premium because of the higher quality of our cocoa beans,"
it said, adding that thirdly the Cocoa Marketing Company was reputed to have a
forward sales marketing strategy which earned Ghana more on the world market.
The NDC
Presidential Campaign Centre said the concern expressed by Prof Mills was over
the actual share of the world market price that went to the cocoa farmer.
"The addition of other expenditure items in the calculation of the
producer price paid to the cocoa farmer just to arrive at a higher percentage
for obvious propaganda purposes is misleading", the release said.
It said the Minister was completely silent on
the issues of "severe and intolerable economic hardships afflicting the
population and corruption within the NPP Government
The NDC
Presidential Campaign Centre said it would issue a detailed reaction to the
Finance Ministers statement in due course.
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Speaking at the
launch of a training programme for the small-scale dairy producers, he said
despite the low consumption, the demand for milk and milk products in the
country exceeded that of local production leaving a huge deficit that had to be
met by importation.
He, therefore,
called for mechanisms to be put in place to ensure that people had access to
adequate, wholesome and affordable milk all year round. The programme comprise
short-term practical courses at the Amrahia Dairy
Farm for persons and organisations involved in milk production, collection,
processing and marketing in the small-scale sector
It is aimed at
improving efficiency and quality along the milk chain. It is being funded by
the FAO at a cost of $330,000 involving the procurement of some dairy training
equipment that would be used to train the private milk collectors, processors
and vendors many of whom were women.
Major Quarshigah said though the importation of dairy products
stood at about 1,800 metric tons in the year 2000, which was reduced to 866
metric tons in 2002, "the imported quantity was still substantial and so
was the import bill.
"We need,
therefore, to encourage domestic milk production as it offers employment and
income generation opportunities for our cattle farmers as well as the
smallholder processors and traders," he said. Major Quarshigah
called on the trainers and trainees to develop mechanisms that would supply
larger quantities of milk with higher levels of safety to the consuming public.
He said
government was addressing the imbalance between the domestic supply and demand
of milk by assigning a high priority to dairy development. Cattle within the
catchments areas of the Amrahia Peri-Urban
Diary Project would be screened for diseases such as tuberculosis and
brucellosis to ensure that the milk supplied was hygienically pure and
disease-free.
Anatolio Ndong Mba, Regional Representative of FAO, expressed the hope
that through the Ministry consumer awareness would be developed about the
nutritional value of locally produced milk and dairy products.
D. B. Etse, Director, Animal Production Directorate of the
Ministry of Food and Agriculture, said so far 200 beneficiaries from all over
the country had undergone the training sessions. He expressed the hope that by
the end of the programme the small-scale diary farmer would be better off than
now.
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Winneba (Central Region)
He therefore,
warned the people of the area to be mindful of their sexual activities to
protect themselves against the disease.
The Medical Officer was speaking at the launch
of a Year-long HIV/AIDS awareness programme at Efutu Fetteh, a suburb of Winneba.
Dr Thompson
said, "The disease is real and has come to stay with Human beings and as
such efforts must be made to stop its spread in the country."
Captain Steve Kwabena Armah, (rtd), District Chief Executive of Efutu
Senya, charged parents and guardians to explain the dangers and medium of
contracting the disease to young members of society. He cautioned
Non-governmental Organisations and Community-Based Organisations who have
received grants to educate the public on the disease to ensure that they
channel those resources to right use.
He asked the
youth to heed the advice being offered by health workers and public officials
to desist from pre-marital sex.
Jonah Boahene and Yaw Osei Asibey,
President and Executive Secretary of Global Hope International, respectively,
organisers of the forum, assured government and Ghanaians of their preparedness
to intensify the HIV/AIDS message to the people, particularly, those at the
grassroots level.
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A press
statement jointly signed by Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwah and Peter Nana Asiedu,
Acting SRC Press Secretary and SRC President respectively in
The SRC said:
"The decision of the authorities was not only inhumane but the situation
does not provide the much needed solution." The SRC admitted the shortage
of facilities and there is the need for quality training.
However, even
if the authorities decide not to admit a single student for the next academic
year the problems of the university would remain the same. "Denial of
qualified Ghanaians access to tertiary education is the greatest disservice
anybody can do to any nation, especially when its human resource is embedded in
the youth who are the bedrock of this country's future."
The SRC said
the time had come for the government to take the bull by the horn and embark on
an accelerated development agenda geared at salvaging the looming educational
disaster. The statement said there was room for expansion of available
infrastructure in all departments, halls and faculties.
"One does not seem to know why government cannot task businesses
and investors to contribute their quota to facilitate expansions initiated by
the government." The SRC called on the government to implement the
recommendation of the President's Educational Review Committee by floating
education bonds to finance infrastructure projects and setting up of endowment
funds at tertiary institutions through the support of the Alumni and Business
community.
It also asked
the Vice Chancellor to explore other alternatives proposed by the SRC "to
avert dashing the dreams and hopes of thousands of Ghanaian
youth who do not deserve nor have any part to play in such a fate."
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Elmina (Central Region)
According to
them, there are so many political appointees at the various local pre-mix
committees that party interference at that level was very high. The fishermen
said this a forum held at Elmina
on Tuesday organised by the Minister of Energy, Dr Paa
Kwesi Nduom as part of his
tour of fishing communities in the country.
They urged the
minister to institute a committee of enquiry into the circumstances that led to
the alleged diversion of a consignment of the commodity meant for
According to
them "fishing business is for fishermen and politicians should not meddle
in their affairs". They expressed concern about the inconsistencies in the
price of pre-mix, which they said was being sold at ¢16,500 instead of ¢16,000.
They also
expressed concern about the insufficient supply of the product at this time
that they have entered the main fishing season. Addressing the fishermen
earlier, Dr. Nduom announced that his Ministry would
soon come out with a new policy that would enable private individuals and
companies to order crude oil or refined oil for sale.
The Minister
however, said that a committee had already been establish
that would supervise the activities of such individual and companies to ensure
consistency in the pricing of the commodity. Nii Bi Ayi Bontey, chairman of the
national pre-mix committee reiterated that the government subsidises every
gallon of pre-mix by ¢4000 and appealed to them to take proper care of it.
Later in an
interview, the Central Regional co-ordinator of pre-mix, Mustapha Mohammed
denied that there has been any diversion of the commodity and challenged the
fishermen to prove their claims. He further denied that there was political
interference in the fishermen's affairs.
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Tema (Greater Accra0 9 July 2003 - Tema is
expected to be the major consumer of the West African Gas Pipeline Project
(WAGPP) in West Africa when its delivery starts in June 2005, Kofi Asante Okai,
External Affairs Manager of the Project announced on Tuesday at Tema.
This is because
Tema is an industrial hub whose demand for power
would be greater and it is expected to consume seven million cubic feet gas
daily, which would rise gradually to 227 million cubic feet as against 130
million cubic feet consumed by the Takoradi thermal
plant that is permanent.
Construction of
the project would start in March 2004 and is expected that by June 2005
delivery would begin at Takoradi, Tema
and
Okai was presenting a paper on the "WAGP Overview and potential"
at a meeting to brief stakeholders at Tema on the
WAGP preliminary draft of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report.
The meeting
provided a forum for traditional authorities from Kpone
and Tema Manhean, Canoe
fishermen, Ghana National Fire Service, Tema
Development Corporation (TDC),
Factories such
as Ghana Cement Works (GHACEM), Tema Steel Works,
Aluminium Works (Aluworks) and other steel companies,
could use the WAGP to produce metallurgical, cement and fertilizers.
Okai said if the WAGP were in operation, the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO)
would not have closed down its last potline as a
result of the downward trend of the Akosombo Dam,
which is the major source of power generation. He stated that the consuming
countries; Ghana, Benin and Togo would access natural gas from Nigeria as fuel
for power generation and industrial development, saying Nigeria's gas reserve
is estimated to be in excess of 160 trillion cubic feet, and will take 150
years to exhaust.
Okai warned that when completed, the WAGP could not be used initially for
domestic cooking because it could not be bottled for use like the Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG), however, "in the next
10 to 20 years, when the retail network is in place, people who could afford to
connect the pipe to their homes for domestic use".
The WAGP is
lighter than the LPG, he said, and described it as cost effective, clean and
reliable energy for
According to
the External Affairs Manager, the WAGP would transport gas from Alagboado in
He said an
intensive awareness educational programme would be carried out for fishermen
along the coast on the activities of the WAGP to avert damaging their fishing
equipment and therefore, asked fishermen to allay the fears that the project
would disrupt their fishing expedition.
Prof A. K. Armah, local EIA Consultant for the project, said
precautionary measures would be put in place to rectify environmental pollution
and degradation, while safety measures are also taken care off.
The Investment
Consortium who owns the WAGP consists of Chevron Texaco West Africa Gas
Pipeline with a share of 41.87 percent, Nigerian Petroleum Corporation, 25.25
percent, Shell Overseas Holdings Limited 16.50 percent and Takoradi
Power Company Limited 16.38 percent.
In the case of
the company in
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Kwame Afranie, Vice-Chairman of the Kuntanase-Kumasi local branch of the GPRTU, said lack of
pension scheme for members had created a situation where most drivers ended up
as "beggars" at lorry stations or serve as "bookmen" when
they retire.
He was
addressing a meeting of the union at the weekend at the Asafo
Market lorry station in
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Ejisu (Ashanti Region)
This is meant
to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of government's investment in the
sector. Akwasi Osei-Agyei,
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, said this at the 30th anniversary and
Second Speech and Prize-giving Day of the
He said the
government places emphasis on developing basic education that would be nurtured
from early childhood development, and alternative education for children who
are out of school.
Osei-Agyei, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, said the
education of the youth would be linked with the labour market needs through the
expansion of technical and vocational education and training as well as special
skills acquisition programmes through greater participation of the private
sector.
He said the
government would take appropriate measures against any acts of insubordination
and indiscipline, which he said has characterised the behaviour of some
students.
Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional
Minister, said the government would stand behind any educational institution
that took pragmatic steps to instil discipline among its students.
He urged
parents to support teachers in their efforts at ensuring discipline in schools.
F.A. Owusu, Headmaster of the school, appealed for
construction of classroom blocks and places of convenience to improve
conditions at the school.
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Funsi (Upper West)
It entails the
use of discarded commercial wrappers with labels which explain the contents of
products such as tooth paste, soap, milk and empty cans of other products by
teachers to encourage children to form reading habits in communities where
reading materials are not available.
The project
also encourages teachers in such communities to acquire discarded packing cases
and use them in making teaching aids instead of relying on cardboards from
official sources. Abudulai Jakalia,
a Lecturer at the Department of English Education of the
About 200
teachers from Lasia, Tuolu,
Poyentanga, Bulenga and Tendamba cluster of schools had already been exposed to the
new teaching methodology in the workshops sponsored by the Wa
District Assembly. At one of such workshops at Funsi
in the
Literacy was
the strongest weapon that could be used to hold on to political and economic
power, he said. "It means that the more literate you are the more likely
that you will have power."
"Any
meaningful print in the neighbourhood that can be used for communication is
important to a poor person as long as he can select what is good and
useful," he said. Jakalia expressed regret that
most of the
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His appointment
takes affect from Monday 7 July. A statement signed by Ben Assorrow,
Executive Secretary of the Department of Social Communication of the NCS, said
Father Osei-Agyemang succeeds the Reverend Monsignor
Jonathan Ankrah, who has been the Secretary - General
for five years.
It said the new
Secretary - General was the Sunyani Diocesan
Administrator and also served as its Vicar General from 1995 - 2001 under the
late Bishop James Owusu. Father Osei Agyemang was born on
He was ordained
a priest on
He was also
awarded a certificate on: "The United Nations and International
Department" from the Columbia University, New York, USA.
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Ajumako (Central Region)
The workshop is
being sponsored by the Ghana Aids Commission (GAC), and is geared towards
increasing the participants' competence for effective implementation of anti-
HIV/AIDS programmes.
Ms Osei
expressed concern about the ravaging effects of the disease in the educational
sectors of some neighbouring countries, and said the GES with its strong
workforce was determined to help combat the disease. She briefed them about
interventions put in place by the ministry of education in collaboration with
the GAC to combat the disease, and reduce the prevalence rate by 30 percent in
2005.
She told the
participants to help bring about the desired behavioural change. They should
intensify education among students, pupils, teachers and the society at large,
on the need to abstain from sex before marriage, and to remain faithful to
their partners afterwards, she said.
"We are
all candidates for HIV/AIDS and must, therefore, be agents of change", she
said. Mrs Ellen Mensah, Deputy Director, School
Health Education unit of the GES, said the workshop is the second in a series
and is being organised for capacity building to ensure competence in the
delivery and performance of selected HIV/AIDS focal persons from the regional
and district offices.
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