GRi Newsreel 14 – 07 – 2003

Cost recovery would create class society - PNC

Ghanaians advised not to politicise developmental issues

African Union’s Commmission established

NDC advised to make parliamentary nominations transparent

Students destroyed ’200m property during riot

Skilled manpower needed to move Ghana forward - Boafo

Minister urged communities to use facilities available

Body of baby found floating in dam

Fear grips residents of Esaase-Bontefufuo

Assembly officials suspected of embezzling funds

 

 

Cost recovery would create class society - PNC

 

Accra (Greater Accra) 14 July 2003 - Dr Edward Mahama, Leader of the People's National Convention (PNC), has cautioned the government against its policy of cost recovery in education, saying, it would create a class society. "The PNC does not regard education as a cost to be shared or recovered. We regard education as an investment made to develop the most important resource the nation has".

 

"Cost recovery will create class society in Ghana and jeopardise the fragile stability we are enjoying," he said in faxed statement to the GNA on Sunday, in commemoration of the first anniversary of the Principals College at Dome in Accra.

 

Dr Mahama said, "I call it fragile because in the midst of rising unemployment, poverty, unaffordable hospital and school fees and helplessness and hopelessness there cannot be meaningful stability". He said, "the helplessness and hopelessness are measured by the risk the youth take in stowing away on air crafts or in walking to Libya through the desert". 

 

Dr Mahama said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government initiated the idea of cost sharing in Ghana, which resulted in many young people dropping out of higher educational institutions. He said, "Just like HIPC is a worse form of structural adjustment, so is full cost recovery a worse form of cost sharing".

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Ghanaians advised not to politicise developmental issues

 

Nsoatre (Brong Ahafo) 14 July 2003 - Kofi Bonsu Boakye-Boateng, a Deputy Brong-Ahafo Regional Secretary in the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) regime at the weekend advised Ghanaians to refrain from politicising issues on national development.

 

Speaking at the launch of new identity cards of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at Nsoatre in the Sunyani West constituency, he stressed that "the progress of the country should be the concern of all Ghanaians" and not to play "politics" with the development of the nation.

 

Boakye-Boateng urged chiefs in the region to mobilize communities to embark on activities that would help speed up national development and asked them to ensure that partisan politics did not affect development programmes.       

 

The former Regional Secretary appealed to the NPP to honour the late ex-Prime Minister Professor Kofi Abrefa Busia with a school, airport or any other monumental edifice at Wenchi, his hometown in Brong-Ahafo "as an advocate of democratic rule in Ghana and a preacher of dialogue as a means of solving issues."

 

Collins Dauda, Regional Chairman of NDC, accused a section of the media of unfair reportage, especially against opposition parties. He urged such media organisations to change and be fair and balanced in their work as expected of them as professionals.

 

It was the NDC government, which approved of the operations of Frequency Modulation (FM) stations and the creation of more private newspapers in the country, he said, but expressed regret that "some of these FM stations and newspapers showed open bias, instead of operating within the confines of the profession as educators and disseminators of information."        

 

Mohammed Doku, Regional Secretary of the Party, accused the NPP Government "for mismanaging the resources of the nation, hence its inability to fulfil its election campaign promises."

 

No amount of trials and imprisonment of NDC functionaries could damage the image of the party, he said and urged members not to be deterred but to come together and fight for their rights.

 

Twenty of the identity cards were sold for ’200,000. John Barfour Diawuo, Sunyani West Constituency Chairman of NDC presided.

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African Union’s Commmission established

 

Maputo (Mozambique) 14 July 2003 - The Second Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of African Union (AU) ended in Maputo at the week-end with the establishment of the Union's Commission, the key organ to run its day-to-day management.

 

The Commission represents the Union and defends its interests, elaborate common positions, prepares strategic plans and studies for the consideration of the Executive Council. It also elaborates, promotes, co-ordinates and harmonizes programmes of the Union with those of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and ensures the mainstreaming of gender in all programmes of the Union.

 

The membership is made up of a Chairperson his deputy, eight Commissioners each of whom would be responsible for a portfolio and staff. Chairperson of the first Commission of the Union is former Malian President Alpha Oumar Konare with Patrick Kayumba Mazimhaka, a former Special Adviser to Rwandan President Paul Kagame as his deputy.

 

Seven out of the eight other Commissioners who were elected and their appointments confirmed by the Assembly included five women. They were, Said Djinnit from Algeria for Peace and Security, Mrs Julia Dolly Joiner from the Gambia for Political Affairs, Bernard Zoba from Congo Brazzaville for Infrastructure and Energy, Ms Philomina Gawanas Bience from Namibia for Social Affairs.

 

The rest were Mrs Saida Agrebi from Tunisia for Human Resources, Science and Technology, Ms Elisabeth Tankeu from Cameroon for Trade and Industry and Ms Rosebud Kurwisica from Tanzania for Rural Economy and Agriculture. The eighth portfolio Economic Affairs was not elected but had be assigned to the Southern African region to appoint someone.

 

President Konare begins a four-year term at the AU Secretariat in September.

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NDC advised to make parliamentary nominations transparent

 

Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 14 July 2003 - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Constituency Secretariats, have been advised to be transparent and to open up nomination for the parliamentary primaries of the party to any member desirous to contest without discrimination.

 

J. B. Salifu, Acting Ashanti Regional Deputy Secretary, said it was crucial for the constituencies to ensure that only registered members who meet all the requirements filed nomination for the primaries.

 

He was interacting with the Asokwa-East Constituency Executives and the Akorem Ward and Branch Executives of the party in Kumasi on Saturday as part of an exercise to discuss and revamp structures at the grassroots.

 

Salifu, who is also the Asokwa-East Constituency Secretary, said it was only when nominations were filed in a fair and transparent manner that the right parliamentary candidate could be chosen to guarantee victory in the parliamentary elections.

 

"Nominations for the parliamentary primaries of the NDC, opened two weeks ago, and is scheduled to close by 31 August 2003", he added. He accused the NPP of deceit, saying, it assumed power only to continue with policies it accused the NDC of pursuing.

 

He said NPP "kicked against the NDC for privatising some State Enterprises, with the pledge that such things will cease when it assumes power, but strangely, on assumption of power, it has adopted same policies, and has even widened the scope of privatisation of the State Enterprises".

 

Umaro Farouk Gado, the Deputy Asokwa-East Constituency Organiser, urged the media to allow the expression of divergent views and dissenting opinions. He said the tendency of some media houses always siding with the government while downplaying the views of minority parties did not augur well for nurturing of the country's democracy and should be discouraged.

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Students destroyed ’200m property during riot

 

Konongo (Ashanti Region) 14 July 2003 - It has now been established that property worth ’200m was destroyed during the recent student disturbances at the Konongo-Odumase Secondary School (KOSS).

 

George Frimpong, Asante Akim North District Chief Executive (DCE), announced this on Friday, when the Ashanti Regional Minister, Sampson Kwaku Boafo, the Deputy Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) in-charge of Management Services, Miss Lydia Osei, officials of the Regional Security Council, District Assembly and GES, visited the school to acquaint themselves with the situation on campus after its re-opening.

      

The school was re-opened on 25 June after three weeks of closure following students' riots, which destroyed several items including computers and science equipment. Frimpong said apart from the cost of the destruction being borne by the students, the disturbances had also affected academic work of the students.

 

He urged the students to put the past behind and work hard to catch up with their lost time. Miss Lydia Osei said the demonstration had affected the image of the school, which could take many years to repair. She advised the students to always submit to authority, discipline themselves and pursue careers that could help build their future.

 

Miss Osei also appealed to the teachers to put the past behind and team up with the headmaster to push the school forward. Boafo called for discipline in all educational institutions in the country.

 

He said the demonstration had dented the image of the school and called on the students to re-examine themselves and work hard to ensure the progress of the school.

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Skilled manpower needed to move Ghana forward - Boafo

 

Kumasi (Greater Accra) 14 July 2003 - Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, has said the government's declaration of Golden Age of Business will be meaningless without the effective involvement of technically skilled manpower.

 

He called for the intensification of technical and vocational education to equip the youth with skills for accelerated socio-economic development. Boafo said these in an address read on his behalf at the graduation of the Ramseyer Presbyterian Technical and Vocational Institute, in Kumasi on Saturday.

 

It was under the theme "The Role of Technical and Vocational Education in the Golden Age of Business in Ghana". A total of 95 students who had completed three-year courses in Fashion, Catering, Furniture and Construction among others, graduated and were awarded certificates.

 

The Regional Minister indicated that Japan, Germany and South Korea, which some time past were impoverished, managed to lift themselves from poverty due to the technical and vocational oriented education they pursued.

 

He said it was in recognition of the important role of technical education in development that the current educational system was being re-formed, to address the socio-economic challenges of the time. Emmanuel Appiah, Principal of the Institute, noted that apart from training the youth to acquire practical skills for self-employment, the institute also offered the opportunity for people to further their education.

 

It also encouraged them to write the NVTI Trade test examinations, to enable them enter Polytechnics for advance courses.

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Minister urged communities to use facilities available

 

Buoku (Brong Ahafo) 14 July 2003 - Nana Kwadwo Seinti, Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, on Wednesday deplored the refusal of some communities to accept and utilise certain economic facilities provided in them. He identified lack of effective consultation between project implementers like District Assemblies and beneficiaries before the provision of the facilities such as markets as a major reason.

 

The Regional Minister called on the District Assemblies to seek consensus with the people on the location of particularly markets. Nana Seinti was speaking at Buoku in the Wenchi District after inspecting a market project as part of a two-day tour of the district.

 

The ’274m market has two open sheds, a revenue office and places of convenience. The Village Infrastructure Project (VIP) under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the District Assembly financed the project with 90 and 10 percent of the cost respectively.

 

However, the facility is not being used by the people as expected because of the long distance from the town. Nana Seinti noted that due to their location, the people had rejected about eight of such markets in the region. Joe Danquah, District Chief Executive, explained that the facility had not been abandoned and said it was built to facilitate the maize business in the area on Fridays.

 

The Regional Minister later at a durbar with the chiefs and people of the town urged them to give priority to the education of their children and explained other Government policies.

 

Nana Addai Sekyere-Adu, Odikro of the town said the community faced acute water shortage, while school buildings had to be rehabilitated. He appealed for high-tension poles for their electrification project, saying, the town was sandwiched by forest reserves, which made it impossible for expansion and appealed to the Government to release land to private developers.

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Body of baby found floating in dam

 

Aflao (Volta Region) 14 July 2003 - The Police in Tadzewu, a farming community near Dzodze, in the Ketu District, have mounted a search for the mother of a 10 month-old baby girl, whose body was found floating in a dam on the outskirts of the town on 1 July.

 

Police Inspector Michael Torgbenu, Officer in-charge of Tadzewu, said the mother was the prime suspect in the crime. The dam is the source of water for the community. He said school children found the body floating in the dam and informed the Police who retrieved and sent it to the Saint Anthony's Hospital at Dzodze for autopsy.

 

Torgbenu said the hospital report said the baby died of suffocation from drowning. He said one had claimed to be the parents of the baby, which was buried last Thursday.

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Fear grips residents of Esaase-Bontefufuo

 

Esaase-Bontefufuo (Ashanti Region) 14 July 2003 - Fear and insecurity gripped residents of Esaase-Bontefufuo in the Amansie West District in the early hours of Wednesday when heavily armed police personnel from the Striking Force in Kumasi stormed the town and arrested some youth for allegedly obstructing communal labour.

 

The small mining community is now virtually deserted by the youth, most of whom have sought refuge in the bush and the surrounding areas.

 

The police said to be acting on the instructions of Nana Serwaa Akenten, Queenmother, Nana Agyemang Badu Prempeh, Adotenhene, Nana Kwame Acheampong, Regent and some elders of the town continue to search for 13 suspects most of them members of the Unit Committee and Kwame Acheampong, Assembly Member.

 

Osei Kwame and Kwabena Fokuo, both Unit Committee members and Kwasi Agyemang are in cells at the Kumasi Central Police station.

 

According to the Assembly Member and Kwabena Asante Kobea, Unit Committee Member, the youth called on the town's financial committee led by Kofi Adjei to render accounts on the sale of the community pipe-borne water for the past two years, fines from communal labour defaulters, stray animals and donations from funerals at a meeting.

 

They said the demand did not go down well with Adjei and the financial committee who informed the Adontenhene and the Queenmother resident in Kumasi who allegedly sent in the police to arrest the youth.

 

Acheampong said the Queenmother and some elders had earlier petitioned the Amansie West District Chief Executive demanding his withdrawal from the District Assembly. He appealed to the DCE, Ashanti Regional Minister and the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development to probe the financial management of the town.

 

Nana Prempeh, the Adontenhene and Nana Amoako Atta, an elder of the town when contacted confirmed the arrests and said the youth were harassing the elders following the arrest of three of them.

 

He alleged that 16 identified suspects restrained the youth from undertaking communal labour on a clinic initiated by the local Catholic Church leading to the assault of Agyemang and Kwabena Kusi.

 

Kwame Afriyie alias Kofi Manhunusa, an elder of the town, however, refuted the allegation and attributed the arrests of the youth to their demand for probity and accountability of the town's financial management. The Kumasi Police have confirmed the arrests and said investigations were being conducted into the case.

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Assembly officials suspected of embezzling funds

 

Suhum (Eastern Region) 14 July 2003 - Three senior officials of the Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar District Assembly suspected of embezzling ’180m have been handed over to the police, Michael Mensah, District Chief Executive (DCE), has announced.

 

Addressing a meeting of the Nankese Area Council and revenue collectors at Nankese on Saturday, the DCE warned revenue officers that they would be made to face the full rigours of the law if caught engaging in financial malfeasance. 

 

Mensah said though the Assembly was doing its best to mobilise funds for development, revenue collectors continued to connive with some people to evade tax. William Kwaku Ampong, District Finance Officer, noted that revenue collection among assemblies and urban and area councils had become competitive.

 

He, therefore, urged revenue officers to work hard to enable the Assembly increase revenue generation, thereby raising its share of the District Assemblies' Common Fund. The Local Government Inspector, Elijah Acquah, advised revenue collectors to improve on their output to win annual awards instituted by the Assembly.

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