PSWU opposes privatisation of GCB
NRC Chairman cautions public gallery
CHRAJ urges Rawlings to cooperate with Police
Engineers urged to produce tools to assist farmers
Rawlings
responds to women demonstrators
Minister calls for fairness in distribution
Accra
(Greater Accra) 16 July 2003 - The Ministry of Information and Presidential
Affairs on Tuesday advised the public to be cautious in dealing with
"Services Company," a United States (US) based company claiming to
assist Ghanaians to get job placements abroad.
A
statement signed by Kofi Sekyiamah,
Chief Director, of the Ministry said the company, with four employees provided
professional resume services and linked up applicants to various companies but
did not guarantee a job for an applicant.
The
statement said the company had been making overtures to some Ghanaians through
their postal addresses, urging those interested in seeking jobs in the
"This
creates the impression that Services Company provides assistance in visa
acquisition and airfare arrangements," the statement added.
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A
statement signed by Jacob Amoako, Co-ordinating
Secretary of the GNUPS said much as the students shared the plight of the
lecturers, "We would like to appeal to the lecturers of the Ho Polytechnic
that although the issue raised is genuine, we urge them to allow the National
Executive of POTAG to take it up with the government.
The
statement criticised the use of strikes as a means of getting problems solved,
saying "when promises are made they need to be kept to build strong
confidence in the people."
It
appealed to the negotiating team to get the lecturers back to the halls to
prevent the strike spreading to other polytechnics. The statement wished all
final year students in senior secondary schools success in their examination,
which started on Tuesday.
"Success
at examinations stems from early preparations and not through cheating, which
could lead to cancellations of examination and spell the doom of
individuals," the statement reminded the candidates.
"We
have confidence in you, believing that you have done your homework well and
will come out with flying colours," it added.
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PSWU opposes privatisation of GCB
Koforidua (Eastern Region) 16 July 2003 - The Public Services Workers Union (PSWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has added its voice to the opposition against the government's intention to divest its majority shares in the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB) since it would not be in the "interest of public servants in particular and the nation as a whole."
It
pledged to keep speaking against the idea "until the government listens
and reverses the decision". The General Secretary of the
He
said the
Okine called members attention to the provisions of the Labour Bill now
before Parliament and said the
He,
therefore, charged the
He
said since existing members and potential ones would have choices to make in
the union they would wish to join, they would have to make the Union more
attractive and relevant through new value systems and radical transformation in
service delivery and expansion.
Okine called on the Leadership of the union to be accountable in their
financial affairs to retain the confidence and support of the membership in the
implementation of Union programmes.
He
stressed the need for all branches to organise regular educational programmes
on topical national issues to empower members, saying the national secretariat
spent ¢100m to equip women members in income-generating skills last year.
The
National Chairman of the union, Mensah Nyarko, said the
It
had also invested in the hospitality industry with a guest house in
Nyarko later swore-in a new five-member Regional Executive Council of the
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo)
Speaking
at the launch of an HIV/AIDS Project of the Mid-West Ghana Conference of the
Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) Church in Sunyani, the
Deputy Regional Minister referred to a statement from Korle-Bu
Teaching Hospital that it cost about ¢45m to sustain an infected HIV/AIDS
patient to live for about a year more.
He
noted that cumulative AIDS cases recorded between January and March in Brong-Ahafo stood at 7,581 and cautioned people to do their
best to avoid casual sex and any other practices that could make them to
contract the disease.
Adjei-Duffour expressed satisfaction that the Mid-West Ghana Conference of the SDA
had joined the fight against the pandemic, saying "the church is a very
good place where souls can be won and changed so the launch of this HIV/AIDS
outreach programme is a step in the right direction".
He
said the Government in efforts to ensure that the pandemic did not spread wider
to affect the national economy had contracted a loan of $25m to assist in its
prevention and reduction.
The
Deputy Regional Minister said the Government was sponsoring community-based
organizations and non-governmental organizations through the Ghana AIDS
Commission to join in the educational campaign and urged people in the Region
to co-operate and embrace the educational programmes.
Pastor
James Kwaku Badu, President
of the Mid-West Ghana Conference of SDA, announced that the church had received
¢200m from the Ghana AIDS Commission for the programme.
He
said the Conference had initially trained 24 peer educators from six out of the
23 districts under its administration for the exercise and expressed optimism
that the team would perform to expectation.
The
Conference comprises SDA churches in Brong-Ahafo and
some parts of the Western Region and the six districts for the HIV/AIDS
education are Asutifi, Sunyani,
Tano, Wenchi, Jaman and Kintampo. Pastor Badu said the church was already engaged in HIV/AIDS
educational campaign through a five million cedis
offer from the Adventist Development Relief Agency (ADRA), a wing of the SDA
church, which is also organizing HIV/AIDS education among church members.
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NRC Chairman cautions public gallery
Justice
Amua-Sekyi said what happened to the witnesses could
happen to anybody or kin, and asked whether it would be fair to laugh during
witnesses' testimonies.
Justice
Amua-Sekyi made the call when apparent noise of
laughter emanated from the public gallery at point in narration of Stephen Kwame Obeng, 76, of how his
business at Hohoe was collapsed by a series of
military actions in 1979.
Giggles
began in the public gallery when Obeng said before he
would answer a question from a soldier at the Ho Barracks Guardroom, where he
was detained, if he would not go to be shaved, the soldiers slapped him, booted
him in the abdomen and followed it again with more slaps.
Obeng, now 76, then owner of three shops named Abotare
Ye Stores based at Hohoe said his stores dealt in
electrical appliances, general goods, including clothing materials and plastic wares.
He said a group of soldiers arrived in a military vehicle. Their leader
enquired of his identity and then stationed two soldiers near the depot of his
store and asked some others to take him home.
When
they got to the house, they searched all his rooms but they found nothing and
he was brought back to his store. They seized some of the items in the store
and told him that Government had ordered that they should come and sell the
goods in his store.
He
said despite the price tags on the displayed goods, they sold them at very reduced prices, and gave an instance in which a
standing fan priced at 25 cedis was sold at seven cedis.
Obeng said after that they marched him to the technical goods store and
parked the wares in it into a standby truck and later to the general goods
store where they sold the contents at their own preferred prices.
After
that they made him stand in front of the store and brought proprietors of other
stores in the town. They included one Danquah, and
the owner of the Aquay Allah Store, who are now
deceased. He said they were taken to the Ho Barracks Guardroom and locked up
with female detainees.
He
said they were put into batches, drilled and flogged, and he was also shaved.
He said a nursing mother of a three months old baby was also brought in and
beaten for selling fish at a price they considered too high. He said when the
soldiers brought him back the following day, one of his sons volunteered to be
taken away instead of his father he was taken to the Ho barracks and detained
for a week, and later additional four weeks during which he was drilled and
beaten.
His
son was also shaved, and on his release, had visible signs of beating. The
soldiers seized his vehicle, used it as a duty vehicle and later abandoned it
on the
Obeng could not estimate the value of the wares in the stores, but said he
lost his business. He said he had then paid all his taxes, but the then
Citizens Vetting Committee (CVC) charged him for defaulting in payment, and he
was made to pay a fine of ¢1.6m, in addition to a fine of ¢80,000 the Tax
Office made him to pay.
He
said he was indebted to a number of people and institutions, and yet the
soldiers kept harassing him until the 1981 coup when they stopped. Obeng said he trained as a goldsmith, and arrived in the
Volta Region in 1949 and later took over the trading business from his late
father and worked hard to develop it to the level it was before it was attacked
by the soldiers.
He
said the Barclays Bank seized some of his assets, and the Ghana Commercial Bank
also seized a tractor from his sons who tried to revitalise the remains of his
business, which they gave a different name because of his indebtedness.
He
expressed sympathy for his cat that was in one of the stores for the three
months that the store was locked. The cat went without food for the period and
survived on drops of water that entered the room. Commissioners were unanimous
in expressing sympathy to Obeng.
When
asked how the soldiers who attacked his store were faring, Obeng
said he could hardly remember them, but added that he had heard that most had
either died or become mad, adding that, "God judges every situation"
and those soldiers would pay for their deeds.
Obeng said he was ready to forgive any of the soldiers, and Commissioner Uborr Dalafu Labal
expressed regret over the action of the soldiers and appealed to those who area
alive to contact Obeng to apologise to him.
Mathias
Komla Anku, of Togoho Mote, a taxi driver spoke of his arrest and
detention for five months in the Ho Guardroom and later Ho Prisons for three
months without charge. Henry Kofi Motey
prayed the Commission for the restoration of the paramountcy
of the Asogli Traditional Area to enable his late
father, Torgbui Xorwusu Morttey II, who died in exile to be given a funeral
befitting his status.
He said
his father, then an activist of then United Party, was demoted from his paramountcy and given a lower status and declared Asafohene. However, the Agyeman Badu Committee that reviewed the case of the rightful ruler
after the Justice Apaloo had declared his father as
the rightful occupant to the paramounty case never
came out with a report because of interventions from the Convention People's
Party (CPP).
His
father later went into exile to
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Bishop
Appiah Turkson expressed
the concern when he inaugurated nine-member reconstituted Catholic Health
Council in
"Therefore,
we should be given what is due us to enable us to perform effectively since we
all have the same goal and aspirations of giving quality healthcare to the
people of
The
Council would be guided by a policy document, which was also launched at the
same ceremony to improve and expand the provision of health care delivery. The
Third Policy Document, which reflects on the current issues of concern to the
National Catholic Health Services (NCHS), would facilitate and promote the
animation of the church's stated philosophy and principles of commitment in
health care delivery.
Bishop
Appiah Turkson noted that
there had been many instances when the Catholic Church had been described as
wealthy, thus, did not need any assistance from government.
"The
church believes that government can not respond to the high demand of health
care from the population alone and to continue with Christ's healing ministry,
NCHS was created to assist in this direction". He said government should
not see them as rivals or competitors in health care delivery but as providers
with the same goal and aspirations.
He
noted that the Church's Health Department no longer had access or take part in the activities of the Ministry of Health and
called for more collaboration to promote the health standard of the people.
Dr
Gilbert Buckle, Executive Secretary of the Department of Health, said the
policy would seek to improve the quality and access to health care services of
communities and strengthen its response and approach to the fight against
HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Mrs
Isabella Abban, Health Service Coordinator of the
Department of Health of the church, said lack of human resource posed a great
challenge to the delivery of quality health care and called for collaboration
to achieve the aim of offering quality health care to the people.
Bishop
Appiah Turkson expressed the
concern when he inaugurated a nine-member reconstituted Catholic Health Council
in
The
others were Dr John Wilson, Representative of the
Rev
Thomas K. Mensah, Episcopal Chairman for Health
chairs the Council. The members are Dr Gilbert Buckle, Executive Secretary of
the Department of Health, Brother Stephen Obku,
Representative of the Male Congregations in Health, Rev. Dr. Rose Farren, Representative of the Female Congregation in Health
and Thomas Sennor, Representative of the
The
others were Dr John Wilson, Representative of the
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This
was announced when a 12-member delegation led by Jean van Boxmeer,
Executive Director of Heineken, called on Vice President Aliu
Mahama at the Castle, Osu.
Prof
Maarteen Looijen, the
Consultant developing the project, said the two-year programme, which would
start with holders of Bachelor of Science Degree, would be business-oriented to
make industry to benefit.
He
said the first year of the programme would be dedicated to 16 state of the art
ICT models, while in the second year students would do their internship with
business concerns and industries up to eight months before they would write
their thesis.
The
ICT Centre would also run middle level and other courses in computing to make
workers more competitive on the job market. Dr Kwame Donkor Fordjour, Acting Chairman
of GBL, said a building valued at 30 billion cedis
had been acquired for the programme, adding that issues relating to
accreditation and other relevant modalities were being sorted out.
Vice
President Mahama welcomed the announcement and
commended Heineken and GBL for being good corporate citizens with commitment to
their social responsibility. He said GBL had contributed a lot to support
education in
Vice
President Mahama urged Heineken to explore
investments in fruit processing, which had very good prospects. "I was in
the Central Region recently and I saw a lot of citrus going to waste. The
people there are anxious to receive investors to make use of their
produce," he said.
The
Vice President also commended GBL for using maize and sorghum in the production
of beer saying it had created jobs for many poor people. He, however, appealed
to the Company to consider increasing the cereals content in beer, which was
now 25 per cent.
C.
O. Nyarnor, Chairman of the Divestiture
Implementation Committee, also asked Heineken to invest in fruit processing
because its market potential was bright.
Alan
Kyerematen, Minister of Trade Industry and the
President's Special Initiatives, said Heineken's long-term commitment to doing
business in
He
said at a recent meeting in
Yamson said, however, that the government could not solve all the problems
affecting businesses in
He
said the stable political climate was good for business and his company was satisfied
with its investments in
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The
WACAP is a three-year project that targets the withdrawal and education of
about 10,000 children below the ages of 18 from exploitation on the farms. It
would also train them in occupational safety and health.
The
implementation of the project was necessitated by the threat of boycott of
cocoa products by consumers in
Delegates
from Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Guinea, Nigeria, the EU and the United States
joined their host, Ghana to set up the Project, which apart from the initial
goal to get children out of the farms into schools, is also exploiting ways to
ensure that the children, who could not make it to school were given gainful
vocational training.
Speaking
at the launch, the Senior Minister, J.H. Mensah, said
the government would do whatever was within its power to stop the practice not
because of the threat of boycott of cocoa products, but in an effort to stem
the enslavement of the children, which constituted a gross violation of human
rights under the country's laws.
Mensah debunked the idea that farmers were entrapped into using cheap child
labour because of the unfair prices of commodities in the world market and
urged the countries to eliminate the practice even in the face of falling
prices.
The
move to shun cocoa products was likely to put into jeopardy the economic
viability of the countries, most of which depended highly on cocoa as a major
foreign exchange earner.
Dr
Angela Ofori-Atta, Deputy Minister of Manpower
Development and Employment, said most children entrapped in child-labour had
lost out and could not exploit their potentials to the full because they were
denied education.
This,
she said, had a negative impact on human resource development in the country.
She said the government had benefited immensely from a $2.3m grant from the
United States Agency for International Development to boost its efforts to
eliminate the practice and give meaning to the future of children, who were
victims of the canker.
Dr Ofori-Atta said so far about 2,000 children had been withdrawn
from working in hazardous environments. Mrs Gladys Asmah,
Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, said forcing children to become
economic agents early in life compromised their future and ruined their chances
of progress in the global environment.
Cornelius
Dzapkasu, ILO Area Director, said there was the need
to integrate the children into the society since it was insufficient to only
withdraw them from the farms.
Kwasi Adu-Amankwah, Secretary-General Trades Union
Congress, said family incomes should be enhanced to enable parents to forgo
earnings from child labour, which had become critical for the survival of many
families.
The
International Labour Organisation estimates that more than 250 million children
between the ages of five and 14 are engaged in economic activities globally,
with about 70 per cent of them engaged in agricultural activities. The project
is being supported by funds from the United States Department of Labour and
leading chocolate manufacturers, cocoa processors and respective trade
associations in
There
are also plans to improve the income earning capacity of at least 500 adult
family members and prevent about 70,000 children between the ages of 13 and 18
from engaging in hazardous work.
The
target would be achieved through five key areas of intensive awareness
creation, capacity building, social protection measures such as education and
training, an effective monitoring system and information dissemination.
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Dagbiriboari (Northern Region)
The
injured, Tia Mumuni and the
policeman whose name was withheld were rushed to the
According
to the District Police Commander, Superintendent Ben Atadana,
on 2 February, this year, a 46-year old woman, Alima Zakari, was accused of killing one Achiri
Danaba 50, through witchcraft.
The
accused persons, who were irritated by the alleged behaviour of Alima, burnt down her house and in the process destroyed
property estimated at ¢11.5m. Supt Atadana said the
Constable and Mumuni were sent to effect
the arrest of the suspects but they met resistance from the youth, who mounted
barricade at the outskirts of the village.
The
police officer said the youth threw stones and fired at them and in the process
wounded Mumuni in the hand and the Constable in the
leg.
Supt.
Atadana advised the community to desist from accusing
people of witchcraft, adding that such allegations could not be justified and
there is no way they could prove the allegations." He cautioned that any
person or group of persons who took the law into their own hands to disturb the
peace in the area would have themselves to blame.
Supt
Atadana appealed to the chiefs to advise their
subjects against such practices because they tend to inflame passions and bring
about ethnic conflicts.
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Giving
evidence under cross-examination at the court, which is trying four persons in
connection with the case, Sergeant Imoro, the Ninth
Prosecution Witness, disagreed with a suggestion by Defence Counsel that his
investigations were shoddily done, because he neither interrogated major
people, nor relied on bank statements and records of the company.
Sergeant Imoro, who was under
cross-examination by Johnny Quarshie-Idun, Counsel
for Ayittey, disagreed with a suggestion that because
he was working under instructions he did not consider it worthwhile to
interrogate accountants and auditors.
He
told the court that the investigation team interrogated all the accused persons
and suspects in connection with the matter, but failed to talk to officials
from Delloitte and Touche,
external auditors of the company that was being investigated.
Asked
by Counsel whether he was aware that Ayittey, in her
caution statement to the Police, denied any knowledge about 150,000 pounds
sterling she was alleged to have instructed be put into her personal accounts
in Austria, Witness replied in the affirmative.
The
Investigator said he was also aware of an amount of 618,000 dollars withdrawn from
the coffers of GREL by its Former Managing Director, Etienne Marie Popeler, which he gave to his Togolese friend. However,
Sergeant Imoro added that it did not form the basis
of the Police investigations.
He
said the investigation team's assignment was to look into a theft at GREL.
Witness said the Police had information about the stealing case at GREL through
an informant, but stated in court that the ethics of his profession did not
permit him to disclose the identity of the informant.
The
four accused persons are Hanny Sherry Ayittey, Treasurer of the 31st December Women's Movement;
Emmanuel Amuzu Agbodo,
Former Executive Secretary of the Divestiture Implementation Committee; Ralph Casely-Hayford, a Businessman and Sati Dorcas
Ocran, a Housewife.
They
are being tried for their alleged involvement in corrupt practices leading to
the privatisation of GREL in favour of Societe Industrielle Plantation Hevea
(SIPH), a French company. All the accused persons have pleaded not guilty to
their various charges, and each of them on a self-recognisance bail.
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Amefia said a medical report from the Ho Hospital attributed the death of his
father later in 1975 to torture in 1974. He said the late Komla
Amefia, who was then working at Kuteh
in the Jasikan District was detained for two weeks at
the Papase Camp in December 1974 when they found some
bags of cocoa beans in front of a cocoa shed.
Amefia said the soldiers also arrested one Olympio
who was working with his father, took him to the Papase
Camp where he was tortured. Witness said a medical report from the Ho Hospital
where his father received medical treatment confirmed that his father died as a
result of the torture in the Camp.
Unfortunately,
he said, he could not produce the report because the trunk in which his father
kept those documents was burnt when his father's house got burnt later. Amefia said his father did not own the bags of cocoa beans
in question, adding that farmers from a nearby village brought them one evening
after his father had closed from work to sell them to the CMB.
The
witness said since the people arrived in the night, his father told them to
leave the cocoa beans near the shed and come back the following day for the
transactions. He said it was during the night when the soldiers came to enquire
about the owner of the cocoa beans, adding that despite the explanation given
by his father the soldiers went ahead to arrest and torture him.
He
said the chief of the town, Tobge Yaw and Kwesi Agade, a member of the
Cooperative of Cocoa Farmers sent a petition on behalf of his father and Olympio through a linguist called Victus
Kofi Gbogbo to the soldiers
and they were released. Amefia said his father
resigned from the CMB after the incident, adding that he never recovered from
the ordeal and died a few months later.
Witness
said he was 14 years old when the incident occurred, adding that as a result of
his father's death, he could not continue with his education. He said being the
first son of his father he had to farm to look after his 11 siblings with the
help of his eldest sister.
He appealed
to the NRC to assist in taking care of the family. Kwesi
Agade, a member of the farmers' cooperative who
corroborated the story said one W.O. Kotoka led the
soldiers who arrested and tortured the late Amefia.
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President
Kufuor made the appeal when a three-man delegation
from the Institute led by Prof Hans J.A. Van Ginkel,
UN Under-Secretary and Rector of the UN University, paid a courtesy call on him
at the Castle, Osu. He
accepted an invitation to deliver the keynote address at the Third Tokyo
International Conference on African Development (TICAD III) to be held in
Prof
Ginkel said implementation of the findings on the
fertilizer would assist African countries to improve on their economies because
crude oil and fertilizer importation were major drains for foreign exchange
earnings of African countries.
He
said the invitation to President Kufuor was in his
capacity as the ECOWAS Chairman and his contribution to socio-economic
development in the Sub-Region. Prof Ginkel said
African Heads of State and Government attend the Conference, which is held
every five years, affords the Japanese government the opportunity to co-operate
with their counterparts.
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Koforidua (Eastern Region)
The
Eastern Regional Director of the Company, Nii Amaah Fleischer-Brock, made the call in an interview with
the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Koforidua on Monday.
This follows the closure of some Internet Cafes in the
A
survey by the GNA on the operations of the Internet Cafes in Koforidua showed that out of about 10 cafes, only three of
them were still in business. Fleicher-Brock who
denied the charge of arbitrary billing of the cafes, explained that since most
of the operators set up their cafes without first consulting the company and,
therefore, hook on to Accra-based Internet Service Providers (ISPs), they are
billed according to their trunk line usage.
He,
however, indicated that the company would soon install a facility in the region
to provide Internet service to customers and educational institutions on a flat
subscription billing system.
On
the closure of the International Digital Dialling (IDD) facility by most
communication centres due to similar allegations of arbitrary billings,
especially through the repetitive billing of dialled foreign numbers, the
Regional Director explained that the billing was based on satellite recordings,
whether the recipient responded or not.
Fleicher-Brock said a system for itemised billing of telephone users would soon
be provided to give accurate billing of both local and international calls.
The
Managing Director of the ERIMAK Computers Limited, Ben Amankwah,
complained that he was compelled to fold up his cafe after only three months of
operation when he was billed with ¢4m by the Ghana Telecom. According to him,
since there was no local ISPs in the region, cafe
operators had to depend on those in Accra-Tema until
they are able to procure their own satellite dish, which he said currently
costs $35,000.
The
local chairman of the Communication Centres Association, Eric Minnow, accused
Ghana Telecom of arbitrarily billing them without an itemised billing record.
"They bill us unjustifiably and they claim they do not make mistake, and
if you challenge them they disconnect your lines", he said.
According
to Minnow, many Communication Centres in the Municipality have had to close
their IDD services due to exorbitant billing, most of which was based on
repetitive billing of a foreign number. "We are made to pay for dialling a
number abroad even when nobody received the call at the other end", he
alleged.
Minnow
said Ghana Telecom has imposed an upfront deposit system on the centres with
the minimum being ¢300,000, saying this ensured that the company was
"privileged to exploit us."
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A
statement signed by Nana Ohene Ntow,
Government Spokesman, Finance and Economy, in Accra on Tuesday said a technical
co-operation agreement signed recently between Ghana and the FAO covered
emergency supply of agriculture input to Ghanaian returnees, host families,
refugees and internally displaced persons in Northern, Brong
Ahafo and Ashanti Regions.
Part
of the amount would be utilized in covering the cost of the services of
technical and extension officers, while the bulk of the money would be spent on
supplies to the beneficiaries as well as the operating cost of the agriculture
ventures.
The
FAO indicated the urgency it attached to the project and had, therefore, given
directives for immediate disbursement of the funds, with the hope that it would
contribute towards restoring the agricultural production of beneficiaries and
communities, the statement said.
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CHRAJ urges Rawlings to cooperate with Police
A
statement signed by Emile Short, Commissioner of CHRAJ in
The
Commission, therefore, called on the Police to intensify the investigations
into the murders and deploy all logistical and human resources to bring the perpetrators
to book.
It
also appealed to all persons with information or evidence in connection with
the matter to co-operate with the Police and provide them with evidence or
information that would assist them in the resolution of the atrocious crimes.
The
statement said the Commission was mandated by the Constitution and its enabling
legislation to, among other things, investigate complaints of violations of
fundamental human rights and freedom and was also required to take appropriate
action to call for the remedying, correction and reversal of these violations.
"When
these serial killings are targeted at women, there is not only the violation of
fundamental human right to life but there is also the gender dimension to it,
which raises further human rights concerns."
CHRAJ,
therefore, called on the public to root out crimes and evil from society and be
mindful of the utterances of and positions taken by the former President.
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Engineers urged to produce tools to assist farmers
Tamale (Northern Region)
He
said about 75 percent of the active population was engaged in agriculture and
it was necessary that agricultural engineers produce tools and equipment that
would help build and sustain agricultural growth.
Bintim was launching the first "Annual Week" celebration of the
Bintim called on construction technologists to be abreast with modern
technologies and come up with new ideas to meet the challenges of the day. He
said: "The efforts of some countries have made the world to become a
global village, linked together through the achievement of science and
technology and so
The
Deputy Regional Minister commended the students of Tamale Polytechnic for their
discipline even in the face of difficulties and urged them to continue to use
dialogue to resolve all problems.
He
advised them to take the Vice-President's Campaign against indiscipline serious
saying, "the spate of indiscipline that has engulfed our communities and
educational institutions does not augur well for prosperity and
development".
Bintim told the students to be wary of self-seekers who would want to
manipulate them into actions that would destroy the achievements of their
predecessors. Huseini Issifu,
a lecturer at the Department of Agriculture, noted that the country has no
problem with food production but what was needed was food security and
preservation of post-harvest losses.
He,
therefore, called on the students to help solve these problems with the
appropriate technologies. Gordon Atanga, an officer
from the Architectural Engineering Services Limited (AESL), said the
construction industry was hampered with management and technical problems since
most of the contractors in the system had no professional skills to execute
jobs.
He
advised the students to form cooperatives after graduation and take up jobs to
improve on job delivery, their incomes and those of their families. The
President of the Department of the School of Engineering (SOE), Mr Charles Obeng Appiah, said the SOE had
been able to register students with the Ghana Institute of Surveyors and Ghana
Institution of Engineers.
He
said the department was faced with inadequate books on engineering and
construction and appealed to the school authorities and NGOs to come to its
aid.
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Ho
(Volta Region) 16 July 2003 - Dr Kwesi Tefe, Resident Tutor of the of the Awudome-Tsito
Residential Adult College of the Institute of Adult Education (IAE) of the
University of Ghana, on Tuesday urged workers to plan and prepare towards their
retirement from the very day they were employed.
He
said from their salaries they should save and seek investment opportunities
based on expert advice and not to leave their retirement security to chance.
Dr Tefe gave the advice at a two-day workshop organised by the
Volta Region branch of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) at Ho,
for its district officers on "preparing towards a comfortable
retirement".
He said
even though no salary level would be adequate enough for workers, out of which
they could conveniently save nevertheless, "you don't drink the palm-wine
with the dreg no matter how small the quantity of the palm-wine". Dr Tefe said most workers lived under the illusion that
retirement was far away and that they would receive sufficient benefits to meet
their high expectations.
"Retirement
is in fact a period of reduced income, you plan towards retirement, you don't
plan at retirement," he said. Dr Tefe said
putting one's hopes on one's children at retirement was also unreliable because
those children also have their lives to live and future to prepare for.
"How
many of you have been able to do for your parents what they expected of you,
moreover how are you preparing your children to carry the additional
responsibilities you expect of them", he queried. Dr Tefe
recommended to the participants opportunities available among others in the
insurance sector, treasury bills, small-scale business and agro-export business
as producers based on expert advice rather than by intuition.
He
warned them against those who would entice them with opportunities for instant
wealth or other people's successes in particular areas. Dr Tefe
said apart from securing financial security at retirement, workers should also
plan to build their own houses no matter how modest.
It
is equally important to establish conditions for healthy social life on
retirement in order to overcome loneliness and its attendant problems, he said.
Veni Vienyo Demanya,
Regional GNAT Secretary, said retirement problems were some of the major
worries of workers to the extent that many of them "manipulate their dates
of birth" to be able to work much longer than necessary.
He
said eventually however a worker would have to be retired, which required that
"whilst still young prepare for retirement." Demanya
said it was for this reason that in addition to its fight for better pension
benefits for its members, GNAT offers opportunities for them to make individual
arrangements for secured pension lives.
He
asked the 39 participants to organise similar workshops for members in the
districts. Topics treated included, common problems associated with retirement,
health related issues on retirement, financial security in retirement and
Social Security contributions and benefits.
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Students compelled to pay fees before writing final exam
Koforidua (Eastern Region)
The
fees were paid in bankers' drafts on Tuesday morning when school authorities
threatened to sack them from the examination room.
Headmistress
of the School, Ms Rosemond Bampo,
told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the examination centre that some school
authorities found it difficult whether to allow defaulting students to write
the examination, adding that there were some students, each owing more ¢1m in
school fees.
She
said the school would have wished to allow the students to write the
examination and pay the fees before they would be given the result slips. ''The
problem is with the students who may not be performing well at the examination
and would not even show up for their results slip let alone pay their fees'',
she said.
She
said the School registered 523 candidates and all of them reported on the first
day of the examination. At Oyoko Methodist Day SSS,
Sylvester P. D. Aidoo, the Headmaster confirmed the
issue of non-payment of fees by some final year students.
He
said one of the 48 final year students at the school got pregnant and delivered
about six months ago but she reported on Tuesday morning to write the
examination.
At
At
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The
women who were supposed to march from Circle through Adabraka
to end at the ex-President's house instead, changed their course from Circle
through the ring road to the Parliament House.
President Rawlings in a response speech to party members, who gathered
in his house, said, "I was ready to host them and would have explained
things to them if they had come. I even asked my special assistant to organize water
so that when they come in and they are thirsty, we would offer them water to
drink."
"But
because my telephone lines had been tapped and security agencies had over heard
some of my conversations regarding the demonstrators they decided to change the
routes," former President Rawlings said adding, "if they had gone to
the children's park, I would have met them there and clear their minds about
the issue at stake".
President
Rawlings expressed the belief that the women demonstrators did not understand
the situation on the ground because "we all want the truth that is why I'm
asking for the lie detector and chemical interrogator". He said Ghanaian
for long have lied under the oath of the Bible and he would not want to do
same, hence his request.
"The
NPP government was afraid to accept his request because it knows that if those
gadgets were brought in it would change the course of truth in this country and
that all their bad deeds would be exposed," he added.
He
said the other option that could be available for the government for him to produce
the names was to have a mutual group preferably an international body that
would mediate and ensure that justice prevailed when the names are mentioned.
"I want the truth but the truth should be accomplished with justice,"
Ex-President said.
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Saltpond (Central Region)
No
phone cards are available for sale to the public to enable them to make their
own calls and the staff charge ¢1,500 for a three-minute trunk call, and ¢1,000
for a local call. This came to light when the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited
the town following concerns raised by Nana Gyan Ankwandah
VI, Chief of Upper Saltpond.
The
booths are operated for 12 hours as communication centres and when the workers
close from work the place is locked. Nana Ankwandah
appealed to the managements of Ghana Telecom and the Ghana Postal Services to
improve their facilities to help step up socio-economic development.
An
official at Ghana Telecom at Saltpond said the third
booth located on its premises was not working because some people pushed
objects into the slot meant for the pre-paid cards.
He
could however not offer any explanation as to why they are operating the two
remaining ones as communication centres. The Central Regional Commercial
Manager, Joseph Frempong, assured the GNA that a team
would be sent to Saltpond to investigate the
situation.
He
said GT was making efforts to repair the third booth in addition to other
faulty ones in other places and appealed to the public to exercise patience
while his organisation takes steps to provide more public phone booths in the
region.
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Minister calls for fairness in distribution
Maj.
Quashigah was speaking at the graduation of 85
agricultural inputs dealers who have completed a training programme under the
Agricultural Input Marketing Development Project (GAIM).
The
project, initiated 10 months ago, is aimed at improving farmers' access to
affordable and appropriate seeds, fertilizers and crop protection products
through the training of a cadre of entrepreneurs at the input procurement and
distribution levels.
It
is being funded by the US Agency For International
Development and implemented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) and
the US-based International Centre For Soil Fertility and Agricultural
Development (IFDC). Maj. Quashigah commended IFDC for
conceiving the idea to offer "such a unique training to fill a very
yawning gap in the agricultural input delivery system."
He
explained that the training has complemented efforts by MOFA to train
fertilizer retailers under a Soil Fertility Initiative. The Agriculture
Minister said IFDC's other major role in the sector
has had to do with the capacity building of leaders of farmers' organisations
and private sector input dealers to empower them in agriculture policy
negotiations.
He
called for the establishment of a permanent training centre to train the rest
of the 800 input dealers to improve the sector. Henk Breman, an official of IFDC, Africa Division, said as part
of efforts by IFDC to improve the policy environment of agriculture
development, a West African Agriculture Input Market was to be established.
This,
he said, would be done through regional bodies such as ECOWAS.
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Yefri (Brong Ahafo) 16
July 2003 - Captain Nkrabea Effah-Dartey
(RTD)), a Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, has called
on the leadership of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to let the
government have the peace to improve the standard of living Ghanaians.
Speaking
at the inauguration of the Young Elephant Club at Yefri
in the Nkoranza District of Brong
Ahafo on Monday, he expressed concern about unfounded
allegations members of the opposition parties made against the government.
''The
opposition can wait till the end of the four-year tenure of office of the
government and if Ghanaians are not satisfied with NPP's
policies and programmes, they can use the ballot box to vote it out'', he said.
Capt
Effah-Dartey advised NPP members to embark on
house-to-house education campaigns to inform the people about government's
policies and programmes to win more members for the party.
Kwame Ampofo-Twumasi, the District Chief
Executive, appealed to the people of Nkoranza to
acknowledge development projects initiated in the area under the NPP government
and vote for the party to retain power in the 2004 elections.
Kwaku Duah,
District Chairman of the Club, cautioned members against any rebellious
attitude to chiefs and other people in authority and to remain disciplined.
Nana
Kwame Owusu, Nkosoohene of the area who presided, advised Ghanaians to
support the government of the day to enable the leadership to work for the
benefit of the people.
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