GRi Newsreel 29 - 07 -
2003
Government to import 1,000 tractors for farmers
Government to ensure that laws work effectively,
Attorney-General
Action-Aid spends ¢5bn in Upper West
GNA is not source of Ya-Na murder story
Cassava farmers call of proposed demonstration
Six nabbed in connection with Kabila legacy
Government to increase livestock production
US commits logistical support for ECOMIL
Two envoys call on Kufuor
Resource capacity of Military Hospital to be enhanced
Unwholesome drinks destroyed at Wa
Court of Appeal to rule on appeal by Peprah, others
Govt to enhance democratic values - Attorney-General
Police Hospital Nurses refuse to treat bleeding patient
Lube Oil Company donates heart-monitoring equipment
President Kufuor appeals for support for Liberia
Council of State presents Report to President Kufuor
Mfanstiman East is no longer for NDC - Quansah
GHACEM to use local raw materials to produce cement
Reform withdraws from Nkrumaist unity talks
Upper West GJA holds elections
Government to import 1,000 tractors for farmers
Asubone Rails (East Region) 29 July 2003 - The government is to import 1,000 Ford tractors from India for distribution to farmers throughout the country to promote mechanised farming and also to assist in carting agricultural produce from the hinterland to marketing centres.
Kwadwo Agyei-Darko, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, announced this on Saturday at the inauguration of the local branch of the Agriculture Producers' Council (APC) at Asubone Rail, near Nkawkaw in the Kwahu South District.
He said the government had initiated a number of programmes such as the mass cocoa spraying exercise and the President's Special Initiatives on Cassava and Oil Palm to assist farmers to increase their yields to earn enough income to improve their living standards.
Agyei-Darko announced that the Council, in collaboration with the Local Government Ministry, would establish a market at Baatsona in Accra, to enable members to sell their produce direct to consumers at affordable prices.
He urged scientists and industrialists to establish small-scale and cottage industries to process some of the foodstuffs for preservation to reduce post-harvest losses.
The Secretary General of the APC, Samuel Ohene Kontoh, said the Council was formed to solve the numerous problems facing farmers and appealed to the Ministry for the supply of building materials on credit to the farmers to rehabilitate their buildings.
He advised the members to ensure effective utilization of credit facilities and also to ensure prompt repayment for others to also benefit.
Kontoh attributed the spread of the HIV/AIDS to poverty and urged the Ghana
AIDS Commission to give part of the funds it was disbursing to organisations to
fight the disease to farmers to advance their farming activities to reduce
poverty and hunger.
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Government to ensure that laws work effectively, Attorney-General
Koforidua (Eastern Region) 29 July 2003 - The government was committed to strengthening the institutions engaged in the administration of justice because of its belief that effective delivery of justice was key to protecting and enhancing democratic values in the country, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, had declared.
He was addressing a durbar of State Attorneys drawn from the southern sector comprising the Volta, Eastern, Western and Central Regions as well as divisional heads from the headquarters at Koforidua on Monday.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah noted that "a country where people perceive the administration of justice to be ineffective, there is a gradual breakdown of law and order and where justice is perceived to be accessible only to a privileged few, adherence to and observance of the rule of law is undermined."
According to the Minister, "in a country where the law is perceived to be a tool designed to keep down the marginalised and vulnerable, laws become a yoke or an albatross around the necks of citizens, some of whom may wrongly decide to remove the yoke or albatross through illegal acts."
To promote discipline and respect of the law in the country, Papa Owusu -Ankomah stressed that the laws must not only work but must be seen to be working, irrespective of one's social, economic or political standing when the laws were breached.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah stressed the need for the Attorney General's Department to deepen and strengthen the level of collaboration with other institutions such as the judiciary, police and prison services towards securing a system of justice delivery the country would be proud of.
He mentioned some of the human and logistic constraints facing the Department and said to improve its institutional capacity, the Legal Sector Reform Programme being funded by the World Bank, was being implemented, including the provision of computers to the regional offices.
To reduce the delays in the dispensation of justice, Papa Owusu-Ankomah hinted that his Ministry and the Chief Justice were considering various options, including instituting night courts and reviewing the annual long judicial "Summer holidays".
The Minister later presented two computers and accessories each to the representatives of the four regions participating at the durbar.
In his remarks on the factors affecting speedy delivery of justice in the Eastern Region, the Supervising High Court Judge of Koforidua, Justice Kobena A. Acquaye, mentioned the few number of State Attorneys, poor police prosecution of cases due to lack of legal training and adjournments sought by members of the Bar.
He appealed to the Minister to help solve problems confronting the judiciary, especially accommodation and means of transport for magistrates and commended the government for the on-going computerisation of the courts.
The Deputy Regional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Alhaji Amadu Mahama, blamed some of the lapses of the police in the enforcement of the law on the lack of complementary support from other judicial agencies, obsolete laws such as those affecting drug trafficking and black marketeering as well as the menace posed by Fulani herdsmen in the rural areas.
He mentioned clashes over land disputes, which, he noted, could also affect the President's Special Initiatives and maintenance of law and order.
The chief of Koforidua-Ada, Odeefour Boadi Asiedu, expressed concern about the interference and uncomplimentary pronouncements by some judges about the chieftaincy institution, especially in the adjudication of chieftaincy disputes.
He noted that the ruling by some judges in chieftaincy disputes sometimes seemed to expose their partisan interests in the cases and hoped the esteem of the institution would be upheld by the courts without a semblance of bias.
The Eastern Regional Chairman of the Ghana Bar Association, Mr Asante Ansong,
stressed the need for measures to speed up the dispensation of justice,
especially those involving indictment cases to save long incarceration of
innocent persons in prison custody.
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Action-Aid spends ¢5bn in Upper West
Wa (Upper West) 29 July 2003 - Action-Aid Ghana has through the district assemblies in the Upper West Region, spent ¢5bn within the past two years on various development projects in support of the country's poverty reduction activities.
Projects that were undertaken included provision of classroom blocks for deprived communities, financing of the rural volunteer teacher programme in all the districts and construction of small scale irrigation schemes to promote dry season agriculture.
Billy Abimbilla, Upper West Regional Programme Manager of the organisation said this at Wa on Monday at a workshop to disseminate fundings on a research carried out on local government performance in five selected districts of the country.
The studies, which was commissioned by Action-Aid was undertaken in Asutifi District of the Brong-Ahafo Region, Sissala in the Upper West Region, Bawku West District in the Upper East Region and Saboba-Chereponi and Tamale Municipality in the Northern Region by the Centre for Development Studies of the University of Cape Coast.
Among the 75 participants at the two-day workshop, were District Chief Executives, their Co-ordinating Directors, Planning Officers, heads of decentralised departments and chairpersons of sub-committees of the assemblies. Abimbilla said Action-Aid had so far funded programmes to the tune of ¢29bn in its operational areas throughout the country between 2000 and 2002.
To realise government's decentralisation goals, he said, his organisation intended to broaden the scope of its advocacy programmes such as promotion of women's leadership at all levels, increase its capacity building efforts and keep track of the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy at the district level.
Most of Action-Aid's programmes in the region were concentrated in the Sissala District followed by the Nadowli District. In an address read on his behalf, Sahanun Mogtari, the Regional Minister reminded the participants that they were the pillars on which the district assemblies rested.
Mogtari said: "People who are put to handle administration, planning and development of our district assemblies should therefore, not be a collection of bureaucrats who are sometimes not well informed about the whole concept of decentralisation and local governance."
He advised them to endeavour to command high level of integrity and accountability that would inspire local support and participation in the activities of the district assemblies.
Dr. Stephen B. Kendie, Director of the Centre for Development Studies of UCC, appealed to the government to appoint technically skilled personnel who would place their expertise at the disposal of the assemblies instead of going in for party functionaries to fill its one-third quota.
He noted that Area Councils and the Unit Committees needed to be strengthened
to help raise revenue mobilisation in the assemblies.
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GNA is not source of Ya-Na murder story
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 July 2003 - The Ghana News Agency on Monday repudiated a story on the Ghana Web that alleged that the plot to kill the Ya-Na Yakubu Andani, Paramount Chief of the Dagbon Traditional Area, was planned at the office of the former Minister for the Interior, Alhaji Malik Alhassan Yakubu.
The Agency is investigating how it was credited with such a despicable story.
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Cassava farmers call of proposed demonstration
Kasoa (Central Region) 29 July 2003 - The aggrieved members of Ayensu Cassava Farmers Association (AGFA) on Monday agreed to call off their intended demonstration scheduled to come off on Friday 1 August, in the interest of industrial peace and harmony.
This followed a joint emergency meeting organised by the management of the Ayensu Starch Company Limited (ASCO) to discuss the farmers' problem at the company's headquarters at Kasoa.
Key players who participated in the four-hour meeting were, the management of ASCO, representatives from the headquarters of the General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU), National Executives of ACFA, and representatives of the farmers.
In a five-point communiqué adopted after the meeting, all the parties who took part in the deliberations, agreed to continue to discuss the pricing of the produce of the farmers through GAWU, ACFA, and ASCO.
It was also agreed that, while negotiations were going on, farmers should continue to harvest their cassava, and that the farmers shall benefit if the current price of 150,000 cedis per tone of cassava which the producers have rejected, is revised upwards on the world market.
The communiqué further stated that all stakeholders in the issue have
expressed their commitment in ensuring the success of the project. The accord
was jointly endorsed by Andrew E. Quayson, Managing Director of the Ayensu
Starch Company, Michael K.A. Sackey, Acting National Chairman of Ayensu Cassava
Farmers Association, Samuel Kangah of the General Agricultural Workers Union,
and Constant Adewu, ACFA representative.
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Six nabbed in connection with Kabila legacy
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 July 2003 - The Police has busted a gang that defrauded a German of $10,000 and ¢20m with a promise of making available to him millions of dollars being the legacy Ex-President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo bequeathed to it.
The gang of five foreign nationals and a Ghanaian was arrested when they were found loitering at the AFGO Village, apparently waiting to clear boxes containing the millions of dollars.
Chief Superintendent, Patrick Timbila of CID Operations, told the Ghana News Agency that Charles Kokou Fatondji, 36; Kelvin Onome, 28; Elias Adike, 32; Lucky Brown, 35; and Odibo Abayomi Emuebe, 36 from Benin and Nigeria and Stephen Addo alias Richmond Addo, 27, the Ghanaian, were arrested upon a tip-off.
He said when information got to the CID Headquarters men were despatched to the Afgo Village where the six and their German victim were found loitering.
Timbila said the Police then invited them for questioning and during the interrogation it was discovered that the six were involved in advanced fee fraud and had already duped Walter Neumann, the German.
The German told Police that he had already parted with of $10,000 and ¢20m as fees for facilitating the clearing of the boxes, which the gang alleged, contained millions of dollars bequeathed to them by the late Ex-President Kabila.
The Police realised it was a 419 scam and quickly apprehended the six while another suspect Nicky Yeboah, a Ghanaian, is at large.
Timbila said when the Police searched the room of Elias Adike they found 100 dollar bills with a face value $20,000, suspected to be counterfeit. He said that all the suspects are in Police custody pending further investigations.
Timbila appealed to the public and foreigners in the country to be weary of
the 419 scams and avoid becoming easy preys, adding that the Police would deal
drastically with any suspect arrested in that venture.
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Government to increase livestock production
Bolgatanga (Upper East) 29 July 2003 - Major Courage Quashigah, Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) on Monday said that the government is to increase the production of livestock in order to improve the nutritional value of food consumed nation-wide and the income of farmers.
This, he said, would be achieved through implementing development programmes that would alleviate the most important constraints to livestock production, improve the genetic potential of livestock breeds, develop feed resources, stock water supply, disease control, capacity building and provision of credit.
He said it was all under the Livestock Development Project, which is being financed with a loan of $24.8m from the African Development Bank.
Major Quashigah said this when he launched the Upper East Regional Livestock Development Project under the theme: "Livestock Production, Ghana's Hope For Food Security, Wealth Creation and Healthy People", in Bolgatanga.
He noted with concern that the an average Ghanaian's consumption of animal protein was very low, about four kilogram of meat per person in a year while the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recommended dietary requirement stands at 183 kilogram per year.
He added that, while the Ghanaian takes an average of 12 eggs in a year, the minimum annual requirement is about 100 eggs and that instead of the required 120 kilograms of milk per year, only 25 kilograms is taken.
Major Quashigah said it was unfortunate that the livestock and poultry sub-sector contributes only seven percent to the nation's agricultural growth domestic product (GDP) with the estimated domestic animal population of 1.2 million cattle, 5.6 million small ruminants, 17 million birds and 500,000 pigs.
He said however, that the most important thing would be the quantity of meat placed on the market for consumption and statistical figures that are being repeated every year, because some people do not want to sell their animals.
The Minister said MOFA would be restructuring its six national livestock breeding stations to breed and supply various types of genetically improved breeding stocks to farmers on sustainable bases.
He said animal feed would also be improved through the training of small-scale producers and disease surveillance and control strengthened to reduce mortality rate of various types of livestock.
Major Quashigah said $5.24m has been provided to enable private farmers to buy livestock for breeding, put up animal houses, procure animal feed and veterinary products.
He said the farmers have been considered and an amount of 28 million dollars allocated to HIV/AIDS, guineaworm and malaria prevention campaigns.
Dr Agyen Frimpong, Director of Veterinary Services, in a speech read on his behalf by Dr Thomas Anyorikeya, Regional Director Veterinary Services announced that Ghana was declared a rinderpest disease free country in February, this year, by the Office Internationale des Epizootics (OIE).
He said rinderpest and other diseases of livestock has been a major course of low production of animal house boundary in the country and that the directorate of veterinary services in conjunction with its collaborators would ensure the creation of a stable epidemic disease situation to enhance livestock production.
He said all regional veterinary laboratories would be rehabilitated and
equipped to meet demand. Mahami Salifu, Regional Minister, said land in the
region was no more abundant and could not support the free-ranged system of
grazing livestock and called for some modern methods of animal production to be
introduced to the people.
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US commits logistical support for ECOMIL
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 July 2003 - The US on Monday renewed its commitment to provide financial and logistic assistance to ECOWAS peacekeeping force to be deployed in embattled Liberia.
Madam Mary Carlin Yates, US Ambassador in Ghana, who announced this in Accra said her country had allocated 10 million dollars to Pacific Architects and Engineers from the US to provide the logistics and other support for the peacekeeping force.
"We recognise that costs will likely exceed $10m. We will also encourage other donors to help finance this effort," She told a meeting with the Nigerian Commander of the ECOWAS Mission in Liberia (ECOMIL), Brigadier-General Festus Okonkwo in Liberia.
A US two-star General, Thomas Turner, who will be a co-commander of ECOMIL if the Americans decide to deploy troops to Liberia as well as Military Chiefs from the West African Sub-Region and officials from the United Nations attended the closed-door meeting.
The meeting, held at the Ministry of Defence, the interim headquarters of ECOMIL discussed preparation for the deployment of a Vanguard Force of two Nigerian battalions ahead of the proposed Peacekeeping Force of 5000 men.
Madam Yates said President George Bush was committed to assist ECOWAS efforts to stabilise the situation in Liberia and permit the provision of humanitarian assistance to the people.
She said officials from the State Department assisted in pushing the three belligerent groups in the crisis to sign the 17June Ceasefire Agreement. "Recognising the need to restore the ceasefire to facilitate the initial ECOWAS deployment, the US has, over the past several days been engaged in intensive discussions with Liberians United for Reconciliation and Development (LURD)".
LURD- the main rebel group in Liberia had engaged in a fierce battle with the Liberian government over the control of Monrovia, the capital. The Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL), one of the warring factions is reported to have joined the latest conflict.
Madam Yates said US officials had met with the Chairman of LURD, Sekou Conneh in Guinea to pressurise the rebel group to restore the ceasefire agreement.
"We are hopeful that we have reached an agreement that LURD will do so and that the Government of Liberia will not pursue them or enact any reprisals," She said. She gave the assurance that the US would support efforts to secure the authorisation of a follow-up UN peacekeeping operation, which will take over from ECOWAS.
Madam Yates told the military chief that a sound military plan would provide the basis for donor discussions, "which should follow very soon." The meeting, however failed to announce a definite date for the deployment of the force. However, Sunny Ugoh, ECOWAS Spokesperson told the Ghana News Agency that the restoration of the ceasefire agreement was paramount to the deployment of the force.
ECOWAS are contributing 3,250 troops, while the US, South Africa and Morocco
would make up the rest of the proposed troops of 5000.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 29 July 2003 - Two envoys on Monday held separate talks with President John Kufuor at the Castle, Osu behind closed doors. One of them was Mohamed A. Musraty, Secretary General of the People's Committee for Justice and General Security of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriyya who delivered a special message from the Libyan Leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.
The other envoy was Salif Diallo, Minister of Food, Fisheries and Water in
Burkina Faso, who delivered a message from the Burkinabe President Blaise
Compaore.
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Resource capacity of Military Hospital to be enhanced
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 July 2003 - Defence Minister, Kwame Addo Kufuor on Monday said the Ministry was making all efforts to enhance the human resource capacity of the 37 Military Hospital. He said the Ministry had contacted some overseas health institutions and highly qualified expatriate Ghanaian health professionals to help enhance the quality of the human resource capacity at the Hospital.
"The reputation of a health facility does not depend on its architectural splendour or state of the art equipment located in it but on the competence, dedication and humane attitude of its health workers," he said. Dr Addo Kufuor was speaking at a durbar of the officers, men and civilian staff of the hospital during an inspection to assess the progress of the ongoing rehabilitation works.
He said the government was committed to make the Hospital a centre of excellence and a teaching institution for the training of doctors at the post-graduate level. In line with this the Dean of the Medical College and Vice President of the Howard University have been invited to evaluate the facilities at the Hospital for the commencement of the programme, exchange of staff, tele-medicine and research collaborations.
Additionally, two Ghanaians, a consultant cardiologist from Germany and a Consultant in Obstetrics and Gynaecology from South Africa, have also visited the Hospital in order to develop the post-graduate programme.
Dr Addo Kufuor said that contacts had also been made with certain United States Military Health Institutions to help upgrade the facilities.
The current structural development at the Hospital is at the second stage. These include an Information System; Obstetrics and Gynaecology; Physiotherapy; Public Health; Pathology and Dental Departments. Others are the Paediatrics; Eye and ENT Departments; Polyclinic; Surgical Division; Pharmacy Division; Doctors/Consultants Offices and the Medical Division.
The Minister said proposals for the third stage, which would soon be placed before Cabinet, would consist of a Children's Block with 150 beds, a Women's Block with 250 beds, with each block having its own theatre. There would also be a National Accident Emergency Centre capable of handling large-scale emergencies.
He said funds were being sought to rehabilitate the existing Medical Reception Stations of the Ghana Armed Forces into a 100-bed district level hospitals as well as the rehabilitation of the Dental and Medical Centres. Dr Addo Kufuor told the staff of the hospital that government appreciated their dedication to duty and regarded the military establishment as an important facility in the provision of health services.
He, however, decried the lapses caused by some health workers, which had attracted media attention. "These unfortunate matters cause me pain and embarrassment. Pain and embarrassment because, I am acutely aware of the dedicated service and loyalty of the greater majority of the staff here."
He said he had been assured by the hospital administration that efforts had been initiated to prevent such lapses in the future. "The 37 Military Hospital has a mighty future in the Service of the Ghana Armed Forces and the people of Ghana and we should strive to make this noble vision a reality."
Dr Addo Kufuor also addressed the concerns of staff of the Hospital, which included the equation of their salaries and allowances to those of the Ministry of Health and promotions. He said that he had authorised the straightening up of the distortions in pay and allowances between the medical personnel of the Ministry of Defence Medical Service and their counterparts in the Ministry of Health.
Brigadier Daniel Twum, Director of Medical Services of the Ghana Armed Forces said the straightening of the disparity in the salary structure would motivate the staff to work harder and stop the mass exodus.
Earlier, Brig. Joseph Aryettey, Commanding Officer of the Hospital, told the
Minister that 70 per cent of those who patronised the hospital were civilians.
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Unwholesome drinks destroyed at Wa
Wa (Upper East) 29 July 2003 - About 700 packets of unwholesome processed/packaged fruit drinks "Fresh Cola" produced by Fruits and Flavours Limited of Asebu near Cape Coast were on Monday destroyed by the Environmental Health and Sanitation Department of the Wa Municipal Assembly.
Issa Bello Suleiman, the Deputy Municipal Environmental Health Officer, who supervised the destruction of the unwholesome drinks at the assembly's final waste disposal site, told newsmen that the fruit drinks were seized in a joint exercise by officials from the Foods and Drugs Board and his outfit.
Suleiman said the agent for the producers of the drinks assisted the two organisations to retrieve the unwholesome drinks from a number of traders in Wa.
He said the exercise was aimed at regularising the sale of processed or
packaged fruit drinks and food. Suleiman hinted that the assembly was in the
process of closing down four out of the five "pure water" producers in
the municipality for producing under unhygienic conditions, adding that a letter
to this effect is about being dispatched to the affected producers.
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Court of Appeal to rule on appeal by Peprah, others
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 July 2003 - The Court of Appeal would on Thursday, July 31, rule on applications for bail pending an appeal filed by two former jailed government officials. Kwame Peprah, Former Minster of Finance, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment while and George Yankey, a Former Director of Legal Sector, Private and Financial Institutions of the Ministry of Finance was sentenced to two years' imprisonment.
The Court of Appeal has Justice Julius Ansah, presiding, Mrs Justice S.O. Adiniyira and Justice J. Akamba. In another development, the application filed on behalf of Ibrahim Adam, Former Minister of Food and Agriculture, who is serving a two-year jail term, was, however, adjourned sine die as one of the judges on the panel hearing the appeal, had opted out. No reasons were given.
On 28 April, this year, the three government officials were convicted by an Accra Fast Track Court presided over Justice Dixon Kwame Afreh, a Supreme Court judge sitting as an additional High Court judge, for conspiring and causing $20m loss to the state in connection with the Quality Grain Project at Aveyime in the Volta Region.
In an affidavit by Yankey in support of the applications for bail pending appeal, Nana Adjei Ampofo, his Counsel, stated that the Trial Judge in his judgement was influenced saying; "this undermined the integrity of the courts". Nana Ampofo said the Trial Judge had stated: "There had been arguments that because of the amount involved, accused person deserved longer sentences.
"Who are those faceless persons who had argued?" He noted that the Prosecution on the day of judgement, when the Trial Judge asked whether the Prosecution and Defence had anything to say before judgement could be delivered, the Prosecution stated that "it had left everything entirely to the court" while the Defence had pleaded for leniency".
He asked these were the only statements that were made and asked who were those who had said the accused persons deserved longer sentences. Nana Ampofo said the Trial Judge listened to people outside the court, which he was not supposed to do.
Nana Ampofo said the Trial Judge slipped in his judgement, adding that the Judge while delivering his judgement, had stated: "Whether the law on causing financial loss to the State is good or bad, I leave it to Parliament to decide, but one day, when I am free I could talk on the matter".
This, Counsel said, indicated that the Trial Judge was "not free" adding: "Who is tying his hand behind him? Although he had sworn to dispense justice without fear or favour." Nana Ampofo said the Trial Judge also slipped when he said, "the accused failed to lead evidence to their superior who was authorising them".
Nana Ampofo stated further that the Trial Judge said he wondered how a woman with no background in rice cultivation could outwit government officials adding, "somebody up there liked the woman". Nana Ampofo said the Judge slipped out of his normal course, when he made those statements.
On the Trial Judge's pronouncement that applicants could have resigned when they were in disagreement with the project, Nana said that the applicants only performed an executive act done for the President. He said the various pronouncements made by the Trial Judge, destroyed his judgement and prayed the court to consider his application.
When the second application in respect of Peprah was called, Nana Ampofo said Kweku Baah, who represented Peprah, was adopting the submissions made earlier on Yankey. Colonel Alex Johnson (Rtd), the respondent from the Attorney's General's Department, submitted that he was not in opposition to the facts presented but prayed the court to scrutinise the grounds of the application.
He said that an application for bail pending an appeal could be granted if there was unusual or exceptional ground, when the applicant needed to confer with counsel and when there was delay in the preparation of records. Col. Johnson stated that the applicant had not been able to show any of them, adding that the records were ready.
He said the Trial Judge made those pronouncements while delivering his
judgement and not after he had convicted them. "The Trial Judge had earlier
stated that he was going to be as lenient as possible." Col. Johnson said
Judges, who are part of the society, are entitled to make comments but could do
better when they are on retirement. "Judges are free to speak their mind,
since they also live in the society," he said.
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Govt to enhance democratic values - Attorney-General
Koforidua, July 28, GNA - The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Papa Ousu-Ankomah has said that the government was committed to strengthening the institutions engaged in the administration of justice because of its belief that effective delivery of justice was key to protecting and enhancing democratic values in the country, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, had declared.
He was addressing a durbar of State Attorneys drawn from the southern sector comprising the Volta, Eastern, Western and Central Regions as well as divisional heads from the headquarters at Koforidua on Monday.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah noted that "a country where people perceive the administration of justice to be ineffective, there is a gradual breakdown of law and order and where justice is perceived to be accessible only to a privileged few, adherence to and observance of the rule of law is undermined."
According to the Minister, "in a country where the law is perceived to be a tool designed to keep down the marginalised and vulnerable, laws become a yoke or an albatross around the necks of citizens, some of whom may wrongly decide to remove the yoke or albatross through illegal acts."
To promote discipline and respect of the law in the country, Papa Owusu -Ankomah stressed that the laws must not only work but must be seen to be working, irrespective of one's social, economic or political standing when the laws were breached.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah stressed the need for the Attorney General's Department to deepen and strengthen the level of collaboration with other institutions such as the judiciary, police and prison services towards securing a system of justice delivery the country would be proud of.
He mentioned some of the human and logistic constraints facing the Department and said to improve its institutional capacity, the Legal Sector Reform Programme being funded by the World Bank, was being implemented, including the provision of computers to the regional offices.
To reduce the delays in the dispensation of justice, Papa Owusu-Ankomah hinted that his Ministry and the Chief Justice were considering various options, including instituting night courts and reviewing the annual long judicial "Summer holidays".
The Minister later presented two computers and accessories each to the representatives of the four regions participating at the durbar.
In his remarks on the factors affecting speedy delivery of justice in the Eastern Region, the Supervising High Court Judge of Koforidua, Justice Kobena A. Acquaye, mentioned the few number of State Attorneys, poor police prosecution of cases due to lack of legal training and adjournments sought by members of the Bar.
He appealed to the Minister to help solve problems confronting the judiciary, especially accommodation and means of transport for magistrates and commended the government for the on-going computerisation of the courts.
The Deputy Regional Police Commander, Chief Superintendent Alhaji Amadu Mahama, blamed some of the lapses of the police in the enforcement of the law on the lack of complementary support from other judicial agencies, obsolete laws such as those affecting drug trafficking and black marketeering as well as the menace posed by Fulani herdsmen in the rural areas.
He mentioned clashes over land disputes, which, he noted, could also affect the President's Special Initiatives and maintenance of law and order. The chief of Koforidua-Ada, Odeefour Boadi Asiedu, expressed concern about the interference and uncomplimentary pronouncements by some judges about the chieftaincy institution, especially in the adjudication of chieftaincy disputes.
He noted that the ruling by some judges in chieftaincy disputes sometimes seemed to expose their partisan interests in the cases and hoped the esteem of the institution would be upheld by the courts without a semblance of bias.
The Eastern Regional Chairman of the Ghana Bar Association, Mr Asante Ansong,
stressed the need for measures to speed up the dispensation of justice,
especially those involving indictment cases to save long incarceration of
innocent persons in prison custody.
GRi…/
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Police Hospital Nurses refuse to treat bleeding patient
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 July 2003 - Nurses and orderlies at the Police Hospital in Accra on Saturday refused to attend to an emergency case of a bleeding patient with the explanation that the doctor on duty was tired and was resting.
Bewildered patients at the Out Patient Department (OPD) between 1310 hours and 1350 hours, the period the patient underwent the ordeal, grumbled in vain.
The patient, Gideon Sackitey, General Secretary of the Ghana News Agency (GNA) Chapter of the Ghana Journalists Association, had a cut on a finger and was bleeding profusely and was taken to the OPD by a friend.
"The orderly and nurses on duty at the OPD refused to give me attention. After waiting for well over 25 minutes, my friend with whom I went to the hospital advised that once they were not ready to treat me we should leave for another hospital."
He said it was at that stage that they learnt that the only doctor on duty was tired and an orderly explained; "we cannot go to call him. He will have to come back by himself".
Sackitey said: "I could not endure the pain, and, therefore, I asked for a refund of my registration fee, which was paid, and I left for the nearby SSNIT Hospital, where I was promptly treated and discharged after my cut was stitched."
A Doctor at the SSNIT Hospital later told the GNA that, any bleeding case constituted an emergency and must be given immediate attention by all medical staff. When the Director of the Police Hospital was contacted, he confirmed that, "any bleeding case is an emergency and must be given the necessary attention."
He denied knowledge of the case. But promised to investigate it.
GRi…/
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Lube Oil Company donates heart-monitoring equipment
Tema (Greater Accra) 29 July 2003 - Medical doctors at the Tema General Hospital (TGH) were on Monday relieved of the problems of monitoring diseases related to the heart following a donation of one Electrical Cardiac Gram (ECG) a heart monitoring equipment to the hospital by the Tema Lube Oil Company (TLOC), manufacturers of lubricants for the Oil Marketing Companies.
In addition, the TLOC presented two Intra-Operative Monitors used in monitoring the condition of a patient under-going surgery, all totalling ¢230m.
This is the second time in two years that the company has donated ultra modern equipment to the hospital. The first was in December 2001, when it gave out ¢200m worth of equipment for the Accident and Emergency unit of the hospital.
Receiving the equipment at a ceremony at the hospital, Dr Otu Tawiah, Acting Medical Superintendent of the TGH expressed gratitude to the donors and said, "the hospital has been in need of the very important equipment for a long time but financial constraints have deprived it of procuring one".
He said the equipment would help improve their services and promised to take good care of them to benefit the patients and appealed to other companies, organisations and philanthropists to emulate the TLOC. Richard Adu-Poku, member of the Board of Directors (BOD) of the TLOC who presented the items explained that the gesture was in line with the company's objective to contribute to the social needs of the community.
The TLOC, he said, has been contributing to the general upliftment of the community through various donations for education, medical care, environmental health/safety, sporting activities and other social needs.
The BOD, he explained, deemed it appropriate to turn attention to
intensifying the provision of medical care to alleviate the burden placed on the
inhabitants, so it was in this direction that the company has embarked on a
three-year programme to provide essential hospital equipment to the hospital,
which serves surrounding towns and patients referred from other health
institutions.
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President Kufuor appeals for support for Liberia
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 July 2003 - President John Kufuor on Monday called for donor support for Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) engaged in maintaining peace in Liberia. He said; "in Liberia, the situation now is humanitarian support for those of us in the frontline maintaining peace. Whatever support donors would provide will be appreciated," he added.
President Kufuor made the call when Lieutenant-General Rob Fry, Deputy Chief of Defence Staff (Commitments) of the United Kingdom, currently on a visit to Ghana, paid a courtesy call on him at the Castle, Osu.
He said the visit of Lt-Gen Fry was significant because Ghanaian troops had been deeply involved in peacekeeping operations worldwide and it was appropriate for him to have a first hand information on the needs of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).
President Kufuor said the relationship between the Ghanaian soldiers and their British counterparts had been good because professional soldiers pride themselves in the long training they had had from Britain.
"It is good to have relationship that builds our military with financial, technical and training support," he said. President Kufuor said on the military front Ghana had a lot to be proud of from her relationship with Britain adding that currently more Senior Ghanaian soldiers were on courses in that country.
Lt-Gen Fry said the professional reputation of Ghanaian troops was very high and the conduct of the people had made Ghana the beacon of peace, stability and democracy in the West African Sub-Region.
He said British warships would arrive in Ghana next week to continue with
their training programme with the Ghana Armed Forces.
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Council of State presents Report to President Kufuor
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 July 2003 - President John Kufuor on Monday said the Council of State could serve Ghanaians better when approved to become a Second Chamber of Parliament. He said in such a capacity, the Council would give holistic views on matters in the national interest and not on partisan basis.
President Kufuor said this when he received a report on the activities of the Council at its third quarterly meeting with President Kufuor at the Castle, Osu. The Council would go on a two-month recess from the end of this month.
The report covers the activities of Council between June 2001 and July 2002. It is the first ever report to be issued by the Council of State since its inception.
President Kufuor said: "I hope in due course Ghanaians will come to appreciate that the Council might better serve them when approved to become a Second Chamber of Parliament to give a holistic view on matters affecting national interest but not on partisan basis."
He said government was developing the traditions for good governance and the meeting to review its activities was adding to the traditions. President Kufuor said the report would make the people to appreciate the work of the Council and the type of advice it offered the President.
He said the activities of the Council and the Constitution was driven by the best of intentions and expressed the hope that the people would receive the report in good spirit and would come to believe that the country's affairs were being managed well.
President Kufuor said with the sense and care it deserved the nation was moving in the right direction. Prof Alex Kwapong, Chairman of the Council, expressed the hope that the report would receive wide circulation to achieve its twin objectives of providing a valuable digest of its extensive activities.
He said the report would also provide the public with information about how the Council had been discharging its constitutional role and mandate in counselling the President and Members of Government.
"Our challenge is to ensure that this report is given the widest
possible dissemination," he said.
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Mfanstiman East is no longer for NDC - Quansah
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 July 2003 - Solomon Ishmael Quansah, Chairman of The Ekumfiman Movement, on Monday said the National Democratic Congress (NDC) would not win Mfanstiman East Parliamentary seat in the 2004 general election.
"We have tried the NDC for all this while," he said. "The least we can say is that we have loads of regret. The time has come for us to give the New Patriotic Party (NPP) the chance to develop our area."
Quansah, who said the group is development-oriented, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra: "We are thirsty for development and we shall go to the well where our thirst would be quenched."
He said Mrs Comfort Owusu, the MP, had not made any impact in the area.
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GHACEM to use local raw materials to produce cement
Tema (Greater Accra) 29 July 2003 - The Ghana Cement Works (GHACEM) is to use limestone mined locally to produce cement to help reduce the cost of production, Bjarne Schmidt, Managing Director (MD) of GHACEM said on Wednesday.
Mr Schmidt said the company had acquired land at Noga, near Asesewa in the Eastern Region, and it is waiting for the issuance of a licence from the Ghana Minerals Commission to prospect for limestone.
The company imports limestone and gypsum for the production of cement. ''Since mining is not GHACEM's core business a mining company will undertake the project and we will transport the limestone to Tema for our production".
He was briefing Ishmael Ashitey, Minister of State, Ministry of Trade, Industry and President's Special Initiatives, during a familiarisation tour of the cement plant. GHACEM has also contracted Fine Print Company, a paper manufacturing company in Tema, to supply it with paper bags to package the cement. Hitherto, paper bags for packaging were imported.
Schmidt said GHACEM was facing competition from the West Africa Cement Manufacturing Company and that a third cement company which imported cement and only bagged it for sale has also emerged in Tema around Community Two.
The GHACEM Chief said the company was satisfied with the uninterrupted power supply to the factory but complained about the high tariffs and appealed to the Energy Commission to consider reducing it.
Isaac Attah, Production Manager, said GHACEM had an installed daily plant capacity of 90,000 bags but averagely it produces 70,000 bags. However, on Monday 21 July it hit 83,000 bags. He said the Company was environmentally friendly and attributed this to the installation of dust collection plant at vantage points at the factory to ensure that the atmosphere was not polluted with cement dust.
Ashitey commended GHACEM for considering patronising local materials for its products and said this objective was in line with a programme drawn up by the Ministry to ensure that most of the factories used some amount of local raw materials in their products.
He said the Ministry had come out with new industrial reforms for accelerated growth of industries to promote export. Ashitey said having observed that most industrialists had little knowledge of industrial programmes; the Ministry would collaborate with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports to offer training courses for small scale/medium entrepreneurs.
He said the Ministry had concentrated so much on trade and it was about time
to diversify its programmes to benefit the larger community. The Minister later
visited the Tema Steel Works where the staff complained about insufficient
scraps in the system and frequent power interruptions.
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Reform withdraws from Nkrumaist unity talks
Accra (Greater Accra) 29 July 2003 - The National Reform Party (NRP) announced on Thursday that it has withdrawn from the Nkrumaist unity talks saying its task now is to review and integrate the many lessons learned from the talks into its own "systematic forward movement."
A statement signed by Kyeretwie Opoku, General Secretary, said the party's withdrawal from the talks took effect from July 12, 2003. "Our decision follows the CPP's rejection of the merger proposals prepared by the Inter-Party Coordinating Committee (IPCC) of the CPP, GCPP, NRP and PNC and approved by the NRP congress in March 2003," the statement said.
The NRP traced the history of the merger talks, which came out with "specific merger proposals through the IPCC, and said subsequent developments in the Convention People's Party (CPP) showed that its National Executive Committee (NEC) rejected the IPCC proposals".
The statement said the CPP wrote to the NRP giving it a one-month ultimatum ending on 5 August to "unconditionally adopt the CPP and its identity".
The NRP said on 21 July, the CPP opened nominations for national elections, adding that CPP's letter indicated that if the NRP took the requisite legal steps to dissolve itself in two weeks, it could contest the national positions at the CPP congress in September.
"The NRP will not climb into a vehicle with other parties until we have agreed where that vehicle is going, by what route we hope to reach this destination and how we will select and control the driver and 'aplanke'."
It said the IPCC's proposals provided such a plan. "The 'New Convention' or political platform for the merger identifies a national and international system of economic, social and political inequality as the root causes of our people's suffering.
"It identifies mass activism in pursuit of socio-economic justice by the disadvantaged themselves as the most important requirement for transforming our society to a more just, productive, wealthy and internationally influential one."
The NRP said the draft constitution ensures that relations between party members would be democratic and that the caprice, greed or vanity of a few "big men" will not dominate the party. The NRP said a new CPP could attract a younger generation of activists and voters in a way the present CPP, associated with comrades in their 60s and 70s, could never hope to do.
It said the NRP had proposed the "New CPP" in tribute to the original CPP and although the People's National Convention (PNC) initially opposed this, it eventually proposed a compromise involving the use of its symbol.
"A reasonable compromise would have enabled or even compelled PNC participation in a merger thereby unifying and strengthening Nkrumaist identity." The NRP said the quest for progressive unity requires a new strategy and new partners and it would continue to develop an open platform for activism.
It said the party's National Council would meet in October to initiate
branch, constituency and regional meetings towards a national congress in
February next year. "These meetings will clarify our approach to the 2004
elections and beyond and select new national officers to manage our march into a
very bright but challenging future."
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Upper West GJA holds elections
Wa (Upper West) 29 July 2003 - George Ramsey Benamba of the Ghana News Agency was on Thursday returned unopposed as the Upper West Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).
Benamba, who was the past Regional Secretary of the Association, got the nod when the other contestant and former Chairman, Chris Alalbila withdrew hours before the elections.
George Folley of Daily Graphic was returned unopposed as the Regional Vice Chairman, while Matthew Ayoo of New Times Corporation was also returned unopposed as the Regional Secretary.
Simon Tie and Madam Judith Bagiro of Ghana Broadcasting Corporation were returned unopposed as Assistant Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview after the elections, Mr
Benamba called for support from the entire membership of the Association to
remove all bottlenecks that impeded the progress of Journalists in the Region.
He promised to lift up the image of the Association in the Region to enable it
to gain recognition from the general public.
GRi…/
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