Handle reconciliation process with caution -
Media urged
Donor loan strategy have failed Africa- World Bank Official
Ghanaians in Europe hold durbar for Otumfuo
National reconciliation process lauded as panacea for stability
Govt asked to re-consider decision to privatise Ghana Broadcasting
Asmah advocates gender representation at the top
Call for national policy framework for economic growth
Poverty alleviation must recognise rights of the poor - Short
Senior Secondary School to be equipped with computers
Candidates cannot organise rallies – Electoral Commission
Culture affects Africa's development - Fletcher
Handle reconciliation process with caution
- Media urged
Akosombo (Eastern Region) 24 June 2002- A South African Journalist who covered that country's reconciliation process on Saturday told Ghanaian media practitioners that they hold the key "to heal the wounds" of the nation by the way they handled their reportage on the National Reconciliation Commission.
Mr Thomas Mokushame now Manager of the Media and Communication Department of his country's Institute For Justice and Reconciliation said, "some wounds are hard to heal but Ghanaians must learn from the will of South Africans who strived to put the past behind them and move ahead."
Mr Mokushame, a resource person at the workshop on the media and the national reconciliation process organised by the Ghana Journalists Association and a Danish Non-Governmental Organisation, IBIS for Senior Editors at Akosombo was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview.
He said the media should be guided by the ethics of their profession by exercising the greatest discretion in the choice of words in their reportage. "We forgot about bitterness in South Africa, we didn't want revenge and we were more concerned about the restoration of justice and not the punishment of the perpetrators of the Apartheid system that led to human right abuses. "Ghanaians must also accept the challenge by learning from South Africa. This can best be managed by media practitioners," he said.
Professor Jo Ellen Fair from the US who was also a resource person said Ghana's reconciliation process could be strengthened if the media coverage of the proceedings would balance their reports and widen their news sources.
She said Reconciliation Commissions all over the world operated on sufficient budgetary allocation and efficient staffing. "Commissions that are seen as being the most successful also have the authority to make recommendations, some of which are taken up by governments". Professor Fair said dissemination of reconciliation commission's findings and recommendations was central to the successful rebuilding of society.
Dr Audrey Gadzekpo, Lecturer School for Communication Studies, Legon, who presented a paper on media challenges for national reconciliation said the media were both victims and perpetrators during some of the periods included in the process. "There were spies in state news rooms and the state media were used for propaganda process. Many private media organisations found it either prudent or impossible to operate."
She asked Journalists to rise above such personal feelings to recognise the larger implications of the reconciliation process. Dr Gadzekpo asked the media to set the right tone for the process through responsible, conscious and even-handed coverage. "Victims must be given the opportunity to tell their stories and to reconcile with the truth".
"Promote institutional reform, future accountability, a culture of human rights and avenues for healing a divided nation. This requires that the media provide accurate, analytical and informative coverage", she said. Journalists must explain the reconciliation process to the public in ways and languages that they would understand, Dr Gadzekpo added.
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Donor loan strategy have failed Africa-
World Bank Official
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 June 2002- Mr. Peter Harold, out-going Country Director, World Bank (WB), on Sunday said the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative is not a sign of African failure but the inappropriate response of donors to the continent's economic problems.
"Terms of lending and interest rates of loans were inappropriate. They were founded on false assumptions," Mr. Harold told 50 MPs at a parliamentary retreat aimed at upgrading the knowledge of members on national economic and financial policies and programmes.
"We did not pause to count how much was flowing out as repayments. We were just concerned with what was coming into the poor nations. Infact, the net inflow was very low." He said the HIPC initiative had suffered a lot of attacks in Ghana, while other Africa States scrambled for it. "It is the pride that Ghanaians have. Supposing we called it Debt Reduction Programme for Africa, would it be okay?"
According to him," if HIPC would not do much at all, it would at least give governments much control on the use of resources, which could have gone into repayments. Mr. Harold said Ghana's choice for the initiative stem from the fact that it was regular at repaying loans, adding, "the G8 sees it as a reward for countries who have performed better economically."
On the question of total debt cancellation, he said indebted countries have not convinced the rich nations and other donors enough on the need for cancellation of debts." "May be we could use the difficult access to European markets or the American Farm subsidy programme and other policies to make a good case."
He condemned the idea of donors using clauses of "marching funds or counterpart funding" to site projects in poor nations. Mr Harold said such a clause demands that donor projects are more important than government projects.
He confirmed Mr. Moses Asaga's (NDC-Nabdam), assertion that donor's no longer insist on privatisation of utilities as a conditionality of HIPC. The Sri-Lanka bound WB official asked that Parliament should be involved in initial stages of planning of economic programmes. "Parliament is seriously under-consulted. We need to build into our rules of engagement the element of constant consultation on issues," he said.
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From: Kojo Yankah, Ghana News Agency Special Correspondent.
Amsterdam (The Netherlands Rai) 24 June 2002-Hundreds of Ghanaians in other parts of Europe joined their compatriots in the Netherlands to accord Otumfuo Osei Tutu ll, Asantehene, a tumultuous welcome when he arrived at the Amstel Hall, in Amsterdam RAI last Friday for a durbar.
The Ghanaians, all wearing a specially designed adinkra black and white cloth, sang and danced to the delight of the Dutch and Surinamese nationals who had also come to the ceremony.
It took the organising committee a hard time to get the programme started as cameramen and enthusiastic Ghanaians charged on the King as he sat on the podium erected for him. After a welcome delegation, made up of the Mayor of Amsterdam, representatives of the Ghanaian community and inhabitants of Amsterdam South-East, had greeted the Asantehene, Ghana's Amabassador for the Netherlands, Dr Grace Amponsah Ababio read her address.
She recounted some of the exploits of Otumfuo since he ascended the Golden Stool. "In life, we find many men who are great, and some who are good, but few men who are both great and good; Otumfuo has proved beyond doubt that he is not just great and good, but also very wise", she told a cheering audience, urging them to support Asantehene's initiatives.
Mayor Job Cohen of Amsterdam praised the 300 year old relationship between the Netherlands and Ghana and indicated that the people of Amsterdam were very proud and pleased to host Otumfuo. The Chairlady of South East District Council Mrs Elvira Sweet, corroborated this with a further request for special 'partnership' with Ashanti.
The Ghanaian community had been waiting for this occasion to present some of the problems of asylum-seekers. Mr Appiah Osei, who spoke on their behalf, asked Otumfuo to intervene and ask for special concessions for Ghanaians who were toiling in Holland.
The Asantehene, who spoke in Twi, later translated into English, rose to the occasion to the expectation of the Ghanaians. He thanked his hosts for a 'wonderful programme' and also praised Ghanaians for the 'high commendation' given them by Dutch Government officials and employers.
He reminded Ghanaians living abroad that conditions were deteriorating in their villages and they should therefore set aside some savings and contribute to developments in their villages. Otumfuo urged the Asantes among them to contribute to the Education Fund and Health Fund he has instituted.
Responding to the request of the Ghanaians, Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11 informed them that he had already made an appeal for amnesty for all Ghanaians in his meetings with the Queen and the Government of the Netherlands. He therefore repeated his call, this time in public, for the Government of the Netherlands, to symbolize the 300 year old relationship and his visit to the Netherlands with the granting of 'unconditional amnesty' for all Ghanaians currently living in Holland and to 'allow them legal stay in the country'.
Loud cheers and applause met this announcement, which came at the tail end of his address and which sparked spontaneous singing and dancing to end the durbar. Commenting on the occasion, a Ghanaian resident, Kwame Kyei-Baffour, said: "This is a great day for us in Europe. Otumfuo has made us proud. And we wish the Dutch Government would heed his appeal."
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Akosombo (Eastern Region) 24 June 2002- The Chairman of the National Media Commission on Saturday described the country's national reconciliation process as a panacea for the looming threat of instability arising out of the pent up feelings of Ghanaians, who have been wronged by past political administrations.
"Ghana's political stability would be under threat without providing for a mechanism to deal with the grievances of a significant, even if minority number of citizens, who believe they or their loved ones have been subjected to organised and institutionalised violation of their dignity and their rights at the highest level of government," says Mr. Nutifafa Kuenyehia.
Mr. Kuenyehia was speaking at the formal opening of a two-day workshop on media and the national reconciliation process organised by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in collaboration with IBIS, a Danish Non-governmental Organisation being attended by 50 senior Editors and Media management personnel at Akosombo in the Eastern Region.
He said reconciliation is more relevant when other peaceful means of seeking redress have been totally blocked either through constitutional indemnity for the perpetrators or by statute of limitation. "When peaceful means of seeking means of seeking redress are blocked, there is empirical evidence to suggest that violent and ultra-legal means become attractive."
Mr. Kuenyehia said the success of the work of the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) depends, to a large extent on the way the generality of Ghanaians would perceive their work.
"Obviously the totality of the success of the work of the NRC is not dependent on the media. Yet the media can literally make and unmake the commission by the quality of its reportage, which would definitely be the basis for public opinion formation. The media should thus recognise this privileged position and use it responsibly," he said.
The NMC chairman cautioned the media against the tendency of becoming Public Relations Officers for the NRC since that would be against their constitutional duty of upholding public accountability. The President of the GJA, Mrs. Gifty Affenyi Dadzie said the sensitive and volatile nature of the reconciliation process demands circumspection and a very high sense of professionalism from the media.
" The GJA believes one of the institutions most crucial to the success of such a process is the media, as many of the citizenry and the outside would follow the process through the media. It is therefore, important that the Ghanaian media would be informed and educated about the process to enable Ghana achieve the desired results.
"As Journalists, we must ensure that only the truth is heard, read and seen of our reconciliation process. Indeed our duty to the process will be to unveil the truth and nothing but the truth, but mindful of our words and language... The GJA code of ethics has stood the test of time and should therefore, be very helpful to all of us in providing the relevant parameters."
Mr Justice Kweku Etrew Sekyi a retired Appeals Court Judge, who chaired the function asked media practitioners to desist from sensationalism, dictated by their commercial interests, since it harms the reputation of individuals and the interests of the community at large. He said the role by the media in fomenting and sustaining the genocide in Rwanda tells the sad story of how some media personnel deliberately incited people against each other.
Some of the topical issues being discussed at the workshop include "the relevance and underpinnings of reconciliation commissions: a global perspective," "fulfilling our mandate: philosophy, plans and strategies of the national; reconciliation commission," and "ethics of coverage."
There would be experience sharing of how other countries like Nigeria, Kosovo and South Africa have managed similar reconciliation processes by international resource persons.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 June 2002 - The Socialist Forum of Ghana (SFG) has called on the government to reconsider privatising Ghana Commercial Bank Limited (GCB).
According to the Forum the privatisation of the GCB along with utility services like water and electricity in the name of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as part of conditions for debt reduction would leave the country in a "more confused state than help the debt situation".
The Forum came out with the position at a discussion on the way out of Ghana's debt problem in Accra at the Weekend sponsored by The Insight newspaper. Professor Atta Britwum of the French Department of the University of Cape Coast, who led the discussion questioned the rationale for privatising utility services with foreign majority shareholdings.
He said " in America, a foreigner cannot go and buy the water system. Doing so would be holding the entire nation to a ransom." Professor Britwum said it was ironical for government to privatise companies giving majority holdings to foreigners and guaranteeing loans from development partners for them, adding, "such a situation leaves the country in a quandary and debt if the privatised companies do not perform".
He called for the revision of the country's development strategies and to relate production to distribution and consumption. Dr Raymond Osei, a lecturer at the Department of Classics and Philosophy of the University of Cape Coast said "the handing over of strategic local assets to foreigners as a result of lack of local capital would create foreign monopoly and affect negatively local industrial intelligence and skill development".
Mr Kwesi Pratt Jnr, Managing Editor of The Insight called on countries that gained economically from the slave trade to "calculate the cost of imperialism and re-write the balance sheets of the developed world and African countries" saying "the debt burden is a major fraud, it has no legitimacy".
He said the way out for Africa and the government was to "empower the people to take their destiny into their own hands to fight for their emancipation and that of the nation".
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 June 2002- The former Chief Justice and Member of the Council of State, Mr Justice Philip Edward Neequaye Kwesi Archer was buried at the Osu Cemetery in Accra, on Saturday. The late Chief Justice who was 77 years old died on 10 May this year at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
A state funeral service was held at the forecourt of the State House attended by dignitaries including Vice President Aliu Mahama and his wife Mariama, former President Jerry John Rawlings, Members of the Council of State, Ministers, MPs, the Diplomatic Corps, the Bench and Bar and people from all walks of life.
Alhaji Mahama led the dignitaries to file past the body in a black casket draped in national colours on a platform bedecked with flowers and wreaths and consoled the bereaved family while the Ghana Armed Forces Central band and mass choir of the Anglican Church provided music.
The Ghana Bar Association (GBA) staged a mock trial with Mr Johnny Hansen as the Judge and later filed past the body. Vice President Mahama laid a wreath on behalf of the government and people of Ghana, Mr Justice Edward Kwame Wiredu, Chief Justice on behalf of the Judiciary, Mr Joseph Samuel Appiah, Member of the Standing Committee and Synod Member of the Sekondi Diocese of the Anglican Church for the Church and Mr Samuel Archer, brother of the deceased on behalf of the family.
Six pallbearers from the Armed Forces carried the casket into a vehicle for a procession of the clergy, relatives and sympathisers to the cemetery for the internment.
Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs in a tribute by the government said the late Justice Archer spent his entire working life in public service describing him as a selfless, devoted and dedicated jurist who was "fearless in the dispensation of justice". He said the late Chief Justice was a distinguished lawyer, eminent jurist and an incorruptible judge during his 30 years in the Judiciary, which was a legacy worthy of emulation.
The Judiciary in a tribute read by Mr Justice George Acquah, a Supreme Court Judge, described him as a "gentleman and scholar of no mean repute, straight forward, truthful and honest" and said he left a blue print in the judiciary. Mr Paul Adu Gyamfi, President of the GBA said the late Chief Justice was a pillar and a firm believer in the rule of law.
He said that because of his long association with the Judiciary he sought the welfare of members of the Bench, Bar and the entire judicial service. "The greatest tribute we can pay the late Justice Archer is that our Judicial Service would be transformed into an efficient and viable service, which will dispense justice to all manner of people without fear or favour"
The Right-Reverend Andrew K. F. Okoh, Bishop of the Sekondi Diocese of the Anglican Church in sermon said, the late Justice Archer was an excellent legal adviser and counsellor whose good ideas would forever remain with the Church and Ghanaians. He fought a good fight as a faithful servant of the nation and the church to ensure that both institutions prospered, the Bishop said.
Rt-Rev Okoh said people could be instruments of change when they rendered "laudable and committed services" to their country, community and family.
The late Justice Archer was Chief Justice from 1 April 1991 to 22 February 1995. He joined the judiciary as a temporary clerical assistant in 1945 after working in the administration section. The late Chief Justice graduated in Law in 1953 and was called to the Bar in 1957 in England. He returned to Ghana on the eve of independence and was appointed Assistant Registrar General. He was promoted Judicial Secretary in March 1964.
In April 1964, he appointed as a High Court Judge and became an Appeal Court Judge in October 1969. In September 1980, he was promoted to the Supreme Court and went on voluntary retirement in September 1983, but was named Chief Justice in 1991.His wife, Sheba Elizabeth, five sons, two daughters and 16 grandchildren survive him.
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Ho (Volta Region) 24 June 2002- Mrs Gladys Asmah, Minister for Women and Children's Affairs has called for equal gender representation in decision-making bodies. She said the country would not achieve comprehensive development if women were consigned to the sidelines in the process of ensuring governance and appealed for support for programmes of the Ministry Women and Children Affair's to find solutions to factors retarding their progress.
These were contained in an address read on behalf of the Minister by Mrs Mariam Tackie, Director of the Ministry at the launching of a programme to support the preparation and monitoring of the local government elections, voter education and affirmative action of civil society organisations at Ho, on Friday.
Mrs Asmah said discriminatory attitudes and practices, family responsibilities, low income, little education, lack of self-confidence, inability to control their sexuality, reproductive roles and non-competitiveness of women leaders were problems preventing women from attaining positions of power.
Mrs Asmah said the Ministry would collaborate with District Assemblies and civil society organisations including NGOs "to ensure that there is an irreversibly critical mass of women in decision-making positions".
Participants at the forum sponsored by Ibis, an independent Danish organisation supporting good governance and affirmative rights included women candidates in the forthcoming District Assembly elections in the Volta Region. The Ho District Assembly and the Municipal Action Foundation, a Women's Rights advocacy group hosted the forum.
Miss Birigitte Rasmusem, Programme Director of Ibis said government should be lobbied to reserve a third of the 30 per cent government appointees to the district assemblies for women. "We are of the conviction that the Regional Minister and the District Chief Executives (DCEs) could lobby government in the spirit of article 17 (4) of the 1992 constitution and the NPP government's manifesto, which promises to repeal laws, which interfere with the attainment of full and equitable treatment of women," she stated.
Miss Rasmusem said some measure of success has been achieved in the region with many women contesting the elections, with one district recording 29 standing for the ekections.
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Swedru (Central Region) 24 June 20002- Mr. Vitus Azeem, a Director at the Centre for Budget Analysis of the Integrated Social Development Centre has stressed the need for a national policy framework with clearly spelt out priorities and goals to achieve socio-economic growth. He said such a framework should be approved by parliament and it should be binding on all governments no matter which party was in power.
Mr. Azeem said this at Swedru in a presentation at a workshop on "the national economy, poverty reduction and parliament," organised by the Ghana Parliamentary Committee Support Project and sponsored by the Parliamentary Centre (Canada) in Partnership with the World Bank Institute and CIDA.
He said," it was necessary that all our short and medium-term plans and programmes including our annual budgets are drawn from this framework which should also guide our negotiations with our external development partners to agree with them to conform with our priorities".
Mr. Azeem said the few long-term development plans have not lived the length of their lives due to changes in government, adding that, Ghana's Vision 2020 was the most recent example and prayed that policy documents like the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS) and partnerships like NEPAD should necessarily conform with the agreed policy framework
He said the reduction in poverty recorded in the last decade was geographically uneven with poverty rising in some area while the country continued to grapple with the problems of hunger, ignorance and disease due to low incomes, malnutrition, inadequate access to safe water, illiteracy and increased prevalence of HIV/AIDS.
Mr Azeem said, what is needed was improving transparency in the management of the budget, increasing consultation in economic decision-making and taking measures to protect the poor by ensuring equitable distribution of resources.
There should also be widespread user-fee exemptions for health and education, providing production cost subsidies, formulating policies that would ensure affordability of utilities for all and encouraging local processing of main exports, he added. Mr Azeem said there was also the need for interaction between civil society and Parliamentarians, since that would allow for their participation in decision-making and ownership of policies.
He said the Centre for Budget Advocacy of ISODEC is working on an economic model - (distributive effects of economic policies), DEEP to help in their analysis and this would soon be put in the public domain to be used by policy makers, for analysing the impact of economic policies on the people.
Mrs Gloria Sarku of the Research Department, Ghana Parliament, in a presentation on "providing support for parliamentary oversight duties," said the work of members of parliament was information intensive and need to make decisions on many complex matters.
She said, as members need to make decision on many complex matters, the Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Department strives to provide both subject-specific and general research to meet their information needs.
Mrs. Sarku said parliament could not be effective unless it has adequate resources to conduct research on policy issues and to develop its own models of data analysis and symptoms survey. She said parliament therefore, needs to make maximum use of its constitutional mechanisms to ensure oversight of government activities and policies thereby, promoting transparency and accountability in government.
There was therefore, the need for an efficient information and documentation service, including the optimum use of new technologies that would facilitate access by parliamentarians to information that is relevant to their work.
Mrs Sarku said the 2002 budget represents the first year of the implementation of the GPRS, which aims at applying the wealth of the nation to the development and benefit of the poorest Ghanaian amongst whom farmers are in the majority. She said effective parliamentary involvement and commitment was essential to the progressive implementation of measures for poverty reduction and sustainable economic growth.
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Swedru (Central Region) 24 June 2002 - Mr Emile Short, Commissioner for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), on Friday said the condition of the poor would worsen if Poverty Alleviation Strategies were not fashioned to recognise their rights. "The Poverty Alleviation Strategy is to empower the poor to know their rights and duties so that they could contribute to national development effectively".
He was speaking on CHRAJ in poverty reduction and the economy at a seminar for 50 MPs at Swedru. It was organised by the Ghana Parliamentary Committee Support Project, which seeks among other things to improve the capacity of members of Committees in Parliament and their staff on economic direction, financial integrity and poverty reduction and funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and other donors.
Mr Short said when people lived in deprived conditions, they lost their dignity as human beings, adding, "what we must do as a nation is to implement conventions and national laws and programmes on human rights". He urged Parliament to monitor government polices and expenditure to ensure the attainment of national goals and aspirations.
Mr Short noted that CHRAJ had intervened in cases of intimidation against the poor and said, "60 per cent of cases that come to us are labour related. In our national life where there are no unemployment benefit, security of employment is so important to our people".
He said CHRAJ had created the forum for the poor and defenceless to assert their rights, adding that, the Commission had investigated cases of corruption against government officials because the practice induced poverty and the denial of the people's rights. "I expect more action on the part of government and the courts to expand the case of the rights of the poor," he said.
Mr Short recalled a matter, in which an Indian court upheld a case brought against the state by a village that did not have a road to the area because it violated their right to life. "The court said right to life does not necessarily mean the physical existence of life but right to quality life. How many Ghanaian courts would do such a thing," he questioned.
Efforts must be made to find the root causes of poverty and how they were related to crime and conflicts. Mr Short condemned what he called "the criminalisation of poverty" saying, "it is not right to target slums and poor neighbourhoods as dens of criminals".
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Asamankese (Eastern Region) 24 June 2002- The Ministry of Education is to come out with an Information Technology (IT) policy and charged the Research Unit to develop a curriculum for computer literacy, Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister of Education said on Saturday.
He said 110 Senior Secondary Schools (SSS) would be provided with computers as part of the policy to introduce computer literacy. The Minister said the Ministry and that of Communication had designed a programme to provide a number of schools with telecommunication facilities in line with the policy when a new company takes over the management of Ghana Telecom.
The Minister commissioning 25 computers procured by the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of the Asamankese Secondary School at the cost 240 million cedis said only 57 out of the 476 SSS have established computer centres, largely through the efforts of PTAs and donors.
He said the Ministry was determined to extend the facility to all second-cycle schools when appropriate structures were provided and asked schools to charge students not more than 30,000 cedis towards the acquisition of computers to make it affordable.
Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi said steps had been taken to ensure "leakage-free examinations" in the future to avoid the recurrence of the mass leakage of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) question papers, that led to the "painful decision" to cancel it. He appealed to churches and mosques to educate parents and the youth to prepare well for examinations instead of resorting to cheating.
Mr Umar Amoah, District Chief Executive for West Akim, said theAssembly had constructed a science block for the school to serve other SSS in the district while it was sponsoring about 80 students in both secondary and tertiary institutions.
The Chief of Asamankese, Barima Kwaku Amoah, commended the PTA and called on parents to invest more in their children's education instead of dissipating their resources on "enjoyment". The Headmaster, Mr Osafo Begyabeng-Kantanka, commended the PTA for its efforts to improve teaching and learning. He said the classroom boys' dormitory and the access road to the school needed rehabilitation and appealed for assistance.
Over 24.3 million cedis was realised in an appeal for funds towards the computerisation project. Prof. Akumfi-Ameyaw pledged a donation of a computer and five million cedis by the Minister.
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Lawra (Upper East) 24 June 2002- Mr Alexander Poku Akubia, Deputy Regional Director of the National Electoral Commission (EC), has warned candidates contesting the District Assembly elections not to organise rallies and campaign programmes since they were illegal.
"It is the preserve of Electoral Commission to organise and supervise platform-mounting exercises unlike in the Presidential and Parliamentary elections where individual candidates can organise their own platforms".
Mr Poku-Akubia was speaking at separate workshops at Lawra and Wa for 145 women contesting the elections organised by the National Council on Women Development and sponsored by Konrad Adenaeur Foundation. The Deputy Director reminded the electorate of the law of libel particularly on platform warning that, "If you use libellous language against the candidates they could be sue in the law courts".
Mr Poku-Akubia cautioned candidates against influencing the electorate with gifts and the use of party symbols and mottos, which he said were contravention of the constitution. He also warned against the use of threats, violence and other forms of intimidation as a way of canvassing for votes or discouraging the electorate from voting for the candidate of their choice.
The Deputy Director urged the people to ask questions relating to statements and responsibilities of candidates in their electoral areas and not on personal issues. Mr Stan Dery, Regional Coordinator of Centre for the Development of People (CEDEP), called on the people to vote for people with leadership qualities and not on tribal on family lines since that could be dangerous. He urged the women to perform their roles creditably to enhance their chances of winning.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 June 2002- The Reverend Dr. Kingsley Fletcher, a US based Ghanaian evangelist has observed that negative cultural attitudes by Africans had affected developments on the continent.
"Africa can be turned into any of the emerging countries and economies such as Korea and Japan but negative cultural beliefs and selfish attitude of Africans including their leaders had held the continent back in its development".
Speaking to the Ghana news Agency in Accra after a week's visit to the country, Rev. Fletcher said, "if Africans could put their negative cultural practices and lukewarm attitude towards development behind them, they could come abreast with developed countries and not rely on them for financial support".
He said much could not be achieved in Africa for sustainable and human development without the elimination of the negative cultural practices that had kept the people in subjugation.
"The main problem affecting African development is not their leaders, government policies and programmes, but their thinking and attitude to issues, which should change for the better", He said. Dr. Fletcher, who is also the Nkosouhene of the Shai Traditional Area, stressed the need for Africans to mobilize resources available on the continent and utilize them effectively for their development.
He said one other factor, which had delayed Africa's development was the attitude of governments and the people to have many development projects within the same period. Japan and Korea, he observed, did not have natural resources but they worked with their brains and are currently among the world's richest countries.
Dr Fletcher said African leaders should embark on an intensive campaign to bring other Africans in the Diaspora to invest to generate income and create employment for the youth.
He said with such an intensive campaign, the youth and other people would not leave the continent for Europe and other countries, adding, "those of us there have realised the need to come back to invest and help develop the continent".
Dr Fletcher pledged to assist in the improvement of health care delivery in the country to reduce the brain drain in the health sector with the provision of 10 computers and accessories to each of the two teaching hospitals in the country. These are the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi.
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