Students call for judicious use of HIV/AIDS funds
Parents advised to invest in their children's education
Pastors advised not to discriminate against the poor
Girl enrolment in school still low - DG
Aboabo (Eastern Region) 02 June 2003 - The Member of Parliament (MP) for Abuakwa, Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, has said for the past three years, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government had proved wrong the false propaganda by its opponents that it would support the take over of farm lands from settler farmers.
He appealed to the people of Aboabo in the East Akim District to dismiss any politician who would approach them with such propaganda during the forthcoming campaign for the 2004 general elections.
Nana Akuffo-Addo said this when he visited the electorates at Aboabo on Sunday as part of his tour of the constituency. ''The government is for all Ghanaians and aims at uniting the people irrespective of their ethnic background. Every Ghanaian has the right to live anywhere in the country.''
The East Akim District Chief Executive, Emmanuel Asihene, said efforts are being made to ensure that loan facilities got to as many women as possible in the district.
The Assemblyman for the area, Oppong Owereko, thanked the MP and the district assembly for the provision of potable water for the people in the area.
Owereko appealed for construction of road to connect the communities in the area to the Bunso-Apedwa road to enable the farmers in the area to transport their produce to marketing centres.
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Dormaa-Ahenkro (Brong Ahafo) 02 June 2003 - Students at a forum on HIV/AIDS at Dormaa Ahenkro have appealed to Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) to use funds provided by the Ghana Aids Commission (GAC) judiciously for effective control of the disease.
They urged the organizations to step up their campaigns in communities so that the majority of the people, especially the youth, could be well educated about the causes and effects of HIV/AIDS.
Students of Presbyterian and Agyeman Badu Junior Secondary Schools (JSS), both at Dormaa Ahenkro, attended the forum, organized by the Youth Organisation Training Club, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO).
The forum was aimed at educating the students about the dangers of the pandemic and the need for them to avoid behaviours that might let them contract the disease.
Benedict Combart, Laboratory Technician at the Dormaa Presbyterian Hospital, advised the students to avoid acts that would expose them to the HIV/AIDS.
He said since they were the nation's future leaders it was their responsibility to assist in the campaign against the spread of the disease.
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Sokorde-Juaso (Eastern Region) 02 June 2003 - The East Akim District Chief Executive, Emmanuel Victor Asihene has expressed concern about the lack of interest shown by the people of Sokorde-Juaso in development projects the assembly sends to the area.
He said some roofing sheets and cement given to the community to help them to build a day-care centre were not used and some of the cement had caked
Also, a cheque given the community from the Member of Parliament's (MP) share of the District Assembly Common Fund to support a potable water project was not sent to the bank for six months.
Asihene said this when Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, Member of Parliament for Abuakwa and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, visited the community as part of his tour of the constituency on Sunday. He appealed to the people to show interest in development projects provided them so that the district assembly would support their efforts.
Nana Akuffo-Addo told the community that the government would provide development projects for all communities in the country without regard to their voting pattern.
Martin Kwadwo Asare, Abuakwa Constituency Chairman of New Patriotic Party (NPP), called on the people of Sokorde-Juaso to unite and implement development projects in the area.
He said for some years now not much had been achieved in terms of development and reminded the people that though some of them might be settler farmers they spent greater part of their lives in the area.
The Assemblyman for the area, Reginald Owusu thanked Nana Akuffo-Addo for supporting the construction of a well for the community.
He appealed to the District Assembly and Nana Akuffo-Addo to support the community to rehabilitate the road leading to area and the 50-year-old primary school block that had not seen any major rehabilitation since its construction.
Owusu also appealed for support to enable the community to acquire 11 electric poles for a project to connect the town to the national electricity grid under the self-help electrification project.
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 02 June 2003 - About 30 houses at Penkwase North in Sunyani got flooded on Saturday following a heavy downpour which rendered inmates of houses marooned.
Damage caused by the three-hour downpour could not be immediately assessed but Mr Fred Kwasi Agyemang, one of the affected landlords, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the floods carried away many valuable items running into millions of cedis.
Ms Elizabeth Frimpong, Assembly Member for the affected area, attributed the floods to lack of adequate drainage system in the area and that arrangements were being made with the Ghana Highways Authority (GHA) to construct a better drainage system.
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Jasikan (Volta Region) 02 June 2003 - Owusu-Yeboa, Volta Regional Minister, has called on non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to organise workshops that would address existing communal and ethnic conflicts in some parts of the Region.
He made the call at the opening of a two-day strategic workshop at the weekend. The Regional Minister expressed concern about the three main conflict areas in the Region characterised by wanton destruction of property and the loss of human lives.
He named the conflict areas as Peki-Tsito, Alavanyo-Nkonya land boundary dispute and the ethnic conflict of Kitare in the Nkwanta District. Owusu-Yeboa said the large sums of money being used for local peacekeeping could have been expended on development projects to improve the quality of life of the people.
He commended the organisers of the workshop, the Co-operative League of the United States of America, for helping to create awareness within the communities on their civic responsibilities under the Government's Accountability Improved Trust (GAIT) Project.
Omar Amadu-Dabou, Jasikan District Co-ordinating Director, appealed to the NGOs and civil societies to help the government to identify critical conflict areas and help to manage them.
Martin Akotey, Programme and Workshop Facilitator, called on the people to initiate self-help projects to supplement government's development efforts.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 02 June 2003 - Participants at the People Living With HIV/AIDS counsellors' training workshop, have appealed to doctors to ask suspected patients to have pre-test counselling.
This would prepare the minds of the patients for any call to have them tested. This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a five-day workshop to educate counsellors to perform their work well and give support to AIDS patients.
The Centre for Development of People (CEDEP) organised the workshop and 27 people including personnel from the Ghana Health Service (GHS), social workers and PLWHAs from Greater Accra and Ashanti attended.
The communiqué called on anyone who is affected to willingly inform the other partner in order to prevent re-infection and also support the proper management of the disease. It also urged both partners to undertake pre-test counselling before a test was conducted.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 02 June 2003 - A two-week peace conference on Liberia opens at the Accra International Conference Centre on Wednesday 4 June, Kwabena Agyepong, Press Secretary to the President has announced.
He told a press briefing at the Castle on Thursday that the peace talks follow an appeal made to ECOWAS Chairman, President John Kufuor by a Liberian delegation sent to him by President Charles Taylor.
Agyepong said the talks would be a two-track affair. He said while the LURD, MODEM and Liberian Government would be engaged in ceasefire negotiations at Akosombo, all other political groupings would discuss ways at arriving at a comprehensive and just solution to the Liberian crises, including the conduct of a free and fair election.
Agyepong said the Nigerian, Benin and Sierra Leonean leaders have agreed to attend the opening ceremony.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 02 June 2003 - Kwabena Agyepong, Press Secretary of the President, has denied a newspaper story which said that the government and World Bank are in secret five million dollars deal for Asanteman and Akyem Abuakwa as the government's ethnic agenda gathers momentum.
Agyepong, who was briefing reporters at the Castle on Thursday said the collaboration between the World Bank, Asanteman and Akyem Abuakwa traditional authorities in education and social services is a direct fallout of the trip Asantehene made in 1999.
During that trip, he interacted with the World Bank and mooted the idea for support for traditional areas, he said. "The idea was incorporated in the World Bank Country Assistance Strategy for the year 2002. In fact, the then Minister for Finance, Kwame Peprah and his deputy, Victor Selormey supervised the entire project proposal.
"The present government made different proposals for the consideration of the World Bank to convert the facility for the Project from a loan into a grant.
"Government also recommended to the World Bank to deal directly with the traditional authorities. So the Government has no hand in the original idea of assistance for the traditional authorities."
Agyepong said the claims of the newspaper are unfair, adding that the government is ready to work with people without looking at their ethnicity.
It said the story is another attempt by agents of the NDC claimed at misinforming, creating disaffection and tarnishing the reputation of the President and the government.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 02 June 2003 - The Chairman of the National Commission of Civic Education, Laary Bimi has urged the security agencies and immigration authorities to step up efforts to check the proliferation of small arms in the country to protect its relative internal peace.
Speaking at press briefing in Accra on Sunday prior to the launch of a National Week of Action on Small Arms on Monday, 2 June, Bimi also called on the licensing authorities to ensure that only authorised persons handled guns.
Strategies to control the manufacturing of guns should be devised and also guns manufactured should have serial numbers, and be properly registered to make the monitoring of their illegal use very effective, he advised.
Bimi said the proliferation of small arms was one of the causes of human insecurity in the West Africa sub-region, and added that although Ghana was seen as an island of peace, it was still insecure because of the storms of small arms conflicts in neighbouring countries.
That, he said, put the country at risk and added, "we must begin to take steps to prevent the storms of small arms conflict in neighbouring countries erupting in Ghana,"
Security agencies at the country's entry points should be equipped to put a check on possible inflow of small arms he said. Bimi urged the media, civil society groups and other stakeholders to intensify education on arms and support the week, which would runs from 2 to 8 June, on the theme "Illegal weapons kill: Act now.
The Ghana Action Network on Small Arms (GHANSA) has teamed up with the NCCE to organise a series of activities to raise public awareness and to solicit attention of government to step up effort to control the spread of illicit weapons and small arms.
The Week of Action is in response to the call of the International Action Network on Small Arms, of which Ghana is a member.
Activities planned include public fora, radio and television discussion programmes, public lectures and victims' testimonies. Madam Afi Yakubu, Secretary of the GHANSA, on behalf of General Emmanuel Alexander Erskine, Chairman of the GHANSA, said 80 events had been planned in 30 countries around the world.
Madam Yakubu, commended the destruction of 874 illegal small in 2001, but noted that in spite of the Government's demonstrable willingness to maintain internal state security, small arms were still used to threaten the peace of the country on a daily basis.
"Conflicts and armed banditry are perpetrated by the easy availability of small arms which serve the purposes of only a few individuals.
"It is cheaper to acquire a gun and make your displeasure heard than to cultivate a piece of land to make a descent living... Guns must not be cheaper than bullock ploughs," Madam Yakubu said.
Benjamin Abiemo, a Level 100 Mathematical Sciences student at the University of Ghana, told the conference of an attack from two armed men, who robbed him of his mobile phone and ¢200,000.
He said his assailants shot him in the neck at the entrance of the University of Ghana campus, near the Unipetrol Filling Station on 10 May, this year. He was on admission at the 37 Military Hospital for two week.
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Abodahi (Volta Region) 02 June 2003 - Joseph Donkor, a Deputy Minister of Education, Youth and Sports on Saturday said the acquisition of knowledge and skills in different fields was necessary for attaining self-reliance and higher productivity.
He said because knowledge acquired through the formal education alone could not assist in national development, the government has provided resources to revamp the all sectors of education.
Donkor said these when he cut the sod for the construction of a block of three classrooms, an office and library at a cost of ¢96.4m for the Abodahi Primary School near Kpetoe in the Ho district.
The International Bank Foundation Trust of the United Kingdom (UK), the Ghana Outlook, a Ho-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) and the Ho District Assembly were funding the project.
Donkor commended the Ghana Outlook for their contribution to the development of education in the area. He said the Ministry of Education would continue to assist teachers to work effectively and urged them to upgrade their skills to facilitate teaching and learning.
David Bansah, Budget Officer of the Ho District Assembly, appealed to parents to collaborate with school authorities for the development of the education of their children.
Emmanuel Deffor, Ho District Coordinating Director, promised that the assembly would undertake the roofing of the block of Classrooms and thanked the Ghana Outlook for its gesture.
Joseph Achana, Executive Secretary of the Ghana Outlook, said the contribution of the people towards the provision of potable water motivated the NGO to undertake the school project. He said Thurlstone Primary School in the UK, through the Ghana Outlook paid the school fees of about 216 pupils of the Abodahi Primary School and advised parents to ensure that the children remain in school.
Achana said 100 out of the 206 dual desks worth ¢47m donated to the NGO by Ghana Foundation International, another NGO, would be allocated to the Abodahi primary school. Kamassah Hutor, a citizen of Abodahi, on behalf of the chiefs and people, appealed to the Ho District Assembly to rehabilitate roads in the a area to facilitate economic activities in the area.
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Takoradi (Western Region) 02 June 2003 - Four unemployed persons have been remanded in custody by a Sekondi Magistrate Court for allegedly stealing Caterpillar parts worth ¢15m, property of one Frank Etih.
They are James Acquah 28, George Hayford 21, Dominic Ghansah 27 and Francis Kobina 22. Their pleas were not taken and they would re-appear before the Court on 12 June.
Police Sergeant Andah Okyere told the court presided over by Eric Baah that in April this year the complainant Etih who was driving the Caterpillar along the Agona Nkwanta-Kwasimitim road developed a fault and parked to bring repairers form Takoradi.
He said when Etih got to the scene the following day he realised that some parts of the Caterpillar had been removed and he reported to the Police who arrested the suspects after investigations.
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Tema (Greater Accra) 02 June 2003 - Superintendent Angabutage Awuni, Commander of Tema Community One District Police, on Friday called on the public to support the Police to offer effective protection for lives and property.
He said even though the Police are to provide security, people should not "tempt thieves by being loose over their property," adding that, "the first law of nature is self protection".
Speaking at the annual West Africa Security Service Association (WASSA) get-together for personnel under his command at Tema, he commended the Neighbourhood Watch Committee (NWC) of the area, which contributed to the "manageable" crime wave at Tema.
He urged the members to continue supporting "the 112 police personnel overseeing the whole district," a figure he described as "woefully inadequate". Supt. Awuni said stealing and assault topped the number of reports, adding, there were three reported cases of robbery in 2001 and 2002 and none from January 2003 to date.
A total of 654 cases of stealing and 898 assault were reported in 2001-2002 while 415 stealing cases and 586 assaults have been reported from January to date.
According to him, the Command was making efforts to rehabilitate the barracks with support from Ghana Cement Works and appealed for assistance.
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Ashaiman, (Greater Accra) 02 June 2003 - Samuel M. Seaneye, a beneficiary of a youth training programme at Ashaiman, on Saturday appealed to residents of the area to eschew negative tendencies likely to discourage donors from assisting the community.
"I would like to advise the youth of Ashaiman to desist from violence and other social vices because it would discourage a lot of donor organisations from helping us to develop and improve our situations".
Seaneyea who participated in a Youth Enterprise Development Training (YEDT) programme gave the advice at the closing of the eight-week course organised by IBIS Foundation and Nimba Community Support Services (NIMCOSS), both non-governmental organisations based at Legon, for artisans at Ashaiman.
The two organisations have concentrated their programmes at Ashaiman to help rid the streets of idling youth and to equip them with skills and vocations. The 45 participants were taken through principles of accounting, marketing/management, environmental studies, sound negotiation skills and HIV/AIDS.
Yaw Duah Akuamoah, Project Officer of NIMCOSS, said they were concentrating on Ashaiman to help the youth to participate in governance through training to venture into other areas.
Etisba Mensah, Tema Municipal Organiser of the National Youth Council, advised them to form co-operatives to enable them obtain loans from the banks for their ventures.
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Wa (Upper West) 02 June 2003 - Contractors have been urged to ensure value for money in road projects they undertake since the government would not countenance and approve payment for shoddy work.
"Shoddy road projects has not only been a drain on the economy and draws back development but also brings about untold hardship to the beneficiary communities who have long cherished the benefit of good roads in their areas," Solomon Kwabena Sarfo, Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Roads and Transport said.
He was speaking when he led members of the Committee to inspect a number of periodic maintenance projects in the Upper West Region. The delegation was on a six-day fact-finding inspection of projects in the Brong Ahafo, Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions.
The members said the tour was to enable them appraise and monitor the extent of work being undertaken on the projects and how well the funds budgeted for were being utilised and to encourage the contractors and consultants to execute the projects on schedule.
Sarfo who is also the MP for Ashanti Mampong expressed concern about the slow pace of the projects since work would be delayed by the rainy season.
Emmanuel Zumakpeh, ranking member of the committee appealed to the district assemblies and the beneficiaries of the projects to assist the contractors perform to the required standard and to help in monitoring their activities so that no shoddy work was performed.
The Committee members inspected the upgrading of the ¢15.8bn 15 kilometre Wa-Han road being undertaken by Messrs Ussuya Ghana limited which has not yet taken off and the regravelling of the 46 kilometre Wa-Han road being undertaken by P and W. Ghanem Limited that is about 75 per cent complete.
The other projects inspected include the construction of pipe culverts on the Wa-Bulenga-Yaala road at the contract sum of ¢168.843m and the construction of 10 culverts on the Wa-Han road by Abdulai Isahaque and Company Limited at a cost of ¢488.650m.
The construction of pipe culverts on the Sissili-Tumu at a contract sum of about ¢744.798m being undertaken by Messrs Ghamini Enterprise Limited have been completed and the filling of the approaches also completed.
Members of the Committee however advised the contractor on the Wa-Han road, to speed up with the completion and filling of the approaches before the rains set in to save the travelling public from the ordeal they go through commuting between the districts and the regional capital.
Abdallah Billey Mohammed, Maintenance Engineer of the Ghana Highway Authority, said the contractors were being monitored to ensure that they execute the projects on schedule and up to standard.
The Committee also inspected the on going grading of the 14.3 kilometre which is about 50 per cent complete and the upgrading of 18 kilometre stretch of the Chuchuliga - Sissili road linking the Upper West and Upper East Regions.
They also inspected the construction of the retaining wall of the Tono stretch of the Navrongo-Chuchuliga road, gravelling of the Sirigu-Yua road, the Nyariga-Zokko and Zaare - Vea and the weighing bridge at Bolgatanga that has been damaged by the heavy-duty vehicles.
The Parliamentary delegation also inspected the upgrading of the Tamale-Yendi road and some of the Tamale town roads that are under construction.
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Koforidua (Eastern Region) 02 June 2003 - Dr Raph Asabre, Principal of the Accra Polytechnic, on Saturday advised parents to invest in the education of their children instead of spending lavishly on marriages, funerals, parties and other ceremonies.
He reminded parents that the best legacies they could bequeath to their children were knowledge and skills that could make them self-reliant and contribute meaningfully to national development.
Dr Asabre was speaking at the 45th Anniversary Speech and Prize Giving Day of the Pope John Secondary and Junior Seminary at Koforidua at the weekend.
He requested parents to ensure proper early childhood development for their children and that they should not expect teachers to "perform miracles on spoilt and pampered children."
He advised school children to study subjects that could assist them possess the requisite skills that could enable them to compete in the fast developing technological world.
Nana Adjei Boateng, New Juaben Municipal Chief Executive, appealed to students to be disciplined and learn hard so that they could pass their examinations to justify the huge invest their parents made in their education.
He gave the assurance that the assembly would collaborate with individuals and organisations to improve teaching and learning in the area.
The Headmaster of the School, Paul Ofori-Atta in his report said last year, out of the 577 students who registered for the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE), 496 representing 86 per cent passes in six or more subjects whiles 64 per cent of them qualified for admission into the Universities.
He said the school authorities were counselling academically weak students to help improve their standards. Ofori-Atta advised parents not to register their children for the private SSCE prematurely, since that could interfere with the school programme and negatively affect the performance of candidates in the final school examinations.
He appealed to philanthropists and organisations to assist the school to build a staff bungalow and workshop for the Visual Arts class and to purchase a vehicle to facilitate academic work.
Ofori-Atta appealed to past students to collaborate with the government to complete work on the Kitchen/Dinning Hall Complex, which was started about 30 years ago. The occasion was also used to inaugurate the school's Airforce Cardet Corps.
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Boankra (Ashanti Region) 02 June 2003 - Two Junior Secondary School (JSS) blocks built at Boankra and Hwereso in the Ejisu-Juaben District of Ashanti by the Ghana Shippers Council (GSC) at a total cost of ¢450m have been inaugurated by Prof Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister of Ports, Harbour and Railways.
The two facilities form part of the social assistance package for the communities on whose land the Boankra Inland Port is sited.
Prof Ameyaw-Akumfi suggested to the Council to consider establishing a scholarship scheme to support academically brilliant students of the schools who pass the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) to pursue second-cycle education.
This, he said, could help prevent the unfortunate situation where some otherwise promising students for the lack of financial help would drop out of school.
The Minister used the occasion to draw attention of parents to the need to encourage their children to get more serious with their education, saying, they should be supervised in the homes and assisted to adopt the habit of reading.
Prof Ameyaw-Akumfi reminded the GSC that it was not just enough to put up school classroom blocks for the communities but that it should also address itself to the challenge of assisting to provide electricity, telephone and water for the people in the district.
Yaw Ahenkora Afrifa, District Chief Executive, asked the Council to support the assembly in its efforts at developing a proper layout for the communities in the Inland Port area and those within its fringes.
He said this was important to ensure controlled and orderly physical development of the area. Afrifa said the assembly had set aside ¢100m to contract the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) to prepare the layout.
Emmanuel Martey, Freight and Research Manager, said the GSC had already provided wooden electricity poles and some electricity materials to assist the self-help electrification project of the two communities. Nana Aboagye Agyei II, Omanhene of Ejisu, expressed the people's gratitude to the council for the projects.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 02 June 2003 - A proposal has been made to the chiefs and Imams of the Kumasi Zongo to consider the establishment of an educational fund in the community in support of the education of Zongo children.
Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, who made the proposal, said an educational fund was the surest means through which a greater number of Zongo children could be assisted to acquire formal education.
Boafo was speaking at a durbar held in Kumasi on Sunday to climax activities marking the Silver Jubilee celebration of the installation of Alhaji Osman Tanko as Head of the Bissa community in the Ashanti Region.
He observed that the lack of such a fund in the Zongos had made secular education accessible only to a few children while the majority of them were denied such formal education.
Dr Mustapha Ahmed, Member of Parliament (MP) for East Ayawaso, advised members of the Bissa community to begin to move away from the practice of investing virtually all their resources in business ventures and to rather invest such resources in their children's education.
The MP said this was crucial since it was only when people were enlightened through formal education that all other facets of society including business ventures could thrive and progress.
Dr Ahmed said even though there were plans for launching of a Bissa education fund soon, it still behoved parents to strongly commit themselves to their responsibilities of sending their children to school to acquire formal education.
Alhaji Tanko called for unity of purpose among all Ghanaians irrespective of ethnic and political differences. He said heads of the various communities in the Zongos should not only preach the message on unity and peace but also explore avenues that would make such attributes a practical reality. Nana Ampofo Kyei Baffour, Asemhene, represented the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at the durbar.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 02 June 2003 - The area around Unipetrol Filling Station, close to the Ghana Hostels near the main entrance of the University of Ghana, Legon, is still not safe from criminal activities.
It is almost two years now when salesgirl fell victim and died from an attack by a gang of robbers who killed her and made away with her sales. On 10 May 2003 almost two years later, Benjamin Abiemo, a Level 100 Mathematical Sciences student resident at Legon Hall, on Sunday said he narrowly escaped death when two young men holding pistols emerged from that Unipetrol area, robbed him of his mobile phone, fired shots into his neck and bolted.
Abiemo narrated his harrowing experience at the weekend at a press briefing in Accra prior to the launching of National Week of Action on Small Arms, which runs through 2 to 8 June, to be performed by the Minister of the Interior.
Abiemo said he was returning to the University campus in the evening about 1900 hours, and passed through the Ghana Hostels to the main entrance into the University. The security personnel were not then at post. Suddenly the two young men emerged from behind and asked him to bring his cell phone.
A struggle ensued, and one held him, while the other fired a shot into the side of his neck. He said he consequently became weak, and the two men had their way, robbing him of his mobile phone and an amount of ¢200,000.
Abiemo said no one came to his rescue after the gunshot and as he walked feebly to the Legon Police Station, he saw the two young men, who he suspected of being some of the peddlers on then road, still hovering around.
The Officer on duty at the Legon Police Station told him there was no vehicle to send him to the Legon Hospital which was a about 300 metres away.
He said when he got to the Hospital, there was no doctor on duty and was therefore asked to go to the 37 Military Hospital. Abiemo said he passed through the Legon Police Station again, and had to give a promise of money before the Police Officer on duty rang the patrol team, which later came to transport him, to the 37 Military Hospital.
On arrival at the 37 Military Hospital, he was referred to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital for x-ray. He said he was later admitted at the 37 Military Hospital for two weeks, but still had about seven pellets yet to be removed from the side of his neck.
Madam Afi Yakubu, Secretary of the Ghana Action Network on Small Arms (GHANSA), on behalf of GHANSA Chairman General Emmanuel Erskine, said her organisation was jointly organising the Week with the National Commission for Civic Education.
She said the Week, on the theme " Illicit arms kill: Act against it," would be celebrated with 80 events in 32 countries around the world to heighten awareness on the small arms problem and the responsibility of governments to make their communities safer.
Madam Yakubu called on governments in the West Africa sub-region to redouble efforts to change their moratorium of the movement of small arms into a legislation to prevent the proliferation of small arms in the sub-region.
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 02 June 2003 - Kwaku Asante-Nketiah, Sunyani District Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), has appealed to the government to use part of the GETFUND to support teachers using the Distance Education programme to improve their level of education.
He said this would attract more people to the profession, adding that, Teachers in the programme complained about the high cost of books, transportation and other materials.
Asante-Nketiah briefing newsmen about activities of GNAT in the District said "the distant Education Programme is a laudable venture and if properly implemented, the country will get quality teachers to handle pupils and students at the first and second cycles levels to ensure higher academic performance".
He said part of the Fund could be used to assist Teachers in the programme to meet the cost to ensure smooth academic work. Asante-Nketiah advised teachers to take advantage of the programme to upgrade their level of education to fit into the fast changing academic world.
He reminded them that under the Free Compulsory Universal Education (FCUBE) programme teachers without at least Diploma Certificates would not qualify to teach by 2005.
Asante-Nketiah said to enable Teachers qualify to benefit from the Distant Education programme, remedial classes were being organised by GNAT in the District to assist them to pass the SSSCE. Currently, 70 teachers in the district are participating in the remedial classes, he said and called on members to increase their contributions to the GNAT Mutual Fund to them benefit from loans and other facilities to improve their living conditions.
Asante-Nketiah said GNAT in the district had established a credit scheme, with 700 teachers, which had helped some teachers to put up buildings and acquired other property.
He appealed to the GNAT Ladies Association to organise and educate the youth especially female pupils to enable them achieve higher academic laurels.
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Kumasi (Greater Accra) 02 June 2003 - Alhaji Abdul Moumin Haroon, Deputy Ashanti Regional Chief Imam, has called on all Muslim sects and organisations to bury their differences and come together as one people with a common aspiration.
He said this would not only enable them to have a common front but would also facilitate the progress and development of Islam.
Speaking at the two-day Ashanti Regional Conference of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Kumasi on Saturday, Alhaji Haroon stressed that Islam called for unity and not division in society.
He asked them to be law-abiding and let unity, humility and religious tolerance be their guiding principles to ensure mutual relationships and development.
Closing the conference, on the theme, "Spiritual leadership - Livewire of Islam," Maulvi Abdul Wahab Adam, Ameer and Missionary in-charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Mission in Ghana, called on the members to comport themselves to carve a good image for Islam.
He talked about the cordial relations between the Ahmadiyya and other churches and asked that it continued to enhance peace and development in the country. Circuit missionaries and dues collectors were presented with certificates and cash for their outstanding performance towards the development and progress of the Ahmadiyya Mission.
Six wheel chairs were also presented to some disabled members as part of the Mission's nationwide assistance to the disabled and needy.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 02 June 2003 - Rt. Rev. Dr. Sam Prempeh, Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana on Sunday advised ministers of the gospel not to neglect members who can not make substantial financial contribution to the development of the church.
He said the task to bring all men and women into the kingdom of God should be the main aim of pastors, adding, "We have to bring the kingdom of God face to face with the people."
Rev Dr. Sam Prempeh said this at the commissioning of thirteen ministerial probationers at the Presbyterian Church of Salvation, New Achimota.
He said the devotion of time to non-Christians was a clear devotion of what Christ wanted all Christians to do and there was the need for Christians to use every opportunity to share the good news of Christ with all people.
The daily application of God's word had a purifying effect on Christians, he noted saying, "The economic conditions in our country today dictate to us how we should behave, but this should not be so." Rev Ebenezer Acheampong Asiedu, who spoke on behalf of the new ministers, said they were being commissioned at a time when the church was looking to the Lord to make things new.
He expressed the hope that the Lord would use them for the advancement of the church and appealed to Christians to contribute their quota to the advancement of the Church.
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Girl enrolment in school still low - DG
Fiapre (Brong Ahafo) 02 June 2003 - The Reverend Ama Afo Blay, Director General of the Ghana Education Service at the weekend noted that despite an increasing trend in school enrolment for both girls and boys, the gender gap has remained constant in all parts of the country and is "worse" in the three northern regions.
This was contained in a speech read on her behalf at the 15th anniversary celebration of the Notre Dame Girls Senior Secondary School at Fiapre, near Sunyani.
The celebration was under the theme, "Women's empowerment an important tool for national development". Rev Blay expressed regret that girls of school going age were less likely to be enrolled, more likely to drop out, had higher level of absenteeism, while those who remained in school were not likely to perform well as boys in subjects like mathematics, reading and science.
"At the secondary and tertiary levels and vocational training, girls are likely to opt for only certain limited subjects or vocation and these have to be addressed". The Director General said social and cultural constraints, among others, hindered the progress of girls' education, which did not augur well for their active participation in development in view of women's important role in the economy and within the family.
She emphasised that while education for both men and women was necessary for sustainable development, "there is a compelling case for investment in women's education in order to promote economic growth and the more efficient use of public resources".
"But until all gender disparities in education are reduced and barriers and constraints faced by girls and women are removed, she added, the clarion call will continue to sound. "We need to change our attitudes and perceptions about the girl-child so that our efforts at empowering girls through education will yield the needed impact," she said.
Nana Kwadwo Seinti, Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, who stood in for the First Lady, Mrs. Theresa Kufuor, as Guest Speaker, said the emphasis on girl-education in the current educational reforms was meant to eradicate poverty and disease.
He urged women to seize the opportunity and redouble their efforts to be able to rub shoulders with men, "since they must no longer consider themselves as second-rate citizens". The Regional Minister advised students to make good use of the material and human resources available to them and to be disciplined to attain success in their studies.
Nana Seinti asked them to forgo luxuries and social attractions and to work hard to reach heights achieved by other women. Sister Vivian Voller, Headmistress, said the school, which was started in September 1987 with 36 students, had 520 students, 430 of them boarders.
She said its academic performance had improved each year due to the boarding facilities and dedicated staff. The headmistress commended the school's PTA, Board of Governors and the Sunyani District Assembly, as well as some individuals and organisations for their contributions towards the development of the institution.
The School Prefect, Ms Angelina O'Brien Ampomah, appealed for assistance towards the completion of a library. Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, donated five million cedis towards the completion of the library and one million cedis for a school playing field.
The Minister said he was in contact with the District Assembly to provide 100 bags of cement towards the library project. Adjei-Darko who is also MP for Wenchi West announced a scholarship award to cadet lieutenant Ms Happy Addai, a second year Arts student, who as the parade commander won applause from people present.
Captain Johnny Eshun of the 3 Battalion of the Ghana Army, who reviewed the parade told the cadets that their training was to help them lead disciplined lives. He said future training would go beyond drill and focus on first aid and disaster management to make it more beneficial to nation building.
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