LURD to stay out of
Liberian's peace talks if ...
Halt adhoc approach to salary administration
Education
Directorate awards best teachers
Document the
history and line of inheritance of stools
Image of Police has
improved - Minister
Cleric calls for
discipline among Muslims
This framework would be
presented immediately thereafter to the various parties for actions. A
statement faxed to the Ghana News Agency said the 17 June ceasefire agreement
was the first step paving the way for comprehensive peace talks by the
stakeholders assisted by the ECOWAS Mediation team.
It said in the process, two
committees were formed, one to discuss military/security issues and the other political
issues. The military/security committee's work progressed well but the
deliberations of the Political Committee were more problematic because of wide
ranging differences in the perception of the different stakeholders of their
participation in the future government, the statement said.
It said the Mediator, as a
result requested for memoranda detailing the stakeholders respective positions
based on the discussions at the committees levels. This, some of the
stakeholders had delayed requesting for more time to consult their various
headquarters adding, "It is hoped that by Friday 27 June 2003, the
Mediator would have received their submissions allowing for a synthesis
document to be prepared".
The Mediator, the statement said
called on the stakeholders to recognize their responsibilities under the
ceasefire agreement and to engage in constructive dialogue, which would lead to
a comprehensive peace agreement.
It said the Joint Verification
Team (JVT), which by 21 June was to be deployed, did not happened due to
non-receipt of information from some parties on their military disposition and
where their nominees could be picked-up for the verification exercise in
The statement noted that
preparations were being made in
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LURD to stay
out of Liberian's peace talks if ...
They had accused Dr Ibn Chambas, the Executive
Secretary of ECOWAS of siding with Charles Taylor, the Liberian President
despite continues reminder that he was not the spokesman for the
These were contained in a letter
addressed to the Chief Mediator in the peace talks, General Abdulsalami
Abubakar, signed by Kabineh
M. Ja'neh, head of LURD's
Delegation and faxed to the GNA.
The letter was reacting to an
interview granted Dr Chambas on 22 June on a BBC
"Focus on Africa" programme where he was alleged to have said that
the departure of Taylor from Liberian Presidency, within 30 days from the
signing of the 17 June ceasefire agreement was still a subject for future debate
rather than a material condition stipulated in the agreement.
LURD said by this statement, the
ECOWAS Executive Secretary had violated the duty of his office to impartially
conduct the negotiations and thus became a spokesman for
"Moreover the statement is
prejudicial in that it was made while a letter of inquiry, filed by our
organization before the Mediator and his facilitators was being reviewed by Dr Chambas himself.
"Clearly this has created a
state of apprehension, fear, distrust in our minds as to his ability to be fair
and impartial in these talks," they said. LURD said in the interest of an
expeditious resolution of the current Liberian conflict, they demanded that Dr Chambas rescued himself from the rest of the on-going
negotiations in the Liberian of impartiality.
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Tamale (Northern Region)
Madam Vorodam
who pleaded with the Commission to observe a minute silence for her late
husband, Augustine Vorodam, said the former Area
Manager of the then Cotton Development Board was at table when the soldiers
went into his premises, arrested and sent him to the Wa
Police Station.
She said at the police station
her husband who was subjected to many questions told them that he was not used
to answering many questions at the same time.
Madam Vorodam
said he was molested and locked up in cells for two weeks without bail while
the soldiers returned to the house and took away 80 bags of maize, 1,250 bags
of sorghum, 250 cattle and 150 ruminants belonging to him. She said the
soldiers told him that they had seized the items and the five shelves of seed
cotton that he had stored for the state.
According to Madam Vorodam, the seized foodstuffs were sold to the public
while the cattle and the ruminants were also sold to cattle dealers at
"control price" and the proceeds taken away by the soldiers. She
mentioned Sergeant Bawa as one of the soldiers who
arrested her husband.
Madam Vorodam
said in 1984 her husband received a letter from the Ministry of Food and
Agriculture relieving him of his post and asking him to appear before the
National Investigation Committee at Wa on an
allegation that he diverted part of ’30,000 given to him to purchase seed
cotton.
She said in 1995 and 1999, her
husband petitioned the Ministry for his benefits but he was told that documents
on him could not be found either at the Wa
or the Tamale Offices.
Albert Punamanbil
Lebil, 26, a native of Tongo
in the Upper East Region, testifying before the Commission said on 6 March,
1988, he was travelling from Bawku to Bolgatanga on a mammy truck when soldiers at Nangodi shot at the vehicle.
He said a bullet grazed his
chest, penetrating his left arm and hitting a pregnant woman who died
instantly. Lebil said he became unconscious and was
rushed to the
He told the Commission that he
was on admission for nine months, during which doctors removed pellets and
pieces of bones from his damaged arm.
The witness said he was in the
junior secondary school at the time of the incident and had to stay away from
school for two years to undergo treatment while practicing to use his left hand
to write since the right hand was damaged. He said he had completed senior
secondary school but could not go for his results because he owed the school.
He therefore appealed for help to further his education.
Another petitioner, Madam Stella
Kriba, unemployed, said on April 23, 1982, she was at
home when a militiaman came into the house and shot her in the head rendering
her unconscious.
She said she was rushed to the
The petitioner, a mother of two,
said the militiaman who shot her was arrested and sent to court where he was
sentenced but he served only part of the term and was released.
She pleaded with the Commission
to assist her to do some trading to help educate her children and also to meet
her medical expenses. Richard Kwabena Abugumzio, now unemployed, said in 1979, he was returning
from school with his mates at about
He said when he saw what the
soldiers were doing to the man he shouted "oh", "oh" and
the soldiers heard him. The soldiers called him and when he obliged, they
pulled some fibre plants and whipped him.
Abugumzio said the soldiers not satisfied
with the punishment, rushed him to a woman who was cooking food nearby and forced
him to sit on the fire. He said when he started to struggle the soldiers
pressed him onto the fire and he sustained burns on his buttocks, penis and
testicles.
Abagumzio said in 1982, he was working at
the Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation and that one morning he picked his
friend who was travelling to the State Transport Station. He said on their way,
his friend tapped his back and asked him to stop and when he looked in the
rider's mirror, he saw a soldier pointing his gun at them.
He said when they dismounted the
motorbike, the soldier came and arrested them and led them into a room where
they were confined with others. The witness said he was taken to the then Upper
Regional Administration where six soldiers stepped on his stomach and he shouted
"oh God!" They lifted him high and dropped him onto the ground
several times.
He said he later gave one of the
soldiers a lift on his motorbike to the hospital to greet a wounded soldier on
admission. He said while at the hospital, other soldiers also came to visit
their colleagues but when they were going, they forgot about him and left,
making it possible for him to escape.
Asabilla Apaaba,
a former livestock and foodstuff dealer and now a farmer, told the Commission
that in 1982, he was transporting 9,000 tubers of yam, 25 bags of millet and
maize from Yendi and was arrested by militia at
Plaza, a popular public place in Bolgatanga.
He said when the next morning,
saw them selling the items at Plaza to the public at "control price"
The witness said his friend provided him with ’3.8m to transact the business
and when the incident happened and he could no longer do the business, his
friend took him to court and he had to sell his five-room house for ’700,000 to
defray part of the debt.
Atanga Ayemleme,
a native of Bongo Namoo, in the Upper East Region,
said he was dealing in livestock and used to commute between Bolgatanga and
He said the soldiers threatened
to kill him but he managed to escape through a bush path to Bolgatanga
and reported the incident to the GPRTU officials but nothing came out of it. Naaba Ayamdo Abane,
a sub-chief in Bongo also in the Upper East Region, told the Commission about
how his mother was molested by soldiers at the Bongo market in 1979.
He said two civilians led the
soldiers to the mother's shed where she used to sell cola nuts and "fura," a local drink made of millet. He said the
soldiers accused his mother of selling the cola nuts above the controlled price
and subjected her to severe beatings.
The witness said he sent his
mother to the house where she received local treatment and was later sent to
the hospital but she died. Zenabubilla Saaka, a trader at Walewale in
the West Mamprusi District said in 1979, six soldiers
came to her house early in the morning and ordered her to come out, accusing
her of engaging in "Kalabule".
When she retorted that she
wasn't that type of woman, she received a hot slap from one of the soldiers and
later took her round the town to arrest her colleagues after which they were
sent to Walewale police station. She said they were
made to sit on the ground and their heads were shaved and were subjected to
severe beatings and were made to roll in the mud.
Their goods were later seized
and sold at the controlled prices to the public and the proceeds taken away and
the soldiers kept goods that were useful to them.
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Nkawie (Ashanti Region)
Mensah further advised the members to
pay their dues regularly to help in the efficient running of the association.
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It also intends to build the
institutional capacity for the National Commission on Small Arms by recruiting
enough personnel and providing it with enough funds, equipment and logistics.
Hackman Owusu-Agyemang,
Minister of the Interior, stated these anti-small arms proliferation measures
in
Thomas Broni,
Deputy Minister for the Interior, read Owusu-Agyemang's
speech at the workshop, which the Foundation for Security in Africa (FOSDA), a
non-governmental organization (NGO), organized jointly with Action Aid,
Owusu-Agyemang said Government intends to
retrain the country's 200 local gunsmiths and provide them with funds to divert
to the production of non-lethal items such as cutlasses, hoes, bolts and nuts
and machine tools. He said the government intends to embark on periodic nation-wide
search, retrieval and destruction of small arms.
It would also embark on
extensive sensitisation of Ghanaians about the magnitude of the destruction of
lives and property caused by the misuse of arms in
He added that small arms
continue to play prominent roles in other inter-ethnic, chieftaincy, land and
religious disputes, as well as armed robberies that have plagued the country in
recent times.
Also, it has been established
that there is a high level of correlation between the proliferation of arms,
organized crime, drug-trade, terrorism, rape and defilement, and political
destabilisation. According to the Interior Minister, Government's efforts to
control the proliferation of small arms in the country have been impeded, among
other things, by the delayed establishment of the National Commission on Small
Arms, inadequate technical expertise in the area of arms control, inadequate
equipment and dishonesty by some personnel of the security services who sell or
hire arms to criminal elements.
He said the importance of
freeing
It is also crucial for
attracting both local and foreign direct investment and also for uninterrupted
socio-economic development and general well-being of Ghanaians.
Owusu-Agyemang stated that freeing
He said Government would make
the checking of the proliferation of small arms a top priority and called for a
collective support from all the citizenry to make it successful.
Alfred Sallia
Fawundu, UNDP Resident Representative, said the
security
This, he said, would make for a
deeper democratic process as
She said children below 18 years
constitute 50 per cent of the total population of
A statement from ActionAid noted that about 95 per cent of deaths in the
civil wars in
Coalitions of civil societies
from
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Halt adhoc approach to salary administration
Speaking at the launch of
activities to mark the Africa Day of Administration and Civil Service, Dr
Glover-Quartey said keeping salaries low and
inadequate because of bad economic performance was no longer tenable and did
not contribute to an efficient Service.
"There is the need to break
the cycle and look for the money to pay appropriate salaries to keep a
well-motivated civil service," he said. He said government had accepted in
principle a wage and income policy, saying a consultant would soon arrive in
the country to work out the modalities.
Dr Glover-Quartey
assured the civil servants that care would be taken to pursue policies that
would not worsen their plight. He said the civil service must position itself
not only to provide the advice and regulatory framework for government work but
also create the necessary environment for private sector growth and
facilitation of investments.
"That way the civil service
will be the instrument for the realization of the government's goal of
employment generation and wealth creation, thereby ushering in the Golden Age
of Business."
It is in this direction that the
capacity of the Office of the Head of the Civil Service was being strengthened
to effectively carry out its mandate of ensuring efficiency within the Service.
In this regard, a three-year
strategic plan has been prepared and its implementation is due to begin in July
this year. Dr Glover-Quartey said the Service would
pursue programmes that would enhance productivity, rebuild the image of the
Service, institute and enforce performance related reward systems for all
public service staff as well as expand the scope of training of personnel and
supervision.
In this vein, Dr Glover-Quartey, said there were plans to establish a Civil Service
Training Fund to pool the necessary resources to meet the training needs of
workers within the Service. A book on Management and Control of Public funds,
written by George Scott, Director of Finance and Administration, Office of the
President was also launched as part of the programme.
The 14-chapter book provided a
humble platform on the judicious use of government's resources by reducing
waste and leakages in the system. Africa Day of Administration and Civil Service
is celebrated in June every year to review the
performance of the Service and its contributions to national growth and
development.
This year's celebration is on
the theme:"Strengthening Civil Service Capacity
for Sustained Achievement of NEPAD's Goals." Activities for the
celebration include lectures, seminar for women and awareness creation on
HIV/AIDS.
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Education
Directorate awards best teachers
The awards, which were in eight
different categories, included the best teachers in Primary, Junior and Senior
Secondary levels, the
Others were best teachers in
vocational and technical divisions, while three non-teaching staff of the
education unit were also awarded for their dedication
to work.
For their prizes, award winners
in each of the categories took home in the sequence of who came first, second
and third, a double door refrigerator, a 20 inch colour television and a gas
cooker, except for the second cycle science and mathematics division, where the
winners had a ghetto blaster and ’2m cash.
Sheikh I.C Quaye,
Greater Accra Regional Minister, said the award scheme, was a significant
attempt by government to show appreciation for the contribution of teachers to
the educational development of the country.
"The award is also a source
of encouragement and motivation to teachers to enable them
give off their best and help raise the standard of education in the
country."
Sheikh I.C Quaye
said though statistics for the past years had registered a steady improvement
in both the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and Senior Secondary
Certificate Examination (SSCE), in the region, much more could be achieved.
He said the increase in the
number of girls in both the basic and second Cycle school level in the region
was very encouraging, however the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education
(FCUBE) programme, needed the support of all to achieve its goals.
He charged teachers to insist on
discipline among students by first setting the examples, so as to be role
models for them. "We must teach them tolerance, unity and the need for
peace", he added. He congratulated the award winners for their good work
and challenged others to emulate.
Mrs. Vida Drapson,
Regional Director of Education, appealed to government to give technical and
vocational education the needed attention to ensure that students acquired such
skills to man the country's industries. She said, "if
we want our industries to grow, we need the technicians and engineers to man
the factories", she said.
She urged parents to encourage
their children to venture into such fields to discard the notion that technical
and vocational training were meant for people with low intelligence.
Mrs. Drapson
also reiterated an earlier appeal by the minister for more support in the form
of sponsorship to be able to provide awards to encourage teachers and also
sustain the awards scheme.
She congratulated the winners
for their hard work and dedication towards the shaping of lives of students as
well as the community, for the mantle of governance in the future.
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Speaking at the First African
Continental Seminar on Human Resource and Conflict Management in
He said it was time for
governments on the continent to reflect soberly and discern how to resolve
matters amicably to put
The seminar under the aegis of
Gamey and
Referring to the Labour Bill
currently before Parliament, Bartels said: "It would be a tonic to prevent
unnecessary industrial actions; create industrial stability to give hope to
other local and foreign investors to commit their resources to create
jobs...."
He charged the participants from
Ghana, South Africa, US, Sierra Leone and Nigeria to fashion out a human
resource development initiative using a new work system that could help reverse
the brain drain syndrome on the continent.
"You can turn this new work
system into a 'brain gain' for
Cooperative attitudes should,
therefore, develop between these experts for the purposeful repatriation of
mass scientific and technological knowledge.
Austin Gamey, CEO of the
Academy, said with
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He said it was sad that some
civil servants tended to be slaves to the system and interpret and apply rules
and principles of administration so rigidly to the extent that, measures that
might have to be taken to produce results were ignored.
Boafo was speaking at the Ashanti
Regional launch of the ninth anniversary celebration of the Africa Day of
Administration and Civil Service in
He reminded civil servants that
time had radically changed and there was the need for them also to be more
efficient, innovative and proactive in order to fulfil the new role expected of
them. "We expect that you will continue to grow to learn and to sharpen
your professional skills as well as your competence to enable you to cope with
the changing civil service and meet the demands of the new dynamic and
people-oriented government that you must necessarily serve".
Boafo urged civil servants to develop
new initiatives and structures to deal with a citizenry that was not only very
conscious of its civic rights, but also demanded early results as well as
efficiency in their service delivery.
He commended civil servants for
their dedication to duty throughout the years, which had contributed, immensely
to the development of the nation.
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Dr Anane
was speaking at the inauguration of the Mary Immaculate conception Catholic
Men's Fellowship of the
A disciplined nation, Dr Anane said, ensured the development and well-being of the
people and therefore, charged Christian fellowships to chart the way on
discipline for others to follow.
He also called on Christian
churches to take the National Health Insurance Scheme seriously and to start
mobilising and contributing towards its implementation and charged the men's
fellowship to take up the issue so that they were not overtaken by events when
it comes into operation.
Delivering the sermon, Rev
Dominic Asiedu-Fosu, the Parish Priest, regretted
that Christians were not prepared to go through a little bit of hardship or
suffering.
He said, however, that those who
wanted to worship God should be prepared to suffer and asked Christians to be
appreciative to what God had done for them. Rev Asiedu-Fosu
reminded the men's fellowship of the difficult task ahead of them and said
their success will depend on their attitude and comportment towards their
fellow Christians and asked them to look up to God for direction at all times.
He pledged his support and that
of the parish for the fellowship and wished them success in their work. Ayeh Kumi, President of the
11-member executive, said the fellowship, which was formed about a year ago, had
about 46 members.
He said the formation of the
men's fellowship in the Catholic Church had become imperative in view of the
fact that only the women were well organised and that the time had come for the
men also to be up and doing.
Kumi said as part of the
fellowship's social responsibility, it would set up a fund to assist the
National Cardio Centre at the Korle Bu Teaching
Hospital.
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Document the
history and line of inheritance of stools
Kuntanase (Ashanti Region)
Kofi Akoto
Boateng, a Civic Education Officer of the National
Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), blamed the confusion, wrangling and
litigation that often accompany selection of new chiefs on the lack of proper
documentation of the royal lineage of stools.
He was speaking at a day's forum
for members of the Kuntanase Traditional Council on
the role chiefs could play to bring down the level of indiscipline in the
society.
Boateng spoke of the need for
kingmakers to resist overtures of those who have no legitimate title to stools.
He said as custodians of the land, much was expected from them by way of
setting good examples for the people to follow.
James Yaw Appau,
a Senior Field Officer of the Commission, asked them to help do away with
obnoxious customary practices that infringed on the fundamental rights
particularly of women. Nana Kwame Achampong,
Akwamuhene of Kuntanase,
appealed to the government to help the traditional councils to function
properly.
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Image of
Police has improved - Minister
"I am happy to note the
various initiatives being taken to improve the Service. It is hoped that these
would be taken very seriously by all benefiting from them for the good of the
Service," he added.
Owusu-Agyemang was speaking to officers of the
Service at the Police Headquarters in
He charged Police personnel to
be loyal to the State as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution and to strictly
stick to the constitutional mandate of maintenance of law and order.
"Loyalty is expected of all
Police personnel. Nobody expects Police personnel to be political. Their
responsibility should be to ensure the security of the State. All personnel
would be judged on how they perform in this regard." He warned against
manhandling of suspects in custody adding, "cases
should be handled devoid of personal interests but with a human face".
The Minister urged personnel to
be disciplined in order not to undermine their role as custodians of law and
order. He said discipline should be reflected in the behaviour of all personnel
especially in their way of interaction with the public, dressing and the
maintenance of offices and residence.
He said government recognised
the lack of resources in the Service and was feverishly working with
development partners and District Assemblies to secure funds to rectify the
situation.
On conditions of service of
personnel, Owusu-Agyemang said proposals before the
Police Council would soon be put before government for approval.
On crime, the Minister commended
the Police for ensuring the reduction in armed robbery. Owusu-Agyemang
asked them not to relent in their efforts to combat crime, especially advanced
fee fraud, narcotics trafficking and illegal trafficking of children, among
other things.
He asked the personnel to be
committed to duty and not to see policing only as a job to be done. The
Minister would also be touring the
Nana Stephen Owusu-Nsiah,
Inspector General of Police, appealed to government to give more support to the
Service for personnel to discharge their duties effectively.
He stated that the Police
urgently needed four-wheel drive vehicles to patrol the hinterland. Nana Owusu-Nsiah noted that the communication equipment of the
Service was woefully inadequate and called for the provision of modern ones to
facilitate the combating of crime.
Owusu-Agyemang had earlier inspected a guard
of honour and later held an open forum with the Officers, from which the media
were excluded.
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Cleric calls
for discipline among Muslims
Kintampo (Brong
Ahafo)
Sheik Mohammed who is also the
representative of the West African Moslem Scouts in
Four thousand delegates attended
the convention, which was under the theme "Fighting HIV/AIDS, the Islamic
Approach". The Deputy Chief Imam appealed to women to prevail upon their
husbands to avoid negative behaviours and activities that could lead to
religious conflict.
He advised women and the youth
to refrain from wearing short dresses popularly known as 'Apushkeleke',
"because such type of dresses expose them to the public and could be one
of the causes of rape".
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