Deputy Speakers express contrary views on Afreh’s
appointment
Ghana’s criminal code silent on human trafficking
Vice-President calls for peace as he campaigns in Bimbilla
Ali Mazrui urges Ghanaians to commend Rawlings
Deal with causes of terrorism - Mazrui
African leaders urged to form own opinion on terrorism
Draft to ensure equitable distribution of Mineral
Development Fund
Bimbilla (Northern Region) 14 March 2002- The Police Administration has
deployed 241 police personnel to maintain law and order during the Bimbilla
constituency bye-election scheduled for Thursday. The Police personnel are also
to protect electoral material and ensure that voters exercised their franchise
without any hindrance.
Police Superintendent Mohammed Adams, Divisional Commander of the Yendi
Police, announced this at Bimbilla when he briefed newsmen about the security
situation in the area. He said mobile teams would be in place to patrol the
polling stations to check electoral offences while two Police personnel each
would be deployed at the 103 polling stations.
Meanwhile four students (NDC) have been arrested by the police for
going round the communities showing a book containing pictures of people killed
during the 1994 Northern Conflict. All the contesting political parties are
putting finishing touches to their campaign for the vote. Nanumba District
Electoral Officer, Mr Worlanyo Mensah Tegah said about 48,000 voters were on
the electoral roll of the constituency.
He said all the necessary electoral materials including ballot papers
and boxes had been received adding that voting materials for communities that
were far away from Bimbilla would be despatched on Wednesday to enable the
electorate in those areas to start voting at the right time.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 March 2002- The two Deputy Speakers of
Parliament on Wednesday expressed contrary views on the timing of the
nomination of an Appeal Court Judge, Mr Justice Kwame Afreh to the Supreme
Court.
Mr Freddie Blay, First Deputy Speaker saw nothing wrong with the timing
while Mr Ken Dzirasah, Second Deputy condemned it on moral grounds because of
the government's declared intention to seek a review of the Supreme Court
ruling on the unconstitutionality of the Fast Track Court.
Speaking in separate interviews with the Ghana News Agency on the
legal, political and moral implications of elevating a new judge to enlarge the
number of justices on the Highest Court of the land for the review.
Mr Blay said; "the timing is extremely logical in a crisis
situation such as we have on hand and it is during such times that crucial
decisions are taken". He said; "it is a constitutional issue and it
is equally necessary that the panel to review the case must be enlarged because
it was all the nine sitting members that earlier sat on the case. There is no
other time that the nomination could be made to make up the number"
Mr Blay said the Supreme Court "is a quasi political set up and
there are several precedents in legal history and it is not peculiar to Ghana
alone". Mr Dzirasah said when Mr Afreh ascends to the Supreme Court and
sat on the review panel, "he will be battling with his conscience in
taking a decision on the issue".
"It is purely not only a legal issue but a moral one as well and
it is ridiculous for people to believe that morality does not count in law. If
a moral issues does not count in legality we would have people without
conscience ruling us."
He said; "you must have a
democratic governance with morality and it is the way governments react to
judicial decisions that will have a far reaching effect on the judiciary".
Mr Dzirasah said it was pre-emptive for the Minister of Justice to seek a
review whilst the reasons for the judgement were not known.
He said; "it is on the basis of the reasons that one will seize to
pursue a review and if one did not know the basis. What happens if the reasons
later adduced turn out to be satisfying would one then decided not to go in for
a review?"
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 March 2002- The National Democratic Congress
(NDC) on Wednesday accused the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) of using
"dirty tricks," intimidation and threats in its campaign to clinch
the vacant parliamentary seat in the Bimbilla bye-elections slated for
Thursday.
A release issued from the Bimbilla Constituency of the NDC, which was
signed by Baba Jamal, for Alhaji Huudu Yahaya, General Secretary of the party
said: "The NPP is showing its ugliest face of intimidation and harassment
in its desperation to win the Bimbilla seat by all means. It has gone on an
over-drive and this has generated a lot of tension in the constituency."
The NDC said teachers and public officers were being transferred from
the Bimbilla constituency with retrospective effect in some cases. The release
cited an instance on March 11, 2002, where it said security agencies presumably
arrested five university student teachers on the "orders from above",
adding that but for the timely intervention of a lawyer colleague of the
victims, those who were angered by the arrest would have gone on the rampage.
The NDC said it had has also learnt that the NPP had 'imported' a
Kokomba chief from Saboba, who hails from a different district and kept him in
Chamba, a village in the area to canvass votes for the ruling party by playing
the ethnic card.
This, the NDC said, it considered "unethical, vulgar and
irresponsible as Bimbilla is a hotbed for ethnic conflicts" and called for
the issue of ethnicity to "be handled with extreme care in order not to
inflame passions."
The party alleged the NPP had turned the campaign into money sharing
business "with leading members of the NPP for doling out large sums of
money to prospective voters with a view to influencing them to vote for the NPP
candidate as well as for them to remove NDC flags."
The NDC said it wished to remind the leadership of the NPP that
"Ghana is more important than winning an election and the peace for the
people of Bimbilla was more important than winning the bye-elections.
Prince Imoro Andani, Northern Regional Minister, told the Ghana News
Agency in a telephone interview that the NPP had not brought in any Komkomba chief
from Saboba to Chamba, describing the NDC accusation as a figment of their
imagination.
He said it was rather the NDC that was playing the tribal card adding
that the NPP was too much aware of the volatile nature of the area and being in
government would be the last to toy with the peace of the area. Prince Andani
said the NPP unlike the NDC had no loose money to dole out adding that it was
the NDC that was throwing money about.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 March 2002- Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo,
Attorney -General and Minister of Justice on Tuesday stated that there was no
specific offence for human trafficking under the criminal code.
He said the loophole has been exploited to the advantage of persons,
who engaged in the practice, saying: "This loophole in Ghanaian criminal
legislation has been identified and the Criminal Code of 1960 (Act 29) will be
amended shortly to proscribe the practice."
Nana Akufo-Addo was speaking on: "State responsibility and
contemporary challenges in women's human rights protection in Ghana" at a
public event organised by The Ark Foundation Ghana, a non-governmental
organisation (NGO) in Accra.
It was to mark the end of: "Women's Leadership, Human Rights and
Democratic Participation Training Project." The Foundation, which is an
advocacy-based human rights organisation, focuses primarily on the promotion
and protection of rights of women and children.
It was also expected to ensure equality in the society, based on
working principles that reflect on the values of respect, and dignity of all
persons. Nana Akufo-Addo expressed concern about the growing sub-regional and
international dimensions of human trafficking and its links with organised
transitional crime.
He said: "This has attracted the attention of ECOWAS leaders,
leading to an endorsement of an ECOWAS Plan of Action last year aimed at
eliminating human trafficking and encouraging specific actions by member states
towards the realisation of the objectives."
The Attorney General also announced that an ECOWAS Child Protection Unit
had been set-up to ensure compliance by member states. He said Ghana had signed
and ratified a number of international human rights treaties, which made it an
obligation for the country to effectively protect the human rights of women.
Nana Akufo-Addo noted: "We are abreast with our obligations as a
state to provide a conducive regulatory framework regarding the protection of
the rights of women,” He stated that the country was fully engaged in the
processes that would lead to the adoption of the Protocol to the African
Charter on the rights of women.
Nana Akufo-Addo said the fundamental human rights and freedoms
enshrined in the 1992 Constitution of Ghana places a responsibility on the
state to enhance the rights of women.
He mentioned that the directive of principles of state policy also set
out principles for the foundation of good governance, essential for the
establishment of a just and free society. He said in view of this, President
John Agyekum Kufuor had attempted to increase the number of women in his
government.
Nana Akuffo-Addo, however, said: "Much needs to be done to arouse
the consciousness of women about their rights to enable them to realise their
full potentials in society." He also called for strict enforcement of laws
that sought to stop female genital mutilation and prohibit customary servitude
under the criminal code.
He said the Ministries of Justice and the Interior were collaborating
with one another to strengthen the enforcement of such laws and to educate
people that these "practices are unconstitutional, illegal, degrading to
women and no longer acceptable in contemporary Ghanaian society."
Mrs Gladys Asmah, Minister of Women Affairs stated that women were
endowed with special talents and virtues, which were yet to be tapped for
national development. She expressed regret that the public sector had not yet
recognised women's managerial capabilities and immense contributions to the
development process.
Mrs Asmah called for a review of cultural orientation of society and
the education of the public to accept that women just as their male
counterparts were capable of contributing to national development.
She said: Campaign against all cultural practices that degrade women's
status and deny them opportunities of contributing effectively in public life
must be intensified."
Mr Pollen Owen, British High Commissioner, urged governments to address
women's issue holistically in national policy formulation and implementation. He
explained that women issues cut-across social-economic-and political life,
noting, and must be central in developmental policies.
Mrs Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, Executive Director of the NGO, gave the
assurance that it would continue to fight for the rights of women. She said the
NGO would also ensure " Affirmative action, policy co-ordination and
support services for women and child victims of violence".
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Bimbilla (Northern Region) 14 March 2002- The Vice-President, Alhaji
Aliu Mahama, on Wednesday, called for peace during and after the Bimbilla
by-election, on Thursday, for the development of the area.
Addressing an NPP rally to round off the party's campaign for the
by-election, he said the government was doing everything possible to unite the
people and urged the electorate not to listen to those whipping up ethnic
sentiments.
The Vice-President called on the security agencies to deal drastically
with any person who would want to cause confusion and disrupt the by-election. He
urged the people to turn out early and vote massively for the NPP candidate, Mr
Dominic Ntiwal
Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Health, said the government would upgrade
the Bimbilla Health Post to a District Hospital. He said the government was not
discriminatory but was looking out for people with talents, no matter where
they came from, or which party they belonged to assist it to develop the
country.
Dr Majeed Haroon, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, appealed to
the people to form groups to enable them to benefit from the Poverty
Alleviation Fund and the Village Infrastructure Project (VIP).
Alhaji Rasheed Bawa, Deputy Minister of Education, announced that out
of the 28 schools, which were closed down following the Northern conflict in 1994,
eight been re-opened and said facilities at the Bimbilla Senior Secondary
School would be provided to make it a boarding institution.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 March 2002- Professor Ali Mazrui, a renowned
African International Cultural Historian and Political Scientist, on Wednesday
called on Ghanaians to commend former President Jerry John Rawlings for
relinquishing power honourably without manipulating the system in his favour.
He said the political development in Zimbabwe attested to the fact that
the former president should be held in honour for not doing what President
Robert Mugabe has shamelessly done to entrench himself in power.
Prof. Mazrui made the call in the last of three lectures organised by
the University of Ghana, Legon in memory of Aggrey, Fraser and Guggisberg for
the their contributions to national development.
The theme for the lecture was: "Nkrumah's Legacy and Africa's
Triple Heritage, in the Shadow of Globalisation and Counter-Terrorism." The
sub-topic for the final lecture was: "Nkrumahism and Africa's Triple
Heritage, Out of the Shadow". He reiterated that Rawlings begun his
political carrier as a dictator and went through five processes to end as a
democrat.
"Rawlings begun with a coup in 1979, came back with military
take-over in 1981, won power through the ballot box in 1992 and again in 1996
and stepped down in 2000 without manipulating the system to his personal or his
party's advantage," he said.
Unlike Rawlings, Mugabe defied threats of sanctions and possible
suspension of his country by the international community and manipulated the
electoral process to his advantage.
Prof Mazrui noted that Mugabe curtailed press freedom and bared foreign
observers, caused the military to declare that there would be chaos if the
opposition won the elections and openly intimidated his opponents. He said:
"There was no reason Rawlings could not have done the same; but he simply
did not do it."
"Not only did Rawlings step down from power, but he allowed the
electoral process to be transparent to the extend that his own party was
defeated in the 2000 elections.'' Professor Ali Mazrui noted that some African
leaders such as Arap Moi of Kenya had entrenched their positions and defied all
odds to remain in power.
He said: "Rawlings spared Africa another regime of dictatorship with
his honourable gesture, whilst Mugabe was bent on tarnishing the image of the
Africa as the continent with too many dictators."
Prof Mazrui admonished Rawlings to remain gracious and honourable and
to stay out of politics and called on other African leaders to behave as such
after leaving office.
He observed that Africa has great leaders contributing to the
development of the international community, citing Kofi Anan, Boutrous Ghali
and Nelson Mandela, but said the shadows of poverty and disease persisted on
the continent.
"It would take the concerted efforts of both Africans at home
those in the Diaspora to move the continent from its socio-economic and
political woes into the desired development," Prof Mazrui noted.
The renowned African International Cultural Historian said: "We
must create more pull-in conditions in African to ensure that experts and
professionals stayed and worked in the continent."
Turning to Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first President, Prof Mazrui
observed: "He started as a democrat and ended as dictator. Nkrumah was a
great African but not a great Ghanaian."
He explained that Nkrumah's stature as a pan-Africanist was unequal but
his political stance in the country was not the best and cited the passage of
the Prevention Detention Act, which kept his political opponents in
prison.
Prof Akilakpa Sawyerr, former vice-chancellor of the University of
Ghana, Legon, who presided, praised Dr Kwame Nkrumah for his contribution to
educational, health and infrastructural development in the country. He said
even if Nkrumah's domestic political record might not have been good his
commitment to development was unquestionable.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 March 2002- Professor Ali Mazrui, a renowned
International Cultural Historian, on Wednesday said global coalition against
terrorism would only succeed if measures were initiated to address the causes
of the phenomenon.
He said it was not enough to condemn and fight terrorism without taking
a closer look at and dealing with the reasons that prompted terrorist to channel
their energies and skills at visiting atrocities and vengeance on humanity.
Prof. Mazrui was delivering the last in the series of three lectures in
the Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lectures, organised by the University of
Ghana, Legon under the theme: "Nkrumah's Legacy and Africa's Triple
Heritage, In the Shadow of Globalisation and Counter-Terrorism".
The sub-topic for the final lecture, which attracted a standing ovation
at the end, was "Nkrumahism and the triple heritage of Africa, out of the
shadow".
Prof. Mazrui challenged the assertion by the President of United
States, Mr George Bush that terrorism was born out of evil, saying that the
actual cause of the phenomenon was the fight against perceived unfair western
policies.
He postulated that USA respected warrior presidents whilst Africa
respected revolutionary leaders, adding, from George Washington to George Bush
Junior, all USA presidents who rose to popularity were those who led
inter-state wars.
Prof. Mazrui said in the later part of the twentieth century, it
appeared that the US considered war against the Arab Islamic world as though it
were a rite of passage." He mentioned that it is on record that apart from
Israel, US is the single country which has fought more inter-state warfare than
any country in the world.
Prof Mazrui said terrorist might have been enraged by US projecting
itself as a peace maker while in reality it is the most belligerent state in
the world. He said critical among the issues that kindle and enrage terrorist
and potential terrorist was the Middle-east affair.
Prof Mazrui said it defined the Arab-Israeli past and kept generating
newer and newer forms of hatred; rage and fury, especially when it seemed the
US did not rise against Israeli attack on Palestine. He recalled President
Bush's union address in which he declared that Iraq, Iran and North Korea were
''axes of evil."
Prof. Mazrui said it was obvious that America had no intention of
waging war against North Korea but history bears witness that even before that
declaration, Iraq and other Arab countries had suffered American attacks.
"We can not create a peaceful world for posterity as US claim to
be leading the world to do in the anti-terrorist campaign, if we kept ignoring
the true reasons for the rage which gives birth to terrorist activities,"
he said. Prof. Mazrui said: "We need to pause and ask, why the rage and
then a move forward to deal with it."
He said Osama Bin Laden may or may not be the one behind the September 11,
2001 terrorists attacks on the US, but the world today lives in an era, which
could better be described as "Osamaphobia and Osamaphelia".
Prof. Mazrui noted: "Those living with Osamaphobia are those who
are afraid and are not sure of what Osama Bin Laden might do next, whilst those
with Osamaphelia are those who secretly admire Osama Bin Laden, though they are
not necessarily Moslems nor Arabs but are equally enraged by US unfair
policies."
He said the September 11 attack demonstrated the dangers of the
brain-drain syndrome, adding, it was an example of how persons who migrated
from the Arab world, studied in the United State used their acquired
organisational and professional skills to terrorise the very country which
boasted of the most sophisticated security apparatus.
Prof. Akilakpa Sawyer, former vice-chancellor of the University of
Ghana, Legon who presided described Prof Mazrui as probably the most informed
personality in the humanities on earth and urged people of academia to debate
Mazrui's lectures to widen the scope of its accessibility.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 March 2002- Professor Ali A. Mazrui, a renown
international cultural historian, has called on heads of African government not
to allow themselves to be compelled into any anti-terrorist campaign without
satisfying their conscience on who was a terrorist and who was not.
He said much as terrorism was evil, it was also wrong for the western
anti-terrorist campaign leaders to have declared; "those who are not with
us are against us - no one can take the middle line," without allowing
other sovereign states to decide whether to join the campaign or not.
"African leaders must know that non-alliance is not a crime,"
he said. Prof. Mazrui was delivering the second of three lectures in this
year's Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lectures, under the theme:
"Nkrumah's Legacy and Africa's Triple Heritage, in the Shadow of
Globalisation and Counter-Terrorism."
The sub-topic for the second lecture was: "Nkrumaism and the
triple heritage of Africa, in the shadow of counter-terrorism."
He noted that Dr Kwame Nkrumah was one of the first African leaders to
have spoken against terrorism in all forms, adding that he demonstrated clearly
that he was not confused about the difference between arms struggle against
racism and imperialism and terrorism.
"At a time when the West considered freedom fighters in the Mau
Mau episode in Kenya and other freedom fighters in the Diaspora as terrorists,
Nkrumah offered such figures a safe haven in Ghana," he said. "Today
US President George Bush has declared that those who harbour terrorist are also
enemies."
Prof. Mazrui said Nkrumah was independent then to decide on his own who
he thought was a terrorist and who was not, adding that his adoption of
"positive action" derived from Mahatma Ghandi's concept of non-violence
made him popular with the West. However, he lost the popularity mid-way,
because he harboured those west considered to be terrorists.
He noted that it was an irony for United States to want to compel every
one to join an anti-terrorist campaign citing the case of Kenya which was about
to come to terms with the true value of the Mau Mau episode and was getting
ready to celebrate it.
"Can Kenya go ahead and celebrate Mau Mau, which was considered
terrorist movement and yet join an anti-terrorist campaign the US is
demanding?" He asked. Prof. Mazrui said on authority that he was aware
that one of the major root causes of the Arabic and Islamic terrorism against
US was the support US gave to Israel.
He mentioned the contradiction in the US policy of condoning Israeli
ownership of weapons of mass destruction, while at the same time it was
insisting that the Arab world should not own some.
"Israel owns enough weapons of mass destruction to destroy the
entire Middle-East and some the Arabic countries and the US sees nothing wrong
with that but demands that Iraq, Iran and others should not own the same,"
he said.
Prof. Mazrui noted that since the Middle-East struggle began, Israeli
government had either killed or detained several Palestinians without trial for
several years and the US did not seem to see anything wrong with that.
He said long before Osama Bin Laden's Al Qeada group, terrorism had
existed in many forms since the 18th century, adding that the infamous KKK
terrorist group in Tennessee, US noted for its white supremacist stance, though
banned, resurfaced from time to time.
"Apart from the KKK, terrorism existed in other forms which could
be described as institutionalised, individualised, national and private
terrorism,"
Prof. Mazrui said US was on record as having held more people in
detention without trial than any other country in the world, most of whom were
blacks, Arabs and other nationals considered to be mere illegal immigrants and
suspected terrorists.
"Meanwhile the US government had often tooted that every US
citizen deserve trial before detention no matter the magnitude of the crime
they committed," he said. "This amount to institutionalised
terrorism."
"The assassination of Tom Boya of Kenya, Malcom X and Martin
Luther King Junior, who fought against decolonisation and racism, could all be
describe as individualised terrorism and the perpetrators are the same people,
who want the whole world to follow them in an anti-terrorist campaign today,"
he said.
He said African leaders must make good use of the freedom won for
Africa through the blood of the freedom fighters in the past and stand their
grounds in deciding what form of campaign to join or not.
Prof. Emmanuel A. Obeng, Vice-Chancellor of the University of
Cape-Coast, who presided said: "Kwame Nkrumah would forever remain an
enigma no matter how he is viewed by different people, whether a hero or a
villain."
He said there was no doubt that Nkrumah had greatly influenced
political thought in Ghana, Africa and in the world at large, adding that he
was one personality worth debating for centuries for the simple fact that he
was great.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 March 2002- A draft on the Mineral Development
Fund is to be distributed to stakeholders in the mining industry for their
final input to facilitate the judicious exploitation and utilisation of the
nation's mineral and geological resources.
The Bill when finalised would also ensure that traditional authorities,
the district assemblies and the communities got their royalties on time. Mr
Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, Minister of Mines and energy announced this when the Ghana
Chamber of Mines presented two computers, two printers and a photocopier valued
at 50 million cedis to the young ministry at a ceremony in Accra.
The items would enhance operations at the ministry to find a lasting
solution to the problems currently facing the mining industry. The Minister
said to enable the ministry to perform its functions effectively it would need
certain basic facilities and, therefore, welcomed the donation.
Mr James Kwamena Anaman, President of the Chamber of Mines, who made
the presentation said the Chamber, had taken note " that this is the first
time in the country's history that affairs of the nation's mining industry are
being handled by a substantive ministry".
He called for a partnership between government and the Chamber to
promote the capacity building effort of the ministry. For the first time in
five years, he said, Ghana had been represented at the annual conference on investment
in mining in Africa in Cape town, South Africa.
The conference enables African Mining Ministers to meet the world's
leading mining companies and investors to review the progress or otherwise of
the global mining industry.
"As a chamber, we are of the opinion that if we assisted in
adequately resourcing our sector ministry, it will in turn assist the Chamber
in its determination to actively and continuously promote responsible mining in
Ghana, Mr Anaman noted.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 March 2002- The Ministry of Information and
Presidential
Affairs on Wednesday said the cost of the 100 Peugeot 306 cars acquired
for the Ghana Police Force from Nigeria was 1.375 million dollars and not 13
million dollars.
It said in a statement issued by the Public Relation Officer, Mr
Mawutodzi Abissath that there was a typographical error in the first statement
that was released on the cost of the cars. It said the unit price is 13,750
dollars.
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