Den Haag (Netherlands) 11 March 2003 - As we write, one of Ghana’s legal brains is putting on her wig and taking her seat at the International Court of Justice in Den Haag, Netherlands.

Monitoring the proceedings for GRi, live and direct from the chambers, Sankofa TV confirms that, the Akuapem lady, Prof. Akua Kuenyehia, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon, has been chosen as the as vice-president of the court. – Sankofa TV

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Ghanaian Granny burned alive in UK

Victoria Adu-Mensah Brixton (London) 11 March 2003 - A Ghanaian woman of 82 has been burned alive in her flat by an intruder. It happened hours after she had taken her two grandchildren to school.

The devastated family of the woman were in shock today at the "senseless nature" of her murder. The body of Victoria Adu-Mensah was found after firefighters arrived at her flat on the Hertford Estate in Brixton.

They thought they were dealing with an ordinary house fire and on making the discovery immediately called in police who launched a murder hunt. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "The victim and her family are law-abiding citizens and there appears to be no clear motive." He added: "We really don't know what happened at this stage. We are not sure if someone may have come to visit her. This will be subject to investigation.

"We are treating her death as murder and it is believed she had been set alight and her ground floor flat subject to arson."

Police are now looking for witnesses who saw Mrs Adu-Mensah taking her grandchildren on their 200-yard journey to their school on Loughborough Road around 8.45am yesterday. And they are trying to find anyone who was seen entering her flat before 9.43am when the fire brigade was alerted to smoke billowing from the windows.

This morning three officers stood guard outside the gutted flat. Mrs Adu-Mensah lived their with her daughter, her two grandchildren and son-in-law. They were not at home at the time of the blaze.

Neighbour John Forde, 55, a bus driver, said: "I saw smoke billowing past my kitchen window just before I was about to set off for work.

"I left home and saw a man trying to break into the flat and there were four or five fire engines. I didn't know her well, but she was always friendly and polite and we'd often have a quick chat. I can't believe that somebody could do this to her." Another neighbour, Sydney Osei-Owusu, 23, was a family friend. Mr Osei-Owusu is from Ghana, as was the dead woman, and had known her since he moved to the estate four years ago.

He said: "She was a friend of my mother's. They used to visit each other so I would see her when she was around at our flat. She was a very warm, kind woman. She was a defenceless woman and I don't know how this could happen just around the corner from where I live."

Mr Osei-Owusu comforted one of the grieving woman's relatives. He added: "Her daughter was here yesterday and she was in floods of tears. I was trying to comfort her, as was my mother who was also in tears.

The Hertford Estate has a reputation for violent crime. It is plagued by fly-tipping and is off a busy road which is notorious for street crime. Diane Tyler, 53, a nurse, lives nearby. Mrs Tyler said: "I have been attacked and mugged twice in the last five years around the corner from here. Since then I do not carry a handbag or keep valuables in my car.

"There have been quite a few muggings and violent attacks in this area and I hope that they install CCTV cameras soon." I've lived in this area for 15 years and the situation is getting worse.

The estate itself is not particularly bad but the area in general is quite rough." Detective Chief Inspector Brian Hayes, of Scotland Yard's serious crime group, is leading the investigation. A post mortem examination will be carried out today.

Mrs Adu-Mensah is the second elderly lady to have been killed at her home in the past few weeks. Last month, 82-year-old Cassie Quin was murdered in a "ferocious and sustained" attack at her Brentwood home in Essex. She was bludgeoned with a sharp instrument at her £300,000 house, just 50 yards from her local police station. - London Evening Standard

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Justice Wood advocates Alternative Dispute Resolution

Kade (Eastern Region) 11 March 2003- A Supreme Court Judge, Justice Georgina Wood has predicted that Ghana's agriculture could experience a massive boost if Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), which is a less complex way of resolving disputes, becomes an institutionalised part of Ghana's legal system.

She said many of the protracted land litigations, which had dragged on for several years in the courts could be expeditiously expended with, sometimes in minutes, when the ADR is employed.

The Supreme Court Judge said this in an interview with the GNA at Kade in the Kwaebibirem District during the weekend after she had addressed a-three day workshop that trained Community Based Anti-Violence Teams (COMBAT) in the art of arbitration, negotiations and mediations.

Held under the aegis of the Gender Centre, the General Agriculture Workers Union (GAWU) and other collaborative organisations, the COMBATs were being trained to advance the status of women by tackling the social issue of violence against women.

It is part of a pilot project being implemented by the collaborative organisations dubbed the Nkyinkyim Project at Akawani in the Kwaebibirem District.

Mrs Justice Wood said because ADR offered a less cumbersome but effective way of handling dispute, its application would be of immense benefit to the nation, especially with respect to land disputes.

She said since the availability of arable land was of crucial importance to any development strategy, especially regarding efforts to increase crop yield, it would be useful to institutionalise the ADR into the legal system.

She explained further that because ADR proceedings were usually free of rancour and bitterness, it would also promote peace, which was a crucial prerequisite for development.

Justice Wood charged traditional councils that sometimes employed aspects of the ADR to ensure that their hearings were conducted in camera to give some privacy to their clients.

The Supreme Court Judge advised the participants not to handle criminal cases and high crimes since such offences by their nature involved the imposition of punishments, which people applying the ADR did not have the legal mandate to impose on the culprits.

She further advised them not to accept financial inducements in the discharge of their duties. A Legal Practitioner, Nene Ofoe Amegatcher, who was also a resource person, led a critique on various methods of mediation, negotiations and arbitration, which could be employed in a combination to lessen tension and marital disputes in rural communities.

He said since employing the services of the regular courts involved very high cost, which could otherwise be used for other endeavours it was crucial that the importance of the ADR should be seriously considered and embraced. The Gender Officer of GAWU, Madam Adwoa Sakyi asked the participants to become worthy ambassadors of the project.

GRi.../

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Africa spends four billion dollars to recruit expatriates

Konongo (Ashanti Region) 11 March 2003- Africa spends an estimated four billion dollars annually to recruit about 100,000 skilled expatriates to replace those that had left the continent for greener pastures.

Professor Edward Ofori-Sarpong, Pro Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, who announced this at Konongo at the weekend, said between 1960 and 1975, an estimated 27,000 highly qualified Africans left the continent for the West.

Delivering the last in the series of three lectures to mark the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Konongo-Odumase Secondary School, he said the number increased to approximately 40,000 between 1975 and 1984 and almost doubled by 1987, representing 30 per cent of the highly skilled manpower stock.

Prof Ofori-Sarpong said Africa lost 60,000 professionals such as doctors, university lecturers, engineers and many others between 1985 and 1990 and had been losing an average of 20,000 annually ever since.

The Pro Vice-Chancellor said Africa's on-going development efforts, therefore, would continue to be undermined as long as the current phenomenon of human capital flight or brain drain continued.

This trend, he pointed out, had the twin effects of poor African economies losing their best human capital, while spending precious money on education and training replacements.

He said the need to reverse this on-going problem as well as build and effectively utilise capacities, was now widely acknowledged as a major challenge for Africa's development in the 21st century.

Professor Ofori-Sarpong said increasing numbers of Africans educated overseas never returned to their home countries while many of those educated in their home countries left for better employment opportunities abroad and others also left to avoid political repression or wars.

Whatever the reason for migrating, the departure of so many Africa minds is having devastating effects on the continent. He, however, acknowledged that brain drain was in itself not a new phenomenon but said it had risen sharply in recent years.

GRi.../

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Book printers question tax policy on imported books

Accra (Greater Accra) 11 March 2003- A two-day workshop for local book printers opened in Accra on Monday with local printers questioning the tax policy on imported books which, they said, favoured importers of books.

"For many years local printers have been paying duty and VAT on imported printing implements whereas printed books imported from abroad did not attract any taxes," Mrs Agnes Ofosua Vandyck, Executive Director of the Ghana Book Development Council (GBDC), told the Ghana News Agency (GNA).

She asked why imported books should be duty and VAT free saying this worked to the disadvantage of local book printers. Mrs Vandyck said the workshop would tackle "this critical issue" because the onus lay on local printers to come out with modalities to rectify the problem.

She was speaking to the GNA after the opening ceremony of the workshop, on the: "Ministry of Education (MOE) Textbook Development and Distribution Policy," (TDDP) aimed at strengthening capacity and improving on quality of work of local printers.

The new Textbook Development Policy states: "For the purposes of capacity building in book development, at least 70 per cent of all textbook writing teams will comprise Ghanaian nationals and by the year 2005, 60 per cent of all primary and Junior Secondary School textbooks funded by MOE should be manufactured in Ghana."

Mrs Vandyck noted that the quality of textbooks printed in Ghana had improved saying of late a number of printers had acquired modern and sophisticated equipment to improve on the quality of their work.

"Gone are the days when Ghanaian printers had to have colour separation done for them either in Europe or in Nigeria." She, however, noted that more could be done to raise the standard of the printing industry, to enable it to satisfy the minimum requirements stipulated in MOE's TDDP.

Professor Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister of Education, in a speech read for him, underscored the significance of the new policy and said together with its operational annexes, it streamlined the process for the future procurement of quality books by the MOE.

He noted that the Ministry had divested itself of its former role of publisher and distributor of textbook for its schools. This meant that the Curriculum Research Division of the Ghana Education Service would concentrate on the development and review of curricula of the various pre-tertiary institutions, whilst publishers used the syllabuses developed by the CRDD to produce books for procurement by the MOE for its institutions.

Mrs Rebecca Aboagye, Director of Human Resource Management, read the Minister's speech. Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi said in capitalising of the various sectors to strengthen capacity, it would not sacrifice quality in the process.

"Poor quality printing and finishing of books could mar the good effort of a publisher, and negatively affect the work of other stakeholders in the book origination process." He said in an attempt at sourcing the estimated 70 million dollars for the textbook procurement by the publishers, the MOE had to satisfy itself that printers had the relevant resources including manpower and equipment holding to undertake the 60 per cent implementation quota.

In this regard, the GBDC had been mandated to conduct a survey on the capacity of printers. "I suggest to you printers that you work closely with the publishers to come out with a workable plan for achieving this 60 per cent printing quota which is critical to the textbook development programme, adding that the Ministry was expecting their plans for achieving the targets within the next few weeks.

GRi.../

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Prof. Bathily calls for new invention in Africa's economy

Accra (Greater Accra) 11 March 2003- Professor Abdoulaye Bathily, Deputy Speaker of Senegal's National Assembly, on Monday said African governments must invent new economic strategies that would have a bearing on their political development and eliminate human rights abuses.

The Deputy Speaker said it was necessary for Africa to turn around its economic fortunes in order to stem political conflicts, which brought about human rights abuses. "The human rights abuses this continent has experienced over the years have been created through conflicts from discontent over economic inequalities and, therefore, there is the need to change the trend of events," Prof. Bathily said.

He was delivering the keynote address at a three-day expert consultative meeting for African Regional Economic Communities on Human Rights and Regional Integration in Accra.

Representatives from Ghana, Office of the High Commission on Human Rights (OHCR) in Geneva, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, ECOWAS Court of Justice in Nigeria and the World Bank are attending the meeting, which serves as a follow-up process towards ensuring the mainstreaming of human rights development process in Africa.

Prof. Bathily observed that Africa's human rights abuses had its roots in the Slave Trade and colonial wars among several elements. He said the period of independence followed by military takeovers and attempts to create one party states had not achieved any form of development for the larger population.

The current era of democracy, which began in the 1990s in addition to external factors from the Bretton Woods Institutions in the form of structural adjustment programmes, had rather brought about labour discontent and urban upheavals, the Deputy Speaker said.

In this direction, Prof. Bathily said efforts made so far to promote human rights conventions in Africa could not be consolidated unless events that contributed to the abuses were reversed.

The present situation showed very worrying trend of repeated violation of human rights; formulation of policies of exclusion and alienation of groups of citizens in countries like Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Congo and Cote D'Ivoire, he said and added," there is the need for Africa to reinvent a new history and to create a new image for itself".

Prof. Bathily said the solution could be found in the New Economic Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), which he said could lead to the transformation of the Sub-Region within the global context.

He, however, said there was the need to include the people at the grassroots in the implementation of the NEPAD so that they would feel a sense of belonging in the efforts to break "the Berlin wall" between Africa and the developed world.

Mrs Olatokunbo Ige, Representative of the OHCR, said her office was trying to identify and to develop strategic relationships with the UN agencies, local and regional partners with the aim to promote sub-regional involvement in mainstreaming human rights.

The office of the Commission would adopt Africa-owned strategies such as the NEPAD and aspects of the Bamako and Cotonou initiatives on human rights to achieve this purpose.

Mrs Ige said the overall objective of the meeting was to explore ways in which human rights could play a central role in the on-going process of regional integration in Africa.

The meeting was jointly organised by the OCHR and the Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA) and would discuss among other issues legal services in Africa, human rights education, protection of vulnerable groups and trafficking.

GRi.../

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94 cases of assaults against women

Tamale (Northern Region) 11 March 2003- The Northern Region recorded 94 cases of domestic violence against women and children between last year and this year. The cases include rape, defilement, abduction, and accusation of witchcraft and abandonment of children.

Police Superintendent Aikius Darkey, Northern Regional Crime Officer, disclosed this at a forum to mark the celebration of the "International Women's Day" in Tamale. The Social Enterprise Development Foundation (SEND Foundation), an NGO, in collaboration with the Tamale Municipal Assembly, the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the National Council on Women and Development {NCWD} organised the forum.

Superintendent Darkey mentioned the failure of victims to report such incidents, the interference of relatives, as well as poverty, which prevent them from pursuing cases, as some of the problems that hinder the effective handling matters by the Women and Juvenile Unit (WAJU) of the Police Service.

Superintendent Darkey appealed to women to co-operate with the police by reporting all cases of violence against them and follow up till the cases are logically concluded. Miss Mary Buah, the Tamale Municipal Girl-child Officer of the Ghana Education Service (GES) said it was only through education that women could be enlightened and empowered to know and defend their rights.

She said it was in this light that the GES established the Girl-Child Unit to promote the education of girls, since that was the most powerful means to liberate women from domestic violence.

Dajah Iddrisu, the Regional Director of CHRAJ asked women to get involved in decision-making both at the political and social levels, else they would be marginalized by society.

He condemned men who always accuse women of witchcraft and unproven allegations of infidelity and beat their spouses to death. A participant from the Regional House of Chiefs said traditional rulers should be involved in resolving issues of violence against women.

GRi.../

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Annor Yeboah interdicted

Accra (Greater Accra) 11 March 2003-Apostle Dr Augustine Annor Yeboah, Acting Chairman of the Christ Apostolic Church International has been interdicted from the church with immediate effect.

The Reverend Michael Nimo, Acting General Secretary of CACI, who announced this at press briefing in Accra on Monday, said the interdiction was a result of gross misconduct amounting to abuse of his office as Acting Chairman and Reverend Minister.

The decision taken by the Executive Council, which is also the ruling body of the church, said, "the matter is hereby referred to the Ministerial Board in Accordance with Article 55(D) of the Church's Constitution".

Reverend Nimo said: "He shall not perform any such duties either as Acting Chairman or Reverend Minister in the CACI until the final determination of the case against him."

The Executive Council urged all members of the church, the clergy and the general public to respect law and order and refrain from all acts that might tarnish the good name of the church.

Rev Nimo said over the years: "Rev. Annor Yeboah had determined to ruin this church and has amply demonstrated this by behaving not as a man of God, but as a man of the world seeking power in the cloak of a Minister and an ambitious nation wrecker."

He denied that the matter at stake was about buildings for the Executive Members as stated by Apostle Annor Yeboah at his earlier news conference. He said in 1995 the General Council of the church decided to build houses for members of the Executive for their contribution towards the growth of the church.

To this effect Rev Annor Yeboah and the former Chairman of the Church the Reverend Samuel Kofi Asare were awarded with 150 million cedis each in 1997. He said Rev Annor Yeboah at the time said that his branch church had already built a house for him and, therefore, used his money to buy a Toyota Land Cruiser and a plot of land at Kotobabi.

Rev Nimo said that the anger and hatred being nursed by Apostle Annor Yeboah was a refusal by the Executive Council to buy back the same Land Cruiser, which is being maintained and fuelled by the church at an appreciated cost of 150 million cedis.

He said: "We have occupied ourselves with the building of our church, not buildings for ourselves. If receiving the building was wrong, he should return his 150 million cedis to the church."

He noted: "The matter at stake is not about buildings but persistent gross misconduct and unruly behaviour put up by Rev Annor Yeboah." Rev Nimo said at the last Emergency meeting of the church in February 2002 upon which Mr Kwamena Bartels, Minister for Private Sector Development intervened, Rev Annor Yeboah himself volunteered to step down at the next Council Meeting to avoid impeachment for gross misconduct.

"He pleaded with the Council that he is not press friendly and that any punishment meted out to him will collaborate the media allegations against him." Rev Nimo said, however, the subsequent behaviour of the Apostle Annor Yeboah indicated that he was "unrepentant and recalcitrant".

"He refused to allow the reconciliation and unity service to be conducted at his church at Osu." Rev Nimo said Rev Annor Yeboah has persistently lambasted his colleagues, Executive Members anytime he mounted the pulpit even after he had been pardoned with the intervention of the Minister.

He mentioned that at one time Mrs Cecilia Annor Yeboah assaulted the Public Relations Director of the church and specifically landed four blows on him at the Mission House, where he had gone to prepare Apostle Annor Yeboah for an interview.

He said in this case Apostle Annor Yeboah pleaded that the matter should be settled out of court. The Acting General Secretary said with only a few days to the General Council meeting, Apostle Annor Yeboah was conspiring to incite innocent members of the church to cause unrest by misinterpreting the Constitution.

He said Apostle Annor Yeboah failed to attend meetings on 4 and 7 March to discuss plots of unrest and other matters in the church even though he was given a reminder. "He rather preferred to cut-walk around the meeting corridors apparently bluffing while there are serious issues on the table begging for attention."

Rev Nimo said the Executive Council threw out Rev Annor Yeboahs bid to occupy both the Chairmanship and the General Secretaryship of the church last two weeks at an Executive meeting.

Invoking Article 162 of the Constitution, which gives the Executive Council the final powers to interpret the Constitution, he was voted out with a seven to one vote. Meanwhile when the GNA contacted Rev Annor Yeboah on phone he rejected the interdiction saying: "I reject it, they have no right to do that." The General Council Meeting of the Church would, however, go ahead as scheduled on 17 to 22 March.

GRi.../

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Christian conference for 15 African Nations opens in Accra

Accra (Greater Accra) 11 March 2003- The Reverend Lawrence Tetteh, an Economist and International Evangelist based in the United Kingdom, on Monday called on Africans to open themselves up to the basic principles and aspirations that could help to develop the continent.

"Knowledge should not be limited because of our background or our environment'' he said, adding that until people were equipped they could not be effective to contribute their quota to national development.

Rev. Tetteh was speaking at a press conference called as a prelude to a three-week International Conference to be held in Accra beginning Wednesday 12, March for 15 African nations.

It would be organised by the World Miracle Outreach and the Airport Christian Centre, a Canadian based international ministry in conjunction with the Elim Pentecostal Church and the Lawrence Tetteh Ministry.

The conference under the theme: "Healing The Wounds Of Our Forefathers-Understanding Christian Principles" is to encourage leaders in third world nations to be proactive towards nation building and to help eradicate the paranoid stance taken by Christians.

Rev. Tetteh said Christian leaders in Africa needed not only deliver spiritual services to their communities but must be able to understand the principles underlying the development of nations in order to impart it to their congregation.

He noted that the conference, the first to be organised in Africa, would be a step towards building leaders, especially pastors and Evangelists to assist in the promotion of development in third world countries.

Rev. Tetteh noted that the conference was brought to Africa due to difficulties Africans faced to get to Canada, Toronto, after the 11 September attack on the United States.

He said the Canadian delegation in the country for the conference had expressed their interest in the development of certain areas of the economy adding that this would go a long way to improve the infrastructure.

GRi.../

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Women urged to strive for greater heights

Accra (Greater Accra) 11 March 2003- Women were on Wednesday urged to vie for positions at both national and international levels to enhance their status and ensure gender equity in all spheres of human endeavour.

This was contained in a statement in Accra signed by Mrs Alberta Laryea-Djan, Head of the Women's Desk of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), to congratulate Women on the occasion of the 2003 International Women's Day.

The Day is set aside to take stock of activities during the past year and to highlight presents concerns of women. The statement said during the year, the TUC Women organised workshops on "Strategic Planning, Gender and Legal Rights as well as Negotiations for Women".

It said the workshops were to equip both men and women with skills that would enable them to work together as partners in development and uplift the Trades Union Movement.

She said "as we celebrate International Women's Day", the Desk also takes this opportunity to congratulate Professor Akua Kueyenhia on her appointment to the International Court in the Hague and others who had attained similar heights in their endeavours. She appealed to men to take over some of the social and traditional roles of women as a sign of solidarity towards women's empowerment and progress.

GRi.../

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Minister urges residents along Odaw River to move

Accra (Greater Accra) 11 March 2003- Hon. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, on Monday ordered residents and households living 30 metres from the Odaw River in Accra to move away to save themselves and their property.

Households that had experienced floods in recent years should also move further away to avoid possible havoc during the rains. He explained that with the construction of a drainage system underway at Avenor in Accra, the destructive impact of the annual floods at Abelenkpe, Alajo and Avenor and other communities downstream would be higher, and asked the residents to act with despatch to save themselves.

Baah-Wiredu gave the order when he led a team of officials from the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to inspect progress of work on a drainage project underway at Avenor in Accra.

The 11-million-euro project being undertaken by Sonitra, with funding from Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD), stretches from Avenor to Alajo. It is expected to be completed before the end of this year.

Baah-Wiredu said the Meteorological Services Department (MSD) has predicted heavy rains this year, and the Ministry was collaborating with other disaster prevention and management organisations to lessen the effects of the floods.

He charged the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), the AMA, the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS), the security agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to immediately form a team to put up tents, possibly at the Tesano Police Station, to receive people and temporarily house them in any emergency situation.

In an interaction with the chief and people of the Avenor, Baah-Wiredu expressed grave concern about children swimming in pools of water that had gathered in the drainage.

He said a day earlier when he visited the site, he saw children who would not take his advice to stop swimming in the water. He urged parents to warn their children to stop such dangerous practices because they could either drown or contract diseases.

The Assemblyman for Avenor, Mohammed Shamsudeen Annan, reported that the Ghana Railway Corporation had taken over land meant to be used as a football field and a toilet project and given it to a developer who had in turn brought people to terrorise protesting residents.

He prayed for the intervention of the AMA to restore sanity and reclaim the land for original purpose. The delegation also visited a road and drainage project underway from the Zongo Junction to the Mortuary Road.

The project is a complete road package with an underground drainage system to curtail the floods. The project, costing about 2.3 billion cedis, is under the Urban Environmental Sanitation Project (UESP) of the World Bank. It has additional drainage systems on both sides of the road and it is expected to be completed in five months.

GRi.../

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Enactment of law is the only solution to domestic violence

Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 11 March 2003- Nana Oye Lithur, Secretary to the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), said on Monday the only way to curb domestic violence was to enact a domestic violence law and not by education and counselling.

''Domestic violence in the Ghanaian society is fast spreading and even resulting in the deaths of some women.'' Nana Lithur was addressing the opening of a one-day workshop on the Domestic Violence Bill organised by the FIDA for opinion leaders in the Ashanti Region.

About 41 opinion leaders made up of mainly queen mothers, health workers, social workers, the police and medical personnel are attending the workshop sponsored by the United States (US) Embassy.

The workshop seeks to create a platform for the participants to review sections of the Bill and make comments on it. Nana Lithur said research showed that the prevalence of domestic violence was becoming very high "with one in every three women in Ghana having experienced one form of domestic violence."

"If the Bill is passed into law it will afford those who experience it as a workable legal remedy to address abuses within the domestic sphere." Nana Lithur said "when passed into law Ghana would also have fulfilled its international commitments towards ending violence against women as stipulated in the convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women."

Very Reverend I.K. Twum, Ashanti Regional Manager of the Methodist Education Unit, appealed to participants at the workshop and all stakeholders to make positive contributions to the framing of the domestic violence bill to make it more effective.

GRi.../

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Wa Polytechnic cancels GAT Programme

Wa (Upper West) 11 March 2003- The Wa Polytechnic has cancelled the Ghana Accounting Technicians' (GAT) programme from the list of courses due to student's diminishing interest in the discipline.

Abraham Kofi-Kuma Aidoo, Acting Principal of the Institution said this when he briefed the GNA on Monday at Wa in reaction to complaints by some applicants for the programme that they were denied admission.

He said those who opted for the course could not get admission and explained that if applicants were at least 15 in number, they would have been considered for the programme. Aidoo said "Only five students applied for the course which was organised on part-time and we do not have resources to pay teachers for the few students."

He noted that applicants were not showing much interest in the GAT programme because they did not qualify for students' loans. Aidoo said the cut-off point for admission into the Polytechnic was aggregate 24 but most GAT applicants obtained aggregate 25 and above and were not eligible for the package.

He said they decided to improve upon their grades to enable them to apply for the Higher National Diploma (HND) courses to qualify for the loans. Aidoo stated that the Polytechnic needed to provide adequate facilities to enable it to get accreditation to offer HND courses.

He said the Institution had started recruiting staff for the HND programme and expressed optimism that a green light would soon be given for the teaching of the courses.

GRi.../

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Ghana ranks second in world guinea-worm infestation

Ho (Volta Region) 11 March 2003- Moses Dani Baah, Deputy Minister of Health said on Monday that currently, Ghana has been ranked second to the Sudan as the most Guinea worm endemic country in the world.

Addressing participants at the Guinea Worm Eradication Programme mid-year review meeting in Ho, Baah said Ghana had 180,000 recorded cases of Guinea Worm when the programme started more than 10 years ago.

He said five years later, the determination and commitment by the programme managers, co-coordinators and volunteers, the disease was drastically reduced to less than 10,000 cases.

The National Guinea Worm Eradication Programme was launched in 1989 to eradicate the transmission of guinea worm by the year 2003. Unfortunately, the Minister noted, the programme suffered a number of set backs as cases kept falling and rising.

"Today, we still have over 5,000 cases of guinea worm in Ghana and new cases are being reported in many districts", he said. Baah said as at June last year, 5,540 new cases had been reported.

He said the Northern Region, which has the highest number of cases in the country had experienced a dramatic increase of 154 percent. Baah said the Ministry of Health was doing everything possible to support partners, its staff in the field and other stakeholders to intensify efforts to eliminate the disease, which causes untold hardship to its victims.

In addition, he said, his Ministry in conjunction with the Ministry of Works and Housing had submitted a memorandum to Cabinet to adopt a rapid guinea-worm eradication plan as a special project.

He explained that experience had shown that without the provision of potable water to endemic communities all other interventions would only continue to scratch the surface of the problem.

The Minister was hopeful that the review would enable participants to map out effective and efficient strategies within the control of participants despite the gloomy picture shown by statistics.

Dr Donald Hopkins, Associate Executive Director of Health Programmes of the Cater Centre (CC) in the United States, said Ghana was able to strengthen its technical assistance greatly and introduced Case Containment Centres (CCC) last year.

He said poor motivation and attitude at all levels had contributed to Ghana being ranked as the second guinea worm endemic country. Dr Hopkins said out of 20 endemic countries in the world, seven had been eradicated, four had 100 cases each and nine others including Sudan with 75 percent.

Aliu Bello, Chief of Health, UNICEF, Accra, said efforts were needed to contain the disease by reducing water excreta diseases. He said last year, UNICEF gave the Ministry of Health 200,000 to 250,000 dollars as operation cost, assisting in the provision of safe water and education for behavioural change in the three endemic regions in Ghana.

They are Northern, Brong Ahafo and Volta regions. He said private contractors engaged to provide water to the endemic areas abandoned their responsibilities despite the high charges they took.

Bello, however, gave the assurance that UNICEF would continue to support the programme until the eradication of the disease in Ghana. Kofi Dzamesi, Deputy Volta Regional Minister said a lot of progress had been made towards the eradication of the disease in the Volta Region, and that the way forward now is total eradication.

During the two-day meeting, which is under the theme: "No Indigenously Transmitted Cases of Guinea Worm After 2003", District and Regional Co-ordinators would make presentations and recommendations on guinea worm situation in their areas.

GRi.../

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Foreign Minister arrives from Nigeria

Accra (Greater Accra) 11 March 2003- Hon. Hackman Owusu-Agyeman, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on Monday returned home from Abuja-Nigeria, after attending the Sixth Heads of State Implementation Committee meeting of the NEPAD.

Dr Francis Appiah, National Co-ordinator of the NEPAD (New Economic Partnership for Africa's Development) Secretariat, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, accompanied Owusu-Agyeman, who represented the President.

The Foreign Minister told Newsmen on arrival that the meeting evaluated the process of implementation of NEPAD so far and what could be done to accelerate it. He said 10 states out of the twenty countries constituting the implementation committee including Ghana, had ratified the memorandum of understanding on the draft document.

He said the memorandum of understanding would be circulated among the Heads of State for their attention and discussion under the Heads of State Peer Review Mechanism of NEPAD.

The Minister said 1 April had been chosen as the date when the review mechanism would become operational. Seven Heads of State attended it from Senegal, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Congo, Algeria, Mozambique and South Africa while the remaining were represented by their Foreign Ministers.

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Victory depends on teamwork - Jake

Accra (Greater Accra) 11 March 2003- Hon. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, at the weekend noted that the ability of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to retain power in the 2004 elections would largely depend on the solid nature of the teamwork prevailing in the constituencies.

He, however, cautioned that negative attitudes hatched by the members of the party in the various constituencies could serve as a recipe for disunity. The Minister was speaking at a workshop the Greater Accra Regional Executive of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) organised to foster relationship between government functionaries and officials of the Party.

Members of Parliament, Chairpersons and Secretaries of the 22 constituencies attended the workshop, which was on the theme: "Team Building, an Essential Tool for Retaining Power in the 2004 elections".

Obetsebi-Lamptey urged all party supporters to work assiduously towards the realisation of the objectives of the party and also help it to win more seats. A statement signed by Eric Kwatia, Regional Assistant Secretary of the party and issued in Accra, said the workshop stressed the need for team building, which was crucial in any management process.

Participants agreed that for leaders to give the needed direction, the party should develop a common goal that would guide members at any given time. A Regional Disciplinary Committee was inaugurated.

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NPP could stay in power for 20 years

Kyebi (Eastern Region) 11 March 2003- The Member of Parliament for Abuakwa, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has observed that, with unity in the NPP, there was no reason why the government could not stay in power for the next twenty years and help change the destiny of the country.

He said that nobody is perfect, but when any of the leadership of the party commits any mistake, members need to follow the laid down procedures to ensure that proper measures were taken to address the issues.

He urged functionaries to be agents of the party and help publicise the achievements of the party in their communities. Nana Akufo-Addo who is also the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, said this when he met with polling station chairmen and opinion leaders in his constituency at Kyebi on Sunday.

The meeting, which was attended by 130 polling station chairmen and 70 opinion leaders, is organised annually for the MP to brief the leadership of the party in his constituency to exchange ideas and brief them on government policies.

Nana Addo said the government used the past two years to put the economy of the country on a sound footing for it to take off in the ensuing years. He said the party is determined to follow its planned programme and assured that come 2004, the people of Ghana would vote the NPP into power again.

Emmanuel Victor Asihene, East Akim District Chief Executive, said within the last two years, there was no town or community that did not benefit from any development project.

He said at the moment the district had 112 towns and communities and all of them had benefited from one or more of various projects, which the East Akim District had managed.

Asihene said within the last two years, the District Assembly had distributed 2,137 dual and mono desks to 35 basic schools and provided 48 boreholes to 19 communities in the district.

He said other communities had benefited from institutional latrines, teacher's quarters and school blocks sponsored by the GETFUND, European Union (EU) and the District Assembly.

Asihene said the Assembly, with the support from its development partners, is also providing small town water systems to about six communities. He said the Assembly is also rehabilitating seven markets at Asiakwa, Tafo, Kyebi, Osiem, Akooko, Asafo and Nkrunso.

Martin Asare, the constituency chairman said it would be difficult for the party to assist every individual supporter financially but the best that members expected was the government to establish at least one development project to every community to create jobs for the unemployed.

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National Reform Party agrees to merge with CPP

Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 11 March 2003- The National Reform Party (NRP) at the weekend formally adopted 'the new convention' and the draft constitution of the new Convention Peoples Party (CPP) as the basis for building a new progressive formation and formation of a new CPP.

At its extraordinary congress held at Eusbett Hotel in Sunyani the party mandated its national council "to work towards the creation of the new CPP or such other progressive formation and adopt substantially this platform and constitution."

Delegates from seven out of the 10 regions attended the congress that was under the theme, "Building an Activist Party". A communiqué issued at the end of the congress signed by Peter Kpordugbe, National Chairman, said the congress directed the National Council to consult further with the leadership of the CPP in order to secure a specific congress level commitment to the platform and draft constitution as the basis for concluding any merger.

''Should it not be possible for CPP or other parties to formalize these firm commitments at this time and as a result formal unity is postponed, then NRP will remain independent and build for the future,'' the communiqué said.

"Reform (party) will not negotiate any alliance, pact or understandings regarding the 2004 elections at the national level. In the event of a run-off in which we are not contestants we will, as in 2000, advise our members and supporters regarding the candidate whose election best advances our stated goals - including building progressive unity."

It said as part of a reformation process the party would focus on attracting quality and not quantity and deal with only members willing to make material sacrifice of time and resource "to be part of an organized campaign against concrete injustices to change the country permanently."

We must reduce bureaucracy in party structures and adopt less formalized approach to basic party structures, the communiqué said, adding that branches of the party would not need to be based on polling areas but would be based more on activities or campaigns.

The communiqué urged members of the party to move to increase constituency autonomy within the larger party programme to ensure a real grassroots focus and an ability to raise resources locally for campaigns.

The party said it had learnt from its mistakes and this would make it stronger and move forward in its beliefs and organizational principles to ensure participation in future elections or public campaigns.

It reiterated its commitment to grass-root activism aimed at challenging social injustice and building unity in the society. The party will mobilize and organize ordinary Ghanaians to fight for the material and economic interest that unites them against inequalities that deny progress, the communiqué added

On the national front, the Reform Party said the 2000 elections created valuable space for the development of constructive political pluralism but noted that the NPP "is committed to continuing with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, World Trade Organisation (WTO) and G8 programmes such as HIPC, AGOA and now NEPAD."

The communiqué said the party remained opposed to these programmes because 36 years of experience since the overthrow of the late President Kwame Nkrumah and especially the 20 years uninterrupted experience under military regimes had proved that these programmes deepened rather than resolved the nation's development crisis.

The communiqué called on the government to, as a matter of urgency, focus more energy and resources on addressing the problems of small and medium scale agricultural producers "who are the real backbone of our economy".

''Any serious golden age of business must start with the oldest, largest and most abused section of the private sector,'' the party said and called for more investment in building capacity to support development since the country has more comparative advantage as a medium-term alternative to HIPC, AGOA and NEPAD, it said.

The communiqué said the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) must play a greater role in ensuring higher media standards and greater respect for the media. "We hope that it will be more vigorous in setting professional standards, monitoring its members' activities, rewarding high performance and censuring and sanctioning abuses".

''The fact that GJA membership is voluntary should not deter its pursuit of industry self-regulation. We believe that the public will recognize and respond to leadership on the part of the GJA to the point where the GJA's stamp of approval will become a key factor for success for all media houses and individual journalists.''

It called for the strengthening of the National Media Commission (NMC) and its insulation from Executive influence, for example by adopting a budgetary allocation formula similar to that used for the District Assembly Common Fund.

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City of Amsterdam Trade Mission in Accra

Accra (Greater Accra) 11 March 2003-A City of Amsterdam trade mission headed by Mark van der Horst, Alderman for Port Affairs, arrived in Ghana last Saturday, 8th March, as a follow up of a visit of the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II to The Netherlands last year.

The mission's programme includes visits to a number of shipping terminals in both Takoradi and Tema, the launching of a new company and a visit to the Asantehene. Van der Horst will also meet President Kufuor and several of Ministers of State.

There will be a presentation about the Port of Amsterdam and port businesses will have the opportunity to intensify and extend their network of contacts. Apart from the Amsterdam Port Authority, the principal participants in the trade mission are ten port-related companies, the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce and Register Amsterdam, which runs the population register in the city and will be investigating opportunities for co-operation in the fields of register management, registration and verifications.

There is also Ghanaian interest in bringing the current exhibition about the Ashanti people at Amsterdam's Royal Tropical Institute and Museum to the country. According to a press release from the Royal Netherlands Embassy, the main purpose of the trade mission is to reinforce existing economic and administrative contacts, and to establish new ones, so as to forge a good relationship between Amsterdam and Ghana on social and port-related matters.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II paid a visit to Amsterdam in late June 2002, and in October last year Van der Horst came to Ghana to pave the way for the trade mission. The release said it is particularly important for Amsterdam as a traditional cocoa-processing region and the world's largest cocoa port to maintain stable relations with Ghana, one of the most important cocoa-producing nations on the west coast of Africa. From Ghana, the trade mission will leave for Lagos, Nigeria on 13 March.

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Three sue GWCL for wrongful dismissal

Accra (Greater Accra) 11 March 2003-Three officials of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) have jointly sued the company and its Managing Director, Jonathan Ahele Nunoo, at an Accra High Court for wrongful dismissal.

The plaintiffs, Messrs Michael Kofi Quashie, Henry Forson, both Assistant Stores Officers and Atta Poku, Senior Audit Assistant, were among 11 other officials of the company who were summarily dismissed after they were implicated by the committee set up by the Ministry of Works and Housing to investigate allegations of financial malfeasance levelled against them.

The plaintiffs, whose writs were filed by their solicitor, Geofrey Osei Aggrey, an Accra Legal practitioner, are demanding reinstatement, general damages, legal damages and costs at the rate of ¢300,000 at each day's hearing of the case in court.

In their statement of claim, the plaintiffs, among other things, said on 21 February 2003, they were served with summary dismissal letters for falsifying store documents which formed the basis for the purchase of Khaki and suiting materials in the year 2000.

They said the defendants, in their letters of dismissal, alleged that they (plaintiffs) conspired to secure approval of Head Office to purchase Khaki materials on Ashanti Region's requisition in October 2002.

The plaintiffs denied all the allegations set out in the dismissal letters. They said according to the company's policies and procedures, they made requests for items when the need arose and the request made for replenishment in August 2002 was not for the Ashanti Region office only, but for all the regions and the Head Office.

The plaintiffs also said in their claim that the request made in August, 2002 were supplied in September and October, 2002 adding that, “the items supplied were blue black American Khaki, white America Khaki and blue black suiting material.

They said the items supplied in September and October 2000 can be found on the various tally cards and that all these items were requested for, to be used in the year 2001. They also claimed that the items were specified on the store requisition as "August next year 2002".

The plaintiffs said the requisition is always kept at the Central Stores and the photocopy of the said requisition sent to the Head Office as the company's policy and procedure demands.

This they said were also photocopied for the Ministerial Committee which investigated the affairs of the company. They claimed that the photocopy that was presented to the committee was doctored and this led to the allegation that the plaintiffs had falsified store documents.

The plaintiffs said it is strange that the surpluses which were found on the stores verification sheets of 31 December 2000 were not reported in the first quarter of 2001 but was kept till the last quarter of the year 2001" and indicated that “the surpluses found on the verification sheets of 31st December 2000 were released on 14 May, 2002, which is irregular”.

They argued that the Auditors' report was released 17 months after the stock taking and noted that the auditors report should have been released in the first quarter after the stock taking and was released six months after the committee had finished its work.

The plaintiffs claimed that if the report had been made available in the first quarter of 2001, the ministerial committee which finished its work in November 2001 would have studied it and would not have come to the conclusion that they (plaintiffs) have falsified the store documents.

The plaintiffs said the defendants action is wrongful and has brought their “long acquired reputation into disrepute and has also caused them to appear dishonest in the eyes of the public and has brought them into public reducible”.

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IMF writes to President Kufuor

Just before the close of 2002, President John A. Kufuor shared some thoughts with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which bordered largely on the economy. The IMF in reply touched on very crucial issues such as the International Financial Consortium (IFC) loan, Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy, Value Added Tax and Petroleum pricing. Here we reproduce the full text of the letter to the Ghanaian President.

November 14, 2002

Dear Mr President,

Thank you very much for your letter of 21 October 2002 to the Managing Director who has asked me to reply on his behalf as he is travelling and the proposals contained in this letter are time-sensitive. Our delay in responding reflects the very careful and serious consideration we have given to the various points raised in your letter. Let me reiterate at the outset, Mr President our strong desire to see Ghana achieve lasting economic success, and for the IMF to do all it can to help realize that goal.

Since your administration came to office, the IMF has given full support to your efforts to stabilize the economy and create the conditions for faster growth and poverty reduction, including thorough augmentation of our financial support, accelerating the decision point under the enhanced HIPC initiative and providing extensive policy advice and technical assistance.

Your government for its part took decisive measures on energy and utility pricing, developed a strong budget for 2001 and gave the Bank of Ghana the independence it needed to begin bringing down inflation and stabilizing the currency. The 2002 programme sought to consolidate those initial gains, with a budget that would strengthen Ghana's tax base and allocate resources (including HIPC relief) toward priority areas identified in the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS), while reducing significantly the burden of domestic debt. The programme emphasized improved public expenditure management, so as to ensure that the budget was implemented as envisaged, further pricing reforms that would put the finances of key public enterprises on a sustainable footing, launching of the divestiture strategy, and continued progress on disinflation.

While notable advances were made last year, several of these key objectives of the PRGF-supported programme have not been fully realized. Indeed, it is our assessment that the policy slippages this year put at risk the core goals of the government's economic strategy. First, budget execution has departed substantially from the approved budget underlying the programme. Weaknesses in expenditure management — especially control over the wage bill — which began in late 2001 and worsened in 2002, are the main cause of the additional domestic government borrowing this year.

Second, the automatic adjustment formula for petroleum prices — a cornerstone of the programme — has been overridden, and pump prices kept fixed even as world oil prices rose and the cedi depreciated. As a result, the oil refinery is set to accumulate new debt during 2002 estimated around 2 per cent of GDP, which the government will likely have to take over and service against this background, we are very much encouraged by your stated intent to liberalize the oil sector by the end of the year, we hope this would include the abolition of administered pricing, which would provide helpful protection for Ghana's public finances in the future.

Third, as a result of these and other policy deviations — including delays in the VAT increase, divestiture and utility price adjustments — the staff estimate that the stock of government domestic debt (including the oil refinery's bank overdraft) may exceed the end 2002 programme target by almost 9¢ per cent of GDP. You will agree that this is a major departure from programme objectives, and the servicing of this debt will severely constrain the government's ability to fund the spending priorities outlined in the GPRS.

A further important issue has arisen in relation to the implications of the loan your government is negotiating with the International Financial Consortium ("IFC"). Given the scale and unusual character of this loan, it's of great concern that the government has so far not shared with IMF and World Bank staff the detailed information (on the sources of fund the terms and conditions, end the modalities for managing the funds) needed to assess its potential impact on Ghana's IMF-supported programme. Prior consultation on this issue will preclude the possibility of problems emerging later which could seriously affect the resumption of financial assistance from the IMF as well as donor support.

Under these circumstances, Mr President, there are two possible ways to take our collaboration forward, and we are ready to be guided by you as to which route to follow.

The first option would be to seek an extension of the current PRGF arrangement (which would otherwise expire on 30 November 2002) for five months, to allow time for discussions on a policy programme for 2003 that would warrant completion of the final review under the arrangement. To support the request for the five-month extension, the authorities would need to demonstrate that initial steps have been taken to address the recent policy slippages and allay concerns with respect to the "IFC" loan, through the following measures:

An increase in petroleum prices, bringing them into line with the automatic adjustment formula, together with an announcement those future adjustments would be made according to the formula without further official review authorization.

A cabinet decision that, for 2003, the quarterly expenditure ceilings on personnel emoluments (Item 1) will be vigorously enforced by the Ministry of Finance. Abolition of the direct debit system for executing expenditures.

A cabinet decision imposing a moratorium on further wage increases for public servants in 2002. Confirmation that a transactions adviser has been appointed (with signed contract) for the divestiture of Ghana Commercial Bank.

Full disclosure to the IMF and World Bank regarding the "IFC loan", including the sources of funding, the terms and conditions and the arrangements for managing the loan financed expenditures.

If your government wishes to pursue this option, we would need to be notified of that decision by 19 November 2002. The Managing Director would then be prepared to propose to the Executive Board that the arrangement be extended initially by two weeks, to 16 December to allow reasonable time for the measures listed above to be implemented. That proposal would have to be submitted to the Executive Board by 20 November in order that the arrangement expires on 30 November.

If we receive confirmation by 6 December that the above measures have been taken, the Executive Board would then be asked to grant a further extensions of the arrangement to 1 May 2003, as well as the implementation of prior actions that are agreed upon in the course of the discussions.

In this context, we greatly appreciate your clear statement that the envisaged VAT increase will be a part of the 2003 budget package. If your government were to decide not to proceed as outlined above the alternative is to allow the current arrangements to expire on 30 November without completion of the final review and to begin work promptly on a programme to be supported under a new PRGF arrangement.

The time frame for an Executive Board decision on the resumption of disbursements to Ghana would be the same under this option as under the first. Namely, subject to successful conclusion of the programme discussions and implementation of any agreed prior actions, the proposal for a new arrangement could be brought to the Executive Board following passage of the 2003 budget.

We would welcome the early response of your government regarding which option they wish to pursue, so that our staff can begin the necessary work as quickly as possible. Under either option, if it is agreeable to the authorities, a staff mission is ready to travel to Accra for programme discussions as soon as practicable. Mr President, I thank you again for your helpful letter, and stress the commitment of Fund Management and staff to continue our close co-operation with Ghana.

Very truly yours

Anne Kruger,

Deputy Managing Director.

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