Cocoa production higher than last season
Four regions to lose Parliamentary seats
Biography of Kufuor to be launched
Giving evidence under cross-examination in the case at an Accra Fast
Track High Court, Madam Okaiteye said her company, Gina Lawrence Construction
Works, won contracts from GREL, but said she could not give the figure.
Narrating how she came by the contracts, Madam Okaiteye, a member of the
31st December Women's Movement (DWM), said after the Movement had assisted
Societe Industrielle Plantation Hevea (SIPH) to win the bid for GREL, her
company was awarded contracts to construct feeder roads.
Witness disagreed with a suggestion by Mr David Lamptey, Counsel for
Hanny Sherry Ayittey, Treasurer of the 31st December Women's Movement that she
earned a commission on those contracts instead of profit, but she could not
tell offhand how much accrued from the jobs that were done.
Madam Okaiteye denied a suggestion by Counsel that all the contracts she
executed for GREL amounted to between 300 and 400m cedis. She told the court
that she received a cheque for 17,500 pounds from Dr Albert Owusu-Barnafo, a
consultant of GREL, in connection with work the two of them had done.
Witness said Dr Owusu-Barnafo also handed over to her an amount of ¢35m
on behalf of SIPH, but disagreed with a suggestion by Counsel that the money
belonged to DWM. "The money was a personal gift from SIPH, and not for the
movement," she told the court.
Madam Okaiteye said after Dr Owusu-Barnafo had introduced her to Etienne
Marie Arthur Popeler, former Managing Director of GREL, she received financial
assistance of 10,000 dollars from Popeler in 1995-96.
In response to a question by Counsel as to who owned Caridem, Witness
said the company was a subsidiary of 31st DWM. Madam Okaiteye said the Movement
made Ayittey its Director.
Ayittey is being tried alongside Emmanuel Amuzu Agbodo, former Executive
Secretary of the Divestiture Implementation Committee, Ralph Casely-Hayford, a
businessman and Sati Dorcas Ocran, Housewife for their alleged involvement in
bribery and corruption in connection with GREL's privatisation.
They are alleged to have played various roles to influence the DIC Board
to divest GREL in favour of SIPH. All four have denied their charges and each
of them has been admitted to a self-recognisance bail. The case has been
adjourned to Thursday, 13 March for further cross-examination of the Witness.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March 2003- An Accra High Court on Wednesday
began hearing the case involving six Police officers indicted by the Okudzeto
Commission that inquired into the Accra Sports Stadium tragedy.
They are: John Naami, Faakyi Kumi, Frank Awuah, Frank Aryee, B.B.
Bakomora, all Assistant Superintendent of Police and Chief Superintendent of
Police, Koranteng Mintah.
They have pleaded not guilty to 127 counts of manslaughter and are on
¢20m bail each with two sureties. The trial Judge, Justice Yaw Appau advised
the seven-member jury that the matter had attracted media and public attention
hence they should take decisions and also give verdict based on only
proceedings from the court.
Justice Appau advised further that any of the members, who had his or
her personal ambition in the matter should vacate the seat before the
commencement of the trial. The Defence Team led by Owusu Fordjour, told the
court that all the accused persons had denied the charges, which he said meant
that his clients had not committed any offence.
Johnny Kulendy, another counsel for the Defence, who associated himself
with Fordjour, said the second accused was a communication officer and the
third accused was also an assistant secretary to the Inspector General of
Police had then closed from work, but they chanced to be at the stadium to
watch the match when they were entangled in the event.
William Ofori Boafo, counsel for Chief Superintendent Koranteng pointed
out that the accused persons did not take any arms to the stadium and that they
did not fire a single arm.
Boafo asked why those, who fired the arms were rather not brought to
court but that innocent people that did not commit any of the offences against
anyone or the state should be jailed.
The facts as presented by Anthony Gyambiby, Principal State Attorney,
were that on
Prosecution said a few minutes to the end of the match, which Hearts of
Oak won by 2-1, fans at the North Stand now "May Nine" stand, started
tearing plastic chairs from the stand and throwing them and other missiles into
the inner perimeter bowl thus making the Police to fire rubber bullets and tear
gas to control the crowd.
Gyambiby stressed that as a result, there was a stampede and 127 people
lost their lives. He said autopsy conducted on the dead showed that they died
from traumatic asphyxia and fractural injuries. President John Agyekum Kufuor
set up the Commission to investigate the incident, which is the worst sports
disaster in
The Sixth Prosecution Witness (PW6), Police Constable Mark Sam Atulesi
told the court that he and 30 others from the Police Striking Force Unit were
detailed to the Accra Sports Stadium on 9 May.
Constable Atulesi, who was led in his evidence by Gyambiby said on 9 May
he and 30 others were ordered by the Commander of the Unit to go for stoppers
with rubber bullets and tear gas to proceed to the stadium.
He said when they arrived at the stadium at about
Constable Atulesi said Sgt. Mahama instructed them further to go to the
inner perimeter and also conduct the teams and match officials to the dressing
room during and after the match had ended.
He said a few minutes to the end of the match; he saw that some of the
fans were throwing plastic chairs and other missiles onto the field when the
sixth accused person, Chief Superintendent Koranteng Mintah, shouted at him:
"Have you not seen what they are doing?"
At this juncture, he continued that the officer shouted: "Fire and
disperse them!" Witness said he fired five rounds into the air and the
spectators started running from his left side to the right side, while
continuing to throw the plastic chairs.
Constable Atulesi said he saw ASP Naami, the First accused person, who
instructed them to stop firing. He said the stadium light went off around 1900
hours and he left the stadium and went home.
The Witness said he was later called to the Police Administration to
explain what happened at the stadium. He was also called to the Okudjeto
Commission for interrogation.
Answering questions in a cross-examination by Fordjour, Constable
Atulesi told the court that they were not briefed as to what they were going to
do at the stadium. He disagreed with counsel that he aimed at any of the fans
when he fired the rubber bullets. He said he fired into the air.
When Ofori, representing Chief Superintendent Mintah, asked if Witness
knew his client, he responded in the affirmative and said he once met him at
Winneba during the Aboakyire Festival. He disagreed with counsel that he had
come to the court to tell lies against his client. The case was adjourned to 21
March for continuation.
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"Government does not want the nation to return to the days of
political interference in Chieftaincy affairs," he said. "However,
the government has a responsibility to ensure that the instability being
generated in the name of chieftaincy affairs ceases."
President Kufuor said this when administering the oaths of office and
secrecy to five out of the six-member Committee at the Castle, Osu. They were:
Justice George Lantey Lamptey, former Supreme Court Judge, Chairman; Mamaga
Amega Kofi Bra I, Queenmother of Peki Traditional Area; Paul Kwabena Damoah,
former Member of Parliament for Amenfi in the Western Region during the Third
Republic (1979-81); Professor Irene Korkoi Odotei, a Research Fellow at the
University of Ghana, Legon and Nana Ampadu Daaduam II, Kwahu-Mpraesohene.
Edward Dramani Mahami, a legal practitioner, the sixth member, was
absent. President Kufuor said a dynamic partnership between the government and
chiefs could be the platform for the transformation of the nation.
He said available records indicated that since independence, successive
regimes had tried to define a role for chieftaincy in the national scheme of
things. President Kufuor said in the process, the institution had been
subjected to a chequered and not too happy history. It had been subjected to
political interference and was at the risk of losing its integrity and historic
purpose.
President Kufuor said fortunately, the 1992 Constitution restored
chieftaincy to its traditional roots and clearly defined a role for it. "A
sincere application of the Constitution should protect the institution from any
unwarranted abuse and misuse."
He said people had strong attachment to the institution and throughout
the country; people had always been ready to defend the essence of the stool or
skin in their communities.
President Kufuor said people were more ready to risk their lives in the
defence of the institution than to stand up against the encroachment on their
constitutional rights in the modern political system.
Unfortunately, he said, the system of selection and installation of
chiefs had been corrupted and the management of the affairs of some stools and
skins had been the subject of controversy.
President Kufuor said although there had always been rivalry in the
process of selecting chiefs, corruption had resulted in the selection and
installation of people undeserving in character and lineage.
"The practice has meant that in many cases, even the institutional
memory and wisdom that are so crucial to the functioning of chieftaincy is
lost." President Kufuor said the problem of land must be resolved if the
government's economic plans were to come to fruition.
He said the land problem could only be resolved with the co-operation of
chiefs, who were the custodians of the land. President Kufuor said it was the
responsibility of the Committee to work with the chiefs and elders to enable
them to advise government on the way forward.
Justice Lamptey said one of the many problems facing the country was
chieftaincy dispute and this could not be allowed to continue to destroy life
and property. He said the establishment of the Committee was timely since
chiefs now had a Committee to address their problems adding; "it would be
the eyes and ears of chiefs".
Justice Lamptey appealed to chiefs and Ghanaians to make their views on
customary law, inheritance and customary land title holdings known to the
Committee. Among those present was Vice President Aliu Mahama.
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A statement signed by the Rev Dr Chris Hesse, Executive Director of the
Ministry, said the organisation had planned a half-way-home centre project as
its anniversary project to rehabilitate prisoners, who find it very difficult
to settle peacefully with their families after being released.
It said the project would comprise accommodation with cooking and recreational
facilities, farms, trade training centres, a chapel, clinic and a library. It
said the need for the project stem from peculiar post-prison resettlement
difficulties ex-convicts faced, especially from family members and society.
The absence of family love, receptiveness and financial support
sometimes get ex-convicts entangled in the cycles of crime and prison life, the
statement said. It noted that without proper counselling, the ex-convicts in
such state were likely to return to jail through violent criminal activities,
damning the consequences.
The statement said the Ministry was inaugurated in 1993 as a wing of the
Presbyterian Church of Ghana and had assumed a Christian Council dimension
consisting of the Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodist,
It said the Ministry had since its inauguration donated items valued at
¢543.6m to 24 Prisons and Prison Camps in the country. The statement said there
were over 10,000 prisoners throughout the country adding that the Ministry had
been able to donate about 1,000 Bibles to them. The Ministry had established
preaching teams in local churches whose members visit the prisoners regularly
for Bible study and church services on Sundays.
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He said; "in addition the law on the minimum population threshold
would also be amended to link the size of the district population to the
national population in terms of percentage.
"A new district would have about 0.06 per cent of the national
population, "Baah Wiredu stated at the third and last of series of
roundtable discussion on: "Towards Election 2004: The Creation of New
District Assemblies."
The Act empowers the President to create new districts on the
recommendation of the Electoral Commission (EC) based on their population
threshold, economic viability of the area in providing basic infrastructure and
had the potential for sustainable revenue generation.
The requirement also includes the geographical contiguity and the ethnic
homogeneity. Baah Wiredu said the amendment sought to address the lopsided
development and lack of equity in the spatial distribution of service and
infrastructure.
He noted that an all-embracing policy for urban and human settlements
development that would broaden programmes for the districts to the local levels
would be introduced.
The Minister said the Sub-District Structures would also be strengthen
to broaden the distribution of services in the districts with a formula for the
Area, Town, Urban and Zonal Councils to have their share of the District
Assemblies' Common Funds; Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) Funds and other
grants for development.
Baah Wiredu said the government had also initiated actions to improve
situations at the local level to stem the tide of petitions for new districts.
They include streamlining the membership and numbers of the sub-district
political institutions to make them more manageable and viable.
It would also improve the capacity of Assembly functionaries and staffs
to enhance their output and also facilitate the promotion of good governance
and balanced development to enable the public to develop confidence in the
local government system.
The Local Government Minister said: "It is my expectation that when
all these programmes are effectively prosecuted the local governments will be
well positioned to effectively contribute to the total development of the
country.
The forum, which was attended by Political Party representatives,
Members of Parliament, the Academia, Student Bodies, Journalists, Electoral
Officials, Civic Educators and a cross-section of the public was organised by
the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development in collaboration with the Friedrich
Nuamann Foundation.
The participants called for the suspension of the creation of new districts
and constituencies for Elections 2004. They expressed concern about the
financial implications, the risk of being politicised to disturb the general
election.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March 2003- The Japanese Ambassador, Mrs Kazuko
Asai, on Wednesday expressed regret that though education was a fundamental
right of all children, society's attitude towards the education of disabled
children was "not very encouraging".
Mrs Asai said society's attitude and the many socio-cultural barriers
were among the greatest impediments to handicapped children's access to
education. The Ambassador expressed the sentiments when she signed three grants
contracts to the tune of $67, 614 which is about ¢568 million with three
communities in the Northern and Upper East Regions for the construction of
students hostels and a clinic, respectively.
The beneficiary organisations were the Gowrie Secondary /Technical
School in Upper East that received $34,690 to construct a boys' hostel for the
school, the Savelugu School for the Deaf, that also received $12,911 to
construct a dormitory for the students and the Presbyterian Primary Health Care
in the Salaga District in the Northern region that received $9,013 for the
construction of a clinic at Kuwani, near Salaga.
Ambassador Asai and Didacus Afegra, Headmaster of Gowrie School, Mohamed
Abdul Samed Guna, Board Chairman of Kuga-Fong Mansongsem Community Association,
representing the School for the Deaf and Ms Marleen van Asselt, Project
Co-ordinator of the Presbyterian Health Care signed the contracts for the
grants at the Embassy in
Mrs Asai said the Embassy received more 500 applications every year
requiring urgent attention under the Japanese Grants Assistance for Grassroots
Projects Scheme (GGP), which was introduced some 12 years ago.
She explained that the Scheme was introduced to encourage self-help
activities initiated by rural folks to undertake projects in and around their
communities to complement efforts by the government to develop deprived areas
of the country.
Mrs Asai said the Scheme had lived up to expectation because of the
various assistances that it had given out. The various representatives thanked
the Embassy and the Japanese governments for the assistance and efforts at
ensuring that the country's education and the general development through the
provision of infrastructure in deprived communities were moved forward.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March 2003- Vice President Aliu Mahama on
Wednesday announced several strategies being implemented by the Ministry of
Health to improve patients' access to preventive and relief oral health
services.
The dentist to patient ratio is 1:200,000, with only 15 of the 78 public
and private dental clinics in the country sited in the rural areas. To help
address the imbalance, the
Vice President Mahama said these when he commissioned six vehicles and
four sets of portable dental equipment at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra as
one of the programmes to strengthen mobile oral health care in deprived areas
in the Eastern, Northern, Western and Brong Ahafo Regions.
He gave the assurance that the government would secure additional funds
for more equipment to cover the remaining six regions by next year. The OPEC
Fund sponsored the first phase of the equipment, which included accessories and
generators, with 300,000 dollars.
Vice President Mahama said: "The government is committed to
promoting oral health and with the provision of these facilities in our rural
communities; oral health will improve in several ways."
He urged the Ministry of Health to provide the requisite assistance to
the
Giving more details about plans to improve oral health care, Minister of
Health, Dr Kwaku Afriyie said the Ministry was negotiating with Enraf-Nonius
Projects B.V. of
Dr Afriyie said more dental technicians and schoolteachers would be
trained to promote oral health care in schools. He expressed concern about the
low number of oral health personnel in the rural areas, which he said was only
20 per cent.
As a result, Dr Afriyie said more than 90 per cent of children in the
districts had poor oral hygiene, while there was a deterioration of oral
hygiene of all age groups in rural areas.
The Minister said studies had shown a strong correlation between heart
diseases and poor oral hygiene and, therefore, urged Ghanaians to take their
oral health seriously. He noted that premature loss of teeth was common in
rural areas, with mal-nutrition being higher among adults who had lost their
teeth and could not replace them with dentures.
Dr David Oppong Mensah, Head of Oral Health Unit of the Ghana Health
Service (GHS), said the new equipment and vehicles would address the
deficiencies in the mobile dental clinics programme initiated in 1994.
Hitherto, he said the mobile clinics did not have their own vehicles and
had to often cancel their programmes when they could not secure one. "Both
patients and dentists were not comfortable during service provision since
appropriate structures for treatment are not available," he said. He
appealed to the GHS to provide seed money to the four beneficiary Regions,
identified as the most deprived, to embark on outreach programmes.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March 2003- Every year over 5m children in
developing countries aged 0-14 die from diseases related to their environment,
a World Health Organisation (WHO) report said on Wednesday.
The diseases include diarrhoea and malaria as well as other vector-borne
diseases, acute respiratory infection and unintentional injuries, such as
accidents. The report was released in
It is focusing on the need to create a healthy and safe environment for
children at home, the school, or the communities. The report said generations
of children had suffered from certain basic risk existing in their
environments, which included unsafe drinking water, inadequate sanitation,
indoor air pollution, insufficient food hygiene, poor housing and inadequate
waste disposal.
It said diarrhoea, an environmentally related condition and the second
biggest child-killer in the world, is estimated to kill 1.3m children every
year. "Around 2m children under-five, die every year from acute
respiratory infections. Many are aggravated by environmental hazards," it
said.
Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, the Director-General of WHO, in a statement
said the organisation had launched a "Healthy Environment for Children
Initiative." That, she said, was expected to establish a global alliance,
which would mobilise local support to make children’s lives healthier at where
they lived, learn and plays.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March 2003- The National Reconciliation
Commission (NRC) is considering the case of all 200 former employees of the
then Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (P&T), who were dismissed by
radio announcement in December 1984.
Justice Kweku Etru Amua-Sekyi, Chairman of the Commission, said the
Commission would soon take a decision on the affected workers and communicate
the outcome to them.
Amua-Sekyi made the announcement on Wednesday at the Commission's public
hearing in
Led in evidence by Mrs Juliana Ewuraesi Amonoo-Neizer, ex-Corporal
George Davor, formerly of the Military Police, said one day in October, 1984
when he reported for duty, he was asked by his Commanding Officer if there was
any link between him and Major Courage Quashigah.
His Commanding Officer, Major Gboglah then told him that there was a
telephone message inviting him to report at the Bureau of National
Investigations (BNI). Davor, who is in his 40s but is a pensioner, said a
vehicle soon arrived and he was driven to the BNI Headquarters at about 0900
hours.
He was made to sit down for about three hours and then sent to a
"small room" located near the 37 Military Hospital.
"Periodically people came to spy on me and at about
The panel members comprised one Brigadier Kpetoe, Commander Baafuour
Assasie-Gyimah and Peter Nanfuri, the BNI boss.
He said the panel asked him if he had heard of the arrest and detention
of Major Quashigah and how he felt. Davor said he told his interrogators that
he only knew Major Quashigah as his superior officer.
The panellists then told him that they had had information that he had
conspired to stage a coup to overthrow the Provisional National Defence Council
(PNDC) Davor said at about 2300 hours, he was taken in a Nissan Patrol vehicle,
dressed with a ladies' apparel and driven back to the BNI and released.
Three days later he was invited again to the BNI, sent to the BNI Annex,
asked the same questions but this time with more seriousness. He said his
interrogators accused him of joining one Agbetor and Zogah to visit Major
Quashigah's house in their preparation to stage a coup to oust the PNDC regime.
Davor said he denied knowing about the preparations to stage a coup. He
said he had been in Quashigah's house not on the Major's invitation, but
because he accompanied Agbetor as a friend.
Davor said Agbetor was at this point brought in and was jittery when he
(Davor) questioned him on a letter he (Agbetor) said was written by Major
Quashigah inviting him (Davor) to take part in the said coup.
Davor said the next morning he was driven to Nsawam Prison and kept in
solitary confinement for one month and later transferred to the main prison.
Davor said Agbetor was also brought to the Nsawam Prisons. He added that
Agebtor in the presence of Prisons Officers, including the Prisons Director B.
T. Baba apologised to him for framing him up.
He said Baba made him write a petition but it fell on deaf ears. Davor
then narrated a chilling story of how an elderly man, who the other detainees
called Nana, brought from the James Fort Prisons, died painfully in his cell.
One day at about 2100 hours, he was watching when Nana began panting for
breath. Davor said he called a Prisons Officer to help Nana, but he refused.
The old man continued panting until he died. Davor said the marks left by Nana,
believed to be a chief from Sefwi Praso, were visible at the cell.
Davor said he spent two-and-a-half years in incarceration and was
prematurely discharged from the military after about 15 years' service. He said
upon enquiries he learned that his discharge was an "order from the
Castle."
He said he had been paid his pension since his discharge but his
premature discharge affected his career. Davor prayed the Commission to adjust
his rank to that of his colleagues some of whom, he said, are Warrant Officers,
to get proper pension to cater for his three children.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March
2003- President John Kufuor on Wednesday said the Auditor-General's Department
was a vital agency for the government to realise the objectives of its policy
of "Zero Tolerance For Corruption".
He, therefore, called on the
Auditor-General and staff of the Department to be above reproach in their
operations because if they defaulted they could not be excused. President
Kufuor said this when he swore Edward Dua Agyeman into office as the new
Auditor-General at the Castle, Osu.
Agyeman swore the Oath of office
and secrecy. President Kufuor said operations of the Department were peculiar
as it scrutinised the accounts and operations of all state officers and
institutions to ensure effective and efficient management in the country.
He said Agyeman and the staff
were expected to do a thorough work and to observe the due process of law in
the interest of the state. Agyeman said the Audit Service had excelled and
performed creditably in international assignments including the auditing the
United Nations and its agencies for the past 26 years.
However, its domestic
performance has not been that exemplary and in many areas had been put into
question. He said positive changes were emerging in the Service; adding:
"A new work culture is evolving, things are falling into place. We now
have a new Audit Service Board and an Auditor-General."
Agyeman said his appointment was
to serve the nation and pledged to work to bring an appreciable and significant
positive change in public service financial management.
"It is the corporate goal
of the Service to achieve a saving of three times the value of Audit Service
funding, measured over a period from 2003 to 2010. "For every one cedi
spent on the Audit Service, the Service will save the nation three cedis. This
is amply demonstrated in the recent audit of the 110 Metropolitan, Municipal
and District Assemblies and more notably in the payroll audit."
Agyeman holds a Bachelor of Arts
(Hons) Degree in Business Studies and is a Fellow of ACCA. He had since April
2001 been the Acting Auditor-General. From July 1987-1989, he was the Deputy
Auditor-General.
He has taught in various higher
educational institutions in the United Kingdom and has published over seven
textbooks mainly in bookkeeping, accounts and taxation. His main areas of
interest are auditing, investigations, tax management and practice.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March
2003- Ghana is eager to develop its seaports to become the real gateway to the
West Africa Sub-Region, President John Kufuor said in Accra on Wednesday.
He said a country could not
boast to be the gateway when the seaports were not good and facilities and operations
were not up to international and modern standards. President Kufuor made the
observation when a delegation from the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce and Ports
Authority paid a courtesy call on him at the Castle, Osu.
The delegation and
representatives of 10 other companies that had investment interests in Ghana
had already visited the Tema and Takoradi ports as well as the inland port now
under construction at Boankra in the Ashanti Region.
He said government was prepared
to co-operate with them for the mutual benefit of the two countries in the
development of the ports and the railway network. "The railway lines
should be modernised to link it up with the seaports."
President Kufuor said recently
there was congestion at the Tema port because of the diversion of goods for
landlocked countries that had been using the port of Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire.
He said it would, therefore, be
ideal to have partners to help government to expand and improve on facilities
at the ports. He said assistance in mass transportation; road construction and
sanitation in the major cities of the country were welcomed.
He added that with the potential
for such investments, Ghanaians were prepared to offer the needed skills and
that what was required were the capital and technical know-how.
Mark van der Horst, Deputy Mayor
of Amsterdam and leader of the delegation, said they had realised the immense
investment potentials after a tour of some parts of the country.
He said the delegation made up
of representatives from the private and public sectors were interested in
operations of the Tema and Takoradi ports and investment in port related
activities.
Horst said Amsterdam City
Council was prepared to co-operate with the administrators of the Accra and
Kumasi Metropolitan Assemblies for capacity building and improvement in the
mass transportation system.
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Tema (Greater Accra) 13 March
2003- The government is to raise about $80m to assist the Electricity Company
of Ghana (ECG) to improve its power delivery.
Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of
Energy, said "we are in discussions with our development partners to
secure more funds to rehabilitate and modernise the existing energy
infrastructure."
''We are also in the process of
securing $20m to meet the long-term investment requirements in the distribution
sector.'' Kan-Dapaah was speaking at the opening of the 8th quadrennial
National Delegates Conference of the Public Utility Workers Union (PUWU) of the
Trades Union Congress (TUC), which has the theme, "Provision of quality
and reliable utility services, challenges facing the companies and the
union."
The Minister said the government
was also investing in the expansion and reinforcement of the transmission
network in order to address the existing bottlenecks and also increase
capacity.
He said the Prestea-Obuasi
transmission line, scheduled for completion next month, would relieve the major
constraints that restricted the evacuation of power from the Aboandzi Thermal
Power Station to the major load centres in Accra and Tema.
Kan-Dapaah said the government
was involved in regional projects including the West African Gas Pipeline
Project (WAGP) and the West African Power Pool (WAPP) in order to secure a long
term source of fuel for the thermal plant.
Yaw Barimah, Minister of Works
and Housing said, as much as his ministry would have liked to provide housing
for workers, "we are faced with the skyrocketing of building materials,
which always make it impossible for us to provide even a bed sitter at a low
cost.''
The annual housing requirement
is estimated at between 116,000 and 140,000 units but current production fell
below expectation. Barimah said in order to beat down the cost of houses the
ministry was encouraging the use of local materials in putting up houses.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March
2003- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is embarking on a vigorous tax
consciousness campaign aimed primarily at the informal sector as a way of
expanding the tax base in the country.
"We now have a policy of
taking the tax message to every doorstep, we have decided to emphasise on the
informal sector where sighting is poor, "Kwasi Bobie-Ansah, an IRS Public
Relations Officer told the GNA on Wednesday.
The Service had for the past
week mounted an education campaign at Parliament House, which includes helping
Members of Parliament and staff to file their tax returns. Over seventy members
and 116 staff had availed themselves of the free services.
Bobie-Ansah said the paying of
tax had for sometime concentrated on the public service where supervision was
most intense. He said the establishment of tax courts, which is in the offing
and a sustained tax education, would help break down tax evasion and apathy.
The official said IRS had put on
a "customer friendly face", making sure that people did not hold on
to petty excuses to run away from their tax responsibilities. "Although,
it is the responsibility of every eligible person in Ghana to pay tax, we think
people should know what they are supposed to know."
He appealed to Ghanaians to seek
the relevant information on tax as it was not centred on mere paying but
certain forms of it include "relief" and "refund".
"The other danger of not seeking clarification is that you may be over
paying taxes."
GRi.../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March
2003- The Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development
Organisation (UNIDO), Carlos Magarinos arrived in Accra on Wednesday to hold
discussions with officials of the Trade sector on UNIDO's programmes in the
country.
He would also inspect a number
of UNIDO-sponsored projects in Ghana. Speaking to journalists at the Airport,
Magarinos expressed his appreciation at Ghana's efforts at sustaining the
democratic system as well as her economic drive, especially the poverty
reduction programme.
Magarinos said UNIDO was
assisting Ghana with a $5-package to step up the poverty reduction programme
and lauded Ghana for the industrial census programme to be undertaken very
soon.
Dr Kofi Konadu Apreku, Minister
of Trade and Industry, expressed concern at post-harvest loses being
experienced in the country and said he would discuss with the UNIDO
Director-General how his outfit could assist in this area.
During his two-day visit,
Magarinos would pay a courtesy call on President John Agyekum Kufuor and hold
discussions with the Minister of Trade and officials of the Association of
Ghana Industries (AGI). Salia Fawundu, UN Resident Co-ordinator, and Akmel
Prosper Akpa, UNIDO Representative in Ghana, met him on arrival.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 13 March
2003- Cocoa purchases for the 2002/2003 season has reached 375,000 metric tons
compared to the total of 305,000 metric tons bought in the 2001/2002 season,
Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance, announced in Kumasi on Wednesday.
He said cocoa production was
expected to increase to 400,000 metric tons by the end of 2002-2003 main crop
seasons. Osafo-Maafo, who was giving highlights of this year's Budget, recently
presented to Parliament, at a public forum, said the government expected
production to hit 450,000 metric tons by the end of 2004.
He attributed the increase in
production to the mass cocoa spraying exercise embarked upon by the government
last year and said the programme would be continued. Osafo-Maafo said
government would also continue to increase the producer price of cocoa and
scholarships for children and wards of cocoa farmers.
He said 15bn cedis had been
earmarked in the budget for the rehabilitation of roads in cocoa growing areas
throughout the country. The Finance Minister stated that the primary focus of
the 2003 budget was to improve road infrastructure, education, health and
telecommunications.
He also said the National Health
Insurance Scheme would be launched this year. Osafo-Maafo reiterated that
private lottery operations in the country would be abolished saying, the
government was currently fashioning out strategies that would absorb agents and
writers of the private operators into the new expanded national lottery adding
that private lotto operators would not be allowed to cheat the nation again.
He hinted that Customs, Excise
and Preventive Service (CEPS), would now use weight instead of invoices to
calculate import duties on poultry products, adding that, revenue accruing from
the 20 per cent additional import duties announced in this year's budget would
be set aside to support the poultry industry in the country.
Osafo-Maafo cautioned pharmacies
and importers of essential drugs that had been exempted from Value Added Tax
(VAT) and import duties in the budget against selling the drugs at higher
prices. He said government was expecting that prices of these drugs would be
reduced to conform to the wavering of the taxes.
He advised Ghanaians to assist
the government in its revenue mobilisation efforts by reporting individuals and
organisations that were evading taxes and cheating the nation.
GRi.../
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Help me find
out why I was arrested - Lawyer
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 March
2003- Samuel Othniel Tay II, a legal practitioner, on Wednesday appealed to the
National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) to find the brain behind his arrest in
April 1982 and the offence he committed to warrant the arrest and maltreatment.
He said he wanted no
compensation but added: "Since the day of my arrest, I have realised that
God really loves me because I would have been dead by now. The torture people
went through at the barracks was routine and brutal. As I sit here I bear no
grudge against those who maltreated me."
Tay said all he wanted was to
exorcise the past and that the truth would help him to do so. He called on
Ghanaians to be realistic and not to follow anybody at all who picked up the
gun and proclaimed himself a Messiah.
"With a good military
command, such things as coup d'etats by the junior ranks would not
happen." Tay was giving evidence at the NRC pertaining to events that led
to his arrest in 1982 culminating in him spending four days at the guardroom of
the military barracks at Burma Camp.
He said in 1982, Mefie Boatyard
Company Limited, a fishing company at Tema to which he was the solicitor,
contracted a fishing boat construction company based in the United Kingdom to
build fishing trawlers for the company.
Tay said after both companies
signed the contract, Mefie Boatyard Company Limited imported marine engines to
be fitted into the boats but after six months the company could not build even
one boat.
He said Mefie Boatyard Company
sensing danger confronted the engineers, who in turn reported the company to
the then National Investigations Committee (NIC). Tay said being the early days
of the revolution; he was summoned to appear before the NIC to give evidence
about the contract adding that he told the Committee that he was just the
solicitor of the company.
"I was discharged but on my
way out, soldiers at the gate started to chase me, beat me with their hands,
feet and the butt of their guns and I had to run for my dear life." He
said due to the beatings he received, he wrote a petition to Flight Lieutenant
Jerry John Rawlings, then the Chairman of the Provisional National Defence
Council (PNDC), but he did not receive any reply.
Tay said later three armed
soldiers arrested him around 0115 hours at a Hotel at Tesano in Accra where he
had lodged to meet some business partners and took him to Burma Camp.
"At the camp I was put in a
cell at the Fifth Battalion guardroom with no blankets, bed, or chair. I slept
on the floor for 30 minutes and started to feign sickness." Tay said he
was taken to the 37 Military Hospital where the doctor on duty, who was a
friend, advised the soldiers not to beat him since he had hypertension.
He said the soldiers, who took
him back to the barracks, therefore, gave him a bed and blanket to sleep on
adding that this saved him from being tortured as other decent people who had
been arrested.
"These people were asked to
roll on a floor with chipped stones, while the soldiers kicked, slapped and hit
them with the butt of their guns." Tay said his late father contacted the
mother of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, wife of Flt. Lt. Rawlings, to find out
what his son had done to warrant the arrest.
He added that Nana Konadu's
mother talked to her and she ordered his release. Tay said he then appeared
before the NIC, where he faced a panel of seven members including Prof Kofi
Awornor and Sam Awortwi, who were his good friends but who refused to tell him
why he was arrested.
The Most Reverend Charles Palmer
Buckle, a member of the Commission, invited Tay to make contributions to the
work of the Legal Committee instituted by the Commission that would help come
up with facts as to where the legal sector went wrong.
GRi.../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March
2003-Yaw Nkwantabisa, a former Commander of the Militia in Tema, on Wednesday
denied allegations that he ordered the killing of Harrison Mensah Teye as
alleged by a petitioner to the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC).
He said John Awuni Ayarba, the
militiaman who shot the man in 1985, was on the run. He said he locked him up
for four months and reported the offence to the authorities yet no action was
taken.
Alfred Tetteh Adjetey had made
the allegation in a petition to the Commission. Giving evidence to the NRC,
Nkwantabisa said on the day in question, he returned from Accra only to be informed
that a militiaman had shot Teye.
He said Teye, who sustained
gunshot wounds in the thigh was not dead by then so he ordered that he should
be taken to the hospital. Nkwantabisa said he followed up to the hospital where
the doctor pronounced Teye dead.
On the role of militiamen, he
said they were to augment the work of 30 soldiers at the port. He said the
militiamen were not fully trained because they were workers and came for
training when they were free. Asked by Dr (Mrs) Sylvia Boye why he provided
arms to the men that were not fully trained, Nkwantabisa said they carried arms
only when they were on duty.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March
2003- The United Kingdom's Minister for Relations with Africa, Baroness Amos on
Wednesday congratulated the government of Ghana on its energetic and effective
chairmanship of the Economic Community of west Africa States (ECOWAS).
A statement from the British
High Commission said Baroness Amos said this when she paid a brief visit to
Ghana and met with President John Kufuor and the Foreign Minister, Hackman
Owusu-Agyemang.
The statement said she welcomed
in particular progress in resolving conflict in Cote d'Ivoire. Baroness Amos
underlined the UK's commitment to working with Ghana and ECOWAS on regional and
international issues.
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Accra (Grater Accra) 13 March
2003- Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, Chairman of the Electoral Commission (EC) on
Thursday cautioned politicians and political analysts, who are calling for the
suspension of the creation of new constituencies and districts to be mindful of
the ramifications of their requests.
He said the theory for
redistribution of the existing 200 constituencies instead of creating new ones
would mean that the Upper East Region would lose two seats from its current 12
to 10.
Upper West would also lose one
from its current eight to seven, Central Region would lose one, from 17 to 16,
Volta would lose two seats from 19 to 17 and Eastern would also lose four seats
from 26 to 22.
Dr Afari-Gyan, who was speaking
to the Ghana News Agency after participating in a roundtable discussion on:
"Towards Elections 2004: The Creation of New District Assemblies,"
urged politicians and political analysts to be circumspect in their
contributions.
The proposal submitted by the EC
is based on weights of land size and population. Based on this formula the
Western Region would gain an additional seat from the current 19 to 20 seats, Greater
Accra would gain six more from 22 to 28 and the Ashanti Region would gain three
more seats from 33 to 36.
The Brong Ahafo and Northern
Regions would retain their current numbers of 21 and 23 seats, respectively.
Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said
the demarcation of local government boundaries was a politically sensitive
assignment, which ought to be handled with care and circumspection.
He said: "It has the
potential of evoking political tension and ethnic emotions and entails huge
capital outlay which demand resources to ensure that the new district has the
capacity to perform its functions."
Baah-Wiredu said out of over 72
requests for new districts, the Ministry after evaluating petitions had
forwarded 20 to the EC for further analysis. The regional distribution are;
Upper West, Upper East, Western, Eastern and Volta would have two new
districts, Greater Accra, Northern and Central one each, Ashanti three and
Brong Ahafo five.
It is estimated to cost 10bn
cedis to provide physical infrastructure and other facilities such as office
and residential accommodations, equipment and logistics, vehicles and
personnel.
The Minister noted that concerns
of stakeholders, political analysts and politicians had been considered and
would ensure that the number of new districts created were within manageable
limits.
Baah-Wiredu lauded the creation
of the 45 new districts in 1988, which he said impacted positively on
governance and brought government closer to the people while new district
capitals, which were sometime ago villages expanded and increased in volume and
range of services offered there.
He said it also ensured even and
balanced development of the country as well as helping to ease pressure on the
major settlements in the provision of service to the population and helped in
dividing complex and heterogeneous districts into relatively homogenous and
cohesive districts.
In a welcoming address, Prof
Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, Executive Director of Ghana Center for Democratic
Development (CDD Ghana), said the discussion, was the last of a series of programmes
lined up by the Center to support the effort of EC and other governance
agencies to prepare for credible elections in 2004.
Prof. Gyimah-Boadi said the
Centre considered Elections 2004 as significant as it would be the fourth
consecutive elections under the Fourth Republican Constitution and be the first
to be conducted under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government.
This provides a democratic test
to the government, the EC, Civil Society Organisations, the Media and other
stakeholders to ensure another successful peaceful, transparent acceptable and
credible elections.
Ernest Specht, Director
Friedrich Nuamann Foundation, sponsors of the forum called for critical
assessment of the electoral process to identify challenges and prospects for
future elections.
Justice V. C. R. A. C. Crabbe,
former Supreme Court Judge and Commissioner, Statute Law Revision, chaired the
discussion, which was attended by politicians, Electoral Officials, Media
practitioners and other stakeholders in Ghana's electoral process including the
donor community.
GRi.../
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Canada
offers $9m to Sub-Saharan Parliaments
Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March
2003- Canada had made available $9m through its Parliamentary Centre to
Sub-Saharan Parliaments to strengthen their capacities to contribute
effectively towards good governance and development of their individual
countries.
Madam Hawa Yakubu, NPP-Bawku
Central, told the GNA on Wednesday that the amount formed part of $500m pledged
by the North American country toward the funding of New Partnership for
Africa's Development (NEPAD).
She said three main areas had
been identified as points of focus and that each area would be hosted by one of
the three geographical areas south of the Sahara: West Africa, East African and
Southern Africa.
"We conceived the NEPAD as
one area, Corruption, the other is Gender, where emphasis would be laid on
HIV/AIDS, mother to child transmission of the pandemic, poverty reduction and
other debilitating factors."
She said a group of African
Parliamentarians would meet in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in April to finalise
modalities of the programme. The former Minister of Tourism now a member of the
ECOWAS Parliament said African parliamentarians should lead the fight against
HIV/AIDS, poverty and deprivation on the continent.
She said, with the vast majority
of the people stuck in poverty and ignorance, the parliamentarian was the most
effective conduit through who they could air their views and concerns.
On NEPAD, she said although it
was a well-structured vision of African leaders, it was a fact that the
ordinary people were not involved in its conception. "MPs should get to
the people and explain to them what NEPAD is about especially, when we share
its aims and objectives in our own way through folklore, constant cross border
trading and interactions."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 13 March
2003- A biography of President John Kufuor would be launched in London on 19
March a release from the Centre for Intellectual Renewal said in Accra on
Wednesday.
Titled "Between Faith and
History - A biography of J.A. Kufuor", it is written by Ghanaian
Journalist and author Ivor Aqyeman-Duah and published by Agoo Media Limited.
The 120-page book in hard and
paperback editions has a Foreword by the pre-eminent African political
scientist Professor, Ali A. Mazrui. According to the publishers the book would
have a "triangular launch" by the London-based Royal Commonwealth
Society in collaboration with the Centre for Intellectual Renewal, a public
policy institute founded by Agyeman Dua in 1997.
This would be before an audience
of policy-makers on Africa, Members of the London Diplomatic Corps, Members of
Parliament (MPs) and Journalists. The statement said invited speakers would be
the former Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Ameka Anyakou; Omar
Kabbaj, President of the African Development Bank; Paul Boateng, a Ghanaian-born
British Minister; and Ghana's High Commissioner in London, Isaac.Osei.
It said the Africa World Press
in New Jersey would do a Latin and Central America editions of the book before
the year-ends. The author, also a TV producer would turn the book into a major
TV documentary in 2005.
From London, it gets to the La
Royal Beach Resort in Accra on 27 March with Prof Adebayo Adedeji, former
Economic Commission for Africa Executive Secretary and now Executive Director
of Africa Centre for Development and Strategic Studies in Lagos, as guest
speaker.
Prof Adedeji would speak on:
"Transitions and leadership in Africa in the light of Kufuor's
Biography" before an audience made up of politicians, policy makers,
members of the diplomatic community, business executives and Journalists.
The final launch would take
place in Washington DC at the Woodrow Centre for International Scholars.
Agyeman-Duah would talk to scholars and Pan-Africanists about Ghana under the
title: "The Present is From the Past: Memory and History in Ghana's Fourth
Republic".
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