Accra (Greater
Accra) 21 March 2003- Madam Georgina Okaiteye,
seventh prosecution witness in the Ghana Rubber Estates Limited (GREL)
divestiture case on Thursday told an Accra Fast Track Court that she, Mrs Irene
El-Mahmoud, and Dr Albert Owusu-Barnafo
never lobbied for the company's divestiture in favour of Societe
Industrielle Plantation Hevea
(SIPH).
Giving evidence at
the court under cross-examination, Madam Okaiteye, who
is also a member of the 31st December Women's Movement (DWM) said after her
friend, Mrs El-Mahmoud, had introduced Dr Owusu-Barnafo to her Mrs El-Mahmoud did
not do any lobbying.
Witness said after
Mrs El-Mahmoud had done the introduction, she Okaiteye and Dr Owusu-Barnafo
took upon themselves the lobbying job on GREL. Four
persons are being tried by the court for their alleged involvement in corrupt
practices during GREL's privatisation.
They are, Hanny Sherry Ayittey, treausrer
of the 31st December Women's Movement (DWM), Emmanuel Amuzu
Agbodo, former executive secretary of the Divestiture
Implementation Committee, Ralph Casely-Hayford,
businessman, and Sati Dorcas Ocran, housewife.
All the four were
alleged to have influenced the DIC board to divest GREL in favour of Societe Industrielle Plantation Hevea (SIPH), and they have denied their various charges.
The court, presided
over by Justice J. C. Amonoo-Monney, Appeal Court
Judge, with an additional responsibility on the case as a High Court Judge, has
granted each of them a self-recognisance bail.
Madam Okaiteye continuing with her evidence under further cross-examination
disagreed with a suggestion by David Lamptey, counsel
for Ayittey, that after, Mrs El-Mahmoud had introduced
Dr. Owusu-Barnafo to her, the three of them held
meetings at the Osu
residence of Mrs El-Mahmoud where matters pertaining
to GREL's privatisation were discussed.
Witness told the
court that after the introduction, the three of them rather held three meetings
at Dr Owusu-Barnafo, a consultant to GREL's office and he briefed them on frantic efforts being
made by his principals in
Answering questions
on monies that were withdrawn from GREL's coffers in
connection with its divestiture programme, Madam Okaiteye
disagreed with a suggestion by counsel that those monies were siphoned for the
personal use of Etienne Popeler, former Managing Director of the company, Dr
Owusu-Barnafo and herself.
She disagreed with
a further suggestion by counsel that an amount of 800 million cedis taken from GREL's accounts did not eventually get into the hands of
Popeler. Witness also disagreed with another suggestion that a greater part of
the monies meant for the 31st DWM, and which passed through her personal accounts
by way of cheques issued by Dr Owusu-Barnafo and back
to him, never got to the Movement.
Witness said the
portion of the money meant for the movement actually reached it, adding that it
was not true that apart from the 800 million cedis, Dr Owusu-Barnafo endorsed, other cheques to
be withdrawn from her personal accounts.
Asked why she had
not refunded a 10,000-dollar-loan she took from Popeler, witness said that was
because her contract with GREL had been terminated. The case was adjourned to
Thursday, 27 March for continuation.
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The code will cover
all institutions involved in the international recruitment of health care professionals
"This code of practice, when adhered to by all countries would go along way
to curb the brain drain of health professionals who leave their countries to
find greener pastures".
David Amos, Deputy
Director of Human Resources Directorate of DH made this know in
The workshop, which
was facilitated by the United Kingdom Department of Health, was also to provide
a forum for the professionals to discuss ways of improving their lives in their
home countries.
Amos said the
workshop also aimed at developing networking opportunities between health care
professionals in
He said the
department had set up a register of countries that would abide by the
principles and standards spelt out in the code of practice. Amos noted that the
code was intended to protect the developing countries that experience shortage
of health professionals due to the international recruitment.
"The code
however, promotes the structured exchanged of health care personnel for mutual
benefit of NHS and health care systems around the world". Gregory Quinn,
Second Secretary, Political Press and Public Affairs of the British High
Commission, said the
Areas to be covered
include basic health care, training, HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, and
developing long-term strategies for work in health care delivery. He said the
commission was working with the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service
to address the critical issue of staff retention and support a long-term human
resources strategy that would move the nation forward.
Mrs Mariama Braimah, Chief Nursing
Officer of the Ministry of Health, said the Ministry was liasing
with a University in the
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Accra (Greater
Accra) 21 March 2003- Two suspects who were implicated in the murder of Ya-Na Yakubu Andani
II, Paramount Chief of Dagbon Traditional Area were on Thursday committed to
stand trial at an Accra High Court on 9 April on charges of conspiracy and
murder.
Their committal at
an
Their pleas were
not taken. Sugri, Gyanfo
and 30 others were implicated by the Government White Paper on Wuaku Commission in December last year.
On 8 August last
year the Commission during its sitting ordered the arrest of Gyanfo who was alleged to have displayed the mutilated head
of the late Ya-Na but the Commission vacated the
order.
Sugri and Gyanfo were
however, re-arrested and detained since
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Tetteh Adimeh stunned
those at the hearing when he said in an answer to a question posed by
Commissioner Uborr Dalafu Labal II he would do it again. Adimeh
had told the NRC that he was arrested, beaten in the cells of the Bureau of the
National Investigations (BNI) and spent eight years in detention for ferrying
Ghanaian returnees from
After waiting for
about a minute, he said: "I will help any Ghanaian who is genuinely in
distress." Uborr Labal
then remarked: "Thank you. Thank you for your answer. May God bless you."
Adimeh who hails from Ningo
told the Commission that in 1984, he was fishing around
He said since the
men did not have any money they decided to ferry them into
He said after they
had left the Chief Fisherman's residence, he (Agboketse)
sent for the Police to interrogate them as well as the eight returnees they
brought. Adimeh said the Police arrested him, his
friend, the chief fisherman and the eight men because the Police claimed he
should have sent the men to the Police station instead of sending them to the
Chief Fisherman's house.
He said they were
transferred to the BNI cells where they were beaten. Later he was sent to Ussher Fort Prisons without any charge, he said, adding,
"I do not know what happened to the rest."
Adimeh said he spent two years at the Ussher Fort Prison without any trial and was transferred to
the Sekondi Central Prisons where he spent six years.
He said he was released in 1992 without being given any reasons. Adimeh said the imprisonment had resulted in the loss of
his friends and family members because "nobody came to visit me in prison
except those with whom I stayed in the same house."
He said he was
married with two children at the time of his arrest and his wife, a fishmonger,
could not send the children to school. Adimeh said
the boat he worked with got rotten while he was in prison hence he now has no
means of fishing and pleaded with the Commission to help him find work.
General Emmanuel Erskine, a member of the Commission, advised him to be careful
with how he went about his activities because by helping others he may be going
against the law. He said the closure of the Ghana-Togo boarder at the time was
perhaps due to security reasons and by ferrying those men into
General Erskine told him to understand that he went against the law
and that might have led to his brush with the law. He advised him to forget about
the pain and forge ahead.
John Kwabena Adom, a trader at Hohoe, said in
July 1979, a group of about 20 soldiers from the Ho Mortar Regiment led by Lt.
Ken Korah, stormed the house of his father, Opanin Daniel Kwaku Addae Adom, a prosperous businessman,
at about 2200 hours and demanded to see him.
Adom said he told the soldiers that his father
had been involved in an accident and was sick. He said he pleaded to stand in
for his father and the soldiers arrested him and sent him to the Ho Mortar
Regiment guardroom.
He said he was
asked why he was brought there and he replied he did not know. "The
soldiers requested me to remove my spectaacles and my
shirt. Just as I was doing that they gave me two hefty slaps. I fell and they kicked me all over."
Adom said the following day they brought him out
and used a sharp object to shave him. They accused him of profiteering and
whipped him with an electric cable. He said after this he was brought back into
the guardroom, but his wife arranged through one Lt Nyarko,
the Operations Commander of the Ho Mortar Regiment, and he was released.
Adom said shortly after he was released, soldiers
again led by Lt. Korah arrived in a Pick-up, forced
open the father's trading store, Aquay Allah Stores,
and auctioned the contents from 1700 to about 2200. They sent him back to the
Ho Mortar Regiment guardroom.
Once again his wife
sneaked into the barracks and arranged for his release. Adom
said after his release, the soldiers returned and auctioned the remaining items
in the store, took the key away and kept it till a week before the then AFRC
handed over power to the Limann's Administration.
He said the family
lost about 500,000 in the looting during that military attack. His father, who
was then 65 years old, became disinterested in business, and died two years
ago.
Mis wife, Charity Afua
Konadu corroborated her husband's testimony and added that Abotare
Shop owned by one Obeng, was also raided and the owner
taken away. She said one Ellis, manager of a filling station, and a dispenser
and laboratory technician at the
Ex-detective
Inspector Nathaniel Tawiah Amedogbeh,
formerly stationed at the Kaneshie Divisional
Headquarters, said on
"I ran to the
market to see if I could help my cousin retrieve some of the items. I saw
soldiers standing at the market. They were many," he said. "When I
reached the gate where she used to pass to the market I saw four dead bodies -
three men already dead, and another young man, who was running away with three
pieces of cloth, shot before my own eyes."
Amedogbeh said the soldiers asked traders who were
coming out with their wares to send them into an army vehicle. He said those
who were trying to run away were shot and the gate to the market was later
closed.
"My cousin
came later on and I asked her never to venture into the market. I asked her to
go home," he said. Amedogbeh said he did not see
the importance of coups and called on Ghanaians to let democracy prevail.
The Commission
expressed its sympathy to Madam Yawa Bobi who, Chairman Justice Kweku Amua-Sekyi
said, had become a destitute. Justice Amua-Sekyi said
recommendations for Yawa Bobi
would be based on her statement and Amedogbeh's
evidence.
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Bolgatanga (Upper East)
He said in addition
to interacting with the chiefs and people of the Region to know their concerns,
the visit would also enable him to acquaint himself with various development
projects being carried out in the area.
The Bolga-Naba commended the Vice President and his team for
making time to visit the region in spite of their heavy work schedules, and
said it was a gesture he and his people really appreciated.
He appealed to the
Vice President to use his good offices to ensure the commencement of work on
the
Vice President
Mahama later inspected the Bolgatanga old market,
which is being reconstructed jointly by the World Bank, European Union (EU) and
the Bolgatanga District Assembly.
In all, about 197
stores and stalls are being constructed, with a number of urinals and toilets.
However, the amount involved in the execution of the projects was not
immediately available.
The Vice President
also inspected ongoing work at the
At the Bolgatanga Technical Institute (BOTECH), he inspected new machines
and equipment being installed in the school's workshop, and later addressed the
students and tutors in the assembly hall.
Vice President
Mahama urged students to eschew all acts of indiscipline and to obey and
respect their elders. He identified poverty as the greatest enemy of the people
in the three Northern Regions, and challenged the students to go all out to
fight it through the pursuit of high education.
He warned the
students against the spread of HIV/AIDS, and said their main preoccupation at
this stage should not be about love affairs, but rather to apply themselves
seriously to their studies to justify the investments being made on their
education by Government and their parents.
The Minister of
Education, Professor Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi who was on the Vice President's entourage, indicated
that it was part of Government's new educational policy to place direct
emphasis on vocational and technical training.
He said the BOTECH
project was one of the 20 Science Resource Centres being established
nationwide, and that government intended to provide another 20 of such centres
in other parts of the country in the next two years.
The Education
Minister urged students of the institute to seize the opportunity and make full
use of the equipment being provided. Also on the delegation were Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, Minister of Local Government and Rural
Development, Kassim Kasanga,
Minister of Lands and Forestry, Alhaji Ben Bukari
Salifu, Minister of State at the National Development Planning Commission and
Mr Clement Eledi, Deputy Minister of Mines.
Others were Hajia Alima Mahama, Deputy Minister
of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Sahanun Mugtari,
Upper West Regional Minister, C.K. Tedam and Mr
Francis Afoko, both members of the Council of State,
District Chief Executives as well as regional and national executive of the New
Patriotic Party (NPP).
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He said mankind
needed to reconcile with himself before he could reconcile with God. Therefore,
it was the responsibility of all those who believed in the existence of God to
support the national reconciliation exercise aimed at bringing unity among
Ghanaians.
Amofa-Kra was addressing a forum on National
Reconciliation organised by the Social and Community Development Office of the
It was to afford
members of the congregation the opportunity to have insight into the structure
and activities of the NRC and also encourage those, who might had fallen victim
to human rights abuses since independence to petition the Commission.
Amofa-Kra said the
Amofa-Kra said the Commission, as an independent
body, had put measures in place to ensure the success of the exercise and bring
unity among the people. He appealed to members of the congregation who were
victims or know people who had suffered human rights abuses to petition the
Commission for redress.
Some members of the
congregation wondered why witnesses, who appeared before the Commission were
cross-examined by lawyers of the alleged perpetrators since the Commission was
not a court of law. Others also asked whether compensation would be paid to
victims who appeared before the Commission.
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Gomoa Nyanyano (Central
Region)
He said the late
Member of Parliament for the area, Emmanuel Acheampong, was hard working and
was among the best MPs the region had produced. Edumadze made the call when he
interacted with fishermen and fishmongers at Gomoa Nyanyano, Fetteh and Senya at
separate meetings.
The bye-election in
the Gomoa East constituency has become necessary following
the death of the MP in a motor accident on the Winneba-Swedru road. He said
"it does not make sense for you to vote for an opposition candidate, who
cannot work with the government."
Edumadze said
people should not let the present economic difficulties discourage them from
voting for the party ''because you will soon enjoy from the hard measures the
Government is adopting.'' Nana Elsirifie Ababio IV, Chief Fisherman, pledged their support for the
government and asked that their needs be addressed to enable them to vote for
the party.
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Gomoa Nyanyano (Central
Region) 21 March 2003- Government has ordered 1,000 outboard motors to be
distributed to fishermen, the Minister in charge of Fisheries, Ishmael Ashitey, said this when he interacted with fishermen at Nyanyano, Gomoa Fetteh and Senya to explain the policy on pre-mix fuel.
He said there were
plans to introduce four-stroke-engine outboard motors that consume less fuel
and are more efficient than the current two-stroke engines adding: By the end
of the year a research vessel would be introduced to help identify fish
shoals.''
Ashitey expressed concern about the fishermen's
refusal to adopt new technology and suggested that they formed big groups to
enable them to access assistance from the government to buy vessels and
establish fishing companies.
He said 99 per cent
of vessels in the country were foreign owned and hinted that a vessel
monitoring system would soon be put in place to check the activities of
trawlers. Ashitey said the restructuring of the
fishing industry would make it more responsive to the needs of fishing
communities.
He said a fishery
law and other incentives had been put in place to regulate the industry. Ashitey said the government was researching into the use of
solar energy to run out-board motors in a bid to reduce dependency on pre-mix fuel,
which was expensive.
Reginald Niibi Ayiobonte, Member of
Parliament for Odododiodoo and National Chairman of
the Pre-mix Management Committee, dispelled rumours that the government would
no longer supply fishermen with pre-mix fuel.
He said it was
expensive producing pre-mix fuel and urged them to be watchdogs over the
smuggling of the fuel to neighbouring countries. Isaac Edumadze, Central
Regional Minister, again expressed concern about chieftaincy and land disputes
in the Region and asked them to help find solutions to them.
Nana Elsirife Ababio IV, Chief Fisherman
of Nyanyano, mentioned irregular supply of pre-mix
fuel, lack of cold storage facilities and poor roads as some of the problems
they were facing.
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Kumasi (Ashanti
Region) 21 March 2003- Ghana has received two million dollars from the United
Nations Global Fund for the Control of Malaria, Tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS
established last year.
The amount would be
used to ensure increased patients' access to uninterrupted and continuous drug
administration to cure of the disease. Dr Mrs Agatha Bonney, Kumasi Metropolitan Director of Health Services, said
the metropolis, which had been chosen with
She was speaking at
the "Tuberculosis Fair", held in
She said the
training aspect started in February, adding that, by the end of the first
quarter of this year, about 300 health facilitators to train the private sector
would have passed out.
Simon Adoboe, Disease Control Officer of the National TB Unit
said the project was to augment the National TB programme, which had been in
existence since 1994. He said the "Directly Observed Therapy" (DOTS)
involving the private sector, such as chemical sellers; midwives, doctors and
pharmacists would be extended to all parts of the Metropolis.
Adoboe said the knowledge of health staff in TB
management already in the public sector would be upgraded to act as
facilitators in the training of private practitioners. He said TB was curable
and its treatment free and urged the public to give patients the moral support
to undergo treatment.
The fair was preceded
by a float and interaction between the facilitators and patients at the TB ward
of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH). The
facilitators announced their plans to change the Akan
reference to the disease, "Nsamanwa" which
means "Ghost Cough". They were of the view that the name was inappropriate
since the disease was curable.
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