He stated in a
letter addressed to the Speaker of Parliament that his reasons were personal.
The resignation of
the member is the first since the inception of the
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Accra (Greater Accra) 26 March
2003- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday called on the Federation of
African Public Relations Associations (FAPRA) to assist African leaders in
managing the image of the continent globally.
He said: "
The Conference under the theme:
"Investment, Economic Development and Public Relations" is the 16th
in the series and the third to be organised in
President Kufuor urged them to
continue to take account of the various regional groupings, the African Union
(AU) and its agency the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and
mindful of how they position the continent.
He asked them to take account of
issues on the continent in their deliberations because through them they could
enhance self-confidence of the African. President Kufuor said they could in
addition, enhance good governance on the continent and with their security
consciousness promote development programmes.
He said governments appreciate
their role in building individual nations and modern
He presented a plaque of the
Code of Ethics of the International Public Relations Associations (IPRA)
adopted in
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"It is your duty. You have
the skills and professional abilities to change peoples
minds and attitudes. If you can recognise this and be bold to influence your
politicians where the need arises,
Dr Nduom said this when he
addressed participants at the on-going three-day Federation of African Public
Relations Associations' (FAPRA) Conference taking place in Accra under the
theme: "Investment, Economic Development and Public Relations".
Vice President Alhaji Aliu
Mahama, on Monday opened the Conference, the 16th in the series and the third
to be organised in
Dr Nduom told the participants
that if they could consider that need and to recognise the fact that they were
crucial players, who could reshape and change the negative perceptions about
On Regional Integration in
Africa, he said if it failed to happen in the continent vis-à-vis good
governance, there was no way the objectives of NEPAD (New Partnership for
Africa Development) were going to be achieved.
He said if
"Perception is key in
promoting trade and we must know that there are a lot of scope
to expand intra-Africa trade in
"It is sad that even our
own African countries continue to rely heavily on imported products which are
sometimes better produced in another sister African country, this, people like
you must change," he told the participants.
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He said the Inland Port being
built at Boankra in the Ashanti Region, would benefit
Burkina Faso more than Ghana in terms of the bulk of haulage that passed
through Ghana.
President Kufuor made the call
when the out-going Burkinabe Ambassador, Marc O. Yao paid a farewell call on him at the Castle, Osu.
President Kufuor urged
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Navrongo (Upper East)
Some of the prospective voters
carried their Voter ID cards but could neither trace their names on the
electoral register nor the reference register. Others whose voter identity
cards were missing but found their names in the register were allowed to vote
provided party agents and some others could identify them.
Bawa Azuma, Presiding Officer at Namolo Primary 'B' told GNA that a People's National Convention
(PNC) party agent confronted him as to why a voter was allowed to vote without
an ID card.
He said the police and one
Alhaji Abdulai Bawa had to
intervene to solve the problem. Others who could not find their names in the
register were refusing to leave the scene until they were allowed to exercise
their franchise.
At Pungu
Primary 'B' Kwayire Francis, the Presiding Officer
told GNA that as early as 0500 hours there were long queues to cast their
ballot. Mrs Theresa Cole, a Commissioner of the Electoral Commission who was
observing the polls expressed satisfaction about smooth manner the polls
started.
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Consequently, an inter-sectoral committee has been set up to collate views of
groups petitioning for new district assemblies. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of
Local Government and Rural Development, who said at his turn at the 'Meet The Press' series in
The legislations to be reviewed
are the Local Government Act, Act 426, Local Government (Urban, Zonal, Town and Area Councils and Unit Committees)
establishment Instrument 1994 - LI 1589.
Baah-Wiredu mentioned the others
as the review of the Model Standing Orders of the district assemblies, which he
said, would be completed by June this year. The Minister said a Presidential
Advisory Committee on decentralization has been established to advise the
President on critical issues and the way forward on the implementation of the
policy.
"It is expected that this
will provide the strong leadership and direction for effective decentralization,"
he added. He said the Ministry is to address the causes of discontent and
disenchantment, which compelled some communities to request for their own
districts.
"This is largely due to
lop-sided development and lack of equity in the spatial distribution of
services and infrastructure. To this end, an all embracing policy for Urban and
Human Settlement Development (UHSD) is being involved."
On the problems of decentralized
development planning, Baah-Wiredu said the Ministry in collaboration with the
National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) is developing and issuing
planning manuals to Regional and District Planning Co-ordination Units to
facilitate development planning at the regional and district levels.
"We are also augmenting the
staff level and improve the skills of personnel serving in the Units through
regular training while supporting the establishment of a geographical
information system for each district assembly to provide reliable data for
development planning", he said
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Busua (Western Region)
Dr Henrietta Odoi-Agyarko,
Deputy Director of Public Health, said this at the opening of a week long
National Review Meeting on Reproductive and Child Health Care at Busua on the theme, "Strengthening Services to Improve
Maternal and Neo-Natal Health."
She said whereas antenatal
coverage stood at 98 percent in 2001, that of
supervised delivery remained at 60 percent during the same period. Dr Odoi-Agyarko said these had contributed to the high level
of maternal mortality rates nation-wide.
She called on reproductive and
child health care providers to pay special attention in order to impact
positively on the healthy growth and development of children. "We need to
improve the coverage of child welfare services from children over 11 months and
to ensure full immunization for children before their first birth-day,"
she said.
Dr Odoi-Agyarko
said the launch of the sixth motherhood week was meant to reduce maternal
mortality and urged them to discuss and improve relationships between
child-health providers and their clients.
She said to inform the public on
health issues adolescent health and safe motherhood programmes would be stepped
up between August and September. Dr Odoi-Agyarko said
the lack of documentation of some of the success stories would not enhance the
work of health service providers and urged all maternal and child care
providers to document most of their activities to serve as examples and models
for future cases.
Dr Sylvester Anamana,
Western Regional Director of Health Services, said many Health Workers were
working without any guiding rule and called on the Clinical Care Division of
the Ministry of Health to produce relevant guidelines for the effective
administration of health care in the country.
He said the performance of child
health was better than maternal health care delivery and suggested that
maternal health indicators should be set to make maternal mortality less.
Dr Anamana
said whereas ambulance systems with radio communication were being experimented
in some districts the use of "power pillars" as ambulances in the Wasa West District of the Western Region was proving to be
effective.
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The Minister said human
activities coupled with bush fires and other occurrences were important reasons
to update data, which should help determine the state of vegetation, soil and
water bodies and thereby direct efforts at sustainable development.
In a speech read for him at a
day's seminar on land use management in
The seminar was organised by the
Centre for Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Services of the
A second edition of an updated
map showing land use practices between 1990 and 2000 was presented at the
seminar. The map is a trend analysis of land use in the country and captures
the changing human settlements, vegetation, soil and other natural resources.
Jonathan Allotey,
Executive Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, said various factors
including population pressure on land use called for rational management of
natural resources. He said land use information and data were essential keys to
proper planning because they showcased developments taking place and also
captured land degradation.
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A statement issued in
Obetsebi-Lamptey referred to the
conflict in Yendi the hatred and bitterness it has
since engendered between the two gates and said there is nothing that the
God-given tongue of man cannot peacefully resolve.
"It is not weakness to
carry the message of peace. Rather it is a mark of strength to do so," he
said. Stressing the need to maintain the peace in Dagbon, the Minister said
that" the fire of conflict in Dagbon has consumes enough already".
"Let us put it out and
build on its ashes as new Dagbon, strong and ready to march with the rest of
The Minister said the government
would do everything within its power to ensure true and lasting peace in Dagbon
just as it is doing in every part of the country. He reiterated government's
commitment to ensure positive change in the lives of the people and appealed to
the youth to bear with government as it takes difficult but economically
necessary decisions to salvage the economy and set it on the path of
sustainable recovery.
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"Investigations into the
allegation show that it is completely false and has no substance," a
statement issued by the Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, Jake
Obetsebi-Lamptey said on Tuesday.
He said there is neither any
proof that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has distributed 600 mobile phones to
people in the constituency as Dr Edward Mahama, leader of the People's National
Convention (PNC) alleged.
The minister said government
considers as most unfortunate the tendency of some political leaders to create
unnecessary panic through the propagation of falsehood. "The latest
misinformation by Dr Mahama is most unfortunate and deeply worrying,
considering the fact that this is not the first time he is peddling such
falsehood," he said.
"It is important for
political leaders like Dr Mahama to always consider the paramount interest over
parochial and partisan desires and strike to uphold the truth at all
times," he added. Obetsebi-Lamptey said rumour mongering by personalities
like Dr Mahama end up not only discrediting the individual concerned, but
debase the very essence of political discourse.
"At a time when the media
is being constantly urged to exercise responsibility in reportage, it lies ill
in the mouth of people like Dr Mahama to be the source of such vile, vicious
and unfounded rumours, which in no way serve the national interest," the
Minister said.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 25 March
2003-Justice Edward Kwame Wiredu, Chief Justice (CJ) said on Tuesday that the
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR), a new "product" of the
Judiciary, would allow disputing parties to resolve their disputes out of
court.
Justice Wiredu stated that the
project, a pilot scheme, was intended, in its full application, "to offer
the justice system an enhanced arsenal of management techniques for every phase
of litigation."
At a press briefing in Accra to
throw light on the ADR project, the CJ said in coming out with the scheme, the
Judicial Service was clothed with legal backing as contained in Sections 72 and
73 of the Courts Act, 1993, Act 459.
The provisions in those Acts
state, among others, that "when a civil suit or proceeding in court with
jurisdiction in that suit may promote reconciliation among the parties, and
encourage and facilitate the amicable settlement of the suit or
proceedings."
Justice Wiredu said in adopting
the ADR system to seek the amicable settlement of their cases out of court,
litigants might do so through negotiation, mediation or arbitration.
He stated that under the ADR,
litigating parties would be offered the voluntary choice of any of those three
methods to deal with their cases. The CJ, however, pointed out that if the ADR
process failed to resolve disputes, recourse to trial at the court became the
last option for disputants.
He explained that the parties
involved would be required to sign confidentiality agreements, at the end of
which agreements arrived at would be reduced into a Memorandum of Agreement and
endorsed by the parties.
Justice Wiredu stated that based
on this, it was up to the court to make its order for compliance by the
disputing parties. Justice Wiredu announced that the programme would take off
at the beginning of next month, and that seven magistrate courts have been
selected within the Greater-Accra Region to experiment it on a pilot basis.
The programme, he said, would be
gradually extended to other courts, adding, "It is envisaged that by the
beginning of the legal year 2004, ADR services will be available in all our
courts."
Ms Justice Sophia Akuffo, Chairperson of the ADR Task Force, outlined some of
the benefits of the scheme, and said apart from saving time and overall cost,
ADR whose proceedings were private, fostered 'win-win' solutions to disputes.
Touching on cases suitable for
ADR, Ms Justice Akuffo pointed out: "every case,
including minor criminal offences, unless the matter raises constitutional
issues or the ADR office determines that the case raises public policy or novel
legal issues that ought to be judicially determined, to establish new legal
precedents."
On the normal duration of ADR sessions,
she stated that ideally, the use of ADR would assist in the disposal of
disputes within a couple of hours, or at a maximum of two days, comprising four
ADR sessions.
Justice Steve Allan Brobbey, Supreme Court Judge, and a member of the ADR Task Force,
stated that arbitration in ADR matters would normally take place at the court
premises to enable the judge to intervene when the need arose. Justice Brobbey said unlike cases on trial at the courts, which
could be appealed against, there could be no appeals in ADR matters.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 26 March
2003- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday said the Presidential Advisory
Committee on Chieftaincy Affairs was set up to provide a functional link
between government and the institution.
He said under the Constitution,
Chiefs were expected to regulate their own affairs without any interference
from government but the institution had now become a source of problem because
all manner of people had laid claim to ascend to stools and skins.
President Kufuor was
administering the oaths of office and secrecy to Edmund Dramani
Mahami, a Legal Practitioner and former First Deputy
Speaker of Parliament during the
He said government had the
responsibility to ensure that troubles or problems associated with the
institution were managed effectively. President Kufuor explained that the
Committee was, therefore, established to ensure that chiefs undertook their
responsibilities to manage the institution to minimise government's involvement
in their affairs.
Mahami said it was a national duty to
serve the country and pledged to put his experience as a public servant at the
disposal of the Committee. "We have a duty to assist the government to
restore the chieftaincy institution to its proper place and glory to steer its
own affairs".
The five members of the
Committee sworn into office on 12 March by President Kufuor,
were Justice George Lantey Lamptey,
a former Supreme Court Judge, as the Chairman and Mamaga
Amega Kofi Bra I, Queenmother of Peki
Traditional Area.
The rest were Paul Kwabena Damoah, former Member of Parliament for Amenfi
in the Western Region during the
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Tarkwa (Western Region)
He pleaded guilty and he would
reappear on
Asubonteng, however, purchased some of the
cocoa and personally used 64 million cedis. On realising the shortage Asubonteng ran away to Seikwa in
Brong Ahafo Region but was arrested there.
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Nkwanta (Ashanti Region) 26 March 2003-
Dr Emmanuel Ahiable, a Senior Medical Officer at the Asante-Mampong Government Hospital, has called on operators
of pharmaceutical shops to reduce the prices of diabetes and hypertension
drugs.
This, he said, would help the
government realise its objective of making these drugs affordable through the
waiving of import duty on the drugs. Dr Ahiable was
speaking at a health outreach programme at Nkwanta
and its environs in the Sekyere West District of
Ashanti during which 200 people were treated free of charge.
This formed part of activities
marking this year's 'Kontonkyi Akwasidae'
festival, which was aimed at raising funds in aid of development at Asante-Mampong. The programme was organised by the Mampong Traditional Council and sponsored by Western Union,
Pepsi Cola, Ghana Breweries Limited, Agricultural Development Bank, Ghana
Commercial Bank, Home Finance Company and Ghana Post.
Dr Ahiable
said 20 out of the 200 people diagnosed as diabetic patients during the exercise
confirmed they were aware of their ailments but had resolved to live with it
against the background that they could not afford the high prices of the
anti-diabetic drugs.
The Senior Medical Officer said
the chunk of the patients who suffered from acute diarrhoea; typhoid and
malaria were counselled to report at the
Nana Agyakoma
Dufie, Queen mother of Mampong,
lauded the
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