Quality Grain to start production
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 May 2003 - One of the oldest National Democratic Congress (NDC) Members of Parliament, Mrs Comfort Owusu, has declared her intention not to contest next year's parliamentary election on the party’s ticket.
Mrs Owusu, who has been representing Mfantseman East Parliament since 1992, was quick to explain that she is not running away from politics because the NDC has lost all the by-elections conducted since the 2000 elections but stressed that the decision is basically due to ill health. In an interview, Mrs Owusu said she will, however, put her weight behind any person who is elected by the party as candidate to vie for the seat.
She was optimistic that her seat will continue to be an NDC seat because apart from the fact that both parents of Prof Evans Atta Mills, flag bearer of the party, hail from the constituency, the people saw very significant infrastructural development under the NDC Government.
She said, for instance, that out of the 54 communities in
the constituency, 48 had access to electricity under the NDC Government. Mrs
Owusu said considering the fact that the communities have seen no concrete
improvement in their lives since the NPP took over the reins of government; it
is obvious that the NDC will retain the seat in the next general elections. – Graphic
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Battor (Volta Region) 12 May 2003 - The Aveyime Quality Grains Company will start operations next month to determine its viability in the production of rice. The Managing Director of the National Investment Bank (NIB), Daniel C. Gyima, announced this when he inspected some projects at Battor in the North Tongu District of the Volta Region.
A quantity of paddy rice is to be imported from the United States of America to test the full potential of the company’s mill. The current value of the company’s assets stands at $10 million, out of a total investment of $20m.
The tour was to enable the bank to assess the implementation of the District Assemblies Common Fund, which was disbursed through NIB, for projects in the district. Gyima said the NIB, in collaboration with the African Development Bank (ADB), will provide funds to support agricultural activities in the area to transform and improve the standard of living of the people in the district and the region as a whole.
A number of American investors, he said, are expected in the country to consider investment in aqua-culture, livestock and other agricultural ventures to create employment avenues in the region. The North Tongu District Chief Executive, Nicholas Ahiadome, commended the NIB for showing concern for the development needs of the people in the area.
He said the peaceful installation of a new paramount chief clearly indicates that the development of the area is on course, and urged the chiefs and the people to continue to live in peace. Ahiadome gave the assurance that the government will do all it can to promote economic activities in the area. He implored chiefs and queen mothers in the Battor Traditional Area to mount educational campaigns against the HIV/AIDS menace.
Togbega Batamia Dzekley VII, Paramount Chief of the Battor
Traditional Area, noted that the area abounds in natural resources, which must
be harnessed to promote its socio-economic development of the area. He
suggested that a branch of the NIB be established at Battor to enhance the
socio-economic activities of the people. - Graphic
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 12 May 2003 - Two witnesses told the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) on Friday that the timely intervention of a former PNDC member, WO1 Adjei-Boadi, saved them and five others from being executed by soldiers of the 4BN at Kejetia in Kumasi in 1982.
They said the soldiers had bundled them into a military vehicle at the 4BN and just as they were about to take off to Kejetia, WO1 Adjei-Boadi appeared at the barracks and, after questioning the soldiers, ordered that they be released with immediate effect or the soldier would suffer drastic consequences.
The witnesses, Pastor Hayford Ansere Afriyie and Richard Boateng, both members of the Lord Is My Shepherd Church in Kumasi, were testifying before the commission on the fourth day of its sitting in Kumasi.
According to them, the day after the disturbances at the church in February 1982, they were arrested and sent to the 4BN where they were tortured and placed in a guardroom.
Witnesses said that the soldiers removed them from the guardroom and told them they were going to be executed and burnt, as happened to their leader, Odifo Asare. They said suddenly, WO1 Adjei-Boadi appeared at the scene and upon questioning, ordered that they be released.
According to them, Adjei-Boadi told the soldiers that the coup was made for young people like them and that if the Major who was killed in the church had not died, he would have killed him for misbehaving. Witnesses said Adjei-Boadi sent them to the Kumasi Central Prisons and kept in preventive custody, since he feared that if he sent them to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, the soldiers would trace them to the place and kill them.
They said when they were arrested they were given identification haircuts, while soldiers opened several cuts on their bodies with blades.
Pastor Afriyie said he lost ¢1,300 during the torture He said all the seven persons who were going to be executed were Asantes and he heard some of the soldiers who were Ewes say that Asantes were “too known people” and they were going to show them what power could do.
Asked by the counsel for the commission how he noticed that the soldiers were Ewes, Pastor Afriyie said he understood the Ewe language they spoke.
Asked to name some of the soldiers he saw at the barracks, he named Corporal Nti and Corporal Abbass. Boateng told the commission that at the Central Prisons where Adjei Boadi sent them, a medical attendant took money from them to buy drugs to treat them until after three weeks when Adjei-Boadi again advised that they be allowed to go and hide in some villages where they would be safe.
Nana Yaw Boakye made his second appearance at the commission to narrate how armed soldiers and police stormed his house on December 6, 1992 to arrest him. Nana Boakye, who was a blacksmith and sculptor, said he exchanged gunfire with the soldiers before he eventually gave himself up.
According to him, he was taken to the BNI Headquarters where he was detained for two weeks in a highly illuminated cell. Nana Boakye said due to the strong lighting system in the cell, he developed eye problems and eventually lost his sight. He said one day, he insisted that he wanted to see the BNI Director, Peter Nanfuri, since he did not know why he had been arrested and detained.
Witness said when he eventually saw Nanfuri, he (Nanfuri) promised to contact his officers in Kumasi and the following day he ordered his release from cell. He described the PNDC government as very wicked. Mrs Adwoa Boakye, wife of Nana Boakye, who also testified, said the soldiers who came to arrest her husband were many.
She said a helicopter hovered over their house at the time her husband was resisting arrest. She said she saw four people, including one woman, hit by a bullet during the siege on their house.
Mrs Boakye said that the soldiers who came to the house said they were looking for arms and ammunition, but they found none during the search.
She also quoted the soldiers as saying that they were arresting her husband over his alleged involvement in the burning of the property of a PNDC member in Kumasi. Mrs Boakye said since her husband lost his sight, the family has faced a lot of financial problems and appealed to the commission to help them out of their problems.
Another witness, Madam Florence Birago, who was a trader, said personnel of the Civil Defence Organisation (CDO) seized her goods on the Accra-Ho Road for no apparent reason. She said she nearly developed stroke from the shock and has since been plunged into serious financial problems. – Daily Guide
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Akuapem (Eastern Region) 12 May 2003 - The government has released ¢50bn into the Youth Fund to be accessed as loans by individuals and youth groups who have acquired skills to enable them develop a trade. Youth groups, associations or partnerships interested in the loan are expected to submit their applications to their respective district youth co-ordinators for processing.
The Minister of Education, Youth and Sports, Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, announced this in a speech read on his behalf by Joe Aggrey, a Deputy Minister at the Education, Youth and Sports Ministry, at the inauguration of Ahwerase Mma Kuw at Akuapem in the Eastern Region at the weekend.
The ceremony was also used to cut the sod for work to commence on a ¢250m workshop and a library complex for the Ahwerase Presbyterian Junior Secondary School.
The minister said the Youth Fund, which is not known to many, is not being accessed and urged individuals and youth groups who have acquired skills to endeavour to access it to enable them to expand their trade.
He said the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, in conjunction with the Afro-Asian Rural Development Organisation, has voted $46,000 to assist craft training and for a micro credit scheme. Baah-Wiredu called on the youth in the Akuapem District to show a lot of interest in the scheme so that in no time, all towns in the district will become as renowned as Bonwire in the Ashanti Region for its Kente weaving.
He commended the people for coming together to form such a group to help develop the area. Baah-Wiredu gave the assurance that the ministry will assist this worthwhile project, which will bring development to the youth of the area.
He said through the district assembly, the ministry will endeavour to assist in every way possible so that in no time, the noble intentions of the authorities in the area will become a reality.
The Chairman of the Ahwerase Mma Kuw, Kwaku Biney, said the aim of the association is to complement government’s efforts at developing the area. He said it is in view of this that it is constructing a JSS workshop and library complex in the town.
He said the projects, which are expected to cost ¢250m, will be financed through members’ contributions as well as funds from citizens living in the United States of America and the United Kingdom.
Biney said the group is also committed to instituting a scholarship scheme for needy students from the area to enable them to acquire higher education.
The Chief of Ahwerase, Nana Opoku Ampong II, urged the union
to continue to be united in order to achieve their objectives. An appeal for
funds yielded ¢150m. – Graphic
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