Swedru nurses
embark on sit down strike
Policemen warned against collecting monies
for bails
Woman files suit against Battor Hospital on AIDS
Struggle over new district capital rages in
Upper West
Asafo group denies
Omanhehe's claims
Don't publish sensitive issues on the
Police- IGP
Highway workers call for removal of Chief
Executive
Man jailed for manufacturing guns
Regions to establish inter-agency SARS
Committees
He would meet ECOWAS Chairman, President John Kufuor to discuss the programme of refugees in
In a brief interview with Journalists on arrival, Lubbers said there was the need to go the extra mile in preventing refugees from becoming a burden on host countries.
He said one way of minimising the rising number of refugees all over the world was to make it a point to find lasting solutions to political crises adding that this would prevent people from fleeing their countries and ending up as refugees.
Lubbers said he was convinced that peace and development in
At the airport to meet him were Kwasi
Owusu Adjei, Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yaw Broni, Deputy Minister for the Interior, Albert Fawundu,
UN Resident Coordinator and Thomas Albercht, UNHCR
Representative in
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Speaking at the launch of three anti-corruption reports, Short said the strategy on conflict of interest and gift giving when completed would be submitted to various forums for the inputs of stakeholders to make it an effective tool in the fight against corruption.
Short said well thought-out and concrete laws on the two issues would enable public officials to clearly draw the line between what constituted an acceptable or deviant practice in the execution of their jobs.
He said the Commission would play its role adequately in
fulfilling the President's declaration of "Zero-Tolerance For Corruption" in the country. Launching the reports,
which are aimed at integrating anti-corruption measures in the Ghana Poverty
Reduction Strategy, Dan Boakye Agyeman
from the Office of the President, said corruption had been a bane on
He said the issue of corruption called for innovative approaches that would enable stakeholders to tackle the problem and nip it in the bud. Mrs Leonora Kyeremanteng, National Coordinator, National Governance Programme, said the infusion of the anti-corruption action plan into the GPRS would provide further impetus for the adoption of anti-corruption measures in policy formulation.
She commended
Mrs Kyeremanteng called for a multi-sectoral approach in dealing with the issue of corruption at all levels of society. She urged the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition, for which she is the chairperson, to strengthen its watchdog role with the view to optimising resource allocation and reform of anti-corruption laws to enhance enforcement.
The three publications launched are the "Report of the
5th National Governance Workshop 2001", "Mainstreaming
Anti-Corruption Measures in Policy Formulation in
The Report of the 5th National Governance Workshop 2001 leans heavily towards ensuring clarity of focus in the strengthening of institutional management and resourcing mechanisms.
The moral and ethical dimensions of corruption are also highlighted, emphasising that even the best systems of governance might not thrive if there were no personal integrity.
That on "Mainstreaming Anti-Corruption Measures in
Policy Formulation in
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Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, Sector
Minister said the Ministry, would set up a technical committee to work out
modalities in three months. Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, after meeting
the staff of the Ministry in
He noted that there had been so much talk about indiscipline and it was time the Ministry took a leading role in the crusade. Adjei-Darko said the introduction of the award was to ensure that workers developed the culture of cleanliness.
The award would be extended to the various district assemblies nation-wide. Adjei-Darko said the Ministry would also introduce a "farmers market", a place where farmers would bring their produce and sell directly to consumers without the interference of market queens.
The system, which would operate by -weekly, would discourage market queens from determining prices of products. "Perishable farm produce are sometimes left on the market to rot because of the high price and this goes to the disadvantage of the farmer. This is what we want to discourage ", he explained.
Adjei-Darko said District Chief Executives would earmark convenient places for such activities, adding that the system would open job avenues for more people and encourage them to go into farming.
The Minister called on government employees to be loyal to the state and not to personalities or political parties and called for sanctions against those who do not perform diligently. He urged the employees to dedicate themselves to their work and move the nation forward.
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Swedru
nurses embark on sit down strike
Agona Swedru
(Central Region)
The strike action was in demand of review of allowances to conform with, those paid to nurses at Korle-Bu and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals. Mrs Juliana Ocloo, Agona District Secretary of the Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA), told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the nurses were not satisfied with the huge disparities in the payment of the allowance.
She said for instance the nurses who worked throughout the
week including the weekends received between ¢300,000 and ¢460,000 while others
in
Mrs Ocloo said reminders and delegations had been sent to the Minister of Health to address the issue but to no avail. Mrs Ocloo also accused management of reducing the number of extra hours worked and called on the management to pay according to the number of hours work was performed.
She could not tell when they will stop the strike since the
decision was taken in
He said the hospital would not admit any fresh patients
since their lives could not be guaranteed. Dr Demanya
said on Monday two emergency cases were referred to Korle-Bu
Teaching Hospital in
Joseph Brown, the Hospital Administrator, denied that the
management reduced the number of hours worked by the nurses. ''Pay vouchers are
sent to
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Policemen warned against collecting monies
for bails
Obuasi (Ashanti Region) 14 May 2003 - The Police Administration has reaffirmed the warning to its personnel against collecting monies from suspects before granting them bail.
Mrs. Elizabeth Mills-Robertson, Deputy Inspector-General of Police in-charge of Administration, also said no policeman or woman should keep a suspect in cells for 48 hours.
Addressing police personnel drawn from the Obuasi Division at Obuasi on
Monday as part of her visit to some stations in
She expressed concern about the practice where some policemen gave out arms and ammunitions issued to them at the station to their colleagues when they were to change them at their duty posts.
''The practice is not helping in the effective monitoring of arms and ammunitions. Arms and ammunitions should change hands at the station and not at duty posts.'' Mrs. Mills-Robertson spoke about discipline and appealed to the police personnel to strive to build on the good image of the service instead of dragging it into disrepute.
She said existing service instructions could still be used to promote discipline and appealed to station masters to discuss them at their welfare meetings.
Mrs Mills-Robertson appealed to the personnel to resolve to work hard to raise the image of the service and gave the assurance that "the Police Administration is going to reward hard work".
She advised the policewomen not to play second fiddle to the male counterparts but to match them "boot for boot". K.A. Boateng, the Obuasi Divisional Police Commander, said among the numerous problems hampering the efficient performance of their duties was the inadequate manpower base.
"Madam, you will be surprised to hear that some of the stations have a maximum of two policemen which is woefully inadequate to cope with volume of work there even though there are accommodation to house more men", he said.
Boateng said the Adansi West District Assembly renovated the Divisional Commander's bungalow at the cost of ¢48m while the Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC) repaired the old police Land Rover at the cost of ¢20m.
The Amansie Resolute Mining Company has built a new police station at Manso-Abore in addition to the District Police Headquarters being built at Bekwai by the Amansie East District Assembly.
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Woman files suit against Battor Hospital on AIDS
Tema (Greater Accra)
Madam Elizabeth Dickson said in her writ, that in July 2001, she reported at the hospital with a complaint of fibroid. She was made to surrender her blood samples and other specimen for blood pre-treatment test and visited the hospital several times for checks and pre-treatment diagnosis.
It was during one of such visits that the doctor in charge of her case referred her to a senior nursing sister for counselling on her state of health.
She said the nursing sister told her that she was HIV positive. ''I was dazed and was unable to comprehend all those pieces of advice'', Mad Dickson said in the statement that she broke the news to her husband but this led to the collapse of her marriage because her husband deserted the matrimonial home.
She said for fear of stigmatization, she left Ashaiman and took refuge in a village in the Central Region and her health deteriorated with the fibroid also worsening. And when she could no more endure her condition she called back to the Battor Hospital to seek remedy for her fibroid sometime last year.
It was upon this visit that the authorities informed her that she was not HIV positive and that the blood sample that was originally attributed to her was not her sample. The statement said such unpardonable professional negligence had made her to suffer mental trauma, stress and high apprehension of death with its social stigma for over a year.
In the statement of defence filed on behalf of the hospital the defendant admitted that the plaintiff attended the hospital in July 2001 but denied the claim that she complained of fibroid.
The defence said the plaintiff was requested by the doctor to see a senior nursing officer but denied the claim that she was to be counselled pertaining to her state of health.
The defence said as part of the hospital's general routine for HIV tests, patients were always advised that the hospital's test could only be confirmed after the patient's blood sample had been sent to Korle Bu Teaching Hospital for confirmation.
''It is only after the result that the patient is told that he/she is HIV positive or not''. No date has been fixed for hearing of the case.
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Struggle over new district capital rages in
Upper West
Wa (Upper West) 14 May 2003 - The chiefs and people of the south Sissala area and the Wechaw and Dorimo traditional areas were tussling over which of their areas should host the capital of the new Wa rural District.
The Electoral Commission has proposed Funsi in the south Sissala area as the capital of the new district, which is to be created out of the Wa District assembly following the elevation of Wa to municipal status.
However, Wechaw and Dorimo, two key traditional areas within the new district, were opposed to this development and called on the government to create a separate district for them if Wechaw could not be made the district capital.
Paul Boateng, Upper West Regional Director of the Commission made this known to the Ghana News Agency at Wa on Tuesday. He said at a recent meeting with Dr. Kwadwo Afari-Djan, Chairman of EC at Wa, both parties took extreme positions and were not prepared to compromise.
Chiefs and opinion leaders from Wechaw and Dorimo traditional areas, which are neighbours, argued that the distance between their areas and Funsi was too long for their comfort.
To make that journey, they noted that, they would have to pass through Wa, the regional capital, and travel over 100 kilometres to Funsi to attend assembly meetings and make other transactions.
The South Sissala communities said they cover more than that distance to get to Wa, after travelling another 45 kilometres to Wechaw. They said Funsi already had the structures and capacity to accommodate staff who would be posted there as it is the second largest town in the Wa District and was district capital during the Nkrumah regime.
Boateng said a lot of things such as infrastructure, access to schools and health facilities were taken into consideration before selecting a district capital. He said the EC was working according to a criteria based on what was on the ground.
"We do not deal with traditional boundaries, we rather do our demarcations in accordance with administrative convenience". According to him, the government recommended for the creation of two districts in the Upper West Region.
Wa has been demarcated to be a municipal authority, thereby necessitating the creation of a rural district while Sissala district was to be split, with Gwollu as a new district capital with Tumu as the other.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 May 2003 - The Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama on Tuesday cut a sod to commence work on the establishment of the biggest lecture and examination theatre at the University of Ghana, Legon.
The project with a 1,500 sitting capacity forms part of the Ghana Commercial Bank's initiatives to commemorate its 50th Anniversary. It is expected to be completed within the next three years.
Alhaji Aliu said the gesture was timely since the present lecture structures of the University with a capacity of 800 had been over stretched beyond its optimal capacity.
He said the move by the bank was a reciprocal one since the University had been responsible for the manpower training of its personnel adding, "the bank owes Legon".
Alhaji Aliu commended the Bank for its tremendous contribution towards national development by allowing nationalism to override commercial and business dictates when it provided financial assistance for the importation of crude oil.
He said as much as the Bank was held in high esteem, it was important to note that nationalism and patriotism in today's global world of stiff competition could not guarantee success and profitability.
He therefore, urged the Bank to adopt good work habits in the face of stiff competition in the global world to become internationally competitive and a successful banking institution.
Prof Kwadwo Asenso-Okyere, Vice Chancellor, University of Ghana said there had been a phenomenal increase in the number of students without commensurate expansion in facilities.
He said currently 18,000 students were being accommodated on the main campus while 2,000 others who were on an external degree programme were outside the campus.
Prof Asenso-Okyere said there had been instances where students took lectures outside because of inadequate space, adding, "the scramble for space could compromise learning and affect the performance of students since it enhanced the possibility of examination malpractices."
He said the project, which also has an examination hall with a 300 sitting capacity, would help resolve some of the problems regarding space at the University. Prof. Asenso-Okyere appealed to the Vice President to support the newly established faculty of Engineering Science, which would take its first batch of students at the beginning of the 2003/2004 academic year.
He also urged government to respond quickly to the proposal submitted by the University Authority seeking adjustment in the salary structure of the University lecturers so that it could attract and retain highly qualified staff needed to ensure quality education.
Prof Asenso-Okyere said the future of higher education hanged in the balance because over 45 per cent of the teaching and research staff were beyond 50 years, yet it had been a daunting task to recruit the young ones due to the nature of service conditions offered them.
Mrs. Matilda Obeng-Asong, Managing Director, GCB said so far the bank had donated one billion cedis as part it's social responsibility policy in the area of education, health, youth development and sports and environment.
She said the assistance was to help the University boost its infrastructure base to enable easy training of students to produce the needed human resource capacity of the nation.
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Asafo
group denies Omanhehe's claims
Addressing a press conference in
He said the Police personnel were there to stop the rituals and to take away the animal meant for the sacrifice because the Omanhene's catch was not used for the said rituals and invited the Priestess to assist in investigations.
Nana Siripi said the Omanhene was considered unclean because he did not meet the requirement and conditions of a chief of the traditional area and, therefore, any time he stepped on the catch, it brought bad omen to the people of the area.
"It was to avert any calamity that, we decided to perform the rites this year to do away with the bad omen in our mist. “The Priestess, therefore, performed an accepted ritual that replaced the stepping on the catch by the Omanhene but this did not go down well with him".
He denied that the Priestess took advantage of the absence of the proper Priestess of the royal family to perform the rites unlawfully, adding that the one who performed the rites had been doing it for the past 40 years.
Nana Siripi, however, said though the catch stepped on by the Chief was the accepted one it did not go through the right procedure hence its rejection by the people of the area.
The shrine he noted had also not been deserted due to the hostile attitude of the people as reported by the Omanhene, but rather the shrine was deserted after the rituals were performed till the following year.
The Chief's palace had not come under any attack, he said, and added that it was unfortunate for the Chief to make such unfounded statement to the media. He advised the media to crosscheck their facts to enable the public to make their own informed judgement of the situation.
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A statement signed by Lt. Col. E.W.K Nibo, Director, Public Relations, on Tuesday advised interested candidates to look out for the details of the recruitment requirement, in the advertisements of 14 May edition of the Ghanaian Times and 21 May of the Daily Graphic.
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Don't publish sensitive issues on the
Police- IGP
"I have indicated time and again that security considerations make it imperative to make thorough enquiries before certain information is brought to the knowledge of the public, otherwise it may end up undermining the very security and stability we are clamouring for."
The IGP, who was interacting with journalists at the second
quarterly meeting for the year between the Police administration and the media
in
Nana Owusu-Nsiah noted that one major problem facing the Police was the issue of anonymous letters from certain police personnel to the media. He said "some service members have formed the habit that at the least chance they will leak vital information they come across to the press.
Others too prefer to send their complaints to the press instead of using the available means within the service." He appealed to the media to rest their quest to release such exclusive stories first before seeking official reactions to the subject matter.
He said his administration would continue to maintain the cordial relationship with the media for effective peace, order and stability in the country. On the general security situation as at March this year, the Police Chief said it has improved with a decline in crime wave of all kinds by 18.4 percent as compared to the same period last year.
The cases under reference included murders, armed robberies, rape, defilement and the possessing of narcotics. He said a measure adopted by the police has paid off well in stemming crimes in the city.
He said moves to redeem the image of the service were yielding some results although there were a few bad nuts in the system. The IGP noted that training of personnel was systematically being carried out and that the public-police co-operation was encouraging and has led to the apprehension of a lot of criminals, especially armed robbers.
Nana Owusu-Nsiah announced that government has given approval for the service to recruit 4,000 more personnel to beef up the 20,000 policemen by the 2004 The IGP said the government with assistance from the Chinese government has secured funds for provision of barracks at the National Police Training School to ease the accommodation problem of the Service.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 14 May 2003 - The Ghana Police Service is to investigate the causes of the high death rate among Police personnel, Mrs Elizabeth Mills-Robertson, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIGP), said in Kumasi on Tuesday.
She said the Service recorded 117 deaths last year and tasked the Research and Planning Unit of the Service to investigate and recommend measures to curb the trend.
Mills-Robertson, who was addressing a durbar of Senior Police Officers as part of her familiarisation visit to Ashanti Region, said the majority of those who lost their lives were in the Inspectorate Rank and they died through natural causes and accidents.
The DIGP, who is the first woman to have attained the position in the history of the country, told the Officers that the Police Council had approved a new service condition for the personnel.
"All is over, what is now left is the final approval from the Cabinet to make it operational", she stressed. She said the Police Council, Administration and Government were working relentlessly to improve upon all facets of the Police Service to enhance its efficiency.
Mrs Mills-Robertson stressed the need for all Police personnel not only to read but also study the 1992 Constitution to enable them to be abreast with what was expected of them at any given time.
She warned Police personnel, who had been using their position to collect debts for people, saying: "You need to stay clear of such practices since debt collection is not part of your mandate." The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, George Asiamah, said in spite of the numerous constraints, the combined efforts of the security services had brought the rampant armed robbery that engulfed the Region under control.
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Highway workers call for removal of Chief
Executive
They said the Chief Executive has publicly demonstrated that "he is not there for the interest of the workers and for that reason, he should immediately park out of office to avoid the wrath of the workers'.
This was an outcome of a durbar by the GHA workers in
The workers in a resolution read by Eric Obeng-Kwakye, Ashanti Regional Secretary of the Construction and Building Material Workers Union (CBMWU) of the TUC of the GHA, wondered how the Chief Executive could say on a television programme that the GHA does not generate funds.
They stressed the need for Management and the Board of Directors to make sure that the new Collective Agreement and the new salary and wages structures are signed on or before 16 May to avoid further disturbances.
The workers, who expressed concern about their poor
conditions of service, alleged that all efforts made to improve salaries and
wage structures have failed. It affirmed the decision of the workers at GHA
headquarters in
They resolved not to resume work until the new bargaining agreement and the new salary structure have been approved.
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Man jailed for manufacturing guns
Sunyani (Brong
Ahafo)
Yeboah, charged with illegally manufacturing local weapons, pleaded guilty. Inspector Christopher Tawiah, Brong-Ahafo Regional Police Public Relations officer, said the convict was arrested at Wamanafo in Sunyani on 10 May, upon a tip-off.
Two other accomplices, Thomas Osei Bonsu and the other whose name was only given as Kwesi, are on the run. He said a double-barrel pistol, six unserviceable SB shotgun, without butts, a military rifle with no butt and five butts were found on the accused.
Police also retrieved equipment used to manufacture the weapons, he said.
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Takoradi (Western Region)
Addressing Western Regional Delegates conference of the
Kangah said forest reserves have ecological value and many rural people depend on them for their livelihood. He said the decision to permit mining in the reserves is therefore, not in the best interest of the country but will only advance the profit motive of multinational concerns.
Kangah said, "GAWU condemns the decision in uncertain terms and would hold the government responsible for whatever happens to the reserves as it is the final authority on the matter".
He called on the government to resuscitate the coconut industry, which used to be the backbone of the economy of the Western Region. Kangah said the development of the coconut sector should be made a Presidential Initiative to ensure that attention is given to it.
He said the region abounds in natural and mineral resources but profit accruing from them is rarely used to develop the region, which is one of the poorest in the country.
Kangah urged Chiefs, opinion leaders and people in the region to join forces and ensure that the region receives its fair share of development projects. He asked the government to implement policies that would boost agriculture production and make it lucrative, noting that the sector has not been given the needed support.
Kangah said the new labour bill, which is before Parliament is not in the best interest of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) whose membership is dwindling. He said the reduction of membership of the unions could force some of the unions to merge in future.
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Odumase-Krobo (Eastern Region)
The service was organised to mark the first anniversary of
the Odumase-Krobo Archdeaconry of the Anglican
Church. He said with the inauguration of women as Chalice Assistants in
"
Rt Rev Arongo
said the new Archbishop of Canterbury and the Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Cumminium, the Most Rev. Dr. Rowan Williams, would be
visiting
He called on Ghanaians to live in peace and said the Church would set up peace centres in the conflict zones of the country to help in their resolution.
Rt Rev Arongo said the Church would establish a tertiary institute with technical bias with campuses spread over Greater Accra, Eastern and Ashanti Regions.
In a speech read for the Eastern Regional Minister, Dr Francis Osafo Mensah, he called for the restoration of discipline in the national psyche. He said people seemed to have lost touch with traditional values and Christian principles which emphasised respect for authority and the elderly and this had negatively affected the moral development of the society especially children.
Dr Osafo-Mensah called for unity to fight against disease, poverty and deprivation irrespective of tribal, religious and political differences.
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Regions to establish inter-agency SARS
Committees
It has also given instructions to all regional health directorates to establish inter-agency SARS Committees to develop contingency plans for the control and management of the disease.
Regional Directors of Health Service and Public Health officials have so far been taken through the procedure for the development of such plans that include communication and surveillance plans at the district, sub district and community levels.
Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister of Health said this in a statement he issued in Parliament on Tuesday to explain the ministry's preparedness towards containing the disease in case of an outbreak.
He said in addition, Public Health officials from all the 10 regions have been trained on the control of SARS and are developing specific action plans for the regions, in consultation with other stakeholders to guide its implementation.
Dr Afriyie said other stakeholders such as officials of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA), Ghana Immigration Services (GIS), Port Health Unit, Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) and the Customs Excise and Preventive Services (CEPS) at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) and Tema Harbour have also been given orientation and assigned specific roles and responsibilities.
Personal protective equipment made up of masks, gloves, gowns disinfectants and boots have been given to the front line workers at KIA and Tema Airport while staff at all ports of entry have been notified about SARS and passengers from the Far East countries are made to fill locally produced screening forms providing their travel history.
Dr Afriyie said assessment of various health institutions have been undertaken to identify appropriate facilities for isolation cases and quarantine them.
He said the key challenges to implementing the strategies to prevent and control SARS include education of the general public to reduce unnecessary panic, solicit co-operation of the general public, resource mobilisation, as well as provision of adequate human, material and financial resources are being mobilised to ensure effective implementation of the planned strategies.
Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Minister of Defence said there was no need for partisan decision concerning the disease since its outbreak could spell doom to all irrespective of one's political leanings.
He said the possibility of the disease spreading to
Dr Addo-Kufuor said there was the need for isolation centres to be carefully selected so as not to compound the problem while public education especially for health workers was intensified.
He said certain practices as spitting in public places should be stopped to combat not only the disease but other diseases as well. Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, NDC-Kumbungu said the nature of the disease should make the country put in place adequate mechanisms to contain it while strengthening public awareness and ensuring surveillance at the borders and planning of specialised training for health personnel to handle the disease.
Eugene A Agyepong, NPP-Abetifi called for change of peoples' lifestyle so that God would have mercy on them to contain and prevent any outbreak. Cletus Avoka, NDC-Bawku West suggested that foreigners should be screened and quarantined on entry into the country and wondered whether the various business delegations to the country have been screened.
John Mahama, NDC-Bole said one major problem of the disease was that its symptoms were similar to malaria and so the people can be at risk and a state of fear in case of any outbreak.
He suggested that all hospitals should be used as isolation areas to contain the disease while exemptions should be made for the treatment of the disease since the 'cash and carry' system would worsen the people's plight.
Alhaji Malik Alhassan Yakubu, NPP-Yendi said the mode of transmission of the disease was more elusive than the AIDS, and that all measures must be taken to control it.
Dr Kwame Ampofo, NDC South Dayi said the role of the hospitality industry should be closely monitored while institutional framework on handling the disease as well as the support of other Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) already involved in the prevention of AIDS are encouraged to assist.
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He said the NCCE could carry out its constitutional mandate of educating the citizenry on their civic rights and responsibilities only when it was adequately resourced and allowed to perform its role independently.
Adu-Gyamfi made the call at the
opening of a four-day capacity building workshop for some members of staff of
the Commission from
The workshop is being sponsored by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and is aimed at strengthening the capacities of the participants to enable them to discharge their duties effectively.
Adu-Gyamfi said Ghanaians could make meaningful contributions to democratic governance only when they understood the provisions of the Constitution to enable them to know their rights and responsibilities that was the pre-requisite of sustainable democratic governance.
He appealed to Ghanaians to show interest in the activities of the Commission and guide against attempts by groups of people or individuals to subvert the Constitution. Larry Bimi, Chairman of the NCCE, advised civic educators to have deep understanding of the provisions of the Constitution to enable them to educate the citizenry appropriately.
He appealed to Ghanaians to constantly read provisions in the Constitution to guide them in the performance of their daily activities.
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This was contained in a statement signed by the Minister of Information, Nana Akomea, in reaction to the Ghana Palaver's Tuesday 13 May to Thursday 15 edition, which sought to question the whereabouts of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
The said story sought to put a tribal twist to the absence
of the Foreign Minister from the President's Official delegation to
It said while the political agenda of the Ghana Palaver was clear, it needed to ensure that basic professional requirements like crosschecking information and responsible journalism were adhered to, at all times.
"The government is united and not bedevilled by the personality conflicts of other parties, and is focused on the job given to it by the people of Ghana," the statement said.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 14 May 2003 - Opanin Yaw Asumadu, a Trader, has appealed to the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) to assist in solving the mystery over the disappearance of his eldest son during the fiery and traumatic days of the 4 June 1979 Military Uprising.
He told the Commission that some soldiers after severely beating his son, Peter Owusu at the Kumasi Central Market, took him away. "Ever since, I had neither heard of him nor had the faintest idea about what happened to him."
Opanin Asumadu was testifying before the NRC at the on-going public hearing at the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) Hall in Kumasi on Tuesday. He said at the time he disappeared, he had just completed Opoku Ware Secondary School and was about 17 years old.
Owusu had dared to asked why the
soldiers were slapping and kicking the father in his shop when they turned
their anger on him, brutally assaulted and sent him away. Opanin
Asumadu said he made an effort to check at the army
barracks in
In his evidence, he said he was trading in flour, sugar and rice in 1979 at the Kumasi Central Market and had a warehouse. He said four days after the Uprising; soldiers invaded his shop and auctioned all the goods in it.
"They asked if I had a warehouse and when I answered that it was not anywhere near the market, they began slapping and kicking me" and said it was at that point that Owusu questioned the justification of their "physical assault on me."
Opanin Asumadu told the Commission that as a result of the hefty slaps, he had now gone blind in the right eye. The soldiers also seized his Peugeot pick-up, he said, adding that, his trading business collapsed and all his children, who were in school, dropped out.
Christian Appiagyei, one of the Commissioners, said: "I hope we will get to the bottom of this disappearance." John William Opoku, another trader, said soldiers in 1979 auctioned and looted goods in his shops and warehouses at Bawku, Bolgatanga and Navrongo.
He said he used to receive his supplies from the UAC, PZ, GB Ollivant, Nestle Ghana Limited and Lever Brothers, among other companies. Opoku said his shops and warehouses were so stocked that the soldiers took one month to auction the wares, which included textiles, wristwatches, electrical gadgets, shoes and provisions.
He said he was tortured and made to roll on the floor by the soldiers and claimed Lieutenant Patrick Donkor fired at him but he missed narrowly. The Witness recounted how after pouring petrol in his warehouse, Lt Donkor fired his pistol that ignited and completely burned the whole building.
The Army Officer, he said, ordered that he should be put into a military Land Rover and driven to Bolgatanga. "On the way, Lt Donkor would call me after every three minutes and order me to show up my nose while he would squeeze it so hard amidst slapping. I began to bleed profusely from the nose", he said.
Opoku said he was detained at the Airborne Force at Tamale for four months and kept at Navrongo prisons for another three weeks. He said he was at the Airborne Force when the soldiers brought in Alhaji Bawa Ayamba, a Tamale Businessman in a weak state.
The Witness said Alhaji Ayamba narrated to him how Lt Donkor and the soldiers mixed cement in water and forced him to drink after which he was put in one of his tipper trucks, drove him on the streets as the army officer hit him on the head with a hammer.
Opoku also told the Commission that two Frafra men, whose goats, numbering about 200 were seized by the soldiers, were also brought to the barracks and tortured.
They were released after the soldiers had slaughtered and
chopped the meat of all the goats, he said. Another Witness, Opanin Andrews Boakye-Yiadom, a
Welder at the Suame Magazine in
He said he then had 180,000 cedis in his accounts and gave the price of Neoplan bus at the time as 71,000 cedis. The Witness said he appeared before the Citizens Vetting Committee and showed to the committee his cocoa passbook that showed his earnings from cocoa sales and gave evidence of returns on a corn mill he was operating.
He said his account was de-frozen after four years, adding, by this time, inflation had devalued his money at the bank and the price of a Neoplan bus had gone up beyond ¢300,000.
Opanin Boakye-Yiadom
said his worst nightmares were to start when his account was frozen and was
forced to sell his
Witness said, he refused and Nana Yaa brought in soldiers, who sent him to the barracks, subjected him to severe beatings and locked him up in a guardroom.
He said in the guardroom, he met a woman and a badly battered man with a swollen head and mouth, who turned out to be Odifo Samuel Asare, the Founder and Leader of the 'Lord Is My Shepherd Church'.
Opanin Boakye-Yiadom said it took the intervention of the then Imam at the Fourth Battalion of Infantry (4BN) to save him from execution. The soldiers said: "I should have sold the truck to Nana Yaa at ¢54,000 so I was made to refund ¢66,000 to her.
"She, therefore, took away my truck at 54,000 cedis and later re-sold it for 250,000 cedis." Opanin Boakye-Yiadom appealed to Ghanaians to resolve never to accept any violent overthrow of the Constitution.
A former Principal Technical Officer of the Cocoa Services Division (CSD), Kofi Asenso Mensah, when he mounted the Witness box, said he was unfairly and unjustly jailed for four years by a public tribunal in 1984 and wanted his name cleared. He was accused of diverting some cartons of fungicides, a charge, he vehemently denied.
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This followed the decision of the security mediation team for the Ivorian crisis to increase the strength of the Peacekeeping Force from 1,291 to 3,205. The move was also as a result of the dwindling resources of the ECOWAS over the years due to the frequent political instability in some member countries.
Nana Akufo-Addo made the trip
together with Foreign Ministers from
The Western capitals they visited were
He said the meeting in
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Enyan Abaasa
(Central Region)
Obrempong gave the advice at a
durbar at Enyan Abaasa to
mark the third Constitution Week in the district. It was organised by the
district directorate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE)
under the theme; "A decade of constitution in
Obrempong said ignorance of the constitution could allow one's civic rights be trampled upon with impunity. He urged Ghanaians to help make the constitution stand the test of time by defending it against abuse.
Miss Georgina Yeboah, the District
Director of the Commission expressed concern about some politicians and media
practitioners whose activities and utterances create tension in the country and
urged
She said the Constitution should not be seen as a document for politicians and lawyers alone, but rather as national assert, which must be protected at all times.
Nana Appiah IV, Kyidomhene of Enyan Abaasa appealed to the government to make the Constitution available in all local languages to make easy reading and understanding.
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