Witness: I was arrested after an article about Rawlings
Lack of blood affecting health care delivery - Doctor
UN sets 29 May as International Day of the Peacekeeper
Ghana and Cuba to explore areas of cooperation - Kufuor
Assembly votes ˘88m for electrification
project
Priesthood not preserved for men alone- Rev Gyimah
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May 2003 - Mike Adjei, a writer and journalist, on Tuesday told the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) that soldiers arrested him in 1983 shortly after he had written an article on the then Chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings.
He said he was picked up in the house of Goody Okang, a military officer and cousin of the Rev Charles Palmer-Buckle, a member of the Commission. Adjei said he was then working as a Public Relations Officer with Ghana Oil Company and contributing articles to the Free Press newspaper.
He said his arrest came not long after an article, "A chat with Rawlings", which, he said, went down well with the people. Adjei, who is now in the Office of the President, said when he asked for a search warrant, one Lieutenant Kusi who led the soldiers replied that they did "not want any nonsense" from him.
Adjei, who was also former personal secretary of the late Victor Owusu, leader of the Popular Front Party, said Lt. Kusi, stood at the door, while the soldiers numbering eight searched his room. He said the soldiers only found an empty file belonging to Prof. Folson, then of the All African Peoples Alliance.
After the search, the soldiers drove him towards Burma Camp. At Congo Junction, Lt Kusi asked to see "Broni" who he (Adjei) later identified to be Captain Pattington.
He said after about an hour, Lt Kusi came back and they continued to the Officers' Operation Room, the Police Information Room and then to the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI). At the BNI, he got to know from one of the detectives that W. O. Adjei Boadi, member of the erstwhile PNDC, had ordered for six men in detention at the Border Guards Headquarters and executed them.
Adjei said he was detained in the BNI headquarters for three weeks during which Johnny Dzandu, one of the killers of the judges, was brought there on a stretcher.
He said he was detained for 13 months without charge. Commissioner Bishop Palmer-Buckle said he would see his cousin, Okang to learn more about the relationship between the two of them. Adjei said the PNDC and NDC governments were generally made of authoritarian personalities.
Adjei said Johnny Terkpor, another soldier who killed the judges, was brought into his cell but he objected and insisted that Terkpor should join Dzandu in his cell. Adjei said two brothers - Ofei and Obeng - were brought for their alleged involvement in a coup plot.
Obeng was picked one night and tortured and was barely recognised when he was brought back as his face and body were badly swollen. He added that from then on beating of the two brothers became a regular feature. According to Adjei, he was interrogated by Capt. Kojo Tsikata and Peter Nanfuri and sent to jail in Nsawam Prisons where he met political detainees such as Dr J.W. de Graft Johnson, former Vice President, the late Tommy Thompson, a newspaper proprietor and the late John Kugblenu, a journalist.
He said on one occasion when he was brought to Korle Bu Hospital for medication, he met Ray Kakraba-Quarshie, a lawyer, who told him the political detainees had been expected in court the previous week, since a group of lawyers had filed a habeas corpus for them.
According to Adjei, he struck close friendship with Dzandu, who told him that Amedeka was the leader of the death squad and he (Dzandu) was the murderer of Yeye Boy. Dzandu, he said, also told him that Amedeka could kill anyone who refused his orders and added that on one occasion, he instructed him to kill Togbe Adeladza, but later asked him not to and he rather flogged him.
Adjei said he was released after 13 months incarceration, but ended in the Gondar Barracks, where he spent additional 12 days before he and a group of detainees were finally released. He said each of them was asked to pay 70 cedis for staying in the Guardroom for the 12 days.
He said months after his release he was invited again by the BNI and Nafuri asked him to write a statement on his 13-months incarceration.
David Tawiah Welbeck, a former military intelligence officer, said he was wrongly arrested on 7 January 1982 at the Shell filling Station at Osu RE when he went to buy spare parts.
He said he was sent to the Recce Guardroom, the Air Force Guardroom and to a counter where he was asked to undress. He said Lance Corporal Amedeka came and took him to the Cook House, gave him food and later sent him back to the Guardroom.
Welbeck said he, along with others, were made to sleep on the bare floor. He narrated how one junior officer shot at the chest and then the forehead of one of the detainees and he was made to carry the dead body into a waiting ambulance.
He said when he was finally released, he went to greet the Shell Manager, but learned that he was dead. Isaac Tetteh Quarcoo, who walked with some difficulty, said he was picked in February 1981 at Avenor by Policemen, forced into a Police vehicle and taken to the Kaneshie Police Station.
Quarcoo said he had become incapacitated because the Police shot at his leg. He said he could no longer pay his medical bills and prayed the Commission for rehabilitation. William Bruce-Tagoe, a Restaurant Operator, shed a lot of tears during his narration.
He said soldiers on two occasions came to his restaurant and after helping themselves, accused him of pricing his food too high, arrested him on one occasion took him to the Five BN and manhandled him. They slapped him, and made him to roll on the ground.
On another occasion, they blindfolded him and took him to a place where they used the tip of their guns to hit his chest. Bruce-Tagoe, who also operated a film theatre, spoke of being picked by the officers of the Accra Metropolitan Authority on the order of the then Mayor, Enoch Teye Mensah.
He said he was made to clear a refuse dump, after which he could not eat for a number of days. Ishmael Boamah Sasu-Mensah spoke of the loss of drugs in his pharmacy at Tesano valued then at ˘3.6m, when a group of students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology ransacked it in 1982.
He said he complained to then Registrar of the Pharmacy Board, Corquaye, but it was to no avail.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
President Kufuor departs for Abuja
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May 2003 - President John Kufuor left Accra this afternoon for Abuja, Nigeria to attend an extra-ordinary Head of States Summit of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which takes off on Wednesday.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr.Kofi Konadu Apraku, Minister for Regional Co-operation and NEPAD, Ms Angela Ofori Attah, Deputy Minister of Manpower and Employment, Mrs Lucy Bampoe, Minster in the Office of the President, accompanied the President. Also on the flight is Dr Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Executive Secretary of ECOWAS.
The Summit is expected to discuss draft ECOWAS declaration, Establishment of Proposed ECOWAS Rapid Deployment Force. They would also discuss the adoption of a Strategic Approach to the Funding of Peace and Security in the Sub-region.
President Kufuor will also deliver a public lecture on the topic: "Democracy and the prospect for peace, development and national integration." The ECOWAS Chairman is to preside over the opening of the ECOWAS Parliament after which he would attend the implementation committee of NEPAD meeting.
President Kufuor would be a special guest of Honour at the inauguration of President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria's second term of office. At the airport to see him off were the Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, Ibrahim Omar, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corp, Ministers of State and Officials of Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The President is expected to return on Friday.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Sekondi (Western Region) 28 May 2003 - The lack of blood at the Effua Nkwanta, Takoradi, Kwasimintsim and Essikadu hospitals blood banks, is seriously affecting health care delivery within the Shama Ahanta East Metropolitan area of the Western Region.
Dr Sylvester Anemana, Western Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service, disclosed this at a media briefing at Sekondi on Tuesday. He said women and children are the most affected since many pregnant women and children with malaria need blood transfusion to support them to recover quickly.
Dr Amenana said apathy on the pat of blood donors, have contributed to the situation as well as increasing cases of HIV/AIDS. He therefore, called on blood donors to voluntarily visit any hospital and donate to save lives.
Dr Amenana said tests carried out before blood transfusions were not mainly meant to check for HIV/AIDS but to determine the suitability of the donor's blood and assured the public that they have nothing to fear when donating blood to any hospital. He reminded Ghanaians that the various hospitals cannot function effectively without blood and urged churches, schools and voluntary organisations to encourage their members to freely give blood for the good of all.
Dr Amenama reminded Ghanaians that the lack of physical exercise coupled with improper blood circulation and called on all to frequently exercise, eat balanced food and avoid unhealthy lifestyles. He hinted that a community nursing school would be established at Sefwi Wiawso before the end of this year adding that more community health nurses, would be admitted into the school, to make health care delivery accessible to.
Dr Sylvester Amemana said to contain the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) the Ghana Health Service is working out contingency plans to avoid the spread of the disease. He said the Customs Excise and Preventive Service and Immigration Service, have been tasked to intensify their activities at the Elubo, Oseikojokrom border and Takoradi harbours, to scrutinise the passports of travellers into the country to identify travellers from far East within the past few weeks.
Such persons if found, would be quarantined for some days to ensure that they do not have the SARS virus.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Public urged to adopt measures to reduce
malaria
Takoradi (Western Region) 28 May 2003 - Madam Sophia Horner-Sam, Deputy Western Regional Minister, on Tuesday urged the public to adapt pragmatic measures to help reduce the high incidence of malaria in the country. She was speaking at a one-day training programme on Malaria Awareness Enhancement Project (Malawen), organized by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH) for its members in the Western and Central regions at Takoradi.
Madam Horner-Sam said last year, malaria constituted 43.3 percent of outpatient attendance in health institution and 15.9 percent of mortality rate in the region.
She was happy that pharmacists are getting themselves better equipped to handle the problem as well as to educate the general public on how to manage the disease. This, she said would help reduce the pressure on government health facility and cost of health care in the country.
Madam Horner-Sam appealed to pharmacists to stay to build a better country and assured them that the government will do everything possible to reward those who stay.
She asked the PSGH to organize similar programmes for licensed chemical sellers so that rural dwellers could be reached with the message. Dr. Sylvester Anemana, Regional Director of Health Services said malaria accounts for 30 percent of admissions in health institutions while children who die from the disease accounted for 55 percent.
He said the disease is severe on children and pregnant women. Dr. Anemana said the parasite that causes the disease has become resistance to choloroquine, the best drug for controlling the disease as a result of its abuse. He said people do not want to donate blood for fear of HIV test and this has made it difficult to obtain blood for emergency cases.
Dr Anemana appealed to the public to continue to donate blood because the fears are unfounded. Oscar Bruce, President of PSGH said the Malawen project is being undertaken by the PSGH in collaboration with Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association, International Pharmaceutical Corporation and other agencies to educate the public about malaria as a public health problem.
He said education is being carried out through the use of malaria sect card, which gives adequate information on malaria.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May 2003 - Stakeholders of the second phase of the Accra Sewerage Improvement Study on Tuesday discussed how to facilitate the implementation of the donor-driven project that included detail designs, cost estimates and environmental management plan for Accra.
The participants comprising clients, consultants, government agencies and user groups spent about three hours deliberating on the sustainability and management of various aspects of the Study being undertaken by the government and the African Development Bank as part of a five-year major rehabilitation of Accra Central Sewerage System and procurement of operational equipment.
Speaking during an interactive session, Dr Charles Yeboah, Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, urged the consultants to explain the project concept thoroughly to the beneficiaries to elicit their suggestions. "I will also urge all participants not to be passive to what is happening but actively participate in the discussions, bringing out all their concerns and aspirations."
Kofi Brew, Chief Manager for Planning and Development at the Ghana Water Company Limited, said the Study would help the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to live up to the task of managing sewerage in the capital.
Some participants suggested the need for cost effective technologies that would ensure sustainable management and also check the offensive odour associated with solid and liquid waste. Those from low-income areas in the city asked for a package that would make it easy for households with pan-latrines to either connect to the sewerage system or switch to affordable and modern toilet facilities.
The second phase of the study, spanning May 2003 to next January is essentially an update of the first sewerage improvement study completed in 1996 by Sogreah Ingenierie, a French consultant in association with Comptran
Engineering and Planning Associates of Ghana.
The Study recommended the improvement of sanitation sites in Accra for a 30 year-period using least cost option and environmentally sound collection of sewerage. Lahmeyer International of Germany and Watertech Limited of Ghana are undertaking the second phase that involves an oceanographic study and design of two sea outfalls at Burma Camp and Korle-Gonno to ensure the intake of treated sewer for discharge into the sea and the siting of a number of improved public toilet facilities at vantage points within the Metropolis.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 28 May 2003 - Nana Kwadwo Nyarko, President of the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs, on Tuesday advised journalists to eschew corruption and ensure good governance and morality. Nana Nyarko, who is also Paramount Chief of the Prang Traditional Area, asked them to discharge their duties credibly and sustain the level of professionalism to avoid public criticism.
He said: "Journalists are watch-dogs of the country and they need to uphold the high journalistic standards since the failure of journalists would mean the breakdown of our democratic process."
Nana Nyarko was speaking at a public lecture organized by the Brong Ahafo regional branch of the Ghana Journalists Association to commemorate World Press Freedom Day in Sunyani. The United Nations Development Programme, through the National Governance Consult, sponsored the programme, which was under the theme, "Ten Years of Media and Public Accountability."
Nana Nyarko expressed regret that some politicians sent journalists to court on the strength of the criminal libel law thereby paralysing journalism in the country. He appealed to the National Media Commission (NMC) to collaborate with the government to provide journalists with the requisite equipment and training to facilitate their work.
Alex Bempong-Marfo, Regional Director of the National Commission on Civic Education, noted that a vibrant media was essential for the promotion of democracy and good governance.
He said the media played a significant role in the country's struggle for independence and should, therefore, be encouraged to contribute meaningfully to national development.
Bempong-Marfo said: ‘‘though political instability had suppressed journalists, our present democratic dispensation could not have been possible without the media. " He said while the 1992 Constitution provided protection for media, there have been unnecessary intrusions into the private lives of individuals and public officials by some journalists.
Marfo urged the media to help maintain the stability and unity that have made the country a model for the West African sub-region. He called on the NMC to ensure that journalists abide by the code of ethics of the profession and appealed to the public to assist media personnel to work effectively.
Marfo said: ''While a section of the public condemn some media personnel for abusing the freedom guaranteed them by the 1992 Constitution, others think they have worked excellently over the past 10 years to put various governments on their toes and expose malfeasance by public officers.''
Nana Obiri Boahen, a Sunyani-based legal practitioner, denied allegations by the National Democratic Congress that the media have been the 'bed mate' of the ruling government, saying the repeal of the criminal libel law has rather given journalists more liberty to operate independently.
In an open forum, some of the participants appealed to media personnel to present factual, objective and balanced reportage in order to win the support and sympathy of the public.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May 2003 - Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, Minister of Defence, on Tuesday stressed that democratic governance should be backed by fundamental changes at the institutional level, including the military, to meet the expectation of the people.
In a speech read for him at the opening of a four-day workshop in Accra, on South-South Dialogue on Defence Transformation, the Minister said the transformation must re-define the role of the defence forces in the struggle to achieve national goals and objectives.
Dr Addo Kufuor said the bitter experience of the involvement of the military in politics over the years had engendered the craving, both in the military and civil administrations, for a rethinking of their proper role in national life as "we struggle to define, nurture and sustain our young democracy.
"That transformation should also equip our defence forces with the professional competence required to make it capable of contributing Ghana's quota to the maintenance of international peace and security," Dr Addo Kufuor said.
The Deputy Minister of Defence Joseph Akudibilah read the speech at the conference, which the Ghana Ministry of Defence, the Defence Advisory Team of the United Kingdom and the African Security Dialogue and Research organised.
Dr Addo Kufuor explained that the idea for transformation was to bring defence establishment up to date and to improve its performance within the limited resources by bringing vision, hopes and aspirations to bear on the process of modernisation.
He appealed to the participants to share ideas, which could help influence and inform decisions on the process of transforming defence establishments into national assets, capable and ready to play theirs vital role as the primary defender of the sovereignty and integrity of nations.
The conference is to enable the participants to discuss, share experiences and exchange views with colleagues from the continent on how to bring about changes in the concept, structure and mission of defence establishments.
Joe Blell-oon, Deputy Minister of Defence of Sierra Leone, said the Military had been pampered in previous single party and military regimes and as a result it had become difficult for both Parliament and civil society to subject it to control.
He said his country had, therefore, embarked on a defence transformation process to instil a set of values in personnel of the military that would make them loyal and accountable as well as ensure the integration of former personnel into the fold of the country's new Armed Forces.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May 2003 – The United Nations has declared 29 May each year as International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers.
The United Nations Resolution 57/129 set aside the day, whose celebration starts from 2003. It is to pay tribute to the men and women who have served and continue to serve in UN peacekeeping operations and also to honour the memory of those who had lost their lives in the quest for peace.
This was announced by Ms Margaret Novicki, Director of the UN Information Centre at a news conference organized by the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and the Police Service at Burma Camp in Accra to update the media on Ghana's participation in UN peace support operations.
Ms. Novicki said last year, the UN General Assembly decided that the heroic and often unsung work of the UN Peacekeepers deserved to be recognised and declared 29 May as a special day to pay tribute to all peacekeepers who had served in UN operations, as well as honour the memory of those who had lost their lives in those operations.
She said the day was chosen because on 29 May 1948, the first UN peacekeeping mission, the United Nations Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO), began operations with a group of unarmed military observers in Palestine.
Since then, there had been 56 UN peacekeeping missions of which five were in Africa-Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Western Sahara and the latest one in Cote d'Ivoire. Nearly 37,000 military and police personnel from 89 countries are currently serving in UN Missions on three continents, along with over 3,300 international civilian personnel and over 6,700 local civilian personnel.
Ms Novicki said peacekeeping was not without considerable risk and human cost, as about 1,819 Peacekeepers had lost their lives since 1948, including over a hundred at the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone. She said the Secretary-General of the UN, Mr Kofi Annan, in a videotaped message to be broadcast to Peacekeepers around the world on May 29, emphasises that the mission of the UN peacekeeping remains vital and that while "peacekeeping by itself could not end a war.... it could prevent a recurrence of fighting. Above all, it gives time and space for conflict resolution. It gives peace a chance."
Brigadier Samuel Odotei, the Chief of Staff of the GAF said the country's involvement in international peacekeeping dated back to the 1960's, when it sent troops to take part in ONUC in Congo.
He said Ghana, after this first experience had continued to contribute troops to UN peacekeeping operations across the world. Ghana is the fifth contributor of military personnel to UN peacekeeping operations. This is significant because of the size of the GAF as compared to other armies the world over.
Brig. Odotei noted that Ghana had not only participated in UN peacekeeping missions but had actively supported regional peace operations under the ECOWAS, particularly in Liberia, Sierra Leone and the on-going operation in Cote d'Ivoire.
He said apart from the official government participation in UN peacekeeping missions with military and police personnel, Ghanaian civilians employed by the UN had also been deployed in nearly all the UN field missions across the world.
Presently, Ghana has 650 troops serving with the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, 795 personnel in the UN Mission in Sierra Leone, 484 personnel with the UN Mission in Congo, 17, military observers with the UN Mission in Ethiopia/ Eritrea and 14 personnel in Western Sahara.
More than 80,000 Ghanaian troops have rotated in more than 31 UN and sub regional peacekeeping missions and more than a hundred have lost their lives.
Brig. Odotei noted that one of the challenges facing the GAF in launching troops into new peace support operations was the great financial strain because troops had to be provided with the required operational and logistical needs to meet the threat on other demands on the ground.
The Chief of Staff said that Ghana's participation in these peace support operations had brought immense benefits to the GAF in particular and the nation as a whole.
As part of activities to mark the day, there would be a parade mounted by the GAF and other stakeholders in peace support operations at the Independence Square on Thursday 29 May.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Duodukrom, (Eastern Region) 28 May 2003 - Farmers at Duodukrom near Kraboa-Coaltar in the Suhum District, are forced to sell a bag of cassava as cheap at ˘40,000 because there was no means of transport due to the bad nature of roads in the area.
Sampson Opare Ntiamoah, Assemblyman for Duodukrom, who made this known to the Ghana News Agency on Monday said farm labourers have increased their fees for weeding land for farming and the produce could not be easily conveyed to urban centres for sale.
He said: "I doubt whether some of the farmers would even get money to pay back their Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF) loans because they sell their foodstuffs at cheap prices without getting profit.''
Billy Yatsi, Agricultural Extension Officer in-charge of the area, in reaction to the plight of the farmers appealed to the Urban Road Department and the District Assembly to re-gravel the road from Oko Nkwanta through Duodukrom to Dokrokyiwa to enable the farmers to bring their foodstuffs to the urban centres.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May 2003 - The Concerned Youth of Pig Farm on Tuesday appealed to the Greater Accra Regional Police Command to assist them combat gangs of armed robbers, who have been harassing innocent citizens in the area.
This follows recent incidents in which armed robbers had attacked people, collected their money, mobile phones and other personal effects. Speaking at a press conference, Alfred Kojo Triddles, Chairman of the Association, said for some time now gangs believed to come from areas like Nima and Maamobi had attacked several people in the area.
He said the robbers, who also came to purchase Indian hemp at Pig Farm, around Maxwell Hotel, attacked taxi drivers, who operated between 0100 hours and 0400 hours and some times threatened to kill them.
Triddles said although several reports had been made to the Kotobaabi Police, they did not appear to be taking the report serious. He said because of the inaction of the Police, the youth mobilised themselves in the area and were able to chase the Indian hemp peddlers and some armed robbers out of Pig Farm.
Triddles said they arrested two suspects and handed them over to the Police. He said the Association was outlining concrete steps in consultation with the Police to flush out the miscreants. Sylvester Kwakye, Assemblyman for the area, said they have formed a neighbourhood watchdog committee, which patrolled the area in the night.
He commended the youth of the area, who had shown interest in the patrols, to continue with their effort so that total peace would be achieved. Kwakye also appealed to the Member of Parliament for the area to work on the drainage and bad roads in the Constituency.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
NDC's planned 'March for survival' in
This was contained in a statement issued and signed by
Emmanuel Nti Fordjour, the Regional Chairman of the NDC, in
The statement asked members, supporters and sympathisers of the party to remain calm over what it termed the "unfortunate development', that had forced the party to put off the function. It said the leadership would continue to dialogue with the Police until a compromise was reached.
The NDC's march, which was supposed to have been participated by members and supporters drawn from all the 33 constituencies in the region, was to have come off on Thursday 29 May. The day, according to the statement, has now been fixed for a meeting of all the constituency chairmen of the party.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Presidential Candidate for the Party said on Tuesday.
He said: "For nearly
Sackey, who was speaking at a press conference in
He said for the CPP to capitalise on this opportunity to
take over power from the ruling government, it needed a young dynamic
Nkrumaist, who was willing like Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Founder of the Party,
"to sacrifice all for the good of
Sackey said such a person, must have a plan and a programme of implementation that the people could identify with. "This person must so articulate his vision that the people would also expropriate it as their own".
He said it was for that reason that he had decided to contest the presidential candidate slot during the Party's congress. "It is, therefore, my duty to put my people back to work to restore their pride and self-dignity..."
Sackey said the CPP was far greater than the sum of its members and no one was indispensable within the Party and that it still remained united than ever before. He said the party was very much alive, operating from the grassroots so Ghanaians should be hopeful in it, "for we are surely coming to power in January 2005".
Sackey is 53 years old. He is the President of Lillian Evate, an international consultancy firm and a member of the North American CPP.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 May 2003 - ECOWAS Chairman President John Kufuor leaves Accra on Tuesday afternoon for Abuja, Nigeria, to attend a day's Extraordinary Summit of the Authority of Heads of State and Governments and the inauguration of President Olusegun Opbasango for a second term.
The
Kwabena Agyepong, Press Secretary to the President, told the Presidential Press Corps at the Castle, Osu that the meeting would also discuss the adoption of the strategic approach to the funding of peace and security issues in the Sub-Region.
He said the Defence and Security Commission of ECOWAS had
recommended the expansion of the current force in
Agyepong, who is also the Presidential Spokesman, said
President Kufuor would preside over the formal opening of the ECOWAS Parliament
in
On Wednesday afternoon he would attend a meeting of the New
Partnership for
He said President Kufuor, who had been officially invited as the Special Guest of Honour at the inauguration of the second term of office of Nigerian President Obasanjo on Thursday, would also deliver a public lecture organised as part of the inaugural ceremony.
Agyepong said President Kufuor and President Obasanjo would hold bilateral talks on Thursday. The President returns home on Friday. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, Minister of Regional Integration and NEPAD, Mrs Angela L. Ofori-Atta, Deputy Minister of Employment and Manpower Development and Mrs
Mercy Bampoe-Addo, Minister of State at the Office of the President would accompany him.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
"
President Kufuor said this when Damodur Pena Penton, Cuban
Minister of Health, paid a courtesy call on him at the Castle, Osu. He said
both countries had enjoyed profitable relations from the past and Cuban Doctors
in
"They fit naturally into the Ghanaian society and this
had helped to endear
He said
President Kufuor said there was no doubt about the quality
of education provided in
"All these have been on the drawing board of the
government, we have to activate them to deepen the relationship between
us," he said. Penton, who was on a visit to the country to monitor
activities of the
He said the assistance being offered by the Cuban government was from the solidarity and deep feelings to share their capabilities with the Ghanaian society in the remote areas.
Penton said the increase in the number of the Cuban Doctors
to
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Assembly votes ˘88m for electrification project
Nkawie (Ashanti Region) 28 May 2003 - The Atwima District Assembly has voted ˘88m to support the extension of electricity to five towns in the area, Charles Yeboah, the District Chief Executive, has said.
The towns are Anyinamso, Kwanfinfin, Serebuoso, Adiembra and Nkroma. Yeboah, who was addressing an ordinary meeting of the Assembly, said the money would be used to mould low-tension concrete poles for the towns under the Self-Help Electrification Project (SHEP).
He also talked about the Nyinahin electrification project and gave the assurance that it would be completed before the end of December. ''The completion of the project would be a major relief and will boost the economic activities including exploration of bauxite in the town.
Yeboah told the assembly that the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs was assisting some women farmers in the area to go into large-scale cassava production.
He said already, it has given out ˘500,000 each to 50 women farmers to expand their farms and had installed a gari processing plant at Akonkye.
On the Social Investment Fund (SIF), Yeboah said the Assembly had paid ˘180m as counterpart fund for projects being implemented in 12 communities under the SIF. He said from the HIPC fund, the assembly had constructed classroom blocks, boreholes and sanitary facilities at Barekese, Mpasatia, Pasro and Naagode.
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
He said the weed, which was being monitored from the
"We had to work fast in containing it to prevent
He was briefing members of the National Water Hyacinth
Control Committee in
It has the ability to double its population in 15 to 18 days under suitable conditions, thereby, spreading over large geographical areas of water bodies within a short period.
Dade said information received from fishermen and
communities along the banks of the river revealed that the hyacinth was first
spotted around the
"Thirty-one colonies of water hyacinth were found along the stretch of water. Some fishermen alleged that the weed was brought to the area by one of the holiday resorts as an ornamental plant," he said.
"In all the VRA has been able to clear about 22 acres of weeds by manual removal and motorised control," he said, adding that after the clearing the whole area was under surveillance to prevent any regeneration and subsequent establishment of the weed.
Dade said the low level of awareness among fishermen and
communities along the lake about the dangers of water hyacinth called for the
institution of an awareness creation programme. Amoako-Atta de Graft-Johnson, a
member of the NWHCC, said it was rather sad that since the weed was first
spotted in
He appealed to the Parliamentary Select Committee to help
address the issue of water hyacinth in
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Presenting the report of the conference of FAPED for
adoption by the House, Kosi Kedem, a member of the delegation to the conference
held in Dar-es-
The report also urged all African countries to ensure that by 2015 all children, particularly girls, and disadvantaged children, had access to complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
The conference acknowledged the slow progress towards achieving these goals as only 10 out of 53 African countries have attained universal basic education for all.
It was able to achieve its aim of attempting to strengthen
the hands of African Parliamentarians in the design and execution of
educational programmes to benefit most of
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
The solicitors of Kwame Peprah, former Minister of Finance, Ibrahim Adam, former Minister of Food and Agriculture and George Simpa-Yankey, Director of Legal Sector, Private and Financial Institutions of the Ministry of Finance, brought the application.
The three are serving between two and four years in jail after they were found guilty by a Fast Track High Court for their involvement in the Quality Grain Case.
Mr Justice Appau declared: "This application lacks merit and ought to be disqualified because the applicants have not been able to prove prima facie that the convicts' detention was unlawful."
He noted that, "habeas corpus is a prerogative writ issued to challenge the detention of a person either in official custody or in private hands.
"If the court is satisfied that the detention is prima facie and unlawful, the custodian is ordered to appear to justify it and if he cannot do so, the person is released," he said.
He said a competent court of jurisdiction convicted the applicants and, therefore, the use of habeas corpus by the applicant was not appropriate, as the writ sought to appeal against the sentences of the convicts.
"If the applicants think that the court that convicted them did not take into consideration certain matters before convicting them, the only legal remedy is to appeal against the judgement," he said.
In the trial, Nana Ato Dadzie, Former Chief of Staff and Dr Samuel Dapaah, Former Chief Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, were acquitted and discharged, while Mr Ato Ahwoi was earlier freed for lack of evidence.
The six were charged with conspiracy and causing financial loss of 20 million dollars to the State in a rice project at Aveyime in the Volta Region.
The Judge said the applicants were in detention because a competent court through a legally permissible procedure convicted and sentenced them in respect of a criminal offence clearly outlined in the Criminal Code of which they were charged.
In their statement of claim, the Defence Team argued that the incarceration of the applicants constituted a violation of their fundamental human rights.
It stated that the Trial Judge acted in contravention of the Constitution. The Team said the offence for which the applicants were charged was not one of contempt. Therefore, it was mandatory that the strict requirement of Article 19 (11) be complied with. However, the Judge in the Quality Grain case did not do so, it argued.
The Lawyers said the Judge acted wholly outside his legal and constitutional authority and by so doing the fundamental human rights of the applicants, as provided under Article 19 (11 and 12), were breached.
The Defence said the Trial Judge, having substituted his own definition, which he sought from textbooks and dictionaries, proceeded to sentence their clients to various jail terms.
It contended that the purported conviction by Mr Justice Dixon Kwame Afreh, a Supreme Court Judge, who sat on the Quality Grain case as an additional High Court Judge, was a void act, which could not be a foundation for depriving the applicants of their constitutional rights.
Therefore, the Team argued, their detention under the circumstances was a denial of their personal liberty protected in Article 14 of the Constitution.
In an affidavit in support of their claim, Counsel prayed the court to grant them leave to issue a writ of habeas corpus to compel the Director of Prisons to produce the convicts in court and to explain why he is keeping them in detention.
They argued that Mr Justice Afreh in passing his sentence; resorted to the use of the Common Law sources, including the precedent in England, and definition in books and dictionaries to find the meaning of the words "Wilful" and "Financial Loss," which were used in section 179A (a) of Act 29.
"Though the charge sheet under which the convicts were charged referred to section 179 A (3) (a) of the Criminal Code, the actual terms of the charge did not even reflect the provision of the said section," it said.
The Defence Team was made up of Mr Tony Lithur for Simpa-Yankey, Mr Samuel Cudjoe and Mr David Kudzodzi for Adam and Peprah, respectively.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
The issue has brought confrontation between polytechnic students and governments over the past few years, with the students demanding that the HND should be equated to a first degree.
Amidst chanting and dancing some of the demonstrators carried placards, some which read: "Unfilled Promises Equals To Indiscipline;" "Who Said We Are Dropouts?" "NPP Wants To Lie To Poly;" "Elizabeth Ohene Quick Action".
The demonstrators, most of who were clad in red and wearing red arm and head bands, presented a petition to the leadership of Parliament and to Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Education, Youth and Sports at his office.
Their petition, which was signed by Mr Issah Mohammed Ikilil, National President, Ghana National Union of Polytechnic Students (GNUPS), they said the issue of job placement and academic progression of HND students had become worrisome to the student body of the polytechnics.
The petition said three committees were set up by the Ministry to review the grading system, job placement and academic progression as well as staff, and infrastructure development and academic autonomy.
It said while two of the committees had submitted their reports, the third, which was to work on job placement, was yet to submit any official report, even though they were given one month to do so.
The students, therefore, called on the Sector Minister and Parliament to work to resolve the issue once and for all. "We, therefore, appeal to your noble House to intervene and settle the issue once and for all as the attitude that is being displayed by Committee Two and the Ministry of Education (MOE) is generating anxiety among polytechnic students.
Mr Baah-Wiredu said the Ministry was prepared to work with the students to find a lasting solution to the impasse. "We are prepared to go to the negotiating table in consultation with employers. Progression is there but we need to make it practical."
He said people, who excelled in their work must be accorded the necessary support, adding that Ghana's educational system had produced very brilliant people, who were now occupying high international positions.
Mr Baah-Wiredu urged the students to exercise restraint for the ministry and their representatives to analyse and work out a permanent solution.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Tema (Greater Accra)
Mr Robert Aganiba, Assistant Commissioner of Police, told the court, that on May 24, a combined team of the military and police carried out an exercise at some petrol garages during which the accused persons were arrested.
He said some of them were arrested siphoning petrol into drums and jerry cans. Monies believed to be proceeds from the illegal business were found on them and five petrol tankers were also intercepted.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Nkawie (Ashanti Region) 28 May 2003 - The Atwima District Assembly has voted 88 million cedis to support the extension of electricity to five towns in the area, Mr Charles Yeboah, the District Chief Executive, has said.
The towns are Anyinamso, Kwanfinfin, Serebuoso, Adiembra and Nkroma. Mr Yeboah, who was addressing an ordinary meeting of the Assembly, said the money would be used to mould low-tension concrete poles for the towns under the Self-Help Electrification Project (SHEP).
He also talked about the Nyinahin electrification project and gave the assurance that it would be completed before the end of December.
''The completion of the project would be a major relief and will boost the economic activities including exploration of bauxite in the town. Mr Yeboah told the assembly that the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs was assisting some women farmers in the area to go into large-scale cassava production.
He said already, it has given out 500,000 cedis each to 50 women farmers to expand their farms and had installed a gari processing plant at Akonkye.
On the Social Investment Fund (SIF), Mr Yeboah said the Assembly had paid 180 million cedis as counterpart fund for projects being implemented in 12 communities under the SIF.
He said from the HIPC fund, the assembly had constructed classroom blocks, boreholes and sanitary facilities at Barekese, Mpasatia, Pasro and Naagode.
GRi…
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Assistance Fund (TAF) to finance the second phase (2002-2010) of the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC).
The Agreement was signed in
A statement sent to the Ghana News Agency on Tuesday said the programme aimed to establish an effective, sustainable and autonomous system of treatment with ivermectin in all the endemic zones.
It would help to eliminate the vector of the disease in selected areas through the use of pesticides that do not have a negative impact on ecosystems.
The statement said the programme would involve research on a microfilarialcide usable in a mass campaign. It would also support operational research to strengthen the APOC scientific base to confront the challenges encountered during the treatment with ivermectin.
Furthermore, the programme would contribute to the sensitisation of health personnel and the communities as well as the training of the National Onchocerciasis Task Force (NOTF) officials while ensuring constant environmental monitoring of treated waterways and soils.
It is expected to contribute to poverty reduction and improve the well being of the populations through the eradication of onchocerciasis, which represents a public health problem and an obstacle to socio-economic development since people tend to abandon fertile areas because of the disease.
Mr Ogunjobi said the Bank had supported the campaign since
it was launched in 1975, when only 11 countries in
The new accord covering the period 2002 to 2010 would
benefit 19 African countries, 14 of them directly. These are:
Onchocerciasis, commonly called River Blindness, is caused by the pre-larval (micro-filaria) and in the adult stage of the nematode Onchocerca volvulus it could cause serious ill-health including blindness.
The disease is transmitted by the bite of female Simulium
(black flies) found near rapidly flowing rivers and streams in more than 25
countries in
GRi…/
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
Mr Augustines Obour, Acting Secretary of the Association of State Attorneys, told the Ghana News Agency that no State Attorney had gone to court throughout the country apart from Chiefs State Attorneys, who were administrators.
He said they would stay away from the courts until their demands were met. Mr Obour said this was not a fight between the Attorneys and the Minister, but an entitlement to facilitate their work.
He said they resolved to withdraw their services because the authorities had failed to respond to persistent demands for the payment of the allowances.
The State Attorneys are demanding the shortfall in fuel, clothing and leave allowances. Mr Obour said members of the Association had held several meetings with the authorities at the Ministry of Justice and had run out of patience, adding that they could not continue to suffer the effects of fuel price increases.
The Association, Mr Obour said, was not interested in strike actions. "We are prepared to work if the government pays all allowances due us even though the condition of service in the legal service is nothing good to write home about.
"We are interested in our allowances for now," he said, adding that the State Attorneys had been very patient over their demands.
The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General, Papa Owusu-Ankomah in a separate interview with the Ghana News Agency described the action as "unfortunate" since concerns of the Attorneys were being feverishly addressed by the Accountant-General's Department.
He said as professionals, they have the responsibility to set good examples adding this is a matter that would be resolved within the Attorney's General's Department.
"It was not deliberate that these monies have delayed but such things do happen and I believe they would bear with us." On Friday, the Minister told the GNA that he met with the Attorneys on Tuesday and advised them to exercise restraint while the issue was being addressed.
"It is not in the best interest of the legal profession for lawyers of the A-G's Office to embark on strike action to back demands."
He noted that conditions of service at the AG's Department were not the best compared to those in private practice but these were being gradually improved.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
He said commencement of work on the 6.7-kilometre road was long overdue and that it was unfortunate that of all the roads in the district, it was the only one that had been left in a state of disrepair.
Briefing newsmen on development activities in the area on Monday, Mr Adu-Poku said the road had become virtually unusable and many drivers refuse to ply it.
He said workers living in the area found it difficult to get to their workplaces on time and ''any economic venture that is set up in the area does not flourish due to transport problems.''
Mr Adu-Poku said the road, when rehabilitated would not only serve as a link between Afrancho near Kronom and Achiase in the Atwima District, but could also lead to the establishment of more industries to offer employment to the youth in the area.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com
'Women must begin to see it as a vocation for both men and women', Reverend Joseph Gyimah, Leader of the True Light of Christ Church said at the weekend.
Rev Gyimah, said the perception that priesthood was the domain of men had resulted in women, shying away from the vocation, thereby making men to virtually dominate it.
Rev Gyimah said this at a one-day workshop organised by the
Youth Wing of the Church at Abrepo in
"There is nowhere in the scriptures that says the
priesthood is for only men", he said. Rev Gyimah appealed to Christian
women to learn hard and enter
"I am of the strong conviction that if women in the priestly ministry had been as many as their male counterparts, churches would have succeeded by now to reduce indiscipline and immoral behaviours in the society.
GRi.../
Send your comments to viewpoint@ghanareview.com