Witness claims judges were not murdered at Bundase
Rock blasting exercise to take place on Sunday
NUGS will resist full cost recovery
Energy Ministry to promote other sources of energy
African Ambassadors call on Minister
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - A witness on Thursday claimed that the three High Court judges and retired army officer were not murdered at Bundase Military Range as has been widely believed. Mensah Amepofio, who described himself as educationist, said: "There were no silicon bubbles in soil where the victims were supposed to have been murdered.
"Ballistic fume contraction was zero at Bundase. I also detected that there was a Hoover expansion at the place", he said. Amepofio, who also admitted to the Commission that he was a forensic investigator, and "even more than that" added:
“The boys felt they were intelligent but you can't be more intelligent than the God who created you. "The executions did not take place at Bundase." Amepofio said he was prepared to give some aspects of his evidence in camera.
In camera hearings are granted to witnesses whose evidence borders on national security, offends morality and jeopardises the personal security of the witness, in the estimation of the Commission. Amepofio said there was a raid on his house while he was in detention at the Ministries Police Station for alleged hording.
During the raid it was discovered that he had classified information on the murder of three the high court judges and the retired army major in 1982. He said at one time he was queried at the Gondar Barracks about a report he had written on the murders.
Amepofio said he admitted he had written a detailed report to Inzah, the Standing Officer in the investigation of the murder, who had fled the country. He said he believed that Inzah placed the information on the investigation in the international domain.
Giving details on how he got to be detained at the Ministries Police Station, Amepofio said he met Hajia Baby Ocansey when he was conveying some relief items from the warehouse of the Ghana National Procurement Agency (GNPA).
Amepofio said Ocansey later came to his warehouse at Kaneshie market with a group of soldiers, whom she claimed, were from the Office of the PNDC. He alleged that they were holding a note signed by Nana Ato Dadzie, then Secretary at the PNDC Secretariat, to release 5,000 bags of sugar and 600 bales of salted fish (Kako). The note said payment for the goods would be made later.
Amepofio said when payment was not forthcoming he went to Ocansey and then to Nana Dadzie. He said Nana Dadzie gave him a note bearing a single word, which looked like a password to be given to Kofi Djin, then Secretary for the Interior.
According to Amepofio, Djin rang one Azantilow to detain him at the Ministries Police Station. He said at the Ministries Police Station, he denied knowing Ocansey, adding that two young officers who quizzed him asked him to be careful of the woman because she was a long standing friend of Nana Dadzie.
Amepofio said he was in detention at the Ministries Police Station for two months, during which he was picked intermittently to Gondar Barracks and tortured.
At one time at the Gondar Barracks, he said, he was stripped naked and asked to have sex with the floor. His penis was tied to some bricks and he was asked to dance around with the bricks hanging on his manhood. He was also beaten during the dance and the soldiers used cigarette butts on his shoulders, which had left permanent burnt marks on them.
Amepofio said he urinated more than 12 times in a day due to the manhandling of his penis and he walked like somebody with a rupture. The Commission inspected and reported that a bit of the tip of the penis was missing. It also reported that there were scars on the knuckles, right thumb and left arm.
Amepofio said it was at the Gondar Barracks that he realised he "had been worked out into a substance" and probably Ocansey had been tailed to keep surveillance on him.
He said one time at the Ministries Police Station he was called out by two gentlemen, who made him sit in a truck. He said was handcuffed to a rail in the truck and there were three dead bodies in the truck. Soldiers guarded him in the truck.
The truck passed through High Street, the James Town Prison, Dogo Beach and headed towards the Mortuary Road. When the vehicle stopped near a bush to pack bags called "Efiewura Sua Me", he freed himself and escaped and took refuge at Dogo Beach for three days.
There, a young man believed to be a conservancy labourer gave him clothing, which was smeared with human excreta for the three days. He later hid in a house at Dansoman, but his lawyer asked him to surface in his own interest. A young man in the community reported him to the Dansoman Police, who picked him and sent him to the Police Station where he was detained for three days.
Amepofio said Mrs Justice Annie Jiagge applied on his behalf to the Police for his release, but the Police said they were in no way connected with his arrest, and that he had to apply to the Co-ordinator of Revenue Collection and Tribunals.
He spoke of his investigative skills and role in the investigations into the death of two Catholic clerics, Father Paul and Father Kaku, who supposedly drowned. In all, he spent a total of 22 months in detention and lost his school, his house and four vehicles, he said.
Ocansey and Nana Dadzie who were at the NRC denied the accusations. Ocansey who said she was then a Public Relations Officer of the Muslim Women's Association said Amepofio had taken goods from the GNPA on a false premise that they were relief items for the AME Zion Mission, hoarded them and sold them at exorbitant prices against a PNDC Law.
She implicated Nana Dadzie and David Walenkaki for conspiring with Amepofio to arrest and detain her at the Police Headquarters when she reported Amepofio as hoarding goods. She said she had not been on speaking terms with Dadzie since then.
She denied ever collecting any money or goods from Amepofio who she called Carlos Minston. Nana Dadzie said the signatures purported to have been his were forged and he only met Amepofio, alias Carlos Mensah, when he came to his house after the purported seizure of his goods. Even then he was sick.
He also denied organising the arrest of Ocansey. The Commission expressed the desire to reconcile Hajia Ocansey and Nana Dadzie. Hearings continue next Tuesday.
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Navrongo (Upper East Region) 30 May 2003 - The Kassena-Nankana District Office of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) with sponsorship from the Ford Foundation, has held a number of activities in Navrongo to mark the Third Annual Constitution Week.
These included competitions by Civic Education Clubs on the Constitution Game, Community forums and public and radio discussions. Speaking at one of the forums, the District Director of the NCCE, P. P. Apaabey Baba, urged students to study the principles and objectives of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana.
He said the NCCE is actively working in 10 Junior Secondary Schools (JSS), four Senior Secondary Schools (SSS), the Navrongo Campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) and St. John Bosco's Training College through Civic Education Clubs in the region.
He called on the Ministry of Education to reconsider the introduction of civic education alongside moral and religious education in schools to enable students to become aware of their constitutional rights. At a forum held at Akurugu-Daboo for youth groups a field officer of the District NCCE office, Abubakari Abakuri encouraged women to actively involve themselves in governance.
He was speaking on the topic "Functional Local Government system, A Key to Grassroots Participation in Governance - Women and the Physically Challenged in Focus".
He recounted the vital role women play in society, and expressed the hope that their involvement at the grassroots level of the decentralization processes would afford them the opportunity to share their experiences with community members. Abakuri pointed out that anybody could become physically disabled but that it should not be regarded as an end to itself.
Earlier, the NCCE had held a radio discussion on the local FM station and appealed to all citizens to ensure the survival and dignity of women and children by protecting their rights. The District Director expressed gratitude to the Kassena-Nankana
District Assembly for financial support to the NCCE for its programmes.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - The National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) on Thursday said they would do all in their power to help a witness retrieve a house, plots of land and a car confiscated by the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC).
Giving evidence to the NRC on Thursday, Mrs Victoria Anorkor Lartey said she and her late husband Seth Lartey, a soldier, were victims of activities of soldiers under the PNDC as a result of which her husband died. She said her husband, who was with the Field Engineer Regiment was arrested and detained for five months.
He was sent from Gondar Barracks to James Fort and Nsawam prisons following allegations that he had stolen ¢20m. She said Lartey who retired in 1977, started work again in 1984 with the ex-servicemen's National Task Force at the Trade Fair Site when they formed a brigade for communal activities.
Mrs Lartey said in 1985 she was told that her husband had been arrested and taken to the Gondar Barracks, adding that when she visited him he could not explain why he was arrested. She said her husband's eyes were bloodshot and his face swollen whilst his hair had been shaved with bloodstains all over his head.
She said her husband and three others were taken to a border and asked to leave the country but he refused saying he could not leave his wife and children. He said he was then tried in December 1986, after his arrest in 1985 with the charge that he had defrauded the state of ¢1.4m and sentenced to three years imprisonment.
While in prison, he fell sick and was admitted at the Medical Block of the Korle bu Teaching Hospital where he died. Mrs Lartey said when her husband was in detention, she could not cater for the children alone and she left for Amasaman to work.
She said they rented out the house but soldiers ejected the tenants and took it over. They later sold it the Ghana Institute of Journalism. The soldiers also took their car and sold their plots of land near the house. Mrs Lartey said she petitioned the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Legal Aid but to no avail. She pleaded with the NRC to help her retrieve her property.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - The Ministry of Mines on Thursday denied that the government had authorised wholesale mining in the country's productive forests.
In a statement released in Accra, the Ministry said five mining companies, who on the basis of their forest entry permits were allowed to prospect for gold in some productive forests under very stringent conditions, had expressed interest for licences to mine about 24 per cent of the total area covered by their prospecting licences.
"The area under consideration translates to 0.2 per cent of the area of total productive forest reserves," the statement said. It said the government took note of the fact that the mining companies had the financial capacity and had demonstrated their ability to re-forest the degraded areas.
It said a ministerial and technical team that visited three of these sites noted that the forests in question had already been degraded. "Under the circumstances, Government decided to authorise the statutory agencies, that is, the EPA, Forestry Commission and Minerals Commission, which are mandated to review such mineral right applications, to receive and rigorously review them under existing as well as additionally imposed requirements using the criteria specified under the environmental guidelines for mining in productive forest reserves in Ghana."
The Ministry said additional requirements were imposed on the projects to ensure that, while the economic development potential of these mining projects are realised, the necessary conservation and re-forestation are also carried out.
These conditions are that only the mine openings and access are located within the forest reserve with all processing facilities and associated infrastructure is to be placed outside the forest reserve.
The mining company would reforest a degraded area at another location equal in size to the one to be exploited within the forest reserve prior to the mining activity.
The Ministry said such mines would be required to pay an extra 0.6 per cent royalty over and above what is paid by non-forest projects to support compliance monitoring and some sustainable development projects in affected areas.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - The female condom has low patronage in the country as compared to male condom, a baseline study shows. The study, conducted by the Society for Women Against AIDS (SWAA) Ghana, attributed the low patronage to the low level of sensitisation on the product when it was introduced to the Ghanaian market some years ago.
The one-year female condom use promotion, a collaborative project between SWAA, Ghana and DANIDA started in July last year to assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of female condoms in some selected regions.
Mrs. Rebecca Attipoe, Project Coordinator, said the study was conducted in the Western, Central, Ashanti, Volta and Eastern regions to also promote the use of female condoms in the fight against HIV/AIDS and enhance women's reproductive health as well as their rights.
She said majority of the 650 respondents who were interviewed were convinced that the female condom was a good barrier against unwanted pregnancies as well as contracting sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS.
She explained that out of the total number of respondents, only 6.5 per cent had ever used the condom, which she described as "not encouraging". She said SWAA has since the commencement of the projected distributed 106,000 female condoms and will continue with the distribution after the project has ended.
To ensure the sustainability of the distribution, the project co-ordinator said the 30 community based distributors trained would be motivated to continue with the distribution of the condom.
She called for intensive sensitisation on the use of the condom and urged more men to encourage their wives to use the product. Mrs Bernice Heloo, West African Co-ordinator of the SWAA International appealed to all women to regard the female condom as a weapon and never feel shy to patronize it.
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Sekondi (Western Region) 30 May 2003 - Sixty-six refugees, fleeing the on-going fighting in Liberia have been settled at Essipon near Sekondi by National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
The refugees, made up Liberians, Burkinabes and Ghanaians, escaped from Harper Town in Liberia when they were informed that rebels were advancing towards the town.
The refugees were conveyed to Essipon Refugee Centre with the assistance of the United Nations International Organisation for Migration (UNIOM). Ernest Agyei, deputy Director of Relief and Construction in-charge of Refugee Affairs at NADMO, made these known in an interview with the GNA in Sekondi on Thursday.
He said some of the refugees, who hailed from Komenda in the Central Region have return home, while those from Burkina Faso have left for their country. Agyei said reports indicate that over 10,000 others, who escaped from Liberia and were waiting to be evacuated from the ports in Cote d'Ivoire became stranded due to the crises there.
He said another group of 350 refugees, made up of Ghanaians, Nigerians, Burkinabes, Togolese, Malians and Guineans would be assisted by UNIOM to come to Takoradi by ship at the weekend. Agyei added that NADMO, UNHCR, UNIOM, the Red Cross, the World Health Organisation, the Ghana Immigration Service and other institutions were negotiating for the safe arrival and settlement of the refugees in the country and their subsequent repatriation to their respective countries.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - The public was on Thursday reminded that the usual weekly rock blasting exercise at the Tetteh Quarshie roundabout would take place again on Sunday at 1630 hours. A faxed released from the Information Services Department said as has been the practice, all roads, as well as footpaths leading to the site would be temporarily closed down for about 30 minutes during the blasting period.
"All motorists and the general public are therefore, advised, in their own interest to keep off the area during the period."
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NUGS will resist full cost recovery
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) on Thursday warned of any attempt to introduce full cost recovery into the funding of education, saying this would be resisted by the students.
At a press conference in Accra, Edward Omane Boamah, NUGS President regretted that private sector participation in education was drawing professionalism away from the "sons and daughters of the poor".
He said NUGS was calling for the establishment of a Students Loan Trust instead of the proposed company limited to administer the new Students Loan Scheme.
The press conference was to make an input in respect to a workshop held in Elmina in May this year to deliberate on the final report of the Paul Effah Committee constituted by the Minister of Education to restructure the Students Loan Scheme.
He said while NUGS accepts the report in principle certain aspects required modification to make it more "meaningful to the current national priority needs."
He said NUGS was calling for the appointment of an independent consultant who shall advise on periodic basis, the optimum loan required by students, taking into account the cost of training students in various programmes to bring objectivity into the process.
In a communiqué presented to the press, NUGS also called for the development of a national identification system, which shall be used to identify beneficiaries of the loan to ensure efficient loan recovery. In the interim, however, they said the SSNIT Social Security number should be used.
It said, while a tentative 12.5 per cent fixed interest rate had been agreed upon, the ultimate interest rate to be charged would be determined upon completion of a "rigorous analysis to ascertain what level of interest rate would ensure sustainability of the scheme, while minimising the level of indebtedness of beneficiaries."
The Communiqué said the Trust should start with the first-time applicants at the beginning of the 2004/5 academic year, when the new Students Loan Trust Law would have been passed.
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Land Administration to be restructured
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - A $20m Land Administration Project, which would restructure the various institutions and legal framework under the land sector, would commence in October this year. The project, which would be funded by the World Bank, the German government and the government of Ghana, would be carried out in three phases for a period of 15 years.
Prof Dominic Fobih, Minister of Lands and Forestry, who announced this on Thursday, said the project was expected to bring major reforms to the land sector and facilitate, among other things, the process of land applications.
The Minister said this at his maiden interaction with heads of departments and agencies and regional officers under the ministry. Outlining his vision and expectations, Prof. Fobih said the time had come for all to embrace a change, which must begin with a serious moment of reflection, because as heads and officers they were aware of the numerous problems confronting the sector.
"Let us now start some sensitisation work among ourselves to effect the change, knowing that we are there because of our clients and endeavour to give them better service."
As part of the reforms, Prof. Fobih, asked for a report of all used and unused government acquired lands in the various regions for the Ministry to work out modalities for their efficient use.
He said those that were acquired without government paying compensation to rightful owners, would be reconsidered to see whether the purpose for which they were acquired were still beneficial.
The Minister directed all heads of departments and agencies to submit a monthly report of their activities as well as institute measures that would make their work more friendly and open to the public.
He said it was a fact that the whole land sector had become chaotic because a single day would not pass without complaints of land cases, which had led to red-tapeism. Prof. Fobih said another canker in the sector was corruption that had become rife due to the multiple sale of lands, undue delays in processing applications, which had led to total distrust.
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Koforidua (Eastern Region) 30 May 2003 - The Eastern Regional Office of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) is to form Virgins and Abstinence Clubs in first and second cycle institutions in the New Juaben North Constituency as a pilot programme to create awareness on the HIV/AIDS and sexual abstinence among school children.
The Eastern Regional Co-ordinator of the NADMO, Seth M. Ahyia, announced this at a roundtable discussion with heads of basic and second-cycle institutions at Koforidua on Thursday, to outline strategies for implementing the programme, with funding from the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC).
He explained that since NADMO's pre-occupation was to prevent and mitigate all forms of disasters before they assume crisis dimensions, it had decided to join the crusade in combating the scourge of the HIV/AIDS now before it expanded further.
Ahyia stated that the decision was also informed by the fact that while the statistics put the national HIV/AIDS prevalence rate at 3.6 per cent, that of the New Juaben Municipality was about 6.5 per cent, adding "what is of serious concern is that our youth, our future human resource base, are the most vulnerable group in view of their natural sexual activeness."
Opening the meeting, the New Juaben Municipal Chief Executive, Nana Adjei Boateng, who described the prevalence rate of the disease in the municipality as "a critical situation," stressed the need for intensification of the fight against the disease through the involvement of all sectors of the community.
He welcomed the involvement of teachers in the effort to save the youth from falling prey to the disease and called on the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) to make it a national crusade for its members to actively participate in the efforts to change the sexual behaviour of both the youth and adults.
Nana Adjei Boateng reiterated the warning to community-based organisations being funded by the GARFund against misapplication of the fund since they risked prosecution to retrieve the amount.
The New Juaben Municipal Co-ordinator of Health, Miss Rose Nani, announced that while the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the municipality was one per cent in 1999 it rose to 6.4 by last year, adding "all communities in the municipality report the disease nowadays at the local hospital."
According to her, the Koforidua Regional Hospital recorded 184 cases from the municipality out of the 500 cases from other parts of the region with the ages ranging between 15 and 49 years.
Mrs Charlotte Ofori, Municipal Co-ordinator of the Schools Health and Environmental Programme (SHEP), asked the teachers to equip the pupils and students with strong moral education to enable them withstand peer pressures as the only immunity from contracting the disease.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - The Air Cargo Village of the Kotoka International Airport has been declared a security area to ensure the safety of those who do business there. Captain Joe Boachie, Director-General of the GCAA, said this at a day's symposium in Accra on Thursday on the threat to cargo security and its ramifications in the aviation industry.
He said the adoption of a liberalised sky policy was to remove restrictions in the operations of cargo services. This therefore, placed responsibilities on stakeholders to ensure the security of packaging, storage and transport of commodities. Capt. Boachie urged operators in the industry to collaborate with GCAA and other partners to ensure that security was maintained.
The symposium, which was organised by African Ground Operations (AFGO) in collaboration with the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and other stakeholders, was to bring to the fore measures being put in place to ensure safe and secured operations in the air cargo business.
He said cargo through the airport grew at an average rate of five per cent between 1997 and 2002, adding that there was the need to ensure that this growth was sustained and improved by creating conducive environment within which cargo business operated.
Alex Yeboah, Security Monitoring Co-ordinator at AFGO, said there are concerns for a secured terminal because the freight terminal received a large number of visitors, consignees, consignors and other operators who conducted business there.
He recounted the security concerns of stakeholders of the AFGO village in the face of recent upsurge of terrorist activities.
Yeboah highlighted some of the new security measures to be put in place at the cargo village with effect from 9 June. These include measures to control and monitor people, a new vehicular movement system and new ID cards for operators at the Village.
Group Captain Albert Nkansah, Airport Security Co-ordinator, said there were internal and external activities that had to be harmonised and controlled to maximise effective security at the Village.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - The Ministry of Energy is collaborating with a private Swiss Consortium, NEK to collect wind speed data along the Eastern coast of Tema for the purpose of establishing a wind farm for generating electric power.
To that effect, the Ministry and the NEK had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the establishment of a 50mw wind power project in Tema and funds for its financing through the private sector and grants from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) are currently on-going.
The Minister of Energy, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom said this in Parliament on Tuesday in an answer to a question asked by the MP for Amansie West, Samuel Bour-Karikari who wanted to know what steps the Ministry was taking to ensure that 'wind farms' are established in Ghana as a supplement to the energy needs.
Dr. Nduom said it is a key policy of the Ministry was to promote the development of the country's renewable energy resources, including wind to complement the hydro and thermal sources.
The Minister said preliminary results from the studies conducted indicate that wind speed along the coast is sufficient to support the development of wind power generation and that the project will commence as soon as funding is secured.
He said the Energy Commission is collaborating with UNEP to undertake a wind energy resource assessment of the entire country to establish the potential of wind energy for power generation in other parts of the country.
In an answer to a question by the MP for Birim North, Dr. William Boakye Akoto as to why Akokoaso, Old Abirem and Asuboa North were left out of the SHEP IV Phase I electrification programme, the Minister said Old Abirem community has been earmarked for connection to the national electricity grid under the on-going SHEP-III Phase-III project.
Dr. Nduom said installation works have been completed and arrangements for customer service connections are being made to service potential customers in the community. The Akokoaso and Asuboa North have also been earmarked for connection to the national electricity grid under the SHEP-IV project, which involves the extension of electricity to over 2,000 communities nation-wide, he said.
To another question asked by Alhaji Abukari Sumani, MP for Choggu-Tishigu as to when electricity services would be extended to cover the rest of the Tamale Municipality, particularly areas like Larini, Filling Point, Nyanshegu and Choggu Mma Naa Yiu, Dr Nduom said electricity would be extended to Filling Point, Nyanshegu and Gbolokpalsi suburbs of the Tamale Municipality under the on-going SHEP-III Phase-III project.
Dr. Nduom said the high-tension network and transformers have been installed at Filling Point and efforts are underway to complete the installation of the remaining electrical works this year.
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Nsawam Prisons highly overcrowded
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - The Nsawam Medium Security Prison now holds 2,350 inmates instead of its capacity of 717, Hackman Owusu-Agyeman told Parliament on Thursday. This represents about 300 per cent overcrowding in the country's most secured prison built in 1960.
The Minister, who was answering question in the House said government would trade off some of its prison facilities, especially those that are now found in the middle of cities for more suitable areas.
He said the Ministries of interior and Justice and the Judiciary are discussing the revision of the country's sentencing policy, which places much emphasis on custody. The Minister said most prison facilities have deteriorated while prison officers work under very harsh conditions.
"We should ensure that we don't just warehouse our brothers and sisters who have gone wayward but to treat them humanely so that we could welcome them back into society anytime."
He said most equipment in the Prisons are old, while overcrowding makes it difficult for all inmates to benefit from rehabilitation programmes. "While government is looking at the possibility of providing new equipment to some of the prisons, it is hoped that other well-meaning organisations and individuals will continue to support the prisons."
He said prisoners are encouraged to learn technical skills and farming to enhance rehabilitation and their values on the job market. In another development, the Minister appealed to District Assemblies to help in the provision of office and residential accommodation for police personnel.
He said police facilitates in the country are inadequate and rusty due to the lack of resource flow over the years, even to ensure the proper maintenance of few ones. Owusu-Agyeman said the Police administration was using available resources to keep the few facilities functional, while government formulate plans to put more facilities at the disposal of the Service.
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London (UK) 30 May 2003 - The sixth Pan-African Historical Theatre Festival (PANAFEST) will be held in Ghana from July 23 – August 5, 2003 under the theme – “Re-Emergence of African Civilisation: Re-uniting the African Family” with a sub-theme -“Dialogue on Traditional African Systems in the 21st Century Globalisation”.
The ten-day cultural event is a unique family encounter and is opened to all cultures. It is dedicated to the ideals of Pan-Africanism and the development of Africa as a global partner.
PANAFEST aims, among others, at establishing the truth about the history and contribution of Africa and its people, through the richness of our arts and culture whilst developing a framework for the identification and analysis of issues and needs central to Africa’s development.
It also provides a forum to promote unity between Africans in the continent and in the Diaspora. It reaffirms the common heritage of African people over the world and their contributions to world civilisation.
Highlights of the festival will include a programme to the slave routes from Salaga to Assin Manso, a candle-light procession, an evening of reverence at Cape Coast Castle/dungeons and a carnival procession of Asafo companies, brass bands, and masquerades.
There will be symposia on issues relating to African Repatriations, Reparation Day, and traditional and cultural values of the African woman in the 21st century.
International artists are also scheduled to perform at various sites including Accra and Kumasi.
His Excellency, Mr. Isaac Osei, Ghana’s High Commissioner to the UK who would deliver the keynote address, cordially invites you to a UK Press Launch of the event at 13 Belgrave Square, London, SW1X 8PN on Friday, 6 June, 2003 at 10.30am.
Special guest speakers from Ghana
will be Ms. Esi Sutherland, a Board member of the Foundation and Rabbi Kohain
Halevi, Executive Secretary of the Foundation. - Ghana High Commission London
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The BBC has learned that ministers in Ghana are poised to give up control of the country's leading company, Ashanti Goldfields. Ashanti is that rare creature in African business - a home-grown multinational that is not run from Johannesburg.
It was the first African company to join the New York Stock Exchange in 1994, and the government is under pressure to surrender its "golden share" - which gives ministers a veto on important decisions.
When Ashanti was privatised nine years ago its only asset was Obuasi gold mine, in Ghana. Today, helped by a broad shareholder base in London and New York, it operates in six African countries.
Barring foreigners Ashanti is often held up as an African success story - proof of commitment to building a modern market economy.
Even so, politicians have been keen to have their say in the firm's decisions. Ghana's government owns a golden share of 20%, inspired by similar arrangements for privatised companies in Britain, France and Germany.
That stake allows ministers to veto any sale of Ashanti's assets, while another law bars foreigners from buying significant stakes without officials' permission.
Changing the laws Ashanti's expansion into other African countries has raised new questions. In recent years, the firm has worked closely with the continent's biggest gold miner, AngloGold of South Africa.
Both are now keen to merge but the golden share has been a deterrent to the South Africans. Ministers accept that it is time to amend the current laws, but will not speculate on how they could be changed.
One option is to restrict their influence to decisions which
affect business in Ghana but not beyond. Insiders say a decision could be made
within days. - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2948474.stm
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Ho (Volta Region) 30 May 2003 - The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Refugee Board and the Volta Regional Coordinating Council (VRCC) have set in motion an action plan to prepare for a possible influx of Togolese refugees during and after Togo's general election next Sunday.
A two-day workshop for some institutions that would tackle the likely refugee influx began on Thursday in Ho and would end on Friday 30 May under the auspices of the UNHCR, VRCC and the Refugee Board, a statement from the VRCC said.
Steve Selormey, Regional Coordinating Director, told the Ghana News Agency that the institutions to be involved were the Military, Police, National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Ghana Health Service (GHS), Information Services Department (ISD), Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) and Bureau of National Investigations (BNI).
Ketu, Ho, Hohoe, Jasikan and the Kadjebi District Assemblies would also be involved. Selormey said possible reception centres for the refugees would be sited at Dzodze, Denu, Akoefe, Kpedze, Hohoe, Golokwati and Menusu.
He said refugee camps for those, who might not have relatives in the country, would also be identified. Reports from Aflao indicated that some residents of Lome had moved to Aflao to secure accommodation as the elections draw nearer.
The Togolese authorities had since last week maintained tight border controls on its frontiers with Ghana, shutting out foreigners without valid travelling documents.
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Koforidua (Eastern Region) 30 May 2003 - The New Juaben Municipal Assembly has so far disbursed ¢1.35bn under its Poverty Alleviation Programmes. The Municipal Chief Executive, Nana Adjei Boateng, who said this during a one-week tour of some communities in the Municipality, said out of the amount ¢750m had been spent on projects.
Some of the projects are the construction of a six-unit classroom block at Korle-Nkwanta, purchasing of six roll-on refuse containers, construction of a one-unit Nurse's Quarters at Oyoko and a Child Care Centre at Jumapo.
To decongest the two main markets in the Municipality and to stop trading on pavements and other unapproved places, the MCE said the Assembly had built a new market with stalls, open sheds, warehouses and toilet facilities at Koforidua New Town.
He reiterated the New Patriotic Party Government's commitment to improve the lives of the people including those in the rural area by pursuing programmes including the provision of infrastructure to achieve this goal.
Nana Adjei Boateng reminded the people to honour their tax obligations to both the Central Government and the Assembly to support them in their efforts of "bringing remarkable improvements in the lives of the people".
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Tamale (Northern Region) 30 May 2003 - Albert Atutiga, Northern Region Chairman of the Convention People's Party (CPP), on Thursday indicated that the party was poised to win about 40 Parliamentary Seats in the 2004 elections.
He said the CPP was now stronger and more popular in the three Northern Regions than ever saying, "the frustrations and disappointments that people are going through under the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government was an ample proof that CPP is going to dominate, come 2004".
Atutiga told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview in Tamale that the party was at the moment going through an extensive reorganisation to prepare people at the grassroots to educate the electorate on the need for voting out the NPP and replacing it with the CPP to transform the national economy.
He said with a combined force of the People's National Convention (PNC), winning the Presidency was possible adding; "we can also win more than 100 seats to adequately steer the affairs of the nation".
Atutiga, who is also responsible for the Upper East and Upper West Regions, debunked the NPP's assertion that it would win more than 150 seats in the next elections saying; "the NPP can do so without the seats of the three Northern Regions".
"So far as I remain the Chairman of the party in the three Northern Regions, no seat will slip to the NPP" he said, noting that most of the seats in the North were for the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which according to him, was now a dying party.
He said the Northern Region branch of the CPP had elected 13 out of the 23 constituency executives and claimed that everywhere in the North the people were calling for CPP to win power. He called on all sympathisers of the party to be up and doing to win more people for the party to enable it to win the 2004 elections.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - Prof Clement Dorm-Adzobu, Chairman of the Water Resources Commission, on Thursday noted that there was an increase in marine pollution because over 40 per cent of the population of West Africa resides in cities along the coast.
These pollutions include solid waste, oil waste and industrial waste disposals, which were destroying the rich biodiversity of the sea, he said. "The population pressure would continue to threaten the high biological diversity of the marine eco-system if recycling mechanisms are not put in place," he said.
Prof. Dorm-Adzobu said this when he chaired the opening ceremony for a two-day national stakeholders meeting on the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem - Ghana Demo Project in Accra.
About 35 participants are attending the meeting from both government and non-governmental agencies. Prof. Dorm-Adzobu said Lagos in Nigeria, for example, currently has over 13 million inhabitants with most of them depending on the sea for their waste disposals.
The Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project was being instituted to improve the environmental quality along the coast, he said, and expressed the hope that the experts gathered for the meeting would come out with strategies that would help improve the health of the coast.
In speech read for Prof. Kasim Kasanga, Minister of Environment and Science, he said waste management had been a difficult process in the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project.
"The adverse effects of wastes resulting from sea and land-based activities on international waters are well known to all," he said.
Touching on the proposed project, the Minister said it would include the development of an environmentally safe technology for waste oil recycling, Waste Stock Exchange Management Information System (WSEMS) and the development of a sustainable industrial framework for WSEMS.
The Waste Stock Exchange Management Systems, he noted, was an innovative approach to waste management that sought to identify materials classified as waste generated by certain industries, which could be employed as secondary raw materials by other industries or end users. Prof. Kasanga said that the project when successful would be integrated into the UNIDO Cleaner Production and the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem.
Edward O. Nsenkyire, Chief Director, MES, said the Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem Project was an ecosystem-based effort to assist countries in the Guinea Current Area to achieve environmental and resource sustainability.
He said as part of its efforts to achieve this objective, the implementers had selected nine regional and national projects to be co-supported by the Global Environmental Facility.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - The Ghana AIDS Campaigners Association, a Non-Governmental Organization, on Thursday launched a new programme, which seeks to educate people in the local languages about the HIV pandemic.
The NGO would also have experienced people visit 15 to 20 towns and villages a day to educate the people. A statement issued and signed by Kojo Amofa, Secretary of the Association, said it is code-named: "Let The People Know The Sickness Itself".
It said the launch was part of their 16 years of experience in AIDS campaigning in Ghana. The statement said the World Health Organization had noted that family planning programmes provided a clear entry point for the delivery of HIV/AIDS interventions critical to slowing the spread of HIV and reducing unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions worldwide.
It advised the youths especially women and children to desist from wearing dresses that showed their underpants that attracted men. It appealed to the Ghana AIDS Control Programme, the media and the public to help the organization by giving them the support needed to make the campaign against HIV/AIDS a success.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - The power outage experienced in the country on Wednesday, the second in one week, was due to loss of generation from Cote d'Ivoire, Mrs Ellen Essilfie, Public Affairs Director of the Volta River Authority (VRA), said on Thursday.
Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire share power. Speaking to the GNA in an interview, Mrs Essilfie said the cause of the outage was similar to that experienced on 21 May when power was cut for 45 minutes at different times throughout the country.
Mrs Essilfie said experts were meeting to find a solution to the problem in Ghana if it should occur again.
Ghana supplies power to Benin and Togo.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - Ghana could use the recently concluded International Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) as guide in drafting a bill on tobacco use in the country.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Thursday, an Information Officer of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Ghana, Miss Sophia Twum-Barima said Ghana's bill on tobacco control covered smoking in public places; tobacco adverts and levies to be put on tobacco products
She said FCTC was adopted by all the 192 member-states of the WHO at the World Health Assembly in Geneva in May. The WHO is supporting the Ministry of Health through the National Tobacco Steering Committee to review existing directives and legislation to come up with suitable laws within the FCTC.
The Committee was inaugurated last year and among its task was to develop a bill for Parliament to enact into a law to back public health campaigns and activities for effective tobacco control.
The FCTC required countries to impose restrictions on tobacco advertising, marketing, promotion, and sponsorship and strengthen legislation on tobacco smuggling.
For four years the FCTC has been a priority in WHO's global work to stem the tobacco epidemic, which is responsible for four million deaths each year with a high disease burden of non-communicable diseases.
Ghana has no effective tobacco control policy and to date there is no legislation that bans smoking in public places. In 1989 the Government made pronouncements of placing a ban on smoking in public places including cinemas, restaurants, theatres and public offices but its enforcement had not been effective in places such as fast food joints, restaurants and chopbars.
A survey in 2001, conducted by the Health Research Unit of the Ghana Health Service showed emerging evidence of dangers associated with passive or second-hand smoking, making it extremely necessary for public health action to be taken against smoking in public places.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - Paapa Owusu Ankomah, Minister of Justice, on Thursday said though Government would not use the judicial process to harass anyone, "the law would take it course when it catches up with anyone".
He said: "It is sometimes painful to chastise, it is sometimes painful to prosecute, but the time has come for our people to acknowledge, recognize and believe that when the law catches up with you, it will take its course irrespective of one's standing in society".
Paapa Ankomah said this at the 42 Synod of the Accra Diocese of the Methodist Church Ghana, being held on the theme: "The Just Shall Live By Faith" at the Mount Olivet Methodist Church in Accra.
Paapa Ankomah expressed regret that societal values were in such a degrading state that it needed the church to join in the crusade to bring back order, discipline and regularity to the Ghanaian life.
He, therefore, called on the church to continue to pray for the government and the people and all Christians for them to be steadfast in the faith and be able to live according to the teachings of the "Good Book" to make Ghana a place worth living.
He said the government would continue to see the church as a partner in "our common enterprise, because we believe that the church plays a major role in the state of governance".
The Right Reverend Samuel Kwame Hodasi, Methodist Bishop of Accra, giving account of the year under review, said the Accra Diocese had made sufficient progress both physically and spiritually and had had an impact on society, especially in the rural areas.
He said for instance, the Diocese could now boast of a carpentry and joinery workshop and business centre, which had made a profit of over 35 million cedis since its establishment last year.
He said the Diocese was also collaborating with the Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development Initiative (SARDI) to organise workshops through the Buruli Ulcer Centre at Amasaman to educate farmers to grow the "Moringa Plant," a known cure for Buruli ulcer.
He said the church with its many social activities now faced financial constraints and needed to explore more avenues to solicit for funds to finance its projects.
He praised the government for instituting the National Reconciliation Commission in the effort to reconcile the people and said the church would support the Commission in prayers.
"It is only as a reconciled united people that we can make any meaningful economic and political progress", he said. Rev Hodasi appealed to the church to continue to use its pulpit in inculcating good healthy and moral behaviour in its members.
"The only way we can solve the problems of the church and the country is the effective study and application of the Word of God. The Word of God must touch the hearts of the people and we are to spread it to every nook and cranny".
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - A parade and flag-raising ceremony was held in Accra on Thursday to mark International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers.
Wreaths were laid to pay tribute to and honour UN Peacekeepers. 29 May was chosen because on that day in 1948, the first UN Peacekeeping Mission, the UN Truce Supervision Organisation, began operations with a group of military observers.
Lieutenant General Emanuel Erskine, the Reviewing Officer and Alfred Salia Fawundu, UN Representative, hoisted the flags of Ghana and the UN, respectively.
Lt. Gen. Erskine laid the first wreath on behalf of Ghana; Mrs Margaret Novicki of the UN Information Centre in Accra laid the second one on behalf of the Centre while the third was by the Chief of the Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Seth Obeng on behalf of Ghana Armed Forces.
Fawundu delivered the message of UN Secretary General Busumuru Kofi Annan, in which he said peacekeeping itself could not end war but it could prevent a recurrence of fighting.
He said peacekeeping could give time and space for conflict resolution and also give peace a chance. "I am proud to salute the peacekeepers serving today, and to pay tribute to those, who served in the past; their sacrifice has made the world a safer place."
Busumuru Annan noted that peacekeeping missions today were much more complex while the duties and responsibilities of peacekeepers had grown.
He said there were nearly 37,000 peacekeepers from 89 countries that were deployed in 14 missions on three continents. Busumuru Annan said no figures could do justice to the ultimate sacrifice that more than 1,800 peacekeepers had made over a period 50 years.
Lt. Gen. Erskine expressed the hope that the government would continue to support the UN's efforts at exercising its primary functions of maintaining international peace and security.
He said Ghana's participation in UN missions had contributed to efficiency, economic and social well being of the individual officer.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 - The withdrawal of services by State Attorneys entered its third day on Thursday crippling the courts as more criminal cases at the High Courts and the Regional Tribunals had to be adjourned indefinitely
They are on a sit down strike to back the demand for payment their allowances. All the High Courts and Regional Tribunals were virtually empty.
State Attorneys on Wednesday reaffirmed their resolve to continue to withdraw their services to press demands for the payment of all arrears of allowances from January to date.
A statement signed by Augustine Obour, Acting Secretary of the Association of State Attorneys, said the decision was taken at a general meeting held in Accra on Wednesday.
The Attorneys said a statement by the Minister of Justice and Attorney General that all their demands had been met since Friday had created an erroneous impression in the minds of the public.
The statement said, as at last Friday, there had not been any break in communication. "In fact at all material times relevant to this withdrawal of services, the Honourable Attorney-General and Minister of Justice had duly been informed through written and verbal communication.
"It is worthy to note that to date, we have not been paid any moneys as demanded through our letter of 19 May 2003 which forms the basis of the withdrawal of services.
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Wenchi (Brong Ahafo) 30 May 2003 -Solomon Kwabena Sarfo, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Roads and Transport, on Wednesday commended J. Adom Limited, road contractors for the quality of work on the Nsawkaw-Wenchi road.
Sarfo, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mampong-Ashanti, made the commendation when the committee, made up of 10 MPs, inspected the project at Wenchi.
"I am very much satisfied with the work done so far by the contractor", he said, noting that even though the contractor had not received any money from the government since work was started in May 2000, he has been able to complete about 54 percent of the project.
He said the 30-kilometre road was among projects under phase one of the government's efforts to put roads in the area in good shape, noting that the area as a farming community needed good roads to facilitate the conveyance of foodstuffs to the marketing centres.
The MP urged the contractor, Joseph Adom, to continue with his good work and gave the assurance that the committee would recommend to the sector minister to fund the contractor so that the project would be completed on schedule.
Adom thanked the committee for the assurance given him and expressed his desire to work hard to complete the project on time.
He appealed to the government to make part payment of the 20.7 billion cedis being the cost of the project since he could no longer go for loans from the banks in view of the increasing interest rate.
The contractor said the project, now in its final stage, was almost completed. The committee later inspected the Wenchi-Bamboi road awarded to P and W Ghanem Limited at a cost of 25 billion cedis.
Lothar Schnell, the consultant of the project, said six percent of the project had been completed since work was started in October last year.
He said work had been very slow because of inadequate materials and equipment but expressed the hope that the project would be completed by June next year.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 30 May 2003 - The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has asked the Busia Foundation to furnish it, its plans to erect a statue of Dr Kofi Abrefa Busia, Prime Minister in the Second Republic at the Suame Roundabout and re-name the area after him.
The KMA, therefore, called on the Foundation to take immediate steps to rectify the anomaly ''if only the Foundation wants its laudable intentions to become a reality''.
A statement issued on Thursday and signed by Kwame Frimpong, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the KMA, was in reaction to recent media reports that the Busia Foundation planned to erect Dr Busia's statue at Suame in Kumasi and name the roundabout after him.
"The Foundation's failure to seek the consent and approval of the KMA is most unfortunate as it has caused management some amount of embarrassment", the statement said.
The KMA said even though it was in full support of the Foundation's plans, it was surprised that it had not been officially informed or approached.
"Statutorily, it is the KMA, through its affiliate Agencies and departments that has the mandate to give approval for re-designation of important landmarks such as the Suame Roundabout and any edifices to be erected therein", the statement said.
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Tamale (Northern Region) 30 May 2003 -Alex Twumasi-Boakye, Director of Urban Roads, has urged contractors in Tamale not to hold back the development of the Municipality by poor work and delays in projects delivery.
He said they would be denying the people in the Municipality of the much-needed development if they delayed in the execution of projects.
Twumasi-Boakye was addressing contractors working on Urban Roads projects at a meeting in Tamale on Wednesday. The meeting was to afford him the opportunity to learn about their problems with the view to finding solution to them.
He warned that the Department would not hesitate to terminate contracts of non-performing contractors if for no reason they delayed in the execution of projects.
He said "we will not sit down unconcerned to allow you to deny the people of development projects since we are not the cause of the delays in such projects."
The Urban Roads Director said the Department did not understand why the contractors delayed in job delivery since most of them who were not performing well were those that the department did not owe.
"As it is, we will not allow new projects if all ongoing jobs are not completed on schedule and well executed", he said, adding, "if we want Tamale to develop then those non-performing contractors would have their projects terminated".
The Director warned contractors not to give their licences to others to operate within the various regions saying that this would be illegal and could result in their being blacklisted for shoddy work done by those fronting for them.
The contractors could not give any tangible reason for their poor execution of work. Iddrisu Adam, Tamale Municipal Chief Executive urged the contractors to play their roles well to raise Tamale to Metropolitan status.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 May 2003 – A 17-member African Diplomatic Corps on Wednesday paid a courtesy call on Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Minister of the Interior to consolidate the good relationship existing between them and the Minister while he was at the Foreign Ministry.
Amon Tanoe Emmanuel, Cote d'Ivoire's Ambassador in Ghana and the leader of the Diplomatic Corps, said the Minister's two-years in office as Foreign Minister and the personal relationship that existed between him and the African Ambassadors were still fresh in their mind.
"We deem it fit to make the call on him as an appreciation of his good work and personal relationship that he allowed us to establish with him and to renew our relationship with him at his new Ministry."
Benlabat Mohammed, Ambassador of Mali, commended Owusu-Agyemang for his good work at the Foreign Ministry and pledged their commitment to continue with the friendship.
Owusu-Agyemang said paying attention to peace in Africa and the security on the continent had been on the priority list of the Kufuor Administration and his ministry would put in every mechanism to achieve the goal.
"As Africans, we need to live in togetherness, pay attention to each other and be more concerned about Africa's security and give more of our concerns to the wider Africa," the Minister said.
The Minister announced that discussion was on-going with the Police Administration to provide a Special Diplomatic Protection Force to guard the Diplomatic Corps in the country.
The force, he said, would provide a 24-hour service and give information on the well-being of diplomats and ensure their safety.
Owusu-Agyemang urged Africa countries to put behind them ethnic wars and to ensure that the continent had the road map to achieve its goals.
"Let's continue to forge the togetherness, let's forge ahead to develop the continent and pursue vigorously Africa's agenda for economic emancipation. Above all let's allow the peer mechanism work."
Answering question on Togo's directives to travellers to carry along travelling documents when coming to that country, Mr Owusu-Agyemang said, "just as no one can enter Sierra Leone or Cote d'Ivoire without passport, the same way when we are going to Togo we should carry with us our travelling certificates or passport."
He, however, said during his visit to the border recently he saw a lot of traders crossing in and out without any difficulties and urged the public to comply with Togo's directives.
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