NPP lashes out at critics of water privatisation
Minister accused of playing PR in cyanide affair
Nigerian arrives to claim controversial car
Hawa calls for West African collaboration to develop tourism
Kingdom Transport Service bus hijacked on Karimenga Hills
Registration period of unemployed extended
Veep returns home after UN meeting
NPP lashes out at critics of water
privatisation
Accra (Greater Accra) 16 November 2001-The New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Wednesday dismissed criticisms of the government's water privatisation policy as hypocritical. It said the policy was aimed solely at making it possible for those who use treated water to pay the full cost of the treatment.
"The policy, no doubt, is equitable and will also free the taxpayers' money to enable government extend good pipe-borne water to many areas," a press release signed in Accra by Mr Kwadwo Afari, Press Secretary, said.
It said the present arrangement where those who did not have access to good drinking water but contributed to the national subsidy was not fair.
The NPP described the stand of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), People's National Convention (PNC), Convention People's Party (CPP) and ISODEC, an NGO, in the current debate on the privatisation as "hypocritical and short-sighted".
The release said their stand was also "a con job by a vocal minority who want to win political points and also hold on to subsidies which are detrimental to the overwhelming majority of rural people who still drink dirty untreated water."
"The NPP also finds it very ironical that those who profess to fight on the side of the poor masses of this nation still insist that the very poor rural masses who do not have access to treated water should pay for treated water they do not consume."
The release said contrary to what the critics would want Ghanaians to believe, evidence available from most countries revealed that privatisation would lower the economic cost of treated water.
"The NPP challenges the NDC, PNC, CPP, ISODEC and all vested interests that have developed under the present subsided arrangement to come out from their ideological cloaks and bring into the open and answer the question of who should be subsidised - the rural poor who are in the majority or the urban minority who have access to treated water."
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Minister accused of playing PR in cyanide
affair
Accra (Greater Accra) 16 November 2001- Four non-governmental organisations (NGOs) on Thursday accused the Minister of Environment and Science, Professor Dominic Fobih of playing a public relations role in the Goldfields cyanide spillage issue.
The four - Third World Network-Africa; Centre for Public Interest Law; Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining; and League of Environmental Journalists in a statement expressed their dismay at what they termed the Minister's "seeming public relations role".
"Indeed it cannot be doubted that the attitude and pronouncements of the Minister have substantially prejudiced the investigations he instructed the agencies under his Ministry to conduct." The said: "We wonder whether his loyalty lies with the good people of Ghana or with the mining companies?"
The four said they believed that the Minister's press conference where he stated that the first reporter had "blown the story out of proportion" was likely to influence the results of the independent tests that he charged certain institutions to undertake in the cyanide spillage.
"We believe his announcement has not only influenced the results of the tests conducted by the Water Resources Commission but also laid bare a serious conflict of interest, credibility and trust, thereby putting in doubt the Ministry and the Environmental Protection Agency's mission as watchdogs of the environment."
The statement said the four NGOs were, however, not surprised at this behaviour "because our long working experience with communities affected by mining has revealed that it is a usual practice of the state to collude with mining companies against the interest and concerns of local communities who sit on the ore deposits."
The statement said the long silence of the EPA on the matter of cyanide spillage was not only a denial of the peoples' rights to know but might also amount to attempt to shield the company.
The EPA owed it a duty to the citizens of Ghana to ensure that they had access to information, especially communities that were directly affected by the spillage.
"Information from the company on the spillage cannot be relied upon as a credible source without confirmation coming from the EPA."
The statement said the four NGOs were disappointment with the unprofessional manner in which the Water Resource Commission carried out the test.
"The research methodology defies basic scientific logic as it is based on a dubious theoretical foundation and we believe the sampling medium (water) was chosen to confirm the Minister's prejudgement", the statement said.
It said frequent cyanide spillage, three times in five years and twice within two weeks, was a source of worry to most environmentalists.
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Nigerian arrives to claim controversial car
Accra (Greater Accra) 16 November 2001 - Mr Ufuoma Omorode, a Nigerian business executive, who has claimed a Mercedes Benz saloon car that is at the centre of a legal tussle between a court and the police, said on Thursday that he has all the documents to prove his ownership.
He said the Mercedes Benz C240 car with chassis number WDB 203 061 IF 017220 and engine number 112912-30-793855 which be bought in May last year was stolen from him at gunpoint in Lagos in December last year.
An Accra court has ordered Interpol Ghana to release the car to Jobesh Rental Services in Accra, whose owner is also claiming the car, but the police have refused.
Speaking at a press briefing on Thursday, Mr Omorode said he ordered the car with registration number AL 700 UGH in May 2000 through Daimler-Chrysler agent in Lagos.
The cost of the car was 37,500 US dollars while it was cleared at a cost of 5,500 US dollars bringing the total cost to 43,000 US dollars. Mr Omorode said the vehicle was cleared through Cotonou, Benin, on 19th September 2000 after which a service booklet was issued to him.
Relating how he was robbed of the car, he said he was driving to a friend's house at about 2130 hours on December 12 last year, when four armed men who were in a black Mercedes Benz car stopped him.
He was ordered to hand over the keys, forced to ride with them and warned that if the vehicle should stop, they would kill him. "At this time two of them were inside my car with me while the two others were riding in the black Mercedes Benz car."
After a 30-minute drive he was dropped at Fami-Kayode, a Government Reserve Area (GRA) at Ikeja, after being stripped of his clothes and left with his boxer's shorts.
He said he reported the case to the Nigeria police and Interpol-Lagos. Mr Omorode said later Mercedes Benz Automobile, Lagos, informed him that the car had been traced to Jobesh Rental Services in Accra.
He said during the course of investigations the owner of Jobesh Services who allegedly bought the vehicle at 34,000 US dollars could not produce documents on it and also could not tell where and from whom he bought it.
He said investigations by the police revealed that the documents on the car as well as the names and address presented by Jobesh were fake.
Mr Omorobe said the owner of Jobesh also produced a receipt of purchase to the police in Ghana, which he wrote himself. "I want to state categorically that the car belongs to me and I have all the documents to support my claim."
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Over 100b cedi debt owed to road
contractors cleared
Accra (Greater Accra) 16 November 2001 - The Ministry of Roads and Highways has cleared outstanding debts totaling 109 billion cedis owed contractors for routine and periodic maintenance works for which certificates were presented.
Mr Kojo Adjei-Darko, the former sector minister, who announced this in Accra on Thursday, said however, that the ministry still owed some outstanding bills for major works.
Speaking at the handing over to the new minister, Dr Richard Anane, Mr Adjei-Darko said this was because "we do not want to do double payments, so we are calling for audits for all such works".
He said investigations had revealed that the Bank of Ghana in 1993 did a double transfer for payment of 724,111 dollars to Messrs Limex Bau, a construction firm.
Payment for the contract, which was for Kumasi City Road Project, was first signed and transferred by Mr A.S. Bekoe, head of debt management unit, on May 15, 1993 and again transferred on August 19, 1993, to the same contractor based on advice from the Ministry of Finance.
He said the contractor had admitted the offence and agreed to refund the money. Mr Adjei- Darko urged Dr Anane to ensure that interest was paid on the money and suggested to him to notify the Attorney General's Department for advice.
He also advised the new minister to take a look at the memorandum of understanding signed between the former government and Construction Pioneers (CP) in 1994, "which to my mind was trying to mortgage the country".
"If we are to go by that memorandum of understanding, we will have to give CP about 45 billion cedis worth of works every year from now till 2009, in spite of their exorbitant quotations", he said.
"We will have to find ways of disengaging ourselves from that memorandum of understanding"
Dr Anane called for support from the staff so that together they could promote the new Ministry of Roads and Transport
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Accra (Greater Accra) 16 November 2001 - The Minister of Tourism, Madam Hawa Yakubu on Thursday urged ECOWAS member countries to co-ordinate their efforts and resources to attract tourists to the region in view of the stiff competition from well- established tourist destinations.
She said such a co-ordinated effort would offer a wide range of tourist destinations and sites to boost the industry that was fast growing.
Madam Yakubu said this in an interview with newsmen at the airport on her return from London, where she attended the annual World Tourism Market and exhibition.
She described the global exhibition as successful and urged ECOWAS member countries, especially the private sector to invest more in tourism since the future of the industry looked very bright for Africa.
The Minister said the Ghana's stand at the exhibition, which presented various traditional artefacts, batik dresses and others attracted not only thousands of Ghanaians in the UK but also nationals of other countries.
She said during Ghana's national day celebration at the exhibition a variety of Ghanaian dishes and dances from each region were showcased.
She stressed the need for serious investments in the sector to attract tourists in spite of the slum in the industry after the September 11 terrorist attack in the US that had slowed down the industry.
Madam Yakubu said last year Ghana recorded a total of about 399,000 tourist arrivals and earned over 400,000,000 dollars. The figure was expected to double this year but for the events of September 11.
She was, however, expressed the hope that the London exhibition and the visit of President John Agyekum Kufuor earlier to that country to woo investors might help reverse the negative trend.
The Minister said Ghana's tourism potential was very great and that the private sector, especially those in the hospitality industry should show more interest.
She said there was also the need to promote local or domestic tourism to keep the business vibrant in the wake of the global slump.
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Bolgatanga (Upper East) 16 November 2001 - A gang of armed robbers at dawn on Friday hijacked an Accra Bawku bound Kingdom Transport Service (KTS) bus and robbed its passengers of various sums of money at the Karimenga Hills, near Bolgatanga.
A passenger, who was on the bus told the GNA in Bolgatanga that the KTS bus was on its way from Accra when the group attacked it at Karimenga Hills at about 0200 hours.
He said the robbers fired and deflated a tyre to force the driver to stop. They ordered all the passengers to get down and lie on the ground.
They then went to the passengers one after the other and asked them to surrender all the money they had, after which they entered the bus and took away whatever they found valuable.
Thee Upper East Regional Crime Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police ( ASP) S. A. Nyarko told the Ghana News Agency that six suspects have so far been arrested in connection with the robbery.
A.S.P. Nyarko said the six men were found on board an articulated truck heading for Bawku and taken in for questioning.
The Crime Officer declined to give any further details, saying the Police were yet to interrogate the suspects for more information on the incident.
He however, intimated that some members of the gang were still at large and that the Police were carrying out a search operation.
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Registration period of unemployed extended
Accra (Greater Accra) 16 November 2001-The Action for Employment Generation (AFEG), the Ministerial Committee overseeing the registration of the unemployed, on Thursday announced the extension of the exercise saying it would now close officially on Wednesday, November, 21.
Mr Emmanuel Bartey, Project Manager, AFEG, told the media hat the technical committee decided to extend the period for many people who could not be captured in the exercise in the last two weeks. The exercise was to have ended on Thursday.
The government launched the exercise under the auspices of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Action for Employment Generation to provide data and profiles of the jobless youth to enable it to develop appropriate interventions and give relevant training.
It is taking place in 360 centres throughout the country, comprising 66 public employment centres of the Labour Department and convenient centres that District Chief Executives have identified. Mr. Bartey asked all those who have not registered to take advantage of the extension to do so.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 16 November 2001 - The Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama returned home on Thursday from New York after attending the 56th session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly.
The Vie President told newsmen at the airport that member countries reaffirmed their confidence in and commitment to the UN as the best hope for global peace and security.
He said, even though, the spotlight was on terrorism, it also discussed the debt crisis, disarmament, weapons of mass destruction and poverty.
The Vice President said the meeting urged member countries to abide by UN resolution 1373 passed after September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, which called for a global efforts at containing and defeating the menace of terrorism.
The issue of the definition and root causes of terrorism were discussed by the Assembly and agreed that generally terrorists exploited or hid behind the cover of marginalisation, poverty and the discrimination to perpetrate their acts.
This he said necessitated the call for action to be taken by developed countries to support and help developing countries that have weak economies.
The session also agreed that developing countries had not benefited from globalisation and that there was the need for advanced countries to open up their markets and remove unfair trade barriers.
The issues of good governance, respect for human rights, democratisation and the rule of law were seen as tools for prosperity, peace and security for developing countries.
Vice President Aliu also held discussions with UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan on a wide range of issues.
He also attended an award ceremony held by the African-American Institute in New York, where he received an Award on behalf of President John Agyekum Kufuor for the promotion of democracy. The Senegalese President Abdulai Wade was the other recipient from Africa.
The Foreign Minister Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang said that Ghana signed the UN convention against the financing of terrorist acts as well as the OAU convention against terrorism that would soon be submitted to Parliament for ratification.
He the UN lauded Ghana for her peacekeeping roles in places like the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi and expressed the hope that in future it might possibly send peacekeepers to Afghanistan.
He said the Vice President's speech to the General Assembly was also well received. The Vice President was met on arrival by Mr. Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister for Information and Presidential Affairs, Lieutenant General Joshua Hamidu, National Security Adviser and officials of the Office of the Vice President.
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