Female genital mutilation, early marriages affect children
Primary school pupil in prison
Kufuor says Government will restore order in the country
National House of Chiefs elects new president
African Union Act is our response to Globalisation - Pan Africanist
Wa (Upper West) 28 November 2001- Female genital mutilation (FGM), early marriages, broken homes and child neglect have been identified as major problems facing children in the Upper West Region, according to a survey conducted by the Department of Social Welfare.
The Survey also showed that discrimination against girls in education and training for vocational skills, seen as the preserve of boys, was stifling the initiative of girls.
Speaking at the launch of the Ghana's Children Report 2000 on the region, Mr. William Niyuni, Wa District Officer of the Department of Social Welfare stressed the need for all child-related agencies to intensify education particularly on child neglect, which had assume alarming proportions.
"If we adopt the family planning programme I believe it would go a long way to take good care of our children in a qualitative manner".
The launch brought together about 100 people made up of teachers and pupils, District Chief Executives and Presiding Members of district assemblies.
Mr. Sahanun Mogtari, Regional Minister in a speech read for him, called on district assemblies to make significant budgetary allocations for the total development of children.
He pledged the Regional Coordinating Council's support to ensure that all problems affecting the development of the child were cleared.
Mrs. Clare Der, Regional Coordinator of the Ghana National Commission on Children, called on district assemblies to make use of the report to guide them in the preparation of children's projects in the region.
She expressed regret that child diseases, maternal mortality and child abandoning were rising in spite of the numerous public education programmes.
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 28 November 2001- A 17 year old class six pupil of Wamfie SDA primary school in the Dormaa district is serving a four-year prison term at the Sunyani prisons.
He told newsmen who accompanied the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister Mr Ernest Debrah, on a tour of the prison on Monday that he was incarcerated by the Dormaa Circuit Court for stealing a car tape. He has served two months of the sentence.
Mr Ishmael Baidoo-Ahmad, Assistant Director of Prisons in charge of the region said he was aware of the boy's imprisonment but his investigations showed that he gave his age as 19 to the court.
Mr Baidoo-Ahmad appealed for a review of the court's working system to help decongest prison cells.
He said some inmates had been on remand in prison cells for more than two years without the courts calling their cases. He said a prison cell meant for 20 now had 33 people.
One convict, Kwadwo Sakyi, aged 50, from Nkoranza, appearing frail and weak cried out to the Regional Minister, "please help me out of this place, I don't want to die here''. Sakyi said he was charged with murder at Nkoranza and had been on remand since 1999.
Mr Debrah gave the assurance that he would do his best to help improve conditions in the prison.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 28 November 2001- President John Kufuor on Tuesday said the government was resolved to restore order to the country for the people to live within the tenets of the Constitution.
He said this required law and order, which should be well organised and maintained with an efficient and effective Police Service.
President Kufuor said this during his maiden visit to the Ghana Police Service Headquarters during which he addressed officers and men drawn from all parts of the country after inaugurating the 10-member Police Council.
He said the country was in crisis with regard to the maintenance of law and order because the Police Service, the most vital agency of state to carry this out, had over the years witnessed a decline in its image.
President Kufuor said with the establishment of the Police Council, the government was hopeful it would work with the police personnel to improve on its image to become a solid, reliable and dependable service that would be able to maintain law and order.
He said the image of the police declined because of the long period of the revolution when there was proliferation of para-military agencies and the police was neglected.
President Kufuor said their recruitment training, promotion, equipment, logistics support and other conditions of service to motivate them fell prey to the politicisation with establishment of the Association of Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (ACDR).
He said as a result of the infiltration and neglect of the police, it lost its job pride, which was replaced with favouritism and endemic corruption that combined to reduce the efficiency of the police.
President Kufuor said now that the country had democracy entrenched in power, government was resolved to live under the rule of law and the police must be given the needed assistance to become an effective arm of government to maintain law and order.
"The people want to see the police as its first wall of defence when they are in trouble, must feel assured that they could take refugee in them when they are faced with danger then your uniform should be a relief to the people."
President Kufuor told the police that to offer the people this assurance, they must work around the clock to exorcise the image which the police had plunged itself into.
He said they should show commitment to their duty and be seen as a disciplined service which respected authority and other due processes of the law whereby personnel within their ranks who fell foul to the law were punished since the law was not a respecter of persons.
President Kufuor urged them to work fearlessly to assure the people that they would protect society, saying government was resolved to remove any politicisation from the police to exert professionalism in their duties to protect life and property.
He said government was aware of their conditions of service, poor remuneration, poor accommodation facilities, obsolete equipment in the present Information Technology (IT) and computer age.
The president said their work was a missionary one since they were working not because of the comfort they would enjoy but they were imbued with a sense of justice and to safeguard society.
President Kufuor asked them to use their initiative to work with the limited resources at their disposal under the circumstances while government was working hard to improve on the conditions in order that their sacrifices would not be in vain.
He said the current spate of armed robbery and activities of all types of gangsters should be nipped in the bud. "You must be effective without being unlawful, anybody who seeks to offend you, you must resist him with any reasonable force and government will support you."
President Kufuor said government's White Paper on the May 9 Accra Sports Stadium Disaster was to ensure justice was done to those who lost their lives and not to victimise any police personnel at the stadium although command at the stadium on that day came down so low.
"Some police officers were affected, the situation should not be approached in terms of any unionism; you are there for all the citizens. Some police personnel exceeded their power and the law must take its course. People should be made to account for their misdeeds."
Mr Ernest Owusu-Poku, Inspector of Police (IGP) said the police service had the ability to perform the statutory functions to maintain law and order efficiently and effectively.
However, the constraints under which they operated were enormous and sometimes daunting. Some of the constraints are their numerical strength, training, transport, communication and information technology equipment, inadequate budgetary allocations and other indispensable materials that make for effective policing.
He said equipment for the present 16,000 police personnel including professionals such as doctors, nurses and others engaged only in duties involving their specialised areas for the 18 million Ghanaians was woefully inadequate.
The IGP said there was the need to recruit more hands but this was limited by lack of accommodation adding that their present accommodation could cater for not more than one-third of their manpower population.
"Consequently, the administration has been compelled over the years to rent private houses throughout the country which cost the police about five billion cedis annually."
Mr Owusu-Poku said their transportation situation was not encouraging while their communication system throughout the country had virtually broken down.
He said existing gadgets were obsolete; most police stations were without communication equipment and where telephone facilities were available they often did not function due to disconnection arising out of huge unpaid bills.
He said due to budgetary constraints they could not organise refresher courses for the personnel, adding that this year, however, they had managed to train 735 new recruits and organise some refresher courses.
The IGP expressed concern about the spate of attacks on police stations, saying these were setbacks in their resolve to provide quality service for the people.
He called for the cultivation and nurture of a healthy relationship between the police and the people through the community policing concept.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 28 November 2001- President John Kufuor begins a seven-day official visit to France on November 30 as the European country pushes to make its businessmen invest in Ghana.
He will meet with the French President, Prime Minister, leaders of the senate and national assembly, business executives and bankers.
The French Ambassador in Ghana, Mr. Jean-Michel Berrit told newsmen in Accra on Tuesday that President Kufuor, who was undertaking the trip at the invitation of the French President, Mr Jacques Chirac would discuss a wide range of issues including economics, politics, regional integration and Europe.
Trade between the two countries had been edging up in recent years and the French government was anxious to advertise Ghana to its citizens, Mr. Berrit said.
He said Ghana had been added to his country's list of Priority Solidarity Zone, which was drawn up by the French government as part of the reform of its cooperation mechanisms.
This means Ghana would benefit from all the instruments available under French development assistance schemes, some of which were restricted until recently to the francophone countries.
According to Mr Berrit, by the end of last year, the total investment of Agence Francaise de Development (AFD) in Ghana reached 327 million Euros. The current portfolio of 15 ongoing projects with the Ghana government is 85 million Euros.
The Ambassador said over the last three years, the average yearly commitment was 24 million Euros for AFD and seven million Euros for PROPARCO, a subsidiary of AFD.
AFD's recent activities have been focused on infrastructure development in rural and urban areas and in the agricultural sector, mainly in northern Ghana.
Some of the projects include the fight against the Cape St. Paul wilt coconut disease and rehabilitation of smallholder plantations in the central and Western regions, expansion of out grower rubber plantations in partnership with the Ghana Rubber Estates Limited and drainage works in Accra.
The others are improvement of urban roads at Tema and Takoradi, rural water and sanitation project, rehabilitation of urban roads in district capitals, feeder roads and rural bridges.
French exports to Ghana last year totalled 111 million Euros, down seven per cent on the 1999 figure while Ghana's exports to France amounted to 97 million dollars, up two million Euros on the 1999 figure.
During the first eight months of this year, French exports to Ghana went up 57 per cent over the same period last year to 107 million Euros while Ghana's exports were 69 million Euros, up two per cent over the same period last year.
French exports were mainly semi-finished products (23 per cent), equipment (42 per cent) and agro-products (15 per cent) while Ghana's exports were mainly agro-products (56 per cent).
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 28 November 2001- Odeneho Gyapong Ababio 11, Omanhene of Sefwi-Bekwai Traditional Area in the Western Region was on Tuesday elected President of the National House of Chiefs for a three-year term.
He polled 27 out of the 45 votes cast as against 15 by Professor John S. Nabila, Wulugu Naba and three votes by Nana Kwame Nkyi X11, Omanhene of Assin Apinaman.
The post of Vice-President went to Kaleo-Na Banamini Sandu II of Kaleo in the Upper West Region who was elected unopposed after Nii Tetteh Otu 11, Kpone Mantse in the Greater Accra Region withdrew his candidature just before the start of the elections conducted by the Electoral Commission.
Addressing the House after the election, Alhaji Muktar Bamba, Deputy Minister for Presidential Affairs, noted that the institution of Chieftaincy had over the years been plagued with numerous disputes some of which had resulted in violent conflicts with disastrous consequences.
He said a total of 44 cases were pending before the House on appeal from various Regional Houses of Chiefs while there were 171 cases pending before the Regional Houses of Chiefs as at December last year.
In addition to these, the Deputy Minister said, there were also cases pending before almost every traditional council in the country, saying that he was reliably informed that, "Every case that is handled at the traditional council level goes on appeal to the relevant Regional House of Chiefs".
Alhaji Bamba observed that conflicts of various types were bound to occur in various traditional areas but it behoved Nananom to evolve certain far-reaching measures to eliminate the problems militating against the institution.
He called on the Chiefs to also evolve a new land policy that would address the issue of land acquisition, tenure and ownership and thus reduce to the barest minimum the land litigation, which was retarding development in the country.
Mr Kwadwo Sarfo-Kantanka, Deputy Chairman of the EC in charge of operations, urged the chiefs to lead their people in the efforts to remove negative tendencies from the electoral administration to bring democracy home to Ghanaians.
Mr Justice G. M. Quaye, Supervising High Court in Ashanti Region, who swore in the new President and the other members of the House commended Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11, Asantehene for his foresight in setting up the Otumfuo Education Fund and asked the chiefs to go into the provision of other socio-economic development projects. The newly elected President called for support and co-operation from members of the House.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 28 November 2001- The Secretary General of Pan African Movement and author of the book, Pan Africanism in the 21st Century, Dr Tajudeen Abdulraheem on Tuesday said the adoption of The Constitutive Act of the African Union (AU) is the continent's response to globalisation.
He said, "the post-cold war liberation of Africans from deprivation, poverty, economic marginalisation and control, depends on collectivity and not on the bases of individual country as the 'supper power,' that does not recognise and strengthen the capabilities of an African state in making any meaningful impact on the global market."
Dr Abdulraheem made the assertion at the first of a series of public lectures on, "The African Union and National Security Implications," organised by Foundation for Security and Development in Africa (FOSDA) in Accra.
The first lecture was under the theme: "The African Union; Regional Integration and challenges to National Security.
It was attended by members of the Diplomatic Corps, Parliamentarians, Journalists, Civil Society Groups and a cross section of the public and was chaired by Dr C.Y Brempong, MP for Atiwa.
The Consultative Act of the African Union was adopted on September 9, 1999 at the Fourth Extraordinary Session of the Assembly of African Heads of States in Sirte, Libya. It states that the objectives of the AU, among others, are to achieve greater unity and solidarity.
It also calls for the defence of the sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of African states, and the promotion of peace, security and stability on the continent as well as sustainable development and integration of African economies.
Dr Abdulraheem urged African leaders to ignore attempts by Multilateral and Bilateral Agencies, Internationally sponsored local non-governmental organisations, and other anti-African interest groups to discredit the AU on the assertion that the Libyan Leader and initiator of the idea have a hidden agenda.
He said, "this is pettiness, the over all goal must be separated from interest," cautioning that the same tactics was adopted when the idea of United African States was muted by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana and other African leaders.
Dr Abdulraheem noted that African countries are controlled by the advanced countries through their agencies such as the International Monetary Funds (IMF), the World Bank and other organs, and would not naturally accept any unionization that would strengthen the continent among the comity of continents.
He emphasised that globalisation, the changing international trend through technology advances and developments at Europe should guide African leaders not to succumb to international pressures to kill the AU, saying, "the AU is the single most important achievement on the continent in the post independent world."
He said, Africa is the only continent discussed at international conferences, "even our democracy is assessed, discussed, and evaluated by agencies whose own democracies are full of flaws, but never involved Africans in assessing it."
The Pan-Africanist said the AU Act differs, in content and spirit from that of the Organization of African Unity Act, citing Articles, which recognises the intervention in other country's affairs, while rejecting unconstitutional removal of democratically elected governments, adding, "that is a departure from the OAU stand of non-interference."
Dr Abdulraheem allayed the fears of smaller countries that the composition and organisation of the Union would make it impossible for marginalisation by bigger nations on the continent and the pursuing of individual agenda to the detriment of AU member states.
He said the introduction of Pan African Parliament, African Commission of Human Rights, Courts of Justices would offer individual states the opportunity to carry out national legal reforms across the continent.
Dr Abdulraheem also noted that with the removal of block and imaginary boundaries, crime would escalate and increase in other countries and called for the building of a Pan Africanist Police Force, Immigrations, CEPS and other agencies to deal with crime.
He emphasised that the African Union offers a tremendous opportunity and a lot of changes that demonstrate that business of states is no longer the preserve of African Heads of States but with the active involvement of civil society, NGOs and other social groupings.
Participants urged African governments, civil society and the media to educate the populace on the Act; women issues should also be given wider perspective than what the Act portrays, which seemed to suggest that women issues were an afterthought.
They also called leaders to address the problem of child soldiers in combat and the condition of the youth in the future union Ms. Afi Yakubu, Associate Executive Director of FOSDA, in a welcoming address, said the unfortunate event of September 11,in the US would invariably influence the national economy and foreign policies of individual African states.
She said this would have an impact on the direction of the African Union and caution African leaders not to allow its detractors to use the incident to derail the spirit and tenet of the Union.
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