Sekondi
(Western Region) 01 November 2002- Dr. Kwesi Botchway, a former Finance Minister and a contestant in the
race for the National Democratic Congress' presidential slot, has assured party
members that he has the experience, the qualification and contacts around the
world to revive the ailing national economy.
He told
delegates of the party in the Western Region at Sekondi
as part of his campaign tour of the region that with his experience for many
years as Finance Minister, he has contacts with reputable organisations
and individual investors who would help to turn around the country's economy.
Dr Botchwey
therefore, appealed to the delegates to give him their maximum support and vote
for him during the NDC congress in December. The NDC presidential aspirant said
he is optimistic that he would win the race "to rebuild the party by
strengthening its structures from the grassroots".
He admitted
that unseating the government of President Kufuor would be an uphill task and
urged party supporters to gird their loins for the task to defeat the New
Patriotic Party.
"Even
though I am optimistic to get your mandate, I am prepared to give my full
support to Professor John Atta Mills to ensure victory for the party if I
lose," he assured the delegates.
Dr.
Botchwey did not agree with views of a section of supporters that his entry
into the race for the Presidential slot would break up the NDC. He said his
decision to contest the position would help to strengthen the social democratic
ideology of the party and build a firm foundation for a democratic culture
within the party.
He said the
NDC failed to win the 2000 elections because of certain lapses that resulted in
the alienation of some members from the structures of the party and added that
this lapse would not be repeated.
Dr.
Botchwey also admitted that though there had been some differences between him
and former President J. J. Rawlings, he is leaving no stone unturned to iron out
the differences.
Madam
Tabitha Quaye, Regional vice chairperson of the party appealed to supporters of
the party to remain united and vote for the candidate who is capable of
bringing victory to the NDC.
Mr Mike Gizo, former Minister of Tourism, Dr. Botchway's
campaign co-ordinator, assured the delegates that
campaigning from the two camps was being conducted devoid of indecency and the
use of abusive language, adding that, the two contestants are good friends.
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It said the
Congress would also provide a renewed and focused leadership that is capable to
responding actively and effectively to the exigencies of the time.
"We
state emphatically that the CPP shall not go into alliance with any party in
the 2004 Presidential and Parliamentary elections," it said in a statement
released in
The
statement signed by 27 people, including Mr Jonny
Hansen, Mr Kwadwo Ntori, Mr Anthony Aggrey, Mr Kwame Wiafe, Mr Kwesi Pratt and Mr
George Lamptey said the Congress is also necessary
because of the "apparent sluggishness in the efforts at re-organising the
party and getting it adequately prepared for the 2004 elections."
The group
said it is concerned about the recent developments relating to the direction of
the party, especially speculations of the electoral strategy for the elections.
It referred to the Parliamentary Action Group of the CPP which, it said, has
been advocating an alliance with the NPP in the 2004 elections.
The group
argued that the CPP and NPP are "diametrically opposed
ideologically". "While the NPP believes in a prostrate dependence on
foreign aid and foreign investment as a way out of our economic crisis, the CPP
advocates a militant national self-reliance policy based on the total national mobilisation of our indigenous human and material resources
to tackle the underlying causes of the crisis of our under-development."
The group
pointed out that it is because of these fundamental ideological differences
that the two parties took radically different positions on issues such as the
HIPC Initiative and Private Sector Participation in the water sector.
It said the
CPP supported the NPP during the runoff of the 2000 presidential election, but
added that it was a "tactical electoral move to dislodge the National
Democratic Congress (NDC) with the objective of creating the requisite space
for the realignment of the forces of progress in
"Any
person, who sacrifices the principles of the CPP and attempts to turn that
temporary electoral deal of the year 2000 into a permanent alliance with the NPP must be resisted by any means necessary."
The group
said the fortunes of the CPP would be better enhanced if it exorcises the party
of opportunism, consummates its merger with the National Reform Party and other
progressive political parties and organisations, mobilises around the alternative model for development and
sends its message directly to the people.
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Professor
Bartholomew Armah, a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Economic
Affairs said this when he reviewed the Ghana Millennium Development Goals (MDG)
Report in Accra on Thursday at a meeting of representatives of all the UN
agencies in Ghana, donor agencies, NGO's and government agencies.
He said
current estimates indicating a growth rate of four percent is consistent with
halving poverty by 2015, "but at a population growth rate of 2.6 percent,
the absolute number of poor persons would remain virtually unchanged".
"However,"
Prof. Armah noted," a growth rate of seven percent would halve the poverty
rate and reduce the absolute number of poor persons in the population."
The linear trend line indicates that the targeted poverty rate of 26 per cent
in 2015 understates the current rate of decline in the incidence of poverty.
The poverty rate is currently fixed at 52 percent.
Prof Armah
explained that the achievement of the new target would require a stable
macroeconomic environment, increased support for food and livestock farmers, a
more efficient public sector, substantive links between
He also
called for an increase in private sector investments and a more sustainable
population growth rate. "In combination, these factors are likely to
accelerate pro-poor economic growth and lead to significant reductions in the
poverty rate.
Prof Armah
said estimates must be treated with care, as trends in poverty reduction are
not necessarily linear as they can be influenced by external shocks, policy
reversals and other unforeseen circumstances.
He
explained that most of the indicators used in preparing the
"They
are however, the best and most accurate that we have taken the mechanism that
we used." He said while the overall poverty rate has declined since 1992,
sharp regional and urban to rural gender and occupational differences in the
distribution of income prevail.
"Poverty
is concentrated in the Northern Upper East and Central Regions of the country
and most unfortunately among food crop farmers. Indeed of all occupational
groups, food crop farmers have the highest poverty rate and the least reduction
in poverty throughout the 1990's," he said.
He urged
government to ensure that reliable and detailed poverty data can be obtained on
a continual basis and in a timely manner. This he indicated would support
stakeholders and government agencies to come out with the relevant information
and policy for development.
The
eight-point Millennium Development Goals aims at halving extreme poverty and
hunger by 2015, achieving universal primary education by 2005, empowering women
and promote equality between women and men and reduce under-five mortality by
two-thirds.
The rest is
to achieve maternal mortality by three-quarters, reverse the spread of
diseases, especially HIV/AIDS and malaria, ensure environmental sustainability
and create global partnership for development with targets for aid, trade and
debt relief.
The main
premise of the millennium commitments is to move development from the global to
the local level, create the necessary links between global target setting and
national priority setting.
It is also
to re-energise a broad political constituency to
accelerate progress towards the goals and generate public awareness,
scholarship and debate for action around the development challenges of the
times.
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The 30
October to 5 November 2002 edition of the Free Press newspaper headlined the "President's
Special Initiative on Oil Palm in Danger as Scientist Goof Research."
The
statement said the story gave the erroneous impression that the hybrid variety
of Oil Palm meant for the PSI has wrongly been cross-bred by the Council for
Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR), while the Minister for Food and
Agriculture ignored the problem though it was brought to his attention.
It said
government is aware of efforts made by researchers at the CSIR and Oil Palm
Research Institute (OPRI) to create improved varieties such as the one in
question, which constitute about 70 percent of the stock of oil palm under
cultivation in the country.
"Indeed,
the variety developed by CSIR-OPRI is rated one of the best in the world and
has recorded five fold increase in fresh fruit bunch yields with oils of
3.754.25 tons per hectare from the production of improved planting
material," it added.
The
statement acknowledged the untiring efforts made by Ghanaian researchers in oil
palm, which have proved beneficial in countries such as
It however
cautioned unscrupulous individuals, who collect geminated seeds from Farms
planted with the improved hybrid variety, nurse them and sell them as improved
oil palm variety developed by CSIR-OPRI to unsuspecting farmers to stop.
"Such
seeds do not have the same traits or attributes as those released by the
CSIR-OPRI and may not even produce any fruits,"
and advised farmers who wish to obtain genuine seedlings to purchase them from
the CSIR-OPRI.
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A statement
signed by the Minister said he has personally checked the authenticity of the
story carried by a newspaper, Insight and found it to be untrue. He said his
contact with the Acting Medical Superintendent of the Hospital, Dr. Eric Asamoa confirmed that no death has occurred on the
operating table since August 2001 and there is no record of a 31-year-old
mother dying in the theatre.
Dr Afriyie said it would be unusual for someone to die on the
operating table as a result of a power cut as the operating light in the
theatre at the Ridge Hospital has an in-built back-up battery which retains
light for 45 minutes after power cut.
"In
addition, the monitoring system of the anaesthetist
machine in the theatre also has a back-up which monitors the patient's
condition for sometime after the lights go off." Dr. Afriyie
admitted that the hospital is in dire need of a functioning generator and a
request has been made to the Ghana Health Service. The Director-General of the
Service is in the process of procuring one for the hospital, he said.
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The policy
would in due course be made public, discussed and adopted. Prof. Dominic Kwaku Fobih, Minister of
Environment and Science said this on Thursday when answering a question asked
by Mr Yaw Effah-Baafi, NDC-Kintampo
as to whether the ministry has any plans to facilitate the introduction of
nuclear energy as an alternative to thermal and hydropower in the country.
The
Minister said in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy, his ministry would
soon submit a paper to Cabinet on "the need to introduce nuclear power in
the national energy mix for sustainable development of
Prof. Fobih said the GAEC currently operates a 30 kilowatts
nuclear research reactor for the purpose of research and training of nuclear
scientists and engineers for the development of nuclear power generating
plants.
He said
GAEC in collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
Prof. Fobih said thermal and hydropower would for some time
continue to be the main source of power in the country, however because of
development and higher energy demand,
Mr Freddie Blay, CPP-Ellembelle asked whether nuclear power was
cheaper as compared to other sources of energy and the Minister said the
variations was not known but the ministry is concerned about tapping all forms
of energy for the country.
Mr Abraham
Kofi Asante, NDC-Amenfi
West asked whether plans are afoot to develop the various forms of power
especially solar and nuclear, which the country has made in-depth research into
and the Minister said the ministry was working in conjunction with the Ministry
of energy to develop all sources of energy in the country.
Mr Kosi Kedem, NDC-Hohoe South asked whether the ministry was considering
developing solar energy as compared to nuclear energy and the Minister said due
to the level of economic development both wind and solar energies would be
considered and measures taken to control any risk involved.
Mr Sampson Ottu Darko, NPP-Ga North asked
whether there were plans to expand the Ghana Atomic Energy's premises due to
the encroachment by private developers the Minister said presently the ministry
was concerned with training of personnel but when the Centre was well resourced
the place would be expanded.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 01 November 2002- The National Reconciliation Commission (NRC)
on Thursday said it has completed investigations into some of the 2,082 statements
so far received on human rights violations in unconstitutional regimes and
would start public hearings after 25 November.
Ms Annie Anipa, Director of the Public Affairs Secretariat of the
Commission, told a press briefing in Accra that the contractors working on the
rehabilitation of the Old Parliament House Building had agreed to hand over the
building by November 18.
The
Commission would then move from the
Renovation
of the offices of the Old Parliament House, currently being occupied by the
Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Serious
Fraud Office, was to have been completed by the end of October, but Ms Anipa said the contractor has requested two weeks'
extension.
She
stressed that the reconciliation exercise was not an occasion for conflict and
confrontation and said individuals or groups, apart from victims or
perpetrators, who had knowledge or were witnesses to human rights abuses, had a
civic duty to assist the Commission.
Ms Anipa asked such people also to give information to the
Commission to help in establishing the claims of alleged victims or
perpetrators saying it would assist the Commission to compile a complete record
of the occurrences of the periods under investigation.
She said
under the NRC Act the Commission had the power to require any person to
disclose any information relevant to its proceedings and would subpoena such
persons to produce any article, document or any other record to that effect.
She
rejected media comments that state funding of the Commission would subject it
to government manipulation, saying the independence and integrity of the
Commission would never be impugned by its reception of funds from government.
Ms Anipa said the Commission was a public institution, and the
Act 611 establishing it stipulated that funds for its administrative
expenditure should be from the Consolidated Fund and any other public fund,
donations and grants.
"It is
a misconception to argue that the mere funding of a state institution
compromises its independence. "We are aware that
a number of independent institutions such as the CHRAJ, SFO, and the Auditor
General's Department, the National Commission for Civic
Education
and the National Electoral Commission are fully funded."
She said
Government has agreed to provide 1.5 million dollars of the budgeted five
million dollars and has so far provided 980,000 dollars. Ms Anipa
said the Commission is encouraged by the level of co-operation it has received
from both private and public institutions in the course of investigations and
requested that specific inquiries should be given expeditious attention to
facilitate the Commission's work.
Out of the
2,082 statements,
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Tema
(Greater Accra)
Circuit tribunal.
He pleaded
not guilty to defiling the two sisters with ages seven and 11 and would
re-appear on November four. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Robert Aganiba told the tribunal chaired by Mr Seth Teye, that the accused person is the nephew of the victims'
father and lives in Tema.
He
occasionally visits the victims and their parents at
They
reported the ordeal to their parents who reported the matter to the Ashaiman police. The girls were taken to the
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