Mills calls for unity within NDC
Ghana benefits from Japanese grants scheme
Accra (Greater Accra)
25 October 2002 - Barnerman Baah Ntim, People's National Convention (PNC),
Presidential running mate in the 2000 elections on Tuesday called on Ghanaians
to discard the notion that PNC was meant for Northerners and rally behind it to
win the 2004 election.
Ntim told the Ghana
News Agency (GNA) that most people in the country have the erroneous impression
that PNC was meant only for Northerners because the flagbearer in 1996 and 2000
elections, Dr Edward Mahama is a Northerner saying, "Everybody in the
country is eligible to rule the country".
Ntim returned from the
UK last week "to help build the party towards wining power in the 2004
elections." He said the PNC is the party that the electorates are crying
for under the leadership of Dr Mahama to steer the affairs of this country to
salvage the economy.
He said membership of
the party includes people from all over the country and that "I am a Kwahu
and a leading member of the party and so are some of the executives coming from
different regions but rallying behind our dynamic leader Dr Mahama".
"Let me assure
our massive supporters that the incoming national congress of the party would
reveal that PNC does not only belong to Northerners but people with like minded
who needed a better change of governance to turn the economy around " he
stressed.
He called on all
Ghanaians who have the same ideologies to rally behind the party to come out to
form a more formidable alternative party to the NPP. He gave the assurance that
the party is well equipped to compete and unseat NPP come 2004 adding that many
people have joined the party from the international scene including Italy, USA,
Germany and United Kingdom.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
25 October 2002 - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Thursday outdoored
its new philosophy, "A Social Democratic Agenda For Ghana," in Accra.
The 42-page booklet
outlines the party's political basis, antecedents, and perspective on the
district assembly system. The booklet also indicates the NDC's social and
leadership responsibility, and the human, economic and social rights of the
citizens. The party also launched its new Identity (ID) Card and a new
register.
Speaking at the
function, the National Chairman of the party, Dr Obed Asamoah emphasised the
need for adoption of new strategies to market the party to ensure victory the
2004 polls.
He said the new
membership cards were necessary for the separation, identification and
mobilisation of its force within the body politics of the country. Dr Asamoah
reminded members to be guided by the consequences of being in opposition
characterised with intimidations, dismissals, and politically motivated trials.
Alban. S. K. Bagbin,
Minority Leader in Parliament, appealed to government officials and party
activists to be circumspect in their zeal to promote their ambitions. He stated
that the adoption of intimidation was dangerous to the democratic dispensation
and the exercise of tolerance had an end.
Launching the ID
Cards, the Register and the New Philosophy, Kwamena Ahwoi, the party's Director
of Research said the party believed in equal and egalitarian treatment of all
persons with irrespective of their political, economic, social, cultural ad
religious relations in a multi-party environment.
He said NDC was
determined to build a stable, just and democratic society based on the
principles of development. Ahwoi said NDC would protect the under-privileged
and uplift the socially disadvantaged at all times.
"These notions
would not be sacrificed on the alter of political convenience or undermined by
political opportunism." Dr Kwesi Botchwey a contender for flagbearership
of the NDC, diplomats, members of parliament, and party executives attended the
function.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
25 October 2002 - Dr Kwesi Botchwey, former Finance Minister under the PNDC
regimes would on Saturday October 26, launch his campaign as a contender for flagbearership
of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Accra.
Dr Botchwey announced
this when he paid a courtesy call on the Ga Traditional Council at the Ga
Mantse Palace to unveil his plans as a contender in the party's congress
scheduled for 21 December.
During his interaction
with the chiefs, Dr Botchwey said as the son of Ghana he needed to pay respect
to the traditions and customs of the nation hence his visit. He said it was
important for all members vying for flagbearership to pay compliments to the
chiefs to get good advice and guidance in their endeavours.
Dr Botchwey said Ghana
is facing problems such as unemployment, lack of good roads among other things
and pledged to give of his best if voted to power adding, "we hope to
continue from where we left off to ensure Ghana's growth."
He presented a carton
of Kaiser schnapps and ¢2m to the Traditional Council. Nii Kpoi Tettey Tsuru
III, La Manste on behalf of the chiefs called for peace and tranquility among
all contenders in the various political parties.
Nii Tsuru also advised
flagbearers to avoid confrontations, which he said, is currently tearing most
African countries apart, adding, "we must all learn from what is going on
in Kenya and Cote D' Ivoire."
He urged all to allow
democracy to be their watchword to check confusion and disunity. Accompanying
the former minister were Mike Gizo, Member of Parliament (MP) for Shai Osudoku,
Quaynor Mettle, former deputy Greater Accra minister, Larry Adjetey, a legal
practitioner, Dr Mustapha Ahmed MP for Ayawaso East and other party
functionaries.
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Odumase-Krobo (Eastern
Region) 25 October 2002 - Professor John Atta Mills, former Vice-President, has
said if the government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) were performing well,
he would not have offered himself to contest to become the presidential
candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the 2004 elections.
He was speaking with
delegates of the NDC from the Asuogyaman, Yilo, Upper Manya and Lower Manya
constituencies at Odumase-Krobo on Wednesday, as part of his four-day campaign
tour of the Eastern Region.
Prof Atta Mills
stressed the need for unity to prevail in the party warning, "If you allow
the party to be divided, you will be eliminated one after the other."
According to him, people who were perceived to be sympathisers of the NDC had
been dismissed from work "while others have been denied contracts just
because they seemed to have sympathised with our party."
Prof Atta Mills
advised the delegates not to allow anybody to use the party to create conflict
in the country and urged members to give him their mandate to lead the party in
unity and peace.
He appealed to party
functionaries to forget about the past and unite for the sake of the ordinary
people on the streets, "who are looking forward to the NDC to win power to
satisfy their aspirations."
Prof Atta Mills said
analysis of the 2000 elections showed that "in some constituencies people
were voting every minute and therefore there was the need for the party to put
in place appropriate measures before the 2004 elections."
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ECOWAS
should develop early crisis warning system
Accra (Greater Accra)
25 October 2002 - Brigadier Francis A. Agyemfra (rtd) formerly of the Ghana
Army on Thursday urged the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
to develop an effective early warning system to monitor and capture impending
crisis with the potential of destabilising the region.
He said, "Coups,
revolutions, mutinies and military or popular uprisings do not strike out of
the blue, these phenomena developed and thrive in states, where corruption,
injustice, ethnically or regionally-based politics have been keenly adopted and
entrenched."
Brig Agyemfra made the
call at a sub-regional roundtable conference on Strengthening Regional Capacity
for Conflict Resolution and Human Security in West Africa: A Response to NEPAD,
in Accra.
The Conference is to
foster dialogue and consensus building within the sub-region on issues that
boarder on conflict and security as well as map strategies for conflict
prevention and resolutions.
It is being held in
the aftermath of the G8 Summit in June 2002 where an African Action Plan was
released in response to the NEPAD process. Brig Agyemfra therefore, called on
sub-regional governments to develop confidence building measures in their
relationships that could led to discuss the perceived and real internal and
external security concerns of individual governments and adopt collective
initiatives to alleviate such threats.
Speaking on the topic:
"Strengthening Collective Security Structures in the West African
sub-region," Brigadier Agyemfra said the need for strengthening collective
security structures in the sub-region has assumed a prominent posture in recent
times in view of the immense challenges to security resulting from political,
ethnic, religious and chieftaincy disputes.
He emphasised that
peace and security of the sub-region have been threatened on numerous occasions
by violent domestic conflagrations in several states. He, therefore, suggested
the development of military capacity to respond rapidly and effective to combat
potential crisis, and restore peace and stability in conflict countries.
He said the ECOWAS
initiative in Liberia and its success in stemming the devastating civil war have
gone a long way in raising public consciousness of the efficacy of collective
security schemes.
Brig Agyemfra said,
"the collective effort by ECOWAS to reverse the Liberian catastrophe have
proved the necessity for collective action in maintaining peace and stability
in the sub-region."
The desire for
sub-regional collective security schemes should also be seen as an attempt to
blunt neo-colonial tendencies in the management and resolution of African
conflicts. He said, "Foreign interventions in conflicts do not serve the
best interests of Africans, since they tend to promote their own interests
rather than those of the countries in which they intervene."
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Tamale (Northern
Region) 25 October 2002 - Alhaji Abdulai A. Ibrahim, a prominent Tamale-based
cotton farmer, has expressed his sympathies to the management and staff of the
Volta River Estate Limited (VREL) over the recent destruction of 80 per cent of
the company's banana plantation by a rainstorm.
Alhaji Ibrahim,
Managing Director of A.A. Ibrahim Farms, said in a statement on Thursday that
the loss was not only a drawback for the company's efforts at promoting export
and boosting the country's foreign exchange earnings but would also have
serious consequences on employment.
He appealed to the
government, banks and foreign partners to assist the company to return to
normality. A severe rainstorm that hit parts of the Asuogyaman District in the
Eastern Region about
two weeks ago virtually destroyed the 240-hectare banana plantation at Akrade
near Akwamufie.
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Ho (Volta Region) 25
October 2002 - Dr Kwaku Osafo, Programme Manager of the Micro Projects
Management Unit of the European Union (EU) on Thursday warned that any District
Assembly in the Volta Region, which would fail to perform under the Phase Two
Projects would not be considered for the sixth programme.
Dr Osafo advised
District Chief Executives of the region to work according to the guidelines of
the programme. Addressing a one-day workshop on information campaign towards
the implementation of Phase Two of the fifth Micro-Projects Programme in the Volta
Region, he said the people in the rural areas were walloping in poverty,
wretchedness and deprivation.
The workshop was
organised for District Chief Executives, District Coordinating Directors,
District Finance Officers and Micro-Projects District Coordinators from the
southern districts of the region.
Dr Osafo expressed
regret that audit reports of projects in the Volta Region were worst off,
saying, irregularities were found in 22 audit findings on projects carried out
last year. He said this year, 120 projects, the highest throughout the country,
would be undertaken in the Volta Region and that 10 billion cedis had been
budgeted for the projects.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
25 October 2002 - Ghana on Thursday marked the 57th United Nations (UN) Day
with a reminder to the world that the world body was now confronted with new
challenges.
These range from
intra-state conflict fuelled by ethnic and religious intolerance, illicit
traffic in arms, gems and drugs to gross abuses of human rights, international
terrorism and environmental disasters, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Deputy
Minister of Foreign Affairs, said at a flag-raising ceremony in Accra.
The theme for the
celebration is "The United Nations As Ghana's Partner For Sustainable Development
Through Poverty reduction." Alhaji Idris and the UN Resident Coordinator,
Albert Salia Fawundu inspected a parade mounted by 30 officers and 63 men of
the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) and hoisted the flags of Ghana and the UN
respectively.
Alhaji Idris said
Ghana attaches great importance to the UN because of its commitment to
international peace and security, equity and social justice as basic
requirements for a world.
He recalled Ghana's
commitment to UN peacekeeping activities worldwide saying, "We will
continue to devote our resources, inadequate as they are, to manage conflict
situations particularly in Africa."
Alhaji Idris noted
that although there was a correlation between peace and poverty, globalisation
had been unable to effectively deal with poverty. The Deputy Minister said
there was the need for developing and developed countries and multilateral
institutions to step up efforts to meet development goals, adding that this
could be achieved through the development of stronger partnership and concerted
coordinated activity.
Alhaji Idris referred
to the theme and expressed the hope that the UN would accept the challenge of
supporting Ghana to make a success story out of the joint effort. Kofi Annan,
UN Secretary-General, in a message read on his behalf by Albert Salia Fawundu,
UN Resident Coordinator observed that the UN represented the human family
saying.
"There are so few
things today that any nation can control relying purely on its own resources.
And there are so many things that the world's peoples can achieve if we all
work together."
"We salute the
Organisation on this auspicious occasion, we also salute the UN
Secretary-General for the dynamic leadership he had demonstrated in managing
the affairs of the world body," Alhaji Idris said. "We reiterate our
support for the Organisation and resolve to continue to be a worthy member of
the world body," he added.
Annan stressed that
pledges made by UN leaders at the Millennium Summit two years ago, which
centred on fundamental needs such as poverty reduction, halting the spread of
HIV/AIDS and the provision of safe drinking water, had to be realised.
He cautioned that the
pledges, which are known as the Millennium Development goal, with the year 2015
as the deadline, might not be realized "if we don't do better in the next
12 years than in the last ten years".
Alfred George
Thompson, National President of the Ghana United Nations Students and Youth
Association (GUNSA), congratulated Mr Annan for working towards peace and
security in the world.
He said the year in
review had been characterised by a war in Afghanistan, unprecedented violence
in the Middle East and the looming threat of war in Iraq. Mr Thompson urged the
UN to restore sanity to Afghanistan and noted that in the Middle East, the
crises had been allowed to degenerate into a situation where the UN had been
relegated to the position of a "spectator".
"Countries that
have the appropriate clout to ensure a return to the negotiating table appear
to have turned a blind eye to horrific events unfolding in the Middle East by
the day." He said a lasting solution would not be found to the Middle East
problem without the help of the UN, adding that from history, conflicts
resolved outside the corridors of the UN rarely had long lives.
Thompson condemned
recent revelations about nuclear arsenals in various parts of the world. He
urged the African Union to resolve the DR Congo crisis in collaboration with
the UN.
He urged the
government to integrate the youth into the national development process, saying
that this was one means by which development could be sustained. In attendance
were Ministers, Members of the Council of State, diplomats, MPs, chiefs and
queenmothers and school children.
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Kumasi (Ashanti
Region) 25 October 2002 - Emmanuel Nti-Fordjour, Ashanti Regional Chairman of
the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has called on the leadership of the New
Patriotic Party (NPP) to demonstrate sincere and genuine commitment towards
national reconciliation by halting what he described as "its acts of
terror and political persecution of the NDC supporters".
He said the NPP could
not be taken seriously for its promises about reconciling the nation while
sections of the population, for reasons of political association, continued to
live under constant harassment and intimidation.
These were contained
in a statement he issued and signed in Kumasi on Thursday. The statement comes
in the wake of the trial of nine NDC supporters at a Kumasi Circuit Tribunal
for alleged involvement in acts of political violence during the 1 October,
Kumawu constituency parliamentary bye-election at Kumawu.
They are Shaibu Abdul
Yakeen, Ashura Ahmed, Adjara Musa, Salu Ibrahim, Ayishetu Seidu, Comfort de
Gaulle, Akosua Gyamfuaa, Adiza Atta and Shafarn Fuseini.
The nine appeared
before the tribunal on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to charges of causing
harm and damaging a lady's dress. They were remanded in prison custody and
would re-appear on Monday 28 October.
Nti-Fordjour held that
abuse of incumbency and state power would not serve the cause of the country's
democracy. "It could snowball into unnecessary political tension,
suspicion and mistrust", he stated, adding that, this could in the end
undermine the peace and harmony in the country. The NDC regional chairman said
political conflicts should be resolved through dialogue and compromise.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
25 October 2002 - Ghanaian Scientists on Thursday expressed disappointment at
alleged government statements that results of their research findings were only
gathering dust on shelves. They said the statement was a serious drawback to
the socio-economic development agenda of the government's Golden Age of
Business.
The Scientists
expressed these sentiments in a series of addresses during the Annual General
Meeting of the Research Staff Association (RSA) of the Council for Scientific
and Industrial Research (CSIR).
The meeting, which
started on Wednesday, was under the theme "The Role of CSIR in Sustainable
Private Sector Development In the Golden Age of Business."
Dr Charles Biney,
Director, Water Research Institute, recalled that President John Kufuor and the
Minister of Agriculture, Major Courage Quarshigah had said that findings by
researchers were gathering dust on the shelves.
"His Excellency
John Agyekum Kufuor who granted audience to a joint delegation from the CSIR
and the Asante Mampong Traditional Council, pointed out that our results were
gathering dust on the shelves." Dr Biney said Major Quarshigah had
repeated the statement.
He urged his
colleagues that though they might have tangible reasons and genuine arguments
against those observations, it was their duty to change this image of the
Ghanaian Scientist.
Dr Apem D. Agyei,
National President of the RSA, in another address blamed the CSIR management
saying, "They cannot escape the blame for the marginalisation of the CSIR
in the government scheme of operations."
He said the lack of
money syndrome by government was due to the absence of any sustained and
sustainable programme by the CSIR adding that management had not been proactive
to seek better conditions of service for its personnel to attract the best
brains.
Dr Agyei said the time
had come for Ghanaians to respect the experts in the scientific community
because "all that most of the foreign consultants do is to ask for our
watches to tell us the time."
He challenged the
government to make its vision of making the country a leader in agro processing
in the sub-region clear to the scientists saying, "the Scientists in the
CSIR are prepared to meet any challenge by government once the vision is
clearly defined."
Dr Agyei said the
Ghanaian scientists were frustrated and therefore more were leaving the field
in their numbers. "This year alone we have lost 43 of our specialists
through resignations, we still expect more." He wondered why a separate
Ministry was created for Technology alone.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
25 October 2002 - Ben Botwe, Deputy Chief Executive of the Food and Drugs Board
(FDG) on Thursday called on Pharmaceutical manufacturers to go into research
and development to help them meet challenging demands in the industry.
Delivering a paper on
the 'Role of Pharmaceutical Industry in the Health Delivery System' at the
Annual Conference of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Ghana
(PMAG) in Accra, he said manufacturers should use research to develop new drugs
to meet the needs of the people.
He said local
Manufacturers, who make up for unexpected shortages in the country produce only
285 out of the 2858 required, adding, this constitute nine percent of drugs on
the national register.
Botwe said some of the
problems confronting the industry were high cost of imported raw materials,
limited experts in the field, obsolete equipment, supply of spare parts and
competition from imports.
He challenged members
to come out with new dosages and develop local raw materials to work with.
Botwe recommended the establishment of regulatory affairs department in their
institutions and keep proper documentation to enable them capture the West
African Market.
He emphasised the need
for the periodic training of staff, employment of high-qualified staff and
investment into traditional medicines. The local Pharmaceutical Industry, he
said must position itself, avoiding mediocrity and strive to achieve
excellence.
Botwe urged members to
re-examine themselves, take advantages of the strengths and opportunities and
deal with the weakness. "Your contributions to the total health care
system will be meaningful while your competitiveness and continued survival in
the global business world would also be assured, he added.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
25 October 2002 - The government on Thursday said efforts are being made to
increase resources allocated to the development of science and technology to
one per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as specified by the Lagos Plan of
Action, a 1980 blueprint for Africa's development.
Professor Dominic
Fobih, Minister of Environment and Science said the draft proposal is before
Parliament and would soon been approved.
Currently, Ghana's GDP
allocation to science and technology development fluctuates between 0.2 per
cent and 0.3 per cent, he said, at the 43 annual general meeting of Research
Staff Association (RSA) of the Council For Scientific and Industrial Research
(CSIR).
It was under the
theme, "The role of CSIR in sustainable private sector development in the
Golden Age of Business." Prof Fobih said the success of government's
poverty reduction and wealth creation programme depends largely on investment
in and development of science and technology.
Despite government
limitation to fund science and technology development, the Minister said, it
has set in motion plans to bring to fruition the National Science and
Technology Research Fund.
Prof. Fobih urged the
CSIR to place itself in a strategic position in order to attract funds from the
private sector to support and develop its activities. He said with constant
interaction with the private sector the CSIR would find the right partnership
to realise its research goals.
Prof. Fobih challenged
the CSIR to submit proposals for the installation of biogas systems, which have
become reliable and sustainable source of energy. The minister said it is the
duty of Ghanaian scientists to counter criticisms levelled against them that
they were shelving important results and not interacting with the public.
"The RSA must
come out to counteract these impressions through active promotion of the
adoption and utilisation of their research findings and interaction with the
public, particularly the industrialists..."
Presenting the Ghana
Poverty Reduction programme and the National Visions document, Dr Paa Kwasi
Ndoum Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Cooperation called on the
scientists to study them and come out with their inputs. He said improvement in
the total economic environment and sustainability of the macro economic
stability must be a matter for all sectors of the economy.
Professor E.
Owusu-Bonoah, Acting Director General of CSIR, noted that the Council has
designed a proactive strategy to ensure that technologies it has developed
permeate all segments of society. He said one of such strategies is the
CSIR/Ghana Television Programme, "Technology for Livelihood."
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Tema (Greater Accra)
25 October 2002 - Aaron Addo Akwetey, assemblyman for New Ningo is helping
police investigations into the burning and destroying of building materials
meant for a tourism project at the New Ningo beach.
Akwetey is alleged to
have mobilised some youth in the area to throw the building materials into the
sea after they had burnt lumber at the project site. Nene Gidigago Djamgba III,
Chief of New Ningo told the Ghana News Agency that since the suspect's election
as the assemblyman, he has usurped the powers of the chief and arrogated to
himself the power of allocating plots in the town.
Nene Djamgba, who was
flanked by his Asafoatsemei, Agyeman Okoforobuo III and Siaw Morosah, said Mr.
Akwetey had on several occasions challenged him and his lands allocation
committee, whenever they gave out lands to the people.
The Chief said on 20
October this year, the suspect challenged an investor after they had allocated
him a plot at the beach to build chalets. They mobilised some youth in the area
to destroy the project that had been started. "They burnt the timber
boards with petrol and dumped the iron rods and cement meant for the project
into the sea," the chief alleged.
Nene Djamgba said Mr
Narh Tetteh Fioh, a concerned citizen, who witnessed the destruction by the
assemblyman and his gang, confronted them and later reported the incident to
the chiefs, who also lodged a complaint with the police.
Police Superintendent
George Appiah, Tema Regional Crime Officer, confirmed the arrest of the
assemblyman and said the suspect showed a letter to the police indicating that
he was given authority to undertake the exercise by the District Chief
Executive for Dangme West.
Supt. Appiah said the
DCE confirmed speaking with Akwetey, but stated that he only directed him to
report any grievances he might have over the beach project to the police to
investigate and not to destroy it as he alleged. According to the police,
Akwetey would be put before the court.
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Kumasi (Ashanti
Region) 25 October 2002 - A Kumasi High Court, presided over by Justice V.C.
Doegah has directed the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to audit the accounts of the
Kejetia Traders Association (KTA).
The directive followed
the order he gave the executive of the Association to account for 1.5 billion
cedis paid to them by members of the Association to pre-finance the
construction of 189 shops and stalls at Kejetia.
Justice Doegah also
asked the political authority, through the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA),
the Ashanti Region Minister and the Minister of Local Government and Rural
Development to ensure that this was done without delay.
Justice Doegah was
giving a ruling in a writ filed against the KTA by Mrs. Gladys Anane-Addo and
nine others to restrain the KTA executive, their agents, servants or any person
deriving title through them from allocating the stores and stalls at Kejetia.
The High Court Judge
ordered the K MA to take over the responsibility of re-allocating the
pre-financed stores and stalls as well as the financial administration of the
project.
The plaintiffs had, by
their writ sought a declaration that the KMA was the sole authority recognised
by law to allocate the shops, which ownership was vested in the assembly and a
declaration that it was illegal and unlawful for the KTA executive to allocate
the shops at Kejetia.
They had also asked
for a declaration that the original licensee of the Kejetia shops and stalls be
given the first option in the allocation of stores pre-financed by them, an
order for accounts and a perpetual injunction.
Giving his reasons,
Justice Doegah said the case has unearthed a multiplicity of financial
mal-administration of the Kejetia market stores reconstruction by the KTA. The
Judge took serious view of the admission by the treasurer of the Association
that they did not maintain proper accounting records and that there had not
been any auditing of the accounts of the entire project.
He held that evidence
by the secretary of the KTA, F. Amankwaah that additional monies collected from
the 189 traders as well as ¢21m paid to engineers, who made the drawings were
not covered with receipts confirmed that "there was no proper accounting
for monies paid or collected for the project".
Justice Doegah said
there was overwhelming evidence that the allocation of the shops by the KTA
executive was fraught with malpractices, citing the confession by Amankwaah
that 13 of the stores were allocated to people who did not make any
contribution in the pre-financing arrangement.
The judge said it was
common knowledge that the reconstruction of market shops and stalls at Kejetia
gave birth to a number of problems within the Kumasi metropolis.
"It is for this
reason that if the KMA cannot effectively handle the situation, the overall
political administrative authority of the Ashanti Region should ensure that
equity and peace prevail in the administration of such an important project in
which the Ghana government and the World Bank have spent large sums of money to
prepare the infrastructure at Kejetia," he said.
The court awarded
costs of five million cedis to the plaintiffs. Some 189 traders including the
plaintiffs paid ¢8.250m each to pre-finance the re-construction of the shops
and stalls at Kejetia.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
25 October 2002 - Ms Sarah Akrofi-Quarcoo, Secretary-General of the West
African Media Network (WAMNET), has been elected Second Deputy General
Secretary of the West African Journalist Association (WAJA).
A statement signed by
Bright Blewu General Secretary of the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA), on
Thursday said the election took place at the Association's recent congress in
Dakar.
It further explained
that Ms Akrofi-Quarcoo who is a member of the GJA, is a Chief Editor at the
Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) and the current President of the Women in
Broadcasting (WIB). The statement said other officers elected at the congress
include Ibrahim Famakan Coulibally of Mali, as President, who took over from
Kabral Blay Ameihere who is currently Ghana's High Commissioner to Sierra
Leone.
Ms. Josette Barry of
Cote D'Ivoire, wa0s elected Vice President, while Alpha Abudallah Sall of
Senegal, took the post of the Secretary-General. Dalaton Mamane of Niger was
also elected First Deputy Secretary-General, while Ricardo Soares of
Guinea-Bissau won the post of a Treasurer.
The statement said all
the officers would serve a four-year term. The WAJA, founded in 1986, is an
umbrella organisation of journalists associations and unions in the West
African Sub-region.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
24 October 2002 - Ghana has been benefiting from a Japanese government grant
aid scheme designed to speed up the response to a variety of increasing needs
in higher education and culture in developing countries.
A statement issued by
the Embassy of Japan in Ghana on Thursday said the scheme, known as the Grant
Assistance for Cultural Grassroots Projects (GCGP), was introduced in 1989 in
Ghana, to assist various bodies such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs)
and local government authorities in the implementation of self-help projects at
the grassroots level.
The statement said
since its introduction, the government of Japan had extended a total of 5.38
million dollars for the implementation of 160 projects in various parts of the
country. It stated that the average amount of assistance for one project was
about $34,000.
The statement said the
scheme considers entities including NGOs undertaking cultural and higher
educational projects, which were considered relevant to the promotion of
cultural activities, higher education and preservation of cultural assets.
GRi…/
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Akim Oda (Eastern Region) 25 October 2002 - The Minister of Finance, Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo, has said that computers being imported by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other donors for educational institutions are free of duty.
He said, however, that the ministry insists that such computers must be assigned to the specific schools to ensure that they do not find their way into the open market. Mr Osafo-Maafo, who is also the MP for Akim Oda, said this when he inaugurated a ¢150 million Oda Secondary School (ODASCO) Information Technology Centre.
He announced that by the end of his term as the MP, he would ensure that schools in the constituency are supplied with adequate computers.
The minister advised the students to take their lessons in computer studies seriously reminding them that in a few years time, it will be difficult for anyone who is not computer literate to get a job.
He disclosed that the school has been selected as a district standard school and urged the school authorities to ensure that quality work is done when renovation exercise on the school’s infrastructure begins.
The Headmaster of the school, Mr Kwame Agyakwa, on behalf of the board of governors and the staff expressed his appreciation to Technology for Development Countries, the NGO that donated the 50 computers to the school.
He said considering the student population, the 50 computers are inadequate and appealed to other NGOs and the government to assist them to acquire more.
Mr Agyakwa said that the establishment of the centre had cost them two classrooms and appealed to the government as a matter of urgency to construct a new classroom block to cater for the displaced students.
He mentioned pressing problems affecting the school as deplorable conditions of dormitories, poor road network and drainage system, as well as inadequate decent places of convenience, and appealed to the ministries of Finance and Education to consider them in the allocation of renovation grants for schools.
The President of Past Students Association, Mr Amoasi Andoh, stressed the need for the school authorities to improve the quality of the level of entry into the school.
GRi…/
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