Accra
(Greater Accra) 13 September 2002- Ghana's next development plan under President
Kufuor's administration targeting per capita income of 1000 dollars within five
years will be placed before Parliament in December. The National Development
Planning Committee (NDPC) through various regional consultative seminars is
preparing the vision statement of the plan, which would span from 2003 to 2008.
Mr Ben
Salifu, Minister of State, NDPC told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on Thursday
during a day's seminar on the plan under the theme; "From Poverty
Reduction Wealth Creation - Building a Consensus on National Vision and
Programme of Action".
The
seminar, organised by the Greater Accra Regional Co-ordinating Council in
collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Planning and Regional Cooperation
and the NDPC was attended by
members of Parliament, members of the private sector, and other stakeholders.
Mr. Salifu
noted that the aim of the seminar was to ensure that the plan was "devoid
of all forms of political connotations to present a dispassionate document that
would be based on contributions and inputs from a broad spectrum of the
populace."
He said
going by the 1992 constitution, President Kufuor has up to December this year
to put before parliament a coordinated programme of economic and social
development policies at all levels in all regions within the two years of
assuming office.
Sheik I.C
Quaye, Greater Accra Regional Minister said to avoid the mistakes of the past
developmental programmes, it was necessary for Ghanaians to have a proper
understanding of development and how it should be carried out.
He said a
new development goal must be sought to liberate powerless people from all forms
of dependency so that they would be able to move from the life situation they
considered less human to alternative patterns they perceived to be more human.
"The
new focus of development is, therefore, on the people with emphasis on the
state of the human well-being rather than solely on the state of national
economy. "We are by this new focus, primarily concerned with the
development of man before all other consideration", he added.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 13 September 2002- Ms Annie Anipa, Director of Public Affairs
of the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC) on Thursday said the response
to the call on individuals to file statements on human rights violations during
the country's unconstitutional regimes at the Commission had "so far been
encouraging."
She said
the Commission was also encouraged by the good response of the complaint makers
to bring along original copies of their documents for certification, however,
she asked them to bring along photocopies of such documents for the
Commission's files. Ms Anipa was speaking at the second media briefing on the
progress of work of the Commission, which began on 3 September.
The NRC was
establish by an Act of Parliament, (Act 611), to seek and promote national
reconciliation among the people by recommending appropriate redress for
persons, who have suffered any injury, hurt, damage, grievance or have in any
other manner been adversely affected by violations and abuses of their human
rights arising from activities or in-activities of public institutions and
persons holding public office during the periods of unconstitutional government
and to provide for related matters.
The
unconstitutional periods named are from 24 February 1966 to 21 August 1969,
13th January 1972 to 23rd September 1979, and 31st December 1981 and 6th
January 1993. The Commission, which has one year and three months to submit its
report and recommendations to government, may on application by any person
pursue the object of reconciliation in respect of human rights violation in any
other period between 6th March 1957 and 6th January 1993.
Ms Anipa
said as on Wednesday, 11 September the Commission had recorded a total of 521
statements: 297 in Accra, 140 in Kumasi, 58 in Takoradi, 41 in Ho and nine in
Tamale. The Bolgatanga figures had not been received. She said the statements
cover confiscation of property, extra judicial killings, unlawful detentions,
torture and ill treatment.
Ms Anipa
said so far the work of the Commission had progressed smoothly and reminded
statement makers and petitioners that as a matter of convenience, they should
go to any of the Commission's zonal offices to make statements irrespective of
the regions in which they resided.
She said
five persons, who said they were former officials of the Bureau of National
Investigations (BNI) and were dismissed without reason and forced into exile
had submitted statements to the Commission.
The
Counselling Department, headed by Dr Araba Sefa-Dedeh, a specialist clinical
psychologist, had also counselled 77 persons, made up of 55 men and 22 women. Meanwhile
the Investigations Department of the Commission has requested the following
persons to report at the unit at the Independence Square to assist in
investigations:
Emmanuel
Kwame Mentor of Dzorwulu, near Water Works Building, Ex- Captain Daniel Mensah
Bosompem, affectionately called Kwesi Mensah of Bie Wo Yoo, Nungua and Emmanuel
Amartey Adjaye of Post Office Box 3000, Accra.
The rest
are: Yaa Animah of 1st Mankata Close, Kotobabi, Accra; Rameil Nii Ankrah of J.
P Ankrah, Otublohum Stool House, Accra and Godfred Odame Kissi of Sadisco
Hotel, Kokomlemle, Accra North.
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Tamale
(Northern Region) 13 September 2002- Members of the Parliamentary Select
Committee on the Yendi crisis broke down in tears when Gbanzagali, the senior
wife of the Ya-Na Yakubu Andani II, Paramount Chief of Dagbon Traditional Area,
narrated to them how her husband was killed.
Holding a
group picture of Ya-Na, President John Agyekum Kufuor and Alhaji Malik Alhassan
Yakubu, former Interior Minister, Gbanzagli said the Ya-Na expressed concern
about rumours that if the New Patriotic Party (NPP) won the 2000 election he
would either be removed or killed.
She said
President Kufuor denied the rumours and said that was not part of the agenda of
the NPP. According to her ''the Ya-Na made President Kufuor to swear an oath to
that effect.'' Gbanzagli broke down in tears at this point and the MPs could
also not control their tears.
Gbanzagli
said since the incident no senior government official had visited the widows to
console them. Twenty-eight of Ya-Na Yakubu's wives are staying in one house in
Tamale belonging to Alhaji Ibrahim Mahama, his nephew and Counsel for the
Andani’s Family. The MPs, who are assessing the security situation and the
impact of the state of emergency on the socio-economic activities in Dagbon,
gave the widows 200,000 cedis.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 13 September 2002- Ghana has been selected to host the United States
(US) Africa Sister Cities conference, aimed at building strong ties of
co-operation between the citizens of US cities and other African cities for
their mutual benefit. The event would be held in June and July next year.
Representatives
of Africa's cities that have sister city connections with US cities as well as
the cities, towns and district assemblies in Ghana that are linked with the 11
US cities would receive the delegates for the conference.
Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu,
Minister of Local Government and Rural Development (MLG&RD) said this on
Thursday when he inaugurated a 24-member sub-committee of which, he is the
moderator, to see to the successful organisation of the conference.
The
committee that would be working under the auspices of the Vice President and
assist an international committee for the same function has Hajia Alima Mahama,
Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development as chairperson.
It is
expected to arrange for accommodation, transport and a Presidential reception,
among other things, for delegates of the conference. Mr Baah-Wiredu said the
conference through the sharing of ideas would stimulate export, help develop
the communities, markets and transportation. He said, through the people to
people contacts, it would establish international understanding, out of which
world conflicts would be minimized.
Mr
Baah-Wiredu said President Dwigth D. Eisenhower of the US, who promoted the
idea of sister cities after World War II, was focusing on the achievement of
world peace. He said the conference would also encourage private sector
development being the priority of the government as it served as a catalyst for
sustainable development for the prosperity of people.
Mr Solomon
Darko, Mayor of Accra, said to enhance public protection and safety, 200
million cedis had been spent to provide streetlights on the Achimota School -
GIMPA road and the Osu Oxford Street to Cantonments that had been without
streetlights for several years.
He said the
Chinese government had also donated 1.2 million dollars to Ghana for the
provision of streetlights from the Tetteh Quarshie Circle to Tema, adding that
a maintenance fund would soon be established to maintain infrastructure.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 13 September 2002- The Counselling Department of the National Reconciliation
Commission (NRC) on Thursday said many victims of human rights abuses wept
bitterly and took the Commission much time to console and cool them down.
Dr. Araba
Sefa-Dedeh, Head of the Counselling Department of the NRC told journalists the
77 people who requested for counseling, out of the total number of 521 that
made complaints on human rights abuses and violations in unconstitutional
government's of the country have not yet overcome their trauma.
She was
holding the second press briefing on the progress of work of the Commission,
which began working on 3 September 2002. The complaint makers, who were either
victims of the human rights abuses or relatives and friends of victims broke
down in tears as they told their sad stories when they were referred by the
statements takers to the Counselling Department.
"Some
have even come for counseling more than once; the tears, the talking over the
pain and the counseling are all part of the healing process. Some have been
affected grievously by the trauma and they are yet to come to terms with it,”
she said.
She was
answering a question on the mood of complaint makers, and everyone one had shed
tears openly, when receiving counseling. Dr Araba Sefa-Dedeh, who is also a
specialist clinical psychologist, said many of the complaint makers, who came
for counseling, had been severely affected by the torture they went through and
had got medical problems as a result.
She
recalled the story a statement maker who said for eight years, after release
from unlawful detention had not received any word of sorry from any one nor had
anyone explained to him why he was detained.
Another was
from an elderly woman who said she lost two sons to extra judicial killings
during one of the periods under review. She said as a result of the pain her husband
died later and she had since been hypersensitive.
Dr
Sefa-Dedeh announced that the department was also organising counseling
sessions for the members and staff of the Commission in order not to be weighed
down by the overwhelming statements that would come before them. Ms Annie
Anipa, Head of the Public Affairs Secretariat said the Commission was
assembling details of the statements before putting them into categories of the
various periods under review.
She said
there was not much problems of language because statement takers transcribe the
statements and read them into the statement maker’s language to the
satisfaction of that person. She said the Commission was still working on its
website and would be announced as soon as it was ready.
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Tema
(Greater Accra) 13 September 2002- An official of the Social Security and
National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) Pension scheme has appealed to contributors to
the scheme to submit accurate data on their contributions to ensure prompt
payment.
Mrs Gifty
Anterkyi, Area Co-ordinator of SSNIT, said submission of wrong data has been a
major cause of delay in the payment of benefits. She was addressing a day's
seminar on the operation of SSNIT, under the theme: "The Employer, Our
Strategic Partner For The Update And Issuance Of Members' Accurate Statement Of
Accounts".
Mrs.
Anterkyi said SSNIT was ready to offer quality service to its customers but it
could not achieve much if contributors ''do not do the right thing". She
appealed to employers to register all workers including casuals and to ensure
that they had their membership certificates and records updated.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 13 September 2002- The Criminal Investigations Department (CID)
of the Police, on Thursday began investigations into an international syndicate
operating in some African countries using Ghana as a bait for jobs in churches
to defraud unsuspecting victims of thousands of dollars.
The syndicate
advertises in newspapers of those countries as religious bodies that have jobs
to offer in their offices in Ghana. The adverts claim that the opportunities in
Ghana could also lead to more lucrative ones in their international offices
abroad.
Mr Ken Yeboah,
Officer-in-Charge of the Commercial Crime Department of the CID, told the Ghana
News Agency (GNA) that, "it is another form of advanced fraud which had
been extended to other African countries."
One such
victim, Ms Jedidah Wajiru Mbae, 28, who spoke to the GNA said she and over 50
others were told to apply to one Bishop Benson Macharia Njoroje, who claimed to
be a resident Bishop of the Worldwide Global Evangelistic Ministries (WGEM) in
Nairobi, Kenya.
She said
she paid 60 dollars as her registration fee and later paid 265,000 Kenyan
Shillings equivalent to 3,500 dollars for a job with WGEM as a secretary and
later be assisted to go to Japan after working in Ghana for two months.
Ms Mbae
said after the payment she was invited to Ghana by one Prince Bon Javanu of
Abundant Life Church at Dansoman in Accra. She said she was informed that
Prince Bon would meet her at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in April
last year, but he failed to turn up.
The Kenyan
said she tried at the airport to call the phone numbers that were stated on her
papers only to realise that it was a communication centre. She said she
eventually traced the number to a communication center where she was directed
to a house at Dansoman SSNIT flats but the occupant was an old lady.
Miss Mbae
said she reported the matter to the Police on the advice of the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs. She said, as at the time of speaking to the GNA she had not
heard from the "officials of both
WGEM and the Abundant Life Church.'
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 13 September 2002- Mr Austin Gamey, a Consultant at Gamey and
Gamey Academy of Meditation Limited, on Thursday said the new Labour Bill when
passed into an Act, would encourage both foreign and local investors to invest
in the country and create more employment for the people.
"The
Labour Bill is the first ever all-inclusive bill that has been introduced in
Ghana," he said, and stressed the need for Ghanaians to embrace it in
order to achieve significant changes in the lives of every worker.
Mr Gamey
was speaking at a two-day workshop organised by the Ghana Registered Nurses
Association (GRNA) for its regional nursing officers to sensitise them on the
Labour Bill, which is currently before Parliament.
The Bill
aims among other things to bring within the law, good practices that have been
developed over the years outside the existing law to give legal basis for those
practices and rationalise government's role as the policy maker in the labour
field and as an employer.
Mr Gamey
admitted that the lack of information on the Bill led to its abortion at its
infant stage and appealed to the media to give it the necessary publicity to
encourage the people to accept it.
"It is
obvious that in every human setting there is the temptation to resist any
change that is new to the people or when the people do not understand the
change and do not know the benefit they would derive from that change” he
observed. He said there were problems at the hospitals because people were
dissatisfied, adding, "all these problems would not come about when the
Bill comes into being".
Mr Manfred
S. K. Ntumi, First Vice President of GRNA, said the aim of the workshop was to
bring managers of the nursing profession together to discuss the Bill,
understand its import to enable them to contribute meaningfully to its
formulation process.
Mr Ntumi
urged the participants to listen to people coming in with new ideas so that
they could effect quality changes. Ms Mariama Sumani, Chief Nursing Officer of
the Ministry of Health, stressed the need for stakeholders to be involved in
effecting a change to avoid unnecessary resistance. She urged the public to be
opened-minded and be prepared to accept changes to ensure rapid development.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 13 September 2002- Dr. Pikay Richardson, a Ghanaian Economist
based in the United Kingdom UK, on Thursday blamed the non-performance of most
state-owned companies on the lack of visionary leaders and good managers.
He urged
government to take displayed visionary leadership and management qualities into
consideration in appointing chief executives and managers to run state-owned
companies, to ensure maximum output and its resultant economic prosperity.
Dr.
Richardson, Economics Fellow at Manchester School of Business, was speaking in
the second of a series of lectures organised by the British Council to
introduce Ghanaians to the implications of the introduction of the euro and
changing leadership and management trends in the global economy.
He said,
more often than not, governments in most African countries like Ghana had
appointed their political favourites to top positions without necessarily
considering whether they had what it took to develop the economy.
"Experience
has shown that political consideration for the distribution of top jobs has not
paid off," he noted. He urged governments to look beyond politics of job
distribution and look out for visionary leaders and competent managers who have
proven record to turn the fortunes of state owned companies around.
He argued
that what most Ghanaian companies lacked was visionary leaders, saying that,
most companies had people with management skills but without vision to move the
companies forward to achieve results.
"It
takes visionary leaders who are willing and able to dream about a better
future, ensure focus, effect and lead the necessary change to make that
expected future a reality," he said adding "a visionary leader who is
a poor manager is better than a good manager who is a bad leader."
Dr.
Richardson said in this era of high competition in the global market,
"where winner wins all and loser loses all," it took those who
anticipated change and therefore made the necessary changes in their situation
to adjust to the greater change around them to survive.
He kicked
against the practice where governments always set up committees to deal with
issues and make recommendation to determine action on the future of companies,
saying that committees wasted time and resources and often provided very rigid
recommendations.
Dr.
Richardson suggested that the change should be entrusted in the hands of
visionary leaders rather than committees. He noted that governments had often
resorted to the cutting of training budgets when a company got into financial
problems, adding that the future implications of such decisions were usually
negative.
The
Economist urged companies to maintain common recreational facilities such as
Club Houses for both management and junior staff to facilitate interaction and
communication, saying that research had shown that effective communication
within the rank and file yielded 40 per cent higher result than where such
interaction did not exist. "We need to put customers first and also create
a system that rewards efforts as a form of incentive to encourage labour to
perform better," he said.
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Kumasi
(Ashanti Region) 13 September 2002- Dr Thomas Agyarko Poku of the West Africa
AIDS Project has said that currently, 21 million people are known to have died
from HIV/AIDS worldwide.
This has
lead to 13 million orphans all over the world, Dr Poku made the disclosure at a
one-day HIV/AIDS education campaign organised by the Africa Christian Home
Rehabilitation Centre (ACHRC) for Breman Students Union in Kumasi.
Video shows
formed part of the education campaign that has taken the team to Kronum Calvary
Methodist Church, Saint Luke's Anglican Church, Suame Emmanuel Methodist Church
and T.I. Ahmadiyya Secondary School.
Dr Poku, a
medical officer at the Suntreso Hospital, also warned against the application
of chemicals and strong perfumes to the female genital organ since it can cause
harm to the urethra and the womb. He explained that this could also cause
cancer and infertility among women.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 13 September 2002- The Managing Director of Darko Farms
Company, the Reverend Dr Kwabena Darko on Thursday said it was time Ghana as a
Third World Country identified her areas of comparative technological and
economic advantage and exploit them for accelerated development.
He said the
new globalisation paradigm recognised that competition in many industries had
internalised with firms competing with truly global strategies involving
selling worldwide, sourcing component and materials and locating activities to
take advantage of the low cost factor. Rev Darko said this in an address at the
launching of the Centre for Technology - Driven Economic Development (CTED) in
Accra at which the founding members were officially introduced.
He said
Ghana must think in global terms and link with the worldwide supply sources to
assemble the best raw materials around the world to produce unique value-added
products. He noted that if Ghana had to compete on the world market, it must
develop the technical competencies to master the methods, the technologies and
quality assurance required at each phase of production.
"Industrialisation
is the mainspring of economic growth and the driving force of the development
process. Industrialisation must, therefore, remain the key element of any
strategy for sustainable development", he said. Rev. Darko said the
development of the agricultural sector needed to be backed with development of
a modern and competitive industrial sector since the linkage between
agriculture and industry led to the development of agro-industry.
He called
on the Centre to revive the interactive Policy Formulation Process For Dialogue
Between The Public And Private Sectors to evolve the strategic management system
for industrial development. The Okyenhene, Osagyefo Ofori Payin Amoatia, who
launched the Centre, said it was unfortunate that the only brand Ghana had was
that it was a hospitable country but had nothing to show for all the years of
its existence.
He said
every development must start with an idea and initiative and there was the need
to reward individuals, who have in their own way assisted the country towards
its socio-economic development, adding, "it is bad if we continue to
stifle individual initiatives".
Osagyefo
Amotia said since information was vital to national integration, the media
should be mindful of what they put across and stop personalising issues. They
should propagate the good works of selfless citizens, who were contributing to
the socio-economic development of the country.
The
founding members of the Centre members included Professor Kwabena
Frimpong-Boateng, Chief Executive Officer of Korle-Bu Hospital, Dr Kofi Amanor
Owusu-Ansah, Director, Institute of Industrial Research and Member of Council
of State and Mr Robert Wood, a Renowned Engineer and Entrepreneur. The rest
were the Reverend Dr Mensah Otabil, an Evangelist, Colonel Kofi Abaka Jackson,
a retired Air Force Pilot and Onua Amoah, an Inventor and Scientist.
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Accra (Greater
Accra) 13 September 2002- Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, Minister of Economic Planning
and Regional Co-operation on Thursday said government's Poverty Reduction Programme
would fail unless there was equitable distribution of resources to all regions.
"Uneven
distribution of government spending in the past has hiked the percentage ratio
of the poverty levels in Upper West, Upper East and Northern Region to 90, 85
and 70 per cent respectively" he stated. "This means that people
living in those areas live below 900,000 cedis a year, which is below the
poverty line. We are not just talking of statistics, but real human
existence," he said.
Dr Nduom,
who was speaking at a day's Regional consultative seminar on a national vision
for Ghana said less than 10 per cent of Ghanaians live on a little over one
dollar a day which clearly means that majority of Ghanaians were poor, given
the United Nation standard.
The
seminar, organised by Greater Accra Region Coordinating Council in
collaboration with the National Development Planning Commission and the
Ministry of Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation was to sensitise the
public, seek opinions, ideas and inputs on the vision.
It was
under the theme, "From Poverty Reduction to Wealth Creation -Building a
Consensus on National Vision and Programme of Action." Dr. Nduom noted
that the increasing rate of migration into the Greater Accra Region stemmed
from the fact that some areas have been neglected with regard to government
spending, adding that, "Most industries in the Central and other areas in
the three northern regions that provided jobs for the people had to be closed
down."
He
described as serious, Ghana's current capita income, which stood at 280 dollars
saying, "If in 1999 the figure stood at 400 dollars, why should it drop
drastically to 280 in 2000." Dr. Nduom said the thrust of Ghana's new
vision, which would be put before Parliament in December must increase the per
capita income to eight million cedis a year in today's terms in five years.
He said the
vision was seeking views from Ghanaians both within and outside to contribute
their quota towards drawing up a plan, which would be formidable,
dispassionate, and non-partisan to supersede previous development plans.
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