Foundation will make the poor
better off - Akufo-Addo
Major reforms needed for peace in
the North - Historian
Jubilee 2000 says Finance
Ministers face humiliation
Ghana's solutions lie in the ideas
of first President
Physically impaired children, a
developmental issue
Clinton, de Soto arrive to launch programme for the poor
Foundation for the poor to be launched
Ashanti NDC cries foul over NPP's
campaign tactics
Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia passes away
Foundation will make the
poor better off - Akufo-Addo
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 September 2002 - Major
legal reforms and interventions would follow the launch of the Foundation for
the Building of the Capital of the Poor to formalise small businesses and
facilitate their access to investment funds.
Minister for Justice Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-
Addo told journalists on Sunday after President John Agyekum Kufuor, Former
United States President Bill Clinton, Dr Hernando Soto, founder of the Peruvian
Institute of Liberty and Democracy and some Ministers of State had held
informal discussions on the Foundation.
Nana Akufo Addo said: "We are excited
about the prospects of the Foundation because it would help to transform our
informal businesses into viable ones and assist Ghana to build a private
enterprise-driven economy with everybody having a stake in it."
The discussions were held in-camera after which
President Kufuor and his guests moved into a dinner hosted in honour of Mr
Clinton, who became the first sitting US President to visit Ghana, in March
1998.
Mr Clinton, the Patron of the Foundation,
arrived this morning to be the Guest of Honour at a ceremony on Monday at which
President Kufuor would launch the Foundation.
Giving examples of some of the proposed
reforms, Nana Akufo-Addo, who is also the Attorney General, said all legal
businesses, no matter how small or their nature would be registered and
encouraged to keep proper records so that their potentials would be promoted to
attract investments.
He said: "It could be a small bakery in a
corner that is overlooked as a business, but it is well managed and packaged so
it can attract funds to expand it." The Foundation would, therefore,
assist in mobilising the assets held by the poor to facilitate their economic
development.
It would establish a regional training
institute in Accra for the benefit of other African countries interested in
property reform programmes.
It was developed jointly with the United
Nations Development Programme (UNPD) through the Peru Institute for Liberty and
Democracy (ILD). Mr Clinton leaves Accra tomorrow for Abuja, Nigeria.
GRi…/
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Major reforms needed for
peace in the North - Historian
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 September 2002 - A senior lecturer at the Department of
History, University of Ghana, Dr Nana James Kwaku Brukum, on Saturday called
for major land and chieftaincy reforms to forestall conflicts in the Northern
Region.
He said some of the major causes of conflicts
in the area were accessibility to land and its usage and the failure to create
paramount status for some chiefs, which now rend the situation volatile.
Dr Brukum was presenting a paper on the
Northern Ghana Conflicts; the Historical Dimension - the Roots and Issues, at a
symposium organised by the Young Peace Builders Network-Ghana, (YPBN-Ghana) and
the Apeadu Children's Peace Centre to commemorate the celebration of the
International Day of Peace.
He suggested that, "all traditional
councils in the region should be compelled to draw new customary laws on land,
taking cognisance of changes that had occurred in society.”
According to him this, should be forwarded to
the Regional House of Chiefs for further discussion after which acceptance
copies should be deposited with the various district assemblies.
He said that those who would need land for
commercial and agricultural purposes should collect them from there and pay
rent to the district assemblies to end the exploitation by chiefs.
This course of action, he noted, will prevent
the chiefs from taking the law into their own hands as happening in the
Northern Volta and Northern regions.
He said, "to ensure a durable peace in the
north, membership of the Northern Regional Security Council should be reviewed
and strengthen to win the confidence of all.
Dr. Burukum pointed out that the present
operation of the Council that makes it possible for troops of local warlords to
move in open vehicles under the glare of the Council in Tamale with a Regional
Police Headquarters and a battalion of the Ghana Army brought to doubt the
credibility of the council in its quest for genuine peace in a region that
abounds with intra and inter ethnic conflicts.
He urged the government no matter the cost, to
publish and implement the findings the recommendation of any committee of
enquiry it sets up.
The senior lecturer said appointments to
executive positions in the region should be made without compromise to efficiency
and competence, and should take into consideration the geo-political nature of
the region so that the present virtual caste system is eliminated.
Dr Brukum noted that the conflicts in the north
dated back from the 15th century, due to division and non-respect for paramount
status.
This was heightened when the colonial masters
took over Ghana in the 18th century and with the help of few powerful chiefs
cancelled lots of taboos of the people and their land, disregarding other
ethnics in the region.
He said similar situations pertained even until
now and suggested that paramountcies should be created for all the ethnic
groups, while the membership of the Northern Regional House of Chiefs should be
expanded to reflect the heterogeneous composition of the region.
"At the moment, only five out of the 18
ethnic groups in the north are represented in the Regional House of chiefs.
Therefore, decisions taken by the council, which are supposed to be binding on
all, are disregarded by those not represented. They see the House as a place
where pronouncements are made by people who do not represent them, in fact, a
living relic of colonialism" he noted.
Dr Brukum said to build a stable and durable
peace in the north for a sustainable development, it was necessary to form a
regional youth association to provide a forum for discussing certain
outstanding issues affecting the destinies of the people because youth
associations had played both positive and negative roles in the conflict in the
region.
The day, which falls on 21 September each year,
was set aside by a United Nations resolution in 1981 to coincide with the
opening of the General Assembly, to concentrate the efforts of the United
Nations and its member states and the whole of mankind for the promotion of the
ideals of peace and other evident commitment to peace.
The International Day of Peace was initially
observed on every third Tuesday of September since it was inaugurated in 1982,
until this year. As part of activities for the day, prayer of peace by Bishop
Oscar Romero was said and a peace flame was lighted.
Others spoke on topics like the Northern Ghana
Conflicts and the Search for Durable Peace, Equipping the African Youth for
Peace Building and Development and Fighting Terrorism and the Search for Global
Peace.
GRi…/
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Jubilee 2000 says Finance
Ministers face humiliation
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 September 2002 - The
Jubilee 2000 Movement on Saturday said the humiliation Finance Ministers of
countries implementing the Structural
Adjustment Programmes (SAP) faced was
sufficient lesson for them to rethink how their countries could generate their
own resources for development.
Mr Akoto Ampaw, a member of the Movement, who
said this at a Socialist Forum in Accra under the topic "18 Months After
Opting for HIPC - Impact and Prospects," advised that, "Solutions to
Ghana's economic problems were right here in the country."
Mr Ampaw said at the Paris Club, the finance
ministers were asked to defend their reports, which were prepared by agents of
their creditors. "The ministers must defend the reports as individuals
facing a host of creditors in an assembly as to whether the conditions of the
World Bank and International Monetary Fund were fulfilled.
He said the decision as to whether a debtor
country had passed the test and that he would be given additional loans was
always taken in the absence of the ministers. Mr Ampaw said thereafter, the
ministers were given the green light to meet the London Club where the
financial institutions were.
He said "it was left to those entrusted
with the responsibility of governing the country to rethink and redirect their
efforts at nation building instead of reducing their citizens to perpetual
beggars." "With HIPC we are only postponing our indebtedness to the
future while we continue to contract more loans," he asserted.
Mr Ampaw said, "There was nothing to be
proud of and to make fanfare about the 117 billion cedis Ghana had from HIPC
and the fact that each district assembly was to be given one billion cedis for
poverty reduction.
"If anything at all it was only to serve
as a propaganda or campaign gimmicks aimed at telling the people that HIPC was
good and that they were given money from HIPC," he noted.
Mr Ampaw said if Ghana continued to adhere to
HIPC, in the next five to 10 years, the country's debt would keep on rising as
it was in the case SAP, which has led the NPP government to declare the country
HIPC.
He noted that most countries operated their
economies on credit while those of the advanced Western world had solid economic
position and sold their products to developing countries at high price.
Mr Ampaw said products of developing countries
were under-valued and attracted low earnings leading to trade deficit. He,
therefore, appealed to developing countries to judiciously exploit their
resources to the benefit of the people.
Mr Ampaw said if Ghanaian professionals like
engineers, atomic physicists, economists, and artisans were assisted, they
could contribute the development of the country.
GRi…/
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Ghana's solutions lie in
the ideas of first President
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 September 2002 - Dr.
Adolf Lutterodt, Greater Accra Chairman of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP)
has said that Ghana's fruitless effort to resuscitate the economy was a pointer
for her to return to the ideas and vision of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah.
He said the socialist's ideas of the late first
President of Ghana, had become more relevant today as they could contribute
immensely in eradicating the evils of poverty, disease, hunger, ignorance and
squalor.
Dr Lutterodt said this in a statement copied to
the GNA on Sunday in commemoration of the 93rd birthday of Dr. Nkrumah.
"The CPP knows that the ideas of Pan-African cooperation, unification and
struggle against neo-colonialism are the key to economic emancipation," he
noted.
He said in the years of Dr Nkrumah under the
CPP no other country made such giant strides in development in a short time
like Ghana saying, "Ghana was a model aiming at a society in which the
welfare of the people was paramount."
Dr Lutterodt said whatever the future of Ghana
held, the ideology of Dr Nkrumah, the illustrious son of Africa would be the
determinant of the ultimate destiny of the country. He called on all Nkrumaists
to use the occasion of the birthday of their Founding Father to unite.
GRi…/
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Physically impaired
children, a developmental issue
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 September 2002 -
Professor A B Akosa, Director-General of the Ghana Health Services on Saturday stated
that disabilities in children should not be seen as a health problem.
Rather, he said disabilities among children,
was a developmental issue that needed the harnessing of the nation's human
resources to address them.
Prof Akosa made the remark when he delivered
the keynote address at the opening session of the 12th Annual General
Conference of the Ophthalmological Society of Ghana (OSG) in Accra.
The two-day conference which was attended by
all the 43 members of the society nationwide to take stock of their
achievements and failures for the previous year, had as its theme:
"Children, our future, their right to sight."
Topics treated included "Eye Care Strategy
Framework", "Paediatric Cataract Surgery", "Co-ordination
of Eye Care Delivery", and "Diabetic Retinopathy, and a potentially
significant cause of blindness in Ghana".
Prof Akosa lauded OSG for choosing an
appropriate theme for its conference, and urged the government to team up with
stakeholders in health delivery to formulate strategies that would ensure that
children, the country's valuable assets, were free from avoidable blindness.
He pointed out that since children had the
right to sight, posterity would never forgive society, if parents left their
children with visual impairment to their fate. Prof Akosa commended the society
for the positive role it had played over the decade in helping to preserve and
restore vision to the visually impaired children.
He, however, reminded members that a lot more
needed to be done if the high incidence of eye-related diseases, such as
cataract, trachoma, corneal ulcer, glaucoma and onchocerciasis could be reduced
to the barest minimum.
Dr Maria Hagan, President of OSG noted that
since children represent the future and hope of both the family and the nation,
it was imperative to preserve their vision, adding, "Let us preserve and
restore the sight of our future leaders for a brighter and glorious
tomorrow."
Dr Hagan regretted that apart from blindness
adding to individual and community poverty, a blind child was a tragedy for the
family. Every effort, she said, should therefore, be made to eliminate the
incidence of childhood blindness.
Mr Kofi Bediako, a pharmacist, underscored the
need for OSG to forge closer links with all stakeholders in eye care delivery
to ensure that children had access to healthy eyes and good vision.
Mr Bediako advised parents to send their
children for periodic eye checks whenever they noticed "anomalies in their
eyes to save them from contracting eye-related diseases." There were
fraternal greetings from the Ghana Optometrist Association and the Ophthalmic
Nurses Group of Ghana.
GRi…/
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Upper West NDC women's working committee is inaugurated
Wa (Upper West) 23 September 2002 - A 24-member
Upper West Regional Women's Working Committee of the National Democratic
Congress (NDC), was inaugurated on Saturday at Wa.
Hajia Ajara Foroko, the Regional Women's
Organiser, was the chairperson of the committee, which was made up of NDC
constituency women organisers and their deputies. Miss Frances Asiam, the
National Women's Organiser of the party, who inaugurated it, called on members
to work hard to enable the party to regain power in the 2004 general elections.
She also urged them to sensitise supporters and
sympathisers on the policies and programmes of the NDC. Miss Asiam said the New Patriotic Party
could not fulfil its election promises of creating more jobs and the abolition
of the cash and carry system and making education affordable to all Ghanaians.
Madam Hajia Salamatu Kunte, second Deputy
National Women's Organiser said 19 NDC sympathisers were elected to the Kumasi
Metropolitan Assembly in the recent district assembly elections. She said the
achievement was an indication that the party would bounce back to power in
2004.
Hajia Laadi Ayi Ayamba, first Deputy National
Women's Organiser, alleged that the government was undermining unity in the
country's labour front, by encouraging the formation of new labour unions.
GRi…/
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Kusanaba (Upper East) 23 September 2002 - The
mortal remains of Mr Ayeebo Asumda, first Regional Commissioner in the First
Republic, for the Upper East Region, were on Saturday interred at his hometown,
Kusanaba, in the Bawku West District of the Upper East Region.
Among the hundreds of mourners who attended the
final funeral rites were a high-powered government delegation led by Professor Kassim
Kasanga, Minister of Lands and Forestry as well as two members of the Council
of State, Mr C.K. Tedam and Mr Francis Afoko.
Other members of the delegation included Mrs
Anna Nyamekye, Deputy Minister of Environment and Science, Mr Abu-Bakar Siddique
Boniface, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industries.
The rest were Mr Mahami Salifu, Upper East
Regional Minister as well as District Chief Executives from the region as well
as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Navrongo Central, Mr John Achuliwor.
A National Democratic Congress (NDC) delegation
led by Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, Dr Obed Asamoah, NDC Chairman and some NDC MPs
from the area attended the funeral. Dr Alhassan Abubakar, National Chairman of
the Convention People's Party (CPP) led his party's delegation.
In a tribute, Professor Kasanga said as a
teacher, a pioneer in Ghana's politics, and influential opinion leader in the
North, the late Asumda's contribution to Northern Ghana would forever be
remembered.
He said ironically, after years of hard work,
the Northern regions are unable to equal this initiative. He added that such
initiatives appeared to have eroded with "mistrust chieftaincy and land
disputes as well as violent ethnic conflict."
GRi…/
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Accra
(Greater Accra) - 23 September 2002 - Ghana's foreign minister on Sunday led a
top-level peace mission to the Ivory Coast which was hit by an uprising the
Ivorien authorities said was a coup attempt. Nigeria and Togo are also sending
officials on a similar mission.
"The
leaders are determined to reach a negotiated settlement to end the unrests as
quickly as possible," said Daniel Osei-Kufuor, aide to Ghana’s President
John Kufuor and a member of the Ghana mission.
John
Kufuor, whose 2001 election ended his predecessor's two-decade, coup-installed
rule in Ghana, has decried Thursday's coup attempt in neighbouring Ivory Coast
as damaging to African efforts to attract investment and development partners.
Osei
said the West African mediators planned to meet with Ivory Coast President
Laurent Gbagbo, but gave no other details. "The ultimate task before us is
to explore how best we can assist the legitimate government of Ivory Coast to
find an amicable and negotiated solution to the standoff in the central and
northern parts of the country," Osei told reporters.
Foreign
Minister Hackman Owusu Agyemang led Ghana's group, which also included the
defense minister and air force commander. – Associated Press
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Hiroshima
(Japan) - 23 Sept 2002 - As Christine Adu-Yeboah of Ghana is about to complete
her two-year stint as a graduate student, she keenly feels that Japanese and
Ghanaians are separated by a wide gulf that is more emotional than geographic.
Adu-Yeboah,
who is from the village of Akrokerri about five hours by car from the capital
of Accra, has been studying at the graduate school of Hiroshima University
since September
2000
on a study program though the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The
program was launched in 1974 to help engineers, specialists and administrators
in developing countries study in Japan. About 218,000 people from more than 150
nations have studied in Japan through JICA so far. Since fiscal 1999, it has
been offering assistance to people, including Adu-Yeboah, to stay in Japan for
two years.
She
is scheduled to return to Ghana in the autumn after finishing her master's
degree in international cooperation. During the summer Japanese Bon festival to
welcome home the spirits of the dead, Adu-Yeboah took an ordinary slow train to
visit her friend in Nagoya. She normally travels by ordinary train because the
fare is much cheaper than that for express trains.
The
train on her return trip was filled to capacity but en route back to Hiroshima,
she managed to get a seat for two located by the door. By the time the train
reached past Osaka from Nagoya, it was overcrowded with passengers standing in
the aisle. The seat next to her, however, remained empty. Some passengers
glanced at the empty space and walked away.
An
elderly woman with a little boy, probably her grandson, aged six or seven came
on board. She let him sit next to Christine but he made a fuss saying "I
am scared" and ran away. "People in Ghana would be full of excitement
out of curiosity if they see an Asian and would go all out to entertain that
person, even at the expense of their family meal," a perplexed Christine
said as she related her encounter with the boy.
The
reluctance of some Japanese passengers to sit next to her, she said, may have
been "discrimination against blacks but that was because they did not know
Africa very well." As her stay in Japan is drawing to a close, she has
become keenly aware of the wide gulf between the two nations.
Japanese
often her ask her in all seriousness if Ghanaians "live in the
jungle" or whether there are "snakes" in Ghana, when she tells
them she is from the West African country. Adu-Yeboah, a 34-year-old school
teacher who is also the mother of two children, feels they only see the worst
sides of Africa as television typically shows Africans starving in famines or
not wearing any clothes.
Cities
in Ghana are the same as those in Japan with high-rise buildings and cars, she
said, adding that Ghanaians conversely only think of Japan as a nation that
just produces low-priced, quality electrical goods and precision instruments.
Her
present headache is how to respond to requests from her family and relatives
that she return home with personal computers and cameras.
She
is also worried about the future of Japan. "Young people have gotten all
they wanted," she said. "They don't need to use their brains to
create new things. Japan is going to lose its past creativity and become empty
50 years from now."
She
gave a lecture in English before middle school students in the western Japan
city of Higashi Hiroshima in June explaining to them that Ghana exports cacao used
to make cocoa and chocolates. She also told them about the Japanese scientist
Dr Hideyo Noguchi, who died in her country in 1928 while carrying out research
on yellow fever.
Later
she asked the students what was Ghana's specialty product, but no one raised
their hand. A student she picked out was apparently obliged to answer.
"All Japanese tend to stay in line with others and try not to stand
out," she said. Citing the Japanese idiom "Those who push themselves
forward will get a beating," she said she thinks Japan will not be able to
nurture its "originality."
She
promised the students she will introduce to them a Ghanaian middle school after
her return home. She hopes the two schools will develop relations to the point
of exchanging students in the future.
Adu-Yeboah
has been wrestling with the subject of "teachers' in-service
training" which she chose as the theme of her study at graduate school.
She believes it will enhance the educational level in her country.
Yoshinori
Tabata, a professor at the state-run Hiroshima University and her 55-year-old
academic adviser, described her as a person "strong in her sense of
mission for having been chosen (to study in Japan) and in her spirit to make
her country better."
Adu-Yeboah
said that because teachers' pay is low in Ghana almost all teachers aged 40 to
45 quit although their retirement age is 60, and use their retirement pay to
open up businesses. Younger teachers also land better paid jobs at private
sector firms such as mining companies.
It
is hard to raise the level of education because of a lack of teachers capable
of training younger teachers, she said. She takes a look at a photograph of her
family - her husband Christopher, 36, who returned to Ghana ahead of her, their
9-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter - every day, and looks forward to
reuniting with them.
She
keeps in touch with her husband, sending emails to a personal computer of a
company that allows him to use it out of its own goodwill. He sends replies
once a week. - Kyodo News
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Accra
(Greater Accra) - 23 Sept 2003 - Minority leader in Parliament, Alban Bagbin
who has been on the quite for sometime now has advised the government of the
New Patriotic Party (NPP) not to repeat the mistakes of its predecessor, the
NDC in the disbursement of the Poverty Alleviation Fund (PAF).
He
admits the NDC made mistakes in giving out moneys to people for poverty
alleviation, which was misapplied and hoped that the NPP would have taken a cue
from that by assisting people to acquire farm lands and support them with
inputs such as tractors and high yielding seeds to step up production but they
had not learnt the lesson.
Bagbin
told "The Evening News" that giving out monies to people without
tackling the causes of poverty could not alleviate their plight. "There is
always the temptation for some people who face serious deprivation to spend
government loans to meet their immediate needs".
The
minority leader, also MP for Nadowli North said unless, the value system of
Ghanaians was tackled, poverty reduction strategies by the government would yield
little results. Elaborating on the value system, Mr. Bagbin said a significant
number of Ghanaians for instance; take delight in alcohol rather than food.
Bagbin said in other areas, people valued more wives than having a decent home.
The
minority leader said if the value system, which he identified as the main cause
of poverty, in Ghana, was not addressed, the objective of creating wealth as
enunciated in the government Poverty Reduction Strategy would be undermined.
Mr.
Bagbin criticised the strategy as not seeking to bridge the gap between the
regions that were better developed and those struggling for development. Citing
the Northern part of the country as an example, Bagbin said poverty level among
the people in that part of the country is the highest. Poverty level in the
Upper East region is 88 per cent, Upper West 84 per cent and Northern Region 69
per cent, saying it requires equitable measures and not equalizing methods as
the government was currently doing.
He
noted that all the presidential initiatives - cassava cultivation, cotton and
fabrics, palm oil and salt development were all located in the southern sector
of the country. Again, Bagbin said the building of model secondary school in
very district, construction of a feeder road in every region and upgrading of
clinics to hospital status were being done on equalizing basis and not geared
towards improving infrastructure in the deprived areas.
GRi…/
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Accra
(Greater Accra) - 23 Sept 2002 - A former Presidential aspirant of the
Convention People's Party (CPP), Mr George Oposika Aggudey, has said the party
stands the brightest chance of winning the 2004 polls and forming the next
political administration in January 2005.
He
said "Considering the Yearnings of the electorate for the return of the
CPP to manage the economy, I am strongly convinced that the party will upstage
all political parties which will contest the next elections to reshape the
social and economic direction of the country'. Mr Aggudey was addressing a
group of supporters who had called on with the 93rd birthday of the late
Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, which falls today, Saturday.
According
to Mr Aggudey, developments on the party's front regarding the assertiveness of
the leadership to snuff out attempts by elements he described as renegade
politicians within its ranks to mortgage it to other political forces have
re-awakened the enthusiasm of the members for its activities.
"The
leadership of the CPP, which has been entrusted with the mandate by the rank
and file, has learned its lessons the hard way and will not allow a few
elements who have a demonic agenda to dismember the front to have their own
way".
The
former presidential aspirant said considering the preparations that the party
has made to maintain existing supporters and woo back those who have joined
other political parties the CPP will definitely fight and win the next polls.
He said the fact that political parties on the country's political scene wish
the CPP to form an electoral alliance to contest the 2004 elections indicates
"the fears entertained by such parties that the CPP will cause a major
upset by winning the next parliamentary and presidential elections."
Mr
Aggudey said the social and economic prescriptions of Dr Nkrumah have and will
continue to have impact on the country's development, adding, "the
enormous suffering that country the is going through is because it has skipped
solutions prescribed by Nkrumah for solving her problems."
GRi…/
Accra
(Greater Accra) - 23 Sept 2002 - Former President Bill Clinton of the United
States arrived in the country yesterday to participate in the launch in Accra
of the Foundation for
Building
the Capital of the Poor. He is scheduled to deliver an address at the launching
of the Foundation, which he will be a patron.
President
J. A. Kufuor will launch the Foundation, which was set up by the government to
implement a Property Reform Programme.
Dr
Hernando De Soto, the renowned Peruvian economist and the Institute for Liberty
and Democracy in Peru developed The Property Reform Programme. He delivered a series of lectures in Accra
early this year at the invitation of the government and facilitated by the
UNDP.
Later
yesterday, Mr Clinton paid a courtesy call on President Kufuor and held
discussions with him behind closed doors. The discussions were, however,
believed to have centred on the launching of the foundation, economic and
political developments in Africa and other parts of the world.
The
meeting was attended by the Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, top government
functionaries, including Nana Akufo-Addo, Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, the
Minister of Information and Presidential Affairs, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, the
Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, the
Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Cooperation, Papa Owusu Ankomah, the
Majority Leader and the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Mrs Gladys Asmah,
the Minister of Women and Children's Affairs.
Briefing
newsmen after the meeting, Nana Akufo-Addo said that the foundation has a lot
of prospects for the country in terms of bringing all transactions into the
mainstream of Ghana's economy.
Speaking
to newsmen on arrival at the Kotoka International Airport on Saturday, Dr De
Soto said he decided to set up the foundation in Ghana because the government
had shown commitment to democratic principles by developing proper property
documentation for the poor people and persons living in the rural areas.
This,
he said, conformed with similar measures by the Peruvian Government on land
reforms, adding that "poor people could generate wealth if their property
and assets were incorporated into the mainstream of the country's
economy."
Mr
De Soto said, "the fact that the government is developing a property owing
democracy shows that the country is ready for the setting up of the
foundation." He said former President Clinton's love for Africa,
especially Ghana got him involved in the launching of the foundation in Ghana.
According
to an official programme, the first meeting of the board of directors of the
foundation will take place immediately after the launching ceremony. It said a
public event sponsored by the foundation will come off at the National Theatre
this afternoon. Speakers at the function are former President Clinton, Dr De
Soto, Mr J. H. Mensah, Senior Minister, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of
Finance, Prof Kasim Kassanga, Minister of Lands and Forestry. Nana Akufo-Addo
will be the Moderator. Former President Clinton leaves Accra this evening for
Abuja, Nigeria.
GRi…/
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Foundation for the poor to
be launched
Accra, (Greater Accra) 23 September 2002 - Mr Hernando Desoto, a Peruvian economist
and an accomplished development strategist, arrived in Accra on Saturday to
launch a Foundation for building capital for poor people.
Also expected in the country for the ceremony
was Former US President Bill Clinton.
Speaking to newsmen at the Kotoka International
Airport, Mr Desoto said he decided to set up the Foundation in Ghana because
the government had shown commitment to democratic principles by developing
proper property documentation for the poor people and persons living in the
rural areas.
This, he said conformed with similar measures
by the Peruvian government on land reforms; adding poor people could generate
wealth if their property and assets were incorporated into the mainstream of
the country's economy.
Mr Desoto said, " The fact that the
government is developing a property owing democracy shows that the country is
right for the setting up of the foundation."
He said former President Clinton's love for
Africa, especially Ghana got him involved in the launching of the Foundation in
Ghana.
Nana Akuffo Addo, Minister of Justice, and
Attorney General who met Mr Desoto on arrival said government was undertaking a
drastic review of the land tenure system and it would move forward with the
necessary innovations.
He said the work of the Foundation would be
very useful in reforming the laws as well as to help make proposals and share
experiences with countries that had succeeded with the Desoto principles.
Nana Addo said the Foundation would have a
defined scope of work as well as informing and sharing information with the
public for their support.
Also at the airport to welcome Mr Desoto was Mr
Alfred Fawunda, United Nation Development Programme country Director.
GRi…/
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Ashanti NDC cries foul over
NPP's campaign tactics
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 23 September 2002 - Mr Emmanuel
Nti-Fordjour, Ashanti Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress
(NDC), has condemned what, he says, is the smear campaign and deliberate lies
being peddled in the Kumawu constituency by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to
poison the minds of the electorate and ridicule the NDC's parliamentary
candidate in the bye-election.
"For once, one would have thought that
there would be responsible conduct from all the political actors to ensure
clean and healthy campaign for the seat, but this was never to be the case, as
the NPP has thrown decency to the wind and plunged into dirty politicking in
its desperate bid to win the poll," he said
Mr Nti-Fordjour said these in a statement in
Kumasi in reaction to alleged statements made by some leading members of the
NPP during the party's campaign rally at Dadiase that the NDC candidate, Mr
Richard Martin Osei, stole electricity poles whilst serving as Presiding Member
of the Sekyere East District Assembly.
The Ashanti NDC chairman challenged the NPP to
either deny or confirm the allegation, adding, "this is too painful and
libellous."
He reminded his fellow politicians to be
mindful of the fact that a person's image was his or her property and that
"it would be unfortunate for anyone to assume that he or she could
unjustifiably attack the image of another person and get away with it."
Mr Nti-Fordjour described Mr Osei as “a
gentleman and of high integrity and called on the electorate not to be swayed
by the vicious and wild allegations of the NPP.”
"I trust that the good people in the
constituency would see through the lies and vote massively for Mr Osei who for
several years served as Presiding Member of the district assembly," he
added.
GRi…/
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Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia passes
away
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 September 2002 -
Alhaji Mumuni Bawumia, Paramount Chief of Kperiga, near Walewale, in the
Northern Region, immediate past Chairman of the Council of State is reported
dead.
A statement issued in Accra on Sunday by the
family said he died at the Tamale Regional Hospital after a short illness. The
body would be buried the same day. The statement said final funeral rites would
be performed later.
GRi…/
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