Immigration Service to introduce measures to curb fraud
Road and Transport
Ministry would review fares if ...
Accra (Greater Accra) 24 September 2002- The Ministry of Roads and Highways on Monday said it had asked private transport associations to come up with proposals for consideration for the demand to increase transport fares.
Speaking with the Ghana News Agency in Accra on the demand of drivers to increase fares, Dr Richard Anane, the sector Minister, said the Ghana Road Transport Co-ordinating Council, the umbrella organisation of transport unions, had been in consultations with the Ministry on their intended increases but the Council was yet to present the proposals to the Ministry.
He said at a meeting with the executives of the transport unions with officials of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Progressive Transport Owners Association, Co-operative Transport Union, the Omnibus Services Authority (OSA) and the Haulage Transport Union, the members dissociated themselves from Monday's strike and demonstration by a section of drivers in parts of the metropolis.
He said the transport unions informed him that they would hold a meeting on Wednesday, 25 September and hopefully submit their proposals to the Ministry by Friday, 27 September.
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Nkrankwanta (Brong Ahafo) 24 September 2002- A farmer in Nkrankwanta in the Dormaa District of Brong Ahafo has attributed the high poverty level among farmers to their inability to adopt scientific farming practices and to diversify their operations.
Mr Ankomah Agyemang, chairman of the Nkrankwanta Area Council told Ghana News Agency that the situation was also caused by the failure of most of the farmers to save part of their incomes.
He, therefore, advised his colleagues to invest part of their incomes in viable economic ventures to improve their living conditions. The Chairman appealed to his colleagues to adopt modern farming practices to increase their yields.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 September 2002- President John Agyekum Kufuor on Monday said a major challenge facing the government was how to convince chiefs, the people and other stakeholders to accept a uniform land tenure system.
He said the challenge was on how such uniformity would protect the rights of ownership and lending of lands to modern business practices in the country.
President Kufuor said this at the launch of the Foundation for Building the Capital of the Poor (FBCP), a programme initiated by the government and devised to assist in mobilising the assets held by the poor to facilitate their economic development.
The Foundation would also establish a regional training institute in Accra for the benefit of other African countries interested in property reform programmes. It is a non-profit making company, which was developed jointly through the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) and the Institute for Liberty and Democracy (ILD) based in Peru and supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
A seven-member Board of Directors would govern the Foundation with representatives from the Ministries of Lands and Forestry, Local Government and Rural Development and Justice.
President Kufuor said in most parts of the country, chiefs are the custodians and trustees of land for their people and the customs and practices of land law and usage vary from traditional area to another around the country.
He said the National House of Chiefs; the embodiment of the country's customs and traditions was the best institution to assist the nation to bring about the uniformity in land tenure system for the proper growth of the economy.
" Fortunately, the institution of chieftaincy is attracting many enlightened people on whom we can count to take on the challenge of educating the people. There is nothing to fear from harmonising and modernising land law and usage around the country", he added.
President Kufuor stressed the need for a review of some of the social, political, economic ideas and the leadership skills that had been deployed in governance to pull the country out of the debilitating poverty since independence 45 years ago.
He said the Foundation, which would bring into the formal economic sector all lands and business assets through proper legal registration should also make land bankable property and provide credit access to title-holders.
Mr Alfred Salia Fawundu, UNDP Resident Representative in Ghana said launching of the Foundation had given a re-birth to Ghana's independence to make the poor Ghanaian contribute to wealth creation.
He explained that UNDP supported the Foundation as a facilitator and also to serve as a catalyst for wealth creation in Ghana. Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo, Attorney General and Minister of Justice said government was determined to continue with the path of democratic consolidation for Ghana to become a nation governed by the rule of law and respect for human rights.
He said with the hard work, dynamism and enterprise of the Ghanaian, given the right, conducive atmosphere and the strong support, the state could exploit successfully and effectively the market economy to raise the living standards of the broad masses.
The Minister of Justice said "to do this, we must stimulate indigenous investment and attract foreign investment into the country to assist in achieving the structural transformation of the national economy. We must also promote a sane legal environment to allow the market to flourish".
Present were the Vice President Aliu Mahama, the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Edward Kwame Wiredu and Chairman of the Council of State, Professor Alex Kwapong.
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Mbandaka (DR Congo) 24 September 2002- Ghana has pledged its continued support for keeping efforts in the world, especially at the hot spots in Africa to ensure that she played her role in the Africa Union effectively.
Ghana's Deputy Defence Minister, Edward Matey Akita, who was at the head of a delegation to the Ghanaian contingents' medal day ceremony in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) declared at the end of a ten-day visit to the troops.
Extending President John Agyekum Kufuor's warm felicitations to the people of the DR Congo and the troops, Mr Akita affirmed Ghana's readiness to support the peace process in the DRC as a member of the African Union.
Ghanbatt Two, with the main nucleus taken from the 66 Artillery Unit of the Ghana Armed forces at Ho in the Volta Region took over its area of responsibility from the Ghanbatt One on May 12, this year at Mbandaka, the capital of the Equatorial province of the DRC.
There are about 403 Ghanaian soldiers currently serving with MONUC in the DR Congo. Mbandaka, a relatively calm town in the western part of the DRC is under the control of government forces.
Ghanbatt Two is to provide security and protection for United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC,s) installations, Military Observers and Civilian staff of the UN and the locals whose lives are threatened and to assist the civilian authority to restore peace in that country.
Major General Mountaga Diallo, the Force Commander of the MONUC commended Ghana for her untiring efforts at ensuring peace not only on the African continent but the world at large.
He noted that despite the socio-economic hardships faced by many developing countries, Ghana continued to make large sacrifices and contributions towards the realisation of world peace.
Maj. Gen. Diallo was speaking at an impressive medal day parade held by the second Ghanaian battalion (Ghanbatt 2) serving with MONUC at Mbandaka, the Equatorial Province of the DRC, at which nine officers and 85 men were awarded the UN peace medals for their contribution to the peace in that country.
The UN peace medals are awarded to deserving peacekeepers that have served in their areas of operations for about three months. Personnel of Ghanbatt Two took over from Ghanbatt one in the DRC on 12 May 2002.
Maj. Gen. Diallo praised the high level of professionalism and hard work exhibited by the Ghanaian troops, saying that he was hopeful that the peace process would be achieved with the presence of the Ghanaian soldiers.
He said Ghanbatt Two had successfully carried out its task satisfactorily, combining it with humanitarian activities, and he expressed the optimism that their presence in the area would solicit the needed support and corporation of the warring factions to move the peace process head.
Later at a reception to mark the medal parade day, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General (SRSG) to the DR Congo, Mr Amos Amanga Ngoji lauded Ghana's unrelenting role in the quest for world peace, recalling the role Dr. Kwame Nkrumah played to foster African unity.
He recalled that Ghana's participation in peacekeeping in the DR Congo dating from the 1960's and said Ghana has come to bring peace to that country again and identified 17 other areas where Ghana was helping to bring peace.
Mr Ngoji noted that the Ghanaian soldiers were creating an environment of confidence and safety in their areas of operations in the DR Congo and expressed the hope that Ghana would continue to lend its support to the peace process in that country.
He noted that peace in Africa could only be achieved if other African countries supported one another in various initiatives for peace.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 24 September 2002 - About 70 percent of laboratory staff at government and mission hospitals is unqualified, a Ministry of Health (MOH) survey of 205 facilities has revealed.
The survey also established that there was no health laboratory system in Ghana today that has the requisite skilled manpower and equipment for monitoring the progress of HIV/AIDS treatment on patients.
Mr David Tete-Donkor, National President of the Association of Ghana Medical Laboratory Scientists disclosed this at the association's 3rd national delegates congress at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi.
The congress was under the theme: "Bio-medical sciences - the key to the diagnosis of communicable and non-communicable diseases.
"Mr Tete-Donkor said current structures, especially in the health laboratory system had to be radically transformed to meet new challenges, "if Ghana means business in its health delivery system."
He said a good laboratory set up alone could not produce an efficient health care delivery system until users were well educated about their appropriateness and effective use. Both will ensure that diseases were more accurately diagnosed, drugs prescribed more selectively and disease surveillance improved.
In a message read on his behalf by Dr Kyei Faried, Acting Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services, Mr Moses Dani-Baah, Deputy Minister of Health said the MOH had been inundated with public complaints of wrongful diagnosis and misinterpretation of laboratory results.
He also expressed concern about the continued loss of Ghana Health Services laboratory staff to NGOs, private practice and to neighbouring countries. Mr Dani-Baah said government was outlining a mechanism to check the anomalies.
One of such measures is the multi-purpose institutional and in-service training currently being held for laboratory staff to enable them to sharpen their skills in diagnosis and case management.
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Obuasi (Western Region) 24 September 2002- Mr Joseph K. Boampong, the Adansi West District Chief Executive, has said the government was aiming at getting at least 10,000 girls in basic and secondary schools to read science-based subjects.
''This policy forms part of an initiative to get at least 35 percent of girls in senior secondary schools to choose science as an elective subject.
'' Mr Boampong who was opening the district's Science, Technology and Mathematics Education (STME) clinic for girls at Obuasi, said no country could develop without the ability to generate and apply science and technology.
''Appropriate technology needs to be promoted to support agriculture, rural and medium scale enterprises. '' He said the District Assembly would continue to support the organisations of the STME clinic for girls as part of efforts to reduce gender stereotypes.
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Nsawam (Eastern Region) 24 September 2002- There would a major catastrophe in the country in five years if measures are not taken to stem the spread of the HIV/AIDS through education and the banning of lesbianism and homosexualism.
The warning was given at the weekend by Hon Seth Wiafe Danquah, Member of Parliament (MP) for Akwapim South when he toured parts of his constituency to sensitise the youth on HIV/AIDS.
Places he visited included Asante Akuraa and Gyankrom. He Ghana should take a cue from some African countries with the highest number of AIDS cases, which have brought about many orphans and single parents.
He said the youth should not be swayed by monetary gains to engage in illicit sex and rather be faithful to their partners or use condoms to protect them from infection.
Mr Kofi Aboagye and Sesili Shirley, both officials of Community Base Organisation (CBO), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) who jointly chaired the function, thanked the MP for his concern and advised the public to join in the crusade against the spread of HIV/AIDS.
They appealed to the AIDS Commission not to concentrate the campaign against the disease in the urban centres alone but extend it to the rural areas.
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Cape Coast (Central Region) 24 September 2002- The Central Regional Minister, Mr Isaac Edumadze, on Monday urged district assemblies to help curtail the huge expenditure for the rehabilitation of disaster victims, by intensifying prevention campaigns.
He observed that although some disasters were natural, other ones could be prevented since, they were caused through "irresponsible activities and sheer disregard for the norms and values of good environmental practices by individuals, groups and industries".
The Regional Minister, made the call in an address read on his behalf at a workshop on disaster management at Cape Coast. Mr Edumadze recounted preventable disasters, which lead to loss of lives and property, such as the 9 May Stadium incident and the fire outbreaks at markets in Kumasi, Takoradi and Accra.
The workshop coincided with the inauguration of the Regional Disaster Management Committee with members from the Information Services Department, Police, Fire Service, Department of Social Welfare and the Regional Health Directorate.
He said property amounting to more than 2.5 billion cedis, were destroyed between January and June this year, through disasters in the region. Out of the amount, 1.9 billion cedis were through hydro-meteorological disasters like floods and windstorms while fire outbreaks took 600 million cedis.
Mr. Edumadze said the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) should be given enough funds to enable it help prevent and manage disasters and to form prevention volunteer clubs in schools and communities.
Brigadier (rtd) Joseph Odei, National Coordinator of NADMO, noted that even though no country had ever managed disaster satisfactorily, "when emergencies are not managed properly, disasters occur".
He said the Organisation was being restructured to manage emergencies in the pre-disaster phase properly. National, regional and district management and technical advisory committees, would be formed among other interventions.
Mr. William Adjei Banin, Regional NADMO Coordinator, appealed to members of the committee to help evolve strategies for disaster management and prevention. The Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Professor Kobina Yankson, advised NADMO to help identify disasters peculiar to districts for preventive measures.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 September 2002- Mr G.D.A. Laryea, Counsel for Amina Abubakari-Sadiq, popularly known as Baby Ocansey, on Monday told an Accra Regional Tribunal to acquit his client on all the four charges preferred against her.
Mr Laryea contended that the prosecution had woefully failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt, its case against his client. Counsel, who was addressing the three-member tribunal, chaired by Mr. Isaac Duose, said that there was not enough evidence adduced by the prosecution to warrant Ocansey's trial by the tribunal.
He, therefore, prayed the tribunal to acquit his client on all the four charges of possessing forged documents, altering forged documents, stealing, and causing financial loss to the state. Mr. Laryea pleaded with the tribunal that if his client was exonerated, an order should be made to restore her confiscated house and impounded vehicles.
Harping on possessing forged documents, counsel told the tribunal that since his client was not the author of the cheque, the subject matter of her trial, she could not know that it was forged. Counsel said on the totality of evidence before the tribunal, there was not a single evidence to show that accused knew or had reason to know that the document was a forged one.
On the question of altering forged documents, counsel said that three of the prosecution witnesses, who were officials of the Bank of Ghana, admitted that they could not see anything wrong with the cheque that Ocansey presented.
According to counsel, his client did not steal the money in question because after presenting the cheque, the accused did not in any way influence any of the bank officials in its clearance, and that it was the officials, who invited her five weeks later to cash part of the money.
On the fourth charge of causing financial loss to the state, counsel submitted that there was nothing to show that the cheque was her personal cheque adding, "if the charge of stealing failed, that of causing financial loss to the state should also fail".
Earlier, Mr Gabriel Puamang, a legal practitioner, and a defence witness, had told the tribunal that in connection with this case, sometime in February 2000; he received a telephone call from the accused, who told him that she had a case with the police and that she could not make herself available at that time.
Mr. Puamang, who was led in evidence by Mr Laryea said Ocansey told him that with a change in the administration of the country, she was going to turn herself to the law enforcement authority and that she needed a lawyer to accompany her and therefore, asked if he could lead her.
According to him, he thought about it and replied that it was not going to be appropriate to handle it and so he suggested that she should find someone to do so.
He said when he asked if she had a lawyer in mind, she replied that someone mentioned Mr Nkrabea Effah-Dartey to her, adding, "I said Mr Effah- Dartey was competent enough to deal with the matter".
Witness said that he managed to get the contact address for Ocansey, and that he put them into contact, saying, "I did not know whatever transpired between them". The case was adjourned to Thursday, September 26, when the prosecution would address the tribunal.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 September 2002- The National Executive Council of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) on Monday, dissociated itself from the strike action and demonstration by some drivers in Accra on Monday.
It condemned the action and called on the police to investigate the demonstration and expose the perpetrators and those behind it. A statement issued by the Council and signed by Mr. Charles Ankomah, the General Secretary said, "the Council condemns the demonstration in no uncertain terms and calls on the police to expose the perpetrators and those possibly behind them".
It said, "the Council has learnt with great shock, the unfortunate demonstration by some drivers, which took place in certain parts of Accra on Monday, 23 September and wish to assure the public that the Union was not responsible for that action".
The Union reiterated its stand to seek redress on road transport grievances through the Ghana Road Transport Co-ordinating Council (GRTCC) but "not in such a lawless demonstration, which by careful consideration of its timing and venue suggests the possibility of something else".
The Council had in an earlier statement issued on Thursday, 19 September warned that any of its member, who would embark on a strike action would not only be sanctioned by the union but would also face the full rigours of the law.
It said the Council at an emergency meeting took a serious view of the repercussions such an action could have on the travelling masses in particular and the economy in general.
The Council noted that the GRTCC responsible for fixing lorry fares was taking appropriate steps to address the issue and advised all members of the union to exercise restraint.
It said all Regional and Branch Officers of the Union were asked to report any slightest sign of such a demonstration without delay. However, drivers who spoke to the GNA said they took the action because the police were harassing them by their indiscriminate arrest at the least offence.
They said they also wanted a review of the current lorry fares to cushion the effect of the 300 per cent increase in insurance premiums and the high cost of spare parts.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 September 2002- The Food and Drugs Board (FDB) on Monday warned against Kellogs crunchy nut Corn flakes (Irresistible Delicious) which has its expiry date defaced making it dangerous for consumption.
According to the FBD the products bore no production times whiles the best before dates were stamped in blue ink. It said the front face of the pack has a yellow background with a picture of corn flakes in milk scooped with a spoon, while the opposite face of the pack has the picture of seven ladies.
The new best before date stamped on the product is 12 November 2002 had an oily appearance and lost its crispiness and smell of mouldy bread.
The second product Kellogg's Corn Flakes (wake up to sunshine breakfast) weighing 500 grams had a picture of a green cock and five kids with their head clustered in circular fashion and smiling.
The picture is captured at the other face of the pack and the brand, which has developed a foul smell and lost its crispiness, has a new best before date stamped on the product as 31 December 2002.
The FBD said the products were found around Okaishie and Makola market zones at relatively cheaper prices and the general public "is therefore, being asked to take note of this serious food safety hazard and look out for products information on every packed and canned food to ensure that products with tampered dates are not patronised". It said other batches of the same product within their life period could be patronised.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 September 2002- Police on Monday arrested four people during demonstration of drivers on strike a junction on the main-road from La to the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel.
The arrest followed a scuffle between the police and a group of drivers and the youth at La when the police tried to clear a roadblock the drivers mounted to draw attention to what they called "harassment by the Police" among other concerns that resulted in the strike action.
The windscreens of two of the Police new “Pajero” vehicles were smashed, and at least three persons, including a 17-year-old JSS pupil were hurt when the Police fired tear gas to disperse the rowdy crowd.
Miss Comfort Obih, the JSS three pupil of Osu Manhaean JSS who fell unconscious after a tear gas hit her was treated at the La Polyclinic, while Mr Christian Ako Nai, who also fell unconscious was resuscitated by relations who were then around.
The third person, Ashitey Amarh, 20, who said he met the scene on his return from the beach claimed he was hurt in the forehead and had been treated and discharged from the La Polyclinic.
Chief Superintendent Kofi Boakye, Greater Accra Regional Police Commander, who led the Police Force to clear the road-blocks warned the demonstrators not to take the law into their own hands, saying the police would deal with any person or group of persons who held public demonstrations contrary to the public order law.
He said democracy did not mean mob rule and warned that the Police were prepared to contain any situation that would breach the peace. ii Quarshie Gene, Chairman of the La Branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union speaking to the GNA dissociated the drivers of the branch from the demonstration and showed an unsigned letter purported to have been written by a group calling itself New Tema Station Positive Concerned Drivers Association calling on drivers in the metropolis to embark on a strike action to demand an amicable solution by the Police to traffic offences the drivers committed.
Nii Gene said in as much as there were several issues, including the need to reconsider a 300 per cent upward adjustment insurance fees, and the need to raise commercial transport fares to meet the rising costs of spare parts, the union, in no way supported the strike action and thus members of the GPRTU have their vehicles on the road.
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Christians urged to
support crusade against indiscipline.
New Edubiase (Ashanti Region) 24 September 2002- Mr Joe Boampong, Adansi West District Chief Executive, has called on Christians to show greater commitment to the crusade against indiscipline in the society.
Mr Boampong made the call in a speech read for him at the opening of the Third Annual Delegates Conference of the Association of Methodist Men's Fellowships of the Obuasi Diocese at New Edubiase in Ashanti.
He expressed concern about the increasing acts of indiscipline at a time when churches were springing up each day in the society. The District Chief Executive, therefore, charged Christians to put in place practical efforts to rid the society of all traces of indiscipline.
Mr Boampong said: "unless Christians muster the courage for self-criticism in their lives, the discipline that we are all yearning for will continue to elude us".
The Bishop of the Diocese, The Rt. Rev Samuel Agyei-Mensah, said the church has an important role to play in the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS within the Diocese, especially at Obuasi where cases of AIDS is said to be on the increase.
He reminded Christians of the immense contributions expected of them in the support and care for the people living with HIV/AIDS.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 24 September 2002- Ghana Immigration Service would from next year install a database system that would register all persons entering the country in order to monitor and regulate their activities during their stay.
"This would help stem the rampant activities of advanced fraudsters who have found safe haven in the country lately," Mrs Elizabeth Adjei, Director of the Service, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra.
She said a study had been conducted for the establishment of such a mechanism and it would take off in 2003. Mrs Adjei said the system would help secure the country's boundaries and assist security agencies to easily thwart activities of people who come into the country with clandestine motives.
''Since Ghana is one of the few countries in the Sub-Region with a stable and strong economy it has become attractive to many businesses, both genuine and unscrupulous. "There is, therefore, the need to have a mechanism to be able to match arrivals with departures and also detect document fraud and impersonation."
She said even though Ghana, like other ECOWAS countries, had signed a treaty on immigration and integration this should not be at the expense of national sovereignty, which for now must be maintained.
The Immigration Chief said the security of anyone entering the country was the primary responsibility of the state and for that matter appropriate measures would have to be in place to ensure this.
Asked whether this new development was not aimed at curbing advanced fraud committed mainly by Nigerians, Mrs Adjei said: "Not all Nigerians are criminals but it also up to Ghanaians to take security seriously."
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