US Ambassador commissions wardens' quarters

The West stands to gain from strong third World economies - Swiss Ambassador

Fire razes down houses in Kumasi

Rawlings praises Chinese technology

Electoral Commission refutes accusation

Examine stories in private media - Mahama

Rawlings briefs Bill Gates Foundation

President Rawlings apologises for excesses in last sessional address to Parliament

Political leaders, legislators see apology as reconciliatory

Highlights of President's State of nation Address

Road sector stakeholders meet

Yendi Chief Executive urges NDC members to close ranks

Abrafo (Central Region), 13^th January 2000

The United States ambassador in Ghana, Ms Kathryn Dee Robinson, on Tuesday commissioned a 206,000 dollars staff quarters for wardens at Kakum National Park at Abrafo in the Twifu Hemang Lower Denkyira district in the Central Region.

The construction of the quarters for both junior and senior wardens was funded with a grant from the US Army Corps Engineers and was undertaken by the Ghana Armed Forces 48th Field Regiment.

As part of the grant, a two kilometre road and two culverts were constructed to link the site to Abrafo and the main Cape Coast Kakum road.

The ambassador said the housing project is one of the examples of US assistance to support Ghana's growing and flourishing tourism industry and its vital conservation sector.

Ms Robinson announced that the second phase of the project involving the construction and maintenance of access roads would be funded with a further grant of 294,000 dollars.

She said the US army corps of engineers has contributed 450,000 dollars to the Shai Hills National Game Park, adding that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has granted 200,000 dollars to Conservation International (CI) to fund programmes in Ghana's tourism and conservation sector.

Lt. Col. Charles Agbenaza (RTD) outgoing Central regional minister, in a speech read for him said the conservation of natural resources can go hand in hand with the development of economic opportunities.

The minister commended USAID and the US army corps engineers for their support adding that the housing project would help improve upon activities at the park.

Okyeame Ampadu-Agyei, Country Director of Conservation International, (CI) said by June this year CI will hand over the management of Kakum park to a local non-governmental organisation, the Ghana Heritage Conservation Trust, which will receive a two million dollar endowment from USAID to ensure the conservation of biodiversity.

He said CI is scaling down its activities in the Central region to enable it to assist other regions in the conservation of their biodiversity adding that consideration is being given to a suggestion to turn the Achimota forest in Accra into a creative eco-tourism centre.

The director said visitation at to the Kakum National Park grew from zero in 1991 to 75,000 a year in 1999, raking in revenue in excess of 150,000 dollars annually and making Kakum the first profit generating Park in Ghana.

He appealed to USAID to include electricity and telephone facilities in the second phase of the project.

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Ho (Volta Region), 13^th January 2000

Dr Peter Schweizer, Swiss Ambassador in Ghana has called on developed economies to add mechanisms that will strengthen the economies of third world countries to their debt relief and assistance packages.

This is because debt relief without accompanying mechanisms for picking up economic strength would only result in temporary respites and weak markets.

Dr Schweizer delivering a lecture on ''Globalisation and Regional Integration,'' as part of a 'Swiss cultural week' in Ho, said ''one can only sell to a customer, who has money to pay.''

He said strong developing economies would also provide the political, social, economic, labour and security guarantees, which developed countries require to expand their investment fields in a globalised world.

Dr Schweizer, however, advised developing countries to adopt sound economic policies to be able to cope with the effects of globalisation.

Referring to differences among the developed countries at the Seattle Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), he said: "developing countries have little hope for gaining further concessions from the industrialised world, as long as the Western camp is split in itself."

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Kumasi (Ashanti), 13^th January 2000

Two separate fire-outbreaks at Ashanti New Town and New Tafo, all suburbs of the Kumasi Metropolis, has razed down a number of residential apartments and destroyed property estimated at more than 300 million cedis.

The affected houses include a three-storey building at New Tafo and the Manhyia Extension at Ashanti New Town. The cause of the fire is yet to be established.

In both instances, there were no deaths or injuries.

It took a combined team of the Fire personnel from the Manhyia, Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) and the Kumasi Metropolitan Fire station a hectic time to combat the fires.

The storey block at New Tafo had its last floor comprising 14 rooms completely devastated while four rooms out of a 16-roomed compound house at Ashanti New Town, were also razed down by the fire.

More than 210 million cedis, six million CFA and 20,000 dollars belonging to one Mr. Osei Yaw Adu, Managing Director of Abigossey Enterprise, an occupant, were lost to the fire.

A team of officials from the Kumasi Metropolitan secretariat of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), led by Mr Yaw Oppong-Kyekyeku, the Metro NADMO Co-ordinator, yesterday visited the two scenes to inspect the havoc.

Narrating the incident, at New Tafo, Madam Akosua Dwaabor, one of the victims said the fire was spotted on the top floor of the building at about 1.30 p.m. last Friday.

She said some so-called some people who rushed to the scene under the pretext of helping to salvage items from the fire, rather made away with the goods.

At the house at Ashanti New Town, a spokesman for the victims, Mr Ohene Annor, said "about 12 million cedis in cash was lost not to the fire, but stolen by people who came round to help.

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Accra (Greater Accra), 13^th January 2000

President Jerry John Rawlings said on Wednesday that Sino-Ghanaian relations have increased over the past few years and that co-operation between the two countries should not be allowed to slacken again.

"We have learnt our bitter lessons of the past. We should not allow our relations to cool again'', he said when he granted audience to Madam Wu Yi, State Counsellor of China, at the Castle, Osu.

Madam Wu is in Ghana as part of an African tour that will take her to Benin, Togo, Botswana and Madagascar.

Ghana and China enjoyed good relations during the First Republic but relations cooled after the overthrow of late President Kwame Nkrumah and many Chinese-funded projects were abandoned.

President Rawlings said since Ghana/China relations picked up again, Ghana has gained much in areas of Chinese technology and expertise.

"Technology from China is as good as those from other parts of the world and it is cheaper", he said.

President Rawlings said China has come a long way from the stormy days of its formative years. "China is a great country. We want it to continue growing to be a partner with every nation and enemy to none''.

He said Ghana wants to see a healthy co-operation between developed and developing countries. "We want to see healthy international relations where rich countries will help the poor ones".

"Competition in international business is healthy but it should not be done at the expense of developing countries. We do not want to see a new global order full of tension'', President Rawlings said.

Madam Wu said her country and Ghana have enjoyed good relations and that they should seek other areas of co-operation.

She said President Rawlings' two visits to China helped to further strengthen their relations. "Those two visits greatly promoted bilateral co-operation".

Madam Wu said China is desirous to build friendly ties with Africa and to expand Sino-African relations.

Dr John Abu, Minister of Mines and Energy, said areas China has interest in investing in include agriculture, agricultural processing and telecommunications.

"Chinese investment in Ghana has been rising over the past four years and now ranks second to the United Kingdom. China is also interested in the energy sector as well as cocoa''.

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Accra (Greater Accra), 13^th January 2000

Mr. David Kangah, Deputy Electoral Commissioner Wednesday refuted accusations by the Minority Group in parliament that the EC sidelined Parliament in 1999.

Reacting to accusations in the Minority group's annual report that the EC had side stepped Parliament in its operations, Mr. Kangah said the EC as an organisation funded by government, seeks parliamentary approval and attends budget hearings for its fiscal budgets every year.

He said assistance from donor communities to the EC is done through the government and the UNDP which co-ordinates the activities of the donors and therefore do not have to necessarily go through Parliament.

Mr. Kangah the EC has had a lot of interaction with Parliament as well as the political parties adding that reforms in the political party law were initiated by the EC when it observed the difficulties inherent in it.

The EC also organised national forums in three regions two workshops for parliamentarians at Akosombo and Ada to seek their views on the political parties Law.

He said deliberations from these workshops were discussed at Intra-party Meetings which are attended by representatives of all parties as well as the EC.

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Bole (Northern Region), 13^th January 2000

Mr. John Mahama, Minister of Communications has asked Ghanaians to critically examine stories in the private media before taking them down line, hook and sinker.

"Some of these papers and radio stations have been set-up with the political motive of removing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government from power through the deliberate peddling of lies, distortions and fabrications just to discredit the government".

Mr. Mahama who is also the MP for Bole said this at an end of year get-together organised by the Bole constituency of NDC for assembly, unit committee and executive members of the party at Bole on Sunday.

He said since majority of people in the rural areas believe what they hear and read from the radio and newspapers, it is necessary for the media to be prudent and to exercise restraint in their reportage for the sake of national interest.

The Minister appealed to the electorate to vote according to their conscience for the party that can develop the country instead of considering material gains.

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Accra (Greater Accra), 13^th January 2000

President Jerry Rawlings on Wednesday called for more cooperation between developed and developing countries to accelerate development.

He said that, "Africans are not asking to be spoon fed but to be given a helping hand to enable us stand".

President Rawlings was speaking at the airport when he saw off a 12- member delegation of the Bill Gates Foundation after a three-day visit to Ghana as part of a three-nation African tour.

The delegation led by its President, Ms Patty Stonesifer was in the country to inspect health related projects funded by the Foundation.

President Rawlings expressed his appreciation for the work being done by the Foundation and said "the time has come for major companies to channel some of their resources to assist poor countries especially in the areas of health and education".

President Rawlings briefed journalists accompanying the delegation about efforts the government is making to provide quality education and good health especially primary health care and said that, "this is being hindered by the scarce financial resources".

He acknowledged that, "although a chunk of budgetary allocation goes into health and educational sectors, there are still many who cannot enter university because of lack of facilities to accommodate them.

" Many doctors are leaving the country because they are not well remunerated.

They are not provided with sophisticated equipment to work with and also critical health conditions are sent outside for treatment."

President Rawlings called for assistance for Ghana's health delivery and educational systems to enable her maintain her development momentum.

Mr Trevor Nielson, Communications Director of the Foundation said they chose Ghana because the country is in the forefront of polio.

He said the foundation has committed about two million dollars to health delivery in Obuasi, Amponyasi in the Ashanti region and Nsawam and Pakro in the Eastern region.

Mr Nielson said the Foundation is in the process of committing more money to Ghana's health delivery system in the areas of eradicating tuberculosis, malaria as well as improving women's health.

Also at the airport was the First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings.

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 President Rawlings apologises for excesses in last sessional address to Parliament

President Jerry John Rawlings on Thursday apologised to those who feel offended in one way or the other since he came onto the political scene some 18 years ago.

In his last address to Parliament before bowing out of office next year, President Rawlings said "we could not have turned the country round, nor come this far, without some difficult, painful, unpalatable but necessary decisions.

"In the process, we have offended some people. We have upset some people. We have hurt some people. To all such persons, I say we are sorry".

President Rawlings in his 33-page address said, "consider your personal offence, upset or hurt the small price you have had to pay for the greater collective good.

"Friends we have lost, relationships that have been broken, acquaintances lost that have been shattered must all be considered part of the process.

"What is important is the desire to restore these relationships and hopefully a determination on all sides to do so".

President Rawlings said, "we set out to make a revolution. Without that revolution, we could not have arrived at the situation we are fortunate to find ourselves in today - with a stable political order and democratic Constitution.

"It is said that you cannot fry an egg or they say make an omelette without breaking an egg. We could not have achieved what we have without stepping on some toes".

He said "as we come to the end of our second term in office, we will continue to pursue our vision for Ghana, where there is freedom and justice, equality and equity, progress and development.

"We will continue to champion our development agenda to see a Ghana with economic and social infrastructure extended to every part of the country"

The President said, "we need to have a vision of what we would like Ghana to look like in the next 50 years. Indeed in the next 100 years."

"We need to lay the foundations for a solid nation - state to bequeath to our children, our children's children and to generations unborn".

On Chieftaincy conflicts President Rawlings said: "We have, in recent times, witnessed too many bloody conflicts in chieftaincy matters resulting in loss of lives and property.

"Chieftaincy matters are largely out of the hands of Central Government but we cannot allow it to degenerate to a complete breakdown of law and order with its resultant destruction of our cherished chieftaincy tradition."

The President told the House that while respecting the provisions of the constitution in respect of chieftaincy, government would not hesitate to do what is necessary to ensure law and order.

"We will not tolerate abuse of religious freedom nor will we tolerate irresponsibility towards others and society as a whole."

On telecommunications, President Rawlings said the expansion in the sector has not been without its problems. Increased access to telephone and Internet use have resulted in an increase in telephone traffic of nearly 500 per cent.

"Traffic has shot ahead of systems expansion resulting in congestion. We expect the measures being put in place by the Ministry of Communications and the National Communications Authority to bring about a marked improvement."

A second network operator, WESTEL, is set to expand its network to Kumasi and Takoradi this year and subsequently to all the regional capitals.

The President said a feasibility study for rural telephone network in Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions has been completed and presented to the Ministry of Communications for consideration.

Under the project, which will continue this year, rural communities in the four regions will be connected to the national telecommunications network using wireless technology.

President Rawlings spoke about private participation in broadcasting and said the drive for profit is so strong that there is little circumspection as to what is broadcast.

"I hope the entrepreneurs in this new and exciting industry will listen to the voice of reason and measure up to their responsibility to protect our children, protect our environment as well as our cultural values.

"Above all, they owe a responsibility to use the medium to promote unity, stability and social cohesion and not become instruments of disinformation, political vendetta and of gratuitious insult to other Ghanaians."

President Rawlings appealed to the nation to approach this year's elections in the spirit of unity and nationhood.

"We must all work to ensure, free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections devoid of violence, devoid of insults and devoid of acrimony," he said in his State of the Nation address to Parliament.

He confirmed that his appearance in the House for the sessional address would be his last after a successful transition to constitutional rule from the PNDC era in 1993.

President Rawlings said his team has succeeded thus far because it has been vigilant, pragmatic and level-headed in its relations and dealings with the ordinary people.

He drew cheers and jeers from the floor when he said he was leaving the legacy of vigilance, level-headedness and pragmatic economic policies for Vice-President John Evans Atta Mills or "whoever my successor may be."

President Rawlings said he and his team entered the Ghanaian political scene at a time when they were least prepared for it.

"Indeed it had never been part of any plan of mine to enter politics. But my baptism of fire into the political realm was a product of the anger and frustration of the people and the times.

"We should never forget those times, because if we do, we shall be caught unawares.

"Too many of us are taking the people for granted. We are lapsing into the old delusions of election equals democracy, equals security.

But this is wrong. Beyond elections are the aspirations of the people and the quality of life that they are able to live."

President Rawlings therefore called on members of his government and opposition to join forces and listen to the complaints of the people and fashion responsible responses that will address their genuine problems.

"We cannot be complacent in the face of impatience of the people. If we are, we stand not only the risk of political apathy and indifference, but creating conditions that could lead to stormy upheaval."

The president said as his government comes to the end of its second term, it will continue to pursue its vision for Ghana "where there is freedom and justice, equality and equity, progress and development."

He said they will continue to champion their development agenda to see to a Ghana with economic and social infrastructure extended to every part of the country.

"We will continue to work for a Ghana where every child completes basic education and as many adults as possible proceed to tertiary and other higher level institutions.

"We will continue with measures to ensure a Ghana where the enabling environment is conducive to further stimulate private sector growth and investor confidence.

"We will continue with our programmes top create a society of opportunity for all and put within the power of each of us to fulfil our true potential."

President Rawlings said to achieve these would not be easy but said they have an agenda to complete and that must even go beyond the year 2020, which is the target they have set themselves in their medium-term vision.

"We need to lay foundations for a solid nation-state to bequeath to our children, our children's children and to generations yet unborn."

New cocoa factory to be set up:

President Rawlings said a new cocoa processing factory will be established within the year to raise the total capacity of local processing from 84,000 metric tonnes to 100,000 tonnes in the short-term and 150,000 tonnes in the medium- term.

Liberalisation of external marketing of coca programmes will also be initiated to help address the calamity affecting one of Ghana's major traditional exports.

President Rawlings said the fall in the price of the commodity "has hit historically low levels due especially to the decision of chocolate manufacturers in Europe to increase the quantity of vegetable fat used in the production of chocolate".

He said cocoa production for the last season dropped slightly from 400,000 tonnes to 397,742 tonnes.

In spite of the reduction in the price on the world market, the government maintained the producer price at 2.25 million cedis per tonne to further reduce poverty in the rural areas.

The President noted that over 800,000 families depend on cocoa for their livelihood, saying the price was also maintained to "fulfil the government's pledge to give cocoa farmers their due of the value of their produce".

"It is worth noting that the current producer price announced in June 1999 is 74 per cent of the FOB (Free on Board) price, which is higher than our commitment contained in the National Democratic Congress manifesto of paying farmers at least 60 per cent of the FOB price by the year 2000."

On Corruption:

President Rawlings asked the Serious Fraud Office to step up its fight against corruption.

He said during the past year the SFO investigated serious fraud cases in areas of contract, fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion and misappropriation involving an amount of 9.5 billion cedis out which 2.2 billion cedis has so far been recovered.

President Rawlings said the government is concerned about the level of corruption and has invited the World Bank to collaborate in "conducting a diagnostic study on corruption in Ghana and how it can be mitigated, if not eradicated.''

''We expect that the SFO will intensify its prosecution of the cases where they have recommended prosecution of alleged culprits.''

President Rawlings said the first phase of the Ghana Armed Forces Housing Project which commenced in 1998 in four garrisons located in Accra, Takoradi, Tamale and Ho is near completion and would be commissioned by March.

"Even though the 22 housing projects involved do not resolve the problem, they should provide some relief to the troops while government seeks a permanent resolution of the accommodation problem.''

He said the government has also set in motion a process of procuring vehicles for the forces in a phased programme that is expected to show positive results this year.

The government will seek to improve the state of combat readiness of the forces by improving equipment availability by 30 per cent by the end of the year and by increasing manpower strength.

President Rawlings said the Police Service would be given an effective communications system within the context of the planned "integration of the Communications Systems of the Security Services."

Amendments to the Police Service Act and Regulations to give effect to the government statement on the Justice Archer Report would be submitted to Parliament and a new draft Scheme of Service for the Police to replace the current one would be put in place this year.

The President said some recommendations in the report have already been implemented. These include the introduction of nine months instead of six months Cadet Officer training at the Police College and the establishment of an Intelligence Unit within the Criminal Investigations Department.

On Education:

President Rawlings said the provision of educational infrastructure to support the second phase of the government's free and compulsory education programme will begin in April this year.

Facilities to be provided include 688 staff houses, 69 classroom blocks and 69 technologically sound toilet facilities.

The first Phase, made up of 512 staff houses, 81 classroom blocks and 81 four-seater KVIP toilets in 48 districts are expected to be completed in March.

"Additionally 2,000 classrooms will be rehabilitated and classroom furniture provided in all the 110 districts under the same programme".

He said the 17 million-dollar Primary Education Rehabilitation Project, for the provision of 510 three-unit classroom blocks with furniture in 87 districts by December 2001, would take off this year with the award of contracts within

the first quarter.

The President announced an acceleration in meeting the objectives of the FCUBE programme this year with increased attention being paid to supervision and management.

"We are working towards the achievement of a pupil/basic school textbook supply ratio of 1:1 in respect of the core subjects of English, Mathematics, Science and Environmental Studies."

The Science, Technology and Mathematics Education Clinic for girls will be expanded to benefit more girls from Junior Secondary Schools.

"It is projected to reduce the drop-out rate for girls in the primary schools from 30 per cent to 20 per cent and at the Junior Secondary Schools from 21 percent to 15 per cent."

The Ministry of Education would rationalise the allocation of teachers and school resources, with particular attention to under-subscribed and academically weak schools, to address low enrolment and poor academic performance.

The President announced a 12 percent annual growth rate for the universities and 15 percent for polytechnics over the next three years.

This should bring total enrolment for 1999/2000 academic year in tertiary institutions to 57,137, a figure projected to increase to 74,137 by 2002.

He said the report by the Technical Committee on modalities for an Education Trust Fund is being reviewed in the light of conclusions and recommendations of last year's National Education Forum.

President Rawlings said in order to make tertiary institutional programmes relevant to the labour market, the National Council for Tertiary Education and the National Development Planning Commission would assess the programme

structure vis-a vis labour market demands.

He announced additional funding support for the completion of the University of Ghana's Chemistry Block, the clinical students hostel at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and the new Central Library Complex at the University of Cape

Coast.

"On the completion of these projects, the University of Ghana should be able to increase the intake of science students to achieve the 60/40 science/arts ratio while the KNUST School of Medical Sciences should increase its total

enrolment from 593 to 700 from this academic year.

Biotechnology to be promoted :

President Rawlings said biotechnology will be promoted in food preservation, health, manufacturing industry and environmental management.

He said institutions under the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology will link up with district

assemblies to share scientific knowledge in line with its commercialisation drive.

"This year, efforts will be intensified to commercialise the activities of the scientific and technological institutions.... of particular interest is the application of biotechnology in food preservation, health, and manufacturing

industry and environmental management."

Biotechnology is defined by the Convention on Biological Diversity as "any application that uses biological systems, living organisms or derivatives thereof to make or modify products or processes for specific uses."

President Rawlings said the Environmental Protection Agency will, among other measures, continue with its programme of providing stakeholders with the training they need to ensure "better environmental stewardship".

The President said last year, the government launched a 10-year Natural Resources Management Programme and the first National Land Policy initiated last year to curb indiscipline associated with the acquisition and disposal of land.

"The government also restructured the administrative machinery of the Land Title Registry and Land Valuation Board."

Praises VAT :

President expressed his appreciation for the performance of the Value Added Tax (VAT) but regretted that some businesses have still not registered a year after the introduction of the tax.

He singled out the hotel and restaurant industry as being selective in charging VAT. "Many more also fail to issue the official VAT invoices."

President Rawlings said the 16,000 traders who have registered are more than double the initial projection. Compliance, measured by monthly returns, has grown steadily from 75 per cent at its inception to 86 per cent.

He noted that a good number of businesses within the distribution sector with annual turnover levels far in excess of the 200 million cedis threshold remain unregistered.

President Rawlings said as VAT enters its second year, the focus of implementation will be to consolidate the gains made and institute measures that would further improve compliance.

The Bill to amend the VAT Act is before the House in order to further increase revenue yield to make up for unanticipated revenue shortfalls.

President Rawlings said the government will spend about 19 billion cedis this year to save the country's 590 kilometres coastline from the ravages of the Atlantic Ocean and make it hygienically safe and tourist friendly.

This involves a continuing Sea Defence Programme, the Ecological Restoration of Lagoons and the management of drainage systems.

"Work will continue on critical areas of Ada, Akplabanya, Prampram, Ningo, La, Philip Quaicoe and Elmina".

The rest are Nkontompo, Ngyiresia, Dixcove, Komenda, Axim, New Amanful/Funkoe, Butre, Prince Akatakyie and Senya Breku.

President Rawlings said work has started on the Keta Sea Defence Project while that on the Korle Lagoon Ecological Restoration Project, including sanitation measures, will also begin.

The government has also planned to spend 12.47 billion cedis to continue works on most of the primary drains in Accra during the year while some critical drainage construction will be undertaken in the regions and the districts.

President Rawlings said "the government intends to provide 660 new boreholes, 350 new hand-dug wells, 40 mechanised community pipe systems and 30 new gravity pipe systems."

The rehabilitation of 1,000 boreholes and 500 hand-dug wells will also be undertaken this year.

The Community Water and Sanitation Agency will construct 1,300 new household places of convenience, 100 new institutional places of convenience, as well as train 2,000 caretakers, 400 mechanics and 100 artisans to manage rural water and sanitation facilities.

President Rawlings announced that three bridges will be built on the Tepa Junction-Goaso road.

Six other bridges will be built on River Ankobra at Hiawa, River Anumeri at Jomoro, River Afram at Aframso, River Pra at Ofoaso, River Suskuliga, near Gambaga, and River Tintaraga at Gbintre.

"The bridge over River Tano between Elubo and Asemkrom in the Western Region will be completed and the Gbefi Bridge over River Dayi to link Hohoe and Kpando will be rehabilitated".

The Mishio Bridge to integrate the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region will be completed, he added.

President Rawlings said all but one of the local government amendment bills promised in his sessional address last year have been finalised and are before parliament while fiscal decentralisation "which is a process" is in progress.

"New guidelines have been issued to the district assemblies which will improve budgeting and accounting for the use of the (District Assemblies) Common Fund," he said in his last sessional address to Parliament in Accra.

The president said legislation to transfer some functions of the district assemblies, according to Article 254 of the constitution, will be placed before parliament this year, while the integration of decentralised departments into the regional co-ordinating councils and district assemblies shall be pursued.

Local government capacity building at the Institute of Local Government Studies would be expanded "to include programmes of training to promote public-private sector partnerships in district economic development and to enhance women's participation in local government and economic development."

He said he was happy that Ghana's democratisation process, through decentralisation and local government reforms, has become a model in Africa and other regions of the world.

President Rawlings said the UN Centre on Human Settlement (UNCHS) Habitat has decorated Ghana for "democratisation of governance and promotion of integrative and participatory development for reduction of poverty in 1999."

Realising the "quality" of the decentralisation policy, last year's Consultative Group Meeting in Accra is considering having as a theme for the next meeting in 2002, "Poverty reduction through decentralisation."

He said urban infrastructure rehabilitation projects announced in his address last year are on course. Work has started in Accra on the Odaw Drainage Channel, Mukose secondary drain and four others all of which end in the Odaw drain.

The President added that plans for an Urban Five project in 25 urban centres in 23 districts have been completed pending the investment of a loan of 100 million dollars from the World Bank, the Nordic Fund and the French Agency for Development.

"Parliament shall be called upon during the year to ratify the credit agreements when they are negotiated.

"We have also commenced the planning of an Urban Six project for the Accra-Tema-Ga conurbation to enhance the capacity of the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area as the development, administrative, financial and diplomatic centre of Ghana." This will also be submitted to Parliament for approval.

President Rawlings called for commitment in this year's National Population and Housing Census saying everybody must be involved in the public education exercise to ensure that every person in the country on census night is counted.

"To get our planning right, we must get out census right...For once let us depoliticise an important national exercise and let us all work to make it successful."

Agriculture to get boost:

President Rawlings said the agricultural sector, the backbone of the economy, will this year see a major boost with the injection of a total of 60.5 million dollars from the African Development Bank and the City Bank for increased production, irrigation and marketing.

This will add up to the 260 billion cedis that the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) would give to the sector "in its normal traditional operations".

The ADB provides about 70 per cent of the total investment in the agricultural sector annually.

The President said these facilities would "create a conducive environment to facilitate the efforts of the private sector in agricultural production".

The African Development Bank, headquartered in Abidjan, is providing 20.2 million dollars while the City Bank of New York is giving 30.2 million dollars through the ADB to private sector participants "in agricultural production and marketing on friendlier terms to execute already identified and prepared projects".

In addition, the African Development Bank will provide 10.3 million dollars for the improvement of small-scale irrigation covering 89 hectares at 12 locations.

Land area under irrigation in the country is among the lowest in the sub-region. President Rawlings said, following a design study for small-scale and micro irrigation schemes development projects undertaken by the government and the African Bank, it was recommended that two five-year phases of irrigation projects covering a total of 4,077 hectares on 37 sites be undertaken.

He said the fund would cover the first phase, which is expected to begin this year. President Rawlings said the 2.5 billion-cedi Youth in Agriculture Programme initiated by the Vice-President was very successful and would, therefore, be extended.

Farming groups numbering 1,126 in 109 districts benefited from the programme.

He said the Livestock and Fisheries sub-sectors would continue to "receive encouragement to increase production".

President Rawlings said it is important to restructure the nation's export base, making the country less vulnerable to the fickle movements of prices of traditional export commodities.

This also means that "we consider adding value to our traditional exports through processing where adding value will not attract punitive tariffs but will reinforce our competitiveness".

He called for a conducive environment for attracting foreign direct investment, citing the elimination of bureaucratic impediments to investment and creation of the necessary legal framework for the protection of property rights and business contracts.

President Rawlings, commenting on the dynamics of world economic trends, said a brief surge in the world prices of gold, instead of bringing benefits, threatened the gold mining industry with financial crisis because of forward sales of reserves at lower prices.

He said he was also sad that fuel prices soared while cocoa prices plummeted.

President Rawlings was, however, happy that "despite these shocks to our economy, we have maintained the producer price of cocoa to farmers when neighbouring countries have reduced their prices and even resorted to burning cocoa".

President Rawlings said the overall budget deficit for 1999 and 2000 is projected to be higher than expected following the unfavourable outcome in commodity prices in the second half of last year.

This, from all indications, will put at risk the possibility of attaining a balanced budget by the target year 2001, he said.

"In the present circumstances, it would be appropriate to re-programme the targeted balanced budget to a date beyond 2001 to make it more realistic and attainable."

President Rawlings said this is in spite of the fact that government attaches great importance to achieving a balanced budget by 2001 as recommended at the National Economic Forum.

The Minister of Finance, Kwame Peprah, in last year's budget promised to turn the budget deficit of 5.2 per cent of the GDP to a surplus of 3.8 per cent while attaining a balance of payment surplus of 60 million dollars.

He also promised reducing inflation to 9.5 per cent and raising real GDP to 5.5 per cent.

The exact deficit will be known after the minister has presented this year's budget.

President Rawlings said the government is developing modalities for the establishment of a local post graduate medical college.

He said a team of experts from the Ministry of Health (MOH), the Ghana Medical Schools and the private sector has been convened with clear terms of reference to develop the modalities for the long awaited medical college. He said the renovation of structures to serve as facilities for the School of Allied Health Professionals has also started.

President Rawlings said health infrastructure has seen unprecedented improvement in the last few years.

The number of government health facilities increased from 674 in 1994 to 859 by the middle of 1999 while the number of hospitals in the public sector increased from 62 in 1994 to 82 in 1999.

"These improvements have been translated into overall improvements in our health indices. Our people are living longer and more children are surviving the critical childhood years."

Infant mortality rate dropped from 66.4 per cent per 1,000 live births in 1993 to 56.7 per cent in 1999. Under-five mortality rate also dropped from 119.4 per 1,000 live births in 1993 to 107.6 in 1999 with total fertility rate going down from 5.5 to 4.6.

President Rawlings said this is an indication of the success of "our population and family planning policies".

President Rawlings said the programme to eradicate polio by the end of this year is well on target and recalled that Ghana recorded 23 confirmed cases of polio in 1998 while there were only three cases last year.

However, guinea worm which was almost eradicated is suddenly showing signs of resurgence. Reported cases dropped from 180,000 in 1989 to under 4,500 in 1996 but increased to about 5,500 in 1999.

President Rawlings said the fight against the disease would be intensified with renewed vigour.

He expressed regret that while the programme to control epidemics yielded successful results with diseases such as Cerebro Spinal Meningitis (CSM) and Yellow Fever, there were outbreaks of cholera in the Greater Accra, Ashanti, Central and Upper East regions due to poor sanitation and the recent floods in the northern sector.

"However, our preparedness to manage these cases led to a low fatality rate."

He said Buruli Ulcer, on which a case search conducted last year showed a concentration of the 5,440 cases mostly in the Ashanti, Central and Greater Accra Regions, would continue to attract special attention.

The President said particular attention will also be paid to tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.

The Specialist Outreach Programme has been expanded to cover seven speciality areas involving all regional and selected district hospitals.

Plans for the procurement of special equipment, instruments and devices to enable the specialists to stay longer and operate in the regions are being pursued and would be implemented in the year 2000.

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Accra (Greater Accra), 13^th January 00

A number of political leaders and legislators on Thursday noted that the President's sessional address to Parliament, should set the tone for national unity, peace and stability necessary to move the country forward.

They, therefore, pleaded with Ghanaians to put the past behind them and forge ahead in unity to build Ghana into a prosperous, peaceful and secure nation.

The President in the address rendered an apology to all Ghanaians, who might have suffered in diverse ways since he came onto the political scene.

Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor, Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), said "the President, has for the first time, admitted before Parliament that a lot went wrong in the revolutionary era".

He, however, said in the spirit of national reconciliation and unity "we should let bygones be bygones" and forge ahead as a nation.

He said, "the President has been in office for 18 long years and never have I heard him say 'I am sorry', but it is better late to do so than never".

Mr Kufuor urged President Rawlings to use the remaining period of his office to ensure that the Electoral Commission is truly independent to inspire the confidence of the people and assure them that their choice at the polls will be respected.

"This is the lasting legacy the President can bequeath to Ghanaians before he leaves office at the end of his tenure", he said.

Alhaji Issifu Ali, National Co-chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), described the address as 'wonderful and wide-ranging', saying he was particularly impressed with the President's acknowledgement that there were

excesses in the wake of the revolutions and that he was sorry. He said in the light of this spirit of reconciliation, "it is time we put all behind us and build Ghana into a better country to live in".

Mr C. O. Nyanor, NPP-Upper Denkyira, said the President's delivery was fair and very apologetic about the excesses of the revolutionary era.

Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, the Minority Spokesman on Foreign Affairs, said the address, especially the President's apology to Ghanaians, was in the right direction towards national reconciliation, peace and stability.

Mr Owusu-Agyemang said Ghanaians should take President Rawlings for what he is, adding that he sees the apology as sincere, and coming from the heart of the President.

"When people know that they are wrong and apologise, that is where reconciliation begins, so let us put into effect the reconciliation process".

He said this demands a give and take, in which people, who suffered during the revolutionary era, should be able to forgive and forget the past while those who accept responsibility for the excesses, should be able to compensate for the wrongdoing, in the true spirit of national reconciliation.

Mr Owusu-Agyemang, said he was, however, disappointed because the President did not address the burning issue of the economic difficulty facing the country and how the government intends to tackle it.

Mr Sylvester Mensah, NDC-Dade Kotopon, described the address as 'excellent' and 'refreshing' but said the revolutionary excesses for which President Rawlings rendered an apology, were regrettable.

He said the President's reconciliatory gesture is a positive step towards a cohesive nation and urged the Minority to reciprocate to help move the country forward.

Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, the Minority Spokesman on Finance, said he was not favourably disposed to the sessional address.

He said the President should have given the benefit of his experience as an incumbent, to tell Ghanaians about the problems the country is likely to encounter in future,

The President should have also laid a broad overview, giving a grand vision the country would be working towards to enhance her socio-economic and political status.

Mr Joseph Henry Mensah, the Minority Leader, said the President has made a confession which "we must live through history".

"We hope it will put an end to attempt by people to get into power because of anger and frustration. The nation is not prepared to make its political succession a matter of anger and frustration, but should be a process of deliberate and rational political choice".

He lauded the development programmes unveiled by the President but expressed concern about the failure of the address to lay a programme to deal with the economic crisis facing the country.

Mr Doe Adjaho, the Majority Chief Whip, said he was highly impressed with the address, especially the President's parting words, in which he openly rendered an apology to Ghanaians, who unjustifiably suffered during the revolutionary era He said the message has set the tone for national reconciliation and unity, adding that "It takes a leader and a man of courage to say I am sorry".

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Accra (Greater Accra), 13^th January 00

The Ministry of Trade and Industry is to intensify efforts to operationalise policies and strategies with the objective of expanding and diversifying exports; emphasising value addition to export products; enhancing competitiveness of domestic manufacturing; and achieving international competitiveness for exports.

A tariff review exercise has been initiated in addition to other policy measures to ensure a fair level playing field for local manufacturers.

A new cocoa-processing factory will be established within the year to raise the total capacity of local processing from the current 84,000 metric tons to 100,000 metric tons in the short term and 150,000 metric tons in the medium term.

By maintaining the producer price of cocoa at 2,250,000 cedis per tonne, government now pays 74 per cent of Free On Board (FOB) price of cocoa to farmers. Cocoa production last season dropped slightly from 400,000 tonnes to 397,742 tonnes.

Liberalisation of external marketing of cocoa programmes will be initiated. Loan facilities of 20.2 million dollars from African Development Bank and another 30 million dollars from City Bank have been channelled through the Agriculture Development Bank to be lent to private participants in agricultural production.

Youth in Agriculture Programme to be expanded. Last year 2.5 billion cedis were distributed to 1,126 farming groups in 109 districts. Eighty-nine hectares in 12 different locations would be irrigated at an estimated cost of 10.3 million dollars.

Infant mortality rate dropped from 66.4 per 1000 live births in 1993 to 56.7 in 1999. Under five-mortality rate dropped from 119.4 per 1000 in 1993 to 107.6 in 1999. Total fertility rate dropped from 5.5 to 4.6. Programme to eliminate polio is well on target. There has been a resurgence of guinea worm. Reported cases dropped from 180,000 in 1989 to 4,500 in 1996 but went up again to 5,500 in 1999.

There were outbreaks of cholera in Greater Accra, Ashanti, Central and Upper East regions. Buruli Ulcer cases recorded were 5,440 mostly in Ashanti, Central and Greater Accra regions. The number of health facilities increased from 674 in 1994 to 859 by the middle of 1999. The number of hospitals in the public sector increased from 62 to 82 during the same period. Refurbishing of Keta, Kibi, Yendi and Koforidua hospitals would be completed this year.

Major refurbishment of the Bolgatanga Hospital and the upgrading of Tamale Hospital will start this year. Construction of 26 new health centres under OPEC and Saudi Fund Phase II will commence.

National illiteracy rate is down to 52 per cent from 69 per cent after the successful implementation of Phase One of the Adult Functional Literacy programme. Second phase of the programme would begin in the firs quarter of this year.

Principals appointed to work towards the establishment of Bolgatanga and Wa polytechnics. Government has programmed 12 per cent annual growth rate for universities and 15 per cent for polytechnics. Student enrolment for this year is projected at 57,137 and is expected to increase 74,137 by 2002 in the universities, polytechnics and Institute of Professional Studies.

It is projected to reduce the drop out rate for girls in primary schools from 30 per cent to 20 per cent and at the junior secondary school level from 21 per cent to 15 per cent. Twenty technical Vocational Education Resource Centres will have improved facilities.

The Central Management Board will serve as the chief negotiator on behalf of government and all public services workers organisations including the Civil Service

A total of 371.95 billion cedis would be spent on the maintenance works on trunk, feeder and urban roads. Twenty-eight bridges will be constructed and 1,2000 kilometres of non-maintainable roads will be up-graded.

Thirty-three major water supply systems would be rehabilitated. Government would provide 660 new boreholes, 350 new hand-dug wells; 40 mechanised community pipe systems and 30 new gravity pipe systems. The rehabilitation of 1000 boreholes and 500 hand-dug wells countrywide.

The Community Water and Sanitation Agency will construct 1,300 new household places of convenience, 100 new institutional places of convenience and train 2000 caretakers, 400 mechanics and 100 artisans to manage rural water and sanitation facilities.

Programme of Sea Defence along Ghana's 590 kilometres coastline, Ecological Restoration of Lagoons and the Management of drainage systems will continue.

Government will spend 19 billion cedis to continue work on critical areas at Ada, Akplabanya, Prampram-Ningo, La, Phillip Quaicoe, Elmina, Nkontompo, Ngyiresia, Dixcove, Komenda, Axim, News Amanful/Funkoe, Butre, Prince Akatakyie and Senya Breku. Government would spend 12.47 billion cedis on Accra drains.

Government plans for the acquisition of about 4,166 hectares of land and the facilitation of the construction of 20,000 rental units and 90,000 home ownership housing units as well as servicing of 5,000 plots.

Activities preparatory to the construction of the Bui Dam will continue. Electrification project in 28 communities in the Volta Region and 10 in Greater Accra will begin. Seventy communities in Western Region would benefit from European Union Electrification Project.

Work would commence on the electrification of 107 Volta Lake Resettlement Towns. Electrification works in 50 communities in Upper East started in 1999 will continue. On-going electrification projects under phase three of SHEP in about 480 communities nation wide would be completed.

Serious Fraud Office investigated 37 cases of serious fraud in areas of contract fraud, embezzlement, tax evasion and misappropriation, which involved an amount of 9.5 billion cedis out which 2.2 billion cedis has so far been recovered

Public should be alert and vigilant at all times and co-operate fully with the Police in tracking down criminals.

This year's elections should be approached in a spirit of unity and nationhood. All must work to ensure free, fair, transparent and peaceful elections, devoid of violence, insults, and acrimony.

All should consider personal offence, upset or hurt as the small price paid for the greater collective good. Attempts should be made to restore broken friendships relationships and acquaintances.

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A two-day workshop bringing together stakeholders in the road sector for the sharing of information and discussing of issues related to the social, environmental, financial and technical aspects of road projects is underway in Accra.

The workshop, which is being organised by the Department of Feeder Roads (DFR) in consultation with the British Department For International Development (DFID) is to afford stakeholders, who would be constructing 65 bridges in the Western and Central regions to understand their roles in the project.

Attending the workshop are contractors, consultants, donors and representatives from the DFR. Mr. Collins Antwi, Director of DFR said as part of the efforts to construct priority bridges, the government requested assistance from the British government to design and supply modular steel bridges for feeder roads in the country.

He said after the study of bridge sites in the Western and Central Regions, the UK and Ghana governments have agreed to select 55 sites in the Western Region and 10 sites from the Central Region for construction with a grant of 8.5 million pounds provided by the British government. The components of the 65 bridges have already been supplied by an UK firm at a cost of 4 million pounds and are in Takoradi.

Mr Antwi said to ensure capacity building, it was agreed by the two governments to use local contractors and consultants for the implementation under the direction of the DFR and Ministry of Roads and Transport (MRT).

The aim of the project is to remove critical bottlenecks that hamper the evacuation of foodstuffs and cash crops such as cocoa, improve access to markets, hospitals, schools and other social services in rural communities, improve agricultural production through increased contacts between farmers and agricultural extension agents.

It is envisaged that the objectives of the project would lead to poverty reduction in communities that are isolated during rainy seasons.

The British government is providing a total of 28 million pounds for the construction of the bridges and maintenance of feeder roads in three regions of the country.

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The Yendi District Chief Executive, Mr. Mohammed Alhassan, has advised supporters and members of the NDC in the district to close their ranks to ensure victory for the party in this year's general elections.

He said the party could not afford to waste time in resolving internal conflicts over such issues as choice of parliamentary candidates. Speaking at a New Year get-together of members of the Yendi constituency of the party at Yendi, Mr Alhassan said in the interest of unity such matters should be settled by consensus.

He said as much as possible they should look up to the party's leadership for guidance in making their choices. Mr. Alhassan cautioned against the issuing of unauthorised press statements in support or against aspiring candidates prior to the constituency conferences in order not to prejudice the good judgement of the delegates.

He said it is important for all party activists to acquaint themselves with the success story of the government to be able to counter the opposition propaganda of misinformation and lies.

Alhaji Haruna Alhassan, a party elder, called for regular interaction between the executive and the members to bridge any communication gap that might engender mistrust.

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