Two unidentified soldiers escape arrest
Kofi Annan launches Millennium Action Plan
Communities refuse to be counted because of dispute
Prisoners fail to escape at the opportunity
Accra, {Greater Accra) 04April
2000.
Nii Okaija Adamafio, Minister of
the Interior, on Monday said his ministry will this year present to Parliament
a new Prisons Service Act to replace a 1972 decree, NRC NRCD 46.
He described the decree as too old
and said there is the need to review it to be in conformity with the
constitution in order to address the objectives of the Prisons Service.
Opening the annual conference of
Prisons Service Regional Commanders, Agricultural and Welfare Officers in
Accra, Nii Okaija said as part of measures to improve work in the service, 288
personnel would be recruited to take up vacant positions. Vehicles will also be
procured to augment the existing fleet.
The Minister said: "the
government has increased the feeding rate of prisons inmates from 1,800 to
2,000 cedis daily". These measures have been made possible due to
parliament's approval of 39.9 billion cedis for the Prisons Service for the
year 2000, Nii Okaija said.
The Minister lauded the importance
of agriculture in the country's penal system saying, "it has greatly
helped to reduce (the) government's expenditure on the feeding of the inmates,
apart from other advantages such as equipping the inmates with useful skills as
part of the rehabilitation process."
Nii Okaija assured them of the
government's support to provide the necessary material and financial
encouragement to enable the Service to run viable farming ventures to feed the
inmates.
Nii Okaija commended the managers
of the Prisons Officers Welfare Association (POWA) Fund and urged them to
invest the resources into the urgent needs of the staff such as payment of
school fees. The minister noted that the statutory responsibilities seem to be
at great test at this time because of the upsurge in crime and the resultant
determination of the law enforcement agencies to curb it.
"In effect, there is an
unprecedented rise in prison population including a large number of remand
prisoners."
Nii Okaija said the government
fully appreciates their efforts in helping maintain social peace and stability
and is fully committed to create a congenial working atmosphere for them.
"Let me assure you that (the)
government is seriously considering the representations you have made on the
effects of the implementation of the Ghana Universal Salary Structure on the
Ghana Prisons Service."
Brigadier Alex Djangmah,
Director-General of the Service, said the Service will at the
end of the month hand over the
Anomabo Fort to the Museums and Monuments Board and transfer the inmates to
Cape Coast Prisons. He appealed the government to construct more prisons to
relieve the burden on the existing ones saying, "the population of inmates
keeps increasing." For example, the population at James Fort in Accra has
increased from 300 to 600 inmates.
Brigadier Djangmah said the
problems of housing and transportation, among others, is seriously being
addressed and "there would be a brighter light at the end of the
tunnel."
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Akim Oda (Eastern Region) 04 April 2000
Two men in military iniform who
were smuggling 60 pieces of "Ofram" beams to Accra managed to escape
arrest when they were confronted by some personnel of the Akim-Oda District
forestry division.
They however left behind the
driver and the truck conveying the beams. The Akim-Oda district forestry
officer, Mrs Rose Attan-Ayibo told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Akim Oda
that, last Friday, two forestry range supervisors in-charge of Akim Otwereso,
Mr Kwabena Boateng and Mr Jude Kwarteng spotted the truck loaded with the beams
while on patrol.
She said when they got near the
truck they saw the men in military uniform in the front seat together with the
driver.
When they were confronted the
soldiers claimed they had arrested the truck in the bush and were escorting it
to Accra.
When the officers told the
soldiers that they could not arrest a culprit within the Oda District and
escort it to Accra and that the vehicle would have to be sent to the Oda
District Forestry Office for sanction, the soldiers started pleading and
offered 50,000 cedis bribe for the case to be dropped.
When the officers rejected it they
added another 50,000 cedis which was also turned down. However, when the
forestry personnel left to solicit the assistance of policemen at nearby Akim
Oda barrier to arrest them, the soldiers managed to escape leaving the driver
behind.
Mrs Attan-Ayibo said the beams
have been confiscated and would be sold
and the proceeds paid into government chest.
There has been allegations in the
Akim Oda area in recent times that some security personnel have been conniving
with chainsaw operators to fell timber and later escorts the vehicles transporting
the beams for sale in Accra.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 04 April 2000
Mr Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, on Monday launched an action plan in New York that urges world leaders to make globalisation beneficial to every nation and calls for commitment to ending poverty and inequality, improving education, increasing security, reducing HIV/AIDS and protecting the environment.
"We must put people at the centre of everything we do. No calling is more noble and no responsibility greater, than that of enabling men, women and children in cities and villages around the world to make their lives better.
"Only when that begins to happen will we know that globalisation is indeed becoming inclusive, allowing everyone to share its opportunities," said Mr Annan in the report released to journalists in Accra.
The plan, a culmination of views of major stakeholders in the five continents, including representatives of civil society and the world body, will form the center-piece of discussions by a special Millennium Summit of Heads of State and Government scheduled for Wednesday, 6 September to Friday, 8 September.
At a ceremony in Accra to brief journalists, heads of UN agencies, the diplomatic community, ministers of state and representatives of civil society on the report, Ms Margaret Novicki, Director of the United Nations Information Centre, described the plan as the "most comprehensive presentation of the UN's mission in its 55-year history."
The plan is under the theme: "We the Peoples: the role of the United Nations in the 21st Century."
It covers all the thematic areas encompassed by the work of the UN and its agencies, funds and programmes and also address reforms that Mr Annan believes the world body must undertake to make it meet the challenges of the 21st century.
It highlights numerous specific goals and programme initiatives that call on world leaders, the private sector and civil societies to consider to make a positive difference in the lives of everybody.
These include cutting in half by 2015 the proportion of people living in extreme poverty and the proportion lacking safe and affordable water. It also proposes to ensure that by the same time all children complete primary education and the gender gap at all levels of education is eliminated. Mr Annan calls for a reduction in HIV infection rates for persons aged 15-24 years old by 25 per cent within 10 years.
On trade, he asks for free access to the markets of the industrialised countries for goods produced in poor countries and, as a first step, adopting a policy of duty-free and quota-free access for essentially all exports from the least developed countries by March next year.
Mr Annan calls for "implementing the expansion of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries programme agreed last year and cancelling all official debts of the heavily indebted countries in return for those countries making the most demonstrable commitment to poverty reduction."
On security, the secretary-general's plan calls for firmer enforcement of international humanitarian and human rights law and the creation of greater transparency in arms transfers, supporting regional disarmament measures and extending to other areas the "weapons for goods" programmes that have been successful in Mozambique, Panama, El Salvador and Albania.
The Secretary-general points out the need to tackle environmental problems with seriousness to ensure that future generations benefit from natural resources.
"The world now faces an urgent need to realise a third freedom, which the UN's founders could not have anticipated - the freedom of future generations to sustain their lives on this planet - we are failing to provide that freedom."
He urges action on the implementation of the Kyoto Protocol to lower green house gas emissions and prevent the dangerous warming of the planet.
Mr Annan's plan also announces four new initiatives, including the formation of a volunteer corps called the United Nations Information Technology Service to train groups in developing countries in the uses and opportunities of the internet and information technology.
Also proposed is a Health Inter-Network to establish 10,000 on-line sites in hospitals and clinics in developing countries to provide access to up-to-date medical information which will be supported by the WebMD Foundation, WHO, the UN Foundation and other partners.
There will be a disaster response initiative, "First on the Ground", which will provide mobile and satellite telephones as well as microwave links for humanitarian relief workers in areas affected by natural disasters and emergencies, which will be led by L.M. Ericsson, a communications company, with the UN partners and the Red Cross.
In addition, a global policy network is to be established to explore viable new approaches to solve youth employment. This high level group to be convened jointly with the heads of the World Bank and the International Labour Organisation will include private sector and civil society leaders, who will make recommendations to governments within a year.
Mr Annan's report calls for restructuring that will make the UN more responsive to the needs of present and future challenges and asks for the reform of the Security Council to make it more effective.
There should also be adequate resources for the world body to carry out its mandate and means to ensure that the secretariat makes the best use of the resources.
GRi../
Koforidua (Eastern Region) 04 April 2000
Almost a week after the beginning of the population and Housing Census, a number of farming communities located between the Akuapem North and Yilo Krobo Districts are refusing to be counted by enumerators from either side as a result of a boundary dispute.
Briefing GNA in Koforidua on Friday after a fact-finding tour of the affected area, Mr Edward Okrah, Eastern Zonal Co-ordinator of the National Census Secretariat, said the two district chief executives are holding consultations with chiefs and opinion leaders in the affected places to resolve the impasse.
Communities involved in the dispute are Anwanzumle, Akuapem Boti, Akorley-Tsesingwa and Teiyikope.
GRi../
NDC aspiring
candidate draws more support for party
Konongo (Ashanti Region) 04 April
2000.
More than 100 youth supporters of
the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in four Asante-Akim North communities- - Konongo,
Juansa, Agogo and Odumase, have defected to join the National Democratic
Congress (NDC).
They cited the sublime
disposition, readiness to offer assistance and good human relations of the
NDC's aspiring parliamentary candidate, Mr Kofi Opoku-Manu, as basis of their
decision.
At a ceremony to officially
welcome them into the party, the defectors said they have lost confidence in
the opposition. Mr Dickson Ntiamoah, Agogo local youth organiser, and Miss
Edith Benkyi, Konongo women organiser, both of the NPP who acted as
spokespersons, said the time has come for people in the area to break their
traditional opposition to the government.
They noted that the constituency's
antagonistic stance against the government is having an unfavourable impact on
its development and promised to win more supporters of the opposition to the
NDC to help the party take the parliamentary seat in the 2000 elections.
Mr Philip Edward Kwabena Antwi,
Ashanti regional Chairman of the NDC who welcomed them to the party, advised
that they should remain loyal, steadfast and dedicated to the cause of the
party.
He asked the people to vote
massively to retain the party in power to enable the country sustain the peace,
stability and development it is enjoying.
Mr Kwaku Kyei, the District Chief
Executive for the area, was confident that the NDC would re-take the
parliamentary seat in view of the massive support and goodwill it now enjoys
among the people.
Meanwhile, the constituency has
affirmed its unflinching support for Professor John Atta Mills as the party's
flag bearer in the 2000 elections.
GRi…/
Duayaw-Nkwanta (Brong Ahafo) 04
April 2000.
More than 150 prisoner's clamped
into a small resettlement camp at Duayaw-Nkwanta in the Tano District ignored a
rare opportunity to escape when the roof of their camp was ripped-off during a
severe rainstorm which hit the area at the weekend.
Although they forced open the gate
of their cells, their action was not to escape but to rescue two officers in
the security man’s shed which had collapsed on them during the storm.
Eight of the prisoners and the two
officers, Emmanuel Tetteh and Hayfron Aboagye who sustained minor injuries
after being hit by flying objects were treated and discharged at the
Duayaw-Nkwanta Catholic Hospital.
At the time of the incident, which
happened in the night, there were only seven prison officers on duty with only
two guns.
The acting officer in-charge of
the camp, DSP Leonard Dah disclosed this when the Brong Ahafo Regional
Minister, Mr Donald Adabre, inspected the extent of damage on Sunday.
He said the officers on duty
sought the assistance of the police who provided them with eight men to guard
the prisoners at a time it was still raining.
DSP Dah said the prison officers
quickly organised themselves to convey the prisoners to a new settlement camp
under construction at Koforidua, near Duayaw-Nkwanta, in a rickety tractor.
He said that it was difficult to
transport the prisoners to the new site because the camp has no means of
transport and appealed to the government and philanthropists for assistance. Mr
Adabre commended the prisoners for their rare action.
He urged them not to despair but
to turn over a new leaf to enable them to be accepted back into the society
after serving their jail terms. Mr Adabre gave assurance that everything would
be done to construct a kitchen and other facilities at the new settlement camp
soon.
The Chief Superintendent of Prison
(CSP), Stanley Boahene, who is the deputy commander of the region, expressed
concern about the neglect of the various settlement camps. He therefore
appealed to the government to improve upon facilities at the prisons.
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