MPs, chiefs pay last respects to Okyenhene
Workshop on budget preparation for educational directors opens
Council to institute scholarship scheme for needy children
Art Teachers urged to strengthen the subject
Striking nurses hold meeting with DCE in Winneba
Assemblies meet over street children
Unqualified surveyors causing boundary disputes
Show commitment to reparation and repatriation -Brimah
Ga Traditional Council organises regatta
MPs, chiefs pay last respects to Okyenhene
Kibi (Eastern Region) 11 Aug. ’99
Members of Parliament and delegations from the Volta and Brong Ahafo Regional Houses of Chiefs on Tuesday paid their last respects to the late Okyenhene Osagyefo Kuntunkununku II.
The Okyenhene's body now lies in state at the Potosoro at the Ofori Paninfie at Kibi. It will be there for seven days.
The 26-member delegation of MPs, led by Mr Ken Dzirasah, First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, included Mr Freddie Blay, Second Deputy Speaker, and Mr J. H. Mensah, Minority Leader.
The others were Ms Comfort Owusu, the Majority Deputy Chief Whip and the Leader of the Women's Caucus in Parliament, Ms Theresa Nyarko Fofie.
The MPs, 10 of whom, signed the book of condolence, later presented two cartons of beer, two crates of soft drinks, two bottles of Schnapps and two million cedis to the Okyeman Council.
In a tribute, Mr Dzirasah said the death of the late Okyenhene was a loss not only to the Akim Abuakwa Traditional area but the entire nation.
He expressed the hope that the process of finding his successor would be in line with custom and tradition, cherished by the late king.
The President of the Volta Regional House of Chiefs and Paramount Chief of Kpando Traditional area, Togbe Dagadu VII, led a delegation of more than 100 people from the Volta Region, including some Paramount chiefs and queen mothers to the funeral.
They included the Omanhene of Buem Traditional Area, Nana Aburam Akpandza IV and the Fiaga of Awudome Traditional Area, Togbe Adai Kwesi XI.
The delegation presented four bottles of Schnapps and 200,000 cedis to the Okyeman Council, on the behalf the Regional House of Chiefs.
The Kpando Traditional Council presented 50,000 cedis and two bottles Schnapps to signify the "special relationship that has existed between the two traditional areas since the rule of Sir Nana Ofori Atta I in the 1930s".
The Omanhene of Drobo Traditional Council, Nana Bosea Gyinantwi IV led the delegation from the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs.
The delegation, which had two men swinging the dry skin of a foetus of an elephant (banhuma) to signify the power and authority of the Drobomanhene, presented four cartons beer and four bottles Schnapps to console the Okyeman.
The day, which also marked the paying of last respects to the Okyenhene by the Nifa division of the Akim Abuakwa Traditional area, had Asiakwahene, Osabarima Agyeman III leading a large retinue of mourners who, amidst the firing of musketry, filed to pay their last respects to their late king.
Also among the thousands of people who paid their last respects to the late Okyenhene was the Catholic Bishop of Kumasi, His Lordship Peter Akwasi Sarpong.
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Assin Foso (Central Region) 11 Aug ’99
The Assin Foso Number Four branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), has called on the Assin District Assembly to refund to it eight million cedis being the cost of constructional work on a new lorry station at Foso Old Town.
Work on the station, which was being undertaken by the branch, was stopped on the orders of the Assembly.
The decision to ask for the refund was taken at an emergency executive meeting of the branch under the chairmanship of Mr Kwaku Nsowaa at Assin Foso last Friday.
According to the executive, the branch broke away from the GPRTU to join the Progressive Transport Owners Association (PROTOA) on 13th July.
The executives said they approached the district assembly and they were given land at Old Town to be developed into a lorry station to operate under PROTOA.
While work was going on, they received a letter from the assembly signed by the then District Co-ordinating Director, Mr S Osei-Agyeman, asking them to stop work because the new station would pose a threat to security.
The assembly explained that the Local Government Act empowers metropolitan and district assemblies to discourage attempts by any group of transport operators/workers to create lorry parks to serve partisan interests.
The Act states that if such a development is encouraged, it would affect revenue collection arrangements of assemblies and also foment disunity in the private road transport sector.
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Shiare-Akyode (Volta Region) 11 Aug. ’99
The people of Shiare-Akyode in the Nkwanta district have rehabilitated the 10-kilometre road linking the town to Nkwanta through communal labour.
Opanyin Yaw Sekyi Akampeh, Asafoakye, told the press that the people decided to embark on the project following several years of neglect by the district assembly.
He said the bad state of the road did not only pose a danger to the sick and women in labour as they are conveyed to hospital at Nkwanta, but also scared away teachers from accepting postings to the town.
Opanyin Akampeh said a weak bridge on the road was delaying the extension of electricity to the town and called on the Nkwanta district assembly to take urgent steps to reconstruct it.
He noted that the bridge would open up the area, including the Kyabobo National Park.
Opanyin Akampeh said the people would now construct a market in order to get revenue for the development of the area.
The people have completed the construction of a four-classroomed block for the local junior secondary school.
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Workshop on budget preparation for educational directors opens
Ajumako (Central Region) 11 Aug. ’99
A six-day workshop on "the preparation of the year 2000 budget", organised by the Ghana Education Service (GES) for its directors and budget officers, was opened on Monday at Ajumako.
About 120 participants drawn from Brong Ahafo, Western, Ashanti, Upper West and Upper East regions are attending.
They are expected to share ideas and learn lessons from the challenges of the 1999 budget, and come out with strategies to meet future challenges.
In his opening address, Mr Obeng Asamoah, Director of GES (Administration and Finance) implored participants to let the 1999 experience guide them to plan well for the future.
He said two briefing and preparatory workshops would be organised for an appraisal of the 1999 budget, in order to improve strategies for the 2000 budget.
The Director regretted that the presentation by some cost centres for the 1999 Medium Term Financial Format (MTFF) were not properly done, and appealed to participants to critically examine the 2000 budget format and take note of the changes.
Mr Asamoah said that the GES is seeking new resources to help distressed Districts.
The Director urged the participants to continue to make provisions for the training of head teachers in financial resource management, material resource management and human resource management.
He asked them to take into consideration negative trends such as absenteeism, drug abuse and alcoholism, vandalism and indiscipline in schools.
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Council to institute scholarship scheme for needy children
Breman Essiam (Central Region) 11 Aug. ’99
The Breman Essiam Traditional Council is to institute a scholarship scheme for needy school children in the area from primary to tertiary level.
In this regard, an endowment fund has been set up to cater for the scheme.
Nana Atta Amanafo Poku 11, vice-president of the Central Region House of Chiefs announced this on Sunday at a durbar to round off the week-long celebration of the Akwanbo festival of the chiefs and people at Breman Essiam.
He appealed to parents to provide the necessary materials for their children's education to enable them become responsible adults.
The vice president urged the people to support the scheme by contributing significantly to help improve the traditional area.
On sanitation, Nana Poku appealed to the people to observe personal hygiene and keep their surroundings tidy to avoid the outbreak of diseases.
He commended the assembly, unit committee members and the people for their self-help spirit in initiating development projects for the area.
An appeal for funds yielded 2.3 million cedis.
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Art Teachers urged to strengthen the subject
Winneba (Central Region) 11 Aug. ’99
The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service, Professor Christopher Ekumfi-Ameyaw, has urged art teachers to identify and strengthen various dimensions of the subject.
This would let the subject become more relevant to the socio-economic requirements of the country in the next millennium.
Prof Ekumfi-Ameyaw said this in a speech read for him at the opening of a three-day workshop for art teachers at the Winneba Secondary School on Tuesday.
The workshop, organised by the National Art Teachers Association (GATA), is under the theme, "meeting the challenges of Art Education in the next millennium".
The Director-General said the next millennium poses a great challenge to factors of visual art, and this makes it imperative for art teachers to become abreast with ideas and changes in order to sharpen their skills for effective teaching.
Prof Ekumfi-Ameyaw stressed that the future of educational delivery in this discipline depended on the wealth of knowledge and skills teachers offer to students.
He asked the participants to reflect on the theme of the workshop, identify their achievements, failures and challenges and find ways of increasing their knowledge.
"Efforts should also be made to affiliate GATA with international professional associations of art in order to facilitate collaboration, co-operation and networking for the attainment of a common goal".
In this way, he said, exchange programmes, which are important ingredients for development, could be facilitated to enhance teaching and learning in schools.
Mr Robert Kweku Biney, national president of the association said the association plans to restructure its functions to enable it to play a more appreciable role in the country's development.
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Striking nurses hold meeting with DCE in Winneba
Winneba (Central Region) 11 Aug. ’99
Leaders of the striking nurses and paramedical staff of the Winneba Government Hospital on Tuesday held a two-hour meeting with Lieutenant Daniel William Osardu, District Chief Executive (DCE) for Awutu-Effutu-Senya, at the hospital.
The meeting was aimed at finding ways to get the striking health workers back to post to alleviate the suffering of the sick who troop to the hospital every day.
Mrs E. Pufaah, principal nursing officer and acting matron of the hospital announced at the meeting that the Ministry of Health had agreed to pay the differences in the overtime allowances.
She assured the DCE of the hospital management's determination to co-operate with the leaders of the striking medical staff to bring work at the hospital to normalcy "within the next few days".
Lt Osardu thanked the management of the hospital for their efforts and assured the aggrieved nurses that his administration would also continue to initiate moves for a lasting solution to the impasse.
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Assemblies meet over street children
Mole (Northern Region) 11 Aug. ’99
The 16 district assemblies from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions are meeting at the Mole National Park in the West Gonja district to evolve strategies of combating the problem of street children in their communities.
District Chief Executives and Planning Officers, representing their districts, are engaged in a six-day planning and proposal writing workshop organised by the Street Children Project of Action Aid Ghana.
It is to help the assemblies to integrate issues of street children into their district action plans.
Mr San Nasamu Asabigi, Deputy Northern Regional Minister, who opened the workshop on Monday, called on the participants to find a lasting solution to the rural-urban migration of the youth which, he said, has resulted in the problem of street children.
He asked the district assemblies to be conversant with the Local Government Act 462, which confers on them the responsibility of ensuring balanced development through the provision of essential basic economic and social infrastructure in rural communities to hold back the youth.
"So, our planning strategy must guarantee grassroots participation, if we are to eliminate the frequent conflict that often arise as a result of siting and executing projects in selected communities", he added.
Mr Asabigi also spoke about conflicts involving land administration and called on the assembly to use the new land policy as a guide to ensure the judicious use of lands to sustain the development process.
Mr Asabigi commended Actionaid for its capacity building programme for district assemblies, which lack key personnel and technical expertise to enable them to carry out their development projects.
Mr Salifu Mogre, Deputy District Director of Actionaid, said the street children problem was caused by broken homes and irresponsible parenthood and called on the district assemblies to implement programmes that could reverse its trend.
He said street children have been subjected to several abuses and, therefore, needed counselling to be able to overcome the trauma and live normal life.
The Right Reverend (Dr) Philip Naameh, Catholic Bishop of Damongo, expressed the hope that the project proposals for the district assemblies on the problem of street children would attract donor support.
He said the Damongo diocese has carried out a number of surveys, which revealed the seriousness of rural-urban migration and asked for donor support for the church to combat the problem.
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Unqualified surveyors causing boundary disputes
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 11 Aug. ’99
The Lands Commission has been urged not to rely on layouts that have not been authenticated by the Survey Department to help curb boundary disputes.
Mr Francis Manu-Adabor, Ashanti Regional Surveyor, noted that most of the current base maps being used by the Town and Country Planning Department, are based on wrong information, with details not properly co-ordinated.
Mr Manu-Adabor said in Kumasi on Tuesday that this has come about mainly as a result of collusion between some Town and Country Planning officers and unqualified surveyors.
He pointed out that by law, the Survey Department should prepare all base maps, and if, for any reason, it is unable to discharge this function, it should ensure that the job is done by accredited surveyors.
In that case, the department should also supervise, check and approve any work done before the Town and Country Planning can use them, he said.
The situation now is that planning officers contract unqualified surveyors to prepare the maps without consulting the department.
Mr Manu-Adabor explained that such surveyors normally use wrong instruments, resort to the making of photocopies of "our topographic maps" and reduce the contours until they get the scale they need for the layout".
"We do not have any records on (the) pillars they are putting up all over the place," he said.
Mr Manu-Adabor said there were instances where on site plans, the distance between two plots is about 500 feet, but on the ground, the two plots are the same piece of land.
He made it clear that the Survey Department would not be a party to the implementation of base maps it has no hand in their preparation.
District assemblies, chiefs and landowners should contact the Survey Department for the preparation of their base maps and not Town and Country Planning officers, he said, and warned that any unqualified surveyor caught preparing a layout or demarcating plots in the region would be prosecuted.
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Show commitment to reparation and repatriation -Brimah
Accra (Greater Accra) 11 Aug. ’99
Alhaji (Dr) Farouk Brimah, a Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology on Tuesday called on African governments to show commitment to the issue of reparation and repatriation for the realisation of its enormous benefits.
He said African leaders held the key to the success or failure of the idea and without their direct involvement, "this quest for reparation and repatriation cannot be realised."
Dr Brimah was speaking at a five-day conference in Accra to commemorate the first anniversary of the International African World Reparation and Repatriation Truth Commission (AWRRTC).
Participants for the five-day conference were drawn from the United States, United Kingdom, the Caribbean and Africa.
The AWRRTC was formed during the first African Emancipation Conference held in July 1998 in Accra and is linked to the National Coalition for Blacks Reparation in America.
The AWRRTC has since its inception initiated a motion for the American and the European Union to appease Africa for the evils done during the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
Dr Braimah said the idea of compensation is logical because such compensations have been done for other societies who suffered from similar atrocities.
For instance, Germany compensated Israel with 23 billion dollars for the massive extermination of innocent Jews during the Second World War, while the Japanese also realised the need to compensate Korean women, who acted as serfs during the war.
"Based on these facts, the AWRRTC is convinced that the American and European Unions should compensate Africa by an unconditional repudiation of the continent's huge debts and a reparation for evils committed against the African continent during the period of colonialism and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade."
Dr Brimah said if reparation and repatriation of all Diaspora Africans become a reality, their wealth, knowledge, skills and political maturity acquired over the centuries abroad would assist in accelerating the development of Africa and free their economies from absolute control by the Western world.
"Similarly, African nations' socio-economic, political institutions and leadership will begin to reflect good governance and perfect administration as the issues of abject poverty, diseases, squalor and deprivation endemic on the continent will be tackled."
The Deputy Minister noted that the realisation that the Diaspora Africans are kinsmen and kinswomen have been demonstrated and continue to be manifested by African leaders and governments.
What is left now is the political will of the African leadership to move towards making reparation and repatriation a reality.
Dr Brimah said Ghana, in its own way, has taken initiatives through programmes, such as the Pan Africanism Conferences, Emancipation celebrations and Pan African Festivals to achieve this goal.
He said a bill, awaiting Cabinet's approval, would soon be put before Parliament to provide right of abode and citizenship to Diaspora Africans.
"I hope other African nations will follow Ghana's footsteps to open their doors for our Diaspora Africans to take up citizenship in Africa.
"This initiative will symbolise that there is hope for reparation and repatriation efforts initiated by the National Coalition for Blacks Reparation in America and the AWRRTC," he added.
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Ga Traditional Council organises regatta
Accra (Greater Accra) 11Aug. ’99
The Ga Traditional Council on Tuesday organised a regatta as part of activities to mark this year's Homowo festival for the people of Ga Mashie.
The programme saw a group each from Gbese, Asane, Abola, Sempe, Akumaje, Ngleshie Alata and Otublohom competing in swimming and canoe racing. It was also to unite the youth in the district to maintain and promote their culture.
The group from Gbese emerged winners and was awarded a cash prize of 250,000 cedis and two cartons of beer donated by the Ghana Brewery Limited (GBL). The other contestants received between 50,000 and 200,000 cedis.
Mr Harry Sawyerr, Member of Council of State, said the Homowo festival was very important in the history of the Gas and must be celebrated in grand style to protect and portray the culture of the people.
"Such occasions bring the people together to calm down tension," he added.
He noted with regret that, even though, the festival was being celebrated alongside PANAFEST, the Ga Traditional Council did not send representatives to show the rich Ga culture.
Mr Sawyerr appealed to the chiefs of the Ga Traditional Area to use the occasion to settle all chieftaincy and land disputes to ensure peace and development.
He said the government would soon come out with a law that would allow the state to confiscate all disputed lands and the proceeds used in development of areas affected.
Mr Sawyerr urged the chiefs and people in the district to support the youth in all their programmes and help them to appreciate their culture.
A 78-million-cedi place of convince and streetlights for the James Town beach were commissioned.
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