Policemen to be deployed at University of Ghana
Gulf of Guinea programme must transcend politics - Minister
Wa chieftaincy dispute is explosive, Alhaji Pelpuo
Ashanti lost 1.8 billion cedis in fire outbreaks
Committee to investigate Zongo religious conflict
Regional Co-ordinating Council denies allegation
Wenchi district assembly meets
Local union of Graphic corporation faces expulsion from mother union
Policemen to be deployed at University of Ghana
Accra (Greater Accra), 20th August 99
The Police Administration on Thursday assured freshmen of the University of Ghana of adequate protection at the campus as they register and warned that it would "act firmly" against those who attempt to disrupt the exercise.
A statement signed in Accra by DSP A. Awuni, Director of Public Relations, said the Police Administration had granted a request by the University of Ghana authorities to deploy police personnel at the campus to ensure law and order during registration of freshmen.
"The Administration wishes to caution those who have no business on the campus to keep off the university premises in their own interest."
The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) is spearheading a campaign against new user fees announced by the universities and vowed to disrupt the reopening of the institutions unless they are withdrawn.
Freshmen at the University of Ghana are paying 300,000 cedis registration fees, up from 50,000 cedis last year.
The students have been holding demonstrations in several regional capitals to press home their point.
A meeting called by the Minister of Education, Mr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah on Wednesday to resolve the impasse with NUGS ended in a stalemate as both sides stuck to their position.
NUGS wants the fees withdrawn while the government, giving a go ahead for the implementation of the new fees, said it had set up a three-billion bursary for needy students.
The students refused to accept the three billion-cedi Tertiary Education Bursary Fund (TEBF) announced by government for needy students, saying it is inadequate.
Mr Joseph Adongo, President of NUGS, told a meeting between the Ministry of Education and the university authorities, on the one hand, and the students' body, on the other hand, that "the three billion cedis is woefully inadequate" to cater for their training programmes.
The Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals has said it has had to increase fees because government subvention has dwindled to only about 60 per cent of their requirements.
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Gulf of Guinea programme must transcend politics - Minister
Accra (Greater Accra), 20th August 99
Mr Lee Ocran, Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, on Thursday said the regional approach to solving environmental problems associated with the Gulf of Guinea must transcend all political considerations.
"The problems respect no political boundaries and that damage to one part leads to a chain reaction which could result in the destruction of mangroves, affecting the spawning grounds for numerous species of fish and affect the livelihood of the people".
The Minister was opening the review meeting of the Gulf of Guinea Large Marine Ecosystem Project being attended by about 70 experts from the West Africa sub-region.
Also participating are representatives of UNIDO and UNDP/Global Environmental Facility (GEF), financiers of the project.
The Gulf is under threat from coastal pollution and erosion and the project will provide a regional approach to address the pollution of shared waters and associated degradation of critical habitats and their natural resources.
It will also attempt to demonstrate to both decision-makers and others the direct linkages between pollution and ecosystem functioning.
Mr Ocran said "to ensure that we live with the environment, we first need to know how bad the pollution is, how much pollutants we produce and how toxic their effects are."
He said there was the need to learn how to manage the environment on a sustainable basis and "how best to legislate to protect the resources".
Mr Ocran said throughout the first phase of the project, participating countries were able to strengthen co-operation among them. This, he said, is leading to "the unity that our political leaders have been urging for the continent".
Mr Koffi Santy Sany Adadel, Togo's Minister for the Environment, said the Protection of the Forest calls for effective collaboration in the region to save the Gulf.
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Wa chieftaincy dispute is explosive, Alhaji Pelpuo
Wa (Upper West), 20th August 99
Alhaji Ali Pelpuo, Wa District Chief Executive, has described a chieftaincy dispute at Wa as "particularly explosive" and called on people who have the development of the area at heart to prevail on the disputing factions to resolve it out of court.
He said the case would not be expected to end soon adding that the people risked becoming "backward and cultureless" as it protracted.
Alhaj Pelpuo made the observation when he addressed the second ordinary meeting of the Wa District Assembly last Wednesday.
The DCE said the Wa Na's palace which is a unique architectural showpiece in the country is almost crumbling because it has no occupants and wondered whether it will not serve any purpose if the District Assembly and the Museums and Monuments Board renovated it.
He appealed to chiefs, elders and landowners (Tendambas) as well as all those who have authority to choose a Wa Na to "bury their hatred for each other because the Wala tribe is loosing its cultural identity as a result of their selfish pursuits."
On development projects, Alhaji Pelpuo said 28 pavilions have been earmarked for cladding this year while a pond for animals and the rehabilitation of the Wa community centre had been awarded on contract.
He was not happy about low revenue collection in the district and said in order to arrest this trend, a number of non-performing revenue collectors have had their salaries stopped until they will account for short falls in their collections.
Mr. Pede Ziedeng, Upper West regional Deputy Minister, expressed concern about the low enrolment of girls in schools and their high drop-out rate and asked the assembly to adopt measures to address this problem.
He told the assembly to implement without further delay its bye-laws to check defecation at unauthorised places and the putting up of unauthorised structures.
Reacting to concerns expressed by some assembly members on the non-celebration of the 'Dumba' festival in Wa, Mr. Ziedeng said the festival could be celebrated anywhere in the district except the precincts of the Wa Na's palace because it is a subject matter in the current litigation.
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Ashanti lost 1.8 billion cedis in fire outbreaks
Ejisu (Ashanti), August 20th 99
About two billion cedis worth of property was lost through domestic fires Domestic fires in the Ashanti region between January and March this year Mr Alex T. Boachie, Regional Co-ordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), has said.
He said the Anloga Small-scale Carpenters Association, Saint Louis Training College, Kumasi Girls Secondary school and the police barracks are among organizations which lost properties in fire outbreaks.
Speaking at the opening of a workshop on a district disaster management plan at Ejisu on Thursday, Mr Boachie said at Atonsuagya in the Sekyere-West district, the whole of the Zongo community was burnt down, displacing about 600 people.
Floods which occurred at Awona in the Adansi East district within the same period, displaced 146 people including livestock.
In the Ejisu-Juaben district alone, seven communities were badly affected by windstorms while at Sabronum in the Ahafo-Ano South district, a severe windstorm displaced 575 people and destroyed 135 houses.
Mr Boachie said the increasing rate of disasters in the region has made it imperative for an inter-sectoral approach towards designing of a more workable and practical mechanism towards preventing and combating disasters at all levels.
The Regional Co-ordinator said in line with this, a regional workshop would soon be organised under the sponsorship of the Ahafo-Ano North district assembly at Tepa.
The workshop would bring all stakeholders in disaster management together to discuss a draft disaster management plan for the region to help prevent and avoid fire disasters.
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Committee to investigate Zongo religious conflict
Offinso (Ashanti), 20th August 99,
The Offinso District Security Committee (DISEC) has set up a seven-member committee to investigate the remote and immediate causes leading to a religious dispute at Saboa Zongo, a Muslim community in Offinso.
The committee, expected to submit its report within two weeks, will investigate and establish specific issues which led to the misunderstanding and where the two Muslim factions should have congregated for their last Friday's prayers.
It is also to establish the role of ethnicity and any incidental issues involved in the dispute and recommend practical and reconciliatory solutions.
There has been attacks and counter attacks, destruction and seizure of worshipping mats and animal skins by the two Muslim factions at Saboa Zongo's central mosque at Offinso.
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Regional Co-ordinating Council denies allegation
Takoradi (Western Region), 20th August 99 –
The Western Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) on Thursday denied having sold a government bungalow at Takoradi beach road at a cheap price to the Bethel Methodist Church.
A press release issued by the council, said the bungalow has only been leased to the church to serve the spiritual needs of the beach road community.
The Council said the Methodist Church applied to the council to renovate the building, which was abandoned and disused at its own cost for use as a place of worship.
It said it agreed in principle to release the building to the church on condition that the structure and the land around it will not be used for any private development but to fulfil a social need.
The Council said the Regional Lands Commission approved it and entered into a lease agreement with the Bethel Methodist Church for a token rental fee of 125,000 cedis per annum for a limited period.
The commission has the right to decide to re-possess the building or renew the lease.
The Council said the bungalow, which was more than a decade ago, the Senior Police Officers Mess was abandoned because of the fast deterioration, due to lack of maintenance and the huge amount involved in rehabilitating it.
The place then became a den for drug addicts, thieves and other undesirables who were harassing the Beach Road community at night.
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Wenchi district assembly meets
Wenchi (Brong Ahafo), 20th Aug 99
Alhaji Kwadwo Maama Adam, acting district chief executive for Wenchi, has said the assembly requires two billion cedis to expand the Wenchi water project to meet the needs of the people.
The cost of the project is now estimated at 1.7 billion cedis, three million cedis more than the original estimate, Alhaji Adam told a meeting of the Assembly last Wednesday.
Alhaji Adam, also the Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, urged members and the staff of the Ghana Water Company to hasten their revenue mobilisation drive to enable the assembly to pay the 104 million cedis matching fund by the middle of September this year.
He urged the assembly to exercise restraint in the appointment of a substantive district chief executive and stated that it is the sole responsibility of the president to appoint a competent and acceptable person for the district.
Mr Asiedu Nketia, Member of Parliament for Wenchi West and Deputy Minister of Agriculture, decried the indiscriminate and massive exploitation of timber in the district and called on the assembly to check the operations of illegal chainsaw operators.
Alhaji Moctar Musa Bamba, MP for Wenchi East, commended the government for defreezing all the property of the late Dr K.A. Busia, Prime Minister of the Second Republic.
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Local union of Graphic corporation faces expulsion from mother union
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo), 20th August 99
The Brong Ahafo Regional branch of the Industrial and Commercial Workers Union (ICU) has proposed the expulsion of the local union of the Graphic Corporation for its stand against the union's decision to embark on a nation-wide demonstration last month.
The branch observed with indignation "the role the Daily Graphic has played as a self-appointed mouthpiece of the detractors of the union," a resolution adopted at the end of a regional conference of the union at Sunyani on Wednesday said.
"This action we believe will not serve as a disciplinary action to the Local Union of the Graphic Corporation but also as a deterrent to all future non-conforming locals", the resolution stated.
It would be recalled that the leadership of the ICU called on its members to embark on a nation-wide strike on July 20 this year to protest against injustices being meted out to members in some establishments.
The Graphic Corporation Local Union, however, refused to be part of the decision of the leadership of the ICU and this among others, had strained relationship between them
In a welcoming address, Mr E. Osei Asibey Antwi, the Regional Industrial Relations Officer, called on members to pay attention to programmes affecting the welfare of the union and asked members encountering difficulties at their workplaces not to hesitate to contact the regional secretariat for assistance.
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