Govt asked to institute measures to eradicate corruption
Victims of rape asked to be bold to expose culprits
Parliamentary Delegation arrives from Lesotho
Onyadze gets electricity poles
The Church fails to achieve equality
Government determined to curb corruption - Minister
Nkwanta hospital receives equipment
Chiefs urge government to respect traditional boundaries
Global Alliance initiates projects for Apatrapa
Divine Healer's Church promulgates new constitution
Catholic Ewe Union Celebrates 60th anniversary
Govt asked to institute measures to eradicate corruption
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 30 Aug '99
A proposal has been made to government to institute serious measures to contain the rising tide of corruption and violence the country.
Dr R W Anane, MP for Bantama, said unless this is done, many Ghanaians and even foreign investors would lose faith in the established authority and legal dispensation in the country.
He was speaking on "The spate of violence and corruption in the country" at a congress in Kumasi on Saturday by the Morning Star Union, the youth wing of the Brotherhood International Church to climax its silver jubilee.
Dr Anane called on churches to demonstrate their desire to complement national efforts to flush out corruption and anti-social vices among the youth.
They can do this by focusing their programmes on training schemes that would drive their attention into more productive ventures.
Primate S.K. Adofo, Head of the Church, said the church has established a number of agricultural ventures to train the youth in modern farming to help make them self-supporting.
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Victims of rape asked to be bold to expose culprits
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 30 Aug '99
Victims of rape have been advised not to keep mute but to be bold to report such criminal offences to their parents and the police for prompt action.
Dr Robert Cann, a medical practitioner of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), regretted that, out of shyness, many young girls, who fall victim to rapists, always try to keep it a secret.
He said this has contributed immensely to the increasing rate of rape in the country.
Dr Cann was speaking on "men as partners of reproductive health" at a symposium organised by the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana (PPAG) under the association's gender and development project for young men in and around Anloga, a suburb of Kumasi, on Saturday.
Dr Cann appealed to men to desist from refusing responsibility for girls they put in the family way.
Miss Constance Boakye, Project Assistant of the PPAG, asked men to stop blaming their wives for all infertility cases because studies have shown that men are equally guilty.
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Parliamentary Delegation arrives from Lesotho
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 August '99
A 10-member Parliamentary delegation returned home on Sunday from Maseru, Lesotho, after attending the burial and funeral rites of Dr. John Tebohu Kolane, Lesotho Speaker of Parliament.
Dr Kolane died in Accra while attending the Commonwealth Parliamentary Union Conference early this month. He was 73.
The Speaker of Parliament, Mr Justice D. F. Annan who led the delegation, told Newsmen at Kotoka International Airport that they were given a warm welcome.
He described the funeral as a grand one that was attended by dignitaries from Commonwealth countries as well as the King of Lesotho.
Mr Justice Annan said the Ghanaian delegation, in typical Ghanaian custom, presented drinks to the family and consoled the widow, Mrs Kolane.
The delegation also met the Prime Minister of Lesotho with whom they had fruitful discussions.
It also met the Ghanaian community in that country.
Other members of the delegation included Mr Ken Dzirasah, Deputy Speaker, Dr. Kwabena Adjei, Majority Leader, Mr Yaw Barimah, MP for Koforidua, and the Acting Clerk of Parliament, Mr Rex Owusu Ansah.
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Onyadze gets electricity poles
Gomoa-Onyadze(Central Region) 30 Aug. '99
The government has given out two million cedis to the people of Gomoa-Onyadze in the Central region to buy electricity poles to support their electrification project.
Mrs Ama Benyiwa Doe, Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare and MP for Gomoa West, presented the cheque to leaders of the Onyadze electrification project planning and implementation committee at Onyadze at the weekend.
Mrs Benyiwa-Doe reiterated government's determination to support communities willing to improve their living conditions through self-help.
Mr Robert Odoom and Mr Kwesi Adu, executive officers of the Onyadze Town Development Committee, thanked the government for the assistance.
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The Church fails to achieve equality
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 Aug. '99
The Reverend Dr. Setti Sidza, Principal of the Theological Seminary of Benin, Port Novo, on Sunday noted that both Western and African church leaders seem to fail in their efforts at achieving partnership of equality in their relations.
He attributed the cause of the failure to selfishness, malice and ill will towards one another, which have affected international relations between the north advanced nations and the south deprived nations.
Rev Sidza was speaking at a thanksgiving and ordination service of the 58th Synod of Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana in Accra.
The theme for the synod was "Being together under the cross into the next millennium".
He said it was unfortunate that the struggle of Ecumenism to correct the warped relations between the northern and the southern churches has not yielded much result.
Rev Sidza said he hoped that the prophecies of globalisation would become realities that would profit humanity.
He said both the rich and poor nations need Christ centred lives globally because "it is Christ, who came to live in the world and died for the sins of the world, for humanity, for the Church and for all Christians".
He urged Christians to be united in Christ irrespective of their culture, opinions and desires.
Rev. Sidza said the divisions in the churches from the West, have weakened the witness of the church, adding that "as the churches are divided their messages and voices have become equally weak in their countries".
"The divisions in the churches in Africa have weakened our front. The schism in the E.P. church has weakened her position in the Ghanaian community."
Rev. Sidza urged Christian to "put on Christ, live and walk in Christ to portray to the world their unity".
The Right Reverend J. Y. Ledo, Moderator of the E.P. Church, Ghana ordained four pastors.
They were Rev Eunice Kpikpi, Rev Wisdom S. Alorvi, Rev W. K. Oyiti and Rev G.Y. Nachim.
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Government determined to curb corruption - Minister
Bolgatanga (Upper West) 30 Aug '99
The Upper East Regional Minister, Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, has stressed the government's determination to curb the rising spate of corruption in the country to ensure transparency and accountability.
He was opening the second triennial Delegates Conference of the Judicial Service Association of Ghana in Bolgatanga on Friday.
Over 300 delegates are attending the conference on the theme ''Equipping JUSAG for the efficient administration of justice in Ghana.''
Alhaji Sulemana charged the association to take measures to redeem its tainted image through consistent public education and the strengthening of its public relations department.
The Regional Minister noted that some outmoded practices still exist in the judicial service and said it is important for the Courts to modernise their operations to enhance the delivery of justice.
Alhaji Sulemana said the government has taken the concern of workers about the implementation of the Pricewater House report into consideration and would take appropriate action to correct all distortions.
In a speech read the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Isaac Kobina Abban, asked members of JUSAG to ask themselves what they have done to help the service and to strive to improve the administration of justice.
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Nkwanta hospital receives equipment
Nkwanta (Volta Region) 30 Aug '99
The 31st December Women's Movement and the VALCO Trust Fund have donated a number of medical equipment costing several million cedis to the Nkwanta District Hospital.
The movement gave hospital beds, mattresses, medicine trolley, a theatre table and accessories and four bales of used clothing.
VALCO also donated clinical examination set, obstetric and gynaecological set, blood mixer, microscopes and an autoclave, among other items.
Dr John Koku Awoonor Williams, who took delivery of the items at Nkwanta, expressed his appreciation and said the hospital, which serves 200,000 inhabitants in the district, is the only referral hospital in the northern sector of the Volta region.
He said despite the lack of equipment and other resources "we are able to improvise and provide effective health care to the population including patients from the Northern Region and other neighbouring countries.
Dr Awoonor said the equipment would ease some of the workload of the staff.
He, however, appealed to other organisations and benevolent institutions to help provide the hospital with an ambulance.
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Chiefs urge government to respect traditional boundaries
Jasikan (Volta Region) 30 Aug. '99
Chiefs in the Jasikan District have called on government to give due respect to traditional boundaries in the next demarcation exercise of the Electoral Commission.
They said this would help reduce some of the tension and uneasiness mounting among some districts as a result of the last demarcation by the commission.
A cross-section of chiefs in the Jasikan District said last Thursday at a forum organised by the Office of the Administrator of Stool lands for chiefs, opinion leaders, landowners and land users.
The forum was to discuss the operations and functions of the office of the administrator and the role and obligations of chiefs and land users to the office of the administrator.
The chiefs noted that during the last demarcation exercise lands in the Jasikan District were carved into the Krachi District for administrative purposes. "This," they said, "has made control of such areas by the Jasikan chiefs difficult, causing a lot uneasiness among the people."
They also complained that some of the people who were affected by the creation of the Akosombo Dam more than 30 years ago have not been compensated even though people in other districts have already received their compensation.
They mentioned some of the communities affected as Tapa and Apesokubi.
Mr Owusu Poku, Volta Regional Lands Officer, announced that a programme is under way to draw a topographical map for the country, indicating all traditional boundaries and their overlaps.
The programme, which is under the Ghana Environmental Resource Management Project, will give access to lands for investment and identify areas of conflicts and how these can be resolved.
Mrs Matilda Fiadzigbe, Administrator of Lands, assured the chiefs that her office would investigate some of the issues raised for appropriate action to be taken.
On the issue of settler farmers, she assured the chiefs that when all issues are resolved settler farmers would be required to pay land tolls and that this would be done through her office.
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Global Alliance initiates projects for Apatrapa
Apatrapa (Ashanti Region) 30 Aug '99
Global Alliance for Education and Health Services of the United States is assisting the people of Apatrapa within the Kumasi Metropolitan Area with a number of development projects.
Projects already undertaken for the community by the organisation include a community clinic and hand-dug wells fitted with pumps.
The organisation is also considering the possibility of assisting the community in waste management, water supply and education.
Dr Beryl Dorsett, President of the Global Alliance for Education and Health Services, who is also the Nkosuohemaa of Apatrapa and initiator of the projects, said her organisation has, therefore, invited 55 members of the National Society of Black Engineers to Apatrapa to evaluate the projects.
The engineers have interacted with engineering students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), the Kumasi Polytechnic and the Apatrapa Women in Development group.
Welcoming them, Oheneba Akyaa Panin II, Queenmother of Apatrapa, appealed to the engineers to assist the town with an engineering workshop which would help bring out the scientific and technological capabilities of the youth.
Mr Kwaku Owusu, Representative of Global Alliance for Education and Health Services in Ghana, charged the group of engineers to come up with ways and means of assisting the youth of the town to be prepared for the 21st century.
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Divine Healer's Church promulgates new constitution
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 Aug. '99
The Reverend (Mrs) Comfort Lawson, President of Divine Healer's Church, has called on pastors to lead decent lives that would make the gospel acceptable by society.
She was addressing a meeting to promulgate a new constitution for the church at its headquarters at Korle Gonno in Accra.
Rev. Lawson said the church and the nation now need a new corps of pastors who are devoted, loyal and committed to Christ, the church and the nation.
The Divine Healer's Church, formerly known as the "Lord is there Temple", which was formed as a healing, teaching and deliverance ministry by the Late Brother Ablorh Lawson in 1952, also has assemblies in Cote d'Ivoire and Liberia.
Rev Lawson said as the third millennium approaches, it is expected of the church to intensify its prayers and search for an answer to the current crime wave and moral decadence that the church and the nation now face.
The Reverend Moses Afful, Senior Pastor who promulgated the church's 1999 constitution, said it would enable the church to reform and restructure its secretariat to meet the challenges of the next millennium.
Rev. Afful said the constitution recognises the changes that have taken place over the past 47 years of the church's existence, adding that the new constitution would enable it to conform to current trends in modern church administration.
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Catholic Ewe Union Celebrates 60th anniversary
Accra (Greater Accra) 30 Aug. '99
The Saint Anthony Catholic Ewe Union at the Scared Heart Church, Derby Avenue in Accra, held a celebration at the weekend to make its 60th anniversary.
In 1893, the early Catholic missionaries failed in their attempt to establish a Catholic Church in Accra.
Three years later, some few Ewe-speaking communities in Accra gathered in a private home on Sundays to fulfil their Christian obligation.
The group became very popular and Ewe Catholics from Togo, Dahomey now Benin, and from Lower Volta Basin, who came to Accra to trade and earn a living joined them.
In June 1939, the group was inaugurated and became known as the Saint Anthony Catholic Ewe Union.
Prof. Enu-Kwesi, the Head of Botany Department of the University of Ghana, Legon, congratulated the founding fathers that toiled over the years to ensure the survival of the union.
He said the role and value of ethnic associations within the church, which afford the use of a common language and culture, have provided a useful avenue for members to participate in worship and appreciate the deeper values of faith.
Prof. Enu-Kwesi said "as we identify ourselves as either Ewe, Akan or Dagbani Christians, we should remember that the message of Christ is the same and meant to unite us".
He urged the Ewe union to forge closer links with other groups of the church to jointly develop the society.
Right Revered Bishop Francis Kofi Anani Lodonu, Archbishop of Ho Diocese, expressed his unhappiness about the way the "Trokosi system" was being lauded in the media. (Trokosi is a traditional system in parts of the Volta Region, where virgin girls are given to the shrine to atone for sins committed by their forefathers.)
He said the system must be abolished completely, because it is destroying innocent women and girls.
Right Rev Bishop Lodonu also said it was wrong to link the Tokosi system with the Catholic Religious Sisters and asked those trying to link the two to go back to their history books.
Right Rev, Lodonu challenged the Trokosi activists to bring out the Trokosi women and compare them with the Catholic Sisters publicly, saying "our religious sisters are found in every sphere of life and they cannot feign ignorance".
Mr. Victor Selormey, a Deputy Minister of Finance, who chaired the function, said ethnic associations could serve as an institution for moral upbringing and change and called on churches to encourage that.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 30 Aug. '99
The Reverend John Agyeman Boateng, President of Daystar Bible College, has called on the clergy to lead life worthy of emulation as they are the mirror of society.
Looking at present happenings, it was time for the clergy to take up the challenge of exposing evil doing in the society that retarded progress and help build an enviable society free of social vices.
Rev Boateng was addressing the annual general meeting of Gospel Ministers Association (GOMA), under the theme "The Clergy and Social Challenges" at the Kata International Hotel in Accra.
GOMA is an non-governmental organisation (NGO) formed in 1989 with an objective of bringing together all ministers of the Gospel to foster and promote friendship and brotherhood, based on understanding and love and to assist each other to work effectively as a chosen servant of God.
Rev Boateng said, as Christ was part of society and sought for its development and progress, the clergy must do the same as ministers of the Gospel.
He said "a new kind of Pastor is needed today: this is necessary if we are going to be a blessing to society".
Rev Boateng, therefore, reminded ministers of the Gospel that Christianity was not a religion of isolation but that of participation .
"If we fail to be part of society then we are failing as Servants of God, who are called to preach the word of liberation."
Rev Kingsley Osafo-Mireku, Acting President of GOMA said the ultimate vision of GOMA is to see a formidable association formed to be an umbrella for all independent ministers, who have good standing in the country.
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