Anana
urges Africa to recommit itself to a new
beginning
Professor Mills tours Upper East Region
Employers asked to adopt pre-employment screening
exercises
GUNSA congratulates Kofi Annan
The problem is inequality - Secretary
World Population to hit nine billion by 2050
Globalisation a challenge to developing countries-
Mumuni
TUC Secretary-General congratulates workers
Public service saddled with problems
NCCE officials urged to organise forums on
election
Foday Sankoh will be tried in Sierra Leone
Rawlings grants audience to Boeing top
executive
Police
commander renews call for public co-operation
Accra
(Greater Accra) 03 August 2000
UN
Secretary-General, Kofi Annan on Wednesday urged Africans to recommit
themselves to a new beginning by using information technology to tap knowledge
from the greatest universities of the world to bring learning to all.
Such
a new beginning, he said, should be: "Without war, without corruption and
without tyranny. Just as the international community is showing growing
interest in helping Africa realise its potential, we are expected to do our
part."
Mr.
Annan gave the advice after receiving an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from
the University of Ghana, Legon, in recognition of his services to humanity in
the area of world peace and the honour he has brought to Africa.
It
was his last engagement in a five-day official visit to his homeland, during
which the highest award of the state, the Companion of the Order of the Star of
Ghana (Civil Division), was conferred on him.
He
also commissioned the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Institute
and laid a wreath at the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Mausoleum all in Accra.
Mr.
Annan said the key to prosperity in this century is knowledge and education and
that universities must become primary tools "for Africa's
development".
"Universities
can help develop African expertise, enhance analysis of African problems,
strengthen domestic institutions, be a model for the practice of good
governance and conflict resolution and enable African academics to play an
active part in the global community of scholars."
In
order for African universities to make effective use of information
technologies, however, they must be strengthened financially and
technologically.
Mr.
Annan asked students of the university to share the privilege of learning with
their fellow citizens and help open the door of higher education to many more.
"True
education is more than the acquisition of knowledge. In the deepest sense, an
educated person exhibits values, character and behaviour that stand out among
his or her peers."
Mr.
Annan singled out "humility" as being the hallmark of a truly
educated person, which makes him to acknowledge how little he knows and how
much he wishes to learn and mentioned Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, John
Mensah Sarbah, Kwegyir Aggrey, A. L. Adu and Robert Gardiner as examples for
emulation.
Mr.
Annan said he has proposed the creation of a UN Information Technology Service
(UNITeS) to be made up of a consortium of volunteer groups from developed and
developing countries.
UNITeS
would train groups in developing countries in the uses and opportunities of
information technology and stimulate the creation of more digital corps in the
North and South to bridge the digital divide.
Professor
Ivan Addae Mensah, Vice-Chancellor, said Mr. Annan's achievement is a
continuation of Ghana's, pioneering role in significant feats.
He
mentioned Dr Alex Quayson Sackey, former President of the UN General Assembly and
Mr. Ken Dadzie, whom he described as "the unofficial second-in-command to
Secretary-Generals", for having distinguished themselves positively.
On
a lighter note that drew laughter from the audience, he recalled the school
days of Mr. Annan, citing his penchant to give nicknames to his teachers and
mates, his love for politics and diplomacy and his alimentary delights.
GRi…/
Professor
Mills tours Upper East Region
Bawku
(Upper East Region) 03 August 2000
Vice-President
John Evans Atta Mills on Tuesday began a four-day working visit to the Upper
East Region with a call on Ghanaians to sustain the present peace, unity and
stability the country is enjoying to ensure socio-economic development.
He
said Ghana needs peace to progress because the government's laudable policies
such as the decentralisation and the youth in agriculture programmes, as well
as the drive to attract foreign investors, would be impossible if peace does
not prevail.
Addressing
a durbar held in his honour by the chiefs and people of Binab-Zongoyire and
Kusamaba in the Bawku West District, Prof Mills said it is for this reason that
the people should vote massively for the NDC because it stands for peace, unity
and development to continue its good work.
Later,
the Vice-President commissioned the Bawku West District Hospital, which was
completed in 1998 at a cost of 800 million cedis.
Prof.
Mills also toured the Bawku East District where he interacted with the chiefs
and people of Pusiga and Bawku Central to explain government policies to the
people.
He
said Ghanaians should be aware that the current economic crisis is not limited
to only Ghana, but a global problem that other developing countries are facing.
At
Garu, Prof. Mills commissioned an electrification project, which was funded
with a grant of 3.14 million dollars from the International Development
Association (IDA), under the National Electrification Programme. He also
inspected work on an 800 million-cedi health post for the people of Binduri,
and later addressed a durbar.
The
chiefs and people of the two district appealed to the government to improve
upon the road network in the area, provide more dams and dugouts to facilitate
dry season farming, and expand the youth in agriculture programme to benefit
more rural people.
GRi…/
Accra
(Greater Accra) 03 August 2000
Employers
have been asked to adhere to pre-employment screening exercises to ensure that only
people with a high level of integrity are employed to enable them to control
fraud.
They
should also institute effective internal control measures that would serve as
early warning signals to ensure that fraud is detected early, Mr. Brian Sapati,
acting Executive Director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), said at a seminar
in Accra on Wednesday.
Mr.
Sapati said lack of statistics makes it difficult to quantify the amount of
money businesses and organisations lose as a result of fraud adding that
globalisation and advancement in technology have increased the risk of doing
business worldwide.
Mr.
Sapati said most frauds are committed with the connivance of employees who
flout laid down procedure and called for effective education of the public to
ensure that they take active part in the fight against fraud.
Mr.
Zakariah Ahmed, Area Head of Security and Investigations, Standard Chartered
Bank, West Africa, noted that some fraud would go undetected no matter how
effective the regulations put in place to check them.
He
said, however, that various control mechanisms have helped to reduce the level
of fraud in the system.
Mr.
Ahmed said most organisations are vulnerable because they lack knowledge of the
various types of fraud to which they are exposed.
GRi…/
Accra
(Greater Accra) 03 August 2000
Mr.
Opoku Kyeretwie, Interim General Secretary of the National Reform Party (NRP)
on Wednesday noted that Ghana's main problem is the growing inequality between
the rich, powerful but unproductive elite and the ordinary poor masses.
"National
wealth is concentrated in the hands of those with National Democratic Congress
(NDC) connections," he alleged in
an address
at the on-going congress of the party at the University of Ghana, Legon, saying
politics in Ghana since the 1960s often involve the amassing of wealth and
privileges by the elite.
"The
NDC has gone further in this direction than any previous elite government
including the Supreme Military Council (SMC) governments"
He
said the government is comfortable with the system since it keeps the people
divided and misguided and allows it to stay in power. The elite, he said,
survives by 'divide and rule' tactics, which is encouraging religious, tribal
and other social divisions in the country.
Mr.
Kyeretwie said the spate of attacks on police stations in the countryside
demonstrate the growing hostility of the ordinary people to the state, adding
that Ghana is gradually falling apart.
The
survival of the country depends on uprooting this kind of politics from the
country. "We cannot achieve this simply
by
electing the right people into government and parliament, though this approach
appears legitimate in terms of the constitution. It is actually a limited and
elitist approach because it denies the ordinary people a leading role in the
governance."
He
said no new president could overnight turn the state into an instrument of
social justice, noting that the state machinery has a powerful structure
developed over many years and it would resist any change.
The
state machinery is capable of corrupting even national leaders as it did to the
Convention People's Party and the NDC governments unless confronted with a more
powerful force.
"This
could happen if we do not build a party in which ordinary members have the
capacity to hold leaders to account and keep them honest." The Reform
party believes that the collective will of ordinary Ghanaians must be the most
important determinant of Ghana's future.
The
NRP's main task as a political party is to mobilise and organise the ordinary
Ghanaian to fight for the material and economic interest that unites the
country against the inequalities that hinder progress.
He
said the party would use whatever access is available to state power to
consolidate the gains of grassroots struggle and democracy for the ordinary
people.
GRi…/
World
Population to hit nine billion by 2050.
Ho
(Volta Region) 03 August 2000
The
World's population is expected to hit nine billion by the year 2050, a report
of the 2000 World Population Data Sheet of the Population Reference Bureau, has
indicated.
By
that year, three billion more people would be added to the present population
of six billion. Women in Sub-Sahara Africa give birth to an average of 5.8
children compared to 1.2 in Eastern Europe. as against the world average of two
point nine.
The
less developed countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America account for 80
percent of the World's population.
According
to Carl Haub and Diana Cornelius, authors of the annual report on world
demographic trends, the global population was more than six billion last
October and would reach seven billion in the next 12 to 13 years.
The
report noted that the population growth rate in less developed countries excluding
China is 70 million annually and currently stands at 3.6 billion.
India,
which is now the second most populous country in the World with a population of
1.002 billion, is expected to overtake China by the middle of the century.
The
report states that globally, about one percent of the population is infected
with HIV/AIDS with the highest proportion of seven percent in Africa and the
lowest of 0.2 and 0.1 percent in Europe and the Oceania respectively.
It
said more than 25 percent of the populations of Botswana and Zimbabwe is
infected with the disease, the highest rate in the World.
Notwithstanding
"The HIV/AIDS epidemic, the Sub-Saharan Africa with a population of 657
million is still the fastest growing population in the World and is projected
to have 1.5 billion inhabitants by 2050," it concluded.
GRi…/
Sunyani
(Brong Ahafo) 03 August 2000
Mr.
Donald Adabre, Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, has advised the United Kingdom
(UK) members of the Duke of Edinburgh Exchange Programme to use their
experience in Ghana to remove prejudices among their compatriots as a result of
ignorance.
Mr.
Adabre was speaking at a reception for the 19-member team on Tuesday at Sunyani.
They were accompanied by, 41 local counterparts of the Head of State's Award
Scheme.
Their
visit is reciprocal to one by the Ghanaian group to UK last year. The Minister
commended them for the visit and expressed the hope that they would use the experience
and knowledge gained to influence decision-makers in UK.
Madam
Philomina Mensah, a Lecturer of the Sunyani Polytechnic and Brong Ahafo
Regional Co-ordinator of the Head of State Awards Scheme, said the programme is
run in over 60 countries.
She
said it was started more than three decades ago, in UK by, the Duke of
Edinburgh for the youth between the ages of 14 and 25 to enable them to channel
their energies and time into useful purposes.
Dr
Patricia Turner, a medical officer attached to the team, said they had observed
progress being made by Ghana in various fields. The UK team arrived in the
country on July 15 and proceeded to Wa to participate in a community project
after visiting some places of interest in the Accra-Tema area. They will also
visit Kumasi and Cape Coast.
GRi…/
Tamale
(Northern Region) 03 August 2000
The
Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Alhaji Muhammad Mumuni, said on
Wednesday that globalisation
poses
a major challenge for developing countries to adopt technological innovations
in the labour market to confront it.
"Globalisation
is not a matter of choice. If it were so, most developing countries will have
opted out. Ghana must therefore integrate into the system by cultivating
qualitative workforce with appropriate work ethics".
Speaking
at the opening of the Second National Conference of Heads and Proprietors of
the Ghana National Association of Vocational and Technical Training Institutions
(GNAVTI) in Tamale, he said vocational and technical training institutes have
an important role to play in providing the qualified and skilled manpower that
Ghana would require in the 21st century.
Alhaji
Mumuni said that the government has embarked on measures to improve the ability
of the private sector to develop skills needed by local industries.
Mr.
Moses Quarshie, President of GNAVTI, said that the Association has collaborated
with the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) to develop common
syllabuses for 15 trade courses in member institutions.
He
appealed to the government to include needy students in private and technical
institutions in the disbursement of the Tertiary Education Fund.
GRi…/
Tema
(Greater Accra) 03 August 2000
Mr.
Christian Appiah-Agyei, Secretary-General of the Trades Union Congress (TUC),
has congratulated workers for turning up in their numbers during last Tuesday's
demonstration against the poor minimum wage in the country.
He
told workers that their destiny lies in their own hands and urged them to keep
up the spirit of unity in trade unionism in the fight against poor working
conditions.
He
thanked all workers for their mass participation in the demonstration, which he
said the government had tried to stop. "If you don't say I am, nobody will
say thou art, but don't allow anybody to take advantage of our actions since we
are not going to fight any body's fight for him", he said.
Mr.
Appiah-Agyei called on workers, to avail themselves of the various associations
and the media to join the TUC in the fight for a decent minimum wage. "We
are talking about kenkey and fish for our stomachs and not politics," he
emphasised to correct those who want to link the demonstration to partisan
politics.
He
said that the economy could be likened to the situation whereby one is being
asked to fill a barrel with holes at the bottom with water and called on the
government to correct the ills of the current economic situation.
The
Secretary-General called for a reduction in the government's expenditure, saying:
"We do not support the idea of reducing government expenditure on wages in
the public sector". Instead the government should follow suggestions in
the Auditor-
General's
report on ways to minimise its expenditure.
He
criticised the police for using water canons against workers during the
demonstration near the Kwame Nkrumah Circle in Accra. The action of the police
was unjustifiable since the workers were not rioting and were following the
designated route agreed upon with them, he said.
Mr.
Appiah-Agyei noted that the incident could have resulted in a blood bath if the
workers had not exercised restraint and advised the police to act more
professionally in dealing with demonstrations.
.
GRi…/
Accra
(Greater Accra) 03 August 2000
Participants
at a performance review workshop of the Ministry of Employment and Social
Welfare have observed that Ghana's public service is saddled with difficulties,
which constitute obstacles to achieving efficiency.
They
blamed the situation on top management personnel whom they described as "over
worked, paternalistic and with weak management and control systems". While
the top management personnel lack administration skills, the middle level
personnel lack both knowledge and skill, they said at the end of the workshop
at Sogakope in the Volta Region.
Talking
to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Wednesday, Mr. Felix Tsameye, acting
Deputy Director of the Ministry said
the
participants concluded that the private sector needs the support of the public
sector to lead the national economic growth process.
GRi…/
Accra
(Greater Accra) 03 August 2000
UN Secretary-General
Mr. Kofi Annan said on Wednesday the Sierra Leonean rebel leader, Foday Sankoh,
would be tried in his home country with help from the international community.
He
told journalists after commissioning a peacekeeping training centre named after
him at the Armed Forces Staff College at Teshie a surbub of Accra, that the
unfortunate situation in that country demands that adequate preparation be made
for an effective trial.
Sankoh's
rebel forces unleashed massive destruction of life and property in a seven year
long civil war. The UN Chief, whose outfit has been criticised for its delayed
response to the crisis in Sierra Leone, said the situation is beginning to
return to normal in Freetown with the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops.
He
said similar troops would soon be deployed to the Eritrian/Ethiopian border and
the Democratic Republic of Congo.
On
calls for reform of the UN Security Council, Mr. Annan admitted that there was
the need to make the Council more democratic and more representative.
Mr.
Annan could not tell how the reform could be effected, especially concerning
countries to be added to the present 15-memberSecurity Council and said the
General Assembly will be convening soon to debate the issue. He cautioned that
it was important to ensure that the Council is not expanded too much to lose
its effectiveness.
Mr.
Annan was evasive when asked if he would consider running for the Presidency of
his native Ghana after his term as UN Secretary-General. "As you can see I have a major headache
now, which has given me these grey hairs. I will want to focus on one
assignment at a time. For the time being, I have no idea of taking up a new position."
GRi…/
Accra
(Greater Accra) 03 August 2000
Dr
Walt Braithwaite, President of Boeing Africa, on Wednesday called on President
Jerry John Rawlings at the Castle, Osu and announced that the United States
aircraft manufacturing company has chosen Ghana as one of two African countries
in which to establish its presence. The other is South Africa.
Dr
Braithwaite said Boeing would open an office in Ghana because of its attractive
business environment especially the gateway project and transportation
system. "Ghana had to compete
with a lot of other countries but it won our confidence because it has things
which the other countries do not have," he told President Rawlings.
He
said his company had seen the need to built a maintenance workshop in the
sub-region and hinted that Ghana might be considered when the time comes. ''We are talking with the Civil Aviation
Authorities to see what can be done''.
President
Rawlings expressed pleasure at Boeing's intention to operate in Ghana and told
Dr Braithwaite ''you have made a good choice''.
Mr.
Dan Abodakpi, Minister of Trade, said apart from opening an office here, Boeing
could also go into manufacturing and mentioned electrical products as an area the
US aircraft giant might consider.
GRi…/
Ahyiresu
(Ashanti Region) 03 August 2000
Dr
Kofi Manfo, Ashanti Regional Police Commander, has urged the public to heed the
call to help the police track down criminals who are now using sophisticated
methods in their operations.
Inaugurating
the Ahyiresu neighbourhood watch committee in the Atwima District on Tuesday,
Dr Manfo said the criminals have fast-moving vehicles and a network of
information gathering devices, which put them a step ahead of the police.
It
is therefore necessary for members of the communities to observe critically the
movements of suspicious persons in their vicinities and report to the police
without delay. "This way you may come up with information which may be of
use to the police in preventing crime".
The
Regional Commander said the idea of the neighbourhood watch committees is
therefore to complement the efforts of the police in fighting crime. He,
however, cautioned the committees against the tendency to take the law into
their own hands by meting out instant justice to suspects.
GRi…/