GRi Newsreel Ghana 15 - 08 - 2001
Ghanaian envoys asked to ensure judicious use resources
Tanker driver kills three in multiple accidents
Parliamentary select committee tours mines
More women to work in the mining sector
Good crop yield predicted in Upper East
Minimal damage to buildings in waterways - Jake
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 August 2001
President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday asked the newly nominated Ambassadors and High Commissioners to ensure the judicious use of the resources and financial remittances at the country's missions.
"An end must be put to the financial malpractices which have marked the operations of some of our diplomatic missions in the recent and immediate past", President Kufuor told the closing session of a two-week induction course for 27 newly nominated Ambassadors and High Commissioners in Accra.
The course was designed to re-orient and re-focus their responsibilities in the implementation of the country's foreign policy under the New Patriotic Party’s administration.
President Kufuor warned that adverse findings on any mission by the inspection team of the Auditor-General's Department would not be allowed to gather dust on the shelves, but would be acted upon by the Foreign Minister.
He said as heads of mission, they were expected to provide leadership, exercise good judgement at all times to manage the missions as one unit with a common purpose irrespective of which ministry individual members of staff may be representing.
"I will not countenance inter-ministerial or inter-departmental rivalries and bickering in the country's missions abroad, because the management of foreign relations is a costly business and we must get good value for our money."
President Kufuor told the envoys that a major part of their work would be to look after the interest of all Ghanaians in their host countries. Therefore the missions should not be opened to only those who support the ruling party but receive and assist all Ghanaians in their legitimate pursuits, adding, "let our missions be truly for all Ghanaians."
He urged them to put an end to the horror stories about the inefficiencies, the delays, the lack of interest and downright rudeness at the foreign missions "because they are servants of Ghana, of Ghanaians and of all those who are interested in Ghana".
"The government's concept of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is one of a ministry for foreign relations and Ghanaians abroad, the consular protection of the citizens abroad should not play a second fiddle to your equally important and new focus of economic diplomacy."
President Kufuor said the government wanted to promote friendly relations with neighbouring countries, the rest of Africa and the world at large, adding that the NPP's vision for Ghana was to make it a self confident, democratic and prosperous country with the private sector as the engine of growth and the creation of wealth.
President Kufuor therefore asked the envoys to be sensitive to the needs of Ghanaian businessmen and others desirous of investing in the country.
Mr Hackman Owusu -Agyeman, the Foreign Minister said the course has sharpened the skills of the envoys and adequately prepared them to embark on their new careers to help realise the vision and foreign policy goals of the government.
He said their attention was also drawn to the relevant sections of the NPP's foreign policy, which pledged Ghana's commitment to peace, understanding and co-operation and an uncompromising dedication to the promotion of multiparty democratic systems of government especially in Africa.
Mr Owusu- Agyeman said the missions should be made the nerve-centre for the dissemination of accurate data to assist potential investors into the country.
He asked them to respect the diplomatic privileges and immunities accorded them in order not become the subjects of oddity in their countries of accreditation.
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Mankessim (Central Region) 15 August 2001
The Police at Mankessim in the Central Region at the weekend had a hectic time in preventing a mob from lynching a fuel tanker driver, who caused three separate accidents within 10 minutes in which two people were killed.
Yaw Nkrumah, who was driving a Mercedes Benz tanker with registration number GR 5751 K was alleged to have knocked down two men, Mohammed Seidu, 29 and Kwame Jones, 26 at Baifikrom, near Mankessim between 18:00 hours 19:00 hours on Saturday but failed to stop to attend to the victims, who were seriously injured.
A Police source said on Tuesday that after driving a distance of about two kilometres from the accident spot Nkrumah again knocked down an eleven-year old boy, Nana Yaw at Mankessim killing him instantly and again sped off without stopping.
On reaching Ewooya Junction at Saltpond Zongo, about six kilometres from the spot of the second accident, the tanker ran over a taxicab with registration number AS 1359 S, which was coming from the opposite direction killing the driver, the only occupant, instantly before landing into a ditch.
The bodies of the deceased have been deposited at the Central Regional Hospital at Cape Coast while the injured have also been admitted at the same hospital.
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Tema (Greater Accra) 15 August 2001
Police Inspector Ben Adu-Asamoah of the Asokwa Police in Kumasi has appealed to the Minister of Education to probe the death of his 16-year-old daughter at the Mfantsiman Girls School, Saltpond.
He said while the school authorities want him to believe that his daughter Magdalene Adobea Adu-Asamoah died mysteriously, Inspector Adu-Asamoah insists that she was denied proper medical attention due to negligence and the unnecessary strict policies of the school.
Adobea's father who made the appeal through the Ghana News Agency at Tema said the school authorities told the family that Adobea collapsed and died mysteriously soon after praying for a colleague who complained of illness while they were revising for the end of year examinations last month.
After praying Adobea, a form two student was said to have gone out to vomit, after which she bent down and wrote a note that "I cannot breathe."
She was pronounced dead on arrival at the Cape Coast Central Hospital.
Inspector Adu-Asamoah said post mortem examination conducted at the Police
Hospital in Accra attributed the death to "acute gastritis".
This could have been avoided if his daughter had been allowed to go to hospital when she sought permission to do so, he said.
He said his daughter's personal diary indicated that she had complained of illness since June 23, this year and sought permission to go home but was rather admitted at the school's sport hall, which also serves as an infirmary.
Adobea's mother, Police Inspector Juliana Asantewa Siaw, said she was surprised when the Headmistress invited her and took her to the Cape Coast mortuary to show her the body.
"It was boldly written on the body, "brought in dead" and "I was visibly shaken by the sight of my daughter's corpse."
Attempt to get the school authorities to comment have proved futile since no one answers the telephones.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 August 2001
The bodies of eight senior military officers, including three former heads of state, who were executed in the heat of the revolution in 1979 have been exhumed and their bodies deposited at the 37 Military Hospital where they are undergoing a process of identification, the Executive Committee on Exhumation and Burial of Executed Generals, has said in an official statement issued in Accra on Tuesday.
A combined team of police, prisons, military and BNI personnel "successfully exhumed" the remains of the officers from the Adoagyri Government cemetery on August 8 and August 9.
The statement signed by Air Marshall M.A. Out (RTD), Chairman of the Committee, read: "The exercise which took two days was carried out under the command and action of Colonel J.M. Wahdhawain, the Pathologist of the 37 Military Hospital and a member of the committee."
Marshall Otu said the exercise was a first step of the assignment given to the committee by President John Agyekum Kufuor.
The officers were General Ignatius Kuti Acheampong, Lt. Gen. Frederick Akuffo and Lt. Gen. Akwasi Afrifa, all former heads of state.
The others were Air Marshall Yaw Boakye, Major General Emmanuel Utuka, Major General Robert Kotei, Rear Admiral Joy Amedume and Colonel Roger Felli.
They were executed after death sentences were pronounced on them during secret trials when junior officers and other ranks ousted the Supreme Military Council and installed the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council under the chairmanship of former President Jerry Rawlings.
The statement said Marshall Otu presented the coroner's forms, which authorised him to exhume the bodies.
It said the Chief of Adoagyri, Nana Adukorkor and the Chaplain General of the Armed Forces performed customary and Christian rites respectively.
Relatives of the executed senior officers had petitioned the government to release the bodies of their loved ones to them for proper burials.
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Obuasi (Ashanti Region) 15 August 2001
The Parliamentary Select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology on Monday embarked on a week tour of selected mines to assess the impact of their activities on the health of the people and environment.
The legislators would also acquaint themselves with the operations of the companies in totality as these affect the socio-economic development of the communities and map out strategies to mitigate any adverse impact.
The tour, organised by the Ghana National Chamber of Mines, is taking the committee members through Ashanti Goldfields Company (AGC) mines at Obuasi, Bibiani and Ayamfuri, Bonte Mines, Midras Mines, Resolute Amansie, Abore Mines and Ghana Consolidated Diamonds Limited.
The Committee has the responsibility to inquire into the operations of the mines to assess their benefits to the nation, effect on health of workers and impact on the ecology.
It is also obligatory on the Committee to carry the necessary feedback to Parliament for effective legislation and action to ensure that the interest of stakeholders were safeguarded.
At AGC Bibiani, the Managing Director, Daniel Owiredu said the company produced its first gold of around 26,000 fine ounces in 1998 and up to date, has delivered 1.657 million ounces.
According to him, the company complies strictly with guidelines of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as well as provide community project assistance to enhance the economic advancement of the people.
"To date, the company has expended over 412,000 dollars on community projects assistance, in the fields of education, health, provision of boreholes and hand-dug wells, sanitation, road works and agriculture."
Twenty- five per cent of the workforce of the mines were recruited from local communities, he said, explaining that “this is so because most of the people lack the necessary skills for the job and we are now taking them through the requisite training process".
On reclamation of the land, Owiredu said the company has so far planted 22,000 seedlings since 1998 and this would continue vigorously to the end of the projected mine life in 2008, up from the feasibility life projection of 2004.
At the Bonte Gold Mines, the only alluvial mine operating in the country, the operations Manager, Douglas Mills said the company has projected an output of 80,000 ounces this year up from 70,000 ounces in 2000.
He said their operations were highly environmental friendly since no chemicals were used and reclamation of vegetation was fast, returning the ecology to its natural status in a relatively short period, compared to other mining activities.
Mr Mills said the company has complied with all EPA demands, provided the necessary development assistance and reserved 70 per cent of workforce engagement for the community.
"As at now, the company has constructed 21 kilometres of power lines through six villages at a cost of 800,000 dollars and have budgeted 169 million cedis for boreholes for five communities, among other things," he added.
The Chairman of the Committee, Sampson Ottu Darko said the committee has been mandated to look at the operations of the mines in their entirety and put in place such legislation, implementation and monitoring, that will ensure appropriate benefits to the nation, the companies and the respective communities."
The Committee would end its tour on Friday.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 August 2001
Mining, a major economic activity and foreign exchange earner, has fewer women working in the industry because of social and cultural constraints though women make up more than half the population of Ghana.
"Women, however, work on the small scale mining sector and often with their children, with all the accompanying health hazards," Ms Zo Randriomaro, Manager of the Gender and Economic Reforms in Africa (GERA) programme said in Accra on Tuesday.
Men were the main workers in the mining sector because most women were prepared to take care of the home and their children, Ms Randriomaro said at a national training workshop and campaign meeting for about 30 participants drawn from mining communities and some media houses in Accra.
Women, who form the majority within the communities affected by mining, hardly benefit from the industry, she said, adding "Even issues related to compensation of farm lands and other lands are often monopolised by the few men who are influential in such societies," she said.
"This is also because women are often not allowed to own physical structures or the land on which they farm."
Since women were often not compensated or did not have landed assets, the issue of poverty alleviation by the government was taking a gender dimension and increasing class inequalities.
The foreign direct investment that accrued from mining should provide sustainable development and equity to women, Ms Randriomaro said and called on the government to reconsider the issue of mining at the expense of Agriculture since mining produces about only two per cent of Gross Domestic Product, whilst agriculture produces 40 per cent GDP.
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Bawku (Upper East) 15 August 2001
Mr J.Y. Faalong, Bawku East District Director of Agriculture has predicted good crop yields in the Upper East Region if the present rain pattern continues till the end of September.
Parts of the region suffered an initial setback after a spell of drought and armyworm invasion at the start of the farming season.
This resulted in an acute food shortage following the failure of the early grain harvest, he said at the close of a two-day workshop on project planning, monitoring and evaluation at Bawku, Mr Faalong commended the farmers for putting the initial misfortune behind them and replanting their farms.
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture and UNICEF organised the workshop for farmers, staff of the district directorate of MOFA, the district assembly, Ghana Education Service and Ministry of Health. It was to equip them with skills in data collection and project monitoring and evaluation.
Mr Faalong stressed the need for early warning report on potential dangers like armyworm invasion to the nearest extension office for action before they get out of control.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 August 2001
Mr Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, Minister of Presidential Affairs on Tuesday said the government would ensure that minimal damage was done to properties that obstruct waterways in the effort to identify areas of flooding.
As much as possible alternative watercourses would be created around structures obstructing natural waterways and the owners surcharged with the cost.
However, if nothing could be done to create such diversions, the properties would be demolished, he said.
Mr Obetsebi-Lamptey was briefing newsmen after a closed-door meeting between President John Agyekum Kufuor and a team of engineers from the US Army who arrived on Monday, to carry out an on-the-spot assessment of the perennial flooding of Accra.
The visit of the team, led by Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma State followed a request by President Kufuor during his recent tour of US.
Briefing the team after an aerial survey of flood prone areas in Accra the Chief Executive of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mr Solomon Offei Darko said there was the urgent need for stakeholders to co-operate to find a lasting solution to the problem.
Kwamina Bartels, Minister of Works and Housing, Kwadwo Baah Wiredu,
Minister of Local Government and Rural Development and Kwadwo Adjei Darko,
Minister of Roads and Highways were on the flight.
Senator Inhof said he had recommended a member of the team to the government to overlook and conduct a study on how to ease problems associated with floods.
The government of Ghana had done its homework by identifying problem areas and recommended the clearing of flood-ways to temporarily ease the flooding, he said.
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