Fobih advises researchers to document findings
Tackle root causes of conflicts - Gen. Diarra
Seminar participants scrutinise British intervention in Sierra Leone
Asaga lauds Kufuor’s initiatives but rejects bid for revised budget
Police Endowment Fund receives 50 million cedis
Government urged to ensure the enforcement laws on children
Hawa calls for support for tourism
Joint Police and Military operations yield results
Contractors to be paid after reclaiming degraded lands
Scientists call for more support from government
Hackman holds discussions with UN Secretary General's Rep.
First agriculture information centre opens
Accra (Greater Accra) 23 August 2001
Twenty-three members of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) have been short-listed to contest for seven executive posts at its National Delegates Congress scheduled for Saturday, August 25 at the University of Ghana, Legon.
This followed the screening of the 34 candidates who filed their nomination to contest the various positions.
Party Press Secretary Kwadwo Afari told the media in Accra on Thursday that the vetting was designed to ascertain each candidate's background, eligibility and other general information.
Four each will contest for national chairman, national organiser, and national treasurer while ten will vie for the three national vice-chairman slots.
The incumbent National Secretary, Dan Botwe stands unopposed, being the only candidate who filed to contest the position.
Afari said the congress would attract 490 delegates comprising two each from the 200 constituencies, the council of elders and the national council of the party.
The candidates are: National Chairman, Mohammed Musah, Samuel
Addai-Duah, Haruna Esseku and Robert Quainoo-Arthur; National Organiser, Alhaji
Sulemana Yirimea, Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, Lord Enoch Oblitey Commey, and Aboagye Johnson Cliff.
The rest are: National Treasurer, Kwesi Arthur, Michael Dugan, Samuel James Nii Adjei Tawiah and Dr Brandford Ekow Ansah.
The National Vice-Chairman, Yaw Albert Osebre, Stephen Ayensu Ntim, Dr
Kwesi Adjepong, Herman Seshie, Samuel Kwame Amable, Nana Afum Boateng, Yaw Amankwa, Edmund Annan, Mrs Agnes Adzo Okudzeto and Catherine K. Tedam.
The first three with the highest votes cast would fill the three slots for the national vice-chairman post.
He said NPP parliamentarians who are not delegates, members of the national council or council of elders would not to vote.
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Bunso (Eastern Region) 23 August 2001
Professor Dominic Fobih, Minister of Environment Science and Technology on Wednesday called on Ghanaian researchers to document their research findings to enable them to have patent rights to such findings.
“Because most research finding were not documented”, some foreign researchers were able to steal such works, improve upon them through generic engineering without giving credit to their original 'patent' owners.
Professor Fobih made the observation during a day's familiarisation visit to the Plant Genetic Resources Centre of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) at Bunso in the Eastern Region.
The centre preserves plant genetic resources, which are becoming extinct due to replacement, by improved variety and those lost during construction activities like roads, dams and townships.
It also researches into some foreign plant species especially nutmeg, black and white pepper, changing their genetic behaviour to make them to adapt to the Ghanaian environment.
Professor Fobih said it was essential that the CSIR institutions took advantage of their property rights to research and link up with other agencies to market their finding to interested entrepreneurs.
"If you do not find ways of marketing your findings, then you are not living up to the mandate for which you were set up," he said.
Dr Samuel Odei Bennett-Lartey, Director PGRC said activities of the centre that has been commercialised were mainly in the sale of research by-products especially seedlings of various species such as citrus fruits, nutmeg, black and white pepper.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 23 August 2001
A Deputy Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, General Cheick Oumar Diarra on Wednesday called for policies that would suit the geopolitical environment of the sub-region as an effective mechanism for conflict prevention and management.
"Africa will achieve lasting peace and security only when it is able to delve into, and tackle the root causes of these conflicts and takes appropriate initiatives in the areas of good governance, democratisation, respect for human rights, socio-economic development and integration."
Addressing the sub-regional seminar on conflict resolution in Accra, General Diarra said conflict prevention and management should be hinged on a global approach at all levels and must not be seen as the responsibility of a particular bloc.
The seminar on the theme: The Regional Dimension of Conflict Prevention; The Role of Regional Organisations, was organised by the Washington-based Africa Centre for Strategic Studies, a US Defence Department-sponsored agency, for policy makers including military chiefs drawn from Africa, Europe and the US.
Prominent among the participants are Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, exiled Liberian opposition leader and a candidate in the post-war presidential election, ministers of state from war-torn Sierra Leone, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Gen Diarra, one time Malian Army Chief, cited economic and political strife in various parts of the continent, especially in the Great Lakes Region and Mano River area, and said they have had a devastating spill over in other regions, threatening their security.
He said lack of logistics and the political will by some member states of ECOMOG had greatly impeded its success.
Despite these shortcomings, the ECOMOG has been able to achieve a degree of success in peacekeeping, comparing its performance to UN-sponsored peacekeeping operations in some African countries.
Gen Diarra, who was a member of the ECOMOG Command in Liberia, said the ECOWAS mechanism for conflict prevention, management, resolution, peacekeeping and security adopted in December 1999 would become a major tool for peace.
The mechanism provides for observation and monitoring structures in addition to three other organs - Council of Elders, Defence and Security Commission.
In addition to the mechanism, ECOWAS has adopted a global strategy on security, which sets out short, medium and long-term measures aimed at strengthening democracy and stability, eliminating irregular armed groups, ban use of children in armed conflicts and resolve the issue of refugees.
Professor Albert Bourgi of the University of Law and Political Science in Reims, France, questioned the credibility of the ECOWAS 1999 Protocol saying like others, the document was good on paper but not effective.
"There is a difference between formulation and pragmatism," he said and urged the key players to give effect to their policies in order to assert the regional initiative's credibility.
Prof Bourgi advised leaders in the sub region to recognise the divergent views of their opponents and work in the interest of the people in order to avert conflicts.
"Some leaders also see the national army as a tool for oppression against internal divergent views instead of an institution for the protection of national sovereignty."
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Accra (Greater Accra) 23 August 2001
The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) said on Wednesday that the intervention of foreign forces in conflicts in the region was mostly at the request of the needy State.
However, the intervening force was required to implement certain provisions in the ECOWAS protocol to provide the needs of the destination nation, General Cheick Oumar Diarra, Deputy Executive Secretary of ECOWAS told the four-day Sub-Regional Seminar on Conflict Management in Accra.
Wednesday's session discussed: "The Regional Dimension of Conflict Prevention: The Role of Regional Organisations."
Gen Diarra, who was answering questions on the role of British forces in Sierra Leone, admitted that the mandate of the forces was unclear at the time they landed in the war-torn country.
Discussants, including politicians and representatives of civil society from Sierra Leone and other countries in the Mano River region were divided over the mandate of the British force and called on ECOWAS to come out with a clear cut mandate for such foreign interventions in future.
Britain, a former colonial master of Sierra Leone, sent troops to Freetown in May last year to intervene in the bloody conflict between government forces and Revolutionary United Front rebels.
The British force did not only intervene in the war but have assumed key positions in the state security apparatus. Currently the police force in Sierra Leone is led by a British following a pact between the two governments.
Gen. Diarra said ECOWAS had little to do to override the preference of governments signing such agreements although such agreements created credibility problems for the regional body.
Mad Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, Liberia's main opposition leader questioned the failure of ECOWAS in ensuring full implementation of the Abuja Accord that led to elections in her country after nearly seven years of civil war.
She cited particularly, the provisions for national reconciliation and the training of soldiers by ECOMOG, which had remained unimplemented.
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 23 August 2001
Moses Asaga, Minority Spokesman on Finance on Tuesday described as "positive and welcoming news" the recent initiatives launched by the government to promote the production and export of cassava and garment products to create jobs and boost the country's earnings.
He, however, said the Minister of Finance's decision to re-appear before parliament with a revised budget was irrelevant and pointless because there was no basis or justification for such an action.
Asaga was speaking in a telephone interview with Sky FM radio of Sunyani from Accra on a number of topical economic issues.
He said the cassava and the garment initiatives though laudable would not yield the expected dividend if the necessary infrastructure were not put in place.
"This country has always had brilliant policies and programmes but their effective implementation is what has been our bane because most of the time, we fail to create the right atmosphere for their optimum actualisation".
He said without a substantial increase in the production base of raw materials and expansion and construction of new plants and facilities the initiatives were bound to fail.
On the budget Asaga said Parliament would not resume sitting until about October when the Minister of Finance should be busy preparing next year's budget instead of thinking of appearing before the house again with "a so-called revised budget".
On the decision to outlaw private participation in lottery, he said this was long overdue. "I have since 1998 been spearheading efforts to rationalise the lotto industry since opening it up for private participation has weakened the sector's contribution to national revenue".
The government should have given him the credit for "my pioneering effort to sanitise the industry", he said.
Asaga said banning banker-to- banker operations would not create mass unemployment because the majority of their workers were in the distribution and sale of lotto tickets and coupons and they could be maintained to do the same job when the Department of National Lotteries takes over the industry.
He said the government's prediction of four per cent growth rate of the economy and foreign reserve ratios would not be achieved because the economic performance has been sluggish.
"Ghana is still a high cost production centre in West Africa as a result of its high rates of taxation, cost of utilities and bank rates all of which are impacting negatively on the performance of industries and businesses".
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Accra (Greater Accra) 23 August 2001
Alhaji Malik Alhassan Yakubu, Minister of the Interior on Wednesday said the government was committed to the strengthening of the constitutional bodies mandated to maintain law and order.
"Since the police have such a constitutional role it would be strengthened to be in shape," he said when he received a cheque for 50 million cedis donated by the Agricultural Development Bank towards the Police Endowment Fund.
The Minister said the police service had been neglected for a long time but the present government was determined to reverse that situation.
"The public will have to be convinced that the police are their guardians and must be supported to be able to function effectively."
Ernest Owusu-Poku, Inspector General of Police said the police could only perform their statutory functions creditably when given the resources, adding, " you need the police and the police also need you."
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Ho (Volta Region) 23 August 2001
The government has been called upon to ensure the enforcement of legislation and bylaws that seek to protect the rights of children.
Sylvia Hinson-Ekong, National Programme Officer of the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC), who made the call, noted that the violation of these rights affects the welfare and development of children in the country.
Paying a courtesy call on Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa, Volta Regional Minister on Tuesday at Ho to explain IPEC's policy guidelines and to solicit support for the launching of its activities in the Region, Hinson-Ekong said the organisation would eliminate child-labour, rehabilitate children affected by the phenomenon and integrate them into the society.
She noted that more than 800,000 children in the country were involved in hazardous activities including mining, sand winning, fishing, illicit drug trafficking, armed robbery and prostitution.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 23 August 2001
Hawa Yakubu, Minister of Tourism on Wednesday called for support to train journalists and people in the hospitality industry to build their capacity to help promote tourism.
This is necessary because the industry lacked trained people who could project it to attract the needed investment and patronage, Hawa told Eui Min Chung, Ambassador of South Korea, who called on her and invited her to the next World Trade Organisation (WTO) conference scheduled for September in South Korea.
Ms Yakubu said Ghana has a lot to learn from South Korea, which, has managed to do so well and is now assisting needy countries. "In fact, travelling to South Korea is less expensive and we hope to change that of Ghana too, to make it more attractive to as many tourists as possible".
The Minster said her main challenge now was to increase the number of tourists to the country from 400,000 to 600,000 and urged more Koreans to come down for investment, assuring them of a conducive environment.
There are 600 South Koreans working in various fields in Ghana.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 23 August 2001
Joint police and military operations to flush out armed robbers have led to several arrests.
A statement from the Ghana Armed Forces said on Wednesday in Accra said, operations at Ayeduase, Tafo and Ohwim all in Kumasi have led to the arrest of two Nigerians, Moutale Awal and Sherif Kamal and a Ghanaian, Osei Bonsu and items retrieved from them included one single barrelled gun, one pair of combat boots, 7,200 dollars, 20 Naira, 6.7 million cedis and four mobile phones.
The rest are one camera and a Mazda 323 Saloon car with registration number DGT 2144.
One local arms manufacturer was also arrested.
The statement said the suspects have been handed over to the Bureau of National Investigations.
The team on Thursday, August 16, arrested a man allegedly collecting TV licence fees at Nungua. Six suspected armed robbers including a lady were also arrested in the same area.
A suspect was also arrested at Tesano in Accra for allegedly stabbing three persons.
Another suspect was also arrested at Labone where the team foiled an armed robbery attempt.
The statement said the patrol team arrested a suspect at East Legon with assorted goods believed to be stolen and has handed him over to the Legon Police.
The team said it has mounted surveillance on the Ejura road through to Yeji and Attebubu following reports that armed robbers were attacking traders.
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Mankessim (Central Region) 23 August 2001
The Minister of Roads and Highways, Kwadwo Adjei-Darko on Tuesday announced that final payment for road contracts would not be effected until the contractors reclaimed lands from which they won materials for the work.
The Environmental protection Agency (EPA) would have to certify that such areas have been reclaimed, he noted, adding that vast tracks of land have been degraded as a result of the activities of contractors and thus impacting negatively on agricultural development.
Adjei-Darko was addressing road contractors and members of transport unions at Mankessim as part of a three-day tour to inspect trunk roads and visit units under the Ministry in the Central Region.
The Minister would also hold meetings with transport unions and discuss ways of generating enough money for the Road Fund, to facilitate road construction and maintenance in the country.
He said about 50 kilometres of feeder roads would be tarred in each district this year and urged the various district assemblies to select their priority roads.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 23 August 2001
Weija Water Works will double its volume of production to about 43 million gallons a day when expansion and rehabilitation work is completed next month.
This means that about 90 per cent of supply problem in the western part of Accra will be solved and there will be an improvement in the quality of water, Cees Piket, Construction Manager of the project told newsmen on Wednesday.
Speaking during a tour of the works at Weija in Accra by officials of the Ghana Water Company, he said the expansion, involved rehabilitation of existing Clarifiers and Filters and building of two additional Clarifiers and four Filters at the Canadian Plant built 11 years ago.
With the installation of the new systems about 2,500 cubic meters of water per hour from the Weija dam would now be drawn for treatment.
Charles Appiah-Mensah, Station Manager warned that with the installation of the new facility, plastic pipelines laid by consumers would burst under its intense pressure.
"Weija water will now be one of the best and will meet WHO standards''.
The 70 officials, comprising department heads, district managers and commercial officers, were taken through the water treatment process.
The other two old plants - Candy from Britain and Bamag from Germany - were constructed in 1958 and 1968 respectively.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 23 August 2001
The Ghana Science Association on Wednesday asked the government to implement as a matter of urgency the Lagos Plan of Action for Economic Development of Africa.
The plan requires governments to commit one per cent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to science and technology.
In a resolution issued at the end of the association's 22nd biennial conference under the theme: "Science; The bedrock to sustainable industrialisation and development", the GSA expressed concern about the slow pace of industrialisation despite its importance for national development.
Referring to the NPP manifesto of creating wealth through increased agriculture and industrialisation, the GSA urged the government to come out, without delay, with an action plan to achieve "this laudable objective".
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Accra (Greater Accra) 23 August 2001
Foreign Minister Hackman Owusu-Agyemang on Wednesday pledged Ghana's readiness to assist the peace process in Sierra Leone to ensure an end to the conflict there.
"Ghana is following with keen interest developments in the country and is committed to ensuring stability in Sierra Leone," the Minister told Oluyemi Adeniji, UN Secretary-General's Special Representative to Sierra Leone, at a meeting in Accra.
Adeniji was in Ghana to brief the government on recent peace initiatives by the United Nation's Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL).
The initiatives include disarming the warring factions, freeing child soldiers, returning diamond rich areas under rebel control to UNAMSIL and securing the release of some Revolutionary United Front (RUF) leaders.
Ghana has been a key player in Sierra Leone's peace process and together with Nigeria and Guinea contributes troops to UNAMSIL whose strength stands at 15,0000 out of which 6,500 are from West Africa.
Owusu-Agyemang said Ghana was ready to contribute more soldiers to Sierra Leone because of the positive impact peace would have on the development of the countries in the sub-region.
He said the prevalence of wars in Africa presented the continent to the investor community as dangerous terrain for investment.
"This trend must not be allowed to continue for long", the Minister said and added that Ghana would do everything in its power to ensure that the cause of ECOWAS was achieved.
Owusu-Agyemang commended the UN Special Representative for his efforts and asked him to maintain his focus.
Adeniji said efforts to disarm the rebels, free child soldiers, remove roadblocks and secure the release of some RUF leaders from prison were yielding results.
So far, he said, 15,000 out of 25,000 combatants had been disarmed, 1,300 child soldiers freed and most of the roadblocks lifted.
Adeniji expressed the hope that by next month more RUF leaders would be released as a further demonstration of commitment to peace.
However, Mr Adeniji said, these significant achievements should not be taken as the end of the process. "There is much more to do to ensure lasting peace in the country".
He praised ECOWAS for its efforts in the region and said that was why United Nations included the sub-regional economic grouping in the peace process. This would prevent ECOWAS and the UN from "pulling in different directions to hinder efforts to achieve peace".
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Atebubu (Brong Ahafo) 23 August 2001
An agricultural information centre, the first of its kind in the country was on Tuesday inaugurated at Atebubu in the Brong Ahafo Region.
The centre, located inside the Atebubu yam market, is a joint initiative of the Directorate of Agricultural Extension Services (DAES) of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the German Technical Co-operation Agency (GTZ).
It is intended, among others things, to provide a forum for the exchange of information among stakeholders in agriculture.
The centre will also provide services to other people like input suppliers and wholesalers, traders, transporters, banks, non-governmental organisations and district assemblies
Alhaji Amadu Ali, Member of Parliament for Atebubu South said the centre would enhance efficiency in agricultural production and processing and add value to agricultural products to maximise profit.
He said post-harvest losses were a major disincentive in food and general agricultural production and therefore, lauded the DAES and GTZ for their initiative, saying, "The objective is holistic and will make a positive impact on the lives of the people who are predominantly farmers".
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