Forum on conflict resolution and post conflict management held in Tamale

Police arrest three fake currency printers

World Bank assesses progress in Upper West

World Bank vice-president visits Upper East

Sussie and Matt donate to Radiotherapy

Ghana appeals to world bank for more support

Taxi and tro-tro drivers embark on strike

Give us guaranteed fair prices for agricultural produce - Farmers

Committee to monitor activities of PTAs

Circuit Court Judge made chief

Tamale (Northern Region) 15 Dec. '99

A two-day forum aimed at laying a firm basis for support to the media in conflict resolution and post conflict management was opened in Tamale on Tuesday.

About 55 participants, made up of information officers, presenters of local FM stations, members of The Ghana Journalists Association and the Northern Region Youth Development Association (NORYDA) are attending.

It was organised by Panos Institute and NORYDA, an umbrella organisation of all ethnic youth associations in the region.

In a speech read for her, Mrs Jeannette Quarcoopome, co-ordinator of Panos, said the media, as instruments for social mobilisation and institutions of ideological and cultural expression, "have the potential to create and influence opinion, perceptions and awareness of realities."

Since the media have always been central in the process of violent conflicts, they must be supported and empowered to promote peace, unity, reconciliation and good governance.

"There is also the need to support the media to advance their capacities to effectively and constructively cover initiatives of conflict management and resolution, peace-building and to promote efforts at reconstruction and reconciliation."

Mrs. Quarcoopome said the forum is aimed at supporting community radio stations in the crisis-endemic areas to develop and disseminate messages of peace, unity and conflict resolution, and to test specially, packaged radio programmes to defuse tension.

NORYDA was born out of the 1994 conflict in the region with the aim to continue the peace campaign, defuse tensions and work for the general development of the region.

In pursuit of its objectives, the association interacts with various ethnic groups, political and administrative heads and traditional authorities, and has been organising capacity building workshops in collaboration with other agencies to sustain the peace process, he said.

Presently, the organisation is involved in the formulation and dissemination of peace messages in all the languages for broadcast by local fm stations, Mr. Ben Salifu, chairman of NORYDA said.

He commended both local and international collaborators and working partners, who in diverse ways supported NORYDA in conflict resolution and peace building.

GRi../

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Tema (Greater Accra) 15 Dec. '99

Tema Police have arrested three fake America dollar printers who duped an Ashaiman trader of 3.5 million cedis under the pretext of providing for her 2.4 million US dollars.

The suspects are Prince Onekwu, Micheal Uti, both Nigerian scrap dealers and Emmanuel Mensah, trader.

The police retrieved from them 32 bundles of white papers cut into the size of the US dollar, with some of them already printed in the 100 dollar denomination.

Mr. Joe Danquah, Tema regional police commander said the suspects approached one Madam Adzo Dzanyikpor, a cloth seller at Ashaiman and said they were businessmen from South Africa wanting to establish some businesses in Ghana.

The suspects, after collecting about 3.5 million cedis in various instalments from the woman, later brought her a brief case for safe keeping and said they would come back for it.

Madam Dzanyikpor's husband who suspected a foul deal alerted the police who ambushed and arrested the three suspects.

When the briefcase was opened it contained the bundles and some fake currencies with a stamp "global financing and security" and a code number 9990.

Mensah told the police that he was contacted by Onekwu, who was dating Madam Dzanyikpor's daughter, to provide some chemicals for the printing while Uti said he was hired by Onekwu to under take the printing.

Uti admitted that he has been printing fake currencies, particularly the Nigerian naira.

GRi../

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Babile (Upper West) 15 Dec '99

Mr Jean Louis Sarbib, World Bank Vice- president for Africa, on Monday paid a day's visit to the Upper West region to assess the extent of its progress and to determine further possible assistance. The visit took him to Babile in the Lawra District and Bamahu near Wa.

He paid courtesy calls on Mr David Osei-Wusu, Upper West Regional Minister, and Naa Banamini Sandu, President of the Region's House of Chiefs.

At Babile, the World Bank Vice- President, who was taken round a pig breeding farm, commended the farmers for successfully carrying out the project.

He advised them to improve on the breeding techniques to earn more income to become self-reliant.

Mr. Sarbib promised to provide the transport and feeding needs of the station and urged them to take precautions against the occurrence of livestock diseases.

Mr. Osei Owusu, who signed a 4.6 million-dollar loan agreement with Mr Sarbib, urged the bank to consider assisting the region with transport to improve agriculture and health services.

Mr Benjamin Nenyorege, Animal Husbandry Officer at the Babile station, said the project, which started five year's ago with 26 pigs, has now over 200 pigs.

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Bolgatanga (Upper East ) 15 Dec. '99

Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, Upper East Regional Minister, has said the government's Non-Formal Education Programme is to help minimise the debilitating consequences of illiteracy in the rural communities.

The prevalence of ignorance and high illiteracy rates in those communities are responsible for the high incidence of diseases and poverty among the rural populace.

The project, which targets mainly illiterate adults, is to enable them to understand basic issues affecting their health.

Alhaji Sulemana was welcoming Mr Jean Louis Sarbibi, Vice-President of the World Bank responsible for Africa, who paid a courtesy call on him in Bolgatanga on Tuesday.

He said although the people of the region are hard working, "the Upper East is an endemic food deficit area, mainly as a result of unfavourable climatic conditions".

The region is also prone to natural disasters such as the recent floods and army worm outbreak.

Alhaji Sulemana said despite the nation's present economic difficulties, the government is doing its best to ensure that the people live in dignity.

He briefed the Vice-President on the government's decentralisation programme and said one major area of concern was the issue of capacity building at the District Assembly level to make the staff more competent.

Mr. Sarbibi praised the government for "taking the bull by the horn by this pragmatic approach" to seek solutions to the country's economic problems.

"What is encouraging is the level of involvement by the local communities in the development process; they are convinced it is the right thing to do and are willing to support the programmes."

He stated the preparedness of the World Bank to provide further assistance to Ghana to enable her to achieve economic prosperity.

Accompanying Mr. Sarbibi were Mr Ohene Owusu Nyanin, a Manager at the World Bank office in Washington, and Mr. Peter Harold, World Bank Country Director in Ghana.

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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 Dec. '99

A gospel singing duo, Suzy and Matt, on Tuesday donated a cheque for five million cedis to the Radiotherapy Centre, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, in Accra.

The donation, which will be an annual affair, is to support the treatment of cancer patients and help in the general running of the centre.

The money was generated from proceeds of a charity musical concert that they organised in Accra a few weeks ago.

Professor Augustine K. Kyere, National Project Co-ordinator, commended the singers for "supporting such a worthy cause", saying it would help patients and the centre a lot.

Prof. Kyere said; "what is being charged at the centre is a fraction of the real cost of cancer treatment.

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Kongo (Upper East) 15 Dec '99

Mr Moses Asaga, Deputy Minister of Finance, has appealed to the World Bank for extended balance of payment and budgetary support to Ghana and other African countries whose economies have been hit by the global "oil shock".

Mr Asaga made the appeal at Kongo, near Bolgatanga, where he and Mr Jean-Louis Sarbib, Vice President of the World Bank in-charge of Africa, signed a 25 million- dollar loan agreement on Tuesday for the second phase of the government's community water and sanitation project.

The Deputy Minister argued that the emergency financing mechanism, standby agreements and supplementary reserve facilities were applied in the case of Latin American countries and recently the South East Asian contagion to enable these countries to recover from economic distress.

As at the end of the first half of 1999, Ghana's economy showed healthy signs with improvements registered in the fiscal, monetary and real sectors.

"For the first time in the country's history, inflation was brought down to a single digit of 9.4 per cent in May 1999, as against 70 per cent in 1995".

Mr Asaga said the second half of the year has, however, witnessed external shocks manifested by the decline in the prices of the country's main exports, Cocoa and Gold, as well as the increase in the price of crude oil on the world market.

"As a result of these external factors, government revenue on cocoa tax for 1999 will be in a deficit of 180 billion cedis, while an estimated revenue shortfall of 400 billion cedis is being anticipated for the year 2000."

He reiterated the government's willingness to commit five per cent of its total revenue to the District Assemblies Common Fund for rural development and 30 to 35 per cent for the social sectors including health, education, roads and good drinking water.

Mr Jean-Louis Sarbib, who signed on behalf of the bank, praised Ghana for its prudent management of the economy aimed at improving the lives of the vast majority of the people.

"Ghana is doing very well indeed, but the challenge of the government is to ensure that its efforts in development reflect on the lives of the people," he added.

Mr Sarbib said the government's policy of decentralising decision-making at all levels is in the right direction and expressed appreciation to the people, especially those at the grassroots, who are working wholeheartedly to make the programme succeed.

He gave the assurance that the World Bank would continue to support the government with funding to enable it provide the basic needs of the people, especially, in the areas of quality education and potable water delivery.

The current loan agreement signed between the World Bank and Ghana, will be quickly followed by the second and third instalments, when the bank is adequately convinced that the first instalment has been properly disbursed, he said.

The Upper East Regional Minister, Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, who witnessed the signing ceremony, said the fact that this important loan agreement has been concluded "under a Kapok Tree" in a remote Rural community for the first time, is a further indication of the government's determination to make decentralisation a reality.

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Cape Coast (Cape Coast) 15 Dec '99

Commercial activities in the Cape Coast municipality have virtually come to a halt as taxi and tro-tro drivers embarked on a strike action on Wednesday.

They are protesting against a directive from the Ghana Private Road Transport Union asking them not to increase transport fares following increases in prices of petroleum products.

The drivers, wearing red arm-bands and wielding tree branches, paraded through some of the streets to molest or heckle their colleagues who refused to join the strike action.

The police, however, prevented them from mounting road blocks to disturb other road users.

The strike action has compelled workers, traders, shoppers and other commuters to walk to and from their destinations.

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Mansin (Brong Ahafo) 15 Dec '99

Speakers at a farmers' rally at Mansin in the Tano district of the Brong Ahafo region have said unless a mechanism is found to guarantee fair prices for agricultural produce, farming will continue to be unattractive and productivity will remain low to the detriment of the national economy.

The rally was organised by the Brong Ahafo Regional branch of the Ghana National Association of Farmers and Fishermen to promote unity among farmers to enable them to speak with one voice on matters affecting their welfare.

Farmers depend upon loans for their activities because they are unable to generate enough income due to low prices for their produce, Nana Yaa Badu, the Regional Chairman said.

"It is only when we gang together and speak with one voice that we can have a say in the determination of prices for our produce and put an end to the decades of exploitation by middlemen".

Nana Badu urged farmers to discard old farming practices and adopt modern agricultural methods by seeking and abiding by the advice of extension officers.

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Agona (Ashanti Region) 15 Dec '99

The Afigya-Sekyere District has set up a three-man committee to evaluate activities of Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) to ensure that their activities are in line with the laid down regulations.

Mr Rexford Anokye, the District Chief Executive, said the committee was set up following numerous complaints about arbitrary increases and imposition of levies by some PTAs in the district.

Mr Anokye was interacting with some members of the District Assembly after their abortive third ordinary meeting of the assembly at Agona on Tuesday.

The meeting was postponed because of the absence of Nana Boakye Yiadom Atonsa II, the presiding member, who could not travel to Agona from Kumasi due to the demonstration by some commercial drivers in the Kumasi metropolis on Tuesday.

Mr Anokye said the committee would investigate allegations that PTA executives are imposing levies without consulting their members, thus resulting in friction among them.

Among issues slated for discussions on 21 December, include the fee- fixing resolution for the year 2000, implementation of the Village Infrastructure Project (VIP) and report from the executive committee of the assembly.

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Abura-Dunkwa (Central Region) 15 Dec. '99

A 45-year-old circuit court judge in Dunkwa-on-Offin, Mr Kofi Essel Mensah, has been installed Obaatan of Abura-Dunkwa under the stool name Nana Kwaku Afrasa II. He succeeds his late uncle, Nana Afrasa I, who died a year ago.

Nana Afrasa swore the oath of allegiance to Nana Asam Kwasi VII, chief of Abura-Dunkwa and called for unity and peace and a revival of their communal spirit for the development of Abura Dunkwa.

Nana Asam Kwasi urged Nana Afrasa to respect his elders and the people for the peace and progress of the traditional area.

GRi../

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