GRi Newsreel Ghana 15 - 12 - 2000
Sunyani voters re-affirm support for NPP,
Kufuor
Cash-and-Carry
system violates human rights – Okudzeto
Mudslinging of political opponents deplored
PNC not in electoral alliance with NPP -
Major Alhassan
Truth Commission accuses UN of hypocrisy
Independent MP-elect for Salaga undecided on
support in run-off
EC asks students to contact district and regional offices
Agriculture operates only 20 per cent of its
potential
Sunyani voters re-affirm support for NPP,
Kufuor
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 15 December 2000
Voters in the Sunyani area have expressed preference for "a government that will bring a positive change in the lives of Ghanaians".
They have therefore called on 'positive thinking' compatriots to rally behind the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and its flag bearer, Mr. J.A. Kufuor, for 'total victory' in the run-off election on December 28.
Contributing to a phone-in programme on the local sky FM radio station on Thursday, the callers contended that it is time to do away with old political ideologies and forge ahead as one people for the progress of the country.
Kwabena Fosu, a storekeeper, said, "we want a government that has the welfare and the will of the people at heart, we need to look at the issues on the ground, not who are Nkrumaists or Busiasts".
He stressed the need for an effective and affordable health care system, education, employment avenues and other conditions "that will not sweep our people to foreign lands, where they labour for the development of such countries".
"This is our own country and the practice of 'if you are not with us, you cannot enjoy a part of the national cake' is archaic, and must be cast off, Genevive Ababio, a seamstress, also stressed.
Kwame Anto, a taxi driver was of the opinion that for the NRP, UGM, GCPP and the CPP to throw their weight behind the NPP, shows that the country is yearning for a change in governance.
The NPP and Mr Kufuor swept the December 7 polls in the Brong-Ahafo region, which hitherto was a stronghold of the ruling NDC.
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Cash-and-Carry
system violates human rights – Okudzeto
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 December
2000
Mr. Sam Okudzeto, immediate past
president of the Ghana Bar Association (GBA), on Thursday said the government's
cash-and-carry health care system violates Ghanaians' rights under the African
Charter on Human Rights.
He said a study of the charter
shows that in spite of the elaborate provisions in the Ghana constitution some
fundamental principles are omitted.
The charter, he said, states;
"parties to the charter shall take necessary measures to protect the
health of their people and to ensure that they receive medical attention when
they are sick." Ghana is a signatory of the charter.
Speaking at the launch of the
British Broadcasting Corporation's English for Africa series, Mr Okudzeto said
the charter imposes an obligation on the state to provide medical care for the
sick.
The human rights education
project, part of a global programme to educate listeners about human rights, is
the single largest ever funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in
collaboration with the BBC.
Mr. Okudzeto called on Ghanaians
to learn and know about their rights, adding, "if you do not know what
your rights are, that is when they can be violated."
Mr. Greg Quinn, British High
Commission's second secretary, said the project will cost 640,000 pounds
sterling over a three-year period.
He said the project aims at giving
listeners an idea of what is being done to advance human rights in Africa.
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Mudslinging of political opponents deplored
Wa (Upper West) 15 December 2000
Mr Nuhu Mahama, Upper West regional chairman of the concerned citizens association said on Wednesday that the presidential run-off could turn violent if the contenders resort to mudslinging to win votes.
He therefore called on supporters of the two presidential candidates to exercise the same maturity they exhibited in the first round by avoiding provocative utterances and intimidation.
Mr Mahama who spoke to the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Wa, appealed to them not to do anything that would throw the results of the run-off into doubt.
In this way, whoever comes out as winner would be accepted by all.
Mr Mahama who is also the regional industrial relations officer of the GPRTU called on the parties to educate their supporters to understand that having opposing views does not mean enmity.
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PNC not in electoral alliance with NPP -
Major Alhassan
Tamale (Northern Region) 15 December 2000
The Northern regional chairman of the People's National Convention (PNC), Major Jetuma Alhassan (RTD) said on Thursday that the party's collaboration with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for the second round presidential election is not an electoral alliance.
"The exercise is not an alliance between the PNC and NPP and should not raise doubts in the minds of party supporters to cause apathy on voting day (December 28)'', he said at a press conference by the party in Tamale.
Major Alhassan said the decision of the national executive of the PNC to support the NPP presidential candidate Mr. John Agyekum Kufuor in the presidential re-run, will contribute to the process of democratic change of government.
He exhorted all registered voters to vote massively for Mr. Kufuor as the only way to effect a positive change and to save Ghana from imminent economic collapse and its attendant poverty and suffering.
A leading member of the PNC, Mr Edward Dramani Mahami, said the party's decision to support Mr. Kufuor is a limited objective and not intended to win political favours from the NPP.
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Truth Commission accuses UN of hypocrisy
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 December 2000
Afrikan World Reparations and Repatriation Truth Commission (AWRRTC) on Wednesday described the UN as being hypocritical for failing to acknowledge that European enslavement and colonisation of Africans were human rights abuses.
"It is hypocrisy in the highest degree for the UN to celebrate 52nd anniversary of its Universal Charter of Human Rights, without acknowledging the European Enslavement and Colonisation of African peoples", as violation of human rights.
The AWRRTC said its position and theme this year as the UN celebrated its 52nd anniversary on December 10 is; "Enslavement and Colonisation of African people, is a human rights abuse, lest we forget".
A statement issued by the executive committee of the commission in Accra said, "some of the very signatories to the UN Charter on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, are in fact, those nations who enslaved and colonised African people.
"These same nations heretofore have never offered an apology nor any form of compensation to African people, for the enormous harm and damage that they have done to Africa and its economies".
The statement said, the 52nd anniversary of the charter came at a time when good Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and all God fearing human beings, "are seeking forgiveness and making atonement for the past wrongs they have caused their fellow human beings before entering the new year of 2001".
It said the AWRRTC was in pursuit of "just compensation" for African descendants who were victims of slavery and colonialism.
It reminded Africans and those in the Diaspora that a UNESCO meeting held in 1978 acknowledged that 210 million Africans died as a result of the Atlantic Slave Trade.
The AWRRTC said, "it feels that posterity is judging and filing an indictment against all African people today for not having the consciousness and courage to seek redress and compensation from those nations and institutions who have devastated African economies and its cultural way of life.
"Today, even the elderly women of South Korea and the Philippines, who are in their mid 80s and were the former comfort women and sex slaves of the Japanese soldiers in World War II, have demanded and received apologies."
They received also monetary compensation from the Japanese government for the past atrocities committed against them.
"Also, today, the German government has settled a five billion dollars US Claim from its slave labour camps victims of World War II Nazi Germany".
The statement said following from the AWRRTC Accra Declaration that it is in progress of assembling an international team of lawyers to pursue "legal redress " through the courts to make a "Just Claim" on behalf of African people.
It said the AWRRTC is against any form of human rights abuses and asked African governments to desist from carrying such unjust behaviour against their citizens.
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Independent MP-elect for Salaga undecided
on support in run-off
Salaga (Northern Region) 15 December 2000
Mr Boniface Abubakar Saddique, member of parliament-elect for Salaga said on Thursday that he has not yet decided to support any of the presidential candidates in the run-off on December 28.
Mr Saddique, who stood as Independent candidate in the December 7 general election, said his executive members would soon take a decision after consultations and negotiations with the parties in contention.
''We will support any candidate who will give priority to the welfare of the people'', he said in an interview with the GNA after a victory procession by his supporters at Salaga.
The supporters who came from all over the constituency converged at the office of the MP-elect drumming and dancing to depict the ethnic and cultural diversity of the constituency.
Some of them told the GNA that they would go along with Mr Saddique's choice.
They described the new MP as somebody who can unite the constituency, which has been divided along ethnic and clan lines.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 December 2000
President Jerry Rawlings, on behalf of the people and government of Ghana, on Thursday sent a message of congratulations to Governor George W. Bush on his election as the 43rd President of the United States.
A statement signed by Mr Jimmy Amissah, Secretary to the President, said the message, in reference to the protracted electoral process, expressed "the great admiration of Ghanaians for the resilience of the deep-rooted American democratic culture, which has once again triumphed."
President Rawlings noted that in recent years close friendship and mutual advantage have marked relations between the two sides.
"In the broader context of the African continent, it is our desire that the understanding that has developed between Africa and the United States in the sphere of trade and culminated in the Growth and Opportunities Act will be nurtured and deepened," he said.
President Rawlings expressed the hope that these bonds of friendship and co-operation will be further strengthened during Governor Bush's tenure of office.
Vice President Al Gore on Wednesday conceded to Mr Bush after the dispute involving the votes in the crucial state of Florida went in and out of court for five weeks.
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Bolgatanga (Upper East) 15 December 2000
The Member of Parliament for Bolgatanga Central constituency, Mr. Simon Abingya, on Thursday conceded defeat to Mr. David Apasera, PNC candidate, in the December 7 election.
"Democracy decides, and the people have decided to go in for the PNC," he said.
Mr. Abingya said this at a press conference organised by the Bolgatanga Central constituency of the NDC to declare their stand, and to map out strategies for the forthcoming presidential run-off scheduled for December 28.
He noted that over-complacency on the part of the NDC campaign team was a contributory factor to the blow suffered by the party, adding: "It never dawned on me that NDC would suffer such a blow in this constituency".
He indicated that the second round of the presidential slot is crucial, especially when the voting pattern changed in the constituency in favour of the PNC, and urged the campaign team to double up their efforts in ensuring that the presidency goes to Professor J.E.A. Mills.
Mr. Abingya said having critically analysed the results, it was clear that key people in the party lost in their electoral areas at the constituency level.
He congratulated the Member of Parliament-elect and said he was ever ready to use his experiences to support the incoming MP to bring development to the constituency.
"My doors are open for him to come to me for any assistance from my experience," he assured.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 Dec.2000
The Electoral Commission (EC) on Thursday asked students who registered in schools and have already left their campuses to contact the nearest regional or district office of the commission where they will be resident on December 28 so as to vote in he run-off.
A statement signed by Henry W. Okyne, Director of Public Affairs, said the students would be required to produce evidence of their voter registration and school identification card, or any other document that can identify them as students.
The students should make the contact although registrars and heads of second cycle institutions have been asked to compile and submit lists of students who would want to transfer their votes.
It said this would enable the students to go through temporary transfer proceedings for the run-off in the presidential election.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 Dec. 2000
Agriculture in Ghana operates at only 20 per cent of its potential because of declining soil fertility, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) said on Thursday.
Opening a workshop on the establishment of fertiliser control systems for Ghana, Chief MOFA Director Dr Samuel K. Dapaah said, " most of the soils are inherently low in organic matter and fertility to support fertility all year round sedentary agriculture."
Despite slow growth, he said, agriculture is crucial to Ghana's economy. It contributes about 40 per cent of the gross national product, employs about 50 percent of the labour force and accounts for over 40 per cent of Ghana's export earnings.
Dr Dapaah said the maintenance of productive capacity of soils is the most important basic requirement for sustainable and productive agriculture. But, the continuous decline of soil quality through crop harvest, soil erosion and other soil constraints, has negative impacts on the socio-economic development of Ghanaian rural communities and the national economy.
"Declining soil fertility is fuelling the downward trend of the poverty trap in agricultural communities by reducing crop yields and rural income, and the degrading soils invariably result in increased poverty," Dr Dapaah said.
This situation is made worse, the Chief Director said, by farmers' inability to invest adequately in inputs to replace lost soil nutrient.
Dr Dapaah said Ghana's current agricultural growth rate is 3-4 per cent a year. The country needs a growth rate of about six per cent annually between now and 2020. 0
He said from 1990 to 1996, the price of fertiliser has increased more than ten fold and continues to increase. Aside, some imported fertilisers are often poor in quality and quantity.
He said a survey conducted by the MOFA and the International Fertiliser Development Centre (IFDC), a US-based fertiliser research organisation, showed that bagging and labels of some imported fertilisers leave much to be desired.
Nutrient quality is not well documented, said Dr Dapaah, and attributed the problem to the lack of an established fertiliser regulatory system before the privatisation of the fertiliser industry.
The establishment of a quality regulatory framework, Dr Dapaah said, will not only benefit the consumer, but also the businessman. "The farmer will be protected from poor quality fertiliser and the law would protect the respectable businessman. Once the businessman has been certified, the farmer will be confident to do business with him."
Dr Dapaah said the system would also provide information for marketing and other purposes that would benefit the fertiliser industry and the economy.
Dr Kofi Debrah, Head of Policy and Market Development Programme of IFDC-Africa, said the unstable macro-economic conditions and the generally weak support to the budding private sector, have rendered the agricultural input market confused and ineffective.
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