Quashigah appeals to banks to grant farmers concessionary loans
COP in live
and death race…with Criminal
BOG advises
Ghanaians to dispose of all European cash now
Quashigah appeals to banks to grant farmers concessionary
loans
The Minister for Food and Agriculture, Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), has appealed to bankers to give concessionary loans to farmers and people in other agricultural business.
This, he said, will encourage more people to go into agriculture and thereby increase food production in the country.
The Minister made the appeal during the second farmers day awards ceremony organised by Farmapine Ghana Limited at Nsawam.
The award ceremony was organised for the co-operative groups in Farmapine. The overall best farmer award went to Simms Larbi, who received a certificate, a bicycle, a spraying machine, two bags of fertilisers and a Wellington boot.
In all 13 awards were given to deserving farmers who received bicycles, sacks of fertilisers, spraying machines and Wellington boots.
Major Quashigah cautioned that if there should be a positive change, we must first change our attitudes and way of living. The Minister congratulated the award winners and urged Farmapine to continue past tradition of growing together with their co-operative groups.
The Managing Director of Farmapine Ghana Limited, Professor Boasiako Omane-Antwi, called for the revision of the high freight costs as well as high tariffs charged by the vessel owners at the ports.
This, according to him, will be the only way to promote the growth of the pineapple business in the country. He noted that exports from Ghana, particularly pineapple, tend to be uncompetitive with that from Cote d’Ivoire and South Africa on the international market and urged pineapple producers to make their packaging more attractive.
In a related development an ˘800 million administration block for Farmapine Ghana Limited was commissioned.
GRi…/
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The Ghana Cement Works Limited (GHACEM) is operating with an expired Environmental Management Plan (EMP), in contravention with the environmental regulations of the country.
The company has been operating in this way since January this year, contrary to the law of the regulations outlined in the Legislative Instrument (L.I.1652) 1999 on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
The EIA sets out steps to be taken to manage any significant environmental impact that may result from the operation of a business.
Investigations have revealed that the company’s existing permit, granted in 1994 under the Environmental Protection Council (EPC), now Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), expired in June 1997. The company was expected to update its EMP within 18 months of the coming into force of the L.I. 1999.
Instead of updating the EMP and submitting it for approval as stipulated by law, the company has rather embarked on an expansion programme without a new Environmental Impact Plan.
Section 24 (1) of L.I. 1652 state that “the person responsible for an undertaking in respect of which a preliminary report or an environmental impact statement has been approved shall be submitted to the Agency (EPA) an environmental management plan in respect of his operations within 18 months of commencement of operations and thereafter every three years.”
Mrs Angelina Mensah, Head of Public Relations Department of the EPA who confirmed this in an interview in Accra said all companies are expected to update their EMPs and forward them to agency for approval.
She said several organisations took advantage of the absence of the law before 1999 and violated the rules. She said with the law, an applicant whose permit becomes invalid (after three years) is required to resubmit an application to the agency for approval and provide reasons for the new application.
Mrs Mensah explained that GHACEM was obliged to submit an environmental audit report on its existing plant and apply for a new permit before proceeding with its expansion programme.
She said this has not been done, pointing out that unless a comprehensive EIA is done, GHACEM cannot go ahead with the expansion programme project.
Stating the position of GHACEM, the Marketing Director, Mr George Dawson-Amoah, said the company has submitted a new EMP for approval by the EPA. He said GHACEM’s consultants, SGS, have completed work on the plan, and that every thing possible will be done to ensure that the EMP is approved. Mr Dawson-Amoah expressed regret at the delay, which he attributed to the return of the updated version of the EMP by the EPA.
Last year, GHACEM presented an updated EMP for approval but it was rejected by the EPA on the grounds that it did not take into account the expansion and upgrade of plants and operations.
GRi…/
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COP in
live and death race…with Criminal
A Police
escort, Constable Owusu Ansah, and an accused person, Nuhu Musah, 29, recently
ran a 200-metre dash race in the full glare of the public and received a
standing ovation for their Olympic exploits. No award were however, presented
to the sprinters.
To the
policeman, it was a race ran for the fear of losing his job. To the accused, it
was a life-and-death affair.
It all
began when pandemonium broke out at the Awutu-Beraku Community Tribunal last
week Monday when Nuhu Musah, who was standing a trial before it for two charges
of unlawful entry and stealing, attempted to escape through a window.
This
occurred after the tribunal chairman, Mr J.E. Wilson, had pronounced the first
sentence and was just to do so for the second offence for the other charge.
The
accused, alarmed at the grim prospects of facing prison life simply jumped
through the window and showed a clean pair of heels. He was given a hot chase
by his police escort, Constable Owusu-Ansah and got re-arrested with the help
of some people on the court premises.
This was
after he had assaulted the policeman and bitten off his middle finger, which
led to profuse bleeding, hence his admission at the Kasoa Health Post.
Interestingly,
when Musah was re-arrested, the Awutu-Beraku Police identified him as a
hardened criminal on their wanted list. He had used the name Kwesi Tetteh in a
similar case sometime in June but managed escape from police custody.
He denied
knowledge of any theft and the name, Kwesi Tetteh. However, his denial could
not save him, as his fingerprints taken confirmed that he was the same person
with
different names.
He was,
therefore, whisked to the Winneba Prisons to serve 18 months in hard labour for
the first offence and would be arraigned before the tribunal on Monday, December
17, for the other offence lawful custody.
Earlier in
his submission to the tribunal, Chief Inspector G.O. Akotua, prosecuting, said
that Musah, on March 13 this year, took advantage of the absence of his
cotenants and entered a colleague's room at Kasoa.
He said,
the accused took away personal effects and electronic gadgets worth over ˘5
million. He was however, arrested by a neighbour.
According
to Chief Inspector Akotua, a day prior to the date the accused was supposed to
appear before the tribunal but he escaped from police custody and was not seen
until he was re-arrested on Monday, November 19 when he committed the same
offence.
According
to the Chief Inspector, Musah, upon an earlier arrest when he attempted to
steal spare parts of a car, gave his name as Kwesi Tetteh.
The
Tribunal Chairman referred to his conduct and described him as a hardened
criminal, who is a threat to society. Such criminals he added should not be
allowed to live among others in the society.
GRi…/
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BOG
advises Ghanaians to dispose of all European cash now
The Bank of
Ghana (BOG) has asked Ghanaians holding currencies of the 12 countries that
have joined the Euro Zone to exchange them in the forex bureaux or deposit them
in their foreign accounts by the end of December this year.
This has
become necessary as the member countries are changing to Euro from January 1,
2002 after which their various old national currencies will cease to be legal
tenders.
The 12
Euro-Zone members are Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France and Ireland.
Others are Italy, Luxemborg, the Netherlands, Australia, Portugal and Finland.
Mr
Frederick France, Director of Treasure of the Bank told journalists in Accra on
Thursday that the BOG had met with the forex bureaux operators and commercial
banks and advised them not to accept the old currencies after the end of December.
He
cautioned forex bureaux operators and the banks to be wary of some criminals
who would want to take advantage of the situation to exchange counterfeit
notes.
Mr Wim
Olthof, Economic Attache of the Delegation of the European Commission said that
the new bank notes would be in seven denominations of five, 10, 20, 50, 100,
200 and 500 Euro. The notes illustrate the evolution of architectural styles in
the history of Europe. The coins are in eight denominations of one, two, five,
10, 20 and 50 cents, and one and two Euro.
Mr Olthof
said that January 1, 2002 regarded as the E day, 14.5 to 15 billion euro would
be made available to replace the old ones across the 12 member countries that
opted for the Euro.
The
Economic Attache explained that the countries that opted for the Euro had to
fulfill certain criteria such as price stability, and inflation rates, budget
discipline, while convergence of interest rates and exchange rates stability
was very significant.
GRi…/
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