GRi Newsreel Ghana 05 – 02 - 2001
Minister decries disbursement procedures
Rawlings denies media allegations
Refrain from activities that could mar
NDC-NPP relations - Mintah
Police arrest suspected robbers
Rural housing unit assists in repair of
houses
Northern Command
in Military drill
Ecotourism project
for Sakumo Ramsar site
Government urged to retain efficient DCEs
Accra (Greater Accra) 05 February 2001
Mr Hackmann Owusu-Agyemang, Minister of Foreign Affairs, on Monday said the government will give former President Jerry John Rawlings the needed support in his new role as the United Nations Eminent Person for Voluntarism.
He said this when the Executive Co-ordinator of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV), Sharon Capeling-Alakija, called on him in his office as part of her five-day working visit.
Mr Owusu-Agyemang said members of the government have always supported the UN in voluntary capacities, adding that President John Kufuor's government would continue to work with such multilateral organisations to ensure the country remains competitive in the global economy.
He expressed the hope that in his new role, former President Rawlings would carry the mantle of voluntarism beyond the shores of Ghana.
The minister said he is happy that voluntary work in the UN has been institutionalised, adding that more often than not, most voluntary workers have performed better than "experts."
Ms Capeling-Alakija said currently, UNV has 5,000 volunteers from 149 countries.
She said Ghana has a tradition of giving and receiving volunteers, saying that Ghanaian volunteers constitute one of the strongest supplies of human resource under the UNV.
"Currently there are 35 Ghanaian volunteers serving in various countries, particularly in East Timor as electoral observers," she said.
Ms Capeling-Alakija will hold separate meetings with former President Rawlings and the UN Volunteers Association in Ghana as part of the day's activities.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 February 2001
Former President Jerry John Rawlings on Monday said the fight against malaria and AIDS demands "social responsibility and the working together of policing and judicial mechanisms."
He said the ongoing scourge of the two killer diseases is the result of society's irresponsibility to keep itself healthy.
Ex-President Rawlings said this when Mrs Sharon Capeling-Alakija, visiting UN Volunteer (UNV) Executive Co-ordinator, called on him to discuss his appointment as one of three UN eminent personalities on voluntarism.
The other two personalities are former Senegalese President Abdou Diouf and the founder of Body Shop, Ms Anita Roddick.
The title is conferred on persons who have distinguished themselves in volunteering for the welfare of mankind.
"Even though the advanced countries are supporting the fight against these diseases, it is time for us to wake up to our responsibilities because as the saying goes, 'God helps those who help themselves,'" Flt. Lt. Rawlings (RTD) said.
He expressed regret that even though information technology has brought the world closer together, it could not address the socio-economic imbalance among countries.
"While malaria is absent and AIDS cases are declining in advanced countries, AIDS infections are increasing and people cannot afford malaria treatment in third world countries."
Flt. Lt. Rawlings said the "immense gap" between the third world and the developed world would have been wider but for the contributions of UN volunteers.
"I have a great deal of respect for them. I thank them," he said, adding, "while I believe it is a Herculean role, I would play my part to supplement the efforts of those already in the field."
He said as human problems are eternal, the spirit of voluntarism should be sustained and advised President John Kufuor's government to recognise and encourage it.
"It is one way of enabling the people to free themselves from the pains of survival and the machinery of government which is already stretched."
Mrs Capeling-Alakija praised Ghana's long history with the UNV, saying the country was one of the first to supply volunteers to the UN.
She said in view of the international recognition of Ex-President Rawlings' voluntarism, Mr Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General, invited him to help raise the profile of the UNV.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 February 2001
The Minister of Finance on Monday expressed his disapproval of the disbursement patterns of donor inflows by local agencies, saying they leave much to be desired.
The process is fraught with unnecessary delays, wrong disbursement procedures and the inability of government or beneficiary agencies to utilise the funds, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo said at the opening of a 10-day project implementation workshop in Accra organised by the Abidjan-based African Development Bank.
It is meant to update the skills of project officers of ministries, departments and agencies and other non-governmental agencies on disbursement, planning and designing of projects financed by the bank.
The minister said government is determined to facilitate the removal of all bottlenecks and ensure that the disbursement is effective.
"I have also initiated discussions with donor groups and hope to continue doing so on regular basis to ensure that I am well informed on all issues pertinent to the efficient use of the resources that our donor partners put at our disposal," Mr Osafo-Maafo said.
He said by this, Ghana could take advantage of the resources put at her disposal to enhance her economic development programmes.
The minister said it is important that participants update themselves constantly in order to avoid mistakes, which hitherto contributed to delays in disbursement.
Mr Osafo-Maafo said government also intends to streamline the area of procurement of goods, works and services in consonance with the President's inaugural address on "zero tolerance for corruption."
"It has been identified as one of the areas of leakage in donor resources and I believe the ongoing programme under PUFMARP to plug the leakage will be successful."
Mr Osafo-Maafo said procurement lapses cannot be attributed to government and public officials alone. "They must be put at the doorstep of suppliers of goods and services and works who happen in most cases to be international consulting firms, contractors and procurement agencies".
He said it is against this background that he deems the workshop opportune to enable stakeholders to work together to re-start the re-engineering and retooling of the entire procurement process.
Mr David Jenkins-Johnson, AFDB director, said the bank has been associated with the economic and social progress of Ghana since 1973 and has had 55 transactions totalling 769 million dollars.
He said the bank has found over the years that a number of obstacles militate against the effectiveness of development projects and has decided to use the workshop to show participants the policies and procedures of the bank.
These include poor project design, lack of knowledge of the bank's procurement and disbursement procedures and lack of effective monitoring mechanisms.
He said the bank is aware of the high turnover of staff of the civil service of its regional member countries and believes that the only way out is to conduct such annual programmes.
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Rawlings denies media allegations
Accra (Greater Accra) 05 February 2001
Ex-President Jerry Rawlings has denied allegations in the media that he used or attempted to use a number of state facilities after his retirement.
"It appears that some sections of the media are determined to keep Flight Lieutenant Rawlings in the media spotlight and continue to castigate him for reasons best known to them," a statement from the office of the Ex-President said in Accra on Sunday.
They include an alleged visit to the Burma Camp to be allowed to fly an airforce jet.
It is also alleged that he took a two-hour cruise aboard the state executive yacht and requested for police dispatch riders to the funeral of the former president of the Methodist Conference, Rev. Jacob Stephens.
The Ex-president, the statement said, "has never visited the Airforce Station since he left office and has certainly never demanded to fly any Airforce jet."
It explained that rather, Flt. Lt. Rawlings wanted some "peace and quiet" and spent some time outside Accra aboard a Volta River Authority operated yacht, which remained anchored and never left the port.
"With regards to the visits he has paid to stables at the Burma Camp, it must be pointed out that for the past several years, he has bred horses as a hobby and has made them available to the stables. He has also helped in grooming the horses."
"Non-military personnel including members of the Diplomatic Corps also use the stables. The visit by Flt. Lt. Rawlings to the stables are therefore nothing extraordinary to warrant such banner headlines unless of course the publication is meant to serve other sinister purposes," it added.
The Ex-president is seeking legal advice on allegations by Mr Johnny Hansen, an Accra legal practitioner on a local FM station that he owns some houses in the United States.
"Ex-President Rawlings denies having any such property anywhere in the US - indeed, he does not own a brick, let alone a house, in any foreign country," it stated.
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Refrain from activities that could mar
NDC-NPP relations - Mintah
Winneba (Central Region) 05 February 2001
The Central Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr. Kofi Mintah, has urged the leadership of New Patriotic Party to restrain its members from activities and utterances, which could create bad blood between members of the two parties.
Addressing a meeting of regional an constituency executives of the NDC at Winneba at the weekend, Mr. Mintah said it was unfortunate that some leading members of NPP had launched orchestrated propaganda to discredit the leadership and members of the NDC and cause public outrage against them.
He reminded the NPP that, with its thin majority in parliament, it would need the co-operation of members of the NDC in the House to carry their programmes and bills through.
He therefore cautioned the NPP leadership to desist from activities which could endanger that co-operation.
Mr Mintah urged ministers of religion to desist from creating superstitious problems that could haunt the new government.
He said the so-called prophet who claimed that the Osu Castle, the seat of the previous government, should not be used by the new government because it harbours some evil spirits could have done the nation a lot of good if they had offered to drive away the bad
spirits and cleansed the place to make it habitable for use by the NPP government.
"A prophet who sees destruction but is unable to rectify it is not worthy to be trusted."
On the debt incurred by the NDC government in importing crude oil into the country, Mr Mintah appealed to the new government to stop making capital out of it since the fuel was brought to serve all Ghanaians.
He called on the supporters of NDC to remain resolute in their support for the party in the wake of these orchestrated propaganda to kill the party.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 05 February 2001
The National Secretariat of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Friday organised a dinner-dance for a cross section of media personnel at the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) Club House in Accra.
Addressing the function, Mr. Dan Botwe, General Secretary of the NPP said, the treat was to show the party's appreciation to the media on the role it played before, during and after the recent election in seeing to the entrenchment of democracy in Ghana.
Mr. Botwe urged the media to joint hands with the government to develop the country.
"This does not mean you should not point out our mistake when we go wayward, it should be done objectively and dispassionately to keep us in tune to move the country forward," he said.
Present at the function were the Chief Executives of GBC, New Times Corporation, Graphic Communications Group Limited and representative of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).
In attendance was GBC's resident band "the Pace Setters," to grace the occasion.
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Police arrest suspected robbers
Accra (Greater Accra) 05 February 2001
Two men who broke into the conference room of the SSNIT Hospital at Osu, on Saturday morning have been arrested by the Cantonments police.
The police are investigating the men, who behaved like they were deaf and dumb upon arrest.
Police told the GNA that they received a call from the hospital around 10.00, am that armed robbers had broken into the conference hall.
The police said on their arrival, the two men were found in the room ransacking drawers, breaking one of them in the process.
According to the police, it was not possible to obtain any information from the men, since they behaved like deaf and dumb when they were arrested.
A search on them revealed some papers with an inscription of an institution of the deaf and dumb, the police said.
The police said the men were not armed.
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Rural housing unit assists in repair of
houses
Breman Asikuma (Central Region) 05 February 2001
The Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa district principal work superintendent, Mr Kojo Sam, has appealed to landlords to take advantage of the assistance being offered by the rural housing unit to repair their dilapidated houses.
Mr Sam said that, as a measure to solve the acute accommodation problem facing the youth, the unit is providing material assistance to landlords whose buildings are in a deplorable state to enable them to repair them.
Mr Sam, who is the district head of the unit, was addressing the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District Assembly at Breman-Asikuma at the weekend, said that the programme would also offer employment to the youth in the area.
He said his outfit has constructed four semi-detached bungalows for teachers at Breman Benin and it is about to start work on two staff quarters at Breman Asikuma.
The assembly expressed concern about the misuse of schoolchildren for manual work by teachers, and urged the district directorate of the Ghana Education Service to help address the issue.
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Tanoso (Brong Ahafo) 05 February 2001
Nana Kwaku Bour alias Kwaku Ampofo, Adontenhene of Tanoso near Techiman died on Friday after a short illness at the age of 120 years.
Mr Philip Arthur, a family spokesman told the GNA that the late Adontenhene left behind 200 children, grand and great grand children.
They include Mr Yaw Twumasi Ampofo of the Department of Co-operative, Abura-Dunkwa, Nana Akumfi Ameyaw Junior, and Mr Fred Addai of the former Osofo Dadzie group.
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Northern Command
in Military drill
Tamale (Northern Region) 05
February 2001
Tamale Airborne force were the
proud winners of this year's Northern Command inter-units drill competition,
which took place at Kamina barracks in Tamale on Friday.
They lifted the trophy at stake
with 473 points amidst shouts of joy, which kept the invited guests and
spectators on their feet.
The forth battalion of infantry
(4bn) from Kumasi placed second with 472 and half points while Tamale sixth
battalion (6bn) placed third with 463 points.
The third battalion of infantry
(3bn) from Sunyani, were fourth with 450 points.
Each of the four competing units
were given one hour to march to the parade grounds and display skills like
weapon handling and other drill disciplines.
The six-hour competition was
attended by all the commanding officers of the participating units and other
service commanders.
The commander of the Tamale sixth
battalion of infantry, Lt. Col Dela Johnson Sakyi who reviewed the parade, said
in on address that there is a correlation between the drill competition and
discipline in the military service.
He said the competition
undoubtedly conveys a clear manifestation that the anchor to the efficiency of
an army is discipline and that no modifications in warfare, nor any changes in
scientific or social development will ever affect this time tested truth".
It is for this reason that the
very initial training in the subject of discipline is best carried out by
drill, where soldiers are taught how to instinctively obey orders from a
superior authority.
Lt.Col. Sakyi called on the
officers and men to use the occasion to reflect on their role to protect life and
property and the noble ideals of mankind.
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Ecotourism
project for Sakumo Ramsar site
Sakumono (Greater Accra) 05
February 2001
The Sakumo Ramsar site, an
endangered ecosystem is to be developed into a first class eco-tourism
destination in Ghana.
The project will be preceded by
studies by experts in landscape design, wetland ecology and planning to
identify and design environmentally, ecologically and socially acceptable
tourism infrastructure.
Mr David Kpelle, Deputy Country
Director of Conservation International (CI), announced this at this year's
Wetlands Day Celebrations, which also marked the 30th anniversary of the
International Convention on Wetlands adopted in Ramsar, Iran on February 2,
1971.
The day which was under the theme:
"Wetlands world, a world to discover," was organised in collaboration
with CI, Ghana Wildlife Society, Green Earth Organisation and the League of
Environmental Journalists with sponsorship by Coca-Cola Bottling Company.
Mr Kpelle said the project would
be implemented by CI, an NGO in partnership with the Wildlife Division of the
Forestry Commission.
Ghana has six sites designated as
Wetlands of International Importance and a total surface area of 178,410
hectares. These include Keta Lagoon and Sakumo Ramsar site.
Mr Kpelle said the Sakumo Ramsar
site, which is endangered is of high priority in the Upper Guinea spot. The two bodies are therefore seeking funding
from the Critical Ecosystems Partnership Fund for the implementation,
management and sustainability of the venture.
Mr Kpelle said the Sakumo Ramsar
resort, which would be comparable to the Kakum National Park in the Central
Region would have board walks across the Sakumo lagoon and an environmental
education centre to serve schools and the public.
Such an income-generating project
would not only secure natural resources in the long-term but also safeguard the
livelihood of the local communities who depend on the wetland.
Mr Charles Christian Amankwah,
Wetlands Co-ordinator of the Wildlife Division said traditional norms and
practices in some localities have contributed positively to the conservation of
Ghana's wetlands for centuries.
He said a national wetland policy
that seeks to incorporate wetland management into the day-to-day activities of
the government and local communities has been developed.
The Ramsar Convention can now
boast of 123 member countries, 1,042 sites on the list of Wetlands of
international importance covering 800,000 square kilometres.
However out of the 31 contracting
parties of the Ramsar Convention in Africa, only three countries including
Ghana have either a wetland policy or a strategy for wetlands conservation.
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Government urged to retain efficient DCEs
Ntiri-Buoho (Ashanti Region) 05 February 2001
Mr Sampson Adu-Poku, assemblyman for Ntiri-Buoho electoral area in the Kwabre district of Ashanti, on Friday appealed to the government to retain efficient District Chief Executives (DCEs).
He said even though it is the prerogative of the President to appoint new DCE's, efficient, inspiring and hardworking ones must be considered.
Mr Adu-Poku made the appeal when he presented 20 mono desks costing 800,000 cedis provided by the people to the local primary school at Ntiri-Buoho.
Mr Ernest Opoku-Fofie, Kwabre District Chief Executive, commended the people, especially Mr Paul Addai, Managing Director of Addai Cutlass Company for their financial support towards government's educational programmes in the town.
He appealed to the chief and his elders to co-operate with recognised bodies and groups in the community to mobilise their efforts to contribute towards the development of the area.
Mr Anthony Yao Boafor, District Director of Education told the school children that provision of the furniture is an indication that their parents wanted them to learn hard.
He assured the people of his preparedness to make the school one of the best in the district and asked the teachers to take good care of the furniture and other facilities in the school.
Nana Kofi Mensah, Odikro of Ntiri-Buoho, called on the School Management Committee (SMC) and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) to do more to help in the development of the school.
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