GRi Newsreel Ghana 09 - 02 - 2001
"We need co-operation to mend tattered
economy" - Kufuor
Vice President affirms government's
commitment to rule of law
EC to publish assessment report on political
parties
Bartels meets striking workers
Peacekeepers depart for Sierra Leone
Oti Boateng re-appointed to UN post
Striking Keta Sea defence project workers
suspended
Sub-regional workshop resolves to eradicate
female ritual servitude
East Gonja District Assembly builds cattle
market
Police say suspects are deaf and dumb
Government to honour Victor Owusu with state burial
"We need co-operation to mend tattered
economy" - Kufuor
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 February 2001
President John Agyekum Kufuor on Thursday said his government has inherited a tattered economy and appealed for co-operation and tolerance from Ghanaians while his team seeks the right approach to mending it.
"We should hold together if we're going to turn round the nation from the stagnation, the cover up that's ruled us all these years," he said "We need peace of mind to tackle the problems."
President Kufuor was speaking at a meeting with the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, Dr Kingsley Y. Amoako at the State House.
Dr Amoako, who participated in a two-day economic forum at Akosombo, called at the State House to share thoughts on his assessment of the economy with the view to exploring the way forward.
Mr Kufuor thanked Dr Amoako and others especially, a US based group of Ghanaian economists, for coming home at their own expense to participate in the forum, which was also aimed at fashioning out the first budget of the new administration.
He said government would not shirk its duty of providing good governance and improved living standards.
However, it is important to let the people know of the bitter truth in order to seek their co-operation with the policies that will sometimes require sacrifices.
"We are at great pains to let the people of Ghana know the mess we've inherited."
He said there has been pressure on his team to come out with this year's budget and he hopes it would embrace the vision for which the New Patriotic Party was voted into power.
President Kufuor said members of government would be the first to make sacrifices if that choice will have to be made.
He said he expected Dr Amoako to analyse the economic situation clinically in order to help out with realistic remedies that will be accepted to all.
"You should also feel free to criticise us constructively in any area we should be found wanting."
Dr Amoako said an assessment of the economic situation at the forum revealed that the problems are very acute.
"But with fortitude, determination and clear sense of direction, the situation can be turned around," he said.
He gave the assurance that the international community stands ready to work with the government in improving the economy.
Vice President Aliu Mahama said the Akosombo forum was only the beginning of the government's search for an economic success.
Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Minister of Finance, said the economic situation is terrible but expressed the hope that with the fortitude of government and goodwill from donors, it would be mended.
He said the foreign-based Ghanaian economists expressed surprise at the level to which the economy has sunk but again, they showed the determination to help rebuild it.
Mr Osafo-Maafo said government would consider proposals by the participants that the forum should be held every six months to review the economy and keep it on track.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Vice President affirms government's commitment
to rule of law
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 February 2001
The Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama said on Thursday that the government is mindful of its duty to entrench the rule of law, peace and security to put "our house in order" to attract the goodwill of the international community.
He said the rest of Africa stands to gain from this goodwill if they promote good governance and curtail the proliferation of arms on the continent.
Alhaji Mahama was speaking when the French Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Jean Michel Berrit, called on him to seek the views of the government about the 21st Franco-Africa summit held in Cameroon recently. The Vice president led Ghana's delegation to the summit.
He stressed Ghana's commitment to ensuring the peace and stability of the continent by continuing to support peacekeeping operations.
He praised the advocacy role played by France at the Cameroon summit to articulate the development problems of Africa to the European Union.
"I also want to express satisfaction for the bilateral relationship between Ghana and France and the development support France is giving to our country through its various agencies," he said.
Alhaji Mahama said the government welcomes the support France is giving to the private sector especially in the area of job creation.
Mr Berrit said the summit offered the Anglophone countries the opportunity to strengthen their ties with France and other countries in the European Union.
He said last year France gave 315 million dollars as concessional loans and grants to support the development efforts of Ghana adding that current portfolio of ongoing projects with the government amounts to 81 million dollars.
Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who gave an overview of the Cameroon Summit, said it bridged the language barrier amongst Africans.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
EC to publish assessment report on
political parties
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 February 2001
The Electoral Commission (EC) on Thursday said the report on assessment of political parties conducted in July 2000 is ready for publication.
The nationwide assessment of political parties was to ensure that their operations are in conformity with constitutional provisions and the Political Parties Law (Act 574).
A source at the EC who announced this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra said the report was delayed because of the pressure on the commission for the December 2000 elections and the impact it would have had on the electoral process.
The report covers the national, regional, district and constituency operations of the political parties.
The Political Parties Law, among other things, states that all political parties shall establish branches in all the regions and, in addition, organise in not less than two-thirds of the districts in each region.
A checklist for the assessment includes the declaration of assets, which includes the nature of office facility, date and mode of acquisition, the number of rooms and office equipment.
The parties were also to disclose the type of furniture in use, payment of the salaries of party office permanent staff, utility bills and other party expenditures.
The commission's assessment list also requires the political parties to declare the contributions by citizens in the form of dues and donations in cash and kind.
The EC source said that the parties were to provide the particulars of their national, regional and district officers.
The EC requires their names and voter ID card numbers, residential addresses and the name and address of the auditor of the party.
The source said without any prejudice, the Commission might cancel a party's registration if it refuses or neglects to comply with the provision or submits a declaration that is false in any material.
There are 10 registered political parties including the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the New Patriotic Party (NPP), the Convention People's Party (CPP), the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) and EGLE Party.
The others are People's National Convention (PNC), Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), United Ghana Movement (UGM), Ghana Democratic Republican Party (GDRP), and the National Reform Party (NRP).
The source said that as reflected in the December general election only seven were able to field presidential candidates while the DPP and EGLE were in an alliance. The GDRP failed to contest both the presidential and parliamentary elections.
The source indicated that some parties have changed their office locations and postal addresses without notifying the Commission in contravention of the Political Parties Law.
A GNA investigation last year showed that some parties organised only in the media. Their district and regional branches were dormant and they had no constituency offices.
Some of these offices were, however, activated during the elections.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Bartels meets striking workers
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 February 2001
Striking workers of the Great Lakes Dock and Dredge Company, which is executing the Keta Sea Defence Project, are to resume immediately after an election of their union on Friday.
A statement signed by Mr Kwamena Bartels, Minister of Works and Housing, on Thursday after meeting representatives of the striking workers said no worker would be punished for his role in the strike action.
The statement said the workers, led by Victor Larbie, agreed to the proposal by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) that the Civil Engineering and Construction Workers Union should be the appropriate union to lead them in negotiating a Collective Bargaining Agreement with their management.
They also agreed that representatives of the Civil Engineering and Construction Workers Union of the TUC should meet representatives of the workers on Friday, February 9, at the Havedzi site to initiate negotiations for the collective bargaining agreement.
The statement said on the same day, the workers should elect their leaders who will join the TUC representatives.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Bawku (Upper East) 09 February 2001
The District Co-ordinating Director (DCD), Mr J.B. Atogiba, announced on Tuesday that the curfew imposed on Bawku township in the Upper East Region has been lifted.
He told the Ghana News Agency that since the people are now going about their normal duties peacefully, it is imperative that the curfew be lifted.
The tension and fear that gripped the people in the aftermath of the ethnic clash has also faded into thin air, he added.
Following the delay by the Bawku East District Electoral Office to release the December 7 parliamentary election results, the Mamprusis and Kusasis in the town clashed, resulting in the death of more than 30 people.
Several others were injured while many houses and property and billions of cedis were burnt.
Mr Atogiba stated that the dust to dawn curfew, which was imposed on Bawku two months ago had to be lifted on Monday following the return to normalcy of the situation that necessitated its imposition.
Situational reports received from members of the District Security Committee (DISEC), notably the Police, Military and the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), which indicated that the people are now co-existing peacefully compelled the Regional Security Committee (REGSEC) to lift the curfew, he added.
The DCE stressed the need to maintain the military personnel in the town to forestall any unforeseen eventuality.
Mr Atogiba explained that since some people lost their relatives in the conflict and others too lost all that they had in life, it is necessary that the military personnel are retained to monitor the people's movements, more especially in the night, until the peace that has been attained is concretised.
In a related development, the announcement that the curfew had been lifted was received with wild cheers and jubilation by people of all walks of life in the town.
A prominent businessman who pleaded anonymity remarked: "Bawku will soon return to the business structure that it was prior to the eruption of the ethnic conflict".
An elated typist working with the District Assembly, Miss Rahinatu Yakubu, intimated that the announcement made her feel as if she had been released from an unlawful detention.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Peacekeepers depart for Sierra Leone
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 February 2001
GHANBATT Three of the Ghana Armed Forces will leave Accra for Sierra Leone on Friday.
A statement signed by Lieutenant F.K. Ampobi of the Armed Forces Public Relations Department said the solders would relieve GHANBATT Two, which has completed its six months tour of duty under the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Oti Boateng re-appointed to UN post
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 February 2001
Daasebre (Dr) Oti Boateng, Omanhene of New Juaben Traditional Area, has been re-appointed to the membership of the UN Advisory Committee on Post-Adjustment Questions.
In a statement issued in Accra, Dr Oti Boateng, who is the former government statistician, said he will be among a group counselling the UN system on matters relating to post-adjustment difficulties and restoration of purchasing power parity among international civil servants working all around the world.
The statement said the appointment is for a four-year term and took effect from January 1, 2001.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Striking Keta Sea defence project workers
suspended
Havedzi (Volta Region) 09 February 2001
Striking Workers of the Keta Sea Defence Project have been suspended for two weeks by management following their refusal to end a weeklong general strike, which has paralysed work on the project.
The strike was to back the workers' demand to be allowed to join a union of their own choice and for better working conditions.
Mr Gary Schack, Project Manager signed the suspension order, displayed at the project site at Havedzi.
A meeting between the workers and a Trades Union Congress (TUC) delegation on Tuesday to iron out the unionisation issue ended in a deadlock.
The workers want to be unionised under the Maritime and DockWorkers Union (MDU) while the TUC said they should be placed under the Civil and Construction Workers Union (CCWU).
The workers accused the TUC of conniving with the management and threatened that until they were unionised under the MDU, they will continue with the strike.
They rejected a suggestion by the TUC that the workers, management and the TUC enter into a memorandum of understanding to protect them.
Mr Dan Antwi, General Secretary of Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) who led the TUC delegation, said though the workers fall under the CCWU their working conditions are different from those in road construction because of the nature of their work.
He explained that workers engaged in similar projects, such as the dredging of the Korle Lagoon in Accra, the construction of the Tema harbour and the Akosombo Hydro Project were all with the CCWU.
Mr Antwi said the steering committee of the TUC would meet in Accra on Tuesday February 13 to deliberate on the issue but was not certain as to when work would resume on the project.
He called on the workers to exercise restraint because it would take sometime to get them unionised and secure a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) for them even if the current impasse was resolved.
Meanwhile security has been tightened at the three locations of the project at Ave-Hevi, Wheta and Keta.
Other members of the TUC delegation were Mr Pius Quainoo, General Secretary, Construction and Building Material Workers Union, Mr James Anquandah, acting Head of the Organisation, Miss Veronica Kofie, acting head of the International Department and Mr Kwabena Owusu Afriyie, acting General Secretary, Maritime and Dock Workers Union (MDU).
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Sub-regional workshop resolves to eradicate
female ritual servitude
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 February 2001
Participants at the close of the first West Africa sub- regional workshop on female ritual servitude on Thursday resolved to embark on an intensive sensitisation and awareness creation to eradicate all forms of rituals that dehumanise women.
They also resolved that each participating country adopt an action plan to combat and eradicate female servitude.
The two-day workshop, under the theme: "harnessing our collective resource for the transformation of ritual servitude" was organised by International Needs Ghana and Anti Slavery International, UK.
It attracted 75 participants drawn from civil society, human rights organisations and government institutions from Ghana, Togo and Benin.
The workshop was aimed at initiating strategic coalition among stakeholders for the eradication of female ritual servitude.
The participants resolved to form the nucleus to advocate the passing and implementation of laws against female servitude form a network to further the common objective and exchange information through bilingual journals.
Addressing the closing ceremony, Mrs Christine Churcher, Minister of State in Charge of Basic and Girl-Child Education said the government is committed to ensuring that all women in bondage are freed within the next four years.
She said the women caucus in parliament would join forces with other stakeholders to fight and liberate women from all kinds of slavery, adding that the problems of society would be solved when women are free.
She appealed to priests at Trokosi shrines to make good their promise of accepting animals to atone for offences rather than bonding young girls for life at the shrines.
Trokosi is a system of bonding innocent virgin girls into perpetual servitude, including sexual molestation and forced marriage to the priests for sins committed by their relatives.
It is practised in parts of the Volta and Greater Accra Regions of Ghana. It is also practised in Togo and Benin.
There are over 2000 girls and women still languishing at Trokosi shrines as ritual slaves because shrine elders have refused to give up the practice.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
East Gonja District Assembly builds cattle
market
Salaga (Northern Region) 09 February 2001
Mr Jerry Dramani Jackson, East Gonja District Chief Executive, has given the assurance that the District Assembly will support any enterprise that will help revamp the revenue base of the assembly.
Mr. Jackson, who was commissioning a two million-cedi cattle market at Salaga, noted that if the facility is well run, it would be a viable source of revenue.
The assembly constructed the market with support from the traditional authorities.
The DCE said that, apart from cattle, the market would also facilitate the sale of other livestock such as sheep and goats.
He therefore called on the people to patronise the market to help enhance the revenue mobilisation effort of the assembly.
The Kpembewura, Alhaji Ibrahim Haruna Kibassibi I, in an address, urged headsmen in the area to sell their cattle at the market and refrain from sending their animals to Yeji for sale, thus depriving the assembly of revenue.
He called on cattle dealers along the Volta Lake not to transport their animals by boat as the practice has been one of the major causes of accidents on the lake.
He was of the view that the establishment of the market would curb the high incidence of cattle rustling in the area and create employment for the youth.
Alhaji Kibassibi announced that fish and yam markets would also be set up soon at Salaga.
Meanwhile, the assembly has appointed a 13-member committee under the chairmanship of Mr George Dramani, a retired sports organiser, to run the market.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Police say suspects are deaf and dumb
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 February 2001
Police said on Thursday that two men mistaken for thieves at the Trust Hospital in Accra and taken into police custody last Saturday are deaf and dumb.
Police said their investigations have revealed that the men went to the premises of the hospital to solicit for alms and not to steal.
The two men, who are from a deaf and dumb institution, were seen in the conference room of the Trust Hospital by staff who called in the Cantonments Police.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com
Government to honour Victor Owusu with
state burial
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 February 2001
President John Agyekum Kufuor on Thursday announced a state burial for Mr Victor Owusu, a key member of the Danquah-Busia political tradition.
Mr Owusu, a former Attorney-General and Foreign Minister, died in London in December last year at the age of 77.
He will be buried on March 7 at Agona in Ashanti after being laid in state at the State House, Accra.
President Kufuor was addressing a large delegation, representing the bereaved family and chiefs, who called at the State House to inform government of the death and funeral arrangements of the veteran politician.
Mr Kufuor, who once served in Mr Owusu's Chambers, said his death was a great loss not only to the political tradition but also to the entire country.
He expressed regret that he never lived to put his vast knowledge at the service of the new administration.
"Perhaps he was our Moses and I am the Joshua," President Kufuor said to the admiration of the gathering, comprising ministers of state and other leading members of the NPP.
He recalled the various positions held by Mr Owusu dating back to the 1950s when he was a member of the Gold Coast Parliament up to 1979 when he contested a presidential election and lost to Ex-President Hilla Limann.
"He was a great man.... a brilliant chap who helped a great deal in shaping leadership," he added.
Mr Joseph Henry Mensah, Majority Leader and a close associate of Mr Owusu, said he left "a legacy of fearless leadership".
"The detention he suffered under the Nkrumah regime and all that go with it never deterred him."
The leader of the delegation, Mr Isaac Kofi Boateng, presented a carton of schnapps to the President.
GRi…/
Send your comments to news@ghanareview.com