Accra (Greater Accra) 02 February 2002 - About 190 passengers of Ghana Airways on Friday demonstrated in protest against the continuous cancellation of their scheduled flight.
They held placards amidst drumming and slogan chanting and attempted blocking the main road leading to the Airport. The Airport Police were, however, on hand to calm and disperse them peacefully.
The demonstrators later converged at the restaurant at the Airport demanding food from the airline officials while others wanted monies to be paid to them as compensation.
Nana Brobbey, a Journalist based in Vienna, Austria said they were asked to check-in at 1am on Thursday and to depart at 8am the same day.
However, they were not able to leave as scheduled and were given assurance that they would leave on Friday morning. They were later informed that there was no aircraft available.
Another Passenger Nana Atuahene, based in Dusseldorf, said his only fear was that he might loose his job if he did not get to Germany by Saturday. Most passengers expressed similar fears.
An official of the Ghana Airways explained that the situation arose as a result of a technical problem with the aircraft and that an arrangement was being made to convey the passengers to their destinations.
GRi../
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Elmina (Central Region) 02 February 2002 - The President of the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Mrs Elizabeth Joyce Villars, on Friday urged the association to put it's "house in order" to enable it meet the challenges posed by the "golden age of business" and the positive change in the country.
Opening a three-day AGI National Council Strategic Workshop at Elmina on the theme "charting an industrial path for the 21st century", Mrs Villars said the time had come for them to engage qualified people and also use professional facilities to solve their educational, technical, management and marketing problems.
The workshop, which was attended by 36 council members, regional chairmen, affiliate members and chiefs was aimed at formulating policy guidelines to enhance the growth and development of association.
The AGI president appealed to the government and international agencies to help in the capacity building of the association to enable its achieve it present aims and urged chiefs to release lands for industrial development in rural areas to stop the youth from migrating to the urban centres to look for jobs.
She told the members to add value to their product to meet global market demands and stressed the need for them to research into areas of subcontracting with medium and small scale enterprises as well as instituting a business practice and ethics committee to harmonise their activities.
Mr Appiah Menka, a past president of the Association, advised the executives not to turn the association into an appendage of any political party, but to try to develop good working relation with the government.
He noted with concern that most Ghanaian industries within the past 20 years had become distressed due to hash economic policies and the lack of adequate funds and urged them to build a strong relationship with financial institutions to enable them get credit facilities.
Mr Menka said marketing would remain a major problem facing AGI if it limited its operation to the Ghanaian market and urged them to strengthen their links with Nigeria and other ECOWAS countries.
GRi../
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 02 February 2002 - The Timber and Woodworkers Union (TWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has called on the government to suspend the 10 per cent Lumber Export Levy.
The General Secretary of the union, Mr Joshua Ansah, made the call at a news conference in Kumasi on Friday on the Union's views on the timber industry.
According to Mr Ansah, about 20 per cent of the total labour force in the industry had lost their jobs since the introduction of the levy and between 20 and 25 per cent more were likely to become unemployed if the levy remained in force.
He said the Union expected government to adopt human centred and worker friendly policies and show genuine commitment to the reduction of poverty in the country in fulfilment of its agenda for positive change.
Mr. Ansah expressed concern about the rapid depletion of the country's forest resources and said the union had undertaken commercial tree planting in the Brong-Ahafo Region.
He urged the government to initiate dialogue with stakeholders in the timber industry to find solutions to the problems facing the sector.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 02 February 2002
Currency Buying Selling
US Dollar 7,203.91 7,399.36
Pound Sterling 10,145.99 10,423.48
Swiss Franc 4,188.23 4,300.47
Canadian Dollar 4,537.36 4,656.87
Japanese Yen 53.80 55.23
S/African Rand 628.82 643.96
Euro 6,182.81 6,345.33
CFA Franc 9.43 9.67
Naira 62.98 64.68
Ecowas/WAUA 8,976.42 --------
GRi../
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