Y2K bites some Ghana Telecom customers
Minority denies blocking deal to buy equipment for security services
Ghanaians urged to purge themselves of 'modern day slavery
Ghanaians asked to get involved in governance
Participants at New Year School call for well-equipped NCCE
Indian calls for bilateral relations at community level
Y2K bites some Ghana Telecom customers
Accra (Greater Accra) 4 Jan. '99
Many furious customers, whose telephone lines have been disrupted for the past five days, on Monday stormed the Cantonments Telecom Exchange seeking to have the problem rectified.
The disruption, which affected lines that start with 24, 76, 77, 78 came about when the company changed over to a Y2K compliant digital switch last Wednesday. Whereas some lines are completely dead others are crossing.
Some customers said they heard about the changeover in the media and, therefore, reported the fault on their telephone numbers, however, their anger stems from the fact that the fault persists after four days.
"You charge like an Obroni (foreign) company, but you don't work like one. You have not been able to rectify this all this while. My friend with no IDD suddenly has one," said a customer.
Another angry customer said: "A company is now using my line so you can imagine the debt that is going to be charged to my account. It is not fair for me to pay this."
Meanwhile, an official who wanted to remain anonymous said four shifts have been put in place to work round the clock to resolve the problem by Friday.
He said the work involved is intricate and complicated since each of the lines has "to be picked" and replaced.
Other lines are yet to be transferred onto the new switch. GT has erected a canopy at the forecourt of the Cantonments Exchange to receive complaints from subscribers.
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Minority denies blocking deal to buy equipment for security services
Accra (Greater Accra) 4 Jan. 2000
Mr J. H. Mensah, the Minority Leader in Parliament, on Monday said "the Opposition Parties are fully behind every genuine effort to provide the Police and other security services with logistics and other priority requirement, for the discharge of their duties.
But they would not condone any dubious and wasteful arrangement hiding behind legitimate objectives.
In a statement issued in Accra, he accused President Jerry John Rawlings of attempting "to set the security services against the Opposition Parties" by alleging that they opposed the procurement of logistics for them, when he addressed them at the El Wak Stadium on 31 December.
He said the alleged assertion by President Rawlings was "an attempt to cover up another foreign deal of the same type as the jet plane deal from the Cayman Islands."
Giving his version, Mr Mensah said in the last days of the second meeting of Parliament, the government presented to the House a contract that it negotiated with a South African Arms dealer, Messrs Reumech OMC.
"On 30th July, the government got its way, with Parliament's approval of a supplier's credit for 16.9 million dollars.
"But this approval was not granted before a probing examination by the Minority Group had exposed some very damaging aspects of the whole transaction."
On the technical side, Mr Mensah said instead of spending money on the priority needs in Police logistics, the government decided to spend nearly 11.7 million dollars to buy armoured cars and water canons.
"This was what the Minority Group objected to."
He said the most urgent priority need of the Police is to re-equip them for mobility and communication, which means "jeeps, command cars, motorbikes even bicycles... telephones and radio networks."
Mr Mensah said the government was asking for 5.43 million dollars to buy 15 armoured cars and 6.24 million dollars to buy water canons.
On the financial aspect, he said, the government told Parliament that the South African arms dealer was "one of the rare companies" that were prepared to offer Ghana credit for the purchase of the equipment.
Mr Mensah said the government wanted the armoured cars and water canons to be included along with the troop carriers, jeeps and motorcycles that the Police really need, because the company had insisted that without them there would be no deal.
He said the same type of credit being offered by the South African company is available from many manufacturers in the world to purchase jeeps, troops carriers, motorcycles, bicycles and communications equipment.
"The priorities of his logistic procurement were hopelessly wrong: $11.7 out of $16.9 million was being spent on equipment to fight and intimidate law abiding civilians, our own Ghanaian citizens, rather than fight crime and violence, which is the primary job of the police"
He said any right-thinking citizen would understand that it is wrong to buy a thing one does not need, even if it is being offered on credit.
"Why does the supplier insist that Ghana buys armoured cars along with the items that the Police service really needs?"
"The credit argument is, therefore, a worthless argument: Ghana should not be enticed by conditional sales".
GRi../
Ghanaians urged to purge themselves of 'modern day slavery'
Tamale (Northern Region) 4 Jan '99
Ghanaians have been urged to rid themselves of the "modern day slavery of drug and alcohol addiction and the lust of the flesh", as the world celebrates the great jubilee of the year 2000.
The Catholic Archbishop of Tamale, the Most Reverend Gregory Kpiebaya said, even though, slavery as the world had known it no longer exists, there are more serious kinds of enslavement in the form of drug and alcohol addiction, fornication, adultery and materialism.
He was delivering a New Year sermon at Our Lady of Annunciation Cathedral in Tamale.
These forms of slavery, he said, should be avoided in line with traditional norms characterising every jubilee year instituted in Israel under the Old Testament laws.
"At this period slaves were set free, debts were cancelled and mortgaged land was returned to the original owners".
Archbishop Kpiebaya said jubilee is a Judeo-Christian concept dedicating a year to God in a special way.
It is a year during which it is believed the Lord gives special favours hence drug and alcohol addicts could count on the intervention of God to help them to break away from these forms of enslavement, if they sincerely wish to change.
Earlier, Catholics in the Archdiocese went on a three-kilometre 'Holy Walk' from the Holy Cross Church at Choggu to the Cathedral to inaugurate the year 2000 and to mark the golden jubilee of the Cathedral.
The Holy Walk also officially marked the church's entry into the New Year.
All parishioners were required to pass through the Holy Gate or Jubilee Door created by the church in order to receive the blessings expected during the year.
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Ghanaians asked to get involved in governance
Bolgatanga (Upper East) 4 Jan '99
The Right Reverend Emmanuel Arongo, Anglican Bishop of Tamale-Bolgatanga Diocese, has said that the practice of democracy alone cannot bring about improvement in the lives of Ghanaians.
He said any improvement in the lives of Ghanaians could only be realised if everybody was actively involved in the process of governance through the sharing of ideas and resolving problems together.
Christians need to strive collectively with members of other religious groups in order to make democracy a reality.
"You cannot get the benefits of democracy on a silver platter, even though, it is the best system of governance so far", he said.
Bishop Arongo was delivering a sermon at the Bolgatanga St. Cyprian Anglican Church on Sunday as part of activities to usher in the new millennium.
The Bishop observed that the government has performed creditable to improve upon the country's infrastructure as compared to situations in other African countries.
He, however, said much more should be done to let these developments reflect on the lives of the ordinary people, especially those in the rural areas.
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Participants at New Year School call for well-equipped NCCE
Winneba (Central Region) 4 Jan. 2000
Participants at the just-ended 51st annual New Year School at Winneba have urged the government to provide sufficient funds, logistics, and transport to facilitate the work of the National Commission for Civil Education (NCCE), especially in the rural areas.
They said in a resolution that the lack of these was hampering the operations of the Commission.
The NCCE is a dependable institution, which if given the required support, can educate the people well on their rights and responsibilities, they maintained.
The resolution said since education is an essential tool for creating participation, especially in decision making "in this era of democratic dispensation", institutions responsible for such activity should be adequately funded and equipped to be able to perform creditably.
The participants expressed the hope that the government would give serious attention to the requirements of the Commission to enable its officials to reach out to people in remote areas.
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Indian calls for bilateral relations at community level
Ho (Volta Region) 4 Jan. 2000
Mr Arum K. Banerjee, Indian High Commissioner in Ghana, has called for the extension of bilateral relations between Ghana and India beyond government, to community level.
This, he said, would foster closer cordiality, socio-cultural integration and sharing of ideologies necessary for development to thrive.
Mr Banerjee was speaking during an award ceremony at Ho to honour Dr (Mrs) Uma Sen, an Indian Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, who served at the Ho Government Hospital for more than 26 years.
The ceremony was organised by the 'Living Sisters', a Ho-based non-governmental organisation.
Dr Sen was presented with a number of gifts including a kente cloth and necklace.
Mr Banerjee said Dr Sen's service was a demonstration of the Indian culture, which emphasises service to humanity as an obligation to God.
Alhaji Seidu Iddi, Volta Regional Minister, assured the people of the government's commitment to the improvement of health infrastructure for efficient health delivery.
Mama Atrato II, Queenmother of Ho Dome and President of the NGO, said their gesture to Dr Sen was a result of her unflinching dedication, competence, sacrifice and selflessness shown to the people of the Volta Region and Ghana as a whole.
Dr Sen qualified as a medical practitioner from the University of Calcutta, India in 1952, and obtained post-graduate qualifications in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and in Family Planning in London, in 1968.
She arrived in Ghana in April 1969 and worked at Asante Mampong and Bolgatanga Government Hospitals.
She assumed duty at the Ho Government Hospital in July 1973 and remained at post until her retirement last year.
Her knowledge and competence in obstetrics and gynaecology coupled with patience, sympathy and love to patients, led to an influx of patients from the nearby regions, as well as from Togo and Burkina Faso to the hospital for treatment.
At the presentation ceremony were, Captain George Nfodjo (rtd), Ho District Chief Executive, Mr Francis Agbotse, MP for Ho West, Mr Kofi Attoh, MP for Ho-Central, Dr Frank Nyonator, Volta Regional Health Administrator and the Right Rev. Japhet Y. Ledo, Moderator of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana.
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