Government urged to promote export of finished wood products
Farmers
call for improvement in Akuafo cheque system
Goaso (Brong Ahafo) 19
January 2001
Cocoa farmers in the Asunafo
district have called for measures to streamline the process of payment of
Akuafo cheques.
A spokesman for the
farmers, Mr Kofi Adoma Boakye, said they spend days at the banks and sometimes
return to their villages with only part payment of their money.
Speaking to newsmen at
Goaso, he accused some of the purchasing companies of diverting monies released
for the payment of cocoa.
"The situation has
compounded the problems of farmers and if nothing is done, our interest in the
cocoa industry will wane".
Mr. Boakye called for
sanctions against private cocoa purchasing firms that ignore laid-down
regulations on the use of Akuafo cheques.
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Hohoe (Volta Region) 19
Jan. 2001
Miss Victoria Butias,
the Hohoe District Nurse in-charge of Reproductive Health, has said the
district recorded 4628 pregnancies last year as compared to 4103 in 1999.
She disclosed this at a
one-day workshop on HIV/AIDS, in Hohoe, organised by PROLINK, a
non-governmental organisation (NGO), for market women, nursing mothers and
schoolgirls, during which the female condom was launched.
Miss Butias who is also
in-charge of Family Planning expressed concern about the increasing rate of
teenage pregnancy in the district.
She said the district
health management team has drawn up a programme to sensitise parents on the
need to control the sexual behaviour of their children.
Miss Bernice Helor,
Executive Director of NGO, said the prevalence of HIV/AIDS puts everyone at
risk and said PROLINK has embarked on a programme in the district to prevent
the spread of the disease.
It includes the counselling,
research and public education on the prevention and control of the disease.
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Wa (Upper West) 19 Jan. 2001
The Upper West Regional Secretariat of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union has called on the Regional Police Command to investigate a case in which some people at Babile in the Lawra district burnt a vehicle involved in an accident.
Narrating the incident to the Ghana News Agency at Wa on Thursday, Mr. Nuhu
Mahama, Industrial Relations Officer of the union said on Monday January 9, the vehicle with registration number AS 1162N loaded with cattle, was involved in an accident on its way to Kumasi, in which two people died.
He said some residents of the village, led by Lokyee Kurli and one Akwasi, attacked the driver and set the vehicle and the animals ablaze.
Mr Mahama said the driver reported the case to the regional secretariat of the union who in turn reported to the police.
"This way of doing things is too barbaric and tantamount to complete lawlessness which we want the police to correct" Mr. Mahama said.
The police command has confirmed the story and said it is being investigated.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 Jan. 2001
A former US Senator, Mr Paul Simon, has pledged to help President John Agyekum Kufuor "on the Washington scene."
In a letter to Mr Kufuor, Mr Simon, a former Chairman of the US Senate sub-committee on African Affairs, said he has a good relationship with the new US Secretary of State, Mr Colon Powell and congressmen.
"After we get our inauguration out of the way on January 20th, I will send a note to a few key people in Congress and to the new Secretary of State urging that they go out of their way to be of assistance to Ghana," he said.
Mr Simon said Ghana's ambassador to the US should let him know if there are ways he can be of assistance.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
19 Jan 2001
The Vice-Chancellor of
Oxford University, Prof. Colin Lucas, on Friday congratulated President John
Kufuor, an alumni of the prestigious British University, and wished him a
successful term of office.
''I hope that your
presidency will run in every way as you wish it to. It is extremely heartening to hear such good news about
Oxonians'', he said in a message to President Kufuor who read law at Oxford.
Prof Lucas said while
President Bill Clinton of the US remains in office, Oxford- educated
politicians govern about 7.5 per cent of the world's population.
''Please accept my
warmest congratulations'', the Oxford don added.
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He explained that there
are guidelines for the disbursement of the fund, saying a committee chaired by
the Presiding Member was established to disburse it.
Mr Addai, who was
reacting to an article in an Accra Weekly, alleging that he misappropriated the
Assembly's common fund from 1998-2000, said he inherited a debt of 600 million
cedis when he assumed office in 1998.
An embargo had also
been placed on all contracts, which was lifted after the debt had been
redeemed.
The DCE said the two
houses the MP claims he used the Assembly's funds to build were put up before
1982 when he was working in Nigeria while the one at Odoben, was started in
that year.
Speaking to the GNA he
said a relative he entrusted with the construction, squandered money for the
project, which had to be suspended until his return from Nigeria where he was the
personal assistant to the Governor of the Cross River State.
The DCE said his
building at East Legon, Accra was completed in 1982, adding that it was
supervised by Mr Clement Zorlo, a Deputy Commissioner of the Internal Revenue
Service in Accra.
After paying the 600
million-cedi debt, three contracts estimated at 435million cedis were awarded,
which are at the completion stages, he said.
An Educational Fund for
needy but brilliant students in the district, which 25 have benefited was also
instituted. The beneficiaries are in Senior Secondary Schools, Teacher Training
and tertiary institutions.
Mr Addai said the
assembly also assisted in financing community-initiated projects such as roads,
rehabilitation of schools, construction of hand-dug wells, culverts and
electrification projects.
He said the Breman
Brakwa Rural Bank on behalf of the Assembly administered the Poverty
Alleviation Fund with beneficiaries providing guarantors and denied that the
money was misused.
The DCE assured the MP
that the Public Works Department has taken inventory of all items both his
office and bungalow.
Mr Addai denied that he
promised NPP activists five million cedis and paid 100,000 cedis up-front to
defect and campaign against the party before the December election.
He invited the MP
approach him if he is doubt to ensure the efficient running of the district.
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Accra (Greater Accra)
19 Jan 2001
The police on Friday
appealed to the public for assistance to curb armed robbery that has been on
the rise in recent times.
“As has often been
repeated, security is a joint fight of the public and the police against the
enemy'', a statement from the Public Relations Directorate of the Ghana Police
said.
The statement said the
police are taking ''a resolute action to crush the perpetrators with all the
resources at their disposal. Such an
action can only be successful with the full co-operation and participation of
civil society''.
The police reminded the
public that people with information could contact the following numbers:
027-522284, 027-522299, 024-323034, 775769, 027-534800 and 027-534858.
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Winneba (Central
Region) 19 Jan. 2001
Mr. P. Sammy, personal
assistant to former deputy minister of Roads and Transport, Mr. Mike Allen
Hammah, was on Thursday assaulted by three alleged supporters of the New
Patriotic Party (NPP) at the Winneba main lorry station.
Mr. Sammy, a teacher of
the District Council Primary A and B School had one ear bitten off and is
receiving treatment at the Ridge Hospital in Accra, where he was taken by Mr.
Hammah.
Narrating his ordeal to
newsmen, Mr. Sammy said he was among a number of passengers in a waiting Mercedes
Benz truck at the lorry park when the three attackers emerged from nowhere,
rushed on board and forcibly pulled him out.
He said the attackers
brutalised him for no apparent reason, adding that but for the timely
intervention of some men at the station, he might have been killed.
Mr. Hammah has appealed
to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to take steps to ensure the safety and
protection of NDC supporters in the Effutu traditional area.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region)
19 Jan 2001
Members of the Ashanti
Regional branch of the National Woodworking Machine Owners Association, on
Thursday called on the government to promote the export of only finished timber
products.
In a message signed by
Mr Akuamoah Boateng, Chairman of the Association in Kumasi on Thursday, it
called for the banning of export of logs and lumber and urged the government to
encourage afforestation.
The message asked for
God's guidance for Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, the President and the Vice
President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, to promote peace and unity to ensure
development.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region)
19 Jan 2001
The Ashanti Regional
branch of the NDC has sent a message of condolence to former President Jerry
John Rawlings on the death of his aide de camp, Warrant Officer Class One
(WO1), Andreas Tettey.
The message signed by
Mr Philip Edward Kwabena Antwi, Regional Chairman, stated that "we feel deeply
saddened by the news about the death of WO1 Tettey, who as bodyguard of the
President discharged his duties with a high sense of professionalism".
"As we join you to
mourn the loss of this great patriot, we pray that the Almighty God grants you
the courage and fortitude to bear the pains".
The party's regional
executive on behalf of the members conveyed their sympathies to the bereaved
family.
WO1 Tettey died at the
37 Military hospital in Accra after a protracted illness.
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