Minister calls for admission of queemother into House of Chiefs
Japanese Government to support this year's immunisation day
Wait for directives before primaries, NDC tells executives
Director-General calls for Aviation Fund
National Land Policy Document launched
Water Resources Commission to harmonise water laws
Minister calls for admission of queemother into House of Chiefs
Anum (Eastern Region) 28 July '99
Miss Patience Addow, Eastern Regional Minister, has called for the admission of queenmothers into the National House of Chiefs.
Miss Addow said if the House of Chiefs could defend the role of queenmothers, then the debate on the admission of queenmothers should be seriously reconsidered.
She made the call in an address read on her behalf by the Asuogyaman District Chief Executive, Mr Emmanuel Dwamena-Bekoe at the installation of Nana Korantenmaa I Anumhemaa at the weekend.
She succeeds Nana Akosua Lartebea, who died 14 years ago.
Miss Addow underscored the need for quick replacement of queenmothers, regretting that the kingmakers of Anum had waited for unusually too long a time to find a successor to their late queenmother.
She spoke against the continuous practice of obsolete customs such as widowhood rites, genital mutilation and other forms of abuse against women.
Nana Korantenmaa pledged to work assiduously to hasten the pace of development in the area.
Among the large crowd of people at the ceremony were Nana Appiah Kumi II, the Omanhene, Mr Kwame Dwamena-Aboagye, MP for Asogyaman and Nana Asantewa, Ohenmea of Akyem Kotoku Traditional area
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Japanese Government to support this year's immunisation day
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 July '99
The Japanese government on Tuesday signed an agreement for 1.7 million dollars grant with the United Nations Children's Fund to support this year's project for the eradication of polio in the country.
The grant will enable UNICEF to procure 10 million doses of polio vaccines and equipment for the National Immunisation Days (NID) in November and December, and to monitor and facilitate the use of the vaccines.
Mr Shosuke Ito, Japanese Ambassador in Ghana, said this year's grant is also to equip Ghana with an expanded cold chain and a national cold room.
He said the 1995 UNICEF report on the State of the World's Children stated that thousands of children who were infected by the polio virus in 1990 had their neurons serving the muscles destroyed, thereby making them unable to function normally.
In many cases, permanent paralysis was the result, he said, adding that this is why his government is helping to fight this dreadful disease.
Mr Johannes Wedenig, officer in charge of UNICEF, said the support would protect 3.8 million children from polio, thus making Ghana closer to her goal of eradicating polio by the year 2000.
He said to improve the long-term sustainability of the Expanded Programme of Immunisation (EPI), funds have been allocated for the replacement of the central refrigerator in the cold room.
Mr Wedenig said all the regions and districts will also get CFC-free refrigerators and freezers to make Ghana progress towards meeting global environmental requirements.
Mr Samuel Nuamah Donkor, Minister of health, said the ministry will this year improve acute flaccid paralysis surveillance coverage and vaccinate every single child from zero to five years, especially in areas where children are at risk.
He said this year's launching of the NID would be held at Ashaiman on the November three.
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Wait for directives before primaries, NDC tells executives
Winneba (Central region) 28 July '99
Mr Kofi Mintah, Central Regional Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, has called on constituency executives of the party not to rush to hold their primaries to elect candidates for the 2000 elections.
He said they should wait for directives from the headquarters of the party to do so.
Addressing party supporters at Winneba after a two-week tour of the region to explain party programme, Mr Mintah said asked them to concentrate now in winning more supporters for the party to ensure resounding victory in the elections.
The Regional Chairman noted that the election would not be an easy one and said constituency executives should join hands with the district assemblies to initiate development projects in their communities.
He called on MPs to pay regular visit to their constituencies and to explain government programmes especially in the areas of education and health to the people.
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Director-General calls for Aviation Fund
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 July '99
Wing Commander Andy Mensah, Director-General of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), has called for the establishment of an Aviation Fund to aid the development of the country's airports to promote the "Gateway Project", which seeks to attract investors.
He said part of the dividends paid to the government by the Aviation Authority could be put into such a fund to enable the GCAA to develop Kotoka International Airport and other regional airfields to increase the volume of traffic and attract investment.
This, he said, would enhance Ghana's quest to become a middle income country by the year 2020.
The Authority, last year, paid 1.7 billion cedis to the government as dividend.
Wing Commander Mensah was speaking during a familiarisation visit to the headquarters of GCAA in Accra by members of the Parliamentary Committee on Roads and Transport on Monday.
The visit was to afford the Committee the opportunity to know at first hand, the development programme of the GCAA to support the Gateway Project.
Mr Osei Ansah, Director of Projects, GCAA, briefing the Committee on the Authority's master plan for the development of Kotoka International Airport, said phase one of the programme from 1991 to 1993, covered the extension of the runway and the rehabilitation of the control tower and the power system.
Under phase two, the departure hall will be rehabilitated to accommodate more passengers, while the navigational and radar systems will be improved.
He said that with the increasing number of wide-bodied aircraft coming into the country, the Authority intends to construct a new apron to accommodate such planes. It will rewire the terminal building to prevent any fire outbreak and to extend the runway to Spintex end of the airport as part of efforts to promote the Gateway Project.
Mr Osei Ansah told the Committee that the projects under the phase two are estimated at about 74 million dollars, which will be borne by the Authority from its own resources.
He announced that the Authority has begun work on an "Airport City" project to develop a prime 40-acre piece of land in the forefront of the Airport into a miniature commercial and business complex as part of the Gateway Project.
The GCAA, he said, is providing infrastructure and utility services, including roads, walkways, drainage, electricity and water at the site, and in turn, sub-leasing the serviced plots to prospective investors to build a variety of commercial properties.
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National Land Policy Document launched
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 July '99
President Jerry John Rawlings said on Tuesday that although the constitution does not permit government intervention in chieftaincy matters, it does have a constitutional duty to maintain peace, order and sustainable development.
"Where protracted disputes over land are causing fraudulent sales, unplanned development, violent clashes and bloodshed, we may be compelled to use existing legislation to vest the disputed land in the state and administer it on behalf of the owners pending the resolution of the dispute."
President Rawlings said this in a speech read for him by Mr Harry Sawyer, a member of the Council of State, at the launch of the National Land Policy Document in Accra.
He said government has no wish to take such measures but added that unless traditional authorities in some of the areas affected by lawless and confusion over land demonstrate a firm and urgent resolve to bring sanity to their areas, "we may have no alternative but to do so".
The President said although various people advocated the abolition of traditional land tenure system to avoid the problems arising from chieftaincy disputes, the national land policy, however, reaffirms "our confidence in the principles evolved and defended by our ancestors."
It cannot be denied, however, that some chiefs do not adhere to those principles, which enjoin them to hold and administer the land in trust for present and future generations, he said.
President Rawlings stressed that early steps must be taken to establish a division at the High Court to deal exclusively with land cases.
The launching of a policy document does not in itself solve problems. Rather, it signals the beginning of a massive effort to translate the policy into practical action, the President said.
He said for a policy to serve its purpose, plans and programmes will have to be expedited, the capacity of various implementing agencies will have to be improved and the public will have to be sensitised to the issues raised in it.
President Rawlings said the policy is a confirmation of appropriate laws and programmes already in place and a framework for new legislation and action.
The policy recognises the fact that land is a fixed resource, yet there is ever-increasing competition between the many uses of land. Land use planning is therefore, the only way to ensure that land is put to optimum use and that provision is made for the future.
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Water Resources Commission to harmonise water laws
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 July '99
The Water Resources Commission (WRC) said on Tuesday that from May 2000, the commission will be the sole body to grant licences and permits for water abstraction.
All existing rights held by other bodies will, therefore, be put off by the period if the holders do not claim such rights.
Professor Dorm Adzobu, Chairman of the WRC, said at the meet-the-press series in Accra that Act 522 of 1996 that established the commission empowers it to grant licences and permits for water abstraction, even though other bodies already have such rights.
"On existing rights, the act provides for a 12-month transition period within which a claimant should submit such right to the commission.
"After the said 12 months, existing rights which are not claimed shall be extinguished," Prof. Adzobu said.
WRC, mainly responsible for the regulation and management of the utilisation of water resources, and for the co-ordination of policy in relation to water uses, is represented by diverse water usage institutions.
Prof. Adzobu said the interests of such bodies would be protected to ensure sustainable water supply and management.
He said the primary tasks of the Commission are related to the allocation of water resources among various competing users.
This, he said, would be reflected in an integrated water policy under consideration. If adopted, it would facilitate the co-ordination of various sub-sectors.
The policy will aim at the conservation of the water resources endowment of the country through its management and utilisation on a sustainable basis.
"This is to ensure that the socio-economic development of Ghana is not constrained at any time by the limited water resources," Prof. Adzobu said.
Dr. Daniel Adom, a member of the Commission, said water resources management should be approached from a sectoral perspective and called for the setting up of a bilateral river-based body to co-ordinate activities on shared water resources.
He said the development aspirations of African countries could be hard hit if the major challenges of effectively managing the water resources of the countries are not taken up seriously.
He noted that a substantial number of African countries do not have adequate national water policies, legislative and regulatory frameworks or systems for inter-sectoral co-ordination.
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