Rawlings asks African intellectuals to serve as path to emancipation
Women demonstrate against serial killings
2000 population census provisional figures
out
Accra (Greater Accra) 28 July 2000
Provisional results of the 2000 Population and Housing Census puts Ghana's population at 18.41,247 million, with a slight increase in female representation compared to the last census held in 1984.
Briefing the media in Accra on Thursday, Dr. Kwaku Twum-Baah, Acting Government Statistician, said preliminary results of the entire exercise would be ready by December.
The current figure represents an increase of 49.7 per cent, he said, adding that the population of females over males was 51 per cent compared to the 50.7 per cent for 1984.
Total females for the 2000 population census was 9,387,091 million, slightly above the males' figure of 9,025,019 million. Comparatively, females outnumbered males in 1984 at 6.2 million and 6.06 million in 2000.
The Acting Government Statistician said population density per square metre had grown at 77.1 per cent as against 51.5 per cent registered in the 1984 census.
Ashanti Region registered the highest number of people with 3,187,601 million (1,556,587 million males and 1,631,014 million females).
Dr. Twum-Baah said Greater Accra Region experienced the second highest with 2,909,643 million people (1,433,093 million males and 1,476,550 females).
Eastern Region followed with 2,108,852 million people (1,034,922 million males and 1,073,930 million females).
He noted that, given the regional pattern, sex ratio and growth rates, the pattern across the regions was not so different, except the Western Region where males outnumbered females with a total population of 1,842,288 million.
"Indeed, there seems to be a convergence. This is reflected in the various population density ratios available".
Dr. Twum-Baah said the Northern Region has a population of 1.8 million, with a female representation of 921,138 and 933,856 males.
The Volta Region was next with 1.6 million followed by the Central Region with 1.5 million and Upper East with a total of with 917,253. The population for Upper West Region is 573,873.
Dr. Twum-Baah said the problems that came up before, during and after the population and housing census did not stop or blur the outcome of a realistic figure for the exercise.
"The problems notwithstanding, we can confidently say that it has had no impact on the total outcome of the results we have now. Besides, these are the provisional figures and the preliminary results will be ready in December.
"You will recall we had to re-train additional staff; we did some mopping up exercises as well as mobilised enumerators from other districts and regions to go to the problem areas," he added.
He said information on the housing census will be available in December, adding: "we could not have had these results at this time if we had added the housing characteristics". Dr. Twum-Baah admitted that it was possible some people might not have been counted.
"It is a world-wide fact that it is not everyone that can be captured in a population census. However, I can say that most of the calls we had of people who had not been counted were all later covered."
He said in some instances, people who had already been counted called again because their household members failed to inform them that information on them had been supplied to the census officers who had visited earlier.
Dr. Twum-Baah also said age distribution as well as other characteristics of Ghana's population would be made available in the preliminary report that would be ready in December.
He thanked the government, donor agencies and the media for the immense role they played, which, he said, resulted in the successful conduct of the 2000 Population and Housing Census.
Professor Patrick Twumasi, Chairman of the Statistical Service Board, congratulated the technical committee for its effort that enabled the Census Secretariat to stick to its timetable.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 28 July 2000
Representatives of Africans in the Diaspora on Thursday appealed to the government to speed up work on the dual nationality bill for it to be passed into law.
They said the passage of the bill would not only facilitate their stay in Ghana but would also remove the practice of having to renew their residence permits annually.
The representatives made the appeal on Thursday in Accra at a seminar organised by the Ministry of Tourism in connection with the Third Annual Emancipation Day.
It was under the theme: "Repatriation and Reparation- The African Case".
Mr. Philip Moore, President of the African-American Association, said it was expected that by now modalities might have been put in place by the Attorney General's Department and the Ministry of the Interior for the bill to be sent to parliament.
Mr. Moore said it is the desire of Africans in the Diaspora that the bill is quickly passed into law for them to have clear guidelines on their right of abode, dual citizenship and the acquisition of property.
A representative of the International Spouses Association of Ghana was not pleased that, after 30 to 40 years stay in Ghana, a non-Ghanaian is still regarded as a foreigner.
She claimed that she has lived in Ghana for almost 40 years, is married to a Ghanaian and has two of her children born in Ghana.
But whenever she travelled to the United States and wanted to come back to Ghana, she was asked to produce a visa by the Ghanaian immigration authorities.
Yomobi Akrong-Nabi, a traditionalist and a leading member of the Afrikania Mission, said, "a birth right is a natural, indestructible, God apportioned right".
He argued that foreigners of African descent "were hijacked into slavery and sent into foreign lands without visas! How can they be handicapped to come back home by the cruel possession of a visa?"
In reaction to the delay in the passage of the dual citizenship law, Mr Percy Amarteifio, Deputy Director of Legal, Research and Monitoring of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), assured the participants that the bill would be laid before parliament when it resumes sitting next September.
Nana Akuoko Sarpong, Chairman of the National Commission on Culture (NCC), noted that Emancipation Day is a great event for the black race.
He said although Africans do not have the information apparatus and financial power to fight for compensation for the wrongs committed against them during the slave trade as the Jews did after the German holocaust in 1945, a discussion of the issue would prick the conscience of the world.
Nana Sarpong expressed the hope that reparation and compensation would certainly come the way of Africans one day.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 28 July 2000
The Third Emancipation Day
celebration opened in Accra on Thursday with a call on Africans to struggle to
free themselves from "all forms of slavery".
Speakers at the opening ceremony
of the celebration in Accra on Thursday said Africans are still "trapped
mentally and economically" and stressed the need for the people of
continent to see themselves as one people to exploit their resources.
The celebration under the theme
"Emancipation: our heritage, our strength," has "Deepening the
African Consciousness" as a sub title.
Emancipation Day marks the
abolition of chattel slavery in the Americas. Ghana started celebrating it in
1998 at the instance of President Rawlings following a visit to the Caribbean.
Nana Paddy Acheampong, Deputy
Minister of Tourism, noted that, until Africans begin to see themselves as one
people all attempts for the re-emergence of the African Renaissance.
“ We must resolve to be the
ultimate beneficiaries of our wealth, that we stand to generate," he said.
He stated that Africa could
effectively achieve this aim if the African consciousness is deepened and its
values inculcated consciously into their children to sustain the African Race.
Nana Acheampong, who is also the
Chairman of the Emancipation Planning Committee, said the "home
coming" event ensures an avenue for a return to the Motherland to begin
the healing process, including the peaceful transition of the spirits of the
ancestors.
He stressed the need for a common
approach to ensure a "dignified" Africa. Ms. Maisie Howell, an
African in the Caribbean also said that Africa's freedom would be meaningless
unless the people emancipate it economically and socially.
She stressed the need for a united
front to achieve this and said that efforts aimed at emancipating Africa should
be backed by actions.
Ms. Howell reaffirmed the
commitment of Africans in the diaspora to the development of Ghana. Dr. Loenard
Jeffries, Professor of African Studies at the New York University, noted that
the problem facing Africa is the adoption European culture.
He said that Africans in the
diaspora owe it as an obligation to the continent to bring home the skills,
knowledge and money to develop it and commended Ghana for promoting
Pan-Africanism.
There was a re-enactment of the
"march of the enslaved" from the fore court of the National Theatre
to the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 28 July 2000
President Jerry John Rawlings on Thursday urged African intellectuals to serve as pathfinders in the struggle to emancipate the minds of the people.
He said they could achieve this by charting a sustainable road to peace, security and development instead of becoming "transmission belts" for foreign and often hostile ideas, adding that this has become necessary to enable the continent to attain the envisioned renaissance in the millennium.
President Rawlings was opening the Third Emancipation Day celebrations in Accra. It is being celebrated under the theme "Emancipation: Our Heritage, Our Strength" with a sub-theme of "Deepening the African Consciousness".
Emancipation Day is celebrated by all black peoples to mark the abolition of chattel slavery in the Americas. Ghana started celebrating the Day in 1998 at the instance of President Rawlings, following a visit to the Caribbean.
President Rawlings asked African intellectuals to learn from the pioneers of African liberation and emancipation struggle.
"The intellectuals added very little to the foreign ideas acquired through formal education, subtracted nothing unsuitable and badly digested foreign ideas through the formal educational process.
"The ease with which they evoke ethnic and religious sentiments for political and economic gain and their unbelievable lack of modesty, makes them a real threat to the social order".
President Rawlings said the abolition of slavery merely gave Africans their fundamental right to self-determination, adding that what matters is the use to which the attained freedom is put.
In a speech that elicited a standing ovation from the packed hall, he said the freedom gained should not be misused against fellow Africans.
"We must critically examine our own shortcomings, mistakes and inadequacies, which, if not corrected now, would prevent us from achieving our objectives in the future."
He said the world is moving forward and even though external and historical factors account for Africa's present predicament, "either we focus on our future or we continue to find ourselves marginalised and even moving backwards as globalisation gains pace."
President Rawlings urged Africans to work hard through diplomacy, regarding conflict resolution, peacekeeping and peace enforcement to find lasting cures for the "open sores, which continue to bleed".
He asked Africans in the Diaspora to inform their governments that they demand timely and firm peacekeeping initiatives in Africa as was done in Kosovo.
President Rawlings said demands for peacekeeping duties are posing serious setbacks for African governments that have laid foundations for sustainable economic growth.
"If you are businessmen and potential investors in Africa, you can avoid dealing in ventures that provide the funds which fuel conflicts and supply arms."
President Rawlings urged Africans in the Diaspora to add their voices to African concerns on imbalances in global trade and the "half-hearted" approach by industrialised countries to poverty alleviation.
"Let your congressmen, your representatives and your members of parliament know that you care about these issues."
He said those with technical and managerial skills or capital and are considering business ties with Africa should explore the opportunities for "our mutual benefit and help us break down the barriers to sustainable prosperity"
To facilitate this, President Rawlings announced that he would give his assent to the Immigration Act that has already gone through Parliament and is at an advanced stage.
The Act is intended to grants the right of abode, which can be applied for by peoples of African descent and confers on the holder the right to enter, reside, invest or work in Ghana on the same terms as a Ghanaian.
Another legislation that opens up the possibility of dual citizenship has also reached an advanced stage.
Three awards, the Malcolm X Black Power, Union of African States Foundation for African Unity and International Contribution to African-American Unity, were conferred on President Rawlings for his contribution to Africa's emancipation.
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Women demonstrate against serial killings
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 28 July 2000
A group calling itself the Concerned Women of Kumasi on Thursday organised a demonstration in Kumasi in solidarity with their counterparts in Accra and other parts of the country against the serial killings of women in Accra.
The women massed at the city centre from where they marched to the Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Council and presented a 12-point petition to the Regional Minister, Mr. Samuel Nuamah-Donkor.
They carried placards some of which read "Ghanaian women, are they endangered species?", "Accra today, Kumasi tomorrow", and "IGP, what are you doing?".
The women stated that they support their counterparts in Accra to embark on strike when necessary, adding that the inability of the police to arrest the culprits had caused embarrassment, insecurity and fear among women.
The women said the situation was unheard of in post-independent Ghana and were surprised that government had not treated it as a national crisis.
The petition noted that the United Nations declaration on non-violence against women was not being vigorously pursued in Ghana.
It called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP) and the Minister for the Interior to resign within 30 days if there should be another killing, adding that this would mean they
cannot cope with the internal security and protection of Ghanaians.
Mr. Nuamah-Donkor asked the women not to lose confidence in the security agencies, who are doing their best to unravel the killings.
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