Government accepts affirmative action on women in decision-making - Johnson
Martyr's Day marked with wreath laying ceremony
Decentralisation policy has made significant strides - Korbieh
Accra (Greater Accra) 31 July
President Jerry John Rawlings on
Sunday stressed the need for Africa to acquire the technical skills required
for the computer age in "the global village".
He said that, "technology
today is turning our world around "adding that we live in a world where
technologies at various levels are shaping our lives.
These were contained in a speech
read on his behalf by the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr. Joshua Alabi, at
the dedication of the Nene Katey Ocansey
Technology Learning and Technology
Centre (NEKO TECH) at Ada.
Nene Katey Ocansey, popularly
known as Isaac Hayes, who is the development chief of Ada Traditional Area,
established the Centre.
It has facilities such as the Nene
Akrofi III Courtyard, Nene Kubi III Conference Room, Naa Fumi Cyber Cafe, World
Literacy Crusade Course Sanctuary, Health Education Room, Computer Rooms and an
office.
President Rawlings noted that with
its emphasis on the study technology, NEKO TECH project is an effective rural
development programme, which would help in addressing the problem of access to
education.
He said Ghana must strategically
position itself to maximise the benefits of technological advancement.
President Rawlings said the
government would support projects such as the NEKO TECH to ensure that the
country has the requisite manpower.
This would enable the country to
meet the targets of the Vision 2020 document. President Rawlings urged the
Chiefs and people of the area to advantage the project by sending their
children to the Centre.
Nene Katey Ocansey said that he
conceived the idea during a visit to the country in 1992 for the PANAFEST
celebration.
He said that the project is his
contribution to the development of Ada and the country. Nene Ocansey called on
other Africans in the Diaspora "to look back to their ancestral land to
help enrich the continent".
He stressed the need to
"unlock the heavy chains of illiteracy that still continues to keep the
minds of Africans in abject poverty in the midst of plenty".
Mr. Kwame Caesar, District Chief
Executive for Dangbe East, noted that the project would enhance the living
condition of the people.
He said that the District Assembly
would support the project to ensure its success.
Messages from the Founder of the
World Literacy Crusade, Reverend Alfreddie Johnson and Naa Asie Ocansey,
Co-chairman of NEKO TECH were read at the ceremony.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Mr. Victor Gbeho, Dr Farouk Brimah, Deputy Minister of Environment Science and
Technology and Mr. Owuraku Amofa, Deputy Minister of Communications were
present.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 31 July 2000
The UN Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi
Annan arrived in Accra on Saturday for a five-day official visit to the
country. Nane, his wife accompanied him.
Already in the country are his two
children, Kojo and Ama. President Jerry John Rawlings and the first lady, Nana
Konadu Agyeman Rawlings and the Chairman of the Council of State, Alhaji Mumuni
Bawumia met Mr. Annan at the Kotoka International Airport.
Speaking to newsmen, Mr. Annan
expressed his delight to be home to meet fellow Ghanaians and relations.
He said one of the main areas of
the UN is the provision of an early warning mechanism in conflict prevention
adding that the Organisation prefers to prevent conflict instead of deploying
troops to such areas, which is expensive.
The UN Secretary General said that
the Security Council is considering a draft proposal on the Sierra Leone
Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and its leader, Forday Sankoh
He recalled the atrocities
committed by the RUF against the people of Sierra Leone and wondered if such
crimes should be allowed to go unpunished.
Ministers of State, Mr. Alfred
Fawunda, Co-ordinator of UN agencies in Ghana, Mr. Ibrahim Omar, Dean of the
Diplomatic Corps, the Chief of Defence Staff, Lieutenant General Ben Akafia and
the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Peter Nanfuri were at the airport to
welcome him.
He would call on President
Rawlings, lay a wreath at the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and conferred with a
National honour, the Order of the Star of Ghana during the visit.
Mr. Annan would also receive an
honorary Doctorate of Law of the University of Ghana, Legon and cut the sod for
the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre at the Ghana Armed
Forces Staff college.
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Wa (Northern Region) 31 July 2000
Wa police said on Sunday they had
arrested eight people and placed them in custody in connection with disturbances
that hit the township at the weekend.
A police source said a combined
team of police and military personnel had also confiscated a large cache of
assorted weapons at various locations during a search operation in the town on
Sunday morning.
Two men are on admission at the Wa
Hospital with multiple gunshot wounds sustained during sporadic shootings,
which erupted at Wa on Saturday night.
They are Mr. Yakubu Alhaji
Issahaku, who had his right arm sprayed with pellets, and Mr. Adamu Yaw, who
was injured in the left leg and arm.
The shooting is believed to have
been carried out by one of the factions in the Wa chieftaincy dispute.
Last Friday a mob from one of the
factions in the dispute violently attacked another faction after an abortive
rally, which was intended to welcome Vice-President John Evans Atta Mills to Wa
to begin a working visit to the region.
The ceremony, which was called off
when the Vice-President failed to turn up at the scheduled time, turned into
stone throwing and casting of insinuations among the youth from the various
factions in the dispute.
Uneasy calm has been prevailing in
Wa after the judicial committee of the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs on
June 27, this year, gave judgement in the dispute in favour of Yakubu Seidu of
the Naakpaaha Gare.
The case is now on appeal at the
National House of Chiefs.
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Manso-Nkwanta (Ashanti Region) 31
July 2000
Mr. Daniel Kwabena Sarpong,
Amansie West District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education
(NCCE), has stressed the need for the electorate and non-electorate to respect
the electoral laws of the country.
He said that though the offences
of the electoral laws are punishable, their infringement could degenerate into
political and communal violence.
Mr. Sarpong, who was addressing a
day's workshop organised for area councillors at Manso-Nkwanta at the weekend,
therefore, called on the public to ensure successful and peaceful elections.
He emphasised that provocative
utterances, insults, removing posters and fighting do not win elections, and
called on all Ghanaians, especially the Youth, to take a cue from what is
happening in Angola, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau and resist any acts that
could provoke violence.
Mr. Sarpong advised the
councillors to meet regularly with their communities not only to educate them
on government policies and programmes but also work out modalities to ensure
that everybody comports himself or herself well during and after the elections.
He urged the participants to be
non-partisan in all their activities and programmes to ensure violent-free
elections and prove to the world that "we are capable of our democratic
dispensation".
The district director reminded the
councillors of the government's commitment to the development of the rural
areas and urged them to support the communities in their socio-economic and
political developments.
Mr. Sarpong said his office is
open to them and they should not hesitate to call there to discuss issues
beyond their capabilities for proper advice.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 31 July 2000
The Reverend Dr. Aboagye Mensah, Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, said on Sunday that Africa's quest for emancipation, if it should be worthwhile, must be that of non-violence but not without a non-resistant nature.
"Where there are injustices perpetrated against the Black Race, Africa must stand up and resist it." Rev. Mensah said this at a special Emancipation Day service at the Calvary Baptist Church in Accra.
A number of African-Americans, officials of the Ministry of Tourism, chiefs and queenmothers from the Diaspora and some members of the Emancipation Day Planning Committee attended the service.
This year's Emancipation Day is being celebrated under the theme "Emancipation: Our Heritage, Our Strength" with a sub-theme "Deepening the African Consciousness".
Rev. Mensah said the Emancipation celebrations should be seen as a challenge to Africa, adding that Africans should reflect but not dwell on the past and learn some lessons to better their future to be truly emancipated.
Mr. Samuel Bekoe, a Director at the Ministry of Tourism, said the celebrations would serve as a mechanism for Africans in the Diaspora to access their homeland and to rediscover themselves.
He stressed that people of Black descent wishing to discover their heritage should consider Ghana as the gateway to their homecoming.
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Winneba (Central Region) 31 July 2000
The government has accepted in principle the National Council on Women and Development's post-Beijing recommendation that women must be appointed to occupy 40 per cent of decision-making positions at all levels administration.
Mrs. Cecelia Johnson, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, who announced this at Winneba on Saturday, said a committee would soon be inaugurated to implement the decision.
The minister, who is also General-Secretary of the 31st December Women's Movement (DWM), was inaugurating the first Emancipators Club of the University College of Education, Winneba (UCEW) Ladies Wing of the NDC at the National Sports College.
She said the government has already given directives to the relevant ministries and institutions to ensure that due attention is given to all Issues affecting women and girls. Additionally, all ministries and some institutions have established Women's Desks in their premises.
Girl-child Units have also been established at the Ministries of Education, Food and Agriculture, Local Government and Rural Development as well as the Ministry of Health.
Mrs. Johnson said in fulfilment of the NDC 1996 manifesto, a Men's Desk has been established within the office of the president to handle issues relating to the welfare of women and girls and to ensure that they receive prompt action.
She assured Ghanaian women and girls of the government's continued support and encouragement to enable them to develop their God-given talents, and, therefore, urged all qualified female voters to vote massively to return the NDC to power.
Mrs. Johnson charged members of the new club to help educate women and girls in the society on pressing issues like the HIV/AIDS pandemic, other sexually transmitted diseases and reproductive health care issues militating against the progress of women.
She charged members of the club to adopt a strategy to win more supporters and well wishers for a landslide victory.
The minister, however, appealed to NDC members and supporters not to trade in politics of insults but make sure that they attract more people into the party.
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Assin Manso (Central Region) 31 July 2000
Martyrs Day celebrations took off at the weekend at Assin Manso with a solemn wreath laying ceremony on the tombs of Samuel Carson and Crystal, two former slaves whose skeletal remains were brought to Ghana for re-interment two years ago.
Five wreaths were laid on behalf of the government and people of Ghana, Chiefs and people of Africa, the African-American Diaspora, the Caribbean Diaspora and Youth of Africa.
The ceremony, which formed part of the Third Annual Emancipation Day, attracted more than 500 African-Americans and Africans in the Diaspora and Ghanaians from all walks of life.
The people, clad in mourning cloth, defied a downpour to converge in the town, which served as a slave route for traders bringing their ware from the hinterland to the coast.
Some of the participants could not hold back their tears when it came to the performance of purification rites at the entrance of the slave route, slave market and the slave cemeteries at Assin Manso and Assin Praso.
The visitors were also taken to see the Slave River, locally known as "Nnokonsuo", in which slaves were bathed before being sold.
The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Nana Paddy Acheampong, noted the historical significance of the town and said Africans must recall the painful period of the slave trade during which a race blessed with enormous human and material resources was forcefully divided by the European passion for riches and domination.
He called on the chiefs to help ensure the preservation of the town and its relics, which, he said, are dear to the existence of the African race to enhance the unity of all Africans.
The Minister recounted efforts being made by the government to encourage people of African descent to come back to live in Ghana, in particular, and on the continent, in general, with the enactment of Act 573, which deals with the right of abode.
He said as a further indication of its commitment, the government has set in motion a mechanism for the construction of the "Monument of Return" in the town to stand as a power of strength and hope for all African peoples.
Nana Acheampong launched a "monument of return fund" and appealed for contributions to make the construction of the monument a reality.
He described as unfortunate the habit of Africans adopting European names and wearing European clothes, saying: "it is time to go back to our traditional names, which is our legacy and strength".
A Black American linguist, Sgeikhem Mohab Sakusuman, offered libation to invoke the ancestral spirits to unite Africans and those in the Diaspora for the development of the continent.
The Deputy Central Regional Minister, Mr. H.Q. Jehu-Appiah, described Assin Manso as the "Mecca" of Africans in the Diaspora and said a comprehensive tourism development plan was being suggested for the town to enable it to cope with the influx of visitors.
Barima Kwame Nkyi XII, Omanhene of Assin Apimanim Traditional Area, observed that chiefs and people of the area attached great importance to the celebration and expressed the hope that the erection of the proposed monument would become a reality.
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Lawra (Upper West Region) 31 July
2000
Professor John Evans Atta Mills,
Vice President on Saturday debunked Opposition charges that the country's
economic problems are the result of incompetence by the government.
He said the difficult economic
situation the country finds itself was not confined to Ghana alone and that
many African countries are facing the same problem.
Professor Mills was addressing the
Chiefs and people as well as NDC supporters at Lawra as part of his four-day
visit to the Upper West region.
He explained that the problem is
the result of the fall in the world price of cocoa and gold, the country main
foreign exchange earning commodities.
The problem has been compounded by
the unprecedented rise in the price of crude oil for which the country spends
substantial foreign exchange.
These combined factors have eroded
the country's foreign exchange situation, which have resulted in the
depreciation of the cedi and its effects on consumers.
Prof. Mills called on Ghanaians to
ignore the claim by opposition politicians that they have a ready-made solution
to the problems.
He said that, "no one has a magic
wand or super brain" to solve the country's present economic hardships.
The answer he said depends on
diversifying agriculture through the cultivation of non-traditional crops to
earn additional foreign exchange.
The Vice President earlier called
on the Paramount Chief of the Lawra Traditional Area, Naa Abiafa Karbo.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 31 July 2000
Fully air-conditioned cars fixed with meters and Motorola to operate a modern Radio Taxi Service (RTS) in the Accra Metropolis will be commissioned in Accra on Monday.
The metered Radio Taxi Service (RTS), established by the Labour Enterprises Trust (LET) Limited, will be manned by disciplined and cultured drivers to render dedicated service to their clients.
This brings to four the number of projects so far undertaken by the TUC-sponsored LET since its establishment in 1997 but which became fully operational eleven months ago.
The projects already in operation are the Unique Insurance Company Ltd with 87.5 per cent shares, City Car Park Ltd with 20 per cent shares, and its 100 per cent fully-owned Water Tanker Services.
The Chief Executive of LET, Mr. Dennis K.Y. Vormawor, told the Ghana News Agency at the weekend that the RTS would usher in a revolutionary dynamism in the country's taxi business.
It will enable clients to call the control room of RTS offices to be picked from their doorsteps or offices for their errands as prevails in the advanced countries.
This is the first time such a service is being introduced in Ghana to boost national tourism, he explained.
The RTS operational Centre is located at the LET Head Office at Kojo Bruce House on 5 Okai Mensah Link, Adabraka.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 31 July 2000
Professor George Hagan, Presidential Candidate of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) has affirmed his party's commitment to giving all Ghanaian children equal opportunity to enjoy quality education wherever they live.
"The CPP sees education not only as a means of producing the needed human resource for national development, but also as a radical strategy to empower future generations to escape the poverty in which most Ghanaians could be perpetually trapped."
In a statement signed by the party's Third National Vice-Chairman, Mr. Mike Eghan on Saturday, Prof Hagan said education has now become the most important vehicle of economic growth and social transformation due to globalisation and the growing importance of the knowledge economy.
"This is why we of the CPP see the crisis in our educational system as a national tragedy," he added.
The statement said Prof Hagan was speaking during a courtesy call on the leadership of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) on Friday in Accra.
It said CPP intends to arrest the decay in the educational system by giving special attention to schools in the rural areas to improve their quality when voted into power adding "we will institute a special incentive package for those teaching in the rural communities".
Mr. Kwame Amo Darko, President of GNAT pledged the Association's readiness to co-operate with any group, which wants to improve the country's economy, and most especially, the low education standards.
The presidential candidate and his 10-member delegation also called on members of the Ga Traditional Council at the Ga Mantse's Palace and assured the chiefs of the Party's co-operation in finding a lasting solution to the economic and social problems confronting Ghanaians.
Nii Kobina Bone III, Osu Alata Mantse who spoke on behalf of the chiefs asked political leaders to ensure a violence-free election in December.
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Accra (Greater Region) 31 July 2000
Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Francis G. Korbieh on Saturday said the government's decentralisation policy, though an on-going process, has made significant strides.
He said the policy was initiated out of the necessity to change the centralised system, which the country inherited at independence in 1957.
Mr. Korbieh was speaking at a three-day seminar to mark the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the German Academic Exchange Service, dubbed DAAD, in Accra.
The seminar, organised by the German government, brought together more than 100 alumni from Ghana and Germany. It is under the theme "Decentralisation - An Option for Ghana's Future".
DAAD, an independent body and non-profit organisation, is a major organisation in Germany responsible for the management of the country's government-sponsored programmes for the support of higher education co-operation and exchange with all other parts of the world.
It was re-established in 1950 after its original creation in 1925 with members from all higher education institutions in Germany.
Its major functions include planning and administration of scholarship schemes, fellowship programmes, assignment of German teaching staff to higher education institutions abroad.
Mr. Korbieh said the onset of the December 1981 revolution led to the formulation of the decentralisation policy, which culminated in the establishment of metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in 1989.
He said the system not only ensures democracy and good governance at both the national and grassroots levels but also propels social and economic growth as envisaged by Ghana's long-term development plan, dubbed "Vision 2020".
Mr. Korbieh said Ghana's model of decentralised government may not be exactly the same as pertains in Germany but noted that there are immutable principles of decentralisation that apply in both systems.
He commended the DAAD for its contributions to the progress of decentralisation, especially in the field of research, which is helping the ministry in its work.
Ms. Ursula Eid, Deputy Minister, Federal Ministry of Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ), Berlin, Germany, called on African intellectuals to be vocal on issues that negate the development of the continent.
She urged them to prompt African leaders to sit up and effect changes to ensure steady political, economic and social development on the continent.
Ms Eid said for Africa to penetrate the European market, it is important to have regional groupings that would have a united voice rather than as individual nations trying to make their voices heard at the international level.
She called on African leaders, especially, political, religious and other social leaders, not to interpret disagreement of opinions of their followers and other political parties as views that are meant to destroy them but rather as healthy contributions that would help promote the total democratic development of their nations.
Ms. Eid said the economic growth of a country depends on the investment of private investors and urged African governments to encourage private investors to invest in their own countries.
Mr. Christian Nakonz, German Ambassador in Ghana, said academic contact between Ghana and Germany started far back in 1708, long before DAAD started facilitating its academic relationship in 1925.
He said his country would continue to support and sustain the strong cultural ties between her and Ghana, and urged the alumni to continue to contribute their quota towards the country's development.
Professor Kweku Dwumor Kessey of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, a DAAD alumnus, commended the Federal Republic of Germany for its enviable record of bilateral co-operation and support, especially in the area of rural development, urban renewal, and the provision of educational infrastructure.
He said one model of educational support, which had benefited the country and Africa in decentralisation is the spring programme, which trains planners in local development planning and management.
Prof. Kessey said the programme, which is in its 16th year, has been sustained because of the mutual academic respect the two partners - Ghana and Germany - have for each other.
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