Telecom given deadline to link district capitals
SABAT Motors Employees rescind decision to demonstrate
Stadium Disaster Commission demands response to questionnaire
Be circumspect in your reporting - Ms Ohene
Developers advised against building on waterways
Government initiates programme for energy efficiency standards
Goaso (Brong Agafo) 18 July 2001
The government has directed Ghana Telecom to provide telephone services to all district capitals by the end of the year or lose its monopoly in the industry.
Mr George Boakye, Asunafo District Chief Executive, who announced this said other companies would be contracted to provide the service to the remaining district capitals that would not have been covered by the end of the deadline.
The DCE was speaking at the first ordinary meeting of the fourth session of the district assembly at Goaso.
He said the provision of telephone facilities to the district was dear to the hearts of the people and gave the assurance that the assembly would do everything possible to ensure that their dream was realised.
Mr Boakye thanked the assembly members for the 100 per cent endorsement they gave him at his nomination and expressed the hope that the spirit of unity would be sustained to enhance the smooth administration of the district.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 18 July 2001
A planned demonstration by employees of the SABAT Motors scheduled to take place on Wednesday has been called off following the intervention of the government.
A communiqué issued in Accra on Tuesday said "after thorough and frank discussions it was agreed that the scheduled demonstration be called off with the assurance that the government will within one month from today resolve the problem to enable business to fully reopen".
The communiqué followed a joint meeting of the Ministers of Trade and Industry, Justice and Attorney General, representatives of Divestiture Implementation Committee and the SABAT Motors which ended amicably.
The communiqué signed by Nana Akufo-Addo, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Dr. K. K. Apraku, Minister of Trade and Industry, Mr Benson Poku-Adjei, Executive Secretary, Divestiture Implementation Committee and Mr Frank Adjebeng, spokesman for SABAT said, the parties agreed to co-operate in efforts to find a lasting solution to the problems involved in the divestiture of the ATS to SABAT MOTORS which led to the laying off of workers during the NDC regime.
As a result, the affected workers felt that the sell-out was not in the interest of the nation so they appealed to the previous government to rescind the decision to divest the company.
This was not heeded and following a series of agitation, the laid off workers threatened early this month to stage a demonstration at the forecourt of the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, Mr Adjebeng called on the government to help resolve the matter as promised not only because of the economic survival of the workers but for the gains that the nation would derive from it.
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Tumu (Upper West) 18 July 2001
Vice President Aliu Mahama on Monday advised chiefs to go beyond seeking royalty and personal glory to reactivate the dormant self- help spirit of their people in support of community initiated projects to raise their living standards.
He said the modern chief should provide the type of leadership that would promote development instead of encouraging activities that only glorify their positions.
The Vice President gave the advice when he led a government delegation to the outdooring of Kuoro Gilbert Badzoe Kanton as the new Paramount Chief of Tumu Traditional area in the Upper West region.
Other members of the delegation were, Mr Sahanun Mogtari, Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Clement Eledi, Deputy Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines and Mr Moses Dani Baah, Deputy Minister of Health and MP for the area.
Kuoro Kanton, 68, a Tamale-based businessman succeeds his late brother, Kuoro Luriwie Kanton who died in February this year.
Alhaji Mahama assured the people that the first term of the NPP administration would witness a big improvement in the condition of roads in the region.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 18 July 2001
The Commission of Inquiry into the Accra Sports Stadium disaster on Tuesday reminded institutions that have been given a questionnaire on safety measures to urgently respond to it.
A statement signed in Accra by Mr Sam Okudzeto, Chairman of the Commission, said because it is in the process of winding up its deliberations those institutions should respond promptly.
It named the institutions as the National Sports Council, including all regional Stadia, Accra International Conference Centre, National Theatre, Christian Council and Chief Imam, including all Mosques.
The rest are managers of Makola, Agbogbloshie and Kaneshie markets, and Vice Chancellors of the Universities of Ghana, Cape Coast, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and University for Development Studies.
Others are the Director-General of Ghana Education Service, all regional directors of health, Chairman of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union, Executive Secretary of Ghana Hoteliers Association, Ghana Tourist Development Board and managers of Boomerang, OOPS, Fox Trap, Glens and His Majesty's night clubs.
Ghana experienced its worst sports disaster when 126 soccer fans died on May 9 at the Accra Sports Stadium during a stampede after police fired teargas into the stands to control unruly fans.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 18 July 2001
Ms Elizabeth Ohene, Minister of State for Media Relations on Tuesday urged media practitioners to be more careful in exercising their functions in order not to incur the displeasure of the public.
She said the power wielded by the media in disseminating information to the public could be easily abused and stressed the need for practitioners to guard against it.
"This power can be very sedative and when you wield that power without the maximum consideration, it can be dangerous for yourselves, the government, the public and as well as the country," Ms Ohene told the staff of GAMA Films Company, operators of TV3 during a visit.
The Ghana Films Industry was divested in 1996 to the GAMA Films Company, which set up the TV3 station.
The Minister said some media practitioners are abusing that power because they are not properly trained, well equipped or skilled to handle it.
She said the Ministry is willing to help protect this power, but "If people begin to feel that there is recklessness in the way we present our stories, there would be the temptation to call for government's control."
The government, she said, has a lot of political confidence in the private sector and urged those in that sector to gear their activities towards achieving success.
Ms Ohene expressed dissatisfaction about the conditions under which the archival materials are kept at the GAMA Films Company. "This is our history and there is a particular unease to what happened to these materials."
"As Ghanaians, we must be interested in our own culture and history" and urged the management of the company to address the issue properly to erase the feelings among the public that the company is not sensitive to the history of Ghana.
Mr. Kwasi Boakye, General Manager of Finance and Administration, said the archives are not part of the properties to be taken over by the company.
"We did not abandon the national assets. We need certain resources to maintain it as it should be."
Mr Boakye said they are doing everything at their level to protect the materials and urged the government to purchase the needed equipment to enable the company transfer the films to protect the tapes for future generations.
He also announced that GAMA has set up an in-house committee to address the issue.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 18 July 2001
The US government on Tuesday committed three million dollars to support private sector participation in Ghana's tourism sector.
Beneficiaries are non-governmental organizations, private voluntary organizations, communities and individuals.
Dr Fenton Sands, Chief Director of Trade, Agriculture and Private sector of the USAID, announced this when he presented a six-page document on Strategy To Promote Tourism-led Economic Growth through the private sector, to Madam Hawa Yakubu, Minister of Tourism in Accra.
The document touches on the constraints, solution and activities in Ghana's tourism sector.
Dr Sands said certain guidelines would be employed when selecting applicants who want to benefit from the fund.
These guidelines are submission of a proposal, the extent to which the proposed activity is private-oriented and how well the proposed activity will address constraints in the tourism sector.
He said applicants must also demonstrate attention to gender and environmental issues and how the applicant will preserve and conserve Ghana's culture and heritage.
Dr Sands attributed problems facing the tourism sector to lack of quality tourism experience and insufficient investment and revenue.
He said USAID would also support five initiative programmes including developing sites and activities, expand knowledge and information on tourism, improve industry grades and standards and tourism service through capacity building.
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Aflao (Volta Region) 18 July 2001
The Aflao Traditional Council and shrines in the Traditional Area have tightened security to curb the stealing of stool property and relics from stool houses and shrines.
The measures include the formation of undercover agents and the prevention of foreigners from getting close to the stool houses and shrines.
The appellations and secrets surrounding the shrines are also not to be revealed to outsiders.
Not a single week passes without a stool house or a shrine being burgled by people suspected to be servants and close associates of the shrines and stool houses.
More than 10 shrines and stool houses in the Aflao Traditional Area have so far suffered within the last three months.
Under cover agents arrested Ali Nyandu, 24, a Nigerien and an accomplice, whose name was not given, at the Aflao border three weeks while attempting to cross into Togo with stolen relics from some shrines.
Togbe Amenya Fiti V, Paramount Chief of the Area, who briefed the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said there was demand for relics of traditional religion by foreigners, especially Europeans, who entice servants of shrines to steal them for convertible currencies.
He said it was suspected that the buyers of these items operate through middlemen in Togo, who organise the looting of the heritage houses.
Togbe Fiti advised the youth to desist from destroying their heritage for the love of money.
He said the traditional council would soon construct a multi-million cedi palace at Aflao with a museum, where relics of traditional authorities, shrines, Roman Catholics and other religions would be exhibited to satisfy the curiosity of foreigners.
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Kasoa (Central Region) 18 July 2001
The Chairman of Kasoa Unit Committee, Mr Emmanuel Nkrumah-Andam has advised prospective developers in the area to take a cue from the recent floods and desist from constructing buildings on waterways.
He said the effects of floods can be minimised if precautionary measures were taken to prevent people from building to block natural watercourses.
Addressing a group of prospective developers at Kasoa at the weekend Mr Nkrumah-Andam therefore called for stringent measures to curb the practice whereby people build in waterlogged areas and other waterways to create inconvenience not only for themselves but other members of the neighbourhood.
He appealed to district assembly members, area and town councillors as well as community and religious leaders to help educate the people to abide by the building regulations.
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Koforidua (Eastern Region) 18 July 2001
The Eastern Regional Secretary of the Peoples' National Convention (PNC), Mr Yakubu Salifu has called on all true Nkrumaists to join hands with the PNC to ensure a resounding victory in the 2004 elections.
He said the PNC, which has a consistent and pragmatic policies as well as considerable sympathy of Ghanaians, was bound to make a tremendous inroads in the political arena of the country in the 2004 elections.
This was contained in a statement issued to the Ghana News Agency in Koforidua on Tuesday, in reaction to an alleged merger of the parties, which claimed to be of Nkrumaist traditions in the Eastern Region.
Some of the parties are the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), the Reform Party, the Ghana Consolidated Peoples' Party (GCPP), PNC and the Atta Mills Brotherhood.
Mr Salifu said the idea of the merger to form a formidable one party to win future elections were very necessary in the political lives of all Nkrumaists, but wondered how the initiators " would assert themselves on the country's political scene when among themselves, they have not reconciled their differences".
He observed that arrogance and insulting behaviour of some leading members of the Nkrumaist tradition against their fellow members was quite worrisome and often pushed the idea of merger far away from realisation, adding that, such behaviour had hampered the formation of a united front to win political power since 1992.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 18 July 2001
Energy Minister, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah on Tuesday called for a coherent and systematic policy framework to resuscitate and accelerate the growth of the energy sector, saying recent operational and financial difficulties in the sector are results of past hasty policies and adhoc measures.
He said such a framework must define and establish the relationship between the sustained supply of energy resources and the accelerated attainment of the government's social, economic and developmental goals.
"The need to return to a coherent and systematic policy framework to resuscitate and accelerate Ghana's energy sector becomes more and more urgent each day," he said at the opening of a three-day international seminar on energy efficient technologies and services in Accra.
The Energy Foundation, the Association of Ghana Industries, Private Enterprise Foundation and the Alliance to Save Energy are organising the seminar to draw public attention to the efficient use of energy on the theme: "Energy efficient Technologies and Services: Cutting Cost Without Cutting Corners."
Mr Kan-Dapaah hinted of a new policy framework, which will lead to the publication of an energy plan and establish a framework for the sector's development in line with the government’s programmes to use the resource as an agent in socio-economic development and in poverty reduction.
Mr Andrew Quayson, Chairman Governing Council of Energy Foundation said a coherent energy plan is long overdue, adding that its absence is the direct result of the unproductive use and waste of energy.
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Accra Greater Accra) 18 July 2001
The government is initiating a programme to draw up minimum energy efficiency standard and labels for domestic appliances, the Minister of Energy, Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah announced on Tuesday.
"The Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Energy, the Ghana Standards Board and the Energy Foundation are working out minimum energy efficiency standards and labels for domestic appliances," he said.
Items to be covered include room air conditioners, refrigerators and lightning systems.
Mr Kan-Dapaah was speaking at a three-day seminar on energy efficient technologies and services on the theme: "Energy efficient Technologies and Services: Cutting Cost Without Cutting Corners."
The Energy Foundation, the Association of Ghana Industries, Private Enterprise Foundation and the Alliance to Save Energy are organising the seminar to draw public attention to the efficient and productive use of energy.
The Minister said the need for standards was not only meant to create awareness of the existence of more energy efficient appliances but to also serve as a check on the influx of energy-inefficient equipment in the Ghanaian market.
As a further show of commitment to the efficient and productive use of energy, the government is making available 2.1 billion cedis to assist managers and operators of commercial buildings such as banks, shopping malls, offices and educational institutions to buy energy efficient lightning systems.
Mr Kan-Dapaah said the modalities of how the institutions could benefit from the money are being worked out and urged commercial operators to take advantage of it to reduce cost.
He further appealed to the banks to extend credit facilities to entrepreneurs and businesses that would want to buy energy efficient industrial and commercial equipment, saying without funds the smooth implementation of the programme would stall.
Dr Alfred Ofosu-Ahenkorah, Executive Director, Energy Foundation said his outfit would continue with vigorous public campaign on the efficient use of energy.
He said the Foundation was teaming up with banks to find ways to help finance the supply of energy efficient equipment.
Mr Andrew Quayson, Chairman of Energy Foundation called for innovative ways to use energy efficiently to reduce cost and make companies competitive.
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