Lecturers embark on indefinite strike
Political parties
tasked to ensure peace
K-Poly SRC calls for probe into police brutalities
Mills opens seminar on security reforms
Greater Accra Regional Minister meets the Press
MOFA draws up integrated programme to revamp rice industry
Rawlings grants audience to Asantehene
Lecturers embark on indefinite strike
Accra (Greater Accra) 07 June 2000
The University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) is continuing its indefinite strike action, which it started on Monday before the scheduled meeting with the committee set up by the government over the weekend.
A source at the University of Ghana, Legon told the GNA that members would not reverse their action.
Mr. P. B. Yarquah, University Relations Officer of Legon said that the University's position on the issue would be made known this week after consultations between UTAG, the government and other stakeholders.
"We would come out with our position concerning the strike action and students examinations before next week," he said.
University authorities had originally fixed examinations to start next week.
UTAG last week threatened to embark on a strike if the government did not take immediate steps to address issues about the salaries, service conditions and other matters concerning the welfare of University lecturers.
The government responded by instituting an eight-member committee headed by Professor Agyewodin Adu Gyamfi Ampem, Chairman of the Council of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
The committee is studying the issues raised by UTAG to come out with appropriate recommendations, but UTAG went ahead with its action.
A lecturer at Legon told the GNA that they do not think the committee could help iron out the problems, saying, "the government is just using it to buy time".
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Political parties
tasked to ensure peace
Accra (Greater Accra) 07 June 2000
A non partisan group, with members
from peace loving organisations, on Tuesday called on politicians and political
parties to allow the rule of law and respect for human dignity to guide their
conduct in the run up to the 2000 elections.
Mr. Frank Anim-Appiah, spokesman
for the Ghana Network of Peace Building Organisations (GHANEPO) told a news
conference in Accra on Tuesday that "all too often, we have observed that
careless talk, irresponsible and provocative statements have emanated from
political platforms".
The news conference was to discuss
the current political scene, which has been characterised by insults among
political parties and personalities.
Mr. Anim-Appiah, flanked by the
Reverend Robert Aboagye-Mensah, General Secretary of the Christian Council of
Ghana and a former Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Justice Kingsley Nyinah, charged
political actors to "refrain from the practice of deceiving and confusing
the populace, with irrelevant and contradictory messages."
"Falsehood and deception,
intimidation and violence cannot solve our problems.
"We wish to remind the good
people of Ghana of the disastrous consequences that followed when signals of
conflict and destabilisation had emerged in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and
even in the Northern part of our own country."
Mr. Anim-Appiah noted that many
families in the country have no peace of mind because of the harsh economic
conditions.
"There is general despondency
and despair throughout the country. Our country is in deep crisis".
He called on the Council of State,
Parliament, the judiciary and religious bodies among other groups, to embark on
"preventive" diplomacy to avert any disaster.
Mr. Justice Nyinah said that,
"no one should be allowed to cause violence if progress is to be seen in
the country."
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K-Poly SRC calls for probe into police
brutalities
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 07 June 2000
The Students Representative Council (SRC) of the Kumasi Polytechnic on Tuesday called on the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Peter Nanfuri and the Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Council (ARCC) to institute an independent committee of enquiry into the alleged brutalities by the police against K-Poly students.
The students were demonstrating against delays in the payment by SNNIT of their loans.
The SRC said "it is evident that the students did not destroy any property of the Asafo office of the SSNIT to warrant the cruel treatment meted out to them by the police".
The petition to the IGP was signed by Mr. Isaac Fosu, President, Mr. Moses A. Adabogo, Secretary, Mr. Edward Bernasko Sey, Vice-president, Mr. Williams K. Takyi, GNUPS representative and Miss Bertha Baffoe-Bonnie, Women's Commissioner.
The petition appealed for the release of the 32 students arrested by the police.
It said when the 1999/2000 academic year began in December last year, only 1,522 students of the Kumasi Polytechnic representing 20 per cent of the students who benefit from the SSNIT loan had received their first instalments.
The petition said because of the delay, some students were denied registration and attendance at lectures in some departments for their inability to settle their school fees in full.
It said final year students have not been able to start their project works and owing to these frustrations, students started agitating for their monies and the first attempted peaceful march to the Asafo office of SSNIT was averted by the SRC on May 26, 2000.
However, the petition said in the early hours of Friday, June 2, the students organised themselves for a peaceful march to the office to press home their demands.
The SRC said the Polytechnic administration was alerted on the student's intention but their efforts to calm the situation failed as the management of SSNIT permitted only Dr Lord Emmanuel Asamoah, the Principal and few SRC members to negotiate while the rest of the students stood outside the office singing and dancing.
It said after a while, the principal explained to the students that an emissary had been dispatched from SSNIT office in Accra and that a cheque covering the student's loans would be ready in the afternoon. The students therefore decided to wait for the emissary.
The petition continued that the students were surprised when the police started firing rubber bullets and teargas on the few students waiting for the emissary without any provocation.
It said the students retreated to campus and were followed by the police who invaded the halls of residence, the administration, library and nearby houses.
It said properties were destroyed and some students lost monies worth several millions of cedis following the police invasion.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 07 June 2000
Ghana and the United States through the Agency for International Development (USAID), on Tuesday signed an agreement for a 22.75 million dollar development assistance grant for the 2000 fiscal year.
The amount would be used to promote private sector growth, increase the effectiveness of primary education as well as support family health and good governance in the country.
The Minister of Finance, Mr. Kwame Peprah signed on behalf of Ghana while the United States Ambassador, Mrs. Kathryn Dee Robinson and USAID Director, Mr. Frank Young initialled for their country.
Under the agreement USAID would provide 13.2 million dollars to help increase private sector growth through policy change, improvement in the financial markets as well as develop the base for an environmentally sound energy supply.
An amount of 5.3 million dollars would be used to support primary education while 2.9 million dollars would be used to support family health care and the fight against the HIV/ AIDS epidemic.
Another 1.3 million dollars would be used to support the activities of Parliament, Civil Society and Local Government.
The grant brings US development assistance for this year to 52 million dollars.
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Mills on
relations between civil society and military
Accra (Greater Accra) 07 June 2000
Vice President John Evans Atta Mills on Tuesday called for a new model of relationship between civil society and the military that would reflect the peculiar circumstances of democracy in Africa.
He said the public should be seen as a stakeholder with legitimate interests and concerns in military and other security matters.
Vice President Mills was opening a two-day conference to discuss security sector reforms and democratisation in Africa under the auspices of the Accra-based Africa Security Dialogue and Research (ASDR) and the Ministry of Defence.
Security chiefs from Ghana and South Africa would be sharing experiences on improving relations between civil society and the security.
Vice President Mills noted that lack of development of security is one of the most serious threats to young democracies in Africa.
"The very fact that democracy imposes restraints and accountability in the pursuit of security, in the same way that security, its presence or absence, can make or break democracy, particularly when security forces set themselves up as arbiters of the political system."
Citing Ghana as an example, Vice President Mills said that security has been hard-won but added that there is a peculiar challenge of how to sustain it.
This can only be achieved on the basis of dialogue and consensus between security forces and society, as well as government and opposition, he said.
"We have to de-politicise issues of security because they are so fundamental," he told the opening session attended by politicians, diplomats, and retired as well as serving military chiefs.
Prof. Mills tasked the conference to look beyond the security system to the justice system saying, the non-performance of the justice system and others such as the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice could adversely affect the direction of the security agencies.
In addition, "we need to move beyond the prisoner-in-the-dock attitude that so often characterises the way we talk about our Armed Forces and Police, to a broader appreciation of how the performance of key national institutions in the civil sector both condition and compromise the functioning of security agencies."
In all these, the media has a positive role to play, Prof. Mills said.
Mr. Kofi Totobi Quakyi, Minister responsible for National Security reiterated the government's resolve to reform the relationship between the security and civil society as a tool for enhancing democracy and good governance.
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Sanitation still a headache - Regional
Minister
Accra (Greater Accra) 07 June 2000
Sanitation continues to be a major headache for authorities in the Greater Accra Region despite several policies and interventions to improve upon the situation.
Mr. Joshua Alabi, Regional Minister told newsmen at the "Meet the Press" series in Accra on Tuesday that the privatisation of solid and liquid waste management is, therefore being "pursued vigorously"
"In partnership with private entrepreneurs and bilateral funding in particular, the City and Country Waste Limited under its privatisation programme, over 1,200 tonnes of rubbish is evacuated daily. As part of the Accra Waste Project financed by the British Government, liquid waste will now be treated before disposal. This project which is estimated to cost 20 million pounds is about 80 percent complete", he said.
Mr. Alabi said the same situation exists in Tema where five private refuse contractors are taking part in the solid waste collection programme.
The World Bank is assisting the Tema Municipal Assembly in solid waste collection, market, street and drain cleaning, a step that has necessitated the re-zoning of existing refuse collection areas, he said.
The Regional Minister said the District Assemblies Common Fund has brought great relief to the region with the five districts receiving more than 46 billion cedis since 1992, which have been used to undertake more than 545 projects.
Mr. Alabi said that unlike other district assemblies, those in the Greater Accra Region collect more revenue from traditional sources than they receive from the Fund.
He noted that Buruli Ulcer, a disease common in rural areas close to rivers, is a major health problem in the Ga District where half of the land lies in the Densu River Basin.
The Regional Minister said that a nation-wide survey for Buruli cases undertaken last year revealed 1,200 cases in the District with more than 500 being active, making it one of the most endemic areas in the country.
As a result, part of the Amasaman Health Centre was converted into a temporary surgical facility where 30 patients have been operated on as at the end of the first quarter of this year.
"There is the need however, for a proper operating theatre and wards to manage the cases since certain essential equipment are still lacking.
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MOFA draws up integrated programme to
revamp rice industry
Tamale (Greater Accra) 07 June 2000
The ministry of food and agriculture (MOFA) has started an integrated programme aimed at revamping the rice industry in the Northern region to give local rice a competitive edge with imported rice by 2002.
Under the programme, a new variety of foundation seed is being introduced to farmers for multiplication.
An initial 3250 bags of 100 per cent pure GRI-18, TOS 3107 and 3108 foundation seed have already been produced jointly by ICOUR and the lowland ice project for distribution to farmers in nine selected districts of the region.
Mr. Cletus Achaab, northern zone seed inspector told the Ghana News Agency in Tamale that the new seed is being distributed to farmers in Tamale, Savelugu Nanton, Yendi, Walewale, Gushiegu-Karaga, Nanumba, East Gonja, West Gonja and Tolon-Kumbungu districts at subsidised cost of 60,000 cedis a bag.
An education component of the programme has started in Tamale aimed at upgrading the knowledge of MOFA district directors in rice agronomy and effective farmer supervision.
Mr. Achaab said the directors will in turn train their staff at the district and zonal levels after which a major programme for farmer education will be organised by mid-July.
He said the programme's success rests largely on the receptive abilities of farmers, many of whom are anchored to the old production practices, which they find difficult to abandon.
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Rawlings grants audience to Asantehene
Accra (Greater Accra) 07 June 2000
President Jerry John Rawlings on Tuesday reaffirmed the government's determination to continue keeping the peace of the country and appealed to chiefs and other opinion leaders to collaborate with the government to maintain stability.
He said as the nation prepares for general elections in December, utterances by politicians might create tension and it is important for chiefs to call politicians to order when they step beyond bounds.
The President said this when he granted audience to Otumfuo Osei Tutu the Second, the Asantehene, at the Castle, Osu.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu, back from a two-week visit to the United Kingdom at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth, called to thank the government for its support during his tour.
President Rawlings said unguarded statements from politicians might ''provoke hostile atmosphere'' and hoped supporters of political parties would be wise to see through statements made by politicians.
President Rawlings spoke about AIDS and said ''some of us are not taking it seriously'', and appealed to chiefs to help in the campaign against its spread.
''We have a burden on our hands to educate our people. I do not want Ghana to reach the level other countries have reached'', he said.
Mr. Kofi Totobi Quakyi, Minister for National Security, observed that Otumfuo Osei Tutu’s tour was successful, adding that the benefits will come later.
He said the excellent manner the Asantehene was received and treated in Britain demonstrated Ghana's high image in international circles and appealed to Otumfuo Osei Tutu to assist the government to maintain the peace and stability of the country.
''This is an election year. Things can go bad. Therefore, we are appealing to Otumfuo to assist to maintain peace and stability'', Mr Quakyi said.
Nana Otuo Serebour, Juabenhene, said the trip was ''successful and rewarding'' and that apart from Otumfuo's call on the Queen, he also held talks with investors.
He said a delegation from the British Council would soon arrive to have discussions with officials from the Ministry of Education on an exchange programme.
''We also had a durbar in London and the Ghanaian community are willing to contribute to Otumfuo's Education Fund.
We wish to express appreciation to the staff of the Ghana High Commission for the excellent facilities they put at our disposal'', Nana Otuo Serebour said.
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