Relatives of plane crash victims besiege
Tamale STC
Dead foreigners in crash identified
GCB denies refusing to accept 20-cedi coins
The 88th session of ILO opens in Geneva
Ghana has about 11 million voters on the
electoral roll
Petition against confirmation
of Dr Kubi as NDC candidate
Mills calls for proactive action against
potential disputes
Asantehene accorded rousing welcome
Relatives of plane crash victims besiege
Tamale STC
Tamale (Northern Region) 08 June 2000
The State Transport Company terminal in Tamale was on Tuesday besieged by people who wanted to travel to Accra to know about the fate of their relatives, involved in the Airlink crash.
The Airlink 200 flight was from Tamale to Accra when it came down at the threshold of the Kotoka International Airport a few minutes before it was due to touch down on Monday.
Others were there to receive information about the disaster from passengers arriving from Accra.
Speculations are rife about the identities of the victims as information about them is yet to be officially made known.
The general atmosphere in Tamale has been tense as people expressed shock and grief about the accident.
Hajia Azara Fuseini, a businesswoman told newsmen about her sleepless night when she heard the news about the accident because her uncle, whom she declined to name, was on board the aircraft.
"He is the breadwinner of the family and as at now I am only praying that he should be among the survivors".
Commenting on the incident, the Tamale Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Mohammed Alhassan Adams described it as unfortunate.
He said that Airlink has been offering useful services to the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions, especially in the area of business promotion and expressed condolences to the families and wished the injured speedy recovery.
Six people died when the Fokker 27 plane with 52 passengers and crew crashed when the plane was landing during a heavy downpour.
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Dead foreigners in crash identified
Accra (Greater Accra) 08 June 2000
The three foreigners killed in Monday's plane crash at the Kotoka International Airport have been identified as two Americans and a Swiss.
The Swiss was 76 year-old Doris Lanz of the Ghana Institute of Linguistics but the names of the Americans were not immediately known.
Six passengers died when the plane, a Fokker 27 operated by the Ghana Air Force for domestic flights, went down in a heavy down pour at the threshold of the airport.
Hospital authorities are yet to identify the others who died in the crash.
Airlink flight 200 was on a routine flight from Tamale with 52 passengers including the crew when it crashed.
The survivors include the pilot, Wing-Commander William Kekrebasi and his co-pilot Flight-Lieutenant Seth Owusu.
Although the cause of the crash is being investigated, survivors say poor visibility could have been the cause of the accident.
Speaking to the GNA at the 37 Military Hospital, two Dutch nationals who survived the crash said about 15 minutes before touch down, there was a message from the pilot indicating that there was bad weather.
According to them, the pilot alerted them that there would be a slight turbulence as a result of the change in weather and requested them to remain calm.
One of the Dutch, Joke Delang Abukari, 31, said she got married last Saturday and was on the flight with her husband to Accra for their honeymoon.
"I couldn't remember much. It all happened in a moment. I heard the plane hit the ground and I got stuck in between the seats. Minutes later I was pulled out," recalled Joke who has lived in Ghana four-and-a-half years and works with the Ghana Institute of Linguistics.
Inge Brouwer, 39 years old and an employee of UNICEF in Tamale described the crash as "traumatic".
"The pilot gave out a message that it was raining in Accra. I saw the plane go down and I knew there was something wrong because of the direction in which we were. It looked as if it wanted to go up again but it didn't work".
Inge said that she heard the impact and saw the two wings of the plane break.
"I managed to lose my seatbelt and walked out. The fuel was pouring out of the plane and I was afraid that there might be an explosion so I ran to get away from it, but to no particular place."
She said that she and another passenger were helped by some workers to the tarmac from where they were evacuated to the airport clinic and later to the 37 Military hospital.
The two foreigners commended the joint Ghana Civil Aviation Authority and the Ghana Air Force team and the staff of the 37 Military hospital for swiftly responding to the crisis. Inge said she had no injuries but was felling bodily pains.
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GCB denies
refusing to accept 20-cedi coins
Nkoranza (Brong Ahafo Region) 08
June 2000
The Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB)
branch at Nkoranza in the Brong Ahafo Region on Tuesday denied press reports
that it had refused to accept 20-cedi coins deposited by its clients.
Mr. Kingsley Owusu, Assistant Bank
Manager, told the Ghana News Agency that Mr. Samuel Addai of the South
Presbyterian Church, Nkoranza, and Mr Kwame Effah Odo, toilet attendant, had
wrongly mentioned the GCB instead of the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) in
the publication.
The owner of the public toilet, Mr
Kwasi Akuna, alias K.K., told the GNA that he sent the coins totalling 45,000
cedis to the ADB but he was turned away.
Mr. Joseph Ahinakwa, ADB Manager,
however, explained that the coins were brought in at a time the bank was paying
workers' salaries so he advised that they be arranged for easy counting.
He said he could not understand
why Mr Akuna took offence and went away, claiming that the bank had refused to
accept the coins.
"We accept coins but we
shall, however, contact our head office in Accra to find out from the Bank of
Ghana about the fate of the 20-cedi coins since our customers refuse to accept
them."
When the GNA visited a number of stores
at Nkoranza, the owners claimed that customers do not accept the 20-cedi coins.
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The 88th session of ILO opens in Geneva
Accra (Greater Accra) 2000
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Tuesday elected Mr. Mario Alberto Flamarique, Minister of Labour, Training and Human Resources of Argentina, as President of the 88th Session of the organisation.
A statement issued in Accra and signed by Mr. Richard Donkor, Public Relations Officer of the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, said the session will discuss social and industrial issues in the pursuit of the organisation's primary objective of promoting social justice.
It will also discuss human resources training and development, maternity protection, application of standards and safety and health in agriculture.
The statement said Ghana's Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, was President of the 87th Session, which adopted the convention and recommendation on the Worst Forms of Child Labour.
Ghana, the statement said, has ratified this convention and six others, including freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.
Alhaji Mumuni, who is leading Ghana's delegation, will deliver a statement to renew the country's commitment to the goals of the ILO.
Mr. Christian Appiah Agyei, General Secretary of the Ghana Trades Union Congress, was also elected as one of the three Vice-Presidents of the conference.
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Ghana has about 11 million voters on the
electoral roll
Accra (Greater Accra) 08 June 2000
There are 10,839,410 voters on the electoral roll up from the previous figure of 9,462,196, the Electoral Commission (EC) announced on Wednesday.
The Chief Director of EC, Mr. Kwame Damoah-Agyeman, who announced this during a radio programme on an Accra FM station, said 1,376,638 voters registered during the recent registration exercise it conducted.
He explained that the EC had estimated to register about 600,000 new voters because during a similar exercise in 1997 it registered 179,810.
Mr. Damoah-Agyeman noted that the number of registered voters, which is expected to be about 45 per cent of the population, was now more than half of it.
This, he said, could mean that the register was bloated or that the country's population was more than the estimated 18 million.
Mr. Damoah-Agyeman said the updated voters' register would be exhibited by the end of June and called on the public to assist in deleting names of the dead.
The EC opened the voters' register on May 6 to15 to enable citizens, who had attained 18 and those who for some reasons could not register during the last registration exercise to do so.
During and after the exercise, the general public raised concerns about inadequate logistics that made it impossible for some people to register.
The EC said it needed time to collate the figures and where the need arose, it would do
selective registration.
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Petition against
confirmation of Dr Kubi as NDC candidate
Akim Swedru (Eastern Region) 08
June 2000
Members of Akyem Swedru
constituency of the NDC have protested against the confirmation of Dr Appiah
Kubi as the party's parliamentary candidate for the 2000 elections.
In a petition signed by Mr. Osei
Bonsu, an executive member of the party and addressed to the president, asked
that the decision be rescinded to avoid disintegration of the party in the
constituency.
According to the petition, also
copied to the general secretary and the National Youth Organiser of the party,
the spirit of supporters in the constituency, especially those at the
grassroots has been dampened by the confirmation.
It stressed that the confirmation
was undemocratic as it was masterminded by a few constituency executive members
without recourse to the members at the grassroots.
The petition expressed concern
about the sidelining of Madam Akua Agyeiwaa who ''is very dynamic and capable
of regaining the constituency for the NDC.
It accused three top executive
members of the party- Mr Akwasi Mintah, chairman, Mr Takyi Mensah, secretary
and Mr Kweku Amoah Bosompem of hijacking the party and creating a yawning gap
between them and supporters at the grassroots.
The petition called on the
President to subject the two candidates to proper primary elections to decide
who is more popular.
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Mills calls for proactive action against
potential disputes
Accra (Greater Accra) 08 June 2000
Vice President John Atta Mills on Wednesday bemoaned the increasing disputes and litigation plaguing the chieftaincy institution and tasked the National House of Chiefs to assume a more proactive role in reducing them.
Chiefs, he said, should also remain alert against ethnic conflicts and take early steps to reduce tension and generate harmony between the various groups.
Vice President Mills was speaking at the opening session of a two-day seminar for members of the standing committee of the National House of Chiefs and affiliated bodies at Obojo, near Accra.
He noted that even though there are usually early warning signs of the disputes, mostly as a result of struggles over succession, all too often, they are left to erupt.
Prof. Mills also called on the media to avoid mischievous provocation as happened in the past and urged political parties to be prudent in their utterances.
"Whatever our traditional allegiances, we are all sons and daughters of Ghana, and the peaceful development of our nation must be our first charge", he said.
The seminar, organised by the newly created Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs and State Protocol, is on the theme: "Chieftaincy and Governance in the 21st Century".
It is being held as part of the new Ministry's human resource development functions and seeks to provide a platform for Nananom and other eminent citizens, particularly Members of the Council of State, to discuss peculiar causes of chieftaincy disputes and other national issues with the view to addressing them.
Vice President Mills reiterated that the onus lies on chiefs to prevent disputes especially land litigation, which, he said, damage the tranquillity and progress of the people.
He suggested that this could be achieved through prompt counselling and dialogue, and if necessary, through traditional sanctions.
"Chiefs are custodians of our land, and yet land is the cause of too many disputes."
He identified some of the causes as the disorderly and improper sale or leasing of stool or skin lands, saying in such transactions, proceeds are misused.
Parcels of land are sold to several buyers, thereby depriving the youth of the affected areas of land, "yet they see their elders enjoying the proceeds of their birthright, and justifiably are resentful."
The Vice President said as custodians of the land, chiefs are responsible to past, present and future generations.
"In this era of rapid development, there is need to plan for the future and guard against the temptation of quick but transient profits at the expense of sustainable and environmentally sound development which can provide for future generations,” Prof. Mills said.
He said while the Stool and Skin must derive income from the land, this must be done judiciously and prudently so as not to jeopardize the future of the people.
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Asantehene accorded rousing welcome
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 08 June 2000
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, was on Tuesday given a rousing welcome by an enthusiastic crowd on his return to Kumasi after a three-week visit to Britain.
As the presidential jet, which brought him from Accra touched down at 15:45 hours, the milling crowd surged forward to catch a glimpse of the Asantehene.
Drums throbbed at the background with the elated crowd including chiefs, government officials and the royalty of the Oyoko family, cheering wildly as the Asantehene emerged from the aircraft and waved majestically to the crowd.
Security personnel had a hectic time controlling the crowd as the Asantehene went round to shake hands with the welcoming party.
At the airport to meet the Asantehene were Daasebre Osei Bonsi II, Mamponghene, Baffour Awuah V, Bantamahene, Mrs. Joana Appiah-Dwomoh, Deputy Ashanti Regional Minister, Nana Akwasi Agyeman, Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, Dr K.K. Manfo, Ashanti Regional Police Commander and Lt-Col Fuseini Iddrisu, Commander of the Fourth Battalion of Infantry.
From the airport the Asantehene convoy went through Aboabo, Anloga Junction, Amakom, Asafo Market to Adum at snail-pace, while school children, who had lined the streets waved miniature Asanteman flag with the inscription "Otumfuo Osei Tutu Akwaaba".
Along the route people rushed to the roadside to cheer the Asantehene. The Asantehene would address the Asanteman Council on his trip to Britain on Thursday.
The visit was at the invitation of the British monarch.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu was the guest of Queen Elizabeth II at the Buckingham Palace and visited the British Parliament, Windsor Castle and the British Council.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu met the Cocoa Association of London, Standard Chartered Bank officials and Taylor Woodrow Construction Limited and visited some educational and health institutions in London.
The Asantehene also held meetings with people, who have expressed the desire to invest in Ghana and met the Ghanaian community to discuss the Otumfuo Education Fund.
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