UGM to sue over NDC parliamentary list of
civil, public servants
Board to investigate Airlink crash
Parties urged to show restraint in campaign
UGM to create job opportunities
Govt, opposition commended for continued
peace
12 communities
threaten to boycott election over bad roads
Lecturers' strike enters fourth day Thursday
Development should not be at the expense of
environment
EC: Nearly 161,000 unused voter registration
forms returned
Trede people disagree with Kumasi
Traditional Council
Queenmother denies taking 15 million cedis
from Tepa chief
Sunyani East NDC petitions against
parliamentary candidate
UGM to sue over NDC parliamentary list of
civil, public servants
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 June 2000
The United Ghana Movement (UGM) on Thursday asked the Head of the Civil Service to explain how the names of some civil and public servants have been announced as prospective candidates for political office in violation of the Constitution.
It said the issue would be pursued at the courts if "a clear and unambiguous clarification" were not provided it.
This was contained in a letter addressed to Dr Robert Dodoo, Head of the Civil Service, and signed by its presidential candidate, Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby.
It said the names of the public servants were in the list of 18 people selected as parliamentary candidates for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Ashanti Region.
The letter named in particular, Mr. Kofi Opoku-Manu, Chief Director, Ministry of Finance, Dr K. Agyeman Mensah, National Co-ordinator, Village Infrastructure Project (VIP) and Dr Joseph Oteng-Adjei, Director of Power, Ministry of Mines and Energy.
It quoted Article 94 (3b) of the Constitution to support its assertion.
It states: "A person shall not be eligible to be a member of Parliament if he is a member of the Police Service, the Prisons Service, the Armed Forces, the Judicial Service, the Legal Service, the Civil Service, the Audit Service, the Parliamentary Service, the Statistical Service, the Fire Service, the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, the Immigration Service or the Internal Revenue Service".
The letter asked Dr Dodoo to "take the necessary action to protect the integrity of our Constitution as well as the impartiality and the reputation of the Civil Service" in view of the clear breach of the law by the named persons and possibly other civil servants.
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Board to investigate Airlink crash
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 June 2000
A nine-member Board of Enquiry to investigate the cause of the crash of Airlink flight 200 was inaugurated in Accra on Wednesday.
Captain Alex Sam, a pilot and a former Managing Director of Ghana Airways, is the Chairman of the Board charged to make recommendations to forestall such occurrence in future.
The Board includes Mr. Bernard Sakpaku, Deputy Director, Safety Regulations of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), Captain S. Kwakye Safo, Aviation Safety Inspector, Mrs. Joyce Bannerman-Woode, Senior Legal Officer GCAA, and Captain Dargbe, a pilot of the Ghana Airways.
Other members are Mr. Korateng Dei, Aircraft Maintenance Engineer, Ghana Airways, Group Captain J. O. Koranteng, Ghana Air Force, Wing Commander Brachie of the Ghana Air force and Lt. Col. Ralph Ntumy, Aviation Medicine Physician of the 37 Military Hospital.
Inaugurating it, Mr Mike Hammah, Deputy Minster of Roads and Transport, said in accordance with Civil Aviation regulation, the ministry has decided to set up a board to investigate the cause of the crash.
It would submit its report through the Director General of GCAA to the Minister of Roads and Transport.
He asked the members to handle the assignment expeditiously and said that they might invite witnesses they deem appropriate.
Mr. Hammah, on behalf of the government and the people of Ghana, expressed his sympathies and condolences to the bereaved families of the victims of the crash and wished the injured speedy recovery.
Captain Sam on behalf of the Board gave the assurance that they would handle their task with professionalism.
Airlink flight 200 from Tamale to Accra crash-landed in a heavy rain just before the threshold of the runway of the Kotoka International Airport on June 5, killing six out of 52 passengers on board.
The remaining passengers sustained various degrees of injury and were admitted at the 37 Meanwhile, the body of Kenneth Rossen, an American passenger on board the flight was on Thursday flown back home.
The deceased's daughter, Megan Rossen, who survived the crash, an official of the 37 Military Hospital as well as family members, who flew in on Wednesday night, accompanied the body.
According to a US Embassy official in Ghana, Mr. Rossen, a former Peace Corps, was on holidays in the north with his daughter.
He said family members arrived on Wednesday night and accompanied the body on board a Ghana Airways flight back to the US.
The body of the Swiss citizen, Madam Lanz, is still at the mortuary. According to an official of the Swiss Embassy in Accra, they are waiting for a word from family members in Switzerland before taking any further action.
Madam Lanz worked with Ghana Institute of Literary and Bible Translation (GILBT).
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Parties urged to show restraint in campaign
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 June 2000
Participants at a meeting on the emerging political climate in the country on Wednesday, called on all political parties to exercise restraint and to show respect for the opinions of others so that the electioneering campaign does not turn into a war of words.
The spreading of lies and rumours calculated to mar the character or reputation of officials and members of rival parties must be avoided, they said.
The meeting was organised by the National Consultative Body of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to deliberate on concerns expressed by the public about the flouting of the Political Parties Code of Conduct adopted by the parties only last month.
Those who attended were representatives of the political parties, the Catholic Secretariat, the Bible Society of Ghana, the National Youth Council, the Security Forces, the 31st December Women Movement, traditional councils and the National Council on Women and Development.
They agreed that political leaders should tolerate and respect the rights and freedoms of other political parties to disseminate their manifestos without intimidation and violence.
They should also respect the electorate and other members by addressing them in decent and civil language and must be truthful.
Political parties should educate their followers to conduct themselves in a civil and morally acceptable manner, the existing electoral laws, rules and regulations and avoid gender, ethnic, religious or derogatory remarks.
The meeting tasked the media, religious leaders, security agencies, the NCCE and other constitutional bodies to ensure that all parties adhere to the code.
Mr. Larry Bimi, Chairman of the NCCE, asked politicians to be circumspect when they mount their platform, which is the breeding ground for the "war of words" that is gradually creeping into the campaigning processes.
"The euphoria of political rallies must not tempt you to use words that cannot be substantiated and expect the media to act as the public relations officers of the party in their reportage.
"You must not undress in the public and wish that the media will cover your nakedness for you."
Political parties last May 18 adopted an 11-point Code of Conduct during the electioneering campaign.
The parties are the National Democratic Congress (NDC), New Patriotic Party (NPP), Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Democratic People's Party (DPP) and the Great Consolidated People's Party (GDPP).
The rest are the Peoples National Convention (PNC), United Ghana Movement (UGM) and the National Reform Party (NRP).
The code enjoins all parties and their agents to avoid defamatory, derogatory and insulting attacks on rival parties or individual personalities by any form of communication, written or verbal.
Though the code allows for criticism of opponents, it specifies that it must be during electioneering. Where political parties or agents have to criticise policies, actions and programmes of rival parties it must be done with decorum and not inflammatory rhetoric or language.
The code was prepared by the political parties through the Inter-party Advisory Committee (IPAC) sub-committee on code of conduct.
The Electoral Commission had urged all political parties to educate their activists and supporters to desist from conduct that could demean the electoral process and lead to the undermining of the democratic process.
The commission asked the parties "to inform their supporters that they have collectively adopted and signed the code of conduct and have done so in good faith."
Therefore, any violation of it would bring their parties into disrepute and constitute a grave violation of the code.
Immediately after the adoption of the code of conduct, however, some leading political leaders started using words, which contravened the code leading to public outcry for the need for decency in campaigning.
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UGM to create job opportunities
Wa (Upper West Region) 09 June 2000
A government of United Ghana Movement (UGM) would create job opportunities for professionals irrespective of their party affiliation to make education attractive particularly in rural areas.
It would also initiate policies to help raise the falling standards of education in the country by pumping a chunk of the national expenditure on education to make people self-sufficient and independent.
Mr. Callistus S. Haruna, Regional Chairman of UGM in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Wa on Thursday, noted that it is only through education that the people could become self-reliant and contribute meaningfully towards decision-making at all levels.
He said that UGM attaches importance to education because it is the pivot around which, there could be equity to ensure poverty alleviation.
"Any government ambitious of achieving national satisfaction must first and foremost invest in the educational sector and pay attention to advice from others outside the government," he added.
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Govt, opposition commended for continued
peace
Wenchi (Brong Ahafo Region) 09 June 2000
Mr. J. K. Poku-Kasampe, a Senior Administrative Officer of the Ghana Education Service (GES) at Wenchi in the Brong-Ahafo Region, has commended both the government and the opposition for maintaining peace and order in the country.
At a meeting with the non-teaching staff of the GES at Wenchi, he called on Ghanaians to unite and sustain the peace and tranquillity prevailing especially during this year's electioneering campaign.
Mr. Poku-Kasampe commended the government for increasing the producer price of cocoa and also for the 20 per cent salary increase for civil servants.
He, however, pointed out that the salary increase is "woefully inadequate" in view of the 2.5 per cent increment in the Value Added Tax and the soaring prices of goods.
Mr. Opoku-Kasampe suggested a 50 per cent salary increase and called on the government and Parliament to do everything possible to find a lasting solution to the soaring prices of building materials.
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12 communities
threaten to boycott election over bad roads
Yala (Upper West Region) 09 June
2000
Twelve communities in the South
Sisala area of the Wa District have threatened to boycott this year's general
election if the condition of their roads is not improved.
The communities said they fear
they will be cut off from the rest of the region, particularly with the onset
of the rainy season.
A visit to the area by newsmen
showed that construction works on the Yala-Kundungu and Yala-Buffiama roads had
been poorly done.
Eight culverts and one box culvert
constructed on the Yala-Kundungu road, for example, have already begun cracking
and are likely to be washed away by torrential rains.
Mr. James Dumah, assembly member
for Funsi, who conducted newsmen round the area, said the people have resorted
to the use of bullock carts because drivers are unwilling to ply the roads.
He cited the case of a pregnant
woman from Yala who was bitten by a snake but was taken on a bullock cart to
the Funsi Clinic, where she gave birth to a stillborn baby.
The woman, whose name was not
given, was said to have died later at the Wa Hospital. The people have,
therefore, vowed not to vote if roads in the area are not rehabilitated.
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Lecturers' strike enters fourth day
Thursday
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 June 2000
The strike by the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) entered its fourth day on Thursday without any news from the negotiating team set by the government to deal with the issue.
A source at the University of Ghana, Legon, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the negotiating team has already held series of meeting with the parties involved and expressed the hope that the lecturers will hear something from them before the end of the week.
The source said the lecturers would continue with their strike action until they achieve positive results. The situation on the Legon campus is calm as most students were found studying in their various halls.
Some of the students GNA spoke to were in a fix. While some expressed the hope that the lecturers would return to work next week to conduct examinations others have been entertaining fears of the worst scenario - the loss of another academic calendar.
UTAG on Monday began an indefinite strike action to back demands for better salaries and working conditions.
The government has set a negotiating Committee under the chairmanship of Agyewodin Adu Gyemfi Ampem, Chairman of the Council of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), to look into the matter.
The Committee is currently studying the issues raised by UTAG to enable them to come out with a satisfactory resolution to the problems.
In another development, the Students Representative Council of the University for Development Studies (UDS) appealed to the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), to call off its indefinite strike.
In a press release in Tamale signed by its President, Mr Akumperigya Rainer, the SRC said that UTAG's action would disrupt the smooth running of the academic calendar of universities.
"In our particular case, however, we run the semester system and it would be extremely difficult for any adjustment to be made".
The SRC appealed to UTAG to resume lectures, while negotiations continue.
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Development should not be at the expense of
environment
Derma (Brong Ahafo) 09 June 2000
Mr. Donald Adabre, Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, has called on Ghanaians to strive for a harmonious balance between their quest for development and the need to protect the environment in order to sustain the socio-economic growth of the country.
"While it is laudable for us to utilise our environmental resources for development, we also owe it a duty to ensure that such resources are not over-exploited for we cannot develop at the expense of the environment as we stand the danger of uncertain future should that happens."
These were contained in a speech delivered on his behalf by the District Chief Executive of Tano, Mr. Opoku Atuahene on Wednesday at the region's celebration of the World Environmental Day held at Derma.
The day which was held under the theme: "the environment - time to act" also witnessed a massive tree planting exercise at the banks of "Atobiasu" a stream which serves as a source of drinking water for the community.
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EC: Nearly 161,000 unused voter
registration forms returned
Accra (Greater Accra) 09 June 2000
The Electoral Commission (EC) said on Thursday that its provisional statistics on the revision of the voters' register show that there were 160,950 unused voter registration forms during the exercise.
Figures on the exercise obtained by the Ghana News Agency showed that there were unused forms from all the 10 regions.
The figures show that 1,376,638 new names were added to the electoral roll bringing the total number of voters to 10,839,410. The number of the voters on the old register was 9,462,196.
EC has said it would not re-open the exercise to register new voters despite a chorus of demand from the political parties and identifiable groups.
The EC was expecting about 600,000 new names to be added to the register but printed about 1.5 million forms. In the event, it had nearly 1.4 million new voters, more than two times its estimate.
The EC has argued that many people who had either lost their voter identity cards or changed their residence were re-registering and warned that this could bloat the voters' register.
It said it needed time to collate the figures and where the need arose, it would do selective registration.
In 1997, the EC registered 179,810 new voters.
The political parties strongly argued that many people were not registered during the exercise, as there were no forms available at the registration centres.
The figures show that the Western region registered 114,169 voters, Central Region 86,442, Greater Accra 279,291, Volta Region 80,236 and Eastern Region 124,254 voters.
Ashanti Region registered 376,050 new voters, Brong Ahafo 138,065, Northern Region 107,111, Upper East 38,016 and Upper West 33,004.
Mr. Kwame Damoah Agyeman, Chief Director of the EC, said on Wednesday that the number of registered voters, which was 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 following is the provisional statistics of the voters' list after last month's re-registration exercise.
Western Region 1,100,430
Central Region 878,135
Greater Accra 1,857,097
Volta Region 993,885
Eastern Region 1,201,976
Ashanti Region 1,994,918
Brong Ahafo 1,061,010
Northern Region 945,383
Upper East Region 491,989
Upper West Region 314,587
Total 10,839,410
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Trede people disagree with Kumasi
Traditional Council
Kumasi (Ashnti Region) 09 June 2000
The people of Trede have expressed their disagreement on a ruling of the Kumasi Traditional Council on a land dispute with Sabin-Akrofrom.
A statement issued and signed by Opanin Owusu Badu, Abontendomhene and Chairman of the Caretaker Committee and Opanin Opoku Dapaa, Gyaasehene, said the present boundary dispute between the two towns has nothing to do with a purported settlement in 1915.
The statement said it was, therefore, wrong and miscarriage of justice for the Kumasi Traditional Council to have given judgement in the present boundary dispute based on the 1915 case.
The two chiefs explained that in 1915, the chief of Sabin-Akrofrom called Nana Kofi Appiah wanted to collect cocoa tribute from Trede people living at Paa.
They said the farmers objected to the payment on the grounds that both the people of Paa and the land on which they farmed, were bought by the Tredehene but this was disputed by the Sabin-Akrofromhene.
The matter, they said, was therefore brought before the District Commissioner, who after hearing evidence from both sides ruled in favour of Sabin-Akrofrom.
They maintained, however, that the present dispute started in 1993 when one Kwame Atta, who was digging a manhole in his house found a shiny object, which was thought to be gold.
According to them, the rumour spread very fast and so when Sabin-Akrofromhene heard about the discovery of gold at Trede, he challenged the present boundary between them claiming large portions of Trede stool lands including the lands on which the primary school and JSS have been built.
The two chiefs said it is not true that the boundary between the two towns had long been demarcated by Captain Fuller and pointed out that wherever Captain Fuller demarcated a boundary between two stool lands, pillars were erected to mark the boundaries.
In the case of Trede and Sabin-Akrofrom, they claimed, no pillars were found on any part of the land and also that there were no maps to show the boundary demarcation.
They also refuted the claim that Trede elders voluntarily rendered an apology through the Kronti clan led by Nana Kwanwomahene and begged for pardon.
What actually happened, they said, was that at the end of the proceedings the elders of Trede submitted an application for a review of the ruling, which has not yet been heard.
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Queenmother denies taking 15 million cedis
from Tepa chief
Tepa (Ashanti Region) 09 June 2000
Nana Pokuaa Ababio, Queenmother of Tepa, has denied ever, receiving 15 million cedis from Nana Adusei Atwenewaa Ampem, Tepa Omanhene as an inducement to get her to nominate him for enstoolment.
"I insist I never took any money from the present Tepahene neither did I demand any such money from him prior to his nomination and enstoolment", she said.
Nana Ababio made the denial at a press conference at Tepa to react to speculations and allegations levelled against her by a section of the Tepa community that she took 15 million cedis from the present Tepahene and that made her to impose him on them.
The Queenmother expressed regret that the relationship between her and the Omanhene has not been cordial ever since he ascended the Tepa stool.
Nana Ababio explained that the unfriendly relationship is evidenced in Nana Ampem's deliberate refusal to consult and involve her in the enstoolment of sub-chiefs in the area.
The Queenmother alleged that since his enstoolment as Omanhene, Nana Ampem has single-handedly enstooled about six sub-chiefs in the area without consulting her and without any due regard for her position as Queenmother.
She named the sub-chiefs enstooled as the Nifahene, Sanahene, Benkumhene, Nkosuohene, Nkosuohemaa and Akyeamehene.
"The Tepahene never visits me when he travels from Kumasi to Tepa".
Nana Ababio said her share of drinks, in respect of various events brought to the palace, were also completely denied her, though, custom demands that she should be given.
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Sunyani East NDC petitions against parliamentary
candidate
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo Region) 09 June 2000
The Sunyani East Constituency branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has petitioned against the nomination and confirmation of Captain Adu Nkrumah (rtd) as the parliamentary candidate for the area in the forthcoming elections.
A statement released at Sunyani on Thursday by the branch said the party would lose miserably in the elections if Capt. Nkrumah were allowed to stand.
"It will be extremely impossible to sell Capt. Nkrumah as a candidate because more than 95 per cent of the people in the constituency do not know him, whilst the traditional authorities in Sunyani do not approve of him".
The statement further noted that with the exception of the Constituency Chairman, who endorsed the candidacy of Capt. Nkrumah, the entire executive and more than 90 per cent of supporters preferred one Mr. O. Apraku, a retired educationist.
The statement said that unlike Capt. Nkrumah, Mr. Apraku has been a long-standing member of the party and is well known in the constituency.
Since it emerged that Accra has rather endorsed Capt. Nkrumah for the constituency, the branch has been thrown into a state of confusion, it added.
"The overwhelming representations made by the supporters, the constituency executives and the Sunyani Traditional Council at their meetings with the Regional Minister and his deputy on behalf of Mr. Apraku confirm his popularity.
"Unless a critical and a second look is taken on the issue and the nomination of Capt. Nkrumah is withdrawn and replaced by Mr. Apraku, then the party is heading for defeat"
The statement, signed by Mr K. Oppong Ababio, Constituency Secretary was copied to the Castle, Osu, among other places.
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