Two armed robbers nabbed at Ashanti-Mampong
Military reaffirms loyalty to Commander-in-Chief
Defeat should lead to the purging of NDC - Ex-Deputy Minister
Upper East telecom link suffers frequent breakdown
Ghana is not mortgaged to anybody - Minister
Let's join efforts to retrieve stolen wealth - Buckle
Volta Region Civil Servants condemns Action
Movement
Ghanaian set to make history as Queen's escort commander
Aliu opens fifth governance workshop
GPRTU says member arrested for Nima riots be treated as an individual
Salaga Township roads to be tarred
Ashanti-Mampong (Ashanti Region) 06 June 2001
The Police on Wednesday arrested two suspected armed robbers at Ashanti Mampong following a tip-off.
They were identified as: Kwabena Afaah, 30, and Kofi Atuahene 32, alias Burger.
Speaking to the GNA, a Police spokesman said one AK 47 rifle with 15 rounds of ammunition; a knife (dagger) and an axe were retrieved from the suspects.
He said the suspects last Monday blocked the Mampong- Kumasi road at the Mampong Scarp end and robbed travellers of their monies at gunpoint.
The spokesman said following a recent upsurge in crime in the area the people have been volunteering information about the activities of strange persons in the town.
The Police have therefore put the town under a 24-hour surveillance, which the spokesman said led to the arrest of the two suspects.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 June 2001
The Ghana Armed Forces on Tuesday reaffirmed its loyalty to the Commander-in-Chief and said it is prepared to defend the constitution at all times.
It also advised politicians not to involve the armed forces in politics, a statement from the High Command of the Ghana Armed Forces signed by Major-General Seth Obeng, Acting Chief of the Defence Staff said.
The statement read: "In view of certain pronouncements made on Monday, 4 June 2001 at a National Democratic Congress (NDC) forum in Accra, the Ghana Armed Forces hereby reaffirm their loyalty to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces and are prepared to defend the constitution of Ghana at all times.
"The Ghana Armed Forces wish to advise politicians not to involve the institution in politics.
"The Armed Forces in the current dispensation is committed to carry out its assigned roles to ensure peace and security for the development of the country."
The President is the Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana armed Forces.
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Bechem (Brong Ahafo) 06 June 2001
Ex-Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Alhaji Kwadwo Maama Adam has said that the electoral defeat of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has provided the party with "a cleansing opportunity" to purge itself of self-seeking individuals and return it to a position of strength to win the next elections.
He said the defeat would strengthen rather than weaken the party because it is providing Ghanaians the opportunity to compare the administration of the past and the present governments and make the people to appreciate the achievements of the NDC.
"This is because the NPP with all its grandiose electoral promises can never match the development record of the NDC."
Alhaji Adam, who is the Secretary of the Regional Reorganisation Committee of NDC, was addressing a forum attended by members of the party at Bechem.
The forum discussed critical party and national issues and elected a seven-member re-organisation taskforce for the Tano North and Tano South constituencies.
Alhaji Adam said the NPP government is bound to fail because it could never fulfil its campaign promises and it is imperative that the NDC puts its house in order to "pluck victory in four years time".
"We must exhibit absolute transparency and internal democracy so as to bring back into the fold those, who left in anger because of the imposition of certain people and ideas in the past."
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Bolgatanga (Upper East) 06 June 2001
Telephone communication between the Upper East Region and the southern part of Ghana has witnessed rampant disruption during the past two weeks.
During the period, the link has collapsed at least on three occasions, which also rendered television transmission impossible.
Each of the interruptions lasted for about 24 hours before the link was eventually restored.
Explaining the situation to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Bolgatanga on Tuesday, Mr Musah Awudu, Regional Head of Ghana Telecom, said the first break two weeks ago was caused by lightening which struck the Koforidua repeater station, thereby disrupting the link between the Northern and the Southern sector.
"The National Telecommunication system is a whole chain linked by repeater stations every 30 kilometres."
A breakdown at any of the repeater stations brings about a collapse of the system.
Mr Awudu said latest disruptions, which occurred last Friday, came as a result of the collapse of the Atebubu link. In the event, telephone users in Bolgatanga and other parts of the Upper East could only call up to Tamale, with the southern sector remaining inaccessible.
"So you see, the cause of the problem is not from our region at all", he stated. The link was, however, restored towards 16:30 hours on Monday and television transmission also resumed.
As part of measures to contain further breakdowns in the communication link, the management of Ghana Telecom are making moves to install two-way SDH digital links in all the regions throughout the country by next year.
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 06 June 2001
The Minister of Defence, Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor on Tuesday maintained that Ghana is not mortgaged to anybody "neither is its armed forces a private property" that could be manipulated to serve the devious desires of any individual.
He has, therefore, charged the military not to allow irresponsible speeches that tend to drag it into politics to persist by ensuring that the country is protected from the misfortunes of ill-minded political adventurers.
Dr Kufuor, who was addressing a durbar of officers and men of the Sunyani Three Garrison, at the Liberation Barracks, was apparently making reference to utterances made by ex-president Jerry John Rawlings, while speaking at a National Democratic Congress (NDC) forum organised to mark June 4 in Accra.
Dr Kufuor described ex-president Rawlings' speech as an unfortunate vituperation "that has filled the nation with great sense of sorrow and foreboding".
He said the Armed Forces has a duty to protect the territory and the constitutional government of the country from breaches of security and this it must do with all its resources.
"Constitutionally, the government has been given a four-year mandate and it is only the people of Ghana, who can change the mandate through the ballot box.
The Military has a duty to ensure that this constitutional directive is adhered to".
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 June 2001
The Ban on drumming will be lifted on Thursday June 7, the Ga Traditional Council announced on Tuesday.
A statement signed by Mr E.A. Armah, registrar of the council said the "Odadao" ceremony is scheduled to take place at Gbese Blohum after the ban has been lifted.
The council expressed its appreciation to the media for its support and cooperation during the ban.
The annual ban on drumming which began on May 7 this year generated a lot of confrontations between churches and the traditional authorities.
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Bekwai (Ashanti Region) 06 June 2001
Mr Kingsley Manu, Project Co-ordinator of Defence for Children International (DCI), Ghana section, a non-governmental organisation (NGOo) has expressed concern about the increasing incest, torture, abandonment, neglect, cruelty and inhuman treatment meted out to children in the country.
"In spite of Ghana being the first country to ratify the convention on the rights of the child and subsequent Parliamentary Act in 1988 to promote and protect the rights and welfare of children, a day never passed by without the media publishing cases of abuses and violations of children's rights", he said.
Mr Manu was speaking at a day's workshop at Bekwai in the Amansie East District organised by the DCI on socio-legal services for abused children.
It was the second in the series aimed at offering participants the opportunity to share ideas and experiences on children's rights and responsibilities so as to apply them in their actions to protect them.
Mr Charles Gyamfi-Danquah of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), said state organs, the civil society, adults and parents should be made fully aware of their responsibilities to curb child abuse.
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Tema (Greater Accra) 06 June 2001
Attempts to remove an illegal car market around the Motorway roundabout in Tema was on Tuesday resisted by the car dealers, who said the issue was being handled by the Ministry of Works and Housing.
A task force comprising of the Tema Development Corporation (TDC), the Tema Municipal Assembly (TMA) and Police, therefore, had to suspend the exercise and invited the leaders for a meeting to amicably resolve the issue after a heavy down pour begun.
The task force, which was led by Mr John Agboado, Tema Regional Motor
Traffic Unit (MTU) Commander, had hired about six towing vehicles to forcibly tow the cars from the area to the Kpone Car Market.
The car market was created by the TDC two years ago at the cost of about five billion cedis to serve as a common place for all car dealers who have been squatting at unauthorised areas.
The strategic location of Tema as a port has created a big car market and people travel from all parts of the country to the city with the hope of buying cars at cheaper rates.
Last year, 35,467 vehicles were imported through the Tema port.
Mr Maxwell Osae-Addo, Secretary of Tema Progressive Car Dealers Association, however, said since they moved to the Kpone Car Market one and half years ago, their business has collapsed due to poor patronage.
Two months ago, they unilaterally moved to the Motorway Roundabout on their own because they found it to be more suitable and appealed to the Ministry to allocate the area and western gate of the Tema port for them to do their business.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 June 2001
The Right Reverend Charles Palmer Buckle, Catholic Bishop of Koforidua on Tuesday called for radical collaboration by national, international and trans-national players to retrieve Africa's looted wealth stashed in banks overseas.
He said worldwide anti-corruption coalitions such as Transparency International and Jubilee 2000 also have vital roles to play in solidarity with churches against indirect but deliberate obstacles that hamper the retrieval of Africa's stolen wealth.
Bishop Buckle who was addressing the plenary of the fifth National Governance Workshop in Accra also called for a more proactive approach in demanding the return of the continent's stolen wealth, as well as dignity and position.
"Africa today needs sincere emancipation, empowerment and affirmation and not empathy, double standards and the crumbs that fall from the table of the developed world" he added.
The two-day workshop organised by the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition and the National Institutional Renewal Programme is on the theme: "Ghana uniting against corruption".
Bishop Buckle who spoke on "Bringing back the loot from abroad in aid of poverty," said it was unethical, immoral and unjust for a developed country or institution to hold back stolen goods from the rightful owners under the so-called secrecy code or confidentiality act of banking.
"Africa needs the funds sitting in the vaults of the developed world to combat poverty, disease and hunger and to enhance her development."
He said the continent may not need debt cancellation after all if she would be given back her dignity, her due and fair price of her products, and be allowed to play her rightful role in the history of humanity.
Besides, the continent should psyche herself up out of the perennial vicious cycle of negative thinking, the state of hopelessness and helplessness and of low esteem.
"Africa's problems are not intractable."
He expressed regrets that it is always the citizens who are involved in stashing away the continent's wealth.
"We cannot but bow down our heads in shame at the mention of names such as the late President Mobuto Sese Seko of former Zaire, the late General Sani Abacha of Nigeria and the late Field Marshall Jean Bedell Bokasa of Central African Republic."
These names, he added, would forever remain synonymous with massive theft and monumental examples of corrupt African Heads of State who simply looted their countries in their lifetime and invested the loot abroad to the detriment of their own people.
Bishop Buckle quoted reports as saying that at the time of his death, Mobutu had enough wealth and assets abroad worth about six billion dollars that could pay his country's foreign and internal debts three folds.
"All this loot is still in the Swiss, French and other European banks while his country wallows in abject poverty and misery and the present Head of State is going round the same Belgium, Switzerland and France begging for financial aid."
Abacha also reported to have stashed away billions of dollars and trillions in French francs, German Marks and British sterling.
Bishop Buckle who observed that the cases of Mobutu and Abacha were only those of "big fishes" known to the public, said between 20 billion and 40 billion dollars are stolen from the treasuries of some of the world's poorest countries by corrupt politicians, soldiers, business persons and religious leaders.
These monies are kept in secret accounts with the knowledge and even tacit agreement and support of the developed world and their financial institutions.
He said what irks most is the amount of obstacles placed in the way of the people in their attempts to retrieve what belongs legitimately to them.
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Volta Region Civil Servants condemns Action Movement
Ho (Volta Region) 06 June 2001
The Volta Region branch of the Civil Servants Association on Tuesday dissociated itself from the activities of the Action Movement calling for the removal of the Executive Secretary and National Executives from office.
The branch association has, therefore, urged all members to stand firmly and solidly behind the present leadership to enable it forge ahead for better service conditions.
This was contained in a statement signed and read by Mr Seth K. Adega, Volta Regional Secretary, at a news conference in reaction to the demonstration by some civil servants in Accra against the executives of the association.
The Regional branch also called on other regional and district branches to " totally ignore this small and insignificant, greedy, disgruntled and selfish group, which thinks we are still in a revolutionary era".
The Volta Region branch contended that the group did not constitute enough representation to change the leadership of the association since the movement belongs to just a district in the Greater Accra region.
It called on the movement to respect the constitution of the association.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 June 2001
A 30-year-old Ghanaian, Captain Justin Butah, has become the first black officer to serve in the Queen's elite mounted bodyguards and would make history this month as the escort commander at the trooping the colour birthday parade.
A story in the Daily Mail newspaper of the United Kingdom said Captain Butah is the first black officer in 341 years of the Life Guards and is the only black officer among the 4,000-strong Household Division.
The story said the Queen has been following his career closely after spotting him at the state opening of Parliament in December. The Queen has met Capt. Butah twice.
He said: "I don't look at myself as being the first black officer in the history of the regiment. It just so happens I am.
"I am immensely proud to serve in the regiment. I will succeed on my own abilities and it will have nothing to do with my colour."
Capt. Butah's father is former Ghana Navy officer Joe Butah and his mother, whom his father met at Dartmouth Navy College in Devon, is called Genda.
He was sent to school in England at 14 and went to Sandhurst Military Academy.
He served with the Royal Artillery before joining the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment last year.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 June 2001
Vice-President Aliu Mahama on Tuesday acknowledged the destructive effect of corruption on the socio-economic development of the nation and pledged the government's commitment to strengthen relevant public institutions to deal with the situation.
"We need to synchronize the powers of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice and the Serious Fraud Office and use the findings of the
Public Accounts Committee to sanction persons against whom these findings are made," he said in a keynote address to the fifth governance workshop in Accra.
The workshop, organised by the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) is on the theme: "Ghana uniting against corruption."
"As a nation we have lacked the political will to ensure that laws are enforced and that the provisions of the constitution are adhered to," he said in the address read on his behalf.
"It has remained words on paper and not the living document that it needs to be."
Over 40 participants drawn from the private and public sectors are attending the two-day workshop to create a cross-sectoral platform to brainstorm on effective ways of dealing with corruption.
The United Nations Development Programme, World Bank, United States Agency for International Development, British Department for International Development, the German Agency for Technical Co-operation and the Royal Netherlands Embassy, are sponsoring the workshop, which was initiated by the GACC in 1997 as part of a global initiative.
Mr. Obetsebi-Lamptey also announced the formation of a special taskforce within the Police Service to assist the Attorney General's Department to investigate and prosecute cases of corruption.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 June 2001
The tourism and transport industries in Africa have been tasked to aggressively improve the image of their destinations and institute measures to implement common facilitation programmes for the region.
They have also been tasked to set up a system for the compilation of statistical data on all available facilities pertaining to the two industries in Africa.
The acting Director-General of the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority, Captain Joe Boachie said this on Tuesday on the return of Ghana's delegation to the Africa Civil Aviation Commission and the World Tourism Organization Conference, which ended at the weekend in Windhoek, Namibia.
Capt. Boachie said the meeting agreed that for the two industries to grow there was the need to create a more enabling environment through the formulation of appropriate policies and strategies as well as allocation of resources to be commensurate with the economic, social and environmental benefits which tourism could generate.
He said available figures for Africa were 28 million arrivals and receipts of 11 billion dollars indicating 3.7 and 2.7 per cent of worldwide arrivals and receipts respectively.
Capt. Boachie said WTO analysis of the tourist trend indicates that by the year 2020, there would be 1.5 billion international tourist movements of which Africa would receive 77 million.
He said the meeting called for the adaptation of national laws to support tourism and air transport.
Strategies should be adopted to ensure that negotiations between foreign and local tour operators are mutually beneficial.
The conference, which was attended by 140 delegates from 32 member states, was to examine how air transport and tourism industries could complement each other to influence the future and set the course that would enable Africa to earn a more equitable share of the world tourism and air transport receipts.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 06 June 2001
The National Executive Council of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) said on Tuesday that one of its guards who has been arrested for his role in the May 11 Nima riots should be treated as an individual.
A statement signed by Mr Charles Ankomah, General Secretary, said the GPRTU is a peaceful union, which is prepared to serve the government of the day and "will not condone and connive in such wrongdoings by any of its members."
The statement said if the involvement of A.B.Y Flashman is proved, "he should be treated as an individual and dealt with in that capacity."
A number of people have appeared before an Accra Public Tribunal for their involvement in riots that followed the burial of Muslim victims of the May 9 Accra Sports Stadium Disaster.
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Cape Coast (Central Region) 06 June 2001
Mr Fritz Baffour, Chairman of the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB), on Tuesday projected that the nation would be receiving one million tourists annually by the year 2005.
He said at present, 300,000 tourists are drawn to the country each year to visit the numerous tourist attractions such as the forts and castles and the proverbial Ghanaian hospitality.
Mr Baffour stated this when he opened a 15 million cedis 'youth art and craft studio' located within the Cape Coast Castle.
The project, which is a joint venture between the GMMB and the West African Museums Programme (WAMP), is to equip the youth in communities located around the castle, some of who are said to have been harassing tourists for money and gifts, with income-generating skills.
For a start 15 youngsters made up of eight boys and seven girls are being taught weaving, sculpting and painting over a six-month period.
Mr Baffour said in order to sustain the tourism industry and the flow of tourists into the country, it is essential to ensure that the youth in areas where tourism sites are located stop the "harassment of tourists".
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Salaga (Northern Region) 06 June 2001
Contract bidding for the rehabilitation and tarring of the 7.4 kilometres roads in the Salaga townships has started, Mr Boniface Abubakar-Saddique Member of Parliament for Salaga and Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, announced at Salaga on Monday.
Addressing a rally as part of a one-week tour of the constituency he said under the government's agricultural programme, irrigation would be encouraged in certain parts of the district to ensure all-year farming, especially of rice and vegetables.
Plans are also afoot to establish a sheabutter extraction factory at Salaga and a mango juice extraction factory at Kpandai.
Mr Abubakar-Saddique appealed to the people to unite behind the NPP government to develop the area, which he said was lagging behind other districts.
The Deputy Minister of Presidential Affairs-designate, Alhaji Muktar Bamba, said the NPP in pursuit of its policy of "all inclusive government" would tap all available human resources, irrespective of political affiliation, for the development of the country.
Dr Majeed Harroun, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture said in fulfillment of its pledge to revamp the rice industry the government has made tractors and other inputs available to farming groups in the Northern Region.
He therefore advised the farmers to form groups to enable them to benefit from the package.
The three deputy ministers paid a courtesy call on Kpembe-Wura Alhaji Ibrahim Harunnah Kibassibi I.
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