GRi Newsreel 16-03-99

 Ghana, with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), would soon establish a committee to work towards the implementation of the plan of action adopted at the 1996 World Food Summit in Rome.

Mr J.H. Owusu-Acheampong, Minister of Agriculture, told the visiting Director-General of FAO, Dr Jacques Diouf that what had been done on the plan was not adequate, but "we would really get moving from now".

Dr Diouf arrived on Sunday for a two-day official visit to, during which he will discuss activities Ghana had earmarked for the implementation of the plan.

During the Summit, participants from 186 countries, international organisations and the private sector, endorsed a global Plan of Action to lay "the foundation for achieving food security at the individual, household, national, regional and global level."

The plan emphasises particular attention to poorer countries and assisting them to alleviate poverty.

It aims at reducing by half the over 800 million chronically hungry people by the year 2015.

Mr Owusu-Acheampong said the committee would learn from the experiences of countries such as Senegal, which are implementing the plan successfully.

On efforts being made to achieve food security, Mr Owusu-Acheampong said the production levels of certain crops like maize were adequate.

However, most of the harvest is lost as a result of poor marketing and storage facilities.

The Minister said the problems could be resolved by buying the harvest from farmers and storing them for the lean season and asked the FAO's support to achieve this.

He called for support for small-scale irrigation rice farmers in the Northern sector of the country whom, he said, are idle when there are no rains for half of the year.

"When we are able to assist them with irrigation, they can raise production and this will raise their incomes and standard of living".

He said Ghana plans to be self-sufficient in rice production and has, therefore, decided to import high quality seeds from Cote d'Ivoire and commended the FAO for its decentralisation programme saying, "it has brought the experts down to the people".

Dr Diouf talked about the decentralisation programme and said his visit would find out the facilities and logistics needed to make the regional office in Accra more effective.

He earlier held discussions with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and is billed to meet President Jerry Rawlings and other officials.

In a separate meeting, Mr Joseph Laryea, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, appealed to FAO to work out a strategy to improve basic infrastructure to enhance agriculture in developing countries.

He said provision of such infrastructure, particularly roads and utility services, are necessary for improved food production.

Mr Laryea was welcoming Dr Jacques Diouf, Director-General of FAO, in his office in Accra shortly before the two went into a closed-door meeting.

Dr Diouf said FAO was in touch with other organisations, including the World Bank, to sponsor short and long-term irrigation projects to support agriculture in developing countries.

Another meeting between the FAO Director General and the Deputy Minister of Finance was dominated by inadequate micro-financing for agricultural practices and extension service procedures for farmers.

Mr Victor Selormey and Dr Jacques Diouf said it is very important to ensure that financial institutions make available micro-finance for the activities of all categories of farmers.

They should also ensure that there are enough agricultural extension officers to impart the latest farming technologies to farmers.

Areas that need attention include food crops, cocoa and the exportation of non-traditional crops..

Mr Selormey said government is aware of the importance of the agricultural sector as an employment and its contribution towards GDP, its resourcefulness and ability to sustain national development.

"If this foundation is weak, then, the entire national fabric is in trouble," Mr Selormey said adding, " 60 per cent of food crops come from domestic production, but much more can be done with the right technology".

The deputy minister said one of the biggest problems facing the nation's agricultural base is that of extension.

The problem of slow or non-existent technology transfer procedures, or the lack of linkages between farmers and researchers, has kept Ghana at producing four bags of maize per acre in the last 35 years, he said.

Post harvest losses of 25 per cent of the total harvest can be addressed and brought down to a minimum.

Mr Selormey offered Ghana as a willing ground for FAO experiments to solve the perennial food shortages and food insecurity in Africa and "prove to the world that Africa is capable of handling its food crisis".

He asked the FAO to take a look at the ECOWAS region and devise a strategy to promote countries to specialise in various crops.

Dr Diouf expressed his appreciation for the interest shown by Ghana in the world food body's programmes.

The major initiative of achieving food security endorsed at the recent Food Summit in Rome is operational in 39 countries.

Legon (Greater Accra), 16 March

 Universities that are interested in generating income from their research activities need to place a high premium on technology transfer.

"They need to form appropriate partnerships with business and government and ... invest in their own resources in the process. In brief, they need to become actively involved in a process which is less technology transfer and more technology interchange," Prof. Michael Gordon Gibbons, secretary-general of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, said on Monday at the University of Ghana, Legon.

Prof. Gibbons was delivering the first of three dissertations of the 23rd Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial lectures at the University of Ghana. The lectures, under the theme, "Science goes beyond the market: the new contest of research", forms part of activities marking the University's Golden Jubilee.

He said universities that have added research to their normal teaching services have taken on a function bound to change their original objectives.

"This is because production of knowledge is guided by a set of research practices which determine what shall count as new knowledge".

Prof. Gibbons said research in universities today has become a core value, which govern their organisation and management.

He noted that research has a disciplinary structure that directs where research output should go, and provides a framework for the university's curriculum whether in science, social science or the humanities.

"Through research the stock of specialist knowledge grows and transforms the content of disciplines and in time, this changes the curriculum, alters what is regarded as essential to be taught.

"Research also contributes to the differentiation of the disciplinary structure, introducing more and more specialisms".

Prof. Gibbons said with new research practices being introduced, the number of research centres, institutes and think tanks are multiplying, making faculties and departments the preferred form for carrying out teaching.

Faced with this challenge of accommodating these new practices, universities must become "more open, porous institutions vis-a-vis the wider community".

The function was presided over by Prof. Conor Cruise O'Brien, vice-chancellor of the University from 1962 to 1965.

Accra (Graeter Accra), 16 March

Ghana has been elected vice chairman of the Ministerial meeting under the implementation of the code of conduct for responsible fisheries held in Rome, Italy last week.

Mr Mike Acheampong, deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, who represented Ghana, was also elected as chairman of the FAO committee on fisheries for a two-year term in office.

The deputy Minister who returned home last night, told newsmen at the airport that the meeting provided guidance and the possible eco-labelling of fish and fishery products in promoting responsible fishery.

He said the meeting considered the need for a global action to ensure that eco-labelling contributes effectively towards sustainability of fishery and agriculture and not to create new barriers to trade.

Accra (Greater Accra), 16 Mar.

Dr Jacques Diouf, Director General of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations on Monday pledged to continue the fight against food insecurity in Africa.

"I will fight hard to reverse the trend and ensure food security on the African continent", he said.

Dr Diof was speaking at a dinner held in his honour by the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Joseph Henry Owusu-Acheampong in Accra.

He commended the Government and people of Ghana for the support offered during his electioneering period in 1993 and said Ghana played a major role to ensure his victory.

"I am overwhelmed by the Ghanaian hospitality and I will always remember" Dr Diof who was presented with a gift from the Ministry, said. Mr Owusu-Acheampong said during the first term of Dr Diof he did not turn his back to Africa and pledged Ghana's support to him in his endeavours.

 Accra (Greater Accra) 16 March

 A post-graduate training programme for medical personnel will take off in the country by the end of the year, Mr Samuel Nuamah Donkor, Minister of Health, told newsmen on Monday in Accra.

Mr Nuamah Donkor said this will help to fill the vacuum which is likely to be created with the expected retirement in the next five years of most health specialists.

"In order to fill the gap to be created by their departure, a post graduate training programme will be set up to train health personnel".

Mr Nuamah Donkor said the ministry is soliciting support from various donors for the training programme.

"We have had favourable response from some embassies such as Japan and Cuba just to mention a few which is at the moment training some Ghanaian students".

Mr Nuamah Donkor said the programme is expected to take off by the end of this year at the medical schools and the teaching hospitals, ''if things work out the way we are expecting.

"I have asked the appropriate people to work on what will be needed in terms of logistics and curriculum for the take off.

He said "the ministry is working around the clock to fill the vacuum that will be created to enhance the health care delivery service because without health specialists hospitals cannot survive''.

Techiman (Brong Ahafo), 16 March

 Mr Francis Yaw Gyarko, Techiman District Chief Executive (DCE), has urged women with economic power to assist their husbands in the maintenance of the home.

It is very important for women to contribute to the domestic budget to ensure that their husbands obtain the needed peace to go about their duties.

Mr Gyarko who was speaking at the inauguration of the first Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) Officers' Wives Association at Techiman on Sunday, said the government recognises the potentials of women, hence the provision of loans to empower them economically to better their lot.

Mr Gyarko commended them for coming together and urged them to use this opportunity to educate themselves on sound environmental practices.

Mr A.C. Ackah, Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Fire Officer, commended the staff for being the first to form the association within the Ghana National Fire Service and asked them to work tirelessly to form branches throughout the country.

Sunyani (Brong Ahafo), 16 March

Dr Silvester K. Ankamah, a Sunyani lawyer, has described the Westminister type of democracy as "alien to the traditions and experiences of Africans".

He has, therefore, called for the adoption of the African alternative that emphasises consensus in governance to replace foreign constitutional practices, which have over the years, failed to find the right climate for survival.

"The time has come for us to fashion out an African alternative of governance that reflects the cultural, traditional and socio-economic experiences, to free the continent of unsuitable alien concepts and their accompanying imperfections".

Dr Ankamah, a former Ghana High Commissioner to India, was launching two books he has published at Sunyani at the weekend.

The titles are "The Westminster Model in Africa and a search for African Alternative" and "The Police History, some aspects in England and Ghana".

Dr Ankamah said his book on democracy is to create awareness on the need for Africans to research into their own history and culture for a system of governance that would stand the test of time.

He called for research into the time-honoured and effective system of governance practised before the arrival of the colonial masters and refined for adoption by African countries.

This would better promote national unity, stability and development "as the imposition and adoption of foreign systems of governance and ideologies have contributed to the chaos, and under-development of the continent".

He hoped his book on the history of the police service in Ghana would help Ghanaians to appreciate the contribution of its personnel to national development.

 Bolgatanga (Upper East), 16 March

 Women members of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) have been told that higher education is the key to their progress.

They should, therefore, not be content with their immediate circumstances but "you should understand the environment, in which you operate and strive to improve your status".

This was contained in a speech read for the national president of the Women's Wing of TEWU, Madam Winfred Amugi, at a regional delegate's conference on the theme "TEWU women's wing- making a difference in the next millennium" in Bolgatanga.

She advised the delegates not to be content with their position as typists, secretaries or accounts clerks, but to improve on their professional skills through further education in order to rise to the top.

Madam Amugi urged women to get actively involved in union affairs so that "we would be able to tell the government that privatisation is not the only answer to economic reforms. It should look for other alternatives".

The president further urged members to organise themselves in solidarity with women in other unions to fight for their economic rights.

The general secretary of TEWU, Mr Dan Antwi, said the conference is the first in a series of regional conferences to be held throughout the country.

Ejisu (Ashanti), 16 March

The Ejisu-Juaben Community Tribunal has remanded a 58-year-old draughtsman, Paul Barfi in prison custody for posing as a public officer and undertaking acts of forgery.

The plea of Barfi, who operates at Kumawu-Ashanti, was not taken and will re-appear on Thursday, March 18.

Police Chief Inspector C. K. Atiogbe, prosecuting, told the tribunal chaired by Mr W. K. Owusu that the police had information that the accused indulged in preparing fictitious site lay-outs and building plans for chiefs and landowners in and around Kumawu in the Sekyere East district.

The prosecutor said the accused was arrested and when his room was searched, several fictitious site lay-outs and building plans with forged signatures of the Ejisu-Juaben district Town and Country Planning Officer, Mr Augustine Kusi and a Chartered Licensing Surveyor, Mr E. Oppong of Kumasi were found.

Chief Inspector Atiogbe said police investigation revealed that the accused has been indulged in such forgery acts for many years.

The prosecutor said a thorough search in the room of the accused revealed a stamp belonging to the District Town and Country Planning Officer concealed in a box iron.

Meanwhile, the stamp of the chartered licensing surveyor, which the accused also managed to manufacture is yet to be retrieved, Chief Inspector Atiogbe said.

Chief Inspector Atiogbe said when Mr Kusi and Mr Oppong were invited to the police station and interrogated, they denied any knowledge of the documents and the stamp.

Accra (Greater Accra), 16 March

Mr Samuel Nuamah Donkor, Minister of Health, on Monday said research should be built into the implementation of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI).

The minister, whose speech was read by Dr Emmanuel Mensah, Director of Institutional Care, at the opening of the first annual EPI managers meeting for West Africa said the research should allow for flexibility and adaptation to specific country needs.

This can include how to improve or strengthen vaccine distribution and cold chain logistics, effective communication strategies and mechanisms for improving access and quality of care.

Others are the economic and financial costs of the various EPI and immunisation programmes.

The one-week meeting organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Ministry of Health (MOH) is being attended by 90 EPI managers from the Sub-Region and others from the donor community including Rotary International, USAID and UNICEF.

They are discussing new and effective strategies to overcome the perennial problems of low coverage of EPI, enhancing social mobilisation, vaccine management improvement and injection of safety improvement.

The EPI programme covers immunisation of children against the six killer diseases -- poliomyelitis, tetanus, measles, whooping cough, diphtheria and tuberculosis.

Dr Peter Martin Mandara, WHO Representative in Ghana, regretted that though the target dates set for the elimination or eradication of certain diseases under the EPI programme are drawing near, there is still a lot to be done.

For instance, surveillance has revealed that there is widespread transmission of polio though the date set for eradication is less than 22 months away.

"Measles epidemics are rife in many localities while at the same time neonatal tetanus is still rampant in countries in the sub-region".

Dr Mandara however said, with the assistance of the donor community, some successes have been achieved and called for more support and collaboration to achieve the set goals.

Mr Sam Okudzeto, member of the African Regional Polio plus committee of Rotary International said the club has so far, committed more that 94 million dollars for polio eradication in Africa.

He said the partnership of Rotary International with Ministries of Health in Africa and others like Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) WHO, UNICEF Centre for Disease Control (CDC) is unique and pledged to continue its support for the eradication of polio in Africa.

Accra (Greater Accra), 15 March

A six-man delegation from Nigeria's steering committee on a proposed Road Fund Board is in the country to study Ghana's implementation of the fund.

The delegation, which is on a five- nation African tour will discuss with their Ghanaian counterparts their experience in operating the fund.

Mr Michael Adesina, chairman of the steering committee, told newsmen arrival that road management and economic integration should be given the necessary attention.

He said experienced countries like Ghana and Burkina Faso who are implementing the fund should be in a better position to assist and give the necessary guidelines.

"Roads can no longer be regarded as a social service to be funded exclusively by government alone".

He said the delegation will also visit Zambia and Malawi to understudy the operation of the road fund system in those countries.

Mr Kingsford Amoah, director of the road fund, met them on arrival.