HIPC is not
poverty tag - Botwe
Workers of Bilfinger and Berger on strike
Surveyors asked to
form council
Victor Owusu’s final funeral rites
Women urged to unite irrespective of
political leanings
Abakomahene asks for independent probe into
Nsoatre killings
Gov’t urged to reconsider level of transport
fare
Oguaa to restore
500 buildings to boost tourism
HIPC is not
poverty tag - Botwe
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 March
2001
The Highly Indebted Poor Country
(HIPC) status is an economic theory that does not tag any Ghanaian with
poverty, Mr Dan Botwe, General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) said
on Saturday.
"Ghana is wealthy, but due to
economic mismanagement by the previous government, it is now poor and
indebted," Mr Botwe told the Ghana News Agency in an exclusive interview,
in reaction to criticisms over the NPP government's decision to join the HIPC
initiative.
"It is very bad that as a
nation we are using all our earnings to service debts to the chagrin of other
social services, but if by just declaring that we can't service our debt we
will benefit from a relief, why not?" he asked.
Mr Botwe said with its vast resources
Ghana cannot be viewed as poor, but how to get it out of its present state of
economic mess and dependency is a problem facing the government.
"People have different
economic theories and to my understanding it is just one of those that one has
to choose according to his or her consciences and the realities on the
ground."
"I am not an economist, but I
don't see it as bad, he declared. No Ghanaian will be pointed at as coming from
a country that can not pay its debts."
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Workers of Bilfinger and Berger on strike
Nkonya-Ahenkro (Volta Region) 12 March 2001
The 500-man workforce of Messrs Bilfinger and Berger Construction company, a German contracting firm working on the 140 kilometre Kpando to Dambai road on Friday laid down their tools over what they described as "poor conditions of work".
The workers' representatives, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency at the work site at Nkonya-Ahenkro cited lack of promotion, safety wares, arbitrary dismissals and absence of annual leave as some of their grievances.
They said the immediate cause of the strike action was the deduction of between 30,000 cedis and 70,000 cedis each from their salaries in payment of salary advance they received on February 15.
They also alleged that tipper trucks instead of staff buses were used in conveying them to and from their work sites, which often resulted in fatal accidents.
A meeting between the workers union officials from Accra and their local representatives on one hand and the management at Nkonya-Ahenkro to resolve the problem proved futile.
The Ghana News Agency was prevented by the company's security from reaching the management for their side of the story because they claimed they have specific orders not to allow any visitor into the yard.
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Kete-Krachi (Volta Region) 12 March 2001
Mr Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa, Volta Regional Minister, has urged chiefs to rise above party politics so as to enjoy the respect, dignity and sanctity associated with the chieftaincy institution.
He said "it behoves you to strive hard to stay clear of active party politics so that you can enjoy the support and loyalty of all your people and also win the confidence of any government that might be in power for any particular period".
Mr Owusu-Yeboa was addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of the Kete-Krachi Traditional area to outdoor Nana Mprah Besemunah III as the new Krachiwura at Krachi on Saturday.
Nana Besemunah, is known in private life as Mr Joe Mprah, a Commissioner of Police.
The Regional Minister reiterated the government's commitment to respect the constitutional provision, which bars chiefs from active partisan politics and to ensure that chieftaincy affairs are insulated from party politics and governmental interference.
He said the government recognises chiefs' indispensable role in local government, ensuring social cohesion and rallying force for national peace, unity and development.
"To this end Government will support our chiefs and make it possible for them to provide the leadership and focus for local and district development", Mr Owusu-Yeboa said.
He commended the peaceful atmosphere, which characterised the nomination and installation of the new Krachiwura and pledged the government's preparedness to help address the concerns of the traditional area.
Nana Besemunah said his immediate task would be to constitute a body to facilitate the withdrawal and settlement out of court of all litigation in the traditional area.
Other areas to engage his immediate attention would be the improvement of standard of education and stemming youth migration.
Nana Besemunah called for unity, peace and support from his people to tackle the numerous problems militating against the development of the area.
He affirmed his support for the creation of a separate region for the Northern Volta Region to facilitate its rapid development.
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Surveyors asked
to form council
Accra (Greater Accra) 12 March
2001
The Ghana Institution of Surveyors
(GIS) was on Saturday asked to form a Surveyors' Council to check indiscipline
and to regulate activities in the profession.
Mr Kwadwo Baah Wiredu, Minister
for Local Government, gave the advice in a speech read on his behalf at an
awards night, in Accra, during which the institution's new president and a
twenty-member new executive council were inducted into office.
He said that even though the
institution has the power to rusticate members, who break the code of ethics of
the profession, it lacks the authority to deal with recalcitrant ones, who
practice even after their rustication.
"A council with status such
as the Medical Council and Pharmacy Council, will be the appropriate body to
regulate the activities of the profession," he said, adding, " the
Survey Act, 127, and L. I. 1444 is limited to Land Surveying and does not cater
for General Practice and Quantity Surveying.
Mr Wiredu said "the practice
where draughtsmen, surveyor assistants and outright quacks, draw site plans and
give them to licensed surveyors to sign, has given rise to the many litigation
we have today."
The haphazard development of
unplanned sites creates slums and poses danger during fire and epidemic
outbreaks and appealed to members of the institution not to demarcate, survey
or register any land where the layout is not properly approved by the
appropriate authority.
The Local Government Minister
assured the surveyors that he would strongly advocate the bill on Real Estate
Brokers and Salesmen Law prepared by the institution when it comes up for
debate in Parliament.
Mr Wiredu cautioned against poorly
managed projects and weaknesses in infrastructure services and challenged
surveyors and town planners to offer advice on layout of towns and proper
alignment of roads.
The 32nd annual conference of the
institution held under the theme "Project Management, Key to
Infrastructure Development in the 21st Century", preceded the awards
night.
The new President, Mr Francis
Atta-Afram said the surveying profession should be seen in the context of
globalisation and urged the surveyors to keep themselves abreast with modern
trends in technology.
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Victor Owusu’s final funeral rites
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 12 March 2001
President John Agyekum Kufuor on Saturday joined the huge crowd of mourners from all walks of life to attend the final funeral rites of Victor Owusu, an eminent politician at the Jackson Park in Kumasi.
He was accompanied by his wife, Theresa and some Ministers of State including Mr J.H. Mensah, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and leader of Government Business, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, Finance, Mr Hackman Owusu Agyemang, Foreign Affairs, Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, Defence, Alhaji Malik Yakubu Alhassan, Interior and Mr S.K. Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister.
Others were Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, Trade and Industry, Dr Richard Winfred Anane, Health, Nana Akufo Addo, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Mines, Lands and Forestry, Lieutenant-General Joshua Hamidu (rtd), National Security Advisor and Dr Kwame Dufuor, Governor, Bank of Ghana.
Also present were a number of Regional Ministers, Members of Parliament (MPs) and leading members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) including the chairman, Mr Samuel Odoi Sykes, Mr Dan Botwe, the General Secretary, Mr R.R. Amponsah, Dr Kwame Safo Adu and Dr Kofi Dsane Selby.
Elders of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP) and the clergy were represented as well.
President Kufuor presented a carton of schnapps, six cartons of beer, two bottles of whisky, four crates of soft drinks and five million cedis towards the funeral, which was organised by the NPP.
The Chief Justice, Mr I.K. Abban was among individuals, organisations and associations that also made donations to the funeral.
The late Victor Owusu, a royal of the Asennie family of Agona in Ashanti, died in London on December 16, 2000 at the age of 77.
He was given a state burial on March 8 after having been laid in state at the State House in Accra and the Prempeh Assembly Hall in Kumasi a day before.
He was a former Attorney General and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He contested the Presidential polls in 1979 on the ticket of the Popular Front Party (PFP) and lost to the late Dr Hilla Limann in the run-off.
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Women urged to unite irrespective of
political leanings
Tamale (Northern Region) 12 March 2001
Mrs Ramatu Mahama, wife of the Vice President, has called on women not to allow their allegiance to different political parties to divide their ranks but should rather strive towards unity in political diversity.
"The government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is for all of us, Mrs Mahama said at a meeting with market women in Tamale on Thursday.
Mrs Mahama was addressing the women on behalf of the First Lady, Mrs Theresa Kufuor, on the occasion of this year's International Women's Day.
She had made a brief stop over en route to Tumu, where she was to attend the funeral of the Paramount Chief of Tumu, Kuoro Alhaji Luriwie Kanton.
Speaking on "Gender equality for development and peace" Mrs Mahama said no woman should feel alienated but all should contribute their quota to ensure that the government's efforts at improving the welfare of women yield results.
She said it was because of the government's concern for the welfare and problems of women that the Ministry of Women's Affairs was established.
The Ministry, she said, would act as a focal point for deliberating and finding solutions to the problems of women.
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Abakomahene asks for independent probe into
Nsoatre killings
Nsoatre (Brong Ahafo) 12 March 2001
The Abakomahene and head of the four royal gates of the Nsoatre Traditional Area, and families of the three persons, who were shot dead at Nsoatre last Monday, have appealed to the government to institute an independent probe into the incident.
The deceased, Osofo Kofi Awuah, Pastor of the local branch of the African Faith Tabernacle, Ofori Gyau, a driver and Man-Five Nyamekye, a fitting apprentice, were allegedly killed in a clash with the Police during the outdooring of Prof. Oppong Boachie, as Omanhene of the area.
Speaking on behalf of the Twabiri Royal family and the bereaved families, the Abakomahene, Nana Alhaji Kwame Boaden accused the Police of an unnecessary show of excessive force.
He discounted allegations that a section of the residents, who were opposed to the installation of Prof. Boachie, armed themselves and clashed with the Police.
"If the people actually armed themselves and clashed with the Police, how come that the Police did not suffer any casualties when as many as three residents died and others got injured?"
Alhaji Boadan maintained that there was never a clash, as members of the Twabiri Royal family that is challenging the eligibility of Prof. Boachie to the stool, were keeping guard at the palace, which they had taken over long before the incident.
He said, "the fact that none of the three dead persons was a member of the Twabiri family confirms that there was never a clash and that they were victims of wanton use of excessive power just to cow us.
"The fact that they were all shot in the back around the main lorry station of the town, which is quite a distance from the palace, where the supposed outdooring ceremony was taking place indicate Police culpability", he said.
Alhaji Boadan showed a number of spent bullets left at the scene of the shooting to newsmen to establish his claim that the Police, and nobody, else was responsible for the death of the three people.
"It is for this reason that on behalf of the royal and the bereaved families, I wish to appeal to the government to institute, as a matter of urgency, an independent probe into the incident in the interest of peace and justice."
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Gov’t urged to reconsider level of
transport fare
Kasoa (Central Region) 12 March 2001
The Ministry of Communication and Transport has been urged to reconsider the 15 per cent increase in transport fares as a result of the recent hike in fuel prices and to come out with a fare-list that would be fair to both drivers and passengers.
Mallam Yahaya Aminu, Secretary of the Kasoa-Kaneshie-CMB branch of the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), said members operating mini-buses on its routes would be running at a loss with the 15 per cent increase.
Speaking to the GNA, following confrontations between passengers and drivers over fares, he said it is not the intention of the union to make life unbearable for passengers and pleaded with them to bear with members.
He said they were charging 800 cedis from Kasoa to Kaneshie, 1,000 cedis to Kwame Nkrumah Circle and 1,100 cedis to CMB in Accra adding that when the Executive insisted on the 15 per cent increase, the members on realising that they would be running at a loss parked their vehicles.
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Oguaa to restore
500 buildings to boost tourism
Elmina (Central Region) 12 March
2001
Five-hundred buildings of
historical importance in the Cape Coast Township have been earmarked for
restoration, to increase the number of tourist attractions and facilitate the
growth of the tourism industry in the Central Region.
The exercise forms part of the
region's Natural Resource Conservation and Historic Preservation Project being
undertaken by the Ghana Heritage and Conservation Trust (GHCT).
Mrs. Esi Sutherland-Addy,
Chairperson, announced this on Friday, at the presentation of a cheque for 2
million dollars to the Trust at its ninth Board of Trustees meeting at Elmina.
The amount was made available by
the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), as seed money
for the establishment of an Endowment Fund for the project.
It is to assist the Trust, which
had relied mainly on funding from Conservation International, to generate its
own resources, become self-sustainable and replicated in other parts of the
country.
The project was initiated 13 years
ago by the late Mr Ato Austin, then Regional Minister, to facilitate
socio-economic development through tourism.
The USAID has since 1991, provided
grants totalling 10 million dollars towards the project, which focused on the
restoration of the Cape Coast and Elmina Castles and the development of the
Kakum National Park.
The project also involved the
training of personnel in the industry and pilot schemes to assist communities
located along the Park with skills to obtain other sources of income and to
solicit their participation in its preservation.
Mrs. Sutherland-Addy, underscored
the importance of the fund and stressed that the Board would work in
collaboration with its partners in the Project including the Ghana Museums and
Monuments Board (GMMB) and the Department of Game and Wildlife.
"The 2 million dollars should
not be regarded as money to be gobbled, but money which should be invested to
generate more money, to ensure that within 15 months the Trust will have
sufficient funds available for projects earmarked."
The Regional Minister, Mr Isaac
Edumadze, declared the government's commitment to the preservation of the
nation's heritage and pledged that the Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC)
would provide the necessary support towards the project.
He commended the USAID for its
assistance and appealed for more.
The deputy director of the USAID,
Mr Jay Knott, who presented the cheque, was happy that Ghana is now a major
tourism destination in West Africa and that the industry has become the
country's third foreign exchange earner.
Mr Knott also praised Ghana's
successful democratic process, which he said has earned it a brand name in
global tourism as a peaceful, friendly and engaging destination.
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