President Kufuor replaces
top military brass
Retirement of police
officers not political
NGO
calls for measures to reduce disasters
NPP
official calls for withdraw of militiamen from checkpoints
Timber company owners in
disagreement
DISEC
orders abrogation of settlement agreements with herdsmen
Kojo Botsio given state
burial
Togo re-opens border with Ghana
Direct resources against
vices in society - Boafo
Do not use deformities to
insult children - lecturer
Traders call for arrest of
unscrupulous fishermen
87 to
contest for regional council of state elections
UN Inter-Agency Mission to
West Africa meets in Accra
Confusion over number of
appointees to KEEA Assembly
Ahanta West Assembly gets
new Presiding Member
Vice president Aliu takes
over Youth and Sports Ministry
President Kufuor replaces
top military brass
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 March 2001
President John Agyekum Kufuor, has retired the top brass of the military and appointed new ones to act in their capacities pending the establishment of the Council of State and the Armed Forces Council.
This is in accordance with the tradition and regulations of the Armed Forces of Ghana.
An official statement from the Office of the President on Friday named the retiring officers as Lieutenant General Ben Akafia, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), Lieutenant General Joseph Smith, Army Commander, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah, Navy Commander and Air Marshal John Bruce, Airforce Commander.
The rest are Major General C.A. Okae, Chief of Staff, Major General Henry Anyindoho, General Officer Commanding Northern Command and Major General Francis Mahama, General Officer Commanding Southern Command.
The newly appointed officers are Major General Seth Obeng, Chief of Defence Staff, Brigadier C.B. Yaache, Chief of Army Staff, Air Commodore E.A. Mantey, Chief of Air Staff, Rear Admiral J. Gbena, Chief of Naval Staff, Brigadier F.K.Y. Mensah Chief of Staff Ministry of Defence.
The rest are Brigadier G. Aryiku, Commander of Northern Command and Brigadier J.B. Danquah, Commander of Southern Command.
The statement said President Kufuor has appointed Lt. Gen. Akafia Ambassador- designate, adding that the other retired senior officers would be called upon to serve the country in other capacities in the near future.
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Retirement of police
officers not political
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 March 2001
The recent directive from the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to Police officers on contract and those who have reached the compulsory retiring age of 60 to proceed on leave is not based on political motives, a statement issued on Friday said.
The statement signed by Mr. Richard Baduweh, Director of the Police Public Relations, said the 15 affected officers were born between 1935 and 1940. They had retired but had been given contract appointments.
The police refuted rumours that those asked to proceed on leave are NDC activists saying: "we wish to state that under the 1992 constitution, all public officers shall retire on attaining the age of 60 years."
The statement said some of the affected police officers had retired as far back as 1990 and none of them is an indispensable specialist.
It said in view of the need to encourage young Police officers to rise to the top and take up challenging responsibilities, it is not prudent that the service should encourage retired officers to stay on.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 March 2001
President John Agyekum Kufuor on Friday received UN Secretary-General's Inter-Agency mission to West Africa and discussed with members the challenges hampering socio-economic growth of the sub-region.
The 17-member mission, led by Ibrahim Fall, Assistant Secretary-General, Department of Political Affairs, is currently touring West Africa to assess the priority needs and challenges of the nations.
Its focus areas are security, humanitarian affairs and economic and social development, including the inter-linkages between them.
The mission which has already been to Nigeria, Togo, Liberia and Senegal, is also to consult with governments in the region and with ECOWAS on ways and means of enhancing co-operation with the UN in order to better address those needs and challenges identified.
It is also to make recommendations on elements of regional strategy to be implemented by the world body, in co-operation with the ECOWAS as well as mobilise international support for the strategy.
Fall said the UN intends to adopt a global approach one-by-one to the issues, especially with regards to conflicts.
"Each issue will be taken in its own entirety to enable the governments, regional leaders and the UN make a meaningful assessment so that at the end of the day a workable strategy is drawn."
He congratulated Mr Kufuor and Ghanaians for giving democracy a push in a region where the concept seems not to be working well.
He recalled recent efforts by the regional leaders towards a common goal and pledged the support of an inter-sectoral committee set up by the UN Security Council towards the achievement of results.
President Kufuor said Ghana would play an active role in the joint efforts at improving humanitarian affairs.
He said government is working out modalities and proposals in response to the request of the mission and would make her position known in due course.
At the discussions were Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Foreign Minister and other Foreign Ministry officials.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 March 2001
Three countries have sent congratulatory messages to the President and people of Ghana on the occasion of the 44th Independence anniversary celebration which fell on March 6.
The countries, Zimbabwe, Cambodia and Seychelles, expressed their warmest and most sincere felicitations to Ghana.
A statement issued on Friday by the Foreign Ministry in Accra said Zimbabwe President, Robert Gabriel Mugabe, expressed the hope that the friendship between the peoples and the two countries would be strengthened further.
The President of Seychelles, France Albert Rene said the long-standing friendship that has existed for many years between his country and Ghana will in future see excellent bonds of friendship.
The Prime Minister of Cambodia, Hun Sen said he was convinced that the relationship and co-operation of the two governments will be further developed and strengthened.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 March 2001
Former President Jerry Rawlings left Accra on Friday for Bonn, Germany to begin meetings with officials of the UN Volunteer Service and UN AIDS Programme in his capacity as UN Eminent Person for Volunteers.
A statement from the office of the former president in Accra said he would discuss proposals to encourage voluntarism and community action to roll back malaria and check the spread of HIV on the continent.
Former President Rawlings who took up the appointment last December, will be in Bonn from March 26 to 28.
Prior to the visit the ex-President and Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings will travel to Switzerland where Nana Konadu will undergo a surgical operation.
The statement denied reports that the former president has been admitted at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, saying," the story is wholly untrue."
It said the former President and Nana Konadu only visited a close relative who was on admission at the surgical block on Saturday March 11. The statement assured all well-wishers that former President Rawlings "is in excellent health and there is no cause for alarm."
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NGO
calls for measures to reduce disasters
Accra (Greater Accra)
19 March 2001
An environmental NGO,
Earth Vision Organisation (EVON), on Sunday called for measures to reduce the
spate of natural and man-made disasters that afflict the country all year
round.
In a statement copied
to the Ghana News Agency, EVON expressed its disappointment at the incidence of
"annual bushfires that gut our farms, villages and cottages, posing great
danger to human, animal and plant life".
It said if the practice
of setting bushfires to hunt game and prepare new farms continued, "it is
certain that Ghana will suffer an irreparable damage to the ecology and thereby
spell disaster for both present and future generations".
The statement, signed
by its executive Director, Mr J.B. Quansah, was not happy at the continued
outbreak of fire disasters in spite of the numerous fire volunteer squads
scattered all over the country.
"It appears that
despite the goodwill of fire volunteers, they are not getting the requisite
logistics to enable them to effectively carry out their functions and curtail
the damaging effects of bushfires that are not spilling into villages and
towns."
EVON decried the
inability of the district assemblies to arrest and prosecute bushfire offenders
who flout with disdain the anti-bushfire law.
"The result is
that we are getting more careless with fire everyday, resulting in the
destruction of life and property as well as the environment, leading to an
alarmingly high degree of loss of biodiversity."
The NGO said it
believed strongly that matters of the environment concern every Ghanaian and
therefore urged all to join the sector ministry, Environmental Protection
Agency and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) as well as the
district assemblies to help arrest the situation.
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NPP
official calls for withdraw of militiamen from checkpoints
Sefwi-Akaatiso (Western
Region) 19 March 2001
The NPP Vice-chairman
for the Bia Constituency, Mr K.A. Owusu, has called for the withdrawal of
militiamen from checkpoints of the Customs, and Excise and Preventive Service
(CEPS).
Speaking at a meeting
with executive members of the party at Sefwi Akaatiso in the Western Region, he
accused some of them of aiding unpatriotic citizens to smuggle fuel and cocoa
to Cote d'Ivoire.
Mr Owusu urged CEPS to
withdraw them as soon as possible since such personnel do not have any legal
role to play at the checkpoints in the current political dispensation.
Mr Owusu urged the
executives to be vigilant and arrest the smugglers.
Nana S.Y. Afful, who
chaired the meeting, advised the members to do their best to ensure that such
smuggling activities are stopped.
He said every Ghanaians
has a role to play in checking practices that tend to destroy the economy of
the country.
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Timber company owners in
disagreement
Akim Oda (Eastern Region) 19 March 2001
Tension is mounting at the Coppon Wood Processing Company at Akim Oda, following a
disagreement among the shareholders who, incidentally, are relatives.
The maternal family of the late Charles Oppong, the owner of the company who died in 1984, has decided to take over the running of the company.
However, the management, headed by Mr Charles Oppong Junior, Director and a son to the late Charles Oppong is resisting this decision.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Madam Elizabeth Oppong, Sister of the late Oppong, said they decided to take over the running of the company as a result of mismanagement and cheating by the present management over the years.
She alleged that after the death of her brother, another brother of hers, Martin Doudo, took over the company, but when he also died in 1998, letters of administration were made in her name to take over the company.
Madam Oppong said following an agreement, the paternal side were given a total of 27 minority shares.
The maternal side including herself, were given 24 shares and the remaining 49 shares were reserved for a strategic investor.
Madam Oppong claimed that even though they, the maternal side held the majority shares, "we had been cheated all these years by the minority shareholders running the company."
She said what finally "broke the camels back" was the decision of the management to give the 49 shares to the strategic investor without their knowledge.
When contacted, Mr Charles Oppong junior explained that it was only the Board of Directors that could dissolve the management, adding that the action of the family members was "contrary to the rule of law."
Meanwhile, normal production was going on at the company, while the tussle over the running of the company continues.
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DISEC
orders abrogation of settlement agreements with herdsmen
Begoro (Eastern Region)
19 March 2001
The Fanteakwa District
Security Committee (DISEC) has ordered the abrogation of all settlement
agreements between landowners and alien Fulani herdsmen in the area with
immediate effect.
The District
Co-ordinating Director, Mr Edward Gbinnye, gave the order at a meeting between
the DISEC, landowners and settler farmers from 20 communities at Begoro on
Friday.
The emergency meeting
became necessary in view of mounting tension between the settler farmers and
the herdsmen following the upsurge of the destruction of food crops and sources
of drinking water by herds of cattle.
It became known at the
meeting that some landowners in the area had signed settlement agreements with
the herdsmen.
The farmers accused the
herdsmen of flagrantly giving warning shots whenever they were confronted with
complaints about the destruction of their farms and sources of drinking water.
Mr Gbinnye said the
DISEC had taken a serious view of the issue and would soon flush out the
herdsmen from the area with the assistance of a military-police task force.
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Kojo Botsio given state
burial
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 March 2001
The mortal remains of Mr Kojo Botsio, a veteran politician and the last of the Big Six architects of Ghana's independence, was on Saturday laid to rest with full military honours at the Osu Cemetery after a memorial and thanksgiving service at the forecourt of the State House.
Thousands of mourners, including President John Agyekum Kufuor, Vice-President Aliu Mahama, Mr Ala Adjetey, Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Isaac K. Abban, and stalwarts of other political parties, joined the bereaved family to pay their last respects to the illustrious son of Ghana.
In a tribute, Alhaji Mahama described Mr Botsio, who among others stood beside Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah on the eve of declaration of Ghana's Independence, as a nationalist who served the country with his wisdom, sight and might.
Alhaji Mahama said Mr Botsio was a man who found himself in many capabilities and fields as he served as Minister of Education, Transport, Housing, Agriculture and Foreign Affairs.
He praised Mr Botsio's role in the development of education, especially university education, adding that "without his vision, a lot of professionals would never have been made".
Alhaji Mahama said the best tribute Ghanaians can give Mr Botsio is to give of their best and help build a new Ghana, with a vision that would ensure a positive change in people's lives and make functional the national aspiration of freedom and justice.
In a sermon, the Right Reverend Charles Palmer-Buckle, Catholic Bishop of Koforidua, described Mr Botsio as a patriot of extra-ordinary calibre, a man of international proportions and a devout Catholic who took his relationship with God seriously and attended mass regularly.
"Kojo Botsio fed at the altar of the Lord drawing power from God's word," he said, and urged Ghanaians to emulate the great virtues of the Lord Jesus Christ and be prayerful in all things.
The Rt. Rev. Palmer-Buckle asked Ghanaians to sacrifice their own comfort for others, saying those who died in Christ shall rise and stand on their feet again before God.
Other tributes came from the Convention People's Party, Mr John Tettegah, former Secretary General of the Trades Union Congress, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Kwame Nkrumah Foundation.
At the cemetery, the Right Reverend John Darko, Bishop of Sekondi, performed the committal service after which the last post was sounded followed by a 21-gun salute by the Fifth Battalion of Infantry Brigade of the Ghana Armed Forces.
The Vice-President laid a wreath on behalf on the government and people of Ghana while others were laid on behalf of the CPP, the wife, children, family, friends and sympathising individuals and organisations.
The government presented two million cedis cash and drinks to the bereaved family.
Kojo Botsio, who died on February 6, this year, was born on February 21, 1916, at Winneba to Mr Edward Kojo Botsio of Elmina and Madam Ama Amina of Apam.
He attended the Catholic Primary and Middle Schools in Cape Coast.
He later entered Adisadel College, where he sat for the Cambridge School Certificate and proceeded to Achimota College for his Teacher's Certificate 'A'.
Mr Botsio joined the foundation staff of St Augustine's College where he taught before obtaining his B.A. degree at Fourah Bay University College in Sierra Leone.
He also taught at the St Edward's Secondary School in Freetown before proceeding to Brasenose College, Oxford University, where he obtained a Post-graduate Diploma in Geography and Education.
Mr Botsio and Dr. Nkrumah developed a close association and was involved in the struggle for Independence and held a number of position under Nkrumah's administration including Minister of Education and Social Welfare, Transport and Communication, Development, Housing, Trade, Agriculture and Foreign Affairs.
Mr Kojo Botsio was survived by a wife and two children.
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Togo re-opens border with
Ghana
Aflao (Volta Region) 19 March 2001
The Togolese government on Saturday afternoon reopened her side of the Ghana-Togo border at Aflao after its closure on Friday.
No reason was given for the unannounced closure.
Some travellers attributed the Togolese authorities' action to a planned anti-government demonstration in the capital Lome on Friday.
The reopening of the border has eased tension created at Aflao as a result of the large vehicular and human traffic held up in the town.
Commercial cross-border activity that came to a standstill is also slowly picking up.
Taxi drivers who made brisk business during the period of the closure carrying stranded travellers to Akpokploe, an unauthorised route, for a windfall profit and created transportation difficulties for commuters between Aflao and Denu have also resumed normal services.
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Direct resources against
vices in society - Boafo
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 19 March 2001
Mr Sampson K. Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, on Saturday called on religious bodies to direct their resources towards the fight against indiscipline and immorality in the society.
He said it was ironic that "at a time churches and religious bodies are springing up, crime and other social vices like corruption, dishonesty, armed robbery, violence and lawlessness are on the increase".
Mr Boafo was speaking at the opening of the 16th Annual Delegates' Conference of the Association of Men's Fellowships of the Kumasi Diocese of the Methodist Church in Kumasi.
The two-day conference is under the theme "When men change, Nations change".
The Regional Minister advised churches to step up efforts towards the spiritual and moral upliftment of their followers, adding "any level of economic prosperity without uprightness is worthless".
Mr Boafo was emphatic that if Ghanaians should expect a positive change in the country, they must resolve to forget about the past failures, mistakes and weaknesses and focus on achieving acceptable objectives irrespective of the difficulties involved.
"Indeed, we have to exhibit a higher level of self-confidence, self-denial and sacrifice, creativity and a desire to advance if this nation is to move forward to bring about positive development."
Touching on the theme of the conference, the Regional Minister observed that there is a correlation between the life of the people and the nation, saying "any remarkable change in the people's general perception and pattern of thinking invariably reflect on the nation".
The Right-Reverend Kwaku Asamoah-Okyere, Methodist Bishop of Kumasi, asked the government to use the goodwill it now enjoys to mobilise all resources available in the country to tackle the economic problems facing the nation.
He told people in positions of trust to resist "underhand politics and display a clear sense of direction and conscience".
The Bishop noted that the church has "sat on the fence praying for change for far too long and that it was time they took active part in effecting the necessary positive changes in the lives of the people".
Bishop Asamoah-Okyere said the church must contribute in diverse ways to anything that affects the people in their socio-economic lives.
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Do not use deformities to
insult children - lecturer
Cape Coast (Central Region) 19 March 2001
Mrs. Juliana Ohene, a lecturer at the University of Cape Coast, has advised parents to desist from insulting their children while making references to the unusual shapes of any part of their body.
"Don't curse your child or make him or her feel inferior by harping on, for instance, his or her abnormality, inadequacy or the unusual size or shape of his head, as such negative utterances can have an undesirable impact on the child later in life," she said.
Mrs. Ohene was speaking at the closing ceremony of a two-day workshop on "Good Parenting" organised by the Central Region branch of the Ghana NGO Coalition on the Rights of the Child in Cape Coast on Wednesday.
Fifty teen mothers attended the workshop, which covered several topics including "Goals of Parenting", "The Challenges of Parenting", and Communication with Children".
She also advised parents against the misuse of their religious beliefs to the detriment of their children's health.
"God in his own wisdom gave the white man the idea of manufacturing medicine and, therefore, it is unwise for some parents to neglect medical attention for their ailing children because of their religious beliefs."
Mrs. Ohene asked the government to take stern action against parents who verbally or physically attack teachers for disciplining their erring wards, saying such behaviour is totally unacceptable.
"Even the teacher himself or herself can't teach his or her own child at home from infancy to adulthood. Another teacher has to teach that child and if that child errs, he or she stands to be corrected by caning or otherwise," she said.
She said that any parent who frowns on punishment meted to his ward by a teacher does so at the risk of the child who needs to be trained to become a useful citizen.
Mrs. Cecilia A. Edu, Central Region Co-ordinator of the Ghana NGO Coalition on the Rights of the Child, advised parents to guard against sexual exploitation of their daughters by unscrupulous men.
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Traders call for arrest of
unscrupulous fishermen
Nkoranza (Brong Ahafo) 19 March 2001
Traders who travel to Pruso in the Nkoranza District to buy yams have appealed to the police, officials of the National Disaster Management Organisation and the district assembly to set up a taskforce to arrest fishermen who use poisonous chemicals to fish in the Pru River.
Madam Hajia Damas, Nkoranza market queenmother and yam dealer, said any delay in checking the practice could prove disastrous since the river is the only source of drinking water for the community.
She told the Ghana News Agency on Wednesday that, as a result of the indiscriminate use of poisonous chemicals in fishing in the river, there had been a sharp rise in illness, especially stomach-aches.
Madam Damas said other communities who depend on the river for their main source of water include Pruso, Ayerede, Asuano, Bonkuru, Baanofour and Ahyiayem.
According to her, the unscrupulous fishermen pollute the river in the night and therefore it becomes difficult to identify and arrest them.
She cited an occasion when she was rushed to the hospital after drinking water from the river, which had been polluted with poisonous chemicals.
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87 to
contest for regional council of state elections
Accra (Greater Accra)
19 March 2001
Eighty-seven
individuals have filed nominations to contest the Regional Council of State
elections on Tuesday, March 20
A source at the
Electoral Commission (EC) disclosed in an interview with the Ghana News Agency
in Accra that only five out of the total number are women.
Statistics available to
the GNA indicates that the following regions filed only male candidates: Greater
Accra, six; Volta, eight; Eastern, 14; Ashanti, 14; Brong Ahafo, seven; Upper
West, eight.
The rest, however,
filed female candidates. They are Western one female and ten male; Central, two
female and eleven male and Northern, two female and four male. The Upper East
Region has not filed any nomination.
The EC had earlier
postponed the election from February 27, 2001.
The public election
regulations stipulate the selection of one representative each by the ten
regions as a member of the council of state.
The Regulations state
that each region should constitute an electoral college of two representatives
each from the district assembles to elect the regional representative to the
council.
A candidate who obtains
the highest valid votes cast at the elections shall be declared elected and
where two or more people obtain the highest votes the process of elections
shall continue until one is elected.
The public elections
regulations state that except otherwise provided, the existing electoral laws
shall apply to the Council of State election with modifications and adaptations
as directed by the commission.
After the election the
EC would furnish the President with the names of the ten elected regional
representatives and publish the results in the Gazette.
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UN Inter-Agency Mission to
West Africa meets in Accra
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 March 2001
Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Minster of Foreign Affairs, on Friday stressed Ghana's commitment to the establishment of an ECOWAS Criminal Intelligence Bureau in the country to stem the spate of money laundering, drug trafficking and other social and economic vices in the sub-region.
This goal, he said, is achievable but requires technical and financial support from the United Nations
The Minister said this when he met a 17-member United Nations Inter-Agency Mission to West Africa in Accra.
The Mission has already visited Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo and would be proceeding to Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea- Bissau and the Gambia.
The Mission, made up of politicians, diplomats and security personnel drawn from various UN agencies, is expected to take stock of the priority needs and challenges in the sub-region in areas of peace and security, humanitarian affairs and social development, including the inter-linkages between them.
It is also expected to make recommendations on elements of a regional strategy to be implemented by the UN, in co-operation with ECOWAS, to help address the needs and challenges identified and also mobilise international support and assistance for a proposed regional strategy.
Mr Owusu- Agyemang said Ghana also aspires to see the establishment of institutions such as the ECOWAS Court of Justice and Parliament based on good ethical and legal foundation with the support of the UN.
He said the strict enforcement of a moratorium on light arms and trafficking in illegal arms could eventually make armed conflicts unattractive in the West Africa sub-region.
" It has become necessary at the dawn of the millennium to plug the avenues that make war mongering and the promotion of strife a profitable venture in our region".
He said Ghana supports the initiative to impose sanctions on governments, groups and individuals, who fan wars and make great financial gains at the expense of the lives of others.
"Sanctions that are well-targeted at the warlords and their cronies and a sincere effort to arrest, prosecute and recover moneys so obtained, will go a long way to provide the disincentive to such callous actions that only inflict pain and hardship on an already impoverished society", he said.
Mr Owusu-Agyemang called for the use of eminent persons as mediators or sub-regional conflict resolution mechanisms to prevent smouldering conflicts from turning into "raging conflagrations".
"What we need to do now is to focus our efforts on promoting reconciliation, respect for human rights and ensuring safe, smooth and early repatriation of refugees and displaced persons, reintegration of former combatants into society and retrieving illegally held weapons".
He said although the challenge is an uphill task, the collective efforts of governments in the sub-region, backed by logistical support of the international community would ensure its success.
The Minister said Ghana has had to deal with an influx of refugees from destabilised countries in the sub-region and its negative impact on the country's fragile economy has been substantial.
He expressed Ghana's commitment to contribute troops and equipment to ECOMOG as its share of paying the heavy price for the maintenance of peace and security in the sub-region.
Mr Owusu-Agyeman said security does not mean the absence of conflict alone. "Security means the availability of food, shelter, clothing and basic health facilities for all members of the society; efficient transportation and above all good education and access to information as well as equal opportunities for self development.''
He called on the UN and its agencies to help build democratic institutions and strengthen existing ones with finance since good governance is expensive.
The leader of the Mission, Mr Ibrahim Fall, who is an Assistant Secretary-General, at the Department of Political Affairs, said the meetings would enable the UN to institute global and integrated approach to the solution of problems in the sub-region.
He said the initiative which was hatched by the UN Security Council would consider the inter-relation of problems and how best to solve them.
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Confusion over number of
appointees to KEEA Assembly
Elmina (Central Region) 19 March 2001
There was confusion at the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) District Assembly on Friday, when it was realised that there were 17 instead of 16 new government appointed members.
The situation led to a lengthy debate and the disruption of the election of a presiding member, because according to the members, "one vote could make a difference and that it would be "unconstitutional to carry on proceedings without correcting the anomaly".
Membership of the previous assembly was made up of 16 appointed and 36 elected members.
The District Co-ordinating Director, Mr Solomon Asiedu, therefore, had to stand down the meeting for a while to enable the new appointees to confer on the issue and when it resumed, Mr Nathaniel Arthur, an educationist, opted out, to enable proceedings to continue.
In the ensuing elections, Mr. Frank Kwesi Appiah, 53, also an educationist and one of the appointed members, was elected presiding member after three rounds of voting.
During the first and second rounds of voting, Mr Appiah, polled 30 and 33 votes respectively, as against 15 and 12 by Mr John Grant-Essilfie, a mechanic.
Mr Grant-Essilfie decided to step down during the third round " in the interest of co-operation and progress of the assembly".
In his acceptance speech, Mr Appiah appealed to members to co-operate with him and unite to move the district forward.
The meeting also elected two members, Ms Agatha Ampiah-Korsah and Mr Ebenezer Agyemang-Kessie to represent it at the Electoral College to elect the Central Regional Representative to the Council of State.
It also reconstituted the membership of the executive committee, and reviewed the various sub-committees and elected new chairmen.
Mr Asiedu reminded the members that the assembly concept is still non-partisan and that its main objective is to ensure the total development of the district and stressed the need for them to focus on that.
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Ahanta West Assembly gets
new Presiding Member
Agona-Nkwanta (Western Region) 19 March 2001
The Ahanta West District Assembly on Friday elected Nana Bogu Wiabo VI as the presiding member at an emergency meeting of the Assembly at Agona-Nkwanta.
He polled 32 votes as against 10 by Mr Jabez Ackah Arhin in second round of voting.
The first round failed to elect a winner as Nana Wiabo had 27 votes while Mr Arhin polled 15 votes and thus necessitating the second round.
The Assembly also elected two members Mr Francis Quansah, and Miss Georgina Yankey to represent it on the Western Regional Electoral College for the election of a member to represent the region on the Council of State.
Nana Wiabo thanked the members for the confidence reposed in him and called for their co-operation, support and unity to move the district forward.
Mr Joseph Debrah-Gyamfi, Ahanta West District Electoral Officer, conducted the elections.
Mr K. Quayson, Acting District Chief Executive, appealed to the Assembly members from both sides of the political divide to recognise that after the election, "We need to meet as a united people to accelerate the developmental efforts of the Assembly".
He expressed gratitude to heads of decentralised departments for working to move the district forward.
New members appointed by the government were sworn in.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 March 2001
President John Agyekum Kufuor on Friday urged managements of soccer teams to keep encouraging young people and giving them the opportunity to make the clubs evergreen.
He said government on its part would do its bit for the sport to thrive in the country.
President Kufuor said this when the playing body and officials of Accra Hearts of Oak football club called on him to present a number of trophies they've won recently in both local and international tournaments. Prominent among the trophies was the Super Cup the club won last month.
The group, led by Mr Ato Ahwoi, Chairman of Hearts Board, included Head Coach Cecil Jones Attuquayfio, Mr Harry Zakkour, Executive Chairman and 'Alhaji Hearts' a staunch supporter.
There were also some members of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) including Worlanyo Agra, General Secretary.
President Kufuor commended the Club saying their performance over the past two to three years has been brilliant.
"You have made us all proud and worthy of recognition."
President Kufuor, a former Chairman of Kumasi Asante Kotoko, main rivals of Accra Hearts-of-Oak, said he has come to accept that Hearts are the premier club of Ghana.
He said the team, which will be competing with 12 other world top clubs in Spain as representatives of Africa should feel proud of that achievement whether they win or not. "The most important thing is that you have made history for being the first ever to achieve that feat."
President Kufuor, in an apparent displeasure about the poor performance of the national soccer team and the unmentioned problems within the Ghana Football Association (GFA), announced his intention to appoint a committee to probe the association.
"I've not been too happy with the GFA," he said and expressed the hope that the Association will co-operate with the probe.
Present were Vice President Aliu Mahama, Dr Kwame Addo Kufuor, Minister of Defence and General Joshua Hamidu, National Security Adviser.
GRi…/
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Vice president Aliu takes
over Youth and Sports Ministry
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 March 2001
President John Agyekum Kufuor on Friday directed that Vice President Aliu Mahama should assume oversight responsibility over the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
A statement signed by Miss Elizabeth Ohene, Government Spokesperson, in Accra said this has become necessary due to the dismissal of Mallam Yusif Isa, Minister of Youth and Sports on Thursday over the mysterious loss of 46,000 dollars late last month. The directive takes immediate effect.
Mallam Isa said the money, meant to be paid out as winning bonus to players of the Black Stars in their World Cup qualifier against Sudan, was checked in as luggage.
Two officials of the Ghana Football Association have said the money was not in the suitcase that was checked in.
GRi…/
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