Accra
(Greater Accra) 19 March 2002 - A new agronomic technology has been introduced
by the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG) to make cocoa an all-year round
crop. With the technology, cocoa will be harvested nine times per annum instead
of the present three. The cocoa harvesting periods are now the main, minor and
lean crop seasons.
The
technology based on the application of fertilizer has already been introduced
to 673 selected farmers on an experimental basis, which has helped to improve
their yields significantly. The new technology, developed after years of
intensive research by agronomists and soil scientists, if fully implemented,
could assist Ghana to regain her position as the world’s leading producer.
The
technology is also to assist the farmers to produce an average of 1,350
kilogrammes per hectare as against the yields of the current leading producer,
Cote d’Ivoire, which is 800 kilogrammes per hectare.
A report on
the fertilizer-use technology titled “Alleviating rural poverty in cocoa
producing areas of Ghana through sustainable cocoa production” prepared by Dr.
M.R. Appiah indicated that the low soil fertility is the major cause of the
decline in yields on peasant cocoa farms in the country.
According
to the report, the project will be implemented in four phases, beginning with
20,000 farmers this year and this will be increased to 50,000 farmers next
year. In the third year of the project, the number of farmers will increase to
100,000 and by the year 2005, about 200,000 farmers would have benefited.
The report
stated that as a result of the high success rate of the experiment, farmers who
are not even in the project area have, on their own initiative, started developing
new farms using the Fertilizer-Use Technology package.
The report
noted that incomes of participating farmers have increased considerably during
the period of the trails. Consequently, other farmers in participating
localities are ready and willing to adopt the technology. The report stressed
that deforestation by cocoa farmers could be reduced, if the cocoa farmer is
encouraged and assisted to increase his or her production per unit area with
the use of fertilizer.
The report
stated that the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) encouraged by the response from
farmers, is using the research findings to initiate a five-year poverty
alleviation programme for farmers and will use the Research centre at Akyem
Tafo, in the Eastern Region, as the implementing institution for the programme.
Meanwhile,
the report has also been adopted by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural
Development “as blue-print to fight rural poverty.” The sector Minister, Kwadwo
Baah-Wiredu, said in an interview that his ministry has assembled a team of
expert to coordinate and collaborate with CRIG and the COCOBOD to facilitate
the adoption of the new technology by cocoa farmers so as to reduce poverty in
rural communities – The Daily Graphic.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 19 March 2002 - Justice Dixon Kwame Afreh, 69, the man who tutored
more than half of the Supreme Court bench, finally became the eleventh member
of the highest court of the land on Monday when his nomination by the President
was approved by Parliament.
Normal
participation of the House in the secret ballot numbered 106, of which 104
voted yes, with two blank ballot papers. Justice Afreh told members of the
Appointment Committee that “I have not been happy over the past week,” citing
the political controversy surrounding his otherwise deserved ascension to the
Supreme Court.
He lamented
that during the national debate, “No reference had been made” regarding “my
merits.” Adding, “apparently some people think I am not good enough for the
Supreme Court.”
A part time
lecturer at the law School of Ghana, Justice Afreh reminded the Committee that
since 1962 every lawyer who has gone through the law school has passed through
his tutelage.
Born in
Kumasi, he is an old Akora. He left Achimota for the University of Birmingham,
England for his law degree, continuing to University of London, where he gained
his Masters. He was called to the English Bar in February 1960 at the
prestigious Lincoln’s Inn, London.
Admitted to
the Ghana Bar in 1961, he went to lecture at the Law Faculty of the University
of Ghana between 1962 and 1975, where his students included former
Vice-President, Prof Atta Mills, former Finance Minister Dr Kwesi Botwe, and
Kwamena Ahwoi.
Underlining
his credentials for the superior bench, he told Ghanaians that besides the
Chief Justice Wiredu, Justices Bamford-Addo, Ampiah and Lamptey, “I believe all
the members of the Supreme Court were my students.”
He was
Deputy Commissioner for the Electoral Commission for two years from 1992 before
he was appointed as a justice of the Court of Appeal in 1994.
The ballot
followed a report by the Appointments Committee, chaired by Freddy Blay, First
Deputy Speaker. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) who had earlier
boycotted the vetting process, also refused to participate in the debate and
also in the voting when the Speaker, Peter Ala Adjetey, put the question for
the motion for adoption.
Minority
Leader A.S.K. Bagbin had earlier told the Appointments Committee that his party
refused participation in the work of the Committee because of the “whole
procedure surrounding the nomination by the President.”
Justice
Afreh’s nomination followed the Supreme Court ruling of Thursday, February 28,
of the case between Tsatsu Tsikata and Attorney-General, in which the court
held by a 5-4 majority in favour of Tsikata that the Fast Track Court was
unconstitutional. The opinion of the judges will be announced on Wednesday,
March 20.
Shortly
after the ruling, which threw the nation into a kind of constitutional panic,
the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, filed
for a review.
This
brought up a further complication. Nine out of the ten Supreme Court judges sat
on the original case. Whereas the Constitution provides that at least seven
judges ought to sit on a review, convention dictates that, at least, two extra
judges be added onto the original panel.
Whereas
stressing that his party had nothing against the “eminent jurist,” Bagbin and
his group still stayed silently in the Chamber during the debate in protest.
Even when the Speaker had put the question and collected the voting slips, the
Minority refused to present theirs. Majority Leader, Papa Owusu-Ankomah was,
however, adamant. “Constitutionally, this nomination is proper and impeccable,”
he told his colleagues. – The Statesman.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 19 March 2002 - The NDC’s history of appointing judges to the
Supreme Court has been cited as stripping it of all moral authority to
criticise the nomination and appointment of Justice D.K. Afreh as Supreme Court
judge.
The
minority NDC, in obvious pursuit of the campaign to politicize Justice Afreh’s
appointment with the potential to undermine the credibility of the Supreme
Court, on Monday, boycotted his vetting by the Appointments Committee. He
however, sailed through for a positively overwhelming endorsement of 104-2 by
Parliament.
While
Justice Afreh went through the mill of nomination with his recommendation by
the Judicial Council, by the President in consultation with the Council of
State, vetting by the Appointments Committee and approved by Parliament by 104
majority, the same cannot be said of some of the Supreme Court judges whose
ruling has been hailed by the NDC.
The
appointments of Justice A.K.B. Ampiah and F.K.Y. Kpegah are classic examples of
the NDC’s move to “pack” the Supreme Court, which the party is accusing the
government of doing.
While
Justice Afreh went through the mill of nomination with his recommendation by
the Judicial Council, by the President in consultation with the Council of
State, vetting by the Appointments Committee and approved by a Parliamentary
majority, the same cannot be said of some of the Supreme Court judges whose
ruling has been hailed by the NDC.
The
appointments of Justices A.K.B. Ampiah and F.K.Y. Kpegah are classic examples
of the NDC’s move to “pack” the Supreme Court. While talking about the “whole
procedure, timing and circumstances” surrounding Justice Afreh’s appointment,
the Minority NDC seemed to have forgotten those surrounding Justices Ampiah and
Kpegah. The twp were indeed appointed by former President Rawlings on January
6, 1993, hours into the activation of the 1992 constitution.
“The whole
procedure, timing and circumstances surrounding the appointments of these two
judges to the Supreme Court was just to avoid subjecting them to vetting as
required by the Constitution,” said a retired Supreme Court judge who spoke on
condition of anonymity. Their appointments, he said, were part of the wholesale
decisions made by the PNDC during what was then described as “injury time,” to
push through issues and appointments, which could not stand the scrutiny of the
new constitution.
The
nomination of the most junior of the Supreme Court judges, Justice Adzoe, who
went through the constitutional process, however, had received so much protests
from the Ghana Bar Association and lawyers of substance. The contrast of
Justice Afreh’s appointment is the impeccable record he brings to the Supreme
Court. – The Statesman.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 March 2002 - The Volta Regional Minister, Kwasi Owusu-Yeboah, has described the majority judgement of the Supreme Court in respect of Tsatsu Tsikata and the “Fast Track High Court saga as a blatant judicial anomaly that requires immediate rectification by due process.
In an exclusive interview with the Chronicle in his office at Ho, seeking his comment on the judgement, Owusu-Yeboah said that it was difficult to fathom how the introduction and consequently the intervention of modern technological equipment and gadgets per se in the judicial process purely as a facility and expediting mechanism without more could be construed as having the effects in law of creating a new or different court of law not backed by the requisite constitutional or statutory mandate.
“It is trite knowledge that there is only one High Court in the country constituting part of the Superior Court of Judicature in Ghana under Constitutional order”, he underscored adding, therefore, that the mere designation of a high court sitting/session/room as a Fast Track High Court for the sole purpose of underscoring the application of modern technology or the wrongful use or non-use of administrative insignia cannot thereby operate to transform the juridical character and status of the Fast Track High Court into anything other than a High Court.
Owusu-Yeboah, a respectable legal practitioner of good standing, said this would otherwise mean that modern technology and administrative lapses of a non-juridical nature or substance are perceived by the country’s learned judges as an anti-juridical and anti-constitutional virus such that all and every court proceeding emanating from any section or rung of the Judiciary identified “infected” with the so-called virus are ipso facto, rendered invalid and unconstitutional.
The regional minister was, however, glad it has not been alleged or otherwise contended that the Fast Track High Court was not applying either the criminal or civil procedure code governing the high court in Ghana.
He said no change has been made tending to suggest or even imply that the standing and essential rules and norms of the judicial process have not been observed by the Fast Track Court, nor that contrary to his instrument or letter of nomination or appointment from his Lordship, the Chief Justice, the learned Court of Appeal judge who “condescended” to preside over the Fast Track High Court was not sitting as an additional High Court Judge which is a well established legal practice.
The learned minister fixing his gaze on the paper’s reporter as if demanding an immediate answer from him quizzed, “And so what is the gravamen of the majority judgement of the Supreme Court of Ghana?” - The Chronicle
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 19 March 2002
On Monday,
11 March 2002, Mr Tsatsu Tsikata asserted on a Radio Gold program that the Fast
Track Court Guidelines were not produced by the Chief Justice. Mr Tsikata’s
assertion was based on his own interpretation of the expression in the preface
that the Chief Justice said he “caused” to set up or established…Mr. Tsikata
repeated his assertion on Joy FM the following day.
The Chief
Justice is the Head of the Judiciary responsible for both the administration
and supervision of the judiciary; Act 125(4). It is impossible for him to
personally and physically carry out all administrative decisions he takes. He
takes his decisions and direct able and competent members of staff under him to
carry out whatever he wishes to be done on his behalf.
The main
point is that he has the power to ask any member of staff to prepare any
document on his behalf. If Tsikata knows of any law that forbids the Chief
Justice from instructing any administrative direction to be prepared for him,
let him name it.
The second
point is that what the Chief Justice does is not different from how all other
public services are governed; the head takes his decisions and directs
subordinates under him to prepare details for his action.
Thirdly, the
argument of Tsikata that the Chief Justice should personally and physically
prepare every directive of his is quite absurd and would result in
administrative bottlenecks which critics like him would love to see only to
exploit when it suits them to do so.
If Tsikata
were right, then even when instructions have to be given to drivers as to what
to do in the course of driving judges, the Chief Justice has to sit down, take
his pen and paper and write down what he would like to be done at all times.
This would also include the numerous financial directions given to finance
officers in the judicial service.
The idea is
too ridiculously unrealistic to be contemplated. The reality on the ground is
that the Chief Justice takes his decision. He has several officials working
under him whom he can appoint to produce on his behalf the details of any
decision. The fact that an official produces the details for him does not mean
that he did not produce it. This is the significance of the expression “caused
to be established or produced.”
For the
education of Tsikata, the Chief Justice carefully chooses his words when he
publishes his ideas. The expression “caused to be established” was carefully
chosen to reflect precisely what it says. The “Chambers 21 Century Dictionary,”
1996 edition, page 222 defines to cause as, “to produce an effect, to bring
about something.
2.
Signing of Guidelines
The
original Guidelines were signed by the Chief Justice himself. The fact that Tsikata
could only lay his hands on an unsigned copy does not mean that it was not
signed. Tsikata may wish to verify from the Chief Justice himself whether or
not he signed the guidelines.
3. Few
copies signed
Only a few
copies were signed and kept in the office and on file. Thereafter, several
copies were produced for use initially, by court officials. The officials had
to know how to use the computers in relation to the High Court Rules before
attention could be turned to the use of the Guidelines by members of the Bar
and litigants. That is why the first copies were distributed among the court
officials only.
4.
Guidelines, computer software and movement of computers to other courts
It is
significant to point out the software applied to produce records and process
the trials and execution of cases in the FTC is based on the Guidelines, which
are in turn produced out of the High Court Rules. If the Guidelines are illegal
and unconstitutional, how can persons who have ensured their outlaw turn round
to say that the computers should be moved and put into other courts, knowing
very well that the computers can only be operated on specific soft ware and
guidelines?
What
Guidelines should be employed to operate the computers if they are sent to
other courts as Tsatsu and his lawyer advocate? They should take the trouble to
find out how much the World Bank paid and the amount of imputs that went into
the production of the software of the Fast Track Court before they attempt to
confuse members of the public by making statements which they know very well
are impossible to implement. – The Crusading Guide.
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Bawku
(Upper East Region) 19 March 2002 - Reports reaching the “Ghana Palaver” from
Bawku, in the Upper East region say that the fragile peace that is being
observed by the Kusasis and the Mamprusis after their bloody clash during the
December 2000 elections, is fast eroding following the suspicion by the
factions that 40 pieces of AK-47 rifles missing from the Police Armoury, are in
the possession of their rivals.
Sources
close to the Ghana Police Service in Bawku told the paper that the weapons were
missing and the armourer, H. Nuhu, is also said to have vacated his post with
keys to the armoury. The sources said, soon after the December 2000 bloody
clash between the Kusasis and the Mamprusis over election results, the Regional
Police commander, Mr Paul Quaye, detected the absence of Corporal H. Nuhu and
the missing Armoury keys.
He (Mr
Quaye) therefore asked that the Armoury to be forced open and stock taken of
the weapons in there. The exercise indicated a loss of 40 pieces of AK-47 and
other weapons and ammunitions. The stock taking also revealed that no entries
were made in the station diary of how weapons have been handed out to Police
officers who had gone on duty with weapons, according to Ghana Palaver sources.
Even though
there has been some tension between the Kusasis and the Mamprusis for some
time, they had not gone to war until the December 2000 election when the
tension erupted into a bloody tribal conflict between them. Over 30 people died
in the conflict with over 100 houses burnt and property worth millions of cedis
destroyed. More than 3000 people were made homeless.
It is in
the light of this that some residents of Bawku have expressed concern over the
missing weapons from the Police armoury, as so much tension was generated in
the area after the Vice President, Aliu Mahama’s visit in July, last year. Also
concerned about the disturbing developments in the area are Members of
Parliament from the area who have written to President J.A. Kufuor appealing to
him to use his good office to see that peace prevail in the area.
In a letter
to the President, the MPs said even though there is a latent chieftaincy
conflict between the Kusasis and the Mamprusis, as far as they know, they
believe the latest tension can be attributed to the intransigence of the
Regional Minister in the handling of the approval process for the Bawku East
District Chief Executive coupled with his lack of transparency and objectivity
in the handling of the Bawku Peace Initiative (BPI) leading to the suspicion
that he (the Regional Minister) has compromised his position in the region.
Explaining
their position to the President, the MPs said, the appointment of Mr Abdul
Rahman Guma by the Regional Minister as his special assistant to oversea the
affairs of the Bawku East District Assembly despite the fact that he had been
rejected by the Assembly, made him to be perceived as an imposition on the
people.
Another
reason they assigned was the Regional Minister’s lack of transparency and
objectivity in handling the BPI sponsored by the coalition of NGOs. The
people’s representatives also called the attention of the President to the fact
that the Regional Minister had ignored his directives to withdraw Mr Guma as
his personal assistant for the District and gone ahead to introduce him to
Heads of Department in the District. They said, the perception in Bawku at the
moment is that the Regional Minister had fraudulently imposed a DCE on the
people and had done that to spite them.
The MPs
said, for genuine peace to hold in Bawku, all parties in the conflict must be
transparent and sincere with the peace process. The Members of Parliament are,
Hon John Akologu Tia, for Talensi, Hon Cletus A. Avoka, for Bawku West, Hon Ben
Achidago, Binduri, Hon Moses Asaga, for Nabdam and Hon Albert Abongo, for
Bongo. – The Ghana Palaver.
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Sunyani
(Eastern Region) 19 March 2002 - The Brong Ahafo Regional branch of the
National Democratic Congress (NDC) has expressed its displeasure with the
decision of the Electoral Commission to undertake this week’s revision of the
Voters Register exercise at selected centres in the country.
The party
said the move would deprive a number of eligible voters of the right and
opportunity to register with the commission, especially those in the rural
areas since they cannot afford transport fares to and from the selected
centres.
This was
contained in a release signed by the Regional Chairman of the party, Alhaji
Kwadwo Maama Adam, at Sunyani. The release said it is likely that large numbers
of people cannot turn up at the centres and this will affect the success of the
exercise.
“The
intended objective to make the voters register clean, accurate, reliable and
dependable will not be realised if registration centres are not provided at the
doorsteps of the electorate,” it said. The release said if the EC decides to
maintain the existing centres, the patronage of the exercise by the electorate
is bound to be low.
It,
therefore, appealed to the government to adequately resource the EC to
undertake the exercise and to avoid the problems the eligible voters will face in
moving from one registration centre to another in search of their names. The
release added that it is important not only to register or have one’s name in
the voters register but also to locate one’s polling station without difficulty
during elections - The Daily Graphic.
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Tema
(Greater Accra) 19 March 2002 - The Chairman of Unilever (Gh), Mr Ishmael
Yamson, has suggested that the Ghana Customs, Exercise and Preventive Service
(CEPS) should be privatised to stem the tide of smuggling. Ishmael Yamson made
the suggestion at a briefing to present to the press, Unilever’s performance for
2001 at the Unilever head office in Tema.
Mr Yamson
expressed concern about the illegal entry of consumable goods into the country,
which he said puts a strain on local industries. Using the example of
toothpaste, he said sometimes he is shocked at the price at which imported
toothpaste is sold on the market. According to him, most of the time the cost
of the toothpaste is far less than the cost of producing the tube alone, let
alone its contents.
He said
unless the products were given free of charge to the importer and transported
free of charge to Ghana, there is no way an importer would sell at that
abysmally low price and still make profit. And profit is the reason for which
people go into business. He said there are a lot of loopholes at our entry points
that made it easy for people to smuggle goods into the country to sell at a low
prices and thereby put a strain on local industry or manufacturers.
The
solution, according to Mr Yamson, is to privatise the CEPS to inject efficiency
into it, both as a way of increasing government revenue and also salvaging
local industry. This, according to him, has been done in countries like
Pakistan and Tanzania with success. If therefore Ghana will not even privatise
the CEPS fully, then we should go for a partial privatisation.
In a
related development, the Unilever Chairman has suggested to big companies to
design collaborative programmes to pull along the small companies with big
potential. He said through such alignment, Unilever has been able to transform
hitherto small companies into big ones. This way, he said the big companies can
concentrate on their key brands in order to increase productivity and also
market shares - The High Street Journal.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 March 2002 - The Centre for the Advocacy of Language and Culture (CALAC) of the University College of Education Winneba (UCEW), has condemned moves by the Ministry of Education to replace the use of Ghanaian languages as medium of instruction in primary classes One to Three with English Language.
It has therefore asked the government to maintain the policy since the country cannot develop without the use of its indigenous languages. Ghanaian languages, according to CALAC, should be declared as official languages and all efforts made to facilitate translation in various spheres of the Ghanaian society.
Mr Ephraim Nsoh Avea, Director of CALAC, made the call at a news conference in Accra on Monday. He urged the government to as a matter of urgency, cause the Ministry of Education to collate, review and publish textbooks in the various Ghanaian languages. He further proposed that Ghanaian languages should be restored as core subjects in Secondary Schools (SS) to bridge the gap between the SSS and Teacher Training Colleges.
A credit in Ghanaian languages, he said, should be made a compulsory requirement for entry into tertiary educational institutions and for employment. “We are proposing a multi-lingual policy for Ghana where the indigenous languages will be given a much greater role in education,” he said.
He pointed out that the CALAC was not asking for the discontinuation of the use and study of English or any non-Ghanaian language. “A child’s proficiency in the local language enables him or her to perform better in English”, he noted.
Mr Avea therefore recommended that all teachers at the basic level should be given in-service training in Ghanaian language methodology while ‘Language Advisory Committees should be established from the national to the local levels to advise and lead in language education issues.’
He urged the Education Review Committee to consider the issues raised seriously since the final decision and implementation of the language policy rest on them. He said languages “are the only means by which our cultures, literatures, political institutions, histories, religion and family and community values can survive. – The Ghanaian Times
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Sekondi (Western Region) 19 March 2002 - Rev Asankomah Tandoh, who was found guilty of contempt and sentenced to 10 months imprisonment by a Sekondi High Court presided over by Justice Asiamah on February 11, this year, for levelling a number of corruption charges against the presiding judge handling the legal battle between him and his mother over the ownership of a private school in Takoradi, has filed an application at the Supreme Court for an order of certiorari to quash the ruling of Justice Asiamah.
Rev Tandoh in February, this year, filed a motion at the Sekondi High Court praying for an order to remove Justice Asiamah, who is the Supervising High Court Judge in the Western Region from presiding over the case involving him and his mother, Prophetess Mary Wood.
In a sworn affidavit accompanying the said motion, Rev Tandoh alleged that his mother and her counsel had paid what he described as a nocturnal visit to Justice Asiamah’s residence, including another one to his new school, Jacris, this time allegedly by his mother and Justice Asiamah whiles the case was still pending before him.
He also alleged that he had submitted the registration number and the name of the driver who allegedly drove his mother and Justice Asiamah to his new school at night to the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI), who have also begun investigation into it.
Based on this, he prayed the court to remove Justice Asiamah from presiding over the case since it is likely he might not give him a fair hearing. This motion and the supporting affidavit got to the notice of “The Dispatch” newspaper which also published same, prompting Justice Asiamah to make an order for the editor of “The Dispatch” to appear before him on the next adjourned date after the motion had been moved on February 11 this year.
The editor of “The Dispatch”, Mr Ben Ephson, who was accompanied to the court by the editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Elvis Aryeh, on the next adjourned date apologised to the court for whatever embarrassment the publication as contained in the affidavit of Rev Tandoh, might have caused him, a plea which was accepted by the court and he was ordered to publish in the front page of the paper, stating that the publication he made scandalising the court was untrue.
Justice Asiamah then called Rev Tandoh and asked him whether he personally saw his mother and counsel coming to his residence in the night which he responded in the negative. He again asked him whether he saw him (Judge) and his mother visiting his school also in the night, which he again responded in the negative. He, however, told the court that he has witnesses who saw them and that he is prepared to bring them to court to testify.
Justice Asiamah then told him that by showing contempt to the court through the scandalous publication he caused in “The Dispatch”, he has convicted and sentenced him to 10 months imprisonment.
In the motion of notice for an order of certiorari, which was filed at the Supreme Court on March 12, this year, by Kuenyehia and Co., an Accra-based legal firm on behalf of the applicant, who is currently serving his jail term in the Sekondi prison, counsel submitted that the facts as contained in the ruling given by Justice Asiamah do not in law amount to contempt of court.
This, he argued, is because the affidavit had already been filed with the court and copies served on Justice Asiamah and the interested party. - The Chronicle
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