Nana Konadu leaves for first ladies conference at Abuja
Treat patients first, demand payment later, health worker told
District chief executive orders bribe money to be paid into scholarship fund
Feuding government officials suspended
Assembly takes over ’33m post office
Agriculture students appeal for tractor
Christians defy ban as they drum at church
Asantehene charges bank to undertake commercial housing projects
Rawlings returns from Nigerian trip
Nana Konadu leaves for first ladies conference at Abuja
Accra Greater Accra), 10th May 99
The First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings left Accra on Sunday for Abuja, Nigeria, at the head of an eight-member delegation to attend the second meeting of the African First Ladies Conference.
Members of the delegation included: Mrs. Ama Benyiwa-Doe, a Deputy Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mrs. Rebecca Adotey, a Deputy Minister of Communications and Mrs. Cecilia Johnson, a Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development.
Others were Mrs. Comfort Owusu, Deputy Majority Chief Whip, Madam Faustina Nelson, Vice Chairman of National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Mrs. Ruby Dagadu, Coordinator of the West African Peace Mission.
The two-day meeting will examine what the five sub-regional groupings in Africa have done within the last two years to promote peace and humanitarian activities in the light of the numerous conflicts and the resultant refugee problem on the continent.
It would deliberate on socio-economic issues, which affect mainly women and children and elect a new bureau to steer the affairs of the Conference for the next two years.
The last meeting of the African first ladies was also held in Abuja two years ago, while that of West Africa was held in Accra last year.
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Treat patients first, demand payment later, health worker told
Akim Oda (Eastern Region), 10th May 99
Health workers have been advised not to refuse to treat patients because they have no money.
The Birim South District Director of Health Services, DR L. K. Senaya, said, "the 'cash and carry', notwithstanding, a patient must be treated first, and if later found not in a position to pay, could be declared a pauper and allowed to go".
DR Senaya, who was reacting to a question at the end of two days training of "focal persons on disease surveillance" at Akim Oda, said if the case is an emergency, the patient should be treated first and money demanded later.
More than 56 participants drawn from the Akim Manso and Akim Achiase sub-districts attended the training, which was organised by the Birim South District Health Management Team (DHMT).
It was to update the knowledge of the participants on the Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) and target diseases.
DR Senaya urged the participants to keep an eye on the environment and assured them that their transport expenses would be refunded to them any time they travelled to report cases of suspected diseases in their areas.
Mr Paul Adwere, District Technical Officer, Disease Control, reminded the participants of their role as front liners and called on them to be prepared to report cases of suspected diseases early.
He urged them to educate the people to be aware that the root causes of most diseases is lack of personal hygiene, drinking of impure water and poor sanitation to enable them to learn to live in a healthy environment at all times.
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District chief executive orders bribe money to be paid into scholarship fund
Akim Oda (Eastern Region), 10th May 99
Some traders at Akim Oda, who allegedly bribed the Birim South district chief executive (DCE), Mr John Effah-Boadi, to allow them to continue to trade at unauthorised places were disappointed, when he refused to budge.
He ordered that the amount of 100,000 cedis, the traders allegedly offered him to compromise his position on an exercise to rid the town of unauthorised structures, should be paid into the district assembly's scholarship fund.
This came to light when Mr Effah-Boadi held a meeting with the traders, including orange, second-hand clothing and footwear sellers, personnel of the Town and Country Planning Department and officers of the district assembly in his office at Akim Oda on Friday.
The DCE said during the exercise, traders who had their kiosks and tables close to the streets were ejected.
The traders later "organised themselves" and raised the amount, which they sent to him with the view to influencing him to allow them to go back to their former sites.
He told the traders that he was determined to bring sanity into the area and warned that those caught selling at unauthorised places would have their wares seized.
Mr Effah-Boadi tasked the Town and Country Planning Department and the assembly's planning department to compile a list of all the traders and have them re-settled.
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Feuding government officials suspended
Accra (Greater Accra), 10th May 99
President Jerry John Rawlings has ordered the immediate suspension from office of Mr Amos Buertey, Deputy Greater Accra Regional Minister and Mr Justice Kwame Caeser, District Chief Executive of Dangme East, a Radio Ghana report said on Sunday.
The broadcast quoted a statement signed by Mr Jimmy Amissah, Secretary to the Cabinet, as saying the Greater Accra Regional Minister has been directed to put in place appropriate measures for the day-to-day administration of the Dangme East District.
The two suspended public officers had been quarreling openly for some time now.
Their supporters have been organising demonstrations against one another.
Last Thursday about 4,000 supporters of Mr Buertey, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ada, besieged the offices of the DCE demanding his removal from office.
The demonstrators, who came in a long convoy of mummy trucks and canoes from the rural areas, were joined by the Ada Constituency Executives of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and occupied the offices of the District Assembly for about two hours.
The demonstration was in retaliation of a similar one held on Wednesday by about 40 supporters of Mr Caesar against the NDC constituency executives and Mr Buertey, for allegedly planning to remove the DCE from office.
The MP's faction, infuriated by Wednesday's action, mobilised in their numbers and carried placards accusing the DCE and Mr Kwamena Ahwoi, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development of corruption.
Some of the placards read: "the DCE must be probed" and "Kwamena Ahwoi is corrupt", in reference to an allegation that the Minister gave the nod to the DCE to renovate a four-bedroom guesthouse at a cost of 365 million cedis.
A detachment of the Police was sent to the assembly to forestall any nasty incidents.
Two supporters of the DCE, Mr Francis Dugbartey and Mr Ernest Otu, however, sustained head injuries and were treated and discharged at the Ada health centre.
The personality clash between the two men started when the DCE allegedly declared his intention to contest for the party's ticket in the 2000 parliamentary elections.
Mr Buertey, the source stated, also intends to stand for the same position for the third time.
On Wednesday, Mr Buertey denied that he and the executives were behind a meeting held at Kunyenya on Thursday, April 29, where the decision to forcibly remove the DCE from office was taken.
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Assembly takes over ’33m post office
Mankranso (Ashanti), 10th May 99
A new Ahafo-Ano South district Post Office, built at a cost of 33 million cedis, was at the weekend handed over to the district assembly at Mankranso in Ashanti.
The 100-letter box post office with space for additional 100 boxes took three years to build after the old structure was pulled down.
Mr Eddie Botchway, Optimization Advisor on Projects, of Construction Aid Limited, the consultants, who handed over the keys to Mr Anthony Kusi, the District Chief Executive, said defects on the building would be corrected when the Ghana Postal Services Corporation (GPSC) occupies it.
Mr Kusi said the assembly was taking over the building in spite of the defects because the project had delayed for too long and that the money for rectifying the defects would be deducted from the contract sum.
He said the project was funded entirely by the assembly as part of efforts to raise the standard of living of the people by providing the post office to facilitate communication with the rest of the country.
Mr Samuel W. Abban, the Kumasi District Manager of GPSC said the Corporation would introduce other services when it starts operation.
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Agriculture students appeal for tractor
Kumasi (Ashanti), 10th May 99
Students of the Kwadaso Agriculture College in Kumasi have appealed to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to speed up efforts to secure a tractor for the college.
They regretted that even though mechanised agriculture forms part of their studies, they are being denied such knowledge because the college does not have a tractor.
Mr Raymond Bokor, secretary of the Schools Representative Council and Mr Richard Nkrumah, President of the students union, made the appeal when they briefed the in Kumasi on Saturday.
They said it is important that students at agriculture colleges are exposed to the practicals of mechanised farming in view of the current scientific advancement.
The students stressed the need to adapt to developments in agriculture and appealed to the Ghana Water and Sewerage Company to repair the broken down stand pipes at the college.
They said the water situation at the college has assumed an alarming proportion and appealed to the authorities to sink a borehole for the over 258 students and workers at the college.
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Christians defy ban as they drum at church
Accra (Greater Accra), 10th May 99
Churches in the Accra metropolis on Sunday drummed during their services despite a ban by the Ga Traditional Council but restricted their activities to their premises as directed by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Ghana and Christian Council of Ghana.
The orthodox and charismatic churches drummed, trumpeted and sang praises in their worship and were not confronted by traditionalists who had slapped the ban as a prelude to the Ga Homowo festival.
Most of the churches had their normal church activities in peace and harmony.
Military personnel were seen patrolling the streets around Awoshie in their vehicles but their mission was not disclosed.
Last year, traditionalists tried to stop members of Lighthouse Chapel International at Korle Gonno from drumming during the ban leading to a clash between the two sides in which both sides sustained injuries.
Tension has been mounting in Accra since this year's ban went into force.
Christians, supported by the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, have said the ban is an infringement of their rights under the constitution while traditionalists say that it is necessary to perform their rituals.
The government and police have appealed to both sides to respect each other's views and avoid confrontation.
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Asantehene charges bank to undertake commercial housing projects
Kumasi (Ashanti) 10th May, 99
Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, on Saturday stressed the need for management of the Bank for Housing and Construction (BHC) to go into active commercial housing projects.
This, he said, should involve the construction of hostel facilities for the universities, vocational and technical institutes as well as secondary schools and the polytechnics.
The Asantehene made the call when a delegation from the bank, including Mr Lawrence Adjaidoo, Managing Director, and Mr Simon Atiegar, Deputy Managing Director, paid a courtesy call on him at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.
He said the management should offer loans to their clients to expand their businesses so that they can in the end construct their own houses.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu expressed his appreciation for the call and said it was an indication that they were poised to work to help the region.
He called on the management of the bank to expand its scholarship facilities to needy students in the region to pursue higher academic programmes.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu said he would soon meet Nananom to discuss how best they could embark on constructional and quarry projects in the region.
Mr Ransford A. Okine, Project Manager, said the bank has been assisting in road construction and supporting educational projects as well as providing funds to deserving clients for housing projects.
Mr Frank Osei-Mensah, board member of BHC, said the bank had acquired a land at Wamase, near Kumasi, for estate development.
The delegation presented drinks and cash of two million cedis to Otumfuo and the chiefs.
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Rawlings returns from Nigerian trip
Accra (Greater Accra), 10th May 99
Ghana and Nigeria have reaffirmed their determination to continue to pursue diplomatic means to bring a lasting solution to the conflict in Sierra Leone.
They have therefore urged President Tijan Kabbah and the RUF rebels to continue to dialogue and to make progress in their current deliberations in Togo.
This was made known to journalists by Mr Victor Gbeho, Minister of Foreign Affairs, at the Kotoka International airport after accompanying President Rawlings on a three-day official visit to Nigeria at the invitation of the Nigerian President, General Abudulsalami Abubakar, before he leaves office on the 29th of May.
Among the delegation were Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, the First Lady, Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni, Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mrs. Cecilia Johnson, Deputy Minister of Local Government and Dan Abodakpi, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industries.
Mr Gbeho said, President Rawlings and his Nigerian counterpart, noted with regret that conflict still exist in other countries and this has created instability in the sub-region.
According to Mr Gbeho, President Rawlings held bilateral discussions and reviewed the state of relations between the two countries, especially about already signed agreements to enhance co-operation between the two countries, with the Nigerian leader.
The two nations agreed to promote the future of developing countries especially in the sub-region and to ensure greater freedom for their people.
Mr Gbeho said President Rawlings and his entourage visited the Aluminium smelter at Ikot Abasi, which imports ingots from VALCO.
President Rawlings also visited Mobil oil facilities and plants where LPG gas is produced and exported.
At a dinner at the University of Technology at Mina, President Rawlings was awarded an honorary doctorate degree in law for his achievements in Ghana and for his efforts towards international peace and reconciliation.
The President was met on arrival by Vice President John Atta Mills, the Chairman of the Council of State, Alhaji Mumuni Bawumai, the Chief of Defence Staff, Lt. General Ben Akafia, Service Commanders and the Nigerian Ambassador in Ghana, Mohammed Moazu.
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