Queen to pay state visit to Ghana
Withdraw all cases from courts within two weeks - Asantehene
Nyaho clinic to attain international status
Seven more Presidents arrive for Summit
Sierra Leone government urges pressure on rebel group
US Mayors talk of new African initiative
Intensify fight against desertification - Dean
Regional Executives of CP resign from the party
Oncho programme saves 1.5 million from blindness
Savelugu-Nanton District Assembly declares war on land encroachers.
Suhum hospital records 106 cases of T.B. last year
Drivers strike action enters its second day
Queen to pay state visit to Ghana
Accra (Greater Accra) 19 May 99
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom will pay a three-day state visit to Ghana from November Seven to Nine.
Separate press releases issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British High Commission in Accra on Tuesday, said the Queen is expected to arrive from London on Sunday, November seven and stay in the country until the morning of Tuesday, November nine.
The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, her husband, will be in her company.
From Ghana, the Queen will pay a state visit to South Africa before opening the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Durban.
She will also visit Mozambique, the only Commonwealth country she has not visited previously, before returning to Britain.
The Queen first visited Ghana in November 1961. More recent Royal visits have included the Princess Anne in March 1998, Prince Edward in October 1993 and Prince Charles in 1977.
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Withdraw all cases from courts within two weeks - Asantehene
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 19 May 99
The Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu 11, has given Chiefs under the Kumasi Traditional Council (KTC), who have cases pending in law courts, two weeks to withdraw all such cases for amicable settlement.
He said if by the expiration of the deadline any Chief refuses to comply with the order, he would advice himself.
Otumfuo Osei Tutu also asked the Adontenhene, Nana Nkwantabisa who has sent Manhyia to court, the Tredehene, Nana Nuben Asare 11, who has a case in court against the KTC and the Akyeamehene, Nana Adunya Safia who also has a pending case in court to appear before him at the next sitting of the KTC.
The Asantehene, who gave the orders at the second meeting of the KTC since his enstoolment, assured all the Chiefs that their cases would be dealt with fairly and they should therefore not have any misgivings.
He said revenue accruing from the stool lands must be used for development to raise the living standards of their people and not for litigation.
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Accra (Greater Accra), 19th May 99
Two days after the opening of the Fifth African-African American Summit Bazaar, the stands are without electric power, forcing exhibitors to close before the intended time.
The Bazaar, which was originally scheduled to close by 20:00 hours daily has been closing at about 18:30 hours and is affecting business much to the detriment of exhibitors.
Mr Kwesi Oppong, a member of the Organising Committee told the GNA that Globalised Services, the contractor, which erected the stands "was supposed to fix the lights as well, but as at now this has not been done".
As to why it has not been done, Mr Oppong said, " I just don't know what is delaying him".
Meanwhile, Mr Oppong has assured exhibitors that efforts are being made to put the lights in place for a more successful and profitable transaction as from tomorrow.
A number of exhibitors GNA spoke to expressed disappointment about the situation saying, " is this what they made us pay 450,000 cedis for?"
"This is not what they told us, and if its so, then I will call it a rip-off", fumed one Liberian exhibitor.
Officials of the company said they are working at getting power, "except that it is not all the stands that will have power today".
Participants, who visited the bazaar on Monday evening, had to go back, as they could not make out what they wanted to buy.
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Nyaho clinic to attain international status
Accra (Greater Accra), 19th May 99
A 6.8 million-dollar high-tech private hospital project is to be built in Accra to treat difficult medical problems at home and cut down on the cost of travelling abroad for medical treatment.
The Nyaho International Hospital is being sponsored jointly by Private Clinics Limited, a holding company of Nyaho Clinic, Healthcare Development Limited, owned by a group of Ghanaian doctors and professionals living in South Africa, and Netcare Limited, a holding of several private hospitals in South Africa.
Netcare Limited has already invested 2.8 million dollars in the project, leaving four million dollars to be obtained from private investors.
This was made known by Dr. Kwami Nyaho Tamaklo, founder of Nyaho Clinic, during the launch of the project in Accra on Tuesday.
He said the project would also enable some Ghanaian medical specialists abroad to return home to help in the health delivery system.
Dr. Tamaklo said the project would provide an 80-bed ultra modern hospital consisting of four intensive care units (ICU), 24 surgical beds, 30 medical beds, 12 maternity beds and 10 day-clinic beds.
There will be three operating theatres, 10 consulting rooms, an X-ray department with Scanner, and a pathology department with hi-tech modern analysers.
He said, at present, the clinic has 32 beds, an operating theatre, a delivery suite and a nursery.
Mr Ken Ford, project consultant and prospectus compiler, said there has been a private placement of 270,000 ordinary shares at 57,500 cedis per share.
The offer of the shares, which opens on Tuesday, will end on Wednesday, June 30.
He said Independent Hospital Developers in South Africa has been contracted to structure co-ordinate and develop the hospital project.
Mr Ford appealed to all stakeholders in the health profession to purchase shares to make the project a success.
Mr J. V. Phillips, who presided, said all the facilities for the project are ready, adding: "if by the end of June we have got all the needed money, the project will take of early July".
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Seven Presidents arrive for Summit
Accra (Greater Accra), 19th May 99
Six Presidents on Tuesday arrived in Accra to participate in the on-going fifth African-African American Summit.
They are Henry Konan Bedie of Cote d'Ivoire, Abdul Diof of Senegal, and Chief Mswati III of Swaziland.
The others are Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, J. A. Wijdenbosch of the Surinam. and Mathias Sinamenyi, second vice-president of Burundi. They were met on arrival by President Jerry John Rawlings, Vice-President John Evans Atta Mills, ministers of state, Service commanders, and the diplomatic corps.
They all inspected the guard of honour mounted by a detachment from the 48 Regiment made up of 96 men and three officers.
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Sierra Leone government urges pressure on rebel group
Accra (Greater Accra), 19th May 99
The embattled government of Sierra Leone on Tuesday called for global pressure on the Rebel United Front (RUF) and its allies as a way of making them see reason in the latest efforts at ending the war in that country.
The government in Freetown said, while it is committed to current consultations, towards a negotiated settlement with the rebels, it would not accept the option of power sharing as is being proposed by the rebels and some countries.
"We will be going against the Constitution of our land if we bow to the pressure from those making this proposal to share power with the rebels", Mr Julius Spencer, the Information Minister said when he briefed the press at the Fifth African-African American Summit currently underway in Accra.
In attendance was Dr. Sama Bany, Sierra Leonean Foreign Minister, who contributed.
The issue of power sharing, proposed by the rebels and their allies, led by Corporal Foday Sankoh, has been a key element of dispute in their renewed talks with President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah's government in the Togolese capital, Lome.
The key mediators in the Lome talks are Togolese President Gnassingbe Eyadema and current chairman of ECOWAS, and Rev Jesse Jackson, special envoy of US President Bill Clinton to Africa.
President Kabbah and Rev Jackson flew to Lome on Tuesday for consultations.
Mr Spencer said President Kabbah went to Lome to hold consultations with Cpl Sankoh and expressed the hope that the rebel leader and his side will see reason.
He reiterated his government's position to grant amnesty to the rebels and their allies to form a political party and contest elections later.
He intimated that amnesty could only be granted to Cpl. Sankoh according to the rule of law, inferring that he will have to go through court proceedings and later be pardoned by President Kabbah.
Mr Spencer also kicked against another proposal to replace the current government in Sierra Leone with a transitional body for four years.
President Kabbah's term of office ends in February 2001.
He said the situation in Sierra Leone is a real test case for democracy in Africa which, if not given the needed attention by all, could spill over to other countries on the continent.
He repeated allegations that the crisis is being fuelled by the governments of Liberia and Burkina Faso with the support of Libya as part of a master plan to cripple countries that have the potential to achieve success in development.
Some international crook businessmen and drug barons are also involved in the conflict which has resulted it the killing of 600,000 and 700,000 people, he said.
"Some girls, who managed to escape after they had been raped by the rebels, are now pregnant, while some have contracted the dreadful AIDS disease. The crisis in my country is not a civil war, as some people want the world to believe. It is a rebel war".
Mr Spencer made reference to the international attention being given to the Kosovo crisis and expressed regrets that while the war in Sierra Leone is much more serious, little attention is being paid to it dismissed the possible bombardment of Freetown as is being done in the former Yugoslavia.
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US Mayors talk of new African initiative
Accra (Greater Accra), 19th May 99
A group of 25 City Mayors from the United States attending the Fifth African-African American Summit in Accra on Tuesday pledged their commitment to the American policy of "inclusion of Africa in global development.
"Our goal is to change the image of Africa... and we will not let Africa slip from the minds of America", Mayor Wellington Webb, of Denver Colorado and leader of the Group told Journalists at a conference briefing.
The weeklong Conference, which has brought together about 5,000 delegates from around the globe, is under the theme "Business, Trade and Investment - Africa can Compete".
After long hours of brainstorming among the Mayors and their African counterparts on the way forward to include Africa in global trade, investment and development, the meeting agreed that closer co-ordination, which would thrive on sharing of information, be reached.
Mayor Webb said the visit, which is the first for most of the group members to Africa had enabled them to get a feel of the "real African challenge" during their travels to Cape Coast and Kumasi.
"We will tell the true story of Africa and tell people to step up investments.
"What the story has been is that the real beauty of the people and the continent's potential of being a great partner in the globalisation process has been kept in secrecy," said Mayor Webb.
Perhaps, the Mayors' first impressions about the continent are far different from the perceptions of most Americans on Africa as portrayed by the Western Media.
According to the Mayors, the new American initiative stemmed from President Bill Clinton's visit to Africa in March 1998, which brought into focus the "New Africa" agenda.
"It is time to forge a new relationship with Africa", Mr Webb said, adding that the group would put pressure on the US congress to pass the "African Growth and Opportunities."
"We should do what we can do to improve on the trade imbalance, low investment flows and extreme poverty in Africa", Mayor Webb said.
Africa's current share of world trade is about six per cent while trading among African countries is below 20 per cent.
The trade imbalance of the continent is reflected in its high dependence on foreign imports, which forms over 90 per cent of the total consumption.
Mayor Webb said even though the political structure of the US and Africa are not the same, there were areas, where both could collaborate.
"The challenges facing Africa and its partners are in the areas of environment, trade and economic development and investments in the private sector.
"Part of our initiative towards the new Africa is to reach out to the larger investor community to support the Africa today, not the Africa we have read about in the books," Mr Webb said.
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Intensify fight against desertification - Dean
Bolgatanga (Upper Wast), 19th May 99
Professor Z.K. Batse, Dean of the Faculty of Integrated Development Studies at the University for Development Studies (USD) has called for the intensification of the fight against desertification in the country.
He said there is an urgent need for a collaborative action by all stakeholders, particularly the government, donor agencies and the people, to ensure that programmes drawn up for the environment are effectively implemented.
Professor Batse was speaking at the opening of a workshop in Bolgatanga on the draft national report for the United Nations Conference to Combat Desertification (CCD).
The workshop was organised by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and sponsored by the Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel, Africa Region Co-ordination Unit of the CCD secretariat.
Professor Batse regretted the lack of goodwill by stakeholders to implement most laudable programmes in the country.
Mr S.O. Saaka, Deputy Director of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in-charge of the Upper East region, warned that the soils in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions are being seriously threatened by erosion and other forms of environmental degradation.
He called on the participants, drawn from governmental departments and agencies, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), community-based organisations (CBO) and the media, to contribute to improve upon the draft report.
It is estimated that about 35 per cent of Ghana's 238,537 square kilometre landmass are under threat of desertification.
On the global level, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that desertification costs the world 42 billion dollars a year and Africa alone loses some nine billion dollars a year.
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Regional Executives of CP resign from the party
Kumasi (Ashanti) 19th May 99
Seven out of the eight Ashanti Regional Executive members of the Convention Party (CP) have resigned from the party.
They are Mr Akwasi Prempeh, Chairman, Mr Abass Salifu, Vice Chairman, Mr K. B. Attakora, Treasurer, Mr Osei Owusu, Organiser, Mr K. A, Yeboah, Education Secretary, Mr Fordjour Bimful, Youth Organiser and Madam Afua Sarpong, Women's Organiser.
The only Executive member left is Mr Enoch Kwaku Ampong, Regional Secretary.
In a statement issued to the Press in Kumasi on Tuesday, the seven said, however, that they still maintain their Nkrumaist identity.
They said their resignation stemmed from their desire to see that the practice of democracy thrives, not only in the country but also within the party, as enshrined in the Constitution and the Political Party's Laws.
They extended their gratitude to their supporters and regretted their inability to consult them before their action.
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Oncho programme saves 1.5 million from blindness
Wa (Upper West), 19th May 99
The Onchocerciasis (ONCHO) Control Programme (OCP) has since its inception 25 years ago cured 1.5 million people of river blindness in West Africa.
The programme has also protected more than 34 million others from contracting the disease, within the same period.
Dr. Moses Adibo, Deputy Minister of Health announced this at the 25th anniversary celebration of the OCP at Wa on Tuesday.
He said in all 11 countries including Ghana, Togo, Ivory Coast the Burkina Faso have benefited from the programme. The countries would be required to clear about 600,000 more cases of the disease by the end of the programme in 2002.
The celebration is under the theme, "Together we can control Oncho".
Dr. Adibo said donor agencies would require participating countries to maintain vigilance to be able to detect and nip in the bud any renewed transmission of the disease.
He said that river blindness has been brought under control in the Northern part of Ghana, and the drug-"Ivermectin", for Oncho prevention, was being distributed to people in the Southern half.
Dr. Francis Banka, acting Upper West Regional Director of Health Services said that last year, 20,449 people in the endemic districts of Wa, Sissala, Jirapa and Nadowli were treated of the disease.
He said as at last March, 86 communities with a total population of 41,283 people had been protected.
Mr George Mburathi, Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) representative in Ghana said that the organisation has approved 355,000 U.S. dollars, through its technical co-operation programme, for an Oncho control project covering Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.
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Savelugu-Nanton District Assembly declares war on land encroachers.
Pong-Tamale (Northern Region) 19 May 99
The Savelugu-Nanton District Assembly has directed land owners to acquire official permits from the Assembly before embarking on any development.
Alhaji Abdulai Harunna, the District Chief Executive, said the District Assembly has the mandate to issue building permits to ensure compliance with building regulations and prevent encroachment on state lands.
Alhaji Harunna was speaking at Pong-Tamale, near Savelugu, when he presented five bags of cement to Long-Naa Fuseini Baani who, he said, had showed leadership by example. He said Naa Baani readily complied with an order by the Assembly to remove a structure for a grinding mill he had put up on a land belonging to the Pong-Tamale Veterinary College.
By his action, Long-Naa has shown respect for authority and the donation was in recognition of his gesture.
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Suhum hospital records 106 cases of T.B. last year
Suhum (Eastern Region) 19 May 99
The Suhum Government Hospital recorded 106 tuberculosis cases last year.
Between January and March this year, the hospital has already recorded 40 cases, Dr. Harry Opata, district director of health services in charge of the Suhum/Kraboa/Coaltar said that more cases are expected before the end of the year.
Dr. Opata said only six TB cases were reported at the hospital in 1991 and that between 1992 and 1997, 92 cases were reported.
At a two-day workshop on tuberculosis control for 16 health workers drawn from the sub-district at Suhum in the Eastern Region, he said symptoms of the disease include persistent cough, chest pains, blood in cough, shortness in breathing and lost in weight.
DANIDA and the Ministry of Health sponsored the workshop.
Topics discussed include TB control, strategies and objectives of TB control, prevention and development of drug resistance.
Dr. Opata said the district is expected to achieve 55 per cent cure rate before the end of the year, while by the year 2000, the district expects to achieve 85 per cent national target cure rate.
To this end, he said, TB treatment centres have been opened in the various health posts in the sub-district.
Treatment of TB is free and there are sufficient drugs, he said.
He therefore appealed to family members not to shun their TB patients, rather send them to the hospital.
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Drivers strike action enters its second day
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 19 May 99
Commercial and social activities in Sunyani the Brong Ahafo regional capital have virtually grounded to a halt because of a strike action by commercial drivers in the region, which enters its second day on Tuesday.
The usual hustling and bustling in and around the main Lorry Park and other areas in the centre of the town have vanished with only dealers in second-hand goods still operating along lanes and in the main streets.
Prices of mainly agricultural products in the markets have shot up because traders are unable to bring supplies of cassava, yam and other foodstuffs from Wawasua, Chiraa and Abesim.
Three medium sizes of cassava which sold at 600 cedis now sells between 1,000 and 1,500 cedis while an average size of yam which sold at 800 cedis now sells at around 2,000 cedis.
Prices of fish, bush-meat, vegetables and oil have also shot up.
Workers and children living at outlying suburbs have to walk long distances to their offices and schools in the centre of the town.
Reports said the striking drivers are molesting their colleagues who have headed appeals by their leaders and the Regional Security Council to resume work.
Yesterday, six drivers were arrested and detained by the police for obstructing traffic, resulting in tension between the law enforcement agencies and the drivers.
The drivers said their action is in protest against re-licensing of drives in the country and a letter from the regional branch of the road safety committee asking drivers to attend a refresher course at the cost of 70,000 cedis.
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