No platform for music at summit - ace producer not happy
Jesse Jackson says the World must hear Africa's story…"We are worth it"
Symposium marks June Four anniversary in Tamale
Population and housing census comes off next year
Telecommunication sector to be liberalised
No platform for music at summit - ace poroducer not happy
Accra (Greater Accra) 22 May '99
A leading Ghanaian music producer and entrepreneur has regretted that the African-African American Summit failed to give the music industry a platform, considering the abundance of talent and creativity in that field in Africa.
Mr Faisal Helwani, who is also a spokesman for the Copyright Protection Committee (CPC) of the Copyright Protection Society of Ghana (COSGA), said this lack of a platform during the summit creates the erroneous notion that the music industry is not important for Ghana and Africa and needs to be corrected.
"We are very upset that the industry has not been discussed or given a forum during the summit to enable us to exploit opportunities for joint partnership between Ghanaians and African Americans in the entertainment industry, having in mind that African Americans are leaders in that field," he told the Ghana News Agency GNA in an interview.
He said Ghanaians and African musicians in the music industry have been ripped off by multi-national record companies, which have failed to credit Africa as originators of Funk, Rap, Jazz and Latin American music.
"We are asking the convenors of the summit to put us in contact with our African American brothers and sisters in the music and entertainment industry so that African artistes could be put to work and grow up economically to contribute to Africa's development."
Mr Helwani said unfortunately, what has been shown on TV in the last three days during the summit of African music and musicians have been badly produced and presented.
"I want to assure our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora that Africa has what it takes to lead the music industry and entertainment if African music is well produced, packaged and distributed".
He said those in the industry do welcome professional partners since as at now, African music has not got organised distribution network on the continent, in Europe or America and the rest of the world.
"It is about time the real thing is done in the production, distribution and promotion of African music properly and professionally to end the mediocrity and exploitation which have plagued the continent over the years," Mr Helwani added.
The one-week summit, which aims to attract investments into Africa, ends today. It was attended by a record of 12 Heads of State, some Mayors from the US and Africa, business executives and government officials.
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Jesse Jackson says the World must hear Africa's story…"We are worth it"
Accra ( Greater Accra) 22 May '99
American President Bill Clinton's Special Envoy, Rev. Jesse Jackson on Friday said there is hope for Africa if the people of the continent themselves realise their worth.
But what is more important is for the world to turn its attention to Africa as it is doing for Europe, Asia, and others, he said, citing the situation in Kosovo and the carnage in Sierra Leone.
"We must open the keyhole and see the door - there is big Africa full of work and possibility. The world must hear that story," Jackson, Special envoy for democratisation and human rights, told the closing plenary of the fifth African-African American summit, presided over by President Jerry John Rawlings.
At least a dozen African heads of state, vice-presidents and the King of Swaziland participated in the Summit, which registered more than 4,000 delegates, mostly African-Americans.
The event is co-sponsored by the government of Ghana, a host of American companies including Chevron and some Ghanaian companies: the Volta River Authority, and Ashanti Goldfields.
It was organised by the Rev Leon Sullivan, founder of the U.S-based Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OIPC) who is also the convenor, and the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre on the theme: "Business, Trade and Investment - Africa can compete".
Rev Jackson said Africans and African Americans must find a common ground to move on to higher ground. "That is our burden. That is our challenge. That is our responsibility."
He focused on what he termed the "psychological shift" that has impacted on Africa and prompted it to embrace democracy, economic growth, development and progress.
"The most profound shift that must take place at the crossroads," he said, "is to look to the future. You can either go backward by recycling your pain, your memories and your fears ... or go forward in embracing the future."
"There is no greatness in yesterday's pain," he counselled the presidents and his audience. "There is no redemption in yesterday's pain. There is no emancipation in yesterday's pain. There is no economic growth in yesterday's pain. Our power is not looking backwards in pain but looking forward in hopes and dreams and possibilities," he added.
Rev Jackson illustrated his point by noting that "old people are trapped in their memories, their fears and their pain." That, is why "young folk in America lead and world follows", he said.
He also said there was no future in promoting war and discord.
Jackson, who mediated a cease-fire agreement in Sierra Leone earlier this week in Lome, Togo, told the gathering that there will now be peace in that country along with Eritrea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Sudan, "because war is unacceptable, because peace is the only option."
He then drew an analogy of baking biscuits to illustrate his point on how things rise to greatness.
"They don't rise on love," he said, "but on baking powder and, most importantly, on a formula."
"Africa deserves what Europe deserves, a formula. When Europeans come together they don't come together to discuss how white they are - that is self-evident. They don't discuss culture. They discuss formulas - the reconstruction formulas for access to capital. So, we have gone from colonialism, to neo-colonialism, to democracies."
In another analogy, he said, Africa has made a name in world soccer competitions "because in that game, the rules are clear, nobody can change the rule to suit a particular team only. If it has to be changed, it has to be changed for all the players.
"But," he quickly cautioned, "you can have the end of colonialism and democracy and still starve unless you have access to capital. Our share of capital, our share of technology" along with peace and tranquillity.
"You cannot grow (crops to generate food and capital) in fields trapped with land mines," he warned.
Jackson concluded "greed is wicked, stealing is wicked, killing each other is wicked. It's healing time. It's hope time. It's Africa liberation time."
GRi../
Accra (Greater Accra) 22 May '99
The Fifth African-African American Summit which attracted thousands of Africans in the Diaspora and 12 Heads of State from Africa, ended in Accra on Friday.
Performing the closing ceremony, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, the Vice-President, who officially opened the business session on Monday, told the delegates that "today we may be formally closing this Summit, but we should not regard this as an ending".
He said it should rather be the beginning of the task of following up the contacts made, of turning ideas into projects, of realising goals and of further advancing the development of strong, practical and mutually beneficial ties.
Prof Mills said the Summit was a gathering of a family, which was divided by three centuries of painful history.
"We in Africa and you in the Americas have had to struggle to rise above the injustices of colonialism, slavery, oppression and marginalization before we could reach out to each other to restore the ties and heal the wounds of the past.
He said the Summit has demonstrated that Africa is ready to do business and it could compete. "Africa is the continent of opportunity for the 21st century".
The main objective of the five-day summit was to attract investments into Africa. It was attended by 12 heads of states, over 4,000 delegates from Africa and the US, including mayors, business executives and government officials.
Prof Mills said in the past, Africa was a continent of opportunity for plunder and exploitation by others.
"Now, we have been able to lay the foundations of an Africa of peace, stability and democratic governance where the opportunities are for sound, honest business partnerships in an investor-friendly climate of mutual respect".
He said areas of instability and conflict, which still mar the image of Africa, are the exception and not the rule.
Prof Mills added that Africa is doing its best, with the help of its friends to resolve and eventually eliminate conflicts in the not distant future so the continent would know peace and stability.
He expressed gratitude to President Clinton's Special Envoy for democratisation and human rights, the Rev Jesse Jackson in the Sierra Leone peace process on his way to the summit.
"We pray that the negotiations due to start next Monday will mark not only the end of suffering and violence but the beginning of a new dawn of reconstruction and prosperity of our neighbours".
"Let us also pray that Nigeria, which will inaugurate a new constitutional democracy next week, will succeed this time around in creating the basis for the full realisation of its potential", the Vice-President said.
Rev Dr. Leon Sullivan, the convenor of the Summit, in an emotional closing remark, said the Summit brought to Accra numbers that have never been seen at previous summits.
"The connection we have hoped for has been made. What happened in the past five days in terms of the presence of top level Americans in Ghana has never happened except President Bill Clinton's visit last year''.
Rev Sullivan said African-Americans are going back home to call on the government of the United States to do more for Africa. ''The time has come for the US to help Africa more, to rate Africa higher''.
He said the US is pumping huge amounts of money into some countries in Eastern Europe, Israel and into the war in Kosovo. "Some of that money can be pumped into Africa".
"We are going home to do more for Africa. Some of the billions of dollars we pay as taxes should be spent on Africa so Africa will have some of the pie".
GRi../
Accra (Greater Accra) 22 May '99
The Bostwana President, Mr F. G. Mogae on Thursday urged African countries embroiled in conflicts to end hostilities to attract investments.
Mr Mogae was speaking at a pre-departure interview with newsmen at the Kotoka International Airport after attending the one-week fifth African -African American summit, which ended on Friday.
He said "the world is moving forward and we would be left behind if we do not make peace in order to attract trade, investment and development, as we enter the 21st century".
One of the objectives of the summit, convened by the Reverend Dr. Leon Sullivan, is to attract investment into Africa.
Mr Mogae said his country is not only looking for investments from African Americans, but also trade between sister African countries and urged the Ghanaian private sector to venture into the Botswana market.
The Tanzanian President, Benjamin Mkapa also left Accra on Friday after the summit, which brought together some 4,000 people including 12 presidents, a monarch, vice-presidents, chief executives, businessmen and politicians. It convened by the Reverend Leon Sullivan.
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Symposium marks June Four anniversary in Tamale
Tamale (Northern Region) 22 May '99
The Deputy Northern Regional Minister, Mr San Nasamu Asabigi, has said the events of June Four should be judged by the ideals it stood for and not the personalities involved.
"The revolution has brought about discipline, probity and accountability in the society and has shown that nobody can take Ghanaians for a ride".
He was speaking at a symposium in Tamale organised by the regional branch of the June Four Movement to mark the 20th anniversary of the uprising on the theme: "peace, unity and development in the next millennium. Relevance of the June Four event".
Mr Asabigi said the revolution has also laid a solid foundation for the development of the country irrespective of who is in power.
The Tamale Municipal Director of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), Mr J.A. Haruna said upholding the gains of the June Four Revolution is everyone's responsibility and not its architects alone.
He said conditions that led to the uprising still exist and "we should not sit back and criticise, but take steps to correct them."
The constitution, he said, has created structures such as the Serious Fraud Office and the Commission on Human Right and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) for people to channel their grievances against public office holders for investigation.
Mr Haruna appealed to the government to set realistic targets and prioritise agriculture to meet the challenges of the next millennium.
"We should also have the culture of reviewing our policies periodically to enable us address their short-comings," he added.
He mentioned the economic recovery programme and the educational reform programme as areas that need urgent review.
Mr Mamburr Berrick, regional secretary of the movement called for the formation of peace clubs in all communities and institutions to help sustain the prevailing peaceful atmosphere in the country, adding "war is no longer necessary. What we need is development".
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Population and housing census comes off next year
Koforidua (Eastern Region) 22 May '99
The Government is committed to conducting a population and housing census between March and April next year.
The Census will assist the government, regional administrations, district assemblies and business concerns in planning their various educational, business, health, housing and other socio-economic services.
Foreign countries, donors and investors will also need data from the census when planning technical and economic assistance to the country.
The Eastern Regional Minister, Ms Patience Adow disclosed this when she addressed this year's first Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) meeting at Koforidua on Thursday.
In this regards, a trial census has been scheduled for June 14 in five districts in the country including the Asuogyaman district in the region, she said.
Ms Adow urged all members of the RCC and Heads of Departments to help disseminate the information on the population and housing census so that people would co-operate with numerators to make the exercise a success.
She gave the assurance that the census is in no way connected with tax collection.
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Ghana like many other countries last Friday, May 21, observed the Telecommunications
Day. MAWULI SOGBEY was at the function for GRi and brings this report.
Telecommunication sector to be liberalised
The government is committed to the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector and will encourage competition in the provision of fixed network services, Deputy Minister for Communication, Commander P.M.G. Griffiths said at the closing ceremony of the World Telecommunications Day on Friday.
He charged the National Communications Authority (NCA) to expedite action on the on-going inter-connection negotiations between Ghana Telecom (GT) and Western Telecommunications system (WESTEL) in order to create a peaceful atmosphere among them.
The Deputy Minister pointed out that the Communication Ministry is stressing on the training of information technology professionals at all levels, and the promotion of computer literacy to increase the use of information technology at all levels of formal education.
"This is very crucial because if telecommunications infrastructure is put in place without the requisite human resource capacity Ghana will still lag behind."
Commander Griffiths said the ministry’s measures are in line with the United Nation objective of making communications a fundamental obligation for everyone in the twenty-first century.
The Deputy Director General of Ghana Civil Aviation (GCAA), Captain J.A. Boachie said in its bid to provide safe, efficient and reliable air navigation, the (GCAA) has set up an efficient telecommunication section to manage its facilities.
The Deputy Director General revealed that the GCAA has initiated the implementation of the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO’s) communication, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management (CHS/ATM) project.
The project which will be a satellite-based system is expected to revolutionalise aeronautical communications, navigation, surveillance, air traffic control procedures and management.
Captain Boachie said the new system has become necessary in view of the fact that the present ground based air navigation system has inherent propagation and other limitations, which hinder capacity growth and increased efficiency.
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Rev. Jesse Jackson leaves
Accra (Greater Accra) 22 May '99
The Reverend Jesse Jackson, U.S. President Bill Clinton's Special Envoy to Africa, left Accra on Friday after attending the Fifth African-African American Summit.
Rev. Jackson also travelled to Togo, where he helped to broker a ceasefire deal between the Sierra Leonean government and the rebel Revolutionary United Front (RUF). The ceasefire is expected to come into effect on Monday.
The Sudanese President Hasan Ahmed Al-Bashir and the Gabonese Vice-Premier Emmanuel Daniel Ondo Methogo also flew back home after attending the summit, which ended on Friday.
The Summit, convened by the Reverend Leon Sullivan, brought together some 4,000 people, including 12 presidents, prime ministers, a monarch, vice-presidents, chief executives, businessmen and politicians.
Its main objective was to attract investment into Africa.
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