World Press Freedom Day for Public scrutiny – GJA
Accra (Greater Accra) 03 May 2000
Mr David Adom, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on Tuesday asked church leaders not to have any cause of panic in view of the invitation extended to them by the Service.
In an interview with the GNA, Mr Adom explained that the invitation is to enable religious leaders to take part in a series of meetings being organised by the IRS as part of a public campaign to educate the people on their tax obligations.
Mr Adom, reacting to a GNA report on the call by some pastors on the IRS to clarify the reasons for inviting them to its offices said the IRS had so far, met with members of the Ghana Chamber of Commerce, the Association of Ghana Industries, Ghana Employers Association, market women and the various transport unions.
In the case of the transport unions, Mr Adom said both the IRS and members identified some common problems that had to be ironed out. To this end, a committee was formed to deal with the problems and come out with a common solution for all transport unions.
The Commissioner said in its educational campaigns, the IRS would deal with groupings and not individuals, hence, the invitation to the churches.
"There seems to be some kind of misconception among some church leaders because of the advertisement for them to report to the nearest IRS office prior to a seminar to be organised for them on May 18.
"Someone who is clean does not panic when he is asked to contact a tax officer, Mr Adom said, adding, "we just want to interact with them and come to a common ground of operation."
GRi../
Sogakope (Volta Region) 03 May 2000
Mr Isaac K. Adjei-Mensah, Minister of Works and Housing, on Tuesday said the rate of access to safe water by the rural population has increased from 39 per cent to 52 per cent in the past four years.
Opening the 11th in the series of the "Mole Conference" for non-governmental organisations working in the water and sanitation sector in the country, at Sogakope, Mr Adjei-Mensah expressed regret that efforts aimed at improving the sanitation situation is rather at a sluggish pace.
"At present, only 25 per cent of our rural population have access to approved sanitation facilities. This is mainly because sanitation services are demand-driven, and, therefore, much depends on education, so that more rural communities will request facilitation for sanitation services.
"It is the Ministry's hope that the cross-section of people associated with the Mole conferences will consider galvanising all efforts in a form that stakeholders can work with, so that by 2025, everybody will have safe and adequate water and sanitation facilities."
Mr Gordon Mumbo, Water Aid Country Representative, said the quest to overcome poverty has become an overarching goal for many development organisations worldwide. "Lack of access to safe water has been singled out as one of the major contributory factors to poverty."
He said, even though, a report from World Water Forum estimated that 1.5 billion people have no access to safe water, in Africa this could be an underestimation.
"Some of our less privileged brothers and sisters are in remote areas that are not accessible and are likely not to be included in the statistics."
Mr Mumbo noted that clean water is still a mirage to millions of Ghanaians despite the numerous attempts and efforts by the government, NGOs and private sector players.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 03 May 2000
The Ghana Journalists Association
(GJA) on Tuesday said the celebration of this year's "World Press Freedom
Day" would focus on activities that will enable the public to scrutinise
the media.
"Most of the time we raise
flags and deliver some speeches but this time we will organise forums for the
public to tell us how we have fared." Mr Frankie Asare-Donkor, Acting
Secretary-General told GNA over telephone.
The day, which falls on 3 May was
designated by the United Nations to give universal recognition to the vital
role of press freedom in human development.
In Ghana, the GJA would be
celebrating the day in collaboration with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, under
the theme " Enhancing Press Freedom for Free and Fair Elections."
Mr Asare-Donkor said the Ghanaian
Journalist has defied the hostile climate to speak for the "voiceless and
faceless" and in doing, so the Journalist has managed to keep politicians
and other power holders on their toes.
He admitted that in performing their
duties, some Journalists unconsciously fell foul of the law while others just
sacrificed professionalism for fame and economic gains.
"With all our short comings,
I think we have fared well, Ghana would have been the loser if the Journalists
were not as vocal as they are."
Mr Asare-Donkor called for the decriminalisation
of libel and the enactment of a Freedom of Information Act" to level the
media landscape.
On the training of Journalists, he
asked the Authorities of the Ghana Institute of Journalism, where the bulk of
the practitioners are produced, to expedite action on their proposed Degree
programme.
"We all agree that what we
learn in the lecture room is not exactly what we practice on the field but I
think the curriculum should be upgraded while those practising take advantage
of our training courses."
Mr Asare-Donkor suggested that
Journalists on dangerous assignments or beats should be insured to add up to
their security and called for better salary structures for Journalists, "
who are normally under paid yet so much is expected of them."
GRi../