Extend registration period, - J.H. Mensah urges EC
NPP denies alleged mass transfer of voters to Offinso North
Juasohene has not been destooled - King Makers
Act swiftly to avert bloodshed at Sekyedomasi - Mensah
Ministry
of Finance to get tough on its officials over contracts
Don’t vote on tribal
basis – Kufuor
Hunger Project gives 200,000 dollars credit
to women farmers
Extend registration period, - J.H. Mensah urges EC
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo Region) 11 May 2000
The minority leader in parliament, Mr. J.H. Mensah, has called on the electoral commission to extend the period of the on-going revision of the voters' register if it cannot solve the numerous problems associated with the exercise within the set time.
The shortage of materials for the exercise at the various registration centres is hindering the youth who have attained the age of 18 from registering, Mr. Mensah who is also the MP for Sunyani East said, after visiting some of the registration centres in his constituency on Wednesday.
''It is unpardonable for the electoral commission to commit such mistakes after preparing for such a long time to review the voters' register,'' he said, and called for a system that will keep the register open for some time to encourage the youth, especially those who are registering for the first time, to do so.
He also noted that it is not possible to clean the voters' register, since nobody had requested for the removal of the name of a dead relative at all the centres he had visited.
The registration officers are now only adding names without removing the names of the dead, he said, and called for public funding to enable the political parties to monitor the various electoral areas and report the deaths of voters to ensure that their names are removed whenever the register is opened for revision.
In another development, some voters in the Ga South constituency who have either misplaced their voter identity cards or changed their residence are said to be re-registering instead of contacting the district offices of the Electoral Commission for new cards or transfer to their polling stations.
Madam Marian Fynn, Registration officer at the Auntie Aku Last Stop Market Square in Sowutoum, said this when the GNA visited the centre on Thursday.
"People come and tell lies, claiming they were outside the country during the last registration exercise, but after telling them they could be prosecuted for giving wrong information, they confess and tell the truth."
Madam Fynn said such people are reluctant to go for transfer letters from their previous centres. They give excuses like being busy or lack of money to travel to the previous centres.
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NPP denies alleged mass transfer of voters to Offinso
North
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 11May 2000
The Ashanti Regional Secretariat of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has denied media reports that the party is involved in alleged mass transfer of voters to the Offinso North constituency in the Region.
A statement issued in Kumasi on Wednesday and signed by Mr. Sam K. Cudjoe, Regional Secretary, said it was rather the National Democratic Congress (NDC), which is trying to transfer voters to some of the constituencies, where it lost in 1996.
It said the Offinso North constituency is one of such constituencies, adding that the publication was part of a ploy by the NDC to wrestle the seat occupied by Dr Kofi Konadu Apraku, the Shadow Minister of Finance, who has been a torn in the flesh of the government.
The statement appealed to all Ghanaians especially the youth, who have attained 18 years of age, to register and vote massively for the NPP in the December general elections.
The Ashanti regional secretariat of the NDC in a statement signed by Mr. Paul Kwaku Adu last week, said many voters in Ashanti New-Town, Suame and Maakro in Kumasi, Ayaakaso Ayensua and Namong in the Offinso South constituency were being prevailed upon to transfer their votes to the Offinso North.
In another development, Mr. F. F. Antoh, Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NPP, has appealed to the Electoral Commission (EC) to act responsibly in order not to give cause for any further erosion of the confidence the people have in the Commission.
In a statement, Mr Antoh said pronouncements and acts of officials of the EC indicates that it "is against the interests of Ghanaians to see a credible voters' register that would form the basis for a clean, free and fair elections in the year 2000".
"The manner the Commission is handling the revision of the voters register is designed to frustrate the youth, who have attained 18 years to register and vote for a change in the governance of the country".
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Juasohene has not been destooled - King
Makers
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 11 May 2000
The Kingmakers of Juaso in Ashanti have declared that the function of enstooling and destooling a Juasohene is the sole prerogative of the majority of Kingmakers of Juaso and not the duty of either the Asanteman Council or the Juaben Traditional Council.
They contended that the issue of the alleged banning of Nana Owusu Akyaw Prempeh from the Manhyia Palace is being contested on appeal at a Judicial Committee of the Ashanti Region House of Chiefs (ARHC) and is still pending.
A statement issued in Kumasi on Wednesday appealed to the public to ignore the alleged destoolment of Juasohene.
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Act swiftly to avert bloodshed at
Sekyedomasi - Mensah
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 11 May 2000
Opanin Oteng Mensah, Head of the Oyoko Family has asked the security agencies to act swiftly to avert further bloodshed and acts of lawlessness in the town in a in a bitter chieftaincy dispute over the Sekyedomasi stool between rival factions.
He said pronouncements by Mr. Yaw Owusu Akyirem, Spokesman for the Aduana faction, at a recent press conference, has revealed the Aduana's penchant for causing confusion and given out those who masterminded the recent clashes in the town that claimed two lives.
Opanin Mensah said the dispute started 54 years ago and warned: "the Oyoko family could face Aduana squarely and prove to them that their threats are vain".
He maintained that the dispute had travelled through the Kumasi Traditional Council, Asante Confederacy Council, the then Chief Commissioner in Ashanti, the National House of Chiefs to the Supreme Court for a review. In all the cases the Oyoko clan won as the legitimate owners of the stool.
Touching on the appeal by the Aduana to the Asantehene for his intervention, Opanin Mensah said the matter is a "res judicata" and could not be tried by the Asantehene as that would amount to contempt of the Supreme Court.
He explained that after the Supreme Court had struck out the application for review by the Aduana with a 1.5 million cedis cost against them, the Asantehene ordered the Oyoko family to enstool a chief for Sekyedomasi.
This, the Abusuapanin said, had been complied with by the installation of Nana Antwi Boasiako on December 27, 1999.
He said preparations were being made to get the new chief to swear the oath of allegiance to the Asantehene when the Aduana family unleashed the violence that claimed two lives on March 8, 2000.
Opanin Mensah noted that after over 50 years of litigation over the stool, the dispute should come to an end, adding, "it is certainly over".
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Ministry of Finance
to get tough on its officials over contracts
Accra (Greater Accra) 11 May 2000
The Ministry of Finance will no
longer accept excuses from its regional budget and planning officers and
directors who recommend contracts for approval without first scrutinising them
to make sure that contractors satisfy all the necessary requirements.
Mr. Kofi Opoku-Manu, Chief
Director of the Ministry of Finance, gave the warning at a follow-up meeting
with officials of the Ministry who work on certificates of commencement of work
for contractors of government projects in Accra on Wednesday.
He admitted that most of the
problems that led to contractors storming the Ministry of Finance was due to
"some of the open-ended certificates that our own officials issue to
them".
"This is because our own
officials fail to collaborate. The point here now is for us to stop these
things at our own level", he said.
He expressed regret that orders,
as stated in the 1998 budget when the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF)
Programme was launched, were not complied with.
"Some of the things stated in
the 1998 budget were not complied with, otherwise some of these things could
have been stopped."
Mr. Opoku-Manu asked the officers
to be more careful and meticulous in examining contracts to ensure that jobs,
which contractors claim they have executed and for which they are requesting
funds, have actually been done and not just said to be done.
He said similar meetings had been
held with all levels of consultants, contractors, the Architectural and
Engineering Services Limited, Director of Public Works Department and his
counterpart as well as heads of the Project Monitoring and Implementation Units
of all Ministries, Departments and Agencies.
Mr. Opoku-Manu asked them to avoid
all ambiguous definitions in the contracts that most often give projects a
perpetual nature.
He gave an example where the word
'rehabilitation' and 'renovation' were used to describe work on a project as if
they meant different things, adding that projects must have specific titles as
requested under the MTEF Programme.
The Chief Director said such
errors and omissions are one of the main causes of loss of revenue to
government, and urged the officers to help government manage the little
resources available for development.
He also asked them not to rush to
demand their monies towards the end of the year, thinking that the funds would
be paid back into government chest.
"There is nothing like that
any more. Under the new programme of MTEF, the current money for projects not
utilised will be rolled over into the following year to ensure that the
projects are fully completed.
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Don’t vote on
tribal basis – Kufuor
Mankessim (Central Region) 11 May
2000
Mr. John Agyekum Kufour, flagberer
of New Patriotic Party on Tuesday advised the electorate not to vote on tribal
basis but on merit.
Mr. Kufuor gave the advise at
Mankessim in the Mfantseman district where he addressed a rally as part of his
tour of the central region and said that the time has come for Ghanaians to
move away from tribal politics and vote for people who are qualified, committed
and dedicated to the welfare of Ghanaians.
The flagbearer who based his
addresse on the economic hardships being faced by Ghanaians said there is need
to vote out the NDC with its poor management and bad policies "which are
killing the people".
He said the NDC has failed
Ghanaians and called on the people to vote NPP to power to enable it inject new
ideas into the management of the economy.
Mr. Kufuor said if the NPP is
voted into power, it will do everything to stabilise the cedi and control the
galloping inflation adding that exports of goods would be promoted rather than
importation.
He said the development of
education and agricultural sectors would be the priority of an NPP government
and that improved working conditions would be assured for teachers to enable
them give off their best.
Miss Edna Arthur, who has been
nominated by the party to contest the parliamentary elections in the Mfantsiman
West constituency called on the people to make it a point to check their names
in the voters register.
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Hunger Project gives 200,000 dollars credit
to women farmers
Accra (Greater Accra) 11 May 2000
The Hunger Project, a non-governmental organisation working towards ending hunger and poverty in Africa, is to give a credit facility of 200,000 dollars to women food farmers in Ghana every year to help them improve on their activities.
The facility is in recognition of the role women play in food production in spite of the great obstacles they face in accessing resources needed for their work.
Dr. Naana Agyeman-Mensah, Country Director of the Hunger Project, made this known when she briefed the press on the success of the project since its inception in 1996. It formed part of the weeklong celebration of the "African Woman Food Farmer".
Twenty-nine investors in the Project, with its headquarters in New York, are in the country to see its achievements.
She said even though farmers had not yet started paying back the loans, monitoring of the projects so far indicated that everything was on course.
Dr. Agyeman-Mensah said in spite of the obstacles and drudgery women face in providing the needs of their families, their work is under-valued, goes unnoticed and unsupported.
"Records show that around the continent, women own one per cent of the land, receive only seven per cent of agricultural extension services and get less than 10 per cent of the credit given to small scale farmers”.
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