Accra (Greater Accra) 29 May 2003 - The Executives of the Petroleum Retailers Association (PRA) has commended the government for taking action to bring sanity into the petroleum industry. "We believe this action will go a long way to minimise losses to both the government and dealers," the PRA said in a statement signed by A. A. Kumassah, Acting President.
"We wish to urge the government to be resolute in this matter and not to give in to blackmail by the tanker drivers," it added.
The statement said the executives of the PRA had followed with keen interest the operations carried out by the security agencies at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) and surrounding areas to expose a fuel siphoning syndicate whose activities had impacted negatively on dealers.
"We would like to advise that we as dealers will no longer be in a position to accept products that have been tampered with since our capital base has already been seriously eroded by the activities of these tanker drivers."
Meanwhile, queues have started building up at fuel filling stations in Accra as the strike by fuel tanker drivers to protest the arrest of some of their colleagues in a military/police operation on Saturday begins to bite.
The fuel filling stations were either quiet because they did not have supplies or were full of activities, as vehicles had queued up to top up. Station attendants said they had not received supplies since the weekend. The loading rack at the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) had been inactive since Tuesday because tanker drivers had withdrawn their services.
Robert Forson, Chief Executive Officer of TOR, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that, "the tanker drivers were refusing to be loaded since (Tuesday) morning."
He said the Executives of the Tanker Drivers Association had said they were attending to some of their colleagues, who were mistakenly arrested during the military/police operations at the weekend at Ashaiman. Thirty-five persons, including tanker drivers, were on Tuesday remanded until 3 June by a Tema Circuit Court for illegally dealing in petroleum products at Ashaiman and Tema.
They all pleaded not guilty. Robert Aganiba, Assistant Commissioner of Police, told the court that on 24 May, a combined team of the military and police carried out an exercise at some petrol garages during which the accused persons were arrested.
He said some of them were arrested siphoning petrol into drums and jerry cans. Money believed to be proceeds from the illegal business were found on them and five petrol tankers were also intercepted.
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Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 29 May 2003 - Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, has called export-oriented companies to strive to introduce innovative measures to improve upon the quality of their products in order to attain international quality certification.
He noted that, it was important for export companies in the country to obtain International Standard Organisation (ISO) 9000 certification or face total collapse in the global competitive market.
Boafo made the call at a day's sensitisation workshop on the ISO 9000 quality management systems for small and medium scale export oriented companies from the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions in Kumasi on Wednesday. It was organised by the Ghana Standards Board (GSB) with financial support from the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF).
Boafo said quality was increasingly becoming the key to business success and a gateway to enter the global market. He therefore, urged the participants to take advantage of the unique opportunity offered them to acquaint themselves with international standards and quality certification in order to compete favourably in the international market.
L.E. Yankey, Director of Standards and Certification of GSB, said the workshop was to identify companies, especially, export-oriented ones to assist them to get the ISO 9000 certification, which was required to meet international quality standards.
Oppong Kyekyeku, Ashanti Regional Officer of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, urged small-scale entrepreneurs to pool resources in order to be able to compete on the international market.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 29 May 2003 - Gold Fields Ghana Limited, Ghana's largest gold producer, on Wednesday denied recent reports alleging that the Company had spilled cyanide into streams in Tarkwa.
The publication that there had been cyanide spillage is false since the situation was within the legal confines, Richard Graeme, Managing Director of GFGL said when briefing Journalists in Accra on Wednesday. "The Company's operations are according to strict regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency and we operate within the best environmental conditions in countries we work."
He said there should have been a thorough investigation to ascertain the truth in the information given by the Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) before the publication, Graeme noted.
"We will not do here what we would not be allowed to do in California. Notwithstanding, we live in the same communities with the people and if they are sick we would be infected as well," Graeme stressed. Graeme expressed confidence in the EPA and said it was ready to work in concert with it to achieve optimum conditions in all our concessions.
He said the publication, even though, was directed at the Company's activities, had the potential of harming mining interest in Ghana, which could then be seen as an unattractive place for mining investment.
Graeme expressed confidence in the media, saying it had played significant role in moving the industry forward and must not allow itself to be used to destroy the mining industry, which he described as a very sensitive area.
Dr Tony Aubynn, Corporate Affairs Manager of GFGL, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) Business Desk that the industry provided direct employment for 1,600 people, "not to talk about the fact that each of these have five people depending on them."
He said mining was a critical area of investment that required certain qualifications in terms of environmental, labour and general work ethics that no one in the industry could compromise on.
Dr Aubynn debunked arguments that the industry did not put back enough into the communities they operate, saying a lot of money went into revenue for Government as dividend as well as royalties. Three per cent of the gross of earnings is paid to Government. Giving a breakdown of how the three per cent was distributed, he said 80 per cent was given to the State.
The remaining 20 per cent is distributed with 10 per cent going into the Mining Development Fund, District assemblies taking six per cent while the Traditional Council gets two per cent with two per cent going to the stool or skin."
He said GFGL was to invest $160m over the next two years starting from June in an expansion programme and Tarkwa Development and would not do anything to jeopardise the relationship with the communities it worked within.
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Barekese (Ashanti Region) 29 May 2003 - Nana Kwame Amankwatia, Ashanti Regional Chief Farmer, has told cocoa farmers not to accept cash for cocoa they sell to the Licensed Cocoa Buying Companies (LBCs). He advised them to always insist on being paid with the Akuafo Cheque to save them from unscrupulous clerks of the LBCs.
Nana Amankwatia was addressing a forum held by members of the Ghana Cocoa, Coffee and Sheanut Farmers Association (GCCSFA) at Barekese in the Atwima District of Ashanti. The forum discussed ways of promoting efficiency in the cocoa industry and how to raise production in the sector.
The Regional Chief Farmer noted that apart from checking under-payments by cheating purchasing clerks, the Akuafo Cheque system has an added advantage of assisting farmers to save part of their with the banks.
Nana Amankwatia also touched on the mass spraying exercise and said to make it more effective, it was important for the farmers to see to it that they clear weeds on their farms before the exercise. He said in situations where farms are allowed to be overgrown with weeds, free movement of the spraying gangs could be impeded and no satisfactory work could be done.
He asked the farmers to turn themselves into watchdogs to prevent chemicals supplied for the spraying exercise from being either diverted or sold on the open market. "We all have a responsibility to ensure that this commendable initiative of the government achieves its goal of raising the production of cocoa in the country".
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Nyinahin (Ashanti Region) 29 May 2003 - About ¢314m has been disbursed to cocoa farmers in the Nyinahin District as bonus for purchases made up to the end of December last year.
Nana Adjei Manu-Berchie, Nyinahin District Manager of the Produce Buying Company (BPC) who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), advised the farmers to reciprocate the government's gesture by working harder to increase cocoa production.
Meanwhile, cocoa farmers in the Nyinahin area have commended the government for the payment of the bonus. A statement signed by Opanin Yaw Bronya, the District Chief Farmer, also commended the government for making available fertiliser to be used on their farms on credit basis.
The farmers called on the PBC to take another look at its re-zoning of the cocoa districts that had put certain societies in the area in other administrative districts.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 29 May 2003
Currency Buying Selling
U.S. Dollar 8,553.00 8,741.82
Pound Sterling 14,022.64 14,336.58
Swiss Franc 6,624.77 6,766.69
Canadian Dollar 6,218.19 6,352.05
Danish Kroner 1,358.44 1,388.13
Japanese Yen 72.94 74.53
South African Rand 1,043.48 1,059.92
Euro 10,080.98 10,299.27
CFA Franc 15.37 15.70
Naira 66.68 68.15
ECOWAS WAUA 11,796.29
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