NPP will accept results of free, fair
elections-- Kufuor
Rawlings receives message from President of
Equatorial Guinea
Video coverage of elections recommended
Vote for party that will ensure job security
– Asamoah
EC should be impartial – Kufuor
Rawlings inaugurates Takoradi Thermal Plant
NDC: Investigate complaints of violence
against NDC
Mismanagement is the cause of country's woes
– Mensah
Widow appeals to FIDA for assistance
Pedestrians are more involved in road accident
Designs for new interchange at Nkrumah
Circle ready
106 hectares of coconut plantations
replanted in three districts
Loading boys embark on strike to back demand for higher remuneration
NPP will accept results of free, fair
elections-- Kufuor
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 15 November 2000
Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Monday gave an undertaking to accept the outcome of next month's elections conducted in a free and fair manner.
Speaking during a courtesy call on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Mr Kufuor renewed the call on the Electoral Commission to be impartial in conducting the elections.
"We will not do anything to disturb the peace of the country and we will accept the outcome of the elections conducted in a free and fair manner", he told the Otumfuo in the presence of his running mate, Alhaji Aliu Mahama and members of the party's national executive committee. Also present were some members of the Kumasi traditional council.
Mr Kufuor arrived in Kumasi on Monday to begin a 10-day tour of the Ashanti Region. His itinerary for the first day included another courtesy call on the Asantehemaa, Nana Afia Kobi Serwah Ampem II, the chief of the Zongo community, and the Council of Imams and Ulemaus.
He was also due to visit victims of the fire disaster at Anloga and the Kumasi central market and address a rally at Suame Magazine.
Mr Kufuor said power resides in the chiefs and people and asked them to vote wisely to change the government for the first time in the country's 43 years of independence through the ballot box.
"It is when this is done that the country would be put on a sound footing for an effective and efficient socio-economic development under an NPP government".
Otumfuo Osei Tutu appealed to the political parties to preach peace to their supporters, address issues affecting the people and how they would tackle them when voted into power.
He said it is when the electorate are well informed about how the political parties would tackle such issues as unemployment, health, education and provision of basic infrastructure for their development that they would be able to make their choice.
The paramount chiefs on their part appealed to all the parties to conduct their campaigns in a peaceful manner.
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Rawlings receives message from President of
Equatorial Guinea
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 November 2000
President Jerry John Rawlings on Tuesday called for closer economic co-operation between Ghana and Equatorial Guinea saying agreements between the two countries should not "remain on paper and gather dust on the shelves".
He said several bilateral agreements and permanent joint commissions have not yielded the expected results, adding that the agreement to be signed with Equatorial Guinea should be to the benefit of both countries.
President Rawlings said this when he granted audience to Mr Lucas Nuguema Esono Mbang, Minister of Information, Tourism and Culture of Equatorial Guinea at the Castle, Osu on Tuesday.
The Minister, who delivered a message from President Teodoro Nguema Mbassogo, is leading a delegation to the inaugural meeting of the Ghana-Equatorial Guinea Permanent Joint Commission for Co-operation.
The establishment of the Commission follows visits by President Mbassogo to Ghana in 1997 and President Rawlings to Equatorial Guinea in August this year. Areas identified for co-operation are education, culture, tourism and petroleum.
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Video coverage of elections recommended
Takoradi (Western Region) 15 November 2000
Nana Fosu-Blankson, an Independent Parliamentary candidate for Takoradi in the 1996 election, on Tuesday recommended video coverage of the December 7 elections.
He said this should be used as means of monitoring the polling, counting of votes and declaration of results, while the cassettes could be used as evidence in the event of a dispute.
A release issued in Takoradi by Nana Fosu-Blankson said these measures would help to uncover any malpractice by either voters or election officials.
To ensure transparency in the coverage, Nana Fosu-Blankson recommended that all cassettes and cameramen contracted to do the coverage should be registered with the Electoral Commission (EC) as it was done during the photo ID card exercise.
He also suggested to the EC to use carbonated declaration forms for entries of votes cast for candidates.
This, he explained, would reduce time spent by election officials in re-writing on all the result sheets provided at polling stations. He said election officials should be made to write results declared, both in figures and words in order to avoid any alteration.
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Vote for party that will ensure job
security – Asamoah
Wa (Upper West) 15 November 2000
Mr Kofi Asamoah, Deputy Secretary-general of the Trades Unions Congress (TUC) of Ghana, on Tuesday emphasised the need for Ghanaian workers to vote for the party that would ensure job security for them.
He recalled with regret the hardships brought on many workers and their families as a result of retrenchment. Mr Asamoah made the call at a two-day voters education forum organised by the congress for the Upper West Regional Council of Labour on upcoming general election.
He called on workers to sink their individual and group differences and vote for parliamentary and presidential candidates who are labour friendly.
Explaining the rationale behind the forum, the sixth in the run-up to the general election, Mr Asamoah said the TUC, as a workers' organisation, is interested in those who govern the country "because their performance have far-reaching implications for our wellbeing".
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EC should be impartial – Kufuor
Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 15 November 2000
Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), on Monday appealed to the Electoral Commission (EC) to be impartial in the conduct of the December 7 general election.
"The NPP will not do anything to disturb the peace prevailing in the country and will accept the outcome of the elections conducted in a free and fair manner."
Mr Kufuor made the appeal when he and his running mate, Mr Aliu Mahama, as well as some executives of the party paid a courtesy call on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and the Asanteman Council at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.
Mr Kufuor, who is on a 10-day tour of the Ashanti Region, will also called on the Asantehemaa, Nana Afia Kobi Serwah Ampem II, the Sarkin Zongo, and the Council of Imams and Ulemas.
He is also expected to visit and sympathise with the victims of the fire disaster that hit the Anloga and Kumasi Central Markets and address a rally at Suame Magazine.
Mr Kufuor said power resides in the chiefs and the electorate and asked them to vote wisely to change the government for the first time in the country's 43 years of independence through the ballot box.
"It is when this is done that the country would be put on a sound footing to an effective and efficient socio-economic development under an NPP government."
Otumfuo Osei Tutu appealed to the political parties to preach peace to their supporters, address issues affecting the people and how they would tackle them when voted into power. The paramount chiefs appealed to the parties to conduct their campaigns in a peaceful manner.
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Rawlings inaugurates Takoradi Thermal Plant
Takoradi (Western Region) 15 November 2000
President Jerry John Rawlings on Tuesday inaugurated a 330-megawatt Takoradi Thermal Power Station at Aboadze, 17 kilometres east of Takoradi, and reaffirmed the government's determination to stop the country's over-reliance on hydropower.
The 441-million dollar plant has dual firing capability to burn Light Crude Oil (LCO) as well as natural gas. It is initially using LCO as the primary fuel, which is supplied through a maritime tanker unloading facility and connected pipeline.
The potential sources of natural gas under study for delivery to the plant include the Tano Oil Fields, Nigeria and Cote d'Ivoire.
The Volta River Authority (VRA) has entered into a joint venture partnership with CMS Generation of Michigan to increase the capacity of the plant with another 330 MW to bring it to 660 MW.
President Rawlings spoke about the energy crisis the country faced in the past and said "the prudent thing for any government to do is to develop a mixture of energy sources in order to ensure an uninterrupted flow of power at all times."
"That is why we have invested in thermal power plant and at the same time have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Brown and Roots Consortium as a preparatory to the development of the Bui Dam."
President Rawlings said the demand for power has been increasing at an average of 10 per cent a year due to the growth of industrial and commercial use of power and the boom in the construction sector.
"In addition to all regional and district capitals, more than 2,000 smaller communities have now been connected. Under Phase 111 of the Self Help Electrification Project (SHEP), work is going on to connect almost 600 additional communities," he said.
He said in the Western Region, 214 communities have already been connected, whilst work has begun to connect a further 141 under the SHEP programme and 111 under joint funding by the European Union and the Ghana Government.
Mr Gilbert Dokyi, Chief Executive of VRA, said the people of Aboadze were adequately compensated.
The package, which is over 20 billion cedis, includes cash compensation for crops and property destroyed, schools, roads and a cold store.
He said VRA is actively involved in efforts to bring natural gas from Nigeria to the plant via the West African Gas Pipeline Project.
"The Takoradi Station will be the anchor customer to provide the necessary market to realise this increasingly important West African co-operation project," he said.
Mr Rodnery Boulanger, Chief Executive Officer of CMS, said his company decided to invest in Ghana because of the peace and stability prevailing in the country.
"The West African Gas Pipeline can be built because of the Takoradi Thermal Plant. Without this plant, the pipeline cannot be built," he said.
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NDC: Investigate complaints of violence
against NDC
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 November 2000
The Ayawaso Central constituency branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Tuesday appealed to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to order immediate and speedy investigations into complaints the party has lodged with the Tesano Police about attacks on its members since 1992.
"We want the law to take its course," Ms Frances Asiam, Women's Organiser of the NDC in the constituency said at a press conference in Accra. "We expect nothing short of that. The truth must be found and established," she added.
Ms Asiam said because no action has been taken on the complaints, Mr I.C. Quaye, (NPP) Member of Parliament for the constituency, "has been visiting mayhem on NDC members".
She said Mr Quaye had the audacity to continue, "to attack us and smartly turn round to accuse us of being violent."
Ms Afram alleged that Mr Quaye was at one time asked to sign a bond to be of good behaviour following one of the violent actions.
The press conference was to throw more light on the clash between supporters of the NDC and New Patriotic Party (NPP) at Alajo on Sunday in which some supporters of the two parties were injured and the NDC office vandalised. The two have accused each other for starting the violence.
Ms Asiam, pointing to the NPP constituency office, a few metres opposite that of the NDC said: "Look at their office which is intact."
"If the NDC was violent and wanted to retaliate do you think that office would be standing there now?" She said as the ruling party, which is always preaching peace, the onus of maintaining that peace has always been on the NDC.
Mr Said Sinare, an NDC stalwart and former MP for the area, said he used a pistol he legally possesses "effectively during the clash."
"I fired warning shots at the NDC constituency office when I saw about 150 youth violently charging on me," he said.
"If I had not done that there would have been casualties. I maintain that I did not step in Mr Quaye's house."
Mr Sinare said the NPP should pay for the damage caused to the NDC constituency office and replace the items that were destroyed which include a computer and 3.5 million cedis cash meant for the payment for a caterer the NDC hired for a fund raising rally.
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Mismanagement is the cause of country's
woes – Mensah
Abesim (Brong Ahafo) 15 November 2000
The Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr J.H. Mensah said at the weekend that Ghana will face much more difficulties if the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is returned to power.
"Ghanaians have suffered enough during the 19 long years of PNDC/NDC mismanagement, which has brought about poverty and unemployment and it will be suicidal for Ghanaians to endorse this mismanagement," he said.
Mr Mensah, MP for Sunyani East, who was addressing an NPP fund-raising rally at Abesim near Sunyani, added that bad economic policies of the government have led to the dwindling fortunes of workers and farmers.
He said the NPP has the right calibre of men and women capable of reversing the negative economic trend the country is experiencing but this would not happen if the party is not in government.
Mr Mensah said Vice President J.E. Atta Mills' promise to continue from where President Rawlings would leave off is enough sign that he has nothing new to offer the country.
Mr Kwadwo Adjei-Darko, MP for Sunyani West said NPP would do everything possible to prevent electoral malpractice on polling day.
He said some voters from Abesim, which is in Sunyani East constituency are being asked by the NDC to vote at the Sunyani College of Renewable Resources which is in the Sunyani West constituency. He warned such people not to make any attempt to cast their vote at that centre since they would be found out.
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Widow appeals to FIDA for assistance
Akwatia (Eastern Region) 15 November 2000
A 31-year-old widow and mother of two, Mrs Ramatu Kwarteng of Akwatia has appealed to the Ghana branch of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) for assistance over an alleged assault and maltreatment by the family of her late husband, Felix Kwasi Kwarteng.
Making the appeal through the GNA at Akwatia, Mrs Kwarteng said she was married to her husband for about 13 years and had three children aged 11, eight and three years.
She said their first child died on September 21, this year and her husband also died on October 6 after a protracted illness.
Mrs Kwarteng said at about 6.30 am on November 7 whilst in her matrimonial room, she heard noises in the house and decided to find out the cause.
To her surprise, she said, she saw four brothers of her late husband and another relative bathing with some greenish concoction from a bucket on the compound. When she inquired what was happening, one of them replied that she would be told when they finished.
They then slaughtered a cock, which was in a polythene bag, sprinkled the blood on the floor, removed the feathers and tore up the meat into pieces, and scattered them around.
Mrs Kwarteng said when they tried to enter the living room she refused them entrance because she did not understand what they were about.
One of the brothers, who was made the customary successor to her late husband, pushed her aside giving access to the rest to enter the room, she said, adding that she fell together with her three-year-old baby whom she was carrying at her back.
She said her attackers sprinkled some of the concoction in the living room and when they tried to enter the bedroom and she resisted, she was hit on the head with the a bucket and she fell again. They entered the bedroom and continued the rituals.
Mrs Kwarteng said she has since made a report to the police. The GNA learnt from the Police that they had invited the four people for interrogation.
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I killed my wife without a cause – Deacon
Duayaw-Nkwanta (Brong Ahafo) 15 November 2000
A deacon of the Yamfo Church of Pentecost, Mr Kwabena Bonsu, who allegedly beheaded his wife at Yamfo in the early hours of Sunday, says he committed the crime without a cause.
"I did it without a cause", Bonsu, 52, told the Ghana News Agency at the St. John of God Catholic Hospital at Duayaw-Nkwanta where he is on admission. "Lord, I have sinned, forgive me", he confessed.
Bonsu, farmer, whose neck has been bandaged for attempted suicide, said he did not know what made him kill his wife, Anna Frimpomaa Bonsu, 48, who hails from Fiapre, near Sunyani.
The deacon, who hails from Yamfo, said they had 10 children during their 25 years of marriage but only two daughters were alive. The eldest, Yaa Tawiah, is about 20 years while Eunice Bonsu, 15, is now in JSS One.
Dr. Emmanuel Sowah, Senior Medical Officer said Bonsu reported at the hospital around 7 a.m. with lacerations at the upper border of the thyroid cartilage (Adam's apple) and was treated.
Meanwhile, a niece of Bonsu, who pleaded anonymity, disclosed that for sometime now Anna had refused to have any sexual relations with her husband. She said Bonsu, as a result, lodged a complaint with the church elders on Thursday over the matter.
The niece said on Saturday the woman went to a funeral at Sasuanso, near Yamfo, without the consent of her husband and on her return, Anna was said to have teased the man that somebody gave her a handkerchief at the funeral. In spite of that, she said Mrs Bonsu cooked for them to eat, bathed together with the husband and went to bed.
"It was therefore surprising that we found her murdered body on Sunday morning," she added. Deputy Superintendent of Police Emmanuel Appiah, District Police Commander in charge of Duayaw-Nkwanta, said the case is under investigation.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 15 November 2000
Nearly half of all road traffic accidents in Ghana involve pedestrians, a senior research officer has stated. It is one of the highest ratios in Africa.
Addressing a road safety workshop in Accra on Tuesday, Mr Francis K. Afukaar, of the Building and Road Research Institute (BRRI) said “There is a clear evidence that it is safer being in a car or a bus than walking by the road."
The National Road Safety Commission workshop is formulating a five-year national road safety programme to reduce the high accident rates in the country.
From 1993 to 1998, for every 100 road accidents more than 1,300 people died and 62,300 were injured, according to Mr Afukaar.
Mr Kwesi Abbey Sam, Chief Director of the Ministry of Roads and Transport, said the government has taken a number of policy initiatives to tackle the social, economic and political dimensions of road safety.
One of these initiatives, he said, was to give more authority to the National Road Safety Committee by making it a national commission. He said road safety cannot be handled by any one agency but requires a multi-disciplinary approach.
The National Road Safety Strategy will target unskilled drivers and the dangerous conditions of vehicles and roads.
Mr Sam said the increasing high rate of accidents in the country can be reduced with carefully thought-out strategies and commitments to implement them.
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Designs for new interchange at Nkrumah
Circle ready
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 November 2000
Designs and documentation for a new interchange at the Kwame Nkrumah circle are ready awaiting funding, Mr Godwin Brocke, Acting Director of the Department of Urban roads announced on Tuesday. He said the project will provide three additional lanes from Nkrumah Circle to Adenta.
"Resolving the problem is not only to construct the interchange, but to rationalise the land around the area," Mr Brocke said at a workshop in Accra on road safety organised by the National Road Safety Commission.
The commission is in the process of formulating road safety strategies to reduce the high rate of road accidents in the country.
He said some of the lorry parks will be relocated to ease vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
Mr Brocke said now that funding for the project is certain, the department is acquiring the right of way and is designating unauthorised structures for demolition ahead of commencement of work.
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Adina (Volta Region) 15 November 2000
A whale measuring about 7.2 metres long and 1.2 metres wide was caught by fishermen at Adina near Aflao on Monday.
The mammal whose weight could not be determined, has two large pectoral fins with several parasitic sea plants growing on its lower jaw.
It has ash and dark stripes from its lower jaw to the abdomen while the rest of its body is dark. It also has a large opening measuring about 30 centimetres below its abdomen believed to be its sex organ.
Mr Amuzu Ashinyo, an elder fisherman told the Ghana News Agency that it took fishermen more than two hours to bring the animal ashore.
Mr Ashinyo said this was the first time in 60 years that fishermen in the area had landed a whale adding, " the whole community is at a lost as to what to do with it." It died after three hours ashore.
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106 hectares of coconut plantations
replanted in three districts
Abura (Western Region) 15 November 2000
A total of 106 hectares of coconut plantations devastated by the Cape Saint Wilt disease have been replanted in three districts of the Western Region as at May 31, this year.
This was contained in statistics released by the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture at this year's Regional Farmers Day at Abura.
According to the statistics, a total of 16,960 coconut hybrid seedlings were supplied to 91 farmers for replanting in the Ahanta West, Shama-Ahanta East, and Nzema East Districts. The exercise forms part of the Coconut Sector Development Project.
The ministry said 30 farmers benefited in the Ahanta West District, 11 in the Shama-Ahanta East Metropolis and 50 in the Nzema East District.
In the Ahanta West, 36 hectares of coconut farm was replanted while 12 hectares and 58 hectares were replanted in the Shama-Ahanta East Metropolis and the Nzema East District respectively.
Some 5,760 hybrid coconut seedlings were given out to farmers in the Ahanta West District, 1,920 seedlings in the Shama-Ahanta East Metropolis and 9,280 seedlings in the Nzema East district.
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Loading boys
embark on strike to back demand for higher remuneration
Aflao (Volta Region) 15 November
2000
The refusal of loading boys at the
Diamond Cement Depot in Aflao to work, following management's refusal to
increase the fee from 100 to 200 cedis
a bag has brought activities to a halt.
The action has affected the
carting of several tonnes of cement from the company's present production line
in Lome, Togo, to Aflao as the warehouse is full to capacity, due to the
industrial action going on for the past week.
About 50 heavy duty vehicles and
more than 120 drivers and mates who are in Aflao to cart cement to other parts
of Ghana have been stranded.
As both the loading boys and the
stranded drivers were becoming agitated and showing signs of a possible
confrontation, the police were called in to maintain law and order at the
warehouse.
The controversy was sparked off by
the rejection by the expatriate management staff of the demands of the more
than 100 loading boys for an upward adjustment of the 100 to 200 cedis per bag
of cement loaded. The loading boys are
also demanding and a stop to income tax deductions on their earnings.
Mr A.R. Babu, General Manager of
the company told the Ghana News Agency on telephone that the upward demand is
beyond the ability of the company, especially at a time when "we are
finding it difficult to break even."
"This is a contract job and
one must work hard to earn more."
Mr Babu explained that the income tax deductions were based on an
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) assessment.
Meanwhile, a deal has been hatched
to use the numerous drivers' mates to load the cement at 100 cedis per bag as
an interim measure.
Many people are of the view that
if the loading boys were thrown out of job, the crime wave in the area would
increase.
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