Minority to boycott debate until…
Govt to
rebuild three highways before term ends
Rot at Ghana post
Teachers' salaries paid from funeral donations
Minister outlines plans on healthcare
Rawlings picks his men
Walkout at NPP regional congress
Reconciliation bill: Gov't compromises
Okyenhene to run Aids marathon
Minority to boycott debate until…
The
Minority in Parliament has made it clear that it will no more take part in the
debate on the National Reconciliation Commission Bill unless the Attorney
General (AG) and Minister of Justice, Nana Akufo Addo, apologises for the
unpleasant remarks he made about its members last Friday, reports the Daily
Graphic.
A Radio
Ghana source, according to the paper, quoted the Minority Leader, Mr Alban
Bagbin, as saying that members of the Minority will return to the House to
tackle scheduled business. However, they will not be involved in the business
of the National Reconciliation Commission Bill if the AG does not accept that
he erred on Friday and apologise for his utterances.
Mr Bagbin
said in the absence of this, all decisions on the bill will have to be deferred
until the Speaker, Mr Peter Ala Adjetey, who is currently out of the country,
returns next week.
He gave
the assurance that the Minority is committed to national reconciliation, saying
it is unfortunate that the debate after the second reading of the bill rather
led to division in the house, after so much efforts had been put into it.
Members
of the Minority walked out of Parliament last Friday, when the AG was winding
up the debate on the motion for a second reading of the bill. At a press
conference after the walkout Mr Bagbin said the Minority staged the walkout in
protest against the persistent insults and arrogant utterances of Nana Akufo
Addo.
More…/
Govt
to rebuild three highways before term ends
President John Kufuor has stated that the
government will reconstruct three major highways, which are very critical to
the growth of the national economy, before the end of its four-year term. They
are the Accra-Kumasi, Accra-Cape Coast and Accra-Aflao roads.
He said the reconstruction of the three vital
road arteries constitutes an integral part of the government’s programme to
improve national infrastructure to move the economy forward.
President Kufuor stated this when the Dutch
Minister for Development Cooperation, Ms Eveline Herfkins, called on him at the
Castle, Osu, on Monday. The President urged Dutch investors in the road sector
to take advantage of the favourable political and investment climate in Ghana
and invest in the road sector under the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT)
programme.
Mr Kufuor said the 300-year-old
Ghana-Netherlands diplomatic relations should be strengthened and deepened.
Therefore, the reconstruction of the three major roads, with Dutch investment
and technology, will be an important landmark in Ghana-Netherlands relations.
More…/
A ˘500 million endowment fund has been launched
in the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem (KEEA) District to reverse the deteriorating
standards of education in the district
The fund would be raised through campaigns,
dinner dances, games and the annual income of the district over a two-year
period. The funds would be used to improve school infrastructure, the provision
of textbooks and to assist needy but brilliant students to continue their
education.
Launching the fund, the Minister of Economic
Planning and Regional Cooperation, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom, said well-meaning
Ghanaians owe it a responsibility to assist in the development of education for
accelerated growth and development. The occasion also coincided with the launch
of a website for the KEEA District.
GRi…/
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The
government says it will allow private lotto operators to work as commissioned
agents for the Department of National Lotteries (DNL). Mrs Grace Coleman,
Deputy Minister of Finance disclosed this on Wednesday.
She
was addressing private lotto operators at a meeting to discuss the government’s
intention to scrap the private lotto business by the end of the year as well as
other concerns.
Mrs
Coleman explained that government’s decision to scrap private lotto was to seek
the interest of the State and not to punish any individual or take away
business from people.
‘The
government wants to reduce suffering by replacing jobs in the business. This is
why we want the operators to become agents where they can handle as many
coupons as possible” she said. The Deputy Minister stated that the government
would sit with the operators to work out the modalities on the payment of commissions.
Mrs
Coleman assured them that the government would continue to dialogue with them
so that a consensus would be reached on the time- table to wind-up their
businesses.
More…/
The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) will by December 2002 completely withdraw directly from all cargo handling activities. This is part of the GPHA‘s transformation into a Land Port Management System from a service Port System.
The
policy would make GPHA a port owner, manager and regulator and not a port
operator as the current situation is. The Acting Director of Ports, Mr Nestor
P. Galley, who revealed these at Tema in Accra said the policy was being
implemented through increasing private sector participation.
He
announced that four new companies had been selected and awaiting the final nod
to join the existing private companies to handle cargo in the port.
To
expand the capacity and also decongest it, he said the shipping lines and other
port operators were being encouraged to develop off-dock Container Freight
Stations (CFS) and Inland Clearance Depots (ICPs).
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Rot at Ghana post
The Chronicle says its investigations into
activities of the Ghana Postal Services Limited has unraveled massive waste in
the system, coupled with financial loss to the state as a result of
mismanagement.
Also discovered are internal conflicts that
have pegged management against junior and middle level staff of the company.
An amount of ˘70 million is spent monthly on
fuel purchase for Accra alone, and Mr Isaac Adu-Boahene, Managing Director of
the service told this paper on Monday that he believes people are misusing
fuel. "Inefficiency and poor quality of service is our problem," he
admitted on Monday during an interview.
He said his office is making all efforts to
improve upon facilities and quality of service rendered.
One of the corrupt practices found out by
Chronicle and confirmed by Mr Adu-Boahene, who has headed the Ghana Post for
almost five years is the fact that staff at post offices take money for postal
service and affix wrong postage stamps to the envelopes. He was there was the
need to cleanse the service.
The staff, according to the paper’s
investigations, also blamed management for corrupt activities and the firm’s
mismanagement.
More…/
Teachers' salaries paid from funeral donations
Teachers in a school at Akyem Manso in the
Birim North District are paid their monthly salaries from funeral donations,
while other teachers at Abokyikrom in Birim South are paid from the
contributions of the village chief and his elders.
The precarious fate of those teachers and, by
extension, their students and pupils became known to the Chronicle during a
tour of the two districts.
The tour also revealed that the districts
continue to have many deplorable school infrastructure, ineffective teaching
and learning, as well as low enrolments, in spite of the modest injection of
capital into educational delivery there by the local authorities and NGOs over
the last decade.
"Every month we observe four funerals at
least to collect donations from which we pay the teachers. Instead of
organising say, all the funerals one weekend to save time and money, we have
interspersed them ostensibly to reap the maximum donations to be able to pay
our teachers." Obrempong Sintim Poku II, chief of Manso explained.
His is a community day secondary, Atweaman Secondary
School. The six-year-old school has currently 125 students, 10 teachers and
offers Business and Agriculture as main subject areas.
According to the chief, all attempts to get the
Ghana Education Service (GES) to absorb the school into the public system and
save his people the trouble for bearing its full costs have failed. He has,
therefore, appealed to the authorities to go to his aid.
More…/
Minister outlines plans on healthcare
The Minister of Health, Dr. Kwaku Afriyie has
revealed that, the Government will not relent in its responsibility to provide
the necessary support and political will to move programmes and actions forward
to ensure that the people enjoy the required basic health care.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of National
Consensus Meeting on Ghana National Drug Policy held in Accra, the Minister
said that one of these programmes is the National Drug Programme, which is
aimed at comprehensively improving the pharmaceutical sector in Ghana.
He noted that the objective of the programme is
to ensure that all Ghanaians have access to effective, safe and affordable
drugs of good quality in both the public and private sectors.
He said his ministry would improve financing
and cost effectiveness in the provision of health care services, promote
research and use of herbal and traditional medicinal preparations and
strengthen surveillance and control of diseases.
He said his Ministry has always maintained the
basic technologies and scientific knowledge in the health sector needed to
ensure total coverage of the population.
GRi…/
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Rawlings picks his men
The Evening News says former-President Jerry
Rawlings, still with considerable influence within the National Democratic
Congress (NDC) last Thursday, held a meeting with the party’s youth wing at his
official Ridge residence on issues bordering on his vision for the party and
the election of national executives at its December 28 congress.
“The purpose of the meeting, insiders told
"The Evening News," was to create a platform for the ex-President to
brief the youth on his visions and dreams for the party,” writes the paper.
Ex-President Rawlings reportedly told the youth
that, it was important for the fourth-coming congress to elect men with vision,
courage and integrity, who could lead the party to victory in the 2004
elections.
The Founder then read a list of names, which he
had put down as candidates he wished they would be elected at the congress.
Most of the names are clearly pro-Atta Mills
men, which suggests that, the former President still supports the candidacy of
Prof. John Atta Mills as the party's flagbearer for the 2004 showdown with the
ruling NPP.
The surprise name on the list was that of Nana
Konadu Agyeman Rawlings. The husband penciled her for the post of National
Treasurer to effectively control the finances of the party.
More…/
Walkout at NPP regional congress
The presence of fully armed police and officers
of the Airborne Force Detachment averted a possible mayhem at the Upper West
Regional Delegates Conference of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) held at Wa over
the weekend.
Tension was high, generating insults, heated
debates and confrontation. It took over three and half hours to settle on the
qualification of delegates to the conference.
But no sooner had they resolved all bottlenecks
and pertinent issues raised, than 12 party members who had filed their
nominations to contest for various positions withdrew at the 11th
hour in protest and walked out of the conference amidst shouts of "no
vote" from their supporters.
The walkout of the group believed to belong to
the factions of Messrs C.B. Gbekature and Lawrence Banye former first
vice-chairman and youth organizer respectively however, did not prevent the
organisers from holding the elections that were conducted by the Electoral
Commission under the supervision of the NPP national chairman, Mr Harona Esseku
and his first Vice-chairman Mr Stephen Ntim.
The regional chairman, Alhaji Abdulai Issahaque
retained his post unopposed alongside other executives except that of the
regional secretary, where Mr William Koyiri, a retired teacher polled 30 votes
to humiliate Mr Anthony Baloroo a defeated NPP parliamentary candidate in the
December 2000 election who had only one vote.
The post of first vice-chairman went to Mr
Yakubu Siedu alias " no condition is permanent" while the post of
second vice-chairman went to Mr Salifu Waah with the position of assistant
secretary going to Mr Abu Ibrahim Tumah.
The positions of treasurer, organizer, women's
organizer and youth organizer went to Mr. Alfred Yenge, Mr Alhassan Mohammed,
Madam Habibata Seidu and Mr Labib Issah respectively.
GRi…/
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Interpol boss accuses Attorney General of bias!
The Crusading Guide says recent utterances on
radio by Superintendent Opare-Addo, the boss of Interpol Ghana, have raised
eyebrows in certain legal and political circles. Supt. Opare-Addo recently
accused the Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Justice, Nana Akufo-Addo of
being unable to take an objective position when confronted with cases involving
his (Akufo-Addo's) Chambers.
Speaking during an Accra radio newspaper review
programme, on the tussle over a Mercedes Benz Car C 240 which has been seized
by Interpol Ghana, and an order from the AG's Department that the car be
returned to Jobesh Car Rental Services following a High Court order, Supt.
Opare-Addo indicated that the AG's Department was not being cooperative with
the Police.
He said a lawyer in the AG's outfit whom the
police provided with documents (i.e. Writs of Summons and other documents) in
connection with the case, had failed to carry out his job due to fear.
Explaining, Opare-Addo said, "the
Attorney-General of this country has Chambers, and his Chambers is the Chambers
that is handling Jobesh. And under normal circumstances when such cases went to
them, they just would blink over it and they would not act as they
should."
He went on: "This is what has brought this
problem to what it is - Nana Addo's Chambers - the fear is very pronounced in
me".
Supt Opare-Addo and the Inspector General of
Police had disregarded an Accra High Court ruling to release the Benz car to
Jobesh company. They also disregarded the Ags directive that they should release
the contentious vehicle and abide by the court ruling.
GRi…/
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Reconciliation bill: Gov't compromises
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice,
Nana Akufo-Addo, has revealed that President Kufuor's government is prepared to
make a concession that seeks to address some of the concerns aired by the
opposition NDC over the periods of reference covered by the proposed Reconciliation
Commission, The Statesman writes.
The specified periods of its remit are the eras
of military rule, the periods of unconstitutional government, that is, from 24th
February 1966 to 21st August 1969, 13th January 1972 to
23rd September 1979 and 31st December 1981 to 6th
January 1993.
In an exclusive interview with The Statesman
last weekend, the Minister said that the Commission will have the discretion to
investigate cases brought to it which do not fall within the specified periods.
This is a major concession, considering the government's earlier stance against
calls for the period of reference to cover 1957 to 6th January 1993.
The compromise, which is expected to be put to
the opposition in Parliament today, is expected to go a long way to neutralize
charges of selective reconciliation without actually diluting the purpose of
the whole exercise. Singing another conciliatory note, the Minister said:
"We will consider any amendment which improves the Bill and serves the
public interests."
The Commission, which will be appointed by the President,
will be a fact finding body with broad investigating powers. Its functions
include investigating abuses and violations of human rights, such as killings,
abductions, disappearances and seizure of properties suffered by any person
within the specified periods, with the view to recommending appropriate forms
of redress. The object is to seek and promote reconciliation among the people
of Ghana.
More…/
Okyenhene to run Aids marathon
The Okyenhene, Osagyefuo Amoatia Ofori Panin,
is to take part in a five-kilometre marathon next Saturday to mark World AIDS
Day and to raise awareness of the disease in Ghana.
World AIDS Day was declared by the United
Nations to draw attention to the debilitating nature of the disease, which is
eroding development in some countries, especially in Africa.
About 25 million people live with the disease
on the continent. There were 3.8 million new infections last year alone, with
4.3 million deaths worldwide. Zimbabwe is reported to have an average 1,500
death from AIDS every month. Ghana's case is not any better with an estimated
200 infections daily.
The Okyenhene's participation in the AIDS
marathon race is to show to Ghanaians the seriousness of the threat posed by
the disease. The Okyenhene is expected to be met by his Nananom and dignitaries
at Abuakwa State College, from where they will walk three kilometers to the
durbar grounds at Eseketewaho at Kyebi, in a show of solidarity in the fight
against HIV/AIDS.
GRi…/
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