Agric sector will remain key area of focus – Mills
Parliamentary candidate advises electorate against accepting gifts
Ghana to reduce poverty level by half in 2015
Bolgatanga (Upper East) 16 Oct. 2000
Vice-President John Evans Atta Mills said at the weekend that the agricultural sector will remain the key area of focus of the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
He said the government has plans to extend efforts in that sector from mere production of crops to substantial agro-processing to add value to the country's agricultural produce.
Speaking to the press at Bolgatanga, he said the government's agricultural policy would undergo some changes, particularly with regard to the supply of inputs and marketing to make farming more lucrative and attractive.
"The prices of agricultural inputs is one major area of concern. We are aware of this and we will certainly do something about it by way of subsidy."
Prof. Mills, who is also the flagbearer of the NDC, maintained that the nation's unemployment problem would be effectively tackled by revamping the agricultural sector, and lauded the Youth in Agriculture Programme as a great success.
As to whether the NDC government still has anything to offer Ghanaians considering their long stay in office, the Vice-President said all that the government had done in the past years was to lay a foundation on which to build upon.
He cited the provision of roads, electricity, water, health and educational facilities even in the remotest communities, saying this is a track record none of the political parties in the country can challenge.
He urged Ghanaians to return the NDC to power to enable it to pursue its developmental agenda to the satisfaction of all.
The Vice-President also indicated that the stabilisation of the cedi to get the economy smooth sailing has been government's priority preoccupation recently, and assured Ghanaians that there was light at the end of the tunnel.
He pledged to tackle the issue of new wages for workers and to implement measures that would improve their lot.
Prof. Mills commended journalists for their crucial role in educating and informing the people but cautioned against excesses committed in the name of press freedom.
"We should always consider that if there is freedom for the writer, then there should also be freedom for the one who is being written about," he added.
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Sekondi (Western Region) 16 Oct.
2000
A leading member of the New
Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, has called on the Electoral Commission
(EC) to act quickly in removing the names of 1.5 million people it claims have
bloated the voters' register before printing any ballot paper.
He said not until the EC clears
the voters' register, any talk of ensuring free and fair election would not be
taken seriously by Ghanaians.
Addressing a mammoth rally of the
Sekondi Constituency branch of the NPP at the weekend, Nana Akufo-Addo also
asked the EC to reconsider its decision not to allow political parties'
representatives entry into the Operations Room.
He said this decision of the EC
casts doubt in the minds of Ghanaians on the sincerity of the EC to ensure
free, fair and transparent elections.
Ghanaians, he said, want absolute
peace before and after the general election and the achievement of this goal
would depend greatly on the impartiality of the EC.
Nana Akufo-Addo said the EC is
bent on using vehicles belonging to District Chief Executives and other
agencies to convey ballot boxes and election materials, adding that this does
not offer level ground for contesting parties.
He, therefore, appealed to the EC
to look for neutral vehicles to carry ballot boxes and election materials to
ensure fair play.
"The EC must conduct its
activities with neutrality, transparency and fairness to enable defeated
parties to accept the results of the elections in good faith," he added.
Nana Akufo-Addo said the NDC is
demanding people's vote for continuity whilst the NPP is asking for a change,
adding that the test before Ghanaians is therefore not tribal or religious but
to decide whether the NDC should continue with the poverty, high health bills
and school fees as well as rampant increases in the prices of goods or to vote
for the NPP for a change.
Ghana needs a change, he stated,
adding that the NPP is ready to provide leadership for that needed change.
Dr. Ama Busia, First National
Vice-Chairman of the NPP, said the party members would put their blood at stake
to save the nation from total collapse.
She said the NPP would make use of
all knowledgeable Ghanaians, irrespective of their tribal, religious or
political affiliation, to help salvage the image of the country.
Mrs Gladys Asmah, Member of
Parliament for Takoradi and Deputy Minority Leader, said the NDC has lost ideas
and has nothing new to offer Ghanaians.
The NDC, she said, has terribly failed
Ghanaians because it has made them poorer than the period it took over the
reins of government.
She said Ghanaians had been paying
dearly for the incompetence of the NDC for the past 20 years and it was now
time for them to vote massively for the NPP to save the nation.
Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Member of
Parliament for Sekondi, said the NPP is the only party that has the answer to
the mess the NDC has created over the years.
He said the NDC is fighting a
losing battle because Ghanaians are now fed up with its policies.
"Ghanaians cannot continue
with the high cost of living, mass unemployment, high hospital bills and school
fees for ever," he added. Some leading members of the party and aspiring
parliamentary candidates also addressed the rally.
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Tamale (Northern Region) 16 Oct.
2000
President Jerry John Rawlings on
Sunday told a political rally at Tamale that the National Democratic Congress
is the party that have unified the country in the post independent era.
He noted that ever since Ghana's
independence the country has been divided into the Nkrumah and the Danquah
traditions fighting each other until the PNDC/NDC era, which has succeeded in
bringing the people together as a unified nation.
President Rawlings, who was
addressing an NDC Northern Regional rally told the teeming party supporters to
put behind them what he described as the "bitter past" and to rally
solidly behind the NDC.
He noted that by their massive
attendance at the rally the party supporters have demonstrated "a show of
force" behind the NDC adding that it would only have a meaning when it is
translated into electoral victory for party.
President Rawlings urged the
people to vote for Professor Evans Atta Mills, the NDC presidential candidate
to empower the government to bring the necessary changes in the laws for
accelerated national development.
President Rawlings, arrived on the
rally grounds accompanied by his wife, Nana Konadu and other party stalwarts
including Miss Sherry Ayittey, Treasurer of the 31st December Women's Movement
and Mrs Cecilia Johnson, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development.
"We were the one who opened
door to freedom", President Rawlings told the crowd, adding; "Today,
they (opposition parties) have the freedom to lie, to use the freedom of speech
to insult us and lie about us".
He urged the party supporters not
to "make the mistake of handing over your power to anybody. Keep your
power here. This is your party".
"Give us the power victory
you gave us in 1992. That is what we want on December 7". He said,
"you do not have to go to school to learn who has the integrity and clean
mind to lead you".
President Rawlings told the
cheering crowd that he would be more active in the affairs of the party after
his tenure of office.
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Tamale (Northern Region) 16 Oct. 2000
The Flag bearer of the United Ghana Movement (UGM), Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, has accused the private media of being bias against the party.
He said that the private media "as sympathisers of the parties in opposition have viewed the UGM as a party that has divided the ranks of the opposition".
Speaking in Tamale after a week's tour of the Northern Region, he said; "they are so scared of the UGM and they think that the message we have is so powerful that it is going to disturb their agenda".
He however praised the state owned media for giving adequate coverage to UGM activities and said "one story in the Daily Graphic is worth more than 50 stories in the Ghanaian Chronicle".
Dr. Wereko-Brobby said he was not prepared to "stroke the ego" of individuals in the private media to give coverage to UGM activities, pointing out that the private media quickly embraced the National Reform Party because it was perceived to be creating problems for the NDC, adding that, "if you don't say anything that flames the government, it is not newsworthy".
He said when UGM is voted into power, it would introduce a fairness doctrine under which the private media would operate to ensure that "freedom of the press would be just and fair to all".
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Wenchi (Brong Ahafo) 16 Oct. 2000
Mr. Kwaku Amoah-Tutu, National Reform Party (NRP) parliamentary candidate for Wenchi East Constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region, has advised the electorate against accepting gifts from politicians to influence them to vote for a particular candidate.
Mr. Amoah-Tutu was briefing the GNA on his plans and strategies toward the general elections. "Now that electioneering campaign is gearing up, some politicians will be dishing out monies and other gifts to win votes," he said, and urged the people not to sell their conscience and choose wrong leaders.
He advised politicians to rather tell the electorate about their visions, ideas and philosophies to enable them to make informed choices.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 16 Oct. 2000
Mr Kofi Asante-Frimpong, Programme Manager of the National Poverty Reduction Programme (NPRP) on Saturday said Ghana has a target to reduce by half the number of people living in poverty, by the year 2015.
He said already, " the level of Poverty has been reduced from over 50 per cent in 1992 to about 43 per cent in 1998."
Mr Asante-Frimpong said this at the end of a quiz competition organised by the NPRP and the National AIDS Control Programme in collaboration with the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation for five selected second cycle Schools in Accra.
The competition, which was won by Presbyterian Boys Secondary School, was in commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty (IDEP), which falls on October 17.
The theme for the celebration was "Race Against Poverty; Breaking the Silence Around HIV/AIDS." The other competing schools were Accra Girls' Secondary School, Achimota School. St Thomas Aquinas Secondary School and Labone Secondary School. Mr Asante-Frirmpong said the objective of the quiz was to sensitise people on how poverty makes people vulnerable to AIDS.
Ato Ulzen Appiah from PRESEC who was adjudged the overall winner, had for his prize, 200,000 cedis cash and a set of books.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 16 Oct. 2000
Sir Roger Moore, the famous
British film star and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, arrived in Accra on Sunday to
help create awareness on the need to support the rights and welfare of
children.
Whiles in the country, he would
help with UNICEF fund-raising activities and programmes and promote the
National Immunisation Programme.
Sir Roger would also hold
discussions with officials of UNICEF and the Ghana National Commission on
Children (GNCC) and meet with the Ga Mashie community at Bukom Square.
Accompanied by his wife,
Christiana, Sir Roger would visit Kumasi and Tamale, where he would commission
a borehole.
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