Chief
Justice questions repeal of Libel law
Cote d'Ivoire to cut power supply
to Ghana if…
Afenyi-Dadzie appointed goodwill
ambassador of Huston
Cocobod
signs US$300m facility for 2001/2002 Cocoa purchases
University
of Ghana lecturers give deadline for arrears payment
Government urged to pay ex-gratia
awards to former DCEs
Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 02 October 2001 - Mr
Justice E.K. Wiredu, Acting Chief Justice on Monday questioned the
justification for the repeal of the criminal libel law, saying it has only
given undue liberties to journalists and some members of the public to peddle
falsehood.
He said personally, he has always favoured the
expunction of the law of sedition and not the criminal libel law "whose
repeal has made it easier for the media to publish falsehood and rendered the
process of seeking redress for defamation difficult and expensive".
Mr Justice Wiredu made these remarks in Sunyani
at the opening of the 2000/2001 annual national conference of the Ghana Bar
Association (GBA). The three-day conference is under the theme:
"Corruption, the rule of law and the administration of justice".
Mr Justice Wiredu, who did not hide his
dissatisfaction about the performance of a section of the media, questioned the
fairness of an aggrieved person's rejoinder to a front-page story being placed
in the inside pages of a newspaper.
He said the damage caused by the front-page
story could never be repaired by a rejoinder that is placed in an obscure
corner in an inside page.
He suggested to the GBA to draw up a training
programme for journalists to enable them to report properly on legal issues.
"Journalists in the country think they are better placed to interpret the
constitution and comment on legal issues but this is wrong and they should be
educated to appreciate the law especially its due process and court
reporting".
Mr Justice Wiredu reiterated his determination
to insulate the judiciary from undue interference, stressing that "not
even the government will be allowed to dictate to us".
He admitted that the judiciary is ridden with
corruption, which he described as stinking and appealed to members of the
public and the GBA who know about corrupt practices of Judges and court
officials to expose them for action.
"I am not going to countenance any trait
of corruption as indicated by the recent dismissal of 43 judicial workers but I
cannot succeed if people with evidence do not come forward."
Mr Justice Wiredu described the fast track
courts as highly successful and announced plans to build six more in Accra and
Tema and one each for the regional capitals.
In a speech that attracted a standing ovation,
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, touched
on a number of issues affecting the administration of justice and stressed the
government's intention to abolish the tribunal system.
"A new bill will soon be placed before
parliament to amend the courts act of 1993 to abolish the tribunal system,
which has been an abysmal and expensive failure and contributed massively to
the deep-seated corruption in our judicial system".
Nana Akufo-Addo said this year alone,
allowances for panel members of the tribunals would amount to 3.4 billion
cedis, a sum that could be used to improve the operations of the regular courts
for better results.
He said the government was committed to the
elimination of corruption, consolidation of the rule of law and democracy and
called for the support of the bar in this direction
Nana Akufo-Addo denied that the fast track
court system was introduced "to rail-load former NDC functionaries into
jail", explaining that of the more than 100 cases before it, only three
could be given a political tag of some sort.
He announced a comprehensive programme to
overhaul the judicial system in terms of court proceedings, mechanisation and
provision of infrastructure as well as improvement in conditions of service
including that of staff of the Attorney General.
Nana Akufo-Addo said to ensure effective and
timely trial of armed robbery cases the government has given approval for their
prosecution before the fast track courts.
Mr Ebow Quashie, out-going President of the
GBA, in a sharp contrast to remarks made by the Chief Justice, praised the
government for repealing the criminal libel law, which he said was inconsistent
with the 1992 constitution.
Mr Quarshie condemned lawyers who collude with clients
to undermine the administration of justice and said they would have no moral
grounds to question others who misconduct themselves.
Mr Ernest Debrah, Brong Ahafo Regional
Minister, said corruption in the society can effectively be checked when the political
leadership of the country exhibits the will to ensure that political appointees
lead exemplary lives.
He mentioned improvement of the public
financial management system, strengthening state institutions and improving
operational capabilities of oversight bodies as well as involving civil society
in anti-corruption activities as other measures to control corruption.
Mr Debrah called on the Bar and the Bench to
co-operate to erase the perception of a section of the public that the Fast
Track Court is rather a "snail track court".
Nana Kwadwo Nyarko III, President of Brong
Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs said inadequate remuneration for administrators
of justice, law enforcement agents and workers in general has been the cause of
corruption and this, he added, must be addressed by the government.
In fraternal message on behalf of Ghana
Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Victor Leonard Amengor, Regional Chairman of
the Association, praised the GBA for being in the forefront "since time
immemorial" of the fight against "politically bankrupt" regimes.
The present democratically elected government
is the result of that meritorious service of the association to the state, he
added.
Three distinguished members of the association
were honoured for their contributions to the growth of the legal profession in
Ghana.
They are Mr Joseph Kwasi Agyemang, a past
President of the Association, Mr Seth Bimpong Buta, Director of Legal Education
and currently on secondment to the Gambia government as Editor of the Gambia
Law Reports under the Commonwealth Technical Assistance programme and Mr S.
Kwami Tetteh, a private legal practitioner.
GRi../
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Accra (Greater Accra) 02 October 2001 -
Authorities of the Volta River Authority and the Electricity Company of Cote
d'Ivoire on Monday began discussions on how VRA could settle its 50
million-dollar debt.
An Ivorian delegation led by Jeanne-Chantal
Bouedy is seeking firm payment pledges from VRA that it will settle the debt by
the end of the year.
Speaking at the meeting, Dr Charles
Wereko-Brobbey, VRA Chief Executive, stressed the need for VRA to find money to
pay the debt. ''The situation is an embarrassment to both VRA and the
government.
"The VRA will either have to borrow money,
postpone or cancel some of its planned major projects necessary to expand its
network.
"It will also be necessary to have
discussions with the government to see if there could be an interim arrangement
to solve the problem," Dr Wereko-Brobbey said.
He said although Ghana has good technical
co-operation with Cote d'Ivoire that would make cutting supplies to Ghana
difficult, Cote d'Ivoire could eventually be pushed to take such a drastic
measure if VRA failed to pay its debt.
"If circumstances, as they are now, get
beyond their control they would have no other choice but to cut it off,"
he added.
Energy co-operation between Cote d'Ivoire and
Ghana started in 1984 when the VRA supplied power to Cote d'Ivoire. However,
since 1994 Cote d'Ivoire has been supplying power to Ghana.
Effy Ekolan Alava, Director General of the
Electricity Sector, said Ghana's debt rose from 35 million dollars in 2000 to
50 million dollars currently.
He said 70 per cent of electricity in Cote
d'Ivoire is thermal, adding that the company has to pay for natural gas to
enable it generate the required power.
Effy Ekolan said for a year now, the Cote
d'Ivoire Electricity Corporation has not been able to pay for the natural gas
it has been buying for power generation because of Ghana's inability to pay its
debt. "The gas company is also threatening to stop selling to us."
He said although there had been several
delegations to Ghana for discussions, Ghana has consistently failed to meet its
debt obligations for the electricity it has consumed.
Effy Ekolan said if a solution is not found to
the debt issue a time might come when "we would no longer be able to sell
energy to Ghana".
Jeanne-Chantal Bouedy, a representative of the
Ivorian government, said the government had been pre-financing power supply to
Ghana through increased tariffs on poor citizens.
She said because the electricity company lacks
money, it has not been able to upgrade its generating plants. ''Any technical
fault could mean the suspension of supply to Ghana.
Bouedy called a well-defined strategy on the
mode of payment to enable them also meet the debt obligations of their
creditors.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 02 October 2001 - Ghana
Journalists Association President, Mrs. Gifty Afenyi-Dadzie, has been appointed
a goodwill Ambassador of the city of Huston, in the State of Texas.
A statement issued in Accra on Monday said she
has also been made honorary citizen of that State.
Each of the two awards was accompanied by a
citation signed by Mr. Lee Brown, Mayor of Huston and Mr. Rodney Ellis,
Governor of Texas.
They were presented to her by the Commissioner
of Huston, Mr. Chris Wilmot at the end of a conference dubbed,
"Celebration For Women' and attended by women from 176 countries.
Part of the citation read: " ..in
recognition of the outstanding success you have achieved in your worthy
vocation and in appreciation of the valuable contributions you have made and
are making through unselfish public service for the benefit and welfare of
humanity".
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 02 October 2001 - The Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) on Monday
signed a 300 million-dollar receivable- backed trade finance facility from a
group of eleven international banks to purchase cocoa for the 2001/2002
marketing season.
A statement
issued by the Ghana High Commission in London on Monday said the facility,
co-arranged by Barclays Bank and the Standard Chartered Bank is the ninth
successive loan facility organised by international financial banks for the
Board.
It said an
amount of 260 million dollars that was raised under similar arrangements last
year has been fully repaid.
Mr Kwame
Sarpong, Chief Executive Officer of COCOBOD, said in spite of the reduction of
the facility from 350 million dollars to 260 million in the previous year,
occasioned by a record fall of cocoa prices, the facility was smoothly
administered without any serious hitches.
He
congratulated the banks "for not only winning their mandate this year but
also for successfully arranging the syndication in such trying and difficult
time" and gave the assurance that the banks' confidence would not be
misplaced because it would guard their hard won reputation as a first class
borrower.
He
suggested that future arrangement be completed in September to enable the Board
to open the season early in order to reduce the financial strain on the
country's farmers.
He paid
tributes to the hardworking farmers for their commitment to the production of
good quality cocoa beans, the allied agencies and the government for their
support to improve the economy of Ghana.
Mr Isaac
Osei, Ghana's High Commissioner to the UK, noted that the confidence demonstrated
by the banks would ginger the cocoa farmers to strive for greater heights.
"It
will also go a long way to strengthen the efforts of government to create a
conducive atmosphere for trade and investment in the country."
He
expressed the hope that investors would take advantage of the favourable
climate and invest in the country.
The High
Commissioner gave the assurance that government's future policies on the
external marketing of cocoa would be to their mutual benefit and expressed the
hope that the partnership would further be deepened and diversified in future.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 02 October 2001 - The Local Executives of the Teachers and
Educational Workers' Union (TEWU) and the Federation of University Senior Staff
Association of Ghana (FUSSAG) of the University of Ghana, Legon, have set
Monday, October 15, as deadline for the payment of their 15 per cent salary
increases from May to September.
They warned
that should the authorities fail to honour their demand " we shall not be
in a position to restrain our rank and file from any industrial action."
The
agreement to increase the basic salaries of staff was reached at negotiations
between the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals (CVCP) and TEWU/FUSSAG
during the review of the collective bargaining agreement for the
Universities
on August 1.
The two
bodies said the Ministry of Finance gave approval to the Universities to
implement the salary adjustment from the beginning of May, while CVCP and
TEWU/FUSSAG agreed on September 2001 for implementation.
TEWU and
FUSSAG urged Management of the Universities to adjust salary levels upward by
15 per cent across the board by the end of October, saying there is a mounting
dissatisfaction among members over the undue delay in the payment.
They
referred to a letter by the Minister of Finance Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo dated
September 28, requesting the Auditor-General to audit the new salary levels for
the Controller and Accountant-General to effect payment.
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Accra
(Greater Accra) 02 October 2001 - Latest peace talks among leaders of feuding
Mano River countries marked the beginning of a process towards a lasting peace
in the region, El-Hadj Mamadou Falilou Bah, Guinean Ambassador, told
journalists in Accra on Monday.
He said his
country is keen to see an end to the conflict, adding: "Conakry will go to
all lengths to make sure it happens."
Guinea,
Liberia and Sierra Leone have been locked in conflict at their frontiers, each
accusing the other of harbouring anti-government forces. Scores of people have
died and thousands displaced.
In a speech
to commemorate Guinea's 43rd independence anniversary which falls on Tuesday
(tomorrow), the Ambassador urged sister African countries to take active
interest in the newly formed African Union (AU) to foster peace on the
continent.
He said the
West African initiative of creating a second monetary zone is an eloquent
example of integration that must be pursued to the end.
Guinea, a
former French colony, declared itself independent on October 2 1958 under first
President Ahmed Sekou Toure who teamed up with Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah to
spearhead the struggle for African unity and liberation.
Ambassador
Bah said the friendship fostered by the two leaders continued to manifest in
the excellent political and social relations, which developed between the two
countries.
Through
this co-operation, it became necessary for Guinea and Ghana to explore means to
widen and strengthen their respective private sectors.
Guinea,
known as the main source of Africa's rivers, is also rich in other resources
like minerals and fishing.
Two-thirds
of the world bauxite reserve estimated at 20 billion tons is located in that
country in addition to an estimated 25 billion carats of diamonds.
But in the
last decade Guinea has had to grapple with the spill-over of conflicts in
Liberia and Sierra Leone, her to cope with enormous refugee problems.
''But we
are optimistic that with the help of aid and relief organisations my country
will be able to cope''.
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Tamale (Northern Region) 02 October 2001 - The
Minister of Economic Planning and Regional Co-operation, Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom,
said on Monday that the single most important condition under the Highly
Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative is that "all its benefits must
be used to implement Ghana's Poverty Reduction Strategy
(GPRS)."
The government cannot spend HIPC savings on
anything other than programmes and projects geared towards meeting GPRS
targets.
Dr Nduom was speaking at an education workshop
on "Consultations with Civil Society on Ghana's Poverty Reduction
Strategy/HIPC" for non-governmental organisations and religious bodies in
Tamale.
He said HIPC has started bearing fruits citing
the stability of the cedi and reduction in the government's expenditure as
examples.
Ghana would benefit from between 150 and 200
million dollars annually from HIPC for the next three years.
Dr Nduom said the GPRS would not repeat the
mistakes of Vision 2020, which he described as "academic".
"We would want to see physically that life
is better within the next three years".
The Executive Secretary of the Ghana
Association of Private Voluntary Organisations in Development (GAPVOD), Mr Kofi
Adu, said NGOs and religious bodies constitute an important factor in the
poverty reduction effort, which must be part of the entire process of GPRS.
Mr Adu called on the government to act on the
draft NGO policy, which among other things, calls for the recognition of NGOs
as strategic partners in national development and democratisation.
The policy also calls for the creation of an
enabling legal, institutional and democratic environment for NGOs to operate
and contribute effectively to development.
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Koforidua (Eastern Region) 02 October 2001 -
The Member of Parliament for Fanteakwa, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo has called on
the government to pay the ex-gratia awards due the former District Chief
Executives (DCEs).
He said the continued delay was a gross abuse
of their fundamental human rights and a "deliberate attempt by the
government to cause financial and economic hardship to the DCEs and their
families."
Mr Ofosu Ampofo, who is also a ranking member
on Local Government and Rural Development, made the call in an interview with
the Ghana News Agency in Koforidua on Sunday.
He argued that, though the government had the
right to audit the financial administration of district assemblies headed by
former DCEs, "it cannot deny them their entitlements when they have not
been charged of any malfeasance".
He said since the government was unable to come
out with names of former DCEs alleged to have misappropriated public funds, it
would be unfair to withhold payment due to those who had worked diligently.
Mr Ofosu Ampofo, therefore, called on the
government to come out with the audit reports conducted on the district
assemblies in order to begin the process of paying the former DCEs.
He recounted a number of financial difficulties
the former DCEs were going through and said the government's stand was sending
bad signals to prospective individuals, who might want to serve their nation in
similar capacities.
The MP also accused supervisors of the various
government rural development programmes, for an alleged politicisation in the
disbursement of the funds under the programmes. He said such attitudes could defeat the aim of the government at
improving the living standards of the people in the rural areas.
Mr Ofosu Ampofo further appealed to DCEs to
involve all the people in the communities in the running of their
administration to ensure transparency and efficiency.
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Nkoranza (Brong Ahafo) 02 October 2001 - Mr
John Kofi Amoah, Nkoranza District contact person of the Forum for African
Women Educationists (FAWE) has advised schoolgirls not to keep cases of
defilement to themselves but to report to the appropriate authorities for the
law to take its course.
He also cautioned parents against the
settlement of such cases at home because it is criminal.
Addressing FAWE Junior Club members at Nkoranza
at the weekend, Mr Amoah expressed concern about the alarming rate of such
cases in the area.
He advised girls to be wary of unscrupulous men
who may lure them with money.
Miss Joyce Nyamedie, District Director of the
Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) identified child
neglect and parental irresponsibility as major problems in the area.
She said this accounted for the high school
dropout rate and teenage pregnancies and urged parents to exercise stricter
control over their daughters.
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