GRi Newsreel Ghana 15 - 10 - 2001
Electoral Commission sets in motion electoral demarcation process
NPP government has not abandoned campaign promises - MP
Government will accept healthy criticism -Hawa
CPP re-instates three suspended officials
Government urged to pay outstanding debts of district assemblies
Electoral Commission sets in motion
electoral demarcation process
Accra (Greater Accra) 15 October 2001 - The Electoral Commission (EC) on Monday announced a programme under which it would sensitise Ghanaians on constitutional provisions governing the demarcation of new electoral areas.
Mr Henry Okyne, EC Director of Public Affairs, told the media in an interview that drawing of new electoral boundaries is a sensitive issue to politicians and chiefs fro which a lot of education has to be done before it was carried out.
The sensitisation process will start with a launch in Accra on October 16. The regional programme starts from Bolgatanga and Sekondi on October 18, Tamale and Cape Coast, October 19, Kumasi, October 22, Koforidua and Wa, October 24, Ho, October 25, and Sunyani, October 26.
After the nation-wide programme the EC would have a "comprehensive assessment of requests for the creation of new constituencies, districts or electoral areas".
Mr Okyne said the EC has received a number of memoranda relating to the creation of new electoral areas. "Politicians, chiefs and the media need to understand rules relating to the creation of new electoral areas."
He said the constitutional provision mandating the EC to create electoral boundaries for both national and local government elections states that: "The number of inhabitants of the constituency should be nearly equal to the population quota."
The population quota should also be considered with "Communication, geographical features, population density, area and boundaries".
Mr Okyne said the Constitution mandates the EC to review existing demarcation at intervals of not less than seven years or within 12 months after having a national population census.
He said any review of the electoral boundaries should come into effect upon the next dissolution of Parliament.
The EC Public Affairs Director stated that after the sensitisation meeting with stakeholders, the Commission would organise consultative meetings with interested groups and individuals, who have submitted request for the creation of new boundaries.
Mr Okyne expressed concern about the inability of the National Census Secretariat to submit the final figures of the population of the country after the last census.
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Kumasi (Greater Accra) 15 October 2001 - The Northern Regional Health Directorate has set up a special audit task force to help check fraudulent claims by some mission hospitals in the Region.
Miss Joana Quarcoo, Saboba-Chereponi District Director of Health Services, was responding to concerns raised by the Saboba Medical Centre, run by the Assemblies of God, about the delay in the refund of the 27 million cedis owed the facility by the government.
The claims were in respect of the treatment of the aged and children below the age of six that are exempted from the payment of medical treatment. The government also owes the Wapuli Health Centre operated by the Evangelical Presbyterian Church in the district 6.5 million cedis.
A situation report on the medical status of the people in the area prepared by the District Information Officer, Mr J. K. Agyeman a copy of which was made available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Kumasi, quoted Miss Quarcoo as having attributed the delay in the refund of those monies to suspicions about the genuineness of some of the claims.
She gave the assurance that as soon as the task force completed its work the refund would be made. The District Director of Health appealed to the Ministry of Health to ensure as a matter of urgency that all professional health workers were put on the mechanised payroll.
The report showed that as a result of the high level of poverty among the predominantly farming population most of them could not afford the cost of treatment at the various health facilities.
This was evident from the low attendance at the Out-Patients Department (OPD) of the hospitals, health centres and clinics. The report listed malaria and anaemia as the prevalent diseases in the area.
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Hemang-Buoho (Ashanti Region) 15 October 2001-Nana Kwame Asante-Frimpong, Member of Parliament (MP) for Kwabre, has said that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government has not abandoned its campaign promises to Ghanaians.
The government under the leadership of President John Agyekum Kufuor was committed to pursuing the welfare of Ghanaians but needed time to clean the stables since the previous government left behind a pile of debris, he said.
Nana Asante-Frimpong told chiefs and people of Hemang, Ntri-Buoho, Afrancho and Bronkon in the Kwabre District on that the past government kept Ghanaians in the dark and behaved as if all was rosy but the NPP government has come out with the true picture and has joined the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.
He indicated: "If people are not seeing signs of progress, commitment and provision of social amenities that does not mean the NPP is not working. The serial murders which has come to a halt, price stability, increases in the producer price of cocoa, reduction of inflation, are all indicators that the government really means business."
The MP told the people to have a second look at the consideration of giving car loans to MPs, saying that it was only through the provision of good vehicles for them that they could work effectively and meaningfully.
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Sunyani (Eastern Region) 15 October 2001 - The Youth Wing of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has condemned the Brong Ahafo Regional branch of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for boycotting the joint Brong Ahafo/Ashanti Regional forum on the
Reconciliation Bill held in Kumasi last week.
Mr Kwame Twumasi-Awuah, Acting National Youth Organiser of the NPP, told the Ghana News Agency in Sunyani at the weekend that the action of the NDC was baseless and sought to raise ethnic sentiments.
The NDC in a statement on Wednesday explained that the party boycotted the forum with the excuse that Kumasi being the stronghold of the NPP, it was not sure of the safety of its representatives, who would make critical comments.
It argued that since the region was independent of the Ashanti Region, a separate forum should have been held in Sunyani.
The Regional NDC statement, signed by Mr Oppong Nkrumah, Secretary, also insinuated that the holding of the joint regional forum in Kumasi "constitutes part of subtle attempts by the NPP government to shift certain privileges and projects of the Brong Ahafo to Ashanti Region.
It was very strange that the Regional NDC could be so petty since the organisers of the forum adopted the format to cut down cost. The forum for Northern, Upper East and West Regions was held at Bolgatanga.
Mr Twumasi-Awuah explained that the decision to organise the joint forum was also to enhance interaction among participants to facilitate the national reconciliation process.
"The NDC has, therefore, defeated and indeed grossly undermined our journey to the land of reconciliation with the flimsy and baseless excuses advanced to explain their boycott."
Mr Twumasi-Awuah said it was about time the NDC and its activists realised that the era when they could "throw dust into the eyes of the public were gone and no amount of peddling of false information could redeem their sunken image".
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Anomabu (Central Region) 15 October 2001 - The Minister of Tourism, Ms Hawa Yakubu said at the weekend that the government would accept healthy criticisms that promote good governance.
Addressing a durbar to mark the annual "Okyir" festival of the Chiefs and people of Anomabo traditional area at Anomabo, she said any government that does not accept criticisms would not succeed in promoting true democracy.
The festival is a period of prayer for good health and abundant food supply. Ms Hawa said the government has instituted good social and economic policies and programmes to help improve the living standard of the people and urged the people to send their children to school because education is the key to development.
She announced that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has given her ministry three million dollars to enhance private sector development.
Nana Kantamanto Amoanu XI, Omanhen of Anomabo, appealed to the government and Non-governmental Organisations to help rehabilitate the Fort Williams to serve as a tourist centre and to link it with the Cape Coast and Elmina castles in subsequent PANAFEST celebration programmes.
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Abuakwa (Ashanti Region) 15 October 2001-The Ashanti Regional Executive of the
Convention Peoples Party (CPP) have re-instated three suspended regional officers of the party in Ashanti.
They are Messrs Kwadwo Tweneboah, first vice-chairman, Yakubu Mohammed, second vice-chairman and Enoch Kwaku Ampong, assistant secretary.
This followed a meeting by the regional executive, all the 33 constituency chairmen and members of the Council of Elders at Abuakwa, in the Atwima District at the weekend.
The meeting unequivocally accepted the recommendation by the Central Committee of the CPP that the party's office at Kejetia should serve as the Regional Secretariat, while that at Aboabo should be used for the Asokwa constituency.
Wrangling over which two of the offices should be made the Regional Secretariat nearly caused a split of the party in Ashanti as blocs and factions emerged with each desperately trying to undo the other through accusations and counter-accusations.
Addressing the meeting, Mr Osei Tutu Bonsu, Regional Chairman, reminded members and supporters to maintain a strong and united front, saying, "intra-party fighting and bickering were unhealthy for the growth and development of any political party".
He said it is only through internal peace and harmony that the CPP could be adequately prepared to wrestle political power from the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the year 2004.
Mr Bonsu repeated the party's opposition to moves by the government to privatise the water sector, pointing out that this would only aggravate the suffering of the people.
A member of the Council of Elders, Mr F.A. Jantuah, called for a more vigorous education campaign to push through the CPP's alternative policies to address the economic problems of the country.
He said if the people are made aware of the party's public sector development programmes, they could be won over to vote for the CPP in the next general elections.
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Government urged to pay outstanding debts
of district assemblies
Tamale (Northern Region) 15 October 2001 - The Northern Region National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Caucus has called on the government to pay off all outstanding debts for projects executed on behalf of the district assemblies.
The MPs also urged the government to review its directive to the assemblies to use only 20 per cent of their share of the Common Fund to settle outstanding debts, saying that the amount would be inadequate.
In a press statement issued at the end of their meeting in Tamale on Sunday, the MPs asked district assemblies to stop awarding contracts until District Tender Boards are properly reconstituted.
The statement, signed by the Caucus Leader and MP for Tolon, Alhaji Abdulai Salifu, said the district assemblies that are awarding contracts without tender boards are undermining the President's "zero tolerance for corruption."
It also contravenes Legislative Instrument (L.I) 1606, which spells out how contracts at the district assemblies should be awarded.
The MPs expressed concern about the number of central government projects in the region that are at a standstill and appealed to the government to release funds for their completion.
They mentioned roads, rural electrification and water projects, which had been at a standstill since the NPP came to power.
The Caucus alleged that the staff of Zonal, Town and Area Councils were being replaced with NPP supporters and accused the government of politicising the structure of the assemblies, which were supposed to be non-partisan.
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