Committee to probe illegal sale of government lands
Baah-Wiredu cautions against “naked stealing”
Britain (UK) 19 September 2001 - The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, has met six African presidents for talks at his country residence.
The leaders of Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Botswana, Senegal, and Mozambique were invited by Mr Blair to share their views on the development of Africa.
Mr Blair has named African development as a personal priority in his second term of office and correspondents say the African leaders are keen to create an image of stability in their countries to attract much-needed foreign assistance.
The six African leaders and Mr Blair also condemned the attacks on the United States and pledged to work to "rid the world of the evils of terrorism".
In a joint statement, they condemned the attacks "in the strongest possible terms." Saying, "We consider these to have been attacks on the whole of the international community and on people of all faiths and cultures."
"We stand together today in solidarity with the United States in our determination that those responsible should be brought to justice."
The meeting, which took place at Mr Blair's official country residence Chequers, had been planned long before last Tuesday's attacks.
Despite Mr Blair being busy with helping Washington to rally support for an international coalition against terrorism, his spokesman said he had been keen to honour his pledge to raise Africa's profile.
The six leaders invited are reforming, forward-looking presidents, most of them with clear ideas on how they want their countries to develop and a good track record in making government work.
A spokesman for Mr Blair said the talks were focussed on conflict prevention, good governance and trade. "Africa is the only continent which has yet to benefit from globalisation," he said.
The meeting also studied the New Africa Initiative - an economic development plan aimed at combating debt, poverty and Aids.
The talks follow a range of political and economic initiatives for Africa, including the promise of $1.2bn for a global Aids fund made by the G8 nations at their Genoa summit in July.
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Agona Swedru (Central Region) 19 September 2001 - A seven-member committee set up by the Agona District Assembly to probe alleged illegal sale of government lands by some chiefs and officials of the Town and Country Planning Department was inaugurated at Agona Swedru on Tuesday.
The committee, chaired by Johnny Arthur, Presiding Member, comprises all conveners of the assembly's sub-committees. The institution of the committee followed complaints by members of the assembly.
It will investigate alleged tampering of the master plan for the district, encroachment on government lands and illegal sale of lands meant for roads and recreational centres.
The committee is to submit its report within one month. The District Chief Executive, John Agyabeng said the illegal activities by some government officials in the area have given room for people to sell government lands.
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Ho (Volta Region) 19 September 2001 - The Most Reverend Francis Lodonu, Bishop of the Ho Diocese of the Catholic Church, on Tuesday urged the United States and the developed nations to try and change international economic relations to enable the poor live in dignity.
This, he said, would also remove the pretext for terrorism. "The poor nations of the world continue to be poorer whilst the richer ones are becoming richer. This creates a very dangerous situation in the world, which seem to underlie the suicidal terrorist attacks by a people whose belief in revenge is devilish and not divine".
Bishop Lodonu, who was speaking at a three-day workshop on Awareness Creation on Human Rights and Social Justice, organised by the Ho Diocesan Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Church, described the September 11 terrorist attack on the US as diabolical and the attackers as faceless criminals whose motives beat the human imagination.
"In striving to analyse the possible cause of these terrible events, one can safely say that there is a great segment of society that feels that their human rights, their justice and peace are being violated, whether rightly or wrongly. The USA and other world powers must sit down and think very seriously about these points."
Quoting a document on a United Nations Symposium held in New York in September 2000, Bishop Lodonu said one billion people were surviving on less than a dollar a day. Another 100 million children were living and working on the streets and 48 poorest countries in the world provided less than 0.4 per cent of the world's exports.
According to the report, someone dies from hunger every 3.6 seconds with 75 per cent of these being children. Bishop Lodonu said in the past decade more than 5 million people were killed and more than 6 million injured in wars.
He said in the 1990s about 50 million people were displaced by war forcing about 10 million of them to become refugees in the world today.
"The point I am driving at is to bring to ourselves the awareness of the world situation which affects human rights, justice and peace." He contended that these frightening statistics reflected the abject and inhuman poverty in which many were subsisting.
The workshop, which is being attended by 80 participants, is sponsored by the Konrad Adenaur Foundation (KAF) of Germany with the collaboration of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) and the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ).
Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa, Volta Regional Minister, said human rights existed independently of formal documents and that laws in statute books were only to acknowledge the existence of such rights.
The government would entrench the rule of law by "building strong and sustained institutional structures that can buttress it", he said.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 18 September 2001 - The Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID) on Tuesday arrested 27 year-old Samuel Akwei Allotey for allegedly threatening to burn down the US Embassy for persistently refusing to grant him visa.
Allotey, who works with Frankies Restaurant in Accra, was also said to have threatened to set ablaze other American installations.
Mr Patrick Acheampong, Director of CID said the police took the threat very seriously in view of recent terrorists attacks in the US. "A lot of the embassy staff also patronise Frankies Restaurant where Allotey works," he noted.
Allotey said he made the threat because he was refused the visa the second time this year after an interview with Abigail Rupp, the Vice Consul.
He told the GNA that he made those statements out of frustration for the persistent efusal of his application. "I exchanged words with the lady but I have forgotten exactly what I said."
He said the Vice Consul did not give him the opportunity to respond to her questions and was persistently putting him off. Meanwhile the US Embassy has served notice, preventing Allotey from entering any of its installations.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 September 2001 - Kwamena Bartels, Minister of Works and Housing, on Tuesday said the government has no intention of privatising the urban water supply system.
"No government, from the PNDC to the NPP, has ever decided to privatise water in Ghana," he said, adding: "The policy the government is pursuing now is a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) and not privatisation of the water sector."
Mr Bartels was speaking at a media encounter, jointly organised by the ministry and its partners in the water sector, to counteract alleged misleading information being peddled by the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), to the effect that the government intends to privatise the water sector.
According to documents made available to the media, ISODEC has criticised the PPP, otherwise known as the Private Sector Participation (PSP), as a water supply privatisation initiative, which would not be in the interest of the public.
ISODEC says PSP is being rushed; it will increase tariffs; it is IMF/World Bank conditionality for loans and it will allow foreign multinationals to control Ghana's water sector, among other things.
Mr Bartels described the ISODEC criticism as half-truth and misleading, saying that privatisation connotes a total sell-out of the sector to a private buyer who then runs it, fixes his own prices without monitoring and regulation.
"This is not the case with the PPP, which government intends to forge in the urban water sector, which aims at building a contractual relationship between the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) and two private companies."
Bartels said the arrangement involves the leasing of GWCL assets for a maximum period of 10 years under a partnership, adding that as part of the arrangement the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission will still play its statutory role by regulating water tariffs and supply standards.
Under the PSP GWCL will raise local and external funding to improve water production and facility expansion, whilst its private partners, yet to be selected from a shortlist of nine foreign companies, will concentrate on distribution of water and rehabilitation of facilities.
Bartels said the PSP agreement would bring in foreign financial investment, modernised technology, management know-how, improved work culture and also make for inter-change of expertise.
"Recent studies indicate that the urban water sector would require about 1.8 billion US dollars in the next 10 to 25 years to increase coverage," he said.
"Over the same period urban water supply threatens to fall from the current 62 per cent nation-wide to 38 per cent."
He said PSP promises to improve urban water supply from the current 62 per cent nation-wide to 80 per cent within five years.
It will facilitate accessibility and affordability of water in urban areas, reduce unaccounted for water, which currently stands at 52 per cent.
This, Mr Bartels said, would go a long way to remove the disparity where the poor who pay between 200 cedis and 500 cedis per bucket to water vendors, as against 45 cedis paid by the affluent in society who have taps in their homes.
Mr Bartels said the PSP could not have been a rush programme. It was initiated in 1994 and has since not been implemented.
He wondered why ISODEC, a local NGO which was contracted at the initial stages of the PSP to conduct a social mapping study in Kumasi which it did and held workshops to seek clear understanding, support and appreciation for the PSP, now turns round to criticise it.
Stephen Adu, Executive Secretary of PURC, said under the PSP, the role of PURC would not change. Tariffs will be determined by GWCL charges and lessee fees to cover the private investors' cost.
This, he said, would be measured against quality service delivery standards and reduction of unaccounted for water, thus preventing unnecessary increase in water tariffs.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 19 September 2001 - Ghana's consumption levels of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) this year exceeded the freeze levels set by the United Nations' Montreal Protocol.
The CFCs are substances used in refrigeration and air conditioning system. They are also used for blowing plastic foam, propelling liquids from aerosols and as cleaning fluids for electrical components.
Ghana consumed 47 ODP tonnes of the Ozone Depleting Substance, 11.5 ODP higher than the approved depleting level as at year 2000.
Mr Jonathan A. Allotey, Director of Inter-sector Network of the Environmental Protection Agency, said non-compliance with the reduction targets has implications including sanctions and trade restrictions by the international community in the supply of these refrigerants to Ghana.
He told a seminar for importers/ retailers of ozone-depleting substances in Accra on Tuesday that in accordance with the protocol agreement, Ghana's consumption by July 1999 should have been below 36 ODP tonnes.
"As a member of the global community, Ghana has to contribute to help curb the depleting ozone layer.
"In view of the importance that the ozone layer has to human life it is essential that we all make efforts to protect it for humanity."
Mr Allotey said although the products give some comfort in refrigeration and air conditioning, "we cannot sit down for it to deplete the ozone layer."
"The depletion of the Ozone layer is affecting crop yields, increasing hamattan, El Nino conditions, skin cancers and eye problems among others around the world," he said.
Mr Johnson Bennet Hasford, National Consultant, Ozone Depleting Substance Unit of the EPA, urged importers to ensure quality and look out for where the products were manufactured before buying.
They should also ensure clearance from the EPA before importing to avoid seizures at the country's boarders.
Dr. Rexford Osei, chairman of the function, urged the participants to co-operate with the government to bring down consumption levels.
He attributed the influx of the CFC products in Ghana to lack of proper check at the borders.
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Keta (Greater Accra) 19 September 2001 - Over 450 people have been displaced at Kedzi and Vodza in the Keta District by high tidal waves which have submerged more than 67houses during the past 20 days.
The only access road along the beach from Azizadzi to Keta is almost cut off, especially in the afternoons when the tidal waves cover the remaining stretches of land between the sea and the lagoon.
Contractors working on the Keta Sea Defence Project have now agreed to allow motorists to ply portions of its uncompleted beach roads.
On Monday, the Church of Jesus of Latter Day Saints donated 160 mini-bags of beans worth 21 million cedis to the victims at Keta.
Kwasi Owusu-Yeboa, the Volta Regional Minister who received the items, said the government was monitoring the situation closely to enable it take interim measures such as resettling the victims.
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Amanfopon (Central Region) 19 September 2001 - The Breman Asikuma Police are searching for a driver of a van with an inscription "Afful Blood Tonic" at the back, who is suspected to have knocked down and killed a 42-year-old woman, Amma Mansa at the outskirts of Amanfopon in Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District on September 6.
The Police said that Mr Paul Ninsing, a taxi driver was following the van and just as the vehicle passed a certain spot he saw the body of Mansa lying by the roadside and he made a report at Amanfopan Police Station.
The Police said the woman, who had her name written on her left arm, was sent to Breman Asikuma Catholic Hospital for autopsy.
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Obuasi (Ashanti Region) 19 September 2001 - Mr Joseph Boampong, Adansi West District Chief Executive has taken disciplinary action against 12 workers of the District Assembly, who reported late for duty last week.
The affected staff, including senior members, were sent home and given queries to explain why further sanctions should not be taken against them.
Mr Boampong told newsmen on Monday that those who are not able to give tangible reasons would be dealt with.
The exercise, he said, would continue until all the staff members developed positive attitude towards their work. "My action is a signal to other departments that I have declared a positive action to change our lukewarm attitude to duty''.
Mr Boampong said the government's policy of "positive change" should not be seen as a mere political slogan but a serious philosophy to bring qualitative change in all spheres of the national life.
He therefore advised heads of department to personally monitor the attendance of their workers to eliminate lateness and malingering.
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Alyesbury (United Kingdom) 19 September 2001 - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday said any attempt at resolving the economic problems of Africa should be holistic in nature.
The key factor should be a commitment to build democratic institutions that would fashion out a workable constitution for the continent, President Kufuor said during deliberations at a meeting with five other African leaders at Chequers, Alyesbury, the private resident of British Prime Minister Tony Blair, 60 kilometres outside London.
Present at the meeting held in a serene atmosphere, were President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, President Joachim Chissano of Mozambique, President Festus Mohai of Botswana, President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal and President Mpaka of Tanzania.
President Kufuor said the private sector, civil society, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the mass media have important roles to play in the provision of the basic infrastructure for development in Africa.
He said these include education, health, provision of potable water, telecommunication and electricity. Prime Minister Blair pledged to play an advocacy role in the search for a new approach to developmental issues on the African continent.
Africa has made considerable progress in the discussion of their problems and how to solve them. Prime Minister Blair said "if African countries could consider structuring a frame work to finance their key priorities, Britain and its allies would fund the mechanisms and structures to reduce conflicts on the continent".
He commended Ghana in her efforts to advance democracy and pledged his government's desire to offer assistance to entrench democracy in Ghana.
President Obasanjo stressed the need for Africa to strengthen democracy and good governance on the continent.
Efforts, he said, should be made to find solutions to poverty related problems as a pre-requisite for good governance, which would form the basis to establish peace.
President Wade said the symptoms of current events are a reflection of the divergent views existing between developed and developing countries and this dichotomy has created a situation for violence.
President Wade said major causes of conflicts in Africa are unfair elections and called for adequate resourced regional military force capable of responding to conflict situations.
He said personnel of the regional force, should be well trained, well resourced and participation should embrace most African countries and donor agencies.
President Wade said mechanisms for early warning before conflicts emerge, should be established in order to create a fairly transparent political environment in Africa.
President Chissano said leadership is a key factor on how a country should be governed adding, "good governance would be a panacea for conflict resolution".
He appealed to African leaders to talk to opposition groups in their countries move democracy forward in order to eliminate the tendency of opponents always obstructing efforts of ruling governments to move their countries forward.
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Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 19 September 2001 - Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development on Tuesday cautioned local government administrators against "naked stealing" of public monies meant for development.
"Let us resolve to join the dedicated and practical steps being undertaken by the government to block the misuse of monies meant for zonal, urban and town councils," he told an extraordinary emergency conference of the National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG) in Sunyani.
The conference, under the theme: "Strengthening the path of decentralisation for accelerated development, the role of local authorities" would elect a new executive committee.
Baah-Wiredu asked people who have been privileged to become leaders to learn to be circumspect in the way they handle public monies and never to forget that people have a lot of pressing concerns.
Billions of cedis have gone down the drain due to the blatant abuse of power by past local government officials, he said, and hinted that six District Chief Executives would soon be prosecuted for using monies allocated for development programme.
The Minister did not mention their names.
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Tamale (Northern Region) 19 September 2001 - A section of National Democratic Congress (NDC) supporters in Tamale are suggesting that Paul Victor Obeng, a member of the erstwhile Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC), should be made to lead the party if it was to recapture power in the 2004 elections.
The group, led by Sumaila Joe-Mara, NDC Deputy Northern Regional Secretary, told the GNA in Tamale on Tuesday that "Mr Obeng does not belong to any of the NDC factions and he will, therefore, be in the position to unite the party."
He described Mr Obeng as a "charismatic person", who can help change the negative perception of the NDC in certain quarters.
Mr Joe-Mara said in choosing a flagbearer, several things have to be considered and these included the ethnic background of the candidate.
"Mr Obeng, being an Ashanti, would break the dominance of New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Ashanti Region and among Ashantis." Mr Joe-Mara further suggested that a Northern Muslim should be Mr Obeng's running mate.
He said the NPP made inroads in Northern Ghana because of its choice of a Northern Muslim as the running mate to President John Agyekum Kufuor.
Mr Joe-Mara said to ensure ethnic balance Dr Obed Asamoah should be made the chairman of the party. "Politics is about numbers and we must make the right choice to attract those numbers."
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