GRi News 25-02-99

Accra (Greater Accra), 25 Feb.

Income earned on vegetable exports can surpass that of cocoa in the next 15 years if the government supports the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in its study of vegetable production.

Mr Offei-Bonsu, plant breeder, Crop Research Institute of the Council for Scientific Industrial Research (CSIR), told newsmen in Accra on Wednesday that most vegetables, which are non-traditional exports, are produced every three months while cocoa takes years to mature.

Dr Peter Sallah, a maize breeder of CSIR, said the Crop Research Institute (CRI) had developed several high yielding and disease-resistant maize varieties which have been released to farmers through the Ministry of Agriculture.

He said "Dobidi" and "Aburotia" which are sensitive to the maize streak virus have been replaced with "Obatanpa".

Dr Sallah said "Obatanpa" has better protein quality due to the increased levels of amino acids.

"In Northern Ghana, 60,000 hectares of rice is grown every year using mostly varieties recommended by the Savannah Agriculture Research Institute (SARI) of the CSIR, formerly Nyankpala Experimental Station.

"In addition, varieties of Cowpea, Soyabean, groundnuts, cassava and mango have been improved by CRI''.

Dr Sallah said the split-corm Technology, a rapid multiplication method for producing plantain suckers, has been adopted by CRI and transferred to farmers for use.

The CSIR has not achieved its utmost over the years due to the late release of inputs and inadequate salaries.

Dr Sallah appealed to government to solve the problems confronting CSIR once and for all so that "we can deliver our best to the development of technologies."

Accra (Greater Accra), 25 Feb.

President Jerry Rawlings has appointed members of the Fire Service Council with Mr Cyril Neequaye Mensah, a fire management consultant, as chairman.

According to a statement issued in Accra on Wednesday, members of the Council are Mr Stephen Effah, of the Ministry of Works and Housing, Mr M. N. Afrifa-Gyasi, of the Attorney-General's Department,and Mr J. M. Y. Amegashie, a representative of the Ministry of Roads and Highways.

The others are: Mr B. K. Abban, Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr N. L. Tetteh, Ministry of the Interior, Brigadier J.P. Adda, Chief Fire Officer,and Mr Elias Adablanu, Deputy Chief Fire Officer.

The rest are Group Officer Joyce Steiner, also with the Fire Service, Miss Monica Atenkah, businesswoman, and Mr Clement Sangapaare, of Ashanti Goldfields.

Accra (Greater Accra), 25 Feb.

Vice-President John Evans Atta Mills on Wednesday lauded Sweden for renewing its trade policy towards Africa, saying, that country can now play a more active role in Africa by virtue of its membership of the European Union.

Vice President Mills, who made this point when he received letters of credence from Mr Lars Ekstrom, Swedish ambassador, also called for the stepping up of "the long-standing bonds of friendship" between Ghana and Sweden.

He recounted government's efforts at creating the enabling environment for investment and urged Mr Ekstrom to work tirelessly at increasing Swedish private investments in Ghana.

Mr Ekstrom said his country's foreign policy is governed by long-term visions of a peaceful world in which human rights and gender equality is respected and where everyone has access, in democratic reforms, to a reasonable livelihood.

"But we have a long way to go. The number of poor people in the world is still increasing."

He said Sweden has played an active part in African issues related both to liberation from the colonial powers, to poverty reduction on the continent and in supporting the anti-apartheid struggle.

He said trade policy towards Africa is aimed at strengthening trade and economic ties and mentioned that Ghana is in the forefront of the many African countries which are showing impressive economic growth and are encouraging foreign trade.

Touching on the new Swedish African policy, the ambassador said it constitutes a broad framework for co-peration on more equal relations as good partners in political, economical, commercial, cultural and other respects.

Takoradi (Western Region), 25 Feb.

• The Western Region on Wednesday marked its human rights day with a call on the government to simplify the language of the 1992 Constitution to enable the ordinary man to understand its provisions, Mr Bodza Lumor, President of the Western Regional Branch of the Ghana Bar Association, said.
• Speaking on " Making human rights accessible to all" at a symposium in Takoradi, rights day on Mr Lumor urged the government to translate the Constitution into local languages and make them available in either its complete or abridged form adding that the technical nature of the language and details of the Constitution makes it difficult for the ordinary man to understand.

He asked the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice(CHRAJ) to take steps to have the provisions on the death penalty removed from the Constitution.

Yendi (Northern Region), Feb.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) is to form a technical team to check delays and the poor execution of health projects.

The team, which would comprise medical personnel, engineers and architects, would assist project consultants in the designing and implementation of contracts and sanction incompetent contractors.

Mr Samuel Nuamah-Donkor, Minister of Health, announced this when he inspected work on two district hospitals at Yendi and Walewale as part of a two-day working visit to the Northern Region.

The Yendi project, involving the rehabilitation and expansion of facilities, is sponsored by the African Development Bank (ADB) and is due for completion by June this year after over a year's delay.

The World Bank sponsored project at Walewale in the West Mamprusi District is at a standstill due to structural defects.

The defects include siting of toilet facilities very close to the operation theatres, narrow corridors and doors and leaking roofs.

Mr Nuamah-Donkor said the technical team would be tasked to organise site meetings with project consultants to rectify the defects.

At Yendi Mr Nuamah-Donkor assured ERGS consortium, the project consultant and Fredinaro Construction Company, the main contractors, that the ministry would expedite action to provide funds and materials for the completion of civil works.

The project involves installation of electrical and hospital equipment and the provision of new theatres, wards, laundry, X-ray facilities and a mortuary.

During a courtesy call on Ya-Na Yakubu Andani the second, Mr Nuamah-Donkor said the Yendi hospital is among the health facilities that will support the proposed Tamale Teaching Hospital. It is also to be used by the School of Health and Medical Sciences of the University for Development Studies.

The Ya-Na appealed to the minister for vehicles to enable the hospital to cater for its catchment area which includes, Yendi, Saboba-Chereponi, Nanumba and Zabzugu-Tatale districts.

Dr Sylvester Anemana, Regional Director of Health Services, expressed the need for the regional health directorate to get involved in the planning and implementation of health projects to ensure their maintenance.

Zabzugu (Northern Region), 25 Feb. '99

The Zabzugu-Tatale district assembly on Monday confirmed Alhaji Mahama Shamrock as the District Chief Executive.

He polled 37 votes out of 41 in the 43 member assembly, representing 90.2 per cent of the votes.

A nine-member committee each managed the Zabzugu-Tatale and Nanumba district assemblies.

This was because they could not hold their district assembly elections due to the 1994 ethnic conflict. They, however, held their elections with the rest of the country in 1998.

Alhaji Shamrock thanked the assembly members for the confidence reposed in him saying " this does not only demonstrate the confidence in the president but shows how united we are in the district".

He said the near unanimous decision attests to the fact that "there are no more animosities among the people in the district, which is the most peaceful among the former conflict areas".

Alhaji Shamrock said the district would uphold the government's good policies by ensuring that development is evenly spread and asked for the early completion of the Yendi-Zabzugu road, which is the only link between the district and the rest of the country.

The Northern regional minister, Mr Joshua Alabi, asked district co-ordinating directors to ensure that structures required at the town and area councils as well as unit committees are put in place.

They should also provide the necessary logistics for their smooth operations and directed district assemblies to come out with profiles of their districts spelling out their full potentials as a way of marketing the district and region to investors.

Mr Alabi, acknowledged that the Zabzugu-Tatale district is one of the most deprived districts in the country and pledged that efforts will be made to improve infrastructure facilities there.

He urged the assembly to explore other sources of revenue mobilisation to augment the common fund to undertake more development projects and expressed concern about the low school enrolment as well as the poor performance of senior secondary schools in their final year examinations.

No student from the district qualified for admission into a tertiary institution, he said.

Accra (Greater Accra), 25 Feb.

Professor Kwame Gyekye, Head of the Philosophy Department of the University of Ghana, Legon, Wednesday asserted that concern for the needs of others should be seen as the supreme moral value in a world of shared values, desires and aspirations.

"Our common or shared humanity" is the basis for a morality that stresses responsibilities and obligations towards others and sensitivity to their needs and well-being.

Prof. Gyekye was delivering the last of a three-day lecture to mark this year's J. B. Danquah Memorial Lectures in Accra.

It is under the theme of "Beyond cultures: perceiving a common humanity".

Prof. Gyekye, who spoke on "The morality of a shared humanity", said "a shared humanity requires a kind of moral outlook that is animated by the awareness of the needs and interests of others and the demonstration of sensitivity to those needs".

He warned that people should not be obsessed with rights as such "a blinkered obsession" may lead to selfishness and concern for individual welfare to the disregard of the needs and interests of others.

Prof. Gyekye, who is also the Dean of Graduate Studies, said it is high time the world came up with a "Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities" to complement the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" and make humanity richer.

Professor Emeritus K. A. Dickson, President of the All Africa Conference of Churches, chairman for the occasion, cautioned against egoism, saying: "it blunts our sensibilities to the needs and concerns of others".

He said in today's global village, it is important for people to know their culture well before venturing onto the global scene.

Accra (Greater Accra) 25 Feb.

Professor Kofi Awoonor, presidential staffer, said Wednesday that democracy does not simply connote the freedom of the individual, the press and the church but obligations and duties as well.

Prof. Awoonor, a diplomat and renowned writer, was delivering the 42nd Independence Anniversary Lecture on the theme "Democracy, National, Unity and Stability".

He said democracy cannot be limited to Parliament while there is hunger and suffering in the rural areas but must be a process which involves the grassroots in decision making adding development must address the basic needs of the people such as water, education, health and shelter.

Democratic principles, he noted, emanate from the African traditional system of government where the chief is regarded as the head.

"The important hypothesis forcefully established by our immediate history cannot be ignored in our efforts to chart a future path of national development.

"Until countries become nations and tribal sentiments give way to national goals, there will not be any democracy," he added.

Mr Charles Heyman, former ambassador plenipotentiary in the First Republic, traced the political history of Ghana and stressed the need for Ghanaians to go back to their roots.

He called on Ghanaians to boldly sustain and defend the price won for us by our forefathers.

 Four Ghanaians who braved the Sahara desert storms and cold winds of the Mediterranean Sea to seek fortune in Italy arrived in Accra Wednesday after being deported.

Samson Osei, alias Samson King, 30, Teye Abraham, alias Brown Ibraham, 30, Anokye Francis, alias Francis Zenebel, 31, and Issah Somila, alias John Kennedy, 32, were detained for several days in Italy before being deported to Ghana.

Narrating their ordeal to newsmen at Kotoka International Airport, Mr Somila, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said they left Ghana two years ago by road via Burkina Faso through the Sahara desert for Libya where they worked to accumulate money to enable them to travel to Europe.

While in Libya, they came into contact with a "connection man" or an agent who promised to ferry them across the Mediterranean Sea to Rome for a fee of 2,000 dollars each.

Mr Somila said after the deal was struck, the agent took them in an open boat with 68 other African nationals to Sicily, Italy, where luck ran out on them.

They were sent to detention camps where they insisted they were Sierra Leoneans fleeing the civil war in that country to seek asylum.

"But upon interrogation, our accent gave us away, hence our deportation to Ghana."

Mr Somila said he later learnt that out of the 72, 17 were Nigerians who were also sent home.

He advised would-be desperadoes to think twice before embarking on such journeys, adding: "the ordeal and humiliation one goes through on such journeys are beyond description and too painful to recount".

Cape Coast (Central Region), 25 Feb.

A call has gone to the Ghana Water and Sewerage Corporation (GWSC) to improve upon the quality of water supplied to consumers in the Central region.

The call was made at a public forum by consumers who were unhappy about the poor quality of water currently being supplied by the GWSC in the region.

They said the water has an odour; it is slightly coloured and contains sediments which makes it unhealthy for consumption.

The forum was organised by the GWSC to educate the public on the need for an increase in the water tariff by 76 per cent.

The public was of the view that even if an increase in tariff was necessary, there was the need for the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to reduce the 76 per cent increase being proposed by the GWSC to make it

affordable for consumers, especially salaried workers.

Customers also called on the corporation to evolve a system whereby consumers will be able to know how much they have consumed over a period.

They asked the corporation to install meters on their premises "to ensure transparency in the billing system".

The Regional Director of the GWSC, Mr J.J.K. Azumah, attributed the poor quality of the water to high iron content in the Kakum river and the rusty nature of the pipelines.

Mr Azumah said the sediments found in the water could be attributed to the fact that most water receptacles in individual houses were not cleaned and had gathered a lot of dirt.

Earlier, the Managing Director of the GWSC, Mr Charles Adjei, explained that his outfit needed a total of 1.2 billion dollars for major rehabilitation and expansion works to enable it to achieve its target of 100 per cent urban water supply by the year 2015.

Of this amount, 182 million dollars will be needed to enhance water supply in the Central region, he said, adding that the corporation has already initiated measures to improve water supply to many parts of the region.

These include the construction of two booster stations at Ankaful and Amosima and the rehabilitation of the Kwanyako Waterworks.

Mr Adjei pointed out that in view of the enormity of the GWSC's projects, the increase in tariff proposed for the PURC's consideration would enable the corporation to meet its operational and non-operational costs.

The deputy Central regional minister, Mr H.Q. Jehu-Appiah, urged the public not to "politicise" the issue of the proposed water tariff increase.

He stressed that an increase in the tariff was necessary to ensure the provision of potable water supply to all parts of the country.

Mr Jehu-Appiah, urged the public to help check water wastage by reporting promptly all burst pipe-lines as well as helping to check practices that hinder effective water supply.

Accra (Greater Accra), 25 Feb. '99 -

The Wildlife Department has appealed to members of the public, especially those living along the coast, not to pick turtle hatchlings (young/baby turtles) from the beaches.

In a statement issued in Accra, the department said "this is their hatching period and the young ones need some time to get back to the sea to gain maturity".

Sea turtles, which are wholly protected by law, live up to 15-20 years before reaching adulthood where they travel back to familiar beaches to lay their eggs.

The department warned that it is unlawful to collect the eggs of the turtle, overturn it or kill matured or nesting ones.

Offenders could face custodian or fine sentences prescribed by Legislative Instrument 685, 1971.