Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority beats Millennium bug
Rawlings launches housing project
NADMO, WFP sign memorandum of understanding
Ministry of Trade to check unfair trade practices
Osino farmers want compensation
Let us protect women and children
Barton Oduro elected unopposed
Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority beats Millennium bug
Tema (Greater Accra) 5 Jan. 2000
The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) said on Wednesday that its entire working systems experienced no glitches due to a number of measures taken as far back as 1998 to contain the millennium bug.
The Tema Port, for example, has successfully handled 25 ship movements without any problem as at 1st January, 2000.
Reports from Takoradi Port also indicate that its computer systems rolled over successfully into the new millennium.
Mr Nestor Galley, Chief of Corporate Planning, disclosed this to newsmen who visited the Tema Port to find out if there were any Y2K-related problems at the beginning of the new millennium.
Practically, all utility, banking, shipping and aviation organisations world-wide, apprehensive of a possible glitch, spent huge sums of money to fix and test their computer systems as they entered the New Year.
It was feared that, if their systems were not updated , the glitch might cause computers using two digits to denote the year to confuse 2000 with 1900, possibly sparking crashes or corrupted data.
Mr. Galley said all the GPHA's computer hardware and software, marine electronic systems, radio communication, mobile phones, cargo-handling equipment, tugboats and other floating crafts were Y2K compliant.
He said as far back as 1998, the GPHA contacted the manufacturers of its equipment to check on its computer and communication systems to ascertain their Y2K compliance readiness.
After this, it budgeted 98,000 Dollars for equipment out of which it spent about 68,000 Dollars to change some of the computer hardware and other equipment which were not Y2K compliant.
Mr Galley said the GPHA got a satellite radio, which is outside the national communication system, and tested all its fire-fighting equipment.
It also drew up a contingency plan to find out how shipping lines and other agencies in the port like the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service could fit into the system.
Mr Galley said the first vessel - "Christine Maersk" - was brought in at 5.43 a.m. and the second at 8.15 a.m. on New Year day without any problem, adding that the GPHA does not expect any disruptions in its operations.
However, one of the major things that will be changed is the telephone system, which has reached its limit and cannot be expanded.
The GPHA also has plans to inter-connect all its lighthouses along the coast by telephones and computers to reduce their dependence on the national network.
Mr Francis Arthur-Collins, Information Systems Manager of the GPHA, said the authority operates three servers for port operations, accounting and the Internet with 68 clients hooked onto the main server.
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Rawlings launches housing project
Weija (Central Region) 5 Jan. 2000
President Jerry John Rawlings on Wednesday launched a 6,000 housing unit project at Weija, a joint venture between the government and the private sector.
Known as the Dunkonah Housing Project, the first phase for which roads, drains, water supply and electricity have already been laid, will cover 3,000 houses. Provision has also been made for schools, health, recreational and commercial facilities.
Through the intervention of the Ministry of Works and Housing, the Bank of Ghana is spearheading a bid to raise 70 billion cedis of construction finance for Ghana Real Estate Developers Association (GREDA) to finance the construction of the houses.
It is doing it through a syndication of banks and financial institutions, including Merchant Bank, Bank for Housing and Construction, Social Security Bank and Home Finance Company.
The Ministry of Works and Housing has established a Task Force to oversee the smooth implementation of the project and to iron out problems encountered in its implementation.
President Rawlings said the government's concern is for a large number of workers who cannot afford even the HFC mortgages to own the houses that would be on offer.
"It is our wish therefore, that consideration will be given to the provision of rental units on this project so as to benefit them (workers)."
The President expressed regret that some unscrupulous landowners and pretenders are still creating confusion in the industry, especially in land acquisition, thus tying down land development through deliberate court litigation and use of violence.
"I wish to assure you that the government intends to take a tougher stand on these issues in order to keep the Vision 2020 development agenda on track."
The President appealed to real estate developers to clear the bad nuts among them.
"There have been a few too many instances in which unsuspecting customers have been cheated out of their hard earned money by so-called estate developers."
He said the government, through the Ministry of Works and Housing, would soon come out with regulations governing the practice of estate development.
"I expect members of GREDA to co-operate fully in this so that we give our dear country a standard in housing delivery that is comparable to the best in the world."
Mr Isaac Adjei-Mensah, Minister of Works and Housing, said the Dunkonah Housing Project marks a shift in Government policy from direct involvement in housing provision to facilitating access to the resources required.
This includes ensuring greater access to finance, serviced land, cheaper and adequate supply of building materials, provision of a regulatory framework to guide housing development and technical support.
The Minister said following the review of the National Housing Policy, the government's goal now is to increase the number of rental units, home-ownership and the number of serviced plots.
Mr Charles Asare, Director-General of SSNIT, said the Dunkonah integrated housing community, with infrastructure and support facilities, would create employment for "at least 400 able-bodied Ghanaians."
He noted that the partnership between the developers and financiers has addressed three things needed for the viability of the housing industry. These are access to land, access to construction finance and mortgage financing for homebuyers.
Mr Torgbor Mensah, GREDA President, described it as the single largest housing project in the country, adding that the necessary facilities would be installed to make it withstand natural disasters.
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NADMO, WFP sign memorandum of understanding
Accra (Greater Accra) 5 Jan. 2000
The World Food Programme (WFP) is to provide food items valued at 200,000 dollars for victims of last year's floods in the three northern regions.
Under terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) it signed in Accra on Wednesday with the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), WFP will donate 900 tons of maize and 83 tons of cowpea to the flood victims.
It would also provide a cash subsidy to NADMO to cover part of the cost of transporting the food to the various distribution points.
The MOU was signed by Mr Tahir Nour, Deputy Country Director of WFP and Mr Kofi Porturphy, National Co-odinator, NADMO.
The donation is for 50,000 people for a period of one month.
Beneficiaries would be the most vulnerable, including, children under five years, pregnant and nursing women, women-headed households, the elderly, the handicapped and the infirm.
Each will receive a ration of 15 kilograms of maize and 1.65 kilograms of cowpea.
Mr Tahir Nour said: "disasters are non discriminatory, in that they destroy and damage all that is in their path.
"However, its effect on the poorer segment of society can be catastrophic."
He said the rich may re-build their homes and re-plant their farms, but the poor becomes homeless and destitute, and may forever be trapped in poverty.
Mr. Nour said it is at this time that they need help in order to improve their livelihood and quality of life.
"In times of disaster the poor need assistance for survival".
Mr Kofi porturphy said there would be strict rules to make distribution of the food transparent.
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Ministry of Trade to check unfair trade practices
Takoradi (Western Region) 5 Jan. 2000
The Ministry of Trade and Industries will this year direct its energies at checking all unfair trade practices, particularly with regard to expired products and shoddy imported items on the market.
Dr. John Abu, the Sector Minister, who made this known to the Ghana News Agency in an interview at Takoradi on Wednesday, said some traders are re-packaging and re-labelling expired goods to sell them as fresh products.
He said people deliberately buy expired and about to expire goods abroad, bring them into the country and sell them to unsuspecting customers.
Dr Abu, therefore, directed that commodities, which are less than six months to their expiring dates, should not be allowed into the country.
He advised consumers to critically check the expiring dates on food and drug products and report the sale of expired products or adulteration of labels to the police or the Ministry.
Dr Abu said some expired goods on the market are smuggled through the ports or land borders, adding that the owners of these goods manage to dodge the country's inspection system through under-valuation or by bringing them in small quantities.
The Ministry, he said, would team up with its major collaborators like the Ghana Standards Board and the Food and Drugs Board to check such trade malpractices.
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Osino farmers want compensation
Osino (Central Region) 5 Jan. 2000
Farmers at Osino and its surrounding communities who have lost their crops through activities of a gold mining company, have appealed to the member of parliament for Fanteakwa, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo to intercede on their behalf for compensation.
The farmers, numbering more than 50 said the Kibi Goldfields limited, which destroyed their crops through excavation works about two years ago, has persistently refused to pay them any compensation.
The farmers made the appeal when the MP visited Osino to interact with the people.
The farmers said though they have formed a joint committee with the company, which submitted their claims to its management about a year now, nothing concrete has come from them.
They warned that should the company ignore their MP, they would resort to legal action to collect their compensation.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo appealed to the farmers to finish him with copies of the agreement for him to take up the matter.
He appealed to the company to initiate moves to pay the farmers.
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Let us protect women and children
Pomadze(Central Region) 5 Jan. 2000
A former paramount chief of Gomoa Ajumako Traditional Area, Okutupong Apata Kofi, has called for the protection of the rights of women and children in the new year.
"Women and children are indispensable in effective human development and every efforts must be made to protect their rights and freedoms at all times."
Okutupong Apata Kofi was speaking at a reception for a cross section of women and children at an end-of-year party to round off the Yuletide activities at Pomadze on Sunday.
He recalled the spate of atrocities meted out to women in the country last year and appealed to Ghanaians to assist the police to apprehend the murderers as well as rapists and other criminals in the society.
The ex-Omanhene called for hasher sentences for rapists.
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Barton Oduro elected unopposed
Cape Coast (Central Region) 5 Jan. 2000
Mr Ebo Barton-Oduro, a legal practitioner, was on Tuesday elected unopposed as the NDC parliamentary candidate for Cape Coast.
At the close of nominations, Mr Barton-Oduro was the only candidate who had filed his papers to contest the elections.
Officials of the Electoral Commission who conducted the elections at a special constituency conference in Cape Coast, therefore, declared him duly elected.
The Central Regional Minister, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Agbenaza (Rtd), congratulated Mr Barton-Oduro on his nomination and assured him of the support of the rank and file of the party.
Col. Agbenaza described Mr Barton-Oduro as a good 'material' and called on members of the party in the municipality to rally behind him to win the Cape Coast constituency seat in the next elections.
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