Chimpanzees to be tested before being flown to Ghana
Workers of divested company demand payment of severance awards
Tragedy strikes Oda Secondary School
Kumasi institutes measures to fight Cholera
Amansie - West loses 100 million cedis in property through disaster
Reform Party calls for a halt to murders
Chimpanzees to be tested before being flown to Ghana
Accra (Greater Accra), 14th October 99
The offsprings of chimpanzees from Ghana taken to the United States nearly 40 years ago will undergo thorough medical tests required by international standards before being resettled in the Volta Region next February, Friends of Animals (FOA) USA said on Thursday.
The chimpanzees will be resettled on Konklobi Island in the Volta Lake, near Nkonya-Ntumda, under a 300,000-dollar project.
Mr. Gerald Punguse, former Chief Wildlife Officer, is the Director of the project. He is establishing the sanctuary for the animals on behalf of Friends of Animals, USA.
"This is to allay the fears being expressed in some quarters that the animals are infested with diseases or were used in laboratory experiments in the US."
Mr. Punguse said "we have even requested the Ghana Veterinary Department to carry out any tests they can to establish the health of the animals."
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Accra, Mr. Punguse said FoA would be the last body to cause any harm to any creature and that they "are even on record of instituting legal actions against those who harm or show cruelty to animals".
Mr. Punguse said the inhabitants of Nkonya themselves have volunteered to protect and to prevent the poaching of the animals.
"The island chosen for the sanctuary is ideal and protective since chimpanzees cannot swim and could thus not escape to the surrounding mainland".
He said the sanctuary would boost tourism, provide employment in the area and serve as a research centre for the Universities and other institutions.
The Ghanaian Chronicle, quoting from a bulletin of the FoA, first published the news of the home-coming of the chimpanzees and it has since been a subject of public interest.
It claims the animals have been used in scientific experiments in the US and are likely to bring along with them some deadly virus injurious to the health of Ghanaians.
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Workers of divested company demand payment of severance awards
Tema (Greater Accra), 14th October 99
Ex-workers of the former Tema Food Complex Corporation (TFCC) who were laid-off when the company was divested have called on the government to pay them their outstanding severance awards totalling more than four billion cedis.
They regretted that after paying two billion cedis of the total severance award of six billion cedis in June this year, the government has not made known any arrangements to pay the outstanding balance.
The 488 ex-employees made the call in a petition forwarded to the Minister of Finance through their lawyer Mr. Justice Emmanuel Kofi Jones-Mensah to remind the government of their plight in view of the current economic hardships.
The petition was signed by Mr. Gabriel Deku and Mr. Justice Nkansah, chairman and secretary respectively, of the of the Ex-TFCC Workers Association.
The ex-workers stated that this time, they would not agree on any part payments nor will they agree on deferring payments to next year since inflation is eroding the value of their money.
The petition said most of them have nothing left and others are in deficit due to repayment of moneys borrowed from friends and relatives.
"They are fuming over the delay and would match to the ministry of Finance soon. This time we cannot prevent them from any action they want to embark upon."
After four years of legal battle with the government, the Court of Appeal in December 1997 ruled in favour of the ex-workers that they were entitled to the severance award which included an interest of 54.5 per cent.
In October last year, the Ministry wrote to the petitioners that it was facing cash flow problems and promised to pay the total sum of 6.1 billion cedis after the approval of the 1999 budget by Parliament but it is yet to pay the full amount.
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Tragedy strikes Oda Secondary School
Akim Oda (Eastern Region), 14th October 99
Tragedy struck the Oda Secondary School last week when the school's truck crushed into a stationary timber truck resulting in the instant death of one of its employees and injuries to five others on the Akim Oda-Oda Nkwanta road.
The body of the deceased, Gladys Asiama, 37, has been deposited at the Oda Government Hospital mortuary while the injured have been admitted at the same hospital.
A police source who briefed the Ghana News Agency said the accident occurred at about 7.40 p.m. on October two this year, when the school truck, which was returning from Oda Nkwanta after dropping some members of their staff, run into protruded logs from a timber truck that had broken down.
The source said the timber truck owned by the Oda Sawmills, was carrying six timber logs when it developed an engine problem and the driver, Mr. Kwasi Nkrumah, left it on the main road without erecting any warning signs to approaching vehicles.
The source said the driver of the school truck, crashed into the logs resulting in the accident.
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Kumasi institutes measures to fight Cholera
Kumasi (Ashanti), 14th October 99
The Ministry of Health (MOH) in Kumasi has certified 'chop bar' and restaurants operators in the metropolis who operate under hygienic conditions while those who have not been certified because they operate in unsanitary conditions have been warned to close shop.
Dr. Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyirah, Ashanti Regional Director of Health Services told a meeting of bar operators, food sellers and iced water sellers in Kumasi on Wednesday that the certification is part of measures being instituted to reduce the cholera outbreak in the metropolis which has so far claimed 13 lives out of 262 cases reported so far.
Dr. Appiah-Denkyirah said restaurants and chop bars should be sited at least 100 metres from any refuse dump or public place of convenience. They should operate in clean environment and use protective devices such as sieves to protect their food from flies.
He advised all food sellers and chop bar operators to join well-established associations to enable them to benefit from briefings on hygiene by inspectors of the Kumasi Metropolitan Authority (KMA) and MOH.
Nana Akwasi Agyeman, Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, said the ban on the operations of chop bars and iced water sellers is temporary and appealed to the operators to keep their environment clean.
He warned that landlords who do not have toilets and bathrooms in their houses would be prosecuted saying the use of pan latrines would be phased out in the metropolis by next year.
Mrs. Elizabeth Owusu, Ashanti Regional President of the Ghana Traditional Caterers Association pledged to ensure that members of the association operate under hygienic conditions.
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Amansie - West loses 100 million cedis in property through disaster
Manso-Nkwanta (Ashanti), 14th October 99
Property worth about 100 million cedis was lost through disaster in the Amansie-West District during the first quarter of the year, Mr. Kwaku Aninkora-Sie, the District Chief Executive, has announced.
Mr. Aninkora-Sie, who was addressing a meting of the District Assembly at Manso-Nkwanta, said destruction were caused by domestic fires, rainstorms and bushfires and said it has become imperative to sensitise the people on disaster awareness, disaster predisposing factors and prevention.
He was happy that the District Office of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) has intensified its routine educational tour of communities in the area.
The District Chief Executive said another area where attention should be focused is illegal mining activities which, he noted, poses a lot of hazards and asked the assembly to take firm measures to throw out all illegal gold miners who have invaded the district.
He was also critical of increasing clashes between recognised mining companies operating in the area and some communities over demands and unfulfilled promises.
He described the situation as disturbing and asked individual assembly members to help defuse tension between the companies and the people or send early warning signals to the administration for solutions to be found.
Mr. Aninkora-Sie touched on the bad nature of roads in the area and said the assembly and the Government are doing everything possible to improve on them.
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Reform Party calls for a halt to murders
Accra (Greater Accra), 14th October 99
Residents of Accra have been urged to form watch committees at electoral area levels to protect themselves from criminals in the city.
A 10-point statement issued by the National Reform Party (NRP), in Accra today, said each neighbourhood should elect a watch co-ordinator and a deputy on rotational basis who could contact co-ordinators in adjoining communities to ensure full coverage of the areas.
The committees, which should co-ordinate their activities with the Police, should not be armed but the communities should provide them with whistles, torch lights, batteries and refreshments.
The statement recalled that such committees formed in the 80s worked satisfactorily to check crime, adding that through careful planning, excesses of the committees could be curbed to champion the cause of democracy.
"Terrorised communities cannot resist exploitation" and that "if we act together as communities we can prevent hysteria, excess and divisions that accompany vigilante action."
The statement called on Accra residents to "halt the attacks on our womenfolk and our communities and stop the drug dealing and the violence in our streets.
"In demanding action, we must also champion the police demand for better facilities and conditions of service," it said, adding that although the police have some shortcomings, they are nonetheless capable of much higher standards of professionalism.
The statement commended the efforts of FIDA and the media to make violence against women a national priority and added that the murders reflect "the deep prejudices against women."
It called on peace-loving Ghanaians to rise up against crime since "organised and determined communities can compel service from institutions like the police and the elected assemblies that we fund through our taxes".
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