Opposition parties go on 'Aluta' next week
Malnutrition likely to kill 51,000 children in Northern Region by 2001
Presidential candidates attend colloquium
No need fighting over origin of Kente - Yankah
Women's Dev. Agency supports flood victims in Northern Region
Ensure economic and health security for women - Konadu
Opposition parties go on 'Aluta' next week
Accra (Greater Accra) 25 Oct. '99
Five opposition parties are to organise a joint demonstration on Thursday, 4th November against "the general mismanagement of the country."
The demonstration by the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Peoples National Convention (PNC), United Ghana Movement (UGM), Convention Party (CP) and Reform Party would involve civil society.
A statement issued by Mr Dan Botwe, NPP General Secretary in Accra on Friday said it would be held simultaneously in Accra, the regional capitals, Tema and Hohoe between 0700 hours and 1600 hours.
It said the demonstration would protest among other issues, high school fees and user fees in tertiary level, crisis in the health sector and high unemployment among the youth.
Other matters are lack of access to government on issues of transparency, probity and accountability such as what it termed "the illegal purchase of executive jet."
The statement said the demonstration would also protest high fuel prices, corruption in high places, high crime rate and unsolved major crimes including murders of women and armed robbery.
In Accra a memoranda would be presented to the Office of the President, Castle and Parliament.
In the regional capitals they would be given to Regional Ministers while in the municipalities and districts, they would be presented to Chief Executives.
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Malnutrition likely to kill 51,000 children in Northern Region by 2001
Savelugu (Northern Region) 25 Oct '99
The Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture, University for Development Studies, Professor K. Dittoh, has warned that lack of serious national efforts to improve the income levels of lactating mothers in the Northern Region will lead to a catastrophic consequence in the next millenium.
He said the poverty level in the Northern Region is so high that malnutrition is likely to account for more than 51,000 child deaths in the year 2001.
Professor Dittoh was delivering a lecture on the nutritional status in the region at a three-day orientation workshop on the improvement of living conditions for the rural child at Savelugu in the Savelugu-Nanton District.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) organised the workskhop for heads of departments in the district.
He said only six per cent of babies in the region are exclusively breastfed for the first six months while poor breastfeeding methods, inadequate intake of food and vitamins account for 113 deaths per 1,000 births.
The workshop, which focussed on UNICEF's Community Based Development Programme (CBD), treated topics like the goals of the national plan of action on the survival, protection and development of the child and levels of community approach.
The CBD, which is operating in the Tolon-Kumbungu and Yendi Districts, is aimed at improving the capacity of the district assemblies to tackle local issues through community participatory approach.
Professor Dittoh said the region has unacceptably high maternal mortality rate of 244 per 100,000 out of which 20 per cent are caused by anaemia.
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Presidential candidates attend colloquium
Accra (Greater Accra) 25 Oct. '99
Dr. Edward Mahama, Presidential Candidate of the People's National Convention (PNC), on Friday said if voted into power, his party would institute a National Health Insurance Scheme to address the problems associated with the current cash-and-carry system.
He was speaking at a colloquium organised by the Association of Akuafo Hall alumni of the University of Ghana in Accra, on the theme "Ghana After the Year 2000".
The poorly attended colloquium started behind schedule because of the inability of some of the invited guest speakers to turn up. Professors, Lecturers and students attended it.
They were the Vice-President Prof. John E. A. Mills, Mr. J. A. Kuffour, Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Dr. Wireko Brobby of the United Ghana Movement (UGM).
Dr Mahama, who spoke on health and educational development in Ghana after the Year 2000 said PNC would place emphasis on health education and put in place measures to enhance health delivery.
Standardisation of hospital fees would also be a priority, he said adding that health policies should be emphasised more than the government has done.
He said some of the lapses in the country are that "we cannot develop our socio economic responsibilities because of the absence of data on the size of population, its age distribution and rural urban migration and unemployment figures among others."
Dr Mahama said with the country's educational system "many of our youth today do not realise that they are sleep-walking into globalisation with the next millennium where improved technology determines the rulers of today and the future."
He blamed the situation on the government and said, "Dr Nkrumah began the Ghana Educational Trust in his time and established about 140 schools but the PNC hopes to continue along this line when we win the next elections."
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Return to top No pigs here
Accra (Greater Accra) 25 Oct.'99
The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) has banned the movement and slaughter of pigs in parts of the Greater Accra and the Central regions following the outbreak of the African Swine Fever (ASF) in the two regions.
Affected areas are the Accra Metropolis, Tema, and Ga District in the Greater Accra region and Awutu-Effutu-Senya, Gomoa and Agona districts in the Central region.
These were contained in a statement issued in Accra on Friday by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA), and signed by Mr Clement Bugase, a Deputy Minister of Agriculture in charge of livestock.
It is estimated that about 500,000 pigs in the metropolis, estimated at more than 150 billion cedis would be wiped out if the directives were not complied with.
This action follows an earlier announcement by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) placing a ban on the movement and slaughtering of pigs in the Accra Metropolis.
The AMA said the ASF, which is an infectious and highly contagious disease of pigs caused by viruses that produce acute chronic syndromes has already claimed 700 pigs within the past two weeks.
The disease known to affect only pigs is characterised by high fever, bleeding, change in skin colour to dark blue, loss of appetite and high mortality rate. It has no cure.
Some of the affected areas within Accra are La, Teshie, Nungua, Mamprobi, Bubuashie and Awoshie.
The AMA said anyone caught slaughtering or moving pigs from within and into the city would be fined 200,000 cedis and the pigs destroyed.
The AMA said directives have been given to all district and regional heads of the Department of Food and Agriculture, while farmers have been cautioned to report cases immediately to any of the authorities.
Once a report is made to the authorities, the sick pigs will be destroyed under the supervision of the Ministry's veterinary staff and the areas and stalls disinfected.
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No need fighting over origin of Kente - Yankah
Bonwire (Ashanti) 25 Oct. '99
Mr Kojo Yankah, Ashanti Regional Minister has said that there is no need fighting over the origin of Kente. What is important, he said, is that Kente is from Ghana.
Addressing the chiefs and people of Bonwire as part of his inspection of projects in the Ejisu/Juaben district of Ashanti on Thursday, Mr Yankah said the actual tourism attraction to Bonwire for Kente is yet to start. What is going on presently is just trading.
He said planning for the intended Kente and Yaa Asantewaa festivals slated for between July and August next year has been started and this will hlep realise the actual tourism potential of Bonwire.
The Regional Minister said a Kente video would be recorded for sale, while a booklet on Kente, which will give information on the cloth, including the various types, origin and other vital information will be printed for sale.
Mr Yankah said the weaving and names of the various designs will be put on the internet, together with a list of all the weavers and their addresses for easy reference and for business transaction.
A Kente Museum, he said, will also have to be established to depict how Kente is woven, the early types and the various designs for both tourists and Ghanaians.
Nana Akwasi Mpomponsuo I, Bonwirehene, expressed his gratitude to the Regional Minister for the keen interest he has in the tourism potential of the town and pledged the co-operation of the elders and people.
He, however, appealed to the Regional Minister for the provision of potable water, which he noted, is a vital ingredient to attract tourists to patronise the industry.
Nana Mpomponsuo also called for the tarring of the two-kilometre link-road to the town.
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Return to top Women's Dev. Agency supports flood victims in Northern Region
Tamale (Northern Region) 25 Oct. '99
Women's Development Agency (WDA), a non-governmental organisation promoting the welfare of women, has committed 30 million cedis worth of relief items to flood victims in the Tamale municipality and Tolon-Kumbungu districts.
The items, to be distributed mainly to women, comprised three bales of used clothing, 60 pieces of textiles, 100 jelly cans, plastic plates, cups and aluminium sulphate for the purification of water.
Miss Amina Maidale Musah, programme co-ordinator of WDA, said in Tamale on Friday that her organisation has received pledges for further support from its international donors to assist women who fell victim to the recent flood in the Northern Region.
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Return to top Ensure economic and health security for women - Konadu
Accra (Greater Accra) 25 Oct. '99
Nana Konadu Agyemang Rawlings, the First lady, has urged governments of developing countries to put in place measures that will ensure economic and health security for women of all ages.
She was speaking at a fund-raising dinner of the United Nations Women Association of Ghana (UNWAG) to mark the 54th anniversary celebration of the United Nations which falls on October 24, this year.
The dinner, under the theme "Ageing but useful," was to raise funds to finance the construction of a classroom for street children in Children-In-Need Ghana Centre (CINGC) and a bore-hole to provide potable water for a cluster of villages in Avornyokope in the Greater-Accra region.
Nana Konadu noted that while most women in developing countries have no pension plan, others do not earn enough during their working life to save for retirement.
She said apart from the economic problems that face women in their old age, "older women also face health problems different from those of older men.
"It has, therefore, become necessary for governments to design and implement gender-sensitive health programmes that address the needs of women throughout their lives."
The First Lady said according to UN estimates, by the year 2025, 70 per cent of the world's older persons will be living in developing countries and more than half of that number will be women.
In Ghana, older women represent about 25 per cent of the economically active older population group in the formal sector.
Mrs Lade Dada, President of UNWAG, said the organisation has raised a total of 15 million cedis over the last two years in support of various needy centres in Ghana.
She assured the government of sustained support in the effort to rehabilitate and restore needy and handicapped persons into useful members of society.
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