GRi Newsreel 27-10-99

Queen's visit to deepen British-Ghana relations

Accra (Greater Accra) 27 Oct '99

The visit of Queen Elizabeth II will deepen relations between Ghana and Britain and demonstrate her continued support for democratic governance in the Commonwealth.

Briefing newsmen to outline the programme for the visit, Mr Ian Mackley, British High Commissioner, said it represents the UK's determination to promote and recognise positive changes in Africa and encourage sustained democracy.

Mr Mackley said the Queen would be in the country for three days and continue to Mozambique and South Africa, where the summit of the 54 member Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting would be taking place.

He said the Queen's entourage of about 45 people, would include her husband, Prince Phillip, who visited Ghana first in 1959, Mr Robin Cook, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and members of her household.

She would be met by President Jerry John Rawlings, on Sunday, 7 November, at the Kotoka International Airport and inspect a guard of honour after which she would be a guest of honour at a reception at the Accra International Conference Centre.

On Monday, 8 November, President Rawlings would receive the Queen at the Castle, Osu and she would address Parliament and later drive through some principal streets of Accra.

A durbar of chiefs and people of Ghana would be held at the forecourt of the State House in her honour.

She would visit the La Wireless Cluster of Schools, one of the many schools in Ghana benefiting from a British Government Schools Books Distribution Programme.

Under the 52 million pounds programme, each school child in Ghana will receive two supplementary readers.

The Duke of Edinburgh would run a parallel programme on the same day in Tema visiting Patterson Zochonis Offices in Tema, the Tema-Greenwich Meridian Line on which the Tema Presbyterian Church Hall is located.

He would open a peacekeeping library at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Teshie and be at a reception for the Head of State Award Holders.

The programme would be rounded off with a state banquet. She departs on Tuesday, 9 November for South Africa.

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Fertility trends improve but women still have more children

Accra (Greater Accra) 27 Oct. '99

Ghanaian women continue to have more children than they consider ideal, although the total fertility rate has reduced from 5.5 in 1993 to 4.6 per cent last year.

"Indeed, if all unwanted births were prevented, the total fertility rate would fall to 3.7 births per woman" Ghana's 1998 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) has revealed.

Daasebre Dr Oti Boateng, Government Statistician, disclosed at a National Dissemination Seminar on the 1998 Ghana DHS, for more than 60 researchers, statisticians and policy planners in Accra.

The seminars is aimed at raising awareness and understanding of the survey results and promote its usage among decision makers in their planning, monitoring and evaluation activities.

Daasebre Dr Boateng noted that the decline in the country's fertility rate indicates that the country is in a demographic transition.

He called for an increase in contraceptive use through the extension of family planning education and providing quality services to the rural areas and uneducated women.

Daasebre Dr Boateng called for more nutrition education programmes for pregnant and lactating mothers in view of the high level of under-nutrition among children.

"Poverty reduction measures should also be increased among the targeted groups as well as finding lasting solutions to the perennial food shortages in the three northern regions."

On the survival chances of children, he called for an increase in immunisation from the present level of 51 per cent while mothers should be encouraged to breast-feed their children for longer periods.

Dr Frank Young, Mission Director of USAID Ghana, highlighted the low level of contraceptive use among married women, large number of teenage pregnancies and the death of one in nine children before age five as some areas that need policy attention.

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Farmer petitions Attorney General

Berekum (Brong Ahafo) 27 Oct. '99

The Brong Ahafo Regional chairman of the Ghana National Association of Farmers and Fishermen (GNAFF), Madam Yaa Badu, has petitioned the Attorney General to expedite action on an assault case she filed against students and staff of the Berekum Secondary School.

She said it has been three years since she was mercilessly beaten up and stripped naked by her assailants following a land dispute with the school yet the case has not been sent to court.

The delay, she noted, is due solely to the failure of the Regional State Attorney to act on the docket sent to his office by the police.

Speaking at a press conference at Berekum on Wednesday, Madam Badu, who was dressed in morning clothes, stated that she might be forced to seek redress through ''other means'' if the Regional State Attorney continues to drag his feet on the case''.

She said apart from the physical torture she suffered at the hands of her assailants, she also lost millions of cedis in damages as her six-acre teak plantation and food crop farms were also destroyed by the students.

Madam Badu denied that she encroached on the land of the school hence the attack, explaining that, it was her family, which willingly gave the Berekum community the parcel of land on which the school was established.

She said she has the documents to prove in the courts that her farm clearly lies within the parcel of land retained by her family their use and not that which was ceded to the school.

''The long period the department is taking to study and process the docket is a travesty of justice and I have no alternative than to appeal to the Attorney General to intervene in the interest of fair play."

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Bishop advocates return of schools to churches

Sunyani (Brong Ahafo) 27 Oct '99

The Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Sunyani, the Rt. Rev. Thomas A. Brient, has called for a quick return of all mission schools to the churches as a long term solution to the rising crime wave and moral degeneration in the country.

He said the government must also consider ceding to traditional rulers the legal authority to enforce good cultural values and practices to promote discipline among the people.

Bishop Brient was delivering his "charge" at the first synod of the Diocese, which opened in Sunyani on Tuesday.

He regretted that the country is at the moment caught up in a moral crisis with so many vices, including ritual murder of women.

Bishop Brient said the Church has the moral duty to assist the government to eliminate "these shameful and cruel practices" that are destroying the image of the country, as well as depriving the people of their peace and security.

He urged Christians to actively get involved in politics especially in the 2000 elections, so they could use their influence to fight evil and deprivation in the society.

Bishop Brient called on the government to adopt a more pragmatic approach to development to ensure that the average Ghanaian, particularly farmers, lead decent lives.

On the theme for the synod, which is "holistic development of the Anglican Diocese of Sunyani for the year 2000 and beyond", he said the Church has planned to undertake a number of projects to cater for the spiritual and material needs of the people.

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Enforce ban on chainsaw operators

Accra (Greater Accra) 27 Oct. '99

The Federation of Environmental Journalists (FEJ) has called on the government not to rescind the decision to ban chainsaw operators in the country's forest.

It said chainsaw operators deprive the state of substantial revenue because their activities are hardly monitored and taxed.

A statement signed by Mr S. E. Quarm, Acting President of the Federation, said any change in the decision would cause prolonged suffering in communities already deprived of their resources.

The statement said the continuous destruction of the forest and its resources and denial of revenue to the state is not in the interest of the country.

Chainsaw operators and dealers in chain-sawn timber make huge monies at the expense of the state but contribute very little and in some case nothing to the sustenance of the environment and the development of communities in which they operate.

The Federation said chainsaw operators have caused a lot of damage to the natural environment and the economy, as a whole and these cannot be allowed to continue.

It said the activities of chainsaw operators have led to the destruction of forest reserves, extinction of certain species of plants, animals and birds, drying up of water bodies and destruction of agricultural lands.

"These continue to inflict and accelerate the spread of poverty among the communities."

It said the decision to ban activities of chainsaw operators was reached after years of consultations with environmentalists, foresters, community leaders, relevant experts and all partners.

The ban is expected to take effect at the end of this month.

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