GRi Newsreel 29 - 10 - 99

Civil Servants call on Government to restore allowances

Kweikuma (Western Region) 29^th October 99

The Western Regional Branch of the Civil Servants Association, on Thursday called on the Government to restore all allowances withdrawn as a result of the implementation of the Ghana Universal Salary Structure (GUSS).

At a meeting at Kweikuma, near Sekondi, the association further urged the government to bring all agencies and corporations that depend on the consolidated fund under the regime of the GUSS.

It said the implementation of GUSS must take place in all civil and public service organisations to bring sanity in salary administration and remove inequalities.

The Association asked the Government to lift the ban on the operation of the Treasury Department to enable Government departments to function effectively.

It said if the Government does not favourably respond to its demands, the members would embark on a sit down strike.

The Association said before the strike action, the members would first wear red bands till the end of the month and embark on a series of demonstrations to

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Herdsmen quit order, not aliens compliance order - Chief executive

Babatokuma (Brong Ahafo), 29^th October 99

The government's quit order for alien herdsmen from the Brong Ahafo region has nothing to do with the enforcement of the alien compliance order.

The sacking of the herdsmen was motivated by the over-riding need to protect the ecological resources of the region against their destructive activities of the which has put the environment under severe stress in the past five years.

The Kintampo District Chief Executive, Mr. Stephen Kunsu said this when he launched "the international decade for disaster reduction Day" at Babatokuma on Wednesday.

Mr. Kunsu reminded the people about the ban on the use of chain-saws to convert timber into lumber saying chain-saws could only be used, under licence, to fell trees, cut trees into fire wood or for preparing farmland.

He said that with effect from October 31 this year, it would be an offence to buy or sell boards converted by chain-saws and urged assembly and unit committee members to expose all those who would attempt to break the ban.

The district organiser of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) Alhaji Ishmael Adams advised the people to use electrical appliances with caution to forestall fire outbreaks.

He also asked them to contact anti bushfire volunteer squads for help when burning their farms.

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AIDS educators receive bicycles

Bolgatanga (Upper East), 29^th October 99

One hundred and eighty five bicycles and an equal number of hand bags worth 33.3 million cedis have been distributed to peer youth HIV/AIDS educators in all the six districts of the Upper East region.

The bicycles would enable the beneficiaries to carry their campaigns to the remotest villages in the region.

They were donated by Irish Aid through the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to the HIV/AIDS Prevention Project in the region.

The project was started in 1998 with Action Aid Ghana as the collaborating agency and the Ghana Red Cross Society as the implementing body.

The Regional Co-ordinator of HIV/AIDS, Mr. Issah Ibrahim, said 144 peer educators who were trained by the Red Cross Society have so far educated 11,529 people mostly in the district capitals as at September this year.

He said the target groups were between the ages of 13 and 25 years, made up of both pupils and out of school youths.

Mr. Ibrahim expressed the hope that with the distribution of the bicycles, more people would be covered.

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