Akuapem North District Assembly to provide electricity to tourist sites
Akropong, Feb 13, GNA - the Akuapem North District Assembly is to provide electricity to all tourist sites in the area, as a measure to boost the tourism industry.
Tourist sites in the district includes eight waterfalls, rock formations and historical attractions such as the birth place of the legendary Okomfo Anokye and the Tetteh Quarshie Cocoa farm that was planted in 1879.
The District Chief Executive, Mr Edward Adu-Aboagye, made this known when the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Affram Asiedu, toured the sites in the district on Wednesday.
He said with the exception of the historical attractions that include the Presbyterian Training College (PTC), the first institution of higher learning in Ghana, most of the natural sites are in the villages and therefore electrification was the first step to take in revamping the industry.
He said the assembly, in collaboration with Community Based and Rural Development Project (CBRDP), was also promoting the income generating activities of the people in the various areas so that they would have a direct benefit from the industry.
The regional minister said the visit was the first in a series of touring all the tourist attraction sites in the area to enable him know the shortcomings and then collaborate with the assemblies of how best those sites could be developed to promote the tourism industry. He said the tourism industry had the potential to create employment for the youth and that it was a challenge for the facilities to be improved to meet standards to attract tourists.
Some of the major tourist sites in the district are the Asenema, Akaa, Abiriw, Obosomase, Nsuta and Amenepa waterfalls, Oboasabea rock and other rock formations at Akyeremateng, six-in-one palm-tree at Kwamoso, the birth place of Okomfo Anokye and his famous Oware at Awukugua, the Tetteh Quarshie farm at Mampong and the stone chapel of PTC built in 1849 at Akropong.
Source:
GNA
Bagbin urges government to set leadership agenda
Accra, Feb. 13, GNA - Mr Alban Bagbin, Minority Leader, on Tuesday said it was always prudent for government to set an agenda on issues of leadership qualities, economic and the political direction of the nation.
He said through discourse, brainstorming and suggestions, a refined national policy could be attained and that government should not relegate its responsibilities to the media to set the agenda because the media in their enthusiasm to sell their products come out with sensational issues, which made the public to go on the binge, neglecting pressing national issues.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview on current diatribe on two presidential candidates, Mr Bagbin said it was rather the government, which should establish leadership qualities that were needed for the governance of the country. The Minority Leader noted that most political parties had not yet evolved the kind of leader they needed and whether that leader should be vibrant, knowledgeable, fit to lead the country and not become a pawn to international or global manipulations.
"And again do the people who elect their leaders understand geopolitics so that the country could fit into globalisation and have a competitive advantage", he asked.
Mr Bagbin said government should empower the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) to educate the public on leadership issues, quality of leadership and the characteristics of leaders. He said it was also necessary for papers to be presented to the Institute of Economics Affairs (IEA) and the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and other allied bodies to brainstorm on socio-economic issues within a context. Such research works and presentations coming from informed sources should lead to national debates that would form the basis for policies, saying: "It is here that the media's role is critical to national development.
Mr Bagbin said it was unfortunate that
"We pay a lot of attention to social and political rights than to economic rights".
He said, "free speech which is also a right can lead to destruction if one has no economic life."
Source:
GNA
Mahama to move motion on Gambia murders
Accra, Feb.13, GNA - Mr. John Mahama, Chairman of West African Caucus of Pan African Parliament (PAP) on Wednesday said he would move a motion to seek justice for the 45 Ghanaians and other nationals murdered in the Gambia about two years ago when Parliament reconvened in May. "We must use every platform to seek justice for our unfortunate nationals."
He said the matter should not only end at the level of ECOWAS as the government had done but it should receive a larger platform since the Gambian government was proving intransigent.
Mr. Mahama, also MP for Bole who was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the activities of PAP said he attempted to move the motion at the last meeting of the PAP in May last year but unfortunately that could not materialize because of time factor. He explained that the PAP received a large audience, including the international media as well as the European Union Parliament which had joint working relationship with PAP.
Mr. Mahama said PAP received petitions from the people of the Niger Delta and the Ethiopian Opposition Party for Human Rights Abuses against their governments.
The people from the Niger Delta complained of losing their livelihood due to the drilling of oil in that region, while the Ethiopian Opposition complained about the incarceration of their members by their government.
He said the Parliament established sub-committees to deal with the various issues and that it had sent a delegation to Kenya to observe the election there but it had not reported back to Parliament about their observation before the flaring up of hostilities just after the December elections.
Their report would be considered jointly with the outcome of the former UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan's mediation report. The African Parliament was established in March 2004, by Article 17 of The Constitutive Act of the African Union. The PAP continued with its Seventh Ordinary Session in Midrand, South Africa. By the year 2009, the five year transitional lifespan of the Parliament would have expired.
Source:
GNA
Bush arrives in Ghana on Tuesday
Accra, Feb. 13, GNA - United States (US) President George W. Bush arrives in Ghana on Tuesday, February 19, as part of his one-week five-nation African tour.
Accompanied by the First Lady, Laura, and a large delegation of American business executives, he would spend two nights in the country and depart on February 21.
This is the second time in 10 years that Ghana would be privileged to play host to an American President. Former President Bill Clinton visited in 1998.
Mr Akwasi Osei-Adjei, Minister of Foreign Affairs, told a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday that President Bush would be making a major policy statement in Accra after bilateral meeting with President John Agyekum Kufuor at the Castle, Osu.
Promoting free trade, economic opportunities and opening of investments would take centre stage in the discussions between the two leaders.
He specifically mentioned the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA), the African Education Initiative and the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which had enabled about 0ne billion Africans to get antiretroviral treatment for AIDS.
Mr Osei-Adjei said the two Presidents additionally would look at areas of common international interest.
The Minister said the visit was a test of true partnership and shared values of Ghana and the US, which are enjoying excellent relationship under the leadership of President Kufuor and President Bush.
US development assistance to Ghana in 2007 totalled more than 55.1 million dollars with programmes in small farmer competitiveness, health including maternal and child health, education, democracy and governance.
Ghana's 547-million-dollar compact with the Millennium Challenge Corporation is the most recent achievement in the US-Ghanaian development partnership.
Benin, Liberia, Tanzania and Rwanda are the other countries President Bush would be visiting.
Meanwhile, all is set for President Kufuor to deliver his eighth and last State of the Nation address to Parliament on Thursday, February 14.
His Press Secretary, Mr Andrew Awuni, said the President would have a lot to share with the nation after seven years of leadership inspired by the philosophy of development in freedom with emphasis on the rule of law and good governance.
He said the address among other things would highlight the healthy state of the country's economy, outline continued efforts at strengthening the purchasing power of the people and interventions to improve the competitiveness of the productive sectors of the economy including energy, roads and rail network.
President Kufuor would also renew his call for smooth electioneering campaign by all the political parties as the nation gets ready for the December election.
The address would bring to light how the President's vision for a humane and prosperous nation has been executed in the past seven years, Mr Awuni said.
Source:
GNA
Kenya government anger with Annan
The head of the Kenyan government team at crisis talks has expressed anger with mediator Kofi Annan over comments on resolving the election dispute.
Mr Annan hinted that both sides had agreed on a transitional government for two years, after which fresh presidential elections would be held.
But Justice Minister Martha Karua said this had never been discussed.
She said that Mr Annan, the former UN chief, had undermined the government's position at the negotiations.
Some 1,000 people are thought to have died in the violence that followed the disputed polls results.
More than 600,000 people have been forced to flee their homes amid clashes between rival ethnic groups, seen as pro-government or pro-opposition.
When talks between government and opposition teams were moved away from the capital, Nairobi, on Tuesday to a secret location to avoid the glare of publicity, Mr Annan asked both sides not to discuss the contents of the talks with anyone else, calling for a complete news blackout.
His comments about a possible grand coalition were made during a special closed-door session with Kenyan MPs.
But details of his briefing have angered President Mwai Kibaki's negotiating team.
Ms Karua said his statement about a transitional government had caused distress and great embarrassment to them as it had misrepresented their position.
"We feel these inaccuracies have greatly undermined our position as members of the dialogue team and we demand the issue be revisited as the first item when we meet next," she said.
A power-sharing deal had been thought to be imminent, but correspondents say this development implies the government is against fresh elections.
In a statement on Wednesday, mediators sought to downplay the rift, saying the grand coalition was Mr Annan's perspective on the discussions.
"[It] does not imply a formal agreement between the two parties," the statement says.
Both the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM) and President Mwai Kibaki's Party of National Unity (PNU) have tabled proposals for a power-sharing agreement at the talks.
Mr Annan had hinted the deal would include comprehensive constitutional, judicial and electoral reforms.
He told parliament both President Kibaki and Mr Odinga are committed to the talks aimed at reconciling the nation and urged the MPs to equally support the process.
"Your active involvement, across party lines, is necessary. Without this, the government may be paralysed. We cannot afford to fail," he said.
Source:
BBC
Bawku to sleep early with new curfew hours
Accra, Feb. 13, GNA- The Minister of the Interior, Mr Kwamena Bartels on Wednesday said, on the advice of the Upper East Regional Security Council (REGSEC) the curfew time imposed on the Bawku Municipality would now be 5 pm (1700 hours) to 6.00 am (0600 hours). Mr. Bartels said the previous period of the curfew from 8.00pm to 5.00 am had been cancelled.
The change in time is to enable the Military and the Police contingency in Bawku to effectively monitor the security situation and to ensure that there is no escalation of violence. The military and police presence in the municipality is being increased to ensure more extensive and intensive monitoring of the situation.
Mr. Bartels reiterated that the ban on all persons in the Bawku Municipal Area, Zabzugu and Garu townships and their environs from carrying arms, ammunitions or any offensive weapon still remained in force.
Any persons found with any arms or ammunitions will be arrested and prosecuted.
Source:
GNA
How Did You Get Our Number -Police
An Accra housewife put up a rare female bravado when a gang of armed robbers stormed the family residence and ordered them to say their last prayers because they were going to be killed.
“Say your last prayers”, the woman said her captives ordered her while she tried to delay them in raiding her Teshie/Nungua Greda Estates residence last Wednesday.
Eventually though, the robbers, armed with local weapons, overpowered her and she let go her resistance behind the door which they forced open. Narrating her ordeal and that of her husband and kids at the hands of the young armed robbers Daily Guide, Madam Adiza Nii Ankrah said she was rudely woken from sleep at 2.00am by knocks on one of the doors in the estate house.
The noise was immediately accompanied by the staccato of gunshots.The robbers had already tied up the security man in the house and stuffed his mouth with some pebbles to prevent him from raising alarm, she said.
“It was frightening hearing the gunshots at the wee hours of 2am. I managed to call the Police Post at the estates but was surprised at their response. They asked how I got their number and eventually parried my SOS request away by telling me that there was no vehicle available for them to move to our address”.
A next-door neighbor, she recalled with gratitude, hearing the gunshots phoned the Kpeshie Divisional Police Command, which responded promptly by dispatching a patrol team. But unfortunately for them the patrol team could not locate the house on time and even drove past the location as the operation went on. Continuing, she recalled how when the robbers finally made their way into the house they asked in pidgin English “where them dey?”On their request for money, she said she told them there was none in the house, a response which got them angry and they fired some more shots. She mentioned that she had meanwhile locked up her kids in another room.
Her husband who had taken cover was finally spotted and beaten severely, after which he was fired at but the lead missed him and hit the ground. He had earlier told them that they could make away with his laptop but this did not appeal to them and they inflicted some cutlass wounds on him. They were perhaps convinced that he was dead and concentrated on his wife who told them that she could offer them her jewelry but that did not save her from being beaten by the hoodlums. “Say your last prayers” the woman said her captives ordered her.
“But I pleaded with them to save me because after all I had parted with my jewelry,” she said.
They took the jewelry away from the now frightened woman and just as the patrol team passed by the house in search for it, one of the robbers spotted the vehicle and alerted his colleagues “police” and they quickly bolted. The same group appears to have descended on a senior staffer of Unilever who lives in the same neighbourhood, and made away with valuables. He too had called the nearby Police Post and had a similar rude response “how did you get our number?”
They failed to turn up and the victim parted with a number of valuables. It appears therefore that the same gang is prowling the Greda Estates at Teshie/Nungua, not far away from the local cemetery. The two victims of the robbery do not seem to have any confidence in the police post planted in their neighbourhood.
Source:
Daily Guide
> BACK TO TOP <
Father of boy in anal sex with three-old girl says son mentally ill
Accra, Feb. 12, GNA - The case in which an 18 year-old boy alleged to have anal sex with a three year-old girl took a dramatic turn on Tuesday when the father of the accused person produced an Accra Psychiatric Hospital Attendance Card to indicate that his son is mentally ill.
Richard Odoom, the accused person, is alleged to have had carnal knowledge with the victim who underwent surgery at the Korle Teaching Hospital after she was sodomised.
The victim, who bled profusely, passed urine and faeces through her private parts.
When the court asked the time Odoom, a footballer, attended the hospital, his father, a policeman, mentioned May 21, 2007, which is seven months after the offence was committed.
When court further asked where the accused had been, the police officer said his son was receiving treatment at a prayer camp adding, "due to his state of mind he was going anywhere". After the charge was read out to Odoom in Akan he declined to talk but following persistent prompting he told the court that he did not know anything about the event.
Based on his response the court, presided over Mrs Georgina Mensah-Datsa entered a plea of not guilty for him and remanded him into prison custody to reappear on February 19.
Chief Inspector Ben Darfor, the prosecutor, told the court that the three-year-old girl lived with her parents at Gomoa Ekwamkrom in the Central Region. At about 2300 hours on December 3, 2006, the accused, who was with his friends, left their company and lured the victim into a room and had sex with her.
The prosecution said when the accused saw that he could not penetrate through the normal part he had sex with the victim through her anus. Prosecution said the victim bled profusely and was passing urine and faeces through her private parts. The victim was rushed to a hospital in the area and later transferred to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital where she underwent surgery.
The prosecutor said on December 16, 2007 when the accused was arrested he blamed the devil as the cause of his action. The case was transferred from the Central Region to the Greater Accra Region following a petition to the Chief Justice.
Source:
GNA
More cocaine missing at Police Exhibit Room
There are reports indicating that the quantity of cocaine missing from the Police Exhibit Room was more than what was initially reported.
After some quantity of cocaine in the custody of the Police was detected missing, a report was made to the Interior Ministry, following which a committee was set up a few weeks ago to investigate the matter. The Committee is chaired by the Member of Parliament for Evalue Gwira, Mr. Kojo Armah.
But the mandate of the committee did not cover the actual quantity of drugs that were missing.
The reports say the quantity of the drugs that disappeared from the police custody far exceeded what was reported and based on which the committee was empaneled.
The Independent Newspaper published a story in its Tuesday February 12, 2008 edition in which it said a higher quantity of cocaine than what was reported went missing from the Police Exhibit Room.
This story the Police had denied.
On a Radio Gold news bulleting monitored by myjoyonline on the afternoon of Tuesday Febrauary 12, 2008, the Executive Editor of The Independent newspaper, Mr Andrew Edwin Arthur said some senior as well as junior members of the police were not happy with the attempts by the leadership of the police service to cover up the matter
He said that the personnel are questioning why the officers in charge are not playing the recording of a CCTV facility that was installed to check the activities of service men in the Police Exhibit Room.
He said that although the Police PRO, DSP Kwesi Ofori had denied the reports there were enough evidence to suggest that the police under-declared the missing drugs.
When myjoyonline called Mr. Edwin Arthur on the afternoon of Tuesday February 12, 2008, he said although, the newspaper is yet to get information on the exact quantity of cocaine that has gone missing, The Independent stands by its story.
Source:
myjoyonline
> BACK TO TOP <
Savelugu Senior High School closed down
Savelugu (N/R), Feb. 11, GNA - The Savelugu Senior High School in the Savelugu/ Nanton District of the Northern Region has been closed down indefinitely, following student disturbances last Saturday that led to damaged to public property.
Consequently, all students and teachers are to apply for re-admission and re-engagement into the school to ensure that safety prevail on campus, Mr John Hogbenu, Northern Regional Director of Education has said.
He announced the closure in Savelugu on Monday when the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustafa Ali Idris and some members of the Regional Security Council visited the school to assess the situation. Mr Hogbenu said teachers and school prefects should stay back to help a nine-member Committee of Enquiry set up to probe the riots. The committee is expected to submit its report in 14 days. Mr Hogbenu said it was unfortunate that in this era when educational authorities were fighting to address lapses in rural education, some recalcitrant students were taking the law into their own hands and destroying school property. Alhaji Idris warned that any tutor or student who would be found culpable by the Committee would not only be dismissed but would be put before court.
"Any tutor who is involved in instigating students to riot against school authority does not deserve to belong to the GES and should have his or her name deleted from the GES records," he emphasized. Alhaji Idris said it was incumbent on tutors to leave exemplary lives and to adopt modern tools of engagement to curb any mayhem in schools.
The headmaster of the school, Mr Paul Kelly was severely beaten while his bungalow and the school's only truck was damaged during the riots, sparked by students agitation against the refusal of the authorities to allow late night campus entertainment.Source:
GNA
KMA to rid metropolis of beggars and mental patients
Kumasi, Feb. 11, GNA - The Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) has instituted measures to rid the metropolis of beggars, destitute and mental patients as part of its beautification programme.
A committee comprising the Kumasi Metropolitan Environmental Health Officer, Director of Social Welfare, Mental Aid Foundation, Convener of Social Services, KMA Public Relations Officer, Metropolitan Guard Services and Metropolitan Commander of Ghana Police Service has been formed to implement the measures.
A statement issued in Kumasi and signed by Mrs Jemima Nancy Asare, Public Relations Officer of KMA on Monday said, the Committee started its work at the weekend and arrested 30 mental patients.
It said the patients made up of 27 men and three women were sent to Kumasi Cheshire Home at Edwinase, Kwadaso in the Kumasi Metropolis and would be catered for.
The statement appealed for assistance from corporate organizations and individuals with funds, clothing, foodstuffs, mattresses, blankets, towels, buckets, plates and toiletries.
Source:
GNA
> BACK TO TOP <