African countries join forces to meet challenges
Accra, Dec. 31, GNA - Eleven African countries have agreed to join forces to meet the challenge of education for rural people. At a recent meeting in FAO headquarters in Rome, they also decided to identify synergies and establish international technical cooperation aimed at enhancing education and training in rural areas. Representatives from Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Niger, Uganda, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania adopted a series of recommendations directed to four main stakeholders: African governments, relevant ministries, multilateral and bilateral agencies, international higher learning and research institutions to achieve the goal.
This was contained in a statement in Accra from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and copied to the Ghana News Agency. The statement said Governments were invited to strengthen the coordination and synergies with education for rural people and promote strategies and programs to increase public resources for education and training in rural areas.
"Relevant ministries (Education, Agriculture, Rural Development) were asked to work together to design programs that reflect local cultural and social values that transmit problem-solving, production and enterprise development skills.
"They were also asked to collect and analyse relevant statistics and establish education management information systems in order to improve monitoring and management of education in rural areas," the statement added.
It said multilateral and bilateral agencies, particularly the FAO, Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and UNESCO, were requested to increase their support for capacity building and institutional strengthening of education for rural people. They were also tasked to make special efforts to disseminate and further expand the FAO electronic "Toolkit".
The statement said International higher learning and research institutions were invited to provide scientific expertise, technical assistance and training in strategic areas of education for rural people at national and local levels, particularly with respect to addressing major research issues such as the impact of globalisation, biofuels and climate change on rural livelihoods.
The meeting on Education for Rural People in Africa held in Rome from November 28 to 29 was a follow up to the ministerial seminar, which took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in September 2005. Presently, rural people represent approximately 70 percent of the total population in Africa and will remain the majority over the next three decades, as it is projected that they will represent 58 percent in 2030.
Education and training for rural people is a strategic priority for sub-Saharan Africa in its fight to eradicate poverty, hunger, malnutrition and illiteracy. School life expectancy for men in this region of the world is of 8.5 years in urban areas as compared to 5.5 years in rural areas. For women it is 7.6 and 4.3 years respectively. In addition, for every 100 urban children who have access to primary education, only 68 do so in rural areas. And for every 100 children in urban areas who complete primary school, only 46 do so in rural areas.
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GNA
Kufuor rallies nation to pull together
Accra, Dec. 31, GNA - President John Agyekum Kufuor on Monday rallied the nation to pull together and seize every opportunity to make a giant leap forward.
In his traditional New Year Message to Ghanaians, he said the signs were clear that the country was at the threshold of great prosperity.
President Kufuor, therefore, counselled politicians to be mindful of this and to ensure that they helped to stave off acts likely to hold back the nation's forward march to progress, as they geared up for the 2008 electioneering campaigns.
He reminded them that Ghana's elections had become the benchmark for other countries on the Continent. Every effort should, therefore, be made to maintain this record so that the nation could continue to enjoy the high esteem of the International Community.
He pledged Government's maximum support to the entire society, particularly the Electoral Commission (EC) and the contending political parties to enable the country to run yet another credible elections next year.
He expressed satisfaction with the growing appreciation of democratic procedures in the selection of flag-bearers by all the major political parties and said it was both a happy development and a sign that the country's democracy had come of age. President Kufuor, who reviewed the economy and highlighted landmark events and challenges including the severe energy crisis that hit the country during its Golden Jubilee year, outlined efforts to permanently address the cyclical shortages that had bedevilled the energy sector.
He announced that the West African Gas Pipeline Project had been completed with the delivery of its first flow of nitrogen to cleanse the pipes.
Barring any unforeseen problems, flow of natural gas from the pipes should soon become an everyday occurrence to fuel thermal energy generation.
Additionally, work on the Osagyefo Power Barge was progressing steadily and should be ready for inauguration by March 2008. Again, the Government was on the verge of concluding agreement for the construction of hydro-dams on Ankobra, Pra and Tano Rivers alongside the Bui Hydro-Electric Dam Project.
President Kufuor said this should enable the authorities to blend hydro and thermal energy generation sources to provide a permanent and affordable solution to the country's energy needs. On the economy, he gave a more positive assessment, saying, macro economic policies and programmes implemented over the past seven years had driven down inflation and interest rates and generated steady growth.
"The Cedi has been re-denominated smoothly without incident. The country, for the first time ever has successfully issued a Eurobond on the London Stock Exchange, raising 750 million dollars in the process." The bond, which he said was over-subscribed by more than three billion dollars, showed the confidence level of the international market in the economy, something that should make every Ghanaian proud.
President Kufuor said the resilience of the economy was underlined by the fact that despite the ever-spiralling price of crude oil, now nearly 100 dollars per barrel, compared to about 25 dollars in 2001, the economy had managed to hold together.
He reiterated the Government's resolve to put in place measures to enable the country to benefit fully from its discovered oilfields. Initial estimates put the find at over three billion barrels. President Kufuor thanked the nation for the goodwill, prayers and words of encouragement he received after he had escaped unhurt in a car crash.
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GNA
Oyibi to construct Senior High School
Oyibi (G/A), Dec. 31, GNA- The people of Oyibi near Dodowa in the Greater Accra Region would soon establish a Senior High School at the cost of GH=A2100,000. The project, which would be financed through voluntary contributions and fund-raising activities is expected to be completed in four years time.
Nii Boye Okansha VI, Chief of the town announced this at a meeting with the people at Oyibi on Monday. He appealed to the government to rehabilitate the Oyibi-Nungua road and also provide electricity to the Oyibi Health Centre to enable the people access better health services. Nii Okansha also appealed to the government to provide street-lights to curb the activities of criminals in the community, which he said was on the ascendancy.
He cautioned the political parties to refrain from using abusive language during the 2008 electioneering campaigns, adding that, "anything short of this would bring Ghana's young democracy and the peace we are enjoying at the moment to disrepute". Mr Hopeson Adoye, Assembly man for Oyibi called on the Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs and the traditional rulers to help eliminate chieftaincy disputes, which according to him, "was eating deep into the society".
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GNA
Rawlings sends goodwill message to Ghanaians
Accra, Dec.31 GNA- The former President, Flt.Lt. Jerry John Rawlings (Rtd) on Monday expressed the hope that in spite of the harsh economic conditions that made it impossible for Ghanaians to enjoy a meaningful yuletide, at least the people have not lost the spiritual import of the season.
This was contained in a goodwill message signed by Mr. Kofi Lawson, Assistant Director at the Office of the Former President, on behalf of the Special Assistant and Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Victor Emmanuel Smith.
Flt. Lt. Rawlings urged Ghanaians to remain steadfast and keep their hopes alive.
"As we usher in a new year, we should remember that it is a momentous year ahead- a year of bold actions that should ultimately see the restoration and triumph of truth, justice and morality especially at the helm of the nation's political establishment, as well as the leadership of the traditional, judicial, religious and the armed services." Former President Rawlings said.
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GNA
Potential For Instability In Ghana - Boakye Djan
Ghana’s political party democracy is irrational and needs a revolution of ideas to address the potential for instability that it could create for the country, the Head of Government of the erstwhile Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC), Osahene Boakye Djan, has said.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Graphic, he made a dire prognosis of a country stumbling gradually into a state where majority participation in political party practice remained a myth.
Osahene made this statement after a long period of silence, during which the AFRC member, who doubled as the spokesman, took respite from public political activity and discourse.
His views, he said, were based on a careful observation of developments of recent primaries of the country’s political parties and their implications for the political health of the country.
Explaining what he meant by an irrational political system, he said this was where political choices were limited to persuasion and enticement of voters with money, ethnic and religious sentiments, gender, age and personality attacks as well as other inducements that had been a characteristic of all the recent primaries of the major political parties in the country.
Buttressing that point, he said in settled democracies, political choices were restricted to issues, policies and principles that directly translated into future benefits to voters who were then expected to make informed decisions on them.
He said in the United Kingdom, the longest known multi-party democracy in the world, formal and rational systems of political negotiations based on rational decisions and choices from formal issues and policies offered by competing politicians within or outside political parties were in place, which allowed for informed choices by voters.
The Labour Party on the broad left, the Liberal Democrats in the broad centre and the Conservative Party on the broad right are all occupying three distinctive boundaries and presenting three distinctive choices.
In Ghana, where do the four major political parties with representation in Parliament fit into this pattern? He asked.
Osahene identified the non-clarity in this area as the root cause of the problems of political party practice in Ghana today and most parts of Africa, evidenced by the electoral challenges currently in Kenya and South Africa.
Osahene said the “money persuasion” that had become a part of the Ghanaian political system was deeply offensive and dangerous for the future of democracy in the country.
“It is the basis of the corrosive corruption in the country today. Why would someone want to accept money from a politician in exchange for a vote? Practical competitive politics, as far as I am concerned, is the calculation, the estimate or the judgement of the future for the benefit of all of us and not for a monetary gain today.
The man is supposed to go into a four-year term of office to create a condition to benefit you and me in the future and not today,” he pointed out.
He was of the view that politicians had been manipulating the situation to their own advantage. To those aspiring for political leadership and the presidential slot, he stressed that “politics is not about paying someone upfront to get you into power for you to make money for yourself and your family,” while warning the electorate that “accepting cash to vote for a politician is a short-term palliative and not a long-term solution; for if you go to the market and finish spending it, you may have to wait for another four years for another handout.
That is not the practical politics that is meant to provide a long-term solution for you and your standard of life”.
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Daily Graphic
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Farmer appeals to government to implement housing scheme for farmers
Awutu Gyakaw (C/R), Dec 31, GNA - The Acting President of the Ghana National association of Farmers and Fishermen, Nai Kwao Otuo V, has appealed to the government to expedite action on plans to construct houses for farmers in the regions on high purchase basis.
He said this at farmers' rally organized to round off activities initiated by the Awutu-Effutu-Senya District branch of the association at Awutu Gyakaw.
Nai Kwao Otuo attributed lack of interest developed by the youth in agriculture to absence of better housing and other incentives for peasant farmers in food growing areas.
He expressed optimism that if the government implemented the proposed housing project for farmers in the remote areas it would attract the youth who had abandoned their communities and migrated to the cities for non-existing jobs.
Nai Kwao Otuo suggested that apart from housing, the Ministry of Food and Agriculture could also put in place a scheme under which young farmers in rural areas could be supplied with wax prints, suiting materials, televisions sets and radio sets on high purchase basis periodically.
Nai Kwao Otuo said scholarships for the children of farmers could also be established at the district level to entice young men and women into farming.
He however advised farmers throughout the country to continue to give off their best by producing adequate food, industrial raw materials for home consumption and export. Nai Kwao Otuo, who was the 1994 Second Best National Best Farmer, advised the farmers, especially food producers, not to allow the poor pricing of their produce to deter them from contributing their quota towards national goals.
He appealed to them to encourage their children to cultivate the love for farming to enable them to take over from them.
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GNA
NSOC 004 Social DFP Factory DFP worry about the downward trend of Ayensu Starch Factory
Kofi Ansahkrom (C/R), Dec 31, GNA -
The Deputy General Secretary of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Mr John Amekah, has expressed concern about the downward trend that the Ayensu Starch Factory at Awutu Bawjiase had been experiencing in the past three years.
Mr Amekah said the collapse of the factory should be the concern of all Ghanaians because loans granted to the nation for the implementation of the project would be paid back to the creditors.
Besides, it had rendered hundreds, if not thousands of farmers and workers, unemployed. Mr Amekah was addressing a rally organized by Awutu-Senya Constituency leaders of the DFP at Kofi Ansahkrom on Saturday. He said even though the establishment of such a venture was laudable, the factory had not been able to live up to expectation and that it had been engulfed in administrative and financial problems.
Mr Amekah said, for instance, instead of using the bye products such as the cassava peels to manufacture animal feed and the chaff for gari, management left these vital components to go waste.
He called for a critical appraisal of the operations of the factory to enable it to fulfil the dreams of thousands of cassava growers in and outside Awutu-Effutu-Senya District as well as the unemployed in the catchments area who had placed their hope and trust in the factory.
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GNA
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Stop celebrating congress success -NPP chairman
The Bantama Constituency Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr H.K. Kokofu, has called on members of the party to end the celebration of the election of Nana Akufo-Addo as the flag bearer of the party to settle down to the serious business of organising towards the 2008 general election.
With the greatest ever optimism of overrunning the opposition, he said the party could not afford to swim in endless celebration over the election of Nana Akufo-Addo, whilst the more important business of swinging into effective campaigning remained unattended to.
"The election of Nana Akufo-Addo as the flag bearer of the party was the first step in the battle to give the NDC a sound thrashing in the 2008 elections and to ensure that the NPP hands over power to NPP in January 2009 to facilitate the effective and efficient management of the economy," he said.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Kumasi, Mr Kokofu said the December 22 congress belonged to history and the new focus was how to hand down the NDC its greatest ever defeat in 2008.
Mr Kokofu stated that the December 22 congress produced two great leaders, Nana Akufo-Addo for the present, and Mr. Alan Kyerematen for the future.
The constituency chairman indicated that the Danquah-Busia tradition had the history of producing such leaders and cited 1998 when at the Sunyani congress, Mr J.A. Kufuor was elected as flag bearer while Nana Akufo-Addo who proved a tough customer in the campaign period, came second in the congress.
"Today, Nana Akufo-Addo is on his way to becoming President of Ghana after serving effectively in the Kufuor government," he said.
Mr Kokofu said, "It will be good to see Alan become a key member of an Akufo-Addo government as it happened with Nana under the Kufuor regime so that he will be groomed to become the next leader after Nana."
He said by conceding victory to Nana Akufo-Addo when all the opportunities existed for him to go for the re-run at the congress, Mr Kyerematen exhibited high political maturity.
He was also full of praise for the new flag bearer for his sense of maturity when he said he would reach out to all the defeated aspirants to ensure an effective campaign.
Above all, the constituency chairman commended President Kufuor for the encouraging words he gave at the congress, saying it showed that, "for us in the NPP, the congress is a clear testimony that the party won the day".
Mr Kokofu challenged the foot soldiers to rekindle the spirit that saw the party winning the last two elections "because elections are about numbers".
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Daily Graphic
DFP for congress in March
The National Chairman of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Alhaji Abdul-Rahman Isakah, has stated that the party is building its structures in readiness for its national delegates congress in March 2008 to select its substantive national executive and a presidential candidate for the 2008 elections.
He said currently the party had interim ward and polling station constituency executives and was inaugurating all the 230 constituency executives who would form the delegates to the March congress.
Alhaji Isakah was speaking in an interview with the Daily Graphic after the inauguration of the Ablekuma Central Constituency executive of the party in Accra on Saturday.
He stated that some prominent Ghanaians had indicated their interest in the flagbearership of the party but the decision to make such names known rested with the interested individuals and not the DFP.
He said it had become clear that most Ghanaians were dissatisfied with the NDC and the NPP and that DFP was the party that would offer a real positive change that would have direct impact on their lives.
"We are the only party in Ghana that has membership from all other political parties, we are also very transparent and have our doors open to any Ghanaian. We are ready to tap every available Ghanaian brain for the benefit of all," he added.
The Life Patron of the DFP, Dr Obed Yao Asamoah, stated that the party's main focus was to win political power and make life better for Ghanaians.
"The main focus of the DFP government would be reducing poverty, reducing unemployment, providing adequate health care, education and affordable housing, food and clothing," he said, and added that a "Green Revolution" would be the pivot of the DFP's development strategies.
He also announced that details of the programme would be unfolded in the party's manifesto, which would come out during the election of its flag bearer.
He reminded the party's supporters and members to bear in mind that in engaging in political discourse they must refrain from indulging in lies, vilification and threats against persons with different political parties.
"Ghana is now practising democracy and you must understand the implications of it. There must be a free contention of ideas. You must concentrate on issues, values and principles and not insults," Dr Asamoah advised.
He took a swipe at his critics who claim that the DFP was being funded from the funds he (Dr Asamoah) allegedly stole from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and at the same time claiming that the DFP was being also financed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP).
While describing the two allegations as false, he also challenged those who alleged that he stole money from the NDC to publish their claims or report the matter to the police for the appropriate investigations.
He also denied suggestions that he left the NDC because his bid to become the National Chairman was unsuccessful, and explained that if that had been the case he would have opted for the chairmanship position in the DFP.
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Daily Graphic
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I will remain focused as Vice President- Mahama
Accra, Dec.31, GNA- Vice President Alhaji Mahama at the weekend rebuffed media reports that he had resigned from active politics, saying he would remain focused in office as the number two man of the country. Referring to his unsuccessful bid to lead the ruling New Patriotic Party at the December 22 delegates' congress of the party, he said as a Vice President he still functions as a political figure and would continue to do so as long as Allah gives him the strength to carry on. Vice President Mahama, who was interacting with members of the Presidential Press Corps, at his campaign office in Accra said media reports that quoted him as saying he was quitting politics took him out of contest.
" As a Vice President, I have to remain in office till January 7, 2009, so how can I say I am quitting politics? It is too early to talk about my political future."
He said he had gained so much experience as a Vice President and it was only prudent for him to put it at the disposal of Ghana. Vice President Mahama said he had a large constituency of supporters who he would disappoint if he disappeared from the political scene.
Vice President Mahama said he would expend his energy to campaign for the flagbearer of the NPP, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo to win the 2008 General Election.
He stressed: "I pledged my support to him and I would deliver." Commenting on the results of the delegates congress, where he attracted 146 votes, he said the numbers came to him as a shock because he had carried himself well so far as a Vice President and had served President John Agyekum Kufuor faithfully and loyally.
On a humorous note he said: " I won bronze but I should have captured the gold because I worked very hard for it." He however, congratulated the delegates for their good judgement, saying at the end of the day it was democracy and the will of the people that carried the day.
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GNA
Tomato production gets irrigation technology boost in Dormaa District
Anyinasu (B/A), Dec. 31, GNA - Tomato farmers in five communities in the Dormaa District are benefiting from a modern irrigation technology to enable them to meet consumer demands throughout the year. The intervention, which will also seek ready market for the produce is a collaboration between the Trade and Investment for Competitive Export Economy, a branch of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ghana National Tomato Traders Association. The beneficiary communities are Bebianeha, Gonokrom, Yawbofokrom, Duasidan and Anyinasu.
A demonstration was held at Anyinasu to expose the tomato farmers to the Family Drip Irrigation System, a cost effective irrigation that employs the use of a generator to transport water from dugouts through perforated water hose onto the fields.
Mr Aaron Attafa Ampofo, food crop specialist, noted that Ghana lost between 300 and 400 million cedis each dry season to tomato farmers from Burkina Faso as their Ghanaian counterparts usually went out of production during the period.
He explained that the local farmers' plight was usually attributed to the lack of efficient irrigation methods and start-up capital.
Mr Ampofo said the two organizations had decided to adopt the farmers, supervise their activities and propel them into ready markets so that more of their colleagues would be enticed into the industry. The food specialist said apart from the provision of a container for water storage on the farm and land preparation, all other inputs into the technology and the market search would be borne by the two organizations.
He appealed to the farmers to support the project and co-operate with the tomato 'queens' to make the industry viable and self-sustaining.
Nii Yemoh, Secretary of the Tomato Traders Association, gave an assurance that the body was ready to promote workable relations between the tomato farmers and operatives of the market to pave the way for a compact business activity.
Mr Edward Badu, Dormaa District Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, lauded the project and commended the two organizations for their choice to support the tomato industry. He noted that agricultural businesses in the District could grow if government and other well-meaning agencies provided them with the necessary assistance. Mr Badu charged the farmers to comply with the basic components of the new irrigation technology and make the maximum profit out of their efforts.
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GNA
Mr Findib Kona appeals for restoration of his dignity
Tamale, Dec. 31, GNA - A 30-year-old businessman in Bunkpurugu in the Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo District, who was wrongly accused of being an armed robber but was cleared after investigations, has asked the Military High Command to restore his dignity. Mr Findib Kona, the Businessman, appealed to the Command to issue a statement to the effect that after their investigations he had been found innocent.
He said since the allegations were made against him in October 2007 all his trading partners in Togo were avoiding him and had refused to transact business with him. Mr Kona said the ordeal he went through in the hands of the soldiers following the allegations that he was an armed robber had also affected his health.
Speaking to the GNA in Tamale on December 5, 2007, after filing a formal complaint at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), in Tamale, Mr Kona said the soldiers exerted one of the worse forms of torture and brutalities on him on allegations that he was an armed robber.
Mr Kona mentioned the names of the soldiers who tortured him as Lieutenant Kuseimi, leader of the soldiers, and one Corporal Atsu. The soldiers, he alleged, heated a stone and a knife and forcibly put them in his palms for some minutes and forced him to step on the heated stone while one of the soldiers, one Corporal Atsu forcibly opened his jaws and spat saliva into his mouth. He explained that he dealt in motor bicycle spare parts in Bunkpurugu and was on his way to visit a friend in Napkanduri, a town in the Bunkpurugu/Yunyoo District on October 29, 2007 when a group of soldiers picked him up and alleged that he was an armed robber and one of those who had killed a soldier in the area. Mr Kona claimed that the soldiers used the butt of AK 47 riffles to hit him many times on his ribs while others used their boots to kick him and warned him not to shout or else they would kill him and throw him into the bush.
Mr Kona said he was put in a white pickup vehicle and driven to the private residence of Madam Elizabeth Pigit Poyari, Former District Chief Executive, in Bunkpurugu before they stopped the torture. He said when he was removed from the bucket of the pickup, corporal Atsu sought permission from Lieutenant Kuseime to shoot him dead since he alleged that he had killed their colleague soldier in a gun battle, but he was refused.
He said it was one Sergeant Tanko, who pleaded with his colleague soldiers to release him since he would have confessed if he was actually an armed robber. He said the others agreed and sent him to Bunkpurugu and handed him over to his family. Mr Kona said the next day in the private residence of Madam Poyari, where he was directed to report himself daily to the soldiers after his release, one of them used the butt of a gun to hit his neck and he was still feeling the pains.
He claimed that the soldiers put him in a latrine hole from 0600 hours until 1600 hours and that even then it was an officer of the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) stationed in the East Mamprusi District, who intervened and saved him from dying in the latrine. Mr Kona said upon his release he visited the Assemblies of God Health Centre in Nanpkanduri but he was refused treatment because he had no Police report form.
He said the Police in Nanpkanduri also refused to issue him with a report form because according to them they were not prepared to deal with armed robbers.
Mr Kona said all efforts to get the report form were futile and he had no other option than to rely on drug stores until one Father Augustine Ayaga of the Catholic Church in Bunkpurugu heard of his ordeal and came to his aid and sent him to the Bolgatanga Hospital. Mr Kona said he had been traumatised and had bodily pains. He said he still had traces of blood in his faeces. Lieutenant Colonel William Omane Agyekum, Commanding Officer in charge of the Sixth Infantry Battalion (6BN) in Kamina Barracks in Tamale, told the GNA in an interview that Mr Kona was picked up as a suspected armed robber when armed robbers killed a soldier in the District.
He denied that Kona was tortured but indicated that the soldiers interrogated and released him after they found that he was innocent. Even though Kona showed his wounds from the ordeal and produced pictures of his alleged torture to the GNA, Lt. Col. Agyekum maintained that the pictures might be faked to incriminate the soldiers of wrong doing for Mr Kona to win public favour. The GNA investigations, which took almost one month to complete, revealed that some soldiers, who were on their way to a specific location where they could access MTN signals to take advantage of free-night calls, bumped into armed robbers, who were shooting indiscriminately and in the process killed one Private Owusu Emmanuel.
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GNA
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