* 20.09.2009

Nkroful (WR), Sept. 20, GNA - Vice President John Mahama on Saturday paid a solemn pilgrimage to the Nkroful burial site of the late Kwame Nkrumah, first President of Ghana. When the late President died in 1972, his remains were temporarily laid to rest at Conakry, Guinea, because of the political situation in Ghana at the time.

Source: www.AlbertAbongo.com  & EP

The body was later interred in a mausoleum at his hometown in Nkroful before former President Jerry Rawlings decided to create a mausoleum for him in Accra, where his body now lies at a memorial park named after him. Vice President John Mahama toured the now empty gravesite, the house where he was born and raised by Madam Nyaniba, the late President's mother.

Addressing the media after the tour, Vice President John Mahama expressed shock about the decision of the government that overthrew the late President to destroy his family house at Nkroful, as the current structures including Nyaniba's kitchen had to be rebuilt later. Vice President Mahama asked Ghanaians, especially the current crop of leaders, to embrace the vision and ideals of Nkrumah so as to rapidly grow Ghana's economy. He said he was particularly touched by the selflessness and the energy Nkrumah had for developing underserved communities in the country, a feat which must serve as a model for succeeding generations, as Nkrumah was somebody to whom material gains and the perks of office did not mean much.

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Nkroful (WR), Sept. 20, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama at the weekend assured the Chiefs of Nzema that the Mills' administration will not do anything deliberately to slight their sensibilities, saying that any perceptions to that effect was not borne out of bitterness. "It is not deliberate" the Vice President told the chiefs of Nzemamanle when reacting to complaints that government was stalling a meeting between they the chiefs and the President at the Castle to deliberate over some pertinent issues affecting Nzemaland, despite repeated representations.

Responding to the concerns during a courtesy call on Nzemanmanle or joint council of Nzema paramountcies at Nkroful in the Western Region on Saturday, Vice President Mahama said the delay was as a result of snags over protocol scheduling rather than any deliberate ploy to deny them a meeting with the President.

He also attributed the hitch to an impending visit of the Western Regional House of Chiefs to the seat of Government, adding that it was the consideration that since some of the issues to be discussed at that meeting could overlap with or help resolve some of the problems faced by the Nzemamanle, the regional body meeting should come on first. Vice President Mahama said this situation, rather than any perceived attempt to slight them, was responsible for the delay, assuring them the President will meet with Nzemamanle confederation soon.

"It is nothing deliberate from the President" said Mr Mahama as he reechoed the viewpoint that the Mills' administration "will not do anything deliberately to prevent you from visiting us". Awulae Annor Adjaye, in a welcoming address on behalf of the chiefs and people of Nzemamanle, had expressed reservation about the delay in the said meeting, saying it has incurred bitterness among the people.

He also expressed concern over naming the oil rigs located in Nzema traditional areas after personalities hailing from other parts of the country, saying such act constituted a pite to Nzema sensibilities. The council was, however, pleased with the visit of the Vice President, declaring that the government has now "passed that test with distinction" as the visit has helped to calm seething tempers. Replying, Vice President Mahama said the Nzema Chiefs were right in their vociferous complaints because they meant well and had been supportive of government's development efforts.

Commenting on the issue of the naming of oil rigs, Vice President Mahama said since the designations were done during the previous regime, the Mills Administration would look into the factors that informed those decisions and have them communicated to the people.

Vice President Mahama concurred with Awulaye's insistence that the oil found must be a blessing but not be a curse to Ghana. He said the arrangements the government was putting in place with regard to the management of oil revenues will make Ghana a model in terms of the use of oil resources, the misapplication of which had led to the notion that oil has become a curse to Africans.

Critics who hold to this view point to Nigeria, Angola, Gabon and other African countries which are saddled with financial quagmires and violence despite raking huge wind fall from the sale of crude oil. Vice President John Mahama assured the people that the expected oil revenues will be used for the betterment of all the people in line with the NDC manifesto of prosperity for all.

MP wants Nkrumah's body returned

to Nkroful

Nkroful (WR), Sept. 20, GNA - Mrs Catherine Abelema Afeku, Member of Parliament for Evalue-Gwira, said the Government should consider returning the body of Dr Kwame Nkrumah which now lies in a mausoleum in Accra to Nkroful, his hometown.

She said while she supports the decision to honour the late President with a public holiday, she was nonetheless of the opinion that the centenary celebrations will not be complete without returning Nkrumah's body to the original burial site at Nkroful.

Speaking to the GNA at Nkroful on Saturday, Mrs Afeku said returning the body to its homestead will transform the township into a "tourist Mecca" which the Ellembele district can then harness to improve the living standards of the people of the area.

She observed that celebrations of the late President over the years failed to take into account the spiritual and cultural relevance of the late President to his people.

The late President Nkrumah was first buried in Conakry, Guinea, after his death in Romania because of the political situation in his native Ghana at the time.

It was later brought to Ghana and interred at a mausoleum at Nkroful. Former President Jerry John Rawlings later established a memorial park in Accra where his remains and that of his wife Fathia are now permanently interred.

The Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park is the place the founder of Ghana declared the nation's independence from British colonial rule, and it stocks memorabilia associated with the reign of the great African nationalist.

But Mrs Afeku insisted that it should be brought back to Nkroful as receipts from expected tourist arrivals could help scale up development for his town folks who have largely remained poor. Besides, she said, the cosmology of the Nzemas like the rest of Ghanaians, should be observed.

This required that departed relatives should be re-united with their ancestors in an unbroken relationship that comprises the dead, the living and those yet unborn, she added.

Mrs Afeku does not brush aside the international prominence of Nkrumah that makes him a son of the world rather than that of only Nkroful. However, she argued forcefully in favour of the return of his remains since doing so will assuage the cultural sensibilities of the people.

Central records high rate of

acute malnutrition

Cape Coast, Sept. 20, GNA - Four hundred and twenty seven (427) severe malnutrition cases among children were recorded, from January to June, this year, by the Central Region Health Administration, with Agona West having the highest of 113 followed by Upper Denkyira East with 83 cases.

The Regional Nutrition Officer, Mr. Samuel Sosi, who disclosed this at a media briefing, at the weekend, expressed regret that eighty two percent of the cases were children from zero to two years. Fifty four per cent are females.

Mr. Sosi said forty one percent of the children have, however, been fully rehabilitated and discharged while forty four per cent were still being treated. Three per cent, however, died during treatment with the remaining defaulting.

He pointed out that the damage caused to such children was irreversible because the period of rapid brain development occurs in the first three to four years and queried the kind of adults the region would produce should the trend continue. Mr. Sosi said UNICEF was supporting the regional directorate to address the issue to help forestall any negative social implication and has, therefore, provided some therapeutic food (plumpy nuts) for the rehabilitation of malnourished children in the 17 districts of the region.

This has resulted in significant improvement in the children under treatment.

He said the therapeutic food contains a mixture of nuts, powdered milk and other rich minerals and vitamins that generate rapid results within two to six weeks.

Mr. Sosi called on parents to endeavour to give nutritious local diets to their children after rehabilitation because the problem could recur if they failed to do so and cited instances where fully recovered malnourished children had relapsed after rehabilitation. Mr. Sosi said his outfit identified three different types of kwashiorkor among the children and stressed that improper infant feeding was one of the major causes of malnutrition. He appealed to the media to feed the public with nutritional messages to complement the efforts of the GHS towards behavioural change so that parents would feed their babies with local dishes with all the necessary nutrients.

Mrs Ernestina Agyapong, a nutritionist specialist with the UNICEF, appealed to mothers to exclusively breastfeed their babies in their first six months to safeguard them against diseases and to facilitate their total growth.

 * 19.09.2009

President Mills appeals for patience for his government

Akropong-Akuapem (E/R), Sept.19, GNA - President John Evans Atta Mills has appealed to the people of the Eastern Region to have patience with his government while it worked tirelessly to fix the tattered economy it inherited from the previous government.

He explained that his government was treading cautiously to avoid taking decisions that would be detrimental to the country and further explained that it was the positive impact of an action which mattered and not the rush in the implementation of the action. These were contained in a speech read on behalf of the President on Friday, at a durbar of chiefs and people to commemorate this year's Akuapem Odwira Festival, which also marks the 35th anniversary of the enstoolment of the Okuapehene, Oseadeeyo Nana Addo Dankwa III, at Akropong-Akuapem,

The festival was organized under the theme "The Role of the Youth in the Development of the Nation."

President Mills compared his government with the Biblical Nehemia and assured that his government would remain resolute in the rebuilding of the economy and would not be disturbed by its detractors, so that at the end of the first term, the people of Ghana would renew its mandate.

President Mills thanked the chiefs and people of Eastern Region for voting the National Democratic Congress back to power and promised to organize a regional tour to formally show his appreciation to the chiefs and people of the region.

He appealed to the President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs and its appropriate committees to mediate in the chieftaincy impasse in the Akuapem area between the Okuapehene and the various divisions of the Akuapem Traditional Area.

President Mills advised the youth to distance themselves from negative practices and unproductive life styles that tend to jeopardize their future.

He called on parents, guardians, teachers, churches and civil society organizations to help instil virtues of morality, honesty, the fear of the Lord and transparency in the youths.

Earlier, the Okuapehene, Oseadeeyo Nana Addo Dankwa, urged the youth to take advantage of all opportunities offered them by the government, their communities and the church to grow up to become responsible citizens.

He called on the elderly to guide the youth in their daily activities and encourage them to take up responsibilities that would help them to grow up as responsible citizens.

Tamale, Sept. 19, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has alleged that some members of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) are in possession of weapons to cause mayhem in the Chereponi by-elections, slated for September 29.

The NDC has alleged that, Alhaji Yakubu Grusah, Chereponi constituency chairman of the NPP, had confessed to the chief of the area that due to the volatile atmosphere of the impending by-elections, his party had received weapons from its head quarters in Accra for self-protection.

Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia, General Secretary of the NDC, who made the allegations in a media briefing in Tamale on Friday, said until weapons were retrieved from Chereponi, the NPP should be held responsible for anything that disturbed the peace during and after the by-election.

He appealed to the security personnel to immediately arrest the self-confessed Alhaji Grusah to help in retrieving those weapons to ensure that lives in Chereponi were saved.

He said the allegations must be taken seriously because, "To the NPP the only democracy they know is when they win power" and that NPP as a party had a track record of causing confusion when they know elections would not favour them.

"This reminds me of Akwatia, Asawase, Gushiegu, Fomena and other places where the NPP adopted various strategies and caused confusion, but this time nothing would favour them," he emphasized.

Mr. Nketia said the country was interested in peace and that elections should not be used as an avenue to set "brother against brother".

He said the NPP's refusal to sign the code of conduct document in Accra was a prelude to their intentions to cause confusion, adding, "If you accept that you can't win just withdraw from the race to save yourself from disgrace."

Mr. Nketia, however, said the campaign in Chereponi so far was peaceful since there was no breach of the peace, and commended all the political parties and the security personnel for conducting themselves. Mr. Faisal Gbangili, Acting Northern Regional Secretary of the NPP, in an interview with the GNA, described the allegations labelled against the NPP as unfounded and baseless, saying such had always been the game plan of the NDC in all elections.

"How can our constituency chairman who is over 70 years old walk to a chief and make such allegations. There is no truth in what the NDC is saying. They are only crying wolf when there is no wolf. "We are most likely to retain the seat so why would we do anything to disturb the peace to dent our credibility as a viable party. It is rather the NDC who are sensing defeat and they are crying foul to win public sympathy", he remarked.

Mr. Ebenezer Tetteh, Northern Regional Police Public Relations Officer, also in an interview said the police had earlier had information to the effect that people possessed arms in the constituency, and that searches had been conducted but nothing was found.

He said the reports the police had received were allegations against both the NPP and the NDC, which moved the police and the military to conduct searches on members of the NPP, the NDC and all the other parties contesting the by-elections.

"I don't know whether the NDC has the same old information or something fresh. All the same we will find out and if they are fresh allegations we shall act on them", he said.

Mr. Tetteh assured people in the Chereponi constituency to go about their normal duties without fear, saying that the security was in control of the situation.

Hundreds troop Ghana to celebrate Nkrumah

Hundreds of people from across Africa, America, Europe, Asia, The Caribbean, Pacific and other parts of the world are trooping down to Ghana to celebrate the centenary birthday of Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, which falls on Monday, September 21, 2009.

The centres of attraction will be Nkroful in the Western Region, the birthplace of Dr Nkrumah, and the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum in Accra, where his mortal remains are presently accommodated.

The day has been declared by President Mills as a statutory public holiday in honour of Dr Nkrumah, one of the most revered black freedom fighters in the world.

Apart from the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum and Nkroful, places and projects such as the Akosombo Dam, the Peduase Lodge, Achimota School and the Volta Aluminium Company Limited (VALCO), which strike fond memories of Dr Nkrumah, are expected to attract enthusiastic crowds from far and near.

Last week Friday, the Vice-President, Mr John Mahama, launched activities for the centenary celebration, which would be climaxed on the African Union (AU) Day on May 25, 2010, when the whole of Africa is expected to celebrate him.

At the 13th AU Summit in Sirte, Libya, this year, African leaders unanimously voted to adopt the centenary birthday of Dr Nkrumah as an AU activity.

Activities to commemorate the occasion include lectures, symposia, exhibitions and cultural performances.

Acknowledged by the BBC as the African of the Millennium, Dr Nkrumah touched the lives of thousands of freedom-loving people in Africa and beyond after leading Ghana to attain political independence from British colonial rule in 1957 and, thereafter, taking a frontline role in the African liberation struggle.

A visionary leader, he was considered by many as peerless and decades ahead of his generation.

According to a former Chairman of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr Edmund N. Delle, the difference between Nkrumah and his peers was universality of his person and the manner his messages touched the lives of the suffering and oppressed throughout the world.

 * 17.09.2009

* 16.09.2009 

President Mills launches new pension scheme

 Accra, Sept. 16, GNA - President John Evans Atta Mills on Wednesday launched a new National Pension Scheme that would cater for 85 per cent of workers in the informal sector, and enable workers' contributions to be used as collateral for home mortgaging.

Launching the scheme in Accra, President Mills reminded the administrators of the heavy responsibility to ensure its success, and urged them to publicise its activities to in the informal sector. He said lessons from the global financial crisis should guide the release of funds for the new scheme.

President Mills commended members of the National Pension Reform Implementation Committee for their hardwork during the past five years. Mr Stephen Amoanor Kwao, Minister of Employment and Social Welfare said the Ministry would provide the needed support and guidance to ensure that the fund was efficiently and effectively administered. Mr Richard Kwame Asante, Chairman of the Pension Reform Implementation Committee, said the new scheme was a landmark in the economic and social development of Ghana.

He said the inputs were taken from identifiable groups such as the Ghana Employers Association, Veterans Association of Ghana, Ghana Private Transport Union, financial institutions, insurance companies and Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT).

It comprises two mandatory schemes and a voluntary scheme. The first-tier mandatory basic National Social Security Scheme would incorporate an improved system of SSNIT benefits. The second-tier scheme would be a mandatory fully funded and privately owned or work based pension scheme, designed primarily to give contributors higher lump sum benefits under the SSNIT or Cap 30 Pension Schemes.

The third-tier is a voluntary provident fund and personal pension schemes targeted at workers in the informal sector who want to make voluntary contributions to enhance their pension. With contributions from the informal sector, farmers, fishermen, market women among others can now participate in the pension scheme during their old age.