| Go to News -WEEK 22 | | * Sunday, 24 May 2009 | | Go to News - WEEK 20 | | Two persons die on Accra-Tema Motorway | Tema, May 24, GNA - Two persons were burnt beyond recognition when the vehicle in which they were travelling caught fire in an accident on the Accra-Tema Motorway last Friday night.
Their charred remains have been collected and deposited at the Police Hospital mortuary.
Mr Prince Anaglate, Public Relations Officer of Tema National Fire Service told newsmen that his outfit received the news about the accident around 8 p.m and they rushed to the scene near the abattoir area.
He said they saw an Audi saloon car with registration number GT 9276 Z in a gutter with the driver and another occupant burnt beyond recognition at the front seat.
Mr Anaglate said they realised that the vehicle veered off its lane, landed into the gutter and busted into flames. The firemen together with police from Ashiaman had to cut the two front doors of the car into pieces before they could collect the remains of their bodies.
Mr. Anaglate said they could not even identify the sex of the two bodies. 24 May 09 > BACK to TOP < | | Appointments to heads of schools to be reconsidered | Kpando, May 24, GNA- Mr. Alex Narh Tetteh-Enyo, Minister of Education on Saturday disclosed that decentralization of appointments to positions of Directorship and Headship of schools would be reconsidered when the Education Governing Council was fully reconstituted and operational.
He said the reconstituted Education Council would explore short circuiting some of its sector policies that are adverse to the advancement and attainment of quality education, including appointments. Mr. Tetteh-Enyo made this disclosure in a keynote address at the 56th Speech and Prize Giving Day ,which coincided with the sending-off ceremony for final year students of Kpando Senior High School, at Kpando.
It was under the theme; "Responsible Parenting and Teacher Professionalism: Key to Quality Education." He said government was keen and committed to the attainment of quality education and making the sector a real tool for national development.
Mr. Tetteh-Enyo therefore called on parents and teachers to re-examine their positions and roles in matters relating to the education of children to secure quality tutoring for them. He said a qualitative educational system should advance the frontiers of knowledge, make the child efficient, reasonably self-sufficient and capable of enjoying a high standard of living. The Education Minister, also Member of Parliament (MP) for Ada added that responsible parenting goes beyond money and material provisions, which rather entailed keen interest in the child's progress, providing guidance and counseling as well as inculcating moral, religious and traditional values for self-esteem and confidence. Mr Tetteh-Enyo noted that, central to the attainment of quality education is teacher professionalism and accountability, which he described not only as instructor but a motivator, agent of change, counsellor, parent, role model and mentor. "It is imperative that the teacher stimulated and encouraged the child's interest rather than crush all initiatives in the child", he added.
Mr Tetteh-Enyo pledged government's resolve towards translating its commitment into practical means for the improvement of infrastructure in schools.
Mr Joseph Amenowode, Volta Regional Minister appealed to the Ministry of Education to harness the expertise of teachers fully by exploring opportunities of pegging the retirement age at 65 years. He said the sector could derive maximum benefits from this suggestion to better the fortunes and expectations in the education enterprise for nation- building, when those categories of teachers were given extension to serve.
Ms Akua Sena Dansua, Minister of Women and Children's Affairs urged students to be studious and eschew social vices like smoking, indiscipline, alcoholism and computer fraud, christened "Sakawa". She paid glowing tribute to the pioneering fathers of the school and asked students to justify the huge investments being made in them by government and their parents.
Mr Geoffrey J. Bissi, Headmaster of the School said students' population rose to 1030 from a humble beginning of nine students in 1953 with current staff position being 54 teachers and 58 non-teaching staff comprising administrators, labourers, artisans, kitchen staff and securitymen.
He said the School continued to pose a marked improvement over the years with the 2008 WASSCE recording a 100 percent pass, indicating that 130 out of 320 candidates obtained a pass in all eight subjects representing 40 percent.
Mr Bissi said eight and 72 candidates passed seven and six subjects respectively, which meant that 260 out of 320 candidates passed in six or more subjects representing 81.3 percent.
He said tremendous successes were chalked in co-curricular activities such as sports and games, debates and cultural activities. Mr Bissi disclosed that since 1993 the School did not attract any infrastructural project but for its Parent-Teacher Association (PTA), which constructed a semi-detached bungalow, the expansion of girl's dormitory, fencing of the School's frontage and a generating power plant.
He appealed to major stakeholders, including the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND) to urgently construct, at least a six-unit cluster for staff accommodation, tar the 1.5-kilometre road network in the school, construct additional classrooms and complete work on its assembly/dining hall, which was started in 1978.
Mr Bissi commended the School's PTA and Kpando Old Students Association (KOSA) for their continued and sterling support and admonished final year students to be worthy ambassadors and be guided by school's motto; "Be Truthful and Shine" in future engagements. A total of 51 academic and 27 meritorious awards and prizes were bestowed on students, staff and friends of the School with Kennedy Nyavor, Edwin Agbenu and Courage Armah receiving the Best Academic awards in the third, second and first years.
Ernestina Amoaku and Godwin Kudadze were adjudged Best Behaved students. All received books, cash and certificates as awards. > BACK to TOP < | | Discipline must match academic excellence-Minister | Ho, May 24, GNA- Academic excellence without discipline is meaningless, Dr. Joseph Annan, Deputy Minister of Education has said. He therefore urged authorities of Senior High Schools in the country to give utmost attention to co-curricular activities which, he said instiled discipline, sense of justice and understanding of principles in students and pupils.
Dr. Annan was addressing the 59th Honours Day of Mawuli School, Ho on Saturday on the theme, "The Place of Co-curricular Activities in the Enhancement of Discipline and Academic Work." He said debate, drama and sports are useful in developing broad minded and disciplined students and urged students to give prime time to these as they do to their books.
"Do not be only mindful of how to study and pass your exams but how to broaden your mind and be a morally fit personality." He said it is proven that students who partake in co-curricular activities are good academically and have the spirit of "yes we can", tolerance and innovation.
Dr. Annan therefore urged schools to provide good environment where teachers serve as good role models in principles of discipline to students if they should become responsible citizens. "Create more co-curricular programmes and encourage students to participate to develop principles of moral virtues," he said. He similarly urged parents to encourage their children to participate in co-curricular activities in schools so that their children could develop into total personalities. Mr. Martin T.K. Amiteye, Assistant Headmaster of Mawuli School, in a speech read for the Headmaster said majority of students exhibit acceptable behaviour though some appear to be living dual lives; one at school, another at home.
He said academic work and discipline in general in the School had been improving in the last few years. Mr Amiteye said in last year for example, the School chalked 100 per cent in the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations with 359 out of 426 candidates qualifying to enter university. He said the School had many other successes to its credit but was faced with infrastructural challenges. Of note is the School's Assembly Hall project abandoned since 1999 when it was started under the Public Investment Project. Mr. Amiteye said the School also needed more accommodation facilities for its staff, administration and library blocks, resource centre for the blind, a 19-seater water closet for girls and fencing of the School against errant students and encroachers. Master Ernest Nutsugah, Chief Officer of the School said discipline in the School had led students to make more effective use of prep time, reduced absenteeism and improved attendance at school functions unlike before.
He said though indiscipline was not completely eradicated, disciplinary cases had reduced in the School to the extent that no student was dismissed in the academic year. Master Nutsugah however, expressed worry about the School's infrastructure and appealed to government, former students and other stakeholders to support the School re-gain its past glory. He commended the efforts of Old Mawuli Students Union (OMSU) North America and the School's Parents Teachers Association for various forms of support and urged them to do more to rebuild the School's library and donate books to it.
Students and staff of the School who distinguished themselves in various fields of work, including academic and co-curricular activities were honoured. 24 May 09 > BACK to TOP < | | * 23 May 2009 | | Tema companies face closure for owing VAT | Tema, May 23, GNA - Twenty-one companies in the Tema metropolis have been short-listed for closure for owing the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service a total of 710,737.03 Ghana cedis. The companies that have not filed their VAT returns since last year ignored several notices issued to them by the Service to regularize their operations.
As a last resort to retrieve the amount, the Enforcement and Debt Management (EDM) team of the Service accompanied by two police personnel on Friday embarked on a distress action in the metropolis. Mr Henry Brandford Sam, leader of the team told the press that the exercise forms part of the Service's efforts to achieve its target for the year, adding that, more defaulting companies would be served with the notice and subsequently close down. Mr Sam explained that the ongoing nationwide exercise was in accordance with section 34 of the 1998 VAT Act 546 which empowers the Service Commissioner to levy assets of defaulters and disposing of them after 14 days if the companies failed to honour their obligations.
He added that, paying part of the money does not exonerate the defaulters indicating that it was unfortunate that instead of filing the returns within the stipulated time, companies preferred to pay at their own convenience, contrary to the Act. Two companies, Trafix Catering Serviceand Greenwich Cold Stores Limited were closed down while Riepco Limited, a custom bounded warehouse issued a cheque to defray the cost and Atlas M&E Ghana Limited, an inland container depot was issued with an ultimatum to complete payment on Tuesday May 26 after paying 5,000 Ghana cedis.
Trafix owes the Service 28,831.12 Ghana cedis, Greenwich Cold Stores 29,100.43 Ghana cedi, while Riepco and Atlas 31,499.82 and 40,730.61 Ghana cedis respectively.
The Director of Trafix, Mr G.B. Ahu who was infuriated by the exercise accused the Service of owing the company as according to him VAT over charges the company.
"I hold this action as improper, VAT has charged us more than they should take," Mr Ahu retorted adding that, "this is using our own resources to destroy indigenous companies." He further said, "VAT Service knows that what they are doing is criminal since they are charging more than necessary, they do owe Trafix not the other way round."
The team leader, responding to the allegation said it was unfounded as the exercise was aimed at collecting what the company received on behalf of the country. > BACK to TOP < | | Mfantseman Community Bank issues ultimatum to loan defaulters | Biriwa (C/R), May 24, GNA - The Board of Directors of the Mfantseman Community Bank has given defaulting beneficiaries of the Social Investment Fund (SIF), contracted through it, up to June 15, 2009 to pay back the loan in full or face prosecution. Making the appeal through the Ghana News Agency at Biriwa in the Central Region, Reverend George Ato Mends-Graves, Chairman of the Board of Directors, warned the loan defaulters to meet the deadline to avoid embarrassment.
Rev Mends-Graves cautioned the beneficiaries not to regard the facility as a free-gift from the previous government. He said the ARB Apex Bank which guaranteed the loan was being forced to repay and that management had also decided to deduct the outstanding amount from Bank's accounts at the Apex Bank. He said if the repayment situation did not improve, the Bank would not be able to render satisfactory accounts to its shareholders at its Annual General Meeting. Mr Peter Mensah, Manager of the Bank, appealed to District Chief Executives and the Member of Parliament to educate the people to be aware that loans were not "party moneys".
> BACK to TOP < | | * 22 May 2009 | | Minister orders police to clear hawkers on road | Accra, May 22, GNA - Mr Joe Gidisu, Minister for Roads and Highways on Friday ordered the police to clear the road between Secaps Hotel and Okponglo Junction of all hawkers.
He gave the order after inspecting the road that has been completed and due to be handed over to Ghana Highways Authority for public use on Saturday, May 23.
Trading activities was robust around the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange and the Accra Shopping Mall where several women were seen roasting plantain at the 'lay-bys' while some bookers used part of the road as taxi rank and bus terminal causing serious vehicular congestion and impeding other road users.
Mr Gidisu disturbed by the situation said "this is a nuisance", and asked Assistance Commissioner of Police (ACP) Julius Daniel Avorgah, Commander of MTTU to ensure the order was implemented with immediate effect. ACP Avorgah pledged the commitment of the police to clear the road of the miscreants to minimise congestion. "The police would not spare any hawkers or bookers at unauthorised locations," he said.
The 4.6 kilometre Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange-Medina road project estimated at GHc28 million is being funded by Government of Ghana and expected to be completed by December 2010.
It has two interchanges at the entrance of University of Ghana and Atomic Junction, three signal intersections at Emmanuel Eye Clinic, Okponglo Junction and IPS Junction. > BACK to TOP < | Indirect Integration for Liberian Refugees Begins in Ghana | Remnants of Liberian refugees at the Liberian Refugee Camp in Buduburam who are reluctant to be repatriated to Liberia and were unfortunate to be resettled to either the USA, Europe or Australia, as a third country of asylum, could soon experience an indirect local integration despite their persistent unwillingness to do so.
Though Liberian Refugees who had inhabited the Buduburam refugee Camp since 1990 due to the 14 years of brutal civil unrest in their country have expressed their reluctance to the condition of local integration, it seems that might be the only durable solution for them. The UNHCR said such is one of the three durable solutions considering the fact that the option of resettling refugees into a third country of asylum is exhausted while an estimated numbers of 15 thousand Refugees are still unwilling to be repatriated for personal insecurity reasons amongst others.
At a brief and an unannounced handover ceremony held by the UNHCR Country Representative, Ms Aida Haile Mariam, some major facilities built and run by the UNHCR for refugee purposes at the Settlement and areas adjacent in the tune of about $1.6 million (USD) were turned over to Government establishments on the 3rd of May, 2009. Those at the ceremony included the Chairman of the Ghana Refugee Board, the Chiefs and Traditional leaders of Gomoa Buduburam Village, prominent dignitaries of the Government of Ghana such as until recent, the Acting Inspector General of Police, Mrs. Elizabeth Mills-Robertson, and numerous media institutions in the Country including Religious Leaders .
Other facilities turned over included the refurbished 21 beds capacity refugee hospital and its related facilities, a brand new fire engine to the National Fire Service branch at the Settlement, a brand new Toyota 4×4 pickup to the Budububuram Police for patrol within the District, an ambulance to a so-called orphanage that supports refugee children and some school buildings in operations as well as newly constructed story building for school for the indigenous children/students adjacent the camp.
The unseated and prompt ceremony also was categorized by a sod cutting for the construction of an estimated $900.000(USD) quarter at the entrance of the settlement to house personnels of the police, fire service, health and education when posted at the district from the Government which at the moment, foundational work has began.
Consequentially, with the massive influx of non-refugees mostly Ghanaian residents at the Settlement, the original and recognized status of the settlement as a refugee base is gradually loosing to a community status because most UNHCR built and operating facilities are now equally accessible to all residents irrespective of one’s status. Notwithstanding, there have been no reports of major or selective misunderstanding between the refugee populace and their new fast growing Ghanaian community at the camp.
Refugees are being encouraged to register with the National Health Insurance Scheme just as every other Ghanaian at the St. Gregory Catholic Clinic at the camp has been registering. The interesting thing is that the clinic has recently been introduced to prominence though it has been in existence in the Country for more than a decade.
Meanwhile, the verification and profiling exercise of the remnant of Liberians at the Settlement which began on the 3rd of May 2009, is ongoing.
However, an insider revealed that the Ethiopian nationale Representative who has a Ghanaian husband, is bidding farewell since her tenure of service is over having spent more the three years at post.
Source:
By Joseph N.N. Swen,Accra/Buduburam |
> BACK to TOP < | | * 21 May 2009 | Yahuda Security Management Consulting under fire | ... Company was incorporated yesterday
A Ghanaian living in the United Kingdom, has questioned the credibility of Yahuda Security Management Consulting which last Tuesday told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that it was ready to assist the national security agencies in the fight against narcotic drugs. "It (Yahuda Security Management Consulting) is not one of the UK's security agencies. This is not true," Mr Timothy Afful, told GNA on Thursday when he called from the UK after reading the story. Mr Afful said he was "deeply concerned" about the report and checked the Companies House of the UK. "I can tell you that prior to your news report the company did not exist. It was incorporated at UK's Companies House only yesterday (Wednesday)." He said he intended going to the registered address of the company on Thursday to question the occupant, adding "the registered address is a residential flat". Mr Afful is also asking the Ghana High Commission to run a check on the company and advice the government immediately. Two officials of Yahuda Securities Management Consulting came to the offices of the GNA on Tuesday and said in an interview that they intended to assist national security agencies in the fight against narcotics. They said they would discuss with national security officials wide-ranging security matters, international trade in drugs including cocaine, illegal arms, armed robbery and links to possible terrorism. Ms Cynthia Mensa, Senior Director of Yahuda Security Consulting, said the offer was initiated during the recent visit of President John Atta Mills to the UK. "Officials of Yahuda were inspired by the humility and commitment of President Mills' team during interaction with the Ghanaian community in the UK and keen to assist the government in whatever way possible to prevent Ghana from descending into a hub of the international trade in hard drugs and related items," Ms Mensa stated. In a related development, Dr Ebenezer Tetteh, Chief Executive Officer of Yahuda Security Management Consulting, in a statement to Ghana News Agency said areas of particular interest were realistic optimisation of airport and coastal security, protection of sensitive strategic installations, stemming the tide of the drugs trade and prevention of terrorism.
He said: "It is unacceptable that Ghana, a beacon of African democracy, should degenerate into a superhighway for international cocaine trade." Dr Tetteh said wherever the trade had flourished, serious crime and proliferation of illegal arms, armed robberies, car hijacking and terrorist activity emerged.
"It would be a tragedy to allow Ghana's respectable international image to be permanently damaged by this extremely worrying development with serious implications for the millions of law-abiding citizens," he said.
> BACK to TOP < | Population and Housing Census expected to count 25 million people | Accra, May 21, GNA - Dr Grace Bediako, Government Statistician, on Thursday projected that about 25 million people would be counted during the Fifth Population and Housing Census expected to be conducted in March 2010.
She said the census, which is expected to cost the country about $48.9 million, would need about 50,000 field workers while over five million houses would be counted. Dr Bediako said this when the Chinese embassy donated 10 computers with accessories valued at about $10,000 dollars to the Ghana Statistical Service to help in the preparation for the census. She said the census data would allow for informed policy information that would aid programme implementation and socio-economic developments.
Dr Bediako said for diverse operations to be carried out in the right sequence and in timely manner, the Statistical Service was making sure the entire process was carefully planned using appropriate organizational and administrative procedures. Mr Yu Wenzhe, Chinese Ambassador in Ghana, said the census was important in developing countries because it would be the basis for correct decision making by government in the interest of its citizens. He said his government would continue to support the country in all sectors of the economy to strengthen the mutual relationship between the two countries. > BACK to TOP < | | GHANBATT takes over from the French in Chad | Accra, May 21, GNA - The Ghanaian military contingent in Chad has formally taken over command and operational responsibility of the UN Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (MINURCAT). The event marked the formal handing over of operational responsibility of Sector 'C' in Farchana from the French component of the European Force (EUFOR) to the Ghanaian contingent, according to an official statement from the Ghana Armed Forces on Thursday. It said at a short but impressive parade to mark the handing over on May 15, the Deputy Force Commander, Brig. Gen. Gerald Aheme, recounted Ghana's exploits in international peacekeeping and said he had no doubt that GHANBATT would uphold the MINURCAT Mission in Central Chad.
He was full of praise for the troops for maintaining a tradition of professionalism and asked them to demonstrate the same level of commitment in order to consolidate the gains made by their predecessors. Brig. Gen. Aheme also reminded the Ghanaian troops that the situation on hand was dicey and the period ahead could be tough. He therefore urged them to work assiduously to further promote peace in Chad.
He commended the Ghana Government for sending troops to maintain peace in Chad and also assured all that "there were no problems but only solutions".
The Deputy Force Commander also had a word of gratitude for the withdrawing European Forces.
Brig. Gen. Aheme lauded the immense contribution of the French (EUFOR) troops in an effort to bring lasting peace in Chad. The final withdrawal of the French troops marks the end of EUFOR Mission in Chad. The French Force which comprised the 21st Foreign Infantry battalion departs the mission area for France on May 25. In another development, the Commanding Officer of MINURCAT GHANBATT ONE, Lt. Col. B.B. Owusu has thanked the French Contingent Commander, Lt. Col. Berard for the support and detailed briefing he offered him. He added that though the handing over period with the French was short, GHANBATT nevertheless learnt a lot with regard to the requirements and challenges of the Mission.
GHANBATT's area of responsibility border Darfur to the east and spans a total area of 4,500 square kilometres with approximately 99,000 refugees and internally displaced persons. > BACK to TOP < | | * 20 May 2009 | | Armed robbers shot dead pregnant woman | Kumasi, May 20, GNA - A six-month old pregnant woman, was on Wednesday, at dawn, shot and killed by a group of armed robbers during a raid on her residence at the Buokrom Estate in Kumasi. The bullet-riddled body of Ataa Akyiamaa had been deposited at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).
Her husband, Frank Oppong, and another person, whose name was not readily available, sustained gunshot wounds on the hands and leg and were receiving treatment at the hospital. The robbers were said to have shot the deceased three times in the throat and shoulders before escaping with an unspecified amount of money. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Samuel Nyamekye Adane Ameyaw, Commander of the Ashanti Regional Police Buffalo Unit, who confirmed the incident to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said no arrest has
been made. He said the police have launched an investigation to track down and bring to justice, the criminals. Meanwhile, residents of Buokrom Estate, who spoke to GNA on condition of anonymity, expressed concern about what they said was the upsurge of armed robberies in the area in recent times. The robbers, they claimed, had put the area under virtual siege, making them to live in fear and insecurity. They appealed to the security agencies to act firmly to crack down on the criminals to restore security in the area adding "We are yet to feel the impact of the 'Operation Calm Life' launched by the Police and Military." > BACK to TOP < | | Vodafone Deal Causes Stir In NPP | The controversy surrounding the GT-Vodafone deal seems to be causing a stir within the NPP with the party members accusing each other of impropriety. Had it not been a phone interview, a personal encounter would have erupted in Peace FM’s studious between some two leading members of the party, Hon. P.C. Appiah-Ofori, MP for Asikuma, Odoben Brakwa and the former deputy minister for communication, Fredrick Opare Ansah who is also MP for Suhum.
Hon. Appiah-Ofori said on PeaceFM that he had hand delivered a letter to President Mills, to review the Vodafone deal because he believed it amounted to a sell off. Speaking on the show, he described the Vodafone deal as fraudulent and said the former NPP administration needs to be questioned. He added that the former administration should even be dragged to court, because it had sold Ghana Telecom (GT) to a wrong company.
According to him, they sold GT to Vodafone BV, Holland, instead of Vodafone PLC UK.
It was in reaction to these statements by the MP, that the former Minister of Communication became furious and said, the Mp knows nothing and needs some education.
According to him, there is no fraud in the Vodafone deal, so for someone like Hon. Appiah-Ofori from their own party to describe them as fraudsters, is deeply regrettable.
| Source: peacefmonline.com |
> BACK to TOP < | Doctors in Ho Municipal Hospital on 24-hour duty | Ho, May 20, GNA - Doctors at the Ho Municipal Hospital are on duty 24 hours since the beginning of their work-to-rule industrial action on Monday, Madam Patience Asigbe, Matron of the Hospital told the Ghana News Agency. She said apart from the hospital's Cuban doctors who were away attending a meeting in Accra and some who are attending a workshop in Accra, the rest have been reporting for their day and night duties. Madam Asigbe said there had not been serious emergency cases at the hospital that warranted that doctors be called in after normal working hours since they decided to "work-to-rule". "For now, no serious case had come after 1700 hours. Those that come were within the management of nurses," she said. The Matron said "it is difficult to ignore people who come to you for medical attention especially emergency cases" and expressed the hope that the issue would be resolved quickly to normalize work in the country's public hospitals. At the Volta Regional Hospital, Mr Alex Amenu, Administrator said there was nothing, so far, to show doctors at the hospital were "working to rule."
He said work at the hospital had been normal with doctors reporting for scheduled job hours as was the case before. Dr Kofi Gafatsi Normanyo, Chairman of the Volta Region branch of the Ghana Medical Association, however maintained that doctors in the region were sticking to the call by the GMA to "work to rule". > BACK to TOP < | Abudu Family demands removal of Northern Regional Minister | Tamale, May 20, GNA - The Abudu Royal Family of Dagbon has called on President John Evans Atta Mills to remove Mr. Stephen Sumani Nayina from office as Northern Regional Minister.
The family said Mr. Nayina was interfering in the Dagbon chieftaincy dispute and not abiding by the roadmap to peace as drawn up by the Committee of Eminent Chiefs.
The Abudu Family who made the call at a news conference in Tamale on Tuesday said Mr. Nayina's biased demonstration of partisanship in the Dagbon chieftaincy divide made him unsuitable to preside over the administration of the Region. Mr. Ziblim Iddi, spokesperson for the Abudu Royal Family said the family was reacting to the recent renovation of parts of the Gbewaa Palace, specifically the royal mausoleum also known as the "Yilikpani" or "Katini duu"
by the Regent, Kampakuya Na Abdulai Yakubu Andani. Mr. Iddi said the Abudu family had objected to the renovation on the grounds that according to Dagbon custom and tradition, it was only the Ya Na who could authorise any works to be done on the "Katini duu" in consultation with the Kuga Na, an elder of the Dagbon Traditional Council. The Abudus noted that in view of the peculiar circumstances of Dagbon where there was no sitting Ya Na or Kuga Na, it was prudent that the Abudu and Andani families abided by the roadmap to peace on matters pertaining to the Gbewaa Palace. Mr. Iddi said the roadmap to peace clearly stated that the old Gbewaa
Palace should remain free of occupation or any activity until a date was set for the performance of the funeral rites of Naa Mahamadu Abudulai. He said the Regional Minister therefore had no power or jurisdiction to approve any request from any party to renovate any portion of the Gbewaa palace adding that such power resided in the Committee of Eminent Chiefs or the National House of Chiefs. Mr. Iddi said the unilateral decision by the Regional Minister to renovate the palace under the protection of state security was in clear violation to the roadmap to peace.
"We have credible information indicating that the renovation of the Katini duu is in line with a grand plan by the Andani Family to perform all funerals of chiefs under the jurisdiction of the Kampakuya Na to pave the way for the substantive chiefs to occupy the relevant skins," he said. The Abudus explained that by Dagbon custom, all persons enskinned as divisional chiefs must enter the Katini duu to perform final rituals before they
were declared chiefs and noted that the Kampakuya Na's interest in renovating the "Katini duu" was informed by that agenda. They said the agenda was a violation of the roadmap to peace, which states:
"The powers of the regent shall be limited because of the peculiar circumstances of Dagbon today. In this context, the regent shall not have powers to appoint any chiefs or alienate any lands or other resources belonging to the Dagbon State". The Abudu family said Mr. Nayina had allowed himself to be used in an illegal way to facilitate further illegality by the Kampakuya Na, adding: "The family wishes to serve notice that it will not allow the Kampakuya Na in collaboration with the Regional Minister to continue to violate the provisions of the roadmap to peace with impunity".
"We shall resist any attempt by the Kampakuya Na to carry out his expressed agenda of enskinning chiefs in the renovated Katini duu. We shall explore all necessary means to prevent further violation of the roadmap to peace," the Abudu Royal Family stressed. > BACK to TOP < | | Bekwai SDA SHS hit by acute water shortage | Kumasi, May 20, GNA - A report from Bekwai Municipal Education Directorate shows that an acute water shortage has hit Bekwai Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Senior High School (SHS) with about 1,600 students depending on one bore-hole. The school also has one toilet each for the male and female boarders numbering about 800 raising serious sanitation concerns. These were contained in the 2009 first quarter report of the Ashanti Regional Education Office.
According to the report, a rainstorm which hit Gyasikrom, a predominantly farming community near Bekwai ripped off the roof of the local Methodist Primary School, displacing more than 200 pupils. The report said Bekwai Municipal SDA Junior High School (JHS) won the first prize of the ECOBANK 2009 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) Excellence Award. Other award winners were Kokofu SDA JHS, Dominase SDA JHS and Poano Roman Catholic JHS. The report said Konongo Odumase SHS placed first in the National Debate Competition held in Accra by beating Achimota SHS. Care International, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), it said, has adopted 20 basic schools and presented 10,000 exercise books to the pupils. > BACK to TOP < | | * 19 May 2009 | | Museums staff undergo training programme | Accra, May 19, GNA - Mr Alex Asum-Ahensah, Minister for Chieftaincy and Culture, on Tuesday called for private partnership and support for the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB) in the preservation of the nation's cultural heritage.
He said most of the country's forts and castles, which were built around the 18th Century, were in deplorable conditions and artefacts that could be displayed to attract visitors needed proper storage facilities as well as the right calibre of staff to deliver the needed services yet the Board lacked the required funding for its programmes. Mr Asum-Ahensah, who was speaking at the opening of a 10-day capacity building workshop for 22 management staff of the GMMB, said the knowledge acquired would enable participants to operate monitoring systems and interpret important environmental changes. The workshop which was supported by the Italian government through Ricerca e Cooperazione, an Italian organisation, is also aimed at ensuring protection, conservation and enhancement of cultural heritage, with a focus on the forts and castles. The Minister said the mandate given the GMMB entailed being responsive to the expectations of their clients and stakeholders within the constraints of the national budget and thanked the Italian government for the support.
He said: "The benefits of the workshop should manifest in the satisfaction of your clients who visit the various sites of the forts and castles because your service delivery will be improved and there should be a high turnover of internally generated funds." Ms Gianna Da Re, Country Representative of Ricerca e Cooperazione, explained that the workshops were implemented in the framework of a three-year capacity building and institutional support project. She said the project had a budget of 1.537 million Euros and mentioned some of its activities as the supply of equipment to GMMB head office and a search, collection and storing of documentation regarding castles and forts towards the implementation of a database for immovable cultural heritage.
Other activities to be implemented include the construction of small infrastructure for the GMMB at Princes Town, tour guiding training and skill training for unemployed youth in Cape Coast and Princes Town as well as the development of publications, a website and promotional materials by the GMMB on cultural heritage in Ghana. Ms Da Re said the promotion and piloting of eco-cultural community-based tourism in Cape Coast and Princes Town and facilitating the development of linkages between the GMMB and other cultural institutions, universities, development partners and the global and local communities for effective and rewarding cultural heritage enhancement would soon be implemented. > BACK to TOP < Ghana-Net NEWS Comment: Everything, Everywere, Everytime.. WITH FOREIGN SUPPORT -ONLY! SHAAAME! POOOR GHANA!!!! | The Missing Head And Arm Of The Bust Of Dr Nkrumah |  (c) ghana-net.com & EventPicture.co.uk | THE Director of the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, Mr Kwaku Manu-Asiamah has disclosed that, the missing head and arm of the vandalised bronze bust of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, is being kept secretly by “somebody” in the country as a personal treasure. |
Mr Asiamah, who was speaking to the Times in an exclusive interview on Thursday, said very confidential information reaching him indicates that, the former president’s vandalised head and arm appeared in public for the first time during Ghana’s 40th Independence Day anniversary celebrations, after he was overthrown in a February 24, 1966 Cout D’etat, by a military cum police insurgents, before it got “Missing” again.
Mr Asiamah, who did not assign any political motive, said the person(s) keeping the vandalised parts of President Nkrumah’s Bronze bust, may be keeping it as a treasure but urged them to return it because if is now a national property.
But an interview conducted by a cross-section of some Ghanaian political Gurus, who pleaded anonymity, said the vandalised parts were being secretly kept by Dr Nkrumah’s opponents at the time of Ghana’s independence, as a punishment for his hush treatment of the political opponents at the time of his rule.
They are of the opinion that, it was his political opponents who vandalised the bust, and were keeping the head and arm to show that, Kwame Nkrumah’s political ideals have been defeated and conquered at “war”.
“Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s political ideals, thought, and deeds can never be wished away by any group of people, for the next 1,000 years,” they said.
Mr Manu-Asiamah underscored the singular importance of the bronze bust of Dr Kwame Nkrumah at the Memorial Park, adding that, it is because of the bust in particular that the park attracts an average daily visit of about 150 people and tourist.
Asked why the bust should attract such patronage, Mr Manu-Asiamah said it was the direct handiwork of Dr Nkrumah, who supervised the sculptor on specific details and features.
Mr Manu-Asiamah said the bust was designed by an Italian sculptor, N. Catav Della in the early 1960s.
He said the original bust of Dr Nkrumah was mounted in front of Parliament house, opposite the old Polo grounds in Accra.
Mr Manu-Asiamah said the bust was attacked by a mob, and vandalized in the wake of military and police coup D’etat, on February 24, 1996.
He said the bust was recovered for the national museum in 1975 before being loaned to the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park, and mounted on 11th June, 2007.
Mr Manu-Asiamah has therefore appealed to Ghanaians to help locate and retrieve the missing head and arm of Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s bronze bust.
> BACK to TOP < | | I am as clean as Jesus Christ - Jumah | Two of many former government officials allegedly penciled for prosecutions have questioned the motive and integrity of Don Arthur, Chairman of the Assets Sub-Committee of the government’s transition team.
Hackman Owusu Agyemang, former Works and Housing Minister, as well as Maxwell Kofi Jumah, former Deputy Minister of Local Government are incensed with reports that they will soon be prosecuted for financial malfeasance while in office.
The May 18, 2009 edition of the Today Newspaper named the two amongst a host of other ex- government officials including Fisheries Minister Gladys Asmah, Chief of Staff, Kwadwo Mpiani, and the head of the Ghana @ 50 Secretariat, Wireku Brobbey as candidates for the dock.
The report according to the newspaper was part of recommendations made by the Don Arthur-led Sub-Committee on Executive Assets of the government transition team.
But the former government officials say such a report is not only mischievous, but smacks of people who do not know what they are about.
Mr. Kofi Jumah who is also MP for Asokwa told Joy News Dr. Don Arthur and his committee members are a “bunch of jokers.”
He has recommended them for prosecutions accusing them of “causing financial loss to the state.”
“If this is the kind the job they were paid to do then they have caused financial loss to the state.
“We shouldn’t waste our time over child’s play,” Hon Jumah said angrily.
He dared the government to begin prosecutions against him, stressing he is as “clean as Jesus Christ.”
In a separate interview with Citi FM, Mr. Owusu Agyemang said he was appalled that he should be included in a list for possible prosecution.
Describing both the alleged prosecutions and the report of the newspaper as “mischievous,” Mr. Owusu Agyemang said he had not appeared before any committee to answer any question of malfeasance and wondered how he could be prosecuted.
He insisted his hands are clean and his track record of achievements is there for all to see.
“I have never put my hands into public purse…I always do the right thing,” he said.
“I do not think Ghana’s law has degenerated into a situation where one will be slated for prosecutions without appearing before any committee.”
Whilst chiding the media for shoddy work, the Former Interior Minister has threatened to drag to the courts any body whose actions seek to malign him and destroy his reputation.
> BACK to TOP < | | * 18 May 2009 | | Stop production of pornographic films- Eastern Regional Minister | Begoro (E/R), May 18, GNA - The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo has called for co-operation from the Regional Co-ordinating Council and the security agencies to help locate and arrest those behind the production of pornographic films in the region. He observed that, despite the increasing number of evangelism on the airwaves, it was a shame that many negative tendencies were on the rise daily in the region and said information reaching him indicates that 23 per cent of all deaths recorded in the region last year was caused by HIV/AIDS.
Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said the region was also said to have recorded the highest number of pregnant teenagers who wrote the Basic School Certificate Examination in the country this year. He said such developments threw a challenge to the church to find out how they could use their hymns to change society for the better. Mr Ofosu-Ampofo was speaking at the thanksgiving service of the Golden Jubilee Annual Delegates Conference of the Akyem Abuakwa Presbyterian Church of Ghana Choirs Union at Begoro on Sunday. He called on parents to rise up to their responsibilities and to the traditional authorities in the region he called on them to help fight against the rising negative tendencies in the society. Mr Ofosu-Ampofo said it was time the whole country suppressed their political differences and supported the government to fight against the many negative tendencies creeping into the society.
He said before the elections last year, Christians prayed for divine intervention to elect the appropriate leader and God in his own wisdom gave the country the appropriate leader.
The Begorohene, Osaberimah Awuah Kotoko, called for discipline in the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area and urged the people to give honour and respect to their traditional authorities. A 15-member executive of the Choir under the leadership of Mr Wilson Patrick Acheampong was inducted into office for the next three years. > BACK to TOP < | | Catholic Bishop entreat Christians to speak vehemently against ethnicity | Beposo (Ash), May 18, GNA - Most Reverend Joseph Osei Bonsu, Catholic Bishop of the Mampong-Konongo diocese, has entreated Christians to speak vehemently against ethnicity, indiscipline and other social vices, which are seriously affecting the development of the country. He was preaching the sermon to climax his three-day pastoral visit to the Nsuta Rectorate of the church at Beposo in the Sekyere Central District.
Bishop Osei Bonsu appealed to Ghanaians to have faith in God, live righteousness and do away with gossiping, drug menace and political polarisation characterised with blame games and discrimination. He cautioned Christians against using "curses on anybody no matter the circumstance" and to learn to forgive one another as Jesus Christ taught his followers.
Nana Boamah Kwabi V, Omanhene of Beposo Traditional Area, commended the Catholic Church for providing school blocks and health facilities throughout the country and appealed for similar facilities to be extended to Beposo.
He regretted that since 1986 when the pipe-borne water at Beposo broke down, no effort were made by past governments to work on it leaving the over 6,000 inhabitants to experience perennial water shortages and appealed to the church to help in the construction of a borehole. Bishop Osei-Bonsu visited Atwea, Banko, Bonkron, Jansa, Nsuta and Beposo during his tour and visited the sick and the aged, where he prayed for them. > BACK to TOP < | | Era of "political dinosaurs" in Africa is over - | Accra, May 18, GNA - Ghana's Vice President John Mahama said on Monday that the era of "political dinosaurs" who considered African countries as their bona fide property and pillaged the resources for the comfort of themselves and a small political elite was probably over. "Leaders, who had stashed away in foreign banks money equivalent to the entire budget of their countries are becoming a rare breed on the Continent," he noted.
Vice President Mahama was delivering a speech at the 11th Ordinary Session of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) in Pretoria, a release from the Office of the Vice President said.
Mr Mahama said; "this pleasant wind of change" had often been attributed to a so-called new crop of transformational leaders with a vision and determination to lead their people out of poverty into a society of prosperity for all.
"I dare say this transformation is the result of the frustration of our people with the abject poverty and squalor they have had to contend with often in the midst of some of the most valuable and extensive natural resources that can be found anywhere in this world." Mr Mahama, who was a member of the PAP until November 2008, would be honoured by his colleagues with a citation in appreciation of his role as Vice President of Ghana. It was while he was with the PAP that he pushed for the resolution of the issue concerning the killing of 44 Ghanaians in the Gambia in 2005.
The Vice President said Africans were tired of the poverty and disease, conflict and banditry and that they had come to the realization that things could only change if they took their destinies into their own hands.
"The rise of strong civil society organizations, vibrant and vocal media institutions in Africa was not bestowed by some benevolent leadership. They reflect the will of the people to hold the leadership of their countries accountable."
Vice President Mahama noted that the world was at the grips of an unprecedented economic crisis that was not the making of Africa. "And yet Africa faces the danger of being the worst affected if this global crisis is prolonged," he warned. Vice President Mahama said while Africa's financial institution had avoided the worst forms of this crisis due to stronger 20th century style regulation, declining remittances and collapsing commodity prices might still erode the modest gains they had made in the last two decades.
He said a large chunk of the people were in danger of slipping back below the poverty line if Africa did not strategize to deal with this crisis.
"Probably the era of unbridled, unregulated white knuckled capitalism is over," he said.
"The question that one asks is why has it not been obvious that this bubble was destined to burst one day? Virtual markets that existed only in the mind and governed by the greed to make even more profits while divorced from the reality of the production process, created a situation, which was taken advantage of by bands of speculators pumping money in and out of economies like giant vacuum cleaners, without an inking that they were bound to come crashing down to the reality of earth one day."
Vice President Mahama said although this crisis posed a danger to Africa it also opened new possibilities to the Continent, as the accompanying food crisis revealed that the abandoned and long suffering African farmers must become a focus of attention. He said the farmers must be assisted to modernize and increase productivity in order to be able to feed the population. Vice President Mahama said the African farmers could rise to the occasion given the right support not only to feed Africa but turn the Continent into a net exporter of food.
"We must also quickly adopt measures to further insulate ourselves from this crisis. Africa must generate its own resources for development by being more cost effective in public financial management, avoiding waste in public expenditure and eliminating corruption, whiles creating conducive legal and financial environment for the indigenous private sector to grow."
The Vice President said the crisis must also reveal to Africans the folly of continuing to passionately cling to boundaries that were bequeathed to her by former colonial masters. He noted that the progress on the Africa unification project had been "frustratingly slow".
"Our people are tired of the debate of gradualist and instantiates of union or authority. All that Africans want is a continent where they can hold up their heads with dignity and pride as Africans." He expressed regret that in West Africa, the youth had responded to the lack of opportunity by risking their lives in fragile little boats on the rough Mediterranean seas to reach the shores of Europe, where they believed they had a chance of living a more dignified life. "Every corpse that is washed ashore, of these young people who drown at sea in such a hazardous journey, must be a scar on the conscience of all of us in leadership in Africa that we must work to make this Continent a land of opportunity for our youth. "We must draw our synergies together to create a better environment for our people. We must work towards a borderless Africa that allows free movement of goods and people as existed before the cruel colonial partition.
"We must also foster South-South cooperation by increasing trade between Africa and other nations of the South that face the same challenges as we do."
Vice President Mahama said the outcome of Ghana's election left behind a simple but significant message to Africa, that free and fair elections underpinned by strong, resilient democratic structures and institutions that allowed for free expression constituted the best instrument for fostering the progress and prosperity of the Continent. He said Ghana was looking forward to the report of the PAP Observer Mission that would be valuable for strengthening the electoral democratic processes not only in Ghana but in Africa.
Vice President Mahama also congratulated the people of South Africa on their recent successful elections and President Jacob Zuma on his assumption of the high office of president.
He expressed the hope that PAP would thoroughly debate the issue of amending its rule of procedure to conform to the legal instruments of the African Union. |
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| | | * 24 May 2009 - Two persons die on Accra-Tema Motorway - Appointments to heads of schools to be reconsidered - Discipline must match academic excellence-Minister | * 23 May 2009 - Tema companies face closure for owing VAT - Mfantseman Community Bank issues ultimatum to loan defaulters - Statesman Newspaper is Broke | * 22 May 2009 - Minister orders police to clear hawkers on road - Indirect Integration for Liberian Refugees Begins in Ghana - Government has no dealings with Yahuda Security - Deputy Minister - Ghana to issue biometric passport next year | * 21 May 2009 - Yahuda Security Management Consulting under fire - Population and Housing Census expected to count 25 million people - GHANBATT takes over from the French in Chad - Albinos killed for 2008 elections - Cuban Medical Brigade holds 10th National Scientific workshop | * 20 May 2009 - Armed robbers shot dead pregnant woman - Vodafone Deal Causes Stir In NPP - Doctors in Ho Municipal Hospital on 24-hour duty - Bekwai SDA SHS hit by acute water shortage - Ghanaians challenged to vote against NDC if.. - Abudu Family demands removal of Northern Regional Minister - NDC MP beaten up by his party chairman | * 19 May 2009 - Museums staff undergo training programme - The Missing Head And Arm Of The Bust Of Dr Nkrumah - I am as clean as Jesus Christ - Jumah - Film festival to be held in Accra launched - Top UK security experts arrive in Ghana - Stop the social segregation - Youth and Sports Minister - Cyber crime is inimical to Ghana's development - Police bust suspected car stealing syndicate | * 18 May 2009 - Stop production of pornographic films- Eastern Regional Minister - Catholic Bishop entreat Christians to speak vehemently against ethnicity - Era of "political dinosaurs" in Africa is over - - Ghanaians fear Nigerian domination of economy - Aburi Girls students win awards - 473,352 basic school children to be de-wormed in V/R - Communities better off with Christian Chiefs - Relax Hotel Manager testifies in police robbery case - Aveyime rice project to turn out 2,500 metric tones of rice this June - Ghana signs two agreements with China - Rawlings briefs President Mills on South African trip |  | | | Your REPORT Your STORIES * Your PHOTOS PUBLISH NOW!
|  | | All about the Ghana Election 2008 | | | | | | * 23 May 2009 | | Statesman Newspaper is Broke | To SACK OVER 35 out of 49 WORKERS soon
Free 50million monthly support no more
Senior staff Salaries in arrears since January
THE NATION'S OLDEST NEWS paper, the Statesman, established in the forties, originally owned by Nana Akuffo-Addo, former NPP Minister for Foreign Affairs and Flagbearer of the party, later sold to his cousin Ken Offori-Atta and Mr. Keli Gadzepko, both of Data Bank, is in serious crisis. Simply put, Statesman is broke.
The deteriorated state of the company was announced to the workers at an emergency meeting held on 4th May 2008 and chaired by Gabby Ockyere Darko, Editor- In chief and head of the Danquah Institute.
According to sources close to the Statesman newspaper, Gabby disclosed that their present bad financial situation is basically due to the inability of the paper to continue to enjoy the over 50million support they were getting every month during the NPP regime to supplement dwindling sales.
The sources said Gabby subsequently met Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta on 19th May to deliberate on the way forward and draw up stimulus plans to save the Statesman newspaper which they believe will play a crucial role in Nana Addo`s 2012 presidential Bid.
The source said, instead for Gabby to sympathize with the workers, he brags that the affected workers will not receive any money from the company they have served for over five years. .You are leaving at the end of the month, he stressed.
The workers however blame Gabby Asare Ockyere-Darko for his lack of foresight and mismanagement that have resulted in the mess. They allege that apart from the over 50 million Cedis monthly support, somebody has used their name to collect money and other things for his or her own benefit.
Some of the workers who spoke to The Daily Democrat appealed to Nana Addo to help save the paper from total collapse so as to keep them in employment. Management's insensitivity to workers plight is evident in the poor working conditions under which the employees work. It emerged that some workers take-home pay is between 70 and 80 Ghana Cedis, inadequate to take them through the month.
About the Statesman
Our mission
The mission of The Statesman, founded in 1949, is to make a courageous, consubstantial, constructive contribution to nation-building, and to the enhancement of the life of every individual citizen of this country by bringing and maintaining democracy, national leadership, individual and collective responsibility into balance through faith in God, belief in the supreme dignity of humankind, and an uncompromising defence and promotion of the rights and freedoms of every individual to live and let live in a multi-democratic and liberal economic environment, where access to the ladder of vertical socio-economic mobility is opened to all.
A brief history
The Statesman was first established in 1949 by Edward Akufo-Addo, a founding member of the first political party of the Gold Coast, the United Gold Coast Convention, a party formed with the main objective to win independence for the country.
Edward Akufo-Addo (1906 - 1979) was a founding member of Ghana, one of the so-called Big Six who led the fight for Ghana's independence from the British colonial order, which was achieved on March 6, 1957. He served in the 1960s as Chief Justice. He served as the President of Ghana from 31 August 1970 until he was deposed in a coup d'etat on 13 January 1972.
The Statesman story is the story of this country's struggle for freedom. It was a victim of the clamp-down on freedom of expression under the First Republic. It was revived after the 1966 coup, but suffered once again when dictatorship returned to sweep away the Second Republic under the military rule of Kutu Acheampong in 1972.
The Statesman did not have another revival opportunity with the albeit short sojourn of the Third Republic in 1979. The publisher Edward Akufo-Addo died the same year of natural causes.
In 1992, however, his first born son revived The Statesman; Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo re-established the paper on 14 May 1992, as the country prepared for the coming of the Fourth Republic return to the multi-party democracy. With Nana Akufo-Addo being the campaign manager of the presidential candidate for the main opposition party, the New Patriotic Party, it was only natural that the paper, dubbed a political paper, became effectively the mouthpiece of the NPP.
The role of The Statesman in Ghana's nascent Fourth Republic became even more obvious and potent as the NPP boycotted the parliamentary election after declaring the presidential ballot "The Stolen Verdict." Thus, for four years, The Statesman served as the 'frontbench microphone' for the opposition without Parliament. The paper was in the frontline in the battle to inject the true values of constitutional rule in Ghana's body politics. The content and sales of the paper, hitting 100,000 copies, reflected this crucial reality.
The paper was managed and edited by Yaw Amfo-Kwakye, an LLB graduate educated in London, with the late Ferdinand Ayim rising quickly to become its Chief Correspondent. By the 1996 general elections, Harunna Atta, a columnist, had become the editor
He (Akufo-Addo) sold The Statesman in August 2004 to his cousin Ken Ofori-Atta and Keli Gadzepko, both of Databank Financial Services. The two men are often cited as a prime example of the heights to which Ghanaians can attain. The Yale- and Harvard-trained bankers have since 1990 turned a $10,000 investment into a multi-million dollar African success story, with Databank as Africa's leading stockbrokers and asset managers.
The paper's Editor-in-Chief is Asare Otchere-Darko, a lawyer and PR consultant. He joined the paper on October 1, 2001, after serving it as a columnist and foreign correspondent for seven years. Frank Agyei-Twum is the Editor, with Annaliza Agyare as General Manager.
The paper has a current staff population of 49.
The philosophy of the journal formed 57 years ago has always fundamentally been the same: to strive for the best for this country and her people through freedom. It is conservative in its respect for the traditional order and conviction that our traditional value systems should be seen and utilised in forming our national identity and facing modern challenges. It shares their deeply Ghanaian faith in the providence of the Almighty.
But, it is also a freethinker and in fact encourages ideas that offer constructive and positive challenges to the status quo, being it psychological or structural.
The paper shares the liberal philosophies of the Danquah-Busia tradition, with faith in God, believing in the supreme dignity of humankind, in common love and sense of purpose of all Ghanaians everywhere, and in the right of every individual to freedom of expression, conscience, association and economic advancement, irrespective of class, creed, colour, race, religion or ethnicity.
It shares the concept of property-owning democracy and is committed to the extensive and indiscriminate realisation of that goal, which would see all Ghanaians having access to the ladder of vertical progress and having a proprietary stake in wealth and assets of this nation.
The Statesman became a daily newspaper on June 12, 2006, symbolically, the day that Ghana made its maiden appearance on the World Cup stage in Germany.. It has plans to establish a monthly magazine and a weekly business paper in collaboration with Databank Research
| | * 22 May 2009 | | Ghana to issue biometric passport next year | Ghana will from April next year issue its citizens with biometric passports, the acting Director, Legal and Consular Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, McArios Akanbeanab Akanbong, has disclosed.
This is to enable the country to meet the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) deadline for member states to provide their nationals with such a document to avoid being denied entry into member countries of ICAO.
A biometric passport is the most modern travelling document which has features like electronic chip into which has been processed, the thumbprint of holders and kept at a biometric Centre soon to be established in Accra.
Mr. Akanbong said without a biometric passport, Ghanaians travelling outside risked being denied entry as their data would not be at the Biometric Centre immigration officers at international airports to cross check their details.
To decentralise and fast track the process of acquisition, biometric centres will be established in Tamale, Kumasi, Ho and Takoradi where people could walk in and have their photographs and thumbprints taken together with other personal details for data purposes and later issued with the passports.
Benefits to be derived from the new passports, according to Mr Akanbong, would include elimination of middlemen in the application and acquisition of passports and the avoidance of situations where individuals manipulate the system and acquire multi-passports.
"No middleman can acquire a biometric passport for anyone because with this system, the applicant has to be available for his or her thumbprint to be taken for data and identification purposes before the passport is issued," he said.
Mr Akanbong said in view of the change the next batch of Diplomatic Passports to be issued to government officials this September will be biometric.
Such passports are issued to government officials on official business abroad and their spouses, heads and staff of Ghana's missions as well as heads of government delegations attending conferences on behalf of the state and others.
Mr Akanbong said biometric passports would make it easier to track criminals and other miscreants because their data at the biometric centre would help identify them.
Source:
| | * 21 May 2009 | | Albinos killed for 2008 elections | A one-time Imam in the Ghana Armed Forces, Sheikh Salawati Imam Rashid, has made a scary disclosure about how some politicians in the country buried a number of albinos and children alive, in their quest for political power.
The spirits of these persons, whom he said did not die natural deaths, will continue to haunt this country in the form of road accidents and other calamities unless a spiritual atonement is sought.
“The spirits of these innocent souls that were killed and buried alive will unquestionably haunt the country because they did not die natural deaths,” he said in a statement issued in Tamale.
Sheikh Salawati Imam Rashid Qutubu Zamaan, who is the Spiritual Leader and Head of the Salawati Mission of Ghana, based in Tamale, was the first trained and commissioned Imam/Officer in the Ghana Armed Forces, which he left as a Captain after about a decade’s service.
Until President John Evans Atta Mills considers having the country exorcised, all his efforts at putting things right will come to naught, he said with a certain robustness and confidence.
Albinos in Accra under the aegis of Society of Albinos-Ghana (SOA-G) recently organized a press conference during which they expressed apprehension about their precarious situation in the country, having become ritualistic materials for money and power seekers.
“During the elections, not only were animals slaughtered and sacrificed; but some human beings were buried alive, including albinos, deep in the forests,” Sheikh Rashid said.
The accidents which swept across the country immediately after the 2008 elections were a sign and warning to Ghanaians, he said, adding that “those accidents were not mere accidents but had spiritual connotations and meanings to them.”
That Imam Rashid has made such a revelation about the extent to which politicians can go, adds credence to the apprehension of the pigment-deficient humans, otherwise called ‘ofli gyato’.
In Tanzania, albinos are endangered as they are sought for spiritual interventions by jujumen in the East African country- a trend which appears to be gradually rearing its head on our shores by Imam Rashid’s revelation.
Ghanaian politicians who sought the spiritual interventions, he said, consulted voodoos, mountain and river gods, as well as marine spirits, both in Ghana and outside it, during which they made pledges to the shrines and deities.
“These devilish acts will bring calamities and hardships to the people of this country,” he warned.
His revelations appear to tie in with what a number of Christian clergies have already made about the bloody esoteric engagements by politicians before the last elections.
These men of God have variously attributed the recent road carnages in the country to the spiritual undertakings by some politicians and warned that until a form of exorcism is undertaken, these would continue.
As a result of the aforementioned bizarre deeds, he predicted, “the country will experience a lot of difficulties. Disasters like bloodshed, fire outbreaks, famine, and conflicts will befall the nation, unless we divinely cleanse the country.”
As for the bloodbath on our roads, he made a chilling revelation that they would continue, asking that “the churches, mosques and other religious sects in the country should come together and ensure that the devil does not rule Ghana.”
He expressed surprise that Ghanaian politicians went to the extent of going beyond the extraordinary and making human sacrifices, a development which, he noted, has attracted the ire of God.
“My predictions have always come to pass as evidenced by the spate of road accidents that hit the country claiming hundreds of lives and destroying property,” he said.
In order that the country may realize its dream of attaining the middle income status, there is the need, he said, for the country to spiritually cleanse itself.
He averred that Ghana is a religious country and so her citizens should avoid following the paths of civilizations of yore which rose to fame but fell from the grace of God, and were therefore visited by spiritual calamities.
Imam Rashid is a household name in Tamale, especially among the youth.
> BACK to TOP < | Cuban Medical Brigade holds 10th National Scientific workshop | Accra, May 21, GNA - Dr Benjamin Kumbuor, Deputy Minister of Health, on Thursday commended Cuban medical officers and their Ghanaian counterparts for their tireless efforts in assisting to render quality health services to the people.
He said their invaluable and selfless contribution had led to major improvement in health care delivery among wider communities, as they accepted postings to very remote areas in the country. Dr Kumbuor, who was addressing a scientific workshop which marked the 10th Anniversary of the Cuban Medical Brigade in Accra, said without their services, Ghana's health system would suffer major setbacks in terms of providing both clinical and other special medical services. He said currently the patient to doctor ratio as well as the number of other health professionals did not match the demands for health care. Therefore intervention by the Cuban government and the crucial roles played by the Cuban medical officers could not be underscored. "You have indeed proven to be good ambassadors of the Republic of Cuba since Ghana signed the joint co-operation with your Government in April 1982 to assist Ghana to improve health care delivery," he said. The workshop, which is an annual event, affords members of the Brigade the opportunity to interact, share ideas, review their performance in the year and analyse research findings on the disease burden in the country as well as the actual situation in terms of the delivery of health care services nationwide.
Copies of the research findings and recommendations are presented to the Ministry of Health (MOH), which often served as guidelines for policy makers to make informed decisions to deal with the actual problem on the ground.
Dr Kumbuor acknowledged the fact that apart from providing clinical services at the various health facilities, the Cuban medical officers also undertook outreach programmes and provided indoor services to many villages especially in the northern part of the country.
He said the initial membership of the Brigade, which was 17 in 1982, rose to 54 in May 1994, 62 in 1999, 138 in 2000 and 200 at the moment and expressed the hope that the number would increase further to meet the increasing health care demands of the people.
Dr Kumbuor also thanked the Cuban Government for the assistance given to Ghana in various fields such as scholarships for Ghanaians to study in various courses in Cuba.
Dr Felipe Delgado Bustillo, Head of the Cuban Medical Brigade in Ghana, said though the Brigade had been in Ghana for the past 26 years, it started its annual scientific workshops just 10 years ago when its membership had increased tremendously.
He said with the current membership of 200, the Brigade was able to hold annual workshops to review its performance. He identified their challenges as language barriers, poor infrastructure and equipment for quality health care in the majority of health facilities, saying this made health care delivery unavailable to many. Dr Bustillo said the Brigade would remain faithful to their cause of duty and ensure that serious actions were taken and measures put in place to reduce the current increasing rate of disease burden among the population.
Dr Lamech Abora Addo, District Director of Health Services, Agona Sekyere South District, said apart from the research and service benefits, Ghana was also taping into the knowledge base of the Cuban medical officers in terms of disease prevention. He said in spite of her underprivileged economic position, Cuba had been able to eradicate a large number of diseases from among the population. "We need to know and learn from them how they have mange to do it," he said. He called on his Ghanaian counterparts and all in the medical profession to be devoted and willingly strive to offer selfless services to all Ghanaians to help develop a healthy population. | | * 20 May 2009 | Ghanaians challenged to vote against NDC if... | Sunyani (B/A), May 20, GNA - Mr. Eric Opoku, Deputy Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, on Wednesday challenged Ghanaians to vote massively against the National Democratic Congress (NDC), in the 2012 General Election if they do not realise any improvement in their living conditions.
He said: "If by the end of our four-year term and the people of Ghana are not happy it means the NDC does not deserve to rule the country again".
Mr. Opoku was speaking at the swearing-in ceremony of the 22 Municipal and District Chief Executives in the region, in Sunyani. He said the major pre-occupation of the government was to make life bearable for all Ghanaians irrespective of tribe, political and ethnic persuasions.
Mr. Opoku advised the Chief Executives to consider their appointments as a serious challenge to the NDC and urged them to work with humility, honesty and impartiality.
Mr. Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, Regional Minister, administered the oaths of office, allegiance and secrecy to usher the Chief Executives into office and urged them to work with the people for the development of their districts and the country as a whole.
Mr. Stephen Kunsu, Member of Parliament for Kintampo North, said the NDC was determined to retain power and advised the Chief Executives to work diligently towards the country's re-construction. Mr. Dominic Owusu-Amoako, DCE for Tano North on behalf of his colleagues thanked President John Evans Atta Mills and the people of the region for the confidence reposed in them and pledged their willingness to work towards national progress.
The Chief Executives were Kwadwo Adjei Dwomoh, Nkoranza North District, Hajia Amina Amadu, Jaman North District, Dominic Owusu-Amoako, Tano North District, Stephen Lord Oppong, Berekum Municipality, Kojo Nyame Datiakwa, Kintampo South Municipality, Alhassan Seidu Harrison, Kintampo North and Sanja Nanja, Atebubu/Amantin districts. Others are Masawud Mohammed, Pru, Dominic Napare, Sene District, Vincent Oppong Asamoah, Dormaa West District, Fleance Danso, Asunafo South District, Mohammed Doku, Asunafo North Municipality, Eric Addae, Asutifi District, I.K. Kyeremeh, Dormaa East Municipality and Bukari Anaba Zakaria, Tano South District.
The remaining are Julius Atta Bediako, Jaman South, Yaw Osei Agyei, Wenchi Municipality, Jones Samuel Tawiah, Tain, Kwasi Oppong Ababio, Sunyani Municipality, Kwadwo Osei-Asibey, Sunyani West District, Alex Kyeremeh, Techiman Municipality and Emmanuel Kwadwo Agyekum, Nkoranza South District. | | NDC MP beaten up by his party chairman | Hon. (Lawyer) Alfred Agbesi, Member of Parliament (MP) for Ashaiman constituency, was over the weekend hospitalized after he was allegedly beaten up by his party chairman, Alhaji Issifu Braimah popularly known as Chief Driver.
Alhaji Braimah was alleged to have pounced on the MP, following his refusal to support party activists who are on rampage seizing public toilets and lorry stations in the constituency.
The alleged assault took place during a National Democratic Congress (NDC) constituency meeting at Ashaiman last Thursday at the party’s office.
DAILY GUIDE was reliably informed that the MP openly disagreed with the manner in which the NDC Youth Task Force in the constituency had virtually taken the law into its hands, and opined that due process be followed at all times. This did not go down well with the chairman, who subsequently engaged Hon. Agbesi in a physical showdown.
According to an eyewitness account, the MP parried away the first of two blows delivered by the chairman, but was unfortunate to have been hit by the third which landed right in his face.
Even though it was not clear whether he bled, it was evident that the MP was given urgent medical attention thereafter at the Tema General Hospital, and later at the Narh-Bita Hospital. The matter was also reported to the police.
Confirming the story, the Ashaiman Divisional Crime Officer who declined to give his name explained that the MP, at about 5:45 pm on Thursday, reported the case of assault to his office, and was given a medical form to go the hospital, adding that investigations had started into the report.
“The party chairman was invited and questioned about the alleged assault and he verbally denied assaulting the MP,” he stated.
The Crime Officer said the MP was yet to get back to his office for an official statement to be taken from him.
When this paper contacted Lawyer Agbesi on phone, he also confirmed that he was indeed violently attacked and that he was on admission at the General Hospital where he was receiving treatment.
At about 6:50pm last Friday when DAILY GUIDE checked at the Narh-Bitah Hospital (Prof. W. Z. Coker Ward) where the MP was moved to, party activists who were present pleaded that the MP was not in a good condition to talk to the paper.
However, on Saturday morning, the MP’s bed was found empty and a nurse hinted the paper that Hon. Agbesi was moved to an undisclosed ward to avoid the never-ending visitors who were trooping the place to express their sympathy.
Other constituency party officials whom this paper tried talking to were tight-lipped over the matter.
The MP reportedly spoke to Joy FM, an Accra-based radio station, from his hospital bed and explained how he was attacked. He said he intervened when the meeting got raucous, and wanted to calm tempers down when the chairman attacked him.
“When I said please allow the people to explain, the next thing was a blow, which I blocked. Within a second came another one,” Lawyer Agbesi was reported to have narrated to the radio station.
He was reported to have remarked that blistering as the blows were; he managed to remain on his feet without visiting the canvas.
When contacted on phone, Alhaji Braimah denied the allegation and expressed shock at the manner in which the MP was handling the issue.
He admitted that indeed, there was an argument between the two of them but vehemently denied ever hitting the MP.
“My brother, how can I do that? I never hit him. The MP is someone I know to have blood pressure problems so when this happened, I think his pressure went up and that was why he sought medical attention,” he remarked.
He told the paper he was on his way to the hospital to visit the MP and asked that if he indeed fought the MP, why would he have taken that decision to visit him at the hospital.
| | * 19 May 2009 | | Film festival to be held in Accra launched | Accra, May 19, GNA - The fourth edition of the Annual Real Life Documentary Festival scheduled for May 21-24 was on Tuesday launched in Accra. The documentary festival which would tell real African stories by African film makers and producers on people of African descent has attracted 13 participants from countries across the globe. At a media presentation, Professor Awam Amkpa, Coordinator for the festival noted that all the documentaries at the festival would be selected for two awards namely; The Walter Mosley Awards and Afro Pop Prize.
The Walter Mosley Awards which would come with a 5,000 dollars prize and sponsorship from the famous American writer, Walter Mosley would honour the best documentary film in Pan Africanism. The Afro Pop Prize would honour the best documentary which tells stories that reflect lives of the underprivileged in society. The winner would be offered a three-year contract worth up to 8,000 dollars with various television stations in the United States. Professor Amkpa who is a Lecturer at New York University said as part of the festival, the organisers had organised photography exercises for some selected senior high schools in Greater Accra Region and some students at National Film and Television Institute (NAFTI). "This I know would boost their sense for documentary or feature film making and how to come out with good or story telling photographic shots," he said.
Professor Amkpa said high quality films at the festival would be screened at Gama Theatre at TV3, Alliance Francaise, Kwame Nkrumah Circle and Goethe Institute. | | Top UK security experts arrive in Ghana | Accra, May 19, GNA - Government's efforts at fighting the narcotic drug menace and illegal armed trafficking received a boost on Tuesday as officials of Yahuda Security Management Consulting, a top United Kingdom security firm arrived in Accra to assist national security agencies. They would discuss with national security officials wide-ranging security matters, international trade in drugs including cocaine, illegal arms, armed robbery and links to possible terrorism. In an interview with Ghana News Agency in Accra, Ms Cynthia Mensa said Senior Directors of Yahuda Security Consulting, said the visit was initiated by the recent visit of President John Evans Atta Mills to the UK.
"Officials of Yahuda were inspired by the humility and commitment of President Mills' team during interaction with the Ghanaian community in UK and keen to assist the government in whatever way possible to prevent Ghana from descending into a hub of the international trade in hard drugs and related items," Ms Mensa stated. In a related development, Dr Ebenezer Tetteh, Chief Executive Officer of Yahuda Security Management Consulting in a statement to Ghana News Agency said areas of particular interest were realistic optimisation of airport and coastal security, protection of sensitive strategic installations, stemming the tide of the drugs trade and prevention of terrorism.
He said: "It is unacceptable that Ghana, a beacon of African democracy, should degenerate into a superhighway for international cocaine trade," stressing that wherever the trade have flourished, serious crime and proliferation of illegal arms, armed robberies, car hijacking and terrorist activity emerged.
"It would be a tragedy to allow Ghana's respectable international image to be permanently damaged by this extremely worrying development with serious implications for the millions of law-abiding citizens". Dr Tetteh noted that although the nation's image had taken some battering in the past few years as a result of drug trafficking and armed robberies, it was not too late to reserve the trend and re-establish Ghana as a zone that was intolerant of drug trafficking and associated crime.
As part of the visit, the team would hold high level discussion with officials of the security agencies, explore credible ways for collaboration, and organise a two-day security workshop in Accra.
| | Stop the social segregation - Youth and Sports Minister | Accra, May 19, GNA - Alhaji Mohammed Mubarak Muntaka, Minster of Youth and Sports, has called on religious leaders to put a stop to social segregation during socio-religious gatherings. "These days it is common to have churches and religious organizations allocating seats to people according their social status. "Much emphasis is now laid on wealth during religious gatherings instead of equality and these must stop". The Minister stated. Alhaji Muntaka, who was speaking at the Meet-The-Press series in Accra, said the situation has rather contributed to moral decadence, adding that the youth of today placed much premium on wealth instead of morality.
He said it was time for religious leaders to help the Government to fight the high rate of immorality in the society. According to the Minister, the youth has resorted to crude ways of making money such as internet fraud known as 'Sakawa' because society has placed much premium on wealth. Alhaji Muntaka said the elderly must also contribute towards the fight against cyber fraud and other criminal activities in the country by leading exemplary lives.
On Sports, he indicated that the Ministry would soon commence a talent identification exercise for all the sporting disciplines. This, he said would help to identify people with sporting talents at tender ages for their proper grooming towards stardom. | | Cyber crime is inimical to Ghana's development | Kumasi, May 19, GNA - Dr. Benjamin Kwesi Prah, Rector of Kumasi Polytechnic, has cautioned Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) students not to use their expertise to engage in cyber crimes. He said cyber crime was a social canker and could scare away investments in an emerging economy like Ghana if drastic measures were not instituted to check it.
Dr. Prah was speaking at the fifth graduation ceremony of the Kumasi branch of NIIT, a computer training institute, at the week-end. More than 100 graduates were awarded certificates in Software Engineering, Network Engineering and Business. Dr Prah urged the graduating students to collaborate with other specialists in the application of ICT to solve problems of industry, business, banking and finance. He commended NIIT for being at the fore-front of computer education in Ghana and urged government to partner the institute in developing programmes that are relevant to the nation's development process. | | * 18 May 2009 | Ghanaians fear Nigerian domination of economy | Ghanaian Minister of Trade and Industry, Mrs. Hannah Tetteh, on Sunday threw an insight into why the alleged xenophobic feelings in her country had remained despite efforts at resolving it.
Ghanaian business men were accused of asking foreigners, including Nigerians to leave, for “dominating” their economy.
Tetteh, who spoke with journalists at a press conference at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, on Sunday, said Ghanaian traders were not happy that while Nigerian goods are having free access to the Ghanaian Market, Nigeria had refused to give such access to Ghanaian goods which come under Nigeria’s Import Prohibition List.
The minister said that Ghanaian traders believed that such ought not to be the Case under the economic integration policy on which the Economic Community of West Africa States was based.
According to her, she said following complaints by Ghanaian Trade Union Association, the ministry found out that some foreigners including Nigerians doing business at a certain area in Accra, were not in compliance with the $350,000 minimum capital required by non-Ghanaians to operate a business.
This, she said her ministry looked into and gave Nigerian businessmen a concession to come together and raise the capital, a development which Ghanaian traders were not still happy about, believing that Nigerians traders do not deserve such pointing to her Import prohibition policy.
Tetteh refuted an allegation that its government was further raising the stake for doing business from $350,000 to $1m, saying such was only a proposal for legislation raised by the Ghana Investment Promotion council, which was yet to get to Cabinet.
The Minister further said that all foreign banks operating in Ghana had been asked to recapitalise on or before December 31, 2009 in preparation for an “oil economy” which her country would start operating from next year, contrary to allegation that such was being targeted at Nigerian banks.
She said that Ghanaian banks had also being asked to do same before December 31, 2010 . On why there was difference in the compliance date, Tetteh, said, “such was only meant to be home advantage purpose.”
However, the Minister who was an official visit to Nigeria for the purpose said she had met with the Nigeria ’s Minister of Trade and Commerce, Mr. Humphrey Aba, and decision had been reached for the creation of a technical cooperation committee which would resolve the problem
Source:
By Oyetunji Abioye for PUNCH |
| | Aburi Girls students win awards | Aburi, May 18, GNA - Some 171 students of the Aburi Girls Presbyterian Senior High School have been presented with the Head of State Award (HOSA) for participating in community service. The students, who each received a silver medal being the category for senior high schools, undertook a three-day voluntary community service expedition in remote villages in the Akuapem South District. The award was introduced in the U.K in 1956 as the Duke of Edinburgh's award for young people between the ages of 14 and 25 to become involved in voluntary and self development activities for the betterment of others.
Mr Amos Sarfo-Ababio, the head of HOSA, said the non-competitive programme helped the young ones to build qualities such as selflessness, responsibility, trust and dedication to the cause of fellow human beings at their leisure time. Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, Eastern Regional Minister who did the presentation, said he was happy that at a time when many activities inimical to national development were taking place some youth remained dedicated to hard work. He said in the wake of HIV/AIDS menace, "Sakawa" and other social evils that had eaten into the fabric of the youth it was encouraging and satisfying to note that young people were working to improve the lots of others.
The Deputy Minister for Youth and Sports, Nii Nortey Dua, called on the rest of the students to emulate the award winners and urged the award winners to aim in their later years at getting the gold medal. A recipient of the award, Ms Ofeibea Adarkwah who gave her perspective of the three-day community service in the rural areas, said they observed that many children were not able to go to school and suffered from malnutrition. She said the exercise had made them to come to the realisation that those who are blessed in society must help the underprivileged. | | 473,352 basic school children to be de-wormed in V/R | Ho, May 18, GNA - A total of 473,352 children in public basic schools in the Volta Region are to be de-wormed by the end of May this year.
They are 106,047 in the kindergartens, 274,395 in primary schools and 92,910 in Junior High Schools.
Madam Janet Kwasi, Volta Regional School Health Coordinator, who disclosed these to the media in Ho on Monday, the children would each be given a tablet of Mebendazole 500 mg. She said the exercise, the second in three years after the first one in February 2007, was to ensure good health and increase school attendance among pupils in the region.
Madam Kwasi observed that many pupils absented themselves from school because of ill-health mostly caused by worm infestation. She said children as the nation's future leaders needed to be healthy, regular at school and be of sound mind. Madam Kwasi said measures have been instituted to ensure the success of the exercise and called on parents and other stakeholders to support it. She said teachers have been trained to assist officials of the Health Service to administer the drugs. > BACK to TOP < | | Communities better off with Christian Chiefs | Ho, May 18, GNA - Christians have been asked to tolerate fellow Christians who became Chiefs and Queen-mothers. "It is better to have Christians rather than non-believers ruling over us, but we shall not compromise with fetish traditional practices," said The Reverend Oscar Pida, Ho Bankoe Elorm E.P. Church Parish Pastor. He gave the admonition at a session meeting, which discussed the role of the Church in the burial of Chiefs, on Sunday.
He said the process towards change in the burial and other ceremonies of Christians who became chiefs would be gradual, but such changes could be accomplished faster when Christians "are chiefs". Presbyter Henry Akoto Bampoe observed that the growth and development of Christianity in Ghana today was as a result of the vital roles some Chiefs played in the early Christian missionary work. He said even today, Christians who have become Chiefs continued to play important roles in the lives of the Church in general. Mamaga Toto II of Etordome, a member of the Good News Choir of the Elorm E.P. Church urged Reverend Pida to share his wisdom and insight with his colleagues at their various forums.
She observed that some members of the Clergy have shown so much aversion to anything having to do with traditional rule to the extent that they would have nothing to do with Christians who have been made Chiefs and Queen Mothers.
"Sometimes some of our own family member, brothers and sisters who are Christians would have nothing to do with us," she said. | Source: GNA | Your COMMENTS:
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