Fishmongers' demonstration against the Navy
Tema Manhean, Aug 10, GNA -- Elders of the Tema Traditional Council (TTC) on Friday averted a demonstration by fishmongers at the Tema fishing harbour against personnel of the Eastern Naval Command for allegedly stopping them from drying their fish behind the fence wall of the command premises.
Wearing red bands around their heads and wrists amidst singing, drumming and dancing, the women who initially were heading towards the Naval Command were prevented and directed to the palace. The Navy had erected a sign board with the inscription, "Military property keep off", meters away from the fence apparently to prevent encroachment on their land.
Naa Wolaye Korkor, queen mother of the fishmongers said they saw the sign board last Tuesday but they did not know it was directed at them but on Friday while drying their fish on the ground some Naval personnel came to sack them from the place saying the land belongs to the Military.
She indicated that this did not go down well with them and therefore a spontaneous demonstration started, explaining that they had been transacting their normal business over 50 years and wondered why the action. Nii Adjeteh Mattor, III, Chief Fisherman of Tema corroborated the queen mothers' assertion and said the land was given to them by their ancestors during their re-settlement at Tema Manhean over 55 years ago. He said the land in dispute falls within the acquisition area of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority which recognizes their operation there and expressed surprise at the action of the Navy. Nii Mattor said fishing is the main source of income of the indigenes of the Manhean community so any attempt to stop them would deprive them of their livelihood.
An elder of the traditional council, Nii Shippi Armah advised the fishmongers to exercise restraint while they discussed the issue amicably with Navy personnel.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Commander A Tarm Sackey, Commanding Officer of the Command stated that the space behind the fence wall belongs to the Navy which was allocated to the Military in the First Republic, saying documents on it were with the Tema Development Corporation. According to him, realizing that structures and business activities were gradually springing up on the land they earlier expressed their displeasure to the elders of the traditional council who agreed to relocate the fishmongers.
To prevent further encroachment on the land the warning signboard was mounted at the place "which was directed at those who had erected the unauthorized structures and not the fishmongers". He said, eventually the fishmongers would to be relocated.
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Tema Manhean celebrates Homowo
Tema Manhean, Aug 10, GNA -- The people of Tema Manhean on Saturday celebrated their annual Homowo festival with a call on Ghanaians to get committed to the development of their communities.
Nii Adjei Kraku II, Tema Mantse, addressing the people in his palace after the sprinkling of Kpokpoi throughout the community called on the public to sacrifice their lives towards the achievement of peace and unity in the country.
Clad in red cloth and head gear, the Mantse, flanked by his elders and subjects sprinkled the Kpokpoi, the traditional food for the celebration throughout the town starting from the palace, through the shrines and clan houses amidst drumming, singing, dancing and musketries. Nii Kraku said it was unfortunate that Ghanaians have neglected their values of communal labour and commitment to their communities adding that, it was evident that, "nowadays people only participate in communal activities for the monetary gains".
He also urged parents to invest in their children's education, noting that due to lack of proper education, fishermen in Tema Manhean were still using the old fishing practices.
On the December elections, the Tema Mantse pleaded with politicians to desist from castigating their opponents asking them to use their platforms to address issues affecting the populace in order to avoid the fuelling of post election conflicts.
Nii Addo Akwei, Sempe Suotum Mantse and other traditional leaders from Prampram, Ashaiman and Winneba all reiterated the need for Ghanaians to unite to sustain the peace in the country. Eight communities in the Ashaiman Municipality donated eight cartons of assorted drinks and cash of GH¢ 1,000 during the celebration.
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NDC expresses concern about Addo-Kufuor's call
Accra, Aug 10, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) has expressed concern about a call by Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Minister of the Interior, for the extension of the limited registration exercise.
"A mere extension of the exercise will not guarantee the registration of our citizens who are eligible to register. The Electoral Commission should be able to clear the backlog within the two days left for the exercise if it sends more materials to the registration centres," the party said in a statement its National Organiser, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, signed.
The statement told the Interior Minister to avoid interfering in anyway the work of the EC and that he should leave all issues pertaining to the registration exercise to the EC to decide in consultation with the political parties under the IPAC arrangement.
"The Interior Ministry should focus its constitutional duty of ensuring peace and security in the country. It should ensure personnel of the Ghana Police Service stay neutral and operate within the confines of the law."
The statement said the NDC is not happy with the conduct of some police personnel, alleging that personnel have resorted to arresting NDC officials and agents when they challenge fraudulent activities at the registration centres.
It said this form of intimidation is unacceptable and contributes to undermining democracy.
"The Ghana Police Service should help consolidate our democracy by avoiding taking sides and burying the truth," the statement said.
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Plan Ghana to spend GH¢270,378 IN Mankessim Programme Area
Mankessim (C/R), Aug 10, GNA - Some communities being sponsored by Plan Ghana are to benefit from projects and services amounting to GH¢270,378 in Mankessim Programme area in 2008/2009 financial year. Mr Jacob Turkson, outgoing Area Manager of Plan Ghana, said this during a review of the operations of the organisation for 2007/2008. Plan Ghana, a humanitarian and Child-Centred community development organisation, operates in 54 communities in the Mfantseman Municipality and the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese and Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam Districts forming the Mankessim Programme Area.
Mr Turkson, who has been appointed to head the newly created Southern Sector of the organisation which comprises Mankessim, Bawjiase and Asesewa programmes, said GH¢147,299 of the budget would go into the delivery of quality education and GH¢64,840 for health. About GH¢47,432 would be spent on activities to promote the rights of the child and GH¢20,122 for sponsorships. An amount of GH¢23,000 has been earmarked for Water and Sanitation while GH¢1,000 would be spent on micro-credit to enhance livelihood and GH¢68,784 on administrative expenses.
Mr Turkson said the organisation was worried about the poor dividend being yielded by the interventions it had put into education. These include support for the Ghana Education Service in Improvement in School Supervision, organising refresher courses, provision of prizes for the Best Teacher Awards Scholarship Scheme for students and provision of education infrastructure.
He mentioned delays in project implementation, ensuring full participation of children in all phases of projects in their communities, building community ownership of facilities provided by the Plan Ghana, motivation of the large number of volunteers working with the organisation and management culture to ensure sustainability as some of the challenges facing it. "Plan Ghana is after quality but not only quality", Mr Turkson said.
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Ghost names syndicate busted
Three persons have been arrested by the La Police in Accra in connection with ghost names scam, succeeding in robbing the government several millions of cedis.
The three, Gordon Wonder, 40; Christian Dzamade, 25 and Kofi Nudorku Tordzagbo, 35 were operating different accounts with different names by which they were paid salaries from government coffers through the Accountant General's Department.
The three, who have since been charged before an Accra Circuit Court, succeeded in receiving an amount of GH¢75,581.60 as salaries out of which they have so far cashed GH¢27,210.00.
Pay slips retrieved from the AG's department indicated salaries ranging from GH¢3000 and GH¢6000.
The court, presided over by Justice Jennifer Myres, remanded them into police custody to reappear on August 12, 2008.
Briefing the media, the La District Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Patrick Gyebi, said the first accused, Gordon and the second accused, Christian, on June 24, went to the Trade Fair Branch of Barclays Bank with a photo copy of their voter ID cards and a hand written letter purported to have been issued from the bank's headquarters, introducing the two as new employees of the Ghana Highway Authority.
The Manager, who became suspicious of the characters, asked them to provide the original copies of the IDs but the two did not return until June 30.
DSP Gyebi said the voter IDs, which were bearing the names Fiansah Gordon and Anderson Vanderpuye, were suspected to be fake.
The Manger therefore reported them to the police who arrested and detained them at the La police station.
When a search was conducted on them, five voter IDs including one original one belonging to Christian were retrieved.
The cards were bearing the names Everatus Ocansey, James Tampuri, Gordon Wonder and Christian Dzamade.
Three of the ID cards had pictures of Christian embossed on them whilst the other two had that of Gordon.
Also found on them were two blank cheques, one signed, bearing the names of Addison Aikins and Christian Dzamade. The two also had in their possession countless SSNIT forms filled with different names.
Three days after their arrest, Kofi Nudorku Tordzagbo, visited the station pressing for their bail. However upon interrogation, the police found out that he was not a student as he earlier said but an accountant with the Ghana Highway Authority.
The two, who had earlier mentioned Kofi as an accomplice, were called to identify him and was thrown into cells to join the two who happened to be his relatives.
Investigations at the Accountant General's Department indicated that Kofi, who said he was employed barely a year ago, has since March 2007, used his position as an accountant at the Highway Authority, to prepare new entrant forms and added the names of his relatives to the inputs, with forged signatures for preparing and authorizing officers which he forwarded directly to the AG without passing through the Sector Ministry (Ministry of Roads and Transport).
A check at the various banks, which were used, indicated that the accused persons operated 16 different accounts. Seven belong to first Accused, Gordon; Seven for the second Accused, Christian; one for the third accused, Kofi and the other was for Gershon Agbodzi, who is currently at large.
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Indigenous Dishes can boost Tourism-Quashigah
LINK: FOOD & DRINKS in GHANA
Accra, Aug. 9, GNA-Major Courage Quashigah (Rtd), Minister of Health has observed that if indigenous Ghanaian dishes were prepared and presented well and safely, they could have an enviable and important role to play in the tourism industry.
To this end, he said, local dishes should be given the needed support from the public and other institutions concerned.
Maj. Quashigah, who made the observation in an address read for him at the launch of a Support Fund by members of the Ghana Traditional Caterers' Association (GTCA) in Accra on Friday, said when safely prepared and given the push, indigenous dishes could then boost the tourism industry by earning more foreign exchange for the nation.
The Fund, whose launch had "Contribution To National Development, Tourism and Welfare Of Ghana Traditional Caterers", is to assist the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in solving the ever-mounting garbage or waste problems confronting them. The Minister commended members of GTCA for their hard work, and pledged his ministry's support for its activities.
Maj. Quashigah recalled that the implementation of the Regenerative Health and Nutrition Programme (RHNP) by the Ministry of Health in 2007, "places more emphasis on improvement in lifestyles, health promotion, disease prevention and restoration of life."
The programme, he said, "is focused on healthy eating, improving food safety, regular exercises, drinking potable water, resting, improving environmental sanitation, improving personal hygiene and ensuring lifestyles that promote health."
He charged members of GTCA to contribute their quota to ensure the success of the RHNP, by "cooking with wholesome and quality raw materials, employing measures that will ensure the safety of the food during its preparation, and ensuring good environmental sanitation." Maj. Quashigah advised them not only to stay united, focused and innovative, but also embrace the RHNP to help improve the health status of Ghanaians.
Mrs. Oboshie Sai-Cofie, Minister of Tourism and Diasporan Relations urged members of the Association to strive to uplift the image of Tourism through improved services, better customer satisfaction, renewed awareness of hygiene and improved environmental protection. Mrs Sai-Cofie whose speech was also read for her, appealed to Assemblies to support GTCA in its vision to grow.
Nana Apraku Tuffour, National Financial Secretary of the Association pledged members' desire to collaborate with the Assemblies to educate food vendors on basic hygiene practices, and environmental cleanliness, as a means of boosting tourism in the country.
Nana Tuffour appealed to Ministries of Health and Local Government, the Food and Drugs Board, the Ghana Tourist Board and the Environmental Protection Agency to come out with better food hygiene enforcement and compliance mechanisms that would serve as a guide for members of the Association in their dealings with the public.
Mr. Emmanuel A Ansong, National Public Relations Officer of the Association, thanked sponsors of the Support Fund for their generous contributions and urged members to pay their contributions of One Ghana Cedis each towards the fund, in order to make it achieve its set goals. Nii Adjei Kraku, Tema Mantse, and Chairman for the occasion, asked managers of the Fund to ensure transparency and accountability at all times, to enable it to grow.
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Accra Metropolitan Council of Labour calls for halt of GT sale
Accra, Aug. 8, GNA - The Accra Metropolitan Council of Labour on Friday added its voice to calls for a halt of the sale of Ghana Telecom (GT) to Vodafone.
A resolution passed on Friday said given the doubts and controversies surrounding the agreement, government should freeze the sale immediately and subject it to broader public discussion. "We call on Members of Parliament as the representatives of the people not to allow themselves to be stampeded into rubber stamping the proposed sale of GT under the terms of the agreement.," it said. The resolution was signed by Mr. Elvis Van-Lare, Chairman and Mr Emmanuel Dolly, Secretary.
It said since the national sovereignty was at stake, any agreement on the intended sale should uphold and safeguard the sovereignty of the state, adding that, the proposed deal would compel Ghanaians to unfairly sacrifice huge profits for a few. It said it considered the situation where an indemnity clause was
used to condone and cover up corruption as totally objectionable and must be rejected.
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Teshie to get chief after 23 years
Accra, Aug 8, GNA - Prof Emmanuel Martey, Chairman of the Ga Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, has said the long-standing chieftaincy dispute that had robbed Teshie of a chief for the past 23 years had contributed to the area's slow pace of development.
He told the people that they would be doing a great disservice to their community if they allowed their ranks to be divided by a few selfish individuals.
Prof Martey said this when he inaugurated a 12-member Dzase Committee, whose mandate is to nominate a suitable candidate for installation as Teshie Mantse. The committee, which has Nii Jerry Armah as chairman, will nominate a candidate from one of the three royal families, namely, Okpong, Ashitey and Ashikwei quarters and present him to the Dzasetse, who will in turn hand him over to the elders and people for instalment.
There has been litigation amongst the three royal families of Teshie as to which one has the right to nominate a candidate for instalment as a chief.
Last year the people of Teshie engaged the services of a committee from the Ghana Association of Certified Mediation and Arbitration (GACMA) to intervene and mediate in their protracted chieftaincy dispute and help find a lasting solution to it.
Prof Martey, a former lecturer at the Trinity College in Legon who inaugurated the committee, appealed to the people of Teshie to co-operate with the committee to help bring peace, harmony and development to the town.
He urged members of the royal families not to do anything that would destroy the peace the town was enjoying.
Mr Austin Akuffo Gamey, member of the Mediation and Reconciliation Committee, advised the people to ensure peaceful co-existence, in order to work for the forward march of the town.
Prof Kofi Quashigah, a member of the Mediation Committee, and the Acting Dean of the Law Faculty at the University of Ghana, said it was gratifying to note that the Mediation, Reconciliation and Peace Process in Teshie, had been highly successful.
He lauded the elders and the entire citizenry of Teshie for their maximum co-operation towards the amicable resolution of the protracted chieftaincy impasse in the town In June this Mediation success culminated in the burial and final funeral rites for Nii Akpor Adjei 11, Teshie Shikitele and Acting Teshie Mantse, who passed away on October 10, 2006. According to custom, the late chief could not have been buried if the chieftaincy dispute had not been amicably resolved by the Mediation Committee from GACMA.
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Kofi Annan concerned about the global food, fuel crisis
Accra, Aug. 8, GNA - Former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan has expressed concern about the current global food crisis and the rising costs of fertilizer and fuel in Ghana.
He said the increasing prices, exacerbated by floods and droughts, posed an additional challenge for farmers in Ghana and other countries in the sub-region.
"The high costs of food have made everyone aware of the fact that agriculture has been ignored by governments and donors for far too long. It is good to see that this trend is reversing, but these new investments must yield results. We are encouraging everyone to work in partnership and to be as creative as possible in finding solutions," he said.
Mr. Annan's expressed his concern in a release issued by Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) after his three-day meeting and field visits with farmers, crop scientists and other key partners in Ghana.
Mr. Annan, who is the current Chair of the Board of AGRA, experienced first-hand information and some of the challenges facing many farmers as well as progress made towards boosting production for West Africa's small-holder farmers.
He noted that Ghana, with a population of 21 million people, was among the first countries in sub-Saharan Africa to reach and even surpassed the 1996 World Food Summit goal to reduce by half the number of undernourished people by 2015.
With offices in Nairobi and Accra, AGRA is a partnership-based organization that strives to help millions of small-scale farmers across Africa to rapidly and sustainably increase their productivity and lift them out of poverty.
West Africa is highly dependent on food imports. "We eat what we don't produce and we produce what we don't eat," said Mr Annan. Mr Annan visited Nsawam Afumkrom Vegetable Growers Association, growers of onions, pepper, okra and garden eggs, maize and cassava. He also visited and interacted with a group of PhD candidates of the West African Centre for Crop Improvement (WACCI) of University of Ghana who are part AGRA-funded programme that is aimed to train 40 crop scientists at the University over the next five years. Students at the University are working on improving and adapting indigenous crops like cowpea, rice, millet and sorghum as well as other key food staples like cassava and maize.
"We're building the crucible for agricultural development in West Africa," he said.
Mr Annan stressed the need to provide financial support and innovative insurance measures for African farmers, most of whom were women.
Joe DeVries, Director of AGRA's Programme for Africa's Seed Systems, said: "Women are the backbone of agriculture in Africa. They assume the greatest risk in all human endeavours.
"In the 60's and 70's, Africa was an exporter of food. We can get back to that time. There are a lot of challenges but it can be done." He said AGRA hoped that scientists trained at WACCI and its sister programme in South Africa would be able to develop and release more than 1,000 improved crop varieties of African food staples over the next 10 years.
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VRA issues "flood alert"
as Burkinabe set to spill water
Accra, Aug. 8, GNA - The Volta River Authority (VRA) said on Friday that Burkina Faso company that manages its dam, SONNABEL, has advised that considering the rate of elevation in the Bagre Dam in that country, it may open the dam by August 21 if the current rate of rise in elevation continues.
A statement signed by Ms Abla Fiadjoe, Acting Director, Corporate Service of VRA, said the possible spilling of water from the Bagre Dam, may cause the White Volta River to swell and likely occupy its normal flood plains.
It advised the residents and communities along the Banks of the White Volta and its tributaries in the Upper East, Upper West and Northern regions to take precautionary measures to avoid being adversely affected.
The statement also urged all government, public and opinion leaders to assist in alerting residents along the banks of the White Volta of the impending swell.
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Malaria, most reported disease at Juaso Hospital
Juaso (Ash), Aug 8, GNA- Malaria has for the fourth consecutive year remained the most reported disease at the Out Patients Department (OPD) of the Juaso District Hospital in the Asante Akim-South District. Out of 32,394 OPD attendances between January and June this year, 11,296 were Malaria related cases, showing an increase of 2,135 of the previous year's 9,162 within the same period.
Miss. Christiana Aidoo, the District Director of Health Services, disclosed this at the directorate's half-year performance review meeting at Juaso on Wednesday.
The meeting that assessed the performance of the directorate and strategize the way forward, was attended by traditional rulers, Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA's), health workers and selected departmental heads.
According to the District Director, 3,545 of the malaria cases reported were children under five years old, indicating that they were the most vulnerable to the disease and stressed on the need for women, especially mothers to patronize treated mosquito bed nets to help check the spread of malaria.
Miss. Aidoo also mentioned malaria, cough, hypertension, skin diseases, joint conditions, diabetes, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and hernia as the top ten causes of OPD attendance.
On HIV/AIDS, she said out of 1,401 persons screened, 34 tested positive to the disease, representing 2.4 per cent as against 361 screened in 2007 with 23 testing positive, representing 6.4 per cent. Miss Aidoo lamented that the directorate lacked adequate staff and residential accommodation, affecting health care delivery. Mr. Bernard Fosu, District Disease Control Officer, expressed concern about the increasing rate of malaria in the area and urged the people to keep their environment clean. He said most of the diseases reported at the various health facilities could have been prevented if people had observed environmental hygiene.
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Support Queenmothers to survive - Nana Amfoah
Gomoa Tarkwa (C/R), Aug 8, GNA - The new Queenmother of Gomoa Tarkwa, Nana Amfoah II, has appealed to chiefs, heads of clans and communities to support queen mothers to lead dignified lives. She said queen mothers, who are often compelled to leave their jobs, are left to fend for themselves without any support whatsoever after their grandiose outdooring. Nana Amfoah, a trader, made the appeal during her outdooring at Gomoa Tarkwa on Tuesday.
"Lands should be made available to queen mothers and the communities should assist them to farm," she said and appealed to chiefs to cede part of proceeds from arbitration and other stool property to their queens.
The outdooring formed part of activities to mark their annual Ahobakese Festival.
Ahoba Festival is celebrated to commemorate the sacrifice of one of their citizens called Ahor who laid down his life so that his people could be saved from a plague which attacked and killed many of them after their migration from Techiman to their present settlements. Another trader, Adjoa Alima, was outdoored as Queen for the Obaatan, a sub-chief, under the name Adjoa Otwuwaa II.
Nana Egyir Akomanyi V, chief of the community, announced that plans were far advanced to establish a Teacher Training College in the town with the help of the Catholic Church in Ghana. He appealed to the government and donor agencies to help them to make the project, for which a large tract of land had been released, a reality.
Mr Stephen Bawah, National President of Gomoa Tarkwa Youth Association, said 10 vibrant branches of the association had been formed to speed up the town's development.
Mr Bawah said apart from the Teacher Training College, the youth had also initiated expansion work on the clinic in the town. He commended the associations for their contributions to the town, saying Accra branch had donated 10 mattresses to the clinic, Kasoa branch 1,000 exercise books for the schools whilst Kumasi branch arranged for medical doctors to conduct free medical examinations for the citizens.
Mt Joe Donkoh, Gomoa West NPP Chairman, called on the youth who had attained the age of 18 years and above to register. He cautioned minors not to attempt to register because it is an offence to do so. Mr Eric Botwey, Assembly Member for the town, urged parents to invest in their children's education. Parents should not use the introduction of the Capitation Grant as a licence to shirk their responsibilities to their children's education. An amount of GH¢4,000 was realised in fundraising to support development projects.
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EU, UNESCO support Old Accra Project
Accra, Aug. 7, GNA - The European Commission, in collaboration with UNESCO on Thursday presented assorted clothing and shoes worth 50,000 dollars to the management of the Old Accra Rehabilitation Project (OARP) to support security operations.
The items to be handed over to the Beach Guard Unit under the Project also included reflectors for night patrol and raincoats which would help make the guards identifiable and thereby a force to reckon with in the environs of James Town.
Ms Elizabeth Moundo, Country Director, UNESCO, who handed over the items to Director of the OARP, promised her outfit's continuous assistance to ensure successful implementation of all proposed projects. Nii Teiko Tagoe, Development Planner and Manager, OARP, urged the guards to stop renting the Usher Fort to individual for funerals and out-dooring.
"These are government properties, all revenues must therefore go to government's account," he said. Mr John S. Addo, Chairman of the Steering Committee, OARP, expressed gratitude to the donor partners and called on the guards to make judicious use of the items for the benefit of the community.
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Ghana, second "dirtiest" country in West Africa
According to the latest official statistics published by the UNICEF/WHO Joint Monitoring Platform, Ghana's sanitation coverage stood at 10 percent as at the end of 2006, hence, Ghana ranks number 48 in Africa, out of the 52 countries reported and 14 out of the 15 countries in West Africa, beating only Niger to the last position.
The report further indicated that both local and international reports indicate that more than four million people in Ghana resort to defecating in bushes, drains and fields.
According to the Ghana Statistical Service Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey report for 2006, open defecation is prevalent in all ten regions of Ghana, but most widespread in the Upper East Region with about 82 percent without any form of latrine, followed by the Upper West Region with about 79 percent and then Northern Region with about 73.
Recognizing the importance of sanitation to the overall achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, the UN General Assembly declared 2008 as the International Year of Sanitation. But with the current level of progress in sanitation in Ghana, it is evident that the country will miss the MDG targets for sanitation.
These distressing statistics were given at a press conference on sanitation organized by the Coalition of NGOs in Water and Sanitation, with support from WaterAid, Sanitation Sector Monitoring Platform and WasteCare Limited.
This press conference seeks to highlight concerns about the sanitation situation in Ghana and to make suggestions for the way forward. It is also a follow-up on some of the decisions of the communiqué issued at the just ended Mole XIX conference in Koforidua.
Continuing with the upsetting statistics, Emmanuel Addai, Communication Specialist of the Water Sanitation Sector Monitoring Platform, observed that the most recent report from the Ghana Statistical Service indicates that about 180,000 people, representing about 0.8 percent of the population still use the pan latrines in Ghana whereas this has been declared globally as unsafe and nationally illegal.
He said sewerage systems are virtually non-existent in Ghana apart from Tema and some satellite systems in parts of Accra, Kumasi and a few other cities, noting, "According to the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate, only about 4.5percent of Ghanaians have access to these sewerage systems. But even then, apart from Tema, many of these satellite systems are found within institutions like government ministries, academic institutions, and hospitals rather than settlements."
Lorretta Roberta, Vice Chairperson, Executive Committee, CONIWAS, noted that the sustainable development of Ghana hinges on improved sanitation. She said poor sanitation impacts negatively on human dignity, causes misery, impedes productivity, strains health care system and consigns millions of into abject poverty.
According to her, "Sanitation related diseases like malaria, diarrhea, typhoid, cholera and hepatitis top the cases at the out patient departments of hospitals," adding, "A cursory look into drains gives the impression that Ghanaians are dirty people".
She said Ghana is faced with a national sanitation crisis for a number of reasons which includes a national attitudinal and behavioural posture toward sanitation that needs to be confronted and change. "Law enforcement with regard to sanitation is almost non-existent, resulting in indiscriminate dumping of solid and liquid waste. We do not fear the law because law enforcement is nil.
"Furthermore, it appears that as a people we have not fully grasped the far-reaching implications of poor sanitation to make us eager to change our practices in the effective and efficient disposal and collection of waste," she added.
Lorretta Roberta said the communique issued at the just ended Mole conference recommended amongst other things that government declare sanitation a national emergency and lead the efforts at implementing a national sanitation action plan as well as commit funding; called for steps to ban the use of thin plastics and encourage the use of paper bags, baskets and other degradable alternatives in the country.
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Police reduce checkpoints to stem bribery
Tema, Aug. 7, 06, GNA -- The Ghana Police Service has effectively reduced the number of checkpoints on the Tema-Paga route as a measure to reduce delays and bribery from truck drivers plying the Tema-Ouagadougou route.
The number of police checkpoints on the route dropped from 14 in December 2007 to nine by June this year showing a 36 percent reduction. This was contained in the Improved Road Transport Governance (IRTG) Project report on a six-month survey on the West African trade corridors to measure the extent of delays and bribery caused by police, customs and military agents.
The report stated that, while the reduction represented one third decline in road harassment, there was eight percent decline in the total number of stops on the corridors over the six months of the study.
Mr. Kossi Dahoui, Team Leader of IRTG, presenting the report to truck drivers from Ghana, Burkina Faso and Mali as well as other stakeholders in Tema on Wednesday stated that Mali recorded the highest level of bribery compared to the other countries on the corridor. He said throughout the 158 journey on the corridors during the period, the Project team recorded a 41 percent decrease in bribery in Mali, 39 percent in Togo and 24 percent in Ghana.
He explained that the Ouagadougou-Bamako route has the highest level of bribery with $95.17 per journey as the $68.35 value per journey of the Mali sub corridor exceeded the record of bribes collected for a country. The report stated that, while the Lome-Ouagadougou route, which shows a level of $52.63 has the lowest bribery incident, the Tema-Ouagadougou route remained the least punitive in terms of the $42.83 bribes collected.
Mr Dahoui said drivers readily paid bribes to officials at check points to avoid undue delay through inspections, adding that, they spent over three hours on the Tema-Ouagadougou route, two and half hours on the Bamako-Ouagadougou route and one and a half hours on the Lome-Ouagadougou route.
The Team Leader called on African governments to take measures to reduce bribery by officials at the various checkpoints, adding that, the Police and Customs Excise Preventive Service (CEPS) were the most incriminating agencies mentioned during the survey. Mr Gabriel Glover, General Secretary of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance advised drivers to desist from purchasing fake documents to enable them claim their premiums in case of any accident. Some of the drivers appealed to the police in the ECOWAS countries to allow colleagues in transit who get involved in accidents the chance to contact their insurers instead of remanding them in cells.
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Police Condemned for Storming A Radio Station
Ghana's police are coming under intense criticism after some policemen stormed into "Radio Gold," an independent radio station in the capital, Accra, and arrested the financial comptroller. This comes after police claim they received a tipoff of an ongoing-armed robbery on the station premises in the early hours of Tuesday morning. But the radio station dismissed the police assertion as bogus and without merit, accusing police of what it described as "unnecessary use of brute force" after some workers were severely beaten The financial comptroller was finally arrested.
Some political analysts are worried that a group of law enforcement officials are tarnishing the reputation of the organization. Roland Acquah-Steven is the head of the news division of Radio Gold. From the capital, Accra, he tells reporter Peter Clottey that the police acted unprofessionally.
"What really happened this morning is that about 15 or so minutes to the end of the morning show, some residents of the Ablekuma north constituency in the Greater Accra region, affected a citizens arrest of an activist of the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) who they suspected was engaged in electoral malpractice or fraud for that matter. Apparently, they had already gone to the police station to launch a complaint, but they brought him to the radio station so as Ghanaians would hear exactly what had transpired in that particular registration center at Ablekuma north constituency," Acquah-Steven pointed out.
He said the policemen forced their way to the radio station, assaulted workers, and arrested the station's financial controller.
"Unbeknownst to us, somebody had alerted the police authority. So, the police people drove in here and it was a scene to behold. When they got down from their vehicle, they started beating people. But while I was in the studio, some of my colleagues barged into the studio and said Fred has been arrested. And I said which of the Fred's have been arrested, since we have two Freds here. And they said it was Fred Ayensu the accountant or the financial comptroller for that matter," he said.
Acquah-Steven said the police charged and released the financial comptroller for obstructing police work.
"As we speak, Fred Ayensu was released earlier in the day, and the charged preferred against him was obstructing their work. And he has been granted bail. But we were taken aback and as a station, we have not decided yet what to do specifically in line with this arrest," Acquah-Steven noted.
He said the police acted unprofessionally, in what the station described as an affront to the sensibilities of Ghanaians.
"The point is when law enforcement officers do come to your premises, obviously since they are officers of the law, you don't expect them to come in and misbehave or act unprofessionally. So for us, our doors would always be open to the police and we would always welcome them with our arms wide open because they are law enforcers. But we expect that they will treat us with civility and act professionally as expected of police officers," he said.
Acquah-Steven condemned the action of the police as highly unfortunate.
"What we are expecting from the police is to do what is right. They had information which was not credible and acted wrongly and illegally because they illegally entered our premises to do what they did, arresting the financial comptroller. So you expect that as professional law enforcement agency they would do what is right. First and most significantly, they will apologize and then rectify the wrong they have occasioned to our station, and then we take it from there," Acquah-Steven pointed out.
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Law against indecent dressing advocated
Hohoe (C/R), Aug. 6, GNA - Mr Edwin Darkey, Volta Regional Director of National Population Council (NPC), on Tuesday appealed to the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to promulgate a law against indecent dressing.
Mr Darkey made this suggestion at the opening of a four-day workshop for 30 selected community members in the Hohoe Municipality. The workshop was organised to sensitise participants on Domestic Violence Law and reproductive rights of spouses in Hohoe. It was organized by the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA), Ministry of Women and Children and the NPC, with funding from United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) under the auspices of the Hohoe Municipal Assembly.
Mr Darkey said western culture was incapacitating Ghana's values and called for censorship of foreign media and related materials to arrest the continuing corruption of the nation's morals.
Mrs Rita Narh, Volta Regional Coordinator of Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU), said the Unit received 1,075 cases in 2007. They included rape and defilement, assault, threats, abduction, forced marriages and failure to exercise parental responsibilities. She said the last quarter of 2007 produced the highest number of cases totalling 399.
Mrs Narh appealed to the public to report cases to the Unit and refrain from family arbitrations, which she said, usually thwart the course of justice.
Madam Lena Alai, Volta Regional Director of the Department of Women, said where the Legal Aid Board and DOVVSU were not available, paralegals with the requisite knowledge and skills would provide the platform to arbitrate, advice or refer cases of domestic violence to the appropriate quarters.
She said statistics on Domestic Violence in the region showed that the public was awakening to its responsibility towards addressing the problem. Madam Alai said the Regional Unit of DOVVSU lacked transport and other aids vital to the efficient and effective performance of its tasks.
Mr Makena Kane, Country Representative of UNFPA, said the involvement and response of the community in the promotion of rights and gender equality were pre-requisites for improving quality of life for all as envisaged in the Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy II and Millennium Development Goals.
He was optimistic that the collaboration and partnership with metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies would further promote the rights of women, men and children and ensure access to information, services and opportunities.
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Less than 25% of youth reach proficiency in P6 English
Accra, Aug. 6, GNA - Less than 25 per cent of Ghana's youth reach proficiency levels for P6 English and attain 10 per cent proficiency in P6 mathematics, Mr Akwasi Addae-Boahene, Country Director, World University Service of Canada, said on Wednesday.
This was the test result of the 2006/2007 national assessment preliminary education after the 2008 preliminary education sector performance was conducted, Mr Addae-Boahene said.
He was speaking at the 2008 World University Service of Canada international workshop under the theme, "The quality of Education, the Achievement of Universal Primary Education."
The six-week programme is aimed at enhancing skills necessary to contribute to a more equitable world and foster human development and global understanding through education and training.
The seminar is based on a research carried out on the theme in four districts, namely, Yendi, West Mamprusi, both in the Northern Region, Gomoa East and Gomoa West in the Central Region.
Mr Addae-Boahene said the report indicated that the regional results for the 2005 test indicate that Greater Accra area was the highest performing region in both subjects at both the P3 and P6 levels, adding that Greater Accra had the highest overall mean score and the highest percentage of pupils reaching minimum-competency and proficiency levels.
He said the report revealed that in both English and Mathematics for P3 and P6, the three northern regions generally had the lowest scores particularly the Northern Region.
He expressed the hope that the workshop would provide some insights into some of the challenges facing basic schools in providing quality education to Ghanaian children.
Mr Addae-Boahene said the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, Ghana Education Service and all education stakeholders would need to work together to achieve the highest level of literacy.
He said WUSC had supported development programmes in over 50 countries throughout the world in the past three decades, adding that as one of Canada's most dynamic not-for profit organizations, WESC supported development education and innovative international programmes on Canadian post-secondary campuses.
He noted that in doing this equitable development based on the principles of participation, sustainability, transparency and accountability would be promoted.
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Ashaiman Police work under unacceptable conditions - MP
Ashaiman, Aug. 06, GNA -- The Member of Parliament for Ashaiman, Mr Alfred Agbesi has bemoaned the deplorable conditions under which the police work in the Ashaiman Municipality.
According to him, senior police officers together with their families reside in single rooms describing the police accommodation in the municipality as 'pigeon holes' adding that, "the police in Ashaiman work under unacceptable conditions".
He said it was unfortunate that foundation that was laid for the construction of police quarters in 1964 has been neglected and an effort for its continuation has proven futile. Mr Agbesi who appeared before the Committee of Enquiry investigating the Ashaiman shooting incident on Monday blamed the poor relationship between the police and the public, especially drivers on the harsh conditions personnel work under.
The MP, citing example of the conditions said police personnel at the charge office of the Ashaiman police station daily inhale stench emanating from the cells which has over 40 inmates even though it was originally created for 12 suspects.
Mr. Agbesi recommended that the Ashaiman District Police station must swap offices with the Ashaiman Divisional Police headquarters, explaining that the current premises of the District station near the main lorry station usually get crowded unlike the headquarters due to its limited space.
He also called on the Ashaiman Municipal Assembly and other stakeholders to create more lorry parks in the municipality to check the parking of vehicles on the roads, noting that, the vehicular population in the municipality was enormous. The Ashaiman MP also refuted the media report that the incident occurred because inhabitants of the municipality are hooligans, observing that, "we have very respectable people residing in Ashaiman".
Mr Jonas Tetteh, a 22-year-old driver who plies Dodowa-Ashaiman, narrating incidents that led to the June 3 misunderstanding between the police and the drivers, said a senior police officer and two other personnel took the indignation key of his Nissan Urvan bus on June 2. Mr. Tetteh stated that the senior police official, whose name he could not give held his shirt, pulled him from the lorry, slapped him and together with the others dragged him to the police station without pointing out his offence to him. The victim further said he received a blow across his right eye at the charge office, resulting in a cut on the right eyebrow when he demanded to know his offence as well as a plea to inform his master of the incident.
According to him together with four other drivers from Ningo and Michel Camp, they were detained overnight and were brought out to write their statements on June 3 when some people started throwing stones into the charge office. The five-member Committee with Justice C. J Honyenuga of the Appeal Court as chairman was told by Mr Ofori Braima, father of 22-year-old Moses Ofori, one of the two who lost their lives during the incident that after being informed of the incident by his nephew, he saw the body of his dead son on television at Fumso near Obuasi at about 1200 hours on the same day.
He said the uncle of the deceased told him later that, Ofori who sleeps in his uncle's shop opposite the Ashaiman police station was on his way to nature's call when he decided to help the boy who has been shot but he was also hit by a stray bullet. Mr Braima said after subsequent meetings with the police and other family members, the police provided GH¢2,100 for the funeral rites of his son. Madam Dedo Tetteh, mother of nine-year-old Moses Tawiah Kassim, who was killed by stray bullet said shortly after she gave Moses five Ghana pesewas to attend nature's call she heard of his death.
Madam Tetteh stated that the police apart from the GH¢1,200 provided for the funeral have neglected them and appealed to the Committee to ensure that the government supports her as her son was brilliant and would have been an asset to the family.
A five-member committee was appointed by the government to investigate circumstances that led to the Ashaiman police-drivers confrontation over wrongful parking begun its public sitting on Monday July 28. The committee is supposed to complete investigation on August 13.
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Local dances can increase earnings in tourism- Quashigah
Ho, Aug 5, GNA- Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), Minister of Health has observed that the country's dance forms could boost earnings from tourism if purposefully packaged. He stressed that Ghana should have ruled the world of tourism earnings with the splendour of its dance forms.
Major Quashigah made the observation during the opening ceremony of the 5th delegates' conference of the General Nurses Group in Ho, which focused on: "Reducing Maternal and Infant Mortality and Morbidity." Major. Quashigah's comment was prompted by an interlude of Borborbor dance, a recreational dance among Ewes in mid -Volta, which kicked dignitaries and delegates into dancing or swaying their bodies in their seats.
Major Quashigah said besides the intangible gifts, Ghana and in fact Africa was so blessed with natural resources that there should have been enough for everybody. He commended professional groupings within the Ghana Health Service (GHS) for using African fabrics at their meetings. Apart from student nurses and a few others dressed in the nurses' traditional colours of green and white, the rest were in specially designed African fabrics representing the various groups making up the GHS. Major Quashigah said the decision that Ghana's delegation to the World Health Assembly in Geneva, would be dressed in attires made from African fabrics of one professional grouping on specific days won the admiration of other delegates.
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UNHCR donates medical supplies to Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital
Accra, Aug. 5, GNA - The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Tuesday presented medical supplies worth over 70,000 Euros to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. The items include surgical gloves, Spinal Needles, nose mask respirator, Shroud Kit, disinfectant granules and equipment for detection of Hepatitis B.
The presentation was in appreciation of the immense role the hospital had played in providing healthcare to refugee patients in emergency situations, Ms Aida Haile Mariam, UNHCR Representative in Ghana said. She added that the organization was committed to supporting various healthcare institutions that complemented its efforts.
Ms Mariam said St. Martin de Porres Hospital at Eikwe, Apam Catholic Hospital and the Volta Regional Office of the Ghana Health Service had received similar assistance. Mrs Comfort Aboagye-Adu, Acting Director of Nursing, said one of the problems that the hospital faced was the shortage of nurses during study leave periods.
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Salary Claims 60% Budget
Government is currently spending about 60 percent of its budget to pay workers on its payroll.The Controller and Accountant General, Christian Tettey Sottie, who disclosed this when he interacted with civil and public servants as part of his three-day tour of the Upper East Region, said there are 367,000 names on government’s payroll, noting that “all these names are on different structures making it extremely difficult to work with.”
He gave the assurance that government will not compromise its commitment to ensuring that workers on its payroll are not only given fair wages but also paid on time. According to him, there are two channels through which a worker’s salary is processed before being paid. These are the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Data Base. He said the integration of all salary workers falls under the Ministries, Departments and Agencies so when one is employed it is his or her department that must provide all the relevant information such as when he was employed, salary scale and promotion among others.
Mr. Sottie said his outfit, which is not the employer, only takes the information provided and scrutinizes it to be sure that it falls in line with government’s policy. He noted that when the information is certified, it is then passed on to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for funds for payment. He explained that discrepancies in salaries such as delay in payment, shortfalls and deductions are not done by his office but from the offices of employees. He asked salaried workers to first of all, check with their departments whenever they encounter any problem with their salaries instead of rushing to radio stations and raining insults on his outfit. He said however that government is working hard to develop the single spine pay structure, where all irregularities associated with salaries would be a thing of the past.
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How Caribbean island welcomed Ghana’s President
The oil-rich Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago this past Thursday welcomed Ghana’s President John Agyekum Kufuor to an official State Visit with a breathtaking military ceremony, cultural event and a line-up of citizens across its national capital, Port of Spain.
Many of the 1.2 million indigenes of the bigger Island of Trinidad out of the estimated 1.3 million population of the twin-island turned up on the major streets of their national capital to give the Ghanaian leader a rousing welcome, despite later rains which some said they had feared could have marred the visit. By the end of the rains however, an appearance of a rainbow saw many interpreting the visit as a good omen and a good sign of the relations between the two countries.
President Kufuor, who had been invited by the twin-island as its special guest for the national Emancipation celebrations for this year, arrived at the Piarco International Airport in Port of Spain late Thursday afternoon and immediately received a 21-gun salute and inspected a full guard mounted in his honour.
The visiting Ghanaian Head of State and his entourage, which included Minister for Tourism and Diasporan Affairs Mrs. Oboshie Sai-Cofie, Secretary to the President Ambassador D. K. Osei, former Minister for Tourism and Diasporan Affairs Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, Ghana’s Ambassador to Cuba and High Commissioner to Barbados, Jamaica, Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago, Mrs Cecilia Gyan Amoah, and the President’s Press Secretary Andrew Awuni, were met on arrival by a Trinidadian and Tobagonian delegation led by Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his wife and senator, Mrs Hazel Manning.
The Trinidadian delegation also included the island’s Chief of Defence Staff Brigadier Edmund Dillon and other members of government, including Foreign Affairs Minister Paula Gopee-Scoon, Culture Minister Marlene McDonald, Education Minister Esther Le Gendre, and Works and Transport Minister Colm Imbert among other top technocrats.
The Ghanaian delegation was immediately treated to a series of cultural events on the tarmac of the Piarco International Airport after formal introduction by the Prime Minister.
President Kufuor and his entourage were then taken through the streets of the national capital, with thousands of people lined up to celebrate the arrival of the Ghanaian President, whom Prime Minister Patrick Manning later described as the “capo d tuti” of African leaders who had graced the Emancipation Day celebrations in recent times.
Recent African leaders invited by the Trinibagonians for their Emancipation Day celebrations are former Nigeria President Olusegun Obasanjo, Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni and Ghana’s former President Jerry John Rawlings.
The twin-island State, regarded as one of the richest and most advanced nations in the Caribbean region, with a thriving economy and petro-chemical industry, left little room for anyone to doubt the seriousness it attaches to the third visit by a Ghanaian Head of State.
It unveiled a well-choreographed show of culture, featuring its various diversity of Indian, African, Spanish, Ameri-Indian, Chinese and mixed race ancestry of the cosmopolitan island, which is very famous for its world renowned colourful carnivals.
Men and women in colourful carnival costumes, with steel bands playing Soca tunes were on hand to make the visit exciting, even before the leaders of the two countries went into serious discussions and negotiations later on.
The first Ghanaian leader to visit the island was the nation’s iconic first Prime Minister and later President, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, who Trinibagonians remember fondly because of his works with some their founding fathers, including C. L. Smith and George Padmore. Another famous son of the twin island, the talented Tobagonian Soca legend, Lord Kitchener, gave Ghana its powerful independence Calyspo song, ‘Ghana, Free Forever’.
The second visit by a Ghanaian leader, a year before annual Emancipation Day celebrations was established in Ghana, was by the first President of the 4th Republic, Jerry John Rawlings, who paid a State visit to the island with a delegation in 1997.
President Kufuor who was the guest speaker at the Emancipation Day celebrations launched the Khambule Street Procession, a huge carnivalesque of Trinibagonians, together with the country’s Prime Minister at the Brian Lara Promenade Treasury Building, named after the islands’ most famous Cricketer.
President Kufuor later had close door bilateral economic discussions with both Prime Minister Manning and President of the twin island, Professor George Maxwell Richards, who urged him to ensure that his successors follow-up on key developmental issues of interest to the two countries after Ghana’s December 2008 election.
Source:
GYE NYAME CONCORD
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Curfew at Bawku Municipality unchanged
Accra, Aug. 4, GNA - Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Minister of the Interior, has on the advice of the Upper East Regional Security Council (REGSEC) and by Executive Instrument, renewed the curfew imposed on the Bawku Municipality and its environs for another one week with effect from Monday, August 4. The curfew hours remain unchanged from 2000 hours to 0500 hours each day.
A statement signed by the Minister in Accra on Monday, said the Government had been encouraged by the relative peace and calm in the Bawku municipality and its environs in the last few weeks and continued to urge the leadership of the factions and the people of the area to assist in the search for peace. "Government will continue to leave no stone unturned in its efforts to bring peace to the area and calls of all Ghanaians to extend their support to the National Peace Council in their effort to bring about peace."
Meanwhile, Government has reiterated that the ban on all persons in the Bawku Municipal Area, Zabugu, Binduri, Pusiga and Zoosi townships and their environs from carrying arms, ammunitions or any offensive weapon still remains in force, and any person found with any arms or ammunition would be arrested and prosecuted.
Source:
GNA
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NDC to establish award scheme for contractors - Mills
Accra, Aug. 4, GNA - Professor John Evans Atta Mills, flag bearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), on Monday assured road and building contractors that his government would establish a befitting national awards scheme for them if voted into power. He noted that, even though the entire economy largely depended on the construction industry to move forward, it was sad that there was no national award scheme for players in the industry.
"I wonder how many road and building contractors were given awards during the recent wholesale national awards but I assure you that Atta Mills will put a separate award scheme in place for you when I become President," he said.
Prof. Atta Mills gave the promise when he took his turn at a forum for flag bearers of political parties jointly organised by the Association of Road Contractors (ASROC) Ghana, and the Association of Building and Civil Engineering Contractor of Ghana (ABECEG). The forum which was under the theme: "The Construction Industry and Election 2008," was designed to enable flag bearers to relate their vision for the construction industry to industry players. Prof. Atta Mills noted that, much as he believed the contractors needed to be motivated, he also believed that recalcitrant contractors should be sanctioned, saying that, the NDC would also establish a sanctioning scheme for that purpose.
He outlined some of the challenges facing the construction industry as delays in the payment for executed for the government, lack of proper classification for contractors, lack of technical assistance and the influx of foreign contractors, especially in the case of donor-funded contracts.
On the issue of delays in payment, Prof. Mills said he was aware that it impacted negatively on the credibility of local contractors with their creditors, adding that an NDC government would not only ensure prompt payment but also pay interest on payment delayed.
Prof. Mills noted that one of the causes of delays was the several signatories needed to allow payment for contracts, saying that, the financial administration law required only one signature, that of the head of the contract awarding institution.
"NDC will ensure strict implementation of the financial administration law in that respect to allow for prompt payment for contracts," he said.
Prof. Atta Mills also noted that several contracts went unpaid because they were awarded as a matter of political consideration, but were not covered in the annual budget, saying that under the NDC only contracts covered in the budget would be awarded. He also noted that it was not fair for foreign contractors to take charge of 100 per cent of donor funded contracts, saying that, under his government, "we will ensure that it will be agreed that all foreign contractors partner with local contractors on 60/40 per cent basis for contract execution".
Prof. Atta Mills said that kind of arrangement would ensure transfer of technology to local contractors and thus empower them technically to deliver on bigger contracts in the future. "My government will also ensure that foreign contractors join the local associations just like every professional body everywhere in the world.
"You can't operate as a lawyer in any country without recourse to the bar association of the country; this should apply to engineers and contractors as well," he said.
He assured the contractors that the NDC would not abrogate contracts awarded by the previous government just as a matter of change of government but would continue to fund properly awarded contracts to qualified contractors. "We will establish a clearly laid out classification system with the help of local industry players to ensure that contractors awarded government contracts had the capacity and expertise to deliver," he said.
Prof. Mills noted that the discovery of oil in Ghana would come with a boom in the construction industry, saying that an NDC government would concentrate on empowering the local industry technically and financially to take advantage of a benefit from the expected boom.
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