• 07.09.2008

GT/Vodafone to colour Ghana "red"

Accra, Sept. 8, GNA - In a couple of months Ghana Telecom/Vodafone would hold a "big red party" and stamp their red brand colour on the country.

Captain Albert B. Don-Chebe, Head of Corporate Communications of GT/Vodafone, told journalists that, "in a couple of months we will invite you to our big red party and from then on we will colour the country red in a vigorous manner".

          (c) ghanaweb-news.com

He said, the red party would herald the re-branding of the company, adding that, currently the technical staff of the company are working feverishly to improve the network quality to match the reputable Vodafone brand.

"The quality of our service is more important to us than just the big brand name," he said.

Capt. Don-Chebe said weeks before the controversial Vodafone deal was approved by Parliament, GT on its own did a lot of work to improve the network quality and coverage. "We are working at a very fast pace to guarantee better service delivery."

He said the GT management and their Vodafone partners were currently in high level strategic meetings to set time bound targets, adding that, customer satisfaction was key in the discussion at the strategic meeting.

Capt. Don-Chebe said GT/Vodafone was gearing up to provide high quality fixed line service based on the GSM, wireless and other new technology instead of the cable technology which made GT fixed line operation suffer in the past.

"We want to prove to our customers and to Ghanaians that fixed line service is not dying as the critics of the deal may want to the public to believe," he said.

He also said GT/Vodafone would provide GMS-based phone booths in schools to enable students to make calls, send and receive text messages without having mobile phones.

Capt. Don-Chebe said under the new phone booth service, GT would roll out affordable sim cards for individual students to have access to a common GSM phone both, which would be located close to school administration blocks to ensure close monitoring by school authorities. "We will also provide similar phone booths in high density communities and donate some to rural communities to ensure that they benefited from the boom in the telecom industry," he said. Capt. Don-Chebe said contrary to critics' claims that Vodafone had insignificant experience in fixed line operations, GT management was confident that as the second highest fixed line service provider in Germany, Spain and Italy, Vodafone had more than enough experience to deliver quality fixed line service in Ghana.

"Vodafone has millions of fixed line customers in Europe and in America through Verizon and that is far above what we have here in Ghana."

He said since the Vodafone deal was closed, highly qualified telecom professionals from the Ghana and the Diaspora had been dropping application letters for employment by the day. Capt. Don-Chebe denied that Vodafone staff were coming to take over GT completely. He said professional staff from Vodafone operations around the world would strategically be posted to Ghana from time to time to work with local staff for periods between six months to one year and move on.

"It is not as if some staff of Vodafone are waiting in the UK to come and take over from us, They will be coming from all over the place to transfer knowledge to our people and our people will also visit Vodafone operations elsewhere from time to time and learn from them," he said.

Touching on redundancy, he said the issue would not come up until December 2009, adding that, redundancy would not be done for its own sake but as a matter of change in the pace, type and level of work at GT/Vodafone. He said currently GT was completely debt free and "smelling like rose." 5 Sept. 08

Police arrest Mills' bodyguards

Two bodyguards of former Vice President John Evans Atta Mills were today arrested and detained by the police in Cape Coast following a misunderstanding with President Kufuor's security detail.

The arrested men who have since been released, were held at the Cape Coast Metropolitan Police Station.

President Kufuor and Prof Mills were part of a large number of dignitaries who joined the people of the Oguaa to climax their annual Oguaa Fetu Afahye festival.

Other dignitaries at the function included the Speaker of Parliament, Hon Begyina Sekyi Hughes, Convention People's Party presidential candidate, Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom and New Patriotic Party running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia.

An eyewitness told Joy FM that when Prof Mills, presidential candidate of the opposition National Democratic Congress for the December election, arrived at a durbar of the chiefs and people of the area to exchange felicitations with the traditional chiefs, and proceeded to greet President Kufuor, who was already seated.

President Kufuor's security men asked Mills' body guards who tailed him, to stay behind a certain radius, following which the scuffle ensued after Mills' men insisted it was their duty to go where their 'boss' went.

According to the eyewitness, the misunderstanding led to the arrest by police officers at the function. The arrest became an instant subject for discussion by the gathering, and according to Joy News Correspondent Richard Kojo Nyarko, opinions were divided over who was wrong from right.

The two men were later released from police custody following interventions by the Mills campaign team.

Communications Director of the Mills campaign team, Koku Anyidoho, told Joy News they would not pursue the matter any further but thought it a useful lesson.

"To be forewarned is to be forearmed", he said.

Concern over increasing rate of child trafficking

Axim (W/R), Sept. 7, GNA - The Police have expressed concern about the increasing rate at which child trafficking across the country's borders, especially to Cote D' Ivoire was taking place. The Nzema-East Municipal Police Commander, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Dan Ohene-Djan said this in an interview with the GNA at Axim.

He said to ascertain claims by traffickers that the children given to them by their relatives to be sent to their parents who are migrant fishermen, the police would follow the suspected traffickers to the points of destination of the children.

ASP Ohene-Djan observed that recent child trafficking cases in the Western Region at Half Assini, Nyamebekyere and Kwesimintsim were sources of worry to the Security Officers. He said in most cases the traffickers claimed that the children were given to them by their relatives without any proof authorizing the traffickers to undertake that assignment.

According to the Police Commander, the security officers do not intend to prevent children from going to their parents, but it is an offence to be trafficked out of the country.

ASP Ohene-Djan said in one of the trafficking cases a driver, Anthony Arthur and his mate, Kwesi Ahanta were arrested at the custom cum Police checkpoint at Nyamebekyere popularly called '32', carrying 10 children between the ages of 6 and 16 in a container vehicle. He said the driver and his mate told the Police that the children were given to them to be sent to their families in La Cote D'Ivoire. ASP Ohene-Djan appealed to the government to resource the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), which normally handled such cases with vehicles to enable them do thorough investigations on such matters.

NDC would uproot culture of impunity-John Mahama

Somanya (E/R), Sept. 7, GNA-The National Democratic Congress (NDC), would uproot the culture of impunity from the body politic of Ghana to ensure that law and order worked to the advantage of all. It said the culture of impunity that had engulfed the nation to the extent that those with known party leanings who committed crimes were left to go free was not the best that the country was looking for.

Mr. John Dramani Mahama, running mate of Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, flag bearer of NDC said the security of the individual and the nation as a whole needed to be maintained and urged the New Patriotic Party (NPP) not to continue to turn a blind eye on criminal activities of its supporters. "The peace we all crave for should not be based on preaching one thing and practicing the other.

" He said some people in the northern part of the country who were supportive of the NPP were known to have guns in their possession and involved in shooting incidents yet they were walking freely in Tamale.

Mr Mahama, who is on a 10-day campaign tour was addressing rallies at Somanya, Nkurankan and Asesewa said, "a party that prided itself in the rule of law must not be seen to be enforcing the law with partisan zeal" He said propaganda to demonize the NDC and its founder Jerry John Rawlings had failed and that the achievements of the NDC were glaring enough for the people to see. Former President Rawlings remains indestructible and although his achievements belong to history, it was left to Ghanaians now to build on them to ensure

"prosperity for all and not for the few who believed in property grabbing."

He added that, the NDC had adopted social democracy in which the people are the focus of development. Mr. Mahama said the NDC would introduce a universal health insurance scheme to replace the chaotic district health schemes being practiced now and would be run more efficiently and ensure that drugs meant for the people reach them and that no one would be allowed to squander drugs meant for HIV programmes.

Mr. Mahama urged the youth who are the important resource base of the country and future leaders to be wary of the HIV pandemic and to refrain from promiscuity.

• 06.09.2008

University of Ghana admit 11,700 students

Accra, Sept. 6, GNA - Authorities of University of Ghana, Legon on Saturday admitted 11,700 students for the 2008/2009 academic year. The students, the 60th batch to enrol in the country's premier university, this year, included the first batch of students to pursue a newly introduced Bachelor of Pharmacy programme.

Professor Clifford Nii Boi Tagoe, Vice Chancellor, said the University admitted only 11,700 out of 22,865 applications received to pursue undergraduate and post graduates programmes. He regretted that the University faced the painful task of having to turn down applications of many other qualified applicants, due to constraints on facilities and staff.

Professor Tagoe said 153 applicants from less endowed school were also admitted in the Humanities and Business School and had been exempted from paying academic user fees.

He said some on-going projects on campus include a new Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Central laboratories for Faculty of Science and Physics Laboratory to improve academic facilities.

Professor Tagoe said about one million Ghana cedis was used to re-wire the four traditional halls of residence, namely Akuafo, Volta, Commonwealth, Mensah Sarbah in addition to the renovation of the washrooms of Commonwealth Hall at an estimated cost of 60,000 Ghana cedis.

On Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Prof. Tagoe said government had signed an agreement for a Chinese concessionary loan of 8.2 million dollars to support the university with ICT infrastructure in the Distance Education programme.

He announced that three new scholarship schemes, namely Educational Pathways International Scholarship, All Nations Education Scholarship both from USA and Tertiary Scholarship Trust, Oxford University, United Kingdom have been instituted to offer full scholarship to students. The scholarship ranged from 500 to over 1,000 dollars per year, applicable to students from less endowed schools. Prof. Tagoe advised the students to study hard and take advantage of the facilities available to prepare them for future opportunities and challenges.

Mr Anthony Oteng Gyasi, Chairman of University Council advised the students to adhere to rules and regulations guiding the university, especially with regard to examinations. He advised them not to allow themselves to be used by politicians for violence during Election 2008. 

Donors commit to making aid predictable and transparent

Accra, Sept. 6, GNA - Contrary to critics assessment of the Accra Agenda for Action (AAA), that resulted from the just ended Third High Level Forum (HLF3) on Aid Effectiveness that it was vague and lacked concrete commitments from donors, some donor nations have announced their firm commitment to concrete steps to making aid delivery and spending more transparent and predictable.

At the close of the HLF3, the United Kingdom led some of donor nations and organizations to launch a global initiative to make it easier for poor people and their governments to track how overseas aid is delivered and spent and thereby ensure that it worked better for poor people.

A statement issued by UK Department for International Development (DFID) said the initiative was intended to improve openness in the manner aid was delivered to poor countries and to increase scrutiny over how it was spent. "The initiative would also allow governments of poor countries to plan more effectively by guaranteeing when aid would be delivered," it stated.

The statement said failure to deliver aid on time had been identified by the international community as a key factor in hampering development work and forcing recipient government to increase their debts by going for more loans to cover shortfalls. "The initiative was therefore intended to stem that trend," it said.

Even though civil society organizations (CSOs) are generally critical of the outcome of the HLF3, some of them have openly admitted that the move to make aid delivery and spending more transparent and predictable was positive and a step in the right direction.

The initiative was launched with the backing of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the World Bank, the Hewlett Foundation and

some leading donor nations. The statement quoted British Secretary for International Development, Douglas Alexander, who is also a Member of Parliament, as proposing that all donors should agree to a set of common standards against which they could be judged.

 "The UK believes donors should agree to give full and detailed information on all aid in each country affected, details and cost of individual projects and their aims and reliable information on future aid to improve planning by recipient governments," he said.

He noted that the impact of aid in relieving poverty could be greatly increased if everyone, especially the local people could see where the money was coming from, who was spending it and what it should be achieving, adding that, that would greatly reduce corruption. Mr Alexander said UK had always been vigilant against the misuse of aid, adding that the initiative would be crucial tool in the fight against aid abuse.

Meanwhile at the close of HLF3 civil society organizations distributed stickers with the inscription "ACTION NOT WORD" to drum home the need for donors to back their talk with action.

NCCE organizes forum on political tolerance in Obuasi

Obuasi, Sept. 6, GNA - Mr Emmanuel Kofi Antwi, the Obuasi Municipal Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has called on Ghanaians to pride themselves in the uniqueness of the stable political climate in the country.

"We have come a long way and have reached a phase in our political life, which should be sustained and improved," he said. Delivering a lecture on political tolerance at a day's forum for security agencies and political party activities organized by NCCE in the Municipality,

Mr Antwi said political tolerance should be a major concern to all Ghanaians, since that facilitated development. The NCCE Director said every effort must be made to guarantee a historic feat in the country's forward march in democratic governance.

"We must safeguard the hard won impressive image of the country in the eyes of the international community, as a haven of Peace and stability in a sub-region of conflicts and turmoil," Mr Antwi emphasised.

The Director reminded politicians that destructive criticism, personality attacks and the discrediting of hard won achievements, would serve no useful and productive purpose.

"We must show political maturity if we seek to win converts. "We must engage in constructive criticisms and give praises where they are due," he said.

Mr Antwi stressed that "Power should be won not through threats of intimidation and the trading of falsehoods, but through the organisation of a broad-based, progressive and people centred party that identified itself with the people".

The NCCE Director urged opinion leaders, party executives, and all men and women of goodwill and influence, to impact positively on their respective societies, so that the next generation would be proud of them. The Obuasi Divisional Police Commander, Mr Osei Ampofo-Duku who spoke on public order law and security measures to ensure peaceful elections, assured that, the police was ready "to clear every stumbling block in our way to achieving this quest".

• 05.09.2008

Tragedy on sea at Munford

Apam (C/R), Sept. 5, GNA - One fisherman got drowned in the sea and two others seriously injured when a boat on which they were returning from fishing was capsized by an angry wave at Munford on Thursday. Opanyin Kofi Tawiah, 40, and Mr. Kwesi Thompson, 36, the injured, were treated and discharged at the Apam Catholic Mission Hospital.

Opanyin Tawiah, who narrated the tragedy to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), at Apam, declined to mention the name of the drowned colleague. He said at about 0800 hours when they were about to land on shore, there was high tidal waves and their boat capsized and part of it got destroyed.

Opanyin Tawiah said a search party has been organized by fishermen in the area to look for the body of the drowned colleague. He said because of difficulties in landing at Munford by fishermen, they were landing at the Apam beach before transporting their catch to Munford.

The GNA learnt that the fishermen in Munford have over the years been appealing for the building of fishing harbour in the town to boost the fishing industry.

In a related development, the chief fisherman of the Elmina area, Neenyi Kweku Mbiri told the GNA that six canoes and outboard motors and fishing nets were damaged on sea on Thursday. He said three of the canoes that were landing after fishing capsized while the other three that had been anchored were destroyed heavy tides.

According to Neenyi Mbiri the fishermen had organized themselves to retrieve the net and outboards motors.

Elmina fishermen issue ultimatum to government

Elmina, Sept. 5, GNA - Fishermen in Elmina have threatened to "cause mayhem" if the government fails to ensure that the Interim Management Committee (IMC) hands over management of the fuel to them by the middle of this month.

The IMC was set up two years ago to manage the sale of pre mix pending investigations into alleged malpractices by the Chief Fisherman, Mr Joojo Solomon.

The Deputy Chief Fisherman, Opanyin Kobena Badu, told a press conference on Thursday that there was an uneasy calm in the town because of the situation.

He said since it was the government that instituted the sale of the fuel to bring development to the fishing communities, it was the prerogative of the Chief Fisherman to manage its sale and that the IMC was supposed to have been in office for only three months. Opanyin Badu said the IMC had failed to render accounts to the community for the two years that it had been in office.

"Proceeds from the sale of the fuel which is meant to be used for development projects of their choice are controlled by the IMC without consultation."

Opanyin Badu also alleged that fishing inputs meant for them were being diverted and called on the government to take appropriate action to stop any confrontation. Papa Kwamina, a boat owner, said the IMC had politicized the supply of the fuel and "that is gradually killing the industry."

Illegal Ghanaian immigrants in China

 Accra, Sept. 5, GNA - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and NEPAD announced on Friday that the Ghana mission in Beijing has been assisting Ghanaians in China without proper documentation by promptly issuing travelling certificates and new passports to enable them to obtain exit visas and leave for home.

A statement issued in Accra said officials of the mission had also established contact with the Chinese Immigration authorities and the Chinese Public Security Bureau, to ensure that detained Ghanaians who had travelling documents, air tickets and money for the fines, were treated with leniency and granted exist visas to allow them travel back home.

The ministry said it had come to its notice that for several years now, many Ghanaians had travelled to China and lived in that country without the appropriate documentation or the required entry visas. It said some Ghanaians who had travelled to China with the aim of obtaining teaching appointments as English tutors had travelled on visitors' visas, with the hope of obtaining the necessary documentation to enable them to teach.

"In most cases, they have been unable to gain the requisite work permits needed to work as English teachers. Such persons have ended up being duped by so-called agents who invariably abscond with the passports and other documents as well as the huge sums of money paid to these agents for their services. "In other events, other Ghanaians have also arrived in China on visitors' visas purposely to hustle and refuse to leave the country when their visas expire."

The statement said against this backdrop the Chinese authorities in their security preparations towards last month's Olympic Games and the up-coming Paralympics scheduled embarked on a massive exercise to round up and flush out all illegal immigrants from all countries who are in China without proper documentation.

"In the process, Ghanaians living illegally in China, many of them in Guangzhou and Guangdong provinces, have been caught in the security swoops, and have been detained and made to pay fines before being issued with exit visas to enable them to leave the country," it said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Integration and NEPAD wishes to remind Ghanaians of the need to obtain the proper Chinese entry visas before travelling to China, so as to avoid running foul of the law in the bid to convert their visitors' visas to residence or work permits on arrival in China.

The ministry said the Mission in Beijing would continue to do its very best to assist Ghanaians caught in this predicament to leave China peacefully, adding that it was in constant touch and collaborating with leaders of the Ghanaians community in Guangzhou, in efforts to ensure the safety and security of Ghanaians.

Rawlings Meets Ex-Security Capos

Information reaching The Chronicle indicates that former President Rawlings, last Monday, met with security experts who were in charge of the various security agencies during his tenure as President of Ghana, and discussed how best they can also contribute in solving the worsening security situation in the country, especially in the north.

The Chronicle gathered that the meeting took place at the Ridge residence of the former President and was at the request of the ex-Security heads, who probably wanted to tap into the vast knowledge of the former President on security matters in the country.

This reporter learnt that though the former President made sporadic comments on the way forward, and generally left the major decisions in the hands of the experts at the meeting.

The meeting was attended by former Chief of Defence Staff, Brig. General Nunoo-Mensah, General Arnold Quainoo, Mr. C.K Dewornu, former Inspector General of Police, F.Y Mensah, then in Charge of Southern Command, Mr. James Victor Gbeho, former Ambassador, General Bruce Konuah, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, former Minister of Defence, Vice Admiral Owusu Ansah, former Head of Immigration and Commissioner for Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and General W.K Abuah.

According to our sources the security experts expressed dismay over the level of security in the country and have resolved to put out a non-partisan statement. They also intend to solicit for views from the general public and to bring their experiences to support that of the current officers in charge of the various security agencies. in the supreme interest of the nation.

The ex-Security officers noted that pre-election violence could be a recipe for chaos in the general elections, hence their determination to make sure that the elections were conducted in a free, fair and peaceful manner.

"We have only one country which is Ghana, and we need to complement the efforts of the current serving officers in a non-partisan manner, to help avert the looming security matters,"one of the ex-Security heads reportedly said at the meeting.

The former President, who reportedly expressed concern about the current security situation, is said to be under intense pressure from some prominent chiefs, opinion leaders, some members of political parties, including the ruling party, to avail his technical know-how in the interest of the country.

Sources close to the meeting hinted the Chronicle that though the meeting was held in the residence of the former President, it was not with any ulterior motive, as they are very cautious of what some opponents of the former President would say about the meeting.

Flt. Lt. Rawlings, who is expected to move to the Volta Region as part of the campaign tour for the NDC, is reported to have advised the former top military and intelligence officers to liase with the currently serving officers to find means of solving the rising tension.

According to our information, the former President believes that the nation must be allowed to enjoy its peace and tranquillity, and that the 2008 general elections must not open a Pandora box for unnecessary conflicts.

He was also reported to have said that serving officers must learn to live up to their responsibilities and should not respect unlawful orders. The Chronicle is aware that a statement would soon be issued concerning the topics raised at the meeting.

The special assistant to the former President, Mr. Kofi Adams, when contacted confirmed that a meeting of that sort took place

• 04.09.2008

Tema, Sept 04, GNA - Safebond Africa Limited, a shorehandling operator in Tema has presented a cheque in the sum of GH¢ 7,100 to TV3 Network for the payment of medical bills of a 12-yaer-old boy suffering from brain tumour. As a result of the brain tumour, Master Robert Amoah's life has come to a standstill as he can not learn or play. TV3 in its morning news on Thursday August 28, pleaded with the public to contribute towards Amoah's surgical operations at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital due to the inability of his parents to provide the GH¢ 5,000 medical fee.

Mr Isaac Kodom, Deputy Managing Director for Safebond, presenting the cheque said the donation was to cover the medical bills and maintenance of the boy. Mr Kodom said apart from being touched by Amoah's pain and suffering, the gesture was in line with the company's social responsibility on health with the theme "Safebond Africa, your friend in health delivery". He was optimistic that the donation would make Amoah know that "there is love and hope in the world and there something to live for". Mr Godfred Boakye Djan, Tema correspondent for TV3 receiving the cheque on behalf of the boy thanked Safebond and expressed the hope that it would help improve the boy's deteriorating situation.

Police withdraw MTTU personnel from the road

Accra conference has failed on firm commitments

Accra, Sept. 4, GNA - As the Third High Level Forum (HLF3) on Aid Effectiveness came to a close in Accra, civil society organisations still maintain that the conference failed to deliver on establishing concrete deadlines and specific actions toward removing conditionalities, untie aid, including civil society and ensuring full ownership of development programmes by recipient countries.

Mr. Vagn Berthelsen, Secretary General of Ibis Denmark, an NGO in capacity building in poor countries told journalists that Accra had been nothing more than just one more talk shop with very little or no progress towards the realisations of the five main principles of the Paris Declarations.

"The 31-point Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) remains as vague as ever with not clear and specific commitments - in fact it could best be described as Accra Agenda for Inaction (AAI).

"It is obvious that after Accra we are still heading toward missing deadlines on the five main principles of the Paris Declarations," he said.

He noted that even though the AAA spoke about including civil society in more sustainable manner in aid talks, no concrete actionable framework was put in place to ensure greater inclusion of civil society.

Mr Berthelson said that, after the Accra conference it was obvious that the aid system remained a pyramid, with the donors at the top ready to give aid with ties and conditionalities and demand time-consuming reports and accountability from recipient, who should be using their limited time to work for their poor citizens instead.

His concern is indeed not different from those of 80 other civil society organisation who put out a pictorial expression of how the aid system was a pyramid with the donors at the top holding on to the knot of a red rope (of conditionalities) with which they have tied poor countries.

"It is a fact the recipient countries fund between 60 to 80 per cent of their budgets from their own resources whiles donors complement that so the governments of the poor countries should be working for their taxpayer whose money is used for projects instead of working for donors who only support budgets with between 20 - 40 per cent," he said.

Mr. Berthelson, who is also President of the European-based Alliance Towards the Eradication of Poverty (ATEOP) said due to conditionalities, the value of aid was reduced by 25 per cent even before it was applied, adding that in the applications, a further 35 per cent was lost to technical assistance comprising of moneys used in paying experts from donor nations.

He noted that, the real impact of aid was better measured in terms of quality and not quantity, saying that it was not enough for donors to keep boasting about how much money they give to poor countries but to what extent those moneys benefited the poor and vulnerable.

"Donors cannot keep donating to projects that served their interests in poor countries whiles the real sectors needing aid to make life better for the poor in recipient countries go unattended to," he said. Mr. Berthelson said Accra would have been a success if it had at least, succeeded in getting donors to commit to a more sustainable ways of developing the capacities of and making use of experts in recipients for aid projects instead of importing expensive experts from donor nations.

He however, stated that Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) would continue to play their watchdog role on both sides of the aid system, to ensure transparency and less corruption and abuse of the system. "We believe that even the recipient countries and some of the CSO involved in direct aid funded projects should be critical of themselves as they themselves have been criticise about corruption and misapplication of donor funds," he said.

• 03.09.2008

Road Safety Commission inaugurates call centre

Accra, Sept. 3, GNA - The National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) on Wednesday inaugurated a call centre in an effort to promote compliance with road safety regulations, reduce traffic contraventions, identify regular

traffic offenders and increase the quality of traffic information. "The call centre will focus on answering inbound calls from anywhere in the country on road safety related enquiries, complaints and emergencies and it is toll free to the caller on Kasapa 10800 and Ghana Telecom 0800-10800," said Mr. Magnus Opare-Asamoah, Deputy Minister of Roads and Transportation.

The website of the centre and all other road safety related issues is  www.nrsc.gov.gh . Speaking at the launch of the call centre on Wednesday, he said the initiative formed part of the NRSC Strategy 11, which mandated the commission to set up the centre.

He noted that reports on traffic violations and emergencies would be quickly relayed from the call centre to the relevant traffic emergency services for follow-ups, verification and timely response. "This facility has the full compliment of key agencies such as the Ghana Police Service, Fire Service, Regional Road Safety Coordinators, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority and all the other road agencies," he added.

Mrs May Obiri Yeboah, Head of Training of NRSC, called on the public to feel free to call the centre for traffic information since competent staff had been trained to answer their calls. The centre, which is on a pilot basis, is located on the premises of the NRSC and it would operate from 0800-1700 on weekdays and all other calls would be directed to the emergency services.

Mr Noble John Appiah, Executive Director of the NRSC, said Ghana was the first country in the West African sub-region and second to South Africa in Africa to adopt the call centre initiative by their road safety outfits. He appealed to the public not to abuse the essence of the call centre by calling to report irrelevant issues.

Tweapease clinic Innaugurated

Akyem Tweapease (E/R), Sept. 3, GNA - Mr Ofosu Asamoah, Eastern Regional Deputy Minister, on Wednesday inaugurated a clinic at Akyem Tweapease in the Kwaebibirem district.

The Community-Based Health Planning facility (CHP) will mainly care for children under five years, register births and deaths, pregnant women, conduct health education with home visits and treat minor ailments.

Mr Asamoah called on the people to take environmental and personal sanitation seriously as a means of reducing diseases. He said the incidence of malaria for instance, could be drastically reduced if communities would keep sound and healthy environments. The Deputy Minister said a community could have a first-rate health facility, but if the people failed to observe basic rules of hygiene, they would still be plague by preventable diseases. Mr Asamoah spoke of efforts being made by government to improve the health care of the people, and said there was the need for them to reciprocate by taking better care of themselves and their communities. He asked those who have not joined the health insurance scheme to do so in their own interest.

To a request by the community that their local clinic should be made a service provider under the health insurance scheme, Mr Asamoah said he would see to it that, it was made possible.

Ghana, EU sign 'Trade and Aid' Deal

Accra, Sept. 3, GNA - Ghana and The European Union on Wednesday signed a groundbreaking trade agreement that would stop imports of illegal timber into Europe from Ghana.

The deal will offer European consumers a credible guarantee that Ghanaian timber products have been obtained in a manner that protects Ghana's remaining forests and benefits local forest communities. Ghana's Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, Esther Obeng Dappah and Mr Stefano Manservisi, Director-General for Development of the European Union, signed the agreement.

The deal which was announced in Accra, during the world's Third High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, is the first of a series of legally-binding bilateral agreements, known as Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs), envisioned between the EU and individual timber-producing countries.

VPAs are part of a package of measures set out in the European Commission's 2003 Action Plan on Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade (FLEGT), which recognises the EU's responsibility to tackle its own demand for high-risk imported wood.

Ghana thus becomes the first country to have concluded a VPA with the European Community. In Africa Cameroon and the Republic of Congo (Brazzaville) are currently negotiating VPAS with the EU. Europe imports more than half the timber Ghana produces for export, from a total forest sector worth an estimated 400 million dollars a year. Timber ranks only behind gold, tourism and cocoa in export earnings for Ghana.

Illegal logging has been responsible for rampant deforestation in the West African nation, and estimates gathered by the World Bank suggest that around 60 percent of logging has been illegal in recent years.

Globally, the World Bank has estimated that illegal logging and uncollected timber taxes cause losses in assets and revenue in excess of 15 billion dollars annually, more than six times the total official development assistance to the sustainable management of forests. The deal brings to a close a 21 months process and commits Ghana to developing transparent systems for collecting timber taxes and ensuring legal compliance in their forest sector; and the EU to establishing border measures to exclude unlicensed Ghanaian wood from the European market.

The two parties have also agreed on the pillars of a FLEGT licensing scheme that includes definition of legal timber, system of verification of legality and timber tracking system, licensing system and independent monitoring.

The EU expects that 'FLEGT timber,' as the licensed products are currently known, will begin to be exported by partner countries from late 2009.

Commenting on the deal Mrs Dappah said: "We are committed to delivering on these provisions in the agreement." However, she said, resource constraints could make implementation difficult and called on donors to make good their pledges on timely basis to ensure a good outcome in delivery on the agreement. Mrs Dappah said the two-year long process in engaging with the EU had been a good-learning experience and lauded the contributions of the various stakeholders in the internal consultative processes in enhancing good governance.

"The deal will send signals to other countries to come on board to ensure that consumption contribute to economic growth," Mr Manservisi said.

Political Violence at North: Displaced women, children in tears

Gushiegu (NR), Sept. 03, GNA - Grief, crying and wailing of women and children characterised the gloomy atmosphere at Gushiegu on Tuesday to welcome members of the Northern Regional Security Council led by Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, Regional Minister who visited the strife-torn area.

Displaced nursing mothers, the aged, children and other residents were still fleeing the town, while those who stayed back were not certain about their fate since they had no place to sleep and others claimed their husbands could not be traced.

Two gentlemen, Aminu Kwebena and Mohammed Shagnu openly accused Mr. Abukari Mahama, Gushiegu District Chief Executive (DCE) in the presence of the Regional Minister for being the brain behind the arson that took place and claimed three lives.

They volunteered to give evidence to the police on the alleged involvement of the DCE.

Alhaji Idris however, asked the police to invite them to Tamale to give evidence and gave the assurance that their safety would ensured and advised the public to volunteer information to ensure that the culprits were brought to book.

So far, three persons including a sub-chief have been confirmed dead by REGSEC while unconfirmed reports put the death toll at seven and some 23 houses completely burnt down.

Seven vehicles and three houses belonging to Alhaji Mahama Jamoni, the NDC Gushiegu constituency chairman have been completely burnt to ashes while several other houses belonging to other individuals have also been burnt down.

Alhaji Idris expressed dissatisfaction about the destruction and said everything would be done to ensure that calm returned to Gushiegu.

Mr. Abukari Mahama, the DCE denied any involvement and indicated that he was at Yendi at the time of the destruction and asked whoever had information on the incident to come forward to prove it.

Violence at North: Not entirely political

Tamale, Sept 03, GNA - Alhaji Abdulai Ziblim, Regent of Gulkpegu has stated that the recent disturbances in the Tamale Metropolis and the Gushiegu District were not entirely political.

He said the disturbances had chieftaincy undertones as one Nan-Lana Abukari Ziblim, an aspirant to the Gushiegu skin, was among the three people, confirmed by the Regional Security Council, as having lost their lives in the Gushiegu disturbances, adding that, his own palace had being a target of attack.

Alhaji Ziblim was addressing a press conference on Wednesday, at his palace in reaction to the conflict that erupted between supporters of the NPP and the NDC in the Tamale Metropolis and the Gushiegu District, following the recent visit of Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia the Vice-Presidential Candidate of the NPP to the area.
The press conference was attended by the Regent's sub-chiefs and elders.

National debts hit record 9 billion -  NDC

Accra, Sept. 3, GNA - The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Wednesday said the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) had accumulated over 7.8 billion dollars (GH¢ nine billion, equivalent of about 90 trillion old cedis) debt over the last eight years in spite of debt relief. Mr. Fiifi Kwettey, NDC National Propaganda Secretary, at a press conference in Accra noted that the national debt from independence to 2001 was a mere 5.8 billion dollars or 4.1 billion cedis (41 trillion old cedis).

He therefore asked the Ghanaian electorate to reject the NPP at Election 2008.

The press conference dubbed; "NDC Setting the Records Straight," is a platform the party has adopted to expose alleged NPP "misinformation, distortion of facts" as well as educate the electorate on the "true state of the nation".

Mr Kwettey said since 2001 the NPP had distorted facts about the state of the economy, criminalized the NDC for allegedly accumulating a debt portfolio of about 41 trillion old cedis. The NDC also debunked the NPP's claim of remarkable improvement in the economy since 2001.

Mr Kwettey said an NPP economic expert, Mr Kwame Pianim, recently exposed the fragility of the economy and called for an injection of about 130 million dollars to stabilize the economy and reduce escalating inflation.

He also cited the failure of the government to pay the fees of students on Government of Ghana scholarship at the University of Nottingham, delay in release of grants for second cycle schools in the three northern regions and non-payment of waste management contractors for months.

Mr Kwettey, flanked by some leading members of the NDC including Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, said: "We handed over the economy when a gallon of kerosene was GH¢ 0.45, but the NPP has moved it to GHC6.00; a bundle of roofing sheets has gone up from GH¢ 35 cedis to the current GH¢ 250; a bag of cement was about GH¢ 2.00 to the current GH¢ 10.00.." The NDC also debunked the perception that the NPP inherited empty economic coffers in 2001. "The truth, however, is that at the end of January 2001, less than month after assumption of power, all public and civil servants were dully paid.

"Some contractors whose jobs were due for payment were also paid.the NPP government also found enough money in those so called empty coffers to start expensive renovation of the seat of government, the State House, Ministerial and other Official bungalows."

The NDC said the World Bank, the African Development Bank and other multi-lateral agencies have recently admitted that Ghana's economy registered a consistent growth from 1984.

• 02.09.2008

Let's use festivals to promote peace and unity- Chief

Accra, Sep 2, GNA- Nii Armaah III, Dzaasetse of Asere, has underscored the need to use the celebration of festivals to promote peace and unity in the country.

To this end, he said, traditional rulers and opinion leaders must ensure the people did not indulge in acts that would results in conflicts during festivals. Nii Armaah, who is also the Acting Asere Mantse, made the call at a reception he organised in Accra over the weekend, for his subjects to round off activities marking the celebration of this year's Homowo Festival of the Chiefs and people of Asere. He cautioned that, though there were conflicts relating to chieftaincy, they should not be drawn or carried over into the celebration of festivals.

The Acting Asere Mantse, therefore, urged elders and opinion leaders to get actively involved, and try to address symptoms of conflicts before, during and after the celebration of festivals. He advised the youth in the area to channel their energies into viable ventures and desist from idling about. Nii Armaah wished his subjects peace and prosperity in the ensuing years, and expressed the hope that through hard work, they would be able to initiate development projects to improve their standards of living. 

Ghana Navy arrest 38

Sekondi, Sept. 2, GNA - Two fishing vessels have been arrested by the Ghana Navy for engaging in pair-trawling in Ghana's territorial waters near Apam in the Central Region without licence. The ships involved are Maache One and Maache Two, who were arrested on August 30, this year.

Briefing the media at Sekondi on Monday, Commodore Frank Daley, Flag Officer Commanding the Western Naval Command said navy personnel on patrol duties spotted six ships involved in pair-trawling. He said four of the ships managed to escape but the navy arrested two, who were all operating within 30 metres deep, instead of the approved above 40 metres deep.

Commodore Daley said the Captain of Maache One, Yue Xi Quen, six Chinese and 12 Ghanaians have been arrested with 500 cartons of fish, while Maache two under the Captainship of Zhan Houlian, seven Chinese and 11 Ghanaians were arrested with 700 cartons of fish. Commodore Daley said the Navy has handed over the suspects to the Fisheries department for further investigations and action. Mr Alex K. Addo, Western Regional Director of Fisheries confirmed receiving a report to the effect but added that, a committee made up of the Fisheries Department, Ghana Navy, Police and the Attorney General's Department would meet to decide on the case and the appropriate sanctions would be meted out to them.

The ship is owned by Nebulla International based at Tema, a Ghanaian company.

Three public institutions receive vehicles

Accra, Sept. 2, GNA - Three public institutions - Ghana News Agency (GNA), Ghana Universities Press (GUP) and Ghana Police Service (GPS) - were on Tuesday presented with vehicles to enable them to provide quality service within their areas of operation. The move forms part of service delivery improvements within the civil and public services of Ghana.

The GNA was presented with a four-wheel drive Toyota Fortuner, the GUP with a Renault mini-van and the GPS with a Toyota Hilux pickup. Mr. Samuel Owusu-Agyei, Minister for Public Sector Reform, who performed the handing-over ceremony, said as part of the ministry's work programme for 2008 it decided to provide the vehicles to the selected public institutions to enable them to improve their work. He lauded the contribution of development partners like the UNDP for the assistance in helping government in reforming work environment, work culture and a new orientation to promote efficient service improvement and delivery.

The minister tasked the beneficiaries to observe the new regime of good maintenance of state assets in order to sustain the programme for which the vehicles were being provided.

The GNA is being supported under the Subvented Agencies Reform Programme to enable it to provide prompt and reliable services to its clients and stakeholders and the vehicle is to facilitate easy movement and monitoring of activities of the GNA offices in the regions. The Ghana Police Service is to use the pickup to patrol the ministries area day and night to ensure a secure working environment for civil and public servants, as all manner of persons and hawkers have contributed to poor environment conditions and rampant theft of equipment such as computers and typewriters. The Renault mini-van would enable the GUP meet the challenges of distribution and delivery of text books to various university bookshops across the country.

Nana Apau-Duah, General Manager of the GNA, thanked the ministry for the support which, he said, would enhance the agency's output and urged it to fulfil other promises to the Agency. Mrs Naana Ampratwum, Chief Director of the Ministry of the Interior, expressed gratitude for the presentation, adding that, it would enable the police to discharge their duties. Dr Kwaku Ganu, Chief Executive Officer of the GUP, said the vehicle would boost the capacity of the institution and increase its revenue generation.

Aid will fail if corruption is not tackled - Transparency International

Accra, Sept. 2, GNA - Transparency International, a global watchdog on anti-corruption, on Tuesday warned that all the efforts at ensuring aid effectiveness would be fruitless if measures were not put in place to tackle corruption effectively.

It reminded participants at the ongoing Third High Level Forum (HLF3) on Aid Effectiveness of their commitment in the 2005 Paris Declaration to boost aid effectiveness through citizen participation, greater government accountability and transparency in the development process to stem corruption.

"Corruption will continue to undermine aid effectiveness and poverty reduction efforts without immediate action on transparency, accountability and citizen participation by aid recipients and donor countries," TI warned in a statement.

More than 1,200 representatives of developed and developing countries as well as civil society organizations are attending the three-day HLF3 in Accra to assess progress made on aid effectiveness based on the five main principles in the March 2005 Paris Declaration. The Paris Declaration committed both donor and recipient countries to the principles of ownership, alignment, harmonization, mutual accountability and managing for results, but the countries themselves have observed that progress based on those five principles have been slow since 2005.

The Accra conference is therefore expected to throw light on the dragging factors and evolve an action plan dubbed Accra Agenda for Action (AAA) to ensure a full realization of the principles of the Paris Declaration by the 2010 deadline.

Corruption has been cited as a major impeding factor to the realization of full ownership of aid funded development projects by developing countries and the AAA is expected to address that in a more concrete manner.

The TI statement, however, noted that the final draft of the 31-point AAA itself had failed to adequately address the issue of corruption.

"Although the AAA, endorsed by the representatives of 100 developed and developing countries, as well as multilateral development banks and agencies clearly mentions fighting corruption as a condition for greater aid effectiveness, it provides no framework for action," the statement said.

TI in not alone in pointing out the flaws of the draft AAA as similar concerns had been expressed by other civil society organizations about the need to ensure that the Accra Declaration would be one of action and not inaction.

The TI statement noted that the AAA yet to be approved and declared at the end of the three-day conference, did not adequately address the shortfalls with the time-bound commitments and provisions for civil society and citizens' participation necessary to revive progress and ensure transparency, which is key to tackling corruption in the application of aid funds.

"We need to see a targeted and global strategy to tackle corruption in the development process, or we will continue to see lives spent in misery and preventable deaths because public institutions and the provision of health and education simply do not work in spite of the huge amounts of aid," it said. Available statistics indicate that annually donors worldwide provide at least US$120 billion in development and humanitarian aid to developing countries.

World Bank Vice President for Africa Ms. Obiageli Ezekwesili has said that a greater chunk of the money goes into health and education in Africa particularly but those two sectors had failed to deliver as expected, partly due to ineffective monitoring and lack of transparency in the application of funds.

TI therefore, is advocating improved access to and disclosure of public information to allow citizens, parliament, journalists and investigators to follow public and aid money, cleaning up public procurement and sanctioning violators, strengthening institutions of oversight and engaging civil society and harmonizing donor activity to prevent abuse.

Many girls in Bolgatanga Municipality drop out of school

Bolgatanga, Sept. 2, GNA - Statistics available from the Municipal Directorate of Education in the Upper East Region indicates that, whilst for the past five years, enrolment figures of girls at the basic level is at par with boys, many of them drop out of school later. The performance of girls is also much lower than that of the boys at the basic levels.

The Bolgatanga Municipal Director of Education, Mr Anthony Aziabah, announced these in a speech read for him by Mr Cletus Apikiya, Director in charge of Finance and Administration of GES, at a durbar in Bolgatanga organized by Ghana Education Service (GES), with support from UNICEF on Social Mobilization for fast tracking Gender Equality in the Formal and Non-Formal Education.

The durbar, which brought together traditional authorities, church based organizations, community based organizations and non-governmental organizations, was aimed at soliciting views and strategizing on how to overcome the problem of gender disparity especially in schools. Mr Aziabah attributed the drop out of girls in schools to the denial of girls' rights, from the beginning of childhood and explained that when it came to the question of choice of educating a boy or a girl, the boy was given the preferential treatment. Mr Aziabah said when it comes to supplementing family income; girls were more likely to be sent to work.

"Even when girls do go to school, they would often have to do housework at the expense of homework and when they become pregnant, school policies force them to drop out," he said. The Municipal Director of Education advocated the need for district assemblies to secure the support of traditional authorities to campaign against early marriages and teenage pregnancy. He appealed to the GES to provide incentives to female teachers to accept posting to rural areas so that they could serve as role models to girls.

The Regional Director of Education, Mr Fabian Belieb, in his welcome address said government was committed to girls' education and that was why it had established the Girls Education Unit of the Ghana Education Service, which had led to the increasing enrolment figures of girls in schools.

He however admitted that it was not enough and appealed to all stakeholders in the education sector, especially parents to send all school going age children to school. The Chief of Yorogo, Naba Johnson Awuni, said there was more reward in sending girls to school instead of giving them out in marriage in exchange of cows. He said girls would contribute significantly to the development of families if they were made to go to school. He explained that educated girls would in future help reduce poverty, lower infant and maternal mortality, and improve health and nutrition in their communities.

Extra 230 megawatts of power to be ready in three years

Accra, Sept. 2, GNA - Ghana would have an extra 230 megawatts of electric power added to the national electricity grid in the next two to three years when Sino Hydro Corporation of China completes the construction of four dams in the Central and Western regions. This would mean there would be no lights-off since there would be adequate supply of electricity, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, said when he signed an agreement between Ghana, represented by Pato Power Co. Limited and Sino Hydro Corporation of China.

Under the agreement Sino Hydro would construct dams on the Pra River at Awisam in the Central Region, Hemang on the Ankobra River at Bonsaso, near Tarkwa and the Tano River in Tanoso in the Western Region. The project estimated at about 920 million dollars has also taken care on environmental concerns and issues, Mr Baah-Wiredu said. He said when completed Sino Hydro would hand the dams over to Pato Power Company Limited, a private organization, which would in turn hand it over to the Volta River Authority and Electricity Company of Ghana. "Never again should Ghana experience lights-off when the project is fully completed," Mr Baah-Wiredu said.

Mr William Oppong Bio, Chairman of Pato Power Co. Limited, said President Kufuor in the next few days would perform the sod cutting ceremony at the project sites.

He said as part of the project there would be construction of townships with schools and roads which would help improve the economic situation of people in the project sites. Mr Ding Zhengguo, Executive Deputy Managing Director, who signed the agreement on behalf of Sino hydro Corporation of China, said his company had over 50 years' experience in hydro electric and water conservancy in China and abroad. He expressed his company's commitment to develop hydro power projects in Ghana to supply new clean energy source for the benefit of Ghanaians.

"We have already signed the Bui hydro power project in Ghana and even before the effective date of commencement we have already mobilized a lot of equipment and engineers to start the site work substantially." Mr Ding announced that by the end of November this year, the river diversion closure of the Bui dam project, an important milestone, would be completed. Mr Ding promised quality work for the dam projects his company was handling in Ghana.

Two and a half billion people live on less than $2 a day

The World Bank reported Tuesday that in 2005 an estimated 1.4 billion people in the so-called ‘developing world,’ one-fourth of its population, lived on less than $1.25 a day, the new official poverty line. This figure is 400 million more than the Bank’s 2004 estimate of 985 million. Another 1.2 billion people live on between $1.25 and $2 a day.

The report issues from an institution correctly identified by great numbers of people around the world as a reactionary pillar of the global financial system. Despite efforts by Bank officials to put the best face on things, that more than two and a half billion people continue to live in unspeakable poverty in the first decade of the 21st century is an indictment of the capitalist system.

Martin Ravallion and Shaohua Chen, of the World Bank’s Development Research Group, in a study entitled, “The Developing World is Poorer than We Thought, But No Less Successful in the Fight Against Poverty,” note that in 2004, for the first time, the Bank’s global poverty count had fallen below one billion.

They continue: “Alas the revised estimates reported in the present paper suggest that our celebrations in finally getting under the one billion mark for the ‘$1 a day’ poverty count were premature. ... We find that the incidence of poverty in the world is higher than past estimates have suggested.”

The 2005 estimates are based on surveys conducted in 116 countries and interviews with some 1.23 million households.

The most dire conditions exist in Sub-Saharan Africa. After a quarter-century (1981-2005) that witnessed the most extraordinary advances in technology, the percentage of people living in absolute poverty in that region remained unchanged; some 50 percent of its population subsists on $1.25 a day or less.

The actual number of the extremely poor in Sub-Saharan Africa almost doubled, from 200 million in 1981 to about 380 million in 2005. “If the trend continues,” notes a World Bank press release, “a third of the world’s poor will live in Africa by 2015. Average consumption among poor people in Sub-Saharan Africa stood at a meager 70 cents a day in 2005.”

Most of the 15 poorest countries in the world

-- Malawi, Mali, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Niger, Uganda, Gambia, Rwanda, Guinea-Bissau, Tanzania, Tajikistan, Mozambique, Chad, Nepal and Ghana -- are located in Africa.

In South Asia, the percentage of those living below the $1.25 poverty rate has decreased from 60 to 40 percent over 1981-2005, but the absolute number of desperately poor people did not decline; there are some 600 million in that category. In India, extremely uneven economic development reduced the poverty rate as a share of the total population from 60 percent in 1981 to 42 percent in 2005, but the number of the destitute increased from 420 million in 1981 to 455 million in 2005.

The largest factor in lowering the percentage of extremely poor people in East Asia has been the explosive industrialization of China. In 1981 East Asia was the poorest region in the world. In China the number of people surviving on less than $1.25 a day in 2005 prices dropped from 835 million in 1981 to 207 million in 2005. A quarter of a century ago, the report states, “China’s incidence of poverty (measured by the percentage below $1.25 per day) was roughly twice that for the rest of the developing world; by the mid-1990s, the Chinese poverty rate had fallen well below average.”

In the former colonial world, outside of China, the progress has been far more limited; the total number of extremely poor people has remained at about 1.2 billion. The percentage of the ‘developing world’ population living in absolute poverty has decreased from 40 percent in 1981 to 29 percent in 2005, according to the Bank. Excluding China, however, the most oppressed countries are not on track to reach the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of halving the 1990 poverty rate by 2015.

In Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), the former Stalinist-ruled countries, the picture is bleak. “The mean consumption of EECA’s poor has actually fallen since the 1990s, even though the overall poverty rate was falling.” In passing, the authors note that social inequality has grown in that region since the collapse of Stalinism: “The paucity of survey data for EECA in the 1980s should also be recalled. Thus our estimates are heavily based on extrapolations, which do not allow for any changes in distribution. One would expect that distribution was better from the point of view of the poor in EECA in the 1980s, in which case poverty would have been even lower than we estimate -- and the increase over time even larger.”

The poverty rate in Latin America and the Caribbean has also declined, but not enough to bring down the number of extremely poor people.

Ravallion and Chen point to two phenomena that tend to undercut even the limited progress they cite.

First, although hundreds of millions of people have lifted themselves out of absolute poverty since 1981, the improvement has been very slight for vast numbers. While the increase in wealth at the other pole of global society, registered in the number of billionaires and the share of national incomes held by the top one or five percent of the population, has been explosive, the very poor have only inched ahead and remain immensely vulnerable.

The study’s authors point to the phenomenon of “bunching up” that has occurred between $1.25 and $2.00 a day. They observe that the number of people living at that level “has actually risen sharply over these 25 years, from about 600 million to 1.2 billion. This marked ‘bunching up’ of people just above the $1.25 line suggests that the poverty rate according to that line could rise sharply with aggregate economic contraction.”

Speaking of the same phenomenon in relation to both East and South Asia, they note that a total of some 900 million people live on between $1.25 and $2.00 a day, “roughly equally split between the two sides of Asia. While this points again to the vulnerability of the poor, by the same token it also suggests that substantial further impacts on poverty can be expected from economic growth, provided that it does not come with substantially higher inequality.”

In a press release, the World Bank notes that its estimates “suggest less progress in getting over the $2 per day hurdle. Indeed, we have seen no change in the number of people living below $2 per day at around 2.5 billion, between 1981 and 2005.”

In another press release, the Bank is also careful to point out that the new estimates “do not yet reflect the potentially large adverse effects on poor people of rising food and fuel prices since 2005.”

Or, as Ravallion and Chen write in their conclusion, “There are a great many people who have reached the frugal $1.25 standard, but are still very poor, and clearly vulnerable to downside shocks. One such shock is the steep rise in international food and fuel prices since 2005. Despite the progress in reducing the lags in survey data availability, it will probably not be until 2010 that we can make a reasonably confident assessment of the ex post impacts of the rising food and fuel prices on the world’s poor. Until then, ex ante assessments will be required, based on pre-crisis data and economic assumptions. Such assessments suggest that at least a few years of the progress reported here have been eroded since 2005.”

• 01.09.2008

Fuel tanker rams into funeral cortege, kills five mourners

Bibiani (W/R), Aug. 31, GNA - A fuel tanker rammed through a funeral cortege at Bibiani Old Town on Saturday, killing five mourners instantly and severely injuring several others, local police have said. The injured were taken to nearby hospitals at Bibiani, Nkawie and Nyinahin. Assistant Superintendent of Police Sampson Anane Appiah in charge of the Bibiani-Anhwiaso-Bekwai District told the Ghana News Agency that the incident occurred at about 1130 hours on Saturday when the mourners were on their way to the cemetery for burial. He said the five bodies, which were yet to be identified, had been deposited at Bibiani Hospital for autopsy.

Robber dies in exchange of gun fire with Police/Military patrol

Accra, Sept. 1,2008  GNA - The exchange of gun fire between a Police/Military team and some suspected armed robbers at
Darkuman in Accra at about 0100 hours on August 30 left one the suspects dead, police said in Accra on Monday. The body of the suspect, which is yet to be identified, has been deposited at the Police Hospital Mortuary.

Briefing journalists in Accra, Superintendent of Police Dennis Abade, Regional Crime Officer, said on August 30 Moses Ashie, 28, was driving a lady from Dansoman to Darkuman when three armed men in another taxi cab trailed them unnoticed.

He said as soon as the lady reached her destination and alighted, two men armed with a machete and a pistol ordered them to lie on the ground.

The men further asked them to surrender their mobile phones and they further collected 80 dollars, GHC 75.00 cedis, from Mr Ashie and sped off with his taxi cab.

The crime officer said Mr Ashie reported the matter to the Police at Kwashieman who quickly sent wireless messages around alerting the Military/Police Patrol Team.

Supt. Abade said at about 0230 hours, the patrol team spotted the stolen car at Sukura but they were unable to make out the members on board because the car had tainted glasses.

He said immediately the occupants of the car noticed the presence of the Police/Military team, they reversed and sped off. The patrol team pursued them and when they were closing in on them, the robbers opened fire.

The patrol team returned the fire and the robbers abandoned their vehicle. Supt. Abade said later during the day, the Police at Darkuman discovered the body of a male adult with gun shot wounds abandoned in Darkuman area.

He said the unidentified body has been deposited at Police Hospital Mortuary awaiting identification and autopsy. 

Wa hospital wants more staff and structures

Wa, Sept. 1, GNA - Dr Jacob Abebrese, Medical Director of the Wa Regional Hospital, has called for the provision of adequate facilities and training of more clinical staff, to meet the growing needs brought by various interventions in the medical sector. Programmes like the newly introduced free medical care for pregnant women and the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) were putting stress on hospital space and the few staff available, due to a huge surge in hospital attendance.

These must be addressed for the target groups to enjoy the full benefits of these schemes, Dr Abebrese said. He was speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at the hospital in Wa.

The Medical Director said there were only two gynaecologists in the hospital, with one of them being a Cuban who would leave for holidays in September.

Dr Abebrese added that of the 100 nurses in the hospital, 35 of them were midwives, none of whom was below 45 years of age. "This is against the fact that in July this year alone, 162 pregnant women registered with the hospital as against 147 for the whole of last year and 183 in 2006," he stated.

"Two hundred and seven pregnant women delivered at the hospital in July this year while for the whole of 2007, there were 156 deliveries and in 2006 the number was 142. Dr Abebrese noted that but for the satellite medical facilities in the Wa Municipality; the situation would have been too grave to cope with. He said delays in the payment of claims by the NHIS Secretariat were also a hindrance to the success of these laudable interventions.

Workers at Presidential Palace threaten strike

Accra, Sept. 1 GNA - Workers at the Presidential Palace under construction in Accra on Monday threatened to withdraw their services if their daily wage of GHC 3.00 is not increased.

The workers, chanting war songs at the site in Accra, said they had been cheated by the management of Shapoorji Pallonji, the Indian construction company, since work started.

Mr Henry Pappoe who spoke on behalf on the workers in an interview with GNA said the Indian officials working at the site were paid far higher than the Ghanaian artisans.

"The management has not increased the amount since we were employed. Aside that, they have not given us appointment letters or entered into an agreement with us to talk about when we will be ending our contract."

They have not given us identity cards but just a gate pass card which they collect at the close of work each day."

Mr. Pappoe noted that work at the Palace was about 98 per cent complete and many of the workers would be laid off. "Because these Indians do not want to pay the redundancy entitled to workers who will be laid off, management is now sacking many of our colleagues without any cause."

However, the Indian project coordinator said, "I will not comment on the issues. If you want any information go to the Castle." The 50-million dollar Presidential Palace at the Flagstaff House when completed would comprise the offices for the President, Vice-President and support staff.

It would also have a banquet hall and an underground water tank. There would be a commercial building which would be used for other activities such as banking services.

Veep lauds Busia as leader devoid of vengeance

Wenchi(B/A), Sept. 1, GNA - Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, on Sunday, lauded Ghana's late Prime Minister, Professor Kofi Abrefa Busia, for steering his administration from the pettiness of revenge that he suffered in his political career.

"Dr Busia fought to entrench development in freedom. It is that model that has helped us to chalk out the modest gains, which have repositioned Ghana." Vice President Mahama was speaking at an open -door commemorative church service at Wenchi in Brong Ahafo, which was organised by the Busia Foundation International to mark the 30th anniversary of the death of Prof Busia. It was attended by a cross section of people including ministers of state and chiefs.

The late Premier was born on July 11, 1913 at Wenchi and died in Oxford in the United Kingdom on August 28, 1978. Vice President Mahama noted that the most enduring aspect of Prof Busia's character was his selfless leadership and exemplary service to his community, nation and the world at large. "However, also very evident in this life of service is sacrifice and pain. His close and loved ones had to suffer in silence and great pain even as the fruit of his struggles benefited many other people," he said.

He quoted Naa Morkor Busia, former first lady, who recounted in a documentary on Prof Busia that, her family was denied accommodation in Accra by landlords for fear of reprisals from state security.

Vice President Mahama observed that those aspiring for public office ought to demonstrate humility, which is the hallmark of exemplary service. Prof Busia was forced into exile in 1959 by the Kwame Nkrumah administration and returned in 1966, when the government was overthrown by a military coup.

He formed the Progress Party and became Prime Minister in 1969 when his party won a general election. However in 1972, the National Redemption Council led by then Colonel Ignatius Kutu Acheampong overthrew his government.

Prof George Gyan-Baffour, Deputy Minister of Finance and Economic Planning and Member of Parliament for Wenchi, said the exemplary life of Prof Busia should enable politicians to embrace humility, honesty, care and respect for each other.

"We need to learn from him that freedom and liberty of our people are better ensured by a political system that is based on democratic ideals and the rule of law and that arbitraries and dictatorship are unaccepted under any circumstance. "Dialogue, listening to each other's views, tolerating dissent and agreeing to disagree are the fundamental foundation blocks for peaceful co-existence, which is essential for a prosperous nation building."

Prof Gyan-Baffour stressed: "We need to learn from him (Prof Busia) that even though democracy is so far the best system of government that mankind has evolved, it is still not at all an ideal system and that not all can enjoy its full benefits." Vice President Mahama paid a courtesy call on the family of Prof Busia, where he interacted with Nana Kusi Appeah, the only surviving brother of the former Prime Minister and laid a wreath on the tomb of the late Prime Minister.

Nana Ama Busia, sister of Prof Busia, Founder of the Busia Foundation and Member of the Council of State, commended Alhaji Mahama for his commitment to the activities of the Foundation since its inception 10 years ago.

Salga Market to be reconstructed - Nii Adjiri

Accra, Sept. 1, GNA - The Mayor of Accra, Stanley Nii Adjiri Blankson, on Monday called for the total co-operation of women at the Salaga Market in Accra to pave way for its demolition and reconstruction of a new one to resettle them. According to Nii Adjiri upon completion of the project the market would accommodate 800 traders compared to the 300 it houses now. The new market would include other important facilities like banks, pharmacy shops and floodlight to enable it to operate both day and night.

In addition, tourist spots and historical monuments in the area would also be developed to beautify the market, he said, at sensitization meetings at the market to educate market women on the reconstruction of the market into a multi-purpose commercial venture. Addressing the market women, the Mayor said the reconstruction, which had the approval of President Kufuor, was also his parting gift to the people of Accra Central, especially Bukom.

He told the market women that it had been the purpose of AMA to restore all broken down monuments and that it was against this background that he informed the women that President Kufuor had directed that the Accra Community Centre should be given back to the chiefs and people of Accra. Messrs Mamphey Developers Limited, contractor for the project, was introduced to the women. Earlier, Nii Adjiri called on the chief of the area Nii Owoo II and appealed to the chief and his people to support the project by co-operating with the contractors, especially as they carry building materials to site.

Source:

GNA