| News Home (Main Page) |  | | LATEST WORLD NEWS | | | | | NEWS ARCHIVE 2009 | | NEWS ARCHIVE 2008 | | NEWS ARCHIVE 2007 | | PHOTO REPORTS | | VIDEO REPORTS | | ARTS in GHANA | | Food & Drinks in Ghana |  | | Africa Cup 2008 | | Ghana Hotels | | Links / Websites | | Ghana Districts | | Ghana Tourism | | Ghana Adinkra | Names in Ghana | | | | * 07.05.2010 | NDC youth chase out health insurance officers * Source: GNA | Mampong (Ash), May 28, GNA - The youth of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Asante-Mampong Municipality, have chased out officials appointed to manage the Municipal Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS). The new officers had been sent by the Ashanti Regional Manager, Mr Afrifa Yamoah Ponkoh to replace the Municipal Scheme Manager, and two others, the Claims Manager and Claims Accountant, sacked for alleged involvement in fraudulent activities.
The party's youth insisted that it was not within the remit of Mr Yamoah Ponkoh to appoint officers for the MHIS, a position shared by the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Daniel Appau Ohyeamang. They have threatened street protests to prevent the Regional Scheme Manager's appointees from assuming duty.
Mr Ohyeamang told the Ghana News Agency, that the right to appoint rested with the Municipal Assembly's Interim Committee, chaired by the Municipal Coordinating Director and not Mr Yamoah Ponkoh. The Regional Manager could not be allowed to usurp the power of the committee, he said. Mr Ohyeamang said the Assembly would confer with Mr Kofi Opoku-Manu, the Regional Minister, to find a way out of the impasse. | First International Women's fair underway in Accra * Source:GNA | Accra, May 28, GNA - The first ever International Women's fair is underway in Accra to offer the platform for women to showcase their works and contributions to national development. The fair, being organised by the Creative Trends, local a Non Governmental Organisation, is attracting six women associations including the Prisons Ladies Association, the 31st December Women's Movement, Fire Service Ladies Association.
Other accomplished personalities, who graced the occasion, were Mrs Elizabeth Villars, Chief Executive Officer of Camelot, a security printing firm, Ms Alimata Abdul Karim, Programmes Manager of the Ghana Society for the Blind and Ms Anna Bossman, Deputy Commissioner, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice.
Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah, the Minister of Women and Children Affairs opened the fair and expressed the hope that it would be an eye-opener about things women were doing that had not come to the limelight. She said when such women were noticed, it would easy for them to be offered assistance.
The fair, which has been well patronized, saw the exhibition and the sale of items ranging from clothing, body lotions, pharmaceutical products, cleaning detergent and stationary. All exhibits are believed to be made by women. Creative Trends specializes in event management, tourism, marketing and advertising. | Livestock theft and burglary are high in Ghana - Survey * Source: GNA | Accra, May 28, GNA - A Survey carried out by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in four Metropolitan Assemblies, has indicated that stealing of livestock and burglary are the most common crimes accounting for 65 per cent of recorded cases.
The survey, which was carried out in Accra, Sekondi-Takoradi, Kumasi and Tamale Metropolis also identified car hijacking and kidnapping as the least crimes, which represented 27 per cent.
Mr Nkansah Yentumi Marfo, an official of the GSS who presented the report on the 2009 Crime Victimisation Survey at a seminar in Accra said property crimes were the most frequently experienced by respondents. He said in 2008, almost a quarter of car owners had something stolen from their vehicles whilst 18 per cent of livestock owners had some of their stock stolen.
He said rates of personal theft and burglary were also high ranging from six per cent to nine per cent while robbery accounted for three per cent of the proportion of the sample.
Four per cent of the respondents in the survey indicated that they were victims of assault and threats, one per cent were victims of sexual offences and less than one per cent, victims of kidnapping. He said approximately 47 per cent of the respondents in the study complained that they were cheated when buying something or requesting services and 13 per cent were asked to pay bribe to a public official thus becoming victims of corruption. Mr Johnson Owusu Kagya, another official from the GSS who made a presentation on "Attitudes, Perception and Crime Victimisation" said the survey revealed that 39 per cent of the respondents reported theft from cars to the Police with the intention to recover their property while 23 per cent reported basically for insurance. He said 15 per cent reported crime to the Police because they believed crime should be reported and another 15 per cent wanted the offenders to be caught.
On crime control and prevention, about 31 per cent of the respondents were of the opinion that the Police were doing a good job, while about a quarter of the respondents considered it fairly poor. He said more than 35 per cent of the respondents were not protected in any way and of those who had the facility, 37 per cent indicated that they made friendly arrangements with neighbours to watch each others house. Mr Kagya said about 19 per cent of the respondents indicated that they used special door locks, 15 per cent used special windows or door grilles, 14 per cent, high fence walls while 13 per cent used dogs to detect burglars.
Dr Grace Bediako, Government Statistician said crime statistics were very important in determining the burden of crime on the citizenry. She said the challenges of having good statistics had to do with whether people would report the crime to the Police or to the court. She said lack of interest by the citizenry to report crime, was making it difficult for the service to know the level of victimisation in the system.
"Whether people perceive crime as pervasive would depend on their level of contact with the crime," he added.
Mr Justice Benjamin Aryeetey, a Supreme Court Judge appealed to the government to resource the GSS to conduct a nationwide crime and victimisation survey to determine the level of crime and other offences in the country.
He said because some surveys did not reflect the opinions of the majority of the people they were sometimes skewed to portray the Judiciary, Police and Customs Exercise Preventive Service in a bad light. He expressed the hope that the GSS would conduct a future survey where all stakeholders would be invited to make inputs. | Govt should make hard choices ahead of oil flow - CEPA *Source: GNA | Accra, May 28, GNA - Dr Joseph Abbey, Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA), on Friday said government should make hard choices ahead of commercial oil production later this year to make it beneficial to all Ghanaians.
"Let us not base decisions and choices of effectively managing the oil on rhetoric since the oil exploration by itself does not guarantee jobs locally," he said.
"Donors and policy advisers should face the government with the various options and possibilities of managing the oil effectively as well as their consequences", Dr Abbey said, and asked donors and other government advisers not to prescribe solutions or answers to government based solely on the oil find.
Speaking at the launch of a publication, "The year 2010: From a Cocoa Economy to an Oil Economy," he said year 2010 was expected to mark a transition from 100 years of a cocoa economy to an oil economy and that it was important for Ghanaians to consider the opportunities as well as the challenges that could arise.
"We should not be deceived by the oil discovery, otherwise the oil find could destroy the economy through the neglect of our production sector," he said. Dr Abbey explained that if the above happened, Ghana would be affected by what was called a "Dutch Disease", an economic jargon used to describe a situation where majority of the population have access to foreign exchange which results in high importation and low local productivity. This means that other sectors of the economy like the tourism sector, agriculture and industry as a whole would suffer to the benefit of the oil exploration, he said.
He further noted that an effective management of the exchange rate was very critical to the success of the oil production in Ghana and mentioned that the current appreciation of the Ghana Cedi against the major currencies such as the US dollar, the Euro and the Pound Sterling indicated early signs of the "Dutch Disease" which he described as "a resource curse". He said Ghana as a country should focus on economic growth and think about unborn generations rather than focusing on the current well-being at the expense of future jobs.
"We should begin to quantify what the real size of the oil is? How much revenue will the country generate? How much of the oil revenue should be saved for future generations?" Dr Abbey said. He added that issues related to the oil find and its management should be discussed devoid of partisan politics and urged politicians to be level headed in their analysis and treat the oil as a facilitation resource. "A resource that would supplement the main economy and not the only source of the economy," he declared.
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| Latest Ghana News and Ghana TV News of Friday, 28.05. 2010 WEEK 21 - 2010 | * Latest Ghana News and Ghana TV News of Friday, 28 May 2010 | | Ministry of Tourism launches International Investment Forum * Source: GNA | Accra, May 28, GNA - The Ministry of Tourism in partnership with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre on Friday launched the International Tourism Investment Forum with the aim to boost and lift domestic and international tourism in Ghana.
The forum scheduled for July 26 to August 1, this year, at the Accra International Conference Centre would be under the theme "Ghana: Time to Explore the role of the investor in the tourism sector". The program would bring together over 500 delegates comprising government officials, policy makers, corporate executives, potential investors from both local and international markets to discuss issues concerning tourism and how to position Ghana as the preferred tourist destination.
Mr Kwabena Owusu Acheampong, Deputy Minister of Tourism, who launched the forum, said tourism was considered as the most promising sector of the national economy and a potentially high income earner for the country. He said tourism was multifaceted and that a conscious effort had to be made to tap its potentials in job creation, as well as reap benefits in income generation for all. Mr Acheampong said the forum would explore ways to improve access to Ghana, upgrade existing tourist facilities, services, and sites that would help develop new ones and enhance the internal infrastructure to support tourism.
The forum will review the institutional structures of tourism, including both the private and public sector organisations, and coordinate its mechanisms, tourism legislation and regulations, and tourism manpower planning and development, he said.
He added that the development of eco-tourism, the use of tourism to promote sustainable development and poverty reduction, as well as regional cooperation in developing and marketing tourism would also be reviewed. Mr Acheampong urged local investors to take advantage of the forthcoming forum and strike deals with international counterparts and partners in the tourism value-chain to enable the country to reap the expected benefits from the industry.
Nana Kofi Adjei Twinin, President of the Ghana Tourism Federation (GHATOF), said for the sector to become the leading foreign exchange earner and to create job opportunities and wealth for the people, there was the need for government to really discover the role of the investor in the industry.
Nana Twinin called on government to check bureaucracies, delays and frustrations investors go through during documentation to do business in the country, since investors would like to operate in a safe and congenial environment to maximize returns on their investments. He also appealed to government to expedite action on the passage of the Tourism Bill which would serve as a blue print for the accelerated growth of the sector.
Mr George Aboagye, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Investment Promotion Centre, said the event would provide excellent networking opportunities to showcase the potentials in the industry. "At the end of the event, domestic and international tourism would be given the desired attention by all key players and collaborative efforts should be offered to the sector to ensure its full development" he added. | | Marley Memorabilia Lost In Ghana Fire * Source: Daily Graphic | Rita Marley, widow of reggae legend Bob Marley, has told Ghanaian media that several valuable pieces of personal items were destroyed by a fire which gutted her state-of-the-art studio in that country last Saturday.
Marley said original master tapes of her husband's music were destroyed in the blaze, so too footage of him performing in concert. She added that the property and studio were valued at US$20 million.
Marley, the report said, had recently returned to the west African country. Work on the studio was completed in early 2009 and was due for commissioning later that year but was postponed because the Marley matriarch was away on business.
Marley did not speak of any plans to rebuild the facility but was reportedly critical of the response of the local fire station which, she said, was late on the scene despite its close proximity to the studio.
The Marley studio, which is located near Aburi in southeastern Ghana, is the latest high-profile complex to be destroyed by fire in Ghana, where Rita Marley has owned a home since the late 1990s.
The official bungalow of former president Jerry John Rawlings, the ministry of foreign Affairs building, Electoral Commission offices, ministry of information and Tema Oil Refinery have also been badly damaged by fire.
Initial reports
Ghanaian police have not said if the incidents are connected. Initial reports said the fire at the Marley studio may have been caused by an electrical fault.
Rita Marley, who lives in the city of Accra, has been involved in several musical and humanitarian projects in Ghana. The best known of these is the Africa Unite concerts which are staged by her Rita Marley Foundation.
The concerts include photo exhibitions of Bob Marley as well as symposiums examining his work. Africa Unite, which is held in February to mark the reggae superstar's birthday, was held in Ghana in 2006.
It has also been staged in Ethiopia and South Africa. | Ghana gets first mobile phone assembling company * Source: GNA | Accra, May 28, GNA - rLG Communications, Ghana's first mobile phone assembling company, has started operations in the country with a promise to give jobs to 30,000 youth from the National Youth Employment Programme by the close of the year.
Mr Roland Agambire, Chief Executive Officer of the company, said "rLG Communications has already concluded plans for the construction of a state of the art multi-purpose mobile phone assembling plant in Ghana, the first of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa."
The new assembling plant would be located within the Spintex industrial area.
Mr Agambire said the company was also implementing the ICT module of the NYEP under which it is to train a million young people, out of which it had already trained 10,000 in ICT, sales and marketing. He said the company had 18 different brands comprising the G-series and the r-series of phones, adding that since it started assembling phones locally six months ago, it had already captured 30 per cent of the local phone market.
"We are looking forward to capturing 80 per cent of the market by the close of the year, particularly because of the feedback we get from patrons of our r-72 phone, which looks very much like Nokia E72." rLG phones recently signed a $2.5 million contract with Chinese software and telecom infrastructure manufacturer, Huawei, to help produce 100,000 phones in Ghana.
Mrs Millicent Atuguba, Communications Manager of rLG, told the GNA that Huawei was only in to give technical advice but the actual manufacture of parts and assembling was being done by Ghanaian technicians. The company also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Hong Kong-based laptop manufacturer, Ke Zhi Guang (KZG) Holding Limited, for the production of mobile phones in Ghana for the African, Asian and European markets at a contract sum worth a billion dollars. Mrs. Atuguba said even though rLG phones were assembled in Ghana, they were already popular in Asia.
She assured the public that rLG phones were not only sleek but also durable, saying "our phones are more durable than some of the world acclaimed big brands.
"In spite of the fact that our phones are durable, they come with a two-year warranty - when a customer returns a phone we will just change it for you and recycle the one you returned locally," she said. rLG phones look very sleek, like any of the smart phones from the big and popular brands like Nokia, Samsung, Blackberry and others, but rLG phones are far cheaper in terms of price. "Our phones are durable," Company CEO Mr Agambire said, but because the phones have been on the market for only six months, their durability is yet to be confirmed. | Police Informant Escapes Assassination Attempt * Source: The Herald | By Kingsley Mawuli Dogbey**
The Assembly Member for Adeheta electoral area in the Akatsi District of the Volta Region, has come under what he considers a planned attack to eliminate him in order to prevent him from giving information to the Akatsi police about the recent murder of a madman allegedly for ritual purposes.
The attack has however claimed the life of Mr. Daniel Adaku, wife, Favour Nyamedi, 24, who died with a three month old pregnancy, with his three-year –old son sustaining serious injuries.
Mr. Adaku, who was scheduled to lead the police last Friday to a suspected hide-out of Moses Fogbe aka Palango, one of the murder suspects, was involved in an accident on Wednesday, May 12, 2010, two days to the agreed date.
Although the Akatsi Police refused to link the accident to the assemblyman’s expose on the ritual murder, he insists he has become a target for those behind the murder of the madman hence needs police protection while the case is pursued and the perpetrators brought to book.
It would be recalled that The Herald on Monday, May 10, this year reported on a ritual killing at Akatsi in which four persons, including a woman, were apprehended by the police for allegedly murdering and beheading a 65- year-old mentally deranged man, Gbevitor Kofi Husunukpi, on the Akatsi-Wute road.
According to the assemblyman, he and his family were knocked down on his motorbike on that Wednesday at about 6pm while coming from the deceased’s village.
The ironic situation according to Mr. Adaku, was that the driver of the Hyundai Grace with registration number GW 8150 V, called Ahia, abandoned the vehicle later at Ziope, and has since absconded without reporting the incident to the police.
The driver also comes from Agornikope, near Sremanu where Agozi, one of the suspects alleged to have sent home a parcel containing a human head with one other person by Moses Fogbe, alias Palango, on the run, also hails. The assemblyman believes it was a plot to deliberately eliminate him.
He said, on-lookers, including his brothers, went and reported the incident to the owner of the car Mr. Holy Agbemanya, who in turn called the driver on phone, and told them that the driver had said he was not going to return to the town as a result of the incident.
Meanwhile information reaching The Herald indicates that Moses Fogbe, has moved from his former Senziri base in Nzemaland where the Assemblyman was supposed to lead the police, to Ainyinase near Vokano, the capital of Nzema in the Ellembele District of Western Region.
In the substantive case, the Akatsi District Magistrate Court presided over by his Lordship, Francis A. Ana Ann, last week Friday remanded the suspects in prison custody to help the police with their investigations. | Akufo-Addo Campaign "Lie" * Source: The Herald | *NANA ADDO IN A DIRTY LIE*
· *8 years After Gabby’s “Why Mills Is A Poodle” Article*
· *As He Is Haunted By The Ghost Of His Own Newspaper’s Deeds *
By Larry-Alans Dogbey
Investigations by this paper has revealed that the Nana Akufo-Addo Campaign made a farce or indeed lied about his image on a poster purportedly designed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Ashanti Regional Second Vice Chairman, Kwabena Nsenkyire in Kumasi, which raised tension in the country and almost resulted in an attack on a radio station.
This paper’s probe revealed that unlike the widely condemned “Why Mills Is A Poodle” article published On December 3, 2002 by the defunct *Statesman Newspaper*, coincidentally owned by Nana Akufo-Addo, and edited by his zealous cousin, Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko, Nana Addo’s picture was not distorted as claimed by his campaign team.
Whereas Nana Addo’s *Statesman newspaper* chopped off the head of a Poodle, a member of the dog family and replaced it with the head of Prof. Mills, The Herald’s analysis of the picture revealed that the photograph that the NPP presidential aspirant is running from was not manipulated as Gabby Otchere-Darko did over seven years ago.
Nana Addo’s picture was taken at the swearing-in ceremony of then President Elect, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills at the Independence Square at Accra, on January 7, 2009, except that he did not pose for the camera.
Gabby, who now runs the NPP-affiliated Danquah Institute, had returned from London at the time with lots of fire in his head and simply took issues with Prof. Mills, denigrated and portrayed him as a dog just for calling for the resignation of the three men who led the NPP government’s team in negotiating the ill-famed ‘hair saloon’ $1billion IFC loan.
A careful study of the photograph perhaps represents the exact mood in which the failed presidential aspirant was at the time, having missed the presidency by whiskers, arriving at the venue of the ceremony spotting a neatly ironed ash-striped suit, a cream tie and a white shirt, with some well-built bodyguards behind him in the photograph.
He did not pose for the picture in dispute, unlike the one used for his 2008 presidential contest in which high quality cameras and state-of-the-art lights were placed on him and told to display a well-arranged face and an infectious smile exposing an envious white tooth which some say are artificial.
Many pictures might have been taken of Nana Addo during the ceremony, but it is only two which are in circulation and one of these was what the NPP vice chairman, Mr. Nsenkyire used for the posters for Nana Addo.
In both pictures, the candidate was on his feet and appears to be speaking to someone upon arrival at the Independent Square. In the background was a red-carpet which all the dignitaries had walked on to their seats to witness the swearing-in of now President Mills.
Additional findings by this paper revealed that there are many pictures of the aspirant in circulation, particularly on the Internet, and some of these best meet his own claim that he is “not so handsome.”
Nana Addo’s denial of the image has led to tension between followers of the NPP and the ruling National Democratic Congress in Kumasi, following the unfortunate description of President Mills as a chimpanzee by an NPP social commentator, Alexander Adu Gyamfi, 37-year-old French teacher who claimed he speaks for Nana Akufo-Addo*.** *
Kumasi Police, who effected his arrest, have set him free following an order from President Mills that he was not interested in the case because he wants to focus on his better Ghana agenda. | NADMO dispatches relief items to Bunkrugu displaced persons * Source: GNA | Tamale, May 28, GNA - The National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), in the Northern Region, on Thursday dispatched three vehicles loaded with quantities of relief items valued at thousands of Ghanaian cedis to the victims of the Bunkrugu/Yunyoo conflict.
The items which were received from the national office includes; 200 packets of roofing sheets, 30 packets of roofing nails, 3,000 pieces of poly mats, 200 pieces of plastic bowls, 200 plastic bu ckets, 100 cartons of soap and ten bales of men jeans trousers and shirts. Others are; ten bales of ladies dresses, ten bales of boy's 'T' shirts and trousers, ten bales of girl's skirts and men T' shirts, five bales of ladies blouses, 400 pieces of student's mattresses and 15 large size tents. The Northern Regional Coordinator of NADMO, Alhaji Mahama Abdulai Silimboma, told the GNA that the items were part of the government's consignment to the displaced people of Bunkrugu/Yoyoo district of the Northern region as a result of the conflicts in the area. He said more support from the government and other development organizations are also expected to be added. Alhaji Silimboma urged the displaced people who had cross the boarder to Northern Togo to return to Bunkrugu, adding that, the people of the area must also understand that it is only through peace that there can be progress.
He appealed for more support from development organizations and donor agencies, to come to the aid of the people to complement government's efforts.
The people of Kumbatiac and Gbankoni and other communities of the Bunkrugu/Yunyoo had for sometime being engaged in communal and chieftaincy clashes, resulting in loss of lives and the burning down of several houses. The latest of such incidents has made some of the people in the area to flee to the nearby Togolese towns for safety. This has however sparked international media reportage that 3,500 Ghanaian refugees had fled to Northern Togo, an accession the government of Ghana had refuted. | Continue to use dialogue in settlement of disputes - Interior Minister * Source: GNA | Wa, May 28, GNA - Mr. Martin Amidu, Minister of Interior has appealed to the people of Upper West Region to continue to use dialogue and other legal channels in the settlement of all disputes. He asked them to discourage the use of violence no mater how serious a dispute could be, saying, "all conflicts are created by human beings and not by divine creation.
"Man should therefore learn to resort to appropriate mechanisms to resolve them whenever the need arises," he said. Mr. Amidu said this when he briefed members of the media in Wa, on Thursday at the start of his two-day official visit to the region. He said the visit would afford him the opportunity to acquaint himself with the challenges being faced by all the security enforcement agencies that were operating under his Ministry in the region. The Minister said the Upper West Region, though the youngest among all the ten regions in the country, had taken the lead in showing the road to peace and urged the other regions to emulate them. Mr. Amidu said "there may be instances of misunderstanding between groups, individuals and institutions, but that has not denied the people the peaceful atmosphere they are now enjoying".
According to the Interior Minster, it was as a result of this that he chose to visit the region first, since he took over the Ministry this year. He expressed the intent to find out how the Regional Security Council (REGSEC), the Police and the Peace Advisory Committee, had managed the conflict situations, and to see how that could be replicated among other regions. Mr. Amidu commended the security enforcement agencies especially the Police for conducting themselves professionally in handling minor security cases. He also thanked the NDC regional executives for exhibiting a high sense of maturity in handling the recent distasteful activities by foot soldiers of the party, and urged them to keep it up to protect the integrity of the party. He said while using the police to forestall peace, there was also the need to search for alternative dispute resolution mechanisms and institutionalize them, for people to refer to them when settling disputes. Mr. Amidu said power over regional security issues were vested in the regional security councils, and said government would therefore not relent in its efforts to empower them to function properly across the country. Mr. Moses Bukari Mabengba, acting Upper West Regional Minister, also commended the media for the good reportage that had helped in promoting peace in the region, and urged them to continue to do so to bring about the needed development to the region. | Indemnity Clauses To Go? * Source: Daily Graphic | - Referendum Likely, Says Review Commission Ghana may be heading for a national referendum to amend some of the most entrenched clauses of the 1992 Constitution, the Constitution Review Commission (CRC) has hinted.
With more than 6,000 proposals so far received by the body set up by the President to collate data and views for amendments to the Constitution, it said it was within reach of the threshold where a referendum might be required.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic in Accra, the Executive Secretary of the CRC, Dr Raymond Atuguba, said majority of the issues of public concern touched on the excessive powers of the President, the reduced powers of Parliament and chieftaincy, as well as other entrenched portions of the Constitution.
Under the Constitution, the President appoints all ministers and, in consultation with the Council of State, appoints virtually all heads of state departments and agencies.
Article 78(1) also mandates the President to appoint, with the prior approval of Parliament, majority of ministers of state from Parliament.
The transitional provisions sought to ensure a smooth transition from the government of the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) to a democratic dispensation under the Fourth Republic by providing for the continuation in office of certain officers and institutions.
However, Section 34 of the transitional provisions indemnifies all coup makers and their functionaries against any liability for acts and omissions committed during their administration.
Those, according to Dr Atuguba, attracted the most concern from the public.
He said to achieve the objective of the review process, there would be the need for the government to increase its share of the commission’s budget, adding that it had urged the government to increase its funding from 20 per cent to 40 per cent.
He said that was to enable the commission to increase the number of its researchers from five to 12 to enable them to reach all the districts of the country to educate, inform and elicit views from the people.
He said there would also be the need to engage external expertise to look at some of the specialised areas in the Constitution touched on by the public.
Earlier, the Media and Events Manager of the CRC, Papa Kow Acquaye, said the commission had almost completed the first round of education, information and eliciting of views on the review in five regions, namely, Upper East, Brong Ahafo, Northern Volta and Eastern.
He said the exercise was in line with the commission’s operational strategy of organising community level consultations, in collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education, the district assemblies and the National House of Chiefs, to promote grass-roots mobilisation and participation.
He said the second round of the exercise would start in two weeks’ time in the Central, Western, Ashanti, Greater Accra and Upper West regions.
Papa Acquaye explained that in each region, the team spent two days, during which it met with selected stakeholders and the public. He called on the media to support the work of the commission by extensively covering its events and programmes.
The Consultant Manager of the CRC, Madam Noreen Nortey, said it would conduct regional town hall meetings in all the 10 regions of the country from August to November 2010.
She said the commission intended to engage specialised and identifiable bodies, such as former Heads of State, Parliament, especially its sub-committee on Constitutional, Parliamentary and Legal Affairs, the Judiciary, political parties, the media, experts of constitutional law and practice, traditional authorities and other stakeholders.
She said the CRC, through a collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, would engage Ghana’s foreign missions to receive submissions from Ghanaians living abroad, adding that they might also make their submissions by e-mail and on the website of the commission.
Madam Nortey said the climax of the consultative review process would be a national constitutional review conference, indicating that the conference would bring together stakeholders and experts from Ghana and abroad. | Cape Coast to get Court of Appeal soon * Source: GNA | Cape Coast, May 28, GNA - The Lady Chief Justice, Justice Mrs Georgina Wood, on Thursday announced that Cape Coast would soon be provided with a Court of Appeal to serve the judicial needs of the Central and Western Regions.
She said it was appropriate for at least two regions to share an Appeal Court so as to ease the tension of those in Accra and Kumasi. Justice Mrs Wood said this at a stakeholders' forum held on a proposed new court complex for Cape Coast.
The forum, which was attended by chiefs, lawyers, judges and a cross-section of the public, was to among others collect valuable inputs into how a new court complex for the Cape Coast Metropolis should be developed.
She said to redeem the past glory of Cape Coast, and as a matter of fact, the West African Court of Appeal (WACA) used to sit in Cape Coast, adding that with the University starting a Law School soon, it was imperative to have a respectable and vibrant court of Appeal in the region which the law students could use for their practicals.
The Chief Justice said it was her vision to improve access to justice in Ghana which include court reforms as an intervention and that her main strategy to achieve this vision and also bring justice to the doorsteps of the ordinary citizens of Ghana, was to provide modern court houses and chambers as well as offices for supporting staff to work in. She said the proposed new court complex would, in addition, provide office space for staff including a clinic and other facilities for staff of the service that had to work under a difficult environment. She said the new court complex would be designed taking into consideration the needs of all sectors of the society, especially giving equal accessibility to physically challenged persons.
Touching on the oil find, Justice Mrs Wood said "I have great hope that Ghana will manage her oil revenue so well that benefits to the entire nation will be evident in the future," and that the Central Region with its close proximity to the Western Region, could not be left out of this blessing. "For this reason the judiciary must position itself in readiness for the increased number of civil and criminal cases likely to arise from the economic growth to follow," she added.
She commended the Civil Servants Association of Ghana for releasing a parcel of land for the proposed court complex and tasked lawyers to be up and doing in their work since the provision of new facilities would go with more responsibilities.
The Central Regional Minister, Mrs Ama Benyiwa-Doe, noted that the construction of the new court complex will go a long way to address the critical accommodation requirements with the Judicial Service in Cape Coast. She lauded the idea and called on all stakeholders to support it in order to bring justice to the doorsteps of every Ghanaian. She gave the assurance that the Regional Co-ordinating Council will support and monitor the development of the project to its successful completion.
For her part, the Supervising High Court Judge for Cape Coast, Mrs Justice Francesca Owusu Arhin, said Cape Coast, which currently had five High Courts, three Circuit Courts and a Magistrate Court, needed an additional Magistrate Court. She said the project which was a modern day one, required communal ownership and that there was the need to instil in the community it was situated a sense of ownership. |
_____________________________________________________ ----- | | | Friday, 28 May 2010 | | - Ministry of Tourism launches International Investment Forum - Marley Memorabilia Lost In Ghana Fire - Ghana gets first mobile phone assembling company - Police Informant Escapes Assassination Attempt - Akufo-Addo Campaign "Lie" - NADMO dispatches relief items to Bunkrugu displaced persons - Continue to use dialogue in settlement of disputes - Interior Minister - Indemnity Clauses To Go? - Cape Coast to get Court of Appeal soon - Veep calls for deadline in the registration of Muslim pilgrims - International conference on Cross-Disease Consensus, Disability opens - Chief Inspector Alidu resigns from NPP - NDC youth chase out health insurance officers - First International Women's fair underway in Accra - Livestock theft and burglary are high in Ghana - Survey - Thousands protest poor mobile phone services - Parliament breaks the jinx of late start - Govt should make hard choices ahead of oil flow - CEPA | Your Opinions | Have Your Say!
| Archived News for 2010 | Go to 06.05.2010 | News Page was last modified on Saturday, 29 May 2010 17:30:17 | 
| All about the Ghana Election 2008 | | | | * Friday, 07 May 2010 | Veep calls for deadline in the registration of Muslim pilgrims * Source: GNA | Accra, May 28, GNA - Vice President John Dramani Mahama on Friday called on National Hajj Agents Association to provide a deadline for the registration of all prospective pilgrims in order to avoid the perennial difficulties in the connection of flights. He asked the association to assist pilgrims who cannot pay their air tickets in bulk to do so by instalments.
Vice President Mahama made the call when members of the association called on him at the Osu Castle to present their report for the 2009 pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He explained that last year the Hajj Committee had to charter emergency flights for pilgrims, which caused them a great deal of money because their number was underestimated.
"You should be able to have a cut-off date so that we can know the actual number of people who are travelling before contacting the airlines for the pilgrimage."
The Vice President said this year government planned to provide identification tags for all pilgrims so that they can easily be identified in Mecca in case they lost their bearings in the performance of their religious duties.
He called on the association to educate the pilgrims to stick to standard baggaging by not exceeding the stipulated kilogrammes granted by the airlines to attract penalties. Mr. Alhassan Mahama, Chairman of the association commended the government for facilitating a successful pilgrimage last year and expressed the hope that such a feat would be replicated this year. He however appealed to the government to help the body to clear the backlog of pilgrims who were unable to travel since 2006. "The erection of the Hajj Village at the El-Wak stadium and the airlifting of Muslims from the North to Accra and later on to Saudi Arabia actually promoted the image of Muslims in the country and we hope that such cordial relations. will continue." | International conference on Cross-Disease Consensus, Disability opens * Source: GNA | Accra, May 28, GNA - Experts from Europe, Asia and Africa are meeting in Accra, Ghana, to discuss new approaches and develop guidelines to improve wound care, lymphodema management and disability. Over 40 experts are attending the first International Cross-Disease Consensus Conference on Disability under the theme "Legs to stand on" to find and develop guidelines and basic tools that would enhance service provision and ensure the best of care for affected patients. Some of the cross-diseases which include sickle cell, diabetes, buruli ulcer, elephantiasis and leprosy if not treated and managed properly, could result in ulcers and bring discomfort and disability to patients. Speakers at the conference agreed that self-care was very important as it empowered people to take care of themselves and develop responsibility of their own well-being, as well as using local raw materials in making foot wears that were cost effective, comfortable and convenient to persons with wounds and ulcers.
Dr Kyei Faried, Head of Disease Control and Prevention, Ghana Health Service (GHS), observed that the world was challenged by the rising burden of morbidity, premature death, disability and increasing cost of health and noted that in developing countries such as Ghana, many still suffered from disabling diseases eliminated elsewhere in the world, while grappling with increasing prevalence of non-communicable diseases. He said reported cases and deaths from cardiovascular, diabetes and cancer had seen dramatic increases in the last decade, while deaths from non-communicable diseases account for 40 per cent of institutional deaths in Ghana, yet documentation of disability associated with diabetes and stroke was inadequate.
Dr Faried noted that control of buruli ulcer, which caused pain, suffering and disability, particularly to children, had made significant progress with the introduction of antibiotic treatment. However, the disease still posed a serious challenge to its sufferer, he said, adding that the control programme registered many stage III cases every year. Most districts in Ghana have achieved the WHO leprosy elimination target of one per 10,000 populations, yet in 2009, 636 cases were registered at a prevalence rate of 0.29/10,000 in the northern part of the country, increasing the possibility of disability from late reporting. Diabetic foot, filariais, buruli ulcer and leprosy compromised by chronic wound and edema if not well managed, could cause serious disability and in some cases might lead to amputation, thus deepening the pain and agony of the sufferer, he said.
He added that weak or non-existent surveillance for some neglected tropical diseases and non-communicable, poor follow on cases, poor documentation and minimal use of services data for decision making were other factors.
Dr Mary Jo Geye, a physical therapist of the University of Pittsburgh, USA, and Project Director, said when the guidelines were put together, Ghana would become a pilot country for the treatment of cross-diseases and later replicated in other countries. She said though the project would cost millions of dollars, funding would be vigorously sought to make it a success, adding that there was the need for government and NGOs to share recourses and protocols. "It is unfortunate how monies are put into HIV and AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria while cross-diseases that are detrimental to health system are neglected and require a proactive approach to life long diseases," Dr Geye added.
In an Interview with the Ghana News Agency, Dr Sammuel Etuaful, Consultant, University of Pittsburgh, said over the years health conferences addressed specific diseases and what made this unique was its focus on a number of diseases, especially those whose outcomes resulted in ulcers. He noted that conditions that led to these ulcers, when managed well, would prevent disabilities. Therefore, the conference sought to integrate treatment for such diseases and put ideas together and come out with guidelines.
"Those with diabetes were 25 times at risk of amputation than those who do not have it and need early diagnosis and treatment," he added. Dr Edwin Ampadu, Programme Manager of Buruli Ulcer at the Ghana Health Service, said it was imperative to develop approaches to address such problems and noted that the team of experts who visited some parts of the country had identified certain materials on the Ghanaian market that could be used to make life meaningful for persons with wounds, ulcers and disabilities.
Mr Sam Okudzeto, Trustee of Rotary Foundation, said rotary was involved in financing expenses for some of the participants through the Foundation's Group Study Exchange Programme (GSE).
He said Rotary had 32,000 clubs in more than 200 countries and geographical areas, conducting projects to address current challenges including illiteracy, disease, hunger, poverty, the lack of potable water and environmental concerns, while encouraging high ethical standards in all vocation.
Mr Okudzeto said the conference was in line with the vocational training programme of rotary under the Future Vision Plan and expressed the hope that the visit by the GSE team would act as a model for future vocational training teams.
| Chief Inspector Alidu resigns from NPP * Source: GNA | Accra, May 28, GNA - Police Chief Inspector Alhaji Muhammad Alidu (Rtd), former Propaganda and Publicity Secretary of East Ayawaso Constituency of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), on Friday announced his resignation from the party.
In a letter to the General Secretary of the party copied to Ghana News Agency in Accra, Chief Inspector Alidu said: "I humbly wish to inform you of my resignation from the NPP with immediate effect purely on principle."
It said due to pronouncements by Nana Ohene Ntow, former General Secretary and Mr Kwame Pianim, a founding member of the party: "I consider it extremely difficult to come to terms with such acts which tend to subject the NPP to public ridicule, odium and contempt."
Chief Inspector Alidu, who was a former member of the Research and Communications Committee of Greater Accra Regional Secretariat of NPP said: "I also found the decision by the leadership of NPP, on Mr Pianim as unacceptable because it sought to seriously undermine the unity and forward match of the party."
"I consider Mr Pianim and Nana Ohene Ntow's acts, as coming from stomach politicians and should be treated as such. Since I cannot belong to party of stomach politicians, I have no alternative than to resign from the party. This I do with immediate effect, purely on principle," he added. He said having participated in the country's politics since 31st December Revolution of 1981, "it is about time I take a decision to formally retire from partisan politics. The date for my retiring from Ghana's politics will be announced in due course," the statement said. | Thousands protest poor mobile phone services * Source: iStockAnalyst | | ACCRA, May 27, --Thousands of mobile phone users took to the streets of Accra on Thursday to show their disapproval and displeasure with the poor services by mobile telecommunication companies operating in the country. The Consumer Protection Agency (CPA), together with other consumer right groups, called on all mobile phone users in the country to switch off their mobile phones from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. local time on Thursday as part of its protest to express their demand for quality services from mobile phone service providers, MTN, Tigo, Kasapa, Vodafone, and Zain in the West African country.
Protesters gathered at the famous Kwame Nkrumah circle at the down town area, where they were briefed by their leaders on the routes and regulations for the demonstration.
The organizers made sure that all protesters put off their mobile phones as a warning sign to the operators that their services were nothing to write home about before they embarked on the protest march.
The demonstrators, mostly students, danced and sang as they passed through the main streets of the capital city with placards, some of which read "we are tired of your poor services", "stop tricky promotions" and "MTN, Tigo, Kasapa, Vodafone and Zain, the value is the same."
A heavy presence of armed policemen guaranteed the safety of both the organizers and protestors.
The protest ended at the premises of the Ministry of Communications, where the head of the CPA, Nana Prempeh Aduhene, on behalf of the protesters, presented a petition to the deputy communications minister, Dr Nartey Siaw Sapore.
Sapore assured the gatherers that the Ghanaian government would look into the petition and take necessary actions.
He said the government would ensure that telecom operators in the country did not short-change Ghanaian mobile phone users.
Prempeh Aduhene told Xinhua that the response they got from the public during the demonstration was an indication that Ghanaians were indeed fed up with the poor services of the telecom companies.
He said the agency would embark on a second demonstration to serve as a reminder if the Ghanaian authorities failed to caution and sanction the operators for their poor services to the general public.
Experts in the communications industry in Ghana estimated that the six-hour off-phone protest would cost the telecom companies a total loss of 6 million U.S. dollars in revenue.
Some protesters said that they anticipated total transformation and rightness in the operations of the telecom companies. | Parliament breaks the jinx of late start * Source: GNA | Accra, May 28, GNA - Parliament broke the jinx of its late start of proceedings on Friday, when sitting started nearly on time with members expressing their happiness and hope that time would henceforth be respected in the House.
At about 1015 hours (just 15 minutes ahead of time) proceedings begun in the House, with less than twenty legislators present from both side. Ghana's Parliament for some time now is noted for its late start of proceedings. Usually sitting starts at 1100 hours and beyond.
Other members, who joined proceedings later, were surprised at the "early" start because the day being Friday, they thought the House will sit at the "usual" (1100 hours and beyond) time.
The press gallery was also almost empty when proceeding started with just about 15 per cent of the total number of parliamentary press corps present.
Some journalists told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) parliamentary correspondent that they did not normally come early because of the late start of sitting most of the time.
In his reaction, Mr Cletus Apul Avoka, Majority Leader in presenting the business of the week, stated that those days that parliament commenced late, were over.
The lateness, he said, normally occurred as a result of some problems leadership of the House mostly encountered and gave the assurance that such occurrences were over.
He said from now on proceedings would start at exactly 1000 hours and told members to comply.
Six questions were tabled to which Mr Joe Gidisu Minister for Roads and Highways responded.
On what his Ministry was doing to provide additional toll booths at the other ends of the Adomi and Sogakope bridges to avoid queuing, the Minister said a temporary toll booth had been provided at the Juapong end of the bridge to avoid vehicle coming from queuing at the main toll booth at the Atimpoku end.
He said the Ministry had decided to convert the temporary toll booth into a permanent one which would be captured in the 2011 budget. He noted that the Adomi Bridge especially was in a distress situation as a result of the excessive axle load. Mr Gidisu said in order to increase the life span of the bridge pending its rehabilitation there was the need to place a limit on the axle of the vehicles using the bridge.
He said the life span of Sogakope Bridge, which spanned the Lower Volta River, would be enhanced by constructing a toll booth at the Sokpoe start of the bridge, which was expected to be implemented under the 2011 budget. Most of the questions were on feeder roads, which were said to be in deplorable states.
Mr Gidisu gave the assurance that when funds were available, such roads would be rehabilitated but added that those needed maintenance would be attended to until their construction. Such roads include Asankragua Nyame Nnae feeder road, Dedieso-Juaboso road, Bibiani town roads, Awaso-Bekwai section of the Awaso -Nobekaw road, Fomena town roads and the status of 42 km road project around Lake Bosomtwe. |
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