* Wednesday, 13 January 2010

NDC Top Gun Rallies Against JJ, Wife

* Source: The Enquirer

 A head of the national delegates congress of the National Democratic congress (NDC) scheduled to take place in Tamale in the northern region, a member of the party is calling on the delegates to reject contestants perceived to be aligned to the former first couple.

According to Mr Prince Diawuo, who is the Propaganda Secretary of the NDC in the Asunafo North Constituency in the Brong Ahafo Region, candidates known to belong to former President Rawlings and his wife have certain agenda they want to pursue in the party.

“Those vying for various positions with links with the former first couple should not be voted for at all because they have something under their sleeves,” he said. Mr Diawuo, who was speaking in an interview with The Enquirer in Accra, said that the future of the NDC depended so much on who and who are voted for various positions at the forthcoming Tamale congress.

“That future will be good for the party if those who owe allegiance to former President Rawlings are made not to get anywhere closer to the party at all,” he said. He said that current ranting and doing of people closer to Rawlings should send strong signals to the delegates not vote for them.

“Rawlings has had his term as president and we all supported him and it is the time of Professor Mills and we must all support him for the NDC to succeed,” he said. He told The Enquirer that although certain things may not look to some members of the NDC, the right avenues must be used, instead of attacking the President.

“Rawlings at the time he was the president did lots of things that were not right but we the members of the party gave him the needed support and so must we do for Prof. Mills,” he said.

Mr Diawuo said that the NDC is now in a position that it would be wrong for anybody to impose his or her ideas on the president. “Even in our various homes it is not every time that the father, who is the head of the family, can impose measures on the children. “We need to accept that things have changed with time and things must be done to suit present situations,” he added. The Asunafo North NDC Propaganda Secretary said that it would be a great deal of disservice to take undue advantage of the gentle manners of the president for granted.

“The NDC and for that matter Ghana is blessed to have one of the finest gentlemen in our modern politics as a leader. “It is therefore in our best interest to help such a person to be successful in his reign because he has better things for all and sundry,” he said.

Mr Diawuo said that the NDC’s quest to retain power in 2012 depended on how party members carry themselves today. “My point is very simple, we must have people who will serve the interest of the NDC and not certain individuals. “It should never be about trying to please the former president but rather it should be pleasing the NDC as a party,” he added.

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Reshuffle: Ministers panic and kick start media war

* Source: The Insight

General panic has engulfed the corridors of power following disclosures that a major Ministerial reshuffle would be announced within the next four weeks.

The panic intensified when President Mills hinted that what has been described as his “Team B” would be replaced by “Team A”. Checks at the Castle show that many Ministers have been rushing to brief the President about their lofty plans for the future in the hope that it will help them dodge the reshuffle. One Minister was almost direct when he reportedly told the President that he needed at least three more years at the Ministry to implement his plan.

The panic has also led to a media war, which is bound to have long lasting consequences. Mr. Fritz Baffoe, a Member of Parliament tipped to become the new Minister of Information has been viciously savaged by a section of the pro-NDC media. He has been exposed as one of those whose inaction created favourable conditions for Mr. Kabral Blay-Amihere to become Chairman of the National Media Commission (NMC).

Mr. Blay-Amihere won the election by only one vote and NDC supporters claim that if Mr. Baffoe and two others had not absented themselves from that crucial meeting, they could have made a difference.

Sections of the NDC which have always seen Finance Minister Dr. Kwabena Duffuor as an outsider have also intensified the campaign for his exit.

This is in spite of the fact that Dr. Duffour is largely credited with the micro-economic stability the Mills administration is boasting about.

Under Dr. Duffour, the cedi has begun appreciating, the rate of inflation is slowing and the budget deficit has been significantly reduced. There is now, no doubt that Mr. Martin Amidu, former Deputy Attorney-General will replace Madam Betty Mould Iddrisu, as Minister of Justice and Attorney-General.

Mrs. Mould Iddrisu is most likely to replace Alhaji Mohammed Mumuni as the Minister for Foreign Affairs. It is expected that Alhaji Mumuni will replace Mr. Cletus Avoka as Minister of Interior even though the consensus is that Mr. Avoka’s performance has been excellent. Substantial changes are also expected at the Ministries of Energy, Roads and Highways and Works and Housing.

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Provide genuine documents for visa applications -UK HC

* Source: GNA 

Accra, Jan. 13, GNA - Ghanaians who wish to apply for the United Kingdom Visa have been advised to provide all the necessary information on their forms and genuine documents to support all claims.

"The British High Commission now has all the needed machinery to detect the genuineness or otherwise of documents that are received," said Mr. Simon Peachey, Director of Visa Services, United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) in charge of the West Africa Sub-region.

Briefing journalists during a media open day organized by the UKBA in Accra on Wednesday , Mr Peachey cited fake passports, stamps, visas, invitation letters and bank statements as some of the forged documents that some people usually submitted with their applications. He urged all visa applicants to desist from attaching false documents since their detection attracted a 10-year UK Visa ban ban on any applicant caught in the act.

Mr. Peachey said the UKBA was formed in April 2008 to improve the United Kingdom border security and also manage migration to the UK. It has employed 24,000 staff in 130 countries worldwide and also worked closely with other international organizations on UK migration related issues.

He said in order to avert international security threat, the UK was putting in place all the needed changes to improve border security as well as attract legitimate travelers and trade.

Mr. Peachey entreated persons who had been issued with UK visas to keep to the conditions attached to the visa since going contrary to those conditions could attract either a fine, deportation or a ban from returning to the UK for up to 10 years.

"Working with a visa which does not allow you to work will mean that you will not be protected by UK employment law and one could end up working in dangerous condition full of exploitations from employers," he added. Mr. Peachey advised people from non-European Union countries to desist from sending food items such as meats and all meat products, milk and all diary products, eggs and honey products since they would be seized and destroyed at the airport.

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Upper East Region faces imminent water crisis

* Source: GNA

Accra, Jan 13, GNA - The Upper East Region would face water crisis in the coming months if concrete measures are not taken to mitigate the current water challenges, Mr George Yanoore, Regional Distribution Engineer of Ghana Water Company Limited has said. He said although the region needs about 19,710,376.8 gallons of water per day, an average of 1, 550,854 gallons were provided, giving a shortage of 8,307,522.8 gallons per day in the major towns of Bolgatanga, Bawku and Navrongo.

Mr. Yanoore said this when he conducted Mr. Albert Abongo, the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, round the three main water systems at Bolgatanga, Bawku and Navrongo.

He said although the facilities at the three towns had an initial capacity of 2,826,940 gallons per day, increase in population over the years had overstretched the facilities putting a lot of strain on them. Mr. Yanoore attributed the drop in production of the Bolgatanga facility at Vea/Gowrie to weak and over-aged AC transmitter, irregular power supply and litigations in the area, while those of Bawku and Navrongo were blamed on a fall in ground water table, unstable power supply to boreholes and the conflict at Bawku.

Mr. Abongo promised to collaborate with agencies that would bring relief to the people and to avoid water crisis in the region. The Minister appealed to both domestic and foreign investors to take special interest in the provision of water.

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Muslims urged to register their deaths before burial

* Source: GNA

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