Nii Akapeh commends media for promoting Ga Dangme culture

THE Dzaase Asafoatse of the Osu Mankralo Stool, Nii Akapeh II, has expressed his appreciation to the media for their support to the promotion and protection of Ga Dangme traditions and cultural heritage.
He said the media had shown unyielding support to the Ga Dangmes during the celebration of their Homowo and other festivals when it publicised the various activities observed during those occasions.
Nii Akapeh II expressed these and other sentiments when he hosted an end-of-year press soiree in Accra to show appreciation to the media for their support over the year.
“The media have been helpful partners in our attempt at promoting and defending Ga Dangme traditions and customs and we are most grateful for that.”
He stated that as far as he and other custodians of the Ga Dangme tradition lived, they ensure that their rich ancestral heritage was passed on from generation to generation.
“Some of these treasures we have inherited from our ancestors could be developed into viable destinations for cultural tourism and those of us who have decided to protect them will not sleep until that is done,” he noted, and pointed out that the media had also contributed through safeguarding of the waterbodies in Accra.
He expressed the belief that that was part of building a stronger foundation “for the next generation to be aware that they have a tradition to protect and not always follow foreign cultures which are fast eroding our culture”.
He also commended the media for helping to strengthen the country’s fledgling democracy in the first round of the Presidential and Parliamentary election on December 7, 2008 and expressed the hope that they would continue to do the same in the up-coming presidential run-off on December 28, 2008.
Present at the ceremony was Boxing Professor Barima Azumah Nelson.

Govt bails out Volta Star Textile LTD

THE government has bailed out the collapsing Volta Star Textile Limited (VSTL) with a GH¢3 million funding from the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF).
The company, presently operating at 20 per cent of installed capacity, was built by Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, and it started operations in 1967 under the name Juapong Textiles Limited.
At full capacity, the company will produce 1.8 million yards a month and employ between 1,200 and 1,500 people, mostly residents of Juapong in the Volta Region.
The Executive Secretary of EDIF, Mr Collins Boateng, after a facility tour of the company yesterday, expressed optimism that the rescue package would be the turning point for the company after the exit of multinational companies that were partnering the government in the company’s sustenance.
The financial package, he noted, would be used in purchasing sufficient raw materials and worn-out equipment for full production, the payment of utility bills and also ensure that the salaries of workers were adequate and paid on time.
He said companies, including Ghana Textile Printing (GTP), Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL), Printex and some flour mills had shown interest in the company’s products.
The Works Manager of VSTL, Mr Evans Agyagbo, acknowledged the fact that the major handicap was the lack of working capital but said after several proposals made to the government through the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the company could once again operate at full capacity.
He recalled that the company had had a turbulent history characterised by frequent changes in management as a result of the pull out of multinationals like Freedom Textiles Investment Company of Hong Kong, Unilever and recently Vlisco PLC of The Netherlands.
That, he stated, hampered the long-term strategic plans of the company to position itself to be competitive globally, noting that with Vlisco’s exit, the company was slated for private liquidation until the timely intervention of the government.
“The government embarked upon a massive rehabilitation and refurbishment of the company to position it to resume full-scale production and on May 11, 2007 it was inaugurated by President Kufuor,” he added.
Mr Agyagbo indicated that since then the company had been operating on test runs below 20 per cent of installed capacity and engaging close to 300 workers in the process.
He expressed gratitude to the District Chief Executive for North Tongu, the chiefs and opinion leaders in the area for showing interest in the revamping process and assured the board and management of EDIF that the workers and management of the company would be dedicated to their duties in the revamping process.
After the facility tour, the workers of the company expressed their appreciation to the government and the EDIF board for coming to the aid of the company.
Their salary arrears, together with the pay for December, were paid to them.

Mills can’t rule without interference from Rawlings — Cpl Adabuga

Corporal Matthew Adabuga, a member of the Armed Forces Revolution Council (AFRC) which overthrew the Limann government in the 31st December Coup, has said that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential aspirant cannot rule the country without interference from the former President, Jerry John Rawlings.
Speaking at a press conference and the pre-launch of his book, “ RAWLINGS- Murder & Lies”, he said the assertion by the NDC that Prof Mills if given the nod in the December 28 presidential run-off would not be intimidated by the former president was false because given the true nature of Rawlings, he was not a man who believed in sharing power.
He said the reason why he wrote the book, was to expose the true nature and character of Flt Lt Jerry John Rawlings, and to give a true account of what happened during the December 31, 1981 revolution.
“On that day, in the heat of the fighting, when things were not going well for us, I arrested and detained Rawlings, because he was a coward and wanted to run away,” he stated and recalled that on the morning of January 1, 1982, when they captured the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, Rawlings was still under arrest in a captured armoured vehicle.
“It was only after the battle for GBC was over that, I signalled for Rawlings to be brought so that he could make the announcement to the nation,” he added.
Currently, he said, Ghanaians were faced with a crucial choice in deciding which political party should rule the country in the next four years but in his view the choice that Ghanaians made today would determine the kind of future their children would have.
That choice, he said, had to be an informed one, “a choice guided by the full force of historical facts, which he believed was very important and had to be preserved.
According to him, the fear of the military that was encouraged by the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) meant that most of the facts were hidden from Ghanaians since not so much had been written about that period of the country’s history.
He blamed the former President for the problem of tribalism that threatened to tear the country apart, noting that former President Rawlings should be blamed for creating and feeding the tribal tension in Ghana.
He explained that the former President used tribalism as a tool to convince the Northerners in the army to revolt and overthrow President Hilla Limann in 1981, and had earlier incited the Ewes against the Ashantis when he accused the Ashantis of hijacking the whole country.
“Like all political parties there were factions and internal differences, some of which led to legal battles. Rawlings took advantage of this opportunity to convince us of a plot hatched against Northerners by Fantes, who according to Rawlings, were planning to overthrow Limann and hand over power to a Fante, Kankam Da Costa” he emphasised.
He said Rawlings lied to them that they, the Northerners, represented by Limann were under threat from Fantes such as De Graft Johnson, Reilly Poku and Ackah Blay Meizar who represented the new guards in the People’s National Party (PNP).
Corporal Adabuga continued that in the Central Region, the Rawlings-controlled NDC based its message on tribal sentiments asking voters to vote for Prof Mills because he was a Fante during the December 7 election.
He therefore urged Ghanaians not to be fooled into thinking that Prof Mills was a man of his own and could withstand intimidation from the former president if voted into power.
“Atta Mills is not important. The NDC is Rawlings. Rawlings is NDC. Rawlings has the money and power within the NDC”, he pointed out and noted that it was important that Ghanaians, particularly the youth, learnt the truth about Rawlings since they were in danger of being misled, just as they were in their youth.
Corporal Adabuga who is currently based in Norway, and is a Nowergian citizen said he had been traumatised and writing the book was the only way he could show remorse.
He asked Ghanaians to forgive him, once again as he had apologised when he appeared before the National Reconciliation Committee, during the hearing of those who were victimised under the AFRC and PNDC era.

Ghana oasis of peace — Krofah

THE Continued stable political climate in Ghana has made the country an oasis of peace amongst the turbulent political climate prevailing in the African continent, the President of the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GNCCI), Mr Wilson A. Krofah has observed.
He said the past year witnessed an appreciable improvement in the Ghanaian economy, which created a conducive environment for business.
Mr Krofah, who said this at the 37th Annual General Meeting of the Chamber in Accra yesterday, however indicated that the resilience of the Ghanaian economy in the face of adverse development in international economies, arising from unprecedented oil prices in the past year amply demonstrated the moderate inflationary pressure experienced in the economy.
Speaking at the meeting attended by members of the Chamber and representatives from the Ministry of Trade & Industry, he said unfortunately, the economic situation had deteriorated during the current year, with the performance of the cedi against the United State dollar recording its worst rate of depreciation in eight years.
“From the beginning of the year to date, the cedi depreciated against the US Dollar by 22.17 per cent, the highest rate of depreciation since it recorded depreciation of 49 per cent in December 2000”, he noted.
Consequently, he asserted that importers were paying more for imports and domestic consumers were faced with higher price of imported goods, adding that the Bank of Ghana had also increased the base rate from 12 per cent to 17 per cent as at date, whilst lending interest rate by the commercial banks had correspondingly increased from 18 per cent to 27 per cent.
In view of these development, Mr Krofah said the cost of doing business in Ghana had gone up, and access to credit by the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME’s) remained problematic.
According to him the market was increasingly becoming competitive with influx of cheap imports from the People’s Republic of China and the far Eastern countries.
Whilst welcoming competition as a means of moderating prices in the market, and providing a bench mark for local manufactures to emulate, Mr Krofah complained that the modus oprandi of some of the foreign nationals distributing these imported products was at variance with the investment laws of the country.
In accordance with that, he indicated that the Chamber together with other associations prompted the Ghana Investment Promotion Council (GIPC) and the Ministry of Trade & Industry (MOTI), who have taken the appropriate action to remedy the situation.
As part of their business strategy, Mr Krofah said the Chamber was actively involved in deliberating on measure that would lead to an improvement in the business environment and speedy service delivery by Government Departments and Agencies whose operations have direct bearing on the private sector.
The Chamber, he disclosed was striving to build strong relationship with Chambers of Commerce in Iran, Singapore, Vietnam and the Union of African Chambers.
“We are also spearheading the revival of the Federation of West African Chamber of Commerce with full support from the ECOWAS Commission”, he stated and pointed out that it was imperative that all the barriers to trade amongst the 15 ECOWAS states were removed in order for member countries to take full advantage of the large market of over 250 million people.
Mr Krofah stated that the Chamber would also like government to ensure that as much as possible, businesses associated with the oil industry go to Ghanaians, particularly the service sector such as banking, transportation, catering and the supply of consumer goods produced in Ghana.
“In the face of the on-going financial crisis in the world, we expect government to manage the Ghanaian economy in such a way as to ensure stability of the cedi against international currencies, and control inflation so as to moderate cost of doing business in Ghana”.
He further urged government to pay more attention to the call to modernise agriculture and to give support to indigenous businesses to enable Ghanaians take the commanding height of the Ghanaian economy.
The Technical Director of the National Petroleum Authority (NPA), Mr Isaac Tagoe in an interview, also explained that the reduction in the fuel prices was not politically motivated because the Tema Oil Refinery had in stock huge sums of oil to offset the imposing oil prices on the world market.
He said their action was independent and they did not intentionally reduce the prices to the advantage of the incumbent government.
He said their personnel were on the ground ensuring that oil marketing companies displayed the new prices on their billboards.
Mr Tagoe said OPEC had announced a reduction in production by 2 million barrels per day and the expectation was that prices would go up but they do not expect prices to go up artificially.

State intervention needed -To promote rights of citizens

Every woman, child and man, individually, and in a community with others, has the right to adequate food, Social Watch report 2008 has stated.
The report notes that in Ghana, state intervention is urgently needed in the market to facilitate local production and distribution of food, as well as to ensure basic rights for all citizens.
It said the current global food crisis highlights the fundamental conflict between the need to promote basic human rights and economic policies based on free trade and investment.
Social Watch report is a citizens’ global progress document on the causes of poverty and the struggle to eradicate poverty and gender equity to ensure the equitable distribution of wealth and the realisation of human rights.
The report is compiled by Social Watch, an international network of citizens and organisations from 60 countries including the Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT).
The report which was on the theme “Right is the answer”, was launched in Accra by NETRIGHT, a coalition of organisations and individuals advocating for gender equity.
The report indicated that eradication of hunger and poverty was particularly crucial to securing the basic rights of women.
It stated that “unbridled pursuit of neo-liberal policies coupled with the unsustainable nature of globalisation policies has reduced possibilities for addressing social, economic, cultural and environmental rights of women.
“Even more worrying, when economic policies are implemented, women’s rights are the first to be sacrificed, on the premise that they have a “natural capacity” to cope with poverty, particularly in times of crisis”, the report further stated.
The Convenor of NETRIGHT, Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin, who spoke on issues affecting women throughout the world in general, with a focus on Ghanaian media reports in particular, observed that more than half of the stories reported on women were on those in politics and decision-making, with specific reference to this year’s elections.
Other stories, she noted, could be located within the general theme of violence against women, women’s health, beauty and entertainment, women and the economy as well as discriminatory practices against women.
Some of the stories of violence against women, Dr Mensah-Kutin reviewed included murders, rape and battering. She also cited an example in January when a 32-year-old man, Kwasi Akowah, shot his wife, Abena Saamah, 29, and later committed suicide at Kenyasi in the Asutifi District of the Brong-Ahafo Region.
She also referred to a story in which one Thomas Alan Tichler, a Briton, was accused of indecently assaulting a three-year-old girl.
Apparently Thomas came to Ghana under the auspices of the Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO) and was a guest of the girl’s parents.
She cited another incident where a 45-year-old man allegedly defiled a 12-year-old girl after blindfolding, gagging and tearing her panties. The girl collapsed and was rushed to hospital for treatment.
Dr Mensah-Kutin referred to several stories on incest including one where a 65-year-old Cathechist defiled his five-year-old granddaughter, and another in the Ghanaian Times of September 3, 2008 which said the number of husbands suffering physical abuse at the hands of their wives was increasing, compared to women.
She said the real situation, according to a rejoinder by the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) in the September 15, 2008 issue of the Ghanaian Times indicated that only the records at the Ministries’ offices of the unit had been cited.
On women’s health, many of the stories Dr Mensah-Kutin referred to were mainly on maternal mortality, breast cancer awareness, HIV/AIDS and treatment issues.
On the economy, she said some of the stories featured the contributions and plight of “Kayayee”, skills and entrepreneurial training for women, calls for micro-credit facilities for women and complaints from market women about space constraints for displaying wares.
On elections 2008, Dr Mensah-Kutin cited interesting developments demonstrated by women in the elections through their active participation in the primaries as well as issues of women as running mates of presidential aspirants.
Related to these stories, she noted, was the fact that the landscape for women was changing as far as the situation of women was concerned, saying that change could only occur when women themselves spoke out.
Dr Mensah-Kutin advised women to start with the underlying challenges posed by how the flawed economic and political systems within which women’s rights promotions had to occur and address their oppressive and discriminatory characters.
Three prominent women were awarded for their outstanding contributions to the progress of women in Ghana for the year 2008.
They were: Ms Ajoa Yeboah-Afari, former Editor of the Ghanaian Times; Ms Anna Bossman, the Deputy Commissioner of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), and Ms Catherine Tsagli, the Head of the Women’s Wing of the Association of Physically Challenged Persons.
The award winners expressed their profound gratitude to NETRIGHT for the honour done them.

* A group of NETRIGHT members displaying a copy each of the Social Watch which was launched at this year’s ‘review of the status of women’ by the NETRIGHT.

Dansoman SDA Churh launches health outreach programme

THE Dansoman branch of the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Accra has organised a health outreach programme for members of the church and some residents in its surrounding communities.
The outreach programme, which includes other activities earmarked by the church as part of its 30th Anniversary celebration, was the second of its kind undertaken by the church.
The head of the 11-member health team that undertook the programme , Dr Alexander Yeboah, said the exercise, including a medical screening, health walk, health lecture, a fund-raising and home-coming by old members of the church, commenced on December 13, 2008 and would end on the December 20, 2008.
He entreated all Ghanaians to ensure that they knew their health status to avoid being taken by surprise by any hidden disease.
He said he and his team of medical experts from the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital and the La General Hospital would perform screening for diabetes, hypertension and breast cancer, as well as the deworming of children below 13 years.
In the first screening exercise, he said they screened about 600 patients, and expected about the same figure and even more to turn up in the second screening.

Caption: Some members of the church and residents in surrounding communities under-going the screening exercise at the weekend.

‘Incorporate herbal medicine on insurance scheme’

THE President of the Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Associations (GHAFTRAM), Agya Kwaku Appiah, has urged the government to as well incorporate traditional medicine into the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS).
He said the Traditional Medicine Practice Council, mandated to be set up by the Traditional Medicine Practice Act 575 passed in 2000, should be established to facilitate their incorporation into the NHIS.
Mr Appiah made the appeal at an advocacy seminar organised by SMILE Ghana, a non-governmental organisation, and sponsored by the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) Fund in Accra yesterday.
He said the Act required the establishment of the Traditional Medicine Practice Council, detailing its objective and functions, membership, tenure of office and the registration of practitioners, among other things, but sadly enough, this had still not been done.
He pointed out that the absence of the council was undermining the progress they were making as practitioners and producers, particularly with the introduction of the NHIS.
Mr Appiah was optimistic that the council, when established, would change the way traditional medical practice was perceived in Ghana.
Key among some of the challenges the federation was facing, Mr Appiah indicated, were the registration of practitioners, licensing of the practices and ways to regulate the preparation and sale of herbal medicine.
The Executive Director of SMILE Ghana, Mr Paul Oduro Frimpong, said the non-implementation of the provisions of the Act was not only threatening the growth of the businesses of members of the association, but was also undermining efforts aimed at providing affordable medicine in the country.“The situation has made it difficult for recognition of traditional medical practice and practitioners as bona fide health service providers in Ghana,” he stated.
Mr Frimpong explained that currently, China had succeeded in mainstreaming their traditional medicine into their health delivery system such that they were now exporting their health care products to other parts of the world, including Ghana.
That, he said, did not auger well for the industry in Ghana, because it affected the competition between them and foreign practitioners, hence affecting the country’s efforts at reducing poverty.

Democracy is working in Ghana — US Senator

A visiting United States Senator to Ghana, Senator Bill Nelson, has said Ghanaians have demonstrated that democracy can really work in Africa if it is allowed to grow.
He said Ghanaians had proved to be peaceful and that talks about Ghana being a peaceful country were not mere speculation.
"It looks like democracy is working in Ghana because Ghanaians have realised that they need to co-exist peacefully to ensure that the country's development is not jeopardised in any way," he noted.
The Senator expressed these views in an interview with the Daily Graphic when he, together with a delegation led by the US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Donald G. Teitelbaum, paid a courtesy call on the Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Mr Abraham Osei-Aidoo, in Accra at the weekend.
The courtesy call, the Senator noted, was to sustain the good relationship that existed between the US and Ghana.
Senator Nelson said Ghanaians needed to be encouraged to accept the fact that development could go on only in a peaceful atmosphere.
He said the rest of Africa could now look up to Ghana as an example of sustainable democracy on the continent.
Senator Nelson presented a mini replica of a painting in the United Nation’s building in New York to Mr Osei-Aidoo.
The minister expressed his appreciation to Senator Nelson for taking time off his busy schedule to honour him with the visit.
He accepted the mini painting and assured the delegation that the government would ensure that the upcoming presidential election run-off would also be held peacefully.

Rotary Club donates to Asempaneye

THE Rotary Club of Accra Ring Road Central has donated clothes and 100 combined desks and chairs to the Asempanaye District Assembly Basic School in the Eastern Region.
The club, with support from The Standard Chartered Bank Ghana Limited, was financially supported to manufacture the furniture.
The donation of the items coincided with a medical outreach programme the club and the bank organised for residents of the community.
The President of the club, Mr Jeffery Afful, made the presentation to the school.
He expressed the hope that the support given to the school would improve academic performance of the pupils for them to gain admission to any junior high school of their choice.
The Director, Structured Trade and Finance of Standard Chartered Bank, Mr Victor Yaw Asante, said the bank, during Ghana’s 50th independence anniversary last year, promised to donate 100 chairs each to some selected schools in the country.
He said to fulfil that promise, Asempanaye was so far the 17th school to benefit from that initiative, adding, “By next year, we hope that at least 24 schools might have benefited from the gesture.”
The Chief of the Asempanaye, Nana Ampem Darko, thanked the club and the bank for their efforts to improve quality of education in the village.
Nana Darko recalled that the club had donated books, school bags and other materials when it visited the community last year to immunise them against some common diseases.

Telecommunication companies urged to adopt cutting edge technologies

Telecommunication companies in the country have been urged to adopt cutting edge technologies to boost the activities of individuals and businesses in the country.
The Chief Executive of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Mr Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, who made the appeal in Accra pointed to the fact that Ghanaians wanted to be in a technologically driven society, and would no more compromise any shortcomings from telecommunication service providers.
"Ghana has to catch up, we cannot afford to wait but jump onto the changing phases of the telecommunication technology", he said.
He expressed the expectation that all telecommunication companies would provide not just the basic services in the industry but cutting edge technologies that would adequately enhance the activities of individuals and businesses in the country.
Mr Lindsay was speaking at the launch of a pre-registration project of prospective customers of Zain Ghana Limited, one of the new entrants in the telecommunication industry in Ghana.
"I look forward to see all our service providers jumping the technological gap, so that we may not have to call over and over again before our calls go through", he urged, and appealed to Zain to give their customers value for their money.
The pre-resgistration was to provide customers the opportunity to log onto the network by choosing their own preferred numbers before chips for the services were rolled out.
The Country Manager of Zain Ghana Limited, Mr Sowah, said they had prepared and would not compromise on the quality of their services.
"Zain stands for quality and good customer services because we value our customers more than anything else" he stated, adding that the company had one of the best innovative services in the industry that most of its competitors lacked.
The "One Network", Mr Sowah said, was one of their services that allowed customers to use their network in any country where they were located without paying for roaming services, but local call rates.
He further gave the assurance that Zain would deliver on its promises as it intended to implement some of the most superior technological services found in most advanced economies around the world.
That, he noted, signified their appreciation of their customers and their commitment to making them a part of the global Zain family.
He said Ghana was an integral part of the Zain family, as they had invested a lot in the country and did not, therefore, intend to leave the country any time soon.

ECOWAS Observer Mission adds voice

THE ECOWAS Observer Mission to the December 7 polls has commended Ghanaians for turning out in their thousands to exercise their franchise peacefully.
It said there was a high expectation and enthusiasm among the electorate and their determination to cast their votes, which, it said, was demonstrated by the patience with which the electorate waited for several hours in queues to cast their votes.
A former Head of State of the Republic of Nigeria, General Dr Yakubu Gowon, who was also the head of the Mission, stated this at a press conference to present its preliminary observation of the December 7, 2008 presidential and parliamentary elections.
He stressed the need for the Electoral Commission to initiate an enactment of a legislation on campaign financing by political parties.
That, the Mission said, would check the monetisation of the electoral process by political parties.
It noted that in some cases the campaigns were associated with the open flaunting of wealth and financial inducements by political parties.
Gen Gowon noted that some of the rules governing campaigning were not scrupulously observed, and noted that “even though electioneering campaigns officially ended on December 5, 2008, a presidential candidate held a rally on December 6, 2008 while a political party ran a paid campaign documentary on the same day”.
He, however, commended the Electoral Commission (EC) for discharging its duties with commendable competence, fairness and firmness, stating that the EC had at the time of compiling their report lived up to its slogan of ‘Transparency, Fairness and Integrity’.
Gen Gowon said there was a fair balance in the selection of the electoral officials, and each polling station was equipped with one pair of polling booths and ballot boxes — one for the presidential ballot and the other for the parliamentary.
The boxes, he admitted, were transparent and secured with serialised seals, making them less susceptible to manipulation, and further noted that one unique thing about the Ghana election was that the party agents were allowed to add their party security seals to those provided by the EC.
On the voting process, he observed that an average of three to four political party agents were present at most of the polling stations, noting that agents of the two main leading political parties, the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), were present at all the polling stations.
At the polling centres, he observed that the EC took adequate measures to give preference to the aged, the physically challenged, expectant mothers and voters with infants. For the blind, the Mission observed that provisions were made for them to vote, either by being assisted by a trusted person or independently using a tactile ballot holder.
Gen Gowon said the ECOWAS Observers did not record any incident of organised fraud, such as attempted multiple or under-aged voting and impersonation, but in the few individual cases of attempted impersonation or fraud that the Mission heard about, the culprits were quickly apprehended.

NDC candidate for Wieja to go to court

THE National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary candidate for the Weija Constituency, Mr Sheriff Nii Otoo Dodoo, has protested against the results for both the presidential and parliamentary polls in the constituency and declared his intention to go to court.
According to him, his agents had verbally protested against the results of 10 out of 166 polling stations and had requested for an official form to officially make a protest but were denied it.
His agents therefore refused to sign the result which was declared yesterday at the Electoral Commission’s (EC’s) collation centre in the constituency, where thousands of NDC supporters were to protest against the results.
The results, which were declared by the Returning Officer for the constituency, Mr D. D. Dankwa, indicated that in the presidential polls, the NPP had 62,444, the People's National Convention (PNC) 316, NDC 54,304, Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) 177, the Democratic People's Party (DPP) 41, the Convention People's Party (CPP) 1,414, the Reformed Patriotic Democratic (RPD) 615, and the Independent candidate, Amoafo Yeboah, had 50 votes out of 185,103.
In the Parliamentary polls, the NPP had 63,377, NDC 51,961, CPP 2,105, DFP 358, DPP 133, and 900 rejected ballot papers.
Mr Dodoo explained that the EC could not declare the results for the constituency, which, he claimed, were in his favour yesterday, till they were prompted by one of their agents that the unconfirmed results were being transported to the Amasaman District around dawn yesterday.
He said NDC agents, together with agents of the other political parties and the media present, had agreed to the EC’s officials decision to cart the ballot boxes to the New Weija Police Station for them to be recounted. This followed their initial call for recounting after the result had been declared in favour of the NPP parliamentary candidate, Madam Shirley Ayorkor Botchway, after her call for recounting.
He alleged that they were all made to believe that the boxes would be sent to the police station, but contrary to that, the boxes, they learnt, were carted by the some officials of the EC without notifying them and the media which had stayed overnight awaiting the recounting and declaration of the results.
Mr Dodoo noted that one of their agents had to vigilantly follow the boxes which were being transported in three KIA trucks and escorted by some policemen.
“According to my agent, the convoy stopped on the way to offload the ballot boxes into a tipper truck and when he enquired what they were doing with the boxes around that time, they claimed they were taking the boxes to the Amasaman District upon the advice of the Returning Officer,” he stated and alleged that his agents suspected that the tipper truck which they offloaded the boxes into before reloading them on the KIA trucks already had some boxes in them.
When the Daily Graphic team visited the Amasaman District where the boxes were alleged to have been sent to, there was heavy military and police presence on the premises, where hundreds of residents had also thronged to ascertain allegations they claim were being reported on two Accra-based radio stations.
The Daily Graphic team was hinted by the security personnel that the Returning Officer had returned to the collation centre, the New Life Preparatory School , where the results were going to be declared.
The team therefore quickly went to the collation centre where agents of all the parties were waiting eagerly for the results to be declared.
After the results were announced, which indicated that the NPP had won both the presidential and parliamentary polls, the NDC candidate alleged that they had been robbed and declared his intention to go to court for another recounting.

Youth Group to mobilise support for peace

GHANA Youth Network (GYN), a youth advocacy network of umbrella youth groups and individuals, is campaigning to mobilise the support of over 2,000 Ghanaian youth to advocate peace during and after this year’s election.
The network hopes to alert and inform the youth from all the three zones in Ghana - Northern, Middle and Southern -on the dangers of allowing themselves to be used as agents of destruction before, during and after election.
That, according to the co-ordinator of the GYN, Mr Geoffrey K. Ocansey, would reduce and possibly halt reported cases of electoral violence among the youth from the various political parties before and during the election.
He told the Daily Graphic in Accra that to carry out these objectives, the network would present its position paper on violent free election to selected ministries and agencies, traditional authorities, opinion leaders, the media and the general public.
"The campaign will adopt strategies including the formation of a youth parliament," he added, and that realising the importance of political stability in the country to Ghanaians, the African community and the entire global community, he expressed the hope that the campaign would complement the efforts the government and other stakeholders were making to sustain peace in the country.
Mr Ocansey said peace was the bedrock of every nation's development and as such it was an essential component of political stability all over the world.
"For accelerated national development or growth to be achieved in every nation, political stability is very essential and this automatically means peace plays a major role in every nation's development, " he emphasised.
Mr Ocansey said it was against that background that the youth in Ghana in their quest to maintain peace in the electioneering process had come together to promote that cause.
Ghana, he said, had a youthful population which needed to be employed to undertake positive activities to promote national development but they were often misled by selfish politicians and opinion leaders.
"One will expect to see matured politicians mentoring these young men and women to enable them to play very important roles in the democratic dispensation of our nation, but unfortunately some politicians mobilise the youth and influence them with money, food, alcohol and other incentives to distract democratic procedures," he stated.
He expressed concern that some politicians exploited the economic predicament of the youth, their ignorance and their inexperience and used them to cause mayhem.
He said electoral violence, whether caused by the youth or any other group, led to the violation of human rights and political instability, which ultimately hampered the growth of a fledging democracy.

VRA, ECG assures of stable power supply

OFFICIALS of the Volta River Authority (VRA) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) have given the assurance that electricity supply will be stable for the election period and the rest of the year.
The two organisations said they had made adequate preparations to ensure that the counting of votes by the Electoral Commission (EC), which is to begin at 5 p.m. and continue for some hours, will not be disrupted by any power outages, even if counting should continue deep into the night.
The Director of Special Duties of the VRA, Mr Kofi Asante Okai, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that “as far as the VRA is concerned there is enough energy and capacity to supply the ECG for the rest of this year and next year”.
That, he said, was due to higher than average inflow of water into the Volta reservoir at the end of the flood season, and it was their expectation that the combination of hydro and thermal production could provide stable power for the rest of the year.
“There has been adequate rainfall and we do not anticipate any power outage from the generating plant”, he emphasised and explained that though it was their responsibility to generate power, it was also the responsibility of the Grid Company of Ghana (GRIDCO) to transport power to ECG which in turn supplies consumers around most parts of the country, and expressed the belief that they would also stand up to the task.
The Director of Operations for ECG, Mr Andrew Tonto Bafour said the ECG had made adequate preparations towards ensuring that the election period, particularly during the counting of the electoral votes was not disrupted by power outages.
He therefore gave the assurance that there would be a constant supply of power throughout the election period, particularly during the counting of votes.
Mr Bafour said ECG would not do anything to hamper the supply of power since it was their civic responsibility to ensure that electricity was available for counting to go on even if it enters deep into the night.
“Prior to the elections we have been doing preventive maintenance on all equipment and sub-stations, and that includes clearing of weeds around the stations to prevent the disruption of stable supply of power”, he disclosed.
The director explained that usually they had people on standby to restore power supply anytime the lights went out but since these elections were special they intended to beef up their personnel at all the sub-stations to ensure a rapid response to any emergencies during the electoral process.
According to him if anything was beyond their control, they would make the public aware and also inform the EC to prepare towards that to avoid any complications.
The ECG, he stated, supplied about six regions which were the Ashanti, Western, Central, Eastern, Volta and the Greater Accra and added that the ECG had about 5,000 personnel with almost 2,000 in Accra alone.
He however explained that GRIDCO, which receives the power from VRA, had to ensure that there was enough power for ECG to supply to the regions.
Mr Bafour also said they had made arrangements to ensure that all their personnel, including those who may be on shift duty at the sub-stations exercise their franchise.
He said Sunday, December 7, 2008, the day on which the Ghanaians would vote, was a good day because usually the pressure on the plants was not much since a lot of commercial activities were down on Sundays.

Final batch of pilgrims to depart on Monday

THE Interim Hajj Management Committee (IHMC) has given the assurance that the final batch of 300 Muslims will leave Accra on Monday for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to complete the airlifting of 2,334 Ghanaian Muslims to perform this year’s Hajj.
Sheikh Yunusah Osman Mohammed, the Executive Secretary of the IHMC, who spoke to the Daily Graphic at the Hajj Village at Nima on Thursday, said the final 300 included those who went through the formalities last year, but could not be airlifted.
Sheikh Mohammed said 2,034 pilgrims had already left and the rest would all be lifted by scheduled flights by Monday.
He denied rumours that the pilgrims were being charged extra fees and said apart from the processing fees of GH¢50, no pilgrim had been asked by the IHMC to pay any extra fees.
He alleged that because this year’s Hajj had been efficiently operated, some members of last year’s abolished Hajj committee had been inciting the pilgrims to resort to violence, because they would not be able to make the pilgrimage.
Alhaji Armiyau Hussein, one of the pilgrims, who could not make it last year, had earlier told the Daily Graphic that out of 20 Muslims from last year’s abortive operations who came from Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region, 15 of them had been lifted to Mecca.
He said since last Friday, the IHMC members had been postponing their flight and since Monday, they had not heard from them again.
He said the village had run out of water and food, and the prospective pilgrims had to buy pure water to drink and perform ablution, while some of them had run out of money and had to depend on fried plantain from hawkers to keep them going.
Alhaji Hussein appealed to the government to send a delegation to the Hajj Village to find out the conditions under which the pilgrims and their families, who had come to see them off, were going through.
Nasta Abdallah, another pilgrim who was supposed to have performed the Hajj last year, complained that her agent was demanding another payment from her before she could be airlifted.
With only three days to the deadline line which falls on November 30, 2008, she said the agent was requesting another GH¢360, in addition to the previous GH¢260 she paid last year.
The agent, one Alhaji Mallam, when contacted, said he had never asked her to repay for her trip, but asked her family to buy her another ticket to enable her embark on the Hajj, since time was running out.
He said all particulars, including tickets of the pilgrims who had not been able to be airlifted, were in the possession of the IHMC members and there was nothing more he could do.

Mallam Isa endorses NDC

THE former Minister for Youth and Sports, Mallam Ali Yusif Isa, who was jailed for wilfully causing financial loss to the state, has declared his support for the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
“I am going to vote for Prof Atta Mills in the forthcoming December election and urge all Ghanaians to do the same,” he said.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday to explain the rationale for his decision to support the NDC, he said the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration had failed to fight against corruption contrary to their zero-tolerance-for-corruption claim.
He said he had learnt his lessons and believed that the only way to reposition Ghana on the path of true reconciliation, prosperity and growth was for Ghanaians to vote for a better man for a better Ghana.
He challenged the legality of the law on wilfully causing financial loss to the state and questioned the government’s commitment to the slogan of ‘zero tolerance for corruption’.
The former minister also reacted to a statement made by the President, Mr John Agyekum Kufuor, in an interview on BBC, in which he tried to defend his promise of zero tolerance for corruption, as well as one by the New Patriotic Party Presidential aspirant, Nana Akufo Addo, at the recent Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) Presidential Debate held in Tamale.
Both President Kufour and Nana Akufo-Addo cited Mallam Isa’s case to support the NPP government’s commitment to zero tolerance for corruption during on those separate occasions.
The former Sport Minister therefore challenged Nana Akufo-Addo to tell the whole world the basis for ordering his prosecution and how he managed to manipulate the judiciary to secure his sentence in 72 days, which he described the fastest trial in the history of Ghana.
“Ghana cannot continue on this path of selective application of the law. The NPP did not imprison me only but also other hard-working citizens such as Messrs Kwame Peprah, Ibrahim Adams, Dr George Sipa Yankey and Tsatsu Tsikata, who obviously are not members of the NPP,” he stated.
He recalled that President Kufuor, in a deceitful gesture to portray to the whole world that he was a unifier, appointed Professor George Hagan and Dr Paa Kwesi Ndoum from the Convention People’s Party (CPP), himself from the People’s National Convention (PNC) party and a few others to be part of his administration, but little did he know that the “ All-inclusive Government” being propagated by the President was going to be one of his many failed promises.
Mallam Isa claimed that President Kufour had over-looked several cases of corruption and maladministration under his watch and expressed the belief that though the press conference would not stop Nana Akufo-Addo and President Kufour from citing his case as the flagship of their fight against corruption, “one would surely agree that they have never been committed to the fight against corruption”.
According to him, he never embezzled the said US$46,000, for which he was prosecuted and imprisoned, stressing that “Nana Akufo-Addo did not prove beyond reasonable doubt that I stole and wilfully caused financial loss to the state and I never resigned from President Kufour’s government as he will have the whole world believe”.
“The list of corruption charges which the NPP government has left unattended to or, at best, swept under the carpet is endless,” he stated , and noted that he had now learnt his lessons and hoped that none of his peers would go through his experience.

Gov’t/Yale University support students

THE government, in partnership with the Yale University in the United States (US), has sponsored four Ghanaian students from the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) to study in Global Infectious Diseases Research at the university, as part of their educational agenda to reverse “brain drain”.
The partnership, which is a bi-directional exchange of students with four students of Yale studying at the NMIMR, is expected to create a model for improving health care in Ghana.
The Vice-President of the University of Wales, Ms Linda Koch Lorimer, who is attending the university’s conference in Ghana, told the Daily Graphic that by strengthening academic infrastructure and creating viable career opportunities for African and American scientists, progress could be made in reversing the brain drain in Ghana and in Africa as a whole.
She said the partnership, which was part of Yale University’s efforts at globalising its institutional structures, was an innovative programme that would harness the unparalleled expertise of the research faculty at the University of Ghana and Yale University by supporting collaborative initiatives in basic science, translational and clinical research.
The rationale behind the collaborative programme, she said, was also to inspire young scientists in Africa and in the US to pursue research careers by offering them valuable mentoring under established senior investigators at those world renowned institutions.
“The programme affords students at Yale the opportunity to work closely with the research faculty of the Noguchi Institute to conduct laboratory and field-based studies of major global infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS, malaria, and intestinal parasites,” she stated, and noted that at the moment, graduate level students and research trainees from the University of Ghana were spending eight weeks in New Haven, working in a research faculty at Yale on laboratory-based projects designed to understand some global infectious diseases.
Additionally, she said the exchange of trainees and faculties would provide opportunities for US researchers to bring their expertise to bear on globally important problems that Ghana faced, and subsequently provide Ghanaians with the training that would enhance their capacity to develop independent research careers.
Mr Michael Capello, a Professor of Paediatrics & Microbial Pathogenesis at the Yale University School of Medicine, said the Yale had sponsored experienced executives in Ghana and across Africa in the Yale World Fellows Programme, where they had equal scholarship schemes with their counterparts in the US.
He said the programme, which was in its 7th year, was a four-month programme, with a specific curriculum on global issues aimed at building a global network of emerging leaders and to broaden their international understanding at Yale.
“Each year, the programme brings to Yale highly accomplished men and women from diverse sets of countries around the world,” he stated, and noted that the fellows were selected from a range of fields and disciplines, including government, business, religion, military, the media and the arts.
That, he noted, was to prepare the fellows for greater roles of leadership, expand their professional and personal horizons, and contribute to a deepening of international awareness and dialogue within the Yale community.

Two remanded for defilement

TWO persons have been remanded by the Accra Circuit Court for allegedly defiling and impregnating a 15-year-old girl.
According to the prosecution, the first accused person, Richard Ofori Nunoo, aged 28, is a pastor with the "Wings of Success Ministry” at Laterbiokoshie but lives at Kaneshie, whilst the second accused person, Ernest Andrews, aged 39, is a cook, who resides at Sukula and Emefs Estate in Afienya, Accra.
According to the prosecution, the complainant, Samuel Tornyi, who is the father of the victim and lives at Russia, a suburb in Accra, disclosed that on January 30, 2008, the victim left home unceremoniously and all efforts to trace her proved futile.
It said while loitering, the victim came into contact with one Patience Tackie, a member of church of the first accused.
Patience, the prosecution noted, took the victim home to stay with her, at her residence at Laterbiokoshie and with time the first accused, Nunoo, got to know the victim.
It continued that the victim used to go to the first accused person's house to do house chores for him on request, but after sometime the victim moved in to stay with the first accused.
The first accused then took advantage of her and defiled her during the month of October, 2008.
The prosecution further explained that the second accused person, Ernest Andrews, got to know the victim through his sister, one Naa Adjeley, who also lives with Patience.
He said whilst the relationship between the first accused person was pending, the second accused person was also in contact with the victim till November 1, 2008 when he too defiled the victim in his room at Afienya after inviting her there.
The complainant, the prosecution went on, later got a hint that the victim was staying with the first accused and had him and the second accused arrested by the Dansoman Police on November 3, 2008, and later brought to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) in Accra.
The case, he said, was initially reported as an abduction but in the course of the investigation, the victim testified that both the first and second accused persons had had series of sexual intercourse with her.
The victim was sent to the hospital for examination and treatment and a report on the victim indicated that she was pregnant, he added, saying that all efforts to get Patience Tackie to testify in the case had proved futile.
He said after investigations, the first and second accused persons were arrested, charged with the offence and brought before the court.
The case was adjourned to November 11, 2008.

NPP campaign activists to renergise supporters

THE second batch of campaign activists from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Women & Youth Wing in Accra have left for various parts of the country to rejuvenate and re-energise supporters in the regions to turn out massively to clinch a ‘one touch’ victory for the party in the December elections.
In the regions, the activists would consult widely with local stakeholders such as the regional and constituency women organisers, identify recurrent challenges, resolve party conflicts and educate voters on why the NPP government should be re-elected.
The activists, made up of 100 women in groups of ten, would visit parts of the country including, the Eastern, Western, Northern and Volta regions, with an avowed aim to add at least a minimum of one per cent to the party’s overall percentage in the presidential election.
Dubbed, the “Good Women’s Tour”, the Co-ordinator of the Secretariat, Mrs Leonora Kyeremanteng, said the secretariat which had groups in all the ten regions in Ghana had targeted difficult constituencies, and hoped to “turn them green.”
She noted that the first teams, made up of 36 women, were dispatched to the Upper West, Upper East and the Northern regions.
She said their intention was to penetrate the grassroots and through strategic advocacy win floating voters.
Mrs Kyeremanteng indicated that it had been their long term objective to institutionalise the secretariat to actively promote and implement policies on women and children.
She said the team was also determined to promote gender governance in politics and development to enable them to contribute to national development at the grass root level.
She advised the women to show respect to the regional and constituency organisers of the party to make their campaigns successful.

Zain connects through music

ZAIN, a mobile telecommunication network in the middle East will launch its introduction to the Ghanaian telecom industry with a spectacular music extravaganza at the Ohene Djan Stadium in Accra, on November 22, 2008.
In an interview with the three of the local artistes who are billed to perform along side International Grammy award winning stars like Wycleff Jean, Eve and Mario, they said it was an opportunity to share a stage with these stars.
Tinny said he started following the works of Wyclef during his days with Refugees and described him as a dynamic musician.
Obrafuor also stated that Wyclef has been his mentor since childhood and has been yearning to follow his footsteps but Kwaw On his part, “Abodam” Kesse said it is an opportunity to tell the rest of the world that Ghanaian music had reached far.
The concert dubbed, “The Zain 026 Experience” would also feature 2008 Mobo Award winner 2Face Idibia from Nigeria.
The Marketing Director of Zain Ghana, Mr Charles Maye, at the launch said the 026 experience was about connecting people through music, which he said knew no boundaries and an excellent way of bringing people together.
“We will create a wonderful world for our customers by giving them opportunities to succeed and celebrate life through our superior network and excellent customer care”, he added.
Zain is a major player in the telecom industry in Africa, providing a comprehensive range of mobile voice and data services in 22 countries to over 56 million customers of which 33 million were in Africa.
The company begun operations in Ghana in 2007 through the acquisition of a major stake in Westle Ghana Limited.
It also created the “One Network”, the world’s first borderless mobile network connecting customers in the Eastern, Central and West Africa.
The concept allows customers to make call at local rates, use voice mail and the local services anywhere, or top-up pre-paid phones in their home country, or any of the countries they were located in.

Samini to give to charity

In view of the global food crises, Samini, one of Ghana’s finest music icons has decided to offer half the produce of his four acre maize field to charity as part of his campaign for “Food For All” to address the problem of food shortage in the country.
He said his maize field would be ready for harvest by the end of the year and believes that as his social responsibility, he should give back to the public, particularly the needy in society.
He told The Mirror in an interview at his Dansoman based studio, Asasease in Accra yesterday, that the impact of the current global food crises could undermine the country’s development agenda if not well addressed.
In his view all Ghanaians who had the resources should not hesitate to go into farming as a means of safe guarding the country’s food security.
"The current food crisis is a heavy burden and poses many new challenges,", he stated, noting that the reason he had gone into farming aside being a musician was to ensure that his family had enough to eat and some to share with others.
Samini said, as a musician he felt that his contribution to the country’s development agenda should not be relegated only to music, but also to set good examples for others including his fellow musicians to follow.
In line with that he has also composed a song to promote Ghana’s cocoa, to redeem the country’s image as the largest cocoa producing country in the world, on his new album due to be launched in November this year at the plush La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra.
The Album, titled “Dagaati” has 21 tracks on it, and features both local and international artistes.
Some of the tracks on the album are, Movement, Still in Love, My Kind of Girl featuring Nigerian artistes, Face and Agoro featuring UK born Ghanaian artiste, Sway.
Other tracks on the album are Africa Unite — featuring Jamaican female artiste, Etana, Fire featuring Becca and Ghana Cocoa, a track dedicated to his campaign for the cultivation and production of cocoa.
Samini, arguably one of Ghana’s most celebrated music superstar has been nominated for two international awards.
The awards are the MTV Africa Music Awards to be held in November this year and the KORA Awards in April next year.

Samini launches new album

SAMINI, one of Ghana’s best-known musicians, last Friday launched his third album, a collection of 21 tracks called Dagaati: Know Your Roots at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra.
The multiple award-winning musician spent over two years to complete the album and said at the launch that it was dedicated to his fans as well as to a peaceful election in this country next month.
Featuring artistes from places such as Nigeria, Kenya, United Kingdom and Jamaica, Samini said his new album contains something for every sector in society, adding that he chose to call the album Dagaati to reflect his roots. Samini hails from the Upper West Region.
Several hiplife artistes, fans as well as his parents and siblings were at the La Palm hotel to witness the grand launch. After appearances by Kwabena Kwabena and Tinny, Samini took over and energertically performed several tracks from the Dagaati album with the support of a live band.
Formerly known as Batman, Samini’s debut album, Dankwansere, contained the hit track Linda. The follow-up album, Samini featured well-loved songs like African Lady and Odo. He won the Best African Act honour at the Music of Black Origin (MOBO) awards in the United Kingdom in 2006 and is in reckoning for honours in the upcoming MTV Africa Music and KORA Awards.
The Chief Marketing Officer of MTN-Ghana, Mr George Andah said at the Dagaati launch that the theme for the occasion, ‘Peace and Love in an Election Year’ was relevant because the general elections are almost here and every Ghanaian needs to work towards a peaceful election.
Mr Andah recalled that MTN’s search for a music icon when it entered the telecommunication market here a little over a year ago did not take long because they found the requisite values in Samini.
He said MTN was proud to be associated with Samini and expressed believe that his new album would further bolster the image he has in the world of music.

Govt gives support to small-scale miners

THE government has released 480,000 acres in 44 districts across the country to enhance the activities of small-scale miners.
The gesture is part of its plan aimed at legalising small-scale mining, popularly referred to as ‘galamsey’.
The Minister for Lands, Forestry and Mines, Mrs Esther Obeng Dapaah, announced this at a press conference ahead of a two-week study tour of 25 small-scale mining operators in the People’s Republic of China.
The delegates for the tour were selected from mining communities noted for intensive small-scale mining operations across the country, including the Western, Eastern and the Upper East regions.
Mrs Dapaah mentioned some of the districts where land had been released as Bibiani, Sunyani, Berekum, Ahafo Ano, Sekyere East, Ejisu-Juaben, Atwima, Juabeso, Upper Denkyira, Assin, East Akim, Aowin-Suaman, Fanteakwa, Amansie West, Wassa Amenfi, Wassa West, Birim North, Twifo-Hemang-Lower Denkyira, Nzema East, Gomoa, Juabeso-Bia, Birim North, Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar, Bolgatanga and Central Gonja.
She noted that the government had also disbursed funds from the Minerals Development Fund to assist 11,000 small-scale gold producers across the country
Additionally, she said, the government was pursuing a number of interventions to improve the operations of the small-scale sub-sector to further enhance the efficiency and sustainability of small-scale miners.
The study tour to China, which the minister acknowledged had one of the most technologically advanced small-scale mining industries in the world, was organised in fulfilment of a Cabinet directive to demonstrate the government’s commitment to boost the small-scale sub-sector as a vehicle for employment generation and poverty alleviation.
Mrs Dapaah said the small-scale mining sector employed over 500,000 Ghanaians and had been making a significant contribution to Ghana’s gross domestic product (GDP) over the past 100 years.
“The sector accounts for 10.43 per cent of total gold production, generates about US$120 million and contributes 92 per cent of total diamond production, amounting to US$28 million,” she stated.
The trip, she said, was solely sponsored by the Government of Ghana and facilitated by the Shaanxi Mining Company based in Xian, China.
She said it was also to help replace the rudimentary technologies used by small-scale miners through the adoption of modern and cost-effective mechanised and semi-mechanised technologies.
“It is also anticipated that the beneficiaries will learn how legalised and well-organised small-scale mining can be conducted in a sustainable manner and equip the miners with advantages that can be derived from organising small miners into mining co-operatives and associations,” she added.
While in China, Mrs Dapaah said members of the team would attend a series of seminars to appraise themselves of the structure and the modus operandi of the Chinese small-scale mining sector, the regulatory framework and other relevant aspects of the mining industry.
The exposure to be derived from the tour, she emphasised, was expected to usher in a new wind of change in Ghana’s small-scale mining industry to serve as a catalyst for the rapid regularisation of the sector in Ghana.
The minister said it was also envisaged that the tour would help reduce the incidence of illegal mining activities which would also lead to a considerable reduction in the rampant conflicts and tension between major mining companies and small-scale operators in many mining communities in Ghana.

Two remanded for Theft

TWO persons have been remanded by the Accra Circuit Court for allegedly stealing items worth GH¢27,505.85 belonging to a retired nurse.
The accused, Illiasu Mustapha, a driver and Cynthia Adobea, who are said to be lovers, allegedly committed the offence in February, 2008.
A third accused person, Alex Kwabena Sowill, a computer technician, was granted bail in the sum of GH¢10,000.
They all pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiracy and stealing and are to re-appear before the court on November 27, 2008.
Some of the items they allegedly stole included 48 pieces of Dell Flat screen computers, a DVD player, 30 pieces of wax print, seven pieces of woollen carpets, four pieces of lace materials, four big size dressing mirrors, a set of jewellery, four boxes of drinking glasses, bed sheets, an Italian coffee table, 20 boxes of wall tiles, a television set, iron rods and a host of other items.
According to the prosecution, the complainant employed Illiasu Mustapha as her personal driver during the latter part of 2006 before travelling to London.
It said before her departure, she kept a bunch of keys to her storey building in a bag she carried along to the airport in the vehicle being driven by Mustapha.
On their way to the Kotoka International Airport, the complainant discovered that the bunch of keys had disappeared from her bag but Mustapha immediately assured her that he would look for the keys and keep them for her, as he and another accomplice, one Abass, who is on the run were supposed to take temporary charge of the house while she was away.
The prosecution said the complainant returned to Ghana in September, 2008 and discovered that the items indicated earlier had been stolen.
She made a report to the police and the accused realising that she had returned absconded, but during police investigation, Cynthia Adobea, the supposed girlfriend of the Mustapha was arrested on October 7, 2008.
Adobea, then led the police to Agona Swedru, where Mustapha was arrested, and after thorough search some of the items were retrieved.
Further investigations by the police revealed that Mustapha and Abass occasionally met in the complainant’s room where they stole the items.
Mustapha further admitted that he sometimes slept with Adobea in the complainant’s bedroom, and sold the 17 pieces out of the 48 Dell Flat screen monitors to Alex Kwabena Sowill, who however claimed that only six of the monitors were sold to him.
Alex Sowill then gave the police GH¢300 as part payment of the six monitors he bought from Mustapha.
Mustapha later led the police to one Kyei at East Legon as the one who bought the iron rods but he was not met.
Meanwhile efforts are being made to get Abass and Kyei arrested.

MP aspirant to use car loan for Educ fund

THE aspiring Member of Parliament for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the Okaikoi South Constituency, Mr Isaac Mensah has promised to use his MP’s car loan as seed money for an Educational Fund for the youth in the constituency if voted into Parliament.
He said, he saw no reason why he should ride in an expensive car that cost almost $25,000 when the youth in his constituency had no job because they could not afford the cost of tertiary and secondary education.
Speaking at a rally at the constituency in Accra, Mr Mensah said the fact can not be denied that education had been paramount on the agenda of NDC and still remained the number on their agenda.
Comparing the NDC’s past record on education to that of the current administration, Mr Mensah said the NDC during their time in power built more schools, particularly polytechnics than the current administration.
He said, he believed that if voted into power the fund he intends to set up would yield positive result in the shortest possible time, reducing the burden on parents who could not support the children’s education in the constituency.
He nonetheless bemoaned the fact that a constituency that had the Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Nana Akomeah as its MP had no educational fund from which the youth in his constituency could benefit from.
According to him, the constituency had a lot of young football talents and to exploit their talent he would ensure that the fund also supports footballers in the area to pursue their career at greater heights or assist them to play professional soccer outside the country so that they can also support their communities.
He said majority of Ghanaians were suffering, adding that when given the nod, he would bring Parliament to the door steps of the people.
He therefore urged all registered voters in the constituency to vote for the NDC presidential aspirant, Prof. John Evans Atta Mills as the next president of Ghana and for him as their MP for a better change in their lives.
Amidst drumming and dancing, speaker after speaker explained to the crowd why they should vote for Prof. Mills and Mr Mensah and not repeat the mistake they made in 2004, now that they had realised that they were not part of the property owning democracy as propagated by the president, Mr John Agyekum Kufour.
A former Minister of Communication in the past NDC government, Mr Ekow Spio-Gabrah said the difference between the NDC and the NPP was that, “NDC thinks about the needs of the ordinary Ghanaian but the NPP does not”.
The reason he noted was because the NPP’s idea of affordable housing for the ordinary Ghanaian was not realistic as they indicated, stating that the houses that the NPP claimed were affordable were not all, because it was only the rich in society who could purchase such houses that were located in expensive neighbourhoods.
He said Prof. Mills was hardworking, God fearing and a compassionate man who cared about the needs of the ordinary Ghanaian and therefore urged all registered voters to vote for him come the general elections in December.

Traditional medicine practitioners appeal for council

THE Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Association (GHAFTRAM) has appealed to the government, particularly the health ministry, to set up a council for the smooth running of the association, in accordance with Act 578 of the Constitution.
It said the establishment of the council would bring sanity into traditional medicine practice and also pave the way for traditional medicine to be incorporated into the National Health Insurance Scheme.
The National Organiser of the association, Mr Kwadwo Obiri, told the Daily Graphic in Accra on Thursday, after a three-day workshop, that the absence of a council to see to the efficient administration of the association since the passage of the Act in 2000 was hampering the effectiveness of their activities.
Currently, he indicated, the association had in place a temporary secretariat which was being handled by a government appointee, Mr Hunua Akakpo, who acts as registrar.
According to him, Mr Akakpo was informally registering members into the council without their approval and, therefore, it would be expedient if the government facilitated the establishment of the council, in accordance with the provisions of Act 578.
The Act, he noted, indicated that the membership of council was to be 11, six of whom were to be members of the association.
Mr Obiri said the formation of the council would make it possible for herbal clinics to be given accreditation and for practitioners to operate legally in the country, stating that though they needed a registrar to handle the secretariat, the person ought to work hand in hand with members of the association to see to the establishment of the council but not to the recruit members indiscriminately to constitute the council against their will.
To ensure that the secretariat did the right thing, the association sought the help of the Business Sector Advocacy Challenge (BUSAC) secretariat to train their members on how to practise their profession without any hindrances and constitute the council.
Fortunately for them, he said, they had completed their training and now had the requisite knowledge to handle the administration of the council, in line with government policy.
The training, he said, apart from helping them to advocate the establishment of the council, was also aimed at building the capacity of traditional medicine practitioners to enable them offer their best.
Mr Obiri appealed to all traditional medicine practitioners to go about their duties in accordance with the ethics of traditional medicine practice. He hinted that a national task force would embark on an operation to flush out quacks in the sector in order to attract public confidence.
In all 20 practitioners took part in the three-day workshop, after which they were presented with certificates of participation.

UGBS Inducts 228 students into EMBA Programme

THE University of Ghana Business School has inducted 228 students, comprising 141 males and 87 females, into its Executive Masters in Business Administration (EMBA) programme.
The students will specialise in areas such as Finance, Accounting, Marketing, Project Management, Human Resource Management and Entrepreneurial Management.
The four-to-six-month programme seeks to cater for the higher educational needs of practitioners in the areas of governance and administrative management, as well as the management of public enterprises and non-governmental agencies.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Prof C.N.B. Tagoe, urged the students to think strategically and use the knowledge they would acquire to effectively manage the innovations needed to develop existing and new businesses in Ghana.
“As managers, directors and leaders, you have to focus on leaving footprints. You must leave legacies, remembering that leadership comes by beginning something that does not end with you,” he advised.
He said the university’s goal for the EMBA was to expand the frontiers of management education, using cutting-edge research to enrich the management of knowledge and practices in the country.
Prof Tagoe said that was important, since today’s world was a knowledge-driven one and so the essence of the programme was to enable them to blend theory with practice to enlighten their day-to-day activities with conceptual argument.
The Chairman of the Governing Council of the EMBA, Dr Bill Puplampu, said the programme, since its inception in 2000, had graduated about 540 students, while 98 were to graduate soon.
He said the programme was specially designed to meet Ghana’s human resource capital needs now and into the future, and by so doing provide global leaders through the programme.
Dr Puplampu expressed belief that the faculty would ensure that teaching and delivery was sound and relevant and comparable to what obtained in other world-class institutions.
“We also believe that we have to challenge you, our students, to interrogate social and corporate issues with a passion to find solutions,” he said.
The Managing Director of Kasapa Telecom, Mr Bob Palitz, urged the students not to put so much emphasis on the certificates they would be awarded after the programme but on the quality of their output in their various organisations after the programme.
What was more important, he noted, was their ability to put what they learnt into practice, adding that the value of their output was more significant than the certificates they would earn after completion of the programme.
The Dean of the School of Research and Graduate Studies, Prof Yaa Ntiamoah Baidoo, urged the students to abide by the rules and regulations of the programme.
He said humility was very important and observed the need for them to be very humble and patient, communicating effectively to ensure that they made steady progress from the beginning till the end.
In an address read on behalf of the students, their representative, Lord Mensa Darko, said they expected that the university would make good use of their research works and not just leave them to lie on the shelves to gather dust.
That, he said, was because they believed that the academic exercise they were undertaking would be relevant to the industrial development of Ghana.

Osu Council admits leasing cemetery

THE Osu Traditional Council has admitted that it has leased the premises of the Osu Royal Mausoleum at the Ringway Estates to Zain Ghana Limited to erect a communications mast there.
It, however, disagreed with the view of one of the elders of Osu, Asafoatse Nii Akapeh II, that the erection of a mast constituted a desecration of the Royal cemetery.
Speaking on behalf of the council in reaction to a story which was carried in the Monday, November 10 edition of the Daily Graphic, the Public Relations Officer of the Osu Stool, Mr Abraham Adjieteh, said the council found it prudent to lease the land to the company after taking into consideration security and the deteriorated state of the place, noting that the council had been trying for a long time to renovate the place and that it believed that the company met its requirement.
He mentioned the elders who took part in the transaction as the Osu Ashante Osiahene, the Osu Ashante Atofotse and Papa Yeboah Bibio, adding that all of them agreed to lease the land to Zain.
Later, he said, the discussions that took place were communicated to the Osu Mantse, Nii Kinka Dowuona VI, and the Osu Klottey Wolomo, Numo Gbelenfo.
Asked why Nii Akapeh, as the Asafoatse of the Osu Mankralo Stool, was not invited to the meeting, Mr Adjieteh said it was because Nii Akapeh belonged to a faction the council did not agree with.
He said the story being propagated by Nii Akapeh that the chiefs and elders of Osu regarded the erection of the mast at the Royal Mausoleum highly provocative and sacrilegious was false.
According to him, the chiefs and elders of Osu had, since 2006, drawn up a plan to renovate the burial ground which had been encroached upon by the Visa Section of the British High Commission and other surrounding buildings in the area.
He noted that the decision of the council to renovate the mausoleum was upon the advice of the chiefs and the Wolomo of Osudoku when they last paid homage to their ancestors at the mausoleum during the 2006 Homowo.
“We do not see anything wrong with that. How sacred is the place which has been encroached upon by the British High Commission?” he asked.
Mr Adjieteh said the fact that Nii Akapeh was the Asafoatse of the Osu Mankralo Stool did not mean he had the right to resort to the use of the media to oppose the lease.