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.