The first lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, has called for affirmative action on the part of all political parties to ensure that women constituted at least 40 per cent of the membership of the Parliament to be formed after the 1996 elections.
She said a 200-member Parliament with at least 80 women, together with improvement in women's participation in other national endeavours, would be more meaningful in ensuring gender balance and to enhance sustainable human development. "All political parties must, therefore, consider coming together to discuss the possibility of making this proposal real in support of gender equality and human development", she stressed.
Nana Konadu, who is president of the 331st December Women's Movement, was launching the Human Development Report 1995 (HDR 95) under the theme, 'Gender and Human Development.' The 230-page report was prepared by an independent team of economists and social scientists and commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Mr. Mahbub UI Haq. Special Adviser to the Administrator of the UNDP, is the principal author and co-ordinator of HDR 1995. The report, the sixth in an annual series, established that around 16 trillion dollars of human activities are not included in the official estimate of 23 trillion dollars for global output. "Of this 16 trillion dollars, 11 trillion dollars is the non-monetized invisible contribution of women", it added.
The Statesman has once again stumbled on more evidence that the registration exercise was grossly abused, casting further doubt on its integrity. A Statesman reporter, on a routine news assignment at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, last Friday discovered to his amazement, at the Medical Block, a fifteen year old in-patient from Adidome in the Volta Region with the indelible ink used by the Electoral Commission, still visible on the nail of his left thumb.
Discreet enquiries revealed that he is a pupil of St. John's Preparatory School in Accra and had been brought in two Sundays ago with a skin condition requiring admission. The Statesman is protecting his identity because he is minor, but a close examination of his bedside chart revealed three names with the initials M.A.A. When The Statesman reporter talked to M.A.A., he said he was staying with his uncle, whose identity we also wish to protect with his initials B.T., at Mamprobi and confessed to having been registered at the Mamprobi J.S.S. registration centre.
Last week, The Statesman reported on its front page the story of clandestine voter registration, almost three weeks after the exercise had officially ended.
Mr E.T. Mensah, Minister of Youth and Sport, who has been mentioned as the back-seat driver who directed the butchery of peaceful demonstrators in Accra on May 11, is exporting violence to the rural areas and thereby heaping more curses on his head and on the NDC. His politics of violence has now got to Asutsuare in the Dangme West District, about 100 kilometres from Accra, where his "macho" bodyguard dished out a heavy slap to the ear of an NPP agent during the just ended registration.
The NPP agent, Mr. Edmum Kweku Deiter, popularly known as Ghanaman, said he was shocked that a Minister of State could misbehave to that level. Narrating the shocking misbehaviour of E.T. Mensah, Mr Deiter said he was at the Asutsuare Ghasel Estate Primary School on October 8, between 1 pm and 2 p.m. when Mr. Mensah and Mr. E.D. Nanor, Deputy Minister of Works and Housing, and some NDC men in three cars came to the registration centre. When the convoy arrived, the two ministers rushed to the table where they were working, bellowing, "who are the opposition agents?"
The NPP agent said when the ministers were directed to him, E.T. Mensah attacked him and snatched away the exercise book that he had been given by the NPP to jot down notes. "He then asked me whether I had not heard that it was illegal for anybody apart from registration officials to write down names. Mr. Nanor also assailed me with a barrage of question" Mr Deiter said. Whilst E.T. Mensah and Nanor were pestering him with questions, Mensah's bodyguard ordered him not to open his mouth to answer. "Mr Nanor said bull shit to me. I asked the bodyguard whether he heard it?" But before I could finish my protest to the bodyguard, he gave me a heavy slap on my left ear " When he asked them what crime he had committed, a woman in the entourage told him they were in power and could crush the opposition at any time.
Mr. Deiter said he reported the assault to his party bosses at Asutsuare, who made a report to the Asutsuare Police commander at Akuse. "Up till now, the case is still with the police, they are scared to act" He said the last time he went there, the District Police commander told him he could do nothing about the case, since it involve ministers of state. When The Stateman went to enquire from the Akuse District Police none of police seemed to know anything about the case. The District commander himself was said to be on his annual leave. The assemblyman for Asutsuare, Mr Vadis Tei-Muno, said he knew the police had been informed about the ministerial brutalities. Said he; "Asutsuare is a " free town and we don't want anybody from Accra to spread his violence there" Meanwhile, Mr Deiter wants the law to take its course. He and the assemblymember for Asutsuare believe that when the police apprehends E.T. Mensah, his macho bodyguard who gave the slap could be brought to book.
A 14 year old JSS one pupil of the AMA Zion School at Hohoe, Kofi Sewonu, alias Foofo, Committed suicide last Saturday by drinking Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane (DDT), a poisonous pesticide.
Kofi is alleged to have drunk the poisonous chemical because he was stopped from taking soup reserved for the family's evening meal. The chemical, in a plastic container, was stored in the family bedroom and used by the deceased's father for destroying pests which attack wood. The father, Mr Kodjo Sewonu, aged 60, a carpenter, told the Graphic that part of the soup prepared for breakfast that day was reserved for the evening. He said at about 11a.m that morning, the deceased who was helping him at his carpentry workshop, decided to eat a left-over of the food and wanted to dish out some of the reserved soup but one of his sisters stopped him from doing so. This, according to the father, infuriated Kofi but he did not show any sign of resorting to that course of action. Mr Ssewonu said after that, he gave some money to the deceased to go and buy some dough for the preparation of a meal for the family.
On his return. the deceased did not go back to the father's workshop and rather went to lie down in the bedroom. Not quite long after Mr Sewonu said, the sister who was in the bathroom smelt DDT and when she rushed to the bedroom she saw the deceased drinking the chemical. Mr Sewonu said the sister knocked the container from Kofi's mouth and raised an alarm. He said the deceased was given some palm oil and later rushed to the Hohoe Government Hospital where he died at about 4 p.m. the same day. The body has since been deposited at the hospital's mortuary while the Hohoe Police are investigating the case.
Directors of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have expressed support for Ghana's structural reform efforts and welcomed the progress being made in a number of areas.
According to the fund's annual report for 1995 obtained yesterday, the directors "welcomed the progress being made on the divestiture programme which provided a clear signal of the government's commitment to enhancing the private sector's role in economic development". They expressed satisfaction that the operating costs of the Ghana Cocoa Board had been contained, that strong price incentives had been provided to cocoa farmers, and that the domestic marketing of cocoa had been liberalised. The report said "the flexible exchange rate policy acted as a safety valve against weakness in policy implementation and in order to avoid undue losses of foreign exchange.
But they also observed that "the currency depreciation over the years may well have led to inflationary expectations and that greater exchange rate stability could contribute to greater price stability." They agreed that the first priority was to strengthen fiscal policies particularly aimed at macro-economic sector. The report said external assistance to Ghana was expected to remain relatively high through the medium term. "Directors emphasised the importance of structural reforms and domestic resource mobilisation as key elements in diversifying economic activity and achieving external viability."
The report said because of slippages in the government's Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) during recent years and consequent macro-economic deterioration, the government adopted policies in 1993 to restore financial discipline and improve the country's external position. It noted that most programme benchmarks were, however, not met, although real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth exceeded targets rising by five per cent in 1993 largely because of good harvest and strong growth in mining output. "The Programme's slippage was due to higher-than expected expenditures, shortfall in revenue from petroleum excise duties and exchange rate changes that affected prices. "In addition, budgetary receipts from petroleum taxes, sales taxes and cocoa exports fell short of targeted levels, as a result of the overall deficit in 1993 was 2.5 per cent of GDP".
The report said intensified collection and administrative improvements, nonetheless, contributed to a health increase in both personal and company income tax receipts. Moreover, the government was able to contain its wage bill despite mounting pressures from trade union, while development spending was also kept within the budgeted limit, and structural reform continued to progress. Referring to the economy's performance in 1993, the report said liquidity in the banking system expanded sharply because of lending by the Central Bank, reduction in the public's holdings of currency relative to deposits and a run down of bank's reserves. It said despite these actions broad money grew by 27 per cent, driven by a strong increase in private sector credit. Consumer prices also rose by 28 per cent, that double the 1992 rate.
By Tina Aforo
The rules for law practice cannot be described as outmoded because of the various amendments, Al-Hajj Dramani Yakubu, the judicial secretary said.
In an interview in Accra Sunday, he said there had been periodic amendments to court acts and civil procedures to suit the country's law practice. The judicial Secretary was reacting to a story in the November 9 issue of the 'Times' in which a Tamale lawyer called for the review of civil procedure rules to facilitate the administration of justice in the country. Al-Hajj Yakubu said amendments to the laws were approved by Parliament and cited the code on rape which drew a lot of outcry from the public as an example.
He said there was a Rules Committee whose functions included the periodic review of laws to ensure that proper justice was carried out. The judicial Secretary mentioned the Probate and Administration Rules of 1954 and the High Court Civil Procedures Rules to which several amendments had been made. "Unfortunately, some of the lawyers are not aware of some of these amendments while others cannot afford the Law Reports", he said. Al-Hajj Yakubu said the problem of lengthy trials could be attributed to the attitude of some lawyers who continued to ask for adjournments.
By Gayheart Edem Mensah & Sandra Addae-Mensah
The high rate of government expenditure is the biggest cause of the present monetary problems confronting the country, said mr. Victor Selormey, deputy minister of Finance.
He was responding to questions from newsmen at a briefing in Accra , on the recent investment promotion tour of the United States by the President, Flt-Lt. Rawlings. He said as a result of the high expenditure, the government had had to borrow from other sources which had impacted on interest rates. The Minister mentioned demands for unrealistic and unjustified salaries and wages as one of the causes of the high expenditure rates and said unless Ghanaians saw that there was an interplay between production levels, wages and prices, the problem with the economy would continue.
He spoke of the unsuccessful efforts by the government to control expenditure and the alternative measure which was to raise revenue through the Value Added Tax system which was aborted, leaving the government with very little control over the issue. Still on revenue generation, Mr. Selormey lashed at the Customs, Excise and Preventive Services (EPS), saying that despite various stringent measures to check corruption, the CEPS officials appeared to be just "incorrigible". Blaming the public, partly, for the corruption at CEPS which caused the government to lose a lot of revenue, he maintained that "it takes two to tango" and advised the public to stop drawing CEPS officials into corruption. The Deputy Minister was of the view that Ghanaians had an illusion about the amount of money in their pockets as any point in time, and said what was important was not the amount but the value. He touched on the situation of capital flights in the economy and attributed it to a feeling of fiscal insecurity on the part of the people. Moreover, he said, the banks were not helping the issue by not operating as efficiently as expected. On transfers of money, Mr. Selormey explained that the government had guaranteed repatriation of profits made by investors and said that should give some relief to potential investors.
Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi, Chief Executive of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), also took a nib at the CEPS, saying that they were running down the country and that most of the officials there were "supper rich". He harped on the need to remove the bottlenecks and clean the system if potential investors were not to be frustrated and forced out. Mr. Ahwoi commended the Immigration Services which had change from its security conscious posture to that of investor friendly, and said such changes were necessary to make businessmen feel safe and comfortable.
By Osei Boakye
PRESIDENT RAWLINGS has, for the first time, openly owned up on the barbaric killings of the eight army officers during the 1979 bloody army revolution against decent Ghanaians, which he led, according to the Authoritative New York based, AFRICAN OBSERVER.
Speaking at a dinner, dance at the Sheraton - Washington Hotel on his just-ended ill-fated U.S. trip, Rawlings stunned his audience with the admission: "yes, I killed Acheampong, Africa and others, if I hadn't, they would have killed me. It was a matter of self-preservation" he said, without remorse. As if possessed, Rawlings was said to have gone ahead admitting that his agents were involved in the gruesome abduction and murder of the three high court judges and the retired army officer.
But the bloodthirsty revolutionary stopped short in his tracks, sending many of the disgusted invited guests away, as he could not convince them of why Capt. Kojo Tsikaata, the man branded as architect of the dastardly murders, was walking about a free man, with the post of National Security boss to boot! Having horrified his audience with 'lectures on killings', Rawlings attempted some humour to tone down the horror of his audience, but failed miserably in the process. He told his bewildered guest how long his prepared text was, and that he snored away the previous night, whilst his advisors read him 14 page speech, instead of the seven page he asked for.
Looking tired and confused, Rawlings on three occasions veered off his speech, and unpresidentially wetted his index finger to turn over the pages. Wrapping up on the note of the controversial 1992 elections, Rawlings made yet another mockery of God, saying, "During the 1992 election campaign, the churches told their congregations not to vote for me, because I don't fear God, well the churches and their God were wrong" amid bragging, "the people voted massively for me.
Three former heads of state, Generals I.K. Acheampong, F.W.K.Akuffo, A.A.Afrifa, together with Brigadier R Kotey, Real Admiral Amedume, Air-Vice Marshal Y. Boakye, Col. R. Feli and Brigadier E. Utuka, were killed by firing squad during Rawlings' 1979 military insurrection. The dust and barely settled when Rawlings led another insurrection in 1981 which saw the gruesome abduction and murder of Justices Fred Sarkodie, Adjepong, Cecilia Koranteng-Addow, all of the High Court and a retired army officer, Major Sam Acquah.
By Osei Boakye
Haunted President Rawlings clearly appeared jittery as he addressed an audience of investors in the U.S., among whom was a nephew of the late Col. Feli, one of the Army officers he murdered during the bloody AFRC (Armed Forces Revolutionary Council) revolt he led in 1979, according to the authoritative New York based AFRICAN OBSERVER.
Hosted by the U.S. Investment Bank, Merril Lynch, Rawlings was billed to address the high-powered group of U.S. business executives on investment opportunities in Ghana. But his hitherto stubborn countenance soon gave way to nervousness, as he spotted Augustine Feli, the man whose uncle, together with seven others, he had caused to be tied to the stakes and shot without trial. Col. Feli was a former commissioner for Foreign Affairs, Rawlings turned pale and looked very uncomfortable as he tried to avoid eye contact with young Feli.
The nightmarish incident was compounded by the presence of Tsatsu Tsikata, who to the U.S. Business Community, was a blot to the invstment campaign of Rawlings.
Reports reaching Free Press say during his recent junket in the United States, President Rawlings presented Africa-American show-biz virtuoso, Michael Jackson, with diamond from Ghana. In exchange for this, Michael Jackson presented a golden sword to Rawlings.
According to a report in a London newspaper, Rawlings dubbed his gift, "Diamond of Africa" at a Hollywood glittery show in his honour. One, observer laments "while our economy is in shambles, with the people suffering, Rawlings is carrying our coal to Newcastle". "If Michael Jackson was to lavished with a diamond, what could have been the lot of Edgar Evers College and the Lincoln University where Rawlings was a proud recipient of generous honorary degrees?" asked one observer.
Incidentally, the exchange of gifts was telecast on Ghana TV, but as usual, conveniently, without the "Diamond of Africa" aspect. In another report, a writer shedding light on the event wrote, " I am sure Ghanaians can fully appreciate that when Dr. Kwame Nkrumah interacted with icons of the African-American community, it was the likes of immortals such as Dr. W.E.B. du Bois, Marcus Garvey, George Padmore, Malcom X and Mohammed Ali - all of whom have left indelible marks on the struggle of the African to free himself from bondage. He continued, "In contrast however, when Mr. Rawlings attempted to woo the same community it was with an obviously discredited characters like Michael Jackson (who reportedly paid millions of dollars in settlements to the family of a 14-year-old boy he was accused of sexually molesting; and to Miss Vanessa Williams, who was stripped of her "Miss America" beauty crown for posing nude for the pornographic magazine, Penthouse) that President Rawlings turned.
In another development, a Ghanaian industrialist, Mr. Ismeal Yamson, chairman, Unilever, Ghana limited, who was on Rawlings train, had to bow out midway during the trip from embarrassing remarks made by Rawlings. According to reports, Mr. Yamson was stung by Rawlings' references to him as "a member of the opposition", to an investment house, apparently an attempt to deceive his American audience that the opposition he hates so bitterly were on his entourage. On one such occasions, when he had the chance to mount the podium, Mr. Yamson told the audience that he was on the trip no as an opposition member, but "as a representative of a major trading house, Unilever, and also as chairman of the Private Enterprise Foundation. He concluded, "If that makes me a member of the opposition...." He then bowed out, and returned to Ghana well ahead of the delegation.
GNA
Sheikh Hussein Sakaria, an islamic tutor at the Ghana Secondary School in Tamale, has said that religious leaders who advocate violence and bloodshed are fundamentalists.
He said a religious fundamentalist is one who is committed and devoted to practising to the letter the fundamental concepts as taught by his religion. He was speaking at the launching in Tamale of an inter-religious dialogue commission which seeks to bring together leaders of Christianity and Islam to frostier unity, peace, tolerance and understanding among their adherents. Sheikh Hussein said neither prophet Mohammed not Jesus Christ preached bloodshed. "Therefore to call advocates to religious violence as fundamentalist is to say the least, a misnomer." He said if Muslims and Christians were to follow the true teachings of Christ and Mohammed, they would realise that there are so many common factors that unite them that divide them.
Sheikh Hussein therefore called for the re-examination and re-definition of the relationship between Muslims and Christians to make the world more peaceful. 'Instead of arguing over verses and dogmas, we must seek to unite against poverty, hunger and starvation and also see to the development of our societies to reduce human sufferings he declared. The Most Reverend Gregory Kpiebaya, catholic archbishop of Tamale, said religious tolerance does not rpt , not mean compromising individual religious values. He said Muslims and Christians should always uphold the things that unite them rather than those that divide them, The Archbishop attributed the causes of religious conflicts to prejudice, mutual suspicion and misunderstanding and challenged the members of the commission to work towards eliminating such negative factors. The Archbishop said there are no rapt no separate schools, markets or their social amenities for the different religious groups and asked why can't we transform these realities to the overall development of our societies if we can tolerate each other in the schools and in the hospitals.'
Mr. Aphonsus Auman, secretary to the commission appealed to all religious bodies to co-operate with the commission to foster unity and understanding to remove doubts and suspicions.
Since agriculture is the mainstay of the economy, it should be given serious attention and the necessary support. This was the consensus reached at a symposium in Accra organised by he management development with the private productivity institute (MDPI) in collaboration with the private Enterprise Foundation (PEF), Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC)and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation under the theme 'NATIONAL PROSPERITY THROUGH INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY.
Dr. S.K.Dapaah, Chief Director, Ministry of Food and Agriculture called on the banking institutions to review procedures that hamper productivity of farmers and adopt more innovative methods that would not necessarily require collateral that farmers could not afford. One way is to encourage what he described as outgrow methods under which farmers are provided with inputs, including cash, on credit basis, which are repaid after harvesting. This Dr.Dapaah said, would boost productivity for both local consumption and export.
He said another way is to sponsor trained agriculturist to go into modern farming and industries that could process raw Agro -materials for export, noting that this would encourage more agriculturist to leave the offices for farming.
Culled from "Weekly Spectator"
Whilst the problem of grave-looting appears to be getting under control, another similar problem is emerging. This time it is drug peddlers who have turned the Osu Cemetery into a "safe haven" where apart from their drug business, they also make love to their girlfriends. They have also turned the cemetery into a spot for gambling, and in certain cases, they chip off pieces of marble from the graves and sell them.
When the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) raided the Osu Cemetery to get rid of the drug peddlers operating there, they managed to escape leaving behind a quantity of Indian Hemp and a transistor radio. The sexton of the cemetery, Mr. Daniel Annan said the practise had persisted for the past two years and all attempts to get rid of them had not been successful. Mr. Annan said a lady who went to the cemetery to lay a wreath, had a handbag snatched by a young man believed to be a member of the gang. The sexton also complained of the overgrown trees at the cemetery which give peddlers the cover to engage in their nefarious activities.
A fake doctor whose illegal activities resulted in physical deformity for 33 year -old farmer, Yaw Botwe, has been arrested by the Oda Police at Akyem Asene near Oda.
The 'doctor' Kingsley Yaw Owusu Freeman, a traditional medical practitioner was alleged to have sewed-up a cutlass-wound sustained by Yaw Botwe on his right leg on September 20, this year.
Later on the wound developed complications with parts of the leg going rotten. This caused Botwe to be hospitalised at the Oda Government Hospital where he was operated upon to remove the rotten part of the leg. This exposed the bones in his leg.
The Oda District Police Command under superintendent John Duah, acting on press reports, arrested the quack doctor who had earlier last year been banned by the Birim District Medical Officer from practising. He is currently on police enquiry bail and is to report regularly to the police while investigations are conducted into the case. Meanwhile the Oda police have requested victims of Yaw Owusu's illegal practice to come forward to give statements that would help the police in their investigations.
The management of MultiChoice Kaleidoscope, Ghana recently presented 5 decoders to the Asantehene Otumfuo Opoku Ware II at a brief ceremony at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi.This makes the Asantehene the first to own a decoder in Kumasi. MultiChoice will start transmission of their pay television network to the Metropolis by the second week in December, thus making Kumasi the second after Accra to receive MultiChoice pay TV.
The presentation was done by the General Manager of MultiChoice, Mr. Harry Pratt. He said channels on offer include : MNET, Super Sport, KTV,BBC and BOP-TV.
The Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mr. Owuraku Amofa recently launched a new tourist map of Accra at the Golden Tulip Hotel. Initiated by the management of Golden Tulip, the map is to enable tourists and foreign businessmen find their way in Accra during their visits. Mr. Amofa commended the management of the hotel for their good work and hoped other commercial enterprises will liaise with his Ministry and the Ghana Tourist Board to produce similar maps for the other regions.