AMA to undertake another decongestion exercise

The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) would commence a massive decongestion exercise this month and all who would be found hawking on streets would be prosecuted. This would commence after the new market, which would house 4,000 hawkers at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, is inaugurated by President John Agyekum Kufuor by the end of October.

Mr Stanley Adjiri Blankson, AMA Chief Executive Officer, who said this in Accra on Thursday when he received a 12-member Nigerian delegation, therefore asked hawkers to start moving to the new market this month.

The delegates comprised leaders from Kano State House Committee on Labour and Productivity; Bayelsa State Labour Council of Trade Union Congress and the Nigerian Labour Congress. The delegates, who are on an exchange programme, would also learn from Ghana's local governance.

"As from November this year it would be an offence for people to sell on the street. Culprits who fall foul to this would be punished by the law," the Accra Mayor warned. Mr Blankson said the market complex, including a health post, a Police Station a crèche and big warehouse would be known as "Pedestrian Shopping Mall."

He said the hawkers, who might not have space at the newly created mall would be housed at some traditional markets in the Metropolis. Mr Blankson said the mall would help to control hawkers and mobilize more revenue for the Assembly, which spent 60 per cent of its revenue on waste disposal.

"It would also help to control the activities of thieves, who loiter in and around the market. Hawkers in the new market would have to make use of their laminated identity cards." Mr Blankson said currently the Metropolis had a population of about five million and one of its biggest problems was migration.

He noted that because there were no jobs in most rural areas, the youth now move to the Accra to seek non-existent jobs and end up "perching" mostly in kiosks and containers. "There have been instances where vehicles have knocked down some hawkers and in the end they die. Hawkers also left behind filth."

The Accra Mayor briefed the Nigerians about the Assembly's move to improve the sanitation in the Metropolis saying its success was due to public education. He said in the past 85 per cent of the population did not pay for refuse collection but the Assembly was working on a new system known as “Pay and Dump."

He implored the delegates to come and invest in Ghana saying it was one of the safest countries in the West Africa Sub-Region. Mr Habib Hassan, Chairman on Labour and Productivity, Kano State, lauded the achievements of the AMA over the years in ensuring that the city was clean and safe for all.

He said they would sell Ghana's example to leaders in Northern Nigeria where hawkers and beggars had also invaded the streets.
GNA

Students appeal to NAGRAT to return to the classroom

The Greater Accra Regional Students' Representative Council on Thursday appealed to the Government and the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) to speedily resolve the issues that have led to the five-week-old strike by NAGRAT members.

At a press conference in Accra to express the frustrations of students of second cycle schools for being neglected by their teachers since schools re-opened, Master William Boye, Regional SRC President, said students for some time now had been treated unfairly.

This is because strikes by members of NAGRAT had become an annual ritual, he said, adding that students had now become fed up with it and asked the Government to be sensitive to the plight of teachers.

He said Ghanaian students would be writing the same West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examination with colleagues from the West Africa Sub-Region from April 2007 irrespective of whether they had completed their syllabus or not.

"The examinations are not in anyway marking time with NAGRAT's strike action," he said, and urged both the Government and NAGRAT to consider the plight of the students when taking their stand in the impasse.

Mr Boye said it was obvious that students were being deprived of their right to education granted them by the Constitution and queried: "Is this to suggest that Government through the Ministry of Education and NAGRAT are interested in us having a mass failure?"

He said teachers were the backbone of second cycle schools and without them everything came to a halt with discipline breaking down. Mr Boye said the absence of the teachers created an avenue for some students to roam about in town while at the same time creating other avenues for others to engage in drug.

He, therefore, appealed to the Concerned Parents Association, Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, Council of State, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice and all stakeholders to intervene to resolve the impasse to enable NAGRAT members to return to the classroom as early as possible.

GNA

Cabinet approves 300 million dollars loan for affordable housing

Cabinet has approved a 300 million-dollar concessionary loan to further support and advance Government's promise of providing 100,000 affordable housing units by December 2007. Announcing this on Thursday in Accra, Mr Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, said the Company providing the loan would also construct the houses across the country.

"Government's role is to facilitate the process; with an eight-year moratorium if a flat is sold roughly at 130 million cedis the amount will be recouped in no time," he said. Mr Owusu-Agyemang said this when he inaugurated a Local Organizing Committee for the organization of a sub-regional conference dubbed "West Africa High Level Peer Exchange on Government Enablement of Private Sector Lending for Affordable Housing.”

The three-day conference to be held in Accra from November 27 to December 1, 2006 would afford participating countries the opportunity to share experience on how best governments could encourage the private sector and domestic services industry to invest in affordable housing.

Mr Owusu-Agyemang also announced that the Government had released funds to commence work on affordable housing in Tamale and Koforidua besides the ongoing projects at Tema, Nungua and Kumasi.
"When Government says it will deliver, it's not a matter of a joke. This clearly shows that something is being done and it is to ensure that the Government leads in the crusade to reduce the cost of construction in this country."

He said the design for the about 12 million-euro "Sodom and Gomorrah" affordable housing units project at Amasaman would soon be ready for construction to begin.
When the project is completed, a housing unit would be sold at about 6,000 dollars.

Currently, the country has a backlog in excess of 500,000 housing units and an annual demand of over 175,000 units. Government expects to clear this within the next five years.

On the upcoming conference, the Minister said the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, US Agency for International Development, Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and UN-HABITAT would provide support.

Togolese President arrives for a day's visit

Mr Faure Gnassingbe, the Togolese President, arrived to a rousing welcome in Accra on Thursday for a day's state visit.

President John Agyekum Kufuor and his Vice, Alhaji Aliu Mahama were on hand to meet him at the gangway immediately the Presidential jet carrying him and his entourage touched down at the Kotoka International Airport.

He was then escorted to a saluting dais erected in his honour and as the Ghana Army Band struck the national anthems of Ghana and Togo, a 21 gun-salute boomed at the background. President Gnassingbe thereafter inspected a Guard of Honour mounted by three officers and 101 men from the 48 Engineer Regiment of the Ghana Army.

President Kufuor later introduced him to members of his Government. The two Leaders also exchanged greetings with an enthusiastic crowd of Togolese, who treated their President to some beautiful cultural displays.

President Kufuor and President Gnassingbe drove to the Castle where they held talks behind closed doors on bilateral ties.