NPP to organize mock polls

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) will organize mock elections to demonstrate what its activists should do on polling day as part of its preparations towards recording a resounding victory in next year's general elections, Mr Peter Mac Manu, National Chairman of the party, has said."The NPP has suffered under the NDC as far as rigging of elections are concerned and we cannot succeed without the positive involvement of party activists some of who allowed themselves to be influenced in many ways during past elections".Mr Mac Manu was addressing the Nadowli West Constituency conference of the party at Sombo in the Nadowli District on Tuesday. The conference was organized to elect a parliamentary candidate for the constituency.During the election Wing Commander Eric Dakurah (RTD), the District Chief Executive, beat Dr Daniel Bagah, Dean of the Wa campus of the University of Development Studies by 51 votes to 41 to become the parliamentary candidate.He said the region, which used to be one of the strong holds of the Danquah/Busia tradition, has in recent times fallen to the NDC because the party members in the region were not working hard enough to attract people into the party."We want to take back the region but we cannot do that without your support and you must open up to welcome new comers into the party since we cannot win elections with only our core members". Mr Mac Manu also addressed the Wa Central Constituency Primary where Mr Clement Eledi, a Deputy Minster of Food and Agriculture, emerged as the parliamentary candidate after defeating Mr Abdullah Bin Salih, a teacher, by 81 votes to 37.The third contestant, Mr Hardi Bawa who was absent, polled no vote. Alhaji Abubakari Abdul-Rahman, Regional Chairman of the party, called on party supporters to use the opportunity offered by the peaceful election of parliamentary candidates to forge ahead in unity. "We need the votes and input of every party member to enable us win the presidential and parliamentary elections in the region and nothing must be done to destroy this objective", he said.Mr Mac Manu and his team of high profile party officials that included Nana Ohene Ntow, the General Secretary, organized an "operation 2008" strategic workshop for NPP functionaries in the region at Wa. The team also included, Mr Lord Commey, National Organizer and Miss Rita Asobayire, National Women's Organizer.
Source:GNA

Minister launches jobsinghana.com

Dr. Benjamin Aggrey Ntim, Minister of Communications on Wednesday launched Ghana's first indigenous job engine, www.jobsinghana.com, that uses the Internet as a platform linking jobseekers to employers and vice-versa.It is a tool that makes human resource management easier for employers and puts jobseekers in control of their careers. Dr. Ntim said the database, which would introduce Information Communication Technology (ICT) and related efficiencies in the human resource sector, would also make jobs readily available to help reverse brain drain in the Diaspora.He said the attainment of this feat pointed to the fact that ICT holds immense promise as its deployment was rapidly changing and opening new avenues of relationships for society."The contribution indeed points to the fact that there are individuals in Ghana with innovative skills today who are committed to the deployment of ICT solutions that are beneficial to users as a universal enterprise", he added.The Minister said the website would also provide consultancy services to help solve problems of unemployment by attracting persons with employable skills to the site to attain jobs and complement government's effort to secure jobs for the youth.Dr. Ntim said in Business Processing Outsourcing( BPO) which was a lucrative venture in ICT, a number of investors were keen to locate in Ghana and improve telecom services to enable them do business on cost effective basis.He hinted that the Ministry in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was facilitating the development of incubation facilities at the Ghana Multimedia Centre to promote technology commercialization and economic focus.The Minister therefore commended the initiative and called on the young entrepreneurs and others in the IT industry to set targets and increase research activities to develop skills in the industry. Mr. Ernest Adade, Deputy National Coordinator of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) also applauded the initiative, which, he said, was consistent with the aims of the NYEP to create more job avenues for the youth.He stated that the NYEP had been able to employ over 104,000 youth, saying this had reduced the number of graduate unemployment by 6,000. He said the programme had also employed over 23,000 pupil teachers in the regions, and pledged the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment's commitment to support any drive to secure more jobs. Mr. Richard Baffour, Chief Executive Officer for Jobsinghana said the website has a growing database with automatic links for jobseekers, employers, and a resource centre with information on resume writing, career search and other human resource tips.He said the site has registered over 3,000 job seekers to save them from frustrations of walking around with application letters to seek employment.Mr. Baffour said the initiative was more of his social contribution to the growth of the human resource sector and to jobseekers whose dreams to secure a job had never been realized. 15 Aug. 07
Source:GNA

Prof. Mills To Tour Some States in US

The Presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Professor John Evans Atta Mills leaves for the United States of America on Tuesday for a two-week tour.He is expected to meet with some Congressional representatives and honour public speaking invitations.A statement by Mr. Koku Anyidoho, who is in charge of communications at the Office of Prof. Mills, said the NDC candidate would meet Ghanaians across the political divide in the states he visits.He would also be part of the Ga Dangme Homowo celebrations in New York/New Jersey and have private meetings with NDC caucuses in selected states.

President to cut sod for Bui hydro

All is set for the sod cutting for work to commence on the construction of the 400-megawatt Bui Dam hydropower and the Bui City project on August 24.The 622 million-dollar project is to be funded with a 562 million dollars concessionary loan from the Government of China and a 60 million-dollars counterpart fund from the Government of Ghana. The project, the third hydro project after Akosombo and Kpong, is one of the measures of government for a solution of the perennial energy problem, which leads to load shedding.Mr. Joseph Kofi Adda, Minister of Energy, who announced this at the Meet-The-Press series in Accra on Tuesday, said President John Agyekum Kufuor would perform the sod cutting at the project site located close to the Bui National Park in the Brong Ahafo Region.Albert Kitson discovered the area as a potential site for hydroelectric power development in the 1920s when the British Government embarked on a campaign to support the social and economic development of the area.The Minister said several efforts were made in the past to develop the dam but these did not materialise adding that through sustained effort by the current Government, a lasting solution had been found. He explained that the project was a multi-purpose one, which besides the power generation also had other uses such as irrigation, fisheries and tourism."Current irrigation potential is estimated at about 30,000 hectares which should transform agricultural production in the area and also the region," Mr Adda said.He said it was also planned to develop a modern Bui City and added that the strategy was to use the Resettlement Housing Programme as the building block of the project.Mr Adda said out of an estimated projected construction workforce of 3,400 some 2,900 would be Ghanaians with the rest being Chinese expertise."Ghanaian companies will also benefit from the sub-constructional works and also supply of materials," he stated. Mr. Adda said the Environmental Impact Assessment had been carried out and the required mitigation and compensatory measures had been evaluated for necessary action.The project, he said, had been designed so as not to have any trans-boundary impacts, especially with C=F4te d'Ivoire. "No portion of C=F4te d'Ivoire will be inundated even at the full supply level."He noted that Parliament had already passed the Bui Power Authority Bill, which provided the legal basis for the institutional arrangements of the project."We intend to tap the expertise of Ghanaians who were involved in the earlier projects (Akosombo and Kpong) in order to ensure that the mistake of past are avoided," the Minister said.Answering questions, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, said the programme had a power purchase agreement where proceeds from the project would be shared accordingly. He urged the business community to take advantage of the project saying, "Over 600 million dollars is being sunk into the project that businesses could move in for their benefits."
Source:GNA