Kufuor off to Canada

President John Agyekum Kufuor leaves Accra on Friday night for Ottawa, Canada, for a two-day official visit. During the visit, he would engage in bilateral talks with Canadian Prime Minister, Mr Stephen Harper and the Governor-General, Ms Michaelle Jean.

A press release signed by Mr Andrew Awuni, Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman, said President Kufuor would also meet with officials of ALCAN, the multi-national aluminium company, which had proposed to build a bauxite refinery in Ghana to refine the vast deposits of the mineral.

It said from Canada, he would continue to New York, United States, to participate in the 62nd General Assembly of the United Nations. President Kufuor is scheduled to address the Assembly on September 25, 2007.
He returns on Friday, September 28.
Source:GNA

IEA Says...........Use VAT to Fund Political Parties

The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA), at a forum on Thursday to discuss the state funding of political parties has suggested in a draft bill that two percent of national revenue from the Value Added Tax (VAT) should be put in a special fund for political parties.When the state funds political parties, the IEA argues, there would be a level playing field for all parties in their quest to win political power.While the bill encourages foreign funding of political parties, it prohibits the parties from using money given to them by the state to fund demonstrations.The bill has been presented to the political parties for study. All the parties have welcomed the proposed bill but they expressed some concerns. The National Democratic Congress (NDC) is not happy that the fund can be accessed by independent candidates. The ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) is worried that funding from thestate could result in the proliferation of new parties.The proposed bill also suggests that parties that win less than two percent of votes in any election year, will not be entitled to state funding. But the chairman of the Convention Peoples Party (CPP), Dr. Edmond Delle is not very enthused about this idea because his party won less than two percent of ballots in the last general election.

Flood victims Bark At President--Fulfill campaign promises

Some flood victims in Daboya in the West Gonja District have asked President John Agyekum Kufuor to fulfill his campaign promises to them during the 2000 general elections.The victims reminded the President of his promise to build a bridge over the Daboya river if elected into power. They reminded the President on Wednesday when he visited some of the affected areas to sympathise with and make some donations to the victims.President Kufuor, in a speech, warned personnel who would be involved in the distribution of relief items to the flood victims and the beneficiaries against selling the items."The relief items are being given to you on humanitarian grounds and it will therefore be against nature and the law for you to commercialize it", he said. Daboya, which is about 30 kilometres from Tamale, has been flooded by the White Volta and completely cut off from the rest of the Northern Region.Other communities affected by the floods are: Sinsina, Tidowrope and Kpendua, all in the District.President Kufuor assured the people that relief items such as food, blankets, mattresses, roofing sheets and boards would soon be sent to them.He said a committee had also been set up at the national level to handle the problems emerging from the floods to alleviate the plight of the people.Abatuwura Darifu Yakubu, a sub-chief in the Waspei Traditional Area, on behalf of the Waspeiwura, Mumuni Abani, commended President Kufuor for his concern about the plight of the people.He said since the people settled in the area a very long time ago, they had never seen such flooding and they were therefore truly devastated.He said as a result of the river overflowing its banks the people now had to travel in canoes for over four hours to the other bank to board trucks to Tamale for shopping.He appealed to President Kufuor to construct a bridge over the Daboya River to fulfil his 2000 campaign promise.In response to the appeal, President Kufuor said the government was sourcing funds for the construction of bridges over the Daboya and Tachali rivers.Source: GNA

Workers March Against Sale of ADB

Workers on Thursday staged a demonstration against the proposed sale of the Central Bank's 48 per cent share in the Agricultural Development Bank, as pressure mounted on the government to abandon the proposal.Scores of members of the Tema District Council of Labour (TDCL) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) started the demonstration at Tema and ended in Accra.

The demonstrators, accompanied by brass band music, presented a petition protesting against the proposed sale of the shares to Nana Akomea, Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment.The Chairman of the TDCL, Mr Wilson Agana said previous sales of state enterprises such as Ghana Airways had not yielded any dividends and ADB must not be allowed to suffer the same fate.A number of Banks, including Stanbic Bank, have expressed the desire to buy the shares, but this has been met by the wave of protests from the workers of the Bank, civil society, TUC and political parties.

Mr. Agana said it was important that workers' concerns and interests were taken into consideration, adding that the march was therefore in support of the resistance by the TUC against government's intention to sell the shares and mobilize public support among workers and farmers.Nana Akomea told the demonstrators that he had been asked by President John Agyekum Kufuor to receive the petition and he would hand it over to Cabinet, which was meeting on Thursday. He said he wanted to dialogue and had therefore called a meeting with the TUC next week to discuss the issues. The TDCL has dismissed arguments that ADB needed a total amount of 250 million dollars instead of its current 66 million dollars to operate effectively.

"It is important to point out that this argument is flawed because it is not possible for any financial institution in the world to always have the ability to raise the needed capital required for a specific project," the TDCL said."We cannot simply for the purpose of improving efficiency, assume that ADB should be sold to a private foreign strategic interest." Last month TDCL gave government a two-week ultimatum to rescind its intended decision to sell the 48 percent shares of ADB, or members would take to the streets.Mr. Joseph Henry Mensah, former Senior Minister who supports the sale of the Central Bank's shares, has said what is at stake in the debate of off-loading the shares of the Bank of Ghana ADB is not a simple "sale" but a "reorganisation" of the Bank so that it would have more strength to serve the interests of the farming community and the operators of small and medium-scale industry throughout Ghana. He said whatever the achievements of the ADB in the past 50 years, it was manifest that today, with a net worth of just US$66 million, that it was in no position to cater adequately for the urgent need to modernize and re-equip Ghanaian agriculture."That need for agricultural transformation was the sole purpose for establishing the ADB with state resources. "And indeed, most of those resources were being contributed by these same farmers and self-employed entrepreneurs: so it was also a matter of equity to extend to them the benefits of the nation's financial system."13 Sept. 07
Source:GNA