7.10.07

I'm Not Dead,....... I'm Alive!

POOR RECORD keeping within Ghana's judiciary was made manifest yesterday when a Tarkwa-based magistrate was declared 'dead' by the President of the Association of Magistrates and Judges of Ghana (AMJG), Mr. Justice Joseph Bawah Akamba.
The incident took place at the 28th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the AMJG in Accra.Justice Akamba mentioned the name of Mr. Kwame Gyamfi Osei, a magistrate at Tarkwa, who was present at the meeting, among members of the association who died in the course of the year.He therefore called for a minute's silence to be observed in their memory.Apparently shocked by the pronouncement, colleagues who were sitting by the virile and healthy-looking magistrate shouted, "He is here.
He is here", while he himself rose energetically declaring, "I am here, I am alive", amidst rib-bursting laughter from all present, including Chief Justice Mrs. Georgina Theodora Wood.After the spontaneous laughter, president of the association resumed his speech by apologizing profusely to Mr. Osei for declaring him dead when he is alive.Mr. Justice Akamba then deplored the poor record keeping within the judiciary which had made him commit that unusual blunder."Record keeping in the service is so appalling and I'm glad it has happened this way. This is a true reflection of the sentiments on the ground. I am very sorry."He narrated how difficult it was for him to get the right records from judges and magistrates to prepare his speech.The AMJG President, who used the occasion to congratulate the Chief Justice on her appointment, asked her to work with members of the association as she could not do the work alone.
To members of the association, he said, “All should be on board because when we share the same vision and direction, we get to our destination quicker.”According to Justice Akamba, the judiciary had performed creditably despite the numerous challenges it faced. Though the conditions of service of members had improved remarkably in recent times, he called for further improvement to meet the rising cost of living.He asked members to practise “true internal justice” within the judiciary “so that it doesn’t only seem that we only dispense justice and democracy but practise it as well”.
Justice Akamba advised his colleagues, saying, “Let’s do away with archaic procedures” which caused undue delays in justice delivery.For her part, Mrs. Wood promised the judges and magistrates that the reforms started by her predecessor, the late Justice George Kingsley Acquah, would continue despite the challenges faced by the service.She promised the judiciary that there would be frequent refresher courses for members to be conversant with modern trends, and warned that those who failed to attend the courses would be sanctioned appropriately.“Foreign trips and courses will not become the preserve of a select few including my own self,” she added.
The Chief Justice encouraged magistrates and judges to use Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods to clear the backlog of cases, adding that the system would enable them to deal expeditiously with criminal cases.She thanked her colleagues for their support and goodwill since she assumed office, and expressed the hope that they would work assiduously as they had always done.A Supreme Court judge, Mrs. Justice Sophia O.A. Adinyira, who chaired the meeting, called on her colleagues to ensure that all in society had access to justice.“We as the custodians and enforcers of the Constitution need to constantly remind ourselves that the achievement of the concept of access to justice depends heavily on the way and manner we administer justice.
“Despite the financial and infrastructural inadequacies that are facing the Judicial Service, we as judges and magistrates must continue to dedicate ourselves to building a truly independent, competent, efficient, and an effective judicial system.”Dr. Alfred Doku of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Cardiothoracic Centre took the justice dispensers through a series of prevalent diseases and ways to prevent them.Twelve retired members of the association were honoured.
Source:Daily Guide

4.10.07

Ata Mills @Asafutufiam festival...Pix Report









Ghana commends Germany for historic reunification

Ghana on Wednesday commended the Federal Republic of Germany for the historic reunification and pulling down of the dreaded Berlin Wall, which paved the way for the normalization of relationship between West and East Germany 17 years ago."Ghana shares in the joy of Germany for the achievement, which hitherto was never thought of. We are particularly gratified by the speed and consistency in the process for reunification," Nana Akomea, Minister for Manpower, Youth and Employment, said in response to a toast at the 17th anniversary celebration of German reunification in Accra.
Nana Akomea, who headed a Government delegation to participate in the anniversary, which also attracted the German community in Ghana, the diplomatic corps, journalists and other West African nationals, called for greater cooperation between the two nations.German reunification took place on October 3, 1990, when the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany).The start of the reunification process is commonly referred to as Die Wende (The Turning/The Change).
After East Germany's first free elections on March 18, 1990, negotiations between the two countries culminated in a Unification Treaty, whilst negotiations between them and the four occupying powers produced the so-called "Two Plus Four Treaty" granting full sovereignty to a unified German state, whose two halves had previously been bound by a number of limitations stemming from its post-World War II status as an occupied nation.Dr Marius Haas, German Ambassador, recounted the 50th anniversary of Ghanaian-German political relations as well as development cooperation.He said since 1957 the commitments made by Germany to Ghana exceeded one billion Euros."Just a few weeks ago a German delegation was here for negotiations on our bilateral development cooperation for the next two years. "Fifty-three million Euros, equivalent to approximately 69 million GHC, have been earmarked for direct budget support as well as for programmes in the fields of agriculture, private sector development, decentralization and law reform."
He said there was no other African country where the exchange of high and highest ranking political visits had been as intensive as in the case of Ghana in 2007.He recounted the visit of the German President Horst K=F6hler in January for an official visit and to participate in the Second Africa Forum.Dr Haas said President John Agyekum Kufuor had already agreed to attend the Third Africa Forum to be held in Germany early next month. During the visit President Kufuor would sign a partnership agreement between the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Republic of Ghana in Bonn.
"These demonstrate the quality of the Ghanaian-German relations and I am confident that these relations - characterized by friendship, harmony and confidence - will be maintained and even deepened in the years to come."
Source:GNA

3.10.07

Ghana Will Be Self Reliant Under My Rule

Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, an aspiring Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party on Wednesday said he would empower and build the capacity of Ghanaians to make the country dependent on its own resources if elected as President. He backed this vision by demonstrating to newsmen and onlookers, the use of bio-diesel extracted from the "jetropha" plant, and also showed 25 gallons of the product, he personally manufactured from his "jetropha" plantation.Prof Frimpong-Boateng said he has been using the fuel for his vehicles during his campaign tours to canvass support to become the Party's flag bearer.
According to Professor Frimpong-Boateng, he produces 140 litres of bio-diesel daily from his small "jetropha" plantation and believed this could be replicated on a large scale at the national level to drastically cut the country's over dependence on crude oil imports.He said this during an interaction with newsmen at Kaleo after presenting assorted drugs and clinical equipment worth about GH=A212,000 (120 million cedis} to the Islamic Clinic at Wa and the Ahmadiyya Muslim Hospital at Kaleo in the Nadowli district.
He said the donation was his "widow's mite" in support of those who needed medical treatment as a result of the recent floods that caused severe human suffering in the three Northern Regions of the country. On his chances of winning the NPP primaries, he said his chances of being victorious was good, because the delegates were beginning to see the meaning of the elections and were looking up to somebody like him. "We should not just make people leaders because they know how to talk.
I am unique because I have sacrificed to serve the people at the Cardio Thoracic Centre, the Ghana Medical School and as Chief Executive of Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital"."My yes is my yes and my no is my no. These are the kind of people who should lead the nation and not people who are good at talking".
Drs Hany Al Hawari and Mohammad Nasilullah Khan of the Islamic Clinic and the Ahmaddiya hospital respectively, thanked the Presidential Aspirant for the donation and promised to put them to good use and wished him success in his Presidential ambition.
Source:GNA

Ghana is back on track with investment opportunities - Veep woos foreign investors

Accra, June 6, GNA-Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia says Ghana's economic opportunities for private sector investors are back on track as...