Kufuor Expected In Tokyo On Thursday

President John Agyekum Kufuor leaves Seoul on Thursday for Tokyo, Japan to begin a two-day official state visit
Kufuor was in Seoul to participate in the first Korea-Africa Forum


The president left Accra on Monday, October 31. He attended the China Africa Heads of State Summit, which took place from November 3 - 6 in Beijing.

He is accompanied by Nana Addo Dankwah Akufo-Addo, Foreign Minister, Mr Joseph Kofi Adda, Minister of Energy and some senior Government officials.

Courts to try sanitation-related offences to be established soon – Minister

Mr. Stephen Asamoah Boateng, Minister of Local Government, Rural Development and Environment on Wednesday said plans were far advanced to establish special courts that would prosecute sanitation-related offences.
He said the level of indiscipline in sanitation-related matters had reached such heights that if the culprits were not brought to book, the beauty of the cities would disappear and investments wasted.
"Road medians with vegetative cover have become the walk-way for some people, while others use them for the disposal of the rubbish,” he said.
“We all have to work to bring such attitudes to an end," he told participants at the opening of the second ArcGIS West Africa User Conference, which opened in Accra.
The ArcGIS conference is aimed at bringing participants to deliberate on the uses of geographic information systems in development agenda.
About 100 participants from Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Sierra Leone are attending the two-day conference, which is under the theme, "Unlocking the Power of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for Attaining Development Goals in West Africa".
Mr Boateng said the ability to view data in a spatial dimension was what had always made GIS a valuable tool in decision-making.
Praising the timeliness of the conference, he said Ghana and the entire sub-region were taking up diverse development projects that required the use of geographic information or geo-information and technology.
We need to encourage GIS professionals to explore how they could increase the application of GIS in all industries in our respective countries, Mr Boateng said.
"Despite the far reaching benefits of Geographic Information Systems, this technology, like many others, is not being full utilized in our West Africa sub-region.
"This has been caused by technological constraints, high resistance to operational changes and, of course, budget limitations."
Mr Boateng urged the participants to embrace better tools for planning, allocation and delivery of services.
"The fullest use of geographical or spatial information technology must be developed and deployed within our private and public agencies."
Mr Samuel Aboah, Chief Executive Officer of Sambus Company Limited, organizers of the workshop said the GIS industry in West Africa had all along been funded to the tune of 90 per cent by foreign grants and loans.
He therefore called on end users to support the industry since donor aid figures were falling substantially as most of the projects were coming to an end.
GNA

First Lady attends HIV/AIDS Sensitization Forum in Bolgatanga

Mrs. Theresa Kufuor, First Lady on Wednesday said an effective way to check the spread of HIV/AIDS would be to equip women with employable skills to make them economically independent.

"Part of the reason for the rapid spread of the disease has to do with the men-dominated nature of our economy," she said.
Mrs Kufuor made the observation when addressing the opening session of an HIV/AIDS Sensitization Forum for Women in Bolgatanga.


The forum was organized as part of her two-day working visit with Hajia Ramatu Mahama, wife of Vice President Aliu Mahama, to the Upper East Region.
Mrs Kufuor noted that since the AIDS pandemic was affecting the society “We should deal with it. Stigmatisation and discrimination would not help anyone. It would only drive those infected underground and make it difficult for them to come out openly to seek help."

Hajia Mahama urged women in the region to cultivate the virtue of sharing and being supportive of persons living with AIDS.
She appealed to families of AIDS victims not to shun them but show them love and kindness.


"No one deliberately becomes sick. Let us treat persons living with AIDS with dignity, because they are human beings like us," she added.
Mr Boniface Gambila, Upper East Regional Minister, said in spite of efforts to suppress it, the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the region continued to increase from 47 in 1989 to 4,929 by the end of June 2006.


He announced that an ante-retroviral treatment centre has been established at Bolgatanga Government Hospital and another to be established at Bawku Hospital as part of measures to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS in the region.


Mr Gambila observed that major issues to be addressed nationwide on the crusade against AIDS were the questions of stigmatization and behavioural change.
To this end, he said the Upper East Regional AIDS Commission had planned some activities on behavioural change communication towards this year's World AIDS Day celebration.


Ms Victoria Aziriba, staff of Bolgatanga Hospital, making a presentation on HIV/AIDS, urged residents to take advantage of the voluntary testing and counselling services at the hospital to enable them know their HIV status to live careful and disciplined lives.


"When you test positive it should not be a problem. Hypertension and diabetes like AIDS have no cure," She added. Ms Lamisi Amoh, a young woman living with HIV/AIDS stunned the forum with her experiences as an HIV victim.
"When the man with AIDS dies, it is the widow and orphans who suffer the burden of HIV/AIDS," she said.


She expressed appreciation to Government for assisting AIDS patients in the region with ante-retroviral treatment and appealed to Government to provide free meals daily for patients who visited the centre due to their poor financial status.


Mrs Kufuor and Hajia Mahama later inspected an exhibition of straw baskets and smocks produced by a group of widows living with HIV/AIDS and donated quantities of straw and dye materials estimated at about four million cedis to the group.
They also paid courtesy call on the Bolga Naba, Martin Abilba III at his palace.


Naba Abilba commended them for their immense contribution to national development and promoting the health of women and children in the country.
GNA

NDC leadership to hold NPP responsible for any mishap

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Wednesday called on Ghanaians to hold the New Patriotic Party (NPP) government responsible should anything untoward happen to any of the leading figures of the party.

Mr. Johnson Asiedu Nketia, General Secretary of the Party stated that, "there are threats on the lives of the leadership of the NDC Party and other critical voices in the media and so if any of us die a mysterious death the NPP government would be held responsible."

He was speaking at a press conference to respond to alleged threats by the Military to clamp down on a group of subversionists that were planning to overthrow the NPP government.

Mr. Asiedu Nketia said the admission of the Military hierarchy that the document was authentic but was only meant for training purposes was a surprise to the party.

He said if the document was for training purposes, why the Military would choose Radio Gold, a private establishment located in a densely populated area like Laterbiokoshie for the operation. Mr. Asiedu Nketia asked whether the owners and workers of Radio Gold were alerted about the impending exercise and whether the President, who is the Commander of the Ghana Armed Forces was privy to the exercise.

He said a few months ago, an intelligence report indicated that there were plans to eliminate the former President, and that same week some armed men trailed the convoy of former President Rawlings from Accra to Tefle, but were confronted by security agencies at Sogakope. He said these, among other developments should not be viewed as mere unrelated coincidences and that a cursory analysis of those events gave the credence that the NPP government was up to some mischief.

Mr. Asiedu Nketia said the NDC had reason to be concerned about the developments on the national scene which, not only threatened the stability of democracy in the country but raised serious concerns about the commitment of the NPP government to the principle of rule of law and constitutional governance.

Mr. Asiedu Nketia said the NDC considered the 4th Republican Constitution and the peaceful transition of power as the greatest political legacy to the nation and would do everything in its power to protect it.

He assured the party, its supporters and the public that the leadership remained undeterred in the face of the threats as they prepared for congress in December to elect a flag bearer.Source:
GNA

Journalists are also corrupt - Joyce Aryee

Ms. Joyce Aryee, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Chamber of Mines, on Wednesday said, to the extent that journalists demanded or took payment in the form of payola and the infamous "soli" before or after publishing stories for people, they themselves were corrupt.

She therefore cautioned journalists to be circumspect in the way they used the power of the pen to castigate others for presumed corruption, especially when most of those allegations were not proven.

"Until the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) comes out with approved amount journalists can take for publishing stories for people, the phenomenon of payola and "soli" remains bribery and corruption," she said.

Ms. Aryee made the remark at the fifth Matriculation ceremony of the Africa Institute of Journalism and Communication (AIJC). A total of 160 students comprising of 104 females and 56 males took the oath of matriculation for their formal admission.

Ms. Aryee, also a member of the Governing Council of the school noted that even though free press as enshrined in the 1992 Constitution had brought a lot of relief and euphoria to the media and the country as a whole, "there has not been a corresponding improvement in journalistic standards."

She said freedom of expression must go with the truth and that demanded a high sense of responsibility and ethical behaviour from journalists, especially as they were the gate keepers and custodians of free press on behalf of a largely illiterate society.

"Journalists should know by now that the actions and habits of people are determined largely by what they read, hear or see in the media - people are prone to act wisely or otherwise based on how complete or true the information in the media is," she said.

Ms. Aryee urged the media to focus more on issues of developmental value, saying, "We live in a lot of filth and what the media would say about the filth would determine society's habit towards the environment."

Mr. Kojo Yankah, President and CEO of AIJC stressed the need for journalists to educate themselves in African culture and cease seeking to be allowed to practice their profession based on some imported western culture.

He said beginning from this semester AIJC would make African Studies compulsory for all students. He also announced that a campus of AIJC has taken off in Liberia and another would start in Gambia before the close of the year.

Mr. Yankah also said by the close of 2008 AIJC would have campuses in all the West African countries, adding that beginning January 2007, the institute would offer short course on-line at its Virtual Learning Platform in addition to a Diploma courses on-line from October 2007.Source:
GNA

NAGRAT obeys courts rulling.

The National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) on Wednesday communicated the ruling of the Accra Fast Track High Court that declared their strike illegal and therefore ordered them to return to the classroom.

A terse statement signed by Mr Marjore Affenyi, Publicity and Organising Secretary of NAGRAT, said:

"The Accra High Court (Fast Track Division) has ruled that the strike action by teachers is illegal and should be called off. The court by its ruling has ordered all NAGRAT members to return to the classroom. We are by this release communicating the ruling of the court to members."

Mr Kwami Alorvi, President of NAGRAT, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that they were obeying the court.

"We are obeying the ruling of the court," he said. "We have filed an appeal against the ruling, but the date has not been fixed as yet. That is why we are taking this action."

NAGRAT embarked on a crippling strike action on September 1 that has kept them away from the classrooms and put the future of students, especially SSS 3 students who would be writing their examinations in May/June next year, at risk.

Several efforts by various groups to end the strike failed and some members of the rival teachers union, Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) also joined the strike.

Some regional branches of NAGRAT have called off the strike and asked members to resume teaching.

The strike action was to back demands on the government to review salaries of workers, especially those of teachers.

The graduate teachers also asked the Controller and Accountant General to stop the use of Auto Code that effects deductions from teachers' salaries and a replacement of the Acting Director of the GES, Mr Michael Nsowah, whose compulsory retirement was due last year. They further asked the government to implement all outstanding grievances on which Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) had been signed, including invigilation allowances for Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE).

They also called for a meeting between the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and the GES to discuss invigilation fees. Other issues included the implementation of adjustment in salaries and ranks of Assistant Director and above, meaningful responsibility allowances to be put in place by the GES and its Council for all teachers and payment of arrears for teachers recruited in the 2003/2004 academic year.

An Accra Fast Track Court on October 31 ordered the striking members of NAGRAT to call off their strike to return to the classroom. The court ruled that the President of the NAGRAT, Mr Kwami Alorvi, the vice president and all regional officers of the Association should return to the classrooms and teach according to their conscience. The ruling followed an application filed by the National L9abour Commission (NLC) praying the court to order members of NAGRAT to call off their strike action.

The court, presided over by Mr Richard Asamoah, said NAGRAT should use proper means to achieve its objectives.

"The court will not give room to lawlessness in the country," it ruled.

The Court also asked NAGRAT "to teach according to the laws and their conscience".

The NLC filed a suit on October 11 seeking, among other things, an order under Section 172 of Act 651 of the Labour Act, to compel the leadership in particular, and members of NAGRAT in general, to comply with the Commission's order directing them to call off the illegal strike.

Papa Owusu-Ankomah, the Minister of Education, Science and Sports, on Tuesday commended the graduate and other professional teachers on efforts to educate the future manpower and leadership of the country. However, he told Parliament, "We do not believe the reasons adduced by the current leadership of NAGRAT, whether at the regional level or national level to call for a strike action instead of a dialogue is the best in the interest of our mother land."

He said negotiations on the new salary levels for teachers were underway and would be considered within the general context of the comprehensive Public Sector Pay Reform.Source:
GNA

TOR to blacklist fuel stations selling adulterated fuel

The Tema Oil Refinery (TOR) is to name and shame cheating fuel service stations selling adulterated fuel to the public.

TOR says its independent checks have revealed extensive adulteration of fuel in some parts of the country and has scheduled a press conference on Wednesday where it is expected to name the specific filling stations involved.

The findings, part of a survey conducted by the Refinery at about fifty fuel service stations around the country a month ago, showed quite a significant number of them were selling adulterated fuel.

This confirms complaints by some car dealers who say they are having to replace more than the usual number of vehicle parts as a result of the problem.

Report indicate that filling stations in the Volta Region are the worst offenders.