Work on National Electronic Fibre Backbone takes off soon

Professor Mike Ocquaye, Minister of Communication on Saturday said work on the National Electronic Fibre Backbone to make Ghana an Information Technology (IT) motorway would begin soon.

Parliament had already approved a 30 million dollar loan with an additional 50 million dollar grant from China for the facility to make internet connectivity and general IT networking easier to accelerate development prospects in the country.Prof. Ocquaye announced this when addressing a durbar to climax the maiden homecoming of Old Students Association of Dzodze Penyi Secondary School (DZOPOSA) at Dzodze.He said another 40 million dollar scheme called E-Governance system in which IT would be applied in policy implementation between Government, Ministries, Departments, Metropolitan; Municipal and District Assemblies as well as the business community was also in the offing.Prof. Ocquaye noted that there were prospects in the country's youth in IT as the new economic lifeline in the world and asked all and sundry to take advantage of the system to build their capacity in knowledge, business and education.He commended DZOPOSA for coming together to propel the growth of their alma mater in the right spirit of nation building. "I urge you the students to learn hard despite the situation in the school because victory is sweet after a great battle. Performance is the essence of education or else we are wasting our time," Professor Ocquaye said.Professor Ocquaye suggested that a system be devised for evenly distribution of educational facilities in schools to avoid the situation in some deprived schools.He presented three sets of computers being the first batch of five sets from Internet Ghana for a proposed computer laboratory in the school and pledged to negotiate with the management of Ghana Telecom (GT) to extend a line to the area from Denu to hook the computer centre onto the net.Dr Emmanuel Srofenyo, a Medical Practitioner and President of DZOPOSA said the association spent about 400 million cedis mobilized from members and 400 bags of cement donated by the management of Diamond Cement company for the expansion and refurbishment work on the old school library which was inaugurated as part of the homecoming. Mr Ebenezer Attieku, Headmaster of Dzodze Penyi Secondary School changed from Dzodze Training College in 1972, had continued to grapple with inadequate and poor facilities and commended DZOPOSA for its programmes to rehabilitate some of the infrastructure. He expressed appreciation to Government for the construction of a multi-million cedi assembly and dinning hall project at the school. 2

Source: GNA

Twists and turns in MP's "fake gold" case

The Accra Regional Police Command has denied that the National Democratic Congress MP for Sene, Felix Twumasi-Appiah who was arrested for allegedly attempting to sell fake gold to a businessman was detained on "orders from above."Mr Douglas Akrofi-Asiedu, Accra Regional Police Commander has told the Ghana News Agency that, he was surprised that the MP had the audacity to "peddle such lies." "I never know him, till after telling his story and mentioning his name, he added that he was an MP".Mr Akrofi-Asiedu said, "I told him that for him to invite Mr Charles Dejoe the businessman to be defrauded, he could be held responsible for his actions."He said his outfit took action before informing his superiors so the claim that the MP was detained on orders from above was not true but an attempt to put a spin on a purely criminal matter. Mr. Felix Twumasi-Appiah, and three others were arrested for allegedly attempting to defraud a businessman by selling to him fake gold dust to the tune of 800,000 dollars.The other suspects were Wallace Mensah, Kwantwi Barimah and Tony Delor.DeputySuperintendent of Police Kwesi Ofori of the Police Public Relations Directorate told the Ghana News Agency that Mr Charles Dejoe, the complainant, said he was outside the country when the MP called him that he had 50 kilogrammes of gold to sell at 16,000 dollars per kilogramme.Mr. Dejoe came to Ghana to buy the metal but suggested that the gold should be sent to the Geological Survey Department for testing. Mr Ofori said the suspects suggested that a sample should be tested and after the test, Mr Dejoe requested that the whole quantity, packed in a metal box and sealed, should be tested as well, but Mr. Twumasi-Appiah objected.Mr Ofori said the complainant became suspicious and informed the Police who stormed the Survey Department premises and arrested the suspects.Speaking to the GNA at the Accra Regional Police Headquarters on Saturday, Mr Twumasi-Appiah said earlier in the month, a friend called him to say that he had some people who had 50 kilogrammes of gold to sell and whether he (Twumasi-Appiah) could get a buyer for the precious metal.Mr Twumasi-Appiah, who is also an investment consultant, said he then got in touch with one Mr Charles Dejoe, a friend and a gold dealer, about the offer.Mr Dejoe, he said, then told him that he was out of the country but that, in view of the quantity of gold involved, he would personally come down to Ghana for the transaction.Mr Twumasi-Appiah said on Thursday, November 23, Mr Dejoe contacted him and he told him that the consignment was in.Mr. Dejoe then asked that they should meet at the Geological Survey Department (GSD) to test the quality, quantity and carat level of the gold.He said he got to the GSD on Friday after 1200 hours and met the said sellers of the gold numbering about six.He said, in view of where Dejoe's office was located at East Legon, and the fact that he Twumasi-Appiah did not have enough time to spend at the GSD he called Dejoe to ask that he named someone at the GSD who would witness the test.Dejoe gave him two names of the staff of GSD, but they were both not at work.He then proceeded for testing of the sample of gold brought by the sellers as a representative of the buyer.Mr Twumasi-Appiah said when Mr Dejoe finally arrived at the GSD premises he asked that the whole consignment be tested instead of just the sample at the expense of the sellers.Mr. Dejoe then requested that the 50 kilogramme box which the sellers had brought to the GSD be opened, whilst he Twumasi-Appiah was in the laboratory.He said Mr. Dejoe then called him in the laboratory and said that the sellers were not genuine people because they had refused his request for the box to be opened.But to ensure that the sellers paid for the cost of testing the samples, and because both he and Dejoe had unspecified amounts of cash in their vehicles, he Twumasi-Appiah called the police to give them adequate protection, in case the sellers turned out to be fraudsters.He said Mr. Dejoe also called the police 20 minutes after he had placed his call.When the policemen he had called arrived, they were able to arrest and handcuff two of the sellers after four of them had bolted.He said they were in the process of conveying the two sellers to the police station when the other policemen Mr Dejoe had called arrived and helped them to send them to the Accra Central Police Station.Mr Twumasi-Appiah said at the station, he was waiting for the statements of the two suspects to be taken when he was informed that the Regional Commander, ACP Akrofi Asiedu wanted to see him, only to be told by the Commander that there was order from above to detain him.He said he insisted to know by whose orders he was being detained but the police did not divulge that information to him.He was detained from 2100 hours to 2300 hours and later called from the back of the counter to go home and to report at the same police station on Saturday but when the Regional Commander arrived at post he asked that he should report back on Monday, November 27.He expressed amazement on how he had become the accused when he had requested the people to arrest the gold sellers. GNA

Central Bank to re-denominate Ghanaian cedi

The Bank of Ghana says beginning from the middle of next year, it will re-denominate the nation’s currency, the cedi. When the policy is implemented, the cedi will be set at 10,000 cedis to one new Ghana cedi, meaning an item that costs 10,000 cedis will be priced at one cedi. The Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana Dr Mahamadu Bawumia who confirmed the new upcoming policy, assured that it will not affect the value of the currency in anyway. The Governor of the Central Bank Dr Paul Acquah revealed the re-denomination at the annual dinner of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in Accra. The Governor explained that after years of economic stability, it was time to re-denominate the cedi to prevent the situation where people had to carry large sums of physical cash for transactions. Explaining details of the exercise to Joy News, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank Dr Mahamadu Bawumia said the value of the cedi will not change but a smaller amount of money will be required for transactions. According to the Bank of Ghana, new notes and coins will be issued when the re-denomination exercise comes into effect by July next year and the highest cedi denomination will be 50 cedis which will be equivalent to present day 500,000 cedis.

Dr Bawumia assured the public that there was no cause for panic, as enough time would be allowed for people to change over when the policy was implemented.

The decision to re-denominate the cedi is to reduce the cost and risk associated with having to carry large sums of money in transacting business, the difficulties in calculating or preparing accounts with huge figures and the strain on the use of ATMS.

The success of the nation depends on education-Kufuor

President John Agyekum Kufuor has stated that, the success and development of the nation depend greatly on the education of its people. He has therefore called on all Ghanaians, especially parents to endeavour to invest in the education of their children. President Kufuor, who was addressing a durbar of chiefs and people of Offinso Traditional Area to climax their week-long Mmoaninko Festival at Offinso on Saturday said the acquisition of knowledge formed the basis of offering employment to people. He said but for education, do you think Kofi Annan would have been elected as General Secretary of the United Nations, he queried. The celebration was under the theme, “Quality Education for Better Health, Environment and Rapid Progress”. He said there was the need for people to ensure peace and understanding and eschew lawlessness and anarchy. President Kufuor appealed to the chiefs to release land to people who want to venture into farming so that they contribute meaningfully to the development of the country. He said the government would continue to support the development of the area, adding that the Dwamena Akenten Secondary school would be made a model school, while other development projects like roads, both highway and feeder roads would continue to receive the attention from the government. He thanked Offinsohene and the people for voting for the New Patriotic Party (NPP) to win the recent by-election in the area that brought Dr.Owusu Achaw Duah as the new Member of Parliament (MP) for the area after the death of Mr Kwabena Sarfo. President Kufuor donated 50 million cedis towards the celebration of the Festival which was meant to raise funds to support the development of the area Nana Wiafe Akenten III, Paramount chief of Offinso Traditional Area said the festival was a treasure and a gift of victory for the people of Offinso and it recalls the good deeds of the heroism of nana Wiafe Akenten in the second Dormaa and Ashanti war. He said it was also to portray the unity of purpose of the people in the area and also to afford them the opportunity to take stock of the achievements of the Traditional Authorities and the Offinso District Assembly He indicated that the celebration of the festival has been used to award scholarships to 150 students who are now pursuing their Masters Degree programmes in various disciplines in the nation’s Universities. He said proceeds from the current celebration would be used to expand the scholarship scheme to cover boys entering Senior Secondary schools and tertiary institutions as against girls only which was hitherto the case and persons undergoing vocational training programmes. He said the week-long celebration has been used to educate the people on the need to ending unnecessary invocation of curses which had brought untold hardships and deaths to some people and their families and to reduce funeral expenses in the area. Nana Fosu Gyeabour Akoto II, Paramount Chief of Bechem, who represented Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene underscored the importance of education and good health and called on the people to take advantage of the Government’s Capitation grant and send their children to school.GNA

Tourism must build mutually beneficial relationships- Tourism Advisor

Mr Corjon Van der Haat, Senior Tourism Advisor of the Netherlands Development Organization (SNV), has stated the need for all activities around tourism related parks to promote mutually beneficial relationships between the parks and stakeholders in those areas. Mr Haat made the point at a two-day joint workshop for identifiable groups from Ghana and Togo to draw a tourism development plan for the Kyabobo National Park in Ghana and its counterpart Fazao-Malfakassa in Togo. Those who attended included chiefs, tour and transport operators, security officials, Ghana Tourist Board, hotel and restaurant operators, wildlife officers and community members. Mr. Haat said the development of park related tourism must include the protection and enhancement of natural resources around those parks. He warned that ethnic, chieftaincy and land disputes hurt tourism. Mr Haat said the Kyabobo National Park was yet to attract the attention of United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Step programme because it was yet to come into the limelight. He said the UNWTO, which is a multi-destination marketing programme covers Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana Benin and Togo. Mr Joseph Denteh, District Chief Executive for Nkwanta said, in addition to the Kyabobo National Park and Fazao-Malfakassa, the area has other tourism attractions such as mountains, waterfalls, climate and rivers, which needed to be developed. He drew the workshop's attention to the need for hotels of international standard, safari lodges and camps and recreational infrastructure and restaurants and car rentals along tourist routes in the area. Mr Denteh said plans were far advanced to construct the Brewniase-Nkwanta-Damanko trunk road to ease traveling in the area.GNA

Ghanaians urged to contribute towards the development of the chieftaincy institution

The Minister responsible for Chieftaincy and Culture, Mr Kwaku Boafo, has appealed to Ghanaians to contribute towards ensuring the development of an effective chieftaincy institution that would help serve as a centre-point for stability and a fulcrum for progress and prosperity. He said the relevance of the chieftaincy institution must engage the attention of all well-meaning Ghanaians and must help reduce disputes in the society so that such conflicts do not hold back the development of the people. Mr Boafo made these observations when addressing the chiefs and people of Awukugua- Akuapem in the Eastern Region at a durbar of chiefs and people of the area organized to climaxed the celebration of their annual Ohum festival on Saturday. The event was used to seal the resolution of an 18-year chieftaincy dispute in the town, a development which was hailed by Mr Boafo as progressive. He said although there had been a decline in the number of chieftaincy disputes in the country, he nonetheless re-echoed Government's plea for well-meaning individuals to help in restoring peace to traditional areas still mired in conflicts. He said the Government welcomes moves toward the resolution of conflicts among royal families to promote peace and to serve as the pivot for transformation in various communities. Mr. Boafo said the stability of the nation should not be the task of only the political class, but the traditional rulers as well, who he said, must ensure that they create avenues for the timely resolution of breaches of the peace that might arise in their areas. Mr Boafo appealed to the people not to supplant their values for foreign ideologies and referred, in particular, to a growing tendency of some parents not encouraging their wards to acquire literary skills in the local language in preference for the English and other foreign languages. A former Minister of Information, Mr Dan Botwe, who chaired the function, said celebration of festivals should focus more on uplifting the conditions of the people and less on entertainment and the display of fashion. He said traditional authorities should also make conscious effort towards imbuing in the youth values that stress on strong believes in themselves, truthfulness and honesty. Mr. Botwe lauded the Awukugua Reconciliation Committee that helped resolved the conflict that had made peace to return to the community. The Chief of Awukugua, Nana Asare Brempong II, pledged his commitment towards sustaining the peace that has been crafted and gave the assurance that, while he would not do anything to reverse what has been chalked, there was also the need to expose and put to shame individuals spreading false information about the town. Nana Brempong outlined some projects, including the granting of land to the Presbyterian University College Church to use as part of the Akuapem Campus of the Presbyterian University.GNA

Give priority to Science and Math teachers-Anamuah-Mensah

The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Education (UEW) Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, has observed that if Ghana is to develop its science and engineering capacity, the training of science and mathematics teachers should be given a priority attention. Laboratory space should be expanded while facilities for practical activities should be provided at all level of education, he said. Professor Anamuah-Mensah said this at the 11th Congregation of the University of Education, Winneba where 2,281 Bachelor of Education graduates passed out through its regular programmes. The Vice-Chancellor said the 110 Science Resource Centres in the country should be rehabilitated and re-equipped to provide training for the students. He said following the important role played by Science, Mathematics and Technology, the UEW has been increasing output in this area yearly, adding that this year about 596 constituting 25.6 per cent graduates from these disciplines passed out of which 107 were women. Professor Anamuah-Mensah said the University has started a number of Masters of Arts and Masters in Philosophers programmes for the training of teachers in various subjects as well as the training of college administrators to handle the 38 Teacher Training Colleges. He said the College of Language Education has limited working space and lecture halls and has been waiting for the past three years to move to Ajumako and appealed to Ministry of Education to quicken the movement. Professor Anamuah-Mensah urged the graduands to go into the “corners of the country” and carry out a silent but effective revolution to uproot and demolish the strongholds of ignorance and poverty. An address read for the President Mr John Agyekum Kufour by the Minister of Ports, Habours and Railways, Professor Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi, urged stakeholders to show keen interest and partner with the university authorities in the provision of infrastructure, facilities and scholarship to help the universities produce high level manpower needed by the nation.GNA