Ghana is capable of being food sufficient

Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris, the Northern Regional Minister, has said Ghana was capable of becoming self sufficient in food production.He said this would depend largely on sustainable agricultural investment in the rural farming areas to engage the youth in food production and controlling the taste of the people for foreign food items.Alhaji Idris was addressing farmers at Buipe in the Central Gonja District to mark the Regional Farmers' Day at which 24 farmers were honoured.Mr. Alhassan Baako Dakurugu, 50, from Gushiegu, won the overall regional best farmer award and took away a corn mill, a bicycle, sewing machine, wax print, Wellington boots, fertilizers and cutlasses as his prize.Alhaji Idris said if the youth applied themselves diligently to agriculture as an income earning occupation they would be able to increase production to higher levels to feed the nation and for exports. He said it was for this reason that the government initiated the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) to nurture and develop the youth into self-made entrepreneurs full of self-confidence and a high level of discipline to make them assets to the national economy.Alhaji Idri said the NYEP had taken off in the Northern Region and that it was yielding positive results.He said 5,522 youth had been employed in agriculture, 3,313 were engaged as teaching assistants while 485 were into sanitation and waste management.On HIV/AIDS, Alhaji Idris said the vision of a well educated, well trained and well motivated human resource as a vehicle for driving the wheel of development could be achieved if there was concerted effort to keep the youth healthy."HIV/AIDS poses the greatest single threat to such an objective", he said, adding: "If we have to sustain interest and productivity in agriculture, then we must make sure that we maintain a viable, virile and healthy labour force".Alhaji Idris said the greatest and most effective weapon against HIV/AIDS was openness, talking about it, discussing it at home, workplaces, churches and mosques as well as in the communities for the people to know more about the disease."This is the only surest way to demystify and conquer the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country", he said.The Regional Minister reminded the people about the wanton destruction of the environment, saying the environment was critical for the continued human existence.Two women, who were living with HIV/AIDS, voluntarily announced their health status to the crowd.This moved the people and Alhaji Idris and he gave a million cedis each to the women as his personal donation for their upkeep. 02 Dec 06
Source:GNA

Spio-Garbrah promises to remain with NDC

Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, an aspiring presidential candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), has said he would not leave or form another party if he is not elected the presidential candidate of the party at the delegates' congress on December 21."I will remain committed, resolute and resourceful to the party and also bring to bear my expertise and rich experiences with whoever will be given the nod," he said.Dr Spio-Garbrah made the pledge when he met delegates of five constituencies in the Twifo-Hemang-Lower Denkyira and Upper Denkyira Twifo-Praso as part of his campaign tour of the Central Region.He said it was through his efforts that the NDC aspiring presidential candidates were made to sign an agreement not to leave or form any party but to support anyone who would be given the nod and that it was important for him to ensure that the agreement holds. He said the time had come for the NDC to refresh, repackage and market itself in a way to win the confidence of Ghanaians to vote the party back to power."I am the right candidate who will help disabuse the minds of Ghanaians that the party is a disunited or human rights abuser." The presidential aspirant, who is the Chief Executive Office of the Commonwealth Telecommunication Organization, said Ghanaians especially NDC supporters and functionaries were looking for a flag bearer who is marketable, youthful, dynamic and vibrant to lead the party to win the 2008 general election.He described himself as the right candidate that has the techniques, skills and resources to move the NDC forward and gave the assurance that when given the not he would, within six months, remodel, rehabilitate and resell the party in such a way that all those who defected would rush back.He denied media reports that there was "bad blood" or tension between him and Prof John Evans Atta Mills, former Vice President and another presidential aspirant."I have no problem with the professor. It is the media that are painting the picture to look as if there is a problem between us." "I respect the elderly and the views of everyone and would therefore not do anything that would bring confusion and division in the party" he said.
Source:GNA

Experts urge extra billion dollars to fight bird flu

World donors must extend around an extra billion dollars to fight bird flu as the deadly virus spreads to ill-prepared countries in Africa and the Middle East, experts said Tuesday.
UN avian influenza coordinator David Nabarro and World Bank economist Olga Jonas said the funding requirements would be addressed at the fourth global conference on the virus being held in Mali from December 6 to 8.
They said another 986 million to 1.3 billion dollars is needed over the next two to three years, in addition to 1.9 billion agreed by donors at the last conference held in January in Beijing.
Of the extra funding, 566 million dollars must go to Africa alone, the experts told reporters on a conference call.
"At the time of Beijing, in January 2006, the virus had not yet appeared anywhere in Africa, or in Eastern Europe, or the Middle East," Jonas said.
She said that today about 50 countries have been hit by bird flu, against only a dozen when the Beijing conference was held 11 months ago.
At next month's gathering in Mali's capital Bamako, according to Nabarro, "we'll be looking not just at the needs of Africa but that will be a central focus of the discussion".
"We have also been concerned about the capacity of Middle Eastern and African countries to respond adequately to the stresses posed by avian influenza," he said, highlighting Egypt and Nigeria in particular.
The Bamako meeting, jointly organized by Mali's government, the European Union and the African Union, will include ministers of health and those in charge of the fight against bird flu, veterinary experts and doctors from over 100 countries.
The H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, which can be transmitted to humans and is potentially fatal, has steadily spread west since it first appeared in Asia in late 2003.
In Africa, eight countries -- Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Djibouti, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Niger and Sudan -- have been affected.

Banking--------Africa’s Top 100 Banks

This year’s Top 100 African Banks rankings reveal that the continent is belatedly but determinedly following the global trend towards consolidation. The watchword is big is beautiful. South African banks, which are by far the largest in Africa both in terms of capital and assets, have been consolidating for years. Nigeria has just gone through a frenzied two-year period of mergers and acquisitions; when the dust had settled, only two dozen banks remained standing. More M&As are on the way as are partnerships with strong overseas financial institutions. With the price of oil remaining high and with that country’s non-oil sector showing growth for the first time in several years, Nigerians are anticipating an economic boom and the banks are bracing themselves to deliver. Our Cover Story therefore includes a detailed examination of the latest developments in Nigeria’s banking sector. As in previous years, we have included a region-by region overview. This special report was written by Moin Siddiqi and Neil Ford. The tables were compiled by Moin Siddiqi and Omar Ben Yedder.
African Business’ ranking for the Top 100 African Banks was based on shareholders’ funds (Tier 1 capital) as defined by the Switzerland-based Basel Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The African markets continue to present both opportunities and challenges for strategic investors and nowhere is this better reflected than in the area of the financial services industry. Economic growth in Africa is projected to exceed 5% this year and next, thus conditions are ripe for well-managed banks to perform strongly. Consolidation (as recently in Nigeria) is needed as a number of markets remain over-banked. The rationale for mergers and acquisitions is that larger banks can exploit economies of scale, reduce costs and provide their clients, both retail and corporate, with new and more efficient services – including internet banking and electronic payments.

Source http://www.africasia.co.uk/africanbusiness/ab.php?ID=1067

DVLA introduces new roadworthiness sticker

The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority has introduced a new Roadworthiness Sticker to help address the duplication of the security document. The DVLA at a news conference on Tuesday introduced the new document which according to the authority, had security features that would make it difficult to duplicate. The Director of Driver Training, Testing and Licensing C. W. Musah, said the new sticker has been in circulation since Monday. According to him, vehicle owners seeking to renew their certificates from now on would be served the new stickers at the authority’s offices nationwide. He explained that the introduction of the new sticker had become necessary because of the widespread abuse of the current one.“Since the introduction of roadworthiness in this country the roadworthiness sticker has seen very little changes. As a security document, the security features in it have become very obsolete and many modern printing presses could easily reproduce it. Faking has been on a massive scale and the government is losing valuable revenue. Roadworthiness status of vehicles could no longer be guaranteed.”The DVLA was not expecting any rush by drivers and vehicle owners to acquire the new sticker since the objective was to gradually phase out the currently abused sticker. Vehicles that report to renew expired certificates would be embossed with the new sticker.Mr. Musah said the new sticker comes at no additional cost and advised motorists to deal only with officers of the authority to ensure safety.“Bearing in mind the mission of the authority – to ensure the use of roadworthy vehicles driven by qualified drivers, the authority has taken this step to safeguard the motoring public.”

Our party (NPP) Is A Terrorist Party – NPP V/R Secretary

It appears the dirty politicking and bickering that are associated with presidential races have started rearing their ugly heads in the ruling party perhaps earlier than expected.This clearly became evident when one of the big wigs of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the Volta Region, Emmanuel Ashiagbor, claimed in an interview that his Party, formed by great minds and personalities,has suddenly turned to a terrorist party, and has urged President Kufuor to be wary of the development.He also asserted that President John Agyekum Kufuor is surrounded by liars, who do not present the true picture of activities within the party to the him.Mr. Ashiagbor, who is the Keta constituency secretary of the party, even went further to claim that the activities of a these liars and hypocrites are tearing the NPP apart in the Volta Region, which is regarded as the NDC’s ‘World Bank”.Highly charged and enraged Ashiagbor who was speaking in an interview with Radio Gold last Friday mentioned presidential aide, Tommy Amematekpor and the NPP regional chairman of the region, Ken Nuworsu, as the main liars who are feeding the President with wrong information about the region and has even dared the two to challenge him.Mr. Ashiagbor’s effusions were provoked by reports that one of the aspiring presidential candidates and former press secretary to the president, Kwabena Agyapong told some delegates that the President always refused to take his advise when he was press secretary to him at the Castle.The Ghanaian Chronicle newspaper had reported that during a recent meeting involving NPP stalwarts, President Kufuor took a swipe at Kwabena Agyapong for making the alleged remarks.However, in an interview, Mr. Ashiagbor maintained that the former press secretary never made such a derogatory statement about the President and blamed the detractors of Kwabena Agyapong for peddling such lies. He challenged those who reported the false allegation about Kwabena Agyapong to the President to come out with their evidence or hold their peace.According to him, the only motive of such lies is to destroy the campaign of Kwabena Agyapong and nothing else. He however warned that their evil machinations will never see the light of day. Dropping more bombshells, Mr. Ashiagbor warned that the party stands a great chance of losing the 2008 general elections if it does not do ay with the acts of deceit, lies, double standards and misrepresentations of facts to President John Agyekum Kufuor.

Ghana to host first Africa Summit for International Yoga Practitioners

Ghana is to host the first Africa Summit for the International Association of Black Yoga Teachers (IABYT) slated for August 8 to August 12 2007. The summit, which is expected to attract about 300 International Yoga Practitioners from the US, Europe, Asia and Africa, would provide the platform to create the awareness of yoga practice and its relevance to the overall development of mankind. Yoga is a form of practice that aims at improving the spiritual, mental and physical well-being of people by means of certain mental and physical exercises. Speaking to the Ghana News Agency after a Yoga Clinic to educate people about the health benefits of yoga practice in Accra on Tuesday, Mr Issah Musah Adams, Public Relations Officer of the IABYT-Ghana, said besides the summit, delegates with varying professional disciplines would take the opportunity to explore business opportunities in Ghana. “They are coming not only as Yoga Practitioners but also as businessmen and women and strategic investors to meet the Ghanaian business community, interact with them and find ways of forging partnership. “They will also tour most parts of the country especially tourist sites”, he said. Explaining the health benefits of yoga, Mr Adams said its practice had now been universally accepted as an effective complementary therapy for the cure of ailments such as heart related problems, asthma and migraine among many others. He said it helped to manage and/or alleviate stress and its related ailments as well as boost the immune system for a healthy living. “Today in a lot of universities and hospitals in the world especially in the USA, researchers have seen the need to incorporate yoga practice into the health delivery system”, Mr Adams said. He said yoga practice slowed down the aging process in terms of physical appearance and improved the life expectancy of a population which guaranteed healthy labour force for productive activities. Explaining some misconception about yoga, Mr Samuel Sasu, Executive Director of the Yoga Association in Ghana, said the practice is not a religion nor had anything to do with spiritism as some had been made to believe. He said yoga, which comes from the same root as yoke meaning to join together cuts across religion, race, colour, profession, and ethnocentrism. Mr Sasu said because of pervasion of justice, sectarian and religious interest the term yoga had been misconstrued making a lot of people to lose the true meaning and, therefore, the benefits by way of health. He traced the origin of yoga practice to Africa and said even though almost all the texts on yoga that were written in India between fifth century and 15th Century AD, historical research had confirmed that it was practised in Egypt before India.GNA