Going, Going .....

...Power cuts to shut Valco from Friday

The Valco aluminium smelter will shut down indefinitely from Friday, March 16 due to chronic power shortages in the country caused by inadequate power supply from the Akosombo Dam.

"There is no electricity to run the smelter ... We just decided to shut down," Valco chief executive Charles Mensa said on Thursday..
Asked about how long the shutdown would continue, Mensa said: "We don't know really. It is indefinite -- maybe for the rest of the year." The shut down, the 11th in the history of VALCO since its establishment in 1967 will result in declaring majority of the 700 labour force redundant.

The 200,000-ton-a-year smelter is jointly owned by Ghana's government(90%) and US-based aluminium giant Alcoa Inc.(10%). It is currently operating at 30% of its capacity.
Mensa described the latest action as regrettable and a disappointment to those who looked up to VALCO to realize the late President Nkrumah’s dream of industrialization.
He explained that the decision to shut down was voluntary when the company realised the declining level of water in the Akosombo Dam.

Poor rains have led to chronic power outages in Ghana since September last year. The country relies on hydro-generation for about 60 percent of its electricity, with the balance provided by thermal power and imports from neighbouring Ivory Coast.
Mensa said a staff of about 200 will be retained to secure and maintain the plant. The skeleton staff would build an extrusion and rod-mill plants in readiness for power to provide the environment for the country’s industrialization and the creation of jobs.

He said the shut down would offer the management of VALCO the challenge to develop alternative sources of power. In the interim the extrusion and rod-mill would help to produce aluminum doors and windows and transmission lines for electricity.
He said the long term objective of VALCO was to develop a coal fixed power plant to take the smelter plant off the national grid.
Dr Mensa explained that it was expected that it would take VALCO a minimum of 24 months to develop the plant, adding that VALCO was working with an independent power provider to start the construction as early as possible.

He said the plant, which will cost about $400 million to construct, would generate about 500 megawatts of power.
Dr Mensa said to enable VALCO to produce full capacity; the company required about 350 megawatts of power.
He said when VALCO achieved that objective; it would be in a position to give the surplus power to the state to improve the capacity of the national grid by about 150 megawatts.
Asked whether the use of coal to power a big smelter like VALCO was outdated, Dr Mensa discounted that claim and explained that coal was readily available in Enugu, Nigeria and Southern African countries.

He said VALCO could no longer rely on electricity to run the plant, adding that an investment whose raw material was electricity could no longer be predicted.
Dr Mensa said VALCO was better off generating its own power and taking control of its operations.
Source:GHP

Human right problems in Ghana exposed

The 2006 Report on Human Rights Practices released by the United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour has indicated that although the Government of Ghana generally respects human rights and has made significant improvements during the year, there are still problems including incidents of vigilante justice.

"Human rights problems included deaths resulting from the excessive use of force by police, vigilante justice, harsh and life-threatening prison conditions, police corruption and impunity, arbitrary arrest and detention, prolonged pre-trial detention, infringement on citizens’ privacy rights, forcible dispersal of demonstrations, forced evictions and corruption in all branches of government" are some problems cited by the report which was released on March 6, 2007.

The report, which is annually released by the bureau, also mentioned violence against women and children; female genital mutilation (FGM), societal discrimination against women, persons with disabilities, homosexuals, and persons with HIV/AIDS, trafficking in women and children; ethnic discrimination and politically and ethnically motivated violence; and child labor, including forced child labour.

During the year, the report said the government took significant steps to improve the protection of human rights, including passage of separate pieces of legislation to protect the rights of whistleblowers and persons with disabilities.On respect for human rights, the report said: "there were no reports that the government or its agents committed political killings; however, the use of excessive force by security forces resulted in the deaths of several criminal suspects and other persons during the year.

"It cited the cases of the four persons who were shot and killed by police officers at Dansoman Estates in Accra and the shooting and killing of a 26-year-old man on May 19, 2006 at Kotobabi after mistaking him for one of the robbers they were seeking as some of the human rights violations.The report however noted that "unlike the previous year, there were no reports that some members of the security forces appeared to sanction violence.

"The report did not record any cases of politically motivated disappearances.Freedom of speech and of the press were generally respected by the government, according to the report but stated that opposition parties occasionally complained that state-owned media outlets minimized media coverage of opposition politicians adding that individuals criticized the government publicly without reprisal.It mentioned cases in which some journalists were manhandled in the course of their job.

It for instance mentioned the case in which policemen from Tema, Ada and Kisseih allegedly used excessive force to prevent members of the media from covering a press conference held at Kportsum, near Ada; the attack on a photographer and two journalists working for the Enquirer newspaper at the covering of CHRAJ’s ruling on Dr. Richard Anane, former Minister for Transportation, and the case of two journalists who were barred from a press conference held by the Ghana Ports and Harbors Authority (GPHA) which was allegedly done in retaliation for an article run by the journalists’ newspaper.

The GPHA later apologized to the newspaper."The state-owned media reported extensively on charges of corruption or mismanagement by both current and past government officials. During the year the state-owned media gave some coverage to opposition politicians and printed occasional editorials critical of government policies. The opposition claimed that government media denied it equal access and coverage on numerous occasions.

In practice the state controlled media gave greater exposure to government officials", the report noted.The 2006 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices is released yearly by the US State Department and describes the performance of governments in putting into practice their international commitments on human rights.The report was jointly released on March 6 by U.S Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice and Under Secretary Dobriansky with a Universal Declaration calling upon "every individual and every organ of society to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance.
Source:Ghanaian Times

Kufuor at Chatham House

AU is uncomfortable with the situation in Zimbabwe - President Kufuor

African Union (AU) Chairman President John Agyekum Kufuor has described the political situation in Zimbabwe as embarrassing to the Continent. What was happening in that country, he said, was making the AU uncomfortable. President Kufuor was responding to a question on the Union's position on the political intolerance and brutal attacks on the opponents of the Government of President Robert Mugabe, when he addressed members of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, in London on Wednesday.

This comes in the wake of recent horrifying beating and torture of the Zimbabwean Opposition Leader, Morgan Tsvangirai and dozens of his supporters after their arrest at a banned meeting. President Kufuor rejected claims that seek to suggest that the AU has remained unconcerned about Zimbabwean situation, saying, it has all along been making every necessary effort to exercise some influence to help to restore normalcy there. "We want accountable Government. We want multi-party democracy."

The main theme of President Kufuor's address was: "Fifty Years of Ghana's Independence: Prospects and Challenges for Accelerated National Development." He gave a positive assessment of Ghana's economic performance, saying the "indicators point to good prospects for the country's development". The nation, he declared, has entered into a new phase of sustained development and was among the few, listed by the multi-laterals, to likely meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"To us in today's Ghana, we know where we are coming from, where we are now and where we are going. What we demand is committed co-operation and support from all our friends." President Kufuor, who is on a three-day state visit to the United Kingdom (UK), said the Government was determined to maintain strict financial discipline to prevent a relapse to the debt situation that forced it to adopt the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC). "The Government would not be sentimental in borrowing. We would go in for money that would be of benefit to the development of the economy."

He pointed out that one of the major challenges the country and the rest of Africa was facing was the frustrations in competing on the international market, citing agricultural subsidies by the wealthy nations and the high tariffs imposed on products from the Continent. "We do not feel the World Trade Organisation (WTO) represents Africa's best interest." President Kufuor had earlier at a breakfast meeting with Leaders of Africa Missions in the UK at the Buckingham Palace, noted that the Doha Development Agenda, which provides for the establishment of rules based on equitable trading system, as representing the hope for improving the lives of the peoples in the Continent and to free them from abject poverty.

The debt burden, inequitable trading relations with the developed countries as well as the rampant conflicts on the Continent have conspired to keep Africa poor and weak. He, however, told the Diplomats that through determination, Africa would be able to resolve many of the seemingly intractable problems, standing in its way to growth and prosperity and which have kept the Continent poor and marginalised. President Kufuor said there was hope for Africa as its new leaders were dedicated to re-directing the Continent's destiny for peace and wealth creation.GNA

JAK vists Queen

Ghana@50: State Banquet Pix

KufI Annan and wife arriving.

Pamela Bridgewater, US Ambassador, Ghana Zimbabwe's Mugabe and wife arriving
M'bekhi of Soth Africa and wife
The High Table without the Vice president of Ghana

The veep and some invited guests Rev Jackson and a Business Wizz Kid

Asa B struggles to shake hands with Faure Eyadema of Togo
President Kuffour arrives with wife

Faure (Togo Prez)

Akuffo Addo reading the citation before the decoration
Kuffor Decorating Obasanjo with the Countries Highest National HonourI Accept it Prez. KUFFOUR!
Credit, Ghanaweb, GMA

etc

Government urged to revive Bonsa Tyre factory

Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah, Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Authority, on Friday called on the Government as a matter of urgency to remove the Bonsa Tyre Factory at Bonsa near Tarkwa, in the Western Region, from the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) list.

He said the continual maintenance of the factory on the DIC list since 1999 had not brought any economic benefits to the country while no investor had taken over the facility. Prof. Addai-Mensah said these at a symposium organized by the Western Regional Coordinating Council as part of activities to mark Ghana's Golden Jubilee, in Takoradi.

It was on the theme "Strategic importance of the Western Region to the Socio-economic Development of Post-independence Ghana". Prof. Addai-Mensah said government must not allow "legalities" to deprive the factory from being reactivated to create employment. He said though rehabilitation works on the factory was 95 percent complete, the inability of government to release 2.4 million US Dollars seven years ago had left the facility standing idle, with many of its "new equipment still in their boxes".

Prof. Addai-Mensah said an agreement between government of Ghana and the African Development Bank (ADB) for a loan of 30.7 million US Dollars was approved. He said Dunlop of Birmingham were contacted to work with their Ghanaian counterparts to rehabilitate the factory and the Government of Ghana paid 3.019 million US Dollars leaving a balance of 2.431 million US dollars. Prof. Addai-Mensah said the ADB, realising that government was not ready to pay its outstanding matching fund of 2.431 million US Dollars, wrote to the Ministry of Finance on September 3, 1999 to cancel all loans approved and released for the project.

He said the factory would have produced about 300,000 tyres per year, representing 25 per cent of the country's annual requirements. Prof. Addai-Mensah stressed, "There is therefore, no reason for anyone to say that there would be no internal market for the factory's products." He also said the factory had plans to export small rubber products such as bushings, adhesives, floor tiles, engine seats, motorcycle tyres to Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso and Nigeria, in the West African Sub-region.