Freedom of Information law could be expensive if not well-managed

The Freedom of Information Law could prove to be very expensive, if not well-managed, President John Agyekum Kufuor, cautioned in Accra on Wednesday. He said the Government would therefore ensure that adequate ground work had been done before its passage. The Attorney-General, he said, was working out the time-table, the Government needed, to be ready with the law.

President Kufuor was interacting with delegates to the 41st Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights at the Castle, Osu. Made up of Human Rights Commissioners of African Union (AU) and representatives of Non-Governmental and Civil Society Organisations, they are in Accra to deliberate on human rights issues confronting the Continent. President Kufuor spoke of the Government’s determination to put in place the necessary institutions and laws to protect the rights of the people, citing the landmark Domestic Violence Law and the repeal of the offensive Criminal Libel Law.

Without respect for human rights, governance cannot be said to be good and this could hamper investment inflows, he added. President Kufuor, who is the Chairman of the AU, said liberated Africa must therefore uphold people’s rights, which “is the basis of democracy.” He counselled that with the opening up of the world, it was important for the Commission to help deepen the awareness of African societies to the dangers that could arise out of the pursuit of sectional rights.

He noted that, the violation of the rights of minority groups, had been the major cause of most of the friction and conflicts on the Continent and said such pitfalls must be avoided. Mrs Salamatta Sawadogo, Chairperson of the Commission and leader of the delegation, praised President Kufuor for his keen interest in the work of the Commission and said; “We know we can depend on your support to implement the mandate given to us.” She said the decision to hold the Session in Accra was taken to share with Ghana the joy of the 50 years of political independence.GNA

Kufuor's meeting with Kadhafi dispel rumour

Ghana and Libya have pledged greater economic co-operation for their mutual benefit with Libya expressing interest in investing in palm and rubber plantations in Ghana. Consequently, the Ghana/Libya Joint Commission for Co-operation would be meeting in June this year in Libya.This was the outcome of bilateral talks between President John Agyekum Kufuor and the Libyan Leader, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, in Tripoli on Monday.

President Kufuor, accompanied by some senior government officials, was in Tripoli for a day's official visit at the invitation of the Libyan Leader.Mr Andrew Awuni, the Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesperson, told newsmen accompanying the President that the two Heads of State used their meeting, which lasted for over one hour, to discuss co-operation in energy, satellite connectivity and distant education. He said the position of President Kufuor was that economic co-operation was key to the realization of the vision of Union Government of Africa and had been pushing aggressively in this direction.

Mr Awuni said the Libyan Leader said he was more determined to see massive inflow of Libyan investments in Ghana. Already, they are into the hospitality industry in Ghana with investment in the City Hotel in Kumasi.Mr Awuni said the upcoming African Union Summit in Ghana in July and its main agenda, the direction of the Union Government, also came up for discussion.He said President Kufuor updated Colonel Gaddafi on the preparations Ghana was making towards ensuring the success of the Summit.The two Leaders also reviewed the political situation in Zimbabwe and Nigeria.President Kufuor would return to Accra on Tuesday

Cure For HIV/AIDS Found In Ghana/Africa

HIV/AIDS victims can heave a huge sigh of relief since there is now a potent herbal medicine which is reported to be capable of totally curing HIV/AIDS.

"Koankro", the herbal mixture prepared by Mr Kamara Agyapong, Director of Peace Herbal Clinic at Ejisu in Ashanti, has been confirmed by the Clinical Analysis Laboratory of the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), as capable and potent in curing HIV/AIDS.

This follows the successful trial tests conducted on two HIV/AIDS positive patients who were put on the herbal preparations by Mr Agyapong two years ago. The tests have confirmed that the two patients are now HIV negative.

The test results which were made available to the Ghana News Agency in Kumasi indicated that, the two patients have been tested negative of both HIV 1 and 2 viruses.

The results, which were released on May 4, this year, show that, the two male patients, aged 39 and 34 now have no HIV virus in their blood cells.

Their negative status has also been confirmed by further test results from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) laboratory and Medilab, a private medical laboratory in Kumasi.

A team of researchers from the Biochemistry Department of KNUST had been conducting a series of investigations into the efficacy and potency of the "Koankro" herbal mixture for some years now. They had already confirmed the efficacy of the preparation in the management of HIV/AIDS. The team initially confirmed that after three weeks treatment with "Koankro", there was significant improvement in the haemoglobin content, while the blood counts and weight of victims improved. That made Mr Agyapong to undertake further research to come out with additional 16 preparations, which are administered to the patients at different stages of treatment.

Speaking to the GNA on the test results, Mr Agyapong indicated that there were currently about 20 patients who were at various stages of treatment, adding that, the breakthrough in the test results had provided further impetus to the herbal preparations for the treatment of the disease.

Source:
GNA

Comment By Blog Owner: Isaac TETTEH

Is this one of the many achievements of our nation’s policy on containing the spread of HIV/AIDS? Does the testing of the herbal formula on these two individuals constitute an adequate sampling of the affected population to make a determination on the effectiveness of the drug?Couldn’t the absence of the virus in the blood of the affected persons or carriers be the result of a compromised result, or a misdiagnosis? Testing two people among many others who are HIV/AIDS positive is not proof of finding a cure. Authors of such articles must re-evaluate the harm they inflict on the Ghanaian society by peddling unnecessary excitement and complacency. We have heard these claims one too many and I am not in the least excited about this. I am an optimist, but I will not be jumping out of my skin on this one. We need a bigger sample size, cross-examination of blood samples, detailed analysis/constitutes of the herbal medicine and much more. Lets also look into commercial production capacities and patent rights. Fact is this sounds exciting, but I am going to take this carefully. I hope this turns out to be true, otherwise sorry mr journalist, you just placed an ad that cannot be verified or proven in print and the FDB must do its job.

Daasebre Gyamena freed!

The jury at the Isleworth Crown Court in London trying ace Ghanaian musician, Daasebre Gyamena for drug offences has returned a not guilty verdict.The 12-member Jury comprising five women and seven men had to receive directions from presiding Judge Mark McDowell to return a majority decision just about 2pm after they repeatedly failed to reach a verdict.An elated in-law of Daasebre, Chris Renty, who was in court to listen to the verdict, could hardly catch his breath as he related the joy of the Ghanaian community that had hoped for the best for Daasebre.

He told JoyFM; “We were all overjoyed. In fact my wife collapsed onto the floor after the verdict was announced.”Chris said Daasebre had attended the hearing and sat through proceedings with a bowed head and without emotion.He only lifted his head and managed a smile after the verdict was announced.Chris Renty told JOFM Daasebre was expected to return to police custody to complete his discharge processes and could be expected back home by Monday or Tuesday.

The ace musician was arrested last July on suspicion he was importing 100 kilogrammes of cocaine into the United Kingdom.A first trial failed to reach a verdict on two occasions even though prosecutors had insisted he was guilty.A re-trial therefore became obligatory.
Source:jfm

New Headquaters launched for Ghana's Research Department

President John Agyekum Kufuor on Tuesday applauded the security services for the alertness and professionalism that has helped create a stable environment for the country's giant socio-economic and political strides. The progress Ghana is making could not have been achieved without the critical role of the security, he said, at the inauguration of a state-of-the-art new Headquarters building for the Research Department of the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Accra. Work on the five-storey office complex started in June 2003 and was funded by the Government.

The Department, which was established in 1958 by the late President Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, is a component of the national security system and deals primarily with intelligence for the protection, promotion and enhancement of the country's security and sovereignty. It has however, over the years, been operating in wooden structures. President Kufuor stated that the primary objective for the building was not to beautify the skies of the nation's capital, Accra, but rather, provide modern, functional and congenial environment to boost the institutional image of the Department. He said what Ghanaians were expecting in return was a high-level performance to justify the support.

"Loyalty and commitment, the hallmarks of your Department should never be in doubt", he added. President Kufuor said security was the first law of the Government and that the Government would continue to depend on the input of the security services as it fulfilled its mandate. Mr Francis Poku, the National Security Minister, said the security agencies remained focused and determined to bring peace to the country to ensure the growth of its democracy.

He said the nation's security policy was now based on the rule of law and respect for human rights, fairness to all and de-politicisation. Security operation, he said, has thus been made meaningful to the population and credited this to President Kufuor's self-restraint character. Mr J. K. Mensah, the Director of the Department, said as a national institution, it was non-partisan and pledged to continue to exercise the highest level of professionalism to ensure national peace and security.GNA

Togo bans Ghana poultry

Togo banned poultry from neighbouring Ghana on Wednesday after a case of the deadly H5N1 bird flu was detected there, the agriculture ministry said.A week ago, Ghana became the eighth African country to report a case of the H5N1 bird flu virus in poultry. Some 1,700 birds were culled after the discovery.

Togo authorities on Wednesday asked residents to notify veterinarians of any "sudden and massive poultry or wild bird deaths" and to avoid handling dead birds.The country put a national bird flu plan into action in February 2006, including a national alert system, the formation of medical teams and improved surveillance.In Africa, Ghana, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Djibouti, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria have all reported cases of H5N1 in poultry.

The World Health Organisation has warned that while humans have so far only caught the H5N1 strain of bird flu through contact with infected birds or their droppings, it could claim millions of lives if it mutates into a form that can be spread among humans.
Source:GHP

China to help build Bui city

Mr. Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning on Wednesday said government had allocated 20 million dollars for the construction of a city at Bui in line with the Bui dam project.He said the money allocated for the construction of the city formed part of a 600 million dollars loan to be funded by the Chinese government through a mixed credit facility.

Mr. Baah-Wiredu said lessons from the construction of the Akosombo dam has necessitated that a well-planned city, the likes of Tema, be put in place to accommodate all those who would be displaced due to the construction of the dam."The Bui city with its own university is expected to accommodate over one million inhabitants in the next 30 years," he told Mr Zhang Keyuan, out-going Chinese Ambassador who called at his office to bid him farewell.Mr Zhang, who had been in Ghana for almost four years was being recalled to his home country.Thanking Mr Zhang, through whose effort Ghana was about to implement the Bui Hydro-Electric Power Project, the Minister expressed the hope that Mr Zhang could stay to witness the sod cutting scheduled for June 15.

The project had been on drawing board for more than 85 years. "With the engineering, procurement and construction contract already signed between the government of Ghana and the project contractors, the way is paved for work to start on the project soon," Mr Baah-Wiredu said.He said Mr Zhang's duty in Ghana had been one of the most active and fruitful periods in Ghana-China bilateral co-operation initiated in the early 1960s."Your term of office has witnessed an unprecedented expansion of the Chinese Government support to Ghana as China is now Ghana's third largest bilateral development partner," The Finance Minister said. He called for a better trade relationship with an increase in exports from Ghana.Mr Zhang expressed his appreciation to President John Agyekum Kufuor, Ministers of State and the people of Ghana for the hospitable and excellent relationship saying he had enjoyed the nearly four years stay in Ghana.He said he would have wished to stay much longer in Ghana to complete the projects that were initiated during his tenure of office, but promised to encourage his successor to be committed to the completion of all those projects.He named some of the projects as the construction of an office complex for the Ministry of Defence, the rehabilitation of the Peduase Presidential Lodge, the Kumasi Youth Centre project and the Bui Hydro-Electric Power Dam project.He noted that bilateral relations, as well as trade between Ghana and China had deepened over the last three years, including the signing of a number of financial agreements and contracts with the government on various projects."I hope the bilateral relationship would be enhanced to a new level with the new ambassador to be," Mr Zhang said.
Source:GNA