News from Ghana,the African Sub-Region and More!
A company owned by Dallas real estate mogul Gene Phillips has landed a $3 billion deal with the African country of Ghana to refurbish a barge to generate electricity for the power-starved nation. 
Professor S. K. B. Asante, an international consultant, has said democracy had come to stay in Ghana but remained fragile enough to require a mature, strong, steady, visionary and knowledgeable political leader to protect it."This is a crucial matter for high-level consideration by all the political parties that are in the process of selecting party flag bearers."Prof. Asante said with the exception of the National Democratic Congress that had gone through the rigorous exercise of electing a torch bearer, the remaining political parties had their presidential aspirants criss-crossing the country making campaign speeches.Speaking at the 10th anniversary of New-Man Preparatory and Junior Secondary School at Kade, Prof. Asante, who is also a Council member of the National African Peer Review Mechanism Governing Council, said while many pronouncements by the presidential aspirants were mature, carefully considered and generally convincing, some of the speeches regrettably left much to be desired.Instead of highlighting their track record, a number of them only hammered out their comparative youthful age as a necessary and desirable qualification for the presidency."They seem to be oblivious of the fact that youthfulness cannot always be equated with age," he said.He said some presidential aspirants seemed to be living in a world of fantasy when they stressed their capability as if industrialization of Ghana could be hastened with a magic wand."They claim they have pragmatic and long lasting solutions to the recurring energy crisis and erratic rainfall pattern in the north". Prof. Asante said he would venture to state that the basis for assessing the candidates for the 2008 presidential election should focus specifically on issues like, "contributions, capabilities, conduct, track record of service and commitment".Others are in-depth knowledge of the issues pertaining to the development and smooth administration of the country and the potential acceptability of the candidate by Ghanaians in the selection process. He said there was the need to select a person who "can do the job and not the person who wants the job. We need a visionary leader who can keep up and sustain the macro economic stability, good political governance so far established and achieve the much-needed economic independence to match with our political independence".Prof. Asante said, "indeed we need a leader who has a deep and intimate appreciation of where this country is coming from and where it needs to get in the shortest possible time".
Ghana is seriously considering the option of formally exporting her skilled labour in order to capitalize on the benefits accruing from the uncontrollable phenomenon of migration. 
Scientists say there is a possibility of an avian influenza (bird flu) outbreak next year, given that influenza pandemics occur approximately every 40 to 50 years and this year is the 39th year since the last pandemic occurred.Dr Kofi Asare, Vice President of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), said given the rate at which the H5N1 influenza virus, which causes bird flu, was spreading the threat of a pandemic was eminent. "It is a case of when, not if, the next pandemic will strike." He made the remark at a public lecture organised by the Association of Recognised Professional Bodies (ARPB) on the current situation of avian influenza in Ghana.Speaking on the significance of avian influenza transmission to humans, he noted that three conditions needed to be present for the outbreak of a pandemic - there should be a novel (new) virus; the new virus should cause disease to humans and the virus should spread through human-to-human transmission.He said in the case of H5N1 the first two conditions were fulfilled but no case of human-to-human transmission had been reported as yet. "Currently we have records of bird-to-bird and bird-to-human transmission which can be brought under control - we need our pastors to pray that human-to- human transmission would not occur anytime soon," he said.Statistics available from the World Health Organisation (WHO) indicate that so far, 319 human H5N1 infections have been detected worldwide, out of which 192 deaths, representing 60 per cent of persons infected have occurred.WHO and influenza experts across the globe have also predicted that when the pandemic occurs, between two to seven million deaths would occur.In 1918, when the Spanish H1N1 Influenza occurred between 20 and 50 million fatalities were recorded. In 1957 the Asian H2N2 influenza killed at least two million humans while one million deaths were recorded in the 1968 Hong Kong H3N2 influenza pandemic.Dr. Asare said the health sector alone would need not less than US$5.3 million to effectively control the bird flu situation in Ghana and therefore called on the government to find money to assist the various sectors to deal with the situation."Currently no one has immunity against the virus - we are not safe - we can't afford a pandemic. Our development partners are likely to prepare vaccines for their peoples when a pandemic breaks out and when that happens we will suffer greatly," he said.Dr. Andreas Miles from US Agency for International Development said currently 50 different bird species had been affected adding that the number of birds infected ran into billions with China alone recording five billion birds with bird flu infections.She said the virus killed younger persons faster than older persons, adding it thrived on overreaction and younger persons being more active made it easier for the virus to work on them. "The virus has been found to change in character so whatever vaccine is developed would also need to be changed year-after-year to ensure that it combats the virus effectively," she said.Dr. Francis Kunadu-Ampratwum from the Ghana Veterinary Medical Association (GVMA) said in terms of preparedness in Ghana there was a working group in place, which monitored the situation closely and mapped out strategies and plans to inform action.He said the challenge had been the fact that farmers whose birds were found to be infected with the virus were not forthcoming with information as to how the disease could have got unto their farms. "The way things are now we still do not know how the recent outbreak started from Tema to Sunyani to Aflao then to Togo between April and June," he said.He said in that outbreak alone at least 21,622 birds were destroyed by Bird Flu Coordinating Team in four farms in between Tema and Nungua and an additional 2,629 were destroyed in homes and poultry farms in Sunyani.Dr. Kunadu-Ampratwum noted that the mode of the spread had been mainly through movement of birds across borders and the illegal trade in wild birds.He called for "a taskforce with teeth to bite" to check the illegal trade in wild birds."There is also a need for a nationwide bio-security which ensures that humans would not bring diseases unto their farms, know the warning signs of bird flu, protect themselves, their families and community, report sick birds to the nearest veterinary authorities," he said. Mr. Ace Ankomah from the Ghana Bar Association said there was no need for a special taskforce to deal with the bird flu situation, adding that the laws empowered the veterinary officers and guards to deal with the situation.He said the problem on hand was not lack of enough laws and regulations but rather lack of effective implementation of the laws. Mr. Ankomah noted, for instance, that veterinary guards and ordinary public officers had the authority under the law to destroy animals found to pose public health risk and that persons found to be harbouring such animals were liable for prosecution. "We must begin to prosecute some of the poultry farmers on whose farms infected birds are found," he said. 02 Aug. 07
The National Executive Council of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Wednesday fixed the filing fee for presidential aspirants at GH=A2 25,000 (250 million cedis).The decision was taken at their meeting held in Accra during which a code of conduct for the aspirants was also agreed. Nana Ohene Ntow, General Secretary of the Party, told reporters that the National Congress that would elect the party's flagbearer for the 2008 elections would take place on December 22 this year. Nominations would therefore be opened on September 22. Some 20 members, including Vice President Aliu Mahama and several senior cabinet ministers, have expressed their desire to contest the primaries.Eight cabinet ministers, including Foreign Minister Nana Akufo-Addo, Defence Minister Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Trade and Industry Minister Allan Kyerematen, Water Resources, Works and Housing Minister, Hackman Owusu-Agyemang, Tourism and Diasporan Relations Minister, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey, have resigned to contest the primaries. The others are Education, Youth and Sports Minister Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Felix Owusu-Adjapong, and Communications Minister Mike Ocquaye.Before Wednesday's meeting, various personalities had mentioned figures such as GH 50,000 cedis (500 million) and more than GH 60,000 (600 million cedis) as filing fees.Nana Ohene Ntow said the amount was a compromise amount that should also help the party fund its activities and the primaries. He said the Council has also sent out a strong warning to contestants that the party would not countenance dirty campaign and a code of conduct that had been agreed was to ensure that there was a level playing field and clean campaign.Nana Ohene Ntow said any candidate, whose agents would fall foul of the rules would face severe sanctions, including disqualification. He said no official of the party at all levels would be allowed to campaign for any candidate.Concerns have been expressed in party circles about the trend of the campaign which is looking dirty. 01 Aug. 07
Accra, June 6, GNA-Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia says Ghana's economic opportunities for private sector investors are back on track as...
