Replacement Voter ID Cards begins

The nationwide replacement of lost, defaced or badly damaged Voter Identification Cards started with the usual apathy on Friday as most of the centres in Accra recorded low patronage.

The exercise, which runs from Friday, March 14 to Saturday, March 23 between 0700 hours and 1800 hours daily, including weekends, forms part of preparation by the Electoral Commission (EC) to ensure that every eligible Ghanaian participates in Elections 2008.A visit to some of the replacement centres by Ghana News Agency revealed low turnout.

To ensure convenience, replacement centres have been located at least in each Electoral Area for all eligible voters who have these problems to appear personally and provide personal data to the Replacement Officer.According to the EC after the collection of data on applicants, processing and preparation of the new voter ID Cards would take place at the Head Office of the EC.

Appropriate measures would then be put in place to deliver the new cards to applicants before the Revision of the Voters' Register.Applicants who would be unable to have their cards during that period would have the opportunity to do so during the Exhibition of the Voters' Register.

The rationale behind this exercise, according to the EC, is to discourage voters in that category from the temptation of double registration, which is a punishable offence, and offenders are liable for prosecution.The EC said this arrangement did not constitute a transfer of vote.

The EC will put measures in place later for voters who have moved residence to transfer their votes to enable them to vote where they are currently resident.
Source:GNA

Christianborg Crossroad Shooting Incident marked

Wreaths were laid at the Freedom Monument, Osu, on Thursday in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of three ex-servicemen who were gunned down at the Christianborg Crossroads on February 28, 1948, while going to present a petition to the British Colonial Governor, Sir Gerald Creasy.

They were Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe and Private Odartey Lamptey, all members of the Gold Coast Regiment of the Royal West African Frontier Force that fought alongside the allied forces during the Second World War.The colonialists had demobilized them promising to resettle them but had reneged.

Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Minister of Defence, laid a wreath on behalf of the government and people of Ghana and Lt-Gen J.B. Danquah, Chief of Defence Staff, laid one on behalf of the security services. The Chairman of the Veterans Association of Ghana, Air Vice Marshal Odartey Barnor laid one on behalf of the veterans, while the Ga Mantse, Nii Tackie Tawiah III, laid one on behalf of traditional rulers.

About 155 men drawn from the Army, Air Force, Navy, the Police and the Veteran Soldiers mounted a parade, which was witnessed by a large crowd.Special prayers were said for the love, dedication and the service the three soldiers rendered to the country. Major E. N. A. Laryea, Chaplain of the Ghana Armed Forces, thanked God for sustaining the country since the colonial era and prayed for peace and stability in Ghana and the world. Nuruddin Atuquaye, an Imam, also prayed for sustenance of peace and stability.

The acting Osu Klottey Wulomo, Nii Lantey Okunkah poured libation. Relatives of the fallen heroes, Ministers, Parliamentarians as well as other important dignities graced the occasion.Ex-WOI Robert Kumah, who read the history said on Saturday, February 28, 1948, a number of ex-servicemen were marching from Accra to Christianborg Castle to present a petition to the Governor on their unpaid war benefits when they were intercepted at the crossroads by a contingent of armed policemen.

The contingent led by British Superintendent, Mr Imray ordered that they dispersed and when they refused to obey, he gave an order to the police to open fire and the three ex-servicemen were killed. The ex-soldiers had fought alongside the allied forces in the Gold Coast Regiment of the Royal West African Frontier Force during the Second World War and had returned home poor and were not paid their gratuities.

After several appeals to the colonial government to consider their plight had failed, the ex-servicemen decided that a direct approach should be made to the British Colonial Governor of the Gold Coast. News about the death of the servicemen spread rapidly, leading to a situation where law and order broke down in Accra and other parts of the country.It encouraged anti-colonial movements to press the British government to institute a committee to investigate the killings and general disorder.

The Committee recommended self-government for the Gold Coast, which subsequently led to the attainment of political independence for the country. 28 Feb. 08

Inmate commercialises police cell

Mr Kofi Ahiabor, presiding over the Awutu District Magistrate Court, has said no inmate could arrogate to himself the status of a land lord in police cells and demand monies from new comers.

Mr Ahiabor said this before imposing a fine of 300 cedis on Kwabena Akyeampong charged with assaulting his fellow inmate, Nana Yaw Kumi, at the Kasoa Police Cells.

In default Akyeampong, who pleaded guilty, will go to jail for six months in hard labour. Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector Helena Aidoo, said on February 19, Akyeampong subjected Kumi to severe beatings at the Kasoa Police cells where both them had been kept pending their trial.

She said investigations revealed that Akyeampong was demanding three Ghana cedis from Kumi for being a new comer and the amount would given to a purported leader of the cell.

Statesman Reveals NDC manifesto

The Statesman can exclusively reveal that the 2008 manifesto of the National democratic Congress is ready and if internal wrangling about its unusual 'audacity' and implementation difficulties can be overcome it should be launched soon, at least in parts.

Promising a ‘New Ghana' the NDC manifesto is notably, specifically silent on job creation. Indeed, the word ‘job’ is completely missing from the entire document.The 63-page document is remarkably modest on details but uncharacteristically bold on promises, if compared to the party’s four previous manifestos and numerous national budgets.

A member of the NDC Manifesto Committee who spoke to The Statesman yesterday said, "The wider group even finds this manifesto too audacious.”For instance, the NDC intends to use part of an increased military budget to build a “Military Industrial Complex”, for ship building, railways and coaches. Also to be manufactured are light weapons, tanks, drydock, and steel bridges.On the nationally worrying issue of drug smuggling, the NDC’s ‘drug policy’ is curiously skinny. The two-line policy reads: the Narcotics Control Board’s “function shall be upgraded and overhauled to make it more potent to address all its recent shortcomings.

It shall ensure that Ghana is no longer considered a major narcotic drugs transit point as the NPP has turned Ghana into.”However, under Chapter IX (Ministry of Defense), the manifesto manages to find another line to an issue that the opposition party intends to make core to their electoral efforts. “Because of the recent narcotics menace in the country and the country emerging as a drug trafficking transit point, the Navy must be adequately resourced as a matter of urgency and shall be provided with long range radar systems to secure our shoreline and other water bodies.”

Though, the NDC has been actively lobbying Galamseys (unlicensed small-scale miners) to be activists and polling agents, the party’s mining policy is not at all kind to the interests of these local miners. The NDC is fully in support of the status quo. It pledges to provide “a conducive and investment-friendly atmosphere” for mining companies.

The manifesto boldly gives notice of the opposition party’s intention to involve government actively in the country’s industrialization efforts.An Atta Mills government shall establish industries "through public/private partnership."

Some of the industries to be established include cement production plants, aluminium smelter, gold refinery and ornament production, steel industry, copper, car assembly and manufacturing, manganese and bitumen production plants.
The NDC promises that "Ghana’s clothing and textiles and art work industries, as well as artifacts etc. shall be one of the best developed in modern Africa."

But, there is disappointment for those expecting clear egalitarian indicators from a party that claims it has metamorphosed in opposition from iconoclastic neo-liberalism to vociferous social democracy.
The manifesto gives no promise of continuing with the affordable housing scheme. It favours state-provided housing, but recognizes the mortgage opportunities now provided by a stable macro-economic environment. It says the state would build houses and condominiums to "accommodate the junior rank through to the highest [police] officer," while "mortgage facilities shall cover retired police officers."

Ironically, though the NDC has been vehement in its opposition to the NPP LEAP policy of giving free monies to the very needy, their manifesto promises the "setting up of a special mitigation fund." It adds, "A base amount to be determined shall be paid out on a monthly basis to such citizens and not more than three of their children."

The streets would be rid of "mentally deranged persons" under an Atta Mills government.
The NDC would be tough on refuse. Sanitary inspectors "will give spot fines, and or prosecute at sanitary courts."

The days of free parking are numbered. "The District shall provide public and street parking which will be tolled or metered." District Assemblies "shall provide helicopters for pest control, local policing, disaster management, ambulance and rescue operation in their jurisdiction." The NDC Manifesto Committee member who spoke to this paper said that those who prepared the 63-page document, including himself, have been "arrogantly presumptive" that it covered every thing. But, it may still go through some changes as it is seen as too ambitious.

The document is absolutely silent on how the party intends to finance its manifesto promises.
Key pledges in NDC Manifesto
* Houses must be painted every year
* District/Municipal Assemblies shall levy a property tax of 20% which will go to the allodial owners of the land ad infinitum

* Every plot to be sold shall be serviced and not sold in its virgin form
* Govt to purchase land wholesale and sell them free-hold to developers
* TOR will not be sold to the private sector

* Attorney-General shall be independent
* Taxes and insurance charges on petroleum shall be reviewed
* To see Ghana halt, within 8 years, new HIV/AIDS infection
* Progressively do away with open drains
* All medical professionals shall be bonded to work for five years or redeem themselves by paying fines
* All dilapidated classrooms and under-tree learning will be a thing of the past within six years
* Personal housing loan schemes shall be made available to teachers
* Supermarket chains shall be encouraged
* Retail industry to be regulated; reserving a large portion for Ghanaians * Road Traffic Courts, Sanitation Courts in every district * Develop vibrant fibre industry for export * Assist media institutions with credit to acquire newsprint, equipment, etc * 5% of national annual budget will be invested into research
Source:Asare Otchere-Darko

US drops Africa military HQ plan

The US military has decided to keep the headquarters of its new Africa Command in Germany, after only one African nation, Liberia, offered to host it.
Most African countries have been wary of plans to base the command, Africom, on the continent.

Africom's commander, Gen William Ward, said there were no plans to create large US garrisons on the continent.

The military command was created last year to unite responsibilities shared by three other US regional commands.

The US plan had been misunderstood by some African countries, Gen Ward told the BBC.
The key aim of Africom was to build the capacity of African countries for security and peacekeeping, he said.
African doubts

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua announced in November that he would not allow his country to host an Africom base and that he was also opposed to any such bases in West Africa.
South Africa and Libya have also voiced strong reservations.

Only Liberia, which has historic links to the US, has offered to host it.
There has been concern that Africom is really an attempt to protect US oil and mineral interests in Africa, amid growing competition for resources from Asian economies, says the BBC's Alex Last in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

Then there are fears about the continent being drawn into the US war on terror, our correspondent ads.
Gen Ward said Africom was not about militarisation but consolidating existing operations under one single command, while helping Africans with military training and supporting peacekeeping and aid operations.
bbc

Kufuor swears in two new Ministers

President John Agyekum Kufuor on Friday repeated his resolve to continue to work hard till his last day in office to improve the situation of Ghanaians.

Ministers of State would therefore have to play their expected parts well, he said when he swore in Mr. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, Minister of State, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, and Ms. Vicky Bright, a Deputy Minister at the Office of the President, at the Castle, Osu.

President Kufuor, speaking after administering to them the Oaths of Allegiance, Office and Secrecy, called for total loyalty. To Mr. Mensah-Bonsu, he said he should make sure that Government's business was not delayed or frustrated by Parliament. He should make sure that both sides "come along" with Government for passage of Bills into laws and smooth conduct of the business of state.

Turning to the Deputy Minister, President Kufuor, asked her to work around clock and be above doubt and speculation.

He said as a liaison between the President and the Attorney-General, she should be alert to any matters that might have escaped the office of the Government's Chief Legal Adviser and slipped to his Office.

Mr Mensah-Bonsu pledged that they would do their best to justify their inclusion and help to move the Government's development agenda forward.

Source:

GNA

Kufuor delivers final State of the Nation address

President John Agyekum Kufuor on Wednesday said human resource development was the natural starting point for the knowledge-based society to which Ghana aspired in order to mainstream itself into globalisation.

Delivering his last State of the Nation address to Parliament, he said on assumption of office, he found the country's education system in a parlous condition.

"From 2001, using resources from the HIPC Fund, Budget Allocation and the GETfund, government launched a programme to rehabilitate broken down educational institutions from basic through secondary to tertiary level."

He said other initiatives which have been implemented include the Capitation Grant, the School Feeding Programme and improved students' loan schemes, all of which have contributed to increased intake of pupils and students through all the levels. President Kufuor said on account of Ghana's school feeding programme, when he was invited to address the Council of the World Food Programme in Rome a week ago and "together with a group of pupils from Ghana, I told the Ghana story".

He said with the story, Ghana's School Feeding Programme had become a model for other developing nations around the world.

President Kufuor said the implementation of the constitutional provision of Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE), which had been captured within the new education reform programme, took off on schedule last September.

He said since the First Republic, various educational programmes had recognized the need for science and technology but had not sown the seed for inculcating the essential disciplines in the pupils. "What this government seeks to do at all levels is to acculturate science in them, so that by the time they leave school, their mindset and outlook will reflect an appreciation of science and technology as a way of life."

Touching on Teacher Training Colleges under the education reform, President Kufuor said the entire 38 Teacher Training Colleges were being upgraded into diploma awarding institutions, across the curricula of learning, from science through arts and ICT.

"Further, 15 of them have been designated science colleges to be steeped even deeper in these subjects to provide specialist education for Science, Mathematics and Technology teachers. Technical and Vocational studies are being highlighted in the Reform.

"Government policy is to build Vocational and Technical institutions in every district, so that the youth will learn to use not only their mind, but their hands as well."

President Kufuor said a Distance Education Programme to upgrade teachers beyond the diploma level had been laid.

"Improved conditions of service are part of the incentives to motivate teachers to deliver quality service," he said, adding that, refurbishing of the universities and teacher training colleges were part of government's policy of attracting and retaining young qualified personnel.

President Kufuor said the burden that used to rest solely on the state for the provision of tertiary education was being lessened by rapidly increasing private tertiary institutions, "some of which are proving very competitive in terms of quality of programme delivery and student intake".

He commended the founders of these institutions as well as the national Accreditation Board for their part in the process. "My appeal is that, the curricula of these private institutions should expand beyond Religion, Business and Social Sciences into Mathematics, Science and Technology in line with government's new educational policy."

Touching on health, President Kufuor said integral to human resource development and the achievement of the UN's Millennium Development Goals was a robust health delivery programme.

"For this reason, government has seen to the rehabilitation of the regional hospitals and district health posts, capacity building within the sector and improvement in the conditions of service of health workers.

"Currently, the main driving force of health delivery is captured in the adage 'prevention is better than cure'," he said. The focus was on disease prevention and promotion of healthy life-styles that included healthy eating, at home and in schools, physical exercise, use of potable water and environmental cleanliness, President Kufuor said.

Ghana prides herself as a beacon of good governance - President

President John Agyekum Kufuor on Thursday said Ghana prided herself as a beacon of good governance and commended Parliament for doing an excellent job in dealing with the issue of corruption, which was an affront to good governance.

He said last year saw the public hearings of the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament for the first time and though some of the revelations were mind-boggling, the Committee's proactive stance demonstrated appreciation that concerns about corruption were more helpful when they went beyond mere complaints.

Giving his last State of the Nations Address in Parliament, the President said based on this, the Attorney General's Department had set up an Anti-Corruption Unit to study the recommendations and to prosecute cases that needed to be prosecuted.

He said the Legislature played an important role in the drive for good governance and how to equip the House for its critical role must be of concern to all.

"It is, indeed, a shame that our MPs do not have adequate office room and staff to assist their work," he said, adding that, although he made a promise to provide adequate resources for them in his first State of the Nation address, a loan facility of USD 25 million waiting to be utilised for the purpose was diverted to an apparently more urgent purpose by those who secured it.

The President, however, noted that fresh resources were on hand to refurbish Job 600 for use by the MPs and urged the House to consider preparing a comprehensive budget of its needs for funding in the same way as the Judiciary did.

"In offering this advice to the House, I am tempted to say it is because I care about you."

President Kufuor noted that law and order, an integral part of good governance, also required enforcers in the right numbers proportional to the population. However, compared to the UN ratio of Police to citizen at 1:500, Ghana currently reported a ratio of 1:994.

He said the number of policemen, which stood at 15,983 in 2001 had gained an additional 10,132, adding that, resources lately provided to the police included vehicles, communication equipment, ammunition and uniforms.

The President said, the idea of communities volunteering units for community protection in the past could be revisited. However, that should not be recommendation for instant justice which must be condemned in no uncertain terms.

Source:

GHP