Let us persuade all defectors to return to NDC – Bagbin

Mr Alban S. K. Bagbin, Minority Leader in Parliament on Saturday called on activists, supporters and sympathisers of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to persuade those who had defected from the party to return. "We need everybody back in the NDC. It is our home," he stated. Mr Bagbin made the call at the inauguration of the Volta Regional branch of the Youth and Women's Wing Working Committees of the party in Ho. He said “Although people with conscience would not leave the NDC for any political party, it is important that people who did not know their fate and were thinking of leaving or had left were spoken to about how suicidal it is to leave a ‘matured’ party.” Mr Bagbin noted that integrity and good leadership kept the PNDC/NDC in power for 19 years therefore; the NDC remained the only party that would put nation first than any political party. He alleged that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Government would not leave any better legacy for the youth as it tended to disrupt democratic principles and lacked respect for human rights and rule of law. "All they do is to use indigenous tactics to make Parliament ineffective, they dismissed experienced technocrats and employed untrained party activists," he added. Mr Bagbin called on civil society organisations to wake up and support institutions of governance to hold government accountable. Mr Haruna Iddrisu, NDC National Youth Organiser, who inaugurated the committees, advised the members not to be complacent but work hard to enable the party win the 2008 elections. He advised them to share vital information that would bring the party back to power rather than act as agents of any presidential aspirant of the party. Mr Iddrisu noted that the 2008 elections would not be contested on events of the past but on the present and future prosperity of the country. He said Dr Richard Winfred Anane, Minister of Transportation, remained a "litmus test" to President John Agyekum Kuffuor’s declaration of zero tolerance on corruption. Mr Iddrisu said the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) should have been bold to recommend the prosecution of Dr Anane.

Access to Agric Information for Developing countries expanded by UN

Over 100 of the world’s poorest countries will now be able to access leading food and agriculture journals for little or no cost with the launch today of the second phase of a joint United Nations-private sector initiative to provide yet one more tool in the fight against poverty and under-development. The Global Online Research in Agriculture (AGORA) project responds to the needs of thousands of students, researchers and academics in poorer countries, who continue to face challenges in accessing up-to-date information which is vital to their work. A UN statement issued in Accra on Thursday said AGORA was launched in 2003 by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 37 leading science publishers and other key partners including the UN World Health Organization (WHO) and Cornell University, providing access to 69 low-income countries. Under today’s expansion it will now include universities, colleges, research institutes and government ministries as well as non-governmental organizations in an additional 37 lower-middle-income countries.
The statement said: “We have seen from the first phase of this initiative that there is increasing demand for access to vital information by poorer countries.”
FAO Library and Documentation Systems Division Director Anton Mangstl said: “In less than three years, AGORA has already helped to bridge the knowledge gap by providing 850 institutions access to over 900 journals in agriculture and related subjects.” Under the second phase, 37 countries with a per capita GNP of between 1,000 dollars and 3,000 dollars would be eligible. It said institutions wishing to register would have a three-month free trial period before they would be asked to pay an annual subscription of 1,000 dollars. FAO will invest all subscription income into local training initiatives to help to increase awareness and usage of AGORA amongst librarians and scientists. “AGORA is making an important contribution to the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by providing essential information to improve the livelihoods of those who need it most,” FAO said, referring to the targets of slashing a host of ills, such as extreme hunger and poverty, high infant and maternal mortality and lack of access to education and health care, all by 2015.
GNA

Danish research expedition team arrives next week

A Danish research expedition, Galathea, arrives in Tema on board a ship Vaedderen on 0ctober 3 to meet with Ghanaians researchers and visit a variety of historical sites around Accra. The research team is circumnavigating the globe, carrying more than 60 research projects initiated by Danish and international research environments. A statement from the Danish Embassy in Accra on Thursday said the expedition ship would cover all climatic regions of the world during her eight-month voyage. “This will provide a unique platform for especially natural science research, which have a rare opportunity for carrying out coordinated studies of life and processes in the oceans, from Greenland in the north to Antarctica in the south and from the Solomon Islands in the east to the Galapagos in the west.” It said the expedition also included historic and land-based projects. It said the expedition was also to reinforce the idea of modern science of being of present-day relevance, especially among the coming generations that in a few years would contribute to shaping the future.
GNA

Ghana hit its tele-density target

Ghana hit its tele-density target of 20 per cent ahead of time at the end of June instead of December 2006, Communications Minister Professor Mike Ocquaye said on Wednesday. The Government had forecast to record a tele-density (the penetration of telephones throughout the country) to hit 20 per cent by the end of 2006 and 30 per cent by 2010 in accordance with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).Ghana is likely to exceed the MDG target at the rate of penetration.Professor Ocquaye, who was speaking at a function organized by the Ministry in Accra to create a platform for telecommunications operators to interact with Journalists, commended the efforts of the operators in helping the Government to achieve the target. "Some of the innovativeness that exists in the industry has given employment to especially people in the hinterland," Prof. Ocquaye said, and added that there was the need to take stock and look ahead to confront the challenges.He, therefore, called for regular dialogue between stakeholders in the telecommunications industry to promote understanding of issues concerning their operations between them and the public. The Minister said telecommunications were essential parts of development and required a constant review of work done but the media mostly speculated about the issues.This, he said, did not allow the public to appreciate the issues that confronted the industry.Prof. Ocquaye said the Government would not relent on efforts to push the agenda for developing the sector forward.He said a 40 million-dollar loan from the World Bank would help the Government to bridge the telecommunications gap between the urban and the rural areas through the hastening of the fibre optic project. Mr Bernard Forson, Deputy Director-General of the National Communications Authority (NCA), said tele-density could reach 25 per cent by the end of the year.He expressed optimism that the industry could also hit the tele-density target of 10 per cent in the rural areas by 2010, although he noted that the growth in the industry had also brought about challenges.He said there was the need to consider the area of Internet penetration as part of efforts to address the needs of the rural communities.Mr Forson said the NCA would ensure that the obligations to customers by the operators were met and that there existed a level playing field.Mr Kofi Asante, Administrator of the Ghana Investment Fund for Telecommunications (GHIFTEL), said his outfit was granting initial partial funding to entrepreneurs to help to provide universal access to telecommunications facilities to the rural communities.He explained that the work of the GHIFTEL was to promote socio-economic development and this would be done equitably. Mr Asante said GHIFTEL had done upfront assessment of the needs of the industry and had initiated projects to cover selected areas of the country.GHIFTEL expects to implement 22 such projects by the early part of 2007.