Stranded Hajj pilgrims protest

Hundreds of pilgrims attending this year's Hajj as well as their relatives on Friday besieged the main road of the Aviance Cargo Village near the Kotoka International Airport in Accra in protest against the delayed departure of pilgrims to Mecca. On two separate occasions they blocked the road with sticks, boulders and other objects.

The police cleared the obstacles almost immediately after which the crowd blocked another part of the road. The action resulted in traffic jam and the police presence was reinforced.

None of the Hajj Board members was available to clarify the situation.Ghana News Agency (GNA) investigations revealed that most Hajj members as well as their relatives grew impatient and blamed the Hajj Board for their continued delayed flights.

They said after paying 20 million cedis per a person for the trip they had ended up being given excuses that flight to send them on the pilgrimage was not available. The pilgrims, who were being housed at the premises of the Aviance Cargo Village complained that the conditions they found themselves in was horrible.

A man, who gave his name as Salia said he has been waiting for almost a week, during which he took his bath only once. All efforts to contact the members of the Hajj Board proved futile, as their mobile phones would not ring.

Meanwhile the pilgrims have threatened to hold a protest march to the offices of the Hajj Board if flight was not made available for them on Saturday to embark on the journey to Mecca.
Source:GNA

Foreign Affairs alerts public about Omni Canada

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Regional Cooperation and NEPAD on Friday urged the public to disregard adverts by a Canadian firm known as Canada Hotel Omni or Omni Canada, on internet seeking to employ workers to be employed in Hotels in Quebec and Montreal.

"The Ministry wishes to state that it cannot confirm the veracity of this information provided by the above named company and will accordingly advise the general public to disregard the advertisement,"These were contained in a statement issued and signed by Mr Sayuti Yahaya-Iddi, Acting Director, Information and Linguistic Bureau of the Ministry in Accra.

The Ministry noted that in the said advertisement, Canada Hotel Omni or Omni Hotel Canada had indicated that it would be responsible for accommodation and airfare of suitable candidates with salaries ranging from 2,800- 7,500 dollars.

Iraq war is my worst moment - Annan

At his farewell news conference as the world's top diplomat, United Secretary-General Busumuru Kofi Annan cited the failure to stop the Iraq war as the worst moment of his 10 years in office and made a fervent appeal that the Organization should not be judged by the Iraqi Oil-for-Food Scandal but by its myriad humanitarian and development actions."




I think the worst moment was the Iraq war, which as an Organization we couldn't stop and I really did everything I can to try to see if we could stop it," he replied when asked what he considered the top achievements and three worst moments of his tenure.




A statement issued by the UN Information Centre in Accra on Thursday said Busumuru Annan cited among the achievements the UN's human rights efforts; the war against inequality both between and within States and the battle for development as epitomized by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that sought to slash a host of social ills, such as extreme hunger and poverty; infant and maternal mortality and lack of access to education and health care, all by 2015.



But he devoted his most fervent appeal to a plea that the UN should not be judged by the Iraq Oil-for-Food Scandal after which an Independent Inquiry Committee found mismanagement on the part of Busumuru Annan's administration and corruption largely on the part of private companies in connection with the scheme to allow the sanctions-bound regime of Saddam Hussein to sell oil and use a portion of the revenues to purchase food and humanitarian supplies.


"I think that when historians look at the records they will draw the conclusion that, yes, there was mismanagement and there may have been several UN staff members engaged but the scandal, if any, was in the capitals and with the 2,200 companies that made a deal with Saddam behind our backs and of course I hope the historians will realize that the UN is more than oil-for-food," he said.




"That was a very special programme, the oil-for-food we were asked to implement. So please don't generalize from the particular."Beyond the Iraq War and oil-for-food, Busumuru Annan mentioned the bombing of the UN's Baghdad Headquarters in 2003 that killed 22 people, including the top Envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello.





"They were not just colleagues, they were true friends and I think nothing had hit me as much as almost the loss of my twin sister," he said.Among the achievements he cited first the adoption by the UN World Summit last year of the principle that Members States had the responsibility to protect their citizens. Secondly he mentioned the determination to cut inequality among and within States. "






A world where you have extreme poverty and immense wealth side by side is not sustainable,=94 he said, noting the UN's work on diseases from HIV/AIDS to bird flu. Thirdly, he said he had made the UN 93a truly partnership organization=85 realizing from the beginning that we couldn't do everything and we had to know what we can do, what others do better and what we have to do with others."
Source:GNA

Cocaine Bust At Tema

A joint team of security agencies from Accra and Tema yesterday arrested three persons over their alleged role in the importation of over 15 slabs of a substance which tested positive for cocaine. The slabs of cocaine were found in a traveling duffel bag on top of 4000 boxes of yoghurt.

The operation led by ASP Adamu Seidu was undertaken by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), the Ministry of National Security, the Narcotic Control Board (NACOB) and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS).The three suspects are Michael Ayacht, a Greek national who is Managing Director of Market Direct, the company which imported the container, Mohammed Salami, a Lebanese and a certain Isaac Quansah, a clearing agent.

Market Direct, is an affiliated company to CCTC, a rice-importing conglomerate off Spintex Road in Accra.The substance, weighing 19.9 kilos with a street value of $17,000, was concealed in a 40-footer container with registration number 6646380 belonging to the shipping magnate, Mersk Line.

According to a security source, the substance was tested in the presence of the suspects and found to be narcotic drugs, after which the substance and the suspects were transferred to the Police Headquarters where they are being held.Daily Guide learnt yesterday that the security agencies had been on heightened alert after a tip-off that a vessel was approaching Ghana from Peru in Central America with illicit substance on board.

A source close to Market Direct has however denied that the substance found in the container belonged to the company.Speaking exclusively to the paper yesterday on the breaking news, the source said the allegations were part of attempts to tarnish the hard-won reputation of the company. He noted that the Group had been under attack for the last quarter of this year and they were even currently in court with a media house that had published a false story about them.

He clarified further that Market Direct Ltd most often imported all its goods through the internet, and the managing director under investigations does not even go to the port for clearance. As a matter of fact, yesterday was the first time the Managing Director went to the port when he was invited by the security agencies. As company policy, he defended, all goods were handled solely by the clearing agent and if Michael wanted to import an illicit item alongside the company's goods, he would likely have gone to the port himself.“The Managing Director does not even know the supplier, Messrs Trading Company in person because all transactions have been via the internet.

Details of all his transactions and communications with the supplier in question are available for all to see on his PC.”Narrating the sequence of events, the sources said yesterday, Michael was invited to the port by the security officers and Customs.

He went there boldly and willingly. Had he known about this item in the container, Michael would have run away immediately he heard that he was wanted at the port. He would not have gone there.Accompanied by other officials of the company to Tema, they were shown a container loaded with their legitimate goods, but seated on the top of a stack of yoghourt was a traveling bag.

The bag was the first thing one saw immediately one opened the container, he said, challenging, why was it not hidden but rather exposed like that? This is a complete frame-up, he concluded.The customs officials alleged however that the bag contained an illicit product and upon examination, was found to be cocaine.

The defender of Market Direct said they were shocked because ever since they’d been doing business in Ghana over for 10 years now, distributing their products throughout Africa, they had never been confronted with such a problem.“The value of the cocaine they said was $17,000 in Ghana, while Finatrade Foundation, a charitable wing of the company, had over ¢3 billion provided annually for charitable services.

Out of this it doles out scholarships to about 66 University students in Ghana,” he disclosed.

ECOWAS Summit postponed

The annual ECOWAS Heads of State and Government Summit that was scheduled for Friday December 22nd 2006 in Ougadougu Borkina Faso has been postponed for security reasons.

This followed a gun battle between some police and military personnel in that country during the greater part of yesterday, Wednesday December 20 2006.Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo Addo Minister of Foreign Affairs, who had earlier attended the Ministerial Session of the Summit told newsmen on arrival at the Kotoka International Airport that details of the conflict were not immediately available.

He said by his knowledge news of a soldier, who allegedly died after being arrested by police personnel sparked the violence.The Foreign Minister said the Summit, which would have been the last to be held under the old ECOWAS organization, was expected to come off early next year. ECOWAS has now been transformed from an Executive Secretariat to a Commission.

Ms. Shirley Ayorkor Botwe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and some officials of the Foreign Ministry accompanied Nana Akuffo Addo.

NDC emerge united after congress

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Thursday ended its National Delegates' Congress, celebrating the unity of the party and not Professor John Evans Atta Mills' victory as the party's presidential candidate for Election 2008.

Prior to the official announcement of the results by the Electoral Commission and the subsequent declaration of Prof. Mills as the winner, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, National Youth Organiser of the party, said there was an instruction from the Founder of the party, former President Jerry John Rawlings and Prof.

Mills that delegates should minimise their celebration. At the time, it was obvious that Prof. Mills was about to win but he preferred a celebration of the party's victory to a celebration of his victory. It was all hugs and handshakes among the four contestants when Prof. Mills was finally declared the flagbearer of the party for Election 2008.Indeed, when he took his turn after the other three losing contestants, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah and Mr. Eddie Anang, he was flanked by all three of them. He declared "this is a victory for all the four of us and for the NDC."

As leader of the party, he declared all campaign teams of the losing contestants dissolved and converted them into one campaign team with all the four of them as campaign managers. They all held their hands and raised them up amidst cheers by the party supporters, a gesture that perfectly depicted the theme for the congress - Unity for Victory 2008.

During the speeches by the three losing candidates, Flt. Lt. Rawlings, who took a seat at the front row among the delegates, kept nodding in approval of the display of maturity and unity. The General Secretary of the party, Mr. Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah, a.k.a. General Mosquito, was also spotted sitting among that delegates, sweating profusely when the votes were being counted.

In what analysts have described as vigilant self-monitoring, the party employed not just the police but also several party members to maintain security at the congress premises. They did that effectively as they ensured that anyone who did not have accreditation to be at the congress premises was kept at bay.

There was absolute peace and stability at the congress grounds with pockets of arguments about who was a preferred candidate and who was not.Delegates and members of the party left the congress ground amidst dancing and singing to the tune of the party's anthem "Arise NDC".
Source:GNA

Prof Mills wins NDC presidential slot hands down

Professor John Evans Atta Mills, former Vice President, on Thursday polled 1,362 votes, representing 81.4 percent of the total vote caste, to win the National Democratic Congress (NDC) presidential slot for Elections 2008.

Dr Ekow Spio-Garbrah, a former Minister of Education, polled 146 votes representing 8.7 percent, Alhaji Mahama Iddrisu, a former Minister of Defence, had 137 votes representing 8.2 percent and Mr Eddie Annan, a businessman, got 28 votes representing 1.7 percent. Prof Mills contested Elections 2000 and 2004 on the ticket of the NDC as its presidential candidate and lost to the New Patriot Party's then candidate John Agyekum Kufuor.

Declaring the results at the end of four hours of voting and counting the Deputy Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Mr Kwadwo Sarfo Kantanka, said with the result, Prof Mills stood dully elected as NDC Presidential Candidates for Elections 2008.

Amidst drumming and dancing, the four aspirants embraced each other and this drew deafening applause and shouts of NDC slogans. Prof Mills declared that the victory was for the party and the other candidates and assured them that they would form the core of his campaign team.

"The victory is the fulfillment of our quest to win back power from the New Patriotic Party (NPP) in the 2008 general elections." Prof Mills said his victory was a manifestation of the people's choice, a success for the party and not a personal achievement. He said the successful election of a flag-bearer for the NDC was just the first phase of the struggle to win back power.

"The party needs unity, truth and dedication to increase its strength for the Elections 2008. Members of the NDC have spoken. They have sent a message to the NPP that we are ready to engage in a serious battle. Everybody must get on board. Let's forgive and forget and build the party."

Prof Mills called on the NDC to be more committed and vibrant and thanked the founding fathers, the Council of Elders and his wife Naadu for assisting in ensuring a successful congress.All the defeated aspirants pledged their total support for the cause of the NDC.

"We will not leave the NDC, we will not form a new party, we have no other party other than the NDC," they said. Dr Spio-Garbrah, Alhaji Iddrisu and Mr Annan congratulated Prof Mills for the victory that they described as free, fair, transparent and representing the wishes of the party and Ghanaians.
Source:GNA