AU is uncomfortable with the situation in Zimbabwe - President Kufuor

African Union (AU) Chairman President John Agyekum Kufuor has described the political situation in Zimbabwe as embarrassing to the Continent. What was happening in that country, he said, was making the AU uncomfortable. President Kufuor was responding to a question on the Union's position on the political intolerance and brutal attacks on the opponents of the Government of President Robert Mugabe, when he addressed members of the Royal Institute of International Affairs, Chatham House, in London on Wednesday.

This comes in the wake of recent horrifying beating and torture of the Zimbabwean Opposition Leader, Morgan Tsvangirai and dozens of his supporters after their arrest at a banned meeting. President Kufuor rejected claims that seek to suggest that the AU has remained unconcerned about Zimbabwean situation, saying, it has all along been making every necessary effort to exercise some influence to help to restore normalcy there. "We want accountable Government. We want multi-party democracy."

The main theme of President Kufuor's address was: "Fifty Years of Ghana's Independence: Prospects and Challenges for Accelerated National Development." He gave a positive assessment of Ghana's economic performance, saying the "indicators point to good prospects for the country's development". The nation, he declared, has entered into a new phase of sustained development and was among the few, listed by the multi-laterals, to likely meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"To us in today's Ghana, we know where we are coming from, where we are now and where we are going. What we demand is committed co-operation and support from all our friends." President Kufuor, who is on a three-day state visit to the United Kingdom (UK), said the Government was determined to maintain strict financial discipline to prevent a relapse to the debt situation that forced it to adopt the Highly Indebted Poor Countries Initiative (HIPC). "The Government would not be sentimental in borrowing. We would go in for money that would be of benefit to the development of the economy."

He pointed out that one of the major challenges the country and the rest of Africa was facing was the frustrations in competing on the international market, citing agricultural subsidies by the wealthy nations and the high tariffs imposed on products from the Continent. "We do not feel the World Trade Organisation (WTO) represents Africa's best interest." President Kufuor had earlier at a breakfast meeting with Leaders of Africa Missions in the UK at the Buckingham Palace, noted that the Doha Development Agenda, which provides for the establishment of rules based on equitable trading system, as representing the hope for improving the lives of the peoples in the Continent and to free them from abject poverty.

The debt burden, inequitable trading relations with the developed countries as well as the rampant conflicts on the Continent have conspired to keep Africa poor and weak. He, however, told the Diplomats that through determination, Africa would be able to resolve many of the seemingly intractable problems, standing in its way to growth and prosperity and which have kept the Continent poor and marginalised. President Kufuor said there was hope for Africa as its new leaders were dedicated to re-directing the Continent's destiny for peace and wealth creation.GNA

JAK vists Queen

Ghana@50: State Banquet Pix

KufI Annan and wife arriving.

Pamela Bridgewater, US Ambassador, Ghana Zimbabwe's Mugabe and wife arriving
M'bekhi of Soth Africa and wife
The High Table without the Vice president of Ghana

The veep and some invited guests Rev Jackson and a Business Wizz Kid

Asa B struggles to shake hands with Faure Eyadema of Togo
President Kuffour arrives with wife

Faure (Togo Prez)

Akuffo Addo reading the citation before the decoration
Kuffor Decorating Obasanjo with the Countries Highest National HonourI Accept it Prez. KUFFOUR!
Credit, Ghanaweb, GMA

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Government urged to revive Bonsa Tyre factory

Professor Ivan Addae-Mensah, Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Authority, on Friday called on the Government as a matter of urgency to remove the Bonsa Tyre Factory at Bonsa near Tarkwa, in the Western Region, from the Divestiture Implementation Committee (DIC) list.

He said the continual maintenance of the factory on the DIC list since 1999 had not brought any economic benefits to the country while no investor had taken over the facility. Prof. Addai-Mensah said these at a symposium organized by the Western Regional Coordinating Council as part of activities to mark Ghana's Golden Jubilee, in Takoradi.

It was on the theme "Strategic importance of the Western Region to the Socio-economic Development of Post-independence Ghana". Prof. Addai-Mensah said government must not allow "legalities" to deprive the factory from being reactivated to create employment. He said though rehabilitation works on the factory was 95 percent complete, the inability of government to release 2.4 million US Dollars seven years ago had left the facility standing idle, with many of its "new equipment still in their boxes".

Prof. Addai-Mensah said an agreement between government of Ghana and the African Development Bank (ADB) for a loan of 30.7 million US Dollars was approved. He said Dunlop of Birmingham were contacted to work with their Ghanaian counterparts to rehabilitate the factory and the Government of Ghana paid 3.019 million US Dollars leaving a balance of 2.431 million US dollars. Prof. Addai-Mensah said the ADB, realising that government was not ready to pay its outstanding matching fund of 2.431 million US Dollars, wrote to the Ministry of Finance on September 3, 1999 to cancel all loans approved and released for the project.

He said the factory would have produced about 300,000 tyres per year, representing 25 per cent of the country's annual requirements. Prof. Addai-Mensah stressed, "There is therefore, no reason for anyone to say that there would be no internal market for the factory's products." He also said the factory had plans to export small rubber products such as bushings, adhesives, floor tiles, engine seats, motorcycle tyres to Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso and Nigeria, in the West African Sub-region.