Corrales, Clottey even on the scales

Diego Corrales and Joshua Clottey both weighed in at 149lbs for their welterweight battle on Saturday night in Springfield, Missouri, USA on Showtime.29 year-old Corrales 40-4 (33) from Las Vegas, a three-time world champion, is making his first appearance at welterweight against 30 year-old Clottey 30-2 (20), 1 NC from Ghana.

Showtime will televise the 10-round welterweight bout in the USA at 9pm ET/PT (delayed on the west coast). Gary Shaw Productions and Tony Holden Promotions will promote the event sponsored by the Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma, from The Shrine Mosque in Springfield, Missouri.

NDC condemns attempts to downplay energy crisis

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Friday, condemned attempts by the Government and New Patriotic Party (NPP) functionaries to divert discussion on the energy crisis. In a statement in Accra signed by Dr Kwabena Adjei, National Chairman, the NDC said it had observed without surprise attempts by "our opponents" to divert attention from the debilitating energy crisis that the country is saddled with.

The NDC had also taken note of the failure of President John Agyekum Kufuor and the Government "to keep faith with their numerous promises to solve the problem," it said. The Party expressed concern about a section of the media, which it said had taken bits and pieces of "what they might have heard" at the "second Family Meeting" of the NDC on Tuesday, and had added "their diabolical spin to suit their diversionary agenda".

The statement said, "The words, phrases and statement" attributed to certain NDC personalities "emanate more from the figments of their imagination than from what was actually said at the Family Meeting". "The NDC remains more united than ever and is poised for the beckoning 2008 electoral victory", the statement said. The leadership of the party urged NDC members not to be distracted by any vile propaganda until victory in December 2008.GNA

W.Africa's mobile market seen growing 35% in 07

West Africa's mobile phone market rose 58 percent last year and is expected to jump another 35 percent in 2007 thanks to robust competition and a booming Nigerian market, research showed on Thursday.

Informa Telecoms & Media said the number of mobile phone subscribers in West Africa swelled to 49.3 million at the end of 2006, rising faster than in other parts of the continent, where the market grew by 39 percent.
Around 66.6 million West Africans are expected to have a mobile by the end of 2007, the research group said.

Research analyst Thecla Mbongue said the arrival of new operators in Nigeria, Guinea and Ivory Coast had pushed down the price of calls and SIM cards and lured more customers.
The sheer size of Nigeria also drove growth in the region. Africa's most populous country is expected to become the continent's biggest mobile market by the end of 2007 with nearly 40 million subscribers, ahead of South Africa.

"West Africa is expected to continue to sustain a higher growth rate than the average for the continent over the next five years... mainly due to new market entrants," Mbongue said.
Africa's third-ranked operator Celtel, owned by Kuwait's MTC, last year snapped up Nigeria's number three mobile operator and has been investing heavily in rolling out a network there.
Tough competition in Nigeria with the continent's biggest operator MTN has helped cut prices and spur growth.

Demand for mobile phones is spurred in Africa by patchy fixed line infrastructure and tariff cuts, but still only about one in five Africans has a cell phone.
Informa expects mobile penetration on the continent to grow to about 34 percent by the end of 2011.

(Reuters)

NPP is responsible for current energy crisis

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) on Wednesday said the energy crisis the country was faced with now stemmed from the New Patriotic Party's (NPP) reversal of all the important steps that the NDC initiated in the energy sector.

And by so doing, the NPP did not add a single megawatt of power generation capacity to the energy supply system.Professor John Evans Atta Mills, Flag-bearer of the NDC told a press conference in Accra that the depletion of the Akosombo reservoir to a precarious level of 237.78 feet, was due to the directive to enable VALCO be in operation to satisfy President John Agyekum Kufuor's claim of establishing an "Integrated Aluminium Industry"He said the current energy situation was due to government's decision to force the Volta River Authority (VRA) to sell power to the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) far below its average cost of production.

This situation had put the VRA in a serious financial distress and hardly able to meet its commitment and that the President should be personally held responsible for this.The press conference, which is to present the views of the NDC on the current electricity crisis in the country brought together top party members including Mr. Alban Bagbin, Minority Leader, Mr. Moses Asaga, MP for Nabdam, Dr. Kwabena Adjei, Chairman of the Party and Dr Kwame Ampofo, MP for South Dayi and an Energy Expert.Professor Mills said apart from a period of incredible mismanagement of the VRA, its resources also went into an unproductive venture like the Strategic Reserve Plant on which more than 35 million US dollars were wasted without justification.

He said President Kufuor's promise that the country would be getting electricity from Nigeria would not materialize adding, "we all know the scale of the problems that Nigeria has with their power system; how can anyone seriously look to electricity from Nigeria to solve our crisis."He said issues in the energy sector required a sober analysis and clear plans of action and that members of the NDC were prepared to put their expertise on the management of the energy crisis to alleviate the suffering of the people.He said the NDC established institutions like the Public Utility Regulatory Commission (PURC) and the Energy Commission to reform the power sector and allowed the private sector to contribute to the generation of power.

He said the deployment of emergency energy power supplies to augment the distressed national power system must be done bearing in mind the most cost-effective solutions.Professor Mills said decisions about the management of the Akosombo Dam must not be influenced by expediency and short-term political calculations and also agreements in respect of the West African Gas Pipeline project should be finalized with the country's objective in mind.

He said there was the need to modernize the facilities with reference to energy efficiency before the next phase of operations and that no untested projects should be embarked on in desperation. He called on Ghanaians to appreciate the enormity of the problem and help to conserve energy where and whenever possible. Dr Kwame Ampofo on his part called for the provision of a prepaid meter to all energy consumers to enable them to pay the right tariffs for the power they consumed. 04 APRIL 07
Source:GNA