"Yeewuo Demo" Draws Thousands onto streets

The committee for Joint Action, CJA, today organised one of its biggest domonstrations ever in Accra, Dubbed 'Yeewuo', meaning, we are dying. Thousands of protestors turned out for the street march which ended at the Hearts park in the heart of Accra. Reports picked up by our reporters indicate that the law enforcement agencies had virtually nothing to do as all protestors went about their march in a peacefull manner. These Pix were taken by just before the arch begun.

Police to Demonstrators------Be Carefull!!

The Ghana Police Service on Monday said it would not tolerate any act of violence by any person to create tension before, during and after the Committee for Joint Action's (CJA) demonstration on Tuesday December 11.A statement signed by Deputy Commissioner of Police Mr K. A. Opare-Addo said the Regional Police Command had information that some individuals intended to carry arms to defend themselves during the CJA march.

The statement said the Police would supply protective facilities for the demonstration, tagged "peaceful" by the CJA and advised demonstrators to obey the rules of the game and not to create any situation to destroy a supposed peaceful demonstration."Protagonists of arms carrying during the demonstration must be said to be prophets of doom and are warned to desist from any acts that will go to incite demonstrators against the Police and other law abiding citizens of the Metropolis", it said.

The DCP Opare-Addo, who is the Greater Accra Regional Commander of Police, said the Command had not received any notice from a group that claimed to be opposed to the CJA demonstration scheduled for Tuesday and would not tolerate any counter demonstrators.He advised the group to reconsider their decision and desist from the act.
Source:GNA

Nkrabea May Stop Npp Congress

Retired Captain Nkrabeah Effah Darteh, disqualified from contesting the New Patriotic Party’s presidential candidature, is expected to file court processes seeking among other things, to place an injunction on the Congress by close of work Tuesday.

Effah Darteh is aggrieved that the vetting committee set up by the NPP disqualified him, and to worsen his plight, his appeal to be reinstated was dismissed by the party’s Executive Committee.

Worse yet, he feels bitter that while his appeal was pending before the Executive Committee, the party went ahead to conduct a ballot for the other 17 contestants to plan an outdooring rally recently held at Kasoa.

He says he was not even invited to appear before the Executive Committee that sat over his appeal.

Sources close to the old soldier say the action of the party presupposes the decision to disqualify him had long been taken and his appeal was therefore an exercise in futility even though he was given assurances that the matter would be reconsidered.

Persons close to Nkrabeah told Joy News that even though he was prepared to withdraw from the race, pressure from his supporters to clear his name of the charges levelled against him, has motivated his decision to go to court.

Substantially, his suit against his party would dwell on the constitutionality of treason crimes he is supposed to have committed in 1981, and for which the party believes disqualifies him for the post, however, Nkrabeah intends to fight his image redemption battle at every available avenue.

To begin with, he would apply to the High Courts, failing which he would proceed to the Court of Appeal and then to the Supreme Court, if need be.

And the danger for the party: He would seek an injunction over the congress hoping that he would be reinstated to contest the post.

EU Africa summit In Pix

Appreciate Africa's socio-economic and political concerns - JAK

President John Agyekum Kufuor, Chairman on the African Union (AU), has called on the European Union (EU) to show genuine appreciation for the socio-economic and political concerns of Africa as the two continents looked into the future together.

"To secure dignified places in the on-rushing Global Village, Europe needs Africa as much as Africa needs Europe", he said at the opening of the EU-Africa Summit in the Portuguese Capital, Lisbon, on Saturday.

He said both parties must therefore be committed to promote and sustain economic, cultural and humanitarian cooperation, recognizing Africa's rights to integrate itself into the world economy in terms of trade, investments and capacity building on basis of its sovereignty. President Kufuor and Mr Jose Socrates, Prime Minister of Portugal, whose country holds the EU Presidency, jointly chaired the two-day summit, which was designed to open up new horizons for partnership.

Peace and security, development, good governance, migration and climate change, were the main issues at the centre of the agenda for discussion by the 66 Heads of State and Government present. It comes amidst the growing Chinese investment and influence in Africa and the increasing recognition that the continent is no longer "Europe's private hunting grounds."

President Kufuor said the real significance of the meeting should be to build strong foundations for a new relationship based on mutual respect, trust and true commitment to pursue common and mutual interests.

He said previous partnership arrangements had been slow to come up to expectation but this time "Africa has come here believing that it can be different and for the better."

He said with its vast untapped resources, Africa was the new business frontier that must be explored and that as a partner, Europe could bring on board in this venture its mature scientific and technological know-how and significant capital. This must be the rationale for the new partnership between the two for purposeful cooperation. President Kufuor also spoke of the need for the adoption of an action plan for the implementation of their joint partnership strategy for the benefit of their peoples.

For efficacy, he suggested that the process of implementation must involve critical public institutions, the private sector and civil society stakeholders, to ensure an all-inclusive ownership. Prime Minister Socrates said it was time Europe and Africa wrote a new page in their relationship through frank and open dialogue with "no taboos."

He said the summit was one of equals, adding that, "We are equal not just in our human dignity but also equal in terms of political responsibility."

He said Europe wanted a partnership with Africa based on shared vision and mutual respect: that would defend Africa's priorities and provide solutions to its problems.

United Nations (UN) Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, in an address read for him, called for the redoubling of efforts to assist Africa to achieve the Millennium Development Goals MDGs). He also appealed to the EU to help provide logistics support to allow for the deployment of the Hybrid Force in the Sudan Darfur region. 08 Dec 07

Source:

rom Kwaku Osei Bonsu, GNA Special Correspondent, Lisbon

Effah-Dartey's disqualification upheld

The National Executive Committee (NEC) of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Friday upheld the decision of the Vetting Committee (VC) not to allow Captain Nkrabeah Effah-Darteh (rtd), to contest the Presidential slot of the party slated for Saturday December 22.

This was the outcome of a meeting held by NEC on an appeal brought before it by Capt. Effah-Darteh against his disqualification when he appeared before the VC on November 28 and 30 for vetting, and read at a Press Conference in Accra.The statement read by Mr. Peter Mac Manu, National Chairman of the party said having gone through his submissions, including statutory declarations, NEC found out that Capt Effah-Darteh misled the VC on the charges preferred against him.

Mr Manu said the Committee found Capt. Effah-Darteh's appeal as being unmeritorious, and therefore endorsed VC's decision of disqualifying him as a Presidential material for the NPP.Giving the background of the incident which bordered on his conviction, the National Chairman said when Capt. Effah-Darteh appeared before the VC, it was detected that he failed to answer one critical paragraph on the form, which required him to indicate whether he had ever been convicted of any criminal offence.

Mr Manu said Capt. Effah-Darteh could not offer any tangible explanation as to why he left that portion blank, and so when further pushed to the wall, he for the first time admitted having been convicted of a criminal offence, adding that, he was charged with two counts of mutiny and misconduct.The National Chairman indicated that Capt. Effah-Darteh told the VC that he was acquitted and discharged on the count of mutiny, but was convicted on misconduct and accordingly sentenced to dismissal from the Ghana Army Forces with disgrace in addition to 23 months' imprisonment.

Mr Manu said while the former young army officer was serving his sentence pronounced on May 31, 1981, the December 31 coup took place, and he was released from prison and granted pardon by the then Chairman of the Provisional National Defence Council.The National Chairman said Capt. Effah-Darteh, having failed to provide the VC with proof of his pardon, was given 24 hours to furnish it with information on the matter.Mr Manu said when Capt. Effah-Darteh could not convince the VC on November 30, it recommended that he should be disqualified from contesting the Presidential slot.He said in view of the lack of candour in dealing with the VC, NEC applied to the military authorities for records of the trial of Capt Effah-Darteh, who was court-marshalled on April 14, 1981.

The National Chairman said from the military records, it came to light that the former army officer was tried on four, instead of two counts as he previously alleged, and found guilty on three of them. Mr Manu indicated that he was sentenced to dismissal from the GAF, and 23 months' jail term, but following the December 31, 1981 military take-over, captain's sentence was mitigated by the then military government as a result of which he was honourably released from the GAF with effect from August 14, 1981.He said as part of the conditions for his release, Capt.

Effah-Darteh was expressly prohibited from using his rank of Captain in civil life, and had to be warned in writing by the military secretary on July 19, 1994 from using the military rank when it was detected that he was still was using it in civil life to the prohibition.Mr Manu said, NEC had no doubt from the nature of the charges preferred against Captain Effah-Darteh, that all those offences bordered on the security of the state.For that reason, the National Chairman said, Capt Effah-Darteh was being disqualified from becoming President of Ghana, whether he had been granted a free pardon or not, and however long the passage of time, since his conviction.

The NEC, he said, accordingly endorsed the earlier decision by VC to disqualify Capt. Effah-Darteh from contesting the flagbearship race of the party on December 22.As to whether the money he paid as contesting fee would be refunded to him, Mr Manu said it was a matter that would be considered at a different and another forum if Capt. Effah-Darteh applied for it.
Source:GNA

Ghana's President Orders New Private Aircraft

According to the AFRICA INTELLIGENCE n°528 - 8/11/2007 (LA LETTRE DU CONTINENT), the President of Ghana, John Kufuor, has ordered a New Falcon Aircraft. The 900 series, was sold by DASSAULT, at the cost of $37 Million and the plane is scheduled to be delivered in February 2010. The deal was done through SSB Bank in Accra.

"This must be a mistake, because parliament knows nothing about this deal" , said an NDC member of parliament(MP), when asked to comment on the news item. "He [Kufuor] leaves office in 2009, so I wonder why this deal was done in such a hurry" said an MP of the ruling party.