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NEWS 09.05.2007 Railway Workers without pay for months Grace Mugabe Embarrassed in Ghana POVERTY Tema health workers withdraw services Road Safety Week launched in Takoradi
POVERTY Nkawkaw, 09.03.2007 ,GNA - The Member of Parliament for Nkawkaw Constituency, Mr Kwabena Adusa Okerchiri has urged Ghanaians not to use the high rate of poverty in the country to assess the performances of the government since there is poverty in all parts of the world even in developed countries.
He said the government has put in place prudent economic policis to improve the living condition of the people and appealed to Ghanaians to accept divergent views and contributions of their political opponents to ensure the success of the country's democratic process.
Mr Okerchiri was addressing the 50th independent anniversary get-together and dinner dance organized by the Kwahu West District Assembly at Obuoba village near Nkawkaw.
He said due to the economic stability and socio-economic development in the country, a number of neighbouring West African citizens are rushing for Ghanaian passport to become citizens of Ghana while a number of foreign individuals, organizations and companies also wanted to invest in the country to offer employment to the unemployed population and to improve the country's economy.
The MP said top Chinese economists have predicted that the country would be the second developed country in Africa after South Africa in the next ten years if the government continue with its economic policies.
The Presiding Member of the assembly, Mr Emmanuel Boansi Darkwa, commended the people in the district for their unity and co-operation which had enhanced development in the communities since the creation of the district three years ago.
The District Chief Executive, Nana Kofi Kese urged the people in the district to give the needed support and corporation to the government to finance more development projects in the communities.
Source:
GNA
Tema health workers withdraw services
Tema, 09.03.2007 GNA - Health workers at the Tema General hospital has on Friday joined their colleagues in the nation wide strike action to back their demand.
Mr. Kinsley Asamoah-Bediako, Deputy Chief Health Service Administrator of the hospital would not indicate what the workers are demanding but it is believed to be about some allowances.
Even though there were some skeleton staff at post, patients who called at the hospital had to leave, disappointed because those at the records department were not available to attend to them. Mr. Asamoah-Bediako told the Ghana News Agency that, in view of the strike action the hospital cannot attend to out patients, however, arrangements have been put in place to take care of in-patients and emergency cases.
Patients on admission would not be discharged unless they are declared fit to go home, he declared.
He said when the workers sounded the notice of withdrawing their services, the authorities quickly went into a crisis meeting and decided that all doctors should be at post to attend to emergency cases, whiles a skeleton staff were left at all the departments. Casual workers have also been deployed to all departments, "but we are not operating at full capacity".
"What we have done is to put contingency measures to lessen the impact of the industrial action so that no life was lost as a result," he added.
Mr. Asamoah-Bediako gave the assurance that the hospital would accept dead bodies certified by medical doctors in private hospitals. Source:
GNA
| < BACK NEXT > 08.032007 Road Safety Week launched in Takoradi
Takoradi
09.03.2007 ,GNA- A total of 567 cases of road-traffic accidents were reported in 2006 in the Western Region as against 328 cases in 2005.
Mr. Thomas Bismark Boakye, Regional Coordinator of the National Road Safety Commission, announced this at the launch of a one-week road safety week at Takoradi on Thursday.
The week is under the theme: "Be a Responsible Road User to Avoid Road-Traffic Accidents".
Mr. Boakye said 92 lives were lost in the accidents in 2006 as against 88 in 2005.
He said 366 persons sustained injuries in the 2006 road-traffic while in 2005, 316 persons were injured.
Mr. Boakye said some 768 vehicles were involved in the accidents in 2006 as against 518 in 2005.
He said outreach programmes, quiz competitions, a durbar, float and symposium at churches and mosques would be held during the celebration of the week.
Mr. Boakye called on media personnel to quote the correct accident figures in their news reports and to help educate the public on prevention of road accidents. 09 March 07Source:
GNA
Filing fee must not be too high, Dan Botwe
Cape Coast, 09.03.2007
GNA - Mr Dan Botwe, one of the candidates seeking to be elected as the New Patriotic Party's presidential candidate for election 2008, has expressed concern over a proposal that the party's filing fee should be 500 million cedis.
He said even though the amount suggested could help the party to raise revenue for its electoral campaigns, it was important not to send signals that the party was for sale to only the rich. Mr Botwe was speaking to journalists in Cape Coast after a tour of the region's 19 constituencies.
He said it was too early for anyone to say that 500 million cedis was the amount decided on by the party and that the decision on the amount might be taken when it was left with about three months for the party to go to congress.
On the outcome of his tour, he said it was successful in the sense that he was given warm reception by the executives of all the constituencies he visited.
Mr Botwe said there was the need to assist President John Agyekum Kufuor to implement the party's manifesto to enable him to bequeath a befitting legacy to the nation.
Mr Botwe said it was only when President Kufuor bequeathed a befitting legacy to the nation that anybody who was elected by the party's delegates to become its flag bearer would win the 2008 general elections massively.
On the issue of age, Mr Botwe said it should not be a dominant factor in determining who becomes the flagbearer because Dr Kwame Nkrumah was 42 years old when he became the Prime Minister in 1951 and at Ghana's Independence in 1957 he was 48. "I am now 51 years old".
He said in 1998 when the party went to congress to elect its flag bearer, Mr J. H. Mensah was 10 years older than President Kufuor but the delegates ignored their age difference and voted for Mr Kufuor. Mr Botwe said what must be of concern to all was what one could do for the party and the nation at large. Source:
GNA
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Railway Workers without pay for months
Accra, March 9, GNA- Mr Stephen Balado Manu, Member of Parliament for Ahafo-Ano South on Friday appealed for the prompt payment of salaries of workers of the Ghana Railway Company if the resuscitation and improvement of the railways system in Ghana were to be given real meaning.
He said a recent visit to Takoradi indicated the plight of the Railways workers and that they had not been paid for months.
Mr Balado Manu made the appeal in a contribution to a statement "on the way forward for rail transport in Ghana " by the sector Minister, Prof. Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi, on the floor of Parliament in Accra.
He said if the project was to be given life, then the workers had to be given what was due them, and for concrete actions for the railways project so that it would not be mere rhetoric.
Prof Ameyaw Akumfi had told Parliament that rail transportation currently carries only four per cent of freight as opposed to the road sector carrying 96 per cent of freight.
In earlier times, the network conveyed substantially more traffic and eight million passengers, but by 1983, freight haulage slumped to an all time low of about 350,000 tonnes.
The Minister said the dismal state of the rail network in the western corridor of the country had led to the transportation of bauxite by road leading to the continuous damage to the roads with dire consequences for the lifespan of the road.
Prof Ameyaw Akumfi said, in addition to the inability of the Ghana Railway Company to meet the shipping needs of the mining companies, and thereby affect the productivity at the Ghana Bauxite and Manganese Companies.
He recalled that a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Government of Ghana and the M/S Peatrack Limited, (a Ghanaian Firm), in 2004 and was affirmed in 2005, with the understanding that a concession company would undertake a feasibility studies, and implement a project on the nation's railways system, starting from Tema.
The whole project, totalling 1500 kilometres, shall be undertaken in two phases at an estimated cost of between 5.5 and 6 billion US dollars.
The Minster said the first phase of the project covering the Tema-Accra-Kumasi would be implemented within five years at an estimated cost of $1.4 billion. The second phase shall consist of the Ejisu-Paga corridor to the north of the country.
The NIT Holding, which is the financier, is providing 100 per cent funding of the project. A German Bank has confirmed an initial funding of $650 million, assigned by NIT Holdings.
Prof Ameyaw Akumfi said the Concession period is 35 years, with the option for extension for delays due to Government, or inability to amortize within that period.
The Minister said the network would cover the Tema- Accra-Kumasi Corridor and the Ejisu-Paga Corridor. 09 March 07
Grace Mugabe Embarrassed in Ghana
Zimbabwe Independent (Harare) -- FIRST Lady Grace Mugabe this week suffered an embarrassing moment in Ghana when she was barred from entering the late Sally Mugabe's home in Sekondi.
Ghanaian-born Sally was President Mugabe's first wife who died of a kidney ailment in 1992.
Mugabe's spokesperson George Charamba yesterday confirmed the incident but dismissed it as "nothing to write home about". He said the incident was a result of a misunderstanding between the presidential delegation and members of Sally's family. "There was a small misunderstanding between the presidential delegation and some family members of the late First Lady," said Charamba.
"You must understand that the president is a married man and what happened is a fairly normal tension in an African marriage."
Sources travelling with the president, who was in Ghana for the Golden Jubilee celebrations, say Mugabe on Tuesday took the opportunity to make a three-hour visit to Sekondi, the late Sally's birthplace, and laid wreaths at his late son's tomb at Kansaworodo near Takoradi.
When the presidential party arrived at Sally's home for a courtesy call, Mugabe's in-laws barred Grace from entering.
The sources said Mugabe held talks with Sally's relatives, including her mother Mavis Hayfron, but his wife was prevented from entering the home and was made to wait in the vehicle until Mugabe completed his visit.
"It was really embarrassing," sources said.
"They wouldn't let her enter the house. All attempts by dignitaries, including the local government, rural development and environment minister Steven Asamoah Boateng, to mediate, failed. The First Lady had to wait in the vehicle."
Mugabe later laid a wreath at the tomb of his son Nhamodzenyika who was born on September 27 1963 and died three years later on December 26 from cerebral malaria. Mugabe was accompanied by, among other high-ranking officials, Foreign minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi and president of the senate Edna Madzongwe.
Source:
Zimbabwe Independent (Harare
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