Freed After 14-years in Jail without Trial
Relief came to Aryee Ayeetey (not Ataa Ayi) yesterday when the Accra Fast Track High Court cautioned and discharged him on alleged robbery charges, after being on remand for 14 years without trial.
He was in the dock with two others, namely Daniel Kwashie Ayivor, who was sick and could not make it to court, and Peter Aflagaji, but the two could not be released because they were already serving life sentences for an earlier robbery case.
They had their death sentences commuted to life imprisonment.
Ayeetey’s reprieve, which was at the instance of the prosecution because witnesses in that case could not be traced, came when five robbery suspects who had been on remand for 14 years without trial let out their plight and pleaded for mercy.
Either because there was no docket on them or the prosecution could not trace witnesses to commence their trial, the suspects had to languish in jail at the Nsawam Prisons.
However, the judge, Mrs Iris May-Brown, reminded Ayeetey about the circumstances of his discharge and explained that he could be picked up anytime, since he had not been acquitted. She, therefore, advised him to tread cautiously.
In the other case, the two suspects’ plea for mercy was not heeded, as the court assigned lawyers for them and ordered the registrar to serve hearing notices for their trial to begin.
After Ayeetey had been discharged, another suspect who found himself in a similar situation drew the court’s attention by a raised hand, saying, “My Lord, have mercy on me.”
The suspect, Francis Agyare, together with Henry Clottey Abbey, was given the opportunity to say whatever problem he had and Agyare said they had been on remand for 14 years without trial.
He said they had written various petitions to the Attorney-General drawing attention to their plight, but to no avail, since their docket could not be traced, while no relative came to visit them at Nsawam.
When the judge asked a Senior State Attorney, Mrs Evelyn Keelson, why those men were in prison custody, she replied that there could be a docket on them but it was not in court.
Following that explanation, the judge assigned a lawyer to the suspects and directed the registrar to serve hearing notices to facilitate the commencement of their trial.
One of the suspects told the court that their plight was not being attended to but the judge responded that the case was making a headway, since she had assigned a lawyer to them.
Another suspect, Henry Lamptey, who had been on remand for eight years without trial, was also assigned a lawyer for his plea to be taken for trial to begin within two weeks.
However, the senior state attorney replied that she might not be able to locate witnesses and asked for a longer adjournment to enable her to locate the witnesses.
The court said the prosecution should proceed with the trial and that if by the next sitting that had not been done, she would consider the bail application by the suspect’s counsel
Source:
Graphic
The Misery of Northern Ghana @50
A GNA Feature by Paul Achonga Kwode
Tamale, April 19, GNA - Ghana is still in the mood of celebrating its 50 years of nationhood. As the nation celebrates the golden jubilee with one voice in unity in the name of one Ghana, there is the need to reflect on the misery that has been parched on the heads of the people of the North.
There is no gainsaying that Ghanaians did indeed celebrate the anniversary in unison. This shows how the celebration brought us together as one people with a common destiny.
There is, therefore, the need for the Country to reflect on how the people of Northern Ghana, specifically, the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions have fared from the Colonial Era to the Independence period and after.
When the country attained independence and adopted the unitary system of government; a system based on equitable distribution of national resources, many were the hopes of the people of the Northern Sector of the country.
Expectations of the people of the North were raised high when the First President of the country, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah initiated a lot of policies and programmes like the introduction of compulsory basic education and scholarships schemes for students from the Northern Sector which enabled the less developed, highly illiterate, poverty endemic Northern Ghana to dream of better things to come.
These positive steps were, however, short lived as successive governments after the Osagyefo Nkrumah's Administration failed to implement these policies thus making Northern Ghana the forgotten son left in great misery and deprivation in a geographical landmass that was hostile.
Like Oliver Twist, who asked for more, Northern Ghana needed more and in fact a fair share of the national cake that would at least propel it to a level playing field where people of the North could catch up with their brothers in the South.
THE ABUNDANCE OF NORTHERN GHANA
The Northern Ghana abounds in natural and human resources which if properly harnessed could bring it out of poverty and deprivation and make it a prosperous area full of hope and promise for its people.
The people of Northern Ghana are very hardworking full of unexploited talents. The habitat has made them robust and capable of withstanding all sorts of hardships. They are prepared to do all manner of jobs that would earn them a livelihood.
For instance, during the dry season when the land becomes dry and parched and no proper farming could be done, unless those advantaged to have irrigations facilities at their disposal, the majority who do not have this facility travel to the South to do "by day" - weeding the farm for a fee on daily basis. They return home when the rains set in. Thus the agricultural output from the South has significant input of the people of Northern Ghana.
Although about three quarters of agricultural produce and the labour engaged in its production is from Northern Ghana the people hardly benefit from their hard work.
The vast arable land in Northern Ghana could be developed to become the breadbasket of the country. The land is suitable for large-scale mechanised agriculture to produce various food and cash crops including groundnuts; beans; millet; maize; bambara beans; yams; mango; water melons; tomato; onion; shea butter; cotton; rice; sunflower; and cashew.
There is also a great potential for livestock farming including the raising of cattle; goats; sheep; pigs; fowls; guinea fowl and ostrich. These could be raised in large quantities for export could earn the country millions of dollars.
INVESTMENT POTENTIALS
Investment opportunities in the Northern Sector are enormous and the people of the Northern Ghana are very accommodating. There is an airport in the area, cheap labour and vast arable land for agriculture purposes and other projects, which can be negotiated for on flexible terms.
There is ready market for produce since large market centres abound. Valie could be added to these produce by processing them. A recent discovery of yet investment potential is sugar cane. It has been discovered that the sector could go into mass production of sugarcane.
The tourist attractions in the Sector are enormous and some of them are; the Mole Game Park; Nalerigu Defence Wall; Laribanga Mosque and "The Mystery Stone and the Salaga Slave Market all in the Northern Region.
In the Upper East, some of them include: Paga Crocodile Pond: Tenzuk Shrine, near Bolgatanga, and the Sirigu Cultural Village. The Upper West also has Wichau Hippopotamus Sanctuary; Wa Na's Palace and the Ancient Mosque are but a few of the tourist sites.
THE MISFORTUNE
In spite of the economic potentials in the Northern Ghana, the people remain in abject poverty through no fault of theirs. For instance, an industrial census of 2005 conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service showed that the three Northern Regions accounted for only 8.3 per cent of the 275,495 persons engaged in industrial activities and had only 9.5 per cent of the 26,493 industries that the study was covered.
The youth of the Northern Ghana have not had their fair share of employment opportunities compelling them to migrate mostly to Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi and big towns in search of non-existent jobs. They go into all manner jobs including becoming porters with its associated problems.
The Northern Sector can only boost of the recently rehabilitated Pwalugu Tomato Factory and cotton ginneries.
Ghana is said to be second in the world of guinea worm disease affliction with 13 out of the 15 endemic districts in the Northern part of the country.
The educational facilities in Northern Ghana are not the best. Some basic schools hold classes under trees. It is, therefore, no wonder that many of them drop out of school. The few who struggle to the secondary level face major difficulties.
Disparity in tertiary schooling for the Northern students is high as against other regions. This is often blamed on the inability of the poor parents to afford the cost of education.
The Northern Sector faces yet another great disparity in road networks. Apart from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Road that passes through the area, most of the major roads are not tarred. For instance, roads to 15 out of the 18 districts capitals of the Northern Region are not tarred making it difficult for farmers to transport their produce to the cities during the rainy season. Navrongo - Wa; Sandema - Fumbisi; Wa - Bamboi Highways are also not tarred leaving them in a deplorable state.
The proposed rail line to link Ghana to Burkina Faso that would have to pass through Northern Ghana is still in the drawing board.
POSSIBLE INTERVENTIONS
There have been a number of interventions undertaken by past governments and nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) but much is expected. Most of the NGOs in the Northern Sector exploit the plight of the people to get funding for projects which in the long round benefit themselves more than the people in whose name they solicited for funding. Politicians hype their plight during electioneering campaign only to leave them in the lurch once they are elected.
The enormity of the problem calls for the project approach to the development of the area. Specific projects should be developed and effectively implemented. There is the need for new NORRIP; LACOSREP; ICOUR; Bontanga and others.
ICOUR needs major rehabilitation; FASCOM is in distress and must be given a lifeline.
Since the people are less financially resourced to undertake capital-intensive projects, the attention of the government should be focused on establishing industries that could turn the raw materials available to finished goods.
In this way, more people would be employed to raise the standard of living in the area. Parents, who could not send their children to school due to financial difficulties, would then find it easy to do so. The tourism potentials in the Northern Sector are left untapped to attract major tourists to the area. The few that attempts have been made to revamp to attract tourist are in decrepitude and unattractive. 19 April 07
Source:
GNA
200 homeless in Bawku
Bawku (U/E), April 20, GNA - A rainstorm that hit parts of the Bawku municipality on Wednesday dawn has rendered over 200 persons homeless and destroyed properties worth several millions of cedis. The worse affected areas were Bansi and Kologo, where nearly 40 houses have their roofs rip-off.
The only two schools and corn mills serving both communities together with food barns were also not spared the wrath of the storm. However, no one sustained any form of injury.
A pathetic spectacle was at Bansi, where an eighty-three year-old, Madam Awinisa Mbugri, who stays alone, had the roof of her four-room house ripped off and had to stay indoors to endure the four-hour downpour.
Mr. Mark-Anthony Awini, Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, who toured the areas to symphatise with affected families, expressed shock at the extent of destruction.
He appealed to the people to embark on tree a planting exercise and desist from cutting down the few trees around to prevent the re-occurrence of such calamities.
Mr. Awini also urged the people to employ qualified artisans and seek proper guidance in their quest to put up houses. He gave the assurance that he would collaborate with the Assembly, NADMO, NGOs and philanthropists to offer the needed assistance to them. Mr. Edward Abanga, on behalf of the victims appealed to the MP, the Assembly and NGOs to come to their aid to mitigate their predicament.
Source:
GNA
Ghanaians marrying drug addicts & prostitutes
...for paper
Five people are in police custody today after a sham marriage racket was smashed with raids in west Scotland and England.
The scam involved pairing off Scottish women - drug addicts and prostitutes - with West African men to get them permanent residency in the UK.
Police and immigration officers stormed homes in Paisley, Cambuslang and Reading at 6am.
Two men, aged 27 and 22, and a 26-year-old woman were detained following the raids in Paisley and Cambuslang.
Police said two other men, aged 33 and 35, were being held in the south of England.
The raids follow a seven-month investigation into bogus marriages between Scots women and men from Ghana and the Gambia.
It's understood the probe was sparked by a tip-off at the general registrars' office and the brides are all from the Glasgow area.
The five people being questioned are thought to be 'fixers' who arranged the marriages for Africans who entered the UK on tourist or student visas.
One man and one woman were taken into custody in two raids in Paisley, and a third man was detained at an address in Cambuslang.
Sources said the group charged thousands of pounds to arrange the marriages.
The African men would marry in Scotland but would immediately return to London before filling for divorce after two years, when they were granted indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
The raids follow the largest criminal inquiry by the Immigration Service in Scotland and the cases are expected to make Scottish legal history when they come to court.
Operation Warren was launched at 6am today with four simultaneous raids.
Twenty-four officers, split into three teams, were involved in the Scottish leg of the operation, which targeted key players in the ring.
One woman was detained following a raid on a ground-floor flat in Argyle Street, Paisley. Police and immigration staff spent 90 minutes searching the property before she was led away.
Source:
theherald.co.uk