FORMER PRESIDENT KUFOUR YELLS

Retired Ghanaian leader H.E John Agyemang Kufuor says he feels bad about the growing political intolerance between the ruling government and opposition parties in Ghana.
He complained that the rate at which politicians were attacking one another using foul language particularly in the media was totally unacceptable and thereby called for cease fire to build a united Ghana.
“Though I subscribe to multi party opposition in our country: I equally think all inclusive governance is the best practice for governing Ghana today” he emphasized.
Retired President Kufuor made these comments during an exclusive interview with Citi News at the country side Pumba Lodge in Grahams Town of South Africa.
He maintained that the four years period for every Ghanaian leader was not enough and reiterated his earlier call for a constitutional amendment to make it five years.
This, H.E Kufuor noted will give subsequent government’s enough time to accomplish their development agenda if giving two consecutive terms to rule by the Ghanaian electorate.
He said the first three years of his Presidency were used to rehabilitate Ghana’s fragile economy which he inherited from his predecessor.
Answering the question why he reversed the NDC one vision 2020 to vision 2015, H.E Kufuor responded that he was convinced after assuming office he could use four years to complete his agenda which he anticipated would have salvaged Ghana’s economy better than the 19 years rule of H.E Jerry John Rawlings.
Talking about his office accommodation saga, he announced that a two bed room accommodation building has been allocated at Cantonments for that purpose but that he was using his pocket money to feed and pay his staff which he felt unfairly treated by government.

GHANAIANS LANGUISH IN SOUTH AFRICA

GHANAIANS LANGUISH IN SOUTH AFRICA

Ghanaian Journalist in the ongoing 14th edition of the MTN Highway Africa Media Conference has uncovered that thousands of Ghanaian illegal immigrants are dying in various South African Prisons.
Sources told the media that majority of these Ghanaian prisoners have been detained over the years at the most popular Prison in South Africa called Deportees camp in Johannesburg.
A Ghanaian resident in South Africa, Joseph Mensah who owns two barbering shops in Grahams Town told the media that black South African immigration officials were treating Ghanaians like animals in most of the capital cities.
He said the black immigration officials hated Ghanaians because of their hard work in all sectors of the South African economy.
According to Joseph Mensah, Ghanaians have been warned to leave South Africa immediately the MTN ongoing FIFA World Cup comes to an end in some few days or else majority of them will be killed.
He regretted that majority of the prisoners were dying daily in these cells and appealed to Ghana government to send a delegation to the South African government to release the Prisoners.
Journalist intercepted a copy of a letter written by the Home Affairs Department o South Africa to one Naa Marie Tinie, a native of Wa, in the Upper West Region who fell in coma and was rushed to the Settlers Hospital in Grahams Town after reading the letter.
This discovery to some participants at the ongoing 14th edition of the MTN Highway Africa Media Conference does not reflect the theme for this year’s event dubbed, “African Voices in the Global Media.”
The following is an extract of her letter.
Home affairs
Department
Home Affairs
REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

BRANCH: IMMIGRATION SERVICES (IMS): CHIEF DIRECTORATE
REFUGEE AFFAIRS
NO. O5 SIDON STREET, NORTH END PORT ELIZABETH, 6000
TEL: (041) 4037412/11 FAX: (041)4037433

TO: Naa Marie Tinie
OUR REF: ECZGHA00200309
NATIONALITY: Ghana
DATE OF BIRTH: 1980/07/07

Dear Madam
RE: APPLICATION FOR ASYLUM
The above matter refers
I would like to inform you that the decision of the RSDO has been confirmed by the Standing Committee for Refugee Affairs (SCRA).
As you were informed that your case has been referred to SCRA, the process has been conducted and SCRA has unanimously rejected your claim as manifestly unfounded.
As an illegal foreigner you cannot reside in the country on a temporary basis indefinitely.
You are therefore handed over to the Inspectorate to be dealt with in terms of provisions of the Immigration Act, 2002 (Act 13 of 2002).
Yours faithfully,
Signed
Mr. TS Nchabeleng
DATE:2010/05/19 DATE ………………………………………. APPLICANTS SIGNATURE …………………..……………
INTERPRETERSSIGNATURE………………………………………………………
DATE………………………………………

GHANA BLACK STARS TURNS AFRICA STARS

GHANA BLACK STARS TURNS AFRICA STARS

Despite Ghana’s shocking defeat at the quarter final stage of the MTN sponsored ongoing FIFA 2010 World Cup Tournament in South Africa which dashed Africa’s hope, the senior national team Black Stars has been rebranded “Africa Stars” in other words known as “Bafana BaGhana.”
This was unanimously endorsed at a colourful dinner organized Monday July 5 by South Africa’s largest financial institution called the ABSA Bank in honuor of Ghana’s retired President John Agyekum Kufour who is in South Africa on a three day official visit as a Guest Speaker at the ongoing 14th edition of the Highway Africa Media Conference.
It was resolved that Ghana’s progress the at the World Cup Tournament through to the quarter final stage was a remarkable footprint Africa had made in the history of World soccer.
The retired Ghanaian leader was congratulated on his appointment as UNESCO’s Global Ambassador on the World Hunger Project and other similar projects under the auspices of the United Nations.
H.E retired President Kufour thanked the organizers for the honuor done him and reiterated the need for Africa to come together to form a common market that will serve a unique interest in the scheme of the global economy.
He said Africa had caught the attention of the developed world particularly China because of its emerging reserves of natural wealth for that matter Africa should make its own progress by putting in place pragmatic measures that will make the continent face the challenges of the global economy.
South Africa hosting the maiden World Cup Tournament on the continent demonstrated that Africa was more capable of hosting other bigger events.

MTN HIGHWAY AFRICA MEDIA CONFERENCE OPENS IN SOUTH AFRICA

MTN HIGHWAY AFRICA MEDIA CONFERENCE OPENS IN SOUTH AFRICA

The annual MTN sponsored most recognized and largest media gathering of African Journalists codenamed “Highway Africa Conference” is underway at the Rhodes University in GrayHams Town of the People’s Republic of South Africa.
About five hundred selected Journalists sponsored by the Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTN) are attending this year’s three days conference which marks the 14th edition under the theme “African voices in the global media.”
The conference among other interventions seek to give participants the opportunity to tap more experience from highly paced personalities and top ranked communication experts around the globe who will discuss several topics with emphasis on the role of the African media in re-branding Africa in the scheme of global affairs.
Speaking on the topic “The road to democracy in Africa: the role of the African Journalists” at the first session, Ghana’s immediate past President. H.E John Agyekum Kufour asked African Journalists not to compromise press freedom with biases.
He said it was a matter of regret that Africa has always been under-reported especially by the Western Media. This, he added, provides the imperative for African Journalists to rebrand Africa by highlighting all the positive news about the continent.
This in the estimation of retired President Kufour will make the African voices assume their rightful place in the scheme of global socio-economic affairs which will eraze the wide spread misconception of Africa being a nightmare.
Mr. John Agyekum Kufour who serves as UNICEF’S Ambassador of several projects on the African continent also implored African Journalists to change the dynamics of telling the African story by using the Information Communication Technology to project the continent.
For her part, Madam Noziho January Bardill, the MTN group Corporate Affairs Executive and the company’s spokesperson explained that MTN has been associated with the Highway Africa Conference as a major sponsor because of its determination to enhance mobile rights and broadcast in the context of using the new information world of ICT in telling the African story objectively.
She re-echoed MTN’s commitment to ensure that every African child of school going age is in school by the years 2015 and promised that enough resources will be pumped into the one goal project which was established to achieve that goal.
Talking about the almost ended ongoing World Cup Tournament in South Africa, Madam Noziho announced that 65 million dollars was doled out to sponsor that global soccer event which has put Africa on the highest pedestal.
Part of the money she said went into expanding infrastructure to meet FIFA’s expectation of South Africa being the first African country to host such a soccer event.
Professor Kwame Karikari and Dr. Audrey Gadzepo of the School of Communication Studies of the University of Ghana Legon are among some few selected moderators of various sessions of this year’s conference.
Mr. Enimil Ashon, Editor of the Ghanaian Times Newspaper and Abdul Naatogmah of Citi fm are the only Ghanaian journalists attending the conference courtesy MTN and leader of the team is Madam Georgina Asare Fiagbenu, Senior Manager Corporate Communication of MTN Ghana.

MINISTER LAUDS TAMALE METRO ASSEMBLY

MINISTER LAUDS TAMALE METRO ASSEMBLY

The Northern Regional Minister has praised the Tamale Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Alhaji Abdulai Haruna Friday and Members of the Assembly for taking a bold decision to complete the new Assembly Office complex which was started in 1998 but stalled in 2001.
According to the Mr. Moses Bukari Mabengba, the new office complex when completed will not only add to the beautification of Tamale but will also signal the beginning an the end of the periodic renting of conference halls to hold Assembly meetings.
He said these at a meeting with the Tamale MCE and other staff of the Assembly recently in Tamale.
The visit of the Regional Minister and his Deputy to the offices of the Assembly formed part of his working visits he embarked upon since his assumption of office as the substantive Regional Minister to all the Assemblies under the jurisdiction.
The meeting afforded Mr. Mabengba the opportunity to interact with management and staff of the Assembly in order to know some of the challenges and success stories of the Assembly.
Briefing him on behalf of the Assembly, the Metropolitan Coordinator, John B. Atogiba, said the Assembly faces many challenges most of which bordered on security but added that all but a few remained unresolved which he said, if not resolved quickly can disturb the peace in the area.
On Sanitation, Mr. Atogiba told Mr. Mabengba that the Assembly spends 1,000 Ghana cedis a week on fuel for the Assembly’s Waste Management and Sanitation vehicles.
Despite all these challenges, according to Mr. Atogiba Tamale is rated as the neatest city in Ghana and assured that the Assembly will never shirk its waste management responsibility to the detriment of the population.
Mr. Moses Mabengba said Tamale is not only the capital of the Metropolis but also the Regional Capital and the seat of Government in the region, and therefore, it is incumbent on the Assembly to ensure that all is well with in Tamale.
The Minister assured the MCE and his staff of the support and collaboration of the Regional Coordinating Council as they work hard to make Tamale a better and save place for investment and the economic hub in the region.

VEEP LAUNCHES MANGO PLANTATION PROJECT IN BOLE

VEEP LAUNCHES MANGO PLANTATION PROJECT IN BOLE

Vice President John Dramani Mahama, at the weekend launched a 52 million Ghana Cedis National Mango Plantation Project, aimed at developing mango orchard for a five-year period.
The project, which is private-led and sponsored by the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) is targeting a total of 20,000 acres and will benefit the three Northern Regions and parts of northern Brong-Ahafo and Volta.
Minister of Trade and Industry, Mrs. Hannah Tetteh launched the project on behalf of Vice President at Bole in the Northern Region, which is expected to generate about 29,000 metric tones of mangoes and attract a yield of about 37 million Ghana cedis annually.
Mr. Mahama said the project provides a lot of opportunities to the beneficiary communities and urged the people to use it to turn their economic destiny.
He said government will not relent in its efforts to farmers by assisting them to improve upon their yields. He said government will not relent in its assistance to farmers by assisting them to improve upon their production.
Mr. Mahama said government is also committed to the development of non-traditional crops such as the Shea tree and ‘dawada’ by ensuring that value is added to them to make them exportable commodities.
He said the government would not neglect other sectors of the economy because of the discovery of oil, explaining that agricultural productivity would be sustained to promote industrial growth.
The project revolves around pushing lead farmers as nucleus farmers to pull along out growers such as Farmer Based Organizations to facilitate the transformation of subsistence hand to mouth existence into export led competitive economy.
Each nucleus farmer will be producing 50 acres of mangoes with 75 farm families in adjoining nearby communities selected to cultivate two acres each on a contiguous land to serve as a block farm.
Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi, Minister of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) said in a speech read on his behalf that the Ministry is implementing an Export Marketing and Quality Awareness Project (EMQAP) with the aim of developing the value chain of certain crops including mango.
He said under the project, Shed Nine of the Tema harbour has been refurbished as a fruit terminal while sea pack houses are also been constructed to enhance quality of exportable fruits in partnership with the Federation of Association of Ghanaian Exporters.
He said due to the intervention of EMQAP and other stakeholders, it was estimated that mango exports went up from less than 500 metric tonnes to more than 1,000 metric tonnes between 2006 and 2008.
He expressed the hope that with the support from EDIF, farmers will increase production tenfold by 2015.
According to him, the intervention of EDIF over the years had created jobs for 200 exporters and 300 farmers groups in non-traditional export incomes as well as foreign exchange earnings.
The Agriculture Minister said one of the main challenges facing the mango project was the indiscriminate felling of trees of commercial value such as dawada and the Shea tree and therefore stressed the need for the integration of agro-forestry and cropping systems of farming without excessively cutting down of important trees.
He also warned that bushfires and animal browsing threatened the survival of the mango trees during the dry season and urged the district assemblies and the youth to create the necessary awareness and develop strategies to address the challenges.
Mr. Moses Bukari Magbenba, Northern Regional Minister said it was estimated that the mango project would produce about 24,000 metric tones of mangoes for the local market for processing locally.
This he said is expected to increase by 89,000 metric tones when the project is fully operational.
The revenue returns from the local processing activity the Minister said is programmed to yield about 8 million Ghana cedis, adding that the local component is expected to form the basis for the local agro-industrialization in Ghana.

Tamale Teaching Hospital embark on free medical screening at Dabokpa

Tamale Teaching Hospital embark on free medical screening at Dabokpa

The Tamale Teaching Hospital yesterday embarked on a free day general medical screening to the people of Dabokpa a suburb of Tamale at the Dabokpa Primary School to mark Ghana's Republic Day.
The free medical screening and treatment exercise is aimed at addressing the health needs of people in the community.
The team of specialists involved in the health issues includes ear, nose, eye specialists and physicians embarked on general health.
About thousand people, including children took advantage of the health screening exercise.
Most of them checked their blood pressure levels, weight, eye, ear, nose among others sick ling statuses were given free counseling and medications.
The complicated ones will be referred to the general hospital for further diagnosing and treatment.
The Public Relation Officer of the Tamale Teaching Hospital, Nii Otu Ankra said the hospital authority believes health is essential to the people in the community and as part of its public service to the people.
He said is the hospital has deem it necessary to bring the health needs of the people to their door steps for quality and accessible health care delivery.
The exercise which targeted to screen 500 people has seen a much overwhelming number oozing from their house to access the first ever free medical screening in the community.
Mr. Nii Otu said their beginning with the immediate communities around the hospital which includes Kpayili, Dognayili, Dabopka, Kalariga, Vitin and Kukuo saying that exercise will be replicated in the various communities as the hospital aims at ensuring and bring quality and accessible healthcare to the doors of the citizenry.
A total of 15 doctors, 15 nurses, three pharmacists and five laboratory technicians were attending to the people in the community.
Mr. Nii Otu therefore appealed to others in the health service to emulate the kind gesture of the hospital and try to respond appropriately to the health needs of the people.

NPP described Red’s arrest as selective justice and violation of fundamental human rights

NPP described Red’s arrest as selective justice and violation of fundamental human rights

The Northern Regional Secretariat of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) has described the recent arrest of Mr. Bashiru Mohammed popularly known as “Red” by the Ghana police and BNI as selective justice and violation of fundamental human rights.
The NPP regional secretariat therefore associate itself with calls by the NPP Parliamentary group for the immediate release of “Red” who was arrested at the Kotoka International Airport after his return trip from south Africa and detained at the BNI cells.
In a statement issued to Fiila News and signed by the regional secretary, Clifford Braimah, alleged that it has been the plan of the NDC to use the arrest and detention NPP supporters in the region to bring back the passions that have characterized previous elections in the Tamale Metropolis but seem to be getting lost due to the actions and inactions of the NDC leadership.
The statement said the recent selective arrests by the security in the region alarmed when more serious atrocities are committed against NPP supporters by the NDC at the watch of the security apparatus and nothing is being done.
The statement rebutted claims by the NDC that the NPP is always running to the aid of their members that have been involved in criminal acts and explained that a lot of crimes caused by the NDC in 2003 where a 14 year old Gazali was murdered and burnt by a suspect named Awal an NDC activist absconded and was arrested later.
Adding that although the suspect was remanded but he was immediately released when the NDC took over the mandate of the country.
The statement also alleged that the alleged suspect has been rewarded with a brand new tractor as a form of settlement package.
The statement queried that if the Police and NDC are not out to arrest only NPP supporters in a way to intimidate them why have they not arrested the gentleman who shot the Tamale Central deputy youth organizer on the night of the fire festival this year with a gun?.
The NPP therefore advised the Ghana Police Service and the BNI not to allow themselves to be used to sour up popularity of some individuals who are having individual problems due to their own actions and inactions.