Accra, July 10, GNA – Professor Sakyi Awuku Amoa, Former Director-General of the Ghana AIDS Commission is dead.        A statement issued by the family said Prof Amoa whose death occurred at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on Monday July 9, 2012, died after a short illness.       The statement announced a one week celebration for the late Prof Amoa to be held on Monday July 16 July, at Ashaley Botwe in Accra.      Funeral arrangements will be announced later.   GNA...

Kwadaso (Ash), July 10, GNA – Mr Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), has said that despite the decentralization process in the country, government still remained distant to majority of the people.   “People across the country and in the districts and municipalities that are being created simply do not feel that they are part of decisions being made on their behalf,” he said.   Mr Asamoah who was addressing members of the Local Government Workers’ Union at Kwadaso in the Ashanti Region at their Ninth Quadrennial Delegate Conference, expressed regret that district chief executives go to every extent to please the appointing authorities in Accra instead of being accountable to the people.   He said that the decentralization and local government need to be rescued from the current malaise and be made to play its rightful role in the national development.   Mr Asamoah said the theme for the Conference, “Working in partnership with local government service for improved local government service delivery”, means there cannot be any meaningful decentralization without effective local government service delivery.   He said Local governments should be insulated from partisan political interference to create opportunities directly for the local people to curtail their migration to Accra.   Mr Asamoah explained that the creation of districts and municipalities were based on objectives which also involved subjecting the position of chief executives to direct elections by the people in their respective areas to ensure accountability at the local level.   The TUC Secretary General suggested that fiscal decentralization should be pursued as part of the overall objectives adding that “Local Government cannot be expected to offer improved services to local people when they have very little control over the resources of their communities.   He said the Local Government Service has to be resourced and strengthened to take roles that were currently being done by governments which have become tainted with partisanship and improved condition of service for the workers.   Dr Kwaku Agyemang-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, the implementation of the Local Government Service Act 656 and Legislative Instrument (LI 1961) were bold steps taken to deepen democracy, decentralization and development in Ghana.   He said the overall objectives of these initiatives was to enhance Local Government Service Delivery and placed a lot of responsibilities on all key stakeholders, especially the Local government Workers’ Union (LGWU) to galvanise support for effective implementation of reforms being introduced by the Acts.   The Regional Minister said government would continue to work hard and implement good policies to better the working conditions of workers in the country to enable them perform their duties effectively.   He said the successful implementation of the Single Spines Salary Structure (SSSS) was to ensure the wellbeing of workers and commended the LGWU for the experienced manner in which they handled issues during the initial stages of the SSSS.   The General Secretary of the LGWU, Mr Joe Boahen, said since the LGWU was established in 1960 it has organised and represented employees of the Local Government Service in all issues affecting their welfare.   He appealed to the Controller and Accountant General Department to stop deducting Union dues from the salaries of LGWU members to the Civil Servants’ Association since they now belong to the Local Government Service.     GNA...

Suhum, (E/R), July 10, GNA - The Suhum Government Hospital has embarked on special exercise to trace  families who deposited dead bodies in the mortuary and had refused to collect them for burial.      According to Mr Edward Tei, Senior Mortuary Attendant, some of the corpses had been in the morgue between one to two years.       He noted that the families deliberately refused to collect the bodies due to fears that some of them might had died out of curses and other social vices.      Mr Tei said the when the families are found they would be made to pay all the accumulated bills and could also be prosecuted.     GNA...

Kumasi, July 10, GNA - A Kumasi Circuit Court presided over by Justice Emmanuel Amo-Yartey has ordered a 63-year old driver, who sexually abused a seven-year old school child, to be kept in prison for 10 years.           Pipim Adansi had been engaged as a bus driver of a private school in Kumasi, where the victim is a pupil and denied the offence.           The court heard that the crime was committed on February 21, at about midday as the victim was on her way to lunch, when the convict, who sometimes drives the girl and her other school mates to the house invited her to join him in the bus.            There, he asked the innocent girl to undress, sexually assaulted her and warned that she should not tell anybody about her ordeal or risk dying.           When, she returned home from school, the mother detected blood stains in her underwear and became alarmed.            She questioned the victim and she told her everything about it.             The mother ran to inform the headmaster and all the seven bus drivers of the school were paraded for the girl to point out the perpetrator.             She readily identified Adansi and a formal report was made to the Police Domestic Violence Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU).           A medical report by doctors who treated the little girl confirmed that she had indeed been defiled. Her hymen had been broken and injury caused at the anus.           The girl is still undergoing treatment at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH).           Some lawyers present in the court took turns to plead that he was given minimal sentence due to his age and his remorsefulness.     GNA...

Kumasi, July 10, GNA – Two Nigerians have been sentenced to 36 years imprisonment by a Kumasi Circuit Court for snatching an amount of GH¢ 5,000 from a cashier.      Gift Anyagbu, 25 and Morgan Nwaokike, 22, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and stealing.      They are each going in for 18 years.      Police Inspector Oduro Boateng told the court presided over by Justice William Boampong that the complainant, Victoria Amihere is a cashier working with Unichem Ghana Limited.      She had gone to the Ghana Commercial Bank (GCB), Adum Branch, to withdraw the money belonging to the Company on July 6, 2010 at about 0930 hours, when the convicts riding on a motorbike snatched the money wrapped in a polythene bag from her.      A taxi driver who saw them commit the crime chased and run his car into the bike to prevent their escape.      They were arrested and handed over to the police.     GNA...

Accra, July 10, GNA – Oman FM, an Accra-based private radio station, led the pack of 31 selected radio stations monitored by Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), a civil society group, on the Indecent Language project on radio.   Out of a total of 181 indecent expressions recorded for the period spanning April 1st to June 30th 2012, Oman FM gained 49, the first quarter monitoring report for 2012 disclosed.   The report was made known on Tuesday by Mr Sulemana Braimah, Deputy Executive Director for MFWA, at a forum organized by the Foundation in Accra as part of its project to contribute towards ensuring an issue-based and decent language campaign in the run up to the General Election in December.   Radio Gold, a private radio station based in Accra, ran Oman FM a close second with 14 recorded cases of use of indecent expressions.   Citi FM, another private radio station based in Accra, followed Radio Gold with 13 cases and was in turn followed by Kesben FM, a radio station with 12.   Peace FM (with 12 cases), Classic FM (9 cases), Space FM (8), Angel FM (7), Royals FM (7), Adom FM (7), North Star(6), Ankobra FM (5), Radio Progress (5)and Fox FM (4)followed in that order.   Eight FM stations were however commended for recording zero cases of use of indecent expressions on their media platform.   They were Ahomka FM, Word Radio, Radio Justice, Yes FM, Rites FM, Lolornyo FM, Meridian FM and Obuoba FM.   Speaking on the findings, Mr Braimah, announced that the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) led the league of political parties and their representatives in the use of indecent language in political discourse during the period.   The NDC’s 89 recorded cases of use of indecent language was followed by main opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP)’s 70.   The Convention People’s Party was positioned third with three recorded cases of use of indecent language.   People’s National Convention recorded one incident with the others recording a total of 17 number of cases.   Mr Braimah said more than 70 per cent of all the indecent expressions were made during political discussion programmes that were aired in the morning and evening or night periods.   “It was found that out of the 181 indecent expressions recorded over the three-month period, seven of them, representing 3.9 per cent, were made by females with the remaining 174 being made by males, “he said.   He added that two of the expressions, being 1.1 per cent of the 181 recorded incidents, were gender specific indecent remarks.   Mr Braimah disclosed that supporters and affiliates of the NDC and NPP were the main culprits in the use of indecent expressions.   He said individuals who had made five or more indecent expressions over the period included Mr Ernest Owusu-Bempah (16 indecent expressions), Nii Chris Dugan (11 indecent expressions) both from NDC; Nii Kwartei Titus Glover (9 indecent expressions), Mr David Osei (5 indecent expressions) and Mr Yaw Adomako Baafi (5 indecent expressions) all from the NPP.   On the credibility of the findings, Mr Braimah said “the MFWA recognizes that our image as a civil society organization impacts our work within the West African sub region and thus strives to be professional with our work.”   He called on the media not to renege on their critical role of contributing towards a peaceful, free and fair election, adding that they (media) should insist on use of decent expressions by the people who featured on their airwaves.   Mr Braimah said “while the media continue to perform their legitimate role of holding people accountable, it is important for them to appreciate that they are and must also be accountable to the masses through their conduct.”   GNA...

We must move forward, striking out tirelessly against imperialism. From all over the world we have to learn lessons which events afford. Lumumbas murder should be a lesson for all of us. Che Guevara, 1964.Dead, living, free, or in prison on the orders of the colonialists, it is not I who counts. It is the Congo, it is our people for whom i ...

Accra, July 9, GNA - The University of Cape Coast UCC, has introduced a maiden sandwich programme worldwide that is promoting Driving Management Science DMS as an alternative, academic professional driver training module that would enhance the competence of drivers. The DMS tertiary programme began on May 12 this year and 43 graduate driver ...

Abesim B/A, July 9, GNA - Reverend Canon Timothy Kankam Dwumfour, out-going Sunyani Municipal Director of Education, at the weekend advised parents to restrict their children from the use of mobile phones at an early age. Rev Dwumfour, who gave the advise at a sod-cutting ceremony for the construction of a six-unit classroom block for the Rom ...

Sumbrungu UE, July 9, GNA - Asongtaba Cottage Industry in partnership with the National Youth Employment Programme NYEP is embarking on a Guinea-fowl Outgrowing Project in the Upper East Region. The Project which is expected to take off fully this month, July, is expected to be replicated in the Northern and Upper West Regions and is estima ...

Monday, July 9, 2012The governments that have ruled under the ambit of this 1992 constitution have found adroit means to circumvent some aspects of the constitution or to implement them solely for political expediency. By being bold to establish the Constitution Review Commission to collect and collate views from Ghanaians toward amending t ...

About 600 soldiers from the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo fled into Uganda, where troops from that nation disarmed them and were trying to figure out what to do with them.

Ghanas economy since the year 2000 has seen tremendous growth, with occasional dips as is common with any developing country. In March 2001, shortly after the NPP Government came to power, his Excellency J.A Kuffour made a significant decision to join the IMF and World Banks Highly Indebted Poor Country programmeHIPC. This was an initiative by ...

South Sudan celebrates its first independent year but little has changed outside the capital Juba.

President Mohamed Morsi’s decree appeared to be a bold effort to claim authority, raising the specter of confrontation with Egypt’s military and courts.

Henceforth, managers of private clinics who engage the services of unqualified persons as nurses or midwives will face prosecution.This follows reports that referred candidates seek employment with private clinics instead of going back to the classroom to do mandatory revision before re-sitting the licensure examination.The Chief Executive ...

Islamists, who in the past week have destroyed and desecrated the tombs of Muslim saints in the fabled town of Timbuktu, are threatening West Africa’s stability.

For some time now the activities of illegal miners, popularly called galamsey operators, have dominated the columns of our newspaper because of the devastation those activities are wreaking on our environment. Another reason is that the spate of illegal mining activities across the country is of much concern to us.We have also carried stori ...