The Government of Ghana intends to send a protest letter to the World Bank over uncomplimentary images of Ghana it displayed at its recent annual meeting in Washington DC.
The pictures, some of which captured half-naked women breast feeding their kids and bathing by the road side depict Ghana as a poverty-ridden country.
The pictures according to Daily Guide’s Felix Dela Klutse, who attended the program, were displayed on the World Bank’s computers installed on the 3rd Floor of the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC.
The Computers, which had a picture of the Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor as well as the country’s flag, also had pictures portraying the country as a land of abject poverty.
Usually, during the meetings, the Bank displays pictures of member countries on computers to showcase their economic prospects to delegates and investors.
The Government considers the pictures as damning and derogatory.
Citi News sources say a protest letter capturing governments’s displeasure and revulsion is being prepared to be served on the World Bank.
World Bank Country Director, Ishac Diwan has however apologized for the offensive pictures displayed which he said were about 20 years old.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Konadu Rawlings: I Don’t Support Mills
FROM DAILY GUIDE
Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, the first National Vice Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) and wife of the founder of the party, is fuming over reports that she had said President Atta Mills would win the 2012 Presidential election.
Mrs. Rawlings is believed to have an appetite for the Presidency and has directed her anger at the Deputy Minister of Information, Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, who she accused of deliberately spreading reports of her supposed support for an Atta Mills candidature for 2012.
She has expressed shock at the utterance of the Deputy Minister and asked him to immediately swallow his comments and apologize to her and the public he misinformed.
The former First Lady described the development as a part of an ongoing “shameless and spineless political agenda” by government to deliberately distort facts on issues concerning herself and her husband, ex-President Jerry Rawlings.
News broke last week from the Ghana News Agency (GNA) and other sources that Mrs. Rawlings had stated, during the handing over and induction ceremony of the Accra City Campus of the Tertiary Education Institution Network (TEIN) of the NDC that in 2012, Professor Mills would retire Nana Akufo-Addo, the Presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), from politics.
Since then, a number of government spokespersons, including Mr. Okudzeto-Ablakwa, have echoed the report but with a lot of spin that suggests the former First Lady had declared her support for Mills. But Mrs. Rawlings has described the report as a pack of concocted lies.
A press statement issued last Friday on behalf of the former First Lady noted: “Mrs. Agyeman-Rawlings wishes to state categorically that she did not make statements on the fortunes of President Mills against Nana Akufo-Addo; another member of the panel at the ceremony made the statement about Akufo-Addo going into retirement in 2012.
“The former First Lady is also shocked that Deputy Minister for Information, Sam Okudzeto-Ablakwa who was at the function and heard her comments gave credence to the distortions by stating on Metro TV on Friday morning that she spoke of the fortunes of President Mills in the 2012 elections.”
Though the NDC has not opened nominations for flag-bearer aspirants for the 2012 elections, incumbent President Mills has made it public that he wants to be the party’s presidential candidate again so he could have a second term.
His main contender as at now is Nana Konadu who, though has not stated that she wants to lead the party in 2012, has given visible signals that she is galvanizing support all over the country.
Just over the weekend, she was said to be in the Volta Region to meet with party faithful in what is suspected to be one of her several subtle but effective flag-bearer campaign tours.
Meanwhile, government spokespersons have denied claims that Nana Konadu’s ambition has led to a rivalry and widening cracks within the party.
The press statement, in explaining exactly what Mrs. Rawlings said during her speech to the TEIN students, noted: “The thrust of Mrs. Rawlings’s speech was based on the future of our youth and the need for them to recognize their roots and work hard to leave a grand legacy for the next generation.
She quoted Rumoko Rashidi who said: “History is a light that illuminates the past and a key that unlocks the door to the future” and called on TEIN members to trace the history of the NDC, its objectives and why the student network was established as a branch of the party.
The statement continued: “Ghana, Nana Konadu said, was a collapsed state economically, politically and socially at the time the PNDC came into being but “through diligence, commitment and political astuteness we were able to turn Ghana round.”
She went on to rally the students to appreciate that it was their turn to make an impact on Ghana’s socio-political development, saying, “Your time is now!
“The objective of politics, Nana Konadu added, is social contentment in terms of good education, social infrastructure, health, housing and employment.
She said that poverty and hunger in developing countries were due to selfishness, lack of solidarity, and above all, poor governance and called for change in our attitude in order to restore people’s faith in politics.”
By Halifax Ansah-Addo
....Read More
Cocaine ‘Floats’ At Tema Harbour
FROM DAILY GUIDE
DAILY GUIDE has learnt that security agencies have intercepted huge amounts of cocaine at the western gate of the Tema Harbour.
Sources at the harbour said about 125 slabs of substances suspected to be cocaine are involved. Each slab weighed one kilogramme.
The narcotic substance was said to have been imported into the country on board Maersk Line container from the United States which docked at the port on October 9, 2010.
Three people, including the Managing Director of the clearing agency, Freight Accord Limited, are currently being interrogated by the security agencies.
Sources say the container in which the cocaine was found was imported by a company called Formula Trust.
The Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) is said to have brought the narcotic substance to Accra for safe keeping while investigation is underway.
Meanwhile, security agents had seized the mobile phone of a reporter from Oman FM, Moses Dawutey, who was reporting live from the scene as at press time yesterday.
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