Fired Ambassador denies bonking charge

Ghana’s Ambassador to Brazil has issued a statement denying he forced his 40-year old Nigerian Secretary to have sex with him on four separate occasions.

Helen Adewonuola, a Nigerian who naturalized as a Brazilian, accuses Mr Samuel Kofi Dadey of threatening to fire her if she had declined his sexual advances.

She allegedly gave in to the Ambassador’s persistent harassment but later reported the incident to the Civil Police of the Federal District in Brazil, according to the Daily Searchlight Newspaper which first broke the story.

The Secretary later filed a court case against the Ambassador for damages. The case was withdrawn after Mr Dadey agreed to pay about $22,000 to settle the issue out of court.

The Ghanaian Times reported on Saturday that President John Mills had recalled and immediately retired the Ambassador for his alleged misconduct. The apparent recall was attributed to Foreign Minister Alhaji Muhammed Mumuni.

But in a statement issued to the Ghanaian media through investigative journalist Justice Annan, Mr Dadey denies all the allegations, describing them as provocative and slanderous.

The Ambassador insists he only agreed to the out of court settlement proposed by the lawyer of Mrs Adewonuola to safeguard the image of the Embassy and on the advice of the sitting judge and the Brazilian Foreign Affairs ministry. “I personally bore the cost of the settlement because I did not think it was right for public funds to be spent on a case based on alleged sexual harassment by me,” the statement said

According to Mr Dadey, Mrs Adewonuola was sanctioned to serve as a warning to other staff to comply with Embassy regulations. She returned to post three days late after taking her leave.

He also claims Mrs Adewonuola claimed she had been forced to have sex six times with the Ambassador in papers filed with the court, but this number mysteriously dropped to four at the conclusion of the matter.

Kufuor unhappy with treatment since he left office

Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has expressed disquiet about treatments he has been subjected to within the past one-and-a-half year since leaving office.

He made these comments in an interview on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show following an award given him by the Catholic Church.

He said he believes that while he was president of Ghana he served the country to the best of his ability. He regretted that after he had served Ghana well with the positive signs everywhere to be seen, some people were committed to downplaying his achievements and publishing negative materials about him on the internet.

The former president said that he will not pretend to have been a happy man over the past one and a half years, and that he feels deeply hurt by the relentless effort by some people to diminish his achievements during his tenure as president.

The Vatican late last week conferred on former President John Agyekum Kufuor the highest ecclesiastical honour of the Knight Commanderhood of the Order of Pope Pius IX.

Mr. Kufuor told host of Super Morning Show, Bernard Saibu that the award was from the Pope to him and his wife for loyal services rendered to the Catholic Church in Ghana, and that he was overjoyed to have had the honor bestowed on him. He said that the award was a very dear one to him as it was one which could not be lobbied-for.

He said that the Catholic award to him was very heart-warming because the church acknowledges his contributions to national development in spite of what others may want the world to believe.

On what he has doing in future, President Kufour said that he has been invited to Nigeria to be a key speaker at an ECOWAS forum in Abuja. He said also that the former president of USA President Jimmy Carter wrote to him about 3 months ago requesting him to co-chair the election observer group in La Cote d’ivoire for this year’s presidential elections with him.

Asamoah Gyan makes Fifa Ballon d'Or shortlist

An impressive World Cup performance has seen Ghana's Asamoah Gyan named in the shortlist for the Fifa Ballon d'Or, FIFA announced today.

The Ghana and Sunderland striker is among the 23 players nominated by the world governing body for the biggest personal award in world football.

Gyan's performances during the 2010 World Cup where he aided the Black Stars campaign to the quarter finals is one reason why he was named.

Lionel Messi is the reigning Ballon d'Or winner and Fifa World Player of the Year, but the awards have now been merged, so the best player in the world will be recognised by a single accolade - the Fifa Ballon d'Or.

Spain dominated the contenders as seven of their finals squad were included among the nominees for the prestigious award.

Though players from Europe dominate the list, Gyan together Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto'o from Cameroon give the continent - Africa - a presence.

The winners will be revealed in Zurich on 10th January, 2011.

World Player of the Year nominees:
Xabi Alonso (Spain), Daniel Alves (Brazil), Iker Casillas (Spain), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast), Samuel Eto'o (Cameroon), Cesc Fabregas (Spain), Diego Forlan (Uruguay), Asamoah Gyan (Ghana), Andres Iniesta (Spain), Julio Cesar (Brazil), Miroslav Klose (Germany), Philipp Lahm (Germany), Maicon (Brazil), Lionel Messi (Argentina), Thomas Muller (Germany), Mesut Ozil (Germany), Carles Puyol (Spain), Arjen Robben (Holland), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), Wesley Sneijder (Holland), David Villa (Spain) and Xavi (Spain).

Two grabbed for identity fraud

TWO PERSONS, Patrick Asumaning, 52, a Ghanaian, and Moses Osawaru Osaigbovo, a 25-year-old Nigerian, have been arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service for allegedly engaging in identify fraud.

Both men, according to the police, substituted the original photos embedded in some Ghanaian passports and replaced them with theirs to commit crimes at some financial institutions operating in the Accra metropolis.

Asumaning was in possession of two Ghanaian passports with numbers H0971258 and H1263003, bearing two different names, Stephen Nyarko Boateng and Kwame Owusu Mensah, with the same photos, while his Nigerian counterpart possessed a Ghanaian passport number H0794177, with the name Mark Johnson.

The latter was handed over to the police in an attempt to receive $150 from a Western Union branch at Teshie, a suburb of Accra.

The teller became alarmed when the details in the passport indicated that the bearer was born on November 1, 1968. A search conducted on him, revealed his real age as 25 years. Osaigbovo was born on March 14, 1984, in the Edo State of Nigeria.

The Deputy Director-General of CID, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Joshua Dogbeda, said the 52-year-old posed as one Stephen Nyarko Boateng, an account holder of a bank in Kumasi, and withdrew the sum of GH¢10,000 at its Kaneshie branch in Accra.

On October 12, he supposedly wrote a letter to the Services and Complaints Centre of the bank (name withheld), requesting to effect a change of his so-called foreign address to a postal address in Ghana.

Police said Asumaning managed to convince whoever was in-charge, and had his signature also, changed, because, according to him, he was unable to sign his old signature.

The said letter, ACP Dogbeda, noted was supported with a Ghanaian passport number H1263003, issued in January 2002. It bears also, personal data of the true account's holder.

The suspect virtually took over the bank account of the bonafade owner, Stephen Nyarko Boateng, who lives in the USA.

Further investigation revealed that the suspect, Asumaning, had on September 24 and 27, this year, presented a Ghanaian passport (H0971258), which bore the name Kwame Owusu Mensah, to another branch of the bank at Abeka, where he again, cashed an amount of GH¢17,000.

Asumaning further went to the Abossey Okai branch of the bank on October 19, to withdraw another whooping sum of GH¢10,000 from GH¢67,860.48.

Subsequently, ACP Dogbeda explained, 'He then proceeded to the Kaneshie branch to withdraw an extra GH¢10,000, where the Bank Manager became suspicious, and demanded his Ghanaian passport, which he readily gave out.

The Manager later detected that the passport was a fake, and called for the immediate arrest of Asumaning. During investigation, Asumaning admitted to committing the offence, and mentioned an accomplice, Owusu.

He told The Chronicle he only benefited GH¢1,500 from the gig. Asumaning and Osaigbovo would soon be arraigned before court.

Meanwhile, financial institutions in the country have been advised to critically examine documents such as voter's ID cards, passports, driver's licenses and others presented to them as evidence to claim money.

Again, the CID Headquarters said criminals had now adopted new forms of attack by forcibly opening the doors of vehicles while in traffic to attack their victims.

Thus, it cautioned the public to take precautionary measures to forestall such occurrences, and drivers ought to ensure that their car doors are well secured while in traffic.

Ghana to protest over offensive pictures

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.

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.

Beat Up Mills DCE

The Upper Manya Krobo District Chief Executive (DCE), Joseph Tetteh Angmor and the constituency organizer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ebenezer Kwabitey, were allegedly given the beatings of their lives on Monday when they went to a town in the district to restrain the youth from digging trenches across the main Koforidua-Asesewa road.

The youth, who are said to be mostly sympathizers of the ruling NDC, popularly known as foot-soldiers, decided to teach the DCE and his organizer a bitter lesson, after Mr. Angmor went there to ask them to stop the illegal digging. According to the youth, the digging was to help slow down speeding vehicles plying the road, after a private motorist ran into some school children.

The DCE was seen on Tuesday at Koforidua with a puffed face and blood-shot eyes, which confirmed the attack by the NDC foot-soldiers.

The incident happened around 4pm at Mensah Dawa, a farming community near the district capital, Asesewa.

According to DAILY GUIDE sources, the DCE also suffered the beatings because government had allegedly neglected the town.

The youth of the town said the DCE ‘brought himself at the right time’ because they had persistently asked for speed ramps in the town to slow down speeding vehicles but their request had fallen on deaf ears.

Sources told DAILY GUIDE that when the DCE arrived at the scene around 5:15 pm, he tried to let the youth know that their action was illegal but his intervention incensed them the more.

The angry youth therefore rushed on him and physically attacked him. He was alleged to have been beaten severely until he managed to escape into his car, leaving behind some of the party executives who had accompanied him to the scene.

When the DCE left, the angry youth visited their anger and frustrations on the constituency organizer who was also given serious beatings until a Good Samaritan came to his aid.

The area manager of Plan Ghana in the district, one Mr. Appiah, also became a target of the youth’s anger after he tried to question the rationale behind their action when he got to the scene in his car.

The angry foot-soldiers were said to have beaten the man mercilessly, leading to the loss of one of his teeth.

The Plan Ghana man is said to be on admission at a hospital.

When the DCE was contacted on phone yesterday, he told DAILY GUIDE that it was not true that he was attacked.

“I heard of the incident and the illegal action of the youth so I went there around 5:15 pm to talk to them and ask them to stop the illegal digging of the trenches across the road but the youth looked very incensed and aggressive so I quickly left the place to avoid any problem,” the DCE said.

He however confirmed that he left behind the constituency organizer who was assaulted by the youth.

He told DAILY GUIDE that the situation was terrible and the youth were uncontrollable so he reported the incident to the police who, according to him, had arrested one person in connection with the incident.
The DCE attended the national best teachers’ awards on Tuesday at Koforidua with a swollen face and red-shot eyes.

He was seen sitting quietly among the dignitaries and after the ceremony, friends sympathised with him for the ordeal he suffered at the hands of the angry youth.

At the residence of the regional minister, where a reception was held for the award winners and invited guests, he was also heard explaining his ordeal on phone to a friend.

The Upper Manya Krobo area is a known stronghold of the ruling NDC and the youth there are said to be very disappointed with how the government is handling development issues there.

From Thomas Fosu Jnr., Koforidua

Kwesi Pratt Jnr : NPP “Stole” State Bungalows And Lands

The Managing Editor of the Insight Newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr., says as a result of the wanton “thievery” and “pillage” of state bungalows and lands by the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), the current NDC administration is being forced to spend huge sums of monies on provision of accommodation for public and civil servants.

He accused NPP bigwigs of “stealing” state lands under the pretext of having bought them, and yet whine and carp that the ruling government is spending too much money on public and civil servants’ accommodation.

Contribution to a panel discussion on Radio Gold’s ‘Alhaji and Alhaji’ program, the radical social commentator pointed out that the laws of Ghana gives the original land owners the right or first option to buy back any landed property, if the government, for any reason expresses disinterest in the lands again, but the NPP simply ignored the land owners completely during all of the transactions.

The National Security Coordinator, Col. Anthony Larry Gbevlo-Lartey (rtd), who spoke on the same platform in an earlier interview, said his outfit is ready to ensure that state properties are properly safeguarded in the supreme interest of the people of Ghana.

Col. Gbevlo-Lartey was emphatic that all state lands which have found their way into private hands without legal basis and authorization, would be retrieved and put into proper use for the benefit of the whole nation.

It would be recalled that in the early part of September this year, a three-member Technical Committee set up to probe into the Re-development of Government Residential Properties in Accra during the previous administration, presented its final report to the National Security Coordinator. According to the report, the due processes under which state properties were sold to individuals and government officials were not followed and described it as illegal.

The three-member committee, comprising Mr. Richard Dornu Nartey, Dr. Lennox Kwame Agbosu and Mr. John Opoku, tasked the government to terminate the processing of the documents to the individuals and former government officials who bought the properties.

According to the committee, Cabinet should review the lease agreement of each of the sixty-seven allottees, to incorporate cabinet decision that frowns on the transfer of interest in grants made by the government to third parties.

The committee further recommended the immediate termination of the demolition of government bungalows, and the development of all the affected allocations, under what they called phase 2 of the Redevelopment Scheme, protocol, and in-filling allocations.

In addition, the committee called for the immediate withdrawal and termination of the processing of all leases, transfers, conveyances and instruments executed by the Lands Commission in favour of persons allocated the lands.
...Read More

Nkrumah Personified the Tragedy of 20th Century Africa

Gabby Otchere-Darko

In a provocative lecture delivered to Pennsylvania University students and professors last Monday (on the eve of Founder's Day in Ghana), Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko described Ghana's first President as the "personification of the African tragedy of the 20th century."

He said, it was ironic, but pregnant with subconscious meaning that BBC listeners voted Kwame Nkrumah as Africa's man of the Millennium in December 1999
"Precisely because, in my view, Nkrumah's leadership epitomised the African dream that decayed, the political freedom that was won and lost, the promise that was missed, the economic experiments that led to our detriment, triggering a long, avoidable period of instability and mass poverty."

He said, Nkrumah used his charisma, energy and urgency to inspire his nation to the promise of greatness, beginning with a GDP growth of between 9.12%, rapid industrialisation and significant expansion of social programmes. However, within a decade there was decline on nearly every major front -- civil rights, democracy, and the economy suffered -- and he ended up offering to a hopeful continent a model of leadership and a paradigm of governance that left a 50-year legacy of 'Afropessimism
UNITED STATES

The head of the Accra-based governance think tank, who was in the United States for a month-long series of public engagements, stressed, "in fact, the Nkrumah failure was Africa's failure or vice versa," yet, "we are happy to hail him as Africa's Man of the Millennium."

With undisguised irony, he said the Nkrumah story captures all that was wrong with Africa in the 20th century and that was why the founder of the CPP best represents Africa's millennium -- one of avoidable failure which the leadership of this new century must fix.

"It was apt he got the vote - over Mandela and others -- even if not consciously intended for the reasons I suggest because Nkrumah's failure served not only as a microcosm of Africa's failure but as the pace-setter for that continental failure which today has the majority of our people still steep in poverty."

The Executive Director of the Danquah Institute said, Ghana, being the first Sub-Saharan nation to break away from colonial rule readily offered not only a model for independence but more importantly on how Africa's new-found self-governance and development status were to be moulded.

In his lecture, 'Challenges and Opportunities for Africa's Democracy and Development -- Ghana's Historical Pace-setter Burden', Mr. Otchere-Darko called on the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to reduce their activities in Africa and, instead, redirect much more of such financial resources through the African Development Bank, which he described as "probably the greatest legacy of the defunct OAU."

Mr. Otchere-Darko praised the urgency with which the AfDB is attempting to lead the charge for Africa's development but for which it has not been receiving the commensurate funding.

"The AfDB," he said, 'continues to show unsurpassed courage and native care and wisdom that given a greater fiscal space it can better support Africa's development, especially, through the funding of essential self-paying infrastructural projects for a sustained Pan-African development."

He said, "a recent Afrobarometer survey done in East Africa showed that a vast majority of African people simply want the freedom to move and trade freely with each other across states without borders. They are not interested in either a political or defence union but in economic integration."
The Executive Director of the Danquah Institute said, Ghana, being the first Sub-Saharan nation to break away from colonial rule readily offered not only a model for independence but more importantly on how Africa's new-found self-governance and development status were to be moulded.

In his lecture, 'Challenges and Opportunities for Africa's Democracy and Development -- Ghana's Historical Pace-setter Burden', Mr. Otchere-Darko called on the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to reduce their activities in Africa and, instead, redirect much more of such financial resources through the African Development Bank, which he described as "probably the greatest legacy of the defunct OAU."

Mr. Otchere-Darko praised the urgency with which the AfDB is attempting to lead the charge for Africa's development but for which it has not been receiving the commensurate funding.

"The AfDB," he said, 'continues to show unsurpassed courage and native care and wisdom that given a greater fiscal space it can better support Africa's development, especially, through the funding of essential self-paying infrastructural projects for a sustained Pan-African development."

He said, "a recent Afrobarometer survey done in East Africa showed that a vast majority of African people simply want the freedom to move and trade freely with each other across states without borders. They are not interested in either a political or defence union but in economic integration."
He also cited Nkrumah's decision to take Ghana out of the West African Airways Corporation, forcing countries like Nigeria, the Gambia and Sierra Leone to form their own airlines, none of which is around today.

Still exposing the contradictions of Nkrumah, Mr Otchere-Darko referred to Sekou Toure, the Guinean leader and close ally of Nkrumah blaming the Ghanaian leader then for allegedly causing the overthrow of Togo's first leader, Sylvanus Olympio in January 1963.

"Four months later on 25 May, 1963, the OAU was established with Nkrumah making a strong case against imperialism and calling for solidarity among Africans and on other African leaders to support his zealous push for unity."

He continued, "Unlike Ali Mazrui, I do not think that Nkrumah was just a bad leader for Ghana, but also a bad example for the very Pan-Africanism that he preached all so well, to which we are all committed today."

Mr Otchere-Darko looked at the culture of vote-rigging in Africa today and traced its roots to the first Sub-Saharan nation to gain independence.

He cited the 1964 referendum on one party state -- where over 99.91% of Ghanaians were said to have voted 'yes' for a one party state, with a shocking series of zero 'no' votes being registered even in opposition strongholds.

Again, he cited the state negligence of private enterprise for state enterprise, while the money to sponsor the parastatals was provided by private cocoa farmers.

He mentioned the 'obnoxious' 1960 constitution which effectively created a republic dictatorship -- the provisions of which have been avoided by all subsequent constitution in Ghana and other African democracies

Law to prosecute prayer camp pastors

Parliament has been asked to enact a law to prevent pastors from keeping people with HIV/AIDS at prayer camps.

Dr Sampson B. Ofori, Eastern Regional Coordinator of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), who made the suggestion, expressed worry that some people with the disease go to prayer camps instead of reporting to hospitals.

He said that some of them after taking anti-retroviral drugs and realising improvement in their health discontinue taking the drugs only to emerge at prayer camps.

Dr Ofori said that by the time they return to the hospital their health condition had gone worse.

He was speaking at a workshop organized by the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council in collaboration with ADRA-Ghana, a non- governmental organization, on stigma and discrimination for stakeholders drawn from the region on Friday.

Dr Ofori reiterated that there was no known cure for AIDS and it was only the anti-retroviral drugs that could manage the disease.

He advised people with HIV/AIDS to report at hospitals to be put on the drugs.

Dr Ofori asked Ghanaians to go for Counseling and Testing to know their HIV/AIDS status.

He advised rape victims, to go to hospital within 72 hours for drugs that would prevent them from acquiring HIV virus in case their perpetrators are carriers.

Mrs Phyllis A. Kudolo, Project Manager, ADRA, said the organization sought to reduce HIV infection among vulnerable groups and the general population.

She said the organization was also distribution condoms and undertaking Counseling and Testing for HIV/AIDS and fighting against stigmatization of people with the disease.

Mrs Kudolo appealed for support for the project, especially the peer facilitators of the organisation.


Source : GNA

AGA Forecasts Higher Gold Prices

AngloGold Ashanti, the world's third-largest gold miner, last Tuesday, forecasted that gold prices already at record highs, could rise by between $70-$100 an ounce annually over the next five years as demand from investors accelerates.

"You can add about $70 to $100 an ounce each year over the next five years," AngloGold Chief Executive, Mark Cutifani, told a teleconference.

The forecast is slightly below other forecasts, including world Number 1 gold producer, Barrick Gold's prediction of $1,500-plus next year.

Cutifani said fast-rising gold prices were outpacing increases in average global production costs now at around $950-$1,000 an ounce due to higher investment interest in both gold equities and direct investment in bullion via exchange-traded funds.

Spot gold hit an all-time high of $1,300 an ounce last Monday, extending a two-week rally on doubts of a global economic recovery soon.

Investors typically scoop up more gold when other investments, such as stocks and currencies look shaky.

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, stood at 1,300.521 tonnes as of Sept 24, just shy of the record 1,320.436 tonnes held on June 29.

The price of gold has risen by 18 per cent so far this year.

AngloGold shares have risen by more than per cent, compared with a 3.1 per cent rise in Johannesburg's blue-chip Top-40 index.

President Mills leaves for Japan

Accra, Sept. 28, GNA- President John Evans Atta Mills this evening left Accra for Japan for an official state visit.

He was accompanied by government officials and a group of Ghanaian entrepreneurs who are expected to interact with their Japanese counterparts.

While in Japan, President Mills will host talks with Prime Minister Naota Kan, pay a courtesy call on this Emperor Akihito, interact with the Japan federation of economic organisation which consists of leading Japanese companies, meet with the African diplomatic corps and also host the president of the Japan International cooperation Agency.

The President who had earlier on visited China was supposed to have continued straight to Japan from China as part of his two state visit but had to come back home per a constitutional requirement to be counted for the census 2010.

The President is expected home on October 3, 2010.

At the Airport to see the President Mills off was Vice President John Dramani Mahama, Ministers of States, senior Military and Police officers.

GNA

Chinese blamed for dogs attack on Ghanaian worker

Friends of a sixty year-old security man who was attacked and almost killed by guard dogs at Teshie near Accra are blaming their Chinese employers for the incident.

Eyewitnesses say the dogs are kept by owners of China Geo Engineering Corporation, contractors working on the new Teshie General Hospital.

They say the dogs were on a stroll with one of the owners when they suddenly broke loose and pounced on the defenceless man.

A colleague of the victim has maintained that even though what happened could be described as an accident, their Chinese bosses must be blamed.

He said the dogs had attacked employees of the company on several occasions but the owners seem not to bother.

The administrator at the construction site, Joshua Bosomtwi, admitted the allegations of negligence, but said there was very little they could have done about it.

The victim is currently on admission at the La General Hospital where he is receiving treatment.


Source : Joy News/Ghana

Angry youth accuse Akyem chiefs of aiding galamsey

A group of angry youth in the Akyem Abuakwa Traditional Area of the Eastern region, have questioned the essence of a ban on noise-making by the traditional authorities prior to the celebration of the local Ohum festival, while bulldozers and excavators used by galamsey operators make noise.

They have further expressed concern about the behaviour of some of the chiefs who they alleged had allowed the galamsey operators to function and then turn around to say they (galamsey operators) are degrading the environment. They accused the chiefs of allegedly collecting GH�2,500 from each of 10 illegal miners recently to condone their activities.

These concerns were expressed by the youth on Sunday when the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr. Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, accompanied by security personnel visited some of the sites to arrest galamsey operators.

The Security personnel arrested ten illegal miners and impounded six excavators and eight pumping machines.

Areas being excavated include sites belonging to the Abuakwa State Senior High School (ABUSCO), Kibi Teacher Education College and the Kibi School for the Deaf.

At ABUSCO, the illegal miners had mined a site for the school's football park and extended their activities close to one of the boys dormitories.

When the minister and his entourage reached the School for the Deaf, two of the operators, Kwadwo Kesse and Kwabena Kuma were busily working and the military arrested them.

The miners have diverted the Birim River about 100 meters from its course and dug trenches near the football park and a borehole for the school.

The Regional Minister did not hide his anger at the activities of the miners and the inaction of the community leaders whom he accused of sitting aloof for their land and environment to be destroyed.

“If I had my own way, I would have set fire to all the bulldozers and excavators so that they are not able to come to this area again, but the law must take its course,” he said.

He said about 80 pumping machines and several excavators had so far been impounded since the beginning of the year when the military started operations on the illegal miners.

Mr. Ampofo appealed to the Minerals Commission and the police to ensure that the laws on mining were enforced.

The minister advised the commission to involve the district assemblies in the granting of permits to miners so that the assemblies would know the areas the miners operate and control their activities. He commended the military and the police for their efforts to curb the operations of the illegal miners in the area.

The Akim Abuakwa Municipal Chief Executive, Mr. Simon Peter Asirifi, expressed shock at the extent of damage to the environment and remarked: "I don't know where the people came from to work here".

Source : Ghanaian Times