ISD News File

PRESIDENT CUTS SOD FOR COMMENCEMENT OF ROAD PROJECT

President Kufuor on Sunday cut the sod to signify the commencement of work on the 50-kilometre Sefwi Wiawso-Benkyema Junction Road to be reconstructed at the cost of ?155 billion.

The project, which has been on the drawing board for years, is the first phase of improving the road link between Sefwi Wiawso and Oseikojokrom, a town on the Ghana-Cote d? Ivoire border.

It is being financed jointly by the Netherlands and the Ghana governments with a mixed credit facility.

Addressing a durbar of the chiefs and people of Sefwi Boako as part of the sod cutting ceremony, President Kufuor said the government was committed to improving accessibility to all parts of the country to facilitate the movement of goods and people.

PRESIDENT KUFUOR URGES PEOPLE OF DABGON TO CLOSE RANKS

President Kufuor has urged the chiefs and people of the Dagbon Traditional Area to close their ranks and not allow some self-seeking politicians to use the Dagbon crisis to divide them.

The President observed that some politicians thrived on conflicts, explaining that ?the government of the NPP caress so much about the development of Dagbon to want to play politics with its crisis?.

He was speaking at a durbar of the chiefs and people in Tamale yesterday as part of his five-day tour of the Northern Region. He assured them that ?the truth will come with justice.

President Kufuor said, the government was deeply concerned about the unfortunate development that had occurred in Dagbon and that it was determined to unearth the truth about the matter, adding that the government had nothing to benefit from the Yendi crisis.

VICE PRESIDENT JOINS PEOPLE OF ZUARUNGU TO CELEBRATE NDAAKOYA FESTIVAL

The Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, last Saturday joined the chiefs and people of the Zuarungu Traditional Area, near Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, to celebrate their annual Ndaakoya Festival.

In an address, Alhaji Mahama said although the festival offered an opportunity for celebration and merry-making, it should also aim at creating the necessary environment for citizens of Zuarungu to pool their material, financial and intellectual resources for the development of the area and to uplift their living standards.

?As we celebrate Ndaakoya, it is important for us to recognise that we are faced with several challenges and difficulties. We are fighting poverty, ignorance and disease. Let us unite our energies and resources, put aside our differences and confront the challenges of development, ?he stressed.

The festival is usually celebrated by the people to give thanks to god through their ancestors for granting them good harvest during the year and to pray for his blessings for peace and prosperity in the years ahead.

CHIEF JUSTICE SWEARS IN LAND TITLE ADJUDICATION COMMITTEE MEMBERS

The Chief Justice, Mr. George Kingsley Acquah, has sworn into office four Land Title Adjudication committees to handle land cases in the Accra and Kumasi registration centres with a call on the members to be committed to their cause and be impartial.

Three committees, comprising three members, including a chairman, will sit in Accra, while another committee, with a chairman, will also sit in Kumasi.

The establishment of the committee is enshrined in Section 22 of the Land Title Registration Law, PNDCL 152 (1986), which seeks to register interests and title to land in a declared registration district.

The committees are expected to start the hearing of cases by early next year after the members have undergone some training in Alternative Resolution (ADR) and studied the over 150 cases already pending before the Land Title Registry.

GHANA ELECTED TO BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF IAEA

Ghana has been elected to serve on the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency for two years, at the 48th General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Vienna, held from September 20 to 24, 2004.

Professor Daniel Adzei-Bekoe, Chairman of Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) and member of the Council of State, was elected to be Ghana?s member on the IAEA?s Board of Governors. He attended the conference with Professor E. H. K. Akaho, Director General of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission.

Ghana and Algeria were elected to the board to represent the African region.

LEBANON PRESENTS COMPUTERS TO GHANA ARMED FORCES

The Lebanese government has presented 50 computers and their accessories, valued at about ?100 million to the computer centre of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF).

Receiving the computers, the Defence Minister, Dr. Kwame Addo-Kufuor, said the gesture had re-affirmed the commitment to strengthen the bonds of friendship between Ghana and Lebanon.

He said, Ghana has made a lot of sacrifices towards the attainment of peace in Lebanon in terms of human and material resources.

Dr. Addo-Kufuor noted that the Ministry of Defence, in January 2001, envisioned to prepare personnel of the GAF to catch up on technological advancement as contained in the ICT vision of the government, and that it was in line with that vision that the Burma Camp Computer Centre was conceived.

The Ambassador of Lebanon to Ghana, Mr. Jad El Hassan, said the donation was a token of friendship and acknowledgement for the longstanding and continuous contribution of Ghana in the context of the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon, where many Ghanaians soldiers fell in the line of duty in the South of Lebanon, in their quest to keep the peace in that region.