People, Places and Events
LIBERIA
Unity Party pays SECO
The Unity Party of Liberia presented a cheque of $50,000 and $103,900 in sureties to the Special Election Commission (SECO) in partial fulfilment of registration requirements as a political party.Presenting the cheque, Dr S. Jabaru Carlon, Interim Chairman of the member- ship drive committee of the Party said that the money and sureties were in accordance with the SECO guidelines concerning the registration of political parties to participate in the forthcoming elections..
The chairman of SECO, Mr Emmett Harmon, assured the Unity Party that the cheque and sureties will be examined and the commission will inform the Party of its findings on Tuesday.
New Budget approved
A budget of 428 million US dollars for the fiscal year 1984-85 has been approved by the President of the Interim National Assembly Commander in Chief Samuel Kanyon Doe.The new budget which is $41m in excess of the $387m budget for fiscal 1983-1984 was approved following its review by the Assembly.
Under the new budget, total domestic revenue and grants are estimated at $314.8 million of which existing domestic taxes are expected to yield $245 million as follows: Internal trade and transportation, $85.6m; Income tax and profit, $89.2m; Property and Capital transactions, $6.7m; Domestic production and consumption, $34m; visit General licences and miscellaneous, $10.2m; Public Service Revenue, $19.4m.
In approving the budget, Interim President Doe said the fiscal policy for 1984/85 "combines macro-economic goals with specific targets related to the composition of expenditure and revenue collection"
He explained that on macro-economic level, the budget aims at a reduction in the overall deficit to a level which requires no net credit from the domestic banking system.
Mr Doe, therefore, called for more efficient management of limited resources to achieve the desired fiscal balance and required surplus to finance worthwhile development projects.
CHAD
West German aid
Korom Hamet, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Co-operation and the FRG Ambassador to Chad have signed an aid agreement worth 2.5bn CFA francs. This agreement will encourage the recon- struction of Chad and help improve priority areas such as water supplies and rice-growing.French troops go, Libyans stall
The Commander in Chief of the Chad army has said that there was nothing to indicate that the Libyans were preparing to leave their most southerly posts in Chad and that they were still in their large northern bases such as Faya Largeau.AFP reported the Chad Information Minister, Soumaila Mahamat also as saying that there was no indication that Libya was prepared to leave Chad. "Tripoli only wants to deceive the international community",
He expressed reservations about the ability of the observers who were to be deployed over 550,000 sq km in the north of Chad, to ensure the departure of the Libyan troops. About 30 Senegalese officers and NCOS belonging to the contingent of observers chosen by the French were currently in Niamey, Niger, waiting for the joint French-Libyan commission near Kano to finalise the terms of their participation in the disengagement process.
Meanwhile, France Inter has reported that the French troops had withdrawn 100 km and that the Libyan Foreign Liaison Secretary, Turayki, had assured Claude Cheysson in new York that the departure of Libyan troops was under way. The Libyans appeared to have had a fuel problem.
GAMBIA
Sir Dauda ends Korean visit
President Dawda Jawara has completed a six-day official visit to South Korea where he had talks with South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan and visited factories producing heavy machinery and automobiles.He is the second Black African leader to visit South Korea this year after Senegalese President Abdou Diouf who went to Seoul in July. Gambia closed the North Korean Embassy in Banjul in 1982 when it was allegedly found to have been involved in a coup attempt. Trade between South Korea and the Gambia amounted to less than a million dollars last year
Meeting of Health Ministers
Health Chiefs of five West African states met from October, 3 for three days in Banjul, to discuss the financial position of their joint health programme.The health chiefs, who make up the governing body of the West African Health Community (WAHC), are health ministers of the Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra-Leone. The meeting, declared open by the President Jawara, was the 13th ordinary meeting of WAHC.
It will, among other things, consider the community's relations with other inter- governmental organisations within and outside the sub-region.
NIGERIA
Ojukwu among 250 detainees released
The Ikemba of Nnewi and former leader of "Biafra" Chief Odumegwu Ojukwu, and the former minister of finance in the ousted regime of President Shagari, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, are among 250 political detainees released last week by the Federal Military Government.Announcing their release in his 24th Independence Anniversary speech, the Head of State, General Buhari, said the release of detained politicians will be a continued process. Also released were Mr Audu Ogbeh, former Minister of Com- munications, Chief (Mrs) Oyeybola, former Minister of National Planning, Chief Olu Awotesu, Junior Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Professor Odenigwe, 2nd Special Adviser to the President on Political Affairs, Rtd. Lt-Col. Ayo Ariyo the con- troversial Bendel State Federal Electoral Commissioner.
Included in the list too, were Chief Sam Ogedengbe, Minister of Sports, Youth and Culture, Alhaji Maitama Yusuf the eloquent former Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Chief Akintola, Dr Salubi, Dr Adigwe, Chief Onanuga, Alhaji Gamba Aliyu and Shettima Ali Kida. Details of their release have not been made public.
Army officer to face anti-corruption tribunal
National Youth Corps director, army colonel Peter Obasa, has been charged with false declaration of assets and enriching himself to the tune of £4.09 million through kickbacks.He is alleged to have committed the offence while he was the Youth Corps director between October 1979 and July 1984. . Colonel Obasa is the first army officer to appear before the special military tribunal on the recovery of public property.
Journalists on New Nigerian purged
200 staff, including journalists, have been . purged from the government-owned New Nigerian Newspaper (NNN)Others were proof readers, typists, drivers and mechanics
Precise reasons for the purge, like similar ones in many areas of the public sector, were omitted from the termination letters.The biggest of them all is Mr Mike Pearse, a veteran who was a former chairman of the Nigerian Union of Journal- ists. He was the editor-in-chief of the NN group.
Also affected are Mr Moses Olorode, former acting News Editor who briefly served as press secretary to Mr Victor Olunloyo, ex-governor of Oyo State for 90 days and Mr Yinka Dagunduro, the state editor, for Oyo State.
Call for devaluation of naira
The President of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and industry, Prof. Ayo Ogunsheye, has said that there would be no end to smuggling until the naira was adjusted downward.Speaking on an NTA (Nigerian Tele- vision Authority) programme, 'The Platform', Prof. Ogunsheye said that the naira had been over-valued. According to him, because the naira was over-valued by about 80% people would continue to take the risk of currency smuggling.
He said that Ghana, with worse economic problems than Nigeria, had adjusted its currency a number of times and it was now gradually getting out of its economic difficulties. The Chamber President wondered why some Nigerians were sceptical about the devaluation of the naira. Prof. Ogunsheye described as inadequate the 25% remittance allowance for foreigners. He also said that neither the Government's "belt tightening measures" nor the pumping of more money into the economy would solve Nigeria's problems. Industries, he said, should be first reactivated to produce the goods.
Prof. Ogunsheye urged the present administration to set aside a sufficient sub- vention for export promotion. He said that without a guarantee of exports, exporters would be reluctant to take risks.
Naira will be adjusted
The naira may be slightly adjusted before the end of the year, Finance Minister Onaolapo Soleye has hinted.In an interview with the Voice of America (VOA), Mr Soleye, in response to a question on devaluation of the naira said: We do not disagree totally on adjustment but on what is the magnitude of the adjustment and in which way. That is the major obstacle now."
He added: "We hope that by the end of the year, we should be able to reach some sort of agreement with flexibility on both sides."
Buhari meets British military delegation
Maj-Gen. Buhari has received in audience "an 11-man delegation from the British Royal College of Defence Studies. In a speech the leader of the delegation, Rear- Adml. A.J. Richmond, said that the visit had given them a better understanding of the problems, achievements and aspirations of the Federal Government. The Head of State later had a closed- door meeting with the delegation. Present at the ceremony were the External Affairs Minister, Dr Ibrahim Gambari, and the acting British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr Arthur Whyte."Trade agreements with Benin, Ghana and Togo
Nigeria intends to sign trade agreements with the Republics of Benin, Ghana, and Togo to promote economic stability in the sub-region. The Nigerian External Affairs Minister, Dr Ibrahim Gambari, told news- men in Paris before leaving for Bonn, West Germany, as part of his European tour, that the agreements would, among other things, entail the payment of hard currency for trade and economic transactions. He said the measure will discourage smuggling and currency trafficking which he said constituted the greatest threat to economic stability in the sub-region.Dr Gambari stated that officials of the four countries were working on the agreements, adding that the Ministers of External Affairs would meet again in Lome, Togo, to study the document. The Minister said the agreement would complement and strengthen the activities of ECOWAS.
Governor's criticism of British position on "fugitives"
The Military Governor of Plateau State, Navy Capt. Samuel Atukum, has said in Jos that it was the greatest disservice to the country that friendly nations continued to Party harbour the fugitives. Receiving the British officers of the Royal Defence College of Britain in his office, Capt. Atukum said that such fugitives should have been regar- ded as criminals and their repatriation done without delay.He said that a strong tradition had already evolved in the advanced countries that an official implicated in corrupt practices would resign in addition to facing prosecutions. The Governor said that it was ironical that the same countries "surreptitiously endorse kickbacks and aid the trans- fer of illegal earnings by Nigerian politicians and their agents to foreign banks".
Capt. Atukum said that members of the delegation should pressurise their home government to have a change of attitude on the issue of the extradition of the fugitives, adding that all accused would be tried in accordance with the principles of natural justice.
The spokesman of the delegation, Rear Admiral A.J. Richmond, said that they were in Nigeria to acquaint themselves with the problems of the country socially, economically and politically and would give a feedback to their home government. The Royal College of Defence Studies, founded in 1927, is for the training of senior British defence officers as well as a few others from other countries.
BURKINA
Kuwaiti grant for water project
Kuwait has extended a 7.37m dollar grant to Burkina Fasso for a water project to increase agricultural production and lessen the effect of drought.The grant agreement, which comes within the framework of the committee of Islamic solidarity with the Sahelian countries, was signed between the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development and the Liptako-Gourma water authority of Burkina Fasso.
The 10.4m dollar project includes con- struction of two new earth dams, enlarge- ment of four existing ones, development of 255 ha of land for irrigated agriculture, and preparation of a master plan for water re- sources in the Sahel region.
Water for human and animal consumption will be supplied to oudalan and three areas of Koupela under the scheme. Work is due to start next month and should be completed by June 1986.
The agreement was signed here by Ali Khalifa al-Sabah, Kuwaiti Oil and Finance Minister and Chairman of the Kuwait Fund, and Justin Damo Baro, Burkina Faso's Minister of Financial Resources. A planning and administration agreement was also signed by Bakary Toure, Director General of the Liptako-Gourma authority.
SENEGAL
Congress of Communist Party
The second congress of the Independence and Labour Party (PIT) opened last week. It took place 25 years after the founding of the first Senegalese Marxist-Leninist Party, the African Independence Party of Senegal, from which the PIT was born. The congress was seen as a congress of orientation, planning, stock-taking and aimed at chang- ing the PIT into a communist party for the masses. Representatives of foreign parties attending this congress were from the Bulgarian Communist Party, the CPSU, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the French Communist Party, the CPSU, the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, the French Communist Party, the Communist Party of Greece, the Sudanese Communist Party, the Communist Party of India, the People's National Congress of Guyana, and the Lebanese Communist Party.Opposition meeting banned
The authorities have banned a public meeting of seven left-wing opposition parties protesting against the latest round of price increases in Senegal.The ban which reversed an earlier decision to allow the meeting, was for reasons of "public order and security"
Japanese aid for rural water project
Japan has granted a sum of 2.53bn CFA francs to Senegal. The signing of two aid agreements took place at the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Senegal was represented by the Minister of Commerce, Abdourahmane Toure, and the Minister of Scientific and Technical Research, Moussa Daffe. The Japanese Ambassador to Senegal, Manuabu Yamamoto, represented his country.The first agreement involves a sum of 1.43bn CFA francs, which will be used for water supply projects in the rural areas. The second agreement, involving a sum of 84m CFA francs, comes under Japan's cultural assistance to Senegal. It will consist of an electronic microscope and other materials for the University of Dakar.
MALI
French Co-operation Minister's visit
The Head of State has received the French Minister of Co-operation and Development, Christian Nucci, at the end of his 72-hour visit to Mali.The main theme of their talks was their determination to strengthen the fruitful co- operation existing between Mali and France in all fields of development - in the fight against drought, in the struggle to achieve self-sufficiency in food production with the rehabilitation of the Office du Niger, Mali's main preoccupation, in addition to education and health... Loan agreements with Canada Two loan agreements totalling 20.16bn CFA francs have been signed between Canada and Mali. The first agreement for an integrated rural development project for an amount of 9.7bn CFA francs.
The second agreement provides for the funding of the second phase of the Mali railway construction at a cost of about 11.41bn CFA francs over four years.
CAMEROON
Chiefs report on Nigerian arrest
The Cameroon Tribune has carried a report in which traditional rulers of Furu and Awa districts in Menchum division have complained of the absence of the Chief of Lebo, who was arrested and taken to Nigeria by the Nigerian authorities.In a conference recently held in the office of their district head, the chiefs deplored this attitude from the Nigerian authorities. They called on the Government to investigate the issue in a bid to maintain the excellent relationship existing between the two countries, particularly along the borders, where boundaries should be carefully and correctly demarcated.
GHANA
Justice Annan's son on drug charges
Peter William Nii Yartey Annan, 26-year- old son of Justice D.F. Annan member of the ruling Provisional National Defence Council was committed for trial at Reading Crown Court when he appeared before an Uxbridge Magistrate's Court last Wednesday.Peter Annan, described by the prosecution as an unemployed Ghanaian, was charged with the attempted smuggling into the United Kingdom of 9.7 Kilos of cannabis, with a street value of £9,700.
According to the prosecution, Annan was arrested at Heathrow Airport on August 31 this year when the cannabis was discovered in his luggage during customs examination. He was accompanied by his mother, Mrs Annan.
The prosecution said Peter Annan admitted smuggling the cannabis for sale in the UK to enable him to pay his debts in Ghana.
No date has yet been fixed for the trial at Reading Crown court.
Ten more executions
Ten persons, including Flt-Lt. Robert Kojo Lee and Richard Nii Amoo Addy were executed last Saturday by firing squad.Flt-Lt. Lee, a close friend of Flt-Lt. Rawlings, and one of the retired Air Force Officers who was called back into active service after the December 31, 1981 coup d'etat, was sentenced to death last December by the public tribunal after he had been found guilty of murdering another soldier, Peter Atsu Bleboo at Labadi on October 28, 1983.
His appeal through his counsel, Mr Johnny Hansen, former PNDC Secretary for Interior, was rejected by the National Appeals Tribunal.
The same Appeals Tribunal chaired by border. Mr George Agyekum substituted the verdict of acquittal and discharge of Nii Amu- Addy with that of guilty of murder and sentenced him to death by firing squad. Nii Amu-Addy was tried by a public tribunal chaired by Mr Kwaku Addo- Aikins for murdering Kwasi Awudzi, an electrical apprentice at a Tema filling station but was acquitted and discharged on the grounds that Addy did not know the mechanism of the weapon he used to murder the deceased. However, the chairman of the PNDC, Flt-Lt. Jerry Rawlings, who is related to Addy, ordered his re-arrest claiming that "the judgement was wrong, unjustified and absurd".
The other people executed were Police Sergeant Ajemako Tei Wayo, for the murder of Anafi Azuma, Issaka Fuseini Isaka Bukari; Sumaila Mohamed for armed robbery.
Two others, Kwakuvi Fudzagbe and Kofi Nuworkpo, were executed for the attemp- ted smuggling of timber products. The official statement said that the two were intercepted by vigilant members of the Aveme-Aflao PDC, and when granted bail, the two persons callously and maliciously set fire to the home of the PDC member whose information had led to their arrest.
The other two executed for armed robbery were Azina Dagarti and Kodjo Nyamekye, said to have dressed in military uniform and terrorised the inhabitants of Bohyen a suburb of Kumasi and robbed various homes at gunpoint. The official statement said that the death sentences passed on Seth Amponsah and Corporal Azegodo have been confirmed. The last executions before last weekend’s were in May when the PNDC executed Cpl. Gyiwa and nine others are said to have mounted an invasion to topple Flt-Lt. Rawlings.
Ghanaians' experience in Libya
The Peoples' Daily Graphic has reported that many Ghanaians who entered Libya illegally are under arrest in Tripoli and are awaiting repatriation.The paper reported that since the events of last May 8 - that is the shooting of five terrorists holding women and children hostage in the capital, Tripoli - various measures have been introduced. One such measure which affected about 1,000 Malians and many Ghanaians is the arrest and repatriation of some nationals who entered Libya illegally. There are at least 57 Ghanaians in the town of Sabha who though not yet arrested, would wish they had left the country. Fourteen are under arrest in Tripoli and 21 in Birrakesh.
The paper finds disturbing and intriguing the method of entry of Ghanaian immigrants to Libya. Known as Mungo Park, the mainland entry point is 100km of desert terrain with extreme weather conditions and which lies between Djanet on the Algerian side and Ghat on the Libyan Crossing this 100km of desert is such a horrific ordeal because it is covered by foot. Lack of water has caused those who cross the desert terrain to drink their own urine to survive. Two Ghanaians were found dead on or about last May 8 and the cause of their death has been attributed to severe thirst.
According to survivors of this ordeal, some Ghanaians without passports or visas reach Mungo Park after more than three months, meandering their way through Burkina, Niger and Algeria while others enter with Malians, Nigerians and Burkinabe. But the law has been made very stringent now to affect even those who thought they were in good standing and entered Libya by air have expired visas. Indeed the Libyan authorities have asked those awaiting repatriation to purchase their own tickets.
US based lecturer ordered to serve Ghana for 5 years
A Ghanaian lecturer in the United States of America who allegedly failed to declare all foreign currencies on him on his arrival at the Kotoka Airport has had his passport seized and ordered by the security agencies to serve in any of the country's three universities for five years. After that he will be allowed to return to the U.S.The Ghanaian Professor Philip Kodjo Quarcoo was told that even though he was educated at the expense of the Ghanaian tax-payer, he had never worked in the country since he graduated from the University of Ghana, Legon over ten years ago.
Professor Quarcoo who had arrived from Dakar, Senegal was alleged to have declared only 67,000 CFA francs at the arrivals hall, but a search of his luggage revealed further currencies of $500 and 30,000 CFA francs in a tin of talcum powder.
"Maximum penalty" for economic saboteurs
The PNDC (Provisional National Defence Council) has declared war against economic saboteurs. In a nationwide radio and television broadcast, the Secretary for the Interior, Kofi Djin, announced that with immediate effect all major forms of economic crimes in the country will be tried by the public tribunal and those found guilty of such offences will be made to face the maximum penalty..US emergency aid to Ghana
Ghana will benefit from the $18 million emergency aid to African countries despite improvements in the country's food situation, a senior US aid official has said. Mr Julious Becton, Director of the US emergency relief services, told newsmen that Ghana would also receive extra aid worth two million dollars for development projects.Speaking after a five-day visit to check the effectiveness of US emergency aid to Ghana this year, he said that Ghana would receive six million dollars worth of cotton, representing 25% of its annual needs, under concessional sales. This was in line with Washington's decision to shift the focus of its economic aid programme to make it more development-oriented and less toward emergency aid.
Mr Becton said that the US would train Ghanaians in the management of relief services, fire fighting and environmental protection.
Keep babies out of prison
A consultative seminar on laws affecting children has recommended that babies aged three months and above should not be kept in prisons.The seminar organised by the Ghana National Commission on Children (GNCC) in Accra also suggested that for the purpose of the functions of the GNCC as set out under AFRC Decree 66, the age of a child should be set, at the maximum, at 15 years. However, for the avoidance of doubt all other existing definitions of a child in other enactments shall remain so for the purpose for which they were so defined.
Police PDC co-ordinator jailed
The co-ordinator of Obuasi Police Defence Committees, who used his position to acquire one Datsun saloon car, a set of modern furniture and a 'Jumbo' sound system, has been sentenced to two years imprisonment by the Brong-Ahafo Regional Public Tribunal sitting at Obuasi. The tribunal ordered that his set of furniture and a fan should be confiscated to the State. It, however, ordered that the 'Jumbo' sound system and the Datsun saloon car should be released to their owners since evidence adduced before the tribunal was that the accused was not the owner of the items. Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr Thomas Agyen, prosecuting, told the tribunal that the accused, who was the co- ordinator of Obuasi Police Defence Com- mittees used his position to align himself with some people who organised operations to arrest illegal gold dealers.Market for gold winners rejected
The Minerals Commission has rejected a proposal for the establishment of a government-controlled market for private gold winners.According to its acting chairman, Mr Fred Ohene Kenna who is also the Under Secretary for Lands and Natural Resources, there is no guarantee that such a scheme will work.
He said the commission would accordingly provide the government with concrete proposals on ways of dealing realistically with the smuggling of minerals from the country.
The government announced recently that it was exploring the possibility of setting up a foreign exchange market for private gold winners to reduce the incidence of gold smuggling.
Cuts in diplomatic staff
An amount of C1,341,144.52 was spent as net salaries of staff in 45 diplomatic missions abroad between January and June this year.The salaries, which are worked from the Accountant-General's Department in Accra, are topped by a special worked-out percentage which vary from country to country. The staff now number 199 as against 309 before 1982. The topped-up percentage in selected missions are Tripoli 42.9%, Ouagadougou 25.04%, New York 42.9% and Havana 42.9%.
After these special percentages are worked out and added to the net salaries, they are converted by a special rate of C1.15 to $1.00 and related to the various currencies. The current official exchange rate is C38.50 to $1.00.
Weather man interdicted
The Regional Meteorological services officer in Tamale, Mr G.B. Salifu has been interdicted for the inability of his organisation to supply weather information to enable a Ghana Airways flight to land at Tamale.A Ministry of Transport and Communications announcement said that as a result of the lack of weather information, the aircraft with passengers on board was compel- led to return to its base in Accra.
The Secretary cited several cases of corruption involving revenue collecting agencies, public officers, Ghanaian busi- nessmen and foreign partners in secret and open activities to undermine the economic recovery
