Ghana has been handed a massive boost with news that defender John Pantsil has started training after recovering from injury.

The England-based player is now in the final phase of his recovery as he has started jogging on Thursday before he joins his Fulham team-mates.

This means he will be fit to play for the Black Stars at the World Cup in South Africa in June and help Fulham in the latter parts of the Premier League season.

Pantsil has been out of action since suffering a serious knee injury in the 2-1 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in December.

With the progress the wing-back has made, he is now expected to return to full combat action by the end of this month in the English Premier League.

The former West Ham defender has been badly missed by Fulham with Pantsil one of the side’s best performers before suffering his injury.

Pantsil was forced to miss the recent African Cup of Nations due to the injury and he is still on course of a full return before the English season ends.

Fulham are confident the right-back would return later this month.
Source: ghanasoccernet.com

ADDRESS BY FLT. LT JERRY JOHN RAWLINGS, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA AT THE EXTRAORDINARY CONGRESS OF THE UNITED CITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS OF AFRICA (UCLGA) IN ABUJA, NIGERIA – SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 2010

Your Excellency, Honourable Ministers of State, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for inviting me to deliver the keynote address at this Congress.

Last December I was at the Africities Conference in Marrakech, Morocco where I spoke into detail about the significance and importance of decentralisation to the political development of the continent.

This Summit I understand is meant to celebrate unity within the association but I am a little disappointed to hear that you are still grappling with that subject.

The problem of unity or the lack of it is down to our inability as a continent to develop our political evolution in a manner that will inspire a little more confidence in the populace.

Ladies and gentleman, I am very passionate about decentralisation and the development of local governance on our continent as it has immense benefits to our development. The ideals of integration such as single currency, advantages of economies of scale and stronger bargaining power can never be downplayed. However we cannot achieve any of these if we are unable to prevent exploitation and the disempowerment in our individual countries.

African unity is and will always be the cherished dream. Some of the stages towards it are the regional groupings such as SADC and ECOWAS. As painful and as slow as the process may appear I would like to use this opportunity to appeal to all of us to make efforts towards improving the quality of justice on our continent as the underlying foundation.

Africa stands pretty much indicted in human right abuses and nothing is more painful to human endeavours than the violation of our fundamental rights.
National governments may appear to carry their heavy national burdens but local governments are manageable subdivisions of national government. It is the one area where concepts do not only become realities but do become tangible – The area where our people could feel the ownership of their political endeavours.

This is one area where political, traditional and religious leadership could bring its respected presence to impact on issues that violate human dignity.

Justice, which seems to be eluding us, can be made a reality at the level of local government working hand in hand with the appropriate authorities and credible courts to achieve a healthy political atmosphere. Let us achieve this in order to reignite the confidence of our people in the authority of the state.

Economic hardships in fact become bearable when and where the people have confidence in the judicial process. So much energy is wasted by the stresses of the denial of justice. This wasted energy can be channeled towards socio economic development.

Justice is so fundamental to our stability and development even as we make the promise of oil wealth for tomorrow as we have started doing in Ghana. But that promise can never take the place of unlived justice today.

During the last invasion of Iraq, an entry that was considered ill-timed, the phrase ‘arrest and bring to justice’ was suddenly thrown out of the window and all we kept hearing was ‘we will kill, we will pursue and kill’ coming from the mouths of governing and opposition politicians.

It was as if that was the language required to maintain one’s political credibility. For us in Africa where killings seem to be part of our political existence, these utterances were a further dip in our quest to establish due process.

If Christian democratic and human rights pontificators would decline to this level, is this not further license for the perpetuation of human rights abuses on our continent?

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen our security forces are fighting machines, but human beings are at the centre of it and we cannot afford to manage them in a manner as to make them lose their conscience. The damage will be too costly.

Orders to ‘Shoot on sight’ not only damage our image but cause extreme irreversible damage on the ground. Unarmed innocent civilians and even cripples become targets of coldblooded killing.
In Ghana for instance we have always had the practice of rectifying and punishing the wrongs of past regimes. In doing that we have been sending a message that you cannot abuse your office while in government. One would have expected that institutions that are put in place to check crime would be strong enough to prevent such crimes or punish culprits while they are still in office but that is rare on our continent and invariably such crimes become punishable only when the regime is either overthrown or shown the exit.
If we do not punish such crimes in the life of the regime but do so only after its removal many are able to escape the net of the law and the practice perpetuates itself thereby stunting development on a national scale.

It appears that for the first time in Ghana’s political history we are going to enter a situation of failure to deal with the crimes of a previous regime – serious crimes, not just economic crimes but crimes related to human rights violations and this is obviously going to perpetuate a corrupt ruling class syndrome. How can we therefore guarantee the future stability and development of our nation state and by extension organisations such as yours, which have been established with well-meaning intentions of boosting development in Africa?

Ladies and gentlemen, it is important we focus on the issues that affect our national politics because the problems facing well-meaning associations such as yours are symptomatic of the problems we have created in our national politics.

Across the continent we have embraced elective democracy as the way forward but have woefully failed to put in place checks and balances and have allowed our politics to degenerate into the corruption of the electoral process where money, intimidation and abuse of incumbency most of the time leads to the further disempowerment of our people.

The negative fallout is that most of our people have great difficulty in voting out regimes that employ fraud, intimidation and corruption to perpetuate their stay in power – intimidating use of the coercive machinery of state.

Ladies and gentlemen, recently two Nigerian acquaintances asked me; “how is it possible to vote out an incumbent government?” In other words what we succeeded in doing in Ghana by voting out the previous government in early 2009 was just not possible.
Initially I was about to say ‘why not?” then I thought if it was so obvious then they will not have asked. In looking at the dilemma that made him ask that question I found the appropriate answer in two things – in spite of the abuse of state machinery by the then incumbent, the machinery of state had not entirely lost its sense of right and wrong in spite of unlawful orders that were issued.

Secondly we had infused in the people the capacity to defy fraud and violence and to be prepared to risk even their lives so the incumbent did not get away with attempts to steal the will of the people by undermining the electoral process.

Ladies and gentlemen, the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa is a very important institution with noble objectives for the development of the continent’s local government structure but it has been caught up in the problems facing national politics on our continent. It has been caught up in the weaknesses created by our failure to consolidate political development on the continent.

It is very easy to lay blame at the doorstep of some countries that have chosen to drag their feet and stall the progress of the organisation through boycotts and threats of a parallel organisation. But I believe we all have to accept some culpability when it comes to problems facing our continent and by extension of UCLGA.

Are we all not aware of the political excesses in our individual countries? Are we not aware of the abuse of political power by some of our elected leaders?

Ladies and gentlemen, what have we done to stem the tide of political decline in our countries? We all have a responsibility to Africa to speak out and take action against wrongdoing. We need to be courageous in standing up to the wrongs that are impeding Africa’s economic and political growth. By so doing we will be building a society that respects the values of true justice and accountability.

What is preventing UCLGA from having a united front? It is because we have been unable to secure the sanctity of justice within our individual countries. It is imperative that every member of this organisation present or absent recognise that this project transcends individual agendas. It is about developing a unifying structure that will enhance the process of local governance in Africa.

Though significant progress has been made in some countries, a lot still needs to be done to create more powerful and autonomous local government authorities. Our people can only be empowered if their contribution to national development is recognised at grassroots level. We cannot afford to take entrenched positions and by so doing cripple the organisation that was established to consolidate the strength of local governments in Africa.
I pray that UCLGA achieves unity soon. Dissenting opinion should not be disregarded. Rather you need to create avenues for accommodation and compromise. You all have one goal – to strengthen the role of the association. If that is the intention then let the unity efforts, which you started bear fruit, by discussing your differences, however, entrenched they made be.

Members of UCLGA need to also appreciate, understand and respect the rules that govern the association. If people choose to disregard the legal framework that governs the association, it loses its relevance. If some of these constitutional provisions are ambiguous or inimical to the progress of the organisation you also need to critically assess these and engender review.

The success and unity of this organisation can only be achieved if members recognise that they have a collective responsibility to the ordinary people of the continent for whom strengthening of the structures of local governance will bring so much succour through local development.

The development of your association is inextricably linked to the socio-political development of our continent. The journey to reconciliation may seem long, tortuous and even impossible but it is achievable and I enjoin all of you to join hands to make it work.

Your Excellency, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you.
Source: myjoyonline

He said because the opposition New Patriotic Party wronged Gbevlo Lartey when they were in power, they sense that he is seeking vengeance on them.

Col. Larry Gbevlo Lartey has been named as part of the ruling party’s campaign team for the next general elections in 2012.

This has led to calls particularly from the NPP for him to either resign from his national position or be sacked by the president.

NPP General Secretary, Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie (popularly known as Sir John) has argued that by his position, the National Security Coordinator has no business in meddling in the affairs of a political party, insisting that doing so would compromise his neutrality.

But Dr Boamah thinks there is absolutely nothing wrong with Gbevlo Lartey being a member of the campaign team.

Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana programme Tuesday, the deputy Science and Environment minister argued that the NPP is being hypocritical as far as this issue is concerned because there are instances in the past where even ministers have been included in such committees.

He said in 2008, the then Interior Minister, Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor was made a member of the campaign team for the NPP.

Disagreeing on this example, Kwadaso MP Owusu Afriyie Akoto, a co-panelist on the programme, noted that Dr Addo-Kufuor was never a part of the NPP’s campaign team during the 2008 elections.

He maintained that Gbevlo Lartey’s involvement with the ruling party at that level would result in a conflict of interest.

He added that the “sooner (the government) came out to admit that they made a mistake and correct it, the better for the governance of this country”.
By: Dorcas Efe Mensah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana

Source: myjoyonline

Gbevlo-Lartey himself had asked DAILY GUIDE to contact the national executive of the NDC to ascertain the role he would be playing in his new position.

This was when DAILY GUIDE contacted him over his new appointment and whether or not that would not conflict with his role as National Security Coordinator.

Mr. Gbevlo-Lartey admitted he does not know the role he would be playing in his new position and asked this reporter to speak to the national executives who may have an idea about what he is expected to do.

But when DAILY GUIDE managed to reach NDC chairman Dr. Kwabena Adjei, after several efforts, his initial comment was “no comment at all.”

He however proceeded to ask “why should I give you comment about his involvement, is he not a politician?”

Though the position of National Security Coordinator is a political appointment, it has always been the norm to detach them of any political activities so that their decisions would not be influenced by their partisan affiliations.

However, Dr Kwabena Adjei aka ‘Wayoo, Wayo’ wants Ghanaians to accept that Gbevlo-Lartey is a politician since, according to him, “he is managing the security aspect of politics” asking, “So can’t you make sense out of it?”

“Don’t you know what committee members do?” he asked rhetorically, saying, “they contribute; they don’t do anything, they contribute to discussions.”

Quizzed whether that does not and would not conflict with Gbevlo-Lartey’s role as National Security Coordinator, the chairman said, “Go and ask him; go and ask Gbevlo-Lartey that now that they have made him chairman of that committee what is his role. I have nothing else to tell you.”
He further asked DAILY GUIDE’s reporter if he has nothing to write about, saying “they have appointed somebody to be a member of a committee and that’s what interests you and you are calling me at this time on the eve of independence to ask me this simplistic question.”

Propaganda Secretary of the NDC, Richard Quashigah, who had earlier offered to speak on the issue, also made a sudden u-turn and declined to make any comment, also referring the issue to the General Secretary. In tomorrow’s issue of DAILY GUIDE, we will publish an exclusive interview with the National Security Coordinator.
Source: Daily Guide

As Chairman of the Confiscated Vehicles Committee, Mr. Wilson has been arrested once briefly by security operatives over a number of suspected car deals in the country, but was expectedly released almost immediately, apparently due to his intimate connections with some of the nation’s power brokers.

Carl Wilson has been accused several times of allegedly stealing confiscated cars and selling them on the open market with the help of garage operators.

Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia, Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has asked government to investigate the deputy Chief of Staff’s man for purportedly taking away at Tema Harbour, 18 confiscated motorbikes believed to have been stolen from London, since the issue has the potential of denting Ghana’s image internationally.

According to Dr Opoku Prempeh, security agents at the Tema Port impounded the motorbikes, which were shipped in a container sometime in April last year and that Mr. Wilson recently allegedly disposed off the said motorbikes.

The police, Dr. Prempeh indicated, later informed the Interpol in London, requesting to know whether the stolen items were actually from the United Kingdom.

He stated that Interpol replied, confirming that the motorbikes were actually stolen in London and requested that the items be repatriated, having given the names of the owners of the items, which included a Ghanaian.

Unfortunately, the motorbikes have not been repatriated to London as requested and seem to have vanished into thin air at the Tema Port.

Expressing concern in an interview, Dr. Prempeh lamented, “If security agents can seize goods whose owners are not in doubt and faceless people can sell these items, then Ghana’s reputation abroad is seriously at stake”.

The situation, he pointed out, is soiling Ghana’s image abroad and injuring the country’s reputation as a secured investment destination, considering the fact that the NDC administration, led by President Atta Mills, has recently advertised in the Financial Times in London with millions of cedis, showcasing the country as a credible, secured and peaceful nation for investment.

He called on government to act with dispatch on the stolen motorbikes to save the country from possible disgrace abroad, stressing that the issue is not about damaging the reputation of the NDC administration, but bringing perpetrators to book.

The situation has compelled Dr. Prempeh to file an urgent question in Parliament, asking the Ministry of the Interior to inform Ghanaians about the whereabouts of the motorbikes.

Commenting on the issue last Friday, the Manhyia MP expressed concern that the question was not captured in the business paper for this week although it was filed about a month ago.

He appealed to the Speaker of Parliament, Justice Joyce Bamford-Addo, to intervene on the matter and facilitate the process of bringing the Minister of the Interior to answer the question on the vanished motorbikes.

In a related development, the MP for Asokwa in the Ashanti Region, Maxwell Kofi Jumah, has demanded that Carl Wilson’s boss be questioned by government for allegedly selling state cars cheaply and giving some out as freebies.

Speaking in an interview on Adom FM last Friday, Kofi Jumah said Alex Segbefia and his ‘cohorts’ at the Castle have not been questioned about the state cars seized from past NPP officials, which were sold at the port.

According to him, it has been reported by various newspapers but the government, ‘led by its anti-corruption campaigner’, President Mills, is refusing to call him to book in relation to the allegations being peddled against him.

“Most of the cars have been sold cheaply at the port and at Adabraka, a suburb of Accra, and some have been given out freely,” he alleged.

Maxwell Kofi Jumah reportedly raised the issue while making a remark in relation to a statement made by the former First Lady, Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings that some past government officials should be prosecuted.

“It should not look as if we have an NDC law or NPP law which is different from the national law…Mrs. Rawlings did not mention the names of any NDC member but only NPP officials…She should have said that if she had committed any offence, she ought to be arrested,” he stated, apparently referring to the instance where the former First Lady had been dragged to court by the previous government based on various offences she allegedly committed.
According to him, though he would not want to see the former First Lady prosecuted, Hon. Jumah strongly believes she has so many questions to answer in court.

“Based on Mrs. Rawlings words and other remarks by the President of the country, all NDC, NPP, CPP and any past official who has committed a criminal offence should be dealt with drastically,” he emphasised.

By Awudu Mahama
Source: Daily Guide

The official residence of the former first family was completely brought down to ashes when fire gutted the property.

Mr. Rawlings’ wife, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings and daughter, Yaa Asantewaa, were present at the time of the incident but managed to escape unhurt.

The family was at the Action Chapel in the company of several friends, sympathizers and some leading members of the NDC to show gratitude to God for keeping them intact despite the unfortunate tragedy.

Former President Jerry Rawlings and his entire family were at the service except his son Kimathy.

Notable among the sympathizers was now famous Atta Kumah popularly called Atta mortuary man, who Mr. Rawlings spoke about during the NDC’s national delegates’ congress in Tamale.

NDC stalwarts Ekwow Spio Garbrah, E.T Mensah and Joshua Alabi were present at the church service.

Mr. Rawlings’ first daughter Ezeanator, on behalf of the family, thanked God for savings their lives and expressed gratitude to Ghanaians for their support.

The General Overseer of the church, Archbishop Duncan Williams, prayed for the family and encouraged them to be steadfast in these trying times.
Mr. Rawlings narrated a story about his relationship with famous American singer Stevie Wonder to express surprise at the instinctive nature of humans, especially those who are challenged in various ways.

According to the former President Rawlings, he once flew a plane with Stevie Wonder who managed to land the plane despite his blindness.

“There was this gentleman…Stevie Wonder. He sat at my right and we were about thirteen people on board when we took off.

I gave the control to Stevie Wonder and this blind man flew that plane so beautifully. I was handling the power but the steering wheel was being handled by this man.

“He was just listening to my instructions and he was flying it so beautifully so I asked him – Stevie I don’t believe you have not flown a plane before – and he said no.

So I said I didn’t believe it because he was doing something that you necessarily must know how to fly to do, what we call checking the back.

And then when it came to descending to the floor, this man held on gently and I said, release it. He pulled it till we landed safely and we burst out clapping,” he narrated.

Source CitiFM

The retreat is the first since the Kumasi Conference that saw the election of the new National Executives. The forum is to provide the opportunity for both the old and new executives to evaluate the state of the party and put into perspective where the outgone Peter Mac Manu-led team have reached in their bid to restructure to recapture power in 2012. And also provide a platform for the new National Chairman Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey and his team of executives to take off towards Agenda 2012.

In his opening remarks the National Chairman, Mr. Jake Obetsebi Lamptey said throughout the past one year and over, there have been many discussions within party and in the wider public about why the NPP lost the 2008 elections.

“Enough of that. The real issue facing us from today onwards is how we are going to win the 2012 elections.”

Source: Curtis Perry K. OkudzetoDeputy Director of Communi

Mr Owusu-Afriyie, affectionately called Sir John, argued that such an important national position transcended partisan politics because the security and well-being of the nation were of utmost concern to all Ghanaians.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, he said Lt. Col. Gbevlo Lartey should not meddle in political party activities, as that would take away his neutrality.

“It is, therefore, wrong and lack of political judgement for the NDC to include the National Security Co-ordinator in its campaign committee for election 2012,” Mr Owusu-Afriyie contended, adding “it is also naive for Lt. Col. Gbevlo Lartey to accept that position.”

He called on Lt. Col. Gbevlo Lartey to resign as the National Security Co-ordinator immediately and dabble in party politics or be removed by President J.E.A. Mills.

“The NPP as a political party will watch with keen interest how the NDC will quickly expedite action on this call,” he said.

According to Mr Owusu-Afriyie, the assurance by President Mills to be a father for all was already being undermined by the selective nature of his governance, adding “this is being further eroded by the appointment of Lt. Col. Gbevlo Lartey to the 12 member campaign committee.”

He said “The NPP won’t be cowed by Lt. Col. Gbevlo Lartey’s appointment which is aimed at putting fear in the large number of Ghanaians who are opposed to the NDC.”

Ghanaians, he said, were so discerning that they would not be intimidated by Lt. Col. Gbevlo Lartey’s appointment.

Source: Daily Graphic

Unlike in the past, music was provided by a mass band from four senior high schools, while the march past itself was performed by youth clubs, cadet groups and students from some selected schools in the Greater Accra Region.

The government’s conviction to get students actively involved in the day’s activities, according to President John Evans Atta Mills in his address, was critical in ensuring that the youth appreciated the struggles and the toil that had brought the country this far and also inculcate in them a sense of nationalism and belonging.

He reiterated the government’s commitment to invest in the youth in order to build the critical mass that would sustain the development agenda and further move it to higher heights.

He said the ‘better Ghana’ agenda was not limited to time and space, hence a critical pivot around which the governance programme was revolving was investing in the youth.

The President said the future of the country rested in the hands of the youth, adding that education was the key that would open the doors to the future.

“Be it in the area of medicine, law, engineering or entrepreneurship, education is the key that will unlock your potential and equip you with the capacity to take control of your destinies,” he stressed, and urged the youth to work hard and set educational goals for themselves.

He said 53 years ago, the Founding Father, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, declared Ghana a free nation, adding that it was a well-catalogued fact that the struggle for independence had not been an easy one.

“Many were those who shed their blood for our independence and we salute their memory for their selfless dedication to give life to Ghana,” he said.
President Mills said over the decades, scores of Ghanaians had worked hard and continued to work in the best interests of the country, adding that it was now time for “us as leaders and you as future leaders to also contribute our quota to nation building”.

“Teachers have a responsibility to inspire you; parents have a responsibility for making sure you stay on track and support your education and the government also has the responsibility to set high educational standards by supporting teachers to offer their best,” he said.

The President promised that his administration would not renege on its pledge to give depth and modern-day meaning to the educational system that would create the opportunities for the youth to take advantage of.

He said he would continue to play host to well-behaved pupils and students to drum home the fact that virtue was a trait that must be placed on a high pedestal.

He commended those who made it possible to have a successful independence day celebration, adding, “Let us continue to pledge our honour to be faithful and loyal to Ghana, our Motherland.”

Source: Daily Graphic

Commenting on President Mills’s address to a parade of schoolchildren to mark the 53rd Independence anniversary in which the President had assured the nation that the government would motivate teachers and provide the necessary condition to improve teaching and learning, former President Kufuor said investing in children would “guarantee a responsible and brighter future for the country”.

He stressed that the country’s generation chain would be strengthened if it invested in youth development.

President Kufuor, who was accompanied by his wife, Theresa, described the attendance and the parade by the schoolchildren as “impressive”.

Also present at the parade was the former Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama.

Alhaji Mahama indicated that the nation would have a secure future if the youth were given the requisite skills. He said the splendid conduct of the parade by the children attested to the fact that they could do well in various fields of endeavour if given the necessary support.

Meanwhile, religious and political leaders and the youth have described President Mills’s assurance of supporting the education of the youth as a step in the right direction.

The Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana and Chairman of the Christian Council of Ghana, the Rt Rev Dr Yaw Frimpong-Manso, said the President’s focus on the youth was very crucial, since “development cannot be complete without investing in the youth”.

He said there was the need for the youth to be educated to appreciate Ghana’s rich heritage and cultural identity.

That, the Rt Rev Dr Frimpong-Manso said, would make the youth patriotic and responsible and make them cherish Ghana’s cultural values.

He urged Ghanaians to get united and “see one another as one people with a common destiny”.
The Most Rev Prof Emmanuel Asante of the Methodist Church of Ghana stressed that investing in children’s education was the only way to secure the country’s future.

The Administrative Manager of the Office of the National Chief Imam, Alhaji Adam Musah Abubakar, said a nation that supported the education of the youth had a secure future.

The General Secretary of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Mr Bernard Mornah, said the youth were the future leaders of the country, hence the need for the government to give them quality education.

He said both the government and teachers had a role in the education of the youth and, therefore, called for collaboration between the government and parents to promote education.

He asked the government to give meaning to the promise to invest in the education of the youth by providing the necessary school infrastructure and motivating teachers to give of their best.

He again asked the government to create employment avenues for the teeming youth in the country.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro, Ms Samia Nkrumah, noted that although Ghana had attained political independence, it was yet to achieve “economic self-reliance”.

She recalled that investing in education was the core policy of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and astressed that supporting the manpower development of the country was the only way in which the country could attain economic independence.

The Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, Mr E.T. Mensah, described the President’s message as timely, as the country was in need of human capital to propel its socio-economic development.
He said what was significant was for the country’s educational institutions to equip the youth with the relevant skills for the job market.

Mr Mensah asked the media to play a lead role in supporting the government’s effort at building the capacity of the youth.

Master Kpormegbe Senanu Apetsi and Ms Akosua Dufie Nyamekye, both winners of this year’s President’s Special Independence Anniversary Awards, said they were happy with government’s assurance to support their education.

They said given the needed encouragement, the youth could unearth their potential and become responsible adults.

Source: Daily Graphic