A farmer has gone on trial, accused of biting his brother’s penis during an altercation over the payment of electricity bill. Adjei Amponsah, 30, pleaded not guilty to the charge. He was granted bail in the sum of GH¢6,000.00 with two sureties by the Juaso Circuit Court, presided over by Mr Alex Obeng Asante, to make his next appearance on February 7. Police Detective Inspector Bismark Peasah said the accused lives together with the victim, Kwaku Amponsah, and some tenants in a family house at Patriensa, near Konongo. Amponsah has always had cause to complain anytime he is asked to pay his share of the monthly electricity bill. Matters came to a head about two weeks ago when he flatly refused to pay his part of electricity charges for the months of October and November, last year. This generated heated argument between the two siblings, then a fight, during which he sunk his teeth into the penis of the victim and bit it, resulting in a deep cut. The prosecution said Kwaku bled profusely and was rushed to the Konongo Government Hospital for medical attention and a formal report made to the police.  

  Dr Akwasi Osei, Ag Chief Execution of the Mental Health Authority, says the Authority is liaising with relevant bodies to clear mental health patients from the streets. He said a systematic programme dubbed: "Operation clear the street and unchain mental health patients" is being put in place to take mental patients off the streets for treatment in two to three months and integrate them back into the society. Dr Osei said this at the Mental Health Leadership and Advocacy Programme (mhLAP) stakeholder council meeting during a presentation on: “Mental Health gap in Ghana and how implementation of the Mental Health Law will help bridge the gap.” He explained that the move, which was expected to take effect in the next three months, would be piloted in Accra and Koforidua and scaled up in the rest of the eight regions. He added that the operation was not for the comfort of the public but to ensure that the patients got proper treatment and an opportunity to reunite with their families to continue and enjoy normal life. Dr Osei said the state of mental health in the country was very poor, though among the best in West Africa and that mental health patients suffered serious stigma and discrimination, health centres providing were under-resourced while human rights abuses were widespread. Dr Osei expressed worry that in the age information and communication technology, every little situation people could not find answers to was attributed to superstition. Mr Humphry Kofie, Country Facilitator of mhLA,P said the meeting opened windows of opportunity for stakeholders to understand mental health policies and the gaps in the mental health law. He urged the stakeholders to synergise their effort to fight superstition surrounding mental health and protect the fundamental human rights of mental health patients in the country. Mr Kofie said mental health was not limited to persons with severe conditions but extended to those with mild conditions which are said to be prevalent among persons in all professions.  

The Chinese Government is motivating companies and firms in China to invest massively in the manufacturing sector in Ghana to accelerate  Ghana’s socio-economic development, the Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the  Chinese Embassy in Ghana, Mr Gao Wenzhi, has said. “We are not only encouraging various companies in China to buy shares in manufacturing industries in Ghana to expand their operations but also motivating them to set up industries to manufacture various products that will boost  Ghana’s economy,” he said. Mr Gao made the remark during a meeting with a cross-section of beneficiaries of Chinese sponsorship programmes in Accra last Tuesday. About 14 representatives of the ministries of Education, Health, Energy and Petroleum, Finance, as well as the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) and The Finder, who had benefited from a human resource development and co-operation programme sponsored by the Chinese Government, attended the meeting. The meeting was to provide a platform for the participants to share their experiences and achievements from the seminars and training programmes. It was also to enable Mr Gao to gather first-hand information for a review of the programme where necessary. Addressing the meeting, Mr Gao said the reason for China’s desire to set up manufacturing industries in Ghana was to help accelerate its economy, adding that no nation could develop without making good investments in its manufacturing sector. “Infrastructure  also needs to be improved in Ghana to accelerate development and we will try our best to support you at that level,” he promised. He said like Ghana, China was a developing country but it had been trying to provide aid to other developing countries.  Mr Gao explained that it was because the Chinese Government attached great importance to human resource development that it had, over the years, been sponsoring people from developing countries, including Ghana, to attend seminars and other training programmes in China. Ghanaian beneficiaries Since 2003, more than 2,500 Ghanaians have participated in programmes on human resource in China. The courses had covered 20 fields, including agriculture, health and hygiene, trade and the economy, education, ICT, anti-terrorism and marine fisheries. He said about 10,000 people from developing countries received training in China every year. Explaining why the Chinese Government attached so much importance to the programme, Mr Gao said a programme developed on bilateral basis tended to be more effective because it was specific to the needs of a partner and, therefore, helped to achieve the needed goals. In his contribution, the Director of Newspapers at the GCGL, Mr Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh, expressed concern over the cost of visa application for participants and called for its review. He also suggested that media personnel sponsored to attend such programmes be attached to media houses in China.

President John Dramani Mahama Wednesday inaugurated a six-member advisory committee of the Ghana Infrastructure Fund (GIF) at the Flagstaff House with a charge to the committee to work hard to address the country’s infrastructure deficit. He said Ghana's current infrastructure deficit of between $1.2 billion and $ 1.5 billion needed to be tackled head-on and expressed confidence in the committee’s ability to work assiduously to tackle the challenge. The committee would, among others, prepare the fund’s take-off. The members of the committee include: Mr Ato Ahwoi, Chairman of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation;  Mr Lionel Van Lare Oslo, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ecobank Ghana; Mr Tenu Awoonor, an investment banker; Madam Hannah Amoateng, an Economic Consultant; Dr Emmanuel Oteng Kumah, Economic Consultant, and Mr Seth Tekper, Minister of Finance and Economic Planning. Genesis of the fund During the presentation of the 2014 Budget Statement to Parliament, the finance minister announced the government's decision to set up the GIF to deal with the huge infrastructure deficit. The fund will focus on strategic infrastructure that can result in job creation and propel the growth of the economy and operate in partnership with the private sector. Potential sources of funds include appropriations by Parliament, escrowed and in-lent funds from prior investments, and foreign funds from multilateral institutions and development banks. President Mahama said the committee would report regularly to the Cabinet as preparations for its launch went ahead and indicated that the government was determined to adopt noble ways of fixing the infrastructure challenge of the nation. Mr Ahwoi responds Speaking on behalf of the committee, Mr Ahwoi promised that members would work to the best of their ability to support the President realise his laudable vision for the nation. "We want to see infrastructure development progress and we would not fail you ( President) and the nation," he assured. Mr Ahwoi said they would use four months to draw a programme of action for the fund’s take-off. He said similar funds had been successful in countries like South Africa and South Korea and expressed optimism that Ghana would also get there.

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the La-Nkwantanang Madina Municipal Assembly, Mr Franklin Anku, has inspected ongoing road projects in the municipality. He was accompanied by the Municipal Roads Engineer, Kobina Ennim, and the Municipal Co-ordinating Director, Alhaji Saaka Dramani. The road projects include the Melcom road, Coleman Bakery road, and the Redco-Agbogba road, all located within Madina. Road construction Speaking to journalists, Mr Anku said the tour was to assess the progress of work on the roads, adding “we are committed to the development of all roads in the municipality.” Mr Anku told journalists that when completed, those roads would help reduce traffic in the municipality and boost economic activities in the area. He also gave an assurance that all major roads in the municipality would receive a facelift soon. Roads Engineer According to Mr Ennim, the roads inspected were about 60 per cent complete. He stated that “these road projects would be completed by March before the rainy season sets in.” “These roads already had drains and had been covered with gravel, so we are further upgrading them into  modern ones.”  He told journalists that a challenge to the construction of roads in the municipality was the encroachment of lands earmarked for roads.

The Tamale Sister Cities, in collaboration with the Trull Foundation,  a United States-based non-governmental organisation ( NGO), has presented cheques totalling $37,900 to eight local NGOs operating in the Tamale metropolis. The grants from the Trull Foundation were to support the beneficiary organisations that worked in five thematic areas namely, health, education, sanitation, cultural and peace building  to undertake their activities for the year. Beneficiaries The beneficiary organisations are Metropolitan Parent-Teacher Association Network, Center for Social Advocacy and Development in Northern Ghana (CENSAD), Pagbi Min Bipola Legbimsim Association (PAGABILLA), association for the empowerment of women and youth and Lively Minds Ghana. The rest are : Tahama Youth Development Association- Lingbinga, Suglo N-Nya Behigu Women's Association, Trust Narrow Organisation and Net Organisation for Youth Empowerment and Development. The beneficiary organisations were selected out of the 22 CBOs and local NGOs in Tamale that presented their proposals for funding to the foundation. Foundation support The foundation has so far supported 45 CBOs and local NGOs in Tamale with  $351,900 since the inception of the programme nine years ago. Speaking at the presentation ceremony, Mr Kojo Kaleem, the immediate past president of the Tamale Sister Cities said each year, the Trull Foundation received proposals from local NGOs in Tamale and after assessment, the foundation provided those that were successful with funding to undertake their activities. Tamale Sister Cities He said the Tamale Sister Cities usually received the funding on behalf of the beneficiaries and subsequently presented them with the cheques on behalf of the foundation. Mr Kaleem said the Tamale Sister Cities , the local representatives of the Trull Foundation, had put in place a comprehensive monitoring mechanism to ensure that the funding received by the beneficiary organisations were used for the purposes for which they were given. The Chief Executive Officer ( CEO) of PAGABILA, Hajia Adishetu Salifu, on behalf of the beneficiary organisations, thanked the Trull Foundation for the support and pledged that they would use the money for its intended purposes.

The Accra Fast Track High Court has adjourned to February 5, 2014 the case involving Christian Sheriff Asem Darkei, the man at the centre of the shipment and disappearance of 77 parcels of cocaine. The adjournment is to enable new lawyers for Darkei to study the court proceedings for him to open his defence.  Darkei, aka the Limping Man, who was to open his defence in December last year, could not do so because his lawyers withdrew their services. The court, therefore, adjourned the case to January 29, 2014 to allow the accused to employ the services of a lawyer to enable him to open his defence. Darkei is alleged to have played a major role in the shipment of 2,310 kilogrammes of cocaine, with a face value of $138.6 million, into the country in April 2006.  The prosecution closed its case on April 23, 2013. Arrest Darkei was arrested by BNI officials at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital on February 2, 2012 upon a tip-off, after he had been pursued for years by the security agencies. He had gone to the hospital to seek medical treatment. He has, however, pleaded not guilty to three counts of conspiracy, importation and exportation of narcotic drugs. Facts of the case It is the case of the prosecution that around midnight on April 26, 2006, a vessel, the MV Benjamin, reportedly carrying about 77 parcels of cocaine, with each parcel weighing 30 kilogrammes, docked at Kpone/Tema and discharged the parcels. The parcels were offloaded into a waiting vehicle which carried them away. According to the prosecution, in the course of investigations, Darkei’s name featured prominently as the importer and/or owner of the drug. He was said to be the person who had chartered the vessel at a cost of $150,000 to tow another vessel from Guinea to Ghana and, subsequently, carted the alleged 77 parcels. Shipowner jailed The disappearance of the cocaine led to the constitution of the Justice Georgina Wood Committee and the subsequent trial of persons alleged to have played various roles in the importation. In July 2008, the Accra Fast Track High Court, presided over by Mr Justice Anin Yeboah, now a Supreme Court judge, convicted and sentenced Joseph Kojo Dawson, the owner of the MV Benjamin and Managing Director of Dashment Company Limited; Isaac Arhin, a sailor; Phillip Bruce Arhin, a mechanic; Cui Xian Li, the vessel engineer, and Luo Yui Xing, a sailor, all crew members of the MV Benjamin, to 25 years’ imprisonment each with hard labour.  Bruce Arhin, however, died about three weeks after his conviction. The convicts, including Arhin, were found guilty of using property for narcotic offences, engaging in prohibited business relating to narcotics and possession of narcotic drugs without lawful authority. A sixth accused person, Pak Bok Sil, a Korean, was, on October 16, 2007, acquitted and discharged by the court which had held, during a ruling on a submission of ‘no case’, that the prosecution had failed to prove a case against him.

The Greenfield School at Agona Swedru has presented assorted items to the Children’s Ward of the Swedru Government Hospital to support the upkeep of children on admission at the health facility. The items, worth GH¢1,000, included fruits, toiletries, assorted soaps, tins of Milo and milk, biscuits, fruit juices and detergents. The school also paid the outstanding medical bills of two children, totalling GH¢205, and registered them with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Presenting the items on behalf of the school, Miss Martha Osabutey said the gesture was to show love to the children admitted to the hospital and put smiles on their faces. She noted that most of the items presented were made available by the students and the objective was to inculcate the habit of giving in the schoolchildren so that they could make it part of their lives when they grew up. She stated that most children admitted to the hospital needed to be shown care and affection so that they could respond to treatment quickly. Mr Prince Aboagye Mante, a patron of the Bible Fellowship of the school, added that the gesture would be incorporated into the calendar of the school so that it would be done annually to support institutions that were in need. The Deputy Director of Nursing Services of the hospital, Mrs Levina Tetteh, who received the items on behalf of the administration, thanked the school for the assistance.

The Brong Ahafo Region has launched a project to involve citizens in the planning processes in metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs). The project is being implemented by the Social Development and Improvement Agency (SODIA), a non-governmental organisation, to address the issue of low involvement of citizens, particularly marginalised groups such as people with disabilities, women and the youth, in the decentralised planning processes in the Brong Ahafo Region. A research conducted by SODIA in some of the rural communities in the region revealed that the sub-district structures on which participatory governance hinged were not properly developed. This presupposes that the foundations of participation at the district level are weak and unsupportive of the decentralisation drive of the country. The 12-month project, which is being sponsored by STAR-Ghana at a cost of US$ 80,000, started in January, this year, and will end in December.  The project is being piloted in three districts in the region, namely Asutifi South, Tano South, and the Sunyani Municipality. The project will ensure that the needs of citizens, particularly marginalised groups, are reflected in the Districts’ Medium Term Development Plans (DMTDPs) in the three districts. It will also strengthen partnership with the Parliamentary Select Committee on Local Governance and Decentralisation, as well as the Regional Planning Co-ordinating Unit (RPCU), to promote citizen participation in the decentralised planning in the three districts. The Executive Director of Social Development and improvement Agency, Mr Aziiz Issifu, who launched the project, explained that the project would enhance awareness of citizens in the development planning processes of the MMDAs. He said the project activities would include planning, the development of terms of reference, and hiring of an external consultant to conduct baseline survey to establish project parameters. He said the project organisers would hold baseline validation workshop and that there would be media engagement on the baseline survey at the district level to mobilise support for the project. He said they would also organise interface meetings with the MMDAs to discuss Area Council Action Plans, as well as plan and carry out field monitoring in 12 communities in three MMDAs using jointly agreed indicators.

The leadership of the Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council has cautioned national leaders to thread cautiously at any attempts to endorse Genetically Modified (GM) foods. It said any decision of that nature must be put on hold now while the international debate on the controversial issue was still ongoing. Critical questions The council said Ghanaians must participate in the debate and ask critical questions about who stood to benefit from the introduction of the GM foods and seeds, and at what cost to individuals and the nation. A statement dated January 24, 2014, issued by the council in Accra, said they had noted the arguments on both sides of the debate and opined that there were serious questions to be asked. The council asked, for instance, about who would be at the receiving end of the final decision respected in that debate. It also posed the big question; “Why do we need the GM seeds and food in our system?” It again asked: “Can we improve our current system of farming such as to increase productivity without recourse to genetic engineering of the seeds, and what happens to our local farmers and the existing seeds and methods of farming if we endorse GM foods?” Besides, the council wanted to know whether or not the scientific information and advice we received on GM food were independent enough, and why the voice of local research scientists was not being heard on the issue.” Improving farming practices As all await the outcome of the debate, the council urged the government to  put in place a pragmatic approach to improve the current methods of farming, including irrigation, storage facilities, as well as the marketing of farm produce.  Local produce “There must also be a deliberate attempt to promote the patronage of local produce which would bring economic and social benefits to farmers and the nation. “For example, the government can consider a policy that would enable all state-assisted senior high schools and the school feeding programme to use the produce of our local farmers,” it suggested. Security Touching on other important national issues, the statement noted the good work of the Police Service and its leader, the Inspector General of Police (IPA), as well as the government, in promoting the security of the people. “We are witnessing a clear and visible presence of the police in some of our cities and, particularly, on the streets.  “This move by the IGP is most commendable as it reduces crime, road accidents and indiscipline by motorists and pedestrians,” the statement said, and expressed the hope that the arrangement would be extended to other parts of the country, especially on the highways. We would also like to commend the government for the appointment of the first woman as director of the Ghana Prisons Service. It is hoped that she would bring her “motherly spirit” to bear on the administration of the service and transformation of the inmates. Environmental pollution Another critical issue the statement touched on was the pollution of the environment, in which case the council was concerned about the water bodies that continued to be attacked by human activities. “Similarly, we are alarmed at the rate at which farmlands are being acquired by mining companies, as well as the destruction caused by galamsey operators,” it said. In that respect, the council stressed the need for all Ghanaians and recognised bodies, including private companies, district, municipal and metropolitan assemblies, chiefs, churches and other religious bodies to assist the central government in addressing the critical issues of sanitation and drainage in the towns and cities, as well as the pollution of water bodies, particularly in the mining areas of the country. Mushrooming of churches Touching on the proliferation of independent churches with associated challenges of charlatans who exploit vulnerable people in society, the council said “These activities do not only undermine the integrity of the Gospel of Christ but also has the potential of making people become disillusioned with Christianity and religion as a whole.” It, therefore, suggested the formation of “religious self-regulatory bodies” that would evaluate and give advice on the activities of independent pastors and churches. The council appealed to the media to be more circumspect in the programmes they put on air for public consumption, particularly on the TV and radio stations. Bribery and corruption On the fight against bribery and corruption, the council challenged the Christian community to lead the way and also encourage the government to strengthen the existing institutions that dealt with the destructive menace to enable them to perform creditably. The council said curriculum for civic, cultural, religious and moral education for our schools must be reviewed with the view to inculcating community values and ethical principles in children before they graduate and take private and public offices in the nation.  On that score, it stressed the need for the nation to encourage and celebrate local people who took the initiative and the risk to establish businesses in this country.

The Director of Community Policing of the Ghana Police Service, Chief Superintendent Abiba Twumasi Sarpong, has advised persons in realationships who suffer abuse by their partners to take positive steps to address their problems. “When you are abused, you should report the matter to the nearest police station instead of sitting down for such violence to be repeated again and again and suffer in silence,” she said. Chief Supt Sarpong was addressing members of the Calvary Congregation of the Presbyterian Church at Abesim, near Sunyani, as part of her tour of the Brong Ahafo Region. Tour of the region The tour, which has already taken her to other parts of the region, is aimed at educating and creating awareness among the people about the increasing spate of spousal murders in the country and what the people should do to curb the trend. Chief Supt Sarpong said it was unfortunate that spouses, especially the women, who were repeatedly abused and later pacified with gifts, had their minds conditioned to consider such gifts as “show of love”. She called on members of the various communities to be one another’s keeper and give the police tip-offs to enable them to step in on time to save spouses who were continuously abused. Chief Supt Sarpong explained that the Community Policing Department of the Ghana Police Service had adopted a proactive way to constantly engage people in the various communities and groups to educate them about the new trends in crime in the country. “The police are now proactive and will always go to the people. Ghanaians should be prepared to volunteer information on time by calling 18555 or 191 on Vodafone and MTN,” she said. Reporting spousal abuse  Chief Supt Sarpong explained that reporting spousal abuse to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVSSU) did not mean the dissolution of marriages, adding that it was not in all cases that spouses were arrested. She said in some cases, the spouses were counselled and monitored to curb the perpetuation of such violence. Answering questions from members of the congregation, Supt Sarpong explained that there was no law requiring the payment of monies before one could seek bail for people who had been arrested by the police. “You should be aware that both the giver and the receiver of bribes are guilty before the law,” she said. Wrong perception about the police She added that the perception that some personnel of the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service collected monies from drivers was a dent on the image of the service. Chief Supt Sarpong said the police administration had already mounted surveillance to ensure that such unscrupulous police personnel were weeded out of the service. Chief Supt Sarpong called on religious leaders to devote part of their sermon to educating the people to be aware of new trends in crime to enable them to adopt measures  to not fall into the traps of criminals. The Brong Ahafo Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Police Service, Chief Supt Christopher Tawiah, appealed to the people to consider the police as their friends and not enemies. The minister in-charge of the church, Reverend Wilberforce Takyi, commended the police for adopting a proactive method to curb crime and expressed the hope that the gesture would not be a nine-day wonder.

The fuel shortage that hit Accra is beginning to ease, as some of the fuel stations have begun receiving supplies.  A number of the filling stations received petrol last Tuesday, while others were supplied with the commodity Wednesday. However, many others were yet to receive their consignment. When the Daily Graphic visited some filling stations at Nima, Airport, Asylum Down and Adabraka, a few fuel tankers were seen discharging petrol into reservoirs at the stations. Absence of vehicular queues Tankers that had already supplied fuel to the stations were parked, while others were leaving the stations. The unusually long vehicular queues that formed at most of the fuel stations last Monday were absent. At the Goil Service Station at Nima, there was no petrol, though the station had an adequate supply of diesel. Insufficient supply The manager of the station, Mr S. O. Peprah, said since the beginning of this year, petrol supply to his station had been “insufficient, as we do not get the normal supply”. “I was supplied petrol just this Monday but I had run out of stock as of Tuesday,” he complained, blaming the shortage partly on inadequate supply and panic buying among motorists. There was petrol for sale to motorists at the Nima Shell Station but the Station Director, Mr Edward Botwe, said,“Since we had insufficient supply on Tuesday, we will run out of stock today.”   He claimed that Shell was rationing fuel to its retail outlets. Frustration at shortage A 57-year-old taxi driver, Mr Kwame Nyame, who was refuelling his vehicle at the Total Filling Station at the Farrar Avenue, Adabraka, said most filling stations he had driven to did not have petrol. “Much as it is frustrating going to places and being told there is no fuel, I think things are beginning to improve,” he said.  Mr Adu Poku, another motorist, was disturbed by “the inability of the government to ensure continuous supply of petrol throughout the country”. “Everything has to do with fuel and we cannot afford enduring these messy shortages,” he fumed. More fuel expected When contacted, the Chief Executive of the Association of Oil Marketing Companies, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Duah, blamed the persistent fuel shortage in the country partly on congestion of delivery fuel tankers at the Tema depot. “Presently, many tankers are held up at the Tema depot, awaiting deliveries to supply to the various stations across the country,” he said. Besides, he said, there had been delays by vessels bringing petrol into the country. However, Mr Agyeman-Duah said a vessel carrying 32.2 million litres of petrol had berthed at the Tema Port, adding that other vessels carrying a total of 131 million litres were expected in the country by January 31. “As you know, the consumption of petrol in Ghana is 32 million litres a week and so we anticipate that the entire 131 million litres will last for more than three weeks,” he said.

The Supreme Court Wednesday dashed the hopes of more than 4,000 former casual workers of the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GHAPOHA) of getting extra compensation for a redundancy exercise carried out by the authority in 2002. The court, by a unanimous decision, dismissed the case on the grounds that the legal team of the retrenched casual workers failed to, among other things, do due diligence on the case. It, therefore, upheld a 2007 Court of Appeal ruling which declined to affirm a Tema High Court decision that ordered GHAPOHA to pay severance awards to its former casual employees. Court speaks Reading the judgement on behalf of the five-member panel, presided over by Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, the Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Rose Comfort Owusu, described the decision as a painful loss for the workers. “I say ‘painfully’ because it is not that the appellants did not have a case to pursue but they have lost because their case was not well-handled with due diligence,” she said. The stunned former casual workers watched in disbelief as their case, which had travelled through the legal mill for the past 11 years, crumbled before the highest court of the land.   Making reference to a legal precedent, the court said, “In undertaking their clients’ business, legal practitioners guaranteed the existence and due employment of skill and diligence on their part.” “Regrettably, the appellants who have been treated so unfairly by the respondent authority leave here without any redress and their plight rather worsened off,” it said. Among other things, the court had issues with the inability of counsel for the respondents to amend the list of plaintiffs in the writ, even though the High Court had granted him leave to do so and also that the plaintiff’s counsel did not take advantage of negotiations when he was faced with statute of limitation challenges. More than an hour after the court had pronounced its judgement, the bewildered casual workers stood in front of the Supreme Court building discussing the outcome of the case. Others with their faces buried in their palms, as if to hide their pain and tears, leaned on the Supreme Court building, most probably as the implication of the loss of the case began to dawn on them. Facts of  the case          On July 11, 2003, the retrenched workers filed a suit at the High Court against GHAPOHA, seeking damages for breaching the provisions of their collective bargaining agreement (CBA), and asked the court to award compensation for maintaining them as casual workers in violation of their economic rights under the Constitution. They also sought an order that compensation packages payable for severance of permanent employees be paid to them and interest on all sums found due and owing them at the bank rate from October 1, 2002 to the date of judgement. The court, on January 18, 2006, entered judgement in favour of the ex-workers. It ordered GHAPOHA to pay ¢5 million to each ex-worker for breach of the collective bargaining agreement and ¢10 million to each for each year of service “after the expiration of 154 continuous working days” for keeping them as casual workers. Furthermore, the court ordered the authority to pay severance awards comprising three months’ salary for each year of service, ¢3 million in lieu of rent, ¢2 million as medicals, two bags of rice, two gallons of oil, ¢1.5 million conveyance fees, bonus for 2001, five months’ salary as handshake, interest from October 2001 and ¢10 million as costs. GHAPOHA’s appeal GHAPOHA appealed against the court’s decision on the grounds that the trial judge gave judgement for 3,839 workers plus a further 356 plaintiffs as if they were parties to the action, although the record of proceedings and relevant rules of the court established that they were not. It argued that the trial judge’s finding that the authority acted illegally and unlawfully in treating the ex-workers as non-permanent employees was erroneous, since there was no evidence on record of the period of employment of each plaintiff, adding, “There is no evidence that any of the plaintiffs had worked satisfactorily for 154 days in any year to qualify for upgrading as permanent employees or to warrant the finding of the trial judge that GHAPOHA breached the collective bargaining agreement.” Giving a background to the case, Justice Owusu said at the High Court, “the writ of summons had five persons named and others in quote as plaintiffs.  The writ was accompanied by an addendum filed on the same day which stated that a full and a comprehensive detailed list of all the plaintiffs would be submitted subsequently”. The plaintiffs later filed the list of persons of about 3,839, the trial proceeded to its conclusion and the High Court entered judgement for the named plaintiffs and the others who were listed in the addendum.  In the course of the proceedings, an application was filed to amend the writ to add 356 more people as plaintiffs. “Even though the application was granted by the High Court, with an order that the title of the writ be amended to include the 356 employees as plaintiffs, the order was never complied with, but the trial proceeded to conclusion and judgement entered in favour of the named plaintiffs and the others purported to be plaintiffs, as well as the 356 others who were to be joined following the leave granted for them to join the case, which was never carried out,” she said. Appeal court However, when the case went to the Court of Appeal, GHAPOHA had argued that the trial judge erred by giving judgement in favour of the 3,839 and the 356 employees as plaintiffs in the action. GHAPOHA had maintained that the list of persons filed by the plaintiff after issuing the writ did not represent the plaintiffs called at the trial. Further, the 356, GHAPOHA insisted, could not be recognised as plaintiffs, as no steps were taken to implement the order of the High Court to join them as parties to the action, pursuant to the grant of application for joinder. GHAPOHA canvassed the same argument at the Supreme Court. The case travelled to the Court of Appeal where, on April 20, 2007, the court declined to endorse the High Court’s ruling. Writer's email: [email protected]

A police officer with the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) at Tesano has been interdicted for allegedly assaulting a 13-year-old girl. Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mrs Experanza Ayensu is said to have caned the girl as an act of discipline. A statement signed by the Director-General of Police Public Affairs, Deputy Commissioner of Police Reverend David Nenyi Ampah-Bennin, and issued yesterday announced the sanction by the Police Administration. According to the statement, the interdiction was to enable the Police Administration to carry out investigations into the conduct of the police officer at the DOVVSU, Tesano Desk. It said the Police Administration considered the act an infringement on the child’s rights.

The Omanhene of the Kwahu Traditional Area, Daasebre Akuamoah Boateng, is dead. The 80-year-old chief, who reigned for 42 years, died at the Kwahu Government Hospital at Atibie on September 7, 2013. The Twafohene of the Kwahu Traditional Area, Nana Ameyaw Gyensiamah III, who announced the Omanhene’s death at a durbar of the chiefs, elders and queenmothers of the area at Abene, the seat of the traditional authority, said  Daasebre Boateng became sick last year and was flown to Switzerland and England for treatment. But when the physicians there could not heal him, he was brought back for treatment locally. The late Omanhene was enstooled in 1971 as the Kwahumanhene and was later elected President of the Eastern Regional House of Chiefs for two consecutive terms between 1982 and 1989. He was also elected Vice-President of the National House of Chiefs from 1985 to 1988. The late Daasebre Boateng was appointed the Chairman of the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) from 2001 to 2009. He was a lawyer by profession and known in private life as Nana Kofi Ampadu Acheampong. Nana Gyensiamah, who is also the Kwahu Tafohene,  said funeral arrangements would be announced later. 

Widows and widowers of the Good Shepherd Methodist Church at North Kaneshie in Accra dancing with Mr S.K. Antwi, (2nd riht), a member of the church, who organised a party for them. The programme was the sixth to be organised by the benefactor. Mr Antwi, ­­who was a former Director of Adminstration at the Methodist Headquarters, said he saw it as a duty to help the widows and widowers and also give them all the support they needed to enter the New Year with hope and positive expectation. He asked them to put their faith in the Lord because He alone could provide them with all their needs. Apart from providing them with food and drinks, they were also presented with parcels donated by Madam Sonia Antwi, wife of Mr Antwi.