Accra, Nov, 4, GNA –  Adventures in Diaspora (AiD)  and Friends of the Museum (FOM) in collaboration with Ghana Museums and Monuments board,(GMMB) has extended its projects to include the Science Museum on the Barnes road in Accra.   The initiative begun in 2010, through the support of the Chairman of GMMB, Mr Fritz Baffour, Board Members and the staff.   AiD and FOM, are currently  supporting the National Museum and projects completed to date include, the painting of museums by Coral paints, free internet wi-fi by Airtel, new landscaped lawn by the Ghana Commercial Bank and Chase Petroleum and the installation of 2 huge water tanks by Poly-tank group.   The Science Museum will now be a beneficiary of AiD/FOM campaign, culminating in a raffle draw on October 18th.    The AiD and the FOM therefore organised a musical concert to raise funds towards the the purchase of an project at the Science Museum over the week end.    The event attracted renowned Ghanaian musicians such as Pat Thomas, Ebow Taylor, Ben Brako, Irene Logan and Sami Nukuson .   The theme for the event, “Reviving Ghana's folkloric music tradition” was very much in line with the mandate of AiD and its affiliate, Archi-Afrika, Accra, (AAACCRA) to advocate and highlight the role of creativity and culture in Africa's development agenda.   Mr. Nat Amartefio, Board member of AAACCRA and Co-founder of the Friends of the National Museum said the museum was part of Ghana national heritage and culture.   He said it was the responsibility of all Ghanaians to support the GMMB and embrace “our heritage and refine it from within.”   Mr Joe Osae-Addo, Chairman of Archi-Afrika, re-emphasised the need for the citizenry to complement government’s efforts and become trustees of “our cultural heirlooms.”   He commended companies already supporting them and the new ones such as SafeBond, Krane Construction and Amaechi and Njide family foundation.   He mentioned Golden Tulip Accra and the General Manager of Golden Tulip Kumasi, Mr. Xavier Hubert, who were co-initiators of the AiD series for their support.   Mr Agyiri Sackey, Director of the Science museum said the idea of establishing the museum was the brainchild of the Ghana Academy of Science and Arts 50 years ago.   He said the museum was to serve as a public platform to educate and also link industry, academia and the public.   Mr Sackey said a nation was not classified as developed or under-developed by the natural resources that nation has, but the scientific culture which it applies in its everyday life determines its level of development.   He said AiD, under the ArchiAfrika platform, is dedicated to re-emphasizing the importance of broadening the discourse on Africa's built environment to encompass the role of socio-cultural design inspired development.   GNA...

Winneba, Nov. 4, GNA - Professor Ameyaw Ekumfi, Member of Parliament for Techiman North and former Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has stated that Nana Akufo- Addo’s free Senior High School (SHS) education campaign promise is feasible.      According to him a group of educational think tanks and policy consultants were contacted before the New Patriotic Party (NPP), adopted it into its manifesto.     Prof Ameyaw Ekumfi, who was also former Minister of Port and Harbour in the Kufuor regime, made this known at the Inauguration of the Senior Patriots Club of the University of Education Winneba (UEW) branch in Winneba.      He said it is not true that the policy would affect basic education as being speculated by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) campaign team.      Prof Ameyaw Ekumfi, currently a Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, therefore urged Ghanaians to ignore the NDC communicators and Ministers doubts on the implementation of a free SHS by the NPP.      He said the NPP has facts and figures on how the policy would be implemented to help Ghanaian children, who are less privileged to have access to SHS education.      The former Minister said financing of the policy would not be sourced from outside the country, but rather from the oil revenue, the Get FUND and other sources.      He said the problems of supervision and teacher motivation would be addressed to encourage teachers and other non-teaching staffs to help move the policy forward.      Mr Samuel Kweku Boafo, former Ashanti Regional Minister, urged students, who are mostly members of the Youth wing of NPP, to intensify their educational campaign and educate parents about the importance of a free SHS policy.      He said the NDS’s claim that a free SHS is only attainable in 20 years time cannot be true, adding that, Ghanaians cannot wait for that many years before all children can get free SHS education.      Mr Boafo said the NDC government had incurred huge foreign debts in the area of loans than any government in the history of the country.      Dr Henry Augustine Puffa, Chairman of the Senior Patriots Club of UEW, said the NPP has a dream team to take Ghanaians to the Promised Land.      He said the club would assist the Effutu NPP to wrest power from the NDC in the December 7, elections.   GNA...

Koforidua, Nov. 4, GNA -The New Juaben Municipal Director of the Electoral Commission, Mrs Lydia Sackey has advised political parties contesting this year’s general elections to appoint credible and reliable polling agents to represent them at the polling stations.      She explained that, the credibility of the polling agents enhances the reliability of the overall election results and help to promote peaceful elections.      Mrs Sackey said, however, a situation whereby some polling agents are influenced with money to compromise their position does not promote free, fair and transparent elections.      She therefore urged political parties to scrutinize and assess their polling agents very well before appointing them since their activities could contribute to their victory or defeat at the elections.      Mrs Sackey, who was speaking at the Eastern Regional Inter-party Dialogue meeting at Koforidua ver the weekend, said the EC attaches great importance to the work of polling agents because they act as watchdogs of the election process.      She appealed to all political parties and stakeholders to collaborate with the EC to make this year’s election incident free.      She said this year’ election would be unique in the sense that it is the first time Ghanaians would be using biometric data to vote.      Mrs Sackey said it had become necessary for voters to go through biometric data to vote because the old method of verification did not have built-in mechanism for detecting multiple registrations and voting.      Mr Eric Bortey, Eastern Regional Director of the National Commission Civic Education (NCCE) urged the party’s representatives to give adequate education to their polling agents to make the election peaceful.      All the political parties’ representatives at the meeting pledged their support to the EC and assured to make the exercise successful in the region.   GNA...

Damongo (NR), Nov 4, GNA- President John Dramani Mahama on Saturday appealed to the leadership of the National Democratic Congress to cordially accept members, who left the party but had decided to return.   He said: “In every human organization there are bound to be disagreements and if for one reason or the other they left and are coming back, there should not be any impediment on their way.”   President Mahama, who was addressing an NDC rally at Damongo, as part his campaign tour of the Northern region, said it was not politically expedient to turn away members for the mere reason that they had once left the party.    “Let us see all the returnees as the Biblical prodigal son who was given the best of treatment on his return, because in Multi-party elections, numbers are very crucial and important,” he added.   President Mahama also addressed similar rallies at Kusugwu, Yapei, Fufulso, Busunu, Larabagna, Sawla and Bole, as well as making whistle stops at all the communities along the route to Bole.   He called for unity and cooperation among all members, urging them to eschew complacency and forge ahead to unite all members for a massive victory in the forthcoming g 2012 general election.   The President appealed to all members of Friends of Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings (FONKA) and members of the National Democratic Party to return to the NDC to make it a formidable force capable of winning the December polls in the first round.   He promised to continue and complete all the development projects that were initiated by the late President John Evans Atta Mills and urged the people of the area to vote massively for him to acquire the mandate to execute the projects.   President Mahama said the awarding of the Sawla-Fufulso road and the subsequent construction works going on was ample testimony to the fact that the NDC government was committed to the development of the entire country irrespective of their geographical location, ethnic group or religion.   At Yapei, President Mahama said government had awarded the Yapei small town water system on contract and that work would soon start   Yagbonwura Tutumba Borisah I, King of Gonjaland commended the government for the numerous development projects they had executed in the last four years and appealed to President Mahama to complete all the projects initiated by late President Mills.   He appealed to government to provide all the necessary support that would ensure peaceful and acceptable elections this year.   GNA...

Cape Coast, Nov. 4, GNA - Dr Cadman Kojo Mills, brother of the late President John Atta Mills, on Saturday said Ghanaians would be giving a befitting tribute to the Atta Mills Legacy if they vote massively for the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the December polls.      Dr Mills said Ghanaians must retain the NDC in power to continue with the policies and programmes that the late President Mills started.      He was addressing a large crowd of NDC party supporters in Cape Coast at the Campaign launch of Mr Kweku Ricketts Hagan, Parliamentary aspirant of the Cape Coast South Constituency.    Dr Mills urged party members to work hard and rally behind President Mahama, Vice President Amissah-Arthur and all the NDC parliamentary aspirants.      He charged them to do their campaigns without insults and acrimony and endeavour to preach peace during campaigning. He promised to support in the party’s campaigns.      Mr Hagan, who outlined his vision for the area, promised to do everything to ensure that education becomes accessible and affordable, adding that, he would make sure children from Cape Coast enter the “big secondary schools” in the region.      “I would also develop the tourism industry by building a cultural museum, hotels and restaurants of international standards, establish a modern Information Communication Technology (ICT) Centre, a poultry project and the dredging of the Foso lagoon.” He said the NDC in the last four years had been busy building a strong foundation and that the time had come for the electorate to renew the mandate of the party “to enable us to build on the foundation we have started.”      Mrs Ama Benyiwa Doe Central Regional Minister, urged the people of Cape Coast to reciprocate the gesture of the NDC government, which has provided them with a lot of social amenities, by voting for the party.      Mr Ebow Barton Oduro Member of Parliament for Cape Coast North, said parliament has approved funds for the construction of the Kotokuraba market complex and assured the people that the project would begin soon.      He promised to bring more social interventions to accelerate the pace of development in the area, adding that, the NDC government is committed to the economic freedom of the people. Other speakers at the rally were the Mother of the Vice President, Mrs Effie Amissah Arthur, Anthony Egyir Akins, Cape Coast Metropolitan chief Executive and the Odododiodio parliamentary aspirant, Nii Lantey Vanderpuye.     GNA...