EX-PREZ RAWLINGS ACCUSES GOV’T OF COMPLICITY IN ANLO CHIEFTAINCY TROUBLES

Story: Victor Kwawukume, Akatsi

Ex-President Rawlings today accused government of complicity in the attempt to install an illegitimate person as paramount chief of the Anlo Traditional Area saying it was a deliberate attempt by the Kufuor administration to desecrate the sacredness of the Anlo stool.

Mr. Rawlings said that there were no factions in the Anlo chieftaincy problem but that it was the people of Anlo and the government of Ghana that are the only identified factions.

He said that the chieftaincy institution is the embodiment of the souls of the people of Anlo adding that government therefore, cannot use the police and military to illegally install a chief for the people of Anlo or anywhere in the country.

He was addressing a rally at Akatsi to outdoor new membership cards for the Ave-Avenor Constituency of the National Democratic Congress.

Ex-president Rawlings accused President Kufuor of being the brain behind the mayhem at Anloga recently saying it was an illegal act by the Kufuor administration to install someone who was no where near the throne.

He described it as an attempt to “desecrate the spirituality of the throne”.

On the 2008 general elections, he entreated party faithful not to think that there was going to be any free nor fair elections but that it was incumbent on them on them to work hard and ensure vigilance towards the NDC winning the elections.

He charged them to be careful in their choice of candidates to stand on the parliamentary tickets of the party saying they should choose people who are capable of winning the elections distinctly.

Mr. Rawlings warned that because the NPP knew that that they will not win next years elections, they have planned to resort to violence as a means of holding on to power.

He said that in the 2000 elections, the NPP did not have any money but succeeded in winning the elections through lies, deceit and ‘pollution of the people’s mind’.

In 2004, he said, the NPP were aware that the NDC was going to win the elections by 70 per cent and therefore resorted to all fraudulent means to rig the elections.

The only way for the party to be well placed to fight towards returning to power in the 2008 elections, he said, was through proper resourcing of the party and called members to be committed in the payment of their party dues.

He reminded them that the party belongs to them and that they should not allow anyone to take it away from them.`

Earlier, the Volta Regional Chairman of the NDC, Mr. Modestus Ahiable called ob government to heed calls for the setting up of an independent judicial committee to bring out the truth in what occurred at Anloga on Thursday, 1, November, 2007 when youths of Anlo clashed with the Police when attempts were being made to install Mr. Francis Nyonyo Agboada as Awoamefia of the Anlo Traditional Area.

The clashes led to the death of three civilians and a police constable. One other person who was arrested as a suspect later died in police cells.

He said the Anlo Kingdom was indomitable and that no government or person would succeed in subverting it.

Mr. Ahiable assured the teeming supporters who patronised the gathering that God had not forgotten about them and that with hard work and industry, they would take over the reins of power come 2008.

For his part, the Member of Parliament for the Ave-Avenor Constituency, Hon Edward Doe Adjaho reiterated calls by independent bodies for the removal of Mr. Bernard Dery as Police Commander in charge of the Volta Region.

He also made remarks regarding the “hell” they went through in securing police permit to go ahead with the rally because the NPP had also planned a counter rally.

Mr. Adjaho called on members to endeavour to win members of the NPP who had become disillusioned by their party’s policies and programmes into the NDC saying the NDC stands for the truth.

HO DOCTORS FEEL INSECURE….. threaten to seek mass transfer

Story: Victor Kwawukume, Ho

Medical doctors at the Volta Regional Hospital have threatened to seek mass transfer from the region citing insecurity and increased threats to their lives, families and properties.

Their call came in the midst of five burglaries to five medical doctors over a period of one month.

In the face of these situations, they have claimed that they are unable to go about their duties with full concentration and would as an option, seek mass transfer to places in the country where their safety and security would be guaranteed.

In one instance, one of the doctors, Dr, Anthony Ashinyo was called to attend to an emergency at 12 midnight, but while he was responding to duty call and operating on a pregnant woman, another operation was taking place at his home which led to the theft of two laptops that contained crucial medical data and other personal belongings.

In another case, one Dr. Gowu was returning from work when he saw a truck carrying what looked like the belongings of a family who were either moving away or were coming to settle in the area.

Little did he know that the belongings were his and that thieves had broken into his home and virtually ransacked the entire house and gone away with all his properties.

Others also had unpleasant tales to tell about burglaries that had taken place in their homes whilst they were away or sleeping after a hard day’s work.

Police sources confirmed that they had received complaints about the burglaries that took place at the residences of some doctors of the hospital.

However, the straw that broke the camel’s back was an attempt to kidnap a nurse who also works at the Regional Hospital.

Larry Lumor Gota was walking from his house around the Nursing Training College last Sunday, when a vehicle stopped by him and a whiteman together with a woman and a third person alighted and attempted forcing him into the vehicle.

At that instant, two other persons on a motorbike came along and tried assisting the other three to push Larry into the vehicle.

But for the alarm he raised and the alertness of neighbours, Larry would have been kidnapped and taken away for reasons that were still unknown to him.

Luckily, the vehicle registration number and that of the motorbike were taken and the matter was quickly reported to the police.

A police source told the ‘Daily Graphic’ that the whiteman, a Dutch, had told the police that his house had been burgled the previous day and the description that his housemaid gave of the burglar resembled Larry and so he wanted to take him to his house for the housemaid to identify him.

Official police sources have been silent on the issue and would not give details of it to the press and this has also engendered the threat of the doctors to leave the region seeing that the police did not want to protect their interest.

Investigations by the ‘Daily Graphic’ however indicated that the Bureau of National Investigation and the office of the Regional Security Co-ordinator are not taking the issues lightly and are therefore taking steps to investigate the matter and also to forestall any other attack on any doctor.

A source close to the office of the Regional Security apparatus told this reporter that security had been beefed up in the medical village area where most doctors lived and that they had instituted round-the-clock security surveillance and that any consequent attempt by burglars would be effectively dealt with.

QUASHIGAH ADVOCATES REGENERATIVE HEALTH

Story: Victor Kwawukume, Tegbi

The Minister of Health, Major (retd) Courage Quashigah has called for a nation-wide campaign aimed at gearing the mindsets of Ghanaians towards grasping the principles of healthy living and the avoidance of preventable deaths.

According to him, the nation’s dream of attaining a middle-income status by 2015 was attainable if the benefits of good health could be exploited towards that goal.

“If we can prevent diseases and accidents, then we will have a longer, healthier life and save money towards development”, he stressed.

Major (retd) Quashigah was speaking at the opening ceremony of a five-day training for 60 strategically selected persons in the Keta District of the Volta Region who are being trained as agents of change in the campaign to conscientise the people of the district on regenerative health.

He bemoaned that a greater chunk of the nation’s wealth was being spent on ill-health adding that there was a need to change this trend if the nation aspired to reach the middle-income status by 2015.

“We have degenerated our health over the years but we can regenerate it by changing our lifestyles and eating right”, he advised.

The Keta District Director of Health Services, Dr. Atsu Seake-Kwao observed that non-communicable diseases and chronic degenerative health factors had led to a rise in premature deaths in the area.

He said that those who died from such causes were mostly in the productive age group of 25-49 years, adding that the role of nutrition could not be ruled out in the effort to curtail such premature deaths.

The District Chief Executive, Mr. Edward Ahiabor called on the trainees to ensure that they assimilate the training for them to become effective agents of change and advocates of good living in the district.

He also appealed for government to take a critical look at the Horticultural sector since under the new paradigm of regenerative health, farmers in this sector would be expected to step-up the production of vegetables and fruits for consumption.

Mr. Ahiabor called on stakeholders in the district to enforce laws on sanitation and also organise frequent clean-up exercises in order to avoid the outbreak of diseases.

GLOBAL EVANGELICAL CHURCH ON NATIONAL ISSUES

Story: Victor Kwawukume, Ho

The Chairman of the Ho Presbytery of the Global Evangelical Church Rev. Emmanuel Barrigah has expressed concern over the politicisation of the current energy crisis facing the country, describing it as sad and unfortunate.

“It is sad to note that a matter of serious national concern such as the current energy crisis has also fallen into the bowl of politicisation”, he lamented.

He has, therefore, appealed to both government and the opposition parties to put aside partisan considerations and look at the current crisis as very serious and a threat to all the economic gains that have been made so far by the nation.

Rev. Barrigah was delivering an address to open the 2007 Conference of the Presbytery Representative Committee of the Ho Presbytery of the Global Evangelical Church in Ho today.

The conference which is on the theme “Striving for Excellence” would address matters affecting the church and other issues that border on the overall development agenda of the nation.

He observed that a multi-party approach would be needed in the quest to finding lasting solutions to the energy crisis saying, “let us all pool our resources and all that we can contribute together to find a lasting solution to this problem”.

The presbytery also commended government for the introduction of the National Youth Employment Programme and suggested that government takes steps to address the perception that the “laudable project is also taking on a partisan garb” that only ruling party members are being considered for the job opportunities available.

One other issue that he expressed worry about was what he described as “the dangerous phenomenon of Mob Justice or is it “Mob Injustice” creeping into the society” which should be nipped in the bud.

While commending the Police and other security agencies for their efforts in curbing the rate of crime in the society, he expressed the hope that they would step up their efforts and build the confidence of the public in them so that the practice of mob justice would be stopped.

He, however, appealed to the citizenry to exercise restraint whenever they lay hands on a suspected criminal and hand them over to the police for appropriate action instead of meting out instant justice to such suspects adding that “instant justice is injustice”.

The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) he observed, still continues to face problems in its implementation and urged government and all stakeholders to work towards removing the bottlenecks in the implementation of the programme.

Rev. Barrigah said that the church had taken note of the recent introduction of reforms in the educational sector and expressed the hope that the reforms introduced would improve the delivery of quality education to the citizenry so as to ensure effective national development.

Dr. Nathaniel Sodzi who was the guest of honour at the ceremony admonished the church not to depend on government but to make itself self-reliant in order to complement the efforts of government at bringing betterment to the citizenry.

He exhorted the church to do well to bring up their children in the fear of God so that they could grow up to become meaningful citizens committed to the cause of national growth and development.

LESSONS FROM THE ALAVANYO-NKONYA PEACE PROCESS

By: Victor Kwawukume

“If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies”.

This remarkable statement was made by no lesser a person than a former Israeli military powerhouse and later, a Foreign Affairs Minister of Israel, Moshe Dayan (1915-1981).

This was after so many decades or perhaps, centuries of war and antagonism between them and the Palestinians over land ownership and settlement, which had led to so many deaths and destruction, albeit unnecessary on both sides, which he, as a military officer, had been actively involved in.

Moshe Dayan became one of Israel’s most famous men. He found fame as a military leader associated with victories that were seemingly impossible within the Middle East Conflicts. Dayan is said to have developed the aura of a military ‘Superman’.

But finally, he came to the painful realisation that it was useless and perhaps needless to want to address the issue of peace through the use of force and violence.

How I would have wished that all who had taken leadership roles to champion the cause of the two peoples of Israel and Palestine would have come to this realisation and that the common people of the two areas, would have also seen the bare truth that they could not attain the desired peace through daily attacks and counter-attacks.

This lesson may not have been grasped by the corporate peoples of Israel and Palestinian who have been embroiled in this seemingly unending conflict that has raged on for several years and anyone who seeks to learn a true path to peace and unity after years of war and antagonism, may never get any meaningful example from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

However, there is another conflict that has raged on for close to a century; a conflict which had led to so many deaths, destruction of property, fear and generational hatred and antagonism but which may provide useful lessons for the cause of the attainment of peace after decades of fighting.

This is the Alavanyo-Nkonya conflict which has raged on for over 80 years.

The good news is that after these many years of experiencing the negativities of conflict which has left the two places impoverished and lacking any meaningful development, the good peoples of the two areas have made an unflinching commitment to ending hostilities and finding lasting peace.

They have probably learnt wisdom from Moshe Dayan that if you want to make peace, you don’t talk to your friends but your enemies and for that matter, they have resorted to dialogue as a means of ironing out their differences and charting the course towards peace.

Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965) a renowned preacher and Doctor once said that “in the hearts of people today, there is a deep longing for peace. When the true spirit of peace is thoroughly dominant, it becomes an inner experience with unlimited possibilities. Only when this really happens - when the spirit of peace awakens and takes possession of men's hearts, can humanity be saved from perishing”.

The Alavanyo-Nkonya peace process which began in 2004 within an atmosphere of suspicion, fear and the ingrained pessimism on the part of sceptics that it would not work, had gradually gathered steam and moving stealthily towards an enviable goal.

Even though the ultimate goal is yet to be achieved, it goes without saying that the people of the two places have demonstrated maturity and ample good faith that beacons the hope that ultimate peace is within their possible reach.

Martin Luther King Jr., once said that “one day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal. We must pursue peaceful ends through peaceful means”.

And so has it been that the people of the two places have come to pursue peace through dialogue, fighting and killing having denied them any victory or progress.

While commending the people of the areas on the successes chalked, it is worthy of drawing lessons from what had been achieved so far, so as to form a pool of knowledge and example for others who may want to emulate the shining example of the people of Alavanyo and Nkonya.

The Alavanyo – Nkonya conflict has shown that war leaves no victors, only victims and that the most disadvantageous peace is better than the most just war.

That is to say, they have come to the realisation that war, hatred, destruction, fear and suspicion rather than furthering their cause had only succeeded in robbing them of the glory that is associated with peace, progress and development.

Today, the two areas are crying for development. Most facilities that should have been due them are absent. Schools in the area were closed down due to the conflict. Workers who were posted there refused to take up posts and a rather vibrant social structure that existed before had given way to stagnation and decay.

One lesson that must be learnt from this example is the insistent demand from the youths of the two areas for peace.

They had come to the conclusion that after many decades of war and antagonism, their forbears had failed in attaining what was more important—development and rather, their future had become bleak and uncertain due to the absence of peace which had robbed them of any positive development.

It has always been said that the future belongs to the youth therefore they must not sit idle while the elderly, most of who may have nothing to lose, incense them to take up arms and fight.

They must rather learn to use the medium of dialogue in thrashing out differences rather resorting to violence and destruction.

Perhaps the philosophy of the youths of the two areas could best be captured in the words of Robert Maynard Hutchins (1899-1977) that “the goal toward which all history tends is peace, not peace through the medium of war, not peace through a process of universal intimidation, not peace through a program of mutual impoverishment, not peace by any means that leaves the world too weak or too frightened to go on fighting, but peace pure and simple based on that will to peace which has animated the overwhelming majority of mankind through countless ages. This will to peace does not arise out of a cowardly desire to preserve one's life and property, but out of conviction that the fullest development of the highest powers of men can be achieved only in a world of peace”.

The Alavanyo-Nkonya story had tangibly demonstrated how information could be used in demystification and paving the way for dialogue which is crucial to the attainment of peace.

This is because, during the process, one of the revelations that came up was the fact that a good number of the people had been committed to fighting a relentless war borne out of misinformation.

More so, it had become apparent that some mischievous few were exploiting the situation to enrich themselves through the sale of arms for the purposes of fighting.

And it is these miscreants who would not love to see any peace being achieved and would therefore do anything to ensure that the relation between the two people was always volatile.

But above all, the willingness to embrace peace by the collective people of Alavanyo and Nkonya had been the strongest pillar in the drive to ensure peaceful co-existence between them.

The desire for peace had become as pronounced as the desire for water to quench thirst on a scorching sunny day in the Sahara desert and had therefore predisposed the people towards peace overtures.

Many years of court actions and rulings had not helped in the resolution of the matter, thereby giving credence to the famous quotation by John F. Kennedy, former US President when he said that “peace does not rest in the charters and covenants alone. It lies in the hearts and minds of all people. So let us not rest all our hopes on parchment and on paper, let us strive to build peace, a desire for peace, a willingness to work for peace in the hearts and minds of all of our people. I believe that we can. I believe the problems of human destiny are not beyond the reach of humans”.

The lessons from the Alavanyo-Nkonya process have also shown that government cannot be relied on to bring peace between feuding communities.

The best government could do may be to keep peace when conflicts break out but the means to the attainment of peace is incumbent upon the feuding parties whose responsibility it is to see that nothing can be achieved by fighting and that if peace is not attainable then it may well mean that they may have forgotten that they belonged to each other.

Such was it that if government had been relied upon in this peace process, I don’t believe that much would have been achieved now since government assistance to the process had been woefully inadequate.

What rather boggles the mind is that in the event of a conflict situation, government is prepared to spend any much in deploying the Police and Military to the area to keep the peace. The least said about the huge sums of money spent on these peace-keepers, the better.

More annoying probably, is the fact that these peace keepers became a drain on national resources and succeeded effectively in impregnating the daughters of the people of the two areas to the extent that children have been born today whose fathers cannot be traced.

But more importantly, the peace deal which has reached a very crucial stage, is stalling due to lack of adequate funds to manage the next stage.

Government must not only be interested in pumping endless tranches of money into peace-keeping when conflicts break out but it must also be interested and committed to ensuring that peace processes, once started are given the needed support in all forms to come to a successful end.

The Alavanyo-Nkonya peace deal promises to be model for even nations that have been at each other’s throats for centuries. For Ghana, it would mean that we have succeeded in closing another page of conflict and paving the way for development.

Government must be proactive in ensuring that the clock of progress regarding the Alavanyo-Nkonya peace deal is not turn backwards and that the flame of peace that is burning in the hearts and minds of the people of the area is not allowed to smoulder.

The people have amply exhibited their resolve to achieve peace. This will and determination should be matched by government’s resolve to bringing peace to all trouble spots of the country.

Finally, let us take a cue from the advice given by Martin Luther King Jnr. that “if we have a will - and determination - to mount such a peace offensive, we will unlock hitherto tightly sealed doors of hope and transform our imminent cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative fulfilment”.