May 04.05.2012 -Latest GhanaWeb-News

The U.S President, Barack Obama has invited the President of Ghana, John Evans Atta Mills, and three other African leaders to join the upcoming G8 summit.

According to a statement from the White House, the other African leaders include the Chairman of the African Union and President of Benin Yayi Boni, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete.

Africa’s top leaders such as Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria and South Africa’s Jacob Zuma were conspicuously missing in the list for the 38th G8 summit being hosted by the United States for the first time since 2004.

The summit will serve as a platform to discuss issues of food security facing the African continent, the White House said on Thursday.

The summit is scheduled to come off on May 18 and 19 at Camp David - the country retreat of the President of the United States and his guests. It is located in low wooded hills about 100 kilometers north-northwest of Washington, D.C.

The core participants of the summit are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, United Kingdom and the USA as well as the European Union.

According to the statement, the meeting with the four African leaders will be "a discussion session on accelerating progress towards food security in Africa."

Millions of people, especially those in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, have suffered from the worst drought in 60 years, which struck the Horn of Africa in 2011.

In late April, the United States announced an additional US$ 120 million in aid to help the region to cope with the crisis, bringing the total U.S. aid to more than US$ 1.1 billion

+++++ Our comment (Ghanaweb-News.com) -

Atta Mills is in GREAT DANGER to be turned around! Atta Mills is needed by B. Obama in his (USA) AGENDA to recolonise Africa! Obama (since Libya also known as Mr OBOMBA) allready has control over Nigeria and Zuma! Nigeria and South Africa were the FIRST countries to support USA and Western Bombs on Libyan people and murdering Muammar Al Gaddafi! USA also is in full control of Ethiopia, and "maintain" there a Drone Base (flying Bombs) and a large contingent of US forces! He [B. Obama] need Atta Mills to continue with that Agenda of US, France and Britain to destroy the up-rising of Tuhareg in Mali (as they declared independence from Mali! A G8 summit is never and has never been about food for Africa (even that Russia is part of G8)!

.. and .....

United States President Barack Obama shakes hands with Muammar Gaddafi, left, before a dinner at the G8 summit in L'Aquila in 2009.....

2008, then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice became the most senior U.S. official to visit Libya in more than half a century, but Obama is the first U.S. president to shake Gaddafi's hand. (Gaddafi did not shake Rice's hand but bowed respectfully.)

"Gaddafi also had a slightly eerie fascination with me personally, asking visitors why his 'African princess,' wouldn't visit him." - Condoleezza Rice in her book No Higher Honor.

Muammar Al Gaddafi:

15.12.2009 "[Africa] It is now being plundered by the Western and Zionist exploitative corporation. Regrettably, Africa lives in misery. Africa is a victim of disease, backwardness, desertification and drought that result from the emission of green house gases in industrialized countries. Global warming that is a direct result of pollution has adversely affected Africa. All powers consider Africa an easy prey. They are fighting over it..."

"..America is using hard power in Africa. It is seeking military bases. It is talking about the oil discoveries and their protection by force as if this land has no peoples, has no owners and has no future..."

"...Unlike America, China resorts to soft power. It seems that China’s aim is to de-populate Africa in order to transfer its own population to it..."

"Africa sadly is a continent that has been devastated by the era of enslavement, the ear of colonialism and by the current ear of foreign exploitation and interference in its internal affairs. Africa is a continent that has been violated, tormented and made backward by the evil acts of others particularly the whites, the racists and the colonialists. It is now being plundered by the Western and Zionist exploitative corporation."

Note: Ethiopia is also the BASIS for US - Drones (Flying Bombs) in Africa!

According to "Washington Post": The Obama administration is assembling a constellation of secret drone bases ... in the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula ... U.S. officials said.

One of the installations is being established in Ethiopia..

US Drone Base in Ethiopia Targets al-Qaida

The U.S. Air Force is operating a base out of a remote civilian airport in Ethiopia, targeting an al-Qaida affiliate in East Africa, The Washington Post reports.

The Air Force spent millions to upgrade an airfield in Arba Minch, Ethiopia, building a facility to house drones that can be equipped with Hellfire missiles and satellite-guided bombs.

The U.S. military is deploying drones over Somalia from a number of locations, including the Seychelles and Djibouti.

US Drone Base in Ethiopia Targets Libya and Muammar al Gaddafi!

The government has used drones to launch attacks in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen, according to the Post.

Note: The LIE is in DETAIL - The drones can be armed with missiles and satellite-guided bombs, but a military spokesman told VOA on Friday, October 28th - the missions are strictly for surveillance purposes. According to [US Military] is using that base only to fight gainst "al-Qaida" & affiliate in East Africa... The same "al-Qaida" & affiliate they supported in Libya! Additionally - Libya, Yemen and Iraq are not East African countries...!

September 2011 - The Ethiopian Foreign Ministry denied the presence of U.S. drones in the country. October 2011, a spokesman for the Ethiopian embassy in Washington repeated that assertion.

“That’s the government’s position,” said Tesfaye Yilma, the head of public diplomacy for the embassy. “We don’t entertain foreign military bases in Ethiopia.”

September 2011, the commander of U.S. military operations in Africa said three African-based terrorist groups were working together to threaten U.S. interests in the region.

General Carter Ham said they include Somalia-based al-Shabab, Algeria-based al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, and Boko Haram in Nigeria. Note: Algeria and Nigeria are not "East Africa")

General Ham said the groups intend to share training and operations in order to target Westerners, specifically Americans. ("Good" "Reason" to invade African countries! Esp. if "White" people are kidnapped (under CIA command?) in Kenya ..taken to Somalia and FREED unharmed.. WHY should any "Somali "War"-Lord order this? NOW, the Kenyan Armee is involved in operations in Somalia, which will destabilise East Africa even more! Are the involved as OBAMA has his roots in Kenya...? There are 100.000 of people starving to death, fleeing the conflicts!

WHERE is US in that case?

US Drone Base in Ethiopia Targets Libya and Muammar al Gaddafi!

Read what Muammar Al Gaddafi said about the Issue of Capital Punishment..

"..The world calls for an abolition of capital punishment, but practically goes in the opposite direction.

The world, as you may be aware, declares that it will abolish capital punishment.

This is only a lip service. In reality, the world takes the opposite direction.

It expands capital punishment but declares that it is moving in the direction of the abolition of capital punishment. We must prove this to the world..."

"..What is more dangerous is that the death sentence is carried out extra-judicially and collectively. This is dangerous.

The death sentence is carried out collectively and extra-judicially!!.."

"..The Israelis have abolished capital punishment. Who believes them?.."

"..If they themselves say that capital punishment is abolished, how then do they commit mass killings? It is easier if the Palestinians were to be apprehended and tried in Israeli courts and if they had access to counsel..."

"..America sentenced me to death. It carried out the sentence, execution by bombs style, but my life was spared for reasons beyond America’s control..."

"..America opposes the death sentence. It may have abolished capital punishment in some but not all states. Nevertheless, it still carries out a collective form of death sentencing. America handed down a death sentence against me; I was condemned to execution by bombs, but for reasons beyond its control, my life was spared...

..Which is better? Is it better to be tried, have access to council, and the right to appeal, or to face a death sentence without guarantees?.."

"...We wish to abolish capital punishment, but want to define what capital punishment we are referring to. First, we want the indiscriminate death sentences handed down to people extra-judicially by bombs, rockets and starvation abolished. We have ten numbers, from one to ten, we cannot chose one only and say number seven or number eight or three for that matter.

The ten counts are all death sentences, so why chose only number seven and abolish the rest. All the sentences are death sentences, and they must be all abolished. They are death sentences executed by bombing, firing rockets, by planes even by starvation, terror, or disease. In the final analysis, a sentence handed down by courts is better. It is not a surprise attack like an air raid carried out while we are fast asleep, or like an inter-continental missile. A death sentence handed down by courts is ultimately better..."

"..The victim does not have a lawyer and cannot defend himself against a nuclear bomb, an intercontinental missile, cluster bombs, or incendiary devices (Napalm). Neither does the victim have anti chemical and bacteriological devices, no masks or protective gear, no shelters.

They went high-tech in executing the death sentence. They developed bombs and missiles that can penetrate protective barriers and hunt down the target. Therefore, someone can come to an ordinary court accompanied by a lawyer, a competent famous lawyer while another is unable to get this lawyer. You enter the shelter but they develop an anti-shelter bomb.

They deprive you from the means for self-defense.

These are the worst courts, courts where people get the death sentence but lack the means to defend themselves, protection, the opportunity to appeal the sentence, or the hope to be exonerated. They will be executed, extra-judicially..."

Note: The MAJORITY of the Ethiopian people DEPENDING on FOOD AID! (about 70%)

"Britain to give £38m in food aid to Ethiopia.."

Money will help feed 1.3 million people in region experiencing worst drought in decades (June 2011)

UN humanitarian appeals for Somalia and Kenya, each requesting about $525m (£326.6m), are barely 50% funded, while a $30m appeal for Djibouti has reached just 30% of the target, say UN officials.

23 Oct 2011 – The charge d'affairs said the Chinese government has decided to provide Ethiopia with two batches of gratis emergency food aid

7 Feb 2011 – Ethiopia's government estimates 2.8 million people will need emergency food aid this year...

4 Oct 2011 – From Yahoo! News: A top U.S. aid official says the U.S. will donate more than $121 million to Ethiopia to fight food insecurity amid a drought in ...

Does Food Aid Harm the Poor? Household Evidence from Ethiopia

This paper uses household-level data from Ethiopia to investigate the impact of food aid on the poor. We find that food aid in Ethiopia is "pro-poor." Our results ...

Does Food Aid Harm the Poor? YES - Household Evidence from Ethiopia

James Levinsohn, Margaret McMillan

NBER Working Paper No. 11048
Issued in January 2005
NBER Program(s): ITI

An NBER digest for this paper is available.

This paper uses household-level data from Ethiopia to investigate the impact of food aid on the poor. We find that food aid in Ethiopia is "pro-poor." Our results indicate that (i) net buyers of wheat are poorer than net sellers of wheat, (ii) there are more buyers of wheat than sellers of wheat at all levels of income, (iii) the proportion of net sellers is increasing in living standards and (iv) net benefit ratios are higher for poorer households indicating that poorer households benefit proportionately more from a drop in the price of wheat. In light of this evidence, it appears that households at all levels of income benefit from food aid and that - somewhat surprisingly - the benefits go disproportionately to the poorest households.

Published: Does Food Aid Harm the Poor? Household Evidence from Ethiopia, James Levinsohn, Margaret McMillan, in Globalization and Povert y (2007), University of Chicago Press

This paper is available as PDF (346 K)

There was a second fatal accident on Tuesday in Accra, following one involving an articulated truck which killed a driver and his mate at Mallam Junction.

A Renault mini bus with registration number GW 5542-12 somersaulted close to the residence of former President John Kufuor, in the general area of the Villagio buildings, claiming a life.

The accident, besides claiming a life, left victims with broken limbs, cuts and serious bruises as evidenced in the case of a female passenger who had part of the skin on her head almost peeled off and exposing her skull, according to a Myjoyonline report monitored by DAILY GUIDE.

Twelve people were affected in the Tuesday evening gory accident. According to the report, the commercial bus was heading towards the 37 Military Hospital from Madina when a Pontiac Vibe saloon car with registration number GT 6257-12 crossed its path, resulting in the commercial vehicle driver losing control and the vehicle subsequently somersaulting.

Rescuers got busy assisting the trapped passengers in the commercial vehicle through the driver’s side.

The Pontiac car driven by a young man, according to the report, skidded off the road after the impact on the car and bursting its tyre. The driver of the Pontiac was said to have shown no remorse for his obvious recklessness and did not care about the victims of the accident. He sped off the accident scene in the company of his lady friend after getting his burst tyre fixed with the help of his friends, as frantic efforts were being made to contact the police.

The only policeman on duty at the time some eyewitnesses turned up at the place to report the matter, with pictures, said he had closed at about 8.30pm and could not take their statements.

“After looking at the pictures, he asked us to wait for the police officer on night duty to take our statement and see what he or she can do,” one of the eyewitnesses, visibly aggrieved and disappointed, told Myjoyonline, and snapped, “if the police station cannot help us in time of need, then it should be turned into a poultry farm – it would be more profitable”.

“The driver of the Pontiac Vibe should be arrested to face the full rigours of the law,” another eyewitness remarked.

Journalist and socialism advocate, Kwesi Pratt has bemoaned what he calls the falling standard of governance in African.

Addressing a ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the

Freedom Center in Accra, Mr. Pratt accused current African leaders of doing little to materialize the quest for equality, unity and freedom fought by early leaders on the continent.

The anniversary was on the theme “Philosophy of Nkrumaism and what Nkrumah stood for in his 9-year reign”.

He therefore called for a transformational change, saying it is the only way to bring back on track, the continent’s growth.

The Freedom Centre was established in 2007 to lead the discourse against anti-democratic tendencies.

So far, it has published four books on Ghana’s first president, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and his legacies.

Kwesi Pratt announced the Center will soon open branches all over Africa with the view to entreat all to actively push Nkrumah’s ideology forward to help cut down on the over dependence on donor support and build believe in the African.

The Presidential candidate of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP), Nana Akufo-Addo, has said President John Evans Atta Mills has the sole responsibility to ensure peace in Ghana before, during and after the December elections.

Nana Addo said President Mills has to walk his talk if he claims he is a man of peace and should not preside over violence that has characterised the ongoing voters’ biometric registration exercise in some parts of the country.

“Let Mills show the way and the rest of us will follow,” Nana Addo told Accra-based Joy FM. “Let him show the way as to his desire on the politics of issues and discussions and the rest of us will follow.”

The NPP presidential candidate said calls on him to condemn his party officials and supporters involved in recent violent clashes and inflammatory utterances are misplaced because the President must show the way first.

Prompted that President Mills has given the strongest indications that he will ensure free and fair elections, the NPP presidential candidate said: “Is that the reason for the violence over the registration being orchestrated by most of his people? Is that free and fair?”

He stated: “The police stand by and watch women brutalised without lifting a finger… is that the atmosphere we want for free and fair elections. We are doing our best and at the end of the day those who are responsible for the country, they have the first responsibility in ensuring peace.

“The instruments of law and order are in the hands of the president. If he tells them to do their duty without fear or favour we’ll have law and order in our country.”

Nana Addo refused to comment on Kennedy Agyapong's inciting comment because "it's a case in court."

Mr. Michael Nsiah, former President of the Catholic University chapter of Private Universities Students Association of Ghana (PUSAG), on Thursday called on the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare to render an apologize to all private universities.

Mr. Moses Asaga is alleged to have blamed private universities for the high level of graduate unemployment in the country on a BBC network on May 2.

A statement signed by Mr. Nsiah and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani said, Mr Asaga said it in response to a complaint made by the Trade Union Congress about the government’s failure to create job.

Mr. Asaga was quoted in the statement to have said “these private universities take mediocre students who graduate with sub-standard qualifications and also such institutions have saturated the market with sub-standard graduates.”

The statement said, the statements “do not represent the real situation on the ground with regard to graduate unemployment and the very issue of course content or programmes offered in the various universities”.

“The minister’s statements were abusive and inconsiderate, demeaning the credible nature of our private universities both locally and internationally”, it added.

The statement said “the consequences of Mr Asaga’s statements are very enormous and it may continuously endanger the career of graduates from the private universities in the labour front”.

It explained, jobs available in the country “are mostly Health Science, Agriculture and Information Technology oriented, leaving less available opportunities for graduates with humanities and business courses”.

This, it said, had been the major cause of unemployment amongst graduates from both public and private universities with a critical example being the emerging oil economy, “whereby Ghana’s economy does not have the much needed human resource from our tertiary institutions or universities qualified to work in that industry.”

The statement said “the government’s ad hoc intervention to this problem is providing scholarship to Ghanaians to study oil and gas related courses outside, with government paying much money to sponsor these individuals”.

It was of the view that “some of this money spent on students outside could be channeled to some of our local tertiary institutions to provide equally and affordable courses related to the oil and gas industry”.

About 10 firms are expected to set up plastic manufacturing plants in the country by the end of the year. The firms are participating in the plastics, rubber and packaging fair currently ongoing at the Ghana International Trade Fair dubbed- Plaspack Fair.

Satish Khanna is the General Manager of the Al Fajer Information and Services, organizers of the fair spoke to JOY BUSINESS.

“The process is on. They are already talking to some partners. They are looking for reliable partners to work with. It’s always good to work with a partner in a foreign country.

In a country of 25million, there should be more plastic manufacturing companies. The plastic consumption in Ghana is more than India with a per capita consumption of about 8 kilos compared to 6 kilos in India” he noted.

A Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr. Seth Terkpeh has described New Patriotic Party running mate, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia’s criticism of the Mills administration at the Ferdinand Ayim Memorial Lectures on Wednesday as an exaggeration.

Dr. Bawumia, a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana Bawumia lashed out at the Mills’ administration, casting doubt of the value and relevance of economic indicators.

Dr. Bawumia highlighted a range of issues he said were loopholes in various sectors of the economy, including the well touted achievement of the single digit inflation, which he said has not translated in the lives of the average Ghanaian.

On Adom FM’s “Dea Mehunu” programme on Wednesday night however, Mr. Terkpeh disagreed with the NPP running mate's assessment of the economy.

Admitting that Dr. Bawumia is a “fine Economist”, Mr Terkpeh said the economy under the Mill’s-led administration has performed better and that his ministry will only deal with the right averages that give them an idea of what is going on in the economy.

Meanwhile, a Former Deputy Finance Minister in the Kufuor administration, Kwaku Agyeman Manu, accused the NDC of failing to build on the strong economy that the Kufour administration left behind.

According to Mr. Manu, the NPP took Ghana from HIPC to a middle income economy which the Mills administration has not been able to maintain. He insisted that it is obvious that the NDC cannot do the job so they should be kicked out of power.

In another vein, the Head of Evaluation and Oversight Unit of the Office of the President, Dr. Tony Aidoo has branded Dr. Bawumia a liar.

On claims by Dr Bawumia that the cedi was losing value because of mismanagement, Dr. Tony Aidoo said ‘Mr Bawumia doesn’t speak the truth.”

Dr. Tony Aidoo said the fall of the cedi should be blamed on the NPP’s flagbearer Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, whose “all die be die” comments have created panic within the business community.

He said investors will usually give a second thought whenever they hear such statements coming from the person who wants to be given the mandate to rule the nation.

Henceforth drivers whose actions cause accidents resulting in the destruction of life and vehicles belonging to the Ministry of Health will be put on trial, Mr. Alban Bagbin, the Minister of Health, has said.

He said reckless driving on the part of drivers in the Ministry was a major problem and the government would no longer entertain such behaviour from drivers whose actions had caused the nation critical human resource.

“All accidents involving vehicles of the Ministry will be investigated and if it is found out to have been caused by the driver’s negligence due to intake of alcohol and other drugs, the laws of the land will be visited on that driver,” Mr Bagbin said.

He said this when he presented a 33-seater Daewoo bus to the Tumu Midwifery Training School at Tumu on Wednesday, and also lunched the Pneumococcal and Rotavirus Vaccines in the district.

The two new vaccines were being introduced into the routine Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) to help reduce morbidity and mortality due to pneumonia and diarrhea among children.

Mr. Bagbin said the government would open more midwifery training schools in the country and the Upper West Region would have two more.

He said the government was doing everything possible to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, especially Goals Four, Five and Six that were being challenged by inadequate health personnel, bringing pressure and stress to bear on the few personnel.

Madam Alijata Sulemana, Sissala East District Chief Executive, said in a speech read on her behalf that, the Sissala East District Assembly had awarded on contract the construction of a 12-unit two storey classroom complex for the midwifery school.

She said local stakeholders were also discharging their responsibilities with dispatch to get the school established and had acquired land for the construction of the school as well as a new district hospital.

She appealed to the government and other development partners to complement the efforts of the assembly to meet the infrastructural needs of the school.

Madam Laadi Kanton, Principal of the school commended the government for providing the school with a bus and appealed for a pick-up vehicle and permanent accommodation for the students who would be admitted this year.

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