CSIR, UNIVERSITIES DEVELOP SOFTWARE...For teaching scienes (PAGE 11)

THE Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), in collaboration with universities in the country is developing a computer software for the teaching of sciences in the country's universities.
The move is to assist in the training of scientists required to propel the country into a middle level income country.
Already a series of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) have been signed with the Ashesi University and the Anglican University of Technology of Engineering for the development of the software for teaching physics.
The Director of the Institute of Industrial Research (IIR) of the CSIR, Dr Essel Ben Hagan, made this known at the launch of the institute’s five-year strategic plan document in Accra.
The main thrust of the document is the strategy to transfer research findings from the institute to industries for the country to become an industrial middle-income country by the year 2015.
He explained that the overall aspiration of the institute had been to assist in poverty reduction through the creation of opportunities for generating and increasing incomes of Small- Scale Enterprises (SMEs).
Dr Hagan said the institute had successfully completed studies on silk yarn production from cocoons for the weaving of kente clothes and bio sanitation toilets, the bi-products of which could be used for the production of fertilisers: mosquito repellant cream from sheabutter and citronella.
On information management, he said, the institute had entered into partnership with the private sector to develop a cyber city to design and repair Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment.
Under energy, Dr Hagan said the institute had developed a hybrid solar dryer, and that research was ongoing in the area of wind energy to complement hydro electric power generation.
The Deputy-Director-General of the CSIR, Dr Rose E. M. Entsuah-Mensah, said a sound strategic plan had served as a framework for decisions and had also provided a basis for more detailed planning.
She said it would also serve to explain the business to others in order to inform, motivate and involve all workers to stimulate change in the organisation.
Dr Entsuah-Mensah stressed that the CSIR and its 13 subsidiaries had a strategic role to play in defining the imperatives that would drive the private sector as it sought to develop relevant cutting -edge technologies and materials for local and international applications.
She commended the IIR for developing the strategic plan in areas such as manufacturing, environmental management, energy, technology and information management.

GHANA READY TO SUPPORT EVALUATION OF AFRICA'S ECOLOGICAL SYSTEM

Story: Abdul Aziz & Charles Benoni Okine

THE Vice-President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, has expressed the country’s readiness to participate in any initiative on the continent to build the capacities of professionals and institutions to develop decision support systems and relevant applications for the monitoring, management and evaluation of Africa’s ecological systems.
Speaking at the opening of the seventh international conference of the African Association of Remote Sensing and the Environment (AARSE) in Accra yesterday, Alhaji Mahama said such applications were also necessary to enhance the effective management of natural resources on the continent for the benefit of present and future generations.
The four-day conference, which has attracted geophysicists, researchers, geo-information scientists, practitioners and allied service providers from all over Africa, Europe, the United States of America, among others, is to increase the awareness of African scientists and institutions, the private sector and society at large of the benefits of developing, applying and utilising the products and services of geo-information and space technology in the sustainable management of Africa’s natural resources and the environment.
It is also to expose the potential applications of these technologies for poverty alleviation, one of the major problems in Africa.
Alhaji Mahama called for the development of a fast track technological capacity to develop space-based monitoring and evaluation systems for disaster management, strategic environmental assessment of the continent’s plans, policies and programmes for enhancing economic and social development initiatives.
“We need to think of innovative ways to bridge the geo-spatial science-policy gap in Africa,” he said, adding that “our universities and tertiary institutions could serve as centres of excellence for building the needed critical mass of expertise for earth-observation based applications development, spatial modelling and policy-relevant product generation for resource management”.
The Vice-President described the objective of the conference as laudable and all-encompassing, given the dearth of national geo-information systems in Africa for monitoring Africa’s ecosystems on a sustainable basis.
He said although space-based technologies for gathering timely and high resolution earth observation data for environmental assessment had become a reality in recent times, Africa was yet to benefit fully from the advantages that those technologies provided.
Alhaji Mahama said sustainable development of the human and institutional capacities in the use of geo-information for environment and natural resource management and facilitating access to such space-based data sets would provide the necessary impetus for the acceptability of such useful tools by African policy makers.
That, he said, would be part of an effort to transform governance in Africa through the use of geo-based decision-aided tools for policy transformation.
“African countries have a tremendous need for geo-information tools in promoting the efficient use of resources for sustaining sound development planning, in addressing our environmental challenges and in the implementation of our development agenda,” he said.
According to the Vice-President, those tools were essential for good governance-driven sustainable development which, to a great extent, depended on the availability of reliable up-to-date spatial database.
The Director of the Centre for Remote Sensing and Geo-Information Services (CERGIS) at the University of Ghana, Legon, and Chairman of the Local Organising Committee of the conference, Mr Foster Mensah, expressed the hope that participants would work hard to address the various gaps in the development process on the continent through the use of geo-information systems.
Dr Giovanni Rum of the Geo Secretariat showcased a wide range of activities and products from the secretariat and urged members to apply them at all times.

GRAPHIC, ROTARY TO FORGE PARTNERSHIP ...To ensure peace, development (SPREAD)

THE Graphic Communications Group Ltd (GCGL) and Rotary clubs in the country have decided to forge a partnership to ensure peace and the rapid socio-economic development of the country.
The partnership will target the rural and urban poor and the underprivileged to help reduce maternal and infant mortality among that segment of the Ghanaian society.
That was the outcome of discussions held between a delegation of the Rotary clubs in Ghana and the management of the GCGL on the eve of celebrations marking 50 years of Rotary club activities in Ghana.
The Rotary clubs delegation, which was led by Mr Andrews Jack Dotsey, the Chairman of the Council of Rotary clubs in Ghana, had called on the Managing Director of the GCGL, Mr Ibrahim Awal, to brief him on the humanitarian services being rendered by Rotarians and also inform him about planned activities to mark the Golden Jubilee.
Mr Dotsey, who is also the President of the Rotary Club of Accra, emphasised that the clubs were celebrating 50 years of community service to the country, adding that the humble contribution to the peace and development of the country by Rotary clubs had been phenomenal.
He said clubs had accomplished such projects as polio eradication, aflatoxin awareness campaign in maize, the establishment of the Plastic Reconstruction and Burns Unit at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, bringing in hundreds of specialists to work in rural and urban hospitals, among other things.
He said all those initiatives had been accomplished through personal donations from Rotarians, philanthropists, corporate institutions, as well as Rotary International.
He denied the notion that Rotary clubs were the preserve of the well-to-do and the rich in society and invited GCGL staff, as well as the public, to register with the 20 Rotary clubs spread throughout the country.
Mr Awal, for his part, welcomed the partnership initiative, saying prior to the partnership agreement the GCGL had been of immense assistance to Rotary clubs by way of highlighting their activities through feature articles, as well as providing substantial discounts on adverts and sometimes running adverts free of charge to advance the cause of humanity which Rotarians had taken upon themselves.
He said the partnership had come to raise the level of collaboration to a higher level where the two organisations would be meeting frequently to brainstorm on projects and activities that would advance the cause of humanity.
The managing director stressed that even though the company was profit motivated, it was also service oriented as it continued to champion good governance and offer free medicare for the needy in the society through the Graphic Needy Fund.
He explained that the company disbursed more than GH¢200,000 annually on its corporate social responsibility programmes, which included scholarships for children of vendors and agents, among other things.
The Rotary delegation presented a certificate embodying the four-way test of the things we do and say to the managing director as a guiding principle for the staff of GCGL.
The four-way test is: 'Is it the truth?’ ‘Is it fair to all concerned?’ ‘Will it build goodwill and better friendship?’ ‘Will it be beneficial to all concerned?'
The delegation urged the GCGL to ensure that in all its publications those basic principles and values were upheld.
The five-member Rotary delegation included Mr Benjamin Kpodo, President, Rotary Club of Accra-Achimota; Mr Don Obilor, member, Rotary Club of Accra; Nana Yaa Siriboe, President, Rotary Club of Accra-Labone, and Mrs Theresa Osei-Tutu, President, Rotary club of Accra-Airport.
The Graphic management team included the General Manager, Newspapers, Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh; the General Manager, Marketing and Public Affairs, Mr Kwasi Asare; the Public Affairs Manager, Mr Albert Sam, and the Procurement Manager, Mr John Tagoe.

MENTAL HEALTH DECREE OUTMODED (PAGE 32)

THE Medical Director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr Akwasi Osei, has noted that the Mental Health Decree (1972) is outmoded and must be reviewed because it makes no provision for the protection of the rights of mental patients.
He explained that although it was obvious that people who chained mental patients at prayer camps were clearly abusing the rights of the patients, they could not be prosecuted under the existing Mental Health Decree.
Dr Osei said attempts to rescue some mental patients from inhuman treatment at prayer camps had been met with rebuffs that that method of treatment did not constitute human rights abuse.
Dr Osei, who spoke to the Daily Graphic after presenting a paper on mental health at a workshop for journalists, said a review would allow the security agencies and hospital authorities to rescue mental patients from maltreatment at the hands of priests who violated their human rights.
He explained that most of the people chained at prayer camps were not people with mental illnesses but patients suffering from depression who needed expert advice to overcome their depression.
Sometimes the patients were denied food and given concoctions which almost amounted to poisoning them, he said.
He disclosed that the Accra Psychiatric Hospital registered 1,875 outpatients, most of whom were suffering from depression and not mental illnesses.
He hinted that about 20 to 30 per cent of the population had a sort of mental illness, which meant that four out of every 10 people had problems associated with mental illness.
Dr Osei said streetism, paedophilia and school phobia were all examples of minor mental illness which, when not controlled, could lead to major mental illness.
He expressed concern over the congestion at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, which he said was presently accommodating 1,100, instead of 600, patients, resulting in heavy work load for the doctors and psychiatric nurses who were woefully inadequate for the task entrusted on them.
He said a new concept of community psychiatric homes was being evolved to cater for the needs of mental patients in their communities, instead of the present system where mental patients had to move long distances to designated mental hospitals for treatment.
Dr Osei explained that the patients, after treatment, were abandoned in the hospitals and when they were later integrated into the society, they relapsed into their mental illness because their families were not involved in their treatment.
He said the new community mental homes would involve families in every stage of treatment so that when the medics withdraw, the families could take over and continue with the medication.

AKUFO-ADDO, MILLS, NDUOM FILE PAPERS ...For Presidential race (1b)

Story: Abdul Aziz & Donald Ato Dapatem

THREE of the four contenders for the December 7 presidential election who filed their nominations yesterday cleared the final hurdle with the Electoral Commission (EC) when their forms were accepted by the commission.
The nomination forms of a fourth aspirant, Mr Kwasi Amoafo-Yeboah, who wants to contest the election as an independent candidate, were rejected because he did not include his bust-size pictures and a tax clearance certificate. He was asked to submit them today, failure of which will lead to his disqualification from the contest.
Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) was the first to go through the process of filing his nomination with the EC at exactly 10.00 a.m., followed by Professor John Evans Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) at 12.00 noon.
Nana Akufo-Addo and Prof. Mills were accompanied by their running mates, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia and Mr John Mahama, respectively, and the two pairs went through the filing exercise without any hitches.
However, when it was the turn of Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom and his running mate, Dr Abu Foster Sakara, who arrived at the EC at 3.15 p.m., what seemed to be a walk through for them suddenly turned into a battle.
The EC Chairman, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, who received the nomination forms for examination, after a temporary hold up, announced to the press that some of the people who had endorsed the nomination forms of the CPP flag bearer had not appended their signatures against their names.
He, therefore, asked Dr Nduom to correct the anomaly before the documents would be accepted.
However, for more than one hour that could not be done and the exercise had to be suspended temporarily, while the CPP flag bearer and some executives had to leave the room.
Dr Nduom and his entourage returned to the conference room later to present his nomination papers again to the Chairman of the EC.
Dr Afari-Gyan announced to the press that “after some delays in the proceedings, the commission has accepted the nominations of Dr Nduom”.
That was greeted with shouts from the supporters, and the brass band music that had died down came alive again.
Dr Afari-Gyan then declared the three aspirants — Nana Akufo-Addo, Prof Mills and Dr Nduom — as official candidates for Election 2008, barring any discrepancies to be detected later in their forms.
Although teeming supporters of both the NPP and the NDC were at the precincts of the EC, the filing of the papers and the period after that were peaceful, as policemen ensured that all the NPP supporters left the area before the NDC supporters arrived with their flag bearer.
The national chairmen and the general secretaries of the NDC and the NPP, Dr Kwabena Adjei and Mr Johnson Asiedu- Nketia, as well as Mr Peter Mac Manu and Nana Ohene Ntow, respectively, appended their signatures in support of their respective candidates.
Mr Amoafo-Yeboah’s entry into the offices of the EC was not marked with fanfare. He entered the EC premises in a solemn manner, followed by about 15 of his supporters.
Addressing the EC members, NPP officials and the press at the EC office just after the process, Nana Akufo-Addo described the process of filing the nominations as another milestone in the democratic development of the country.
He expressed confidence in the EC to organise clean and transparent elections but added that all stakeholders must lend their support in that direction.
The NPP candidate said the EC, under the chairmanship of Dr Afari-Gyan, had held elections which had always been an improvement over previous ones and expressed the hope that with the support of all Ghanaians another election success would be chalked up.
“Ghanaians deserve nothing less than good and credible elections,” he said, adding that such an achievement would “enhance our position as a beacon for Africa”.
Prof Mills, for his part, expressed optimism that Ghanaians would offer the NDC the opportunity to form the next government because the NPP had failed to live up to expectation.
He said Ghanaians were yearning for a change that would take them in a different direction from polarisation, end corruption, incompetence and promote the welfare of the ordinary person.
Prof Mills said one of the issues dearest to the heart of the NDC was how to ensure free, fair and transparent elections, saying, “It is our hope and prayer that together we will be able to do this great service to Mother Ghana.”
He said Ghana was the only country for Ghanaians and, therefore, anyone who wanted to rule in violence and fear was only courting disaster and urged all to ensure that there was peace before, during and after the elections.
Dr Nduom said the CPP had so far refrained from impugning the integrity of the EC because a credible commission would enable the country to organise acceptable polls.
He said the CPP was hopeful that the elections would be organised in a manner that would consolidate the independence of the country which the CPP fought hard to achieve.

ELECGTION '08: THE REAL RACE BEGINS (b)

Story: Abdul Aziz & Donald Ato Dapatem1

EIGHT aspirants have filed their nominations to contest the December 7 presidential poll after a two-day process at the Electoral Commission (EC).
However, this is conditional to the EC not finding any discrepancies in the documents submitted by the aspirants.
After the first day’s exercise last Thursday, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Prof. John Evans Atta Mills of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and Dr Paa Kwesi Nduom of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) were pronounced candidates by the Chairman of the EC, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan.
On the second and last day yesterday, Dr Edward Mahama of the People’s National Convention (PNC), Mr Kwesi Amoafo-Yeboah, an independent aspirant, Mr Emmanuel Ansah-Antwi of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Mr Kwabena Adjei of the Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD) and Mr T.N. Ward-Brew of the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) all filed with the EC.
Three others, comprising Prophet Daniel Nkansah of the New Vision Party (NVP), Mr Dan Lartey of the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP) and W0 1 Robert Nixon Tetteh, an independent aspirant, who appeared confident when they arrived in the company of their supporters, were disqualified for failure to meet the EC’s deadline.
All the three were at the EC headquarters, but when the EC chairman went through their documents, it was realised that they had not satisfactorily completed the nomination forms and so they were asked to complete them.
As of 5.45 p.m. when the EC had closed, all three of them were seen with their supporters running past all those who had finished the process and the media towards the empty EC boardroom where the filing took place.
Mr Lartey, who was last to go through the process, appealed to the EC to give him one hour because his men who had gone round the regions had returned but that they had been caught in traffic.
However, when his men arrived with the nomination forms, they had numerous gaps unfilled, while the filled places were either signed without names and voters registration numbers or had names and voters registration numbers but without signatures.
“Whatever it is, I have the GH¢5,000. I want to present it to you, Mr Chairman, to show that we are capable, while we wait for my general secretary and the national chairman who have been caught in traffic to arrive,” he said, amidst laughter from the media men around.
Mr Lartey, who sounded confident at the beginning of the proceedings, assured the EC that since he had gone through the process before and knew the basis, his men were coming with well completed forms.
No sooner had he finished his speech than his executives trooped in with the four sets of nominations, but most people in the room were taken by surprise when the EC chairman said the forms had not been satisfactorily completed.
Prophet Nkansah, who went in with his running mate, Omran Hussien Zakariah, had most parts of the forms filled but instead of allowing those who could not read and write to thumbprint or sign, one person decided to sign them on behalf of all of them.
W0 Tetteh, who arrived earlier, said he did not know that he had to submit his bust-size photograph to be used on the ballot, as well as a statutory declaration, while most of the forms he collected had been left at home.
All the three had cheques for GH¢5,000 as their nomination fees but they had to go home with them.
Dr Mahama initially had a problem with the statutory declaration of his running mate because the form had been filled by him (Dr Mahama). But he was given the opportunity to rectify it before the close of day.
For his part, the DFP candidate had to abandon the process in the morning because he had no bust-size photographs, while his statutory declaration form had not been signed by a magistrate or a commissioner of oaths. He went back in the afternoon and completed the process.
After a successful completion of the process, Mr Ward-Brew, who could not make it in 2004, said when voted into power, the first thing his government would do would be to abolish the nomination fees required by the EC.

DRAFT TRANSPORT BILL TO GO BEFORE PARLIAMENT (PAGE 49)

A National Transport Policy Bill aimed at creating a healthy work environment and sanity in the road transport sector is to be put before Parliament.
The bill aims at guiding operators and other stakeholders in the transport sector to help reduce the spate of road traffic accidents.
The Co-ordinating Secretary of the Federation of Transport Unions, Mr E. A. Mensah, announced this at the launch of the 2008 International Road Transport Action Week Campaign in Accra on Tuesday.
He said when the bill was passed, it would provide social partners in the road transport industry with much information and direction to ensure safe, clean and affordable transport for sustainable development.
The Director of Research, Monitoring and Evaluation of the National Road Safety Commission, Mr David Osafo Adonteng, said the rate at which people died through road accidents in the country was alarming.
He said 2,043 people lost their lives through road accidents last year, while 1,856 died as a result of road accidents in 2006.
Mr Adonteng said despite the massive investment to bring the country’s roads into good order, vehicles continued to be involved in more road accidents.
He said that could be attributed to the rise in vehicular population which, a few years back, was 500,000 but which had jumped to nearly one million.
He said the number of vehicles on the country’s roads had been projected to reach over 1.2 million by 2010.
The Secretary General of Trades Union Congress, Mr Kofi Asamoah, said some road accidents could be prevented to save lives.
He appealed to road transport unions to work hard at organising all floating drivers to standardise their working conditions.
He explained that that would prevent them from engaging in reckless practices for selfish gains which could usually cause the death of innocent passengers and pedestrians.

WATER METER REPAIR WORKSHOP REACTIVATED (PAGE 31)

A workshop to repair 300,000 water meters in the southern sector of the country has been reactivated by Aqua Vitens Rands Ltd (AVRL) as a way of eliminating waste in the water delivery system.
This is part of measures adopted by the management of the company to ensure efficiency and make potable water available to majority of the people in the urban areas.
The Managing Director of AVRL, Mr Andrew Barber, said six out of every 10 of its customers had meters and added that the exercise would continue till all properties were covered.
He said another consignment of 5,000 meters had been ordered from abroad to meet the expansion programme of the Ghana Water Company Ltd.
Mr Barber said as soon as funds were available, the company would order more meters to ensure that all areas that required metering had them.
He said as a means of improving efficiency, a call office and Geological Information Systems would soon be set up to ensure that the distribution of water in the country improved, both in quality and quantity.
The Chairman of the Public Utilities and Regulatory Commission (PURC), Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, said the reactivation of the meter workshop had demonstrated the company’s commitment to efficiency and waste reduction in the system.
He appealed to customers to take good care of government property on their premises to ensure that it lasted longer.
The Meter Workshop Manager, Mr Noble Bediako, said the country had been divided into two zones to enable the repair works to be carried out as soon as faults were detected.
He said the southern sector workshop, based in Accra, would cater for the Greater Accra, Eastern, Volta, Western and Central regions, where there was a large concentration of the meters.
Mr Bediako said the northern sector would have its meters repaired at the meter workshop in Kumasi to enable the company to maximise the utilisation of its resources.

5 REVIEW CUSTOMS USER MANUAL (SPREAD)

FOUR institutions have held a meeting to review in detail the User Manuals on the Ghana Customs Secure Document Systems.
The review is to enable the stakeholders to provide feedback that would be incorporated into the final version of the manual.
Until recently the stakeholders did not have any input in the preparations of the manuals, since that function was carried out by the Destination Inspection Companies.
The Destination Inspection Companies therefore quoted different prices for the same commodities and this brought a lot of friction between the Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) and importers.
The four institutions are the Ghana Institute of Freight Forwarders (GIFF), Ghana Union Traders Association, Custom Brokers Association of Ghana and Ship Owners and Agents Association of Ghana.
Mr Kofi Brako, the immediate past President of GIFF, who presided over the review meeting, said the secure document system was to complement efforts of the Ghana Community Network (GCNET).
He said the manuals would be a useful tool for members especially the one on mandatory commodity properties, which provides listing of the most imported commodities into the country.
He said when importers studied the manuals carefully they would be able to easily obtain Classification and Valuation Certificates that could be passed electronically to the GCNET.
Mr Brako said the subsequent processes of declaration, bank payment, compliance, examination and release would continue to take place in the existing GCMS.
He said the manuals had demonstrated the commitment of CEPS to absolute fairness and transparency in the assessment of imported goods, since the information provided by the importer was what would be used to assess his goods.
He said moreover that it was transparent because every importer had to provide the same kind of information for the same item imported unlike in the past when the discretion of assessment was largely left to the Destination Inspection Companies who used different yardsticks to assess goods.
Mr Brako said all the associations were satisfied with the outcome of the review meeting and had appealed for additional training programmes on the manuals for members to facilitate custom procedures.
The four associations also called for additional service centres to be established in various key points in the country to ensure a successful commencement of the new system.

SURVEY ON MEDIA LAUNCHED (PAGE 43)

A survey has revealed that Ghana has 136 different radio stations operating throughout the country.
The survey, which was commissioned by the Ghana Advertisers Board (GAB), shows that in 2005 there were 111 stations but since then the number has increased dramatically, with a further 25 stations now fighting for space on the airwaves.
These findings were revealed at the launch of the survey, entitled “Ghana All Media and Products Survey (GAMPS) 2008”, in Accra last Thursday.
The Head of Operations at the Ghana Social Marketing Foundation (GSMF) International, Mr Geoff Anno, explained that the GAMPS was designed to provide comprehensive information on the products and media services available in Ghana and an overview of consumer habits.
He said the detailed questionnaires completed by respondents had made it possible to establish the demographical, geographical, psychological and lifestyle factors which influenced the consumption of products and the use of the media.
That kind of detailed contextual information, he said, would facilitate the "segmentation of consumers" — the profiling of people who match certain criteria in order to develop a targeted marketing strategy.
He said companies which invested in the GAMPS 2008 would be able to generate "endless cross-tabulations" of the information gathered.
Mr Gerry Van Dyk, the General Manager of Research International, the company contracted to conduct the survey, said it took into account the responses of 2,845 participants from all over Ghana, drawing information from every region.
He said the results gathered showed a certain significant development since 2005 when the last GAMPS survey was conducted.
He said the number of television channels had grown in recent years, though not in the same extent as the number of radio stations, and that the number of newspapers had not changed significantly. Newspaper readership had grown to almost 50 per cent of the population — a 10 per cent increase over the 2005 figure.
The survey also identified some key trends in product sales, such as the fact that in 2005 just nine per cent of people had bought mobile phones, while now the figure stands at 24 per cent.
The survey also offered data regarding the typical pastimes of consumers.
According to the survey, 87 per cent of Ghanaians attended a funeral in the past six months, while 37 per cent had eaten in a restaurant during the same period.
The National President of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Ghana (CIMG), Mrs Josephine Okutu, stressed that "with growing competition and consumers becoming more and more sophisticated and discerning, decisions would have to be based more on credible scientific data".
She warned that without such a database "we should expect to have a bleak future, where our information will be based on conjecture and speculation".
She called on indigenous companies, particularly the small and medium-scale ones, to cultivate seriously the habit of researching their markets, adding that the benefits of such an exercise outweighed the cost.
Mrs Okutu expressed the hope that businesses that had not yet bought into the GAMPS survey would not play the penny-wise and pound-foolish game and deny themselves the opportunity to move forward.

GHANA TOO EXPERIENCED FOR POWER-SHARING — TUC (PAGE 47)

The Trades Union Congress (TUC), has called on the Electoral Commission, to put its house in order to prevent the country from slipping into the level of power sharing deals which has recently become the bane of African politics.
The TUC said Ghana had sucessfully experienced a democratic dispensation for the past years and it would be a tragedy to slip to the level of power sharing.
Mr Kofi Asamoah, Secretary General of the TUC who made the call at a public forum in Accra said the plans and preparation being made by the Electoral Commission towards the general elections leave much to be desired.
Mr Asamoah who was contributing to discussions on a debate on the exhibition of the voters register said the TUC was prepared to use its structures to assist in the cleaning of the register.
He said the Congress had on a number of occasions expressed concern with the electoral process but the response from the EC had always been insinuations that TUC was ignorant of the electoral processes.
He said if violence erupted in the country nobody would be spared the horrors whether one was ignorant or not.
Mr Asamoah therefore called on the EC to learn to acquire objective attitude towards crictisms and improve on their performance, instead of resorting to insults which could not help to clean the bloated register and restore confidence of the people in the process.
Mr Baron Amoafo, a Deputy Chairman of National Commission on Civic Education called on aspiring politicians to desist from inducing minors with monetary rewards to register.
He said cleaning the register had to be done with the utmost circumspection to avoid an explosive situation likely to highten tension before election day.
Alhaji Mohammed Mamah Gado of the office of Chief Imam said the Chief Imam and the network of Regional and Community Imams would use their sermons to caution the Muslim youth who were often used and exploited to engage in violent behaviours.
He said the youth would be advised to be wary of politicians who would use and abandon them to their fate in times of trouble.
Rev (Dr) Fred Degbe, General Secretary of Christian Council of Ghana, who chaired the function said the Civic Forum Initiative (CFC) operated on the idea that citizens in their various communities were the major beneficiaries of democratic elections and not politicians.
He, therefore, stressed that it was the citizen who should exercise their civic responsibilities by ensuring a clean register when the voters register is exhibited from tomorow.
Dr Degbe said countries such as Togo have done it by pasting the voters register with pictures on the wall in every community for community members to know the minors and foreigners who had infiltrated the register.

EPA TO INCLUDE E-WASTE ON LIST OF HAZARDOUS PRODUCTS (BACK PAGE)

THE Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is harmonising three international protocols on the trans-border movement of hazardous waste to include e-waste from computers.
The three chemical-related conventions on the movement of hazardous waste and its disposal are the Basel, the Stockholm and the Rotterdam protocols.
Harmonising these protocols and conventions, which Ghana has ratified at the international level, will enable the EPA to localise and enforce them to regulate the inflow of e-waste.
The Public Relations Officer of the EPA, Mr William Abaidoo, told the Daily Graphic in that the e-waste chemicals, which could be found in computers, digital cameras, mobile phones and used television and radio sets, posed a danger to health.
He said some ozone-depleting chemicals formed majority of the e-waste, including lead, cadmium, mercury and fire retardants, adding that when humans were exposed to them, it could have very serious health consequences, including cancer.
He said cancer-causing agents and pollutants such as lead had been found by researchers to affect the intelligent quotient of children, with serious consequences.
Mr Abaidoo said because of the health hazards, the agency had sought the technical assistance of the Netherlands government to develop the harmonised guidelines to meet international standards.
He said institutions such as the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority, the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service and the Ghana Standards Board had been involved in the preparation of the guidelines to be enforced.
He said the collaboration would also look into the partnership between the private and public sectors with the view to generating employment in the electronic sector, since not all the second-hand electronic goods coming into the country contained e-waste materials.
He explained that the guidelines sought to differentiate between second-hand goods that could be cannibalised and used to repair broken-down computers and those that were complete waste and could not be permitted to enter the country.