The Akosombo declaration

Journalists commit themselves
… To help achieve MDGs
Posted:The Chronicle Tuesday, May 19, 2009


By Charles Takyi Boadu
With just six years to go, a team of Ghanaian media practitioners, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), and the academia, have committed themselves to helping the country towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

In all, the thirty-six participants have resolved to intensify and expand the coverage of programmes and activities towards the attainment of these goals by the year 2015.

This was after three days of intensive deliberations at a workshop organised by the Ministry of Information, with support from the United Nations Development Planning (UNDP), at Akosombo over the weekend.

The theme for the programme was ‘The state and the media as development partners in the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).’

In recognition of the political polarisation in the country, the group pledged to enhance professional media practice as a means of contributing to national stability and peace, a critical consideration for the attainment of the MDGs, which include the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal basic education, promote gender equality, and women empowerment.

The rest are reducing child or infant mortality, improve maternal mortality, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability, and to develop a global partnership for development.

In a seven-point communiqué, the group recommended for government consideration, the need for the establishment of a multi-sectoral team, comprising representatives of the Ministry of Information, UNDP, National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP), media, political parties and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) by the end of June 2009.

The team would be tasked with a responsibility of submitting progress reports on Ghana’s efforts at attaining the MDGs, to the Ministry of Information by the end of September 2009.

It was further recommended, for the consideration of government and other stakeholders, the formulation of a national development agenda, which recognises the attainment of the MDGs as binding, regardless of which government is in power.

“We further recommend the setting up of a mechanism to monitor and evaluate the performance and progress made or achieved in attaining the MDGs,” the communiqué said.

In order to ensure community participation and ownership towards the attainment of the goals set, it was further recommended that stakeholder meetings should be organised at district, regional and national levels, to create awareness and commitment in attaining the MDGs.

Investors to Troop After Mills's Trip to UK

Posted: The Chronicle| Wednesday, 13 May 2009


By Charles Takyi-Boadu

The Government says it is confident that sooner than later, foreign investors and businesses will be trooping into the country in droves, to either invest or partner Ghanaian companies to do business.

The Trade and Industry Minister, Ms. Hannah Tetteh, has thus sought to clear doubts being expressed in some quarters about the prudence or otherwise of President Mills' recent trip to the United Kingdom, accompanied by a delegation of some members of his government.

At a press briefing in Accra yesterday, the Minister noted that they were in talks with a lot of foreign investors, and businesses who have not just expressed, but also shown keen interest in coming to invest in the country.

In spite of the global economic effect, she noted, "it was quite clear that Ghana was considered to be a very interesting and exciting business destination, with very good future prospects."

She has thus given Ghanaians her word that they would soon realise the benefits of the President's trip to the UK.

As a first step towards the realisation of this dream, she indicated that the British Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Lord Davies of Abersoch, will be leading a trade delegation to Ghana in September this year, to facilitate the move.

It has thus been agreed that the Minister of Trade and Industry of Ghana would work together with Ghanaian Business Associations to develop a list of UK businesses that the government will like to attract to Ghana, either to invest on their own, or enter into joint ventures with their Ghanaian counterparts in various business sectors.

This is to ensure that Ghana received the maximum benefits from such an investment trip.

Hannah Tetteh gave details of some of the meetings and engagements the government delegation held with some of these prospective investors, stressing that the discussions on investment opportunities were engaging and frank.

According to her, most of the discussions focused on private sector investors.

Over the next few weeks or months, the government says it will be continuing the dialogue to ensure that more of such businesses have the opportunity to join the country do business profitably.During the trip, the Trade and Industry Minister said she and her other colleague Ministers of Finance, had discussions with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) on the issue of private sector development and trade facilitation.

This was in view of an existing private sector development programme, which will come to an end this year.

The programme is a multi-donor supported facility, with DFID being one of the donor partners.

The discussions were thus centered on the renewal of the facility, and the focus areas which the government would like to have addressed in the next phase of the programme.

It was later agreed that the discussion be continued in Accra with the DFID and other development partners, to fashion out a programme that would address the priority areas for private sector investment, as defined by the Mills' administration.

I did my best at Korle Bu -Frimpong Boateng

Posted: The Chronicle | Friday, May 15, 2009



By Charles Takyi-Boadu
The former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the nation’s premier hospital, the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), and the first blackman to undertake a successful heart transplant in sub-Saharan Africa, Professor Dr. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, is obviously not happy with what appears to be a deliberate and calculated attempt by sections of the media to tarnish his reputation.

He said he did not have any intentions whatsoever of descending into the gutters with the papers, since his achievements as CEO of the hospital speaks volumes.

Speaking in an interview with this reporter, Prof. Frimpong Boateng wondered why some Ghanaians took delight in ruining the reputations of individuals in the country.

Frimpong-Boateng, who is the head of the National Cardiothoracic Centre, noted that despite all accusations being made against him, the Ghana Post had crowned his deeds by embossing their newest stamps with a couple of the things he managed to achieve for Korle-Bu during his days as CEO.

He talked of three of the new stamps, which have the embossment of the new Administration Block of the hospital, the Cardiothoracic Center, and the third one which has his own embossment.

After achieving this and other monumental feats for the nation and Korle-Bu, he could not fathom why anybody, or his detractors, would seek to drag his name and reputation into the mud without cause.

He also takes pride in the fact that he has been able to establish a Cardiothoracic Centre which is now recognised by the West African College of Surgeons, for training heart surgeons, cardiologists, cardiac anesthetists, operating room nurses, intensive care nurses, cardiac technicians, and other cardiothoracic technicians.

Newspaper reports had alleged that contrary to the praises heaped on Frimpong-Boateng, for his instrumental leadership in the building of the administrative block for the hospital, the children’s block, which is a few meters close to the administration, was in a deplorable condition, such that between four and five children, and in some cases six, new-born babies share a bed.

It was also alleged that some of the basic necessities like water filters are not available, stressing that the situation at the Surgical Medical Emergency (SME) unit and other departments of the hospital, was more pathetic.

This is what baffles Prof. Frimpong-Boateng’s imagination, wondering why such blame could be apportioned to him, when he left office almost two years ago.

In spite of this, the learned doctor has indicated that he was not the least moved by the continuous churning of falsehood by his detractors, to tarnish the image and reputation he has built for himself over the years.