Accra, the capital of Ghana, will be the venue for the Africa Regional Preparatory Conference of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) from 2 to 4 February 2005. The theme for the conference is Access, Africa's key to an inclusive Information Society . The first preparatory conference took place in Bamako, Mali in the year 2002.

The "Pan-African in the 21st century" Conference aims at bringing African Americans from the Diaspora to push the objectives of Pan-Africanism forward, and will be held in Accra from September 30 to October 3. It will develop workable programme of action that addresses the need of Africans through out the world in nation-building and international reparation issues and Business economic development for the Africa continent.

Ghanaians in The Netherlands have hailed a ruling by the Dutch Supreme Court (Raad van State) terminating exhaustive verification of documents tendered for legalization at the Dutch Embassy in Accra. The court presided by a former Justice minister mr. E. M. H. Hirsch Ballin ruled on two separate cases that the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs is only mandated to check the authenticity of the signature or stamp on the document and not the contents.

A one week workshop is to be held from 8-12 November, 2004 for practitioners and researchers to evaluate the ECOWAS peacekeeping experience from a gender (women, peace and security) perspective, is to be held at The Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre, Ghana. The workshop aims to ensure that gender mainstreaming is sufficiently incorporated into regional planning training and preparation for peace operations in the future.

Dr Ken Sagoe, Director of Human Resource Development of Ghana Health Service (GHS), at a meeting on Monday called on stakeholders to collaborate to ensure the establishment of a national health library, where health information could be readily accessed and utilised. The meeting seeks to identify gaps in health information sharing and to explore opportunities for improvement at all levels within the health care delivery system in the country.

As part of the series of 10 independent reports called "Three Continents, Four Cultures: Ten years after Cairo, the people take charge," former New York Times United Nations Bureau Chief Barbara Crossette follows a personal story of a pregnant young woman who nearly died during an illegal abortion her boyfriend pressured her into.

Conference on migration opens
Accra Sept. 14, GNA - Ghanaian missions abroad are currently in the process of preparing a comprehensive list of Ghanaian professionals abroad as part of moves to assemble the necessary database to tap their skills and experiences. President John Agyekum Kufuor who announced this said the government has initiated various programmes to help transfer resources and skills from such professional for the development of the country. In a speech read for him at the opening of a two-day conference on Migration and Development in Ghana, the President said: "it will not be possible for this or any government anywhere in the world to stop the migration of its citizens."

"What will be necessary is to evolve various mechanisms, which will make it possible for migration, especially of skilled personnel who have been trained at great expense to be taken in an orderly manner." The President said: "migration is an important policy issue that needs to be managed effectively to enable Ghana tap into the financial resources and skills of non-resident Ghanaians."

The President said a bill was "currently before Parliament to give greater constitutional recognition to Ghanaians in the Diaspora so that they can equally exercise their basic citizenship rights of taking part in the process of electing the government of their country." "We are exploring with other bilateral partners ways in which we can assist in the return of non-resident Ghanaians for varying periods of time to assist with our national development." President Kufuor urged participants to come up with important policies and recommendations to help the country address the problems associated with migration.

The conference would be exploring the multi-faceted issues related to migration and development within the context of the economic and social development of Ghana. It is a partnership initiative between the United Nations Development Programme, Institute of African Studies and the Royal Netherlands Embassy meant to tackle the various challenges associated with migration. The conference would also try to discover the linkages between migration and development and to ensure that migration becomes mutually beneficial to the sending as well as receiving countries.

Mr Alfred Sallia Fawundu, UN Resident Representative in Ghana said there were both positive and negatives sides of migration involving remittances sent form lands from far away to families, friends and other loved ones and the utilization of those monies as part of the survival strategies of the recipient. "In another instance, it brings to mind the brain drain and the spectre of depletion of trained and qualified human resources for development" he added. Mr Fawundu said migration seemed to have significant cultural, socio-economic and political implications, not only for the migrants but also for their respective countries of birth and settlements. According to him, conflicts and wars brought about asylum seekers, and various socio-economic factors closely linked with underdevelopment with serious implications.

Mr. Fawundu said Ghana and other African countries should find ways of striking a balance between the benefits of migration as a survival strategy for people and imperatives of national development. Mr. Arie van der Wiel, the Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, said governments of migrants and recipient countries must be responsible for addressing the problems of illegal migration together. The Okyenhene, Nana Amoatia Ofori Panyin, who chaired the function, called for greater efforts in addressing the problems of underdevelopment to stem the tide of migration.

According to the European Union's profile of Ghana, one-third of the 3 million Ghanaians who live abroad, are in either Europe or North America. According to Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, Mr. Arie Van Der Wiel, many Ghanaian migrants find their way to their final destinations illegally and are therefore vulnerable to exploitation by migrant traffickers and some employers.

In response to an appeal by Vice President Aliu Mahama, the World Bank has expressed its commitment to supporting Ghana's efforts to integrate ICT into all sectors of Ghanaian life. This initiative aims to create jobs, increase foreign exchange earnings and promote sustainable development within Ghana.

Since Ghana received independence in 1957, student revolutionary movements have made significant changes within Ghanaian political, social and economic spheres. Separate interviews with the former and current presidents of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) show how difficult it has become for NUGS to take independent stances on important issues when everything has become politically divided.

Your interview with Rudy Amenga-Etego is worthy of commendation (Pambazuka News 171). I completely agree with him that the privatisation of water is not the best option for Ghana and Africa in general, which has no welfare provisions. It goes to show the failure on the part of African Governments to provide for the people they are supposed to govern. The failure of these essential amenities are due largely to the corruption that has become endemic in governance in Africa. The privatisation of water will further impoverish the people who have no means of livelihood. The act should be resisted.

According to a nation-wide survey conducted between 20 and 28 May 2004, by the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), the Ghanaian democratic system is being threatened by corruption, both by political parties as well as the citizens who support them.

Oxfam, a development-oriented NGO said on Saturday that it was opposed to the current form of negotiations on the Economic Partnership Agreements between the European Union and ECOWAS countries because it would not promote sustainable development and poverty reduction. "While we believe that closer economic relationship between the EU and the developing countries could lead to sustainable development and poverty reduction, the blueprint presented by the EU will do nothing to further these goals," Mr Sam Salifu Danse, Country Programme Manager, Oxfam told Journalists in Accra.

"We, the undersigned, are writing as individuals and members of organizations, many of whom know firsthand the tragic impacts of corporate failures in the water sector from Bolivia to the Philippines and from Argentina to South Africa. The Ghana National CAP of Water, made up of women's organizations, student and youth groups, tenants, residents and community associations, religious groups, trade unions, environmental groups, and human rights groups has united around the goal of ensuring access to water for all Ghanaians by 2008. The National CAP of Water has concluded that the achievement of this goal is being undercut by World Bank and government programs that promote (1) an international market price for water, and (2) private sector contracts to foreign multinational corporations for the management of the Ghanaian water system. We ask that these programs cease and the Ghanaian people be given a chance to develop alternative proposals."

Ghana's Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has identified forced marriage as the major human rights abuse in the country's Northern Region. Speaking on a visit to the region, the acting Commissioner of the CHRAJ said that "Saboba District alone reported 84 human rights abuse cases, of which 51 were based on forced marriages."

Mr Daniel Batidam, Executive Secretary of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), has urged the media to expose corrupt practices among the people entrusted with public office. Talking at an anti-corruption workshop, he said that politicians often "give cheap talk about fighting corruption...without the media holding them accountable to what they say in order to promote good governance." Mr Batidam also said that aspiring politicians were already influencing voting patterns at the primaries by giving money to gain favours from the party delegates.

Even by conservative estimates, less than a quarter of Ghana's pre-colonial forest remains. Loggers and politicians caused most deforestation, though they like to shift the blame to farmers. But the fact is that throughout the Twentieth Century farmers have had little control over the trees on their land.

Strategies must be identified and implemented to bring healing and reconciliation between Africans in the homeland and in the Diaspora, a government minister has said. Government was encouraging the return of those in the Diaspora, because by knowing their roots and knowing what actually took place during the slave trade, the healing and reconciliation process would have begun, the minister said.

At One United Nations Plaza on September 16-18, the Ghana Cyber Group (GCG) will host the 2004 Ghana Conference on Technology Parks & the IT Economy, in cooperation with the United Nations. The conference should bring together corporate executives in the United States to learn about the growing IT economy in Ghana.

Bonte Gold Mines Limited, a Canadian owned company, has closed its Ghana alluvial operations along the river Bonte at Bonteso in the Ashanti Region. It took just about one week for the company to complete its liquidation process without following the due processes for mine decommissioning. The workers have accused the company of keeping them in the dark about the liquidation and owing them unpaid wages. Farmers whose lands were affected by the operations of the mine also received no compensation. Perhaps worst of all, the company closed without reclaiming or repairing the land destroyed by the operations of the mine.