Vice President calls for collaboration between AIDS Commission and partners

Vice President John Dramani Mahama has called for a closer collaboration between Ghana AIDS Commission and development partners to eliminate duplication and replication of their activities.

"If you collaborate and coordinate your activities very well, you will end up working effectively in partnership, rather than the current situation where there are duplications laced with mistrust on the ground."

Vice President Mahama made the call when he chaired the Commission's National Strategic Planning business meeting with donor partners to streamline areas of support and how their activities could further reduce the incidence of HIV/AIDS disease in the country.

He gave the assurance that government was committed to pushing adequate funds into the HIV/AIDS programme and called on Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives and Regional Ministers to prioritize HIV/AIDS in their educational programmes.

Vice President Mahama also called on the Commission to decentralize its activities to the regions to facilitate the spread of their educational programmes and create a positive impact throughout its campaign jurisdiction.

"Our economy is re-basing and I will like to call on the Ghana AIDS Commission to make judicious use of the available resources, while government continues to look for appropriate measures to redeem your challenges."

The Vice President who is also the chairperson of the Commission called for greater accountability that would encourage donors to continue to support their programmes in subsequent years.

Mr. Leopold Zekeng, an official of United Nation AIDS programme pledged the support of the donors to continue to work closely with the commission to ensure a total reduction in the pandemic in the country by 2015.

He however called for closer consultations among all the donors to streamline the annual duplications in their programmes.

"We are always ready to collaborate as it will help us to account properly to our mother organizations and demonstrate our level of cooperation with others.

The Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission Dr. Angela El-Adas, commended their donors for their continuous support and promised to strengthen the synergies that existed among them to achieve better results in the coming years.





Story: Office Of The Vice President
19/11/10

Vice President urges Muslims to contribute to the Zakat Fund

The Vice President John Mahama has appealed to Muslims throughout the country to contribute regularly to their newly established Zakat Fund for catering for the poor and needy to attract other donors.

"Although it is not mandatory, it is one of the five pillars that every Muslim must respect and contribute some amount of money for the upkeep of the underprivileged in society," he said.

Vice President Mahama, who was addressing the Ahlussuna Wal Jama'a Muslims during their Eidul-Adha prayers at the Efua Sutherland Children's Park in Accra, said the Fund would not only help them to initiate development funds, but also help pay school fees of brilliant but needy Muslim children.

The Zakat Fund is a Muslim Fund established throughout the Muslim world to cater for the needs of the aged and the poor and also to undertake development projects that would benefit the entire society. It cuts across all the Muslim sects and serves as a relief and common fund that the various groups rely on in times of need.

Vice President Mahama called on Muslim parents to inculcate good and universally accepted morals into their children for them to grow up to become morally upright and useful citizens.

"If a child loses her way and becomes wayward and morally bankrupt God will punish the parents for their negligence and I urge you all to take care of all the needs of your children to avoid such punishments." The Vice President once again apologized to all Muslims who could perform the Hajj this year and gave the assurance that they would be in the first batch of pilgrims for next year's Hajj.

Vice President Mahama said although the government had made adequate provisions to avoid the perennial problems associated with the Hajj, it is unfortunate that over 300 prospective pilgrims could still not make it. He promised that government would make more projections that would cover all prospective pilgrims next year.

Sheikh Omar Ibrahim Iman, National Imam of the Ahlussuna Wal Jama'a, in a sermon, called on Muslims to prioritize the education of their children as it is the best way to fight against illiteracy, disease and poverty. He condemned the rise in armed robbery, drug addiction and homosexuality among the Ghanaian youth and appealed to all Muslim organizations to use their educational programmes against the menace. "There can be no gainsaying the fact that these problems cannot be solved by government alone," he said. "The tackling of the problem should be the collective efforts of all of us. Religious institutions and parents have a greater role to play."

Sheikh Iman appealed to Muslim scholars to organize frequent education programmes against all evils of society to "uproot" the moral decadence that have over the years bedevilled Muslim youth.





Story: Office Of The Vice President
16/11/10

Veep assures saddened “pilgrims” of special package

Vice President John Dramani Mahama has apologised to Muslims who could not undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca this year.

He said although government had put in measures to curb the perennial problems associated with the pilgrimage, it was regrettable that about 300 pilgrims could not make it.

Making the apology during a briefing with the Presidential Press Corps on his recent trip to the Czech Republic, Vice President Mahama gave the assurance that the disappointed Muslims would be among the first batch of Muslims that would undertake the pilgrimage next year.

He said the Government could not be associated with the problem because President John Evans Atta Mills personally wrote a letter to the Saudi Embassy in Accra for the acquisition of visas for the trip. "Government did its best to ensure an incident free pilgrimage this year, unfortunately for some strange reasons it was not to be and we give everything to Allah for him to direct all affairs," he added.

Vice President Mahama said experts from the Czech Republic would arrive in Ghana soon to undertake feasibility studies on the construction of urban rail system and the generation and transmission of electricity to other parts of the country.

He said fruitful discussions were held with the Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas to revamp the Kumasi Shoe and Jute factories, Komenda Sugar and Aboso Glass factories.

On the Armanjaro issue, Vice President Mahama challenged those accusing him of any malfeasance to send the matter to the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and other investigative bodies and was prepared to defend himself.

"I wonder why they choose to continue telling the same story even though I have on several times given my version of the story," he added. Vice President Mahama gave the assurance that the Government would not be detracted by such propaganda but endeavour to focus on its vision to ensure the "Better Ghana Agenda" was pursued to its logical conclusion.


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Story: Office Of The Vice President
15/11/10

Czech to support Ghana with urban rail transport

The Czech government has expressed her willingness to support the government of Ghana to establish ultra-modern urban rail system and to help revive some of Ghana's defunct factories.

They have also agreed to share their technological and other professional expertise for Ghana to generate more power and transmit electricity for both domestic and the external markets.

These decisions were taken when Vice President John Dramani Mahama who is currently on an official visit to the country paid a courtesy call on Mr. Petr Necas, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic at his office at Prague.

Their meeting centred on three major issues of power and electricity generation, urban transport and the maximum use of oil and gas in the country as soon as the exploitation begins.

Vice president Mahama appealed to the Prime Minister to send a team of Experts to come out with estimates and all the necessary projections for the government to embark on the urban rail system which he said would not only decongest the major cities of the country, but would also help create more jobs for the unemployed.

He noted that the jute, shoe, sugar and tyre factories that were established by the government of Ghana in collaboration with the Czech Republic were all grounded and called for better collaborations that would revive those factories in their various locations.

Vice President Mahama said the government was spending a chunk of money importing shoes and boots for the security services and appealed to the Czech government to also consider supporting them to revamp that factory so that it could supply shoes and boots on resumption for both internal and international markets.

Mr. Necas said the Czech Republic was into all the areas discussed and would therefore engage the czech Ministries of Trade and Foreign Affairs to come out with the best technocrats to Ghana to carry out feasiblity studies that would enhance and facilitate the implementation of those programmes in the shortest possible time.

Prime Minster Necas said Ghana was a great nation in terms of good governance, stability and democracy and he would therefore be proud to engage her in a number of partnerships for their mutual benefit.

"Past governments of Ghana and the Czech republic have over the years established good relations and I promise that this time round the relationship is going to move even better."

The Vice President also visited Veclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic where their meeting was held behind closed doors.


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Story: Office Of The Vice President
10/11/10

Vice President strikes deal for KNUST Engineering students in Plyzen University

Vice President John Dramani Mahama has opened the floodgate for Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to begin an exchange programme in the West Bohemia University, also known as Plyzen University.

He said the establishment of the programme would help Ghanaian mechanical and engineering students as the university and the Czech Republic in general was globally acknowledged as one of the best engineering countries.

In a meeting with the university authorities at Plyzen, Vice President Mahama said his outfit would work it out for the programmes to move from the first degree levels to the higher degrees where students would gain adequate knowledge and expertise to be transferred into Ghana.

He pleaded with the Unversity authorities to support Ghanaian students in the research into agriculture and food security,roads and other infrastructual development projects.

Vice President Mahama said the exchange programme would provide jobs for the students upon completion and provide the country the necessary human resources to speed up socio-economic development.

He promised to pursue the deal for Ghanaian students to study in the school and many others offering similar courses, not only to broaden their horizon, but to market the potentials of Ghanaians to other countries.

Dr. Josef Prusa, Rector of the University mentioned applied sciences, Economics, electrical engineering, philosophy and Arts, Education, Law, Mechanical Engineering, and Art and Design as the major faculties that were operational at the University.

He said apart from South Africa, the University was not partnering any other university in Africa and gave the assurance that they revise their programmes to partner many other countries including Ghana.


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Story: Office Of The Vice President
10/11/10

Government promises to tackle security issues robustly - Veep

Vice President John Dramani Mahama has promised that government would continue to strategize from all angles of development to reduce armed robbery and other criminal activities to the barest minimum.

He said although government had already provided logistics to empower the military, police and other security services to fight and combat crime and other acts of misbehaviour, a lot more strategies would be rolled out in the coming months to ensure a peaceful nation and create a congenial environment for investments and other developmental projects.

"No investor will like to push his or her money in an atmosphere of general insecurity and that is why we as a government are ready to put in everything under our armpit to ensure peace and safety."

Vice President Mahama gave these promises when he addressed the Ghanaian community in Prague, Czech Republic as part of his four-day visit to the country.

Apart from the meeting with the Ghanaian community, the Vice president on tuesday addressed the opening session of the Ghana-Czech Trade and Investment forum, visited Mr Petr Necas, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and President Vaclav Klaus where they held bilateral relations in the areas of urban transport, power generation, electricity transmission and the exploitation of oil and gas.

The Vice President said although armed robbery was taking a global dimension, government would commit everything necessary to fight it to a logical conclussion in order to attract Ghanaians living outside the country to come back to exhibit their professional expertise to propel the developmental agenda of government.

He said his visit to the Czech Republic had equipped him adequately and would as soon as possible invite them to train Ghanaian entrepreneurs in business development, information, Communication and Technology alongside human resource development in the areas of Agriculture and general Engineering.

He said a permanent military barracks had been established in Bawku, due to the volatile situation there and gave the assurance that government would put in more measures to quell tension in all the conflict spots throughout the country.

"Every Ghanaian has the right to live in a state of peace and unity and government would continue to provide the necessary facilities that would ensure that all the freedoms contained in the constitution are properly adhered to."

The Vice President told Ghanaians that, Ghana last year recorded a surplus of 100 tons of maize due mainly to the prudent measures government had adopted and promised to continue to improve for Ghana to become a net food exporter.

Mr. Victor Emmanuel Smith, Ghana's Ambassador to the Czech Republic said he would relate well with the business community to tap their expertise through exchange programmes to enhance better economic relations between the two countries.

Ghanaians in the country asked questions bordering on peace and stability, security, economic investment and the discovery of oil and gas and its repercussions in the country.


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Story: Office Of The Vice President
10/11/10

Vice President John Mahama arrives in Prague, Czech Republic

Vice President John Dramani Mahama has arrived in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic to attend a three-day Ghana-Czech Trade and Investment forum on the theme: Ghana's oil and gas discovery and investment opportunities.'

Apart from participating in the trade and investment forum expected to be attended by over 100 private and public sector organizations, the Vice President would also hold bilateral discussions and visit some industrial areas of the Czech Republic in order to find out areas that Ghana had the comparative advantage with the host nation.

The Vice President who had to postpone his flight from sunday to monday to address some domestic problems in Ghana, was compelled by time to move straight from the Prague international airport to the Congress hotel where the programme was taking place.

Other government officials who are in Prague to participate in the Trade and Investment forum include: Mr. Mahama Ayariga, Deputy Minister for Trade and Industry, Mr. George Aboagye, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Investment Promotion Council, Mr Ato Pobee Ampiah, Chief Executive Officer of Tema Oil Refinery and Mr. Daniel Duku, Chief Executive Officer of Ghana Venture Capital Fund.

Trade relations between Ghana and Czech Republic was established in 1959, during the Presidency of Dr Kwame Nkrumah First President of Ghana when the country was then part of the Czechoslovakia during the twilight of communism practised by the then eastern bloc.

It was during that relationship that factories such as the GIHOC Jute factory, Komenda sugar factory, Aboso Glass factory, Bonsu Tyres and Kumasi Shoe factory were established.

The Trade and Investment forum would therefore seek to 'resurrect' most of the factories which are either defunct now or 'limping' to survive in the competitive market.