Ex-President Kufuor – Right Leadership Is Key To Africa’s Development

Johannesburg, Aug 12, GNA – Former President John Agyekum Kufuor has said nurturing of people to take up leadership positions in Africa was a prerequisite to the development of the continent.

“Leadership is the key to unraveling the problems of Africa. With the right leadership good policies would be enacted that will create the right condition for economic growth, respect of the rule of law and a conducive atmosphere for business to thrive,” he said.

A statement signed by his Spokesperson Mr Frank Agyekum said Former President Kufuor was speaking at the world launch of ‘Why Africa is Poor and What Africans can do about it,’ a 400-page book written by Dr Greg Mills, the Executive Director of the Brenthurst Foundation of the Oppenheimer and Son Group.
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First ‘Ghanaian’ elevated to British House of Lords

On July 1 2010, Paul Boateng, previously British High Commissioner to South Africa, a former British Member of Parliament for Brent South, a former British Cabinet Minister and Chief Treasury Secretary in the Blair government was elevated to the House of Lords as ‘Baron Boateng of Akyem and Wembly’ in recognition of his illustrious public service. Rt Hon Boateng was also a former UK minister in the Department of Health, a minister of State in the Home Office and Financial Secretary to the Treasury. Boateng has been a privy councilor to her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II since 1998. He is a solicitor and barrister admitted in England & Wales (Gray’s Inn) and is involved in many charitable organizations including the Prince of Wales Trust and Feed the Hungry. Paul Boateng is the son of Rev Kweku Boateng, a minister in Nkrumah’s government. Also a Methodist minister, Paul remains engaged in many charitable and business activities to uplift the African image and forge better understanding among religious groups and between the UK and its former African colonies. Paul remains an inspiration to countless African youth in the Diaspora.

Delta Air Lines Launches First Nonstop Service between Accra and Atlanta

Increases choice for passengers travelling between Ghana and the Americas

ACCRA, 3 June 2010 – Today, Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) launches the only nonstop service between Accra’s Kotoka International Airport and Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world’s largest airline hub. The flight operates four times per week* using a 243-seat Airbus A330-200 aircraft, complementing the airline’s existing five weekly nonstop services between Accra and New York-JFK.

“As the leading U.S. airline to Ghana for more than three years, we’re delighted to be adding a second nonstop service, boosting travel and tourism between our two nations and increasing travel choice for Ghanaians with flights to two U.S. gateways,” said Perry Cantarutti, Delta’s senior vice president Europe, Middle East and Africa. “At Atlanta, customers travelling to and from Accra will have convenient connections to more flights than any other hub in the world, to destinations across the United States – including Los Angeles, Houston, San Francisco, Orlando and Washington D.C – and to points throughout the Americas.”

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President of Nigeria Dies After Long Illness

President Umaru Yar’Adua of Nigeria, whose chronic ill health sapped initial promises of reform and led to a constitutional crisis in his country, died Wednesday night, the information minister said in a brief interview. He was 58.

“He has died,” said the minister, Dora Akunyili, adding that Mr. Yar’Adua had expired at the presidential villa in the capital, Abuja.

Mr. Yar’Adua suffered from kidney and heart ailments, and his health had been one of the country’s top concerns for weeks, ever since he departed at the end of November for emergency treatment in Saudi Arabia.

He did not transfer power when he left. In the following months, Nigeria, already racked by low-level civil wars over oil and religion, was left in limbo. There was no center of authority, and a peace plan Mr. Yar’Adua had enacted for the violence-plagued oil-producing south seemed in danger of falling apart.

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President of Poland Dies In Plane Crash – Condolences from Ghana

President Lech Kaczynski and scores of other senior Polish figures have been killed in a plane crash in Russia.
Polish and Russian officials said no-one survived after the plane apparently hit trees as it approached Smolensk airport in thick fog.

Russian media reports said the pilots ignored advice from air traffic control to divert to another airport.
Poland’s army chief, central bank governor, MPs and leading historians were among more than 80 passengers.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the crash was the most tragic event of the country’s post-World War II history. The Polish delegation was flying in from Warsaw to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre of thousands of Poles by Soviet forces during WWII.
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Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong – The Snow Leopard

Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, nicknamed the Snow Leopard, is on the prowl for a gold in the 2010 Winter Olympic games.  He has drawn a lot of interest as an African skiing in the Olympics after his introduction to snow 5 years ago.  The Alpine Slalom race is scheduled to take place on February 27, 2010.  He will make history as the first Ghanian skiing in the Winter Olympics.

Quite the athlete, he also represented Ghana in the West African Student Games in tennis.  Kwame took ski lessons when he got a job as a receptionist at a ski center.   In an interview with BBC, he stated that , “The only thing we [Africans] have to overcome is the cold.”  He credits his family and his faith in God for his success.

Dedicated to encouraging Ghanian youth to ski, he has set up the Ghanian Winter Olympic Association and is working on building an artificial ski slope in Akuapem Hills, Mamfe, Ghana.

He supports Sabre, a British charity that builds schools in deprived areas of Ghana, and donates his spare money to a charity that is working on help save the snow leopard from extinction.

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Ghana Is Second Highest Donor To Haiti

Ghana has been noted as the second highest donor to Haiti after Guyana based on donor countries’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Details of financial aid and other assistance to the people of Haiti being tracked by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) which was released recently by the Data Blog, which is hosted on the UK Guardian newspapers’ website and sourced to Relief Web has shown that contributions captured as at January 24, 2010 shows Guyana as the ‘most generous’ country in terms of its financial pledges when measured against the country’s GDP. The report indicated that Guyana is the third poorest country in the hemisphere, after Haiti and Nicaragua.
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Ghanaian Students to Access GlobalCampus Website

A Foreign social entrepreneur, Mr Maurizio de Franciscis, has introduced a new online system to help students in Ghana to realize and improve on their talents.

This was done in collaboration with the Association of International Students in Economics, Science and Commerce (AIESEC) Ghana, a student organization that promotes leadership development among the youth.

The website, ‘GlobalCampus’, is an online system that would enable students to get connected to universities and organizations worldwide. It is focused on helping individuals to improve upon their talents in every field.

It will also enable universities and organizations to know more about students during admission processes, as well as connecting the needs of universities to students across the world.

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“Hatians Need Gari and Shito” says a Disaster Management Expert

A DISASTER Management expert has suggested that considering the effect of the Haitian crisis, cash donation is not the best assistance from Ghana, proposing that food items would be more significant. Sharing his opinion with DAILY GUIDE in Ho on Friday, Kenwuud Nuworsu, a former Chief Disaster Control Officer, explained that looking at the extent of damage caused by the earthquake and considering other international organizations that are working in Haiti, Ghana’s $3million is insignificant.

The former Volta Regional boss of the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO) noted that there is even that probability that the money might not even get to its destination, wondering if the people and government of Haiti will take notice of it at all.

Mr. Nuworsu stated that instead of the cash donation, the money could have been used to buy food items from Ghanaian companies to be relabeled from ‘For Sale’ to ‘Gift from Ghana’.
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Ghana Donate $3million to Haiti

The Government of Ghana has announced a three million United States dollar ($3,000,000) donation to the people of Haiti, following the January 12 devastating earthquake in that country.

Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister for Information, told the Ghanaian Times in Accra Wednesday that the donation was in fulfillment of President John Atta Mills’ pledge in a letter to his Haitian counterpart, Rene Preval that the government and people of Ghana, “will in due course, make our modest contribution to your national efforts.”

The President, on behalf of the people and government of Ghana, expressed heartfelt condolences and sympathies for the incalculable losses suffered.

The Deputy Minister said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was arranging for the prompt transfer of the money to the Haitian government. Meanwhile, the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) is mobilising relief items that will, at the appropriate time, be presented to the people of Haiti.

Mr. Okudzeto Ablakwa said individuals and corporate bodies desirous of assisting the people of Haiti could contact the local office of World Vision International, which was engaged in an international relief effort for Haiti.

He noted, however, that government was not associated with and had not been informed by any private organisation or individuals seeking to use text messages and charity concerts to raise funds for the people of Haiti.

Mr Okudzeto Ablakwa advised interested individuals to contact the World Vision Office if they had any doubts about an institution or organisation soliciting for funds on behalf of the people of Haiti.

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