Monday, April 28, 2008

OIL, GAS FORUM HELD IN SUNYANI (PAGE 38)

Story: Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah, Sunyani

Members of the National Technical Committee on Oil and Gas have been called upon to actively involve the churches and all other religious organisations in the country in the on-going regional consultations on the draft oil and gas policy document for the country.
Reverend Kwadwo Owusu-Sarpong, in-charge of the Awuah-Odumase Presbyterian Church in the newly created Sunyani West District in the Brong Ahafo Region, who made the call, observed that leaders of the various religious groups had access to a large proportion of the country’s population and were therefore in the position to educate and sensitise the people to the prospects and intricacies that were associated with the oil and gas find in the country.
Rev. Owusu-Sarpong, who was contributing to the discussions at the regional consultative forum in Sunyani on Wednesday, said any attempt to sideline the religious leaders in the dissemination of information on such important national resource would be a disservice to the people.
On February 25 and 26, 2008, a National Forum on Oil and Gas Development was held in Accra with the objective of having the government of Ghana to involve all stakeholders in a discussion of the petroleum sector issues and to benefit from the lessons learnt by other countries.
By sharing of local and international experiences, the process of consultation has been initiated to facilitate the development of a comprehensive national policy for the oil and gas
sector and an Industry Master Plan.
The Brong Ahafo Regional forum discussed four key areas, namely Resource Management, Revenue Management, Health, Safety, Environment and Social Responsibility and Security.
It was attended by Municipal/District Chief Executives, Presiding Members, Heads of Departments, representatives of non-governmental organisations and political parties, chiefs, energy experts and other stakeholders of the oil and gas industry.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, in his welcoming address, stressed that the oil and gas find in Ghana was a significant blessing that “God had showered on our dear nation at 50 years of our nationhood and the best legacy we can leave behind for the future generations is to ensure best practices in the exploitation and management of this important resource”.
He, however, noted that oil finds could be said to be a blessing because of the positive dividends that would come with the exploitation.
Mr Baffour-Awuah expressed confidence that the country could take cognisance of the positive and negative experiences of other oil-producing countries to produce a policy which would help Ghana harness the oil and gas with minimum benefits and minimal negative experiences.

Friday, April 25, 2008

FARMER, 45, BEATS WIFE TO DEATH (MIRROR, PAGE 35)

From Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah, Wenchi.

A 45-year-old farmer at Etuna, a farming village near Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo Region, Kwaku Chirbu, has appeared before the Wenchi Magistrate Court for allegedly beating his wife, Abena Suntey, 35, to death and burying her secretly with the assistance of some neighbours.
The suspect is said to have convinced the unsuspecting sympathizers that, the deceased was pregnant and that after taking some concoction to terminate the pregnancy, she died.
Chirbu, a native of Dafieme in the Nadowli District in the Upper West Region, has been charged with murder and hindrance of inquest and has been remanded in prison custody by the court, Presided over by Mr Essel Walker and is to reappear on Thursday, April 24,2008.
At the last adjourned date, March 27, 2008, the court ordered that, the body be exhumed by a team of pathologists from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospiatl (KATH) in Kumasi, led by Dr Siaw Boateng.
The Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Mr Prince Sam Kwame Osae, in-charge of the Wenchi District Police, told The Mirror in an interview that, the suspect, was married to the deceased and one other woman, Sylvia Taafare, 25 and that they were farmers at Etuna, near Wenchi.
He alleged that on March 18, 2008, the junior wife, Sylvia, who happened to be the sister of the deceased, sought permission from the husband to visit her father at Kintampo but the man declined.
DSP Osae further indicated that, the deceased then decided to intercede on behalf of her rival, a move, he said did not go down well with the husband and consequently subjected the senior wife to severe beatings which resulted in her unconsciousness.
According to the Police Officer, the junior wife then decided to travel to Kintampo as planned the following day and whilst there she was informed that her rival had died and that the husband had quickly organised for her burial.
The Police Officer said, on her return the junior wife reported the case to the police who then effected the arrest of the husband.
DSP Osae alleged that, the suspect had told his neighbours that, the wife had been sick for sometime and that had culminated in her death.
In his caution statement, Mr. Osae alleged that, the suspect indicated that, his wife was two months old pregnant and that she took some concoction to terminate the pregnancy and that resulted in her demise.
According to the District Police Command, the said concoction had been collected to the Police Crime laboratory in Accra for examination while the body had also been exhumed and examined upon the coroners’ request.
The Police intimated that, the body had been reburied, pointing out that, the suspect had four children with the deceased and that their whereabouts were not known.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

FARMER WANTED FOR SLASHING WIFE (PAGE 54)

Story: Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah, Wenchi

THE police have mounted a search for a middle-aged farmer at Mansie, near Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo Region, for allegedly inflicting multiple machete wounds on his wife, Abena Sensah, 33, on suspicion of infidelity.
The suspect, G.K. Nsiah, alias Kwasi G.K., is alleged to have subjected the woman, a nursing mother, to severe beating, after which he followed her to her elder brother’s house where he inflicted the machete wounds on her.
The woman is said to have gone to her brother’s house to report the beating but the husband followed her there and slashed her with the machete.
The Wenchi District Police Commander, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Prince Sam Kwame Osae, who briefed the Daily Graphic on the incident, also alleged that Nsiah also attacked his brother-in-law when he attempted to stop Nsiah from slashing Sensah in his own compound.
According to DSP Osae, the woman was rushed to the Wenchi Methodist Hospital where she was immediately operated upon by a team of medical officers. She is currently in a stable condition.
At the hospital, the Medical Director, Dr Sibiru Ballu indicated that Sensah’s condition was so horrific that the health workers on duty when she was brought in at midnight could not stand the sight of the multiple wounds.
Dr Ballu said he and another doctor, Dr Boateng Bosomtwi, quickly sent her to the theatre, where they spent about six hours performing surgery on her.
Sensah, who spoke to the Daily Graphic on her hospital bed, said she had been married to her husband for several years and that they had two children.
The Administrator at the Wenchi Methodist Hospital, Mr B.C.K. Botwe, commended the two medical officers for their high sense of commitment and dedication to duty to save Sensah, adding that but for their timely intervention, she would have lost her life.