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First and Second Transmissions for Thursday, May 8 2008
Begins at: =================== 1800 hours

Major Events Expected Include:

Accra: Stranded Ghanaians in Barbados return home
" : Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Togo to fight mass poverty

Leklebi-Fiape (V/R): African unity must begin from the grassroots

Attention Subscribers: Credit GNA with all stories used
End memo.
GNA
BDB
8 May 08

EXPO 01
Politics African Unity
African unity must begin from the grassroots

Leklebi-Fiape, May 8, GNA - Mrs Dipuo Peters, Premier of the Northern Cape Province in South Africa, has said African Unity built on the foundations of people-to-people and village-to-village relations stood the greatest chance of bringing the continent together much more rapidly.
She said this at a durbar organized by the chiefs and people of Leklebi-Fiape in honour of a traditional delegation from Bag-Motihware community in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa as part of their village-to-village relations.
Mrs Peters said Africa needed to fashion out a system of relations in which the people see themselves as their own liberators by learning from, sharing and applying experiences, cultures and expertise in solving problems confronting them.
She called on Africa's traditional rulers to overcome the artificial boundaries that separate them and to create a platform for consultations on ways to complement the efforts of their governments in giving better lives to their peoples.
Mrs Peters identified tourism and agriculture potentials in Africa as gold mines that the people could exploit through co-operation across regional boundaries.
Kyosi Kagibo Toto Batiharo, Chief of Bag-Motihware, said African traditional communities could learn much from and enrich each other culturally through co-operation facilitated by their respective governments.
He said African societies must learn from and adopt the Japanese example of the centrality of culture in spiritual, physical and mental development.
Mr Rapulane Molekane, South Africa High Commissioner in Ghana, said the long-standing positive relationship between Ghana and South Africa in the struggle against apartheid must now find expression in the promotion of closer co-operation between their citizens at the grassroots level.
"Distance is not a barrier between Africans", he said.
Mr Kofi Dzamesi, Volta Regional Minister, said the relationship between the two communities would provide the platform to learn and understand each other's culture and values much more closely.
GNA
SV/DK
08 May 08


EXPO 02
Social Passengers Barbados
Stranded Ghanaians in Barbados return home

Accra, May 8, GNA - Sixty-one Ghanaians, who were stranded in Barbados for the past two-and-a half months, were on Thursday flown back home on board a chartered flight, Miami Air International.
Also with the Ghanaians were 19 Nigerian passengers, who declined to disclose any information about themselves.
The exercise was collaboration between the Governments of Ghana and Barbados.
Some Ghanaian passengers, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency about their ordeal, said they got to know of a trip to Barbados being organised by Seasons Travels and Tours, to Barbados through advertisements in the media.
They said they paid 2,000 dollars each to the tour operators to cover their return trip to Barbados where they were to spend two weeks.
They left Accra on January 31, 2008 on board an aircraft belonging to Ghana International Airlines (GIA), which had been chartered by Seasons Travel and Tours for the trip.
The passengers said after reaching Barbados on February 1, and spending two weeks, the flight, which was to come for them on February 15, as had earlier been agreed upon with Seasons Travels and Tours, did not turn up.
The passengers said they had to find their own means of staying and surviving as they awaited their return flight.
Whilst some found jobs in order to raise funds with which they could survive whilst waiting for a flight to turn up, others managed to lodge with friends and family members.
When asked weather all the stranded passengers had been brought back to Ghana, the passengers said, "those who have not returned must have decided on their own not to return, since several announcements were made for days in Barbados about the fact that there was an in-coming flight to ferry all stranded Ghanaian passengers back to Ghana today, 8th May 2008".
Mr Isaac Sarpong, Corporate Secretary and Head of Compliance, Regulatory and Legal Department of the Ghana International Airline, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that, by the legal implications of the agreement between Seasons Travels and Tours and the GIA, the tour operators were solely responsible for the welfare of the passengers it had transported to Barbados.
Mr Sarpong said after the tour operators had made payment to GIA for the passengers to be flown to Barbados, they failed to make payment to GIA for the return trip of the passengers, although these passengers had already paid the tour operators for their return trip.
"There is, therefore, no way Ghana International Airlines could be held responsible for what happened," he said.
Officials of Seasons Travels and Tours were not at the Airport to meet the returnees.
GNA
TMA/REA
8 May 08

EXPO 03
Science Research Fisheries
Ghanaian wins international fisheries research contest

Accra, May 8, GNA - A Ghanaian student in the University of Maryland Eastern Shores (UMES) in the United States of America, has won the first place in the 59th annual Pacific Fisheries Technologist (PFT) Research Contest.
Ms Lauretta-Lyn Katsriku, a 27-year-old student, who graduated from the University in December 2007 with a Master of Science degree in food and agriculture sciences competed with 46 international entries at a conference in San Francisco, a document copied to GNA on Thursday said.
Ms Katsriku's research titled: "Development of a Restructured Crabmeat Product: Examining the Physical, Chemical and Microbiological Attributes" was based on her Master's thesis at the Centre for Food Science and Technology at the University.
The restructured crabmeat product that she produced during her research attracted the attention of some seafood processors and she is currently working on the feasibility of commercialising the product in collaboration with the Maryland Sea Grant Programme.
Ms Katsriku expressed her gratitude to Dr Jurgen Schwarz, Director of the Food Science and Technology Programme, who served as her academic advisor and Mr Tom Rippen, Sea Food Technology Specialist with the Maryland Sea Grant Extension Programme, who supervised her research project.
The Pacific Fisheries Technologist Conference (PFT) is an international conference that provides an exchange of technical, scientific and regulatory information among those working and interested in seafood technology.
Attendees from all segments of the seafood industry, research institutes, universities and governmental agencies engaged in aquatic food products convene at PFT.
This year's conference hosted 106 presentations, which included 60 oral, and 40 poster presenters. Presenters were from the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Ghana, Korea, Mexico, Norway, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
GNA
LQ/BDB
8 May 08


EXPO 04
Science Meningitis Africa
Africa health experts discuss new vaccines for meningitis

Accra, May 8, GNA - Ghana will later this year begin clinical trials of meningitis vaccines in infants and incorporate it into the routine immunization of children when it proves to be successful.
The trials which will take place at the Navrongo Health Research Institute, is aimed at developing new improved vaccines to eliminate meningitis that had become an epidemic on the Continent.
Emeritus Professor Francis Nkrumah of the Noguchi Memorial Institute of Medical Research (NMIMR) said this during a media interaction after the opening of a two-day meeting of the Meningitis Vaccine Project Advisory Group in Accra.
The meeting, which is the seventh, will be discussing the Meningitis Vaccine Project (MVP) established in 2001 by the World Health Organization in partnership with the Programme for Appropriate Technology (PATH).
It is also aimed at eliminating epidemic meningitis, which has become a public health problem in sub-Saharan Africa through the development, testing, introduction and widespread use of conjugate meningococcal vaccines, the new vaccines on trial.
Prof. Nkrumah said Ghana had been very lucky for not experiencing epidemic meningitis this year though there were some sporadic reports in the northern parts of the country, especially Upper West and Upper East. "To maintain this trend of low records of the epidemic, we need this new vaccine to eliminate it from the continent."
Meningitis is an infectious disease, which comes soon after the harmattan and the beginning of rains, affects the brains and could result in death.
Ghana for the first 15 weeks of 2008 recorded 123 cases of epidemic meningitis out of which 25 died.
Burkina Faso recorded the highest of 7,779 out of which 761 died followed by Nigeria with 3,418 out of which 265 died.
Burkina Faso last year recorded about 8,000 cases out of which 800-900 deaths were recorded.
Prof. Nkrumah noted that meningitis was an infectious disease that needed to be eliminated and called on all nations in the epidemic belt to assist in the trials of the new vaccines that would replace the old one.
Dr Kader Konde, WHO MVP focal point, said tests on the new vaccines had been successful in phases one and two of the clinical trials in The Gambia, Mali and India in children and adults and proven its efficacy and safety to use to eliminate the disease.
He said the new vaccine, an improvement of the old one, would last for 10 years instead of the old one that could last for only three years.
Dr Gladys Ashitey, a Deputy Minister of Health, said the recent new research agenda of Ghana's health sector had one of the key areas focusing on product development and called on participants to also define the direction in the development of surveillance systems for the control of epidemic meningitis.
She entreated them to examine the question of incorporation in the context of cost containment and deliberate on issues of constraints that impeded the access to essential products and services available for the control of the meningitis.
GNA
TMA/REA
8 May 08

EXPO 05
Economics Conference Alliance
Ghana, Nigeria, Benin, Togo to fight mass poverty

Accra, May 8, GNA - An alliance by Ghana, Nigeria, Togo and Benin to fight mass poverty through socio-economic development opened in Accra on Thursday with a call on participants to ensure peaceful co-existence and sharing of prosperity on the basis of a joint platform.
Known as the Co-Prosperity Alliance Zone (COPAZ) the four countries aim at providing the most effective framework to address successfully the challenges of mass poverty through socio-economic development.
Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Charles Brempong-Yeboah who opened the conference, said there was the need to critically examine the priority areas and deliberate candidly on issues, while focusing on the aspirations of leaders of the participating countries.
The deputy Minister told the Third Experts of Co-Prosperity Alliance Zone (COPAZ) Ministerial Conference that it was in recognition of this objective that leaders of member countries agreed to speed up the integration process within the sub-region by establishing a concrete, meaningful and strong project-based foundation.
Notable among the projects are electricity inter-connection among countries and the West Africa Gas Pipeline Project that was launched at Itoki in Ogun state of Nigeria.
Mr. Brempong-Yeboah said participants had been working assiduously to finalise the protocol to the memorandum of understanding on COPAZ that was key for the establishment of the Technical Support Facility to be presented to leaders of member countries on May 10 for consideration and adoption.
The protocol to the memorandum of understanding on the COPAZ provides a comprehensive framework for political, economic and social collaboration between the countries.
In that regard, he said, COPAZ had considered it feasible to focus, among others, on foreign policies, interior and security, finance and development, education, commerce and industry, transport and communication.
Mr. Brempong-Yeboah said the alliance had therefore become more imperative in the era of globalisation to harmonise policies and strengthen cooperation so as to empower the masses by investing in their capabilities and widen their development options, adding that there was much to be gained in pooling resources.
He urged participants to navigate the road map for sustainable establishment of COPAZ to accelerate the economic development of the sub-region.
The Executive Secretary of COPAZ, Dr Prince Fatai Adeyemi called for fruitful deliberations above nationalistic differences and called for resources and logistics to establish a secretariat for the smooth running of the alliance.
GNA
TMA/REA
8 May 08

Attention Recipients: EXPO 05 ends our First and Second Casts
GNA