Kyebi (Eastern Region) - The government would not reactivate the Aliens Compliance Order Act of the 1970s in spite of some aliens' involvement in armed robbery but to deal with them within the ambit of the law as well as respecting the treaty of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
The Deputy Minister of Interior, Kwadwo Asiedu-Affram, who declared this at a People's Assembly at Kyebi in the East Akim District on Friday, stated that since the treaty provided for temporary residence of ECOWAS nationals in member countries, the security services were rather being strengthened to deal with those who abused their stay in the country.
He was reacting to a suggestion by a participant asking the government to reactivate the Order passed by the Second Republic to rid the country of alien residents without valid documents in 1970 because of the involvement of some of aliens in serious crimes including armed robbery.
Asiedu-Affram said the government was preparing to provide citizens with identification cards to make it easy to identify aliens who abused the law and urged the public to co-operate with the security agencies to expose and deal with criminals.
Some participants called on the government to make regular maintenance of roads and infrastructure a priority to save the huge cost in rehabilitation, the need for additional doctors and nurses at the local government hospital and the monitoring of the cocoa spraying gangs to ensure efficiency and full coverage of all farms.
A nurse expressed concern about the rather low pension benefits paid to civil servants after long dedicated services to the nation while a pensioner called for an end to the frustration and bribery that they faced during the processing of their benefits at the SSNIT and Accountant General's Department.
Other complaints raised included lack of teachers in some schools, the high transport fares and the destruction of food crops by timber concessionaires without payment of compensation.
Answering a query on the lack of telephone facility in the area, the Deputy Minister of Communication and Technology, John Achuliwor, blamed it on the "exploitative management agreement" entered into between the former government and Telecom Malyasia under which the nation lost both in funds and satisfactory service over the five-year term.
He explained that the NPP government refused to renew the agreement because while the minority foreign partner gained millions of dollars, the country earned nothing to the extent that Ghana Telecom owes virtually all creditors locally and abroad.
According Achiluwor, the situation would be addressed under the agreement between Ghana and the Telenor of Norway under, which the company is to provide over 400,000 additional telephone lines within a three-year period or be liable to pay a penalty to the government.
The East Akim District Chief Executive, Emmanuel Asihene, announced that since he assumed duties about two years ago, the Assembly had been collecting an average of 20 million cedis a month from local revenue sources instead of about 5 million cedis previously.
The Adontenhene of Akyem Abuakwa traditional area, Osabarima Kena Ampaw, who chaired the function, called on the government to embark on intensive public education on the new fuel prices to explain the need for it.
