January 3: The year-long celebration of Ghana's 50th Independence anniversary was launched on Monday by President John Agyekum Kufuor with a special message for the youth: "Seize the moment and become worthy citizens of our country," he said. "The future belongs to you," President Kufuor said, adding that 50 years ago, he was a teenager looking into the future with Great hope and expectation. January 5: Courts not GOld Mine Supreme Court judge, Dr. Seth Twum cautions judges not to use the bench as a money-making avenue. "There is the greatest possibility in the practice of this noble profession to be corrupted. I will urge you to always live above reproach in order that we all preserve the sanctity of the administration of justice towards the consideration of our democracy." January 10: Chocolate, Ghana's new target February 14, St. Valentine Day, celebrated worldwide as an occasion for expression of love, is to assume an added significance in Ghana as National Chocolate Day, to promote the consumption of made in Ghana Chorolate. January 12: Ga State unites for royal funeral The impasse between the Ga TraditionalGouncil and the Ga Royal Stool (Dzaase) Kingmakers of the Ga Stool, which seemed to threaten the funeral of the late Ga Mantse, Nii Amugi II, has been resolved. Consequently, the entire Dzaase, the customarily mandated body in the Ga State to oversee the burial of the Ga Mantse, has agreed to actively participate in the funeral programme. January 16: Church cgarges ¢400 million for land Plans by the newly created Ga East district assembly to put up an office complex at Abokobi are being threatened by its inability to raise about ¢400 million being demanded by the Zimnerman Presbyterian Church at Abokobi as fees for a parcel of land for the project. January 18: GWCL staff angry with private sector Workers of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), are reportedly dissatisfied with Acqua Vitens Rand Limited, (AVRL), a private company contracted to revamp operations of GWCL, that they are contemplating a strike action to pressurise the government to abrogate the contract. January 19: Girl dies over love To the residents of Zerun near Ashiaman, the riddle for them to solve is What will push an innocent teenage girl into committing suicide by hanging herself. January 20: Doctor exposes pusher Kyei Baffour, 32, a suspected drug dealer, collapsed at the Asawase Police Station in Kumasi, where he was rushed last Saturday, January 13, for allegedly swallowing some pellets of a whitish substance believed to be cocaine. He was said to have arrived from Holland where he was to have expelled the stuff to a contact group. January 20: Pastor charged for head-butting A 28-year-old pastor has been put before court for butting the upper lip of a man which resulted in the removal of his tooth. Pastor Oscar Okantey of the Moon Light Power Ministries was charged with assault at the Tema Circuit Court and was granted a ¢40 million bail. January 22: Accra decongestion finally begins The long-awaited decongestion of the business centres of Accra by the Metropolitan Assembly finally got underway last Friday night. It was undertaken simultaneously with clean-up exercise in all parts of the city to rid the Metropolis of garbage that had piled up and choked the gutters. January 24: Kofi Annan back home Busumuru Kofi Annan stepped on his native soil last night after 10 years of dedicated service to humanity as Secretary General of the United Nations. January 27: Ga Mantse goes home Boni Nii Amugi II, Ga Mantse, who died in December 2004 aged 65, after a 39 year-reign, goes to his ancestral home today at midnight. January 30: President Kufuor heads AU Forty-two years after Ghana last chaired the then Organisation of African Unity, now African Union, the assembly of the Union in Addis Ababba, Ethiopia, yesterday unanimously voted President Kufuor as its chairman. He takes over from President Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Republic of Congo in what observers described as a continental kick-off to Ghana's 50th anniversary celebration. January 30: NRC recommends cash for dismissed workers The reinstament of a number of workers who suffered from violation of their rights under past governments, as recommended by the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC), is to be converted into cash pavment. Source: The Spectator quoting Ghanaian Times publications