...Advisory Board resolves Conflict within Executive

A peaceful resolution was achieved among the Executive members of the GCAO after an extraordinary meeting of the Advisory Board of GCAO on Saturday January 7 2006 in Toronto. It would be recalled that on December 12, 2005, the President of GCAO, Mr. Ahinful issued a statement to the effect that the vice President Mr. James Blankson had been suspended He outlined his reasons for this action in the statement, which was addressed to Mr. Blankson and subsequently published in the Ghanaian News and on the Internet at Ghanaweb.

Members of the Advisory Board under the Chairmanship of Nana Boahen, Ghana consular General for Toronto met with the two sides of the dispute and after a careful deliberation came to an amicable settlement between the sides. After listening to both sides together and then separately, the Board members were of the unanimous opinion that the differences between them were not major and therefore advised the two sides to try and work together in order to uphold the good name of GCAO and pursue their noble objectives to help our Ghanaian community in general. It was also felt that in this spirit of cooperation there was no need to assign blame or guilt on either part. To this end the Board resolved that:

1) The suspension of Mr. Blankson be replaced with a 2-month cooling off period to allow both sides to re-examine the situation and develop strategies to help them work together in a cordial atmosphere.

2) The cooling off period be retroactive from December 12, 2005 to February 12, 2006. During this period Dr Sefa-Dei and Nana Boahen have volunteered to work with Mr. Blankson to help him work better with the other members of the Executives and similarly Dr Twum-Barima and Mr. Thomas Tuah will help the President, Secretary, treasurer and the other executive members in their future interactions with Mr. Blankson.

3) Mr. Blankson be apprised of all-important deliberations of the executive during the cooling off period.

4) For the first 6 months or so after Mr. Blankson rejoins the Executive Committee, a member of the Board be invited to attend meetings of the committee as an observer.

The GCAO president Mr. Ahinful accepted these resolutions on behalf of the executive members and thanked the Board for the cordial and fair manner in which it handled the issues.

On his part, the GCAO Vice President, Mr. Blankson also thanked the Board for overseeing an

Amicable resolution of the misunderstanding. He reassured the Board that he will do his best to work with other members of the executive after the cooling off period. Both sides shook hands to seal their commitment to work together from now on.

Signed

Nana Boahen (Consular-General), Chair

Dr. Y. Twum-Barima, Vice Chair,

Professor George Sefa- Dei Dr. George Frempong, Barima Darko, Kabu Asante, Rev. Nana Amoakohene, Dr. Victor Awafo, Thomas Tuah, Nana Akuamoah-Boateng, (Dogo) Nana Sam. Hodzi,