NAME OF ORGANIZATION:
GHANA MENNONITE CHURCH YOUTH PEACE KEEPING ORGANIZATION (GMCYPKO) is quite big with about seven hundred members, twenty on the Executive Committee and a small office staff.
ADDRESS:
GHANA MENNONITE CHURCH YOUTH PEACE KEEPING ORGANIZATION
PO BOX 5485, ACCRA-NORTH, GHANA, WEST AFRICA.
EMAIL: michaelkodzo@yahoo.com or samuel2001gh@yahoo.com
NAME OF PERSON SUBMITTING REPORT:
Samuel Badasu Dogbeda
BUDGET
The organization's budget was not encouraging for the past two years since almost 20 percent of our members have lost their jobs. Approximately $2,700 US dollars is in the organization's account. We hope our financial system will be good within the next two years.
GOALS
- The organization has planned to tour the whole country purposely to campaign against war tax and finding other means of promoting peace in the country.
- The organization has also targeted to help three communities to build schools, clinics, and to provide good drinking water to the people of the three communities. Two of the projects have already started and we hope to complete them in five years time.
- The executive members of the organization planned to complete the new head office of the organization but it was not done due to lack of sponsorship. In fact this new head office supposed to be completed three years ago but since we were lack of funds it has being like that ever since and we are now finding new ways of completing it.
- We have decided to carry a very strong campaign across the country the country about how our organization works, it's aims and how good it is to oppose war tax. We are doing all these so that more people will know us thus increase our membership. This time round we will be touring big cities in the country.
PROJECTS
- Last year the organization supported a local community in the southern part of the country to put up three classroom blocks for the community. The school is now having about seventy-five pupils with three teaching staffs. Some of our members contributed generously to provide books, pencils, erasers etc. to the school free of charge.
- The organization has provided good drinking water to two communities in the Volta Region of the country. Formally the people were suffering from guinea-worm due to the bad nature of water they drink. We can now drink water from the wall holes without thinking about disease says the chief of one of the beneficiary community.
- The organization new head office is still in progress of finishing. We are at the roofing level for the past three years but due to some financial problems we couldn't complete it as scheduled. We are therefore making a special to all members of the ninth international conference to help us complete it.
CONTACT TO N.G.Os
The organization contacted National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) for financial help to enable the organization complete it's new head office. Madam Mary Loehr, the coordinator of NWTRCC was the main person we responded with. We are most grateful to her for using her time and energy to reply all our mails, though things didn't go as we thought it would be. We are hoping for luck next time round. The organization sincerely apologises to János Rátkai from Hungary for spending his time and money to help us go to Hungary for workshop concerning peace keeping and War Tax Resistant which couldn't come on. We were preparing for the workshop to take place but unfortunately things turn out to be bad on our side. The main reasons were that, the Hungary Embassy in Nigeria asked us to come to Nigeria for our visas and their representative in Ghana here was not kind to us when he knew that we are war tax resistants. I therefore plead on behalf of the whole organization to János Rátkai to forgive us.
CONTACT TO POLITICIANS
Three delegations from our organization went to Mr. Kenneth Dzirasah MP for South Tongu and also third deputy speaker in parliament to help us introduce war tax resistant bill in to parliament. He was very good to us and encouraged us to do more. He promised of introducing the bill in to parliament within this year. We have also made a special call to the general secretary of the largest opposition party in the country (N.D.C) to introduce war tax resistant bill when they are elected in to power.
SUGGESTIONS
We are suggesting to all the participants at the ninth international conference that if it will be good why don't we all have one common name so that we can use that name to operate in all the various countries we belong to. There is a need for us all to come together as a group to fight against war tax. It will be a great for us to come together as one group fighting against war tax. There is a saying that “one broom cannot sweep a room and it can easily be breaking in to pieces but when they are in bundles they sweep the room very well and it cannot be breaking by any means.” It is our prayer that God Himself will strengthen us, give us more energy and knowledge and put the spirit of hard working amongst us so that our work may be more effective.
MAY THE LORD GOD BLESS US ALL THROUGH HIS HOLY SON JESUS CHRIST NAME. LET US ALL HAVE A VERY NICE AND COMFORTABLE CONFERENCE IN BERLIN.