Ghana Union [ UGAG ]

1. Meeting started at 13.00hrs with a prayer by Mr Haizel ( Mannheim-Ludwigshafen) followed by self-introduction of delegates.

2. The President excused the absence of the organising secretary – Mr Commey-Bortsie who is in Ghana for the funeral of his mother. Also excused was the finance secretary Mrs Alice Borges who has to attend to urgent family obligations.

3. Speech by host President: In his address the President of Mannheim- Ludwigshafen , Mr Asomah Yeboah among others thanked members for their presence and hoped that the meeting will lead to a furtherance in our understanding of current issues of national interest.

4. Speech by UGAG President: Mr Abrefa-Busia thanked the hosting union and members present. He enumerated some of the highlights of UGAG activities since its formation. He reminded members of the impending NEC elections and implored them to present their best candidates to the executive by the 15th of October.

5. Minutes of previous meeting. – Minutes was read by Mr Annobil (Act. General Secretary) . Mr . Adusei (Ma-Lu) moved for the minutes to be accepted and was seconded by Mr. Adu (Cologne).

6. Matters arising:

a): Issue with Ghana Union Hamburg: To the question from Mr. Haizel (Ma-Lu) , the president answered that Hamburg did not react to the letter from UGAG rejecting their invitation .
Mr. Amponsem (Ma-Lu) asked for reasons as to why Mr Mahama i.e President of Hamburg refuses to recognise UGAG as the umbrella organisation. The President answered that from his interactions with Mr Mahama so far , the reasons are that he (Mr Mahama) wanted the headquarters of UGAG to be in Hamburg as well as some executive positions also being reserved for members from Hamburg. Since those decisions were taken based on democratic procedures in the constitution and Hamburg was not in anyway prevented from contesting, his reasons cannot be tenable.
This led to a prolonged debate. Consensus was reached that in order to bring Hamburg back on board , the union should be invited to register and partake in the next NEC elections.

b):President admonished member unions who owe to endeavour to pay up.
This led to debate ending with the following resolutions:
- UGAG executives should pay routine visits to local unions to motivate them. This will help boost their membership and eventually enable them to pay up regularly.
- Local unions should be offered the alternatives of using either UGAG payment slips (Überweisungsschein) or standing order (Dauerauftrag) for payment of dues.
- Financial statements should be sent quarterly by normal postage and should include indebtedness of local unions.
7. Report on First anniversary: President summarised that the event was generally successful except the perennial lateness . He then gave a preview of the outcome of the auction sales and added that since not all the winners have paid up he could not give the final amount raised. The positive role of the sponsors was also mentioned.
There was a discussion over the fashion show . Members generally agreed that it was nice but took too much of the programme. Members from Stuttgart mentioned that the fashion designer had complained that UGAG had not expressed gratitude for her performance.
This assertion was disputed since member of UGAG executive thanked her personally and after the programme a general vote of thanks was given to all participants. It should also be noted that by providing her a platform at such a well-attended event to showcase her products as well as facilitating its publication (including pictures) in “The African Courier” , she should rather be expected to express gratitude to UGAG for promoting her career . The conclusion was drawn that in future proper binding agreements should be made with participants at UGAG events.
President officially announced that funds raised in support of the Ghana Black Stars ( Operation six points) amounted to €823 and that UGAG topped it up to €1000. He appealed to members to send any further donations to UGAG.
Mr. Adu (Cologne) announced that his union has donated €50 and Christ For All church in Cologne also donated €80. Ghana Union Stuttgart had also previously donated €100.

8. New Visa fees: members debated the new visa fees presented by The Ghana embassy. There was division on whether the 100% increment was justified. President closed the debate by offering that UGAG would write to the embassy about the issue .

9. Preparations for NEC elections : After deliberations it was agreed since Munich which is to host the next meeting was not represented , they should be contacted in the next week to confirm or otherwise their preparedness. In the event that Munich cannot host the meeting , it will be held on 29th October in Saarbrücken. The Ghana Association Saarland offered to hold the meeting in Saarbrücken at no cost to UGAG.
10: Presentation by World University service. : Mr Appiah explained the objectives of and answered questions on the programme which is to help reintegrate Ghanaians who have had “a purposeful stay” in Germany, back into Ghana.

11: Other matters:
-: Mr Dake (Stuttgart) proposed that UGAG should contact sister organisations to form an Europe-wide umbrella organisation for Ghanaians. President supported the idea.
-: Mr. Agana (Worms) raised issue with strange improper insertions on the UGAG homepage. President assured the house that he will contact the webmaster about how it came about and also to prevent it from reoccurring.
-: Mr. Amponsem (Ma-Lu) mentioned that some members of the Advisory board had complained of not being informed about UGAG activities. President refuted this and Vice-President explained that members of the advisory board just like all local unions , are informed about UGAG activities in the first instance, through the Ugag yahoo gps internet forum. Those who do not have internet access have been requested to inform the NEC so that information would be sent to them per normal postage.
-: Mr Adu (Cologne ) suggested that at future meetings , provision should be made on the agenda to discuss issues/problems confronting local unions. President agreed to this and added that members should endeavour to send in their proposals for discussions at meetings to the NEC on time so that they could be included on the Agenda.

12: Meeting ended at 19:10Hrs with prayer by Nana Oppong (Ma-Lu). Unions Represented were:
Mannheim-Ludwigshafen
Stuttgart
Kaiserslautern
Worms
Saarland
Cologne
Landshut

Recorded by Ato Annobil