The meeting started at 1315hrs with an appeal from Ugag’s President, Mr.Abrefa-Busia forco-operation from members to be able to go through the programme quickly to make up for the late start. After an openning prayer by the Rev. Father Arthur of Düsseldorf and self introduction of members present, the host President, Mrs. Akosua Opare-Koranteng took stand to address the meeting. She appealed to members to co-operate with the executive to make the meeting a successful one. She welcomed all members most heartily to the meeting, esp.Ms. Rita Hagan, the representative of the Ghana Embassy, Berlin and the observing delegate from Ghana Union, Nürnberg. Mr.Asante.

At this point the President, excused the absence of Mr. Commey-Bortsie and Mrs. Alice Borges, both members of the Advisory board, who are also the out-going Org.Secretary and the out-going Fin. Secretary respectively, who, due to private problems could not make
it to the meeting but however assured members that they will definately attend the next meeting.

Minutes of last NRC-Meeting in Saabrücken: Read by the out-going Acting Gen. Secretary, Mr. Ato Annobil. Matters arrising from minutes: Mr. Richard Opoku of Worms wanted to know:-

1) whether there has been any reaction to the letter written to the Embassy concerning the visa fees.

2) whether there was a reason for this increase, and

3) whether this increase in the visa fees has had any effect on tourists to Ghana.

The President, explained that Mr.Antwi confirmed having received our letter written to him early November 2005 on this issue which has been forwared to Accra but he has not had any reply yet.The President therefore asked Ms.Hagan whether she could tell us anything about it.

Mrs Hagan told the delegates that the directives for the increase came from the Foreign Ministry, Accra, because Ghana was the only Country that still charged low and that documents available to her do not suggest any decrease in the number of tourists to Ghana.

Handing over and swearing-in of the new National Executive Members: At this point, the old Executive Members moved back to join their delegations so as to pave way for the swearing in of the new Executive.This was administered by Ms. Rita Hagan of the Ghana Embassy, Berlin. The President Mr. Abrefa-Busia and the Vice President, Mr. Ato Annobil were the only old and new Executive Members. The others were Mr. Alfred Aganah, General Secretary, Mr. Peter Osei Sampene, Financial Secretary and Mr. Kwaku Amponsem Organizing Secretary.

The President’s Address: The President, Mr. Abrefa-Busia thanked Mr. Rowland Alhassan, Ghana’s Ambassador to Germany for his assistance to the Union and the support the Union
has had from the Embassy since it’s introduction. He also thanked the out-going Executive for their contribution and charged the new members to be dedicated to the job and reminded them that the job at hand is voluntary but time consumming. He assured the delegates that the new National Executive Council will work hard to improve upon the last two years of UGAG.

Ms. Rita Hagan, in her short address, acknowledged the good work the National Executive Council and UGAG has done so far for Ghanaians and urged all to continue this good work. She wished the newly elected Executive Council and Advisory Board members good luck in
their various jobs.

Advisory Board: Present were Rev. Father Arthur and Mr. Adjei Bekoe Esq., of blessed memory. (He died two days after this meeting) The President informed the delegates that Mr. Ampofo had called to excuse himself from attending this meeting due to certain difficulties but had expressed his desire to continue as a member of the Board. Mr. Ampofo and Mr. Osei Akoto of Oberhausen were elected in addition to Mrs Alice Borges, Mr.Commey-Bortsie and Mr.Adjei Bekoe Esq. to constitute the five-member board. The Rev. Father Arthur had earlier on opted out of the Advisory Board due to time pressure but assured the council that he will always be there when needed and that he will remain,what he called, our spriritual adviser.

Financial Report: The President informed the delegates that the finacial report could not be presented due to the absence of the out-going Financial Secretary and that since he may not be able to answer certain questions, it was proper to do so at the next meeting. Mr.Adu Ankrah blamed the National Executive Council, NEC, for not keeping to the promise that was made at our last meeting to have our Financial Records straight and report at this meeting. Mr. Johnny Acquah of Oberhausen had earlier on suggested that there should a hold in handing over to the new Financial Secretary until the financial records were in order. At this point, the Rev. Father Arthur intervened and asked the NEC to appologize and see to have matters sorted out and report at the next meeting. The President did so on behalf of NEC.

The meeting paused for launch at 1450hrs

On resumption at 1535hrs., it was announced that the Rev, Father Arthur wanted to leave. He (Rev. Father Arthur) took stand and advised both the new NEC and Advisory Board members to follow the good example set by their predecessors. The President thanked him for his support and hoped that he will continue to be of help to UGAG.

Football World Championship in Germany: After a brief report about what has happened so far, including the letter of complaint on the sales of tickets that was written to the Ghana Football Association, GFA, with copies to the President of Ghana HE: Mr. John Kuffour, the Minister of Youth and Sport , Mr. Sarfo Maarfo and Ghana’s Ambassador to Germany, HE: Mr. Rowland Alhassan, the President asked members to come out with suggestions on how best Ugag could organize a reception for our National Team during the Champonships.

Ms. Rita Hagan informed the meeting that after an initial promise by the GFA to contact the Embassy on the sale of the tickets, the Embassy was itself surprised to see from the Internet that one Mrs. Sandra Hiller was in charge of the sales.

Mr.Kweku Antwi of Oberhausen advised the meeting not to waste any further time discussing what went wrong but rather to find out how we can acquire tickets for our members. After a short debate, it was agreed that members submit their requirements to the President for him to forward same to Mrs. Hiller before the end of the new deadline 23/01/06. The delegate from Nürnberg, Mr. Asante, wanted to know what UGAG can do to help them organize a reception for our Black Stars during the Championships. Mr. George Dartey of Krefeld also had a similar request citing the many facilities they have in Krefeld. So was Mr. Johnny Acquah of Oberhausen with an appeal to UGAG to help them acquire drumming materials for the occassion. Lastly the President of Ghana Union, Cologne, Mr. Adu Ankrah informed the meeting that they would want to organize a Ghana-Day in Köln on the day our Black Stars would be playing there and invited all to the accassion. Matters concerning local Unions: Mr. Osei Kofi Akoto of Ghana Union Oberhausen informed the delegates about Ruhrgebiet’s intention to re-group and form what he called a
„Regional UGAG“ This new Regional UGAG would, when formed, embrace all local, tribal and religious Unions in the area. He asked the NEC and the NRC to ponder over this and come out with their comments. The President of UGAG; Mr. Abrefa-Busia, who is also Chairman of the NEC, encouraged members of the Ruhrgebiet to go ahead for as he put it, „bringing people together can only be a good thing“.

Mr. Asante of Nürnberg expressed his Unions desire to become a member of UGAG. He was briefed by the Vice President, Mr. Ato Annobil on the proceedure of becoming a member.

Rest Programme for 2006: This was presented by the new Gen. Secretary and approved by the NRC as follows;- 22nd April, 2006 - Delegates Conference in Cologne 2nd September, 2006 - Delegates Conference in Mannheim

• The Venue for the last Delegates Conference scheduled to take place on the 4th November, 2006 will be deceided at the next delegates Conference in Cologne on the 22nd April, 2006.
• Independance Day celebration proposed to take place on the 11.03.06 was taken out of the list due to insufficient planning time.

Other matters: The president of Cologne, Mr. Adu Ankrah, suggested UGAG should cut costs by reducing the number of meetings a year.

Mr. Peter Osei Sampene of Oberhausen asked for a reduction of the meeting points on future programmes so as to reduce the time needed for our meetings. Mr. Alfred Aganah of Worms blamed that on very lengthy and uneccessary contributions of some members during our debates.
A delegate from Mannheim, Mr Slim Davidson blamed it on puntuality. He advised members to try to be very puntual at meetings in oder to avoid uneccessary delays.

Closing Remarks: The President , Mr. Abrefa-Busia thanked members esp. Ms. Rita Hagan for coming to Oberhausen and appologized to her for our unusual tons at certains parts of our discussions. He reminded members to go in for the tickets to enable them visit the various stadia to cheer up our National team to victory. He wished all a safe journey back home.

Thirty delegates and observers from Ruhrgebiet, Cologne, Krefeld, Mannheim/Ludwigshafen, Berlin, Landshut, Munich, Düsseldorf, Worms and Nuremberg with Ms Rita Hagan from the Ghana Embassy, Berlin, were present.

Closing Prayer
By Mr. Brucku, the President of Ghana Union Munich.

Departure – 1915hrs.

Minutes recorded by Alfred Aganah Gen. Secretary/UGAG

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ON: 29TH JANUARY; 2005 AT: MÜLHEIMERSTR. 200, OBERHAUSEN

1. Meeting started at 13:10Hrs with a prayer by Father Arthur

2. Welcome address by host president. - The host president Mrs Koranteng welcomed members and called upon them to make positive contributions to achieve a successful meeting.

3. Address by UGAG president: The president Mr Abrefa-Busia in his address appealed to members to be co-operative in deliberations in order for the union to achieve progress and prosperity.

4. Reading of previous minutes: The acting general secretary ;Mr Annobil read the minutes. As there were no corrections Mr Aganah (Worms) moved for the minutes to be accepted and was seconded by Mr Acquah (Ruhrgebiet)

5. Matters arising:
a. The organising secretary will contact Ghana Airways regarding the fate of the tickets donated for the UGAG inauguration.
b. Financial accounts – after deliberations it was agreed upon that the Audit committee should co-ordinate with the Financial secretary to prepare a final acceptable report to be presented at the next meeting

6. First anniversary of UGAG:
Ghana UnionStuttgart offered to host the anniversary on the 23rd of July 2005. This offer was unanimously accepted. It was then decided that Ghana Union Stuttgart as host should co-ordinate with the social and organising secretary to plan the occasion. Any other individual or union who have contributions to make are most welcome.

7. UGAG homepage.
Consensus was reached to task Mr Kwaku Appiah (Stuttgart) to liase with a web designer to create the site. He is to co-ordinate with the Social and Organising secretary on this so that the site will be operational by the next NRC meeting.

8. UGAG Finances:
The financial secretary, Mrs Borges presented a statement of account to the meeting. The bank balance stood at €2198,82. In addition, she appealed to member unions to endeavour to settle their outstanding dues. This led into discussions on how to improve income generation and minimise expenditure. A suggestion was made to member unions to settle their dues through bank standing orders.

9. Amendment of constitution:
As required by the “Finanz Amt “ as a condition to grant the union tax relief status, the Acting Gen Sec. Mr Annobil presented proposed amendments to the constitution for acceptance. After a short discussion on it members present unanimously approved the amendment. Mr Oppong (Ruhrgebiet) moved for its acceptance and was seconded by Mr Darteh (Krefeld)

10. Comments by invited observers:
a: Nana Nsafoah (Asanteman Union- Ruhrgebiet) expressed the opinion that looking at the expenses UGAG incurs, the monthly dues of €10 are too small. He also advised that in order to truly be the representative mouthpiece of Ghanaians in Germany, UGAG should do more to reach other local Ghanaian Unions.
b: Mr Berko (Koforidua Union – Dusseldorf). Entreated UGAG to make moves to take advantage of resources available from the German authorities. This led to discussions, which brought to light some of the reasons for the rift between the Koforidua Union and the Ghana Union Dusseldorf. Members agreed that there should be a meeting between executives of the Koforidua Union and the Ghana Union Düsseldorf, with Executives of UGAG moderating, to resolve issues.

11. Independence Anniversary:
Members unanimously consented to the proposal that since Ghana Union Stuttgart had already organised a celebration, all other local unions who can afford to, should attend to make it a successful occasion. The executive members of UGAG offered to attend at their own expenses.

12. UGAG project in Ghana:
a. Mr Berko (Observer) suggested that instead of initiating a project of its own, UGAG should rather adopt and support an ongoing project of a local union.
b. Mr Acquah (Ruhrgebiet) added that UGAG should set up a fund to help alleviate the problems faced by Ghanaians here in Germany.
After further deliberations it was agreed that the NEC present three (3) project proposals at the next NRC meeting for consideration.

13. Donation to Tsunami Victims:
Members expressed very divergent views on this issue - whether there was any need to donate or not. In the end the President proposed and it was unanimously accepted to make a donation of €100 through a reputable organisation.

14. Next NRC meeting:
A greement was reached to hold the next meeting in Cologne on either the 30th of April or 7th of May depending on when a meeting place could be arranged. Cologne should confirm the date in the next 2 two weeks to enable preparations towards the meeting to proceed

15. Other matters:
a. Resignation of general secretary. Mr Adu-Ankrah (Cologne) asked if there was a problem within the executive, which led to the resignation. The president answered in the negative and explained that it was mainly due to the regular absence of the former general secretary in Germany, which led to the decision.
b. UGAG Letterhead: The president informed the meeting that the contract has been given to print 1000 copies i.e. 500 in English and 500 in German.
c. Sponsorship of UGAG activities – Mr Darteh (Krefeld) proposed that due to the demise of Ghana Airways, UGAG should approach other airlines flying to Ghana for sponsorship.

16. - Present at the meeting were members from:
Stuttgart
Cologne
Worms
Ruhrgebiet
Munich
Saarland
Landshut
Krefeld
Rev Father Arthur – Member of advisory board
Nana Nsafoah – (Observer)
Mr. Berko (Observer)
Absent with excuse: – Mannheim-Ludwigshafen, Kaiserslauten.

Recorded by: Ato Annobil