MP supports school (30/9/9)

The Member of Parliament (MP) of Ablekuma Central constituency, Mr Theophilius Tetteh-Chaie is to construct a GH¢ 30,000 toilet facility for the New Abossey Okai One Primary and Junior High School (JHS) at Mataheko in Accra by the end of this year.The eight seater Water Closet (WC) facility would be funded by proceeds of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND).The MP made this known when he met the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) of the school on Friday September 25, 2009 at the school’s premises in Accra.He said it was a shame for a school which contained over 1300 pupils to have no toilet facility for several years.That, he said, disrupted teaching and learning as children were compelled to go home to attend to natures call.Mr Tetteh-Chaie appealed to the school authorities and parents to help maintain the facility and always keep it clean after it had been constructed.The Head teacher of the school, Ms Mercy Genevieve Dzitrie thanked the MP for the facility which she said was a serious challenge to the school.She said the school’s old toilet facility which was built in 1974 had been in a terrible state for years and could not be used.She added that teachers had to plead with residents in the area to use their washrooms when the need arose.She mentioned lack of computers, inadequate desks and lack of security as other challenges facing the school.The Head teacher said some parents were redrawing their wards from the school because the school was not benefiting from the School Feeding Programme.She advised the parents to be responsible and help the teachers in bringing up the children to become good citizens of the country.The Assembly Member for Mataheko Electoral Area, Mr Emmanuel Nii Armah Tagoe advised the PTA to support the school in their own small ways and not rely on government interventions to maintain the school.He said parents had to try their best to motivate the teachers to give out their best in the discharge of their duties.He added that the MP was committed to improving education delivery in the constituency and therefore called on the parents and teachers to support him in improving education in the constituency since it was the key to poverty reduction.Picture: Picture shows the New Abossey Okai One Primary and JHS s old toilet facility in its bad state.

Trade Minister call on SMEs to repackage themselves (26/8/09)

Story: Jennifer Dornoo & Jasmine Arku
THE Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Hanna Tetteh, has called on small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) to repackage themselves in order to play an effective role in driving the economy.
She assured them of the Government's support and encouraged them to take their own initiatives to increase productivity and enhance economic growth.
Speaking at a Zenith Bank SMEs seminar to address the gap between financial institutions and SMEs in Accra yesterday, Ms Tetteh said one of the interventions being undertaken by the ministry was to build capacity and to strengthen the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) to play a significant role in the provision of business development services.
She advised SMEs to formalise their operations by properly registering their companies and keeping proper financial records of their business transactions.
Ms Tetteh said access to credit had always been one of the major challenges confronting Ghanaian businesses irrespective of the sectors in which they operated.
She said the Government had developed programmes such as the Export Development and Investment Fund (EDIF) to improve access to credit for those in the export sector.
Ms Tetteh stated that although Ghana had had a sustainable economic growth over the last 25 years, economic performance showed that there had been an uneven pattern in terms of the social impact and the spatial distribution of growth.
She noted that the disparity in incomes between the wealthy and the poor had widened, while inequality continued to rise.
The Chief Executive Officer of Zenith Bank, Mr Andy Ojei, said SMEs had been identified as the catalyst for the growth of the economy, since they were the major source of income and employment.
He said available data from the Registrar General indicated that 90 per cent of companies registered were micro, small and medium enterprises.
He said the seminar was being organised to address two pertinent challenges — how money worked in businesses and the succession planning in a business organisation.
"It is our belief that at the end of the seminar, we would have provided the needed impetus towards providing the right platform for a solution, leading to the growth and development of our mutual interest,” Mr Ojei stated.
Participants at the seminar were taken through facts about money, simple cash management tools as well as what money in business meant.

Hold politicians responsible for nation’s woes (22/8/09)

THE Member of Parliament (MP) for Gomoa East, Mr Ekow Panyin Okyere Eduamoah, has challenged the youth to hold politicians responsible for anything that affects the progress of the country.
Addressing the youth of the Gospel Ambassadors Church at a three-day youth camp in Accra, Mr Eduamoah said it had become necessary for the youth to hold politicians accountable because some of them were toiling with the lives of the youth.
Mr Eduamoah said issues of senior high school (SHS) education should not be politicised and political parties should avoid the tendency of changing what their opponents had instituted.
He underscored the need for people with the fear of God to take up leadership positions to ensure good governance in the country.
Mr Eduamoah appealed to the churches to train and encourage the youth to take active part in politics in order to ensure better administration of the nation.
He urged the youth to forge ahead and aspire to be future presidents of the country since any of them could be at the presidency.
The MP alleged that some politicians were abusing their powers by standing surety for armed robbers.
He implored the youth to uphold moral values and stay focused in all their endeavours.
The National Youth Pastor of the Church, Rev Kennedy Bentum, assured the MP of the church’s commitment to empower the youth to take up leadership positions in government.
He urged the youth to aspire to be part of the ruling body of the nation.

IDEG launches Book on sub-regional integration (17/8/09)

Story:Jennifer Dornoo & Natasha Lewis

THE Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG) in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has launched a book on the challenges of integration in West Africa.
The book discuses critical issues such as Ghana and the Politics of Sub-Regional Integration, the Fate of Ghana’s Agricultural Commodity, the challenges of a single currency for West Africa as well as Gender mainstreaming policies on national and sub-regional integration.
Titled “Nation States and the Challenges of Integration in West Africa: The Case of Ghana”, the 160-page book launched in Accra today, has seven chapters and seven authors.
The Executive Director of IDEG, Dr Emmanuel Akwetey said many protocols within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) framework had not met the expectations of ordinary citizens.
He said civil wars in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea Bissau and the crises in Cote d’Ivore had limited ECOWAS to more peace keeping activities to the detriment of economic and social integration and development.
He said the book answered questions on why the regional integration process since the establishment of ECOWAS in 1975 had been affected by so many delays and impediments, how to create an effective and efficient movement of people, goods and services in the region as well as how national planning priorities could be reconciled with aspirations at the sub-regional level.
Dr Akwetey added that the publication would serve as a reference and learning material for the media, policy makers, researchers in Ghana and the West-African sub-region.
Reviewing the book, a Senior Research Fellow of the Legon Centre for International Affairs (LECIA), Dr Vladimir Antwi-Danso outlined the need for ECOWAS agenda and integration to be popularised for citizens to better understand sub-regional issues and take advantage of social and economic integration.
He said West Africans were inadequately informed and poorly prepared for the ECOWAS agenda, adding that, ECOWAS had not chalked enough success in economic integration.
He said the book contained information on the various aspects of integration and could enlighten readers on the challenges of integration.
The Programme Specialist of Social and Human Sciences, UNESCO, Dr Abdul Lamin, said the organisation was delighted to be working closely with African institutions to promote the continents regional integration priorities.
Edited by a renowned Political Scientist, Professor Kwame A. Ninsin, the book featured authors namely Mr Kwame Boafo-Arthur, Mr Bonaventure Adjavor, Mr Daniel Sarpong Bruce, Mr Steve Tonah, Dr Lehlohonolo Tlou, Mr Paul Agbedor and Mr A.D.Amarquaye Laryea.

GJA award winners out (14/8/09mp)

THE 2008 Awards Committee of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), yesterday released 29 award winners for the 14th GJA awards ceremony, slated for Saturday, August 15, 2009 in Accra.
The award winners, who include journalists and media houses, include Kofi Akordor, Loretta Vanderpuye, Kofi Yeboah, Peggy Ama Donkor, Godwin Ofosu Acheampong, Theophilus Yartey, Anas Aremeyaw Anas and Dominic Hlordze.
The others are Maurice Quansah, Rosalind Amoo, Kingsley Hope, Kingsley Obeng Kyere, Joojo Cobina, Victor Kwawukume, Samuel Smith Asante, Charles Benoni Okine and Samuel Kyei-Boateng.
The media houses expected to receive awards are Public Agenda, GBC Television, Diamond Radio, Boon FM, Daily Guide, Joy FM, Radio Peace and Radio Progress.
Honorary awards would also be given to four important people who have contributed to the success of journalism in Ghana.
They are Mr Cameron Duodo, Mr Frazer Ofori Attah, Mr Kwater Simpson and Mr Gilbert Aryettey.
The committee, however, made some recommendations for the GJA in the organisation of other awards to be held by the association.
They include an improvement in the guidelines for the committee in future, putting in place a standing committee to review the performance of the media from time to time and ensuring that future committee members work closely with the past committees.
The Chairman of the Awards Committee, Dr Godwin Tutum Anim, a veteran journalist and the first Ghanaian General Manager of the Ghana News Agency, gave the assurance that unlike the 2007 awards, the Journalist of the Year 2008 would be announced at the ceremony.
He said a substantial report would be compiled by Dr Absalom Mutere, Dean of Journalism Studies and Communication of the African University College of Communication, and be made available to journalism training institutions and media houses to further enhance the practice of journalism.

Lapaz hawkers return (5/8/09)

Hawkers at Lapaz in the Okaikwei North Constituency in Accra have returned to the pavements and the streets after the massive decongestion exercise that took place in the early hours of Saturday, August 1, 2009.
When the Daily Graphic got there at 10 a.m. on Monday, August 3, 2009, business was brisk despite that their structures — tables and kiosks — were demolished during the decongestion exercise.
The hawkers, such as mobile phone top-up credit vendors, cobblers, mobile phone sellers, food vendors and second-hand clothes dealers, were seen transacting business with their customers.
Ama Serwaa, second-hand clothes dealer, told the Daily Graphic that selling on the pavement was her only source of income, as a single parent of three children.
She said she had never been to school and had no educational background to secure any white-collar that would help her take care of herself, her mother in the village and the children.
She, therefore, appealed to the authorities to reconsider their decision of sacking them from the pavements.
A mobile phone top-up credit vendor, Kwesi Offei, said the pavements and the streets were the only places he could sell more credit credits and make huge profits.
That, he said, was because many people from the neighbouring communities, such as Tabora, Alhaji, Race Course and Tantra Hill, passed through Lapaz on their way to and from work or home.
He said it was not going to be easy getting the hawkers off the streets and the pavements since the kind of business had come to stay.
A food vendor, Cynthia Quarshie, said she would be happy if they were resettled at a better location, where their items would be patronised.
She said leaving their present location would mean that they would lose their numerous customers and would thus struggle to make ends meet.
Some pedestrians were, however, happy about the demolition of the unauthorised structures on the pavements.
Mr Moses Assimeng-Kwakye said pedestrians had to walk on the streets because the pavements were occupied with all kinds of structures and wares with their owners doing brisk business.
Also, he commended the authorities for undertaking the exercise, and said more needed to be done to permanently get the hawkers off the pavements.
Another resident, Mr Adolph Banks, also urged the government to put in a lot of effort to ensure that the hawkers did not return to the pavements.

NDC committed to honour members — Nii Ashitey (28/7/09)

Story: Francis Yaw Kyei & Jennifer Dornoo

THE Greater Accra Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for the Korley Klottey Constituency in Accra, Nii Armah Ashitey has reiterated the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party’s commitment to honour people who fought hard for the party to win political power.
This, he said, was because a party which did not recognise its heroes was not worth fighting for.
Nii Ashitey was speaking at a ceremony to honour and award polling agents of his constituency at the Arts Centre at the weekend.
All polling agents of the constituency were given certificates for their hardwork and the bravery exhibited during the elections.
Nii Ashitey expressed his gratitude to his constituent for electing him into office and gave the assurance that he would work to deliver on his campaign promise.
The regional minister said the region could only develop if the people were willing to support its course and change their attitudes.
He said the expectations of Ghanaians were high despite the inadequate resources, adding that, the party had competent people who could turn all their promises into reality.
He said a project was in place to support needy but brilliant children in the constituency to enable them to have access to quality education to achieve their dreams.
He said measures were also in place to support traders with micro-finance loans while efforts were being made to rehabilitate roads, gutters, schools and others in the constituency.
He appealed to Ghanaians to cooperate with the authorities in the discharge of their duties to aid the development of the region.

Former Ambassadors’ Wives Association supports Children’s Hospital (30/7/09)

THE Former Ambassadors’ Wives Association (FAWA) has presented items worth GH¢1,500 to the Princess Marie Louis Children’s Hospital (PML) in Accra to enhance its health care delivery.
Items included a toddler’s scale, food items and drinks, as well as detergent and toiletries.
Presenting the items to the hospital, the Vice President of FAWA, Mrs Betty Sowah Allotey said the association’s co-operation with the hospital began 12 years ago.
She said the association had done its best to donate medical equipment, food items and detergents and other items every year to improve the operations of the hospital, encourage patients and help the staff to be more efficient in the discharge of their duties.
She said the gesture was also to encourage other benevolent organisations and individuals to offer similar support to the hospital.
Mrs Allotey expressed the hope that the cordial relations between the association and the hospital would be sustained.
The Senior Nursing Officer at PML, Ms Margaret Okai thanked FAWA for its support and appealed to other institutions and individuals to also contribute to the operations of the hospital to enhance quality healthcare to children.
Pix: Mrs Betty Sowa-Allotey (third left), Vice-President of the Former Ambassador Wives Association (FAWA) making the presentation to Ms Margaret Okai (third right), Senior Nursing Officer of the hospital.
Also in the picture are other executive members of the association and some hospital staff.


Picture: EMMANUEL ONOMA-BARNES

Lante Dzan We begin Homowo (31/7/09)

Story: Francis Yaw Kyei & Jennifer Dornoo
With bearly two weeks to the annual Homowo festival, the Lante Dzan We family in Accra Central, last Saturday, sprinkled marshed yam, otherwise known as “kpekple”, to signify the beginning of the event.
The Lante Dzan We family usually begins the festival ahead of the grand Homowo festival either late July or early August every year as demanded by the Ga tradition.
Homowo (hooting at hunger) is one of the colourful festivals celebrated by the people of Ga (Accra) Traditional Area.
It is characterised by rituals such as the sprinkling of "kpekple" (the festival dish) to the gods and ancestors for spiritual protection,procession of twins through the principal streets, traditional drumming and dancing and general merry-making.

A month before the celebration, there is a ban of noise making. A climax of the festival is that from 12 noon to 6:00pm any woman, no matter the status, should accept a hug from a man on the festival street.
Some members of the family, both home and abroad, gathered in their ancestral homes to share the ritual meal (marshed yam) with their dead and living family members.
They ate with friends and neighbours, and danced to traditional Ga tunes.
The Heads of the various houses, accompanied by other elders of their houses, went around the community and sprinkled the marshed yam for their ancestors.
The activity was also to show gratitude to the gods and ancestors for the bumper harvest and to ask for blessings in the years ahead.
Homowo, which literally means “hooting at hunger”, is the most widely observed traditional Ga harvest festival celebrated by every family in the Ga state.

CISP grants to promote culture (31/7/09)

THE Cultural Initiative Support Programme (CISP), under the auspices of the National Commission on Culture (NCC), has launched a project to offer maximum grants of GH¢10,000 to groups and individuals engaged in the promotion of Ghanaian culture.
Dubbed “3rd Call Proposals”, the project, which is in collaboration with the European Commission, is intended to fund initiatives in human resource development, employment and income generation, research and support for non-state actors in the cultural sector.
At the launch of the project, the third of its kind in Accra, the Programme Officer on Culture at the Delegation of the European Commission in Ghana, Ms Sara Piccoli, said one of the main results expected to be achieved under the programme was the development of Ghanaian culture.
She said in that regard, the CISP project had already signed a total portfolio of GH¢450,000 as grants for 107 recipients through the first and second ‘calls for proposals’ to support cultural activities across the country.
She stated that under the same financial instrument, the CISP project was able to finance four major projects with a substantial grant of GH¢200,000.
She said the NCC had received a contribution of £2 million over a period of three and a half years under the ninth European Development Fund.
Ms Piccoli said individual artists, cultural associations and institutions were invited to submit their proposals for funding.
She said Ghana had a lot to offer in terms of cultural wealth and diversity, adding that “with the support given through theses initiatives, we hope that avenues for the promotion of diversity, mutual understanding and respect for shared values will be opened, helping to promote an inclusive society and preventing and reducing poverty and social exclusion”.
The Programme Co-ordinator of CISP, Mr Kwasi Gyan-Apenteng, said several individuals and groups were working on different kinds of cultural and artistic activities as a result of the project.
He said recipients from the third call for proposals would bring the number of recipients of CISP grants to more than 150 by the end of the programme in December 2010.
He noted that the application process involved filling a form, which is provided on request to all who wanted to apply.
He said after the expiry of the call deadline on August 26, 2009, received applications would be opened, while administrative checks would be carried out to evaluate the applications and select recipients.

Give technical, vocational education more attention (22/7/09)

THE Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Armah Ashietey, has stated that in spite of the various educational reforms introduced over the years, technical and vocational education has not received the needed support and attention to meet the challenges that confront the country. He said the training facilities of the institutions remained outdated and inadequate to meet modern-day requirements.
The regional minister said this in a speech read on his behalf at the 26th Speech and Prize-giving Day and Graduation Ceremony of the Catholic Social Advance Institute (CSAI) in Accra on Friday.
A total of 206 students graduated after completing different levels of education. Out of the number, 40 of them pursued vocational courses, 16 completed secretarial courses, while 150 of them graduated from senior high school (SHS).
One-hundred and twenty two students were presented with books and certificates for their academic excellence, discipline, hard work, neatness and participation in sporting activities.
The minister reaffirmed government’s commitment to modernise and expand technical and vocational schools.
Additionally, it would provide the necessary resources to boost technical and vocational education training (TVET) in the country.
To demonstrate its commitment to the development of education, he said the government was boldly addressing the deficiencies and weaknesses in the country’s educational system.
He said it had demonstrated a commitment to ensure a minimum of one SHS in every constituency, revamp the science resource centres in selected SHS in the country, among others.
The minister expressed the government’s commitment to make education affordable, accessible and relevant to the needs of the Ghanaian society through the expansion of infrastructure, materials and adequate training of teachers.
He added that the practice of occultism and other vices in institutions was worrying and appalling in recent times and
stressed the need for Ghanaians to wage a relentless war on occultism and cyber crime among the youth.
Those vices, he said, did not only divert the attention of the youth, especially students, from focusing on their studies but also destroyed the entire moral fibre of the society.
The Principal of the school, Ms Rosa Mamaa Sam, congratulated the graduates and advised them to desist from using the computer knowledge acquired in defrauding innocent citizens.
She said the school had equipped its students with the requisite moral values that would help them to compete with their colleagues wherever they found themselves.
The Chief of Adabraka Atukpai, Nii Tetteh Adjabeng I, advised the graduates to hold morals in high esteem and stand up to all challenges in the society.

$49 million for census. (22/7/09)Front Page

Story:Gifty Bamfo & Jennifer Dornoo
A $49-million budget has been approved by the government for the execution of next year’s population and housing census.
Half of the amount will be provided by the government, while the other half will come from some of the country’s development partners.
The Government Statistician, Dr Grace Bediako, gave the details at the inauguration of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly Census Implementation Committee (AMACIC) in Accra yesterday.
Members of the AMACIC include Messrs J.A. Tuffuor, Moses Ansah, Timothy Omar, Frank Asante, Nii Okaija Dinsey, K.D. Osei and Richard K. Oduro.
The rest are Ms Lucile Annan and Ms Marian Mensah.
Dr Bediako said the 2010 census would provide updated data on demographic and socio-economic characteristics at all levels.
She added that it would also afford the country the opportunity to revise its electoral areas and constituencies, as well as enhance knowledge relating to housing for future planning.
She said the AMACIC would facilitate the recruitment and training of field personnel, supervision, as well as help in the execution of the pilot census project in the metropolis.
The project, which takes off in October, will be piloted in two districts in the Osu and the Ayawaso areas.
Dr Bediako said the committee would deliver reports and a feedback on the activities of the field personnel.
She noted that 92 out of the 170 districts had been zoned into smaller areas for the pilot project.
“The successful outcome of the pilot project will contribute to the success of the 2010 census,” she added.
The Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Alfred Vanderpuije, said a better plan for the nation required available and reliable data, for which reason the census was laudable.
He encouraged the committee to be dedicated and committed to ensure a successful outcome for the pilot project.

18/7/09 Graphic Middle page

Story: Gifty Bamfo, Jennifer Dornoo & MacLiberty Misrowoda
FISHERMEN at the Nungua and Teshie landing beaches are pessimistic about their fortunes in the current season.
While the Department of Fisheries of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture share the view that there is the likelihood of a bumper fish harvest this season, fishermen in Nungua and Teshie insist that they are doubtful of reaping the maximum benefit.
According to the Director of Fisheries, Mr Alfred Tetebo, a bumper harvest was possible due to the rains and change in the sea temperatures, which were good indications of better catch later in the season.
On the contrary, however, they attributed their uncertainty to the current prevailing conditions, such as the non-availability of pre-mix on the market and the high cost of other fishing inputs.
They explained that they were unable to go deep into sea where they were sure of making enough catch because of the high cost of improvised fuel they were using in the absence of the pre-mix.
According to the fishermen, while they bought a gallon of premix at GH¢2.60, “we are forced to mix super with engine oil which add up to about GH¢6 for the same quantity of the premix.”
This and other factors, they claimed, had increased their cost of production, hence the high cost of fish on the market in recent times.
They also said the increasing cost of the outboard motor which went for GH¢1,800 last year was now being sold for GH¢5,200, a situation they contended did not favour the business.
Another problem they said must be rectified was the high cost of fishing nets.
According to them, about a few months ago, the small size of the nets was sold at GH¢40, but was now sold for GH¢100, while the big size was sold for GH¢370 as against GH¢250 last year.
They, therefore, called on the relevant stakeholders to put in place measures, including the provision of credit facilities, that would help their business.
But speaking in a separate interview, Mr Tetebo expressed optimism about a bumper harvest and added that the fisher folks were disposed to generating more revenue as there was the possibility of selling and preserving more fish for consumption.
He stated that government was encouraging the private sector to venture into more cold storage business as it was the surest way of preserving abundant fish for future use.
He indicated that the government had waived taxes on cold storage equipment to enable more people venture into business.
“This move will preserve more of the excess fish to ensure they do not go bad,” he added.
He added that the ministry was encouraging fishing in cages as another method of fish farming instead of farming in only ponds.

(Gemany-based Ghanaian gives to NADMO)21/7/09

A Ghanaian based in Germany, Mr Kwasi Heiser, and his wife, Mrs Jessica Heiser, have presented items worth GH¢40,000 to the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) and other organisations in Accra.
The items include items such as used computers, used clothes, footwear, toys, stationery, television sets and crutches.
There were also items meant for the physically challenged.
According to Mr Heiser, the items were made possible by his friends in Germany for distribution among victims of the recent floods in some parts of the country, the physically challenged, street children and other vulnerable people.
The National Co-ordinator of NADMO, Mr Kofi Portuphy, who received the items, expressed his deep appreciation to the couple and their friends for the kind gesture and gave the assurance that they would be used for the intended purpose.
He said recovery missions initiated by the government and other organisations were ongoing to improve the livelihoods of people who had been affected by the floods.
Mr Portuphy appealed to benevolent organisations and individuals to emulate the kind gesture of the couple to offer similar help to victims of the floods.
Other beneficiaries of the donation were Kinder Paradise, a foster home, the African Faith Tabernacle, as well as organisations of the physically challenged.

VAT STORY (11/7/09)

THE Value Added Tax (VAT) Service has rolled out a comprehensive nationwide educational campaign to whip up compliance with the indirect tax system.
One of the difficulties facing the VAT regime is that most buyers do not insist on VAT receipts, leaving retailers to keep revenues otherwise meant for the state.
The increased VAT tax education would therefore sensitise the public to some of the simple things they need to do to help the service to meet its national revenue collection targets.
An Assistant Revenue Officer of VAT at the Okaishie VAT Sub Office (VSO), Mr Frank Appiah Boadi, said seminars and workshops for targeted groups would increase compliance necessary for generating adequate revenue to finance the national budget and reduce the over-reliance on donor funds.
He said this when the Okaishie VAT Sub Office organised a one-day seminar for students and staff of the Holy Trinity Cathedral Secondary School (HOTCASS) as part of the educational programme.
Topics discussed included the importance of paying taxes, its benefits, as well as the need to patronise shops that were registered under the VAT scheme.
Mr Boadi said increasing revenue generation was important for funding crucial projects such as the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and the National Health Insurance Scheme.
“When we are able to generate internal revenue effectively, we can finance development projects such as roads, hospitals and schools,” he stated.
Consequently, the public had a civic and responsibility to patronise shops that were registered under the VAT scheme, Mr Boadi stated, and entreated the public to patronise such shops.
He also urged the public to demand their VAT invoice whenever they bought goods or patronised services from VAT-registered shops.
The VAT Service, he said, was aware of fraudsters who issued fake invoices to customers, saying “we have taken measures to arrest them”.
He called on the public to report any trader who issued fake invoices to customers to the VAT service for the necessary action to be taken.
The Assistant Revenue Officer of VAT also advised businesses to register with the VAT scheme and collect revenues on behalf of the government for national development.

SOEs to account for stewardship — Hayibor (15/7/09)

State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) will henceforth be made to account for their stewardship under a programme to be rolled out by the Parliamentary Select Committee on Employment, Social Welfare and SOEs.
The rationale behind the programme is to afford the Ghanaian taxpayer the opportunity to know whether or not their taxes are being used profitably.
The Chairman of the Committee, Mr Prince Jacob Hayibor, Member of Parliament (MP) for Hohoe North Constituency made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra.
He said SOEs would be made to account for what they used their funds for and whether or not they made profits and losses.
Mr Hayibor said the programme which was a collaborative effort between the Parliamentary Select Committee and the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), would be broadcast live.
The programme which is an interactive one will also allow members of the public to make contributions and ask questions on the performance of SOEs.
Responding to the ineffectiveness of some SOE’s, Mr Hayibor said targets had to be set for Chief Executive Officer’s of the Various SOE’s in which failure to meet targets would result in dismissal of such officials.
He said public enterprises were being mismanaged and were not succeeding like private enterprises, an issue that had to be explained by officials in charge of the enterprises.
He added that measures had to be put in place to ensure that targets were met.
He said SOE’s had to be managed properly to prosper and make profits for the development of the country’s economy just like privately owned enterprises.
Mr Hayibor said the committee needed funds to run and sustain the programme to ensure accountability in SOE’s.
He, therefore, appealed to institution and benevolent organisations to support the programme.

Twin foundation to set up education fund (15/7/09)

THE Catholic Twins Society (CTS),a twin foundation within the Roman Catholic church is expected to institute an educational fund for needy brilliant twins in the country.
The fund is to afford needy twins the opportunity of accessing quality education to be able to achieve their ambitions in the future.
This was disclosed by the Spiritual Director of the society, Rev. Fr. Raphael Atta Donkor at the fifth anniversary and feast day celebration of the Patron Saint Thomas the Apostle, a twin, in Accra.
He said giving the needy brilliant twins the opportunity of accessing quality education,would also help them contribute their quota to the development of the country.
He charged twins in the Catholic Church to fully participate in voluntary and benevolent activities to aid social development.
He stress the need to foster corporation within the twin foundation to help them achieve targets they set for themselves.
Rev. Donkor encouraged twins to let society see their special potentials in order for them to be recognised as such.
He said it was the Society’s aim to stop all rites that were not in conformity with the principles of the church involving twins.
The Founder of CTS, Mrs Lucy Tawiah Peprah, called for the abolishment of some native rites, such as “Abbam” performed on twins in the country.
She said such rites performed on twins had psychological impacts on them and made the twins feel their lives were dependent on some gods.
She added that such rites should to be streamlined in order to maintain and inculcate the positive ones into Christian principles.
She said practices where twins were exploited and used as instruments for begging on the streets, a popular practice in the Moslem community, had to be discarded.
Mrs Peprah said as part of efforts to check the menace, the CTS had rehabilitated some parents and supported them to undertake various trades to help them cater for their children without having to beg.
She said twins were special and influential people, adding that, it was important for them to unite and fight for their rightful positions in society and fight for other twins in the society.
She said one of CTS's main aim was to get twins out of the streets and give them the needed attention they deserved.

(13/7/09) ICB launches funeral policy

THE International Commercial Bank (ICB) in partnership with Enterprise Life Assurance Company (ELAC) has launched its funeral insurance policy in Accra to provide decent burial for beneficiaries.
Named the ICB Bancassurance product, the policy is aimed at providing immediate cash within 48 hours to cater for funeral expenses of a policy holder or the family.
The Assistant General Manager of Sales and Marketing, ELAC, Mr Fiifi Simson, said funerals were important events in the society, adding that the ICB and ELAC came out with the product to provide large sum benefits in the event of death to provide decent burials for beneficiaries.
He said policy holders could be on the scheme by 55 years as well as make provisions to cover a spouse, six children, two parents and two in-laws.
He said claims could be made after six months of joining the scheme.
A Director of the Board of ICB, Mr Michael Ezan, said ICB was the first bank in its banking group to venture into the product, adding that it was the fourth bank in the country to launch the product.
He was confident that customers would find the product useful since death created an immediate need for cash.
The Chief Executive Officer of ICB, Mr L.K. Ganapathiramam, said his staff in all 12 branches nation-wide had been given the requisite skills to create awareness and sell the product to make it successful in the market.
He said the bank was going to ensure that customers really understood the product to help them make good use of it.
The Executive Director of ELAC, Mr Cleland Bruce, said his company was proud to be associated with ICB in the partnership, and believed that their passion and experience would enrich the partnership.
He said Bancassurance was one of many products to be rolled out from the partnership.
The Head of Banking Supervision of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Mr Dela Serlomey, said many households were not taking advantage of the protection that insurance provided against unforeseen difficulties that could disrupt their lives.
He said the partnership provided an immense opportunity to reach more households and businesses with suitably designed and priced products that could insulate patrons of the product from the financial difficulties associated with living in recent times.
He called on Ghanaians to take advantage of the product.

Obama look alike (9/7/09)mp

A 12-year-old boy from Kumasi, has been identified as an Obama look-alike in Ghana.
The boy, Felix Agyaba Afriyie, a pupil of Nagie’s Angels Educational Centre, Kumasi, is fair in complexion has big ears, thick eyebrows and is a left handed person just like the United States of America (USA) President.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, Felix said his schoolmates had nicknamed him Obama,due to his resemblance to the US President.
“They say I look, talk, walk and laugh like President Obama”, he stated, adding that, “I always feel excited when they call me Obama”.
Born to Mr Kwame Agyaba Afriyie and Mrs Evelyn Davis on March 15, 1997, Felix wants to be a pastor in future.
He said his passion was to spread the word of God and save souls for Christ.
He said he would like to become an inspirational person like President Obama someday, to also touch the lives of people and offer a helping hand to people in need.
He described the US President as an intelligent and kind person for deciding to visit Ghana, the first nation he would be visiting in sub-Saharan Africa since he assumed office at the White House.
Fried rice and chicken is twelve-year-old Felix’s favourite food.
He said he would love to meet President Obama during his visit to Ghana and tell him to help Ghana develop to the standard of the USA.

Starwin sign MoU(1/7/09)MP

THE Centre for Scientific Research into Plant Medicine (CSRPM) at Mampong Akuapem has secured a partnership with Starwin Products Limited (Starwin) to transform its herbal preparations into capsules and tablets.
The transformation of the herbal preparations into capsules and tablets would pave the way for the centre to conveniently dispense and market its products locally and internationally.
An agreement to give effect to the partnership between the centre and Starwin, an orthodox medicine producer, was signed in Accra yesterday.
The Board Chairman of Starwin, Rev Dr Mensa Otabil, and the Managing Director (MD) of Starwin, Mr Kwasi Yirenkyi, signed for Starwin while the Deputy Director of CSRPM, Dr Archibald Sittie, initialled for the centre.
In his remarks, Dr Otabil, who expressed optimism about the success of the collaboration, said the agreement signified the beginning of a major breakthrough in the health delivery system in Ghana.
He said the expression of eagerness and anxiety by the management of both institutions to get the project started, as well as the enormous potential those institutions possessed, made him optimistic about the success of the project.
He said Starwin could boast highly skilled and dedicated manpower and modern machinery and equipment that could meet the challenges of the project.
He said the selected malaria, typhoid, arthritis, diabetes and hypertension drugs were already in reasonable demand, even in their raw form, adding that there was no doubt that as the products got to their finished forms, demand for them would increase tremendously.
That, Dr Otabil said, would lead to increase in the operation capacity of Starwin and increase in turnover, adding, "In the end, our shareholders and indeed Ghana as a whole will benefit."
He expressed his desire for the management of the institutions to work hard to bring the project into fruition in the quickest possible time.
The MD of Starwin said the collaboration would be of enormous benefit to the whole country in the delivery of quality health care.
He said the agreement was an indication that Starwin was going to increase its line of products to increase revenue for its shareholders and the country as a whole.
The Deputy Director of CSRPM, Dr Archibald Sittie, said this was the opportunity for traditional medicine to break boundaries and gain recognition and market internationally.
He said revenue generated would help the centre widen its research agenda and produce more herbal medicines to be transformed into tablets and capsules to complement the health delivery system in the country.

“Investment funds to face hard times” (27/06/09)

THE Executive Director of HFC Investment Services, Mr Joseph Nketsiah has stated that this year will prove exceptionally difficult for investment funds in the country.
He said returns from investment funds like all other investments would be hard hit as the result of the current global financial crisis.
“Ghana as a major recipient of donor inflows and primarily a commodity exporter will find it difficult to avoid the much anticipated world wide recession this year”, Mr Nketsiah stated.
He said this at the company’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Accra to present the 2008 annual reports and financial statements of HFC’s Unit Trust, Equity Trust and Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) funds.
Mr Nketsiah said the effect of the global financial crises on the Ghanaian economy was expected to be much visible this year as the Ghana Stock Market had already received its fair share of the turmoil in the global capital markets through market corrections and depreciation in stock prices.
He said the Ghana Stock Market was expected to see further turbulence when investors’ outstanding sale orders were executed.
This he said could trigger a downward movement in the prices of the respective stocks, adding that, as an exchange that had enjoyed huge patronage of foreign investors, it stood to suffer from the effects of the global financial crisis on the foreign investors as they sought to sell their stake in most listed companies, in order to realise their capital gains.
Mr Nketsiah said government’s commitment to achieve set macro economic targets had led to strong and positive expectations by both businesses and consumers about the prospect of the economy in 2009.
“We expect that government’s policy of curbing spending in the economy through tightening its monetary policy will hold interest rates relatively high throughout the year”, he stated.
Presenting the annual report on HFC REIT for 2008, he said the year saw a slowdown in development in the real estate sector as compared to the previous year adding that, it was the result of the slowdown in the global economy.
He said the fund completed construction and sold four two-bedroom semi-detached houses, four four-bedroom two-storey up-mark houses and had began work on two four-bedroom duplex houses.
Mr Nketsiah said the fund awarded contract for work to begin on the construction of a 30 two-bedroom semi-detached houses.
He said these activities helped the fund to achieve a yield of 28.97 per cent for 2008 as compared to 17.5 per cent for 2007, adding that, the fund value increased from GH¢1.4 million to GH¢1.71 million.
Touching on the Equity Trust fund, he said there was an improvement in the net fund value by 323.93 per cent from a value of GH¢0.95 million to GH¢4.03 million by the end of 2008, adding that, the fund posted a yield of 38.80 per cent to close the year.
He said this represented an all time high return since 2005 and a performance which competed favourably with other schemes in the country.
On Unit Trust, Mr Nketsiah said the fund posted an annualised yield of 18.70 per cent at the end of the year, compared with 12.75 per cent recorded within the same period in 2007.
He said this meant that a GH¢1,000 investment made in January 2008 would have become GH¢1,187 in December 2008.

Govt won’t terminate appointments - of NYEP beneficiaries (25/6/09)

Story; Abdul Aziz and Jennifer Dornoo
Beneficiaries of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) have been assured that the government has no plans to terminate their employment contracts.
Instead the NYEP is to recruit an additional 100,000 youth onto the programme between July 2009 and January 2010.
Since its inception in 2006, the programme has had a total of 332,500 youth registered.
Mr Abuga Pele, the National Co-ordinator of the NYEP, who gave the assurance at a press conference in Accra last Tuesday, therefore, urged those attacking offices and officers of the programme to put a stop to it.
He said there had been a few reported cases of attacks on NYEP offices with particular reference to the Tamale Offices, where the liaison officer of the Northern Region had been asked to investigate.
He pointed out that some publications in the media were suggesting that the government was planning to terminate employment contracts of NYEP staff including District Employment Co-ordinators.
He reiterated the government’s commitment to transforming the NYEP into a permanent, better-funded employment agency, adding that there were plans to implement appropriate exit plans for the career progression and professional development of programme beneficiaries.
Mr Pele acknowledged certain irregularities in the programme such as the existence of ghost names and assured Ghanaians that a head count would be done to check such irregularities.
He said since the announcement of the head count exercise, the current population of youth under the programme had reduced, adding that the number would reduce further when the exercise was undertaken.
He said the exercise would ensure that people who were no longer working under the NYEP but were still taking allowances would be dealt with, while others who had finished serving their contracts but were still at post would exit to enable other youth in the country to benefit from the programme.
Mr Pele said a memo had been prepared suggesting to the government a policy directive to instruct all public organisations to absorb five per cent of beneficiaries attached to their outfits during recruitment or training exercises, as well as to create the appropriate structures for beneficiaries to exit into mainstream employment.
He appealed to all Ghanaians to cooperate with the government in its efforts to streamline the programme and make it more sustainable for the benefit of the youth in the country.

Any end to floods in Accra?(Feature)25/06/09

Asks: Jennifer Dornoo
THE nation’s capital, Accra, has over the years been experiencing floods. The floods normally come along with severe casualties, including loss of lives and the destruction of properties worth millions of Cedis.
Just last Friday, June 19, 2009, at least seven lives were lost while a number of private and public property including roads were destroyed. Additionally, many people were rendered homeless after two hours of rain.
What happened on Friday was not different from a similar incident that occurred in Accra on April 7, 2008. On that occasion severe floods hit parts of Accra following a downpour and destroyed property and rendered dozens of people homeless at areas such as North Kaneshie and the Odawna Shopping Mall.
The question one may ask is how we can deal with the situation. Is there any hope that we can minimise floods and reduce the consequences anytime it rains in Accra?
The answers are not farfetched, but do we have the political will to deal with the situation?
Indeed, nobody can dream of controlling rainfall but the consequences of the rainfall can be minimised.
The nation’s capital has obvious problems. There are many unauthorised structures along waterlogged areas and along the streets. These structures impede the free flow of water any time it rains hence the floods.
One wonders whether there are state institutions responsible for the planning of Accra. More often than not, we are slow in taking action until catastrophe occurs. How can the authorities sit aloof for settlements like Sodom and Gomorrah to spring up only for us to attempt at pulling them down at a greater cost to the individuals and the state?
Besides the unauthorised structures, the careless disposal of industrial and domestic waste is also a factor responsible for the floods. Gutters that should serve as avenues for free flow of water have been choked making it difficult for water to get easy access.
Furthermore, wetlands and waterlogged areas have been converted into residential areas and for commercial activities.
The planned decongestion of the city by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) should be supported by all. The congestion in the Accra central business district created by the traders is one of the causes of the huge garbage in the area and a contributory factor to the floods.
It is unfortunate that seven lives were lost in last Friday’s floods but the incident should serve as a wake-up call for us to take action to prevent similar occurrences. There is the need to restructure the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to make it more proactive instead of reactive.
Nobody needs to tell us that the floods have become part of us and every year they are likely to occur. We should, therefore, prepare instead of always sitting down for floods to occur before we take action. A stitch in time saves nine.
There is the need for Ghanaians to stop politicising efforts by the government to clear the streets of hawkers, unauthorised structures and filth to reduce the impact of floods and save lives and property.

NRSC to introduce free towing service (22/06/09)

Story: Francis Yaw Kyei & Jennifer Dornoo
THE National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) is to introduce a free nation-wide commercial towing service to tow break down vehicles on roads within a shorter period.
NRSC indicated that annual fatality figures and injuries were caused by break down vehicles that were left unattended to.
It, therefore, organised a workshop with its stakeholders in the road industry to deliberate on how effectively to implement the project.
The stakeholders were the Motor and Traffic Transport Unit (MTTU), transport operators, towing companies, Ministry of Transport, road agencies, Judicial Service and the Ghana Bar Association.
They were expected to comment on the project, suggest other operational systems, legal systems and how to effectively sustain the project.
The Director of Research Evaluation and Monitoring at the NRSC, Mr David Adonteng, told the Daily Graphic that vehicle owners would be expected to pay a small fee periodically as insurance to run the service.
He said five companies would be identified and licensed to undertake this project in collaboration with the NRSC.
Each company, he said, would establish four corridors on the Accra-Kumasi-Sunyani road, the Accra-Eastern-Volta Region, Accra-Winneba-Cape Coast-Takoradi, and the Kumasi- Kintampo-Bolgatanga road.
Mr Adonteng said these companies would work effectively and arrive at every disabled vehicle within 30 minutes to an hour to tow it away.
He said a free toll communication system would be introduced for drivers to call those companies whenever they had any problem on the road.
The Managing Director of Pergah Transport, Ms Bertha Ansah Gjan, said road traffic crashes involving disabled vehicles were increasingly becoming a source of worry for road safety managers.
She said many times, heavily loaded trucks broke down whilst in traffic and drivers were left with limited choices at the expense of public safety considerations.
She said available data from the NRSC indicated that about 21 per cent of annual fatality figures and injuries were caused by heavy goods vehicles, many of which broke down and were left unattended to on the road..
Ms Gjan urged participants to come out with creative, practical, sustainable and cost effective means of managing the towing of break down vehicles.

(High lead levels in children around Agbogbloshie(22/6/09)

STUDIES have revealed high levels of lead in the system of children living in the immediate vicinity of Agbogbloshie, as a result of the people engaging in electronic waste (e-waste).
The hazard, which has long term effects such as cancers and chronic diseases, will result in imminent public health crises for which huge sums of money, which could be used for more profitable ventures such as the construction of infrastructure, would be channelled to control the crises.
This was stated by the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Alfred Vanderpuije, in a speech read on his behalf at a health forum organised by the Greater Accra Regional Coalition of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in health, on the theme: “Effective collaboration and partnership with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in quality health care delivery” in Accra.
He said innocent people who were unaware of the health hazards associated with the e-waste were engaged in the extraction of lead and other metals by burning the gadgets, thus releasing noxious fumes into the atmosphere, resulting in respiratory diseases for the residents of the surrounding areas.
He said manufacturers of the electronic gadgets had found new dumping sites for their obsolete products in developing countries.
That, Mr Vanderpuije said, was partly due to the loose controls at the entry points in developing countries.
He said the city was confronted with another environmental challenge, the increasing population in the city.
He said that had resulted in the emergence of slums in most parts of Accra.
He noted that housing was inadequate, and sewage facilities and proper waste disposal were virtually non-existent in most places.
The metropolitan chief executive said the city was wallowing in filth as the 2,000 tons of waste generated daily outstripped the daily collection of 1,500 tons of waste from the dumping sites.
He said challenges like these could not be handled by the city authorities alone, and therefore, stressed the need for collaboration and partnership with CSOs for an effective environmental health maintenance in the city.
The Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the Coalition of NGOs in Health, Mr Eric Agbozo, said the forum was to identify gaps in the regional health review and find workable solutions through partnership with the necessary stakeholders.
He said the coalition was ready to partner with stakeholders in the health sector to deliver quality health care to the public.

GAEC assists foster home (15/6/09)

Story: Leticia Ohene-Asiedu & Jennifer Dornoo
The Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) has donated items worth GH¢1,000 to the Christian Faith Foster Home at Frafraha in Accra.
The items included cartons of milk, bags of beans and sugar, cooking utensils, loaves of bread, electric irons, tubers of yam, cartons of fish, bags of water and foodstuffs.
Presenting the items, the Deputy Director-General of GAEC, Professor Yaw Serfor-Armah, said the donation became possible through the proceeds they got from the commission’s annual thanksgiving service which was organised with churches which had their premises on the commission's land.
He advised the children to obey their guardians in order to receive blessings from God.
He also encouraged them to study hard in order to attain higher positions in future.
Receiving the items, the Supervisor and Administrator of the Home, Madam Victoria Abraham, took the opportunity to appeal to the government and philanthropists to provide the community with pipelines to extend clean drinking water to the school, since it depended on water from a bore hole which was not hygienic enough.
She again appealed to the general public to provide them with stand-by generators to supply them with electricity during power outages.
She thanked the commission for its kind gesture and called on other institutions to emulate their example.


Picture: The Deputy Director-General of GAEC, Prof. Yaw Serfor-Armah (standing), presenting the items to the foster home.

MTN staff donate blood to Korle-Bu (17/06/09)

TWO hundred members of staff of Scancom Limited, operators of MTN mobile phone network, last Monday donated blood to the Korle Bu Blood Bank as part of the company’s social responsibility.
The Senior Manager of the MTN Ghana Foundation, Mr Robert Kuzoe, said the exercise was part of an annual staff volunteerism programme titled: “21 days of Y’ello care” initiated by the MTN Group President, Mr Phutuma Nhleko, in 2007.
He said the volunteerism programme was aimed at encouraging their staff globally to volunteer their services in supporting community development projects.
Activities for the programme included motivational talks to less-privileged children, career guidance, painting and construction projects.
Mr Kuzoe said MTN would pay visit to the Dzorwulu Special School to teach the children how to cook and have fun with them.
The Blood Donor Organiser of Accra Area of the Blood Centre, Mr Michael Sottie, said the blood bank needed regular supply of blood, because it could keep the blood for only 35 days.
He expressed deep appreciation to the staff for the donation and appealed to religious bodies, educational institutions and benevolent organisations to emulate the example of the company.

* Some MTN staff donating blood during the donation exercise.

Germany-trained Ghanaians hold workshop (15/6/09)

A two-day capacity-building workshop to strengthen the entrepreneurial capabilities of Ghanaians trained in Germany has been held in Accra.
The workshop, which was organised by the Goethe-Institut in collaboration with Ruckkehrerburo Ghana, an association of Ghanaians trained in Germany, was on the theme, “Strengthening the entrepreneurial capabilities of the German-trained Ghanaian professional”.
The Head of Information and Library Department of the Goethe-Institut, Mr Kingsley Nii-Addy, said the workshop was aimed at enhancing the entrepreneurial capabilities of the returned professionals to start their own businesses and create job opportunities for the development of the country.
He said Ghanaians trained in Germany were highly skilled professionals who worked in different areas of the Ghanaian economy.
He said the workshop would give participants an insight into how to develop their entrepreneurial skills in order to contribute to the development of Ghana’s economy.
Participants were taken through planning businesses, ways of managing businesses, characteristics of an entrepreneur, financial management and others by various resource persons.
Professionals in various fields also shared their experiences as entrepreneurs with the participants.
A lecturer of the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS), Dr Daniel Quaye, who took the participants through the introduction of entrepreneurship, said most entrepreneurs in the country were just business managers and did not possess the qualities of entrepreneurs.
These qualities, he said, included innovativeness, being passionate about long-term goals, confidence, being work-oriented and having a strong competitive spirit.
He stressed the need for entrepreneurs to be innovative enough to produce goods that could be consumed in the country and exported as well to help the economy grow.
A lecturer of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), Mr Emmanuel Dogbenoo, advised entrepreneurs to gradually review their strategic plans due to the dynamic nature of the world.
He said it was important for them to identify their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to help them develop good business strategies.

(MP promises to rehabilitate Ablekuma Central roads) 12/6/09

THE Member of Parliament (MP) for the Ablekuma Central, Mr Theophilus Tetteh-Chaie, has assured his constituents that he will do everything possible to ensure that roads in the constituency are rehabilitated.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday, Mr Tetteh-Chaie said the poor state of the roads linking areas such as Mataheko, Abossey Okai and Gbortsui was of great concern to him and his people.
He said as part of the efforts, Mr Tetteh-Chaie said he was liaising with the Department of Urban Roads to facilitate the rehabilitation.
The MP recalled assurances given by the Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Joe K. Gidisu, in response to a question he raised on the floor of Parliament concerning rehabilitation of the road network in the Ablekuma Central Constituency.
According to Mr Tetteh-Chaie, Mr Gidisu said the road network in those areas of the constituency which was designed in 1995 needed to be reviewed on the account of the development which had occurred since that period.
The MP said Mr Gidisu gave the assurance that the Accra Metropolitan Roads Department had carried out an inventory of the road network in the Mataheko, Abossey Okai and Gbortsui areas, while the Perigrino Aryee Street, the Lartebiokorshie Road, Mataheko Avenue and Dansoman Link had been identified for rehabilitation.
Mr Gidisu said rehabilitation of selected roads in Lartebiokorshie in the constituency was awarded to Messrs Alkaboat Limited at a total cost of GH¢299,540.98 for completion in eight months in February, 2007, but the contractor failed to deliver.

“Goodwill” is adversely affecting local trade(11/6/09)

The Ghana Union of Traders Association (GUTA) has appealed to the Ministry of Works and Housing and the Rent Control Department to enforce provisions of the Rent Act 1963 (Act 220) which makes it an offence for property owners to demand the payment of any money apart from rent.
The enforcement of the Rent Act would also check the payment of astronomical rent and other charges to property owners by tenants and traders.
At a press conference in Accra last Tuesday, the Deputy Secretary General of GUTA, Mr Alpha Shaban, who conveyed the concerns of the traders, said the trading community was being saddled with a “monstrous illegality” termed “Goodwill”.
Goodwill is huge amount of fees which, according to the Deputy General Secretary, ranged between $45,000 and $70,000 and is charged by property owners depending on the location of the business premises and their sizes.
The goodwill, which is separate from the normal legal rent, usually covers a period of 10 to 15 years.
Mr Shaban said what was more worrying about the goodwill was that no receipt was issued to cover the transaction and was not part of the tenancy agreement.
He said the union decided to research into the illegalities involved and their implications before holding the press conference to call for a halt to the illegal practice.
He said the various stakeholders had to stand up to the challenge to save the investments of the business community and protect the ordinary Ghanaian from the shackles of unsympathetic landlords.
Mr Shaban cautioned property owners who were into the practice to stop, adding that the union would be ready to defend its members and the larger business community in a court of law to prove their case.

Public warned against unhealthy lifestyles (11/6/09)

THE Greater Accra Regional Chairman of the District Directors of Health Service, Dr John B. K. Yabani, has cautioned the public against unhealthy lifestyles, which he said has resulted in the high prevalence rate of non-communicable diseases.
At the launch of the Regional Public Health Week Celebration at Madina Zongo in Accra yesterday, Dr Yabani said hypertension had occupied the third position among non-communicable diseases in the Ga East metropolis over the past three years.
Diabetes had also occupied the tenth position in the metropolis within the same period.
He said the prevalence of hypertension in the country was estimated at 30 per cent in a study conducted and added that five to 10 per cent of Ghanaians had been found to be diabetic.
Dr Yabani said non-communicable diseases could be prevented by adhering to healthy diets, avoiding smoking and drinking of alcohol, taking in lots of water, vegetables and fruits, as well as exercising regularly.
Some activities lined up for the celebration are clean-up campaigns, blood donation exercises, screening services, Body Mass Index (BMI) assessment and a health walk.
Dr Mawutorwu Brese, who represented the Regional Director of the Heath Service, said there appeared to be an epidemic of non-communicable disease currently as 30 per cent of the population in a study conducted were hypertensive.
He said about 11 per cent of boys and 19 per cent of girls among primary school pupils in Accra were obese.
This, he said, was the result of over-eating and the wrong choice of food with no exercise.
He advised the public to have peace of mind, live at peace with one another, avoid stress and have good rest.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of the Ga East Municipal Assembly, Mr John Kwao Sackey, lauded the event and advised the people to adopt healthy eating habits devoid of tobacco and alcohol.
He said people who were presumed healthy were pronounced dead within a short period as a result of no check-ups and unhealthy eating habits.
He urged all Ghanaians to join the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which was established to ensure affordable, accessible and quality health care.

WFP walks to end hunger (11/6/09)

THE National Co-ordinator of the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), Mr Michael Nsowah, has pledged to obtain all food items for the programme from small-scale farmers in the country.
This forms part of efforts adopted by the programme to aggressively pursue the objective of Home Grown School Feeding.
He said this during the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP)’s annual global fundraising and advocacy walk dubbed: “End hunger-Walk the World” in Accra.
Mr Nsowah said despite the GSFP’s challenges, it remained the NEPAD model for poverty reduction in Africa, and could increase school attendance and enrolment as well as act as an effective outlet for food produced by the Ghanaian farmers.
He said the current global economic crises, preceded by last year’s increase in fuel and food prices had created anxiety about a resurgence of soaring hunger among the world’s most vulnerable.
He said following the new challenges facing the global community, there was the need for Ghana to work extra hard to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) related to reducing hunger and improving health and education by 2015.
Mr Nsowah said the debilitating effects of hunger were sometimes underestimated and added that the effects were tragic for individuals and staggering for nations.
“People who have experienced and survived hunger in childhood may have their minds permanently dulled, limiting their ability to analyse situations and to fully pursue their livelihoods,” he stated.
The Head of Programmes of the WFP, Ms Sibi Lawson-Marriott, said recent surveys had shown that the number of malnourished children living Ghana was declining.
She said the country had to be commended because of its efforts to ensure that children who were the most vulnerable were being fed.
The walk, which started from the Golden Tulip Hotel and ended at the Accra Shopping Mall, sought to raise awareness on the issue of hunger, particularly among children and raise funds to address the challenge.
From Tamale, Vincent Amenuveve reports that the Deputy Northern Regional Minister, Mr Moses Mabengba addressed participants after the walk to end hunger.
The Deputy Minister noted that Ghana’s ability to achieve the 2015 goals of reducing hunger and improving health indicators has been linked to the country’s ability to sustain food-based safety net programmes.
Mr Mabengba said the programmes must be specially targeted at vulnerable children in schools and pre-schools and pregnant women across the country.
He noted that the effect of hunger particularly on the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of children could permanently make such children dull and limited in analysing situations and pursuing their livelihoods.
“Most people focus on hunger’s physical manifestations such as emaciation of famine-affected population and the small stature of chronically malnourished people but the most damaging impact is on the IQ,” he pointed out.
According to him, “a vicious cycle can be created where hungry children become damaged adults with limited opportunities and capacities and end up having hungry children of their own”.
He, therefore, stressed the need for “targeted interventions in nutrition and learning to promote a virtuous cycle of good nutrition and learning through generations”.
The minister, however, pointed out that the current global economic crisis preceded by last year’s fuel and food price increases had created anxiety about a resurgence of soaring hunger among the world’s most vulnerable.
The Head of the WFP Sub-office in Tamale, Mr Ahmed Saeed, indicated that his outfit had purchased food items from farmers in Ghana worth millions of Ghana cedis to help eliminate hunger among children in deprived communities.
He, however, observed that in spite of these interventions some children in Ghana still went to bed hungry.
“We are resolute in our will and confident in our collective ability to feed those who are hungry and to protect those who are now at greater risk of hunger because of global events and poverty,” Mr Saeed stressed.



CAPTION: Some participants of the World Food Programme’s walk.

Innolink to sponsor best reporter(9/6/09)mp

Story: Jennifer Dornoo & Martha Asantewaa Boateng
THE Vice-President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Affail Monney, has appealed to the government to fast-track the promulgation of the Right to Information Bill to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the association.
He said the right to information bill has been in the back burner for close to seven years with no hope of its promulgation in sight.
Mr Monney said this at the presentation of a sponsorship package by Innolink Limited, a printing and packaging firm, towards the 14th GJA awards in Accra yesterday.
This, he said, would help journalists to easily access reliable information and get evidence in support of their stories.
He said the bill, which had been in the public domain for seven years, needed approval to help journalists in the discharge of their duties.
Mr Monney thanked Innolink for the sponsorship package for the Best News Reporter in the Print Media category, which was a laptop, a one-week sponsored attachment with the Avusa Group of Newspapers in South Africa, an arranged meeting with the great and renowned international icon, Madiba Nelson Mandela, and a cash prize of GH¢5000.
It also included the printing of 1000 copies of the souvenir brochure for the 60th anniversary of the GJA and 14th media awards night.
He said sponsorship packages like these would motivate journalists to deliver their best and help them rise above challenges that confronted them.
The Marketing Consultant of Innolink Limited, Mr Franklyn Benefo, said the company had acknowledged that the media had positioned itself as the voice of the ordinary man in the street.
He said the ordinary man who had never sat in the classroom could now get himself connected to a radio station to express his views on issues of national concern.
"If democracy has to succeed, the media must be empowered and emboldened to play a leading role in this endeavour," he added.
Mr Benefo said it was the desire to recognise and appreciate the young men and women who produced the raw material from which the news was manufactured, that Innolink took the decision to sponsor the Best News Reporter for Print Journalism.
"In rewarding the effort of the Best News Reporter in Print Journalism, we pay tribute to all those printers and engineers who ensure that the wheels of the printing industry turn to produce the newspaper," he stated.
He said the company believed that high-level sponsorships were what were needed to obtain the best out of journalists.

Education minister impressed with G-Pak's facilities (8/6/09)mp

THE Minister of Education, Mr Alexander Tettey-Enyo, has expressed satisfaction at the high quality of printing by Graphic Packaging (G-Pak), a subsidiary of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL).
He was convinced that G-Pak had the capacity to print all the educational materials needed to complement education in the country .
He gave the G-Pak high marks when he paid a familiarisation visit to the company as part of measures to determine the capacity of printing houses in the country to handle the printing of textbooks and exercise books in the country.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said the government intended to help local printers in the country to increase their capacity and give employment to the youth.
He was accompanied by his deputy, Mrs Elizabeth Amoah Tetteh, and the executive members of the Ghana Printers and Paper Converters Association (GPPCA).
Welcoming the delegation, the Managing Director of the GCGL, Mr Mohammed Awal, said G-PAK had the capacity to print materials that were needed in the country to complement education.
He said if that policy was supported, job opportunities would be created for the unemployed, while state revenue would be increased for the socio-economic development of the country.
He later took the minister and his entourage on a tour of the various departments of the company.
The President of GPPCA, Mr James Appiah-Berko, said about $70 million was spent last year on printing textbooks outside the country.
He pleaded with the government to support the industry by reducing tariffs on raw materials imported into the country so that materials printed in the country would become affordable.
The minister and his team had earlier visited Type Press, Yasarko Press and Innolink.

Sempe pupils briefed on their rights (8/6/09)p11

THE acting Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Ms Anna Bossman, has urged children to report all forms of infringement of their rights to the police or the commission for thorough investigation and action.
Interacting with pupils of the Sempe One A Primary School in Accra last Friday, Ms Bossman said reporting infringements would contribute to the development of the culture of enforcing children’s rights.
The interactive programme was organised by CHRAJ on a pilot basis as part of its efforts to create awareness of human rights in selected basic schools in Accra.
It used the occasion to sensitise children to their rights and responsibilities, as well as the appropriate steps they were required to take when their rights were violated.
Ms Bossman encouraged children to be bold to report their parents who abused them or violated their rights to the commission.
She said it was a crime for parents not to look after their children and added that the necessary action would be taken to ensure that parents adhered to the rights of their children, such as fundamental human rights and the right to education and health.
The acting commissioner advised children to be law abiding and respect authority, perform their responsibilities and study hard so that they could grow to become responsible leaders in future.
She advised the children against drug addiction and all forms of child labour and asked them to focus on their education to be able to achieve their lifetime dreams and ambitions.
The Director in charge of Legal Services and Investigations at CHRAJ, Mr Joseph Whittal, said teachers had the right to discipline children when they misbehaved but not to the extent of degrading them or causing harm to them.
He assured the children of the commitment of CHRAJ to thoroughly investigate any report they made to the commission for appropriate measures to be taken to ensure that they enjoyed their rights.
During an open forum, the pupils asked questions and sought clarification on issues bothering them.
A similar interactive and sensitisation programme is expected to be organised by CHRAJ at the St Mary’s Anglican Primary School in Accra on June 12, 2009.

smoking pupils rate alarming (8/6/09)p.3

A SURVEY conducted by the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has indicated that 50 out of 1000 pupils surveyed smoke cigarette every day, a Principal Health Research Officer of GHS, Mrs Edith Wellington, has said.
Mrs Wellington said though the numbers might not be that huge the rate at which pupils were taking to smoking was alarming and drastic measures were needed to address the problem.
In an address to mark the post World No Tobacco Day in Accra last Saturday, Mrs Wellington said the measures were needed because children who smoked at their early stages stood the risk of many harmful effects of the smoke and were likely to get addicted at an adult age.
The event was organised by Coalition of Non-governmental Organisations in Tobacco Control (CNTC) and was to create awareness on the harm tobacco use caused to the individual and the community, as well as to sensitise Ghanaians to the tobacco control bill which is expected to be passed by the end of the year.
Mrs Wellington said the GHS had trained a number of teachers across the country to educate children on the dangers of smoking and had embarked on an awareness creation programmes in some selected schools in the country.
She said the GHS was working in collaboration with stakeholders such as the Ghana Education Service (GES) and Ministry of Health (MoH) to reduce the menace.
She said a draft bill for tobacco control was ready to be sent to Parliament for approval and implementation.
When passed the law will ban the smoking of tobacco at public places for the safety of non-smokers in the country.
The law will also ensure that children below the age of 18 are not sent to buy cigarette or are not allowed to sell the product.
The Vice-President of CNTC , Mr Oscar Bruce, called on the government to speed up the passage of the tobacco control bill.
That, he said, would reduce the harmful effects of tobacco on individuals and ensure the health of people.
The President of HealthPage Ghana, an NGO, Dr John Kwawurah, said cigarettes contained a substance called nicotine, an addictive chemical which made it difficult for smokers to stop smoking.
Additionally, cigarettes also contain about 4000 dangerous substances or chemicals which can cause cancers of the lungs, lips, tongue, throat and eye problems, hypertension and other heart-related diseases.
He said non-smokers who inhaled cigarette smoke were even at a higher risk than the smokers because smokers smoked out 85 per cent of the content of the cigarette leaving non-smokers to inhale it.
He said lung diseases which were rare had become very common in hospitals these days as a result of smoking.
Dr Kwawurah said pregnant women who smoked tobacco were at risk of giving birth to babies with deformities or having miscarriages. Additionally, tobacco could also lead to impotence in men.
He advised the youth to stay away from tobacco and avoid peers who would try to influence them into smoking, since it could lead to addiction and pose serious health threats to them and other people.
Mrs Sophia Twum-Barima, a representative of the World Health Organisation (WHO), stressed the need for people to be sensitised to the implications of smoking and inhaling tobacco smoke to protect the health of the public.
She said it was important to impose high taxes on tobacco products to make them unaffordable, as well as generate revenue for the government to build hospitals to treat tobacco-related diseases.

Buses(5/6/09)mp

Story: Emmanuel Bonney & Jennifer Dornoo

The Ministry of Education yesterday presented 22 buses worth GH¢ 770,000 to selected senior high schools (SHS) to promote effective teaching and learning.
The beneficiary schools include Sefwi Bekwai, Nandom, Aduman, Dadieso, Dorfor, Prang and Sekyedumase, Labone and the St Thomas Aquinas Senior High Schools.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tetteh-Enyo, said the presentation was another giant step towards enhancing teaching and learning in the schools.
He said the presentation of the 33-seater buses was in pursuit of the government’s desire to ensure that all senior high schools were provided with means of transportation to facilitate school activities.
He said since assuming office, the NDC government had come out with many programmes to ensure that all senior high schools were well placed for the task of producing students of high calibre.
Mr Tetteh-Enyo said education was currently at the forefront of the national development agenda, adding that the desire “to ensure effective teaching and learning in the schools placed enormous responsibilities on teachers”.
He appealed to teachers to rededicate themselves to their profession as the government would ensure that teachers were provided with the necessary tools and incentives to enable them to perform their duties effectively.
He urged the various beneficiaries to take good care of the buses and maintain them well to give them a longer life span.
The Director General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, appealed to the heads of institutions to use the buses for the operations of the GES and school activities.
The headmistress of Labone Senior High School, Mrs Joyce Agyekum, on behalf of heads of beneficiary schools thanked the ministry for the buses and assured the sector minister that the buses would be well maintained.

superstitious belief - Its impact on women’s development (30/5/09)

Superstitious beliefs are prevalent among women than men because less women are educated, compared to men. Most of the superstitious beliefs in our society are in the form of old traditions which are transmitted from one generation to another.
The Wikipedia free encyclopaedia says the word “superstition” is often used pejoratively to refer to beliefs deemed irrational. It is also commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck, prophecy and spiritual beings, particularly the irrational belief that future events can be influenced or foretold by specific unrelated prior events.
Superstitious beliefs can be found in every culture and the Ghanaian culture is no exception. Many superstitious beliefs in our culture can be analysed from different angles.
First, some of these beliefs are associated with women. These beliefs show their old immature way of thinking. For example, they can guess the sex of baby by?????? a dead male snake.????????
Some superstitious beliefs which are related to bad or good luck can be found among adults in many cultures. (EXAMPLES????) know that there is no scientific justification for such beliefs, but some people still believe them and try hard to adapt their lifestyles to suit them.
Furthermore, children also have some superstitious beliefs. These beliefs also demonstrate their limited knowledge. They practise such beliefs without any family interference or correction. For instance, kids believe the red colour symbolises evil and hell whereas the green colour indicates the contrary. So, they choose the green-coloured items such as books and possessions
The issue of witchcraft and superstitious beliefs and their impact on African development was discussed at a one-day seminar in Accra as part of a campaign to disabuse the minds of the public on women and witchcraft as well as superstition. The seminar, which was organised by the Centre For Inquiry (CFI) Transitional, in partnership with the Ghana Chapter of Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA) was held on the theme “Witchcraft and Superstition: Impact on African Development”.
The President of the SWAA, Ghana, Mrs Bernice Heloo, said innocent, poor, illiterate and aged women had over the years been victims to false accusations of being witches, She stressed that there was the need to discard the ill-conceived notion that many women were witches since such perception undermined their ability to contribute meaningfully towards national development.
Mrs Heloo said the tagging of women as witches could lead to social exclusion, alienation and human rights abuses and that could psychologically undermine the capacity of women to empower themselves and contribute to national discourse and development.
She said because of the belief that women were witches, some of them had been tortured, neglected and in some extreme cases, murdered.
Mrs Heloo attributed the incidence of witchcraft accusations and superstition to the increasing number of spiritual churches which claim to be fighting against witchcraft.
She said SWAA was interested in the topic because a number of people who had been infected with the HIV virus attributed the cause to witchcraft and others also blamed women for bring the curse on them.
She said some of the ‘spiritual’ churches also keep HIV-positive persons for a long time with the excuse of praying for them and pointed out that some of the them were coerced by the pastors to announce in the media that they had been cured, while others became seriously ill and lost their lives.
She said in most cases, it was women who suffered most and, therefore, called on Ghanaians to help fight superstition through sustained educational programmes.
The Board Chairman of Amnesty International, Mr Vincent Adzahlie-Mensah, said witchcraft in Ghana was associated with stigmatisation and social violence, and argued that the phenomenon was the source of poverty, joblessness, sickness, sorrow and pain that many women went through.
He revealed that people who were accused of witchcraft were tortured and compelled to confess to avoid persistent torture.
Mr Adzahlie-Mensah said civil society organisations had a crucial role to play in reducing the menace by campaigning for the closure of camps for witches and protection of the aged.
The Chairman of CFI Transnational, Mr Leo Igwe, also stressed the need to fight against superstitious beliefs that had the tendency of undermining development, creating fear, hatred and confusion which oppressed women and undermined their ability to succeed.

Reintroduce school farms and gardens (26/5/09)BP

THE Deputy Minister of Education, Mrs Elizabeth Amoah Tetteh, has called for the reintroduction of school farms and gardens to encourage the youth to participate in agriculture and greening the environment.
She said this would complement the government’s efforts at ensuring a sustainable environment as part of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Addressing the first national youth conference on biodiversity at the weekend, Mrs Amoah Tetteh said while the term biodiversity might not be well known or understood, the ecological services it provided were well known as they were vital to everyday lives of the people.
The conference, which brought together students from the junior and senior high school levels and other youth groups was to observe the International Day for Biological Diversity on the theme, “Invasive Alien Species”. It was used to launch a tree planting competition for schools in the country.
Mrs Amoah Tetteh said a report by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) released in 2005 indicated that human activities had taken the planet to the edge of a massive wave of species extinction that was a threat to human survival.
The Deputy Minister encouraged students and the youth to contribute their quota in the quest for reduction in biodiversity losses and commended Hero Productions for the initiative to get the youth involved in environmental issues.
A representative of the Forestry Commission, Mr Yaw Kwakye, said given the current rapid decline in biodiversity worldwide and the increasing extent, as well as the intensity of many human activities that generated negative impacts, the objective of halting the decline in biodiversity by 2010 would require extraordinary efforts.
He said prevention was the most cost-effective method against invasive alien species, adding that halting the establishment of potential invasive species was the first line of defence.
The Executive Director of Hero Productions, organisers of the programme, Mr Peter Paul Hammond, said the organisation sought to plant and nurture 50 million trees in the country in the next three years.
He said the tree planting competition among schools in the country was to enable the youth to contribute towards the achievement of MDG seven.

GJA holds Awards Clinic (22/5/09) page 3

A NOVELTY clinic to examine the standard of assessment of the annual awards of the Ghana Journalists Association was held at the International Press Centre in Accra.
The clinic was also intended to educate journalists interested in contesting for GJA awards to know what was required of them.
Addressing the opening session last Wednesday, the President of the GJA, Mr Ransford Tetteh said the clinic, organised as part of the 60th edition of the GJA awards, would improve transparency of the scheme and raise the standards of entries and assessment.
He was hopeful that the clinic would generate cross fertilisation of ideas and address some of the concerns about the awards with the view to making the scheme better to promote excellence in journalism and media practice.
Mr Tetteh acknowledged that the most difficult part of the awards scheme was the selection of winner of the Journalist of the Year award and, therefore, appealed to civil society and media personnel to make an input in the selection process so that whoever won the award would reflect the broad consensus of the awards committee and the general public.
Mr Tetteh said the leadership of the association was convinced that the current mode of submitting entries by all contestants apart from the journalist of the year fell in line with best practices all over the world.
The Vice President of the GJA, Mr Affail Monney said the Journalist of the Year award of the GJA, which had been named “ PAV Ansah Journalist of the Year” was given annually to the person who had consistently shown throughout the year under review to have accumulated a body of journalistic work that the association could be proud of as exemplary for the professional practice and advancement of journalism in Ghana.
He stated that “Through the award, the association seeks to show recognition for and the need to ignite pride and promote excellence in journalism in the country”.
Mr Monney added that the executive of the GJA should be able to defend the award winner and his or her work based on sound journalistic standards and ethical principles even if the selection was surrounded by controversy.
He said in addition to applying the basic journalistic standard of accuracy, balance, relevance, clarity, background, completeness, social impact, fairness, ethical standards and language presentation, the individual to be named the PAV Ansah Journalist of the Year would be subjected to a higher standard of excellence in reporting and writing as well as the over all exhibition of professionalism.
Mr Monney said that only published works in print and broadcasting media between January and December of the previous calendar year were eligible for consideration for the award.
He said that if no individual was considered deserving to be adjudged as meeting the high journalistic standard for the Journalist of the Year, the award would be withheld as a strategy to encourage further improvement of standards of journalism in Ghana.
The Chairman of the GJA Awards Committee in 2008, Mr Berifi Apenteng, Chairman of the Committee in 2007, Mr Kweku Rockson and Dr Doris Dartey, Member of both awards committee took journalist through requirements of the awards and challenges the committees faced in selecting winners for the various awards.
Dr Doris Dartey said 50 per cent of categories did not win awards in the 2006 awards while 44 per cent categories did not win awards either because there were no entries or individuals failed to meet the requirements of the awards.
She, therefore, advised applicants to present their best and ensure they meet all the requirements of the association.

Accra East Rotary rehabilitates Aquinas science block (18/5/09)

THE Rotary Club of Accra East has initiated a $100,000 project to improve on water supply, health delivery and educational facilities in rural and urban communities this year.
As part of the project the club has carried out plumbing works and painting on a two-storey science laboratory of the St Thomas Aquinas Senior High School at a cost of GH¢3,500.
The Project Director of the club, Mr Joe Hyde, who supervised the project, said the club undertook the work as part of its corporate social responsibility.
He said the Interact Club of the School and the Rotaract Club of the Institute of Professional Studies, which were both junior clubs of Rotary, assisted in the painting of the science laboratory.
He said the Rotary Club had donated books on different subjects to selected libraries and schools in the country.
The President of the club, Mr Yaw Assah-Sam, said the Club had provided boreholes in eight communities on the Akuapem Ridge to provide water for the people.
The communities are Kitasi, Aburi, Apirede, Ahwerase and Obosomase, as well as the Mampong School of the Hearing Impaired and Abiriw Teenage Mothers Centre.
Additionally, the club sponsored six doctors from abroad to offer free medical care to the people of Aburi in the Eastern Region.
Mr Assah-Sam said the club organised educational programmes such as interactive career guidance to students to give them the opportunity to talk to professionals in various fields.
He assured the public of the club’s commitment to embarking on more community projects to help develop the communities.

‘Set up advertising standards authority’ (18/5/09)

THE President of the Advertising Association of Ghana (AAG), Mr Reginald Laryea has appealed to the government to establish an advertising standards authority to monitor and regulate the activities of advertising agencies.
He said the membership of such an authority could include representatives of the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), Ghana Standards Board as well as district and municipal assembles to avoid the multiple and duplicate instructions and regulations.
At separate courtesy calls on the Greater Accra Regional Minister, Mr Nii Armah Ashitey and the Minister for Information Mrs Zita Okaikoi at their offices last Thursday, Mr Laryea explained that the proposed authority would enhance the smooth operations of advertisers and enforce the ethics of advertisers for sanity to prevail.
Mr Laryea was accompanied by executive members of the association. The calls were to welcome the ministers into office, offer the association’s support to them and help the ministries to generate revenue for development.
The Greater Accra Regional Minister Mr Ashitey thanked the association for its support and challenged the members to take up the responsibility for ensuring that places where they mounted their billboards were kept clean to beautify the city.
He urged advertisers to remove the bill boards of political parties that had not been removed after the 2009 elections.
He welcomed the idea of standardisation of advertisements in the country since he believed it would guide advertisers in the discharge of their duties.
For her part the Minister for Information, Mrs Okaikoi, said standardisation of advertisements would enable advertising agencies and the media to operate under strict codes to ensure good contents of advertisements.

Auto Expo(15/5/09)

Story: Francis Yaw Kyei & Jennifer Dornoo
A Minister of State at the Office of the President, Alhaji Amadu Seidu, has expressed the government's commitment to provide the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) with the needed resources to install speed limiters in vehicles to check speeding and indiscipline on roads.
Additionally, he said the government would support the commission to install cameras at strategic locations to check indiscipline and reduce carnage on the roads.
The speed limiters, when installed in commercial vehicles, will restrict drivers of commercial vehicles from moving above a specific speed limit.
Alhaji Seidu gave the assurance at the opening ceremony of the Ghana Auto Expo 2009 on the theme “Making the right automotive choices to ensure safety on our roads.”
The exhibition, organised by the Business and Financial Times (B&FT) at the Ghana International Trade Fair Centre in Accra, provided the opportunity for car dealers, oil marketing companies, vehicle finance and insurance companies and operators of vehicular tracking devices to display their products and services.
The occasion was also used to launch the Nissan Murano, a new Nissan model by Auto Parts Limited.
The Nissan Murano has 12 Air Bag Systems (ABS), Electronic Blinking System (EBS), Electronic Brake Distribution System (EBDS), among others, to ensure safety of passengers.
Alhaji Seidu said safety on the roads had been compromised largely owing to poor vehicle maintenance, inadequate public education and low level of regulation enforcement.
He expressed optimism that the exhibition would sensitise vehicle owners and users to the need to buy and keep their automobiles in good condition.
He underlied the need for the public to always patronise new and genuine vehicles, auto-parts and accessories to prevent frequent breakdowns and eliminate high maintenance costs.
The Executive Director of B&FT, Mrs Edith Dankwa, said the exp. was to bring together vehicle sellers and buyers to educate them on the right automotive choices to make in order to ensure safety on the roads.
She said the rate of road carnage in the country was alarming and, therefore, needed an intervention to save lives and property.
Mrs Dankwa urged the public to be disciplined on the roads and advised them to take full advantage of latest vehicles, auto parts and accessories on display as well as various finance and insurance options at the exhibition.
The Manager of the Vehicle and Asset Finance (VAF) product of Stanbic Bank, Mr Peter Effah Owusu, said the bank participated in the event to provide the public with various financial solutions to enable them to purchase new and genuine vehicles for safety purposes.