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.

FDB seizes unregistered drugs(MP12/5/09)

THE Food and Drugs Board (FDB) and the Ghana Police Service yesterday seized large quantities of unregistered drugs at the Okaishie Market in a special exercise to rid the Accra metropolis of fake and illegal medications.
The drugs included aphrodisiacs, slimming teas, as well as breast and hip enlargement products mostly made in China and Korea.
Notable among the aphrodisiacs were “3 days 3 centimetres”, “Man sex fancy soap”, “Golden power”, “African Viagoura”, “Super omega”, “Black God” and “Spain black butterfly”.
Other products had their names and inscriptions written in Chinese, which is an infringement of the Legislative Instrument 1541 of the Ghana Standards Board which demands that all products sold in the country should have English inscriptions to enable people to read them.
The Head of the Post-Market Surveillance Unit of the Drug Inspectorate Department of the FDB, Mr Eugene Addo, said there was a proliferation of those unregistered drugs on the Ghanaian market, hence the exercise.
He said the quality, efficacy and safety of the drugs could not be established because they had not been registered and tested by the FDB.
He said that some of the drugs, particularly the aphrodisiacs, had effects on the human heart, since they made people work more than necessary.
He said some of the products had also been mislabelled and given different names to deceive the public.
“A product like Diclofenac 25mg, which is a pain killer to be sold under prescription by doctors, has been labelled as moringa tablets and is being sold to deceive the public,” Mr Addo stated.
He advised the public to desist from using such drugs, since they were fake and could cause cancer and death.
He called on the various stakeholders to help to rid the market of those unregistered drugs which posed serious threats to health.
The traders refused to disclose the identity of their suppliers.

Labone SHS girls given health talk (11/5/09)

SAVE Our Women International (SOWI) in collaboration with Ipas, both non-governmental organisations (NGOs), concerned with issues of women have organised a sensitisation health talk programme for female students at the Labone Senior High School in Accra.
The programme formed part of SOWI's activities for 2009 to help fight unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and the prevention of deaths among ladies in high schools.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SOWI, Ms Juliet Asante said it was very important for young ladies to be educated on sex and be given the platform to discuss it, since they knew a lot of things parents thought they were ignorant about.
She said SOWI was set up to educate and provide support to female fertility health, with special focus on unsafe abortions.
As part of its objectives, SOWI sought to raise public awareness on the dangers of unsafe abortions and also provide counselling services to victims.
She said it was in that light that SOWI and IPAS were setting up SOWI Mentoring Clubs (SMCs) in schools to help young ladies know their reproductive rights and take better charge of their lives.
Ms Asante added that the establishment of SMCs would also form an empowering drive that would encourage young ladies to focus on their education to ensure self worth.
A Counsellor, Mrs Paulina Siaw Akoto Debrah, took the students through issues such as prevention of pregnancies which included abstinence and the use of family planning methods, and bad practices in abortions which could lead to the damage of the womb and even death.
She advised the students to abstain from sex which could lead to unwanted pregnancies and to concentrate on their studies in order to achieve their objectives in life.
If they indulged in sexual activities, she said they could be psychologically affected when they mistakenly got pregnant and would not be able to concentrate on their studies.

Unhealthy lifestyles,major killers (9/5/09)

THE Ministry of Health has observed that reports from hospitals in the country diseases due to stress and inappropriate lifestyles such as bad eating habits are now becoming prominent killers.
These diseases include heart-related diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure and arthritis.
This was disclosed by the Deputy Minister of Health, Dr Ben Kumbuor, at the ninth West Africa Nobles workshop and awards ceremony in Accra on the theme “Alternative remedy to top executive killer diseases”.
The workshop was organised by the West Africa Nobles Forum (WANF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), in collaboration with Champion Divine Clinic and West Africa International Magazine to discuss some preventable killer diseases.
The deputy minister said the solution to such health problems did not depend on physicians, technological advancement or the quality of hospitals.
He said good health depended on what individuals consumed and how often they exercised.
He noted that as part of the Ministry’s regenerative health programme, it recommended that people observed healthy lifestyles that included regular exercise, having good sleep and relaxing the body, taking healthy diets and having positive attitude to life and spirituality.
The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of WANF, Mr Paul Fynn, charged members to take up the responsibility of promoting integrity, honesty and accountability in their respective communities.
He urged award winners to live by the aims and objectives of the forum.
Twenty people received awards for their honesty in their private and public lives and were inducted as members of WANF.
They received certificates and plaques.
They included Mr Clement Kofi Humado, Dr D.R.T. Annan, Mrs Nora Bannerman, Mr Charles A. Yebuah, Captain Tei Azu, Mr Raymond A. Tawiah, Mr John Dadzie and Mr Kofi Asamoah.
Others were Prof Dominic Fobih, Dr Richard Anane, Mr Yaw Kumey, Mr James K. Avedzi, Dr Koku Awoonor-Willams, Mr Samuel T. Sackey, Mr Isaac K. Tetteh, Nana Agyekum Gyamerah, Mr Raymond Afrifah-Yamoah, Mr Isaac K. Afful, Mr Henry F Kamel and Mr G.Y. Gyamfi.

Work hard to improve education delivery - teachers told (9/5/09)

THE Chairman of the Pension Reform Implementation Committee, Mr Thomas Ango Bediako, has called on members of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) to work hard to improve upon the delivery of quality education in the country.
He stated that teachers had a responsibility to deliver quality education as part of the country’s educational reforms.
Mr Bediako said this at the opening ceremony of the first Quadrennial Delegates Conference of the Accra West Metro District of GNAT in Accra last Thursday.
It was held on the theme “Improved conditions of service-Key to the success of the new education reforms”.
The conference was to reflect on work and activities of the association, make future plans and elect delegates to attend the national conference of GNAT in October, 2009.
Mr Bediako said though teachers deserved to be paid very well they also had to play their roles effectively and work professionally as teachers.
He noted that teaching was fast losing its decency as a service to people, especially in the public funded basic schools.
Mr Bediako stressed the need for teachers to make use of decentralised institutions such as the district assemblies and other institutions provided for in the Education Act to help them to work effectively.
He advised them to improve upon their methods of negotiations and increase their knowledge on issues that affect their work.
The Assistant Director of Finance and Administration of the Accra Metro Education Unit, Mr Eric Amponsah, who chaired the ceremony, called on teachers to make good use of their lesson periods to enable their students to excel like their colleagues in the private schools, adding “as we continue to fight for our rights, let us also try hard to do our work well”.

GRIDCo rehabilitates Achimota Substation (7/5/09)

THE Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCo) has begun major rehabilitation works at the Achimota Substation as part of efforts to improve power supply in Accra.
The exercise, which is expected to take eight weeks, involves the upgrading of a 33 Mega Volt Ampere (MVA) transformer that supplies seven per cent of power to Accra to 66 MVA.
In view of the exercise, the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) on Monday, May 4, 2009, began a power rationing programme to pave the way for the upgrading works.
Under the rationing exercise, one part of Accra would experience power outage from 9a.m. to 6p.m. while the other part would go off from 6p.m. to 11p.m. to enable GRIDCo to install a new transformer at the substation.
The Head of Public Relations of GRIDCo, Mr Albert Kwesi Quainoo, in a facility tour with media personnel at the substation, said once the 33 MVA was upgraded the ECG would be able to meet the increasing demand for power and reduce power outages.
He said the 33 MVA transformer, which was manufactured in 1962 and mounted in 1965, was the smallest at the station and had worked effectively over the years until now that the load had become very heavy, thereby resulting in power outages.
He announced that a new substation would be built at Adjringanor in Accra where four transformers would be mounted to supply power due to the increasing load, adding that two more 66 MVA transformers would be added to the present transformers at the Mallam Substation.
Mr Quainoo appealed to Ghanaians to use power efficiently in order to save electricity to minimise the power outages in the country.
He advised the general public to stop using second-hand electrical appliances, since they consumed more electricity than they were supposed to, in order to conserve power.

Report activities of internet fraudsters (7/5/09)

THE Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Dr Omane Boamah, has urged the public to report all forms of sophisticated crime on the Internet otherwise known as “Sakawa” to the police.
That is to help the security agencies to deal effectively with such activities and complement government’s efforts in reducing the increasing rate of internet fraud in the country.
Launching the three-day Computer and Technology Fair by the Dot II Dot Company in Accra yesterday, the deputy minister said such activities were hindering the effectiveness and purpose of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the country.
The fair, which is scheduled to be held from May 14 to 16 at the National Theatre, is designed to give the business community hands-on experience with the latest technology.
On the theme “Innovative Technologies and Application Accelerated Development”, it is to introduce international computer, technology and electronic manufacturers, retailers, wholesalers and distributors to the market with the aim of making Ghana the hub of ICT by 2015.
Fifty technology vendors from all parts of the country are expected to display latest software, hardware and services from the best in the industry.
Products to be displayed include laptops, MP3 players, LCDs and plasma TVs and services ranging from online, banking and brokerage and basic storage solutions.
Dr Boamah said the high rate of poverty in the society was as a result of “information poverty”, adding that “the more people were informed about the changing nature of the society, the easier it would be to alleviate poverty in the country”.
He said his ministry would work in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications to help to make Ghana the ICT hub of Africa.
He noted that most tertiary institutions in the country were doing their best to foster ICT compliance, adding that the government was working hard towards ensuring that basic tenets of ICT were incorporated into junior high school curriculum.
The Communications Director of the Dot II Dot Company, Mrs Ewurama Greenslade, said the fair was to keep them up to date on the ever changing world of technology.
Mrs Greenslade said demonstrations would take place for business operators to gain an understanding of the new technologies that could assist in growing their profits.

School feeding programme faces challenges (7/5/09)

THE latest report on the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) has painted a gloomy picture about the future of the programme unless the current state of complementary services are improved.
According to the report which was launched in Accra last Tuesday,the state of complementary services such as basic infrastructure like kitchen facilities, a hygienic environment, safe water, supply of food by farmers and availability of teachers and teaching materials needed to support the programme is currently unsatisfactory.
The report entitled “Challenges of Institutional Collaboration: An assessment of the state of complementary services in the Ghana School Feeding Programme” was prepared by SEND-Ghana, a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
The report stated that the unsatisfactory complementary services in the GSFP was a result of the weakness in the collaboration between the GSFP and Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), Ministry of Health (MoH) and Ministry of Education (MoE), especially at the district level.
The report was based on a study of the school feeding programme in twenty-three schools in 21 districts purposely selected from the three northern regions and the Greater Accra Region in the last quarter of 2008.
The study observed that the current state of complementary services in the various beneficiary schools and communities adversely affected quality education, with negative implications on the health of pupils and the sustainability of the programme.
The findings revealed that 61 per cent of beneficiary schools did not have good kitchen structures, a situation which adversely affected the maintenance of hygienic environment for the preparation of food.
It revealed that about 78 per cent of the schools did not have adequate plates and cups, resulting in eating in turns which leads finally to prolonged lunch breaks.
It revealed that about 43 per cent of the schools lacked access to safe water which compelled pupils to trek for water to support the feeding programme.
Supervisory inspection in about 96 per cent of schools did not focus on any health related service or adherence to health standards in the feeding programme but mainly on getting pupils fed, the study showed.
In terms of agricultural services, 91 per cent of schools indicated during the study that foodstuffs were not obtained directly from farmers in the beneficiary districts.
The supply of quality education was lacking in about 85 per cent of beneficiary schools as teachers were inadequate and classrooms were not enough to shelter the increasing number of the pupils in the schools.
The study therefore stressed the need to find innovative ways to strengthen the collaboration between the GSFP and the various stakeholders to ensure that food is not just delivered to the pupils but prepared under hygienic conditions.
The collaboration is also to ensure the smooth supply of foodstuffs from farmers in the beneficiary districts to accelerate agricultural activities in the country.
The study also recommended that an effective monitoring team which comprises of all the stakeholders be formed to monitor all areas of the programme.
The Country Director of SEND-Ghana, Mr Samuel Zan Akologo, said the assessment was to monitor and evaluate the GSFP to ensure that the government was able to achieve its goals.
He said it was part of civil society’s watchdog role to ensure that government policies were well implemented and corrected if necessary for the development of the country.
He said some of the stakeholders of the programme were not well informed about the roles expected of them to ensure the success of the programme while others lacked resources to play their roles effectively.
Mr Akologo however stressed the need for the necessary infrastructure to be put in place to bring all the stakeholders together and ensure an effective collaboration.

Ablekuma Cntral MP organises clean-up exercise(7/5/09)

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma Central constituency, Mr Theophilius Tetteh Chaie, has organised a massive clean-up exercise in the Gbortsui Electoral Area.
The exercise is part of his one year clean-up campaign in the five electoral areas of his constituency which takes place every two weeks to improve the sanitation condition in the constituency.
When the Daily Graphic got to the area, some of the gutters were choked with plastic waste, empty tins of milk, fruits like oranges and sand which made it difficult for water to flow through the gutters.
The MP said sanitation was poor in the area because the place was highly populated.
He said he had collaborated with Zoomlion Ghana Limited to recruit some youth to clean up the major roads in the area adding that, more people would be recruited to clean up the whole constituency.
He noted that the tools for the exercise were inadequate and added that participation in the exercise was high.
He said vans from the Information Services Department (ISD) were working hard and going round to educate the people on good sanitation practises to keep the area clean.
Mr Tetteh Chaie stressed the need for all leaders and MPs to mobilise people in their constituencies and organise regular clean-up exercises to compliment government’s efforts in ensuring a clean environment.
He said he would soon mandate traders along the streets in his constituency to clean the gutters and the streets infront of them everyday before they go about their duties to ensure that the constituency is always kept clean.


Caption: Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma Central constituency, Mr Theophilius Tetteh Chaie ( left) and some members of the Gbortui Electoral Area collecting waste from the gutter.

IRS organises tax campaign (7/5/09)

THE Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has organised a tax campaign as part of its Revenue week celebration to sensitise owners of businesses on their tax obligations.
The campaign was also to collect revenue from the informal sector.
The campaign took place at the Tema Community Market, Madina Market and the Makola Market.
The Revenue Week celebration which began on Monday April 27, 2009 was on the theme “Enhancing tax Compliance: The responsibility of the income earning property owner”.
Activities for the week-long celebration included a forum on tax, seminar for religious bodies and other media activities.
The Chief Inspector of Taxes of the Tema Main District branch of the IRS, Mr Stephen Yaw Boateng, said the voluntary compliance of tax payers was low in the district.
He said the branch faced challenges such as inadequate logistics and manpower which made revenue collection difficult.
He stated that the informal sector was a difficult group to deal with in terms of revenue collection, stressing that the company would embark on such exercises regularly to collect revenue from people at market places, shops and others.
Mr Boateng therefore appealed to the public to honour their quarterly tax obligations to help in the provision of social amenities and infrastructure for the development of the country.

Chemical Sellers to use txtNPay system (4/05/09)

AFRIC Xpress, a Ghana incorporated electronic payment solution specialist and a pioneer in mobile phone-based payment solutions in Ghana, has signed a partnership agreement with the National Chemical Sellers Association to enable 10,000 members of the association nationwide to transact business with customers using the txtNpay mobile phone-based electronic payment system.
The contract will also enable customers to transfer money to relatives all over the country in about five minutes, withdraw money, purchase goods, top up mobile phone credit, pay bills and check account balance all with the use of a mobile phone.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, the Chief Executive Officer of GSMF International, Mr Alex Banful said money transfer over the years had become inconvenient in the country.
He said people no longer had to send money through people and drivers to relatives in the rural areas and noted that customers could now send money in the comfort of their homes to any part of the country with a text message.
The Finance and Administration Manager of Afric Xpress, Mr Michael Asiedu promised to offer quality services to customers.
He said users of all mobile phone networks in the country except Zain, could register and have access to the txtNpay system.
He said hundreds of MultiChoice subscribers had began experiencing the simplicity and convenience of the txtNpay service as they texted in to pay their bills without having to pay cash at any service counter.
He added that the barriers of distance, time and space had finally been eliminated from the routine transactions of settling bills for services bought.
The Customer Service Manager of Afric Xpress, Mrs Vida Assan, said all mobile phone users had to do was to register for a txtNpay electronic wallet.
She said the electronic wallet would enable them to have money on their mobile phones which they could use to top up credit, pay for goods and bills, check account balance, transfer money and withdraw money from any of their agents nationwide.


Caption: Torgbi Adela Dartey III, President of the National Chemical Sellers Association (left) and Mr Asiedu (right) exchanging files after signing the contract while Mrs Assan and Mr John Ofori Atta, Secretary of the Association looks on.