Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Govt's efforts at raising education standards...STUDENTS URGED TO BE DISCIPLINED (PAGE 11, DEC 30)

THE government’s determination to raise standards of education cannot be achieved without discipline on the part of students, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, Dr Joyce Aryee has stated.
She said discipline was a precondition for effective learning and that tackling indiscipline which had become rampant of late in schools, was as much part of improving the performance of students as good teaching.
Addressing the annual carols and awards day of the Komenda Senior High Secondary and Technical School at Komenda, Dr Aryee said education was about values as well as knowledge and skills.
Dr Aryee said values such as respect for others and for authority, courtesy and consideration were the foundations of any civilised society.
The Chief Executive Officer said many teachers left the profession because of inadequate remuneration, but research had also indicated that about 45 per cent of teachers did so because of indiscipline among students.
She said teachers, headteachers and other school staff deserved respect and that there could never be any justification for subjecting them to either verbal or physical assault.
Dr Aryee said restoring respect for authority in schools meant a sustained drive to strengthen school discipline.
She described neglecting responsibility for discipline as criminal, and called on all stakeholders, especially parents, to live up to their responsibilities by ensuring that their children were disciplined.
Dr Aryee advised students to obey school rules and regulations to ensure their success in life.
The headmaster of the school, Mr David N. Bonney, urged parents to take active interest in the progress of their wards by giving them the necessary support and providing their needs.
Mr Bonney called on the government to provide the needed infrastructure to improve teaching and learning.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

150 FISHERMEN BENEFIT FROM NETS (PAGE 14, DEC 29)

The Central Regional Minister, Mrs Ama Benyiwa-Doe, has advised fishermen to emulate the example of the Elmina Premix Committee by ensuring transparency and accountability in all their dealings.
She also called on them to utilise profits from the sale of premix fuel for the benefit of their communities.
She was speaking at a ceremony where one hundred and fifty canoe fishermen from Elmina benefited from fishing nets valued at GH¢45,000.00 purchased with profit from sale of the premix fuel by the Elmina Premix Committee.
The committee also presented cloths to eight aged fishermen who had contributed towards the promotion of the fishing industry in Elmina.
The member of Parliament for Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem, Dr J.S. Annan, advised the fishermen to put to good use the nets to compensate for the efforts of the committee.
A Deputy Minister of Agriculture in–charge of Fisheries, Nii Amassah Namoale, also advised the committee to invest part of their profit in educational funds for the youth in the area.
He said the government was focused on safeguarding the operations of canoe fishermen in the country.
At the ceremony in Elmina last Tuesday, the Secretary of the Elmina Premix Committee, Alhaji Mohammed Dauda, said the committee decided to present the nets to the fishermen in support of their efforts.
Alhaji Dauda said the profit was realised from the sale of premix fuel within six months of the committee’s operations.
He commended the government for the continued supply of premix fuel to support them in their operations.
The Chairman of the National Premix Committee, Mr Kwaku Nicol, said the government would continue to offer the necessary support and protection to canoe fishermen to sustain their livelihood.
He called on landing beach committees to ensure that fishermen derived maximum benefits from the sale of premix fuel in their communities.
The Committee in appreciation of President Mills’s support for fishermen in ensuring the supply of premix fuel and the measures he had taken to enhance their livelihood, bestowed on him the title of a chief fisherman, “Ofarnyi Kwegya Atta Mills” and presented him with a stool.

Monday, December 28, 2009

PREMIX C'TTEE ASSISTS 150 FISHERMEN WITH NETS (PAGE 19, DEC 28)

One hundred and fifty canoe fishermen from Elmina have benefited from fishing nets valued at GH¢45,000.00 from profit made from the sale of premix fuel by the Elmina Premix Committee.
The committee also presented cloths to eight aged fishermen who have contributed towards the promotion of the fishing industry in Elmina.
At a ceremony at Elmina last Tuesday, the Secretary of the Elmina Premix Committee, Alhaji Mohammed Dauda, said the committee decided to present the nets to the fishermen to support their livelihood.
Alhaji Dauda said the profit was realised from the sale of premix fuel within six months of the committee’s operations.
He commended the government for the continued supply of premix fuel to support them in their operations.
The Chairman of the National Premix Committee, Mr Kwaku Nicol, said the government would continue to offer the necessary support and protection to canoe fishermen to sustain their livelihood.
He called on landing beach committees to ensure that fishermen derived maximum benefits from the sale of premix fuel in their communities.
The Central Regional Minister, Mrs Ama Benyiwa-Doe, advised fishermen to emulate the example of the Elmina Premix Committee and ensure transparency and accountability and utilise the profit from the sale of premix fuel for the benefit of their communities.
The Member of Parliament for Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem, Dr J.S. Annan, advised the fishermen to put to good use the nets to compensate for the efforts of the committee.
A Deputy Minister of Agriculture in charge of Fisheries, Nii Amassah Namoale, also advised the committee to invest part of its profits in educational funds for the youth in the area.
He said the government remained focused on safeguarding the operations of canoe fishermen in the country.
The committee, in appreciation of President Mills’s support for fishermen in ensuring the supply of premix fuel and the measures he had taken to enhance their livelihood, bestowed on him the title of a chief fisherman, “Ofarnyi Kwegya Atta Mills,” and presented him with a stool.

CHIEFS MUST KEEP AWAY FROM PARTISAN POLITICS (PAGE 23, DEC 28)

The Omanhene of the Breman Asikuma Traditional Area, Nana Amoakwa Boadu VIII, has advised his colleague chiefs to abide by the constitutional provision that bars chiefs from engaging in active politics to safeguard the sanctity of the chieftaincy institution.
Nana Buadu said the chieftaincy institution was a time-tested and noble one which could not be wished away and denigrated to the extent that the people could mount platforms to engage in debates that could compromise the respect and authority of chiefs.
He was speaking to the Daily Graphic after he had been introduced to the Central Regional House of Chiefs in Cape Coast last Tuesday.
Nana Buadu enjoined chiefs to be development partners of the central government and remain resolute in their development agenda.
He said chiefs had, before and after the colonial era, championed the development of their areas and saw no reason why they should not strive to do same under the present day circumstances.
He said since the Constitution also made provision for the recognition and appointment to other state institutions, it would be in their own interest to play the role of watchdogs and advisors to politicians and the society at large.
The President of the Central Region House of Chiefs, Dasebre Kwebu Ewusi, advised chiefs to use alternative dispute resolution mechanism to adjudicate in cases since the process was speedy, easy and less costly in order to avoid protracted disputes which could affect the development of their respective areas.
He also advised them to set up educational funds in their respective areas to promote the education of the youth in their areas.

Sunday, December 20, 2009

CONFAB ON CLIMATE CHANGE (PAGE 23, DEC 19)

Nineteen Regional Directors of the German Development Service (DED) who participated in the conference on climate change visited the Western and the Central regions as part of a familiarisation tour to assess the technical support that would be needed to combat it.
The delegation visited the Takoradi harbour and the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Municipal Assembly.
The Central Regional Minister, Mrs Ama Benyiwa-Doe, welcoming the delegation recalled the close co-operation between Ghana and Germany and the immense contribution of the German Government to Ghana’s economic development.
She said Ghana continued to benefit from programmes of the DED through its technical support agencies such as building the capacity of district assemblies including some in the Central Region which benefited.
She expressed the support of the Regional Co-ordinating Council towards the realisation of the objectives of the DED’s programmes.
The DED Representative in Ghana, Mrs Anet Turmann, said the DED was providing technical support for assemblies in the 10 regions throughout the country.
She said currently the DED was supporting the KEEA Municipal and the Twifo-Hemang-Lower Denkyira District Assemblies to build the capacity of their local governments and traditional authorities in the two districts.

29 FARMERS HONOURED AT ASSIN KRUWA (PAGE 23, DEC 19)

Mr Daniel Ankoma Mends, a 33-year-old farmer from Assin Dominase, was adjudged the best farmer out of 29 farmers awarded at Kruwa in the Assin South District.
For his prize, Mr Mends took home a mist blower, half packet of roofing sheets, a bicycle, wax print, pesticides, machetes, a pair of wellington boots, a radio cassette player, among other farming inputs.
In an address, the District Chief Executive, Ms Sabina Appiah-Kubi, said the Government, with the support of the Danish International Development Agency(DNIDA), was pursuing the Local Service Delivery and Governance Programme aimed at providing interventions and intermediate means of transportation to facilitate the conveyance of agricultural produce to the marketing centres.
Ms Appiah-Kubi said the Government was also scaling up credit facilities for agricultural producers and that through the micro enterprise financing, the Root and Tuber Improvement and Marketing project was supporting small-scale cassava producers.
She said 13,540 farms, belonging to 12,333 farmers and covering 56,664 hectares, were sprayed in the district under the Cocoa Disease and Pests Control project.
She advised the award winners to form an association to share ideas and experience with other farmers.
She further advised them to stem the menace of bush fires on their farms and protect the environment.
The District Chief Executive appealed to owners of dogs and cats to immunise them against rabies to prevent the transmission of the disease to people they bit and the wild animals they hunted.
She commended farmers for their efforts at ensuring food security despite the enormous challenges they had to grapple with.

Friday, December 18, 2009

POVERTY HIGH IN MFANTSEMAN (PAGE 20, DEC 18)

The Mfantseman Municipality in the Central Region was created out of the Cape Coast District by Legislative Instrument 1374 in 1988. It covers an area of 612 sq km and forms 1.16 per cent of the land area of the region.
It is bordered on the west by the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District, on the north by the Assin South District, on the east by the and the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam District and on the south by the Gulf of Guinea.
The two constituencies - Mfantseman East and West - are represented in Parliament by the National Democratic Congress (NDC).
It has a population of 170,883, which is 19.6 per cent of the total population of the Central Region. The percentage distribution is 45.9 per cent males and 54.1 per cent females with an annual growth rate of 3.0 per cent.
The municipality has 164 settlements with Saltpond as its capital. The urban settlements are Anomabo, Mankessim, Otuam and Yamoransa constituting one per cent of the population.
There are five traditional areas in the district - Anomabo, Ekumfi, Dominase, Mankessim and Nkusukum.
Fishing, constituting 51 per cent; farming, 30 per cent; and commerce, 19 per cent, are the main economic activities.
Currently, 52 per cent of the total population live below the poverty line (the figure is higher than the national average of 39.5 per cent.) with 34 per cent in the category of “hard core poverty”.
The area is served by the Saltpond Hospital and community health facilities including Community Based Health Promotion Services (CHPS).
Despite these health facilities, the cultural beliefs of the people tends to hinder health delivery because the people prefer to patronise prayer camps instead of visiting health centres.
Diseases such as malaria, HIV and AIDS and tuberculosis which have been on the ascendancy have significant socio-economic implications for the municipality. Persons aged between 20 and 49 years, which represents 86.5 per cent, are victims HIV and AIDS infections.
For instance in 2008, 14,621 cases of malaria, 229 of HIV and AIDS and 140 of tuberculosis were recorded. The key factors for the high increase in HIV and AIDS infection are poor paternity, lack of income-generating enterprises and broken families.
Other factors are lack of education facilities and potable water, poor road network, difficulty in land acquisition, inadequate access to credit facilities, inadequate storage facilities, high unemployment rate, among others.
The situation calls for urgent intervention in the area of poverty reduction, which is the current thrust of the government’s development policy direction in reducing poverty, especially in the rural communities.
Investment opportunities exist in tourism, agro processing, fisheries, industry and mining.
The Fort William at Anomabo, Fort Amsterdam at Abandze, Tantanquire at Otuam, Nananompow at Mankessim, the United Gold Coast Convention Office (UGCC) and that of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) at Saltpond, the Epitaph of George Ekem Furguson at Anomabo and the peculiar beach features at Hinii and Narkwa.
Agro processing, ceramics, pottery, canoe repairs and handicrafts are the major industrial concerns of the district.
The assembly is conducting feasibility studies into mining and processing of mineral resources, oil exploration, salt, clay and kaolin deposits.
Currently the Saltpond Offshore Oil Company produces 500 barrels of crude oil a day.
Incentive packages which have been lined up for potential investors include facilitating the acquisition, registration and documentation of land for investors, extension of utility services, water, power, communication facilities to project sites and a grant of one to five years tax holiday to prospective investors.
Besides, the assembly would enter into partnership with investors or facilitate partnership between foreign investors and their local partners. The trading centre at Mankessim provides ready distribution outlets for products of investors.
To speed up the strategy on poverty reduction and an accelerated development, the Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Benjamin Kweku Hayfron, said the municipal assembly would soon establish a rural technology facility at Mankessim and that it had started building a cold store at Kormantse to enhance the incomes of fishermen.
Mr Hayfron said it was also drawing plans for a modern market complex at Mankessim and that a group from Germany had already held fruitful discussions with the assembly in that direction.
The Mankessim market generates greater part of revenue for the assembly.
He said educational infrastructure, the road network, as well as good drinking water in the district, would be improved.
The Municipal Chief Executive said under the Community Based Rural Development projects classroom blocks were being built at Saltpond and Pomadze whilst sanitation facilities were being provided at Gyedu and Asaman.
Staff quarters for a judge is to be provided at Essakyir from the assembly’s own resources with sanitary facilities at Otuam and Nanaben.
Mr Hayfron expressed concern at the low revenue-generation of the assembly and advised traders to pay their taxes to improve its revenue base.
He expressed the hope that all and sundry would complement the assembly’s efforts to make life better fo r the people in the municipality.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

CHIEF OF EDINA ESSAMAN DEBUNKS CLAIMS (PAGE 17, DEC 17)

THE Chief of Edina Essaman, Nana Kwesi Tandoh IV, has debunked claims in a section of the media that President J.E.A. Mills is putting up a mansion for himself at Edina Essaman.
According to Nana Tandoh, who is also the Gyasehen of the Edina Traditional Area, President Mills was not involved in the project.
“It is his two brothers — Dr Cadman Atta Mills and Sammy Mills — who have lived in the United States of America for about 30 years who are financing the project,” he explained, and stressed that he had been associated with the President and his father since his enstoolment as the chief of Essaman in 1979 and, therefore, knew them well.
He said he would vouch for President Mills’ sincerity and honesty and said those spreading the wrong information were only up to mischief.
Nana Tandoh produced a copy of the agreement on the parcel of land measuring 59.30 acres and leased by Nana Kwesi Tandoh III and his elders dated January 23, 1960 and signed by Y. Kenneth Blaidoo of Kisi, which spelt out the details of the lease.
The copy bore the marks of Nana Kwesi Tandoh II, R. Tando, Kweku Atta, Kodwo Appoinyah, Kwesi Fori, Kodwo Kyee, Kwaw Akondoh and Kobina Onsu Nyame Ye.
He said the signatories to the lease from the President’s father’s side were Mrs Emma Afful, Mr Kofi Sam Atta Mills, Mr Cadman Atta Mills, Mrs Mary Davies, Mrs Mercy Quarshie and Mr Samuel Atta Mills.
He said due to the trust, confidence and cordial relationship existing between the two parties, they decided to renew the lease on mutual and satisfactory terms.
He said he started discussions with the President as far back as 2000 on the renewal of the lease agreement and since there was no need to rush, it was suspended for the convenience of both parties.
“The President is truthful to a fault and I want the whole world to know this after knowing him personally for well over 30 years,” Nana Tandoh said.
It would be recalled that a private newspaper carried a story that President Mills was building a mansion on a piece of land at the Atabadze Junction.

Friday, December 11, 2009

CHIEFS, PARTIES, OTHERS MUST WORK IN UNITY ...Yamson advises (PAGE 16, DEC 11)

A former Chairman of Unilever (Ghana), Mr Ishmael Yamson, has called for a harmonious relationship among chiefs, political parties and district assemblies for the development of the country.
Mr Yamson, who is also the Gyaasehene of Breman Kuntanase, said since the three institutions shared the single objective of bringing about development and prosperity and ensuring the well-being of the people, they should not be seen as sources of conflict, tension and sharp division.
Speaking on the topic, “Sustaining Democratic Governance in Ghana: The dichotomy between the chieftaincy institution and the political parties and the district assemblies”, Mr Yamson said the only difference between the three institutions was the level of operation.
The symposium formed part of activities to mark the Odwira Festival of the chiefs and people of Breman Baako and the 10th anniversary of Barima Kweku Adu-Twum Brawiri II, the Chief of Breman Baako and Akyempimhene of the Breman Traditional Area.
Mr. Yamson said currently the chieftaincy institution and political parties seemed to be drifting poles apart for no reason, while the assemblies, which were supposed to be non-partisan, toed party lines.
He urged the people to be vigilant and demand accountability and transparency from the district assemblies which he said had been engulfed in corruption and remained unaccountable for the huge sums they received from the central government.
He was critical of some district chief executives who squandered money meant for development for their personal and selfish interest.
Mr. Yamson said unless the people lived together, maintained vigilance and moved in one direction, not even the oil money could save the country.
He challenged politicians to stand up against corruption and other actions which were not in the interest of the people.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Search-lite Foundation and Chairman of the National Service Board, Mr Nkunu Akyea, described the dichotomy in governance as self-inflicted because the people had either allowed it or rather adopted or visited it upon themselves.
The Omanhene of the Breman Asikuma Traditional Area, Nana Amoakwa Boadu VIII, who chaired the function, advised the people to look into the frivolous dichotomy which existed among the three institutions in order to avoid conflicts and live in harmony for mutual benefit and development.