Wednesday, July 28, 2010

UPPER MANYA PUPILS GET FREE BOKS, UNIFORMS (PAGE 35, JULY 29, 2010)

SCHOOLCHILDREN in 30 deprived communities in the Upper Manya Krobo District were at the weekend given free exercise books and school uniforms by the government.
Some of the beneficiary communities are Abuatsam, Fefee, Sisiaman Yiti, Akormersu, Akontaa, Oditsanse, Bormase Whenya, Bormase Tenya and Korlewa.
The beneficiary schools include Akateng District Assembly (D/A) Primary and Junior High Schools (JHS), Oditsase D/A, Akurmesu D/A, Bormase Whenya D/A and Asuom-Manya D/A Primary schools.
Happy parents thronged all the schools where the items were being distributed, singing praises to President Mills for keeping to his 2008 campaign promise of supplying their children with school uniforms and exercise books.
The District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Joseph Tetteh Angmor, who personally distributed the items, said in all 73,000 exercise books and 2,300 school uniforms, out of which 300 had been sewn, had been given out to the pupils.
He told the parents that the rest of the materials for the uniforms had been given out to tailors and seamstresses in the district to be sewn, after which the uniforms would be supplied to the schoolchildren.
The DCE, who was accompanied by the District Director of Education, Mr Stephen Buadu-Appiah, and some officials of the assembly and the education directorate, said he had to first concentrate on the very remote areas where majority of parents could not afford to provide basic necessities for their schoolchildren.
He gave the assurance that the whole district would soon be covered to fulfil President Mills’s electioneering pledge to provide those school items to ensure that every child of school age would go to school.
The DCE, therefore, called on parents to support the government, which was also providing social amenities, especially in the deprived communities.

DEAF AND DUMB, BLIND DEBATE AT NCCE PROGRAMME (PAGE 35, JULY 29, 2010)

IT was a mixture of sorrow and excitement when students of two institutions for the physically challenged, the Mampong Senior High/Technical School for the Deaf and the School for the Blind at Akropong Akuapem, made presentations on two topical issues, HIV/AIDS and challenges of blind students.
The articulate manner in which the deaf students used sign language to express their views and the way the blind also made their presentation with the use of Braille excited some of the listeners, while others were filled with sorrow.
At certain periods of the presentation, some of the people present shed tears and called on parents with physically challenged children to give those children the needed support to grow up as useful citizens, instead of neglecting them.
The students from the School for the Deaf made a presentation on HIV/AIDS, highlighting on infection, treatment, support and the role the government should play in reducing its spread, while those from the School for the Blind spoke on the inability to secure learning and teaching materials for blind students, as well as other challenges.
The National Commission for Civil Education (NCCE) organised the event, under its “Citizen Ghana Project”, a civic responsibility programme, with funding from the Centre for Civic Education of the United States of America, to educate physically challenged students on their civic responsibilities and at the same time call for support for them.
A cross-section of society was present, including Nana Kusi Obuadum V, the Chief of Aseseeso, who chaired the function.
Nana Obuadum stressed the need for rich people in society to support physically challenged persons.
Setting the ball rolling for the beginning of the presentations, a director of the NCCE, Mrs Judith Fanny Kumah, who is also the National Co-ordinator of Citizen Ghana, dilated extensively on civic responsibility, stating that her outfit was doing its best to reintroduce it as a subject in the school curriculum.
Earlier, the Akuapem North District Director of the NCCE, Mr E. Asare-Buakyi, had given the assurance that the programme would be sustained to deepen students’ understanding of civic responsibility and work together to improve the communities.
Schoolbags, learning materials and provisions were presented to the students.

MANAGING THE REGION'S DISASTER...So far, so good (PAGE 35, JULY 29, 2010)

THE Eastern Region, with an approximate population of 2.5 million, is the third most populous region in the country.
The region, with very big towns such as Koforidua, the capital, Nkawkaw, Akyem Oda, Somanya, Asamankese and Suhum, as well as many smaller towns, villages and hamlets, consists of five municipalities — New Juaben, Kwahu West, Birim Central, East Akyem and West Akyem — and 16 other districts.
It is also one of the fastest developing political entities, with most of the settlements being provided with social amenities such as schools, health, water and sanitation facilities and roads.
Despite its heterogeneous population made up of Akyems, Guans, Akuapems, Anum/Bosos, Kwahus and Krobos, the original settlers and other migrants from different parts of the country, the various ethnic groups, including Ashantis, have, over the years, co-existed peacefully without tension or hostilities that can trigger humanitarian problems.
However, due to the destruction of the environment, particularly the forest cover and the cutting of trees that serve as wind breaks, inhabitants in some of the communities experience natural disasters such as landslides, floods, rainstorms and fire outbreaks which make life unbearable for them.
For instance, for the past one-and-a-half years the region has experienced numerous and various forms of disasters prominent among them being floods and rainstorms in various parts of the region.
Some of the disasters were floods at Bosuso, which destroyed 14 houses and rendered 136 people homeless, as well as fire outbreaks and rainstorms which destroyed the girls’ dormitory of the senior high school at Begoro, both in the Fanteakwa District, and Sankubenase in the Atiwa District which destroyed numerous houses.
Ghanakpe, a village near Atimpoku in the Asuogyaman District, the Mount Mary College of Education at Somanya in Yilo Krobo and some communities in Lower Manya Krobo also suffered severe rainstorms which destroyed buildings, as well as Ekye Amanfro on the Volta Lake and other villages in the Kwahu North District which were flooded due to spillage from the Bagre Dam in Burkina last year.
Towns and communities such as Akyem Ofoase, Ofoasekuma, Brenase, Adjobue, Anyinase and Abenase, all in the Akyemmansa District, and some parts of Nkawkaw, the capital of the Kwahu West municipality, also suffered from rainstorms and floods. Osiem, Maase and Asafo, all in the East Akyem Municipality and Gyadam in the Birim Central Municipality were also not spared the wrath of flood disasters.
The regional office of National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) under its current Co-ordinator, Mr Ransford Boakye has, however, been able to manage the effects of the disasters well with swift interventions of relief items and other materials to minimise the effects of the disasters.
“We have zonal co-ordinators of NADMO in the districts and municipalities as well as Disaster Volunteer Groups (DVGs) in all the communities whose members promptly inform us as soon as a disaster occurs and we also get the information from the radio stations after which we inform the Municipal and District Chief Executives in the affected areas,” he added.
“Thereafter, we follow up with relief materials and any other intervention that would lessen the hard effects of the disaster on the victims. Most often, we involve collaborating agencies such as the Fire Service, police and Ghana Health Service to also provide assistance which together with the relief items NADMO provides, go a long way to lessen the suffering of the victims,” Mr Boakye stated.
According to Mr Boakye, for the first half of the year (2010), about 8,000 disaster victims received assistance in terms of relief items comprising food, sleeping mats, blankets, tents, clothing (second-hand goods) roofing sheets and other construction materials worth millions of Ghana cedis.
To ensure that all victims get their share of the items, Mr Boakye said NADMO officials personally supervise the distribution with the assistance of the community leaders, especially the chiefs, to ensure that problems with regard to the distribution were promptly solved.
“I always have something in stock and also immediately go for supplies from Accra after which I personally supervise the distribution of the items in most of the affected areas to ensure that none of the victims is left out,” the Regional Co-ordinator stated.
Mr Boakye stressed that the Municipal and District Chief Executives in the region had played active roles in assisting disaster victims in their areas.
He specifically mentioned those in charge of Asuogyaman, Akyemmansa, West Akyem, East Akyem, Birim South, Birim North, Kwahu West, Kwahu South, Upper Manya Krobo, Yilo Krobo, Fanteakwa, Akuapem South and Akuapem North for their personal commitment in bringing relief to disaster victims in their areas.
Apart from managing and preventing disasters, NADMO through its DVGs also engaged in income generating activities such as food crop farming, aquaculture, grass cutter production and bee-keeping in different parts of the region.
At the moment, there are 85 viable DVGs, each with a membership of between 20 and 35 on ventures such as a 20-acre maize farm at Asesewa owned by the Agadzajiter Mellenovi Group, and another 20-acre plantain farm being cultivated by the Adom Multipurpose Group at Gyamfiase, near Kwamoso.
Other DVGs are also engaged in fish-farming at Bosuso in the Fanteakwa District, maize and cassava farming at Asuboni Rails in Kwahu West while in Koforidua 400,000 seedlings were being nursed for an afforestation project.
The activities of the DVGs and the mother organisation, NADMO, which according to Mr Boakye had been wrongly perceived as a political organisation, had gone a long way to alleviate the suffering of thousands of unfortunate people in the region.
“We were able to do a lot to make life worth living for many people affected by natural and “man-made” disasters as well as the unemployed because I had to remove the political clot from NADMO by orientating the staff members who were hitherto divided on political party lines, thus uniting them for a common purpose.
“People perceive NADMO as a political tool only interested in giving out relief items after disasters which is wrong because it has no political lineage and also involves in other activities such as disaster prevention and income generation ventures for a large number of unemployed youth,” Mr Boakye said.
Although NADMO has so far lived up to expectation in the region, there is room for improvement, especially with regard to the activities of the DVGs some of which, according to Mr Boakye, had become dormant.
Their re-organisation, galvanising and re-sourcing for more income generation ventures would therefore go a long way to sustain the region’s large number of unemployed to reduce poverty in the area.
It is also expected that adequate relief items must always be in the warehouse of the regional office to be promptly distributed to disaster victims to avert a situation where officials from the regional capital have to rely on the national headquarters for assistance, which normally delays.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

NEW JUABEN SOUTH CPP TO RESIST FORMATION OF CLUBS (PAGE 14, JULY 27, 2010)

THE executive of the New Juaben South Constituency of the Convention People’s Party (CPP) has said it will resist any attempt to form clubs within the party.
The executive, which also resolved to resist any move to divide the party at a time when efforts were being made to bring all Nkrumaists into the fold of the CPP, therefore, disassociated itself from such clubs which it said had the potential to destroy the party.
In a statement signed by the constituency chairman, Mr K. Owusu Sekyere, the executive, commended its counterparts in the Tema West Constituency, who it said resigned in protest against the formation of such “diabolical clubs” in the constituency.
“Our attention has been drawn to moves by some people within the CPP to form clubs within the party and we most emphatically dissociate ourselves from such clubs which have the potential of destroying the party.
“We are also aware that some people are going round to collect the names of the old executives of constituencies for their selfish interest,” the statement indicated.
The statement called on all true members, supporters and sympathisers of the CPP to remain resolute and sack people it referred to as pretenders who would approach them with their clandestine moves.

Friday, July 16, 2010

SOLAR MINING WORKERS PETITION PRESIDENT (PAGE 22, JULY 16, 2010)

WORKERS of Solar Mining Company, a small-scale mining concern, have made appeal led to President John Evans Atta Mills to ensure that the company gets its operational license and permit.
The company, which operates in the Akyem Saaman and Akyem Juaso areas in the Fanteakwa District in the Eastern Region, has a workforce of 500, most of whom come from the area.
In a petition dated June 26, 2010, and signed by the chairman of the union, Mr Philip Dugba, the workers stated that the granting of the license and permit would regularise the company’s operation to enable them to earn a decent living.
According to the workers, although the company was operating under mining regulations and guidelines and making efforts to acquire the license and permit, the negative activities of officials entrusted in that respect had made it impossible for the company to acquire the necessary papers to regularise its operation.
They said if the company was not granted the license, it would lead to its collapse and the retrenchment of its workers resulting in all sorts of anti-social vices such as stealing, which was prevalent in the area before the company started its operations.
Highlighting the benefits of the activities of the company in the area which included the construction of social amenities such as schools and health facilities, payment of health insurance premium for the needy, the workers stated that it would be suicidal for the company to fold up since all such facilities would be no more.
With regard to recent negative media publications about the company to the effect that it was paying unfair compensation to farmers whose lands were affected, the workers said the farmers readily accepted a GH¢1,000 per acre compensation which they considered adequate.
Farmers who refused to give out their land, the workers further stated, were not forced to accept the GH¢1,000 per acre compensation.
The workers refuted an allegation to the effect that the company had encroached on land belonging to Abuakwa State College and a cemetery.
The workers also explained that the company was not engaged in surface mining as contained in the publications and described the reports as orchestrated ploys by certain people, both in and outside the area, seeking their personal interest to stifle the company.
The workers who re-affirmed their unflinching support for the Managing Director of the company, Mr S.O. Lamptey, and the entire management, said the activities of the company, which had operated in the area since 2008, had imparted positively on the lives of the people in its operational area and must therefore be supported.

Monday, July 12, 2010

SOUTH AKIM RURAL BANK MAKES PROGRESS (PAGE 35, JULY 12, 2010)

THE South Akim Rural Bank at Nankese in the Eastern Region has posted a 17 per cent profit after tax from GH¢361,910 in 2008 to GH¢423,529 last year.
Within the same period, the bank’s total assets rose from GH¢7.89 million to GH¢11.06 million, with total deposits rising by 30 per cent to GH¢6.42 million.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank, Mr William Kwadwo Boateng, made this known at the 25th annual general meeting of the bank at Nankese, the head office of the bank at the weekend.
He said the bank which had continued to grow since its inception and earned the membership of Ghana Club 100 of Ghana’s prestigious companies,increased its shareholders’ fund from GH¢826,064 to GH¢1.07 million, also an increase of 30 per cent.
According to Mr Boateng,the significant growth of the bank made it possible for it to increase the loan portfolio from GH¢3.69 million to GH¢3.89 million within the period under review.
The board chairman attributed the significant progress made by the bank last year to prudent measures instituted by the board and management, adding that those milestones had adequately prepared the grounds for a new agency at Osenase.
Currently,apart from the bank’s main office at Nankese, it has four other agencies in Koforidua, Suhum and Asamankese.
With regards to the bank’s social responsibility initiative, Mr Boateng indicated that so far, 78 scholarships had been awarded to brilliant needy senior high school students in the bank’s catchment area, while donations were made towards the farmers’ day in the New Juaben Municipality and other districts namely, Suhum Kraboa Coaltar, Akwapim South and West Akyem.
The bank appealed to loan defaulters to service their loans to enable others to benefit from credit.