Ghana Nuts Limited (GNL), a private agro-processing company based in Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region, has taken delivery of three combine harvesters to encourage about 6,000 soya bean outgrowers in the Brong Ahafo and Northern regions to increase their production.
The Chinese-made equipment, which cost the company $80,000, have an engine capacity of 73 horse power each and are able to harvest two metric tonnes of soya bean an hour.
The importation of the machines will, therefore, encourage the farmers in the two regions to expand their farms from the current one acre per head to about five acres, since they will have no harvesting problems.
The Deputy Managing Director of GNL, Mr Prince Obeng Asante, who took newsmen to inspect the harvesters on the company’s premises in Techiman, later told the Daily Graphic that the harvesting of soya bean had been a very big challenge to farmers, noting that it was the first time in the history of soya bean cultivation in the country that combine harvesters would be used to harvest the legume.
According to him, the company started the processing and export of soya been oil and other commodities about three years ago with its 100 metric tonne processing plant but due to the growth in market penetration of its products, management decided to instal another 200 metric tonne plant in June this year.
He said with the current total capacity of 300 metric tonnes, the company needed about 3,000 maxi cocoa sacks of soya bean a day to feed the plant, hence the decision to support the farmers in the two regions to cultivate more soya bean for sale to the company.
Mr Asante pointed out that in order to encourage farmers to expand their operations, the company decided to bring in the combine harvesters and locally manufactured soya bean shellers to boost production.
“The dream of the company is to put about $30 million in the pockets of farmers through the cultivation of soya beans and also enhance the health status of the average Ghanaian through the production of high quality soya cooking oil,” the deputy managing director said.
According to him, healthy living went with healthy eating and for the company’s products the message was simply “love your heart”.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
NEWMOUNT REVIEWS OPERATING PROCEDURE TO PREVENT CHEMICAL OVERFLOW (PAGE 23, OCT 24)
NEWMONT Ghana has stated that even though the minor chemical overflow that occurred at its Ahafo Mines did not pose any threat to human beings, it had reviewed its operating procedure to prevent a recurrence.
“While we deeply regret the spill, at no time did it pose a health risk to human beings, but we have learnt from it and reviewed our operating system to prevent any recurrence,” said Mr Daniel Michaelsen, the General Manager (Environment and Social Responsibility) of the company.
He gave the assurance when journalists drawn from Accra and the Brong-Ahafo Region toured the Ahafo Mines where the incident occurred.
About a week ago, Newmont reported a minor overflow of a processing solution containing low levels of cyanide (21 part per million or 0.00021 per cent) from its event pond into a stream leading to its environmental control pond number four (ECD4).
The people of Gyakokrom and Bourkrom, two communities along the stream, who do not use water from the stream, found six dead fishes floating on the stream a day after it was contaminated.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) later confirmed that the chemical did not pose danger to humans because Newmont’s ECD4, which was created with quality specifications from the EPA, would have prevented the contaminated water from entering into River Subri, which is used by people in that community.
The EPA, however, faulted Newmont for negligence and urged the company to manually man the ponds besides the computer level indicator.
Following the discovery of the contamination in the stream, samples of the water was tested in a commercial laboratory at Tema and was found to contain only five part per million (ppm) or 0.00005 per cent cyanide, which the fishes could not survive, but was too low to harm humans, as up to 50ppm of cyanide is generally accepted as safe for humans.
Mr Michaelsen said days after overflow fishes had been found swimming safely in the stream, indicating that the water was now safe, but added that Newmont would still go ahead to review its operating system to ensure complete prevention.
He noted that for starters, Newmont had heeded the EPA’s advice and had placed a staff member by the processing pond and the event pond to check the water levels in case the computerised level indicator failed.
Mr Paul Sowley, Newmont’s Regional Manager for Environmental Affairs, also hinted that the company was weighing a number of options, which included re-channelling water from the event pond through another path to a different ECD instead of through the Subri tributary to ECD4.
“The other option is to create another ECD along the stream in which the dead fishes were found but closer to the Process Plant and further away from where the hamlets are,” he said.
Meanwhile, Newmont has submitted a report of its findings after investigations into the incident to the leadership of the community and regulatory bodies.
“We will continue to co-operate with regulatory authorities and will inform communities on our doorstep of findings,” Mr Michaelsen said.
Newmont also continues to supply residents of the area with an alternative source of drinking water and said the supply would continue until the people were fully satisfied with the findings.
Mr Johan Van Huyssteen, who conducted journalists round parts of the process plant, where the incident occurred, stated that cyanide occurred naturally and was not toxic in all forms and concentrations.
He said safe levels of cyanide are commonly found in cassava, corn/maize, bamboo, air (16ppm), almonds (1000ppm), beans (310ppm), coffee (6ppm), salt (130ppm), cigarette (1,600ppm) and in smoke from bush fires.
“While we deeply regret the spill, at no time did it pose a health risk to human beings, but we have learnt from it and reviewed our operating system to prevent any recurrence,” said Mr Daniel Michaelsen, the General Manager (Environment and Social Responsibility) of the company.
He gave the assurance when journalists drawn from Accra and the Brong-Ahafo Region toured the Ahafo Mines where the incident occurred.
About a week ago, Newmont reported a minor overflow of a processing solution containing low levels of cyanide (21 part per million or 0.00021 per cent) from its event pond into a stream leading to its environmental control pond number four (ECD4).
The people of Gyakokrom and Bourkrom, two communities along the stream, who do not use water from the stream, found six dead fishes floating on the stream a day after it was contaminated.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) later confirmed that the chemical did not pose danger to humans because Newmont’s ECD4, which was created with quality specifications from the EPA, would have prevented the contaminated water from entering into River Subri, which is used by people in that community.
The EPA, however, faulted Newmont for negligence and urged the company to manually man the ponds besides the computer level indicator.
Following the discovery of the contamination in the stream, samples of the water was tested in a commercial laboratory at Tema and was found to contain only five part per million (ppm) or 0.00005 per cent cyanide, which the fishes could not survive, but was too low to harm humans, as up to 50ppm of cyanide is generally accepted as safe for humans.
Mr Michaelsen said days after overflow fishes had been found swimming safely in the stream, indicating that the water was now safe, but added that Newmont would still go ahead to review its operating system to ensure complete prevention.
He noted that for starters, Newmont had heeded the EPA’s advice and had placed a staff member by the processing pond and the event pond to check the water levels in case the computerised level indicator failed.
Mr Paul Sowley, Newmont’s Regional Manager for Environmental Affairs, also hinted that the company was weighing a number of options, which included re-channelling water from the event pond through another path to a different ECD instead of through the Subri tributary to ECD4.
“The other option is to create another ECD along the stream in which the dead fishes were found but closer to the Process Plant and further away from where the hamlets are,” he said.
Meanwhile, Newmont has submitted a report of its findings after investigations into the incident to the leadership of the community and regulatory bodies.
“We will continue to co-operate with regulatory authorities and will inform communities on our doorstep of findings,” Mr Michaelsen said.
Newmont also continues to supply residents of the area with an alternative source of drinking water and said the supply would continue until the people were fully satisfied with the findings.
Mr Johan Van Huyssteen, who conducted journalists round parts of the process plant, where the incident occurred, stated that cyanide occurred naturally and was not toxic in all forms and concentrations.
He said safe levels of cyanide are commonly found in cassava, corn/maize, bamboo, air (16ppm), almonds (1000ppm), beans (310ppm), coffee (6ppm), salt (130ppm), cigarette (1,600ppm) and in smoke from bush fires.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
CHELSEA BEAT ARSON 2-0 (BACK PAGE, OCT 22)
Two second half goals secured Bechem Chelsea the maximum three points at the expense of visiting Berekum Arsenal in their midweek Glo Premier League duel at their adopted Sunyani Coronation Park yesterday.
Striker Ernest Amoah scored the opener for his side on the 53rd minute, while substitute Kankani Salifu fetched the second goal inside added time.
The hosts dominated the game right from kick-off and never looked back, but could not find the net in the first half.
Striker Ernest Amoah scored the opener for his side on the 53rd minute, while substitute Kankani Salifu fetched the second goal inside added time.
The hosts dominated the game right from kick-off and never looked back, but could not find the net in the first half.
Monday, October 19, 2009
NGO ORGANISES WORKSHOP FOR PEER EDUCATORS (PAGE 23, OCT 17)
HEALTH Foundation of Ghana (HFG), which has been selected by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) to implement its Multi-Sectoral HIV and AIDS prevention programme (MSHAP)-2009 in the Brong Ahafo Region, has held a workshop for 50 selected peer educators and 10 community condom distributors at Kukuom.
The workshop was aimed at empowering the participants with skills and knowledge for the promotion of positive behavioural change and the prevention of the HIV and AIDS pandemic.
The HFG is currently implementing the programme in five districts in the region, namely, Asutifi, Tanoso North, Tanoso South, Asunafo North and Asunafo South.
The MSHAP-2009 Behaviour Change Communication and Preventive for HIV/AIDS, is a component of the GAC’s decentralised responses to address the HIV pandemic in the country and is aimed at reducing the number of new infections and preventing the spread of HIV in the Brong Ahafo Region.
According to the Programmes Co-ordinator, Mr Charles Ampontuah Yeboah, the specific objectives of the workshop were to introduce the participants to all aspects of the MSHAP 2009 programme and to train them on the need to educate the youth and the general population on behavioural change.
The Country Director of HFG, Mrs Linda Arthur, explained that in all the five target districts, the HFG was partnering with the local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), field-based organisations (FBOs), community-based organisations (CBOs), the District Health Directorates, the District Education Directorates, the District and Municipal Assemblies and other organised stakeholder groups to implement the MSHAP 2009 sub-project.
She added that a participatory approach had been adopted from the planning stage through to the implementing and monitoring stages in each district to ensure stakeholder commitment, sustainability and success.
Mrs Arthur said the other activity was the use of mass media behaviour change communication messages for the promotion of positive behavioural change, the distribution of T-shirts, brochures and posters, and conducting mobile outreach counselling and testing services.
She said HIV and AIDS were unprecedented global development challenges that had already caused so many hardships, illnesses and deaths, stressing that the pandemic not only affected individuals but also devastated households and communities, as well as threatened entire nations.
According to Mrs Arthur, reports indicated that out of the 33.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide in 2007, 22.5 million were from Sub-Saharan Africa, describing the statistics as alarming.
She emphasised that behaviours that spread HIV were fuelled by social, cultural, economic and legal factors, which made it more difficult for people to protect themselves and which worsened the consequences of the epidemic.
The Project Co-ordinator of Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana in Sunyani, Mr Captain Amos Adu Okyere, said even though carrying condoms by someone did not mean he or she was sexually active, learning about condoms should also not encourage the youth to be displaying them at any given time.
The workshop was aimed at empowering the participants with skills and knowledge for the promotion of positive behavioural change and the prevention of the HIV and AIDS pandemic.
The HFG is currently implementing the programme in five districts in the region, namely, Asutifi, Tanoso North, Tanoso South, Asunafo North and Asunafo South.
The MSHAP-2009 Behaviour Change Communication and Preventive for HIV/AIDS, is a component of the GAC’s decentralised responses to address the HIV pandemic in the country and is aimed at reducing the number of new infections and preventing the spread of HIV in the Brong Ahafo Region.
According to the Programmes Co-ordinator, Mr Charles Ampontuah Yeboah, the specific objectives of the workshop were to introduce the participants to all aspects of the MSHAP 2009 programme and to train them on the need to educate the youth and the general population on behavioural change.
The Country Director of HFG, Mrs Linda Arthur, explained that in all the five target districts, the HFG was partnering with the local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), field-based organisations (FBOs), community-based organisations (CBOs), the District Health Directorates, the District Education Directorates, the District and Municipal Assemblies and other organised stakeholder groups to implement the MSHAP 2009 sub-project.
She added that a participatory approach had been adopted from the planning stage through to the implementing and monitoring stages in each district to ensure stakeholder commitment, sustainability and success.
Mrs Arthur said the other activity was the use of mass media behaviour change communication messages for the promotion of positive behavioural change, the distribution of T-shirts, brochures and posters, and conducting mobile outreach counselling and testing services.
She said HIV and AIDS were unprecedented global development challenges that had already caused so many hardships, illnesses and deaths, stressing that the pandemic not only affected individuals but also devastated households and communities, as well as threatened entire nations.
According to Mrs Arthur, reports indicated that out of the 33.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide in 2007, 22.5 million were from Sub-Saharan Africa, describing the statistics as alarming.
She emphasised that behaviours that spread HIV were fuelled by social, cultural, economic and legal factors, which made it more difficult for people to protect themselves and which worsened the consequences of the epidemic.
The Project Co-ordinator of Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana in Sunyani, Mr Captain Amos Adu Okyere, said even though carrying condoms by someone did not mean he or she was sexually active, learning about condoms should also not encourage the youth to be displaying them at any given time.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
COMPANY BUILDS QUARTERS FOR NKWANTA TEACHERS (PAGE 20)
THE District Chief Executive (DCE) for Tain District, Mr Jones Samuel Tawiah, has inaugurated a GH¢25,000 one-unit teachers’ quarters at Nkwanta, a predominantly farming community near Seikwa in the Tain District in the Brong Ahafo Region.
The project which was single-handedly undertaken by Jen & Nyarko Company Limited, an Accra-based Sewerage/Liquid Waste Management and Energy firm, is to encourage teachers posted to the town to stay and teach at the local primary school.
In 1995, the company constructed a six-unit primary classroom block at a cost of GH¢50,000 for the school and in February, this year, it presented computers, printers, mobile phones and accessories to three state institutions in Accra.
The beneficiary institutions were the Accra District Police Command, the Motor Transport and Traffic Unit and the district office of the Driver, Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA).
Presenting the keys of the teachers’ quarters, Mr Joseph Mekobi Nyarko, the Managing Director of the company, who is also a native of the district, gave the assurance that his outfit would donate a bicycle to any teacher who accepted posting to the town and work there for three years.
He noted with regret that owing to lack of accommodation for teachers in the town, teachers posted to the area reported and later left thereby leaving the pupils to their fate.
Mr Nyarko appealed to all citizens of Tain to contribute their quota in diverse ways towards the development of the district.
The DCE for Tain, Mr Tawiah who received the keys, expressed gratitude to the benefactor and expressed the hope that the gesture would motivate teachers posted to the town to stay on.
He later presented the keys to the chief of the town, Nana Emmanuel Tano, who also thanked Mr Nyarko for his contribution towards effective teaching and learning in the area.
In another development, the company with the support of a Canada-based company, EUTELSAT 907, has established a modern Internet café at Seikwa, also in the Tain District to link the town and its environs with the outside world.
The café with a number of computers and other gadgets, and is believed to be the first of its kind in the region, would benefit students of the Nkoraman Senior High School in the town, the Tain District Assembly and other state and private institutions in the area.
Inaugurating the centre, the DCE for Tain said the establishment of the café would enable students in the area to compete with the endowed schools in the country.
Mr Tawiah described the establishment of the centre by Mr Nyarko as a surprise to him in particular and the entire people in the area at large.
He thanked the company for the intervention, adding that it had been the intention of the government to establish a similar café at the Nkoraman SHS.
The DCE cautioned the students not to use the café as an excuse to run away from school to engage in social vices, stressing, “Do not visit the café with any bad motives but use it to brighten your horizon because it is not where you are but what you are and can do”.
The chief of Oyoko, near Seikwa, Nana Twum Barima, who is also the Vice President of the Tain Traditional Council, expressed gratitude to the company for providing the facility.
The Managing Director of the company urged students, banking institutions, among others, to patronise the café.
Mr Nyarko expressed concern about the deplorable nature of roads in the district, especially from Seikwa to Berekum and Nsawkaw, the district capital to Seikwa and other stretches, and appealed to the government to repair them.
The project which was single-handedly undertaken by Jen & Nyarko Company Limited, an Accra-based Sewerage/Liquid Waste Management and Energy firm, is to encourage teachers posted to the town to stay and teach at the local primary school.
In 1995, the company constructed a six-unit primary classroom block at a cost of GH¢50,000 for the school and in February, this year, it presented computers, printers, mobile phones and accessories to three state institutions in Accra.
The beneficiary institutions were the Accra District Police Command, the Motor Transport and Traffic Unit and the district office of the Driver, Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA).
Presenting the keys of the teachers’ quarters, Mr Joseph Mekobi Nyarko, the Managing Director of the company, who is also a native of the district, gave the assurance that his outfit would donate a bicycle to any teacher who accepted posting to the town and work there for three years.
He noted with regret that owing to lack of accommodation for teachers in the town, teachers posted to the area reported and later left thereby leaving the pupils to their fate.
Mr Nyarko appealed to all citizens of Tain to contribute their quota in diverse ways towards the development of the district.
The DCE for Tain, Mr Tawiah who received the keys, expressed gratitude to the benefactor and expressed the hope that the gesture would motivate teachers posted to the town to stay on.
He later presented the keys to the chief of the town, Nana Emmanuel Tano, who also thanked Mr Nyarko for his contribution towards effective teaching and learning in the area.
In another development, the company with the support of a Canada-based company, EUTELSAT 907, has established a modern Internet café at Seikwa, also in the Tain District to link the town and its environs with the outside world.
The café with a number of computers and other gadgets, and is believed to be the first of its kind in the region, would benefit students of the Nkoraman Senior High School in the town, the Tain District Assembly and other state and private institutions in the area.
Inaugurating the centre, the DCE for Tain said the establishment of the café would enable students in the area to compete with the endowed schools in the country.
Mr Tawiah described the establishment of the centre by Mr Nyarko as a surprise to him in particular and the entire people in the area at large.
He thanked the company for the intervention, adding that it had been the intention of the government to establish a similar café at the Nkoraman SHS.
The DCE cautioned the students not to use the café as an excuse to run away from school to engage in social vices, stressing, “Do not visit the café with any bad motives but use it to brighten your horizon because it is not where you are but what you are and can do”.
The chief of Oyoko, near Seikwa, Nana Twum Barima, who is also the Vice President of the Tain Traditional Council, expressed gratitude to the company for providing the facility.
The Managing Director of the company urged students, banking institutions, among others, to patronise the café.
Mr Nyarko expressed concern about the deplorable nature of roads in the district, especially from Seikwa to Berekum and Nsawkaw, the district capital to Seikwa and other stretches, and appealed to the government to repair them.
ZOOMLION , ASSEMBLIES EMBARK ON CLEAN-UP EXERCISES (PAGE 20)
THE Brong Ahafo Regional office of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a waste management company, in collaboration with the various municipal and district assemblies in the region, has embarked on massive clean-up exercises in the region as it prepares feverishly for its 50th anniversary celebration in November, this year.
The company has also stepped up its sensitisation and awareness campaigns in schools, lorry stations, mosques, churches and market places to educate the general public on the need to rid the communities in the region of filth before, during and after the celebration of the golden jubilee.
As part of the campaign, the company’s employees and its collaborators spend at least two hours every morning to clear choked gutters and drains and also clear bushy areas as well as sweep all the principal streets.
The company has already embarked on larvaeciding of active and potential mosquito breeding sites and the spraying of sanitary areas within the communities.
Briefing the Daily Graphic in Sunyani on its activities, the Regional Operations Manager of Zoomlion, Mr Kofi Sekyere Boateng, stated that the company was committed to the maintenance of a beautiful environment which once earned Sunyani the cleanest town in Ghana.
According to him, the company’s Vector Control Unit had embarked on a mosquito control exercise in all the 22 municipal and district assemblies in the region as a measure of reducing malaria infection.
The officer in-charge of the unit, Mr Ernest Brenya, also gave the assurance that by the close of October, this year, the company’s disinfestation exercise would have been completed.
He said currently, his outfit was spraying toilets, swampy areas and drains, among other filthy locations.
The company has also stepped up its sensitisation and awareness campaigns in schools, lorry stations, mosques, churches and market places to educate the general public on the need to rid the communities in the region of filth before, during and after the celebration of the golden jubilee.
As part of the campaign, the company’s employees and its collaborators spend at least two hours every morning to clear choked gutters and drains and also clear bushy areas as well as sweep all the principal streets.
The company has already embarked on larvaeciding of active and potential mosquito breeding sites and the spraying of sanitary areas within the communities.
Briefing the Daily Graphic in Sunyani on its activities, the Regional Operations Manager of Zoomlion, Mr Kofi Sekyere Boateng, stated that the company was committed to the maintenance of a beautiful environment which once earned Sunyani the cleanest town in Ghana.
According to him, the company’s Vector Control Unit had embarked on a mosquito control exercise in all the 22 municipal and district assemblies in the region as a measure of reducing malaria infection.
The officer in-charge of the unit, Mr Ernest Brenya, also gave the assurance that by the close of October, this year, the company’s disinfestation exercise would have been completed.
He said currently, his outfit was spraying toilets, swampy areas and drains, among other filthy locations.
Monday, October 12, 2009
FIVE DISTRICTS SELECTED FOR HIV/AIDS PROGRAMME (PAGE 15, GRAPHIC NSEMPA
By Akwasi Ampratwu-Mensah, Kukuom
Five districts in the Brong Ahafo Region have been selected by the Ghana Aids Commission (GAC) for the implementation of the commission’s Multi-Sectoral HIV/AIDS Prevention Programme (MSHAP) 2009, under which in-school and out-of-school peer educators are to be empowered with knowledge and the requisite skills to promote positive behavioral change and prevention of the pandemic.
The Health Foundation of Ghana (HFG) is one of the 31 umbrella civic society organisations selected by the GAC and tasked to implement the programme in the Asutifi, Tano North, Tano South, Asunafo North and Asunafo South districts.
The HFG’s work in reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention began in 2002, and the foundation has since remained committed to the cause of working towards an HIV-free generation in Ghana and Africa.
The MSHAP 2009 Behaviour Change Communication and Prevention for HIV/AIDS, is a component of the GAC’s decentralised response to addressing the HIV pandemic in the country and aimed at reducing the number of new infections and preventing its spread of in the Brong Ahafo Region.
Fifty selected schoolchildren and out-of-school peer educators as well as 10 community condom distributors, in the Asunafo South district have already attended a six-day workshop, on the programme at Kukuom, the district capital.
The target segmentation for the In-school-youth are 10-14 years and 15-24 years, while that for the out-of-school youth are 10-14 years and 15-24 years with the general population for adults pegged at 25 years and above.
Total target for the in-school-youth under the programme is 2000, with a minimum of 400 per district, while the total for those out-of-school youth is 17,000 with a minimum of 3,500 per district. For the general public, 210,000 people are targeted with a minimum of 42,000 per district to be achieved.
The HFG is also to ensure that 300,000 condoms are distributed in the region with a minimum of 60,000 per district, and 5,000 people to be counselled and tested for HIV with a minimum of 1,000 per district.
Stakeholders who are collaborating with the HFG are the various district assemblies, the district health authorities, the district education directorate, faith-based organisations such as churches and mosques, the Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), organised groups, such as tailors, hairdressers, drivers, market women, traditional authorities and community volunteers.
The Country Director of HFG, Mrs Lynda Arthur who presented a paper at the workshop, disclosed that the demographic variations in 2008 for HIV prevalence in the country was estimated at 1.7 per cent while the regional variations ranged from 1.1 per cent in the Northern Region to 4.5 per cent in the Eastern Region.
Five districts in the Brong Ahafo Region have been selected by the Ghana Aids Commission (GAC) for the implementation of the commission’s Multi-Sectoral HIV/AIDS Prevention Programme (MSHAP) 2009, under which in-school and out-of-school peer educators are to be empowered with knowledge and the requisite skills to promote positive behavioral change and prevention of the pandemic.
The Health Foundation of Ghana (HFG) is one of the 31 umbrella civic society organisations selected by the GAC and tasked to implement the programme in the Asutifi, Tano North, Tano South, Asunafo North and Asunafo South districts.
The HFG’s work in reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention began in 2002, and the foundation has since remained committed to the cause of working towards an HIV-free generation in Ghana and Africa.
The MSHAP 2009 Behaviour Change Communication and Prevention for HIV/AIDS, is a component of the GAC’s decentralised response to addressing the HIV pandemic in the country and aimed at reducing the number of new infections and preventing its spread of in the Brong Ahafo Region.
Fifty selected schoolchildren and out-of-school peer educators as well as 10 community condom distributors, in the Asunafo South district have already attended a six-day workshop, on the programme at Kukuom, the district capital.
The target segmentation for the In-school-youth are 10-14 years and 15-24 years, while that for the out-of-school youth are 10-14 years and 15-24 years with the general population for adults pegged at 25 years and above.
Total target for the in-school-youth under the programme is 2000, with a minimum of 400 per district, while the total for those out-of-school youth is 17,000 with a minimum of 3,500 per district. For the general public, 210,000 people are targeted with a minimum of 42,000 per district to be achieved.
The HFG is also to ensure that 300,000 condoms are distributed in the region with a minimum of 60,000 per district, and 5,000 people to be counselled and tested for HIV with a minimum of 1,000 per district.
Stakeholders who are collaborating with the HFG are the various district assemblies, the district health authorities, the district education directorate, faith-based organisations such as churches and mosques, the Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), organised groups, such as tailors, hairdressers, drivers, market women, traditional authorities and community volunteers.
The Country Director of HFG, Mrs Lynda Arthur who presented a paper at the workshop, disclosed that the demographic variations in 2008 for HIV prevalence in the country was estimated at 1.7 per cent while the regional variations ranged from 1.1 per cent in the Northern Region to 4.5 per cent in the Eastern Region.
EC, MEDIA BRAINSTORM ON ELECTIONS (PAGE 16, OCT 12)
FORTY-four selected media practitioners from the Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions, have met in Sunyani, the capital of the Brong Ahafo Region, to dialogue on the 2008 December Presidential and Parliamentary elections.
The meeting was aimed at critically appraising what went on during the 2008 Elections and what could be done to improve the situation.
It was organised by the Electoral Commission (EC), with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The Deputy Chairman of the EC in-charge of Finance and Administration Mr David Kanga, who set the tone for the discussion, disclosed that, the EC had embarked on reforms based on what happened before, during and after last year’s elections.
“We want ideas about what went wrong to enable us to reform the process and deliver well for 2012 and so we want people, especially all stakeholders to be frank and bring out their patriotic feelings, guided by the constitution and the electoral laws, and better journalism practices,” he stressed.
The acting Director of Public Affairs, Mr Owusu Parry, who spoke on, Review of Media Reportage of Elections 2008, stated that the commission had no power to tell the media how to do its work but “As stakeholders striking to achieve the common goal of ensuring that our democracy thrives, we all have the responsibility of prompting each other where we believe certain things have gone the way they should not have gone”.
He pointed out that election was not just the process of casting ballot but it seemed that the press was often interested in only the major exercise, saying, “Indeed a number of events preceded the election”.
Mr Parry noted that the EC undertook the replacement of lost voter Identification (ID) cards last year which lasted for 10 days but unfortunately, there was little or no mention of that important exercise in the media.
He emphasised that, the consequence of the lack of interest in that exercise was that, a lot of people did not take advantage of the replacement exercise and thus people who had lost their voter ID cards massed up later at the registration centres to offer themselves for registration.
“We think that, that unfortunate development could have been avoided if the media had shown the level of interest they showed in the election itself. We will continue to need the media and we hope that in future they will develop interest in these activities”, he stressed.
According to the acting Public Affairs Director, during the registration, media reports of attacks’ on applicants in some parts of the country resulted in reprisals in other parts of the country, creating unnecessary tension and putting both registration personnel and applicants at risk.
He pointed out that, such reports, however good the intensions were, worked against the smoothness of the exercise to the extent that the EC had learnt useful lessons from that exercise and would do things differently in subsequent exercises.
On the exhibition of the voters register, Mr Parry noted that it was as important as the compilation of the register itself since it was an opportunity to clean the register, adding that, names of unqualified persons were removed while names of people who were qualified and had genuinely registered but their names were inadvertently omitted.
He said it was the expectation of the commission that, due to all the challenges of the registration exercise, the media would have been interested in the cleaning exercise, especially because, politicians were mentioned to be contributing to the problems during the registration exercise.
Again, he observed that, the media would have been interested in how those politicians would assist in cleaning the register but said, unfortunately, that did not happen.
The media, he said, rather turned their attention to the commission and often asked how the EC was going to get the names of unqualified people out of the register.
“This attitude of putting the searchlight on only the commission does not help in ensuring that deliberate wrong doing is stopped. The politicians will continue to do what they always do, so long as the queries will come to the commission and not themselves”, he observed.
He said the time had come for the media to direct their attention at politicians, when such issues came up and not always blame the commission for the actions of politicians.
Mr S.Y. Aidoo, the Director, Human Resource and General Services, who spoke on “Some aspects of the Law Governing Elections”, stressed that, the EC was committed to ensuring that democracy thrived in Ghana and therefore, appealed to media practitioners to also contribute their quota in the same way.
He pointed out that, it was unreasonable for someone to accuse the EC of attempting to manipulate an election in favour of one particular political party or a presidential aspirant, saying that, staff of the EC would gain nothing if one candidate or the other was voted as president.
According to Mr Aidoo, no matter who was voted for, the positions of the EC staff, including the chairman, would remain intact, and questioned whether any of the commission members or any member of staff at the commission had been asked to proceed on leave after the new government came, unlike other state institutions, adding that, “We the staff of the EC are not thieves to manipulate elections or rig them”.
The Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Director of the EC, Mr James Arthur-Yeboah, in his welcome address, noted that, Ghanaians were proud to hear that the international community praised Ghana for its gradual move towards maturity in the organisation and conduct of democratic elections.
Presently, he said, “Our shared hope and our common desire is to see future elections in Ghana become better organised, more transparent and fairly reported on to be credible and acceptable to all Ghanaians”.
The meeting was aimed at critically appraising what went on during the 2008 Elections and what could be done to improve the situation.
It was organised by the Electoral Commission (EC), with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The Deputy Chairman of the EC in-charge of Finance and Administration Mr David Kanga, who set the tone for the discussion, disclosed that, the EC had embarked on reforms based on what happened before, during and after last year’s elections.
“We want ideas about what went wrong to enable us to reform the process and deliver well for 2012 and so we want people, especially all stakeholders to be frank and bring out their patriotic feelings, guided by the constitution and the electoral laws, and better journalism practices,” he stressed.
The acting Director of Public Affairs, Mr Owusu Parry, who spoke on, Review of Media Reportage of Elections 2008, stated that the commission had no power to tell the media how to do its work but “As stakeholders striking to achieve the common goal of ensuring that our democracy thrives, we all have the responsibility of prompting each other where we believe certain things have gone the way they should not have gone”.
He pointed out that election was not just the process of casting ballot but it seemed that the press was often interested in only the major exercise, saying, “Indeed a number of events preceded the election”.
Mr Parry noted that the EC undertook the replacement of lost voter Identification (ID) cards last year which lasted for 10 days but unfortunately, there was little or no mention of that important exercise in the media.
He emphasised that, the consequence of the lack of interest in that exercise was that, a lot of people did not take advantage of the replacement exercise and thus people who had lost their voter ID cards massed up later at the registration centres to offer themselves for registration.
“We think that, that unfortunate development could have been avoided if the media had shown the level of interest they showed in the election itself. We will continue to need the media and we hope that in future they will develop interest in these activities”, he stressed.
According to the acting Public Affairs Director, during the registration, media reports of attacks’ on applicants in some parts of the country resulted in reprisals in other parts of the country, creating unnecessary tension and putting both registration personnel and applicants at risk.
He pointed out that, such reports, however good the intensions were, worked against the smoothness of the exercise to the extent that the EC had learnt useful lessons from that exercise and would do things differently in subsequent exercises.
On the exhibition of the voters register, Mr Parry noted that it was as important as the compilation of the register itself since it was an opportunity to clean the register, adding that, names of unqualified persons were removed while names of people who were qualified and had genuinely registered but their names were inadvertently omitted.
He said it was the expectation of the commission that, due to all the challenges of the registration exercise, the media would have been interested in the cleaning exercise, especially because, politicians were mentioned to be contributing to the problems during the registration exercise.
Again, he observed that, the media would have been interested in how those politicians would assist in cleaning the register but said, unfortunately, that did not happen.
The media, he said, rather turned their attention to the commission and often asked how the EC was going to get the names of unqualified people out of the register.
“This attitude of putting the searchlight on only the commission does not help in ensuring that deliberate wrong doing is stopped. The politicians will continue to do what they always do, so long as the queries will come to the commission and not themselves”, he observed.
He said the time had come for the media to direct their attention at politicians, when such issues came up and not always blame the commission for the actions of politicians.
Mr S.Y. Aidoo, the Director, Human Resource and General Services, who spoke on “Some aspects of the Law Governing Elections”, stressed that, the EC was committed to ensuring that democracy thrived in Ghana and therefore, appealed to media practitioners to also contribute their quota in the same way.
He pointed out that, it was unreasonable for someone to accuse the EC of attempting to manipulate an election in favour of one particular political party or a presidential aspirant, saying that, staff of the EC would gain nothing if one candidate or the other was voted as president.
According to Mr Aidoo, no matter who was voted for, the positions of the EC staff, including the chairman, would remain intact, and questioned whether any of the commission members or any member of staff at the commission had been asked to proceed on leave after the new government came, unlike other state institutions, adding that, “We the staff of the EC are not thieves to manipulate elections or rig them”.
The Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Director of the EC, Mr James Arthur-Yeboah, in his welcome address, noted that, Ghanaians were proud to hear that the international community praised Ghana for its gradual move towards maturity in the organisation and conduct of democratic elections.
Presently, he said, “Our shared hope and our common desire is to see future elections in Ghana become better organised, more transparent and fairly reported on to be credible and acceptable to all Ghanaians”.
INTERNATIONAL FORUM FOR MEDICAL ASSISTANTS OPENS (PAGE 23, OCT 3)
THE Second International Forum for Physicians or Medical Assistants (MAs) from Ghana, United States of America (USA), the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (UK), among other countries, has opened in Sunyani.
Speaking at the function, the Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Eric Opoku, appealed to the participants and indeed all workers and professionals not to refuse posting to the rural communities.
He said, “It is embarrassing to see foreign health volunteers working in our deprived communities while our own people, for various reasons, refuse posting to these areas.”
The forum, which first took place in Savannah, Atlanta, Georgia in the USA, is more of a peer to peer dialogue to fashion out best practices based on common experiences and challenges of PAs or MAs as they were called in Ghana.
It is also to brainstorm on the development of common training modules so as to harmonise the curricula of institutions that train PAs in the collaborating countries as well as strategise to meet the ever-increasing needs of the growing marginalised population.
The two-day forum being attended by 25 participants, including nurses, paramedical health providers, representatives from the Ministry of Health (MoH), the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and private Health Training Institutions, has as its theme: “Education for service: Learning from each other”.
Mr Opoku observed that in the countryside, the MAs had been the main drivers of primary healthcare delivery, adding that sometimes they worked under very trying conditions and often without the basic logistics, thus making their profession one of the most sacrificial and risky in most cases.
Mr Opoku said it could train more of them and other middle-level health professionals to work and improve health outcomes in the rural areas because that was where majority of the population in the productive sector lived to work.
The Director of the Kintampo RHTS, Dr E.T. Adjase, explained further that the forum was to cross-fertilise ideas by learning from one another to strengthen the health system in the various countries and also improve health coverage to rural and under-served communities in the respective countries forming the forum.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Aaron Offei, stated that since doctors could not be found everywhere in the countries engaged in the forum, including the USA, there was the need to train such calibre of PAs or MAs to serve in the periphery of those countries.
According to Dr Offei, close collaboration between clinical physicians and MAs was very crucial in the health delivery system in the country, stressing that the existence of the RHTS was very important, since the institution was providing healthcare delivery for the rural areas in the country.
An associate professor of the University of Birmingham, Nick Ross, also stated that the forum was initiated to look out for what the various countries had and subsequently exchange ideas.
He said the brain drain of health personnel from Africa, the USA and Europe was not the best, emphasising that “we want to look at what we have in common and also to know the core definition of the forum”.
Speaking at the function, the Deputy Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Eric Opoku, appealed to the participants and indeed all workers and professionals not to refuse posting to the rural communities.
He said, “It is embarrassing to see foreign health volunteers working in our deprived communities while our own people, for various reasons, refuse posting to these areas.”
The forum, which first took place in Savannah, Atlanta, Georgia in the USA, is more of a peer to peer dialogue to fashion out best practices based on common experiences and challenges of PAs or MAs as they were called in Ghana.
It is also to brainstorm on the development of common training modules so as to harmonise the curricula of institutions that train PAs in the collaborating countries as well as strategise to meet the ever-increasing needs of the growing marginalised population.
The two-day forum being attended by 25 participants, including nurses, paramedical health providers, representatives from the Ministry of Health (MoH), the Ghana Health Service (GHS) and private Health Training Institutions, has as its theme: “Education for service: Learning from each other”.
Mr Opoku observed that in the countryside, the MAs had been the main drivers of primary healthcare delivery, adding that sometimes they worked under very trying conditions and often without the basic logistics, thus making their profession one of the most sacrificial and risky in most cases.
Mr Opoku said it could train more of them and other middle-level health professionals to work and improve health outcomes in the rural areas because that was where majority of the population in the productive sector lived to work.
The Director of the Kintampo RHTS, Dr E.T. Adjase, explained further that the forum was to cross-fertilise ideas by learning from one another to strengthen the health system in the various countries and also improve health coverage to rural and under-served communities in the respective countries forming the forum.
The Brong Ahafo Regional Director of Health Services, Dr Aaron Offei, stated that since doctors could not be found everywhere in the countries engaged in the forum, including the USA, there was the need to train such calibre of PAs or MAs to serve in the periphery of those countries.
According to Dr Offei, close collaboration between clinical physicians and MAs was very crucial in the health delivery system in the country, stressing that the existence of the RHTS was very important, since the institution was providing healthcare delivery for the rural areas in the country.
An associate professor of the University of Birmingham, Nick Ross, also stated that the forum was initiated to look out for what the various countries had and subsequently exchange ideas.
He said the brain drain of health personnel from Africa, the USA and Europe was not the best, emphasising that “we want to look at what we have in common and also to know the core definition of the forum”.
DON'T DEMAND MONEY FROM NURSING MOTHERS...Dr Sagoe-Moses (PAGE 23, OCT 3)
THE National Child Health Co-ordinator, Dr Isabella Sagoe-Moses, has cautioned that it is illegal for any health worker, especially midwives and other nurses, to demand money from nursing mothers who attend antenatal clinics.
He warned that anybody caught extorting money would be sanctioned.
“No nursing mother should pay any money to any health personnel when you send your children for weighing and no midwife or nurse should collect money from mothers attending weighing sessions because we are looking for scapegoats and apply the necessary disciplinary action against them,” she stressed.
Dr Sagoe-Moses gave the warning in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region based on reports that some nursing mothers who attended antenatal clinics were made to pay some fees before they were attended to by the health providers in charge.
“Some mothers have been complaining about the way some nurses charge them during weighing sessions, which should not be the case,” she stressed.
Dr Tagoe-Moses gave the warning at a seminar organised by the Paediatric Society of Ghana during its annual general and scientific meeting at the Sunyani Municipal Assembly Hall.
The theme for the seminar, which formed part of this year’s Child Health Promotion Week, was “Follow your child’s growth: Use your child health record”.
Dr Sagoe-Moses expressed concern about the way some health workers were not committed to attending to certain conditions because they claimed that they were not assigned to carry out that duty.
She cited for instance that some children were not immunised at birth simply because the public health nurses who were to carry out that responsibility were not available at the time that the children were born as they were supposedly performing other outreach programmes, adding that clinical nurses who might be around at the time would not undertake such a duty.
Dr Sagoe-Moses declared, “Let us put a stop to that sort of segregation because it does not help all of us, especially our mothers and the innocent children.”
The National Infant and Young Child Feeding Co-ordinator, Mrs Wilhelmina Okwabi, who was a co-facilitator for the function, stated that breastfeeding for two years or longer helped the child to grow well, stressing that complementary feeding meant giving other foods in addition.
He warned that anybody caught extorting money would be sanctioned.
“No nursing mother should pay any money to any health personnel when you send your children for weighing and no midwife or nurse should collect money from mothers attending weighing sessions because we are looking for scapegoats and apply the necessary disciplinary action against them,” she stressed.
Dr Sagoe-Moses gave the warning in Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region based on reports that some nursing mothers who attended antenatal clinics were made to pay some fees before they were attended to by the health providers in charge.
“Some mothers have been complaining about the way some nurses charge them during weighing sessions, which should not be the case,” she stressed.
Dr Tagoe-Moses gave the warning at a seminar organised by the Paediatric Society of Ghana during its annual general and scientific meeting at the Sunyani Municipal Assembly Hall.
The theme for the seminar, which formed part of this year’s Child Health Promotion Week, was “Follow your child’s growth: Use your child health record”.
Dr Sagoe-Moses expressed concern about the way some health workers were not committed to attending to certain conditions because they claimed that they were not assigned to carry out that duty.
She cited for instance that some children were not immunised at birth simply because the public health nurses who were to carry out that responsibility were not available at the time that the children were born as they were supposedly performing other outreach programmes, adding that clinical nurses who might be around at the time would not undertake such a duty.
Dr Sagoe-Moses declared, “Let us put a stop to that sort of segregation because it does not help all of us, especially our mothers and the innocent children.”
The National Infant and Young Child Feeding Co-ordinator, Mrs Wilhelmina Okwabi, who was a co-facilitator for the function, stated that breastfeeding for two years or longer helped the child to grow well, stressing that complementary feeding meant giving other foods in addition.
CHIEF WORRIED ABBOUT ILLEGAL SALE OF KINTAMPO LANDS (PAGE 23, OCT 3)
THE Paramount Chief of the Mo Traditional Area, Nana Takyi Yeleji II, has expressed concern about the way and manner certain unscrupulous individuals and groups within the paramountcy have arrogated to themselves the authority to sell land belonging to the traditional council for their personal gain.
He stated that those parcels of land were the bona fide property of the traditional council, which were solely meant for the effective development of the area to the benefit of the Mo people, more especially the future generation.
Nana Yeleji said for that reason, no person had the right to single-handedly give the land out for sale and pocket the proceeds.
“I like development but not while others want to live by any means possible through cheating and I am worried about that,” he stressed.
Nana Yeleji gave the warning when he addressed a cross-section of the Mo people at Kintampo.
He noted with concern that Kintampo, which is reputed to be the centre of Ghana, had lagged behind in development in many areas including education, agriculture, health, water and sanitation, describing the situation as worrisome.
The paramount chief stated that chieftaincy and land disputes had had a negative toll on the people of Mo, and therefore called for unity among them so that together they could build the traditional area into a prosperous one.
Nana Yeleji emphasised that the long-standing chieftaincy dispute which had been pending at the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs was hampering the unity in the traditional area.
He, therefore, called on the Judicial Committee of the house to expedite action on the resolution of the matter to ensure cohesion of the people.
The Kyempehene of Mansie, Nana P.K. Badu, also expressed concern about the protracted land litigation and chieftaincy disputes in the Mo area.
According to him, the traditional area was one of the poorest in Ghana and attributed the situation to greed on the part of some individuals.
Nana Badu said apart from charcoal burning in which women in the area were actively engaged in, there was no job for the people to earn a living.
He stressed that if the people did not come together, there was no way they could enjoy meaningful development.
The Chief of Ahenakom, Nana Kwaku Dankwah, called on the people to rally solidly behind the Omanhene towards the development of the area, adding that each one had a crucial role to play in bringing about the desired development of the traditional area.
“We should all support the Omanhene, since not all of us can occupy the stool at the same time, stressing, “It is a taboo for a non-royal to attempt to be considered as a chief of the Mo Traditional Area.”
The Gonja chief of the area, Alhaji Seidu Aboragye, said, “We need to solve our own problem rather than washing our dirty linen in public,” adding, “Let us protect our land through unity.”
The Youth Organiser, Mr Alhassan Atta, called on the government to ensure that Kintampo received its fair share of the national cake, adding, “We do not want what is happening in Bawku and Yendi to occur here, since we need peace but not.”
The Abrafohene, Nana Agyankra Simpah, advised the youth not to hesitate to defend the property of the people and also urged all those who had unlawfully accessed land from unauthorised persons to take steps to do the right thing.
All other speakers at the function called for peace among the people in the interest of effective development of the area.
He stated that those parcels of land were the bona fide property of the traditional council, which were solely meant for the effective development of the area to the benefit of the Mo people, more especially the future generation.
Nana Yeleji said for that reason, no person had the right to single-handedly give the land out for sale and pocket the proceeds.
“I like development but not while others want to live by any means possible through cheating and I am worried about that,” he stressed.
Nana Yeleji gave the warning when he addressed a cross-section of the Mo people at Kintampo.
He noted with concern that Kintampo, which is reputed to be the centre of Ghana, had lagged behind in development in many areas including education, agriculture, health, water and sanitation, describing the situation as worrisome.
The paramount chief stated that chieftaincy and land disputes had had a negative toll on the people of Mo, and therefore called for unity among them so that together they could build the traditional area into a prosperous one.
Nana Yeleji emphasised that the long-standing chieftaincy dispute which had been pending at the Brong Ahafo Regional House of Chiefs was hampering the unity in the traditional area.
He, therefore, called on the Judicial Committee of the house to expedite action on the resolution of the matter to ensure cohesion of the people.
The Kyempehene of Mansie, Nana P.K. Badu, also expressed concern about the protracted land litigation and chieftaincy disputes in the Mo area.
According to him, the traditional area was one of the poorest in Ghana and attributed the situation to greed on the part of some individuals.
Nana Badu said apart from charcoal burning in which women in the area were actively engaged in, there was no job for the people to earn a living.
He stressed that if the people did not come together, there was no way they could enjoy meaningful development.
The Chief of Ahenakom, Nana Kwaku Dankwah, called on the people to rally solidly behind the Omanhene towards the development of the area, adding that each one had a crucial role to play in bringing about the desired development of the traditional area.
“We should all support the Omanhene, since not all of us can occupy the stool at the same time, stressing, “It is a taboo for a non-royal to attempt to be considered as a chief of the Mo Traditional Area.”
The Gonja chief of the area, Alhaji Seidu Aboragye, said, “We need to solve our own problem rather than washing our dirty linen in public,” adding, “Let us protect our land through unity.”
The Youth Organiser, Mr Alhassan Atta, called on the government to ensure that Kintampo received its fair share of the national cake, adding, “We do not want what is happening in Bawku and Yendi to occur here, since we need peace but not.”
The Abrafohene, Nana Agyankra Simpah, advised the youth not to hesitate to defend the property of the people and also urged all those who had unlawfully accessed land from unauthorised persons to take steps to do the right thing.
All other speakers at the function called for peace among the people in the interest of effective development of the area.
Friday, October 9, 2009
GOVERNMENT TO DEVELOP TOURISM — Nyamekye-Marfo (page 15, sept 28)
THE Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, has given the assurance that the government will do everything possible to develop the tourism industry, since the sector has the potential to raise revenue for development.
He said infrastructural development was paramount to promoting tourism in the country, saying, “Tourism is an income earner for many countries and so we need to take steps to develop it properly because people will travel from abroad to patronise our tourist attractions”.
Mr Nyamekye-Marfo gave the assurance when he addressed the Brong Ahafo Regional celebration of this year’s World Tourism Day held in Sunyani, which was on the broader theme, “Tourism- Celebrating Diversity”.
According to the regional minister, the other key parameters to boost the tourism potential of the country were the availability of decent hotel accommodation and the best catering services to attract tourists.
He pointed out that while striving to please tourists from outside through the provision of attractive and serene environment as well as dishes of their choice, there was the need to uphold the cultural values of the country by serving local meals alongside continental dishes.
The regional minister also advised that those employed by hotelliers and caterers to provide services to tourists should be clean, look smart and presentable, pointing out that some of the employees were an eye-sore because they did not observe personal hygiene, thereby discouraging their clients.
He also noted with concern that armed robbery had been a disincentive and a threat to tourism in the country but gave the assurance that the government was committed to stemming that menace and that with the collective responsibility of the security agencies as well as individuals, the problem could be overcome.
In his global message, Mr Taleb Rifai, the Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) emphasised that in addition to the role of globalisation in balancing tourism influx, environmental and cultural sustainability of nations, this year’s celebration was aimed at shedding light on the human side of the industry.
He noted that there was increasing awareness of tourism’s role as a productive activity and its undisputed potential to generate employment, government revenue and other benefits, whether directly or indirectly.
“Tourism is a global industry and as such has a responsibility to make positive contributions worldwide. The huge variety of local customers co-exist all over the world, be they in the languages, religions, architecture, food, politics and natural environments”. Mr Rifai observed.
That diverse environment, he said, had allowed the travel and tourism industry to thrive and become the largest force in the service sector, thus, the theme highlighted the varied environment which was central to tourism.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Sunyani, Mr Kwasi Oppong Ababio stressed that the tourism industry now needed people with business-like attitudes and positive customer care behaviour. “You should also know the history of your own locality and people very well to enable you to offer the best services to them”, he added.
He said infrastructural development was paramount to promoting tourism in the country, saying, “Tourism is an income earner for many countries and so we need to take steps to develop it properly because people will travel from abroad to patronise our tourist attractions”.
Mr Nyamekye-Marfo gave the assurance when he addressed the Brong Ahafo Regional celebration of this year’s World Tourism Day held in Sunyani, which was on the broader theme, “Tourism- Celebrating Diversity”.
According to the regional minister, the other key parameters to boost the tourism potential of the country were the availability of decent hotel accommodation and the best catering services to attract tourists.
He pointed out that while striving to please tourists from outside through the provision of attractive and serene environment as well as dishes of their choice, there was the need to uphold the cultural values of the country by serving local meals alongside continental dishes.
The regional minister also advised that those employed by hotelliers and caterers to provide services to tourists should be clean, look smart and presentable, pointing out that some of the employees were an eye-sore because they did not observe personal hygiene, thereby discouraging their clients.
He also noted with concern that armed robbery had been a disincentive and a threat to tourism in the country but gave the assurance that the government was committed to stemming that menace and that with the collective responsibility of the security agencies as well as individuals, the problem could be overcome.
In his global message, Mr Taleb Rifai, the Secretary-General of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) emphasised that in addition to the role of globalisation in balancing tourism influx, environmental and cultural sustainability of nations, this year’s celebration was aimed at shedding light on the human side of the industry.
He noted that there was increasing awareness of tourism’s role as a productive activity and its undisputed potential to generate employment, government revenue and other benefits, whether directly or indirectly.
“Tourism is a global industry and as such has a responsibility to make positive contributions worldwide. The huge variety of local customers co-exist all over the world, be they in the languages, religions, architecture, food, politics and natural environments”. Mr Rifai observed.
That diverse environment, he said, had allowed the travel and tourism industry to thrive and become the largest force in the service sector, thus, the theme highlighted the varied environment which was central to tourism.
The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Sunyani, Mr Kwasi Oppong Ababio stressed that the tourism industry now needed people with business-like attitudes and positive customer care behaviour. “You should also know the history of your own locality and people very well to enable you to offer the best services to them”, he added.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
SPECIAL TRAINING SESSION FOR MMDCES (SEPT 21, PAGE 13)
A special training session on the Public Procurement Act 2003, Act 663 and Budgetary Processes has been held for Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs), Co-ordinating Directors and Finance Officers from the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions.
The two-day programme, which was organised by the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning discussed “Procurement Planning — Its Significance in the Budget and Process”, “Administrative Reviews, Procedures and Appeals Complaints Panel Processes”, “Guidelines on Margin of Preference”, “Public Expenditure and Financial Management” and “Overview of Budget Guidelines”.
The special training session was designed to furnish the participants with the requisite knowledge on the provisions of the Public Procurement Act and equip them to deliver on their mandate in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner as direct representatives of the Government at the local level.
In an opening address, delivered on his behalf, the Chairman of the PPA governing board, Commodore Steve Obimpeh (Retd), explained that the principle of fairness, accountability and transparency, which had for over a decade formed the bedrock of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, actually resonated with the fundamental tenets and objectives of the Act.
The Act, he further explained, basically sought to provide both administrative and institutional arrangements for public procurement, with the overall objective of ensuring that state resources were harnessed in a judicious, economic and efficient manner to obtain value for every cedi spent.
Cdr Obimpeh admitted that public procurement, which accounted for over 70 per cent of government expenditure after personnel emoluments was under a critical component of government expenditure management structure, and, therefore, required efficient and prudent management to be able to administer the economy of the state.
“Thus, as key stakeholders and mangers of your respective assemblies, you are expected to attain a good appreciation of the law that governs its practice in order to effectively eliminate waste and rather make good savings for government as much as possible,” he stressed.
That notwithstanding, the PPA governing board chairman indicated that governance institutions which come under the scope of application of the Act were without doubt facing daunting implementation challenges, saying notable among those had been the identified capacity gaps leading to gross misunderstanding of its provisions.
He emphasised that it was in that view that the PPA had since its inception not relented in its efforts to build the capacities of its varied stakeholders.
Cdr Obimpeh disclosed that the PPA had over the past three years trained more than 8,000 public procurement functionaries and about 1,500 personnel in oversight institutions such as the Internal Audit Agency and the Auditor General’s Department, under its nationwide short-term training programme.
Again, he indicated that other capacity building programmes had been held for members of the Public Accounts Committee of the immediate past Parliament and other special constitutional bodies.
The Chairman further disclosed that so far over 150 sector Ministers, Ministers of State, key staff of the Office of the President, as well as Regional Ministers, their Deputies and Regional Co-ordinating Directors, had been trained since August this year.
He expressed the hope that the special training session and subsequent ones planned for heads of government departments and agencies and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) would go a long way to consolidate the gains of previous capacity building initiatives, and create the much needed awareness on the provisions of the Public Procurement Act.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the PPA, Mr A. B. Adjei, who gave an overview of the programme, pointed out that the Act applied to the procurement of goods, works and services, financed in whole or in part from public funds, and that it aimed at ensuring that public procurement was carried out in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner, using state resources in a judicious, economic and efficient way.
Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, in a welcoming address, cautioned that “if you do not follow the Act, you will find yourself in trouble”, and reminded the participants of the startling revelations of the Auditor General’s report.
He noted that there had been tremendous value addition ever since the Act was enacted in 2003, adding that the law not only served as the main catalyst and framework which guided all procurement processes but also its effective application, promoted transparency, competitiveness and achieved value for money in the system.
The two-day programme, which was organised by the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning discussed “Procurement Planning — Its Significance in the Budget and Process”, “Administrative Reviews, Procedures and Appeals Complaints Panel Processes”, “Guidelines on Margin of Preference”, “Public Expenditure and Financial Management” and “Overview of Budget Guidelines”.
The special training session was designed to furnish the participants with the requisite knowledge on the provisions of the Public Procurement Act and equip them to deliver on their mandate in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner as direct representatives of the Government at the local level.
In an opening address, delivered on his behalf, the Chairman of the PPA governing board, Commodore Steve Obimpeh (Retd), explained that the principle of fairness, accountability and transparency, which had for over a decade formed the bedrock of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) party, actually resonated with the fundamental tenets and objectives of the Act.
The Act, he further explained, basically sought to provide both administrative and institutional arrangements for public procurement, with the overall objective of ensuring that state resources were harnessed in a judicious, economic and efficient manner to obtain value for every cedi spent.
Cdr Obimpeh admitted that public procurement, which accounted for over 70 per cent of government expenditure after personnel emoluments was under a critical component of government expenditure management structure, and, therefore, required efficient and prudent management to be able to administer the economy of the state.
“Thus, as key stakeholders and mangers of your respective assemblies, you are expected to attain a good appreciation of the law that governs its practice in order to effectively eliminate waste and rather make good savings for government as much as possible,” he stressed.
That notwithstanding, the PPA governing board chairman indicated that governance institutions which come under the scope of application of the Act were without doubt facing daunting implementation challenges, saying notable among those had been the identified capacity gaps leading to gross misunderstanding of its provisions.
He emphasised that it was in that view that the PPA had since its inception not relented in its efforts to build the capacities of its varied stakeholders.
Cdr Obimpeh disclosed that the PPA had over the past three years trained more than 8,000 public procurement functionaries and about 1,500 personnel in oversight institutions such as the Internal Audit Agency and the Auditor General’s Department, under its nationwide short-term training programme.
Again, he indicated that other capacity building programmes had been held for members of the Public Accounts Committee of the immediate past Parliament and other special constitutional bodies.
The Chairman further disclosed that so far over 150 sector Ministers, Ministers of State, key staff of the Office of the President, as well as Regional Ministers, their Deputies and Regional Co-ordinating Directors, had been trained since August this year.
He expressed the hope that the special training session and subsequent ones planned for heads of government departments and agencies and state-owned enterprises (SOEs) would go a long way to consolidate the gains of previous capacity building initiatives, and create the much needed awareness on the provisions of the Public Procurement Act.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the PPA, Mr A. B. Adjei, who gave an overview of the programme, pointed out that the Act applied to the procurement of goods, works and services, financed in whole or in part from public funds, and that it aimed at ensuring that public procurement was carried out in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner, using state resources in a judicious, economic and efficient way.
Mr Kwadwo Nyamekye-Marfo, the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, in a welcoming address, cautioned that “if you do not follow the Act, you will find yourself in trouble”, and reminded the participants of the startling revelations of the Auditor General’s report.
He noted that there had been tremendous value addition ever since the Act was enacted in 2003, adding that the law not only served as the main catalyst and framework which guided all procurement processes but also its effective application, promoted transparency, competitiveness and achieved value for money in the system.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
MINE WORKERS WORRIED ABOUT DISPARTIES IN SALARIES (SEPT 16, PAGE 21)
MEMBERS of the Ghana Mine Workers Union (GMWU) of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) have expressed concern about the wide salary disparities existing between the expatriate workers and their Ghanaian counterparts.
The union stated that analysis indicated that the remuneration of AngloGold Ashanti executive members was 289 times as high as the lowest mine worker who risks his life on the job and in the same vein. an executive of Gold Fields Ghana Limited, earns 201 times the income of the lowest paid mine worker.
According to the union, in AngloGold Ashanti, the minimum salary of a mine worker was US$262.00 per month which was about 340 times less the salary of the highest paid executive member in Ghana.
The National Executive Council (NEC) of the GMWU which made the observations at its meeting at the Eusbett Hotel in Sunyani, also noted that in AngloGold Ashanti, the average expatriate salary was US$19,586.00 per month compared with the Ghanaian senior officer who earned US$711 per month and doing the same or similar job.
In their resolution signed by Messrs Prince William Ankrah and John K. Brimpong, the General Secretary and National Chairman, respectively of the union, the NEC further observed that in AngloGold Ashanti, an average rent allowance of US$15,000 per annum was paid to top Ghanaian management staff at Gold House in Accra, stressing that “the Management of AngloGold Ashanti continued to drag its feet in our effort to negotiate a fair rent allowance for non-accommodated unionised members at its Obuasi and Iduapriem mine sites”.
Again, the union argued that between 2007 and now, some management staff in the industry, including those at Gold Fields and AngloGold Ashanti, had had their emoluments adjusted by 100 per cent while a 24.5 per cent increase demanded by unionised workers over a three year period to bring the minimum basic pay of the mine worker to US$500 was considered “outrageous, unrealistic and unsustainable”.
“The above picture is seriously untenable and cannot be tolerated by the GMWU of the TUC any longer. Accordingly, the GMWU will use every means at its disposal to ensure fairness and equity in the reward landscape of the mining industry in Ghana”, the NEC cautioned.
According to the resolution, the NEC noted the long and protracted 2009 wage/salary negotiations between the GMWU and the two South African-based mining companies namely, AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields due to their “insensitive, selfish, parochial interest and the lack of social equity conscience”.
“The NEC thereby mandates the leadership of the GMWU to use any means at its disposal, including nationwide miners’ strike action to press home its demands by the close of this month”.
According to the resolution, “The situation where expatriates occupy positions which can be competently occupied by Ghanaians can no longer be tolerated. The NEC, therefore endorses the efforts being made by the Government and the Minerals Commission to address the issue”.
The union called on the regulatory bodies concerned with expatriation to seriously monitor the influx of expatriates into the industry and that, “the GMWU shall resist any attempt to bring in any expatriate whose skills are available in the industry”.
The resolution said, the NEC was saddened by the deplorable road network and infrastructure deficit in the mining communities and, therefore, reiterates its earlier calls on the Government and the mining companies to tackle the problem, adding that the NEC was particularly concerned about the state of the Tarkwa-Ayanfuri, Tarkwa-Huni Valley, Prestea, Bogoso, Tarkwa and Obuasi urban roads, among others.
The NEC also expressed regrets that, employees of the Ghana Consolidated Diamonds (GCD) at Akwatia, had not been paid for the past two years and therefore, appealed to the Government to speed up the divestiture implementation programme and make available money from the consolidated fund to pay them their outstanding severance and entitlements to ameliorate the sufferings and pains that those employees and their families were going through.
The resolution emphasised that NEC was concerned about the situation where mines folded up without meeting their contractual obligations to their employees and so recommended to the Government to legislate the establishment of an escrow account similar to the reclamation bonds which mining companies were required to post as part of their legal requirement in operating a mine to cater for employees’ benefits in the want of unforeseen mine closures.
The union stated that analysis indicated that the remuneration of AngloGold Ashanti executive members was 289 times as high as the lowest mine worker who risks his life on the job and in the same vein. an executive of Gold Fields Ghana Limited, earns 201 times the income of the lowest paid mine worker.
According to the union, in AngloGold Ashanti, the minimum salary of a mine worker was US$262.00 per month which was about 340 times less the salary of the highest paid executive member in Ghana.
The National Executive Council (NEC) of the GMWU which made the observations at its meeting at the Eusbett Hotel in Sunyani, also noted that in AngloGold Ashanti, the average expatriate salary was US$19,586.00 per month compared with the Ghanaian senior officer who earned US$711 per month and doing the same or similar job.
In their resolution signed by Messrs Prince William Ankrah and John K. Brimpong, the General Secretary and National Chairman, respectively of the union, the NEC further observed that in AngloGold Ashanti, an average rent allowance of US$15,000 per annum was paid to top Ghanaian management staff at Gold House in Accra, stressing that “the Management of AngloGold Ashanti continued to drag its feet in our effort to negotiate a fair rent allowance for non-accommodated unionised members at its Obuasi and Iduapriem mine sites”.
Again, the union argued that between 2007 and now, some management staff in the industry, including those at Gold Fields and AngloGold Ashanti, had had their emoluments adjusted by 100 per cent while a 24.5 per cent increase demanded by unionised workers over a three year period to bring the minimum basic pay of the mine worker to US$500 was considered “outrageous, unrealistic and unsustainable”.
“The above picture is seriously untenable and cannot be tolerated by the GMWU of the TUC any longer. Accordingly, the GMWU will use every means at its disposal to ensure fairness and equity in the reward landscape of the mining industry in Ghana”, the NEC cautioned.
According to the resolution, the NEC noted the long and protracted 2009 wage/salary negotiations between the GMWU and the two South African-based mining companies namely, AngloGold Ashanti and Gold Fields due to their “insensitive, selfish, parochial interest and the lack of social equity conscience”.
“The NEC thereby mandates the leadership of the GMWU to use any means at its disposal, including nationwide miners’ strike action to press home its demands by the close of this month”.
According to the resolution, “The situation where expatriates occupy positions which can be competently occupied by Ghanaians can no longer be tolerated. The NEC, therefore endorses the efforts being made by the Government and the Minerals Commission to address the issue”.
The union called on the regulatory bodies concerned with expatriation to seriously monitor the influx of expatriates into the industry and that, “the GMWU shall resist any attempt to bring in any expatriate whose skills are available in the industry”.
The resolution said, the NEC was saddened by the deplorable road network and infrastructure deficit in the mining communities and, therefore, reiterates its earlier calls on the Government and the mining companies to tackle the problem, adding that the NEC was particularly concerned about the state of the Tarkwa-Ayanfuri, Tarkwa-Huni Valley, Prestea, Bogoso, Tarkwa and Obuasi urban roads, among others.
The NEC also expressed regrets that, employees of the Ghana Consolidated Diamonds (GCD) at Akwatia, had not been paid for the past two years and therefore, appealed to the Government to speed up the divestiture implementation programme and make available money from the consolidated fund to pay them their outstanding severance and entitlements to ameliorate the sufferings and pains that those employees and their families were going through.
The resolution emphasised that NEC was concerned about the situation where mines folded up without meeting their contractual obligations to their employees and so recommended to the Government to legislate the establishment of an escrow account similar to the reclamation bonds which mining companies were required to post as part of their legal requirement in operating a mine to cater for employees’ benefits in the want of unforeseen mine closures.
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