Thursday, April 30, 2009

TEENAGE PREGNANCY HIGH IN PRESTEA-HUNI VALLEY (PAGE 40)

TEENAGE pregnancy is on the ascendancy in the Prestea-Huni Valley District in the Western Region.
Between January and March, this year, 15 pregnant teenage girls whose ages range between 13 and 16, have been delivered of their babies at the Prestea Government Hospital.
A large number of teenage girls from the area are also pregnant.
Besides, defilement cases in the district are also very high, with a nine-year-old girl being one of the victims.
These came to light at a non-denominational church service for final-year students of various junior high schools (JHS) in Prestea before the beginning of this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
The service was organised under the auspices of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Prestea Huni Valley, Mr Francis Kwasi Adu-Blay Koffie.
The Medical Director of the Prestea Government Hospital, Dr Mohammed Mbiniwaya, who disclosed these figures, attributed the increase in teenage pregnancy and defilement cases in the area to poverty.
He added that the heavy presence of illegal gold mining operators (galamsey) was also a contributory factor.
Dr Mbiniwaya said the nine-year-old girl who was defiled was given 50Gp by the culprit, who threatened to kill her if she told anybody about her ordeal.
According to Dr Mbiniwaya, when he examined the child, there was indication that she had been defiled a long time ago and wondered what the police were doing about such cases.
He, therefore, called on religious leaders and traditional rulers in the district to advise parents to live up to their responsibilities to avoid such situations.
Touching on environmental sanitation, Dr Mbiniwaya said typhoid fever and malarial diseases were on the increase as a result of poor sanitary conditions in the district, and that “Malaria and typhoid fever are now competing with each other”.
He said about 80 per cent of the people in the district did not have toilet facilities in their homes and solely depended on public facilities, stressing that the situation was a serious problem.
Dr Mbiniwaya stated that there had been indiscriminate dumping of refuse and littering, while food vendors were selling near toilets and silted gutters, adding that poor sanitation could cause medical problems.
The medical director said about 90 per cent of cases reported at the hospital were diarrhoea, and that when tested, three quarters of the cases proved to be typhoid.
Dr Mbiniwaya, therefore, challenged environmental health officers of the district assembly to ensure that all food vendors had thorough medical examination before they were allowed to sell food to the public, particularly schoolchildren.
The MP for Prestea-Huni Valley, Mr Adu-Blay Koffie, said the non-denominational service would be an annual event for the final-year students to motivate them to write the BECE.
He said he would assist the promotion of quality education in the district and would also support any brilliant, needy students in the district.
Mr Adu-Blay Koffie advised the students to be law-abiding and follow examination instructions.
The Prestea-Huni Valley District Co-ordinating Director, Alhaji Jacker Mohammed, announced that the district assembly would organise a mock examination for all final-year JHS students next year.
He said the assembly had sponsorship packages for brilliant, needy students in the district.
The MP stated that the academic standard in the district was very low and that there was the need to improve on it.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

SEKONDI-TAKORADI PREPARES FOR RAINS (PAGE 18)

THE rainy season is here with us again in the Sekondi/Takoradi metropolis with its associated flooding in some flood prone areas, particularly in Takoradi.
Last week Thursday morning, torrential rains accompanied by strong winds was enough to give a strong signal to the engineers of the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) on the havoc this year’s rainfall could cause in the metropolis.
Almost all the flood prone suburbs in Takoradi were seriously affected by the early morning downpour.
Flooding has become an annual ritual in some parts of Takoradi as a result of the narrow, poor and inadequate drainage system in the city.
Residents in the most affected areas, such as Asikafoambantem Number One and Two as well the Takoradi Central Market area, have been complaining about the situation every year.
Due to the low lying nature of the areas, anytime there is a downpour, the water could rise to a very high level and enter many bed and living rooms as well as stores, thereby destroying personal effects and goods.
To find a lasting solution to this problem, on February 20, 2008, the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly embarked on the construction of selected drains in the metropolis.
The project is part of the Urban Environmental Sanitation Project being funded by the International Development Agency at the cost of GH¢3,188,476.00 and it is to be executed within 18 months.
It involves the improvement of the 1.8- kilometre Kokompe-Adakope drain, improvement of the 1,120-metre Ashanti Road-Kokompe drain and the reinforcing and concrete lining of the 600-metre Ghana Water Company Limited-Maersk drain.
The rest are the reinforcing of concrete lining of the 550-metre of the West Tanokrom main stream drain, the construction of two culverts on the Effia Nkwanta Hospital branch drain and the reinforced concrete lining 500-metre of the Kansaworodo-Effia-Number Nine drain.
The project is being executed by Messrs China Zhong Hao (Ghana) Limited, with the Municipal Development Collaborative Limited (MDC) as consultants.
The Project Co-ordinator of the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, Mr Simon Labi Addo, told the Daily Graphic that 40 per cent of work on the project had been completed, and that if the rains did not disrupt work the entire project would be completed by the end of this year.
He said most of the work had been done on the Effia-Number Nine-West Tanokrom drain.
“At the moment improvement works on the Adakope drain and the Ashanti Road –Kokompe drain have started and work is ongoing,” he explained, adding “I hope it will be completed on schedule if the rains do not disturb”.
But until this laudable storm drains project is completed, residents in the flood-prone areas in Takoradi and its environs should learn how to cope with the annual flooding of those affected areas.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

WORKSHOP FOR TDI POLY STUDENTS ON STANDARDS (PAGE 29)

THE Ghana Standards Board has organised a day’s workshop on National Quality Infrastructure for the students of the Takoradi Polytechnic to enable them to appreciate the importance of standards.
The workshop formed part of an educational campaign for all tertiary institutions in the country on the need to apply standards in every sector of the economy.
The students were taken through such topics as “Standards and national development”, ‘’Relevance of metrology for socio-economic development” and ‘’Consumer protection’’.
Briefing the press before the workshop, the Chief Standard Officer in charge of Marketing and Public Relations, Mr Charles Amoako, explained that the board orgainsed the workshop to broaden the outlook of the students of the institution.
He further explained that the Ghana Standards Board had to assemble all stakeholders and related organisations which are involved in a particular sector of the economy to harmonise their standards to be able to penetrate into the international market.
“We do not regulate products on the markets. We set the standards for all categories of products on the market, ” Mr Amoako said.
The Head of Quality Systems Certification Department, Mr Fred Owusu-Gyamera, said standardisation was the foundation for national development and growth.
He stressed that no country had been able to develop without standardisation, adding that “standardisation is a common language for development”.
Mr Owusu-Gyamera also emphasised the need to inculcate the culture of standardisation in the students since they formed middle level manpower.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

WATCH UTTERANCES THAT INFLAME PASSIONS (PAGE 16)

THE Chairperson of the Western Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev. W.N.B. Appiah, has called on politicians, the media and the general public to watch their utterances and behaviour as well as desist from making comments that will inflame passions.
“You will agree with me that in the run up to the December 2008 elections, our country witnessed a state of polarisation that is unprecedented in our fledgling democracy since 1992,” he said.
Rev. Appiah said one would have expected that after the elections which culminated in the swearing-in of a new executive and the legislature, Ghanaians would put behind them all acrimony, bitterness, insults, the accusations and counter accusations that went on during the political campaign but this had not been the case.
Rev. Appiah was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 22nd Presbytery session of the Western Presbytery at the Saint Kizito Retreat Centre at Apowa in the Ahanta West District of the Western Region.
The three-day programme, on the theme, “Put on the whole armour of God” provided a platform for the 75 delegates to critically assess their performance in line with the corporate goals and objectives.
The conference was also used to deliberate on key national issues, societal challenges and matters peculiar to church and state relationships.
He noted that people had rather taken entrenched positions according to their political leanings by insulting and accusing each other in both the electronic and print media.
“As a church, we are very much concerned about this kind of situation which if not checked can destroy our nation,” he explained.
Touching on the spate of road accidents, Rev. Appiah said in times past we associated road accidents with festivals where commercial drivers were believed to be rushing for passengers, adding that what was happening now was unprecedented.
He said it was unbelievable that through accidents alone about 300 people lost their lives between January and March this year, 80 per cent of them attributable human error.
“We as a church believe our country needs everyone alive and therefore call on all stakeholders, the National Road Safety Commission, the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Authority (DVLA), the Police MTTU, Drivers Unions and passengers to do whatever they need to do with integrity to stop the carnage on our roads,” he stated.
“In the same way l call on all and urge members of the Christian community to continue to pray unceasingly to God to avert this national tragedy,” he added.
Concerning environmental sanitation, Rev. Appiah noted that the country was gradually losing its beauty as a result of wanton destruction of the forest, pollution of the water bodies and the indiscriminate littering of our streets all over the country.
Although, he said, there had been series of organised clean-up campaigns in both the past and present, gutters, drains and water bodies were still polluted with all kinds of refuse.
“We believe improving on environmental sanitation in the communities is the responsibility of all and l call on all stakeholders, the politicians, chiefs, church leaders and all opinion leaders to educate their people about the need to keep the environment clean, while at the same time the city and municipal councils and sanitation inspectors vigorously apply the bye-laws on defaulters,” he stressed.
Rev. Appiah also pointed out that conflicts, be it tribal, religious, land or chieftaincy, killed initiative and hindered development.
He explained that apart from the wanton loss of human life and property it affected productivity and retarded progress.
“The Presbyterian Church of Ghana is concerned with the numerous conflicts in the country, especially the northern part of Ghana and call on all the communities concerned to exercise maximum restraint,” he said, adding that they should therefore see reason to sit down and resolve all potential issues through dialogue.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, said the government recognised the great strides religious organisations were making in the area of education, health and relief programmes.
Such efforts, he noted, had gone a long way to complement efforts of the government in the improvement in the living conditions of the people.
Mr Aidoo said it was the government’s determination to promote vibrant state-church partnership in evolving appropriate policies to address some of the socio-economic problems the country was currently facing.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION POLICY REVISED (PAGE 23)

THE Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development has revised the environmental sanitation policy. The policy is, however, to receive Cabinet approval this year.
The policy has outlined various actions and challenges including capacity development, information, education and communication, legislation and regulation, research and development, sustainable financing and cost recovery, monitoring and evaluation as well as levels of service.
In addition, the ministry is developing strategies and action plans for the effective implementation of the policy actions.
The Programme Officer in charge of Human Resource Management and Development of the Environmental Health and Sanitation Directorate of the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Samuel Akwei Allotey, announced this at the opening ceremony of a four-day training workshop for sanitation guards of the Zoomlion Ghana Limited in Sekondi.
He said the revised policy would be given approval this year on the premise that the current government had sanitation high on its agenda.
Mr Allotey said some Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) had developed their District Environmental Sanitation Strategy and Action Plans (DESSAP).
This, he explained, would lead to the development, of a national environmental sanitation Strategy and action plans (NESSAP) and culminate in the development of an environment sanitation strategic investment plan (SIP) for sustainable financing of sanitation.
“I wish to assure you of our commitment to ensuring that Environmental Health Officers effectively play their respective roles and responsibilities of education, monitoring of sanitation services and enforcing compliance of national laws and bye laws of MMDAs”, he said.
“In this vein we intend to strengthen the environmental health and sanitation departments at all levels to ensure the improvement of sanitation in the country”, he said.
Mr Allotey added that the directorate would organise in-service training programmes for all staff at all levels to equip them with the necessary knowledge and skills to be effective in the performance of their duties and also develop information, education and communication materials for public education as well as strengthening the collaboration with the private sector.
“It is in this regard that Zoomlion Ghana Limited is collaborating with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to train sanitation guards who are to assist Environmental Health Officers in the conduct of environmental health inspections and equip them with the requisite skills for public education and law enforcement”, he explained.
“I want to crave the indulgence of all environmental health officers to use them for the purpose for which they have been engaged. The sanitation guards are not to go on inspections alone and we do not also expect two environmental health officers conduct inspections since we want you to increase coverage”, he added.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

GIVE ACCURATE REPORTAGE ON W/R — AIDOO (PAGE 36)

THE Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, has made a passionate appeal to the media in the region to ensure adequate and accurate reportage of events to enhance the image of the region.
He said the media should educate the people to refrain from negative tendencies such as indiscriminate disposal of refuse, illegal water and electricity connections, unauthorised construction of buildings, among others.
Mr Aidoo stated that those were issues that by and large retarded progress and caused diseases, social tension and economic sabotage.
The regional minister made the appeal at his maiden interaction with the media in Sekondi.
“If our people could be educated to change their attitude, l believe it would go a long way to bring about economic growth and development,” he said.
Mr Aidoo urged traditional authorities in the region, who are custodians of culture and tradition and wield a lot of influence, to use their good offices to promote peace and unity in their respective traditional areas.
“I am aware of the chieftaincy disputes in the region, which l hope Nananom will make a special effort to dispose of amicably to create an enabling environment for the forward march of the region,” he said.
Mr Aidoo gave the assurance that the government would provide quality education and provide jobs, affordable and decent housing, quality health care and security for all law-abiding citizens to go about their legitimate businesses and interests freely.
Responding to some questions, he suggested that the mining law on the payment of compensation should be amended or streamlined to help reduce conflicts between the mining companies and the affected people.
Mr Aidoo stressed that the emerging oil industry should be well managed otherwise it would not benefit people in the region.
Touching on the large-scale sale of lands in the towns and villages near the Cape Three Points where there is an oil find, he said the Lands Commission was putting up measures to solve the problem.
The Western Regional Chairman of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr George Nakene, said the media had contributed meaningfully to promote the development of the region.
He stressed that journalists were not economic saboteurs but partners in development.
Mr Nakene urged public office holders to be open and release information to reporters for public consumption otherwise a situation would be created for the media to speculate.
He explained that the press centre in Takoradi was for the promotion of democracy as well as the socio-economic development of the region.

NHIS HAS PLACED HUGE BURDEN ON HEALTH PROVIDERS (PAGE 36)

HEALTH is the state of complete physical, mental, economic, spiritual and social well-being, as well as the absence of disease and infirmity.
So it was not strange when Ghanaians embraced the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) after its introduction some years ago to enjoy affordable health care in the country.
However, the introduction of the NHIS, with its corresponding increase in attendance at health facilities, has placed a huge burden on health providers throughout the country including medical doctors, nurses and the para-medical staff.
Apart from the scheme putting pressure on the inadequate health facilities, the staff are also finding it very difficult to cope with the increases in attendance.
As of the end of June, 2008, coverage of the scheme in the Western Region was 50 per cent, though Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis and Tarkwa/Nsuaem Municipality have coverage of over 60 per cent.
It is expected that with increased sensitisation, more people will come to appreciate the usefulness of the scheme and register with it.
The Western Region has a population of 1,924,577 according to the 2000 Population and Housing Census, representing 10.2 per cent of the total population of the country. The projected 2008 population for the region is 2,477,369.
There are 17 administrative districts and 70 health sub-districts in the region.
The region has a total of 338 different categories of health facilities, including 12 government hospitals, 11 private ones, two polyclinics, 56 health centres, 161 government clinics and 92 Community Health-based Planning and Service (CHPS) compounds.
With the availability of those facilities, what is needed most are human resources, equipment and medical supplies to ensure their effective operation.
It was, therefore, heart-warming when 224 newly qualified trainees from the Ministry of Health’s training institutions selected for placement in the various districts and health facilities in the Western Region were taken through a two-day orientation/induction programme in Takoradi.
The programme was intended to facilitate the early integration of the new entrants and expose them to the challenges ahead in order to inculcate in them the appropriate attitude and work culture.
 They were taken through topics such as disease burden, operational challenges, expectations on new entrants, the creation of Ghana Health Service, the vision, mission, objectives, core values of the service and its relationship with other agencies under the Ministry of Health.
The new entrants also went through the code of conduct/ethics, offences and punishments, welfare and benefits available, as well as planning for retirement, infection prevention, patients charter, referral system, reproductive health services, data capture and management, nursing protocols and quality assurance.
At the opening of the induction and orientation programme in Takoradi, the Western Regional Head of Human Resource Management Unit of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Mr Peter Obiri-Yeboah, stated that in 2002, a study was conducted by the Human Resource Directorate of the Ghana Health Service in a bid to strengthen staff performance management system.
He said the outcome of the study indicated that most staff members were not conversant with the vision, mission and objectives of the service and as such, could not see the link between their routine functions and the goals of the service.
“It was also observed that tools such as job description, treatment schedules, guidelines and standards existed but were not known to service providers,” he said, adding, “Most staff were unaware of various codes, especially the code of conduct which was supposed to govern their conduct.”
Mr Obiri-Yeboah said those concerns culminated in the development of the induction and orientation systems as part of existing human resource management systems and implemented at all levels.
That, he further explained, was based on the conviction that staff of the GHS were the most important and valuable assets.
He said it was also based on the fact that things were likely to be strange at the early stages in their various locations and that the individual/group contributions could affect the attainment of the objectives of the service.
Mr Obiri-Yeboah said it was based on the conviction that the attitude and conduct of the new entrants in the course of their routine duties would determine the type of services the GHS would offer.
He said their early integration into the GHS family would ensure a drastic reduction in the interval between their minimum and optimum levels of productivity.
“This gathering is, therefore, intended to ensure your early integration into the GHS and at your respective districts and facilities,” he stated, adding, “It is also to ensure that you are fully aware of the vision, mission and objectives of the GHS and how you can contribute to the attainment of these objectives.”
Mr Obiri-Yeboah said it would ensure that the new entrants were conversant with existing management policies, guidelines and codes, especially the code of conduct that would regulate their conduct throughout their life in the service.
“Additionally, it will let you have a fair idea of your rights and responsibilities as staff of the service,” he emphasised.
The acting Deputy Western Regional Director of the GHS in charge of Public Health, Dr Kwaku Anin Karikari, said the mandate of the service was to provide and prudently manage comprehensive and accessible health service with special emphasis on primary health care at the regional, district and sub-district levels in accordance with the approved national policies.
He mentioned the main diseases of public health importance in the region as malaria, upper respiratory infections, diarrhoea, onchocerciasis, lymphatic filariasis, buruli ulcer, typhoid fever, poliomyelitis, yellow fever, schistosomiasis and cholera.
The rest, he said, were meningitis, measles, guinea worm, tuberculosis, yaws and leprosy.
Dr Karikari said some current human resource, welfare and community problems, as well as health staff performance, were poor data collation and reporting, poor understanding of data, non-use of data at various levels, poor inter-sectoral collaboration and interaction with communities, and poor fund and logistic flow and management.
He said other problems were the unwillingness of health institutions to fund public health programmes, poor financial management, non-planning and non-adherence to plans and staff sabotaging the free maternal care, child care and the National Health Insurance Scheme policies.
According to him, non-unitary leadership in some communities because of disputes, non-cooperation between chiefs and assembly members, apathy of communities to health institutions, revolts against health staff because of perceived bad staff attitude and the fact that some community leaders would like to control finances of community clinics were also some of the problems.
“You have been introduced to the health system, you will also be introduced to the ethics, quality and other issues which should be a guide to your work,” Dr Karikari said.
“The health sector and the GHS have objectives and targets, with your school knowledge, the induction and your future experiences at work; we expect you to fit into the system and help achieve the vision of the health sector and the nation as a whole,” he told the newly qualified personnel.

ZOOMLION TRAINS SANITATION GUARDS (PAGE 25)

ZOOMLION Ghana Limited, waste management experts, has emerged on the scene with the requisite expertise, technical and management competence and resources to support the government and the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to clean-up the cities and towns, improve the quality of the environment and to give tourism a great boost.
Currently, Zoomlion has engaged a total of 900 workers under the sanitation module of the National Youth Employment Programme in the Western Region and it is expected that additional 1,000 workers will be engaged in the region this year.
Already, Zoomlion has engaged 157 sanitation guards this year, who have undergone a four-day training programme in Sekondi, to help improve sanitation in the region.
The recruitment of the sanitation guards is to help ensure the enforcement of environmental sanitation regulations by providing auxiliary staff to support the environmental health and sanitation departments of the MMDAs and sustain the success of the various waste management initiatives.
The sanitation guards concept is also to help bring about change in the habits, behaviour, attitudes and practices among the people and also offer the youth the opportunity to be trained as professional sanitary staff for the environmental health services providing departments.
The exercise will contribute to the improvement in sanitation and help Ghanaians to live in a clean and healthy environment as well as empower the youth to take charge of maintaining descent physical environment for posterity.
The sanitation guards concept was launched by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, in collaboration with the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment in December 2006, as a pilot programme in the Techiman municipality of the Brong Ahafo Region with 40 guards.
Now, Zoomlion Ghana Limited is collaborating with the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to train the sanitation guards, who are to assist environmental health officers in enhancing the inspectorate aspect of the environmental health service and equip them with the requisite skills to educate the public and enforce regulations.
Speaking at the opening of the four-day training programme in Sekondi, the Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, said the impact of the programme compelled the ministry to extend it to other metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies. Initially, Zoomlion recruited 1,740 guards with each metropolitan assembly recruiting 10 guards for each sub-metro, 20 guards for each municipal assembly and 10 for each district assembly.
“Two years into the implementation of the concept, some challenges have occurred, thereby necessitating some structural changes in order to address them and also ensure the effective and sustainable management of the concept,” he said.
Mr Aidoo said Zoomlion was addressing some of these challenges.
For example, he said, Zoomlion had taken up the payment of salaries, thus addressing the problem of long delays in the payment of salaries to the guards.
He said the company had provided logistics such as uniforms, tricycles and instituted training programmes for the guards.
“The Western regional co-ordinating council shall support any programme aimed at improving sanitation in the districts, as enshrined in our party’s manifesto, ” he emphasised.
The Western Regional Operations Supervisor of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Mr Felix Boankrah, expressed the commitment of the company to its private customers such as industries and ministries, departments and agencies of the central government as well as the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.
“We will continue to educate the public on sanitation to create their awareness but there was the need for the public to cooperate and have a change of attitude towards indiscriminate littering, ” he stressed.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

POLICE ATTEND WORKSHOP ON ROAD SAFETY (PAGE 29)

OVER fifty personnel of the Motor Traffic and Transport Unit (MTTU) of the Ghana Police Service have attended a day’s workshop in Takoradi to be more know of motor traffic rules and regulations in order to help reduce the spate of road accidents.
The personnel who were selected from Sekondi, Takoradi and Kwesimintsim police stations were taken through the Road Traffic Act 2004, (Act 683), speeding, driving under the influence of alcohol and load height.
Speaking at the workshop, the Western Regional Manager of the National Road Safety Commission, Mr Thomas Bismark Boakye, said a survey conducted by the commission indicated that 1,225 big trucks entered Takoradi during the night, as against 800 which entered the city during the day.
This, he explained, meant that more trucks moved in the night to reduce tear and wear.
Mr Boakye said pedestrian knock downs or crashes in Takoradi was about 42 per cent, while 45 people died in the Western Region within the first two months of this year.
He announced that the MTTU would soon begin arresting floating drivers in Takoradi, since they were impatient, inconsiderate and very reckless.
Mr Boakye said the commission and the MTTU, in collaboration with the Ghana Private Road Transport Union and other transport unions would organise random road checks and periodic night operations to arrest vehicles which would load beyond the stipulated heights, particularly cola nut haulage articulated trucks.
He said they would meet at the end of every quarter of the year to take stock of their operations.
Mr Boakye said the approved maximum loading height for vehicles was 4.0 meters from the ground.
According to him there were only five sections on the Takoradi-Cape Coast road where vehicles could overtake other vehicles but the drivers did that at any point in time.
He said the Road Traffic Act had given the MTTU the necessary backing and powers for the strict and effective enforcement of the road traffic rules and regulations.
Mr Boakye, therefore, urged the MTTU personnel to be firm and not to be lax in the enforcement of the rules and regulations.
The Western Regional Commander of the MTTU, Mr Victor Adusa-Poku, said the workshop had come at a time when road accidents were on the ascendancy.
“As traffic police personnel this has become a problem which has placed a huge challenge on us,” he said.
According to the regional commander, the general perception was that the MTTU was not doing enough to curb the rate of accidents on our roads.
Mr Adusa-Poku said much of the work of the MTTU had become a challenge, since people thought that they were on the road to collect money.
“We must re-examine ourselves as traffic police and live above reproach”.
He urged the police to arrest offending drivers since the more they arrested them the more they became alert.
“Let us be more concerned about what is happening on the roads”.
He noted that the use of mobile phones, while driving was a contributory factor to the spate of accidents on the roads, even though there were no laws on the use of the phones wile driving.

APATHY STIFLES CLEAN-UP EXERCISE (PAGE 29)

CLEAN-UP exercises organised in our cities, towns and the rural communities have become part of our social life due to the irresponsible attitudes of many people.
People litter, defecate, urinate and dump refuse indiscriminately and with impunity in spite of the intensive public education the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies have carried out on sanitation, using the various FM stations and the television networks.
In our quest for a clean environment, these clean-up exercises have to be organised periodically to clear the environment of filth to avoid the outbreak of diseases such as cholera, dysentery, diarrhoea, typhoid, among others.
But many people who create the mess are beginning to exhibit general apathy and lackadaisical attitudes during these clean-up exercises.
A case in point is on Friday, February 13 , 2009 when the Western Regional Co-ordinating Council (WRCC) launched a massive clean-up exercise in the region, which was to be followed by the organisation of clean-up exercises in the 17 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in the region.
The Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly organised a clean-up exercise on the following day, Saturday, February 14 , 2009 to tidy up the metropolis.
It was observed during the exercise that some people stood by unconcerned while others participated fully in the clean-up exercise.
At the Takoradi Central Market, popularly known as the Market Circle, the market women and other traders who created the filth sat comfortably in front of their stores around the market watching the military and other security personnel as well as some good citizens religiously undertaking the clean-up exercise.
Obviously they were patiently waiting for the exercise to end in order to begin trading to put the place in another mess.
This is not an isolated case, since this has been happening in other cities, towns and the communities during such clean-up exercises all over the country.
The Chief Director of the Western Regional Co-ordinating Council, Mr David Yaro, made it clear during the regional launch of the clean-up campaign that any programme that dealt with sanitation was very important since it had a linkage with human resource development.
Ghana, he said, was rated the third dirtiest country in Africa when evaluating sanitation conditions.
This, he said, has not brought any good image to the country and, therefore, called on everybody to come on board to make the country clean.
“Our good name is at stake so let us all come on board to make the programme a success,” Mr Yaro emphasised.
The Environmental Services Providers Association (ESPA) collaborated with its members in the Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolis to support the assembly with logistics such as refuse trucks, tipper trucks, pay loaders, wheel barrows, pick axes and shovels.
The Secretary of the ESPA, Mrs Vera Yankah, observed that sanitation issues had assumed national dimensions and that there was the need for the association to design ways which would help tackle the problem.
She said monitoring the activities of its members and assisting them would ensure that they lived up to expectation by lifting refuse containers promptly and regularly as well as servicing the industries, hospitals and the well planned residential areas.
The Western Regional Operations Supervisor of Zoomlion Ghana, waste management experts, Mr Felix Boankrah, who participated fully in the exercise with the staff of the company stressed that the company’s effort to wage a war against waste would be in vain if the negative behavioural patterns of the general public did not change.

UTILITY SERVICE PROVIDERS UNDER FIRE (PAGE 29)

Utility service providers in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis have been criticised for their poor service delivery.
Residents in the twin-city blame the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) for the frequent power outages, and the Ghana Water Company (GWCL) for the irregular water supply to the metropolis.
There have been intermittent power outages in the metropolis, which is negatively affecting businesses and industries.
Last week for example, there was a power outage in the greater part of Takoradi for four consecutive days, which affected financial institutions, industries and companies, including the offices of the Graphic Communications Group within the central business district stretching from the Takoradi Central Market to the Takoradi Harbour area.
This was attributed to defects on an underground cable which took the ECG four days to rectify.
Also, water shortage in the metropolis is regular.
It is against this backdrop that the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) has organised a day’s consumer services planning workshop for the utility service providers with the view to developing an effective planning and benchmarking process which will establish well defined goals, objectives, lines of responsibilities.
The process will also highlight PURC’s consumer service standards in order to evolve a sustainable mechanism to improve upon customer service delivery.
The commission has also moved a step forward by promoting consumer collaboration in the process by establishing a consumer services committee in Sekondi. It is made up of ordinary citizens in the community, who will support the commission in the implementation of its policies and programmes.
The participants were taken through topics such as competitive advantage, attitudes for success, complaints management, benchmarking, customer service planning, building the team and monitoring.
The PURC was established by the PURC Act 1997, (Act 538) to regulate and oversee the provision of utility services in the country.
Opening of the workshop, the Executive Secretary of the PURC,Mr Stephen Adu, said the consumer service was at the heart of the business of utility service delivery and that the commission was interested and committed to ensuring consumer satisfaction.
“The commission, therefore, reiterates its commitment to consumers by constantly reviewing its activities with the view to enhancing quality utility service delivery that fulfils consumer satisfaction”, he said.
Mr Adu said the PURC was refocusing its priorities and strategies through a series of programmes and activities to educate, sensitise and create awareness among consumers on their rights and responsibilities.
Such programmes and activities, he explained, included instituting educational programmes for schools dubbed “catch them young”, establishing consumer service committees as “watchdogs” in the districts, conducting consumer satisfaction surveys and workshops on “quality customer service delivery”.
“The onerous duty to deliver quality customer services is a shared responsibility for both the utility provider and the regulator”, he emphasised adding that the need for cooperation, collaboration and partnership in that endeavour could not be overemphasised”.
Such collaboration with the utilities, he said, had so far been beneficial culminating in the improvement in complaints management, re-equipping of cousumer service centres and establishment of toll free call centres that inured to the benefit of consumers, among others.
The consumer service planning workshop was intended to strategise together as partners on how to plan to continuously to put smiles on the faces of consumers in a sustainable manner.
The Director of Consumer Services of the PURC, Mrs Mami Dufie Ofori, further explained that the workshop was a continuation of the commission’s efforts to put consumer services at the forefront of utility service delivery.
Also, she said, it was to reinforce the commission’s commitment in ensuring the provision of quality service through collaboration with key stakeholders specifically, the service providers.

Monday, April 6, 2009

CHINA-GHANA FRIENDSHIP SCHOOL GETS NEW CLASSROOM BLOCK (PAGE 11)

A SIX-CLASSROOM block for the China-Ghana Friendship Basic School Complex has been completed at Mpohor in the Mpohor Wassa East District in the Western Region to provide good and quality education in the community.
The school consists of storage cabinets, headteacher’s office and a store-room, a library, staff common room, as well as washrooms. All the rooms are furnished.
It has also a kindergarten block made up of two rooms, supervisor’s office, eating area, store-room, sick bay, toilets, a bath area and an exclusive play area. The school is fenced and has an entrance porch with a security post.
The Chinese government donated $1,000,000 to the government of Ghana for the construction of three model basic schools, one each in the Central, Western and Greater Accra regions of the country.
The school complex was constructed by Qing Dao Construction Group Corporation of China.
Speaking at the opening and handover at Mpohor at the weekend, a Deputy Minister of Education, Dr J. S. Annan, said as part of interventions to improve education delivery, the ministry would continue to provide infrastructural facilities at the pre-school level through collaboration with the district assemblies and other non-state actors.
In addition, he said, the ministry would continue with the programme of upgrading basic school infrastructure throughout the country to further expand and improve existing infrastructure.
He said the upgrading programme involved the construction of facilities such as science laboratories, classrooms, dormitories, libraries and administration blocks.
He stated further that rehabilitation works would be undertaken on existing classrooms and pieces of furniture would be provided.
“The Government, through the Ministry of Education, will also ensure effective utilisation of the capitation grant by empowering regional directorates to monitor its implementation and assist weaker districts through capacity building,” he added.
Consequently, he said, this had resulted in a paradigm shift in our educational agenda skewed towards the development of institutional capacities and human resources in the different disciplines in the oil industry.
The Chinese Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Yu Wenzhe explained that the three rural schools donated by the Chinese government were initially proposed in the Beijing Summit of China Africa Cooperation Forum.
During the summit, he said China and Africa agreed to forge a new type of China-Africa strategic partnership and strengthen the cooperation in various areas and at a higher lever.
Mr Wenzhe said the Chinese government had adopted eight measures to strengthen cooperation with Africa, covering many areas, including political, trade, investment, education, health and agriculture.
“In Ghana, the construction of the Ministry of Defence office block, the Kumasi Youth Centre, the Ofankor-Nsawam road and the three rural schools are already finished,” he said.
“The Bui Dam, Sunon-Asogli Power Plant and the students dormitory of the Labour College of the African Trade Union Unity are also going on smoothly,” he added.
He said a general hospital with an anti-malarial centre at Teshie would be constructed very soon.
In the field of human resources cooperation, he said besides the Chinese government scholarships and short-term training programmes, China would also send agricultural experts, a medical team and youth volunteers to Ghana.
The Member of Parliament for Mpohor Wassa East, Mr A. E. Amoah said the initiative was good for the area since it would help to increase enrolment.
The Omanhene of the Mpohor Traditional Area, Osabarima Kwaw Entsie II, expressed his gratitude to the government and the Chinese government for putting up the edifice that would enable the children from Mpohor and its environs to access good and quality education.
“We are now in a global world and our lives are geared towards ICT,” he stated, adding that, this nice facility needed to be stocked with computers to enable the pupils that would have the opportunity to go through it to acquire computer skills from here.

Sunday, April 5, 2009

JOMORO ASSEMBLY SWEARS IN GOVT APPOINTEES (PAGE 17)

TWELVE out of the 13 government appointees for the Jomoro District Assembly of the Western Region have been sworn-in with a call on them to be courageous and bold in the performance of their duties.
The Jomoro District Magistrate, Mr Prince Andrew Cudjoe, who swore them in, urged them to discharge their duties creditably and efficiently.
He advised the appointees not to lord it over their communities but endeavour to serve and help them to improve on their living conditions.
In his opening remarks, the Jomoro District Co-ordinating Director, Mr R. A. Acheampong, commended the appointees for their appointment and exhorted them to approach their work with dedication, determination, commitment, humility and patriotism.
Mr Acheampong urged them to be hard working and also perform their duties in line with the mission statement of the district assembly.
He informed the appointees of a forthcoming orientation course, and advised them to take it very serious to be abreast of the district assembly concept.
He expressed the hope that they would work hand-in-hand with the other assembly members to enhance the smooth and orderly development of the district.

RCC DOES NOT RECOGNISE SPOKESPERSONS — AIDOO (PAGE 17)

THE Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, has said the Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) does not recognise any group purported to have been formed to be the mouthpiece or spokespersons for the region.
He said the 17 district, municipal and metropolitan chief executives, the 17 presiding members as well as the 22 paramountcies and other politicians in the Western Region were enough to speak for the region in terms of development and other social issues.
“There are no other politicians than these persons who can be the spokespersons for the region,” he emphasised.
Mr Aidoo was addressing the Ahanta Traditional Council at Busua in the Ahanta West District after he had been officially introduced to the council.
“We don’t recognise such group in the Western Region, don’t recognise any group formed to be the mouthpiece of the region,” he said.
He called for unity among the chiefs and urged them not to allow their political leaning to affect the development efforts of the region.
Mr Aidoo said unity was very crucial to solving the numerous problems militating against the effective development of the region.
The Paramount Chief of the Ahanta Traditional Area and Member of the Council of State, Otumfour Baidoo Bonsoe XV, said the chiefs would assist the regional minister in all his activities towards the rapid socio-economic development of the region.
He urged the regional co-ordinating council to include in its priority list the provision of electricity, the rehabilitation of the road network and other development projects lacking in the district.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

ARSENAL HOLD WISE (BACK PAGE)

Berekum Arsenal held Sekondi Eleven Wise to a 1-1 draw in their Premier League match at the Sekondi Stadium yesterday.
Eleven Wise got the opener on the 31st minute through Eric Owusu when he headed home a corner kick from Dennis Ofori.
Arsenal equalised on the 38th minute when skipper Frank Yeboah shot a free kick outside the Eleven Wise penalty box straight into the net.
Wise dominated play, particularly in the second half, but woefully failed to convert the many clear opportunities that came their way.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

TULLOW ENGAGES CONSULTANT ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT (PAGE 40)

TULLOW Ghana Limited, which is developing the Jubilee Oil Field at Cape Three Points in the Western Region, has commissioned Environmental Resources Management (ERM) UK, in collaboration with ESL Consulting Ghana, to undertake the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for Phase One of the Jubilee Field oil development.
The EIA will describe the project, assess the likely positive and negative impacts and describe the plans to be put in place to manage those impacts.
The Environmental Advisor of Tullow Ghana Limited, Mr Rex Quick, announced this in Takoradi at a sensitisation programme with the chief fishermen from the coastal towns in the Western Region.
He stated that the EIA, along with comments received from stakeholders, would be submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which would decide whether or not to authorise the proposed project.
Mr Quick said the key issues identified during the scoping study included the project’s impacts on water, that is, from disposal of excess water from the wells into the sea, as well as discharges to the sea and impacts on water quality.
He said the discharges included cooling system water, ballast water, sewage and drainage.
Mr Quick stated that there would also be impact on the atmosphere as a result of the exhaust emissions from support vessels and helicopters, exhaust emissions from power generation from gas turbines on a customised ship called Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel.
The FPSO vessel will be permanently moored in the Jubilee Field at approximately 1,000 water depth where oil from the wells would be transferred through a number of flexible pipes attached to well heads on the seabed.
The oil from the wells will be processed on the FPSO vessel and crude oil will be stored on board.
Mr Quick further stated that the oil development project would also have an impact on waste management due to the disposal of solid waste from the FPSO and support vessels.
He added that there would be an impact on biodiversity due to seabed ‘footprint’ of subsea infrastructure resulting in seabed disturbances and impacts on the communities.
He said the socio-economic impact of the project would include tax revenue payable to the government, creation of direct and indirect employment opportunities, influx of people seeking employment and business opportunities.
Mr Quick said there would be exclusion of commercial and recreational vessels and fishermen from safety zones around the FPSO and tankers, potential impact on fish resources due to the presence of structures and vessels and discharges as well as secondary impacts on commercial fisheries.
The environmental advisor said there could be accidental events which could include oil spills and fires which could have impacts on marine and coastal resources and associated socio-economic effects and trans-boundary effects.
According to Mr Quick, the Environmental Impact Assessment would consider the cumulative impacts of existing projects, the proposed projects and planned future projects.
The Corporate Social Responsibility Senior Advisor of Tullow Ghana Limited, Okyeame Ampadu-Agyei, said socio-economic impacts of the project were expected to arise and that the impact might affect a wide range of stakeholders.
These stakeholders, he said, included fishermen, shore-based activities at Sekondi/Takoradi, land-based activities at the Efasu area, as well as high expectations from the oil development.



Okyeame Ampadu-Agyei said the oil company had set up social responsibility committees at the community, district and national levels to serve as consultative bodies to ensure the delivery of development projects to the beneficiary communities.
He said the corporate social responsibility programme objectives and focus areas were on health, education, enterprise development and biodiversity conservation.
The Well Engineering Manager of Tullow, Mr Alan Dowokpor, said the Jubilee Field oil development project was a real fast-track project by anybody’s standard in terms of the project size.
He stated that it took some countries about 10 years for pumping of the oil out but it would take Ghana three years to bring the oil out.
Mr Dowokpor said four out of the 17 wells had been drilled.
He said Tullow had completed the exploration of the Jubilee Field and was in the process of developing it to produce oil.
“There may be further phases of exploration and development and it is estimated that the field could have a 20 to 30-year lifespan,” he stated.
The chief fisherman of Axim Lower Town, Nana Kwasi Bin, urged the oil company to involve the chief fishermen in all its corporate social responsibility activities.

2 CASES OF ACUTE FLACCID PARALYSIS DETECTED (PAGE 20)

THE Western Regional Health Administration has detected two cases of acute flaccid paralysis, a syndrome in which affected persons legs cannot be stretched or flexed but are hanging.
The stool of the affected persons has been sent to the Noguchi Memorial Medical Research Institute for test to find out whether it was caused by wide polio virus infection.
The acting Deputy Western Regional Director in charge of Public Health, Dr Kwaku Anin Karikari, announced this at a press briefing on the second round of the polio national immunisation days from March 26 and 28, this year.
He stated that if the test proved positive, then it would show that there were still active acute polio virus cases in the region and that the health administration should intensify its immunisation programme.
He said if it proved otherwise, then it showed that there were no wild polio virus cases in the region.
“We are not looking for polio, but acute flaccid paralysis, a syndrome,” Dr Karikari emphasised.
He said the target population were children between 0 and 59 months and the strategy was a house-to-house campaign.
The deputy director said every house should be visited by teams and that all health facilities would have fixed post to handle the issue.
He urged parents to immunise and protect their children against the childhood disease and also complete the child’s immunisation before the child was 12 months old, since every unprotected child was a threat to the society in terms of infection.
Dr Karikari said during the round one of the polio immunisation days in February, this year, oral polio vaccine coverage was 98.6 per cent while vitamin A coverage was 94.9 per cent.
He said during the round one of the immunisation days, social mobilisation at all levels was generally good for the campaign.
He added that collaborators supported majority of the districts with vehicles even though no district reported of financial support from the district assemblies.
Meanwhile, in a statement to mark the World Tuberculosis (TB) Day, Dr Karikari said the region recorded a marked improvement in treatment outcomes in 2008.
He said the regional cure rate among patients placed on treatment in 2007 was 74 per cent compared with 63 per cent for 2006 cohort.
The treatment success rate, Dr Karikari said, was 73 per cent and 86 per cent for 2006 and 2007, respectively.
“Over the years, the gap between treatment success and cure rate has narrowed, an indication of improved management with sputum smear result being used to determine outcome in and more patients,” he stated.

83 AGRIC WORKERS ATTEND WORKSHOP (PAGE 20)

THE Securities and Exchange Commission has organised a day’s workshop for 83 stakeholders in the agricultural sector in the Western Region to deliberate on the best approach and model which will lead to the establishment of a commodities exchange and warehouse receipt system in the country.
The workshop was on the theme: “Improving Commodity Trade and Finance in Ghana Through the Establishment of a Viable Commodities Exchange and Warehouse Receipt System”.
The workshop was also to seek input into the design of an effective and efficient commodities exchange and warehouse system to help improve agricultural marketing, trade and finance as well as reducing post-harvest losses.
After the workshop, the commission will begin the process to put in place an appropriate legal and regulatory framework that would fit the model to be decided on by the participants.
In an address read on his behalf to open the workshop in Takoradi, the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Dr Nii Kwaku Sowa, said the commission, the statutory regulator of the capital market in Ghana, was of the view that every capital market must be designed to meet the needs of the national economy and provide investment opportunities for investors.
He said apart from industry, one area of great potential that had been of concern to the commission had been agriculture.
Dr Sowa added that Ghana had great potential and competencies in agriculture yet it had over the years failed to exploit them.
“It has been found that the main reason why our great farmers remain poor with poor returns for their efforts is because the agricultural sector is fraught with several market imperfections and impediments which together, pose numerous risks for any meaningful investment to be made in the agricultural sector,” he stated.
Those risks, Dr Sowa said, were perceived to be so high that almost all financial institutions, including banks and insurance companies, were reluctant to provide credit or risk cover to participants in the sector.
“Over the years, investment and credit to the sector keep falling. It is a known fact that even land is not acceptable for collateral lending to the agricultural sector in Ghana,” he stated.
Dr Sowa said instead of becoming a net exporter of agricultural produce, including food crops, the country was gradually becoming a net importer.
That, he said, was seriously affecting the fiscal balance and the overall macro-economic stability of the country.
“The country’s performance in the cocoa industry indicates that with proper organisation and some interventions by way of a commodities exchange, we can improve the efficiencies and effectiveness of the performance of the entire value chain in the agricultural sector,” he said.
“Today, Malaysia has a commodities exchange dedicated only to one cash crop—crude palm oil, and has been able to transform the palm oil industry such that world market prices for palm oil is quoted from Malaysia”, Dr Sowa added.
He said that also meant that Malaysia had become a price giver and not a price taker for palm oil sales on the world market.
Dr Sowa stated that “Commodities exchange provides for market transparency, efficient price discovery and also helps farmers to gain easy access to credit, ready markets and provide a potent tool for managing price fluctuations”.
He said in the end, producers, consumers, processors and market intermediaries gained from the operations of the commodities exchange.

COMPANIES AROUND OIL FIND ADOPT PLANS (PAGE 20)

IN the past few years, when oil was discovered in a commercial quantities off-shore the Cape Three Points in the Western Region, some communities within the vicinity of the oil find have been developing comprehensive programmes to ensure that they derive maximum benefits from the oil find.
This is because those communities have been wallowing in abject poverty, as most of them earn a living from subsistence farming, which is from hand to mouth.
Besides, they have taken cognisance of the fact that mining communities in the Western Region have not received the maximum benefits they deserved with all the environmental and other problems they face as a result of the mining activities.
For that reason, instead of mining contributing to the improvement of the living conditions of the affected communities, it rather worsens the situation.
Sometimes, the situation results in frequent agitation and confrontations leading to fatalities.
To avoid a similar situation, the communities near the area where the oil has been found, are drawing up meaningful development plans to ensure that they derive the maximum benefits so that the oil find becomes a blessing to them not a curse.
In order to realise the laudable dream, a consortium of three investors in the oil and gas industry have developed a sustainable economic development and training initiative towards the sustainable socio-economic development of communities around the Cape Three Points.
The companies are Can-African Development Associates, Sigma-Basestar Technical Services (Ghana) Limited and Rangeland Engineering-Canada. Copies of the documents have been presented to the Ahanta Traditional Council in the Western, a beneficiary of the project.
The consortium will conduct fundraising rallies to raise GH¢5 million from the government as well as the private sector as regional development fund towards the creation of business and other economic activities in the Cape Three Point area.
According to the document, the investors’ primary purpose is to obtain resources to undertake a four-year pilot project to increase the capacities of communities around the Cape Three Point to identify and pursue viable economic development initiatives.
They will also develop five viable and sustainable oil related business opportunities to diversify the communities’ economic base which is currently focused on small-scale farming and fishing activities and develop community-supported economic development organisations in 10 communities.
They will train 100 economic development officers to promote oil related business, assist in job creation and skills development.
The investors will conduct research activities to provide fact-finding data to enhance development activities and also initiate community environmental and development awareness campaign programmes to gain support from the people towards the project and evaluate the pilot project objectives for a successful indicators and implementation strategies.
According to the document, the purpose of the initiative is to improve the capacity of the people in the Cape Three Point area in order to get access to employment and income opportunities from the newly found oil drilling projects in the area.
The Ahanta Traditional Council in the Ahanta West District has organised a mini-durbar at Busua for a delegation of the investors during which copies of the sustainable economic development and training initiative were presented to the President of the council, Otunfuo Baidoo Bonsoe XV.
Speaking at the durbar, the chief of Aketekyi, Nana Bonzah, stated that the initiative was synonymous to the sowing of the mustard seed and that if well nurtured, would help to improve the living conditions of the people in the area.
He said the Ahanta area was deprived, and was among the least developed areas in the country, adding that despite living in the midst of plenty of natural resources, the area continued to wallow in poverty.
Nana Bonzah stated that the presence of the investors was by divine intervention, and therefore, called for co-operation and collaboration between the people and the investors towards the implementation of the economic development initiative.
The Executive Chairman of Sigma-Basestar Technical Services (Ghana) Limited and leader of the delegation, Dr S.M.O. Amachree, said the consortium would share their expertise and experience with the people in the area and help them on how to articulate to benefit from the emerging oil industry.
He stated that the model which had been developed would help the people to take advantage of the oil industry and to ensure that they derived maximum benefit from the oil industry.