Sunday, February 28, 2010

MINNG COMPANY. NGO ASSIST AKYEMPIM CLINIC (PAGE 22, FEB 13, 2010)

GOLDEN Star (Wassa Mine) Limited, in collaboration with Project Cure, an international non-governmental organisation, has presented medical equipment and supplies worth US$400,000 to the Akyempim clinic in the Mpohor Wassa East District in the Western Region and other clinics in the surrounding communities.
The gesture is aimed at improving health delivery in the area.
The Mining Manager of Golden Star (Wassa Mine), Mr Henry Tandoh, who made the presentation, said the donation formed part of the mining company’s corporate social responsibility to the people in the catchment area.
He said the specialised equipment which could not be used in the beneficiary clinics would be sent to the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital in Sekondi.
The Deputy Western Regional Director of Clinical Health, Dr Robert Sagoe, who received the items, commended the donors for the gesture.
Dr Sagoe said the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital needed many facilities to enable it to deliver quality service to people.
The Member of Parliament (MP) for Mpohor Wassa East, Mr A.E. Amoah, urged the monitoring unit of the district health directorate to ensure that the equipment was serviced regularly, since lack of maintenance had been the bane of the country’s facilities.
 
                                                       
 

 
 

CALM RETURNS TO ARCHBISHOP PORTER ...But parents want children home (1b, FEB 12, 2010)

Story: Kwame Asiedu-Marfo, Takoradi

CALM appears to have returned to Archbishop Porter Girls’ Senior High School after it was afflicted by a suspected case of food poisoning last Wednesday.
About 100 students who were plagued by stomach pains, vomiting, diarrhoea and general weakness after meals last Wednesday were rushed to the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital, suspected to be suffering from food poisoning.
But the cause was not immediately known, as the authorities awaited the results of tests being conducted by the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) and the Ghana Standards Board which took samples of water and food from the school to ascertain the real cause.
Some of the students, however, said they suspected that the water tank which was recently cleaned and refilled or the rice with groundnut soup which they took for lunch on Tuesday could provide some clues.
Eighty of the students were treated and discharged, while the rest were admitted at the Effia Nkwanta and the Essikado hospitals for observation.
Those who were discharged but still showed signs of weakness and dizziness were sent back to the Effia Nkwanta Hospital for review.
While the school authorities and health workers apply measures to normalise the situation, the incident has struck panic among parents who have moved to the school and are pleading for the school to be closed down so that they can take their children home to take proper care of them.
Parents and the authorities of the school are discussing whether or not the school should be closed down.
According to the parents, since the cause of the problem could not immediately be ascertained, the students should be allowed to go home until the situation was brought under control.
Some of the parents who spoke to the Daily Graphic expressed concern over the situation and explained that the sick children, when left alone in the school, would feel reluctant to take their medications, noting that if the students were allowed to be with their parents, the parents would make sure that their children took their medications.
As of press time a meeting was being held between the school authorities and the parents on the school premises to plot the way forward.
The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the school, Mr J.K. Quayson, said the authorities could not close down the school but that parents who were desirous of taking their sick children home could do so.
The Western Regional Director of Health, Dr (Mrs) Linda Vanotoo, said it was good for the parents to know what had happened but explained that there were several organisms and viruses that could cause cholera or food poisoning, adding that cholera and food poisoning were both associated with diarrhoea and vomiting.
“We have not diagnosed diarrhoea or food poisoning,” she stressed, adding, “Investigations are still going on.”
The Member of Parliament for Essikadu-Ketan, Mr Joe Ghartey, said nobody should apportion blame for the unfortunate situation and advised the students to take the advice of the medical team to bring the situation under control.
Meanwhile, a medical team led by the Deputy Western Regional Director of Health, Dr Kwaku Annin Karikari, has mounted a 24-hour surveillance on the school to monitor the situation, while a tent has been erected for emergency cases.
According to Dr Karikari, the situation was under control, adding that the team would continue to monitor the situation.
Anxious parents and guardians who had travelled from far and near besieged the main gate of the school, wanting to find out whether their children and wards were victims, but they were initially prevented from entering the school.
They were later allowed in, with the assurance that the school authorities were expected to have a meeting with them and brief them on the situation.

Friday, February 26, 2010

TAKORADI POLY TO SET UP COMMITTEES...To study student leadership (PAGE 11, FEB 1, 2010)

THE Takoradi Polytechnic Council is to appoint an ad hoc committee on student leadership and campus life that will ensure that the necessary systems are in place to help students with their various programmes.
The committee will also look at how management can foster effective interactions among different groups on campus.
The Chairman of the Polytechnic Council, Dr George K.T. Oduro, announced this at a press soiree in Takoradi for journalists which afforded officials of the polytechnic, the opportunity to make public, their vision and programmes.
“We need to celebrate diversity, but we also need to move to a new level of unity,” he explained, adding “We need a warm and welcoming climate here so that people from varying backgrounds can feel safe, productive, and be satisfied that they are being evaluated on the quality of their work”.
Dr Oduro said he wanted the campus to be educationally and culturally invigorating, warm and welcoming to the top students, lecturers and staff that the polytechnic sought to attract.
He noted that the most important thing the polytechnic could offer the students was excellent lecturers, and that he was extremely impressed with the quality of lecturers and the national reputation many enjoyed.
“I am impressed with their commitment to teach, pursuit of research and performance of public service activities,” he added.
“It is true that there is no polytechnic without lecturers, but l believe that there can be no great polytechnic without great lecturers,” he noted.
He, therefore, pledged that the polytechnic council would work to maintain and strengthen the lecturers and staff and to ensure that their conditions of service were as competitive as it could possibly make them, and ensure that they corresponded with the talents and abilities of the individuals.
Dr Oduro said the polytechnic authorities would be demanding a tremendous amount of efforts from the lecturers, and asked them not only to be experts in their academic disciplines, but also to master new technologies, and develop new teaching techniques.
He called on the lecturers to develop new rich programmes and create learning opportunities that simultaneously provided services and promoted economic development in their communities and region, adding that “When they respond to these challenges with enthusiasm, we must also reward them”.
The council chairman said the bar had been raised, and that it permeated every aspect of the polytechnic and that students must be serious about their academic work, and must be strongly encouraged to take advantage of all the opportunities they had.
Dr Oduro said his vision for the Takoradi Polytechnic called for a selective expansion of research and undergraduate programmes in those areas where the polytechnic had a competitive clear advantage.
“I will be asking the new rector to do a top-bottom review of all our undergraduate programmes to give us a clear picture of the relative stature of our research and artistic efforts”, he said.
He, therefore, stressed the need to identify and invest in three-to-five interdisciplinary areas of excellence that would help define Takoradi Polytechnic to the external world.
Dr Oduro further stressed the need for a coherent plan, as well as new structures and processes to be put in place to support the integration and the kind of change that would be needed to fully realise this vision.
In view of this, he said he was exploring many options to elevate and ensure coherence in their regional presence, and planned to announce those changes within the next few months.
Dr Oduro emphasised that the expectation was there, and that people in the Western Region wanted value for their Ghanaian Cedis and they wanted a quality “brand” to be connected with the Takoradi Polytechnic.
At the same time, he said communities in the region had countless needs for which they sought renewed lecturer attitude and staff expertise.
Also, he said the citizens and policy makers rightly expected Takoradi Polytechnic to bring its expertise to bear on the challenges that faced the growing and amazingly complex region.
The national stature will grow if they were able to live up to the expectation in the region, whose capital Takoradi, is now the fastest growing and most economically and culturally vibrant area in the country.
Dr Oduro said whenever citizens of the region thought about higher education, they should automatically turn to Takoradi Polytechnic first.
He announced that the polytechnic council had begun plans for Takoradi Polytechnic’s first major fundraising campaign.
He explained that an important element in the planning process with the Takoradi Polytechnic Endowment Fund Foundation would be setting the highest possible overall campaign fundraising goal, which must be set only after careful analysis.
The Rector of the Takoradi Polytechnic, Rev. Professor Daniel A. Nyarko said management recognised the role the media was playing not only for the orderly development of the polytechnic, but for the nation as a whole.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

MAHAMA CUTS SOD FOR EXPANSION OF THERMAL PLANT (SPREAD, JAN 19, 2010)

THE Vice-President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, yesterday cut the sod for the commencement of the expansion of the Takoradi Thermal Power Plant at Aboadze in the Shama District of the Western Region.
The 132-megawatt capacity combined cycle plant will consist of four gas turbines, four heat recovery steam generators and two steam turbines. The gas turbines will run on light oil, diesel oil and natural gas.
The project is being financed with a loan from the Canadian government, the Societe General of Canada and the Investment Bank at a cost of US$185,358,651, with the main contractors for the project being the Canadian Commercial Corporation.
With regard to power generation, Ghana’s power supply sources are mainly from hydro-electricity, thermal from light crude oil and a small percentage of photo-voltaic solar.
At present, the country has an installed generation capacity of about 2,000MW, with the Akosombo Dam generating 1,020MW, while the Kpong Dam produces 160MW.
In the case of thermal power generation, TAPCO (VRA) produces 330MW; TAQA, 220MW; the Mines Reserve Plant, 80MW and the Tema Thermal Power Plant, 126MW, while the Emergency Power Plant generates 126MW.
Currently, the country’s peak demand for power is about 1,350MW.
At the ceremony, Mr Mahama said the government had committed itself to increasing the current installed power generation capacity of about 2,000MW to 5,000MW by 2015.
That, he explained, was to make energy available for industrial, and domestic use.
“The vision of the energy sector is to provide adequate and reliable energy supplies for all sectors of the economy to support socio-economic development, poverty reduction and also for export,” he added.
He said the country's vision was to become a net exporter of power and the government was undertaking the construction of some power plants to achieve that objective.
Notable among them, he said, was the Bui Hydro-electric Power Project that sought to add 400MW to the existing power generation capacity in the country.
The Vice-President said in addition to the Bui Project, the government would develop smaller hydro-power plant on the River Oti, which was expected to produce 90MW, and also at Heman, to produce 95MW, and at Awisam to generate about 50MW.
He said the Brazilian government had also provided a loan of US$250 million for the construction of the Juale Plant.
Mr Mahama said the government would continue with the implementation of the National Electrification Programme (NEP), which was started in 1990, under which about 478 communities were connected to the national grid.
Since then, he said, about 4,000 communities had been connected to the grid.
For his part, a Deputy Minister for Energy, Dr Kwabena Donkor, said the country’s power generation challenge had been aggravated by the use of obsolete transmission and distribution infrastructure.
“It is sad to note that transformers and their associated equipment manufactured and installed in the early 1960s still form the backbone of our transmission and distribution infrastructure. As a nation, we have collectively under-invested in the power sector after the 1960s,” he said.
Dr Donkor said the government was aware that driving an energy-based economy would require the effective management of the power system and the fullest support of the citizenry to ensure adequate, reliable and cost-effective power supply.
He said the government was aware of the difficulties in the chain of distribution and acknowledged its responsibilities in that direction to ensure adequate energy supply to commerce and industry needed for the creation of a buoyant economy.
Dr Donkor said the government would support the Ghana Grid Company (GRICO) and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) to improve their status, as the transmission system presently was undergoing reinforcement to improve reliability and reduce vulnerability of the network.
He said the government would also support the expansion capacity of the network, which would carry load growth and modernise the entire transmission system to meet internationally acceptable standards.
The minister said in returning to international standards of excellence in service delivery, “we will have to collectively confront the high commercial losses experienced in the distribution chain”.
He said while an increase in investment would significantly reduce technical losses, the theft of power through illegal connections, culminating in commercial losses, must be addressed.
“We, therefore, call on the security agencies, community groups and patriotic-minded individuals to help the ECG and the VRA to bring this under control by arresting and reporting the perpetrators who live in our communities to the authorities,” he said.
The Canadian High Commissioner to Ghana, Mr Darren Schemmer, said Ghana and Canada had been partners in development for more than a century.
He said Canada used its natural resources as a springboard to develop, just as Ghana had started doing today, noting, “We expect to see more collaboration between the two countries in the years ahead.”
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, called on the contractors to consider employing some of the local residents.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

BUSINESS ADVISORY CENTRES PROMOTE SME ACTIVITIES (PAGE 22, JAN 9, 2010)

ELEVEN Business Advisory Centres (BACs) of the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) carried out a total of 104 major activities in the Western Region last year to promote, sustain and improve small-scale businesses in the region.
These included 25 management training programmes, 48 technical/community based training programmes, five NVTI certificate programmes, 10 leadership/group dynamics programmes, six stakeholder meetings and nine business orientation seminars.
The programmes benefited 2,636 participants, made up of 1,151 male and 1,485 females.
Also, 1,606 potential and practising entrepreneurs called at the BACs for various forms of advice and counselling in the areas of business registration and finance.
They were made up of 704 males and 902 females.
The period under review also saw trade associations benefiting from the services of the board.
These included the Association of Small Scale Industries (ASSI), Federation of Ghana Jewellers,the Ghana National Tailors and Dressmakers Association in Takoradi, Fish Farmers and the Ghana Hairdressers and Beauticians Association at Enchi.
There are 11 Business Advisory Centres in the Western Region which are located at Takoradi, Daboase, Agona Nkwanta, Axim, Half Assini, Tarkwa, Enchi, Asankrangua, Sefwi Wiawso, Bibiani and Juaboso.
There are also plans to establish four additional offices in Ellembelle, Bia, Akontombra and Shama.
A regional team of the NBSSI is going round to monitor and follow-up on activities being implemented in the respective districts.
Concerning interventions provided for Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) in the region for the period between January and September 2009, a total of 832 entrepreneurs have benefited from technical training programmes. Three hundred and forty-one others had been trained in different management training programmes ranging from costing and pricing, marketing, the management of working capital, customer care, among others, with 64 entrepreneurs being sent on study tours.
Also, 118 graduate apprentices were assisted to write their NVTI proficiency examinations, while 195 potential entrepreneurs were given training in entrepreneurship, with 55 enterprises assisted to formalise their businesses with the Registrar General’s Department.
The Western Regional Manager of the NBSSI, Mr John G. Koomson, told the Daily Graphic that the interventions had facilitated in the creation of 350 new businesses and the creation of 541 new jobs, while 276 enterprises had adapted to the use of new technologies.
Touching on projects of the board, he said, it had embarked on the development of a market oriented planning tool for the districts to identify their economic potentials through private and public sector institutions in the districts and develop, as well as distribute district profiles for almost all the districts in the Western Region.
Mr Koomson said the NBSSI was collaborating with Ricerca e Cooperazione (RC) in developing local market linkages in the tourism supply chain and community based tourism in the Ahanta West District and the Nzema East Municipality of the Western Region.
He explained that the interventions carried out under this co-operation resulted in 82 practising and potential entrepreneurs being given training on business management skills, while 35 town tourism committee members had training in tourism destination management skills.
Also, he said 28 group leaders received training in leadership and group dynamics, five potential entrepreneurs received technical training in bakery and fruit juice processing, with 11 vegetable farmers having training in farm management and supported with seedlings and farm implements.
Mr Koomson said the NBSSI in collaboration with the Western Regional Co-ordinating Council and the private sector would organise a West Fair in March this year to help the private sector, especially the micro and small enterprises to access new markets and market their products and services.
The National Board for Small Scale Industries is the apex governmental body for the promotion and development of the micro and small enterprises (MSE) sector in the country.
It was established in 1985 by an Act of Parliament of the Third Republic of Ghana (Act 434) 1981, because the Government viewed the sector as having the potential to contribute substantially to reducing the high unemployment rate and contributing to the growth of the economy.
MSEs account for a significant share of economic activity in the country and can play an important role in achieving the development goals for production.
The long-term goal is for the MSEs to maximise their contribution to the country’s economic and social development with respect to production, income distribution and employment, as well as the closer integration of women and the rural areas into the national economy.
In order to create a single dynamic integrated organisation adequately capitalised and capable of responding to the needs of the small-scale enterprises sector, the Government merged the Ghana Enterprises Development Commission (GEDC) and the Cottage Industries Division of the Department of Rural Housing and Cottage Industries with the board.
The board has a vision to create a more entrepreneurial society by fostering the growth of micro and small enterprises, while its mission is to improve the competitiveness of micro and small enterprises by facilitating the provision of development programmes and integrated support services.

Monday, February 22, 2010

TREDS DONATES TO TARKWA-NSUAEM GES (PAGE 26, JAN 6, 2010)

TREDS Envitech Limited, an environmental management company, has donated items worth GH¢ 10,000 to the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) to support the hand washing campaign among schoolchildren.
The items included 200 pieces of hand washing bowls, 200 pieces of specially designed metal bowl stands, 20 boxes of key soap, 40 bales of napkins and 12 pieces of water filters.
The Director of Operations of the company, Mr Robert Kwame Adayi Jnr, who presented the items to the GES at Tarkwa, explained that as an environmental management company with experience in waste management, dredging and pests, as well as odour control, the company had taken upon itself to contribute towards the well-being of the community in which it operated.
“Since the environment is our main objective, we in our little way offer services and items that will help to promote sound and healthy environment for the community,” he said.
Mr Adayi expressed the hope that the gesture would support the ongoing education and campaign on hygienic practices among the schoolchildren.
He said the company had already donated quantities of deodorised pesticides, spraying guns, disinfectants, odour controlling solutions and mosquito nets to the Ntotroso community and its health centre in the Brong Ahafo Region at the cost of GH¢ 5,000.
This, he said, confirmed the company’s assurance that it would continue to support the communities in diverse ways it found necessary as its contribution towards the well-being of the people.
The Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal Director of the Ghana Education Service, Ms Catherine Davis, expressed her appreciation to the company for the donnation.
She said the water filters would be sent to schools difficult to reach and which did not have clean water.
Ms Davis said the donation would help inculcate in the schoolchildren the need to wash their hands at all times.

LACK OF FACILITIES HINDER QUALITY SERVICE DELIVERY (PAGE 26, JAN 6, 2010)

THE Efia Nkwanta Regional Hospital, the Essikadu and the Kwesimintsim polyclinics, as well as the over 45 rural and urban health centres in the Western Region lack the required hospital equipment and personnel to enable them to meet the Millennium Development Goals.
The Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital has not only outlived its usefulness as a regional hospital, but has also become very small and over burdened as a result of the volume of cases reported daily at the hospital.
The hospital is also in dire need of equipment for emergency care, while both the Essikadu and Kwesimintsim polyclinics need standard blood banks for surgeries.
Besides, the Western Region has been classified as one with the highest maternal and infant mortality rates in the country with about deaths per 100,000 live births.
The Sekondi/Takoradi Metropolitan Director of Health, Dr Ted Avotri, made these known at the second civil society health forum organised by the Western Region branch of the Coalition of Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Health at Fijai near Takoradi.
He attributed the high maternal mortality rate to the fact that people in the region did not recognise the dangers of pregnancy and described the situation as very serious.
Speaking on the theme: “The role of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in reaching the unreached”, he said, the CSOs could facilitate the process of institutional strengthening of the blood banks for the polyclinics.
Dr Avotri noted that the Ministry of Health alone could not meet those challenges and called on the CSOs to play their role in this direction.
He described the ‘unreached’ as the socially deprived and disadvantaged in terms of access to the basic necessities of life including education, health and social amenities.
“Our strategic focus on this category, therefore, implies among others the need to identify with, and enlist the participation of CSOs as beneficiaries, while at the same time, be their voice and play the link between the government and the people who need attention the most,” he explained.
He called on CSOs to make inputs to the development of appropriate health policies that empowered the poor, vulnerable and the marginalised.
He urged them to promote, support, undertake and participate in health research, as well as disseminate and educate beneficiaries on the findings and facilitate or participate in the process of implementing research recommendations and good practices.
The metropolitan health director further called on the CSOs to evolve, initiate and implement strategies for poverty alleviation, reduction of ignorance and prevention of diseases.
Dr Avotri requested the organisations to deliver health services such as distribution of family planning items and carry out health education on malaria, HIV AIDS, tuberculosis, the neglected tropical diseases, breast and prostate cancers, nutrition, diabetes, hypertension and other lifestyle diseases.
He noted that through advocacy, the CSOs could also play a very significant role in influencing economic and political policies that impacted upon local development in general and the poorer sections in particular.
The Assistant Director and Head of Programmes for Community Care in the Western Region of the Department of Social Welfare, Mr Kwaku Agyemang Duah, said the collaboration among the Coalition of NGOs needed to be supported since those in the provision of human services believed that without it, all their effort to improve the lives of the people would be in vain.
He expressed regret that there were more than 200 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) operating in the Western Region, but most of them operated without certificates or had not registered with the department.
Mr Agyemang Duah, therefore, advised those without certificates to regularise their operations with the Department of Social Welfare, since the collaboration would become meaningful only when they knew one another.
The Deputy Western Regional Director of Health in charge of Clinical Care, Dr Robert Sagoe, reiterated that the state of the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital did not merit the status of the region, particularly with the discovery of oil in commercial quantity, as many people would be attracted to the region and in case of emergency, the hospital would be found wanting.
The Western Regional Chairperson of the Coalition of NGOs in Health, Mrs Victoria Araba Danis, noted that accessing healthcare in the rural areas was very difficult and that the forum would go a long way to find solution to this problem.

NACOB STEPS UP SURVEILLANCE (PAGE 26, JAN 6, 2010)

Although the Western Region is not notorious in the illicit drugs trade compared with other regions in the country, it has had its fair share of this global problem.
The Takoradi Zonal Office of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB) has since the beginning of this year, co-ordinated several raids, arrests and actions in the region as the lead agency in the fight against illicit drugs.
Prominent among them is the unravelling of the mystery surrounding the disappearance of some bags of sugar suspected to be containing cocaine at the Takoradi Harbour, the retrieval of a container of frozen poultry products from the Takoradi Port, also suspected to be laden with cocaine and the examination of a broken-down helicopter suspected of being used to smuggle narcotic drugs to the United Kingdom.
As a result of these reported illicit drug activities in the region, the NACOB together with the various agencies involved in the fight against drug trafficking, has stepped up surveillance on the various narcotic hot spots in the region and also arrested some key players in the supply chain.
The board is currently gathering intelligence on the manufacture, supply and use of narcotics in the Western Region.
It is also extensively mapping out the region on the basis of narcotic activities to aid the board in its enforcement activities.
The board is also in the process of making some recommendations to the Western Regional Security Council (REGSEC), based on intelligence it has gathered.
Besides, the board has drawn up a comprehensive education and outreach programme in an effort to intensify its public education to enlighten the general public on the evils of illicit drugs.
The programme has taken the board to many second cycle institutions in the region where symposia have been held and students who have had a brush with illicit drugs counselled.
Briefing heads of departments of the Western Regional Co-ordinating Council (WRCC) in Sekondi, the Zonal Head of NACOB in charge of Western and Central Regions, Mr Roger Vanderpuye, explained that in the tertiary institutions the board had been helping to orientate fresh students.
He said the board had also been delivering lectures, particularly during the hall week celebrations of the institutions.
“NACOB’s educational activities are not only restricted to the schools,” he further explained, adding “we also visit churches and other public places where we preach our message of abstinence from illicit drugs”.
Touching on future activities, he said, the zonal office would soon roll out a programme under which educational activities would be carried out at the various educational institutions based on intelligence gathered on their narcotic activities.
“We will continue to hold periodic coordinating meetings with agencies involved in the fight against narcotic drugs with the view of securing a collective strategy in the drug fight in the region”, he said.
Considering the scope of work, he said the board was currently woefully understaffed and under-resourced, saying “our staff strength stands at only two including me”.
Mr Vaderpuye explained that these were some of the reasons why the NACOB had still not been able to open an office at the Elubo Border Post in the Jomoro District of the Western Region.
He said the fight against illicit drugs involved a collaborative effort by organisations and agencies and appealed to all to assist the board since a narcotic-infested country would end up destroying its people.
The Narcotics Control Board is a statutory agency under the Ministry of the Interior, charged with the responsibility of ensuring a drug-free society through the use of methods aimed simultaneously at reducing both supply and demand.
These measures are enforced by a programme of strict enforcement of the country’s drug laws, educating the populace on the ills of drug usage and finally treating, rehabilitating and reintegrating addicts into the society.