JOURNALISTS URGED TO PLAY WATCHDOG ROLE (PAGE 35, JAN 24, 2011)

THE Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, has urged journalists in the region to effectively play a watchdog role to constantly monitor the production of oil and gas to ensure that the country derives maximum benefits from the oil and gas discovery.
He said that would ensure that the country was not cheated in the production of oil and gas.
However, Mr Aidoo stressed the need for media practitioners to upgrade their knowledge in the oil and gas industry in order to report on it accurately.
Mr Aidoo was speaking at an end-of-year press soiree the Western Regional Co-ordinating Council organised for the regional press corps in Sekondi.
He urged the media practitioners to continue educating the fishermen on the dangers associated with fishing around the oil rig to conscientise them to stop fishing in the area.
Mr Aidoo commended journalists in the region for their good performance during the year under review, adding that they were objective in their reportage.
The Regional Minister explained that the 10 per cent the chiefs in the region were demanding from the oil revenue was not meant for their individual pockets but for the overall development of the region.
“People think Parliament has thrown away the petition, but the President has assured the people in the region that there would be enough development in the Western Region,” he further explained.

STEERING COMMITTEE FOR WESTERN RAILWAY LINES INAUGURATED (PAGE 35, JAN 24, 2011)

A 20-MEMBER steering committee has been inaugurated in Takoradi for the rehabilitation of the Western Railway Lines to position the lines to play its pivotal role in the provision of transport services towards the economic development of the country.
The committee has a Member of Council of State and Board Member of the Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA), Mrs Victoria Addy, as the chairperson and Professor Newman Kusi, a member of GRDA, as her vice.
The committee is to supervise the implementation of the Bonifica Report for the rehabilitation and construction of the Western Railway Line, and to assist the project manager to execute his mandate on the project.
It is also to assist the board to plan, implement and supervise activities towards the sod-cutting for the rehabilitation and construction of the Western Railway Lines.
That is to ensure that the sod-cutting for the Western Lines is executed through planned programmes not later than January 27, 2011.
The committee is to submit weekly reports on the sod-cutting programme and monthly report on the progress of the implementation of the rehabilitation to the board, and ensure that the time lines and quantities approved by the board on the project are adhered to.
Furthermore, the committee is to supervise the re-decoration of the facilities of the new Railway and Petroleum Institute.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, the outgoing Minister of Transport, Mr Mike Hammah, said a Road Transport Authority would be established to ensure that rules and regulations were enforced.
He stated that if the rules and regulations of the road transport sector were not enforced, it would be difficult to reduce carnage on the roads.
He said the railway sector was the driving force for accelerated and sustained economic growth, and that the rehabilitation of the railway lines would help move exports and imports on the railway to ensure more demands for export.
Mr Hammah said the railway system also played a major role in the marketing chain, adding that the ministry prioritised the railway system and that the Western Railway Line was the backbone of the Ghana Railway Company Limited.
He said in the long term, the government was looking at converting the railway system in the country to a standard gauge of 1,435 millimetres to make the lines wider than the present system which is 1,067 millimetres.
That, he said, would help remove bulk cargo trucks from the roads to help reduce carnage on the roads.
The Deputy Western Regional Minister, Ms Betty Busumtwi-Sam, stated that the Ghana Railway Company was a major employer in the region.
She said the inactivity of the railway system had brought hardships to many people in the area.
Ms Busumtwi-Sam said the benefits to be derived from the rehabilitation of the railway lines would be enormous.
She therefore urged members of the committee to do all they could to make the rehabilitation a success and not to disappoint the chiefs and people in the region, since people had emotional attachment to the railway system.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Ghana Railway Development Authority, Mr Dan Markin, stressed that railway development was so important that all growing economies had effective railway infrastructure.
He said the rehabilitation of the Western Railway Lines would have a positive impact on the country’s economy, since it would help cart cocoa, manganese, cement, bauxite and other bulky goods to the ports.
The Omanhen of the Essikadu Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketsia V, said nobody could take away the emotional attachment the chiefs and people in the region had for the railway system.
He said there were many Ghanaians from different parts of the country living in Sekondi/Takoradi as a result of the railways.
According to him, the people were disappointed about the way the railway situation had been handled and attributed it to lack of political will.
Nana Nketsia recalled that revenue from the railways was used to build most of the institutions in Accra.
He stated that people who were manning the Black Star Line were from the Ghana Railway Company.
The Chairman of the steering committee, Mrs Victoria Addy, said people had encroached on lands belonging to the GRC, warning that the lands would be claimed during the rehabilitation.

WR TAKES MEASURES TO PREVENT BUSH FIRES (PAGE 35, JAN 24, 2011)

IN 1982/1983, bush fire outbreaks dealt a devastating blow to the country’s vegetation cover and farmlands and cocoa farms were severaly affected. The problem resulted in the downward trend of cocoa production.
The fire outbreaks also resulted in serious famine in the country and as a result, people had to queue to buy kenkey, loaves of bread and foodstuffs for survival. This was further compounded by the deportation of millions of Ghanaians from Nigeria.
To suppress the rampant bush fires, the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) came up with the concept of fire volunteer squads and formed squad in almost all the communities in the country.
The aim of the formation of the fire volunteer squads was to help suppress and combat bush fires and also educate the communities on how to fight and prevent bush fires.
The community fire volunteer squads who were trained in firefighting and prevention by officers from the GNFS, worked to perfection in combating fire outbreaks in the country, but in the course of time, the fire volunteer spirit gradually died down.
To revive the fire volunteer spirit, the Western Regional Command of the GNFS has organised a day’s seminar on bush fire prevention for fire officers, rural fire co-ordinators, fire volunteers and representatives of other sectors in the region.
The participants were taken through challenges in bush fire management, strategies for bush fire prevention this year and review of previous anti-bush fire campaigns.
The seminar was on the theme: “Bush fire prevention: A tool for protecting our environment for a better Ghana.”
The Western Regional Rural Fire Unit trained a total of 1,140 fire volunteers between November 2008 and November, 2010.
Within the same period, a total of 42 fire outbreaks were recorded causing damage to property estimated at GH¢20,000.
However, last year, the region recorded fewer fire outbreaks due to the favourable weather condition, activities of the fire volunteers and the intensification of public education campaigns.
At the opening ceremony of the seminar, the Deputy Western Regional Minister, Ms Betty Bosomtwi-Sam, said bush fires had contributed significantly to the loss of a third of the country’s forest cover.
She said the destruction of the forest cover was associated with the loss of economic trees such as cocoa, oil palm, timber, mining areas and other installations all of which were a major economic livelihood for people in the rural areas.
Ms Bosomtwi-Sam said it was estimated that every year bush fire alone cost the country US$210 million, an equivalent of about three per cent of the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
She therefore stressed the need for a concerted effort by all stakeholders to be able to deal with the menace of bush fires effectively.
“It has come to a time when we must recognise that bush fire prevention needs a multi-sectoral approach in order to deal with it effectively,” the Deputy Minister stressed.
“We need the support of all stakeholders and related agencies to put their resources together to deal with this problem once and for all,” she added.
Mrs Bosomtwi-Sam said, “With this collaboration, we shall be able to adopt effective strategies to reduce the incidence of bush fires.”
She appealed to cocoa, oil palm and rubber farmers to come to the aid of the fire volunteers, since the concept had so far proved as the most effective way of dealing with fire disasters.
Mrs Bosomtwi-Sam said as fire continued to be the basic tool for economic activity of majority of the people, the fire volunteer concept would remain the frontier of fighting and controlling of bush fires in the country.
She appealed to the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to allocate funds under the District Assemblies’ Common Fund for bush fire activities.
The Deputy Regional Minister also reminded the assemblies of the requirement under PNDCL 229, that they should establish bush fire control subcommittees.
She called on non-governmental organisations which were interested in environmental issues to help in sustaining the fire volunteers and see them as complementing their efforts by offering them the necessary financial and material support.
The Western Regional Commander of the GNFS, Mr Stephen Oscar Cobbina, explained that the seminar sought to tilt towards the inclination of professing other strategies to help mitigate the fire outbreak menace.
“We want to discuss and adopt strategies for education in all the districts and communities in the region,” he stressed.
Mr Cobbina appealed to the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies in the region to support the activities of the fire volunteers, who had over the years assisted the GNFS in that endeavour.
He also urged the government to review PNDCL 1989 on bush fire, since the law “as it is now is weak and does not prescribe enough stringent sanctions to deter people from causing bush fires in the country.”
Mr Cobbina said the chiefs and traditional councils, being the custodians of the land and its resources, must join in the fight against bush fires.
He stressed that their concern for environmental protection must be exhibited with the enforcement of traditional norms against the setting of fires.
The Western Regional Manager of the Forestry Commission, Mrs Lydia Opoku, said the commission had deployed fire engines to all the 10 regions in the country, adding that the one for the Western Region was stationed at Bibiani.
She said fire belts had been created around forest reserves in the region to help prevent fire outbreaks in the reserves.
Mrs Opoku mentioned Sefwi, Juaboso and Bia among the fire-prone areas in the region.

544 ELECTED TO ASSEMBLIES IN WESTERN REGION (PAGE 13, JAN 19, 2011)

FIVE hundred and forty-four candidates, including 29 females, have been elected to the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District assemblies in the Western Region for the Implementation of the region’s development agenda for the next four years.
Ninety out of the 182 incumbent assembly members who contested the election retained their seats in the various assemblies in the region.
The general turnout in the district assembly elections in the region was 33.4 per cent representing 447,985 out of registered voters of 1,339,284.
A total of 8,890 ballot papers were rejected.
According to the Western Regional Director of the Electoral Commission, Mr Steve Opoku-Mensah, the elections were peaceful.
He said the public was co-operative and understanding in spite of the problems which confronted the Electoral Commission in the conduct of the elections, while the security services were highly commendable.

SIC PAYS CLAIMS TO MANGANESE COMPANY (PAGE 3, JAN 8, 2011)

THE State Insurance Company (SIC) has presented a cheque for US$320,000 to the Ghana Manganese Company (GMC) to cover insurance on its damaged equipment.
The amount is to enable the management of the GMC, a mining company located at Wassa Nsuta in the Tarkwa/Nsuaem municipality in the Western Region, to procure a new hydraulic excavator which was damaged accidentally.
The Tarkwa Branch Manager of the SIC, Mr Joseph Akomaning, who presented the cheque, said the continuous refusal of many Ghanaians to insure their businesses, homes and equipment needed sustained education to reverse the trend.
He said many Ghanaians had cited mistrust, improper explanation of terms, conditions and clauses and undue delays in the payment of claims as major challenges that needed to be confronted to make insurance attractive to the people.
He said the SIC’s prompt payment of claims over the years had made it the preferred insurance entity for many mining companies in the country.
Mr Akomaning, therefore, urged Ghanaians to patronise the services of insurance companies which were willing to promptly pay their claims, explain terms and conditions, as well as other obligations, to them.
The Managing Director of the GMC, Mr Jurgen Eigendaal, who received the cheque, expressed the company’s appreciation to the management of the SIC for the prompt payment of the claims.

TRADE MINISTER ADVISES ASSEMBLIES IN WR (PAGE 23, JAN 1, 2011)

THE Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Hannah Tetteh, has urged the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the Western Region to buy the idea of building model market structures through collaborative efforts and funding arrangements such as Public-Private Partnership arrangements (PPP).
She said physical markets have played very critical roles in the development of entrepreneurship, business and creation of wealth in many countries.
“There is abundant evidence that countries that have robust economies are undoubtedly those which took advantage of the benefits of markets for efficient and effective distribution of goods and services, reduction of costs of doing business, and the promotion of the convergence of interests of buyers and sellers,” she added.
This was contained in an address read on behalf of Ms Tetteh at a ceremony to launch a road show on model market designs in the Western Region in Takoradi.
The event was part of a nationwide programme aimed at building model markets for all regional, metropolitan, municipal and district capitals, as well as some major towns in the country.
The proposed market designs encapsulate facilities such as roads for free movement of vehicles and human beings in and around the market, spacious car parks for loading and unloading, health facilities for traders and consumers, well-laid-out drainage within and outside the markets, places of convenience, day care centres for the children of traders and residents of the neighbourhood, play ground and appropriate storage facilities for various goods and services, post offices and police posts.
Ms Tetteh was certain that if the MMDAs incorporated the provision of modern market structures into their programmes as projects and diligently pursued them, they would get funding as markets were bankable projects and offered high yields on investment capital.
She added that it might not be out of proportion to cherish a dream of providing modern market complexes for their communities.
According to Ms Tetteh, the Ministry of Trade and Industry had already compiled a list of prospective investors who had expressed strong interest in financing the construction of the market structures.
She said some of them had expressed interest in the PPP and other funding arrangements, adding, “I, therefore, challenge all concerned here to face the task head on and modernise our communities commencing with the provision of modern market structures”.
“It is imperative for all to accept that Ghana’s quest and desire to be an upper middle income country with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita of US$2,000 would be an illusion without the country possessing an efficient and functional domestic trade and distribution infrastructure,” she stressed.
However, Ms Tetteh noted that most of the markets in the country today fell short of the ideal physical markets that we could rely on for business efficiency.
She said most markets suffered from congestion and unhygienic premises, lacked adequate storage facilities, had no fire protection, had no running water, and were over-crowded.
Ms Tetteh said market structures were old and so poorly organised that they could no longer support the pressures of present times.
She noted with regret that the whole nation was forced to contend with enormous socio-economic disruptions, and very often government was put under pressure, whenever there was fire outbreak in a market, to support victims and provide livelihood for business people who had toiled for all these years only to lose everything to fire.
Ms Tetteh said in the singular circumstance as the region of emerging oil and gas industry, the Western Region could adapt and expand those structures to include specialised wings to stock items which would be needed to service the oil and gas sector.
She stated that investors in the oil and gas sector insisted on value for money and that traders could only get them to patronise their local market after the traders had painstakingly provided a proper and attractive market place.
“We must position ourselves to get some of the oil wealth and one way of doing this is to entice the investors to spend on local activities,” she emphasised.
The Western Regional Minister, Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, in an address read on his behalf, said local markets did not only create an enabling environment for trade and income generation, but also reduced transaction cost of market users and were critical in the economy of the communities in which the agricultural sector played a dominant role.
He stressed the need for the people to recognise the importance of markets to revenue generation, and put in place a systematic approach to the operation and maintenance, to ensure effective and efficient management of the day-to-day activities in the markets.

T POLY TO TRAIN AIRCRAFT MAINTENANCE TECHNICIANS (PAGE 11, DEC 31 2010)

THE Takoradi Polytechnic will sign a memorandum of understanding next year, to begin the training of aircraft maintenance technicians with the assistance of the Aircraft Maintenance Training Institute of Florida, in the United States of America, the Rector of the Takoradi Polytechnic, Rev. Professor Daniel A. Nyarko has announced.
He said the polytechnic was expected to secure accreditation from the City and Guilds of the United Kingdom soon to run specialised training programmes in the fields of welding, fabrication, logistics, transport, freight forwarding and clearing, and warehousing, among others.
Rev. Prof. Nyarko said the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) through the Canadian High Commission in Ghana, was working out a similar package for the Takoradi Polytechnic.
The Rector announced this at the 10th congregation of the polytechnic in Takoradi at the weekend.
“We cherish these collaborative relationships. A lot more institutions and individuals are showing remarkable interests in Takoradi Polytechnic and are holding talks with us towards collaboration to run new programmes or assist us in human resource and infrastructural development,” he said.
In order to take advantage of the current goodwill, he said a new outfit to be known as the Office of International Programmes and External Relations would be created next year to co-ordinate all such activities.
He said plans were far advanced for the Bachelor of Technology degree to be awarded in conjunction with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and the University of Cape Coast as appropriate and that the polytechnic had been assured of affiliation by the two universities.
“Takoradi Polytechnic hoped to receive accreditation from the National Accreditation Board (NAB) to run a new Bachelor of Technology programme in Civil Engineering soon”, he assured.
For the 2010/2011 academic year, he said the institution had introduced two new programmes in printing and procurement.
The Rector noted that efforts at placing Takoradi Polytechnic on the world map of technological institutions required that academic quality assurance was given priority attention.
To this end, he said the polytechnic had strengthened itself and would continue to upgrade the capacities of its human resource at the Academic Quality Assurance Unit towards achieving efficiency and effectiveness.
In 2011 and the years ahead, he said Takoradi Polytechnic would strive to be ISO-9001 compliant in terms of its quality management system, just as it was required of all tertiary institutions in Kenya.
He explained that such rigorous academic quality assurance measures had, to a large extent, helped to eliminate the incidence of victimisation of students by lecturers and had reduced human errors too in its record-keeping.
Rev. Prof. Nyarko said a new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) software designed to manage student admissions, registration, and academic records would be installed in January 2011 to enhance its quality management system.
He expressed the polytechnic’s sincere gratitude to Tullow Ghana Limited and the Jubilee Partners for their approved initial two-year assistance for the new Mechanical and Electrical Engineering programmes about to begin.
The support, he explained, comes in the form of investment in new laboratory equipment, syllabi for process operations and instrumentation and control at the Higher National Diploma (HND) level.
He, therefore, appealed to the Ghana National Petroleum Company to help fast-track the process for the polytechnic.
Rev. Prof. Nyarko said the recent developments on the labour front in the polytechnics called for a sober reflection on the relevance of polytechnic education to the socio-economic development of the country.
“If we accept that polytechnics have a key role to play in meeting the middle and high-level manpower needs of the country, then the polytechnic lecturer deserves better conditions of service than it is currently the case,” he pointed out.