Fire destroys property at Abossey Okai

Pg 30. Tuesday Jan. 29/08

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
The property of tenants occupying 11 single rented rooms at Abossey Okai in Accra, were destroyed when their rooms caught fire at dawn last Wednesday.
The fire, which was spotted by one of the tenants, has displaced about 21 people, one of whom is currently on admission at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital after he sustained burns when he tried to rescue his nine-year-old son who was sleeping in the room when the fire started.
Occupants of the rooms located on the top floor of a one-storey building with shops on the ground floor, included a police officer and his pregnant wife, a tailor, a seamstress, a taxi driver and a businessman.
According to some of the residents, they heard shouts of “fire”, “fire” around 4 a.m. in one of the rooms after the occupant had unsuccessfully tried to put out a fire from the ceiling.
They said on hearing the shouts, they all came out to help put out the fire in the room where the shouts was coming from. Just then, they said, the roof over all the 11 rooms collapsed and the severity of the fire made it impossible for any of the occupants to go back into their rooms to salvage their belongings.
One of the occupants, Mr Michael Sarpong, a machine operator with Kinapharma, who said he lost GH¢1,800 in the fire, said the Fire Service was called around 4.30 a.m. and the fire was brought under control around 5.30 a.m.
He said he, together with all the other occupants, lost all their assets — money, mobile phones and valuable documents.
When the Daily Graphic visited the scene, the ceiling of the 11 rooms had been raised to the ground by the fire while remains of fridges, TV sets, beds, mattresses, documents cooking utensils, clothing, food stuffs among others were seen lying around in the various rooms.

Re-arrest child prostitutes- Appiah

Pg. 58. Monday, Jan. 28/08

Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho & Naa Lartiokor Lartey

THE Executive Director of Children's Right International (CRI), Mr Bright Appiah, has said that Government must make efforts to re-arrest the 45 child prostitutes who escaped under questionable circumstances when they were taken for rehabilitation and re-integration at the Department of Social Welfare women's training centre at Madina in Accra.
He said various institutions were playing the blame game at the expense of the children's interest, which he stressed did not show any seriousness on the part of the government.
At a press conference in Accra, he said Article 39 of the United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) stated that "state parties shall take all appropriate measures to promote physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration of child victim of any form of neglect, exploitation or abuse".
Mr Appiah said any attempt by any person to "divert attention, blame, release information and expose children amount to violation of children's right within our legal framework".
He questioned why journalists should risk their lives and the police and other state institutions use the taxpayer’s money on such operation only for the key culprits to be left off the hook.
Mr Appiah added that the CRI was interested in the reasons why the “child sex workers” were released and denied the right to maintenance, rehabilitation and re-integration.
In his view, there should be prosecution of the case as a test case to the 1998 Children’s Act 560 for proper steps to be taken for the children's welfare.
He said CRI was a child-centred organisation interested in promoting the utmost interest of children in all matters concerning the child.
Two journalists — Anas Aremeyaw Anas and Halifax Ansah-Addo — whose investigations led to the police raid last week of “Soldier Bar”, a brothel at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, where the sex workers were arrested, also expressed their disappointment at the turn of events.
They expressed dissatisfaction at the way the Department of Social Welfare and the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) handled the “child sex workers” who were sent to the Madina Social Welfare Training Centre for rehabilitation.
The over 150 alleged prostitutes arrested, 45 of whom were children, were later said to have escaped with only 15 remaining under the care of the centre.
They said the motive behind the raid, which involved some officials from the Ghana Police Service (GPS), was to get evidence that children as young as 11 years were indeed into prostitution in the country.
Mr Ansah-Addo, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said they embarked on that assignment so that the children involved could be rehabilitated and also to ensure that perpetrators or patrons of the services of the “child sex workers” were prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.
He, however, said the “supposed escape” of the children from the centre had rendered their work fruitless, since non of their motives were realised.

Domestic assistants to have more security

Pg 11. Saturday Jan. 29/08

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
People who employ the services of young girls serving as domestic assistants or ‘maid servants’ in homes will soon have rules and regulations to formalise the employment relationship between them and their employees.
A document, which among other things seeks to begin a process of regularising the work of such girls and also ensure that they are not exploited by their employers, has been presented to the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment in Accra.
That initiative follows the launch of a fact sheet by the Deputy Minister for Manpower, Youth and Employment (responsible for Social Welfare), Mrs Akosua Frema Osei Opare, in April, 2007, to regulate the contractual needs of domestic assistants to ensure that their rights are not trampled upon.
The document, which outlines the terms of contract, wages and benefits, maximum working hours, rest and leave periods, rights at work, enforcement and the responsibilities of the domestic assistants, is to be considered and incorporated into the Labour Act, 2003 (Act 651) as a subsidiary legislation after it had been forwarded to the Attorney-General’s Department for consideration.
Those who propounded the document, the Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA-Ghana) Alumnae Incorporated, presented the proposal to the ministry at a programme in Accra where it disseminated its report findings on its advocacy project on the rights of domestic assistants in five regions, namely the Greater Accra, Central, Eastern, Western and Volta.
Formerly, there were no contractual agreement between some domestic workers and their employees and so most of them were not sent to school; they were on call from dawn till dusk and were not paid for their services.
Giving testimonies on how the fact sheet, which comprised of a contractual agreement, has helped change her life, a domestic assistant from the Western Region said her parents could not afford to continue catering for her, although she had completed primary and needed to enrol in a junior high school.
She was, therefore, given out as a domestic assistant. She said she was helping her employer to prepare porridge for sale.
She had to wake up as early as 3 a.m. to help in the preparation of the porridge as well as ensure that it was all sold out before she could go to school.
Although she was academically good, her role affected her academic performance but with the signing of the contractual agreement between her and her employer through the LAWA-Ghana team she was allowed to have enough rest and that had improved her performance in school.
The Chairperson of LAWA-Ghana, Ms Sheila Minka-Premo, who read the report, called for legal reforms which included the passage of regulations which would provide for the specific and unique employment situations of domestic workers in general and domestic assistants in particular.
The report, which was sponsored by the Right and Voice Initiative (RAVI), also called for the amendment of section 42 of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29) as amended to address the legal justification for the physical abuse of adolescent domestic assistants.
Ms Minka-Premo said although the labour law existed, it did not protect the rights of domestic assistants and therefore most of them were abused in homes.
She cited Zimbabwe as one country that had enacted comprehensive legislation on domestic assistants and called on Ghana to follow the international trend to enact a law that would protect domestic assistants — who were mostly young girls — from abuse, rape and defilement.
She said as women rights activists, LAWA-Ghana was aware that Ghana had signed several human rights instruments that required the state to ensure the rights of all workers, including females working in homes and, therefore, there was the need to advocate for the improvement of their rights.
A representative from the Attorney-General’s Department, Ms Ethel Appiah, in a remark, assured LAWA-Ghana of the department’s readiness to support the incorporation of the document into the Labour Act.
Reacting to some of the accounts as presented by some domestic assistants who were present, Ms Appiah said there was a loophole in the Labour Law, which needed to be filled to cover their line of work.
The Deputy Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Ms Frema Osei Opare, who was represented by the acting Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Mrs Margaret Kutsoati, said although the country had a good labour law, the challenge was how to reach out to workers in the informal sector.
She promised that LAWA-Ghana would offer the ministry its full support to ensure that the document was widely circulated and accepted.

Women's economic empowerment key to reduction in HIV

Pg 11, Tuesday Jan. 22, 2008

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
THE inability of most women to negotiate for safe sex in relationships had been attributed to their dependence on their male counterparts for their livelihood.
Women in this kind of situations are subjected to sexual violence when they decide to postpone sexual intercourse for a moment for reasons of health, safety or tiredness.
This was made known at a two-day training workshop on effective reporting on women, HIV and AIDS for 30 female journalists from Greater Accra, Eastern and Western regions organised by Women Media and Change (WOMEC) in Accra.
Because women who depend on their male counterparts are unable to provide for themselves they are also said not to be able to decide when their partners should use condoms and the situation is said to have left most women vulnerable to contracting the HIV virus in marriages or long-time relationship.
A doctor at the Korle-Bu Fevers Unit, Dr Joseph Oliver-Commey, who gave an overview of the HIV situation in the country, said 63 per cent of the country’s HIV cases were women.
He said at the end of 2006, a total of 36,989 female adults were put on anti-retroviral therapy as against a total of 26,833 male adults within the same year.
He said women were commonly blamed for bringing the infection home, even when they had been faithful and their partners were openly promiscuous.
He projected that if adequate steps were not taken to halt the spread of the disease among the general populace, a total of 214,910 people would die from the disease by 2012, while 19,778 mothers would need Prevention of Mother to Child Therapy (PMTCT).
Dr Oliver-Commey said currently, the country was practising a new PMTCT strategy aimed at primary prevention of HIV infection, prevention of unintended pregnancies among HIV positive women, prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV and the provision of treatment, care and support for HIV positive mothers, their infants and families.
According to Ms Getrude Adzo Akpalu of UNAIDS, some studies have shown that, "in Ghana married women were almost 3 times more likely to be infected with the HIV virus than those who had never been married".
She said the UNAIDS core HIV prevention principles and policy actions addressed the issues of women, human rights and gender to push for countries to mainstream gender in all HIV programmes, projects, and policies, and more female-specific effective strategies that countries could adapt, adopt and develop.
Ms Akpalu said what was currently being done was women’s empowerment and encouragement of female Persons Living With HIV (PLHIV) to advocate and promote positive living through non-governmental organisations such as the ARK Foundation, the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the African Women Development Fund (AWDF) and community- and faith-based organisations.
She called for more education for women on the Domestic Violence Law and other related policies and bills as well as more advocacy on the promotion of effective HIV strategies such as PMTCT, Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) and safer sex practices.
She called on the media and the private sector to help in raising awareness on issues of women, HIV and AIDS.
She also called for an increased advocacy and promotion of gender-sensitive HIV policies and laws such as the DV Law, equity in distribution of HIV services, women-specific effective HIV interventions, review of cultural norms and practices, such as trokosi; domestic violence, marital rape and widowhood rites, which make women and girls more vulnerable to HIV, and property rights.
She also called for an increased research on women and HIV, promotion of gender equity and human (women’s) rights in the global and national responses to HIV and AIDS in addition to the provision of adequate funds to confront women and the HIV and AIDS crisis in the country.
She also called on the Women’s Caucus in parliament to lobby governments, organisations, agencies, donors, communities and individuals to make women’s rights, HIV and reproductive health a reality.
She further called for a strengthening of a dynamic and formidable women’s groups to push the agenda of women, human rights, reproductive health, HIV and AIDS forward.
The Executive Director of WOMEC, Mrs Charity Binka, said the time had come for women to stand up for their fellow women especially to reduce the level of stigmatisation against HIV positive people, especially women.
She said female journalists when well trained, served as the right conduits to channel the message of stopping stigma against HIV infected persons, especially women.

Loking at the other side of Ghana 2008

Pg. 17. Jan. 19/08

Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
The other aspect of the Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations’ tournament, which is likely to affect anti-social vices, such as human trafficking and commercial sex activities must not be glossed over.
For this reason, the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and human rights groups have cautioned parents and guardians to be vigilant in order to prevent their children from falling prey to paedophiles and child traffickers likely to join genuine visitors into the country as football fans during the tournament.
This is in view of the fact that some women and girls among the large number of visitors who will travel to the country for the Ghana 2008 Nation’s Cupls may find themselves here doing things against their will. Some may become victims of forced sex trade while others may be lured by false promises of lucrative temporary work or abducted from their countries.
A release recently signed by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Freeman Tettey, Public Affairs Officer of the unit, said DOVVSU had realised that during such periods all manner of persons, including paedophiles and child traffickers, might troop into the country under the guise of football fans to engage in all forms of child abuse and related offences.
It said the police were at hand and so the public is requested to immediately report suspicious characters to them for immediate action.
Before the 2006 World Cup tournament, media reports predicted that as many as 40,000 women would travel to Germany to work in the sex trade during the tournament.
Consequently, four hotline numbers were run by separate non-governmental organisations (NGOs) during the competition in a bid to offer victims of the trade an escape route from traffickers who frightened women into captivity using violence and blackmail.
Among the crowds, the German Women's Council opened an information stand to boost awareness of human trafficking, just one aspect of an umbrella campaign supported by international NGOs and the European Parliament.
Non-governmental organisations and human rights groups say more needs to be done about the tragic reality of women, often those from poor families and broken homes, who are lured by false promises of lucrative temporary work into the commercial sex business, or abducted from their countries.
The Minority Spokesperson for Women and Children in Parliament, Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah, has cautioned parents to be vigilant so that their under-aged girls would not be recruited by unscrupulous people to offer sex to visitors in the country for the African Cup of Nations, writes Emmanuel Adu-Gyamerah.
“I call on the law enforcement agencies, human rights activists, and religious bodies to take immediate steps to avert the catastrophe that is looming in our face,” she said.
Mrs Azumah-Mensah, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ho East, said it had come to her notice that some people were alleged to be hiring the services of young girls across the country to provide sexual services during the Ghana 2008 tournament.
“I am absolutely horrified at such a blatant abuse of rights of these innocent young ones,” she said, adding that “these underage girls are innocent and ignorant and are enticed with few dollars by the perpetrators”.
Mrs Azumah-Mensah said it was her belief that international paedophiles and child porn kings who were on the run from their countries had found haven in parts of Africa.
She explained that these people used the Internet and pen pal adverts to perpetrate their activities.
“The Ghana 2008 tournament is another avenue for these predators to perpetrate their dastardly acts with these unfortunate ones with the support and collaboration of some Ghanaians,” she stated.
Mrs Azumah-Mensah said although the tournament had numerous advantages, it might leave in its trail a lot of burden on parents and the country at large if precautionary measures were not taken.
“The youth must be encouraged to resist temptations and say no to such advances,” she said.
The Women’s Commission at Mampong Ashanti Campus of the University of Education, Winneba has also called on all women to exercise extra caution when interacting with their male counterparts, especially on issues that may lead them to sexual promiscuity during the Ghana 2008 African tournament.
The Commission also extends its profound gratitude to the Government and the Local Organising Committee (LOC) of the tournament for the excellent arrangement made to ensure a successful tournament.
The Commission also commends the organised women’s groups that are solidly supporting and cheering the Black Stars. All these efforts have attracted many sports-loving personalities and supporters into the country.
However, the Commission believes that the vulnerability of the Ghanaian woman regarding ignorance and poverty may lead some of them to engage in social vices that may be detrimental to their health and their families, stressing that “as far as the tournament brings to us joy during the football season, we at the women’s commission are much concerned about how some women may be lured to sell their bodies for money”.
“Some other previous social programmes have led many women to fall prey to sexual abuse, rape and other practices that are against their will. We in the women’s world are much informed that many women are interested in falling in love with foreigners in a bid to secure brighter financial future and to get rich quick,” she said.
The Commission, however, reminds women to be weary of the HIV/ AIDS scourge and also calls on the Ministry of Tourism and Diaspora Relations and the Ghana AIDS Commission to make both male and female condoms available and accessible to people who may need them in order to control the prevalence rate of the HIV pandemic on sustainable basis.
Rebecca Quaicoe Duho writes that the West African Co-ordinator of the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI), Nana Oye Lithur, says it was the duty of the police to ensure that the Ghana 2008 tournament does not become a breeding ground for prostitution and sexual abuse of children.
She said this was the time to enforce the country’s laws on prostitution and sexual abuse, especially by making visitors who were in the country for the tournament to be aware that prostitution and sexual abuse were illegal in the country and would therefore not be tolerated.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the likelihood that more women might be lured into prostitution as more tourists were in the country for the three-week tournament, Nana Oye said already Ghana had a high prevalence rate of child prostitution and the situation should not be worsened.
She also called on the Ghana Tourists Board (GTB) to caution hotels, drinking spots and tourist attraction sites to be extra-vigilant, especially in ensuring that no underage person was entertained on their premises.
She mentioned hot-spots such as the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Budumburum, Tema and the beaches, especially the Labadi beach, as some of the places where the police should be extra-vigilant.

Football Fever grips women

THE President and Founder of the Women Supporters’ Union of Ghana (WOSUGHA), Ms Freda Prempeh, has indicated that members of the union will give massive support to the Black Stars during the Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations tournament, reports Rebecca Quaicoe Duho.
She said at least 1,000 members of the union would dress in their T-shirts and other paraphernalia in the national colours of red, gold and green and showing the black star and troop to the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium to cheer the Black Stars on to victory in the opening match of the tournament on Sunday, and also in subsequent marches.
She said the union, which is made up of women from all walks of life, demonstrates its support amidst the playing of brass band music, blowing of whistles, horns and trumpets and “ noise-making” to cheer the Black Stars.
“The Black Stars will be happy to see women cheering them to victory,” she said in an interview in Accra.
She said the union would assemble female parliamentarians and ministers, some Assembly women and women from all walks of life to cheer the Black Stars.
Although she lamented over the fact that the union was yet to receive sponsored tickets per an application that it sent to the authorities concerned since October last year, the union was ready to purchase tickets for at least 500 of its members to enable them go to the stadium on Sunday.
Ms Prempeh, who is also the Assembly woman for Lakoo Electoral Area in Accra, said they would not be deterred by any circumstances in their bid to cheer the Black Stars, hence the decision to fund at least 500 members of the union.
When the Daily Graphic called on her at her residence in Labone in Accra, young ladies were seen busily sewing red, yellow and green polyester materials into shirts for supporters.
She said the union’s presence would not be felt in Accra alone but also members in other parts of the 10 regions of the country would offer similar support to make their presence felt.
She called on women to come in their numbers to support the Black Stars, saying that the era when football was seen as an all-male game was over and that the time had come for women to get involved in it by cheering both the male and female national teams whenever they were playing against other countries.
From the streets of Accra, Salome Donkor writes that Ghanaian women have not been left out in the euphoria and enthusiasm that has gripped the entire nation in preparation for the three week-long tournament.
Whoever thinks that women are not football fans may be making a mistake. On all the major roads of Accra, especially in the central business district, the Airport Road and other ceremonial streets, women are seen dressed in different kinds of paraphernalia, including T-shirts, mufflers, arm bands, and hats of different shapes and sizes, just like men, while some are also wearing earrings, necklaces and slippers designed in the national colours of red gold green going with the black star.
They are also involved in the sale of these items and others like key holders, flags, whistles, cups and mugs.
A number of women have also hoisted miniature flags on their vehicles to demonstrate their support for the senior national team.
Some are spotted wearing these items while they have also decorated their hair with scarfs and hair bands.
Josephine Owusu-Sarpong, a student in Accra, who is a staunch football fan, said she had bought her T- shirt and her ticket to watch the opening match between Ghana and Guinea at the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium on Sunday.
She said it was unfortunate that Stephen Appiah would not play in the tournament due to injury, but was optimistic that the new squad would exhibit the same skills they displayed during the 2006 World Cup Tournament to lift the Continental Nations’ cup.
A middle-aged woman, Gifty Yeboah, who was spotted fully dressed in her hut and T-shirt, said she would not be left out in the month-long soccer fiesta as the tournament promised to be exciting.
Madam Monica Abba, a resident of Tema, who has hoisted a miniature Ghana flag on her car, said Ghanaians had the passion for football and nobody would be left out in the excitement characterising the major event.
“Just as all Ghanaians, both men and women, supported the Black Stars during the 2006 World Cup Tournament, we are focused that our main objective for the moment is to cheer the national team to victory to annex the prestigious continental cup,” she said.
A young lady who was spotted selling hats, key holders and mufflers, said her support for the Black Stars was unparalleled, adding that “I am selling these items and also wearing some of the paraphernalia to demonstrate how nationalistic I am”.
The soccer fever surrounding the Ghana 2008 tournament which was at a low ebb in the Kumasi Metropolis since the beginning of the year has now gathered momentum and caught up well with the youth and a section of women in the metropolis, reports George Ernest Asare, Kumasi.
Not only are the women seen wearing items designed in the national colours in support of the national team, but are also doing brisk business by selling them to generate as much money as possible throughout the period of the tournament.
From Tanoso through Asuoyeboah, Kwadaso to Bantama , the Central Business District of Adum, as well as Ayigya, Bomso, Oforikrom to Asafo, Dechemso, Krofrom and Tafo, among other suburbs of the metropolis, women are equally displaying excitement like their male counterparts in the sale and wearing of various paraphernalia in national colours to whip up interest and support for the Black Stars as they attempt to wrestle the nations’ cup from the other 15 participating teams vying for the trophy.
At the Central Market and the CBD, for example, women whose ages ranged from 20 to 35 and dealt in the sale of clothing, footwear, soap, biscuits and other products, have suddenly abandoned them and taken to the sale of tournament-related products to demonstrate their support.
The women are not leaving anything to chance and are determined to spend all their energies to concentrate on their newly acquired businesses, hoping that with the abundance of these materials in the national colours in every corner of the metropolis,  interest in the national team would be sustained, thereby motivating the players of the national team to conquer Africa for the fifth time so far as soccer is concerned.
Ms Mary Fosuah, a 27-year-old business woman, who previously dealt in assorted pomade, has now taken to the sale of flags, neck-ties, T- shirts, hats, bangles and other items in attractive national colours.
According to her, the sale of the products was to ensure that motorists, passengers, the youth and the business community in the Kumasi metropolis “ paint Kumasi with national colours to prove to the visiting teams that we are solidly behind our Black Stars in their desire to win the trophy at stake for the fifth time. Sincerely speaking, I am generating much money from the sale of these products and I am praying that Ghana hosts such important tournament as regularly as possible to offer women the opportunity to make money for the upkeep of our homes”.
“ The youth are patronising the products in their numbers, and it is my prayer that with this support, the players of the Black Stars would respond by playing their hearts out in order to annex the trophy for the nation”.
Ms Mercy Darko, a 34-year-old business woman, who previously dealt in dressing bags, is now totally ‘married’ to the sale of products that can inspire the Black Stars to perform creditably.
In an interview which the Daily Graphic conducted on the sale of the products with national colours which had caught up with a section of women in the metropolis in the past week, she noted that she abandoned the sale of the bags because patronage was very poor and it affected profit margin, “ but since I started a week ago, I always get something home, which indicates that business is thriving”.
Ms Adwoa Ampofowa, a 38- year-old businesswoman, who also spoke to the Daily Graphic on the tournament and the preparations being made, pointed out that women in Kumasi were not only interested in the sale of national colours but also gearing up for the tournament to enable them to throw their weight solidly behind the Black Stars.
She said the women supporting groups in the metropolis were co-ordinating on how to offer support to the four teams that would be hosted in Kumasi to make the tournament lively.
A 23-year-old businesswoman, Constant Berko, who dealt in assorted cloths and foot-wear, has for the past two weeks resorted to the sale of all kinds of products in the national colours as her contribution to boost interest in the Ghana 2008 tournament.
To her, the sale of the products was not to generate money “but a call to national duty because that would make it possible for the youth to acquire such products easily and offer their unflinching support to the national team.
The euphoria among women in connection with the hosting of the Ghana 2008 African Cup of Nations tournament is high in the Tamale Metropolis. However, there are mixed reactions among a section of the women regarding the performance of the senior national team, the Black Stars, in previous tournaments, reports Vincent Adedze, Tamale.
While some women are apprehensive of the fact that the inability of a player like Stephen Appiah to feature in the matches might affect the team’s performance, others are of the view that the team had good players to deliver to the expectation of Ghanaians.
Most women this reporter interacted with in the metropolis wore T-shirts, caps, wrist bands and other paraphernalia designed in the national colours.
An accountant with the State Insurance Company (SIC) told the Daily Graphic that “because Stephen Appiah is not fit to play, I have lost interest in the team, although I am happy that Ghana is hosting the tournament”.
An Assistant Headmistress of the Tishegu Anglican Primary School, Madam Margaret Ainoo, for her part, urged the Black Stars players to play like a team and not to be “individualistic with the whole show”.
Women in the Twin-City of Sekondi Takoradi have also demonstrated their support for the Black Stars as they create fun and dance while selling their paraphernalia in the national colours.
The women have occupied every available space on the median of the major streets and in the central business district to sell their wares, reports Moses Dotsey Aklorbortu from Takoradi.
One of the traders, Maame Araba, said people were clamouring for the things, adding that there was a high demand for the miniature flags. Asked whether they were able to compete with the men in the sale of the souvenirs, she said, “women naturally perform well as traders and we dance to attract people to buy from us”.
A number of food vendors from Nigeria and Ivory Coast have joined their Ghanaian counterparts to put up structures to sell cooked food to the teeming spectators at Essipon Stadium.

Ghana to host CNN awards

Front Page Tuesday Jan. 15/08

Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
GHANA will host the 13th CNN Multichoice African Journalists Awards 2008 in July this year.
The General Manager of Multichoice Ghana Limited, Mr Samuel Baimbill-Johnson, who announced this at the launch of the awards in Accra yesterday, said it would be the second time that the country would host it.
The first time Ghana hosted the prestigious awards in Accra was in 1995.
The competition will recognise excellence in 16 categories, namely, Tourism, Arts and Culture, Economics and Business, Environment, Free Press Africa, MSD Health and Medical and the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Award for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Reporting in Africa.
The others are Best Feature in a Consumer Magazine, Photography, Print General News, Radio General News, Sports, Television General News, Features/Current Affairs, News Bulletin, Francophone General News Awards (Print and TV/Radio), Francophone Best Feature in a Magazine and Portuguese Language General News.
Mr Baimbill-Johnson said the overall winner would be chosen from among the best in the various categories.
He said over the past 12 years, the competition had grown in stature, strength and prestige, saying that it attracted a record number of entries from 40 African countries.
He said finalists in the 2008 competition would not only participate in a gala awards ceremony but also take part in a four-day finalists’ programme that would include workshops, a media forum, networking opportunities with senior journalists, editors, business leaders and media owners from across the continent.
The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Ransford Tetteh, in an address, expressed the concern of the association that Ghanaian journalists had, over the years, not participated enough in the awards programme.
He challenged Ghanaian journalists to ensure that they annexed the overall award, since the event was to be held in their home country.
Mr Tetteh said the time had come for the Ghanaian media to highlight more on basic things such as sanitation, environmental pollution and health, in addition to their constitutional mandate as watchdogs over the Executive arm of government.
He said celebrating African media excellence did not mean that journalists should focus on politicians and other individuals but also ensure that they highlighted on some of the fundamental things that affected people, especially the poor in society.
Mr Tetteh, who is also the Editor of the Daily Graphic, called on the Ghanaian media to also spare a thought for issues of urban slums, as well as environmental degradation, to set the agenda for politicians and the government to look into.
A Senior Advisor to CNN, Mr Edward Boateng, in an address, said the awards ceremony had, over the years, grown to become one of the most prestigious events on the African continent.
He said the ceremony had been replicated in other places such as Thailand and India.
The ceremony is being hosted in Ghana in a year that other important events such as the UNCTAD meeting and the Africa Cup of Nations (Ghana 2008) will be held.

Contractor to reduce dust on Achimota Ofankor Road

Pg. 18 (Metro) Sat. Jan. 12/08

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho

THE Ghana Highway Authority (GHA) has directed the contractor working on the Achimota-Ofankor road to water the road to ease the dusty pollution that was currently being experienced as a result of the dry Harmattan winds.
The contractors, China Railway Corporation, were on Monday directed through a letter by the GHA to increase the amount of water that was being used to wet the road, which had been under construction since November, 2006.
The project is expected to be completed by May, 2009.
The Chief Director of Feeder Roads, Mr Eric Oduro-Konadu, who disclosed this in an interview on Tuesday, said work on the road was on course to meet the deadline.
Since the on-set of the hamattan season, commuters on that route and residents of the area have been experiencing serious dusty winds emanating from the construction site as the contractors fail to put enough water on the road to minimise the dust.
The worse affected are passengers of commercial vehicles who do not have the luxury of rolling up their windows to enjoy air-conditioners and most of them resort to covering their nostrils with their handkerchiefs while those who sit by the windows close them. This often results in arguments among the passengers some of whom say the dust would rather remain in the vehicle and therefore the windows should be opened.
Mr Oduro-Konadu said the GHA was aware of the dusty situation and was mindful of the health consequences that it posed to commuters and people living around the area.
He said when completed, the project would have three inter-changes; one in front of Peace FM, the other at Tantra Hills junction and the other at Ofankor.
Currently, Mr Oduro-Konadu said, when viewed by an ordinary person, the level of work would seem confusing, but explained that they were currently working on the inter-changes.
He said footbridges would also be provided so that commuters would be able to move from one end to the other without any difficulties.

'Review law'

Pg 3. (Jan. 11/08)

Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
A Doctor at the Korle-Bu Fevers Unit in Accra, Dr Joseph Oliver-Commey, has called for a review of the law on patient-doctor confidentiality in cases involving persons infected with HIV and their partners.
He said most often doctors were unable to protect partners who were not infected with the virus because of the law.
Dr Oliver-Commey said this at a three-day HIV training for about 30 female journalists from the Greater Accra, Eastern and Western regions organised by Women Media and Change (WOMEC).
According to him, when they got to know their HIV status, many partners refused to disclose it to their partners who might not be infected.
The worst scenario, he said, involved people who were planning to get married, adding that “most often infected partners refuse to disclose their status to their future spouses and because of the patient-doctor confidentiality law that binds doctors and their patients, it becomes difficult for doctors to caution such partners”.
He said what made the situation worse was that there was no law to punish people who deliberately infected their partners and, therefore, the doctors ended up bearing the brunt of the problem, after the other person found out the HIV status of his or her partner.
He said at the global level the issue of confidentiality was being reviewed to protect uninfected partners and said Ghana should also take such a step if the country wanted to reduce the number of new infections with regard to HIV.
He said another issue concerned pregnant women who, most often, got to know their HIV status when they attended antenatal clinics and, therefore, had the option to disclose their status to their spouses or not.
Dr Oliver-Commey said the issue of disclosure should be made known to both partners in such cases to prevent new or re-infections.

WHO representative lauds Ghana

Pg 36 (Jan. 10/08)

Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
THE World Health Organisation (WHO) Representative in Ghana, Dr Joaquim Saweka, has said that Ghana is on course with its efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger from the country.
He noted that the overall progress made towards poverty reduction in the country was impressive, saying that “Ghana is doing quite well in that direction”.
Dr Saweka said that was an indication that the country was likely to achieve one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which called on countries to “Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger” by reducing by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day and people who suffered from hunger by 2015.
Dr Saweka, who said this in an interview in Accra, however, noted that the country was not likely to achieve goals four and five of the MDGs which call on countries to “Reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five” and “Reduce by three quarters the maternal mortality ratio”, respectively.
He, therefore, called for a scaling up of initiatives geared towards achieving those goals.
Dr Saweka said it was difficult to determine whether it was the reality on the ground or the tool used by international organisations to measure the country’s infant and maternal mortality rates that accounted for the country’s inability to achieve those goals.
According to the 2006 revision of the United Nations World Population Prospects Report, for the period 2005 to 2010, Ghana’s infant mortality rate is 56.6/1,000 and under-five mortality rate is 89.6. It ranked the country 50th among 195 countries in the world.
However, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) World Factbook last year ranked the country’s infant mortality rate at 52nd among 221 countries, with a rate of 53.56/1,000. The current world infant mortality rate is 49.4, according to the United Nations, and 43.52, according to the CIA World Factbook.
The maternal mortality rate of the country, according to the WHO, is 540/100,000, while a recent survey in the country put it at 214/100,000.
Dr Saweka was, however, hopeful that if the local survey was a true reflection of what was on the ground, then the country would be able to achieve target five of the set goals.
The under-five mortality rate of the country for the past five years had been stagnating, he said, and noted that there was the need for the initiatives undertaken in the areas of neonatal morbidity, pneumonia, malnutrition and malaria, which were identified as the major causes of under-five mortality in the country, to be improved.

Coalition to help implement Domestic Violence Law

Pg. 11 ... Jan. 08/08

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho

The Domestic Violence (DV) Law was passed by Parliament in February last year to protect victims of domestic violence in the country.
The victims of domestic violence are men, women and children but it has been identified that most victims of domestic violence are women, majority of who fail to report such violence to the police due to poverty, family ties and other social and economic issues.
Although it is generally agreed that men also suffer some form of violence in the domestic settings, violence against women far outweighs that against men.
To make the implementation of the provisions of the DV Law effective to cater adequately for the interest of victims of domestic violence, the Domestic Violence Coalition in conjunction with the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs is in the process of finalising a national implementation policy document.
The document will help streamline activities of the various stakeholders and also give them guidelines and directives to facilitate the implementation process.
The Co-ordinator of the DV Coalition, Mr Adolf Awuku Bekoe, in an interview, was optimistic that by the end of January 2008, the document will be inaugurated by MOWAC.
He said when completed, the document, which reached its final stages of compilation at the end of last year, will place emphasis on the various roles to be played by the various agencies involved in the implementation of the law, as well as outline the roles and responsibilities of the DV Law Management Board, which he said was yet to be inaugurated.
Mr Bekoe was optimistic that Parliament would adopt the implementation document, stressing that, that was the only way to regulate activities of the various stakeholders of the law.
He said when finalised, the document would consist of a national plan of action and describe the details of activities to be undertaken under the law, as well as spell out the plan of action for the attainment of the objectives of the law.
Mr Bekoe said since the passage of the law, the coalition had undertaken various educational programmes for the successful implementation of the DV Law, and indicated that this would be sustained to enlighten all on the various provisions.
He said the coalition had organised a consultative seminar for regional officers of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service (GPS) from all the 11 regional commands of the service, and added that the exercise was used to iron out some of the difficulties that the police faced in terms of handling issues on domestic violence.
Copies of the DV Law, he also said, had been made available to all DOVVSU officers to ensure that they were abreast with provisions of the law.
According to him, the coalition currently seeks to hold a national consultation dialogue this year to bring together the judiciary, police and prison officers and other stakeholders to discuss the law dispassionately for its successful implementation.
He conceded that there was still much to be done and that the coalition would start massive educational campaigns in the various communities this year to inform more people about the law.
Mr Bekoe also said the coalition intended to sensitise more men to feel comfortable to report abuses they suffered in the domestic setting to the police.
The coalition will also strengthen its structures, infrastructure and logistics to be able to take up the challenge of championing the cause for the successful implementation of the law.
He said the major challenge confronting the coalition was lack of funds, but pointed out that, that would not to deter the coalition from undertaking its activities.
He said the coalition would fall on its internally generated funds as well as count on the support of MOWAC, where most funds from donor agencies were channelled.
He was hopeful that MOWAC would make funds available to organisations whose work directly impacted on issues and/or victims of domestic violence.

Women urged to participate in elections

Sat. Jan.5/08 (page 11)
Story: Salome Donkor & Rebecca Quaicoe Duho

Women’s groups, individuals and organisations have advised women to actively take part in this year’s elections to enhance the representation of women in the decision-making process of the country.
A statement issued by the Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, Hajia Alima Mahama, urged all women to actively take part in the vibrant political activities which would characterise the presidential and parliamentary elections this year.
The statement also called on women to offer themselves for political positions to increase women’s participation in politics.
The minister on behalf of all women and children of Ghana and on behalf of the ministry wished Ghanaians a happy and prosperous New Year.
She said “as we begin a new year, it is my prayer that God will grant us peace in our homes and communities so that we can all develop to our full potential and ultimately contribute towards developing our dear nation”.
She entreated all parents to take good care of their children and also give them good education so that “their children would be able to take good care of them and our nation, when we are old”.
She also urged children to take their studies seriously and to stay away from trouble.
She further urged all women to continue to work hard “as we have done in the past year in contributing to eradicating poverty, empowering ourselves and improving the standard of living in our homes and our nation”.
Hajia Alima also called on all to join in the fight against domestic violence, abuse and HIV/AIDS.
The Executive Director of the Ark Foundation, Mrs Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, said 2007 was significant for women human rights in Ghana.
She said the passage of the Domestic Violence Law (DV Law) in February last year and a number of educational programmes by gender activists on critical areas of gender equality, equity and women empowerment concerns at all levels, were positive steps towards improving the status of women.
Touching on this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections, Mrs Dwamena-Aboagye urged women to gear themselves up and see how best they could participate in the process.
She added her voice to earlier calls on aspirants of the various political parties contesting in the 2008 general election to consider choosing women as their running mates.
She also described the approval given by the Cabinet for the adoption of a gender-responsive budgeting guideline by all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) as a positive effort to give a further boost to women’s participation in the taking of economic decisions.
She said since men and women suffered poverty differently, the system would help strengthen women’s participation in economic decision-making through their engagement in budgetary processes, and enhance the incorporation of gender into economic governance and leadership processes.
Mrs Dwamena-Aboagye also spoke about preparatory meetings billed to take place in the country on the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, which was signed by over 100 ministers, heads of agencies and other senior officials representing donor and recipient governments and multilateral aid organisations on March 2, 2005.
She said such meetings would provide a platform for donors and recipients to look at the development agenda of recipients and set out an agenda to make aid more effective and efficient to help developing countries' governments to formulate and implement their own national development plans, using their own prioritisation, planning and implementation systems wherever possible, stressing that the interest of the vulnerable groups would be catered for.
Dr Rose Mensah-Kutin, the convener of the Network for Women’s Right in Ghana (NETRIGHT), said although a lot had been done, there was still the need to do more advocacy work to promote the rights of women.
She also said efforts must be made to step up initiatives to operationalise the DV Act to achieve the desired objectives.

Executive Committee for pharmacists inaugurated (pg 16) Jan. 04/08

THE World Health Organisation (WHO) representative in Ghana, Dr Joaquim Saweka, has said access to medicine in the country should be considered as a human right.
Dr Saweka said this when eight Standing Executive Committee members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana (PSGH) were inaugurated into office in Accra yesterday.
Medicine, he said, was fundamental to the good performance of the health care delivery system of a country and that its availability in health facilities and the public’s access to it, contributed to maintaining the population’s confidence and trust in the health care delivery system.
He said although effective medicines existed in countries including Ghana, millions of people particularly in sub-Saharan Africa continued to experience a heavy burden of infectious diseases and were also increasingly afflicted with chronic non-communicable diseases.
Dr Saweka, therefore, said better management of the available medicines would contribute to a better health system, adding that an efficient procurement would also greatly contribute to achieving a better health system.
The Deputy Minister of Health, Dr (Mrs) Gladys Ashitey, who represented the sector minister, Major Courage Quashigah (retd), said the government had kept and would continue to keep faith with health professionals by ensuring that “we create a conducive environment for you to give of your best”.
She said with enhancements in rebuilding the health infrastructure, “we expect that you will also push the boundaries of excellence in the delivery of service to the people of Ghana”.
Dr Ashitey said the emphasis of the health sector was shifting from managing sickness and diseases to ensuring that people stayed healthy, adding that “this shift underpins our regenerative health programme”.
She said for the health sector, regenerative health and nutrition was a means by which “we can create wealth through health”, adding that no group of professionals were better placed within the community to carry this message than pharmacist.
The newly inducted President of the PSGH, Dr Alex Dodoo, in an address called for the need for issues relating to pharmaceutical care to be given proper attention if the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) was to be sustainable.
He reiterated an earlier call for the complete separation of dispensing and prescribing services under the scheme, as well as the re-examination of public sector prescribing and dispensing.
Outlining his vision for the next two years, Dr Dodoo said his main focus would be in the building of the image of the PSGH and public health, and fostering international collaborations.
The Chairman of the Pharmacy Council, Mr Harry Abutiati, swore the eight members into office. Other members of the executive are Mrs Nana Yaa Nartey, treasurer; Mr Philip W. O. Anum, editor; and Messrs Franklin Acheampong, Ernest Aboagye, Kenneth Atabu Agbodza and Kofi Abu as executive members;
Dr Mrs Frances Thelma K. Owusu-Daaku was sworn in as Vice-President, in absentia.

Code of conduct on school management (edu) Dec. 14/07

A Code of Conduct, which is part of a national campaign to eradicate corruption in the management of schools as well as instil anti-corruption measures in the minds of schoolchildren, is currently before the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education and the Ghana Education Service.
When adopted, the Code of Conduct, which is a proposal submitted by the International Campaign for Corruption-Free Schools, will serve as a guideline to educate schoolchildren in their formative stages on the need to stay clear of corruption.
This was made known by the Director of the International Campaign for Corruption-Free Schools, Mr Baffour Dokyi Amoa, at a press conference in Accra.
The Corruption-Free Schools campaign was launched in Ghana in 2003 by Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, then a Minister for Education.
Currently, there are 14 fun clubs in primary, secondary and tertiary schools across the country.
The campaign programme has also been extended to such other African countries as Nigeria, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Togo and Burkina Faso.
Mr Amoa said to fight corruption in schools, it behoved society and indeed governments to tackle the conditions that promoted corruption head-on.
He mentioned some of the conditions in schools as the number of applicants in relation to the quota to be admitted, examinations which were due before full coverage of syllabus, challenges of supervision in the face of poor remuneration and the lack of/poor incentives for teachers.
Mr Amoa mentioned other factors as competition among schools for high performance and recognition, pressure put on students by parents to perform, desire for high grades that did not commensurate with output and the lack of social security and poverty.
He said the campaign provided the platform for pupils and students within the sub-region to debate among themselves on issues relating to corruption in schools and the way forward.
The General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Reverend Fred Deegbe, said there was the need to tackle the issue of corruption from the formative stages of life before the canker of corruption could be eradicated from any society.
He said corruption did not help, but rather destroyed a nation and, therefore, there was the need for all to come together to fight it, saying that “we should keep on fighting corruption like malaria till it is completely eradicated”.

Ghana makes significant strides in education (edu) Dec/28/07

THE first phase of the National Fibre Backbone Network has been completed.
The network which covers Accra through the southern part of the country to Tamale and ends at Ho will provide affordable bandwidth cost to service providers as well as increase the quality of service they render.
This was made known by a deputy Director at the Ministry of Communications, Mr Desmond Boateng, when he deputised for the Minister of Communications, Dr Aggrey Ntim, at the 5th Awards and certification ceremony of the Global Teenager Project (GTP) in Accra.
The project, launched in 1999, is aimed at empowering young people to have access to information and communications technology education.
He also announced the ministry’s facilitation of Community Information Centres (CICs) aimed at affording communities, especially the youth, to participate in the ICT era.
He said the government being well aware that education was the bedrock of human development, continued to demonstrate its commitment to address the challenges of the social and economic pressures of the youthful population, saying “a youthful population is an asset to any nation provided their potential are harnessed and directed”.
Mr Boateng said the government also recognised that an educated youth would facilitate the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and addressed the socio-economic development of the country.
To this end, he said the deployment and application of ICTs had been fully incorporated into the new educational reform agenda to generate a highly skilled youth that could help accelerate socio-economic growth.
A Director at the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, Ms Hilda Hagan, who read a speech on behalf of the sector minister, Prof. Dominic Fobih, said Ghana had made significant strides in its education system as a result of various reforms, policies and laws, saying that the reforms had also placed emphasis on vocational, technical and agricultural education with more emphasis on ICT.
He said “ICT without doubt has become crucial for the survival of the global world. Indeed, the ICT revolution is having a tremendous impact on the rapid development of world economies and making national economies more interdependent than they were some years back”.
This, he said, was a result of the fact that growth was induced by the flow of information and this realisation, he added, had led most economies into knowledge based ones.
“This realisation has also dawned on developing countries and which are rigorously pursuing the use of ICT as a platform for socio-economic development” he said.
The Director General of the Ghana-Kofi Annan ICT Centre, Ms Dorothy Gordon, who chaired the ceremony called on the students and their teachers to endeavour to learn and acquire new and more cost effective technologies in their studies.
The project Manager of GTP, Mr Ebenezer Malcolm, in a welcome address said the project would from 2008 train more students and teachers in ICT to promote sound ICT education in the country.
Awards and certificates were presented to some students and teachers who excelled in the work of the project.

NVTI to introduce three compulsory subjects (Edu Pg) Dec /28/07

THE National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) will from January 2008 introduce three compulsory subjects to make its products more marketable.
The subjects are Mathematics, English and Entrepreneurial Skills which hitherto were optional. They will now be formalised and trainees would be assessed as part of their vocational training qualifications from June 2009.
The Director of the NVTI, Mr Stephen B. Amponsah, who made this known at a media briefing in Accra, said the three subjects would also make its products self-reliant and enable them to pursue higher learning in tertiary institutions.
He said the decision became necessary after a careful research was conducted into the teaching and learning of technical and vocational skills in the country.
He said the research exposed the challenges of students who went into vocational training and, therefore, the Mathematics and English subjects had been structured in a way that they would compare favourably with those taught in Senior High Schools.
He said Mathematics would be taught in the first one and a half years of the students’ entry into any vocational training centre while the other two subjects would be taught for the whole four years of the students education.
Mr Amponsah said the quest to improve vocational training as a result of the socio-economic orientation of society had made it necessary for the institute to respond accordingly, saying that the introduction of the three subjects formed part of the requirements of the new educational reform, which, according to him, responded to the country’s quest to improve skills training.
He noted that currently there were 38 government-owned NVTIs across the country with over 600 privately-owned institutions. Most instructors for the 38 institutions had so far been trained for all the three subjects and the private institutions were also making their instructors available for training.
Presently, Mr Amponsah said, the NVTI conducted external examinations for over 30,000 vocational training granduands and 8,000 secretarial graduands in 81 areas annually.

Deegbe condemns political (pol page) Dec/14/07

THE General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Reverend Fred Deegbe has condemned the blatant display of affluence on the part of some political party presidential aspirants during their campaigns in the face of abject poverty among many Ghanains.
He said the wanton display of wealth among the aspirants was a mark of insensitivity on their part to the plight of many poor Ghanaians, adding that it was unacceptable in the face of poverty among the general public.
Rev. Deegbe said this in an interview in Accra today with the Daily Graphic where he said although he was not against people campaigning to win political positions, but the rate at which some presidential aspirants were spending lavishly was not sending good signals to the electorate.
He said the process could also make the election loose their essense of electing the choice of the people and make people vote according to how much they receiveed.
Wondering why one would want to “splash so much money on a primary election”, Rev. Deegbe then retorted that no one knows what else will happen when such aspirants win the elections.
He stated that the display of wealth by such politicians would also reinforce the perception that politicians were seeking to assume positions not to better the lives of the people but to enrich themselves.
Commenting on the display of gigantic bill boards mounted in front of the University of Ghana, Legon prior to the holding of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) congress which comes off on December 22, 2007, Rev. Deegbe said commuters along the road just look at the boards and chuckle in amazement.
The aspirants he said were not being modest in their campaign saying that the trend of the campaign prior to the primaries was rather disturbing and warned that the method adopted if not checked may backfire to the detriment of the party.

We recorded low sales during Christmas- Say market women Pg 11 Dec 3,2007

A number of market women who constitute the bulk of traders in Accra said they recorded low sales during the Christmas festivities.
The women, who were interviewed at four major markets in Accra, namely Kaneshie, Agbogbloshie, Makola and Dome, said although the prices of goods were comparable to those of the previous year, sale of their items slowed down considerably.
They said although people thronged the markets in their numbers, they did not buy the various items in large quantities as they used to do in the past.
At the Kaneshie Market, Sister Dede who sells tomatoes at the market said most of her customers bought not more than a basket of tomatoes which she said cost GH¢3.50
She said although the price was a bit higher last year during the festivities, people bought at least two baskets as most of them stored them for use later.
Okailey who sells vegetables at the Kaneshie market said sales had been bad for her as well.
She said she used to sell ear-rings but went into the sale of vegetables in December last year after she was introduced to it by a friend and indicated that, business was then good.
According to her, however, this year she had regretted for not supplementing her business with other things such as spices, a strategy she said most people had adopted.
At the Dome market, although the place looked vibrant, most of the plantain sellers who were interviewed said people only asked of the prices of the commodity without buying.
A plantain seller, Auntie Akua, said she had to reduce her prices for most of her regular customers since that was the only way she could convince them to buy.
She said although she sold most of her plantains, she was not content with the amount of money she had.
At the Makola No.1 market, the story was the same as one market woman screamed at this reporter when asked how business was doing. She made a statement in Ga which translates to mean that, “They are not buying, they are not buying, just as you have also come to ask about prices, that is what they all do”.
At the Agbogbloshie market where most people prefer to buy their foodstuff in bulk because prices there were cheaper, market women were seen doing brisk business as people were seen hoarding away tomatoes, plantain, cassava and other foodstuffs during the holidays.
When asked how business was doing, Awonye who is a trader in foodstuffs said for her, business was good as people were buying in bulk.
She said although it was not so the previous week people were buying more plantain, cassava, garden eggs and cocoyam and she was the only person who gave this reporter a smile when she was being interviewed.
The situation also did not favour people who dealt in fowls as they also complained that sales were not encouraging.
When asked how many fowls they sold in a day during this Christmas festivities, one dealer in livestock said he sold a maximum of five birds in a day and said this was not the business he was expecting to do.
One fowl depending on the size, sold between GH¢8 and GH¢15 and people they said were complaining that it was expensive.

Patience finds delight in sewing for men (W'mens Pg) Dec 27, 2007

WITH an all-male clientele, Ms Patience Newman of Patnew Designs is a lady who finds delight in designing men's outfit.
Her designs range from suits to long and short sleeved shirts, boubou and caftans, casual, executive to church wear, as well as outfits for special occasions such as engagement, wedding and naming ceremonies.
One may think that it is only women who have special needs for different occasions but at the showroom of Patnew Designs located at North Kaneshie, near Big Boss she has a wide range of men’s outfits from which men can select what they want for any special occasion.
With an ambition to be a lawyer as she was growing up, Pat, as she is affectionately called, had to divert her course as pressing family needs made it impossible for her to pursue her dream.
She therefore decided some 17 years ago to go into trading and established her company called Patnew Ventures of which the designing outfit is a subsidiary.
With only two months experience as an apprentice, Pat started sewing cloths for friends of her father and brothers and that was what made her decide to go into the sewing of men’s clothing.
She also explained that she concentrated on the sewing of male outfits because according to her, that sold faster. She has trained about 28 people in the fashion business.
With her workshop located at Exhibition in Dansoman, Pat has employed 12 people who assist her at the workshop and they produce about 50 different types of men outfits a day.
She gets her fabrics from a supplier in the United States of America (USA) and buys some on the local market. She mentioned her preferred fabrics as cotton and African prints such as Woodin, GTP and ATL, all of which she buys on the local market.
At the showroom of Patnew Designs, a man can also purchase watches, neck ties, shoes and other basic necessities for any occasion.
She markets her wears not only in Accra but also takes them to other places such as the Western and Ashanti regions and hopes to explore the international market in the near future.
Pat says she is ambitious and plans to expand her business but complains about problems with the acquisition of loans, which she says is not flexible. She, however, indicated that she intends to establish a one-stop shop where people can walk in and have all that they desire in the next few years.
She also operates a cleaning service and an interior decoration outfit and she hopes to add a restaurant and salon.
Pat described sewing as “the greatest job on earth” explaining that people always want to have new clothing. She, therefore, advised people who have the flair to go into sewing and designing without any hesitation.

• Ms Patience Newman arranging some of her accessories at the showroom.

File women as running mates - Gender activists tell political parties Dec/27/07

GENDER activists have challenged aspirants of the various political parties contesting in the 2008 general elections to choose women as their running mates.
This, they maintained, will be a big step towards improving the status of women.
They made the statement at the end of their annual review meeting in Accra during which the status of women for the year 2007 was reviewed.
Recounting activities to improve the status of women from the passage of the Domestic Violence Law (DV Law) through the celebration of Ghana’s Golden Jubilee to the appointment of the country’s first female judge after 50 years of independence, the activists graded the overall status of women in the country as encouraging but added that there was still more room for improvement.
Organised by the Network for Women’s Right in Ghana (NETRIGHT) in Accra, the review programme, which is the fifth to be organised by the Network, brought together women’s groups, gender activists, market women and some organisations and institutions.
Reviewing the status of women, Dr Audrey Gadzekpo said women’s contribution in the country for the past years should be firmly documented in the history of the country.
She said over the years, the contribution of women to the political struggle of the country had been relegated to the background and that she said was evidently clear in the celebration of the Ghana@50.
Describing the neglect of women in the jubilee programme as an “omission to national memory”, Dr Gadzekpo said women contributed significantly to the national struggle, especially during the Convention People’s Party (CPP) era.
She mentioned Mrs Georgina Theodora Wood, first female Chief Justice, Mrs Henrietta Mensa-Bonsu, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations, for Rule of Law in Liberia ,Second in Command to Liberia, Ms Louise Carol Okine, first Female President of the Students’ Representative Council of the University of Ghana, Legon and Mrs Angela Naa Sarqua Okine who combined studies at the Ghana Law School with work and managed to sweep seven awards when lawyers were called to the Bar, as some women who excelled in the year under review.
She commended the government and gender activists who worked tirelessly to bring to fruition the passage of the DV Law and called for similar support for the establishment of an institutionalisation framework for its implementation.
She called on government to strengthen the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs and equip it to be able to champion the task of formulating a gender responsive budget for ministries, departments and agencies (MDA’s) as well as take up more gender responsive roles.
Touching on the flood disaster which affected the Northern Region of the country in August this year, Dr Gadzekpo said the disaster exposed the vulnerability of the people by affecting the poorest of the poor, most of whom she said were women.
She however commended efforts made by the government and various organisations to assist the flood victims.
She also raised the issue of the Accra Metropolitan Authority’s (AMA) demolition of structures belonging to some market women in and around the Tema Station in Accra, saying that the exercise was a shock to women groups and gender activists.
She said the livelihood of the women who mostly were the bread winners of their families were taken away from them, and indicated that they would monitor the AMA to ensure that they lived up to their promise of resettling the affected women.
She further touched on the issue of forced marriages in the country and cited two examples where teenagers from the northern part of the country were given into marriage and was happy that the law was dealing with the perpetrators of both crimes.
On the international scene she said women were making significant strives despite the fact that they continued to be victimised across the globe.
On the outlook for 2008, Dr Gadzekpo called on activists to be more viable to get more women to contest the 2008 presidential and general elections, and also called on political parties to field more women candidates, especially in their strongholds.
She also called on political leaders to be abreast with issues raised in the Women’s Manifesto and initiate measures to address them to help better the lot of women in the country.
The NETRIGHT, as a show of solidarity to the Tema market women, presented GH¢100 to support the women and their families and also awarded five to individuals, organisations and institutions for excelling in their quest for gender mainstreaming.

Stakeholders dialogue on Gender Budgeting Dec/31/07

The proposed Gender Responsive Budgeting Initiative is aimed at giving a further boost to women’s participation in the taking of economic decisions.
When introduced, Ghana will be the 41st country in the world to have adopted such an initiative, which is to be implemented soon.
This, according to those who initiated the system, would help strengthen women’s participation in economic decision-making through their engagement in budgetary processes, as well as enhance the incorporation of gender into economic governance and leadership processes.
To this end, Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the country have been called upon to change their organisational culture to accommodate gender responsive budgeting in their programmes.
At a stakeholders seminar on Gender Budgeting Initiative (GBI) organised by the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MOFEP) and the National Development Planning Committee (NDPC) in Accra on Thursday, the Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Hajia Alima Mahama, announced that her outfit had developed a gender mainstreaming and budgeting tool kit to train desk officers of MDA’s under the pilot programme.
The need for a GBI became necessary after Cabinet approved the adoption of a gender responsive budgeting guideline for all ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) in the 2008 budget.
The approval, which was in response to a memorandum of understanding submitted by Hajia Mahama, also gave policy direction for all the MDAs to take into account critical gender equality, equity and women empowerment concerns at all levels of activity planning and resource allocation.
Outlining the objectives of the seminar, she said it was aimed at enlightening the stakeholders to understand gender responsive budgeting and its role in the accelerated growth and poverty reduction agenda of the country.
The seminar, she said, was also to expose policy makers, planners and resource allocation institutions to the enormous benefits of gender responsive budgeting.
She also said stakeholders at the seminar were also expected to familiarise themselves with the step-by-step approaches involved in the gender responsive budgeting process, as well as draw lessons from good practices and challenges of other countries.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) representative in Ghana, Mr Daouda Toure, in an address said gender budgeting was important to the work of the UNDP and the entire UN system in its efforts to support governments to achieve sustainable and equitable human development, especially with regards to commitments made to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Gender budgeting he said, would ensure that budget allocated reflected the differential needs of men and women based on an analysis of the needs of each group.
When implemented, Mr Toure said gender budgeting would also help citizens to hold governments accountable for their commitment to gender equality and women’s human rights.
He further explained that the budget, as one of a country’s most important economic instruments, expressed a government’s relationship with its people and could also be used in ways that demonstrated national commitment to empower citizens as well as promote opportunities and self development.
Adopting a gender responsive budget, according to him, was also a reflection of the political will within a country to confront the socio-cultural, economic and development challenges the country faces .
Mr Antwi Baffour who represented the Deputy Minister of MOFEP, Prof Gyan-Baffour, said one crucial prerequisite for the acceleration of a gender responsive budget was gender mainstreaming.
He said in furtherance of that objective, the government had ensured that the National Development Policy Framework ,Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy (GPRS II) was engendered with specific focus on strategies to address gender inequality, women empowerment, vulnerability and excluded social groups.
Mentioning some of the benefits that the government expected to gain from a gender responsive budget, he said adopting that system would encourage gender perspective in national planning and budgeting process to ensure that the different needs of various social groups; men and women, and particularly the poorest of the poor, most of whom he said were women, were taken into account in the national development policy planning, programme design and resource allocation.
Gender responsive budgeting, he said, would also help the government to probe into whether men and women fared differently under existing revenue and expenditure patterns, thereby providing the government the opportunity to understand and appreciate how various social groups responded differently to development policy change over time.
He said it would also help the government to appreciate the need to adjust its priorities and resource allocation in line with its commitment to achieving gender equality under the MDGs.
A Capacity Building and Gender Consultant, Mrs Patience Agyare Kwabia, who made a presentation on ‘Operational definition of gender budgeting and its benefits to Ghana’s accelerated growth and development’ said the introduction of such an initiative would help break the cycle of what she described as ‘neutral budgets’ which did not specify benefits for men, women and children.

• Hajia Alima Mahama, Minister MOWAC, addressing the seminar. With her are, the Chief Director of MOWAC, Mr Valentine Kuuzume (left), and Mr Antwi Baffour from MOFEP who deputised for the Deputy Minister of Finance, Prof Gyan- Baffour.