Daily Graphic, Pg 11, Friday, January 29/10
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
TWENTY post-graduate students from the Bakkie Graduate University (BGU), Seattle, in the United States of America (USA) are in the country to understudy how the work of government and non-governmental agencies impact on the lives of the deprived.
The students who are being hosted by the Ghana Christian University College (GCUC) are made up of businessmen, lawyers, social workers and industrialists whose aim is to learn at first-hand some success stories of urban ministry which is made up of government and non-governmental organisations.
The Director of the GCUC, Dr Manuel Budu Adjei said the students who were nationals from various countries including Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Niger, Tanzania, China and the USA were the second to visit the country as part of a yearly programme which the two universities were embarking on.
The GCUC is an accredited university college which was founded in 1966 and runs two major programmes in the areas of theology and community development.
The BGU on the other hand is a member of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) having been awarded Reaffirmed Status as Category III and IV Institutions by the TRACS Accreditation Commission in 2005.
It seeks to strengthen leaders who mobilise resources for vulnerable people by means of contextual, Christian-based education innovatively delivered throughout the urban world.
As part of their programme, the group visited financial institutions, churches and business organisations, as well as slums in Accra to explore ways of transferring some of the positive impacts of the work of urban ministry on the marginalised in society.
According to Dr Adjei the objective of the visit was for the students to learn at first hand what the urban ministry was doing to reach out to the marginalised in society.
He said the two universities were also exploring ways of engaging in exchange programmes where students from the GCUC would also visit the BGU to learn good practices of the BGU.
The Director of Institutional Advancement, GCUC, Dr Johnson Asibuo said the visit would benefit the GCUC and the nation as a whole as most of the students who were business owners and industrialists would explore ways of coming to do business in the country in the near future.
On completion of their educational programme, he said the students would come out with dissertations which would enable people in other parts of the world to read about Accra.
The Registrar and Director of Academic Affairs of the BGU, Dr Judy Melton noted that the visit would help the students to be better equipped in their urban ministry to serve their communities better.
And also to be transformational leaders in their lives, ministry and community to become agents of change to better the lot of the deprived in urban societies.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Earthquake-All that you must know
Daily Graphic (Special Feature), Sat. January 23, 2010
Article by Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
"Today's night 12:30 to 3:30 am, COSMIC RAYS entering Earth from Mars. Switch off your mobiles today's night. NASA BBC news, plz pass to all your friends." A harmless text message, perhaps unintended but interpreted wrongly.
Many Ghanaians on the dawn of Monday, January 18, 2010 sat on tenterhooks as they awaited for an earthquake to rock their homes. Their fears confirmed a Biblical saying that “for lack of knowledge my people perish”.
According to geological experts, not even countries in the advanced world with their sophisticated machines are able to determine exactly when an earthquake will occur in a particular place. Earthquakes, they say, are unpredictable. However a text message from a mobile phone and an unknown source was able to keep almost the whole country awake till morning when the rumours were dispelled by the experts. It may be that the recent Haiti disaster and other historical records and repeated tremors experienced in Accra and its environs heightened the fear of the occurrence of a damaging earthquake in the country.
Earthquakes in Ghana
A study in 1986 on the history of earthquakes in West Africa showed that Accra was the most seismically active area in the region.
According to Dr Paulina Ekua Amponsah, Geological Survey Department (GSD), a recent review of geological and instrumental recordings in 2002 shows that earthquakes have occurred in the past and are still likely to occur within the vicinity of the intersection of the Akwapim Fault Zone and the Coastal Boundary Fault.
There have been damaging earthquakes in 1615, 1636, 1862, 1906 and 1939. The 1615 earthquake destroyed what was then known as Takoradi and the fortress of Sao Jorge at Elmina.
In 1636, an earthquake occurred in Axim in the Western Region and the whole of East Nzema was badly shaken. It caused a widespread collapse of buildings in that area. A gold mine in Aboasi, northeast of Axim was reported to have collapsed, burying many of the miners.
In 1862 a very strong earthquake struck Accra and caused considerable damage to many important structures. The Osu Castle, some forts and all stone buildings were rendered uninhabitable. Three people were killed in that earthquake. The shock accompanying the earthquake was felt along the coast east of Togo and in Benin.
Two severe shock waves were felt in Eastern Ghana and Togo at about 9:00 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. on November 20, 1906. It was estimated at 6.2 on the Ritcher Scale. Many buildings were greatly affected by this event; some had cracks and others were partly destroyed. No casualties were reported for this event. It was also experienced by people in Togo and Benin and during the same month several minor shocks lasting three weeks were felt.
On February 11, 1907 a fairly strong tremor was felt in Accra and Lome. An earthquake located in the sea and accompanied by tidal waves destroyed the wharf at Lome in Togo on May 11, 1911. The same day at 3:21 p.m., an earthquake was felt in Accra but it did not cause any damage.
The most destructive earthquake in Ghana that caused a lot of damage and loss of life and property occurred on June 22, 1939. That earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.5, occurred at about 7:20 p.m. and was lasted between 20 and 30 seconds. The intensity of the shock was greatest in James Town, a suburb of Accra. Seventeen people were killed, 133 injured and property worth £1 million in those days was destroyed.
Presently, no law exists in the country that makes geological survey a requirement before one puts up structures, thereby making the housing sector vulnerable in the event of a high-magnitude earthquake.
Microseismic studies in the country indicate that the seismic activity is associated with active faulting, particularly near the intersection of the two major fault zones; the Coastal Boundary Fault and Akwapim Fault Zone. Most of the earthquakes are said to have had their epicentres near the junction of these faults. The epicentres are related to the level of activity of these faults. It is, therefore, not recommended that any infrastructure be located near them.
Earthquake prone zones
Weija, Accra, Ho, Axim, Elmina and Cape Coast have been mentioned as some of the earthquake-prone areas and it is estimated that any location within a 50-kilometre radius of these areas are earthquake-prone.
Weija and McCarthy Hill in the Greater Accra Region, Gomoa Nyanyano near Kasoa in the Central Region, Ho in the Volta Region and Akosombo in the Eastern Region have been declared Ghana’s earthquake epicentres.
Also low-lying areas, reclaimed lands and hills are said to be at risk and the southern part of the country, according to a geologist with the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mr Philip Yaw Oduro Amoako, should always prepare against an imminent earthquake which could happen any time, but nobody can tell the exact day and time one can happen.
Earthquake and earth tremors
Although many people know about these two, most of them do not know the difference. Experts say if the measurement is between one and 4.9 on the Richter Scale, it is known as a tremor and from five to 10 is an earthquake.
The country experienced earth tremors in 1997 and 2003 with the most recent being in 2005.
The 1997 tremors were felt in all the regional capitals and it occurred on January 8, February 14 and March 6, 1997.
Historical earthquakes of magnitude greater than 6.0 and current local tremors with magnitudes ranging from 1.0 to 4.8 on the Richter Scale have been recorded since the establishment of a seismograph station in the country.
Instrumental recording of earthquakes in Ghana began in 1914 when the colonial government installed a Milne’s single-boom seismograph in the country. It operated until 1933 when it ceased recording due to financial constraints. Several minor shocks were said to have been recorded during the period when the seismograph was in operation.
In March 1973, a seismograph observatory equipped with a world-wide Standard Seismograph Network (WWSSN) system was established at Kukurantumi in the Eastern Region. It operated continuously until October 1974 and then intermittently until continuous recording began again in 1977. At present, a nine-station radio telemetric network analogue recording system with a central recording station at the GSD in Accra is said to have broken down.
How prepared are we as a country?
The analogue seismograph, an instrument used in measuring the movement of the earth, which is the only one the country has, broke down two years ago but through the intervention of the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning on December 29, 2009 was asked to release an $3million which had been approved by the government for the purchase of a digital seismograph.
However, logistical constraints has over the years made it impossible for the GSD to identify earthquake-prone areas in the northern part of the country. Residents will, therefore, not know their fate.
The Director of GSD, Mr John Agyei Duodu, has stressed the need for the country to step up its preparedness in respect of the occurrence of an earthquake because earthquakes are unpredictable, hence the need to prepare by sensitisation and mass education on what to do before, during and after an earthquake.
He called for a step-up in the education on the measures needed to be taken in the event of an earthquake and the formation of voluntary groups to handle emergencies, among other things.
“People should know what to do before, during and after an earthquake”, he said.
Also according to experts, buildings that have unsupported arches are likely to collapse in the event of an earthquake but the current building regulations in Ghana do not take cognisance of seismic disasters.
Registration of SIM cards
A directive from the National Communications Authority indicated that from June 30, 2010 all new mobile SIM cards will have to be registered in the name of the user before they can be activated for use on any network. Existing subscribers will have a period of 18 months from the said date to submit to the new directive.
Although the directive is aimed at enhancing security and eliminating fraud and crime, it has not gone down well with many Ghanaians because of the involvement of the National Security.
The Monday, January 20, 2010 earthquake hoax originated from a mobile phone and the information was circulated across the country but till date no one knows where the message came from as the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) who were mentioned as the source have denied any knowledge of it.
Recently, a group of about 200 scientists and research officers of the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH) from across the world who went to Puni, India for their 10th annual general and scientific meeting were given only two registered SIM cards from India’s Ministry of Communication as the source of communication for the whole group.
Unlike how one can easily buy a SIM card on the street in this country, it is not easy to acquire a SIM card in India where you will have to write a letter of intent to the Ministry of Communications for them to consider the application before you are given one to use.
In other places one will have to produce an identity card such as passport before a SIM card is sold to one.
According to a Deputy Information Minister, Mr Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, the rumours of the impending earthquake reinforced the need for mobile phone operators to register SIM cards because if operators had records of all their customers, it would have been easy to trace the origin of the hoax earthquake message.
Article by Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
"Today's night 12:30 to 3:30 am, COSMIC RAYS entering Earth from Mars. Switch off your mobiles today's night. NASA BBC news, plz pass to all your friends." A harmless text message, perhaps unintended but interpreted wrongly.
Many Ghanaians on the dawn of Monday, January 18, 2010 sat on tenterhooks as they awaited for an earthquake to rock their homes. Their fears confirmed a Biblical saying that “for lack of knowledge my people perish”.
According to geological experts, not even countries in the advanced world with their sophisticated machines are able to determine exactly when an earthquake will occur in a particular place. Earthquakes, they say, are unpredictable. However a text message from a mobile phone and an unknown source was able to keep almost the whole country awake till morning when the rumours were dispelled by the experts. It may be that the recent Haiti disaster and other historical records and repeated tremors experienced in Accra and its environs heightened the fear of the occurrence of a damaging earthquake in the country.
Earthquakes in Ghana
A study in 1986 on the history of earthquakes in West Africa showed that Accra was the most seismically active area in the region.
According to Dr Paulina Ekua Amponsah, Geological Survey Department (GSD), a recent review of geological and instrumental recordings in 2002 shows that earthquakes have occurred in the past and are still likely to occur within the vicinity of the intersection of the Akwapim Fault Zone and the Coastal Boundary Fault.
There have been damaging earthquakes in 1615, 1636, 1862, 1906 and 1939. The 1615 earthquake destroyed what was then known as Takoradi and the fortress of Sao Jorge at Elmina.
In 1636, an earthquake occurred in Axim in the Western Region and the whole of East Nzema was badly shaken. It caused a widespread collapse of buildings in that area. A gold mine in Aboasi, northeast of Axim was reported to have collapsed, burying many of the miners.
In 1862 a very strong earthquake struck Accra and caused considerable damage to many important structures. The Osu Castle, some forts and all stone buildings were rendered uninhabitable. Three people were killed in that earthquake. The shock accompanying the earthquake was felt along the coast east of Togo and in Benin.
Two severe shock waves were felt in Eastern Ghana and Togo at about 9:00 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. on November 20, 1906. It was estimated at 6.2 on the Ritcher Scale. Many buildings were greatly affected by this event; some had cracks and others were partly destroyed. No casualties were reported for this event. It was also experienced by people in Togo and Benin and during the same month several minor shocks lasting three weeks were felt.
On February 11, 1907 a fairly strong tremor was felt in Accra and Lome. An earthquake located in the sea and accompanied by tidal waves destroyed the wharf at Lome in Togo on May 11, 1911. The same day at 3:21 p.m., an earthquake was felt in Accra but it did not cause any damage.
The most destructive earthquake in Ghana that caused a lot of damage and loss of life and property occurred on June 22, 1939. That earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.5, occurred at about 7:20 p.m. and was lasted between 20 and 30 seconds. The intensity of the shock was greatest in James Town, a suburb of Accra. Seventeen people were killed, 133 injured and property worth £1 million in those days was destroyed.
Presently, no law exists in the country that makes geological survey a requirement before one puts up structures, thereby making the housing sector vulnerable in the event of a high-magnitude earthquake.
Microseismic studies in the country indicate that the seismic activity is associated with active faulting, particularly near the intersection of the two major fault zones; the Coastal Boundary Fault and Akwapim Fault Zone. Most of the earthquakes are said to have had their epicentres near the junction of these faults. The epicentres are related to the level of activity of these faults. It is, therefore, not recommended that any infrastructure be located near them.
Earthquake prone zones
Weija, Accra, Ho, Axim, Elmina and Cape Coast have been mentioned as some of the earthquake-prone areas and it is estimated that any location within a 50-kilometre radius of these areas are earthquake-prone.
Weija and McCarthy Hill in the Greater Accra Region, Gomoa Nyanyano near Kasoa in the Central Region, Ho in the Volta Region and Akosombo in the Eastern Region have been declared Ghana’s earthquake epicentres.
Also low-lying areas, reclaimed lands and hills are said to be at risk and the southern part of the country, according to a geologist with the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mr Philip Yaw Oduro Amoako, should always prepare against an imminent earthquake which could happen any time, but nobody can tell the exact day and time one can happen.
Earthquake and earth tremors
Although many people know about these two, most of them do not know the difference. Experts say if the measurement is between one and 4.9 on the Richter Scale, it is known as a tremor and from five to 10 is an earthquake.
The country experienced earth tremors in 1997 and 2003 with the most recent being in 2005.
The 1997 tremors were felt in all the regional capitals and it occurred on January 8, February 14 and March 6, 1997.
Historical earthquakes of magnitude greater than 6.0 and current local tremors with magnitudes ranging from 1.0 to 4.8 on the Richter Scale have been recorded since the establishment of a seismograph station in the country.
Instrumental recording of earthquakes in Ghana began in 1914 when the colonial government installed a Milne’s single-boom seismograph in the country. It operated until 1933 when it ceased recording due to financial constraints. Several minor shocks were said to have been recorded during the period when the seismograph was in operation.
In March 1973, a seismograph observatory equipped with a world-wide Standard Seismograph Network (WWSSN) system was established at Kukurantumi in the Eastern Region. It operated continuously until October 1974 and then intermittently until continuous recording began again in 1977. At present, a nine-station radio telemetric network analogue recording system with a central recording station at the GSD in Accra is said to have broken down.
How prepared are we as a country?
The analogue seismograph, an instrument used in measuring the movement of the earth, which is the only one the country has, broke down two years ago but through the intervention of the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning on December 29, 2009 was asked to release an $3million which had been approved by the government for the purchase of a digital seismograph.
However, logistical constraints has over the years made it impossible for the GSD to identify earthquake-prone areas in the northern part of the country. Residents will, therefore, not know their fate.
The Director of GSD, Mr John Agyei Duodu, has stressed the need for the country to step up its preparedness in respect of the occurrence of an earthquake because earthquakes are unpredictable, hence the need to prepare by sensitisation and mass education on what to do before, during and after an earthquake.
He called for a step-up in the education on the measures needed to be taken in the event of an earthquake and the formation of voluntary groups to handle emergencies, among other things.
“People should know what to do before, during and after an earthquake”, he said.
Also according to experts, buildings that have unsupported arches are likely to collapse in the event of an earthquake but the current building regulations in Ghana do not take cognisance of seismic disasters.
Registration of SIM cards
A directive from the National Communications Authority indicated that from June 30, 2010 all new mobile SIM cards will have to be registered in the name of the user before they can be activated for use on any network. Existing subscribers will have a period of 18 months from the said date to submit to the new directive.
Although the directive is aimed at enhancing security and eliminating fraud and crime, it has not gone down well with many Ghanaians because of the involvement of the National Security.
The Monday, January 20, 2010 earthquake hoax originated from a mobile phone and the information was circulated across the country but till date no one knows where the message came from as the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) who were mentioned as the source have denied any knowledge of it.
Recently, a group of about 200 scientists and research officers of the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH) from across the world who went to Puni, India for their 10th annual general and scientific meeting were given only two registered SIM cards from India’s Ministry of Communication as the source of communication for the whole group.
Unlike how one can easily buy a SIM card on the street in this country, it is not easy to acquire a SIM card in India where you will have to write a letter of intent to the Ministry of Communications for them to consider the application before you are given one to use.
In other places one will have to produce an identity card such as passport before a SIM card is sold to one.
According to a Deputy Information Minister, Mr Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, the rumours of the impending earthquake reinforced the need for mobile phone operators to register SIM cards because if operators had records of all their customers, it would have been easy to trace the origin of the hoax earthquake message.
Workshop on anti-malarial drugs
Daily Graphic, Pg 14. Friday, January 22, 2010
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Dodowa Health Research Centre (DHRC) in the Dangme West District in the Greater Accra Region has identified 53 chemical shops in the district where a safety and efficacy study on antimalarial drugs sold to patients is to be undertaken.
The study is being replicated in the Kintampo and Navrongo Health Research centres and is being sponsored by the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH).
Dubbed: “INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies of Antimalarials in Africa (INESS),” the study is aimed at identifying the authenticity and effectiveness of antimalarial drugs that are being sold out to people to ensure that fake or unwholesome drugs are weeded out of the districts.
The Director of the DHRC, Mrs Margaret Gyapong, made this known to a group of journalists at Dodowa during a day’s training workshop on antimalarials organised by the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN).
The INESS project, which is currently being replicated in Tanzania and will also be undertaken in Mozambique and Burkina Faso later, is aimed at providing national, regional and international health decision makers with independent and objective evidence on the safety and effectiveness of new antimalarial drugs as a basis for evolving a malarial treatment policy.
Giving a background to the implementation of the project, Mrs Gyapong said the project was in fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which included the development of new tools and evaluation of the effectiveness of both existing and new tools in specific health system settings.
According to her, Phases I, II and III randomised, controlled, clinical trials on new drugs were well supported and established the initial safety and efficacy of such new products.
Mrs Gyapong said, however, that large scale Phase IV studies in African health systems to determine effectiveness and rare adverse events through real-life systems were a missing piece in the drug development pipeline.
She said the INESS project would, therefore, develop and maintain a Phase IV Effectiveness Studies Consortium in Africa, as well as assess the effectiveness and safety of new malarial treatment and its determinants in real life in Africa.
The study, she said, would test the effectiveness of Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) such as Artemether-lumefrantine, Artesunate + amodiaquine, Artesunate + mefloquine, and Artesunate + sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine proven to be efficacious and safe for large scale use in routine health systems using eight District Surveillance Survey (DSS) sites in four countries in Africa with continuous demographic surveillance for monitoring of outcomes.
The district-wide implementation project, Mrs Gyapong said, would cover more than two million population in the implementation countries and would link health facility data to population-based data of DSS.
She said the team had so far visited 856 households out of which 727 had been asked questions on fevers and 165 cases recorded.
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Dodowa Health Research Centre (DHRC) in the Dangme West District in the Greater Accra Region has identified 53 chemical shops in the district where a safety and efficacy study on antimalarial drugs sold to patients is to be undertaken.
The study is being replicated in the Kintampo and Navrongo Health Research centres and is being sponsored by the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH).
Dubbed: “INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies of Antimalarials in Africa (INESS),” the study is aimed at identifying the authenticity and effectiveness of antimalarial drugs that are being sold out to people to ensure that fake or unwholesome drugs are weeded out of the districts.
The Director of the DHRC, Mrs Margaret Gyapong, made this known to a group of journalists at Dodowa during a day’s training workshop on antimalarials organised by the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN).
The INESS project, which is currently being replicated in Tanzania and will also be undertaken in Mozambique and Burkina Faso later, is aimed at providing national, regional and international health decision makers with independent and objective evidence on the safety and effectiveness of new antimalarial drugs as a basis for evolving a malarial treatment policy.
Giving a background to the implementation of the project, Mrs Gyapong said the project was in fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which included the development of new tools and evaluation of the effectiveness of both existing and new tools in specific health system settings.
According to her, Phases I, II and III randomised, controlled, clinical trials on new drugs were well supported and established the initial safety and efficacy of such new products.
Mrs Gyapong said, however, that large scale Phase IV studies in African health systems to determine effectiveness and rare adverse events through real-life systems were a missing piece in the drug development pipeline.
She said the INESS project would, therefore, develop and maintain a Phase IV Effectiveness Studies Consortium in Africa, as well as assess the effectiveness and safety of new malarial treatment and its determinants in real life in Africa.
The study, she said, would test the effectiveness of Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) such as Artemether-lumefrantine, Artesunate + amodiaquine, Artesunate + mefloquine, and Artesunate + sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine proven to be efficacious and safe for large scale use in routine health systems using eight District Surveillance Survey (DSS) sites in four countries in Africa with continuous demographic surveillance for monitoring of outcomes.
The district-wide implementation project, Mrs Gyapong said, would cover more than two million population in the implementation countries and would link health facility data to population-based data of DSS.
She said the team had so far visited 856 households out of which 727 had been asked questions on fevers and 165 cases recorded.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Training programme on biometric passports ends
Daily Graphic. Pg 20, Monday, January 18/10
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A Day's training programme has been organised by the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), to educate its regional information officers and commanders on the introduction of the biometric passports next month.
The biometric passports, to be launched on February 3, 2010, will replace the old Machine Readable Passport (MRP) system that was introduced in the country 12 years ago.
Addressing the opening session, Director of Passports, Ms Afua Benneh, said the new passport regime was in compliance with a directive by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for member countries to phase out the use of the MRP by 2015.
The new passport, which will incorporate features such as a watermark paper, holographic foil, invisible and visible features and digital photographs, according to her, has “built-in efficient processing and issuance mechanisms designed to eliminate present frustrations caused by delays and middlemen.
Ms Benneh, however could not give the fees for the acquisition of the new passport, since, according to her, the fees for the new passport, expected to be more expensive than the present one, would need parliamentary approval.
The acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and Regional Integration (MFA&RI), Mr Lawrence Satuah, called for collaboration from all sectors of the economy to ensure that the new system took off effectively.
He said so far only Accra had been equipped with facilities to issue the new passport, adding that two other centres would be opened in other areas in Accra before similar facilities would established in the regions.
He appealed to prospective applicants to bear with them at this trying moment, saying that the system would be improved to make it more accessible.
A Deputy Director in charge of Operations, GIS, Mr Moses Gyamfi, in an address, called for serious commitment on the part of the regional officers to ensure that the new system took off smoothly.
He called on the officers to package the information that they would receive at the training in a way that people in their respective areas would understand it.
Giving an overview of the implementation of the new system, Mr Martin Quarshie, Deputy Director of Passports, MFA&RI, said the passport would help to guard against foreign nationals acquiring Ghanaian passports and also check against identity fraud and other malfeasance in the acquisition of passport in the country.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A Day's training programme has been organised by the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), to educate its regional information officers and commanders on the introduction of the biometric passports next month.
The biometric passports, to be launched on February 3, 2010, will replace the old Machine Readable Passport (MRP) system that was introduced in the country 12 years ago.
Addressing the opening session, Director of Passports, Ms Afua Benneh, said the new passport regime was in compliance with a directive by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for member countries to phase out the use of the MRP by 2015.
The new passport, which will incorporate features such as a watermark paper, holographic foil, invisible and visible features and digital photographs, according to her, has “built-in efficient processing and issuance mechanisms designed to eliminate present frustrations caused by delays and middlemen.
Ms Benneh, however could not give the fees for the acquisition of the new passport, since, according to her, the fees for the new passport, expected to be more expensive than the present one, would need parliamentary approval.
The acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and Regional Integration (MFA&RI), Mr Lawrence Satuah, called for collaboration from all sectors of the economy to ensure that the new system took off effectively.
He said so far only Accra had been equipped with facilities to issue the new passport, adding that two other centres would be opened in other areas in Accra before similar facilities would established in the regions.
He appealed to prospective applicants to bear with them at this trying moment, saying that the system would be improved to make it more accessible.
A Deputy Director in charge of Operations, GIS, Mr Moses Gyamfi, in an address, called for serious commitment on the part of the regional officers to ensure that the new system took off smoothly.
He called on the officers to package the information that they would receive at the training in a way that people in their respective areas would understand it.
Giving an overview of the implementation of the new system, Mr Martin Quarshie, Deputy Director of Passports, MFA&RI, said the passport would help to guard against foreign nationals acquiring Ghanaian passports and also check against identity fraud and other malfeasance in the acquisition of passport in the country.
Friday, January 15, 2010
Foundation fetes deprived children
Daily Graphic, Pg 11. Thurs. Jan 14/10
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
OVER 200 deprived children residing in Agbogbloshie, a slum in Accra have been feted to food and drinks by the New Generation for Africa Foundation (NGAF), a non-governmental organisation based in Accra.
The programme organised for children whose parents are mostly head porters (Kayayei), was to make the children happy .
According to the Executive Director, Mrs Susanna A. Mahama, NGAF worked towards empowering children, women, families and other deprived members in the communities through integrated development programmes to add meaning and value to the lives of all children, through counselling, advocacy and service delivery.
The organisation also aims at improving the lives of children by collaborating with schools, parents, the community, civil society organisations, government agencies and the donor community.
She said although NGAF was not a religious-based organisation, it collaborated with some religious organisations to run a moral and preventive educational programme for children both in and out of school, including street children.
“Our vision is to ensure that, the rights of all Ghanaian children are respected by the society and to build a healthy and poverty- free Society in Ghana”, Mrs Mahama added.
She said a research conducted by NGAF last year, showed that mothers of the beneficiary children worked throughout the year , yet they found it difficult to make ends meet and acquire the basic necessities in life, namely, food clothing and shelter.
She said these children were growing up in an unfriendly environment where their rights were denied stressing that it behoved all Ghanaians to ensure that such children were given the needed care and support which would help their future.
She observed that children’s rights had not received enough attention, nor given enough priority in the country, and that she said made it very difficult to solicit funds to organise such activities for children whose parents coul not cater for them adequately.
A member of NGAF, Mrs Marylyn Amponsah Annan said the organisation would not stop at only organising parties for the children but would also empower their mothers so that they would be able to provide them with their basic needs as well as educate them.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
OVER 200 deprived children residing in Agbogbloshie, a slum in Accra have been feted to food and drinks by the New Generation for Africa Foundation (NGAF), a non-governmental organisation based in Accra.
The programme organised for children whose parents are mostly head porters (Kayayei), was to make the children happy .
According to the Executive Director, Mrs Susanna A. Mahama, NGAF worked towards empowering children, women, families and other deprived members in the communities through integrated development programmes to add meaning and value to the lives of all children, through counselling, advocacy and service delivery.
The organisation also aims at improving the lives of children by collaborating with schools, parents, the community, civil society organisations, government agencies and the donor community.
She said although NGAF was not a religious-based organisation, it collaborated with some religious organisations to run a moral and preventive educational programme for children both in and out of school, including street children.
“Our vision is to ensure that, the rights of all Ghanaian children are respected by the society and to build a healthy and poverty- free Society in Ghana”, Mrs Mahama added.
She said a research conducted by NGAF last year, showed that mothers of the beneficiary children worked throughout the year , yet they found it difficult to make ends meet and acquire the basic necessities in life, namely, food clothing and shelter.
She said these children were growing up in an unfriendly environment where their rights were denied stressing that it behoved all Ghanaians to ensure that such children were given the needed care and support which would help their future.
She observed that children’s rights had not received enough attention, nor given enough priority in the country, and that she said made it very difficult to solicit funds to organise such activities for children whose parents coul not cater for them adequately.
A member of NGAF, Mrs Marylyn Amponsah Annan said the organisation would not stop at only organising parties for the children but would also empower their mothers so that they would be able to provide them with their basic needs as well as educate them.
NYEP to absorb 30,000 into formal employment
Daily Graphic (spread), Tues, Jan. 12/10
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho & Matilda Attram
THE National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) is implementing an exit plan to absorb more than 30,000 youths who are currently on the programme into formal employment.
The exit plan is to make room for a new set of youths to be employed under the programme, while the old set will be absorbed by their current employers or made to enter into a trading or vocational skills training to be introduced by the programme.
The National Co-ordinator of the NYEP, Mr Abuga Pele, who made this known at a press briefing in Accra yesterday, said a bill, the National Youth Employment Bill, would be laid before Parliament this year to help facilitate the activities of the programme.
The NYEP was introduced in the country by the former government in 2007 as a stop-gap measure to create employment for the youth and it is being financed with funds from the GETFund, the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Road Fund, the Communication Talk Time Tax and the District Assemblies Common Fund.
Mr Pele said under the exit plan, institutions such as the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Police Service and the Ministry of Education would provide top-up training programmes for personnel under their outfits so that they could be formally absorbed into the various professions.
Also, the NYEP would liaise with private security agencies so that personnel who were under the Community Police Programme but were not enlisted into the Police Service would be employed to ensure that they did not become a threat to society, he said.
According to him, personnel who had not been employed formally would be encouraged to enter into trading and vocational skills training that would help them to be self-employed.
He said although the exit plan was yet to be implemented, all personnel who had been under the programme for the past two years were expected to end their tenure last December.
On the issue of arrears owed personnel of the NYEP, Mr Pele said arrears for October 2009 would to be paid this week, while those of November and December 2009 would be paid by the end of January this year.
He, however, cautioned that those who had already exited from the programme but were still drawing salaries from it should desist from that act, since any such person found out would be dealt with according to law.
He stated that the NYEP did not have any hand in the removal of some personnel from their stations and called on regional and district co-ordinators to reinstate such personnel till they were recalled.
Mr Pele called on the public to stop reading partisan politics into the programme, saying “that will not augur well for the whole country”.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho & Matilda Attram
THE National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) is implementing an exit plan to absorb more than 30,000 youths who are currently on the programme into formal employment.
The exit plan is to make room for a new set of youths to be employed under the programme, while the old set will be absorbed by their current employers or made to enter into a trading or vocational skills training to be introduced by the programme.
The National Co-ordinator of the NYEP, Mr Abuga Pele, who made this known at a press briefing in Accra yesterday, said a bill, the National Youth Employment Bill, would be laid before Parliament this year to help facilitate the activities of the programme.
The NYEP was introduced in the country by the former government in 2007 as a stop-gap measure to create employment for the youth and it is being financed with funds from the GETFund, the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Road Fund, the Communication Talk Time Tax and the District Assemblies Common Fund.
Mr Pele said under the exit plan, institutions such as the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Police Service and the Ministry of Education would provide top-up training programmes for personnel under their outfits so that they could be formally absorbed into the various professions.
Also, the NYEP would liaise with private security agencies so that personnel who were under the Community Police Programme but were not enlisted into the Police Service would be employed to ensure that they did not become a threat to society, he said.
According to him, personnel who had not been employed formally would be encouraged to enter into trading and vocational skills training that would help them to be self-employed.
He said although the exit plan was yet to be implemented, all personnel who had been under the programme for the past two years were expected to end their tenure last December.
On the issue of arrears owed personnel of the NYEP, Mr Pele said arrears for October 2009 would to be paid this week, while those of November and December 2009 would be paid by the end of January this year.
He, however, cautioned that those who had already exited from the programme but were still drawing salaries from it should desist from that act, since any such person found out would be dealt with according to law.
He stated that the NYEP did not have any hand in the removal of some personnel from their stations and called on regional and district co-ordinators to reinstate such personnel till they were recalled.
Mr Pele called on the public to stop reading partisan politics into the programme, saying “that will not augur well for the whole country”.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
NYEP to absorb 30,000 into formal employment
Daily Graphic (spread), Tues. Jan. 12/10
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho & Matilda Attram
THE National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) is implementing an exit plan to absorb more than 30,000 youths who are currently on the programme into formal employment.
The exit plan is to make room for a new set of youths to be employed under the programme, while the old set will be absorbed by their current employers or made to enter into a trading or vocational skills training to be introduced by the programme.
The National Co-ordinator of the NYEP, Mr Abuga Pele, who made this known at a press briefing in Accra yesterday, said a bill, the National Youth Employment Bill, would be laid before Parliament this year to help facilitate the activities of the programme.
The NYEP was introduced in the country by the former government in 2007 as a stop-gap measure to create employment for the youth and it is being financed with funds from the GETFund, the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Road Fund, the Communication Talk Time Tax and the District Assemblies Common Fund.
Mr Pele said under the exit plan, institutions such as the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Police Service and the Ministry of Education would provide top-up training programmes for personnel under their outfits so that they could be formally absorbed into the various professions.
Also, the NYEP would liaise with private security agencies so that personnel who were under the Community Police Programme but were not enlisted into the Police Service would be employed to ensure that they did not become a threat to society, he said.
According to him, personnel who had not been employed formally would be encouraged to enter into trading and vocational skills training that would help them to be self-employed.
He said although the exit plan was yet to be implemented, all personnel who had been under the programme for the past two years were expected to end their tenure last December.
On the issue of arrears owed personnel of the NYEP, Mr Pele said arrears for October 2009 would to be paid this week, while those of November and December 2009 would be paid by the end of January this year.
He, however, cautioned that those who had already exited from the programme but were still drawing salaries from it should desist from that act, since any such person found out would be dealt with according to law.
He stated that the NYEP did not have any hand in the removal of some personnel from their stations and called on regional and district co-ordinators to reinstate such personnel till they were recalled.
Mr Pele called on the public to stop reading partisan politics into the programme, saying “that will not augur well for the whole country”.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho & Matilda Attram
THE National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) is implementing an exit plan to absorb more than 30,000 youths who are currently on the programme into formal employment.
The exit plan is to make room for a new set of youths to be employed under the programme, while the old set will be absorbed by their current employers or made to enter into a trading or vocational skills training to be introduced by the programme.
The National Co-ordinator of the NYEP, Mr Abuga Pele, who made this known at a press briefing in Accra yesterday, said a bill, the National Youth Employment Bill, would be laid before Parliament this year to help facilitate the activities of the programme.
The NYEP was introduced in the country by the former government in 2007 as a stop-gap measure to create employment for the youth and it is being financed with funds from the GETFund, the National Health Insurance Scheme, the Road Fund, the Communication Talk Time Tax and the District Assemblies Common Fund.
Mr Pele said under the exit plan, institutions such as the Ministry of Health, the Ghana Police Service and the Ministry of Education would provide top-up training programmes for personnel under their outfits so that they could be formally absorbed into the various professions.
Also, the NYEP would liaise with private security agencies so that personnel who were under the Community Police Programme but were not enlisted into the Police Service would be employed to ensure that they did not become a threat to society, he said.
According to him, personnel who had not been employed formally would be encouraged to enter into trading and vocational skills training that would help them to be self-employed.
He said although the exit plan was yet to be implemented, all personnel who had been under the programme for the past two years were expected to end their tenure last December.
On the issue of arrears owed personnel of the NYEP, Mr Pele said arrears for October 2009 would to be paid this week, while those of November and December 2009 would be paid by the end of January this year.
He, however, cautioned that those who had already exited from the programme but were still drawing salaries from it should desist from that act, since any such person found out would be dealt with according to law.
He stated that the NYEP did not have any hand in the removal of some personnel from their stations and called on regional and district co-ordinators to reinstate such personnel till they were recalled.
Mr Pele called on the public to stop reading partisan politics into the programme, saying “that will not augur well for the whole country”.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Georgina's shocking and pathetic story
Daily Graphic, pg. 11. Sat. Jan. 09/10
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
The news of Georgina Akweley Pipson, a 32-year-old alleged mentally ill mother who took the lives of her five children and later died at the Police Hospital in Accra, could be described as shocking and pathetic.
It is shocking because every normal mother is supposed to love and care for her children and not to harm them. It never crossed the minds of the innocent children that the caring woman they had always known and obeyed as their mother, had a problem that could make her give them food laced with poison to kill them.
It is also pathetic because medical experts have confirmed that the late Georgina, who was suffering from postpartum psychosis, was admitted to the Pantang Hospital in Accra on two occasions and her condition made her experience manic episodes, which are usually separated by periods of "normal" mood. It was unfortunate that over the years, no one, either from the family, community or the nation, intervened somewhere to bring help to the seemingly depressed women.
The Medical Director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr Akwasi Osei, in an interview, described the case of Georgina and her five children as an indictment on the healthcare system of the country.
According to him, medical reports on the 32-year-old lady showed that she had been admitted twice, (dates were not given), each after birth, to the Pantang Mental Hospital for postpartum psychosis, a mental condition that occurs in some women after delivery.
The mere fact that she was admitted twice for this very condition, he said, showed that she had a mental condition known in medical circles as bipolar disorder and therefore needed continuous monitoring.
Bipolar disorder also known as manic-depressive disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated mood clinically referred to as mania or, if milder, hypomania.
According to him, individuals who experience manic episodes also commonly experience depressive episodes or symptoms, or mixed episodes in which features of both mania and depression are present at the same time.
These episodes are usually separated by periods of "normal" mood, but in some individuals, depression and mania may rapidly alternate, known as rapid cycling and extreme manic episodes, which can sometimes lead to psychotic symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations.
Dr Osei said signs and symptoms of the depressive phase of bipolar disorder include persistent feelings of sadness, anxiety, guilt, anger, isolation, or hopelessness; disturbances in sleep and appetite; fatigue and loss of interest in usually enjoyable activities; problems concentrating; loneliness, self-loathing, apathy or indifference; depersonalisation; loss of interest in sexual activity; shyness or social anxiety; irritability, chronic pain with or without a known cause, lack of motivation, and morbid suicidal ideation.
In severe cases, the individual may become psychotic, a condition also known as severe bipolar depression with psychotic features, which, according to Dr Osei, can lead to one committing suicide or killing one’s husband or children.
According to Dr Osei, although Georgina was given adequate care at the psychiatric hospital when she was admitted on both occasions, the lack of enough community psychiatric nurses in the country and the breakdown of family support systems coupled with the lack of a Mental Health Law in the country were contributory factors that led to the unfortunate incident.
He said the country currently had only 115 community psychiatric nurses and this he said was inadequate as at least 10 of such nurses were needed in every district across the country.
According to him, people with such conditions needed to be encouraged by either a community psychiatrist or a family member to take their medications.
He said the incident had revealed a serious inadequacies in the country’s healthcare delivery and this needed to be forestalled to prevent further future occurrences.
He added that mentally disabled people were handicapped in the country as there was no law protecting them, since the Disability Act was yet to be fully implemented while the Department of Social Welfare was also seriously constrained to take care of their needs.
A Social Worker and Executive Director of Child Rights International, Mr Bright Appiah, attributed the main cause of the death of 32-year-old Georgina and her five children to breakdown of the Ghanaian family system and the weak social protection systems in the country.
The woman allegedly killed her five children through food poisoning and tried committing suicide but was rescued by the police and later died at the Police Hospital in Accra in the early hours of Thursday.
Ms Pipson was found in a skirt and blouse with a small purse. In the purse was a small diary, in which she had chronicled some interesting statements relating to her life.
Some of the statements read: ”I was born in December 1977”, “I am alone in this world, God why, God why”, “I don’t have a mother or father, who am I” and “Georgina with three boys and two girls.”
Others are “My People deserted me”, God give me hope”, “forgive me and my children, Nana, Kwaku, Angel, Kofi, Esi”, “What a painful world”, “God have mercy on me and my children”, “Why, Kojo my husband,” and “Kojo, I do love you and will never forget you.”
Although the woman was known by her family, including the husband who divorced her about three years ago, to have a mental history, nothing much was done about it to protect her and the children.
Hitherto, the family support system was very strong in the country as people always had aunties, nieces and grandparents taking care of their children for them when the need arose.
But today due to several factors such as economic conditions of people, globalisation and migration, families have become more of nuclear entities than extended.
This has, therefore, given room to neglect, isolation and abandonment of family members, especially, those who need help such as Ms Pipson.
According to Mr Appiah, apart from what the family could have done to help Ms Pipson, she also had a right to enjoy rehabilitation and maintenance from the state due to her mental condition and because of the children, but that was not done because the social protection system of the country is also not effective.
The weak social protection system in the country, according to Mr Appiah, led to the inability of authorities to identify and provide the needed support for Ms Pipson and her children.
The Department of Social Welfare, which according him had the responsibility to cater and provide for the woman and her children when they were in need, could not go to their aid because it was difficult to identify such isolated cases in the country as there were no reporting mechanisms from hospitals or family members that they could follow.
Mr Appiah said if Ms Pipson’s condition had been identified and given the needed help by the state, such a tragedy would not have occurred.
He stressed the need to strengthen the country’s legal systems that protect children, saying that if all the social protection structures in the country including the legal system had been strong, the children of Ms Pipson could have been taken away from her by the state so that they could be given the needed care.
He said the social protection laws of the country did not give 100 per cent custody of children to their parents, saying that the state had the right through the Social Welfare Department to take custody of any child it thought needed such protection.
In cases of divorce, Mr Appiah said there was the need for the law to clearly define when social welfare could intervene when it was established that the right of children in a marriage were being trampled upon.
He called on Parliament to come out with laws that would restructure child protection issues in the country, saying that the protection of children should be paramount in the country.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
The news of Georgina Akweley Pipson, a 32-year-old alleged mentally ill mother who took the lives of her five children and later died at the Police Hospital in Accra, could be described as shocking and pathetic.
It is shocking because every normal mother is supposed to love and care for her children and not to harm them. It never crossed the minds of the innocent children that the caring woman they had always known and obeyed as their mother, had a problem that could make her give them food laced with poison to kill them.
It is also pathetic because medical experts have confirmed that the late Georgina, who was suffering from postpartum psychosis, was admitted to the Pantang Hospital in Accra on two occasions and her condition made her experience manic episodes, which are usually separated by periods of "normal" mood. It was unfortunate that over the years, no one, either from the family, community or the nation, intervened somewhere to bring help to the seemingly depressed women.
The Medical Director of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr Akwasi Osei, in an interview, described the case of Georgina and her five children as an indictment on the healthcare system of the country.
According to him, medical reports on the 32-year-old lady showed that she had been admitted twice, (dates were not given), each after birth, to the Pantang Mental Hospital for postpartum psychosis, a mental condition that occurs in some women after delivery.
The mere fact that she was admitted twice for this very condition, he said, showed that she had a mental condition known in medical circles as bipolar disorder and therefore needed continuous monitoring.
Bipolar disorder also known as manic-depressive disorder is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a category of mood disorders defined by the presence of one or more episodes of abnormally elevated mood clinically referred to as mania or, if milder, hypomania.
According to him, individuals who experience manic episodes also commonly experience depressive episodes or symptoms, or mixed episodes in which features of both mania and depression are present at the same time.
These episodes are usually separated by periods of "normal" mood, but in some individuals, depression and mania may rapidly alternate, known as rapid cycling and extreme manic episodes, which can sometimes lead to psychotic symptoms such as delusions and hallucinations.
Dr Osei said signs and symptoms of the depressive phase of bipolar disorder include persistent feelings of sadness, anxiety, guilt, anger, isolation, or hopelessness; disturbances in sleep and appetite; fatigue and loss of interest in usually enjoyable activities; problems concentrating; loneliness, self-loathing, apathy or indifference; depersonalisation; loss of interest in sexual activity; shyness or social anxiety; irritability, chronic pain with or without a known cause, lack of motivation, and morbid suicidal ideation.
In severe cases, the individual may become psychotic, a condition also known as severe bipolar depression with psychotic features, which, according to Dr Osei, can lead to one committing suicide or killing one’s husband or children.
According to Dr Osei, although Georgina was given adequate care at the psychiatric hospital when she was admitted on both occasions, the lack of enough community psychiatric nurses in the country and the breakdown of family support systems coupled with the lack of a Mental Health Law in the country were contributory factors that led to the unfortunate incident.
He said the country currently had only 115 community psychiatric nurses and this he said was inadequate as at least 10 of such nurses were needed in every district across the country.
According to him, people with such conditions needed to be encouraged by either a community psychiatrist or a family member to take their medications.
He said the incident had revealed a serious inadequacies in the country’s healthcare delivery and this needed to be forestalled to prevent further future occurrences.
He added that mentally disabled people were handicapped in the country as there was no law protecting them, since the Disability Act was yet to be fully implemented while the Department of Social Welfare was also seriously constrained to take care of their needs.
A Social Worker and Executive Director of Child Rights International, Mr Bright Appiah, attributed the main cause of the death of 32-year-old Georgina and her five children to breakdown of the Ghanaian family system and the weak social protection systems in the country.
The woman allegedly killed her five children through food poisoning and tried committing suicide but was rescued by the police and later died at the Police Hospital in Accra in the early hours of Thursday.
Ms Pipson was found in a skirt and blouse with a small purse. In the purse was a small diary, in which she had chronicled some interesting statements relating to her life.
Some of the statements read: ”I was born in December 1977”, “I am alone in this world, God why, God why”, “I don’t have a mother or father, who am I” and “Georgina with three boys and two girls.”
Others are “My People deserted me”, God give me hope”, “forgive me and my children, Nana, Kwaku, Angel, Kofi, Esi”, “What a painful world”, “God have mercy on me and my children”, “Why, Kojo my husband,” and “Kojo, I do love you and will never forget you.”
Although the woman was known by her family, including the husband who divorced her about three years ago, to have a mental history, nothing much was done about it to protect her and the children.
Hitherto, the family support system was very strong in the country as people always had aunties, nieces and grandparents taking care of their children for them when the need arose.
But today due to several factors such as economic conditions of people, globalisation and migration, families have become more of nuclear entities than extended.
This has, therefore, given room to neglect, isolation and abandonment of family members, especially, those who need help such as Ms Pipson.
According to Mr Appiah, apart from what the family could have done to help Ms Pipson, she also had a right to enjoy rehabilitation and maintenance from the state due to her mental condition and because of the children, but that was not done because the social protection system of the country is also not effective.
The weak social protection system in the country, according to Mr Appiah, led to the inability of authorities to identify and provide the needed support for Ms Pipson and her children.
The Department of Social Welfare, which according him had the responsibility to cater and provide for the woman and her children when they were in need, could not go to their aid because it was difficult to identify such isolated cases in the country as there were no reporting mechanisms from hospitals or family members that they could follow.
Mr Appiah said if Ms Pipson’s condition had been identified and given the needed help by the state, such a tragedy would not have occurred.
He stressed the need to strengthen the country’s legal systems that protect children, saying that if all the social protection structures in the country including the legal system had been strong, the children of Ms Pipson could have been taken away from her by the state so that they could be given the needed care.
He said the social protection laws of the country did not give 100 per cent custody of children to their parents, saying that the state had the right through the Social Welfare Department to take custody of any child it thought needed such protection.
In cases of divorce, Mr Appiah said there was the need for the law to clearly define when social welfare could intervene when it was established that the right of children in a marriage were being trampled upon.
He called on Parliament to come out with laws that would restructure child protection issues in the country, saying that the protection of children should be paramount in the country.
Friday, January 8, 2010
'Government rating high'
Daily Graphic (front page), Friday, Jan. 08/10
A cross-section of people and a number of recognised bodies in Accra yesterday scored high marks for the Mills administration in the areas of the economy, education and security after one year in office.
However, they conceded that a lot more needed to be done in the areas of consolidating peace, promoting business, providing infrastructure and improving the general conditions of workers.
A security analyst, Mr Emmanuel Bombande, noted that the first year of the Mills administration witnessed a remarkable improvement in the fight against violent crimes, but not in the search for peace, reports Kofi Yeboah.
In an interview, Mr Bombande stressed the need for the police and other security agencies to upscale their strategy in order to sustain the gains made and called for a more proactive approach to improve on peace interventions.
"Peace and security are mutually influential and are truly integrated, and yet, they are not the same thing," he remarked, as he shared some thoughts with the Daily Graphic on the performance of the Mills administration regarding national security in 2009.
Mr Bombande said although security could not be put in a time frame, there had been a remarkable improvement and progress in combating violent crime, such as armed robbery.
He said the achievement was due to the more proactive approach adopted by the police and the military, an improvement on their capacity for rapid deployment and the reward package instituted by the police, among other factors.
Although he admitted that there had been a few instances of violent crime of very disturbing proportions in the course of the year, he pointed out that, in terms of figures, those incidents were less than what pertained the previous year.
Mr Bombande, however, indicated that the issue was not just about statistics but the psychological barrier that made people to feel safe or unsafe.
He said the challenge was how to sustain the gains made and even improve on them to ensure that the incidents of violent crime were reduced to the barest minimum.
On peace, Mr Bombande observed that peacekeeping in the country had been reduced to the level of firefighting without any initiative to promote dialogue among the factions.
The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) feels that some achievements were made in the area of education, reports Emmanuel Bonney.
The association said the interventions such as the provision of free exercise books, free uniforms and the 50 per cent increase in the Capitation Grant from GH¢3 to GH¢4.50 pesewas, to attract and retain pupils in school were laudable.
A Deputy General Secretary of GNAT, Mr John Nyoagbe, told the Daily Graphic that the interventions by the government would help address inequality in the system.
He said such initiatives should not be a nine-day wonder but should be sustained, adding that the real targets of the interventions should be identified for them to derive maximum benefit.
"The increase in the Capitation Grant by 50 per cent is worthy of commendation. But the issue is the time of delivering the resource is the most important thing. If the Capitation Grant comes early enough then school heads would use it to plan and implement the programme, but if it comes in the middle of the term or towards the end, then one can now guess what the money would be used for," he said.
Mr Nyoagbe said teachers and their welfare issues especially teacher shortage and how to attract and retain teachers in deprived communities, needed to be given a very serious thought.
He said the 20 per cent allowance for teachers in rural areas announced by the government should not be a platform talk but must be translated into reality else the imbalance in education delivery would remain.
On the Government's decision to revert to the three-year senior high school education, he said once the government had decided to do that it should endeavour to motivate teachers and provide the needed facilities that would enhance teaching and learning.
On the health sector, a former Director-General (D-G) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, said it was premature for any serious assessment to be done on a government’s performance within one year, reports Lucy Adoma Yeboah.
He went further to point out that it would be a bit easier if the health sector had had one minister to head the ministry for the year but not under the current situation where the ministry had two ministers within that short period.
Professor Akosa explained that if Dr George Sipah-Adjah Yankey who was first assigned the responsibility of the ministry had been given the opportunity to work for the whole year, one would have been in a better position to, at least, look at some of the policies he might have introduced.
He said unfortunately, Dr Yankey did not keep long at the Ministry of Health and also the new minister, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, had just taken over as the substantive sector minister and, therefore, no proper assessment could be done on that ministry.
Matilda Attram & Henrietta Brocke report that a section of the traders at the Agbogbloshie market raised concerns about the economy in the first year of the Mills administration, which came into office on January 7, 2009.
A provision shop owner, Mr Fred Addo, said although the economy had not been better than expected, it was manageable.
Comparing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) era to that of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), he stated that the difference in the increase in fuel prices and goods was not that much.
“During NPP era a carton of milk was 16 cedis and now it is 20 cedis due to inflation,” he said.
He expressed the hope that Ghanaians would co-operate with the government to improve on the economy for the benefit of all.
For his part, the Executive Director at the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA), Dr J. L. S. Abbey, urged the government to strive towards reducing its expenditure in order to close its deficit gap currently pegged at 10.5 per cent, reports Naa Lamiley Bentil.
Last year, the government envisaged a reduction of its deficit to 9.4 per cent but it was unable to achieve that target at the end of year 2009 and that, according to Dr Abbey, could be attributed to the backlog of expenditure in the year 2008 during the electioneering.
To reverse the trend however, and set the economic on a path of recovery, Dr Abbey stated that the government must remain focus and insist on value for money in its expenditure whilst ensuring that programmes and projects which had stalled were completed to the benefit of the people.
Infrastructure projects such as roads, for instance, must be built to facilitate economic activities.
According to him, 2009 was a very difficult year for even developed economies due to the global recession and described Ghana as “a tail of two cities”.
Explaining, Dr Abbey said Ghana was caught in between two forces, in that whilst developed nations increased their spending to stimulate the economy, Ghana’s government reduced spending significantly to stabilise its economy.
From the labour front, Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho reports that the Deputy Secretary General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), Dr Yaw Baah, has commended the government for some bold initiatives that it had taken since it took office.
One of such initiative is the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), which, according to Dr Baah, would help bring relief to most workers especially teachers in terms of they getting fair wages which would be commensurate to their work.
He also commended the government for the implementation of the Three Tier Pension Scheme, which, according to him, would enable most workers to go on pension with some dignity.
Dr Yaw Baah, however, expressed some reservations including the existing high taxes which public service workers had to pay and the current employment situation in the country.
A cross-section of people and a number of recognised bodies in Accra yesterday scored high marks for the Mills administration in the areas of the economy, education and security after one year in office.
However, they conceded that a lot more needed to be done in the areas of consolidating peace, promoting business, providing infrastructure and improving the general conditions of workers.
A security analyst, Mr Emmanuel Bombande, noted that the first year of the Mills administration witnessed a remarkable improvement in the fight against violent crimes, but not in the search for peace, reports Kofi Yeboah.
In an interview, Mr Bombande stressed the need for the police and other security agencies to upscale their strategy in order to sustain the gains made and called for a more proactive approach to improve on peace interventions.
"Peace and security are mutually influential and are truly integrated, and yet, they are not the same thing," he remarked, as he shared some thoughts with the Daily Graphic on the performance of the Mills administration regarding national security in 2009.
Mr Bombande said although security could not be put in a time frame, there had been a remarkable improvement and progress in combating violent crime, such as armed robbery.
He said the achievement was due to the more proactive approach adopted by the police and the military, an improvement on their capacity for rapid deployment and the reward package instituted by the police, among other factors.
Although he admitted that there had been a few instances of violent crime of very disturbing proportions in the course of the year, he pointed out that, in terms of figures, those incidents were less than what pertained the previous year.
Mr Bombande, however, indicated that the issue was not just about statistics but the psychological barrier that made people to feel safe or unsafe.
He said the challenge was how to sustain the gains made and even improve on them to ensure that the incidents of violent crime were reduced to the barest minimum.
On peace, Mr Bombande observed that peacekeeping in the country had been reduced to the level of firefighting without any initiative to promote dialogue among the factions.
The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) feels that some achievements were made in the area of education, reports Emmanuel Bonney.
The association said the interventions such as the provision of free exercise books, free uniforms and the 50 per cent increase in the Capitation Grant from GH¢3 to GH¢4.50 pesewas, to attract and retain pupils in school were laudable.
A Deputy General Secretary of GNAT, Mr John Nyoagbe, told the Daily Graphic that the interventions by the government would help address inequality in the system.
He said such initiatives should not be a nine-day wonder but should be sustained, adding that the real targets of the interventions should be identified for them to derive maximum benefit.
"The increase in the Capitation Grant by 50 per cent is worthy of commendation. But the issue is the time of delivering the resource is the most important thing. If the Capitation Grant comes early enough then school heads would use it to plan and implement the programme, but if it comes in the middle of the term or towards the end, then one can now guess what the money would be used for," he said.
Mr Nyoagbe said teachers and their welfare issues especially teacher shortage and how to attract and retain teachers in deprived communities, needed to be given a very serious thought.
He said the 20 per cent allowance for teachers in rural areas announced by the government should not be a platform talk but must be translated into reality else the imbalance in education delivery would remain.
On the Government's decision to revert to the three-year senior high school education, he said once the government had decided to do that it should endeavour to motivate teachers and provide the needed facilities that would enhance teaching and learning.
On the health sector, a former Director-General (D-G) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, said it was premature for any serious assessment to be done on a government’s performance within one year, reports Lucy Adoma Yeboah.
He went further to point out that it would be a bit easier if the health sector had had one minister to head the ministry for the year but not under the current situation where the ministry had two ministers within that short period.
Professor Akosa explained that if Dr George Sipah-Adjah Yankey who was first assigned the responsibility of the ministry had been given the opportunity to work for the whole year, one would have been in a better position to, at least, look at some of the policies he might have introduced.
He said unfortunately, Dr Yankey did not keep long at the Ministry of Health and also the new minister, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, had just taken over as the substantive sector minister and, therefore, no proper assessment could be done on that ministry.
Matilda Attram & Henrietta Brocke report that a section of the traders at the Agbogbloshie market raised concerns about the economy in the first year of the Mills administration, which came into office on January 7, 2009.
A provision shop owner, Mr Fred Addo, said although the economy had not been better than expected, it was manageable.
Comparing the National Democratic Congress (NDC) era to that of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), he stated that the difference in the increase in fuel prices and goods was not that much.
“During NPP era a carton of milk was 16 cedis and now it is 20 cedis due to inflation,” he said.
He expressed the hope that Ghanaians would co-operate with the government to improve on the economy for the benefit of all.
For his part, the Executive Director at the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA), Dr J. L. S. Abbey, urged the government to strive towards reducing its expenditure in order to close its deficit gap currently pegged at 10.5 per cent, reports Naa Lamiley Bentil.
Last year, the government envisaged a reduction of its deficit to 9.4 per cent but it was unable to achieve that target at the end of year 2009 and that, according to Dr Abbey, could be attributed to the backlog of expenditure in the year 2008 during the electioneering.
To reverse the trend however, and set the economic on a path of recovery, Dr Abbey stated that the government must remain focus and insist on value for money in its expenditure whilst ensuring that programmes and projects which had stalled were completed to the benefit of the people.
Infrastructure projects such as roads, for instance, must be built to facilitate economic activities.
According to him, 2009 was a very difficult year for even developed economies due to the global recession and described Ghana as “a tail of two cities”.
Explaining, Dr Abbey said Ghana was caught in between two forces, in that whilst developed nations increased their spending to stimulate the economy, Ghana’s government reduced spending significantly to stabilise its economy.
From the labour front, Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho reports that the Deputy Secretary General of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC), Dr Yaw Baah, has commended the government for some bold initiatives that it had taken since it took office.
One of such initiative is the implementation of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), which, according to Dr Baah, would help bring relief to most workers especially teachers in terms of they getting fair wages which would be commensurate to their work.
He also commended the government for the implementation of the Three Tier Pension Scheme, which, according to him, would enable most workers to go on pension with some dignity.
Dr Yaw Baah, however, expressed some reservations including the existing high taxes which public service workers had to pay and the current employment situation in the country.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Govt looks for additional funds for 2010 census
Daily Graphic (spread), Mon. Jan. 06/10
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE government is sourcing additional funds from the private sector and developing partners to finance the 2010 Population and Housing Census.
The country needs more than US$49 million to organise the census. Already the government has set aside GH¢37 million towards the implementation of the census programme.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday to throw light on the census programme, the Minister of Finance, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, said the government was hopeful that needed resources would be obtained for the conduct of the census.
He also confirmed that the 2010 national census would not be held in March as anticipated.
Although a firm date has not been settled on yet, the minister said undertaking the census exercise was one of the government’s priority programmes for 2010.
The minister was supported by the Government’s Statistician, Dr Mrs Grace Bediako and a Member of the Census Steering Committee, Mr David Kangah, as well as other officials and directors from the Ministry of Finance and the GSS.
Dr Duffour commended developing partners such as the UNFPA, DFID, UNDP, DANIDA, UNICEF, the Swiss government and the People’s Republic of China for their contribution and pledges, which were so far amounted to US$5 million.
He said the budgetary provisions from the government for the census programme to date had enabled the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and collaborating institutions and partners to make significant progress in the planning and implementation of the programme.
He said by the end of March 2010, all materials, including the instruments, maps, publicity, among others, would be available, and procedures and organisational structures for the main census would have been developed.
The minister said “there is no doubt that the Population and Housing Census was a unique data source that provides benchmark information for effective planning and good governance at all levels of government”.
Dr Mrs Bediako, who assisted the minister to answer some of the questions from the media, said it had become necessary for the 2010 exercise to be delayed for lessons learnt from the trial census organised late last year to be incorporated into the census.
According to her, several issues such as the weather, holidays, migration and religious pilgrims such as Hajj were being considered before a date was fixed for the census to take place.
She was, however, definite that the census would come off this year.
Last Monday January 4, 2010 the Daily Graphic reported that the National Census anticipated to take place in March, 2010 might delay because the Census Secretariat under the Ghana Statistical Service was still in the process of capturing and collating data from the trial census organised in November, last year.
Enough time is required to elapse after a trial before a national census can be organised after a trial census so that lessons learnt can be built upon.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE government is sourcing additional funds from the private sector and developing partners to finance the 2010 Population and Housing Census.
The country needs more than US$49 million to organise the census. Already the government has set aside GH¢37 million towards the implementation of the census programme.
At a press conference in Accra yesterday to throw light on the census programme, the Minister of Finance, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, said the government was hopeful that needed resources would be obtained for the conduct of the census.
He also confirmed that the 2010 national census would not be held in March as anticipated.
Although a firm date has not been settled on yet, the minister said undertaking the census exercise was one of the government’s priority programmes for 2010.
The minister was supported by the Government’s Statistician, Dr Mrs Grace Bediako and a Member of the Census Steering Committee, Mr David Kangah, as well as other officials and directors from the Ministry of Finance and the GSS.
Dr Duffour commended developing partners such as the UNFPA, DFID, UNDP, DANIDA, UNICEF, the Swiss government and the People’s Republic of China for their contribution and pledges, which were so far amounted to US$5 million.
He said the budgetary provisions from the government for the census programme to date had enabled the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and collaborating institutions and partners to make significant progress in the planning and implementation of the programme.
He said by the end of March 2010, all materials, including the instruments, maps, publicity, among others, would be available, and procedures and organisational structures for the main census would have been developed.
The minister said “there is no doubt that the Population and Housing Census was a unique data source that provides benchmark information for effective planning and good governance at all levels of government”.
Dr Mrs Bediako, who assisted the minister to answer some of the questions from the media, said it had become necessary for the 2010 exercise to be delayed for lessons learnt from the trial census organised late last year to be incorporated into the census.
According to her, several issues such as the weather, holidays, migration and religious pilgrims such as Hajj were being considered before a date was fixed for the census to take place.
She was, however, definite that the census would come off this year.
Last Monday January 4, 2010 the Daily Graphic reported that the National Census anticipated to take place in March, 2010 might delay because the Census Secretariat under the Ghana Statistical Service was still in the process of capturing and collating data from the trial census organised in November, last year.
Enough time is required to elapse after a trial before a national census can be organised after a trial census so that lessons learnt can be built upon.
Monday, January 4, 2010
2010 National Census to delay
Daily Graphic (front Page), Monday, Jan 04/10
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE 2010 National Census anticipated to take place in March, 2010 may delay.
This is due to the fact that the Census Secretariat under the Ghana Statistical Service is now capturing and collating data from the trial census organised in November, last year, and a minimum period of one year is required to organise a national census after a trial census has been organised.
Mr Francis Kojo Yankey, a member of the Census Implementation Committee at the Census Secretariat, who made this known to the Daily Graphic in an interview, said the secretariat was still in the process of capturing and collating data from the trial census organised in November, 2009.
Mr Yankey, who was supported by a team of technical experts from the Census Secretariat, however, stated that work on the trial census would be facilitated to ensure that the national census take place within 2010 but he was definite that the census could not be conducted in March, as anticipated.
According to Mr Yankey, the secretariat needed time to capture the data received from the field during the trial census, saying that problems and lessons learnt from the trial census would help to fine-tune the national census.
He said although Ghana normally organised its national census, which captured the data of every person living within the borders of the country at census night, in or around March every 10 years, this year’s census would delay due to other factors such as the commencement of the African Cup of Nations and the World Cup, which could affect the seriousness of the census programme.
He said the secretariat was, however, awaiting a definite date to be set by the National Census Steering Committee headed by the Minister of Finance.
Mr Yankey said the secretariat would, however, continue to organise publicity and educational activities on the census to ensure that people knew what was expected from them when the census finally began.
As part of efforts to ensure that people kept abreast of the census before it was finally rolled out, he said the questionnaires would be made available on the Internet to ensure that people had a fair idea on the questions to expect.
He said three new areas on agriculture, Information Communication Technology (ICT) and disability, had been introduced into the 2010 questionnaire for future use of such data.
He said some of the normal questions that would appear on the questionnaire would elicit information on age, fertility, religious affiliation, as well as educational and economic characteristics of people.
Mr Yankey said the census, which would also cover houses, would capture all housing structures including kiosks, mosques, churches and school buildings in the country.
He said the secretariat had estimated to capture about 25 million people who would be residing within the country on the day of the census.
He said his outfit was, therefore, going to recruit and train between 55,000 and 62,000 people this year. Out of the number who would be recruited, only 36,000 would be finally engaged as enumerators and 9,000 as supervisors to undertake the exercise.
As a way of making the work easy, Mr Yankey also said the questionnaires would also be translated into the various local languages to suit different populations.
He appealed to the general public to ensure that they left behind their personal details to the household head where they found themselves on the day of the census, since the questionnaire would require the capturing of the characteristics of everybody in the country.
On the issue of some communities that refused to be part of the trial census in the Brong Ahafo Region, Mr Yankey said the problem had been resolved and called on all persons who would find themselves in the country on the day of the census to co-operate with the enumerators for a successful exercise.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE 2010 National Census anticipated to take place in March, 2010 may delay.
This is due to the fact that the Census Secretariat under the Ghana Statistical Service is now capturing and collating data from the trial census organised in November, last year, and a minimum period of one year is required to organise a national census after a trial census has been organised.
Mr Francis Kojo Yankey, a member of the Census Implementation Committee at the Census Secretariat, who made this known to the Daily Graphic in an interview, said the secretariat was still in the process of capturing and collating data from the trial census organised in November, 2009.
Mr Yankey, who was supported by a team of technical experts from the Census Secretariat, however, stated that work on the trial census would be facilitated to ensure that the national census take place within 2010 but he was definite that the census could not be conducted in March, as anticipated.
According to Mr Yankey, the secretariat needed time to capture the data received from the field during the trial census, saying that problems and lessons learnt from the trial census would help to fine-tune the national census.
He said although Ghana normally organised its national census, which captured the data of every person living within the borders of the country at census night, in or around March every 10 years, this year’s census would delay due to other factors such as the commencement of the African Cup of Nations and the World Cup, which could affect the seriousness of the census programme.
He said the secretariat was, however, awaiting a definite date to be set by the National Census Steering Committee headed by the Minister of Finance.
Mr Yankey said the secretariat would, however, continue to organise publicity and educational activities on the census to ensure that people knew what was expected from them when the census finally began.
As part of efforts to ensure that people kept abreast of the census before it was finally rolled out, he said the questionnaires would be made available on the Internet to ensure that people had a fair idea on the questions to expect.
He said three new areas on agriculture, Information Communication Technology (ICT) and disability, had been introduced into the 2010 questionnaire for future use of such data.
He said some of the normal questions that would appear on the questionnaire would elicit information on age, fertility, religious affiliation, as well as educational and economic characteristics of people.
Mr Yankey said the census, which would also cover houses, would capture all housing structures including kiosks, mosques, churches and school buildings in the country.
He said the secretariat had estimated to capture about 25 million people who would be residing within the country on the day of the census.
He said his outfit was, therefore, going to recruit and train between 55,000 and 62,000 people this year. Out of the number who would be recruited, only 36,000 would be finally engaged as enumerators and 9,000 as supervisors to undertake the exercise.
As a way of making the work easy, Mr Yankey also said the questionnaires would also be translated into the various local languages to suit different populations.
He appealed to the general public to ensure that they left behind their personal details to the household head where they found themselves on the day of the census, since the questionnaire would require the capturing of the characteristics of everybody in the country.
On the issue of some communities that refused to be part of the trial census in the Brong Ahafo Region, Mr Yankey said the problem had been resolved and called on all persons who would find themselves in the country on the day of the census to co-operate with the enumerators for a successful exercise.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Assemblywoman for Mansralor calls for support
Daily Graphic, Pg. 14, Sat. Jan. 02/10
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Assemblywoman for the Mansralor Electoral Area, Ms Sylvia Opoku-Manu has called for support and dedication from the people in the electoral area so that she could achieve the purpose for which she was elected into office.
She said without the needed support, she would not be able to deliver on her promise of good roads, gutters, streetlights among others.She therefore, urged them to turn up in their numbers when she calls for area meetings.
Ms Opoku-Boadu was speaking at an end-of-year party she organised for people in the electoral area comprising of Dansoman and surrounding communities.
She took the opportunity to give an account of what she had been able to achieved since elected into office.
She mentioned over a dozen streetlights that had been erected in some areas within the electoral area, repairs on some roads and gutters such as the Dansoman High Street and the beautification of the Dansoman Roundabout among other projects.
Ms Opoku-Manu said more streetlights were going to be erected at strategic places so as to reduce the spate of crime in the area, adding that more roads were also going to be rehabilitated in most communities in 2010.
She also said most of the sewage systems in some areas such as Zodiac, First Stop and Russia Road all in Dansoman were in bad state and promised that she was going to ensure that a central sewage system where all waste in the affected areas are deposited, is rehabilitated.
She said so far, she has been able to achieve a lot through the formation of youth organisations in various communities where she leads such groups to undertake clean-up exercises, as well as other community mobilisation works.
The assemblywoman also said she had been able to identify some women in various areas who needed financial support to boost their businesses and had given them loans.
She later presented a wheelchair to a self-employed disabled shoemaker who according to her, had always been supportive in her mobilisation of people in his area around King Soloman in Dansoman.
Earlier, she had mobilised the youth in the Dansoman SSNIT Flat area to undertake a clean-up exercise where drains and gutters were desilted.
* Picture shows Mr Gottfried Owusu (second left), father of Mr Nelson Owusu the disabled shoemaker, receiving the wheelchair on behalf of his son from Ms Opoku-Manu (first left).
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Assemblywoman for the Mansralor Electoral Area, Ms Sylvia Opoku-Manu has called for support and dedication from the people in the electoral area so that she could achieve the purpose for which she was elected into office.
She said without the needed support, she would not be able to deliver on her promise of good roads, gutters, streetlights among others.She therefore, urged them to turn up in their numbers when she calls for area meetings.
Ms Opoku-Boadu was speaking at an end-of-year party she organised for people in the electoral area comprising of Dansoman and surrounding communities.
She took the opportunity to give an account of what she had been able to achieved since elected into office.
She mentioned over a dozen streetlights that had been erected in some areas within the electoral area, repairs on some roads and gutters such as the Dansoman High Street and the beautification of the Dansoman Roundabout among other projects.
Ms Opoku-Manu said more streetlights were going to be erected at strategic places so as to reduce the spate of crime in the area, adding that more roads were also going to be rehabilitated in most communities in 2010.
She also said most of the sewage systems in some areas such as Zodiac, First Stop and Russia Road all in Dansoman were in bad state and promised that she was going to ensure that a central sewage system where all waste in the affected areas are deposited, is rehabilitated.
She said so far, she has been able to achieve a lot through the formation of youth organisations in various communities where she leads such groups to undertake clean-up exercises, as well as other community mobilisation works.
The assemblywoman also said she had been able to identify some women in various areas who needed financial support to boost their businesses and had given them loans.
She later presented a wheelchair to a self-employed disabled shoemaker who according to her, had always been supportive in her mobilisation of people in his area around King Soloman in Dansoman.
Earlier, she had mobilised the youth in the Dansoman SSNIT Flat area to undertake a clean-up exercise where drains and gutters were desilted.
* Picture shows Mr Gottfried Owusu (second left), father of Mr Nelson Owusu the disabled shoemaker, receiving the wheelchair on behalf of his son from Ms Opoku-Manu (first left).
“Commit more resources to support women’s work”
Daily Graphic, Pg 11, Sat. Jan. 02/10
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Convenor of the network for Women’s Right (NETRIGHT), Dr Mrs Rose Mensah Kutin, has called on the government to be more proactive in addressing issues concerning women’s rights this year and subsequent years.
Adding her voice to calls from women on their expectations for 2010, she said the government needed to commit more resources to support women’s work.
According to her, last year was quite challenging for women in the country especially as the change in government brought in its wake unclear agenda on issues concerning women’s equity and empowerment.
Her expectations from the government, she said, was for the government to reduce polarisation in the country so that women could also freely talk on issues without being branded as being politically biased.
She called on the government to unite the country in a way that everyone would feel a sense of belonging.
Dr Mrs Kutin also expects the government to improve on the employment situation of the country, saying that the current employment status of the country is in crisis and that the government needs to create employment avenues for both men and women.
She also expects the government to look at the service conditions of teachers in the country, saying that it is the sure way of checking the fallen standards of education that the country was currently witnessing.
She further called on the government to take advantage of the benefits emerging from the conference on climate change held in Copenhagen and to tap into the benefits offered by governments from developing countries especially in areas where the issue of climate change directly affected women and their source of livelihood.
She also called on the government to use the upcoming Beijing +10 review meeting to update itself on how it had performed so far in terms of women empowerment in the country and also ensure that it participated fully in the meeting.
On the programme of NETRIGHT in the coming year, she said the organisation would co-ordinate the formation of a coalition which would solely focus on gender and climate change, as a way of educating women on how to combat the issue of climate change.
She said her outfit was also going to intensify its work on getting more women into the district assembly in the 2010 District Assembly elections.
She added that her organisation had already prepared initial strategy for women’s participation and would continue to mount a strong campaign for a quota system to increase the number of women in political decision-making.
She also called for support from the media in projecting the issue of women positively and further called on the private sector to also support socially relevant issues pertaining to women’s right.
She gave the assurance that NETRIGHT would continue to work to unite women from across the country.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Convenor of the network for Women’s Right (NETRIGHT), Dr Mrs Rose Mensah Kutin, has called on the government to be more proactive in addressing issues concerning women’s rights this year and subsequent years.
Adding her voice to calls from women on their expectations for 2010, she said the government needed to commit more resources to support women’s work.
According to her, last year was quite challenging for women in the country especially as the change in government brought in its wake unclear agenda on issues concerning women’s equity and empowerment.
Her expectations from the government, she said, was for the government to reduce polarisation in the country so that women could also freely talk on issues without being branded as being politically biased.
She called on the government to unite the country in a way that everyone would feel a sense of belonging.
Dr Mrs Kutin also expects the government to improve on the employment situation of the country, saying that the current employment status of the country is in crisis and that the government needs to create employment avenues for both men and women.
She also expects the government to look at the service conditions of teachers in the country, saying that it is the sure way of checking the fallen standards of education that the country was currently witnessing.
She further called on the government to take advantage of the benefits emerging from the conference on climate change held in Copenhagen and to tap into the benefits offered by governments from developing countries especially in areas where the issue of climate change directly affected women and their source of livelihood.
She also called on the government to use the upcoming Beijing +10 review meeting to update itself on how it had performed so far in terms of women empowerment in the country and also ensure that it participated fully in the meeting.
On the programme of NETRIGHT in the coming year, she said the organisation would co-ordinate the formation of a coalition which would solely focus on gender and climate change, as a way of educating women on how to combat the issue of climate change.
She said her outfit was also going to intensify its work on getting more women into the district assembly in the 2010 District Assembly elections.
She added that her organisation had already prepared initial strategy for women’s participation and would continue to mount a strong campaign for a quota system to increase the number of women in political decision-making.
She also called for support from the media in projecting the issue of women positively and further called on the private sector to also support socially relevant issues pertaining to women’s right.
She gave the assurance that NETRIGHT would continue to work to unite women from across the country.
Advocacy groups intensify efforts on review of two laws
Daily Graphic Pg 11, Sat. Jan. 02/10
Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
The Leadership and Advocacy for Women Empowerment in Africa (LAWA) Ghana Alumnae Incorporated in collaboration with the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA) has embarked on a series of advocacy workshops in all the 10 regions of the country, as part of a consultative process on a review of the Property Rights of Spouses (PRSB) and the Intestate Succession laws.
The review of the laws is to ensure maximum protection of property rights of spouses and also address problems encountered in the implementation of Interstate Succession Law, 1985 (PNDCL 111).
The workshops, which formed part of a pre-legislation advocacy fora, have brought together stakeholders from the Attorney General's Department, gender advocates, civil society groups and personnel from the security services such as Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) and the Ghana Prisons Service to sensitise the general public to the review of the two laws and to advocate for their early passage.
Processes for the review were initiated by the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General’s Department, in fulfilment of Article 22 of the 1992 Constitution which calls on Parliament to enact legislation to ensure that a spouse is not deprived of a reasonable provision out of the estate of a deceased spouse whether or not the spouse died having made a will.
The said provision also calls on Parliament to, as soon as practicable after coming into force of the Constitution, enact legislation regulating the property rights of spouses.
Gender advocates contend that Ghana has an obligation under international human rights laws such as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the enjoyment of the same rights and responsibilities within and after marriage.
The Director of Legislative Drafting at the Attorney-General’s Department, Ms Estelle Matilda Appiah, who briefed the participants, said the country’s first major legal pluralism legislation was the Intestate Succession Act (PNDCL 111) and that this legislation needed to be reviewed to deal with anomalies that had become apparent after more than 20 years of its implementation, adding that the Law as a tool for social change was complicated by the pluralistic legal system in the country.
She said courts in the country had attempted to deal with the complexity of issues relating to property rights in marriages but pointed out that decisions arrived at varied and lacked consistency.
Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
The Leadership and Advocacy for Women Empowerment in Africa (LAWA) Ghana Alumnae Incorporated in collaboration with the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA) has embarked on a series of advocacy workshops in all the 10 regions of the country, as part of a consultative process on a review of the Property Rights of Spouses (PRSB) and the Intestate Succession laws.
The review of the laws is to ensure maximum protection of property rights of spouses and also address problems encountered in the implementation of Interstate Succession Law, 1985 (PNDCL 111).
The workshops, which formed part of a pre-legislation advocacy fora, have brought together stakeholders from the Attorney General's Department, gender advocates, civil society groups and personnel from the security services such as Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) and the Ghana Prisons Service to sensitise the general public to the review of the two laws and to advocate for their early passage.
Processes for the review were initiated by the Ministry of Justice and the Attorney General’s Department, in fulfilment of Article 22 of the 1992 Constitution which calls on Parliament to enact legislation to ensure that a spouse is not deprived of a reasonable provision out of the estate of a deceased spouse whether or not the spouse died having made a will.
The said provision also calls on Parliament to, as soon as practicable after coming into force of the Constitution, enact legislation regulating the property rights of spouses.
Gender advocates contend that Ghana has an obligation under international human rights laws such as the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the enjoyment of the same rights and responsibilities within and after marriage.
The Director of Legislative Drafting at the Attorney-General’s Department, Ms Estelle Matilda Appiah, who briefed the participants, said the country’s first major legal pluralism legislation was the Intestate Succession Act (PNDCL 111) and that this legislation needed to be reviewed to deal with anomalies that had become apparent after more than 20 years of its implementation, adding that the Law as a tool for social change was complicated by the pluralistic legal system in the country.
She said courts in the country had attempted to deal with the complexity of issues relating to property rights in marriages but pointed out that decisions arrived at varied and lacked consistency.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)