Spread Mar. 26/08
Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
CABINET has directed that the Draft Comprehensive Decentralisation Policy Framework developed by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development should be discussed and further improved on by civil society organisations.
The policy, which forms part of the National Decentralisation Action Plan (NDAP), will be re-submitted to the Cabinet after all partners have made their input.
This was made known by the sector minister, Mr Kwadwo Adjei Darko, when he took his turn to address the press in Accra yesterday.
He said a review committee had also been set up to look into the legal environment of decentralisation and local government reforms to address issues that had emerged with the implementation of the local government reforms.
He said his ministry together with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning had developed an inter-governmental fiscal framework which sought to address the issue of revenue, expenditure and functional assignments between national and the sub-national levels of government.
Mr Adjei Darko said for the purpose of the development of the framework, an inter-ministerial committee had been set up and a first draft of the framework had been developed and validated.
He said a legislative instrument (LI) which integrated all decentralised departments at the district assembly and regional levels into the assembly fold and the regional co-ordinating council had been produced and submitted to the Cabinet.
The LI, among other things, outlined the roles and responsibilities of each department and made the district assemblies the centre of activities at the district level, he disclosed.
He said with the launch of the Local Government Service Council in December 2007, the council and its secretariat were currently working on integrating the line departments and central government agencies into the departments of the assemblies at the district level to ensure that the assemblies had the requisite and competent staff to fulfil their mandates.
He added that with the launch of the council, over 30,000 staff had been transferred from the Civil Service to the Local Government Service with effect from January 2008.
Mr Adjei Darko said the rationale behind the splitting of district assemblies was to make the assemblies more effective, adding that in the past five months, 32 new district assemblies had been created out of which 31 had been established and another 31 raised to municipal and metropolitan status.
Chronicling some of the achievements of the ministry in the past year, Mr Adjei Darko said the ministry in collaboration with the Merchant Bank and the Jomoro and Krachi district assemblies had successfully constructed two boats to facilitate lake transportation, adding that the boats had been designed to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers.
On the District Assemblies Common Fund, the minister said the allocation of five per cent of the national budget to district assemblies had been increased to 7.5 per cent with effect from this year, in view of the enormous developmental responsibilities of the assemblies.
Consequently, he said, in fulfilment with the Internal Audit Act provisions, the ministry in collaboration with the Internal Audit Agency had established and staffed internal audit units in all ministries, municipalities, districts and agencies (MMDA).
Also an initiative to assist the MMDAs to significantly increase their internally generated funds had been introduced through the Ghana Municipal Finance and Management Initiative of the Government of Ghana with sponsorship from the Cities Alliance, World Bank and the UN-Habitat.
The initiative, he said, would help the MMDAs to identify and find ways of blocking financial leakage and improve their management and accounting systems, to be able to raise enough funds to meet the backlog of infrastructure and service delivery requirements, adequately provide for people’s needs, gain public confidence and ultimately achieve the level of being able to borrow from the capital market.
On the environment, the minister said a National Environmental Sanitation Co-ordination Council had been revived and further strengthened to co-ordinate and collaborate with all stakeholders involved in sanitation management, adding that the ministry had also revived the national Environmental Sanitation Policy, which was yet to be submitted to the Cabinet.
He further stated that a research team based in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) had been constituted to undertake research and studies into the Bui Dam Project and its impact on the environment, health and safety, the ecosystem and aquatic life with the view to improving the quality of life in the area, as well as maximise the value of any investment made in the area.
The research team, which, he said, would work closely with the Tain and Bole District Assemblies, would develop a comprehensive environmental health safety programme, undertake research and investigate environmental health and safety liabilities, as well as provide credible health and safety information.
On the School Feeding Programme introduced by the government, the minister said despite some problems, 987 schools with 477,714 pupils across the country were currently benefiting, saying that by the end of the year it was expected to cover 1,556 schools and gradually scale up to 2,889 schools with 1.4 million pupils by the end of 2010.
He said by March 2008, about GH¢24 million had been disbursed with The Netherlands government providing about GH¢2.1 million.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Special courts to prosecute people for illegal water connections
Pg 14. Mar. 24/08
Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
THE Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Abubakar Sadique Boniface, says he will as a matter of urgency seek parliamentary approval for the establishment of special courts to prosecute people who connect water illegally to their homes, offices or workplaces.
According to the minister, the activities of such people was a major cause of financial loss to the government. He would, therefore, liaise with the Attorney-General’s Department for the establishment of such courts.
The minister said this on Monday when he accompanied the General Manager of Distribution, Aqua Vitens Rands Limited, Mr Theo Smit, and a disconnection team to stop people who had illegally connected water into their premises.
The operation was carried out in Sukura, Zambrama Line and Kaneshie (all in Accra) where the team disconnected four water sources which had been illegally reconnected after they had been disconnected about a year ago.
At Sukura, an illegal connection was disconnected at a house of a teacher who was absent when the team got there.
According to the disconnection team, the house’s water connection was disconnected about a year and a half ago but they had a tip-off that the landlady had reconnected water to her apartment.
At Zambrama Line, two illegal connections of water were identified, one of which had been connected to a public bathhouse for commercial purposes, The alleged culprit took to his heels when the team got to the scene.
After the disconnection, the minister tasked the chief of the area, Chief Haruna Maiga, to ensure that people within the area were educated on the effect of their actions on the efficient supply of water as well as revenue generation for the government.
At Kaneshie, the team disconnected a house which had been disconnected earlier but was tapping water from a neighbour without his knowledge.
The team earlier visited the Dansoman Police Station where a 65-year-old man, Mr Ofei Ashiley, had been arrested in the morning for stealing two water meters belonging to the St. Margarete Mary Secondary School at Dansoman.
The Head of the Loss Control Unit, Accra West District of Aqua Vitens Rands Ltd., Mr Joseph Nyante, said within the past three months, his outfit had received 57 cases of missing water meters.
An Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) at the Dansoman Police Station, ACP Florence Arthur, who briefed the minister on the current rate of armed robbery in the area, also appealed to people to volunteer information to the police to enable them take action.
The Communications Manager of Aqua Vitens Rands Ltd., Mr Kweku Sakyi-Addo, while briefing the media, attributed the current water shortage in the capital to the activities of some illegal operators.
He said such activities were preventing the company from generating enough revenue that would enable them to work efficiently.
The team also visited Osu Kuku Hill where the company had provided the community with two 9,000-litre capacity polytanks as part of the short-term measures that the government was introducing to help mitigate the current water crisis that was being experienced in Accra.
Other areas where similar polytanks have been provided are the La Bola Junction and La Wireless and according to the officer in charge of Distribution-Accra West, Mr Charles Brobbey, two other communities within the catchment area will benefit from the intervention before soon.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
THE Minister for Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Abubakar Sadique Boniface, says he will as a matter of urgency seek parliamentary approval for the establishment of special courts to prosecute people who connect water illegally to their homes, offices or workplaces.
According to the minister, the activities of such people was a major cause of financial loss to the government. He would, therefore, liaise with the Attorney-General’s Department for the establishment of such courts.
The minister said this on Monday when he accompanied the General Manager of Distribution, Aqua Vitens Rands Limited, Mr Theo Smit, and a disconnection team to stop people who had illegally connected water into their premises.
The operation was carried out in Sukura, Zambrama Line and Kaneshie (all in Accra) where the team disconnected four water sources which had been illegally reconnected after they had been disconnected about a year ago.
At Sukura, an illegal connection was disconnected at a house of a teacher who was absent when the team got there.
According to the disconnection team, the house’s water connection was disconnected about a year and a half ago but they had a tip-off that the landlady had reconnected water to her apartment.
At Zambrama Line, two illegal connections of water were identified, one of which had been connected to a public bathhouse for commercial purposes, The alleged culprit took to his heels when the team got to the scene.
After the disconnection, the minister tasked the chief of the area, Chief Haruna Maiga, to ensure that people within the area were educated on the effect of their actions on the efficient supply of water as well as revenue generation for the government.
At Kaneshie, the team disconnected a house which had been disconnected earlier but was tapping water from a neighbour without his knowledge.
The team earlier visited the Dansoman Police Station where a 65-year-old man, Mr Ofei Ashiley, had been arrested in the morning for stealing two water meters belonging to the St. Margarete Mary Secondary School at Dansoman.
The Head of the Loss Control Unit, Accra West District of Aqua Vitens Rands Ltd., Mr Joseph Nyante, said within the past three months, his outfit had received 57 cases of missing water meters.
An Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) at the Dansoman Police Station, ACP Florence Arthur, who briefed the minister on the current rate of armed robbery in the area, also appealed to people to volunteer information to the police to enable them take action.
The Communications Manager of Aqua Vitens Rands Ltd., Mr Kweku Sakyi-Addo, while briefing the media, attributed the current water shortage in the capital to the activities of some illegal operators.
He said such activities were preventing the company from generating enough revenue that would enable them to work efficiently.
The team also visited Osu Kuku Hill where the company had provided the community with two 9,000-litre capacity polytanks as part of the short-term measures that the government was introducing to help mitigate the current water crisis that was being experienced in Accra.
Other areas where similar polytanks have been provided are the La Bola Junction and La Wireless and according to the officer in charge of Distribution-Accra West, Mr Charles Brobbey, two other communities within the catchment area will benefit from the intervention before soon.
Fire destroys Baron Distilleries • Causes death of woman
Pg 41. March 24/08
Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
A middle-aged casual worker, Ms Janet Antwi of Baron Distilleries, which produces alcoholic beverages at Oyibi, Near Dodowa, was burnt beyond recognition when the production unit of the company caught fire.
The fire which destroyed the entire structure of the production section, including chemicals and other alcoholic beverages, running into millions of Ghana cedis, started around 9 a.m. last Wednesday.The fire was suspected to have been caused by a gas leakage at the cleaning section where Ms Antwi was working.
It took about seven hours for four fire tenders from the Madina, Trade Fair, the Industrial Area and the Headquarters of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to bring the fire under control.
According to the Ga East Divisional Commander of the GNFS, Mr Victor Godwill, the intensity of the fire was one of the worse that had been experienced in the capital.
He said the fire became more intense as drums of alcoholic beverages burst into flames, and that they had to bring in trucks of sand to fight the fire so that it did not spread to nearby structures.
He said but for the timely intervention of his men, the fire would have gutted the new site of the factory where the bottling of finished products took place, about a hundred meters away from the production unit.
According to Mr Godwill, investigations so far conducted showed that a gas cylinder which was normally used to melt oil in some of the bottles that were being cleaned leaked and got into contact with the alcohol, which sparked off the fire, leading to the death of Ms Antwi who was then working on the bottles.
It was observed that although the fire in the main production unit was brought under control, it was still intense in a 40-footer container in which some of the raw alcohol was stored.The firemen therefore had to isolate it from the main yard.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
A middle-aged casual worker, Ms Janet Antwi of Baron Distilleries, which produces alcoholic beverages at Oyibi, Near Dodowa, was burnt beyond recognition when the production unit of the company caught fire.
The fire which destroyed the entire structure of the production section, including chemicals and other alcoholic beverages, running into millions of Ghana cedis, started around 9 a.m. last Wednesday.The fire was suspected to have been caused by a gas leakage at the cleaning section where Ms Antwi was working.
It took about seven hours for four fire tenders from the Madina, Trade Fair, the Industrial Area and the Headquarters of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) to bring the fire under control.
According to the Ga East Divisional Commander of the GNFS, Mr Victor Godwill, the intensity of the fire was one of the worse that had been experienced in the capital.
He said the fire became more intense as drums of alcoholic beverages burst into flames, and that they had to bring in trucks of sand to fight the fire so that it did not spread to nearby structures.
He said but for the timely intervention of his men, the fire would have gutted the new site of the factory where the bottling of finished products took place, about a hundred meters away from the production unit.
According to Mr Godwill, investigations so far conducted showed that a gas cylinder which was normally used to melt oil in some of the bottles that were being cleaned leaked and got into contact with the alcohol, which sparked off the fire, leading to the death of Ms Antwi who was then working on the bottles.
It was observed that although the fire in the main production unit was brought under control, it was still intense in a 40-footer container in which some of the raw alcohol was stored.The firemen therefore had to isolate it from the main yard.
Let’s involve women in conflict resolution -Attafuah
Pg 17. Thurs. Mar. 20/08
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
THE Executive Director of the Justice and Human Rights Institute, Dr Ken Attafuah, has stated that the social role of women as good negotiators in times of conflicts has been undermined through the negative effects of some cultural and traditional practices.
He said in some communities in Ghana, the views of women are treated with contempt when issues pertaining to negotiations, conflict resolution and mediation are being discussed, just because they are female.
According to him since women suffer the most when there are conflicts such as tribal or civil wars, involving them in the negotiations for peace, most often helps to arrive at a lasting solution to such crisis.
Dr Attafuah, who made the statement at a day’s seminar to mark this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) in Accra, said that amounted to underutilising the potential of women as good negotiators.
The seminar, organised by the Department of Women which is under the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, brought together women’s groups, some members of the international communities and non-governmental organisations who deliberated on the global theme "Investing in women and girls".
He said when women were involved in finding solutions to such problems, they often came up with compromising positions that suited both parties better.
Dr Attafuah, who was speaking on the topic ‘‘Investing in protecting the rights of women and girls in Ghana is investing in development”, said women were better created to mediate in conflicts and, therefore, should be made to take centre stage in peace-making efforts.
He said although gender equality had been identified as an essential tool for development in a nation, 64 per cent of the world’s illiterate population had been identified to be women and that, according to him, was a negative factor for the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Dr Attafuah, who is also a former Executive Secretary of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), said issues of gender equality must be factored into the nation’s development framework to ensure that it benefited women and girls.
He advised parents not to exploit their daughters for financial gains and said that led to the betrothal of girls below 18 to older men thereby making such girls suffer mental and psychological trauma.
An International Gender Consultant, Ms Jane Kwawu, spoke on the topic, ‘Investing in eliminating inequalities faced by women and girls, a pathway to Ghana’s development. The role of the community, government, private sector and development partners’. She said the issue was not just about investing in women and girls but also providing the investment at the right time.
She said the most important aspect of investing in women and girls was making finance available to educate the girl-child, and added that this would mean making a conscious investment in girls for them to become women of substance to contribute to the development of the nation’s economy.
The Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Hajia Alima Mahama, said investing in women and girls had a multiplying effect for a nation’s development, stressing that the government would continue to support efforts that promote both the economic and social emancipation of women and girls, through the provision of facilities such as micro-credit finance and the promotion of good health and girl-child education.
A member of the Committee of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Mrs Dorcas Coker-Appiah, who also took the participants through ‘Investing in strengthening gender management systems in Ghana for development’, said there was the need for a national gender policy document that would clearly spell out how to address gender inequalities in the country.
She said for that to happen, MOWAC should be put in a position where it would be able to co-ordinate the activities of other ministries, departments and agencies to ensure that they mainstream gender in all their activities.
• Mrs Oboshie Sai Cofie (second right), Minister for Information and National Orientation addressing participants at the Seminar. On her left is Hajia Alima Mahama, MOWAC Minister and Dr. Ken Attafuah, Executive Director of the Justice and Human Rights Institute who had earlier addresses the participants.
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
THE Executive Director of the Justice and Human Rights Institute, Dr Ken Attafuah, has stated that the social role of women as good negotiators in times of conflicts has been undermined through the negative effects of some cultural and traditional practices.
He said in some communities in Ghana, the views of women are treated with contempt when issues pertaining to negotiations, conflict resolution and mediation are being discussed, just because they are female.
According to him since women suffer the most when there are conflicts such as tribal or civil wars, involving them in the negotiations for peace, most often helps to arrive at a lasting solution to such crisis.
Dr Attafuah, who made the statement at a day’s seminar to mark this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) in Accra, said that amounted to underutilising the potential of women as good negotiators.
The seminar, organised by the Department of Women which is under the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs, brought together women’s groups, some members of the international communities and non-governmental organisations who deliberated on the global theme "Investing in women and girls".
He said when women were involved in finding solutions to such problems, they often came up with compromising positions that suited both parties better.
Dr Attafuah, who was speaking on the topic ‘‘Investing in protecting the rights of women and girls in Ghana is investing in development”, said women were better created to mediate in conflicts and, therefore, should be made to take centre stage in peace-making efforts.
He said although gender equality had been identified as an essential tool for development in a nation, 64 per cent of the world’s illiterate population had been identified to be women and that, according to him, was a negative factor for the realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Dr Attafuah, who is also a former Executive Secretary of the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), said issues of gender equality must be factored into the nation’s development framework to ensure that it benefited women and girls.
He advised parents not to exploit their daughters for financial gains and said that led to the betrothal of girls below 18 to older men thereby making such girls suffer mental and psychological trauma.
An International Gender Consultant, Ms Jane Kwawu, spoke on the topic, ‘Investing in eliminating inequalities faced by women and girls, a pathway to Ghana’s development. The role of the community, government, private sector and development partners’. She said the issue was not just about investing in women and girls but also providing the investment at the right time.
She said the most important aspect of investing in women and girls was making finance available to educate the girl-child, and added that this would mean making a conscious investment in girls for them to become women of substance to contribute to the development of the nation’s economy.
The Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Hajia Alima Mahama, said investing in women and girls had a multiplying effect for a nation’s development, stressing that the government would continue to support efforts that promote both the economic and social emancipation of women and girls, through the provision of facilities such as micro-credit finance and the promotion of good health and girl-child education.
A member of the Committee of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Mrs Dorcas Coker-Appiah, who also took the participants through ‘Investing in strengthening gender management systems in Ghana for development’, said there was the need for a national gender policy document that would clearly spell out how to address gender inequalities in the country.
She said for that to happen, MOWAC should be put in a position where it would be able to co-ordinate the activities of other ministries, departments and agencies to ensure that they mainstream gender in all their activities.
• Mrs Oboshie Sai Cofie (second right), Minister for Information and National Orientation addressing participants at the Seminar. On her left is Hajia Alima Mahama, MOWAC Minister and Dr. Ken Attafuah, Executive Director of the Justice and Human Rights Institute who had earlier addresses the participants.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
EU/UN gender programme launched
Pg 24 Sat. March 15/08
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
AN European Union (EU)/United Nations (UN) Partnership on Gender Equality for Development and Peace has been launched with a call on the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to collect a comprehensive data along gender lines for development purposes.
A comprehensive approach to data collection is said to be crucial to a sustainable and equitable economic growth and human development in the country.
The Chief Advisor to the President, Mrs Mary Chinery-Hesse, who made the call at the launch in Accra on Wednesday said, such a data was the surest way to systematically obtain useful information for the formulation of people-centred, gender-sensitive public policy.
The EU/UN partnership project which would be implemented by UNIFEM with support from the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation and the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs is aimed at supporting the integration of gender equality as a key driver of development in the country.
The occasion was also used to begin a National Consultation on the mapping Study on Aid Effectiveness and Gender Equality in Ghana.
The EC/UN partnership aims to identify approaches with which to integrate gender equality and women's A European Union (EU)/United Nations (UN) Partnership on Gender Equality for Development and Peace has been launched with a call on the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to collect a comprehensive data along gender lines for development purposes.
A comprehensive approach to data collection is said to be crucial to a sustainable and equitable economic growth and human development in the country.
The Chief Advisor to the President, Mrs Mary Chinery-Hesse, who made the call at the launch in Accra on Wednesday said, such a data was the surest way to systematically obtain useful information for the formulation of people-centred, gender-sensitive public policy.
The EU/UN partnership project which would be implemented by UNIFEM with support from the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation and the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs is aimed at supporting the integration of gender equality as a key driver of development in the country.
The occasion was also human rights into new aid modalities, in accordance with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness adopted on March 2, 2005.
The Declaration is an international agreement to which ministers, heads of agencies and other senior officials adhered and committed their countries and organisations to continue to increase efforts in harmonisation, alignment and managing aid for results with a set of monitorable actions and indicators.
Mrs Chinery-Hesse said “as we pursue the strategy of gender mainstreaming, we should recognise that especially in Africa, there should still be space to accommodate interventions that specifically target women’s needs, concerns and perspectives.
This she said can be achieved with high impact gender specific initiatives as a complement, with the ultimate objective of mainstreaming these activities at a later time.
In this way, she said “we would eliminate the risk of women’s needs being lost in the mainstream when conditions are not ripe for them to compete on the same footing as men”.
She said the importance of collecting and disseminating statistical information in respect of gender issues was crucial to planning and evaluation, adding that data assumes meaning and usefulness for this purpose if there is disaggregation along gender lines.
She called for the mapping studies to also take into account the paid and unpaid for economic contributions of women such as their role as mothers.
The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Prof. George Gyan-Bafour, said the government would continue to show commitment towards addressing gender equality and equity issues as reflected in the GPRS II.
He said that the national budget statement and the economic policy of government has shown strong commitment towards addressing gender equality and equity issues.
The Head of Delegation of the European Commission to Ghana, Mr Filiberto Ceriani Sebregondi, said the EU believed that investments in gender equality was fundamental to the effectiveness of development assistance and therefore it was contributing a total of 2.5 million euros which is part of the total cost of 4.7 million euro partnership programmes.
He said the European Commission had committed to channel 50 per cent of government to government assistance through national planning and budgeting frameworks, adding that for the EC, general and sectoral budget support would increasingly become the preferred mode of aid delivery.
He said the partnership programme would support the integration of gender equality as a key driver of development in the context of the aid effectiveness
The National Programme Coordinator of UNIFEM, Ms Afua Ansre, said the project would be focused on 12 pilot countries namely Ghana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.
The rest are Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Nicaragua, Honduras and Surinam.
She said there were five strategies — knowledge generation, capacity building, information sharing, advocacy and partnership building which the project will focus on and that at the national level there will be close collaboration with government departments, national institution for women and gender equality, women's NGOs and networks, civil society among others.
The Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, Hajia Alima Mahama, who chaired the launch stressed that the government was committed to addressing gender equality and had, among other things, demonstrated this further by coming out with modalities for gender budgeting, starting with the ministries of Agriculture, Health and Education.
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
AN European Union (EU)/United Nations (UN) Partnership on Gender Equality for Development and Peace has been launched with a call on the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to collect a comprehensive data along gender lines for development purposes.
A comprehensive approach to data collection is said to be crucial to a sustainable and equitable economic growth and human development in the country.
The Chief Advisor to the President, Mrs Mary Chinery-Hesse, who made the call at the launch in Accra on Wednesday said, such a data was the surest way to systematically obtain useful information for the formulation of people-centred, gender-sensitive public policy.
The EU/UN partnership project which would be implemented by UNIFEM with support from the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation and the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs is aimed at supporting the integration of gender equality as a key driver of development in the country.
The occasion was also used to begin a National Consultation on the mapping Study on Aid Effectiveness and Gender Equality in Ghana.
The EC/UN partnership aims to identify approaches with which to integrate gender equality and women's A European Union (EU)/United Nations (UN) Partnership on Gender Equality for Development and Peace has been launched with a call on the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to collect a comprehensive data along gender lines for development purposes.
A comprehensive approach to data collection is said to be crucial to a sustainable and equitable economic growth and human development in the country.
The Chief Advisor to the President, Mrs Mary Chinery-Hesse, who made the call at the launch in Accra on Wednesday said, such a data was the surest way to systematically obtain useful information for the formulation of people-centred, gender-sensitive public policy.
The EU/UN partnership project which would be implemented by UNIFEM with support from the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organisation and the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs is aimed at supporting the integration of gender equality as a key driver of development in the country.
The occasion was also human rights into new aid modalities, in accordance with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness adopted on March 2, 2005.
The Declaration is an international agreement to which ministers, heads of agencies and other senior officials adhered and committed their countries and organisations to continue to increase efforts in harmonisation, alignment and managing aid for results with a set of monitorable actions and indicators.
Mrs Chinery-Hesse said “as we pursue the strategy of gender mainstreaming, we should recognise that especially in Africa, there should still be space to accommodate interventions that specifically target women’s needs, concerns and perspectives.
This she said can be achieved with high impact gender specific initiatives as a complement, with the ultimate objective of mainstreaming these activities at a later time.
In this way, she said “we would eliminate the risk of women’s needs being lost in the mainstream when conditions are not ripe for them to compete on the same footing as men”.
She said the importance of collecting and disseminating statistical information in respect of gender issues was crucial to planning and evaluation, adding that data assumes meaning and usefulness for this purpose if there is disaggregation along gender lines.
She called for the mapping studies to also take into account the paid and unpaid for economic contributions of women such as their role as mothers.
The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Prof. George Gyan-Bafour, said the government would continue to show commitment towards addressing gender equality and equity issues as reflected in the GPRS II.
He said that the national budget statement and the economic policy of government has shown strong commitment towards addressing gender equality and equity issues.
The Head of Delegation of the European Commission to Ghana, Mr Filiberto Ceriani Sebregondi, said the EU believed that investments in gender equality was fundamental to the effectiveness of development assistance and therefore it was contributing a total of 2.5 million euros which is part of the total cost of 4.7 million euro partnership programmes.
He said the European Commission had committed to channel 50 per cent of government to government assistance through national planning and budgeting frameworks, adding that for the EC, general and sectoral budget support would increasingly become the preferred mode of aid delivery.
He said the partnership programme would support the integration of gender equality as a key driver of development in the context of the aid effectiveness
The National Programme Coordinator of UNIFEM, Ms Afua Ansre, said the project would be focused on 12 pilot countries namely Ghana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.
The rest are Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Nicaragua, Honduras and Surinam.
She said there were five strategies — knowledge generation, capacity building, information sharing, advocacy and partnership building which the project will focus on and that at the national level there will be close collaboration with government departments, national institution for women and gender equality, women's NGOs and networks, civil society among others.
The Minister of Women and Children's Affairs, Hajia Alima Mahama, who chaired the launch stressed that the government was committed to addressing gender equality and had, among other things, demonstrated this further by coming out with modalities for gender budgeting, starting with the ministries of Agriculture, Health and Education.
Efforts by GWCL to solve water problem
Pg 23. Sat. March 15/08
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
AS part of its efforts to resolve the water shortage in Accra, the management of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) on Friday inspected three boreholes at Tantra Hill which were constructed to increase water supply in that area.
The boreholes are part of 13 mechanised boreholes to be drilled as the company’s short-term measure aimed at increasing water supply in and around the city.
The three sites have been scheduled to be completed in a month’s time and will produce approximately 1,300 litres of water per minute to people within Tantra Hill, Taifa and parts of Dome and Ofankor.
Other areas that are to benefit from the borehole projects are Ashongman and Pokuase, which will have four sites each, and Aburi which will have two sites.
Since the latter part of last year, Accra has been hit by water a shortage, a situation which gets worse by the day. Many people made up of the young and old are seen carrying receptacles of all kinds in search of water.
The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Boniface Abubakar Saddique, at a Meet-the-Press last week said work on six of the boreholes at Tantra Hill, Dome and Ashongman would be completed in two weeks, adding that when completed, water supply to those areas would be considerably improved.
When the GWCL team visited the Tantra Hill sites, it was discovered that the boreholes which were drilled some two years ago and were awaiting the installation of pumps to connect them to a central reservoir had water gushing out because people living around had illegally drilled holes into the PVCs through which they tapped water.
The Drilling Engineer at the site, Mr Alhassan Balo, said the boreholes, which were 40 meters deep, would finally be completed within a month.
He mentioned the supply of electricity as a factor that was hindering the smooth execution of the project.
The Deputy Managing Director of GWCL, Mr Kweku Botwe, who also briefed the media present, said the work, which was multi-sectoral, could not be completed if all the sectors did not play their part.
He confirmed the possible completion of the project within a month, saying that the Electricity Company had shipped in transformers that were going to be installed at the various sites.
He said the company’s resort to the use of mechanised borehole should not be a source of worry to the public as, according to him, most developed countries including the United States of America drew most of their water supply from boreholes, adding that they were cheaper and safe for consumption.
The team also visted the McCarthy Hill Booster station and the two sites at Aburi.
Story: Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
AS part of its efforts to resolve the water shortage in Accra, the management of the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) on Friday inspected three boreholes at Tantra Hill which were constructed to increase water supply in that area.
The boreholes are part of 13 mechanised boreholes to be drilled as the company’s short-term measure aimed at increasing water supply in and around the city.
The three sites have been scheduled to be completed in a month’s time and will produce approximately 1,300 litres of water per minute to people within Tantra Hill, Taifa and parts of Dome and Ofankor.
Other areas that are to benefit from the borehole projects are Ashongman and Pokuase, which will have four sites each, and Aburi which will have two sites.
Since the latter part of last year, Accra has been hit by water a shortage, a situation which gets worse by the day. Many people made up of the young and old are seen carrying receptacles of all kinds in search of water.
The Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Mr Boniface Abubakar Saddique, at a Meet-the-Press last week said work on six of the boreholes at Tantra Hill, Dome and Ashongman would be completed in two weeks, adding that when completed, water supply to those areas would be considerably improved.
When the GWCL team visited the Tantra Hill sites, it was discovered that the boreholes which were drilled some two years ago and were awaiting the installation of pumps to connect them to a central reservoir had water gushing out because people living around had illegally drilled holes into the PVCs through which they tapped water.
The Drilling Engineer at the site, Mr Alhassan Balo, said the boreholes, which were 40 meters deep, would finally be completed within a month.
He mentioned the supply of electricity as a factor that was hindering the smooth execution of the project.
The Deputy Managing Director of GWCL, Mr Kweku Botwe, who also briefed the media present, said the work, which was multi-sectoral, could not be completed if all the sectors did not play their part.
He confirmed the possible completion of the project within a month, saying that the Electricity Company had shipped in transformers that were going to be installed at the various sites.
He said the company’s resort to the use of mechanised borehole should not be a source of worry to the public as, according to him, most developed countries including the United States of America drew most of their water supply from boreholes, adding that they were cheaper and safe for consumption.
The team also visted the McCarthy Hill Booster station and the two sites at Aburi.
Friday, March 14, 2008
CUA top brass in a dilemma over bill
Pg 34. March 14/08
Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
TOP executives of the Credit Unions Association (CUA) of Ghana are in a dilemma whether to go ahead with a proposed Credit Union Bill to be passed into an act or change it into a Legislative Instrument (LI) to regulate the activities of credit unions in the country.
The dilemma stems from the fact that the proposed bill, which has been on the drawing board for the past nine years, will have to go through additional periods of waiting when it is presented to Parliament for passage.
However, should the association settle on an LI, it will come into effect from May or June this year.
At a seminar organised for chairpersons of CUA and their representatives from the regions, which also brought together members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Finance and officials from the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the CUA representatives agreed to go back for consultations with the Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Nana Akomeah, on the way forward.
The Director of the Legal Department of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Kwaku Addeah, presented the option to them and explained that an LI, which would still put the union under the country’s non-banking financial institutions, would serve the purpose of the association better, whereas opting for an act would also mean the imposition of regulations that pertained to the banking sector on the association, since it also played roles similar to those played by the banks.
A representative of the Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Mr Kofi Kudamey, who is the acting Registrar of Co-operatives, summed it up when he called on the union to “take into account the current macroeconomic situation of the country, since this will, to some extent, have an effect on your service charges, loan payments, investment opportunities and level of savings”.
He said financial co-operatives needed a clear legal basis, appropriate regulations and effective supervision to grow and function sustainably, adding that the legal framework which played double roles should empower them to reach their target population and also ensure that rules in the financial sector were appropriately applied, particularly to protect owners and depositors against poor financial management.
The Co-ordinator of the Tax Policy Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kofi Nti, who represented the Deputy Minister of the ministry, Prof George Gyan-Baffour, said the current law, the Co-operative Decree, NLCD 252 of 1968, was totally out of date and did not reflect the current technologically advanced business environment, saying that there was no prudential performance targets, weak regulatory regimes and dissolution procedures.
“For this reason, unscrupulous people have defrauded and still, in the name of credit union, defraud unsuspecting members of the society of various sums of money and their savings,” he said.
“It is the wish of the government that credit unions would be established at all workplaces, among professionals, market women and in all rural communities to assist people to learn how to manage their own resources wisely and become actors of their own future development,” the deputy minister said.
He, however, said any support that the government had provided and was still providing would not be complete without providing the credit unions with the appropriate legal environment that would make them vibrant, competitive, and financially viable, as well as the type of image that would project their future growth and development.
The Managing Director of CUA, Mr Emmanuel Oduro Darko, said the association was developing a deposit guarantee scheme of GH¢600,000 to insure its members.
He said the scheme, which would take effect from 2011, would insure over 500,000 members who formed the association throughout the country.
According to him, the association, which formulated the idea seven years ago, was putting its own mechanisms in place to ensure that all savings that it had were insured.
Story Rebecca Quaicoe Duho
TOP executives of the Credit Unions Association (CUA) of Ghana are in a dilemma whether to go ahead with a proposed Credit Union Bill to be passed into an act or change it into a Legislative Instrument (LI) to regulate the activities of credit unions in the country.
The dilemma stems from the fact that the proposed bill, which has been on the drawing board for the past nine years, will have to go through additional periods of waiting when it is presented to Parliament for passage.
However, should the association settle on an LI, it will come into effect from May or June this year.
At a seminar organised for chairpersons of CUA and their representatives from the regions, which also brought together members of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Finance and officials from the Bank of Ghana (BoG), the CUA representatives agreed to go back for consultations with the Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Nana Akomeah, on the way forward.
The Director of the Legal Department of the Bank of Ghana (BoG), Dr Kwaku Addeah, presented the option to them and explained that an LI, which would still put the union under the country’s non-banking financial institutions, would serve the purpose of the association better, whereas opting for an act would also mean the imposition of regulations that pertained to the banking sector on the association, since it also played roles similar to those played by the banks.
A representative of the Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, Mr Kofi Kudamey, who is the acting Registrar of Co-operatives, summed it up when he called on the union to “take into account the current macroeconomic situation of the country, since this will, to some extent, have an effect on your service charges, loan payments, investment opportunities and level of savings”.
He said financial co-operatives needed a clear legal basis, appropriate regulations and effective supervision to grow and function sustainably, adding that the legal framework which played double roles should empower them to reach their target population and also ensure that rules in the financial sector were appropriately applied, particularly to protect owners and depositors against poor financial management.
The Co-ordinator of the Tax Policy Unit of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kofi Nti, who represented the Deputy Minister of the ministry, Prof George Gyan-Baffour, said the current law, the Co-operative Decree, NLCD 252 of 1968, was totally out of date and did not reflect the current technologically advanced business environment, saying that there was no prudential performance targets, weak regulatory regimes and dissolution procedures.
“For this reason, unscrupulous people have defrauded and still, in the name of credit union, defraud unsuspecting members of the society of various sums of money and their savings,” he said.
“It is the wish of the government that credit unions would be established at all workplaces, among professionals, market women and in all rural communities to assist people to learn how to manage their own resources wisely and become actors of their own future development,” the deputy minister said.
He, however, said any support that the government had provided and was still providing would not be complete without providing the credit unions with the appropriate legal environment that would make them vibrant, competitive, and financially viable, as well as the type of image that would project their future growth and development.
The Managing Director of CUA, Mr Emmanuel Oduro Darko, said the association was developing a deposit guarantee scheme of GH¢600,000 to insure its members.
He said the scheme, which would take effect from 2011, would insure over 500,000 members who formed the association throughout the country.
According to him, the association, which formulated the idea seven years ago, was putting its own mechanisms in place to ensure that all savings that it had were insured.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)