Day: July 27, 2021

Takoradi- As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), the Western Regional Office of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has organised a blood donation exercise in partnership with the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital to stock the Regional Blood Bank.

The exercise which took place at the Authority’s forecourt was patronised by some students from the Senior High Schools in the Metropolis, National Service personnel, the media as well as some staff of the Authority.

Mr Isaac Kojo Baiden, a Senior Regulatory Officer of the FDA told the GNA that it was the mandate of the Authority to inspect Blood Banks and the blood processing facilities as well as blood products.

He said the exercise was also to create public awareness for members of the public to know that donating blood was a civic responsibility which must be embraced by all as the blood they donate today could save the life of a relative or a friend in the future.

Mr Baiden announced that the exercise was taking place in all the Regional offices of the Authority simultaneously as a way of contributing to healthcare delivery in the country by way of stocking the Blood Banks.

He noted that blood was critical and essential in efforts to save lives that be prioritised by the citizens to always make the effort of stocking the Blood Banks, hence the theme for the exercise, “Donate Blood, Save a Life”.

Mr Emmanuel Essien, Blood Donor Programmes Organiser at the ENRH Blood Bank commended the FDA for the exercise and the donors for availing themselves for such a noble course which would go a long way to save precious lives.

He pointed out that they were expecting about two-hundred donors for the exercise and called on corporate institutions and the public to support the worthy course to save more lives.

Ms Priscilla Assibu Yartey and Miss Maame Abena Darkwa, both donors from the Ahantaman Girls Senior High School were happy to have gone through the exercise successfully and called on their colleagues to join in order to save lives.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Tamale,- World Food Programme (WFP) has presented 140 hermetic silos to smallholder farmers in the Northern Region to help save and store their grains to avoid losses recorded after harvest.

Each of the plastic hermetic silos stores 500 kilos of grains; maize, soyabean or cowpeas amongst others, preserving farmers grains from pest, fungal infection and effects of high moisture levels.

The presentation of the hermetic silos to the farmers formed part of the Enhancing Nutrition Value Chains (ENVAC) Initiative implemented by the WFP from 2016 to 2021 with funding from Canada.

The ENVAC was an integrated programme, which had worked to address some of the challenges facing smallholder farmers equipping them to produce good quality food and linking them up to agro food processors and structured markets.

Under the project, agro food processors had been supported to produce high quality specialised nutritious foods to improve nutrition especially amongst vulnerable women and children.

Madam Rukia Yacoub, WFP Country Representative, who spoke during the handing over ceremony in Tamale, said “The provision of these silos is complementary to the Planting for Food and Jobs Initiative, which has increased food production.”

Madam Yacoub spoke about the impact of post-harvest losses on the entire food systems saying “High food loss negates farmer’s hard work and income. It affects food quality and safety; and results in high food prices for consumers.”

She said it was to address this concern that “As part of ENVAC Initiative, 700 units of durable locally-manufactured hermetic silos are being giving to farmers in five regions; Upper East, Upper West, Northern, Ashanti and Bono East Regions. Today, the Northern Region receives theirs. Each region receives 140 silos and each silo stores 500 kilos of grains. The 700 silos will preserve up to 350 metric tonnes or about 350,000 kilos of grain.”

She spoke about the quality level of the silos saying “They are air-tight, and do not allow air and moisture to enter once well sealed. This means farmers can save grains from pest, fungal infection and effects of high moisture levels. This contributes to improved post-harvest management and food security. It also enables farmers to keep the grains until they get profitable market for their produce.”

She said “Last year, 30 demonstrations on post-harvest loss were held in the five regions in partnership with the Regional Departments of Agriculture. The farmers testified that the plastic hermetic silos could effectively preserve grains 12 per cent better than polyprofilin bags.”

Madam Yacoub spoke about food shortages recorded in this period as a result of the normal lean season saying “Next year by this time, I look forward to a different story as the silos should reduce food loss so that farmers can rely on their own stocks for longer periods.”

Mr Chris Nikoi, Central and West Africa Regional Director of WFP said food safety and quality are important elements to enable farmers get a premium for their produce, be able to access new markets and to contribute to overall reduction in food insecurity in their households and the country and beyond.

Mr Nikoi said “I believe that Ghana has the potential to become the bread basket for the West and Central Africa Region if efforts to improve its food systems such as some of the initiatives the WFP and government have begun are sustained.”

He encouraged all stakeholders in the food security and nutrition sector to increase collaboration and to build synergy for more effective delivery challenging farmers to work as business people to improve their own livelihoods and feed others.

Madam Hawa Musah, Director of the Northern Regional Department of Agriculture, expressed gratitude to WFP for its continued support to farmers to adopt improved food storage facilities urging the beneficiaries to use the facilities well to achieve the intended purpose.

Mr Abdallah Mohammed Sugir, a beneficiary farmer, who spoke on behalf of other beneficiaries, said “It was in July, last year, when we started the demonstrations. We filled the silos with maize and up to date the maize is still intact in the silos. Previously, it was in the local sacks and it started going bad before they brought the silos.”

He added that “We are happy about the results and the maize is still in the silos. It is very good. Air does not enter. Even if your warehouse is leaking, you do not care, because water cannot enter the grain.”

Source: Ghana News Agency

Tamale,- Some youth in the Sagnarigu and Mion Assemblies, who have acquired various self-employable skills, have interacted with various public institutions to learn about opportunities for youth enterprises.

This was to enable them to take advantage of such opportunities to create their own jobs and or improve and expand their businesses.

The public institutions the youth interacted with included the National Youth Authority (NYA), Ghana Enterprises Agency (GEA), Youth Employment Agency, Department of Agriculture amongst others.

The event, dubbed: “Regional Youth Forum,” was organised in Tamale by ActionAid Ghana as part of its “Providing Employment Opportunities for Young People in Ghana” project.

The project, which began in 2019, sought to support 250 young people in the two Assemblies in the Northern Region with employment skills and vocations of their choice.

In line with the project, some youth in the two assemblies have been equipped with various vocational skills including soap making, dressmaking, leather works, beekeeping, phone and satellite installation, tiling amongst others.

They have also been equipped with soft skills such as leadership, entrepreneurship, networking, group dynamics, business, and financial management to help them excel in their chosen vocations.

Mr Alhassan Baba Yunus, Northern Regional Manager of GEA, enumerated some portfolios being implemented by the GEA to build skills and ensure funds for the beneficiaries to improve their operations.

Mr Yunus mentioned that GEA in collaboration with the German Development Cooperation was working on a project to give loans to Ghanaian youth, who had relatives in some European countries including Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, to undertake their business activities.

He said the GEA was also collaborating with the World Bank on a project to give grants of GHc10,000 and above to companies existing before the outbreak of COVID-19 and or into manufacturing to help revamp their operations.

He said there was also a Tourism Development Fund to support only businesses operating in the tourism sector and its value chains given that they were heavily hit by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr Abdul Basit Abdul Rahman, Acting Tamale Metropolitan Director of the NYA also spoke about the activities of the Authority urging the youth to register their operations with the Authority to be recognised for any emerging opportunities.

Madam Esther Boateng, Northern Regional Programme Manager of ActionAid Ghana appealed to public institutions and the district assemblies to support the youth in their business endeavours to create employment.

Some of the participants expressed delight at the interaction and said it had helped to enlighten them on how to approach public institutions for support.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Dompim (W/R), July 27, The Deputy Minister of Roads and Highways, Madam Mavis Nkansah Boadu, has assured residents of Western Region that the government would improve upon roads network in the Region as scheduled.

She said though 2020 was declared the year of roads, the COVID-19 pandemic had distorted the government’s plan and stressed that many contractors had already returned to site and work was progressing steadily.

Madam Boadu who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Afigya Sekyere East constituency said this when she inspected the progress of work on the Dompim and Nsuaem town roads in the Tarkwa-Nusaem Municipality as part of her three-day working tour to the Region.

The Deputy Minister went on the tour in the company of the Municipal Chief Executive of Tarkwa-Nsuaem, Mr Benjamin Kessie, Mr Ebenezer Annor-Kwarfo, Municipal Chief Engineer and some constituency executives of the New Patriotic Party.

She commended Mr George Mireku Duker, MP for Tarkwa-Nsuaem constituency for working hard to ensure that roads within his constituency were motorable for residents to go about their daily activities smoothly.

The Deputy Minister appealed to the citizenry to be patient as the government delivered on its promises regarding roads in the Western Region and the country at large.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Ningo-Prampram (GAR),- Construction work on the five-kilometre Ningo-Prampram sea defence and land reclamation project in the Ningo-Prapram District of the Greater Accra Region is progressing steadily and is expected to be completed by end of December this year.

Mr Kwasi Sarpong Osei, Project Manager for Messrs Bridge Global Consolidated Limited, the construction company undertaking the project, stated the readiness of the Company to go by the project schedule and appealed to the government to expedite the release of funds to fast-track work on the project.

Speaking in an interview with the media during a working visit by Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, Minister of Works and Housing to some sea defence projects in the Greater Accra Region, on Tuesday, Mr Osei said the Company was yet to receive funds from Government since work started on the project for over a year.

He said work would, therefore, be greatly affected if the government failed to release funds by mid-August, 2021, saying the Company was at a “breaking point.”

“Funding is very critical and as an engineer, I am very grateful to my superiors that they have managed to get us this equipment and material supply has been constant. But you know that we belong to a very big conglomerate so cash flow has been managed but we are getting to a critical stage, we are hopeful that with the Minister’s visit he will do something.

“We have submitted certificates worth more than GHC40 million and we are at a point of submitting another one to make up to about GHC100 million and still not a pesewa has been received and we are getting to our breaking point,” Mr Osei said.

The visit formed part of the Minister’s tour of some coastal communities across the country to ascertain the level of destruction caused by tidal waves and to assess projects the Ministry was undertaking to protect the communities.

Mr Osei said over 50 per cent of work on the project was complete with 2.6-kilometres of sea defence out of the total five-kilometres completed, adding that the remaining 2.4 kilometres would be completed within the next five months.

Also, out of a total of 24 groynes to be constructed, eleven had been completed with six others at the foundation stage and assured that more groynes would be completed by the end of the month to ensure that the Company met its December deadline.

In December, 2019, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo cut sod for the construction of the Ningo-Prampram Sea Defence and Land Reclamation project.

The $70 million projects, which are under the Ningo-Prampram Coastal Protection Project involves the construction of an armour rock revetment, the construction of a system of groynes, and the reclamation of the land.

Construction work commenced in June 2020.

The Works and Housing Minister also visited the Dansoman sea defence project in the Ablekuma West Municipality where work on the two-kilometre project was 95 percent complete.

Speaking to the media after the tour, Mr Asenso-Boakye said he was overwhelmed by the level of destruction tidal wave attacks had caused in the communities.

He, therefore, reiterated the Government’s commitment to protecting coastal communities against tidal wave attacks and sea erosion, assuring that Government would continue to invest funds into sea defence projects because, “We are not only protecting the lives of people by constructing sea defence, we are protecting livelihoods and even promoting economic activities.”

Source: Ghana News Agency

Koforidua,- Rev Dr Kwabena Opuni-frimpong, Founder of the Alliance for Christian Advocacy Africa (ACAA) has urged politicians not to play politics with matters of integrity.

“Political leaders must be very careful how they throw subjects that hinge on integrity into the public domain because it serves no good to our national development,” he said.

With reference to the recent emoluments committee recommendation of paying salaries to first and second ladies, he advised politicians to deal with the matter based on principles and not emotions and political scores.

“No first or second lady, whether current or past has been cited for any wrongdoing in taking what the state has offered them,” he said. “Whether as allowances or salaries it’s neither here nor there to attempt to ask anyone to return such monies to the state’s coffers.

He added, “However, any of them based on personal conviction has the right to return or reject the offer”.

The former General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana who said this in an interview with the GNA indicated that for the current first lady and second lady to return all allowances paid them due to public outcry was a matter of principle and integrity and therefore it would be wrong for politicians to call on past first and second ladies to do same.

He said as it stands, no court of jurisdiction had said any first or second lady had stolen money and so if due to public outcry some have returned same it was within their rights and commendable.

Dr Opuni-frimpong called on politicians to be careful with such matters, adding that they opened the floodgates for insults and mistrust when they start the politicisation of such sensitive national issues.

Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo and Mrs Samira Bawumia have returned all allowances paid to them by the state from 2017, according to the government.

Before that, there was a huge public outcry on why spouses of the President and his vice who enjoyed all privileges with them should be paid salaries and even equivalent to that of Ministers of state.

Some leading politicians afterward have been calling on Former first and second ladies particularly Mrs Lordina Mahama to return same.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Accra,- A recent media monitoring study by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), has shown that politically-affiliated media organisations perpetrate over 50 per cent of media ethics violations in Ghana.

The study, which covered the period of June 2020 to May 2021, found that out of the total of 2,710 ethical violations recorded in media organisations monitored, 1,469 violations, representing 54 per cent, were attributed to media organisations that are pro-partisan or affiliated to known political parties.

Two of the media organisations, Power FM and Oman FM, all based in Accra, are noted in the report to be among the worst culprits of ethical infractions.

The study said some of the partisan radio stations occupied the top five spots of programmes that recorded the highest frequency of ethical violations during the monitoring.

Also, the study monitored the incidents of ethical infractions and violations on 26 influential media organisations made of up 10 radio stations, 10 newspapers and six news websites.

A statement issued and copied to the GNA by the MFWA in Accra, said the objective of the study was to identify such incidents and draw attention to the breaches as a way of fostering adherence to ethical principles by media organisations.

In all, a total of 22,271 media content was monitored out of which 2,710 ethical violations were recorded.

Out of the total of 2,710 ethical violations recorded, 1,754 (65 per cent) were recorded on radio, 906 violations (33 per cent) were recorded on News websites whilst 50 (two per cent) were recorded by Newspapers.

Power FM, Oman FM and Accra FM, all politically-affiliated media outlets, topped the radio violation chart, according to the report.

It said Ghanaweb.com topped the news website chart with 906 violations whilst the Daily Guide newspaper, topped the newspaper chart with 27 violations.

On ethical principles violated, decency (1,292) was the most violated ethical principle, followed by accuracy (574), with Good Taste and Public Sensibilities (478) being the third-most violated principle.

The report cited Power FM as the highest violator of the principle of decency (364) whilst Oman FM took number one spot as the highest offender of the principle of accuracy (273).

Inside Politics, an afternoon political talk show hosted by Mugabe Maase on Power FM, recorded the highest violation with 411 incidents followed by National Agenda, Oman FM’s morning show hosted by Yaw Amofa, recording 326 violations.

The Media Ethics Monitoring project forms part of MFWA’s work aimed at enhancing media professionalism to inspire public confidence and support for press freedom in Ghana.

It was implemented with funding support from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Tema,– Some Public sector workers in the Tema on Tuesday called for rapid review downward of the salaries and emoluments of Article 71 Office Holders to reflect the current economic situation in the country.

The Public sector workers noted that “the current state of the economy given COVID-19 challenges makes it appropriate to call on Article 71 Office Holders to sacrifice for the generality of Ghanaians”.

In a random interview, some of the public sector workers suggested that salaries and emoluments of Article 71 Office Holders should be reduced by 50 per cent, which would be huge savings to the nation while the salaries of workers increased between 25 to 50 per cent to make up for the short-fall in remuneration.

Madam Catherine Dagadu, a social worker told the Ghana News Agency at Tema that, “politicians claimed that they want to serve Ghanaians that is why they contest for elections, but unfortunately their actions in power suggest that they are not serving us but themselves, it is an error which must be corrected”.

“Political officer holders have created a class society and tagged it Article 71 Office Holders, through which they fixed huge sums of money for themselves at the expenses of the ordinary worker.

“The same people after fixing huge salaries for themselves turn round and called on workers to tighten their belts, how come it is only the worker who should suffer, now they are giving car loans to Parliamentarians among others,” she noted.

Mr Robert Oduro Mensah, who has spent over 25 years as a public worker noted that, the Ghana Trade Union Congress (TUC) has failed the Ghanaian worker, “you do not go to the negotiating table and allow the Government to bully you with threats of lay-offs and come out with virtually nothing in hand.

“The Ghanaian worker has suffered for years, we must claim our due, it is time for labour unions, to work together to demand our rightful compensations not the pocket to mouth salaries, labour unions must use their power,” he stated.

Mr James Owusu Appiah, a medical practitioner also called on unions to maximize their collective power to negotiate for better and enhanced remunerations for workers.

“Apart from the poor salaries and other allowances, most public workers are forced to work in a bad environment, with obsolete tools, some are even using colonial tables and chairs while the Article 71 Office Holders lives in affluence in the office, cars, at home all from the same public purse which they claimed cannot sustain the worker,” he said.

Other workers also expressed the same sentiments and called on the TUC and other labours unions to reopen salary negotiations for 2021 immediately.

As per the 1992 Constitution, Article 71 Office Holders include the President, the Vice-President, the Speaker of Parliament, the Chief Justice and Justices of the Supreme Court.

Others are Members of Parliament, Ministers of State, political appointees and public servants with salaries charged to the Consolidated Fund but enjoying special constitutional privileges.

Article 71 (1) and (2) of the 1992 Constitution stipulates that the determination of the salaries and allowances of the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary paid from the Consolidated Fund would be determined by the President, on the recommendations of a committee of not more than five persons appointed by him and acting upon the advice of the Council of State.

In determining the salaries of the President, his Ministers and political appointees, as well as the members of the Council of State, the Constitution states that Parliament will determine that based on the advice of the same committee.

Source: Ghana News Agency