Day: June 21, 2023

Mr Nelson Owusu Ansah, Deputy Chief Executive Officer in charge of Programmes and Operations, National Youth Authority (NYA), has underscored the need for a proper framework that will enhance access to menstrual hygiene among vulnerable girls. According to him, when young girls, especially those in poor and rural communities had access to menstrual hygiene materials particularly sanitary pads, it would reduce the burden of poverty, prevent transaction sex, teenage pregnancy, and child marriage. To this end, he called on the Government and other relevant institutions including the Ghana Revenue Authority to review the 20 per cent luxury tax placed on sanitary pads, to make it affordable and accessible to young girls especially those in rural communities. Mr Ansah was speaking to the media in Bolgatanga, Upper East Region, on the sidelines of a capacity building training workshop on sexual and reproductive health and rights, organised for young people in the Upper East Region by the NYA with support from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). ‘We are ready to liaise with the revenue collectors and the government team, to be able to fashion out ways that we can target those who are really in need and not necessarily a wholesale abolishment because there are people who buy and buy more for others but there are others who cannot afford in anyway. ‘The real cause of this rampant sex and teenage pregnancy is because of poverty and poverty is being recycled now and then and so we are saying that if we want to nip this in the bud, we need to provide some of these little things that look simple but are major drivers that are pushing young people into transactional sex resulting in teenage pregnancy,’ he said. The Deputy CEO noted that young people continued to face sexual and reproductive health challenges which had adversely affected the growth and development of many, with increased teenage pregnancy, child marriage and school drop outs. It was as result of this, Mr Ansah noted, that the NYA in collaboration with major stakeholders engaged the youth to serve as ambassadors and agents of change in their various communities to ensure that they helped educate their peers on sexual and reproductive health and its related issues. Mr Francis Takyi-Koranteng, the Upper East Regional Director, NYA, indicated that the region continued to record high teenage pregnancy cases despite the efforts made by various stakeholders in addressing the issues. He noted that the youth being trained were expected to also train their peers in their districts and communities to help reduce the challenges faced by young people. Ms Mary Azika, a midwife at the Bolgatanga Municipal Health Directorate, noted that the main cause of teenage pregnancy was unsafe sex and called on parents, traditional and religious authorities to review their stance on the use of contraceptives to help curb teenage pregnancy. Mr Jaladeen Abdulai, the Upper East Regional Director, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, advised the youth to report cases of defilement, rape and child marriage among other sexual abuses to the law enforcement agencies so perpetrators would be punished, to serve as deterrent to others.

Source: Ghana News Agency

A representative perception poll conducted by the Institute of Liberty and Policy Innovation (ILAPI), a public research think-tank, indicates that Ghanaians believe that, on average, 70 per cent of taxpayers’ contributions go into wasteful spending. This was in a ‘Government Wasteful Spending Crumbs of Government Waste Report, 2022,’ launched on the polls by ILAPI in Tema. ‘On average, the Government wastes GHS0.70 out of every GHS1.00 received as revenue. This denotes that 70 per cent of every GHS1.00 of taxpayers’ contributions goes into wasteful spending,’ the report stated. Mr. Peter Bismark Kwofie, the Executive Director of ILAPI, said the perception poll was conducted across the country between August and November 2022 with 2000 respondents, on its website, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp pages through random sampling. He noted that the poll provided primary information on the perception of Ghanaians about how their taxes were being utilised to solve problems and enhance economic prosperity. Mr. Kwofie said the poll explicitly showed that 92 per cent of respondents were of the view that the government was wasting taxes; this, he noted, influenced the citizens’ degree of trust in the government. He said ‘statistically, 90.5 percent of Ghanaians have lost trust in the Government due to corruption and a lack of accountability and transparency in the implementation and execution of policies and programmes.’ He said the poll data indicated some of the projects and policies the citizens perceived as waste of taxes included the National Cathedral, Presidential travelling, Government appointees, banking sector clean up, the fight against galamsey, Saglemi housing units, Ex-gratia, and Youth Employment Programmes such as YES and NABCO, among others. He added that validation of the poll was done in addition to reviewing the government’s budgets, reports of the Controller and Accountant General Department, the Auditor General Report, Appropriation Acts, and Media Reportages to get an idea of the extent of wasteful spending of taxes collected. He said reports of government agencies and ministries also provided data on the results of government interventions, irregularities, procurement fraud, appropriations, and expenditures.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has urged students of the Nalerigu Nursing and Midwifery College in the North East Region to be agents of change, vigilant and avoid miscreants whose aim is to destabilize peace in the society. The Commission said violent extremism was a global phenomenon especially in the Sahel Regions, causing havoc in many countries and it was important that Tertiary students and youth groups acted as agents of change in their respective communities to prevent and contain extremists’ activities. Mr Wilberforce Zangina, the North East Regional Director of the NCCE, addressing students at the College, said violence was counterproductive to sustainable development especially in developing countries like Ghana. To avert this, he said there was the need for Tertiary students and youth groups to be given the needed guidance to enable them develop tolerance for divergent views and eschew tendencies that could trigger violence and disturb the peace of the country. The engagement formed part of the Preventing and Containing Violent Extremism project being implemented by the NCCE with funding support from the European Union and aimed at strengthening state and non-state actors at the National and Community level in the fight against extremist activities. It had technical support from the National Security. Mr Zangina emphasized that ‘Peace and National cohesion remain pre-requisite for development and l encourage Youth groups to avoid activities that could ruin the peace of our country by respecting the views of others and reporting suspicious characters’. Mr Patrick Asare Nelson, the Project Manager and leader of the PCVE project called on the students to be peace ambassadors, adding that the maintenance of the peace that the country was enjoying needed a collective effort by all individuals. Mr Asampana John, the Deputy public Relations officer of the Students Representative Council ((SRC), reflected that financial marginalization was considered as one of the causes of violent extremism and appealed to the Government to pay the students’ allowances it owed to foster peace. Mr Ayamba Valentine, the Principal of the Nalerigu Nursing and Midwifery College expressed gratitude to the Commission for its relentless effort at ensuring a peaceful society for the advancement of development. He said the education offered to the students would help shape their behaviour on campus and even transcend to their respective communities and potential workplaces for the maintenance of peace in the Country.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Africans Rising, a Pan-African movement, is advocating a free, fair and peaceful General Election as Sierra Leoneans go to the polls on Saturday, June 24. ‘By all means, they must prevent a resurgence of violence in order to avoid undoing the progress gained over the years,’ the Pan-Africans advised. A statement issued by the group, initialed by Ann Njagi, the Communications and Media Specialist, and copied to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Accra, said it was imperative that the polls reflected the will of the people. ‘We also urge all election players and actors to exhibit maximum moderation and avoid any provocative words or acts that could lead to violence. ‘We call on the National Electoral Commission to carry out its constitutional role in a free, fair, verifiable and transparent election without intervention from internal or external forces,’ the statement noted. It appealed to the citisenry to exercise their right to vote in a peaceful manner, abstain from all acts of violence, and shun politicians who preyed on the ‘gullibility of the youth’ to engage in political violence. ‘Africans Rising affirms our unflinching support to fellow Africans in Sierra Leone. ‘If there is any disagreement with the electoral process, we recommend political parties to use all available peaceful procedures to address any complaints.’ Sierra Leone, an emerging democracy, with an approximately eight million population, goes to the polls for the sixth time after years of civil and political unrest. In early 2020, an Afrobarometer survey revealed that 80 per cent of the people surveyed believed that politics ‘often’ or ‘always’ leads to violence. The survey also showed that more than half of the population experience violence at political rallies and events.

Source: Ghana News Agency