Day: June 20, 2024

Police have so far arrested and detained three suspects in connection with the robbery on students and lecturers of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR).

The robbery occurred on the Odomase-Badu road in the Sunyani West Municipality around 1900 hours on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

A reliable police source at the Bono Regional Police Command told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) the arrest was made through police intelligence, saying investigations were still on-going.

The police retrieved several mobile phones, and other valuables from the suspects who were arrested in their hideouts.

On the day, the suspects attacked and robbed the victims as they were returning from a field trip, however police highway patrol teams intervened and arrested one person.

Sadly, a student identified as Abdul Aziz Issah lost his life during the attack while six other students who sustained minor injuries had since been treated and discharged.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Justice Yaw Ennin, Western Regional Director for the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has encouraged Ghanaians to participate in the tree planting exercise initiated by the government to sustain the environment.

That, he said, was the only way to help restore the vast forest reserves and farm lands destroyed by the activities of illegal miners.

Mr Annin gave the advice in Tarkwa when he launched the annual NCCE Citizenship Week for Basic Schools in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality.

He said, ‘We are fast depleting our environment, this is the fourth year since the Government launched the Green Ghana Day programme, I am told every year they plant 10 million tree seedlings of various species, so am expecting 40 million trees. I am, therefore appealing to our children to embrace this laudable exercise to restore the country’s forest.’

The main theme for the week-long programme was ‘Together we can build Ghana,’ and a sub theme for the school children was ‘Children let’s build Ghana.’

Mr Ennin
explained that each year, the Commission dedicated to remind pupils of their right and responsibilities as citizens, and the role they play in building the country because the future depends on them.

He also educated the pupils to ensure their parents lived in peace with others as the country prepared for the 2024 polls, importance of peaceful election and the negative consequences of violence.

Mr Peter Dyaka, Municipal NCCE Director for Tarkwa Nsuaem, added that the week-long activity covered thirty-one Basic Schools both public and private schools.

Some of the schools his office visited were the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa Basic School, Roman Catholic Basic School, Melody International School, New Excellence Basic School, Golden Age School Complex, Gogo Memorial Basic School, New Atuabo Community School among others.

He said, ‘The message we carried across the various schools was the responsibilities of children in building Ghana because nation building required the efforts of ever
ybody, both the elderly and the young ones.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

A total of about 8,000 printed passports remain uncollected at the Western Regional Passport Office as at May this year.

Mr Eric Nyarko, the Western Regional Passport Manager, who disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, said though some applicants visited the Office to collect their passports daily, a lot more had piled up yet to be claimed.

He said: ‘What is contributing to this is that some people feel they only need the passports when they have a connection to travel and once that becomes unsuccessful, they do not feel the need to collect the passports.’

He continued: ‘More often, we call or send notice of collection through SMS and other means possible, but some just feel relaxed to come for their passports due to reasons best known to them.’

Mr Nyarko noted that the Office was making conscious efforts to change that perception through public education and sensitisation programmes to help clear the backlog.

‘We have had numerous media sensitisation campaigns to educate the people abo
ut the need to show up to the Passport Office and collect their passports so that the work will be much easier for all of us,’ he added.

The Regional Passport Manager, therefore, entreated applicants to yet to collect their passports to visit the Office and claim them.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Major General Bismarck Kwasi Onwona, Chief of the Army Staff, has donated GH?50,000.00 as initial funding for the construction of a residence for the General Officer Commanding (GOC) Northern Command.

The donation was seed money to commence the project dubbed: ‘Eagle Nest’, to serve as official residence for the office of the GOC within the Command headquarters.

Brigadier General Frank Nartey Tei, GOC Northern Command, announced the Army Chief’s benevolence at a religious parade in Tamale, where he was officially inducted into office.

The GOC, after the induction ceremony, cut sod for the project in honour of all past GOC’s for their sacrifices in operating outside an official residence.

He said, ‘Prior to my assumption of Command, my predecessor, Major General Mathew Essien, briefed me at length about immeasurable contributions that our development partners have made towards the special project, which was about to take off.’

He said the project would not only provide suitable accommodation for the GOC,
but also serve as a tangible symbol of everyone’s contributions towards enhancing the Command’s reputation.

He said the Eagle Nest would serve as an appropriate residence for future GOCs of the Command, providing a space of convenience and security from which they could lead with strength and vision.

He said, ‘It will also serve as a source of motivation for officers to aspire to higher heights in the service and a physical structure that our development partners can point at as they seek to trace their contribution to building this Command for peace in Northern Ghana.’

Brigadier General Tei expressed gratitude to his predecessor for mobilising the initial resources for the project.

He acknowledged development partners for their unwavering support and contributions, saying their involvement underscored collective commitment to enhancing peace and security in the region.

He solicited public support for the project and explained the broader significance of the project. He encouraged members of the public t
o contribute their part towards making it a reality.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr. Ernest Kwarteng, the Tano North Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), has stated that the security situation in the area was very stable.

Mr Kwarteng, during his address at a general committee meeting at Duayaw Nkwanta in the Tano North Municipality, stated that peace and stability were fundamental for the growth and development of any society.

He commended the security agencies in the Municipality for their relentless efforts at maintaining law and order in the area and hoped it would be sustained.

The MCE appealed to the people to prioritise development in the area and desist from partisan politics.

He urged them to be united, objective and fair in prosecuting its developmental agenda, to ensure the Municipality’s progress and the nation in general.

Touching on preparations for this year’s general elections, Mr Kwarteng disclosed that a total of 2,479 eligible voters from 18 years and above, were registered by the Electoral Commission while 1,443 persons were able to transfer their votes in the just-end
ed electoral processes.

He expressed satisfaction with the peaceful manner in which the exercises were carried out and indicated that a credible voter register would ensure fair, orderly and peaceful elections in the 2024 general election.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Martin Adjei-Mensah Korsah, Minister for Local Government, Decentralisation and Rural Development, on Wednesday inspected various projects under the Ghana Secondary Cities Support Project, and the Gulf of Guinea Northern Regions Social Cohesion (SOCO) in the Northern Region to assess progress of work on them.

Various infrastructural projects are at various stages of completion under the project which is meant to improve socio-economic well-being of the people.

They include the construction of two-storey 60 lockable stores at the Yendi Central Market, paving of walkways, car and lorry park and the construction of 0.45-kilometre (km) Kumfong-link Road and the provision of pedestrian lanes in the Yendi Municipality.

The others are the construction of 0.9-km road with drains, road markings, streetlights at Kataraga off the Tamale-Kumbungu Road, construction of two-storey 40 lockable stores, two-storey 24 lockable stores, two-storey banking facility and paving of lorry park at Jinsonayili, as well as an addi
tional two-storey 22 lockable stores, Police Post, creche, clinic, 72 stalls, butchery, and the rehabilitation of washrooms at Jinsonayili in the Sagnarigu Municipality.

The rest are the construction of an astro turf at Zogbeli Junior High School in the Tamale Metropolis, and a CHPS Compound with three-bed accommodation for staff and a two-seater KVIP at Gambuga in the Nanumba North Municipality.

Mr Korsah, who interacted with the press at Gambuga in the Nanumba North Municipality after the inspection, expressed satisfaction with the progress of work on some of the projects and said they would soon be completed to serve the needs of the people.

He was impressed at the level of work on the Gambuga Health facility, which was 95 per cent complete, saying it would help ensure quality health care delivery for residents.

He, however, was unhappy at the rate of work on the astro turf in the Tamale Metropolis and warned the contractor that the Ministry would consider all legal means to terminate the contract.

He
said, ‘The project (astro turf) was scheduled to be completed in May, this year. We are in June with only 30% of work done with no commitment to the terms of the contract. Obviously, we have to consider terminating it to save the situation.’

Mr Korsah appealed to the contractors on the projects to speed up work to deliver on time, saying government would not hesitate to terminate their contracts and reward them to ensure that they were completed on time to serve their intended purpose.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Widows and Orphans Movement (WOM), a gender-focused organisation in collaboration with ActionAid Ghana, has trained leaders of smallholder women farmers’ groups in the Talensi District of the Upper East Region on access to marketing opportunities for their farm produce.

The leaders, drawn from 10 communities of the district, were equipped with ways they could create a market for their farm produce, take advantage of technology to market their produce and adopt best agricultural practices to maintain soil fertility for high yields.

They were also taken through a variety of seeds available and adaptable to their soil, as well as other agriculture projects at their disposal that they could benefit from, including access to farm input.

The training formed part of the Green Economy project aimed at promoting food security and climate change resilience.

Ms Nancy Awinbisa Amiziah, the Project Officer, WOM, said the sensitisation became necessary following concerns by the smallholder farmers over their lack o
f information about high-yielding crops and market opportunities for their products.

‘We work with these women groups, and during one of our meetings with them last year, it came out that most of them do not have information on which crops were in high demand and readily available for the market, and so they end up producing crops that they find it difficult to sell,’ she stated.

This, she said, coupled with the fact that the women had limited access to land and considering how they could maximise those lands to get higher yields to support their families and earn income for themselves, occasioned the collaborations of the two organisations to help them make informed decisions.

‘The main aim is to inform them about cropping, and that is why we have organised this training in this period of the season so that the women would know whatever crops they should go for to enable them to make profit out of their produce to support their families,’ she added.

Mr Matthew Sulemana, the Talensi District Director of t
he Department of Agriculture, reiterated that his outfit was open to assisting the farmers reach a larger market and urged them to reach out for assistance.

He also emphasised that agriculture projects, including the government’s Planting for Food and Jobs, the Ghana Landscape Restoration and Small Scale Mining project, and the Food System Resilience project, were there to benefit smallholder farmers and encourage them to take advantage.

Madam Beatrice Saa, the President of the Upper East Regional Widows Network and Leader of the Wakii Women Group, said the training had exposed her to a lot of things she was unaware of and would be beneficial to her and the members of her group.

She, however, bemoaned that access to land and tractor services were major problems affecting their farming activities.

‘As women, we don’t have access to good land. Last year, for instance, I wanted to farm, and they gave me an outer place where monkeys are, so the monkeys, together with cattle destroyed my crops,’ she said.

So
urce: Ghana News Agency

The President of the Community Court of Justice, ECOWAS, Honourable Justice Edward Amoako Asante, has met with the Executive Committee of the West African Law Students Association (WALSA), Ghana Chapter.

The meeting was held during the Sensitization and Training of Lawyers and Government Agents on the use of the ECOWAS Court Electronic Case Management System (ECMS) held in Accra Ghana between 14th and 19th June 2024.

The WALSA Ghana Chapter, led by the International Vice President Prince Roland Diamond Okorie, joined Justice Asante and other distinguished dignitaries for the three-day sensitization and training programme for the anglophone Lawyers and Government Agents held in Accra-Ghana between 14th and 19th June 2024.

At the sideline of the programme, the WALSA Executive Committee paid a courtesy visit to the President of the ECOWAS Court. The Association shared their vision, mission, and objectives with the President and underscored their commitment to advance justice and build a more connected West Af
rica. Thereafter, the Association extended an invitation to Justice Asante to attend their conference scheduled for October 2024 in Abuja, Nigeria.

The President of the ECOWAS Court of Justice, Honourable Justice Edward Amoako Asante, welcomed members of the Association and expressed his pleasure in meeting such a dedicated group of future legal professionals.

He enjoined the Association to stay focused on delivering on their objectives and shared valuable insights and ideas on how they could continue to advance their mission and goals.

He concluded by pledging his support to the Association.

The interaction with the President of the ECOWAS Court was a significant and an enriching experience for the WALSA members. The Association looks forward to future opportunities to engage with the ECOWAS Court of Justice, as they continue to grow and evolve in their legal careers and education.

Source: Ghana News Agency