Chiefs and People of Buru-Kazugu observes annual Womdai-Abu Festival

Inset: Mad. Wasai King, Mrs Kasisi and the U/E Deputy Reg Min

25-11-2011                              

Mrs Lucy Awuni : Dep U/E Reg. Min

Narration: The chiefs and the entire Buru-Kazugu divisional area of the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region have celebrated their annual Wondai-Abu Festival with pump and pageantry. The occasion which saw a colourful display of Kazugu culture amidst drumming and dancing was also used to officially launch a programme dubbed” Operation Keep your environment clean and green”. The theme for this year’s Womdai-Abu festival was “Quality Girl Child Education and Empowerment of Women; Key to sound sustainable Environment Practices and Reduction in Communicable Diseases”. The Kazugu Pe, Parekuri Aluah who addressed the gathering said the focus for the theme is informed by numerous educational challenges confronted by girls in the area. Isaac Asare has the rest of the story for Radio Ghana.

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Pe Alua said since education began in Paga in 1948, Kazugu had produced only one girl graduate and has for the past years failed to produce a female teacher , community health nurse, security female personnel or held any position in any of the decentralized departments of government. This, he lamented calls for stakeholders’ support in addressing issue of girl child education in the area and the region as a whole. He said as a first step, a Rural Education Development Fund (RED fund) was launched in 2009 during the first formal celebration of the festival to solicit fund to bring quality education to the doorstep of the people, particularly girls in order to help them realize their full potentials. The fund he added would also cater for female graduates especially medical professionals from Kazugu to make up for the gap in education. According to him, contribution from the RED fund this year will be used to start Bishop Abadamloora Girls Senior High School to immortalize the late Catholic Bishop’s name for bringing blessing to Kazugu. Pe Alua therefore, appealed to the people to contribute generously to the fund to make quality education in the area a reality. He thanked the Regional Minister, Mark Woyongo, for his valuable contribution to the development of the fund which has gone a long way to motivate most teachers in deprived Junior High Schools in the area. The fund, Pe Alua indicated, has also been used to support two orphans in the area. Stressing on the developmental challenges facing the area, Pe Alua called for the opening up of rural areas with irrigation dams and industries for the youth to move there to decongest the cities instead of constructing interchanges and flyovers to decongest them because such moves cannot force the youth out of the cities, it will rather attract more of them to the cities. He also appealed for two out of the 17 cocoa roads allocated to the Region for Kazugu to link it to Gomongo, Navro-Pungu and Nyangua and further appealed for a health facility or the posting of at least a community health nurse to the area to educate the people on preventable diseases who will as well attend to ailments and maternal health related cases in inaccessible areas of the communities. He also called for the rehabilitation of the Kazugu Small Scale Irrigation Dam and canals to assist in dry season farming. Pe Alua cautioned the youth against HIV and AIDS and urged them to cultivate the habit of tree planting to serve as vegetation cover. The Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Mrs. Lucy Awuni, who was the special guest of honour assured the people of government’s support and urged them to make education of the girl child their outmost priority. She said with the inauguration of the SADA board, deprived areas of northern Ghana are poised to experience massive infrastructural development. On Education, Mrs. Awuni pledged to support school drop outs in the area, particularly lactating mothers who due to their predicaments could not proceed to the senior high school level and appealed to them to reconsider going back to school since education is the only way they can achieve success in life. The District Chief Executive for the area, Thomas Ada Dalu, in a speech read for him, pledged to incorporate the concerns raised in to the assembly’s annual and short term action plan and called for the support of the people. Mr. Dalu also called on the youth to remain focus and disciplined at all times since government is fully committed to the course of the youth. He moreover, called for good environmental practices.

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05-11-2011 Bolgatanga Regional Hospital Receives Medical Equipments Worth GH¢10,000

The management of the Ghana Rural Opportunities for Women (GROW), an NGO working in the area of women empowerment in the Upper East Region has donated medical equipment worth GH¢10,000 to the Bolgatanga Regional hospital to improve health care delivery in the region. The equipments include drip stand, surgical supplies, weighing scale, measuring cylinders, surgical gowns, OPD trolley, orthopaedic instruments, as well as laboratory and wound care supplies. The Project facilitator of GROW, Vida Yakong, stated that management of GROW in partnership with some students at University of British Columbia in Canada saw it as an honour to assist the hospitals. She said the donation which forms part of GROW’s corporate social responsibility is targeted at addressing issues of increased malaria cases and high maternal and infant deaths in the region and the country as a whole. Similar donations according to her had been undertaken in some deprived health facilities in the region including the Nangodi health centre and the Sakote CHP zone among others. Other health facilities she assured would receive their fair share of the gesture. Mrs Yakong added that GROW as a local based NGO gives priority attention to women of rural communities especially in the area of girl child development and health and had since its inception in 2007 provided financial and material assistance to women in most deprived communities of Northern Ghana. Their main objective she indicated is to basically assist vulnerable women and children grow positively to achieve their full potentials in life. She outlined plans of assisting some health institutions in the region with medical reading materials to enhance their knowledge. According to her deprived Schools and orphanages would not be left out.  The Medical Superintendent of the Bolgatanga Regional Hospital, Dr Peter Baffoe, who received the items on behalf of management, expressed appreciation to GROW and its foreign partners for the gesture and gave the assurance that the items would be well maintained to improve health care delivery in the hospital. He passionately appealed to other well meaning Ghanaians and organizations to emulate the gesture and come to the aid of the health facilities in the region.  

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Kusasi Youth of Bawku Expresses concern

02-11-2011            

The Kusasi Youth from Bawku have expressed deep resentment over a letter purported to have been written by the Nayiri, Bohugu Mahami Sheriga, notifying and requesting the permission of the Assistant Commissioner of the Ghana Police Service and the Police Administration in Bawku to enable him perform the final funeral rites of one Alhaji Adam Zangbeogo, whose demise occurred 31 years ago.  According to them, adherence of the Nayiri request could foment anarchy in Bawku if care is not taken because the Nayiri’s Jurisdiction ends at Nankpanduri whereas the overlord of Kusaug starts from Siisi to Zangoyiri. At a press briefing held in Bawku, the leader of the Kusasi youth, Azuma Alhassan, supported by other high profile personalities stated that the late Chief in question died as a commoner after he was deskinned through the PNDC law 75 in 1983, which restored the Kusaug Kingdom to the late Abugrago Azoka I. He said per the 1992 constitution, the Supreme Court has the judicial authority in dealing with chieftaincy disputes in Ghana, adding that the   court in 2003 ruled in favour of the Kusasis after the Mamprusis petitioned it to reverse the Bawku chieftaincy. Power was thus bestowed to the successor of the late Abugrago Azoka I, based on the Supreme Court ruling.  Therefore the Nayiri’s letter casts insinuations and undermines the Constitution in respect of the gazetted Bawku Naba, which he said is unacceptable and a blatant disregard to the country’s constitution. Mr. Alhassan also pointed out that paramount chiefs do not perform funerals of divisional or sub-chiefs outside their jurisdiction in any part of the country, let alone asking the security to perform the funeral of a deskinned chief, though he was buried and the funeral performed after his demise. He however called on the security agencies to call the Nayiri to order in order not to generate violent conflict. An Aspiring Parliamentary Candidate for the Binduri Constituency, Stephen Atubiga who chaired the briefing, emphasized the need for the security agencies to ensure the continuous prevailing peace in Bawku by going according to the court order. He said Bawku is tired of the conflict and that any issue that is likely to jeopardize the peace efforts in the municipality should not be tolerated. He cautioned the youth of Bawku to remain calm and allow the law to take its course. He also appealed to the Mamprusis to contribute their quota to the peace process in Bawku as the Kusasis are ever ready to partner them in the ongoing peace efforts in the area.

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Vodafon Shows Commitment to Increase Communication Connectivity

02-11-2011           

Narration: As part of its commitment to substantially increase communications connectivity in the north of the country and beyond, Vodafone Ghana with support from the government has officially laid a 120 km fiber cable from Bolgatanga through Bawku and to Senkase in northern Togo. This project will connect Ghana and four other countries in the West African Sub-region including neigbouring Burkina Faso. At a sod cutting ceremony held at Bolgatanga, the Deputy Minister of Communication, Ernest Attuquaye Armah said the construction of the fiber connectivity which includes the establishment of a number of cell sites along the routes will give real meaning to the country’s quest for regional integration with its associated trade and commercial benefits to Ghanaians. Correspondent Isaac Asare was at the event and has the rest of the story for Radio Ghana.

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In a bid to revolutionize Ghana’s communication infrastructure and services, Vodafon, one of the worlds’s leading mobile telecommunications company with a significant presence in Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia Pacific and the United States, had once again shown its commitment to achieving high telecommunication standards in the West Africa sub-region. It may be recalled that on May, 9, 2009 in Tamale, the sector Minister of Communications and his counterparts from Burkina Faso, signed the ministerial declaration which brought forth the urgency to achieve fibre optic connectivity of the two countries in the realization of the decisions and commitment of the World summit on the Information Society and the summit ‘Connect Africa’, which urges government to develop broadband linkages connecting the main towns and capitals of Africa by 2012. Government  in  pursuant of the objectives outlined under the said declaration and  being mindful of the benefits to be derived from implementation of the project, have put in place measures to commence the project to meet the international deadline of 2012. Therefore, the laying of the 120km fibre cable from Bolgatanga through to Bawku and Zebilla to Senkase in the north of Togo is demonstrative of government and Vodafon’s commitment to providing quality services in Ghana and beyond. This connectivity is to also foster economic integration within the ECOWAS sub region. The Deputy Communications Minister, Mr. Ernest Attuquaye Armah, who cut the sod to officially commence the project, commended the efforts of the government of Togo and Burkina Faso for their support and cooperation, which to him defines their level of commitment and brotherliness despite our geographical boundaries. According to him, the project will be undertaken by three contractors to ensure its speedy completion and appealed to the chiefs and people of the communities along the routés to lend the contractors their maximum support and utmost cooperation since the project will involve the digging of trenches even under buildings. Mr. Armah also stressed the need to take advantage of the project to initiate job opportunities for the youth and also make use of the enabling environment to create a healthy socio-economic environment in the region. In a speech read for him, the Managing Director of Vodafon Wholesale, Edwin Provincal, described the occasion as historic and called on the people to support the project to achieve its purpose. He said the fibre connectivity will also have important implication for education in Ghana since it will provide schools and universities with fast link to a world of research and data, and make a significant contribution to the long term goal of building the knowledge-based economy in Ghana. Mr. Provincal commended Vodafon’s partnership with government and expressed their commitment to create ICT infrastructure in the country with the view to promoting digital literacy.  The occasion attracted various dignitaries from Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana including the Upper East Regional Minister, Mark Woyongo and other revered chiefs from the region.

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More Ghanaians draw sword against UK Prime Minister's gay conditionalities

UK Prime Minister, David Cameron

01-11-2011           

Ghanaians continue to take a swipe at UK's Prime Minister, David Cameron's position to withdraw aid to countries which do not adhere to what he called proper human rights.  Dr Yao Graham of the Third World Network says the rights of gays and lesbians should be respected, but kicked against aid conditionality.  He said it has always been the ploy of the advanced countries to use imperialist tactics to bully third world countries.  A legal practitioner and a lecturer in Media law at the Ghana Institute of Journalism, Osei Kwadwo Addo however disagreed with the call to legalise Gayism and Lesbianism in the country.  He said human rights must be looked at within the context of societies that do not frown on norms, culture and values.  Mr Addo said Ghana should not subject itself to UK's pressure to legalise the rights of the Gay and Lesbians in the country. Meanwhile, the Northern Regional Chairman of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Reverend Dr. Bugri Nagbo, has strongly endorsed the widespread condemnation on comments made by the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron on threats to cut aid to countries that do not conform to legalities of anti gay legislation. He said Ghana is touted to be one of the decent and well behaved countries worldwide, so it is highly imperative for us as a country to maintain our sovereignty and not kowtow to pressures and caprices of donor countries all in the name of grant and aids. He however underscored the urgent need for all political parties, religious and youth groups to stand up and kick against such ungodly comments since adherence will spell doom for the country.  While lambasting the west for their unacceptable influence on most African countries, Rev. Nagbo told Radio Ghana in Bolgatanga that there is a clear cut difference between foreign aid and morality and that developed countries offering aid of any sort to needy countries have no moral obligation to infiltrate their cultural values, which according to him is an act of racism and bully. He said in as much as we cherish our rich heritage and believes, efforts must be made to protect such values.

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FDB cautions the public against the sale of expired corned beefs

01-11-2011       

Information obtained by the Food and Drugs Board (FDB) has it that a large consignment of expired corned beef with the brand names “Grace Corned Beef” and Libby’s Corned Beef’ has been found in a warehouse in Neigbouring Togo. The information further indicates that the expired corned beef brands believed to have been stored under deplorable conditions since 2008, show signs of bloating, rust and leakage cans, which could cause severe health implication if consumed. In a release signed by the Chief Executive of the FDB, Dr Stephen K. Opuni and copied to the GBC in Bolgatanga, confirmed that the expired corned beef products have been spotted in some market around the port in Lome (Togo) and could filter through Ghana. The release is therefore cautioning the general public against the patronage of the expired corned beef products for the purpose of sale in Ghana since such acts contravenes Section 1 (1) (b) and 8 (1) (b) of the Food and Drugs Law, 1992 (PNDCL 305B), which stipulates that “Any person who sells or offers for sale any food that is unwholesome or unfit for human consumption” commits an offence. The law in that same section goes on to state that “any person who deposits with or consign to any person for the purpose of sale, any food intended for, but unfit for human consumption” commits an offence. According to the release, consumption of expired canned beef products could lead to botulism and possible death. The Food and drugs Board therefore advices consumers to be cautious and not patronize the said brands of corned beef products. While assuring the public of its resolve to protect public health and safety, the FDB advises all well meaning Ghanaians to report any person or group of persons who may have or may be distributing the expired “Grace and Libby” Corned Beef brands or any other expired food products to the Food and Drugs Board for appropriate action to be taken. The general public is therefore reminded to call the following telephone numbers: 0244-337235, 0244-337243, 0244-337247 and 0244-33725.

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PAS Rounds Up Its Advocacy Programme for Small holder Farmers

31-10-2011       

The Presbyterian Agric Station (PAS) in the Garu-Tempane District of the Upper East Region has rounded up its advocacy review meeting with a call on participants to explore avenues of lobbying for projects to improve their standard of living and also ensure development in their respective communities. The review meeting was a follow up to previous capacity building advocacy and training programmes held for the participants, who are mainly smallholder farmers with women constituting the majority. The said training programme which is captured under the advocacy component of the Food and Agriculture Recovery Management project (FARMplus) is being implemented by Care International and Oxfam in partnership with the Presbyterian Agric Station. The training, according to the Advocacy Officer of PAS, Awuni Baba Foster, was to influence agriculture policy and practice to have improved focus on vulnerable small holder farmers.  Through the programme, beneficiaries would be able to identify their community problems, analyse and prioritize them to benefit themselves and their communities. This is to also help them lobby and solicit support from policy makers and stakeholders who matter in addressing problems identified in a particular community. He said the project with sponsorship by the European Union is being implemented in 10 communities out of the 40 communities captured under the food and security component of the project. Beneficiaries Mr. Awuni Foster emphasized are expected to present to the appropriate quarters their problems for consideration and support through the training they have acquired. Mr. Awuni told Radio Ghana that the training has offered a lot of opportunities for small holder farmers since they have undergone community advocacy, lobbying and campaigning skills. He added that beneficiaries through the programme were engage in community interface meeting with MOFA to expose MOFA activities to community members to enable them demand for their services. Moreover, Community exchange visits were also organized for beneficiaries to enable them learn and adapt to modern agricultural practices to improve their yield. The motive he explained is to assist in addressing the problem of food insecurity in the district. Mr Awuni expressed the hope that partners involved in the project will put in place pragmatic and workable interventions to ensure its sustainability since it will be ending soon. Mr Aba’an Philip, a beneficiary from the Kunsabilla community, commended PAS and its implementing agencies for their support and assistance. The programme he noted has impacted positively on the lives of beneficiaries and urge his colleagues to impart the knowledge they have acquired to benefit other farmers.

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