Month: November 2011

The Communication Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and MP for Okaikoi South, Nana Akomea has stated that the date for opening of the ruling NDC party’s parliamentary nominations is ill- timed.

According to him, as the year draws to an end especially in the month of December, where people spend lots of monies to prepare for the yuletide, it’s a bit problematic for such a political exercise which also involves a lot of monies changing hands commence around the same time.

The NDC at a press briefing on Thursday announced the opening of nominations for the parliamentary race in all constituencies where they have sitting MPs on. The exercise will be on throughout the month of December 2011.

Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana show, Nana Akomea was of the view that fixing the date for opening of nominations a bit earlier would have been more appropriate.

“We are entering the yuletide and we all know that many people including politicians spend lots of money, and this is the same time the campaign for parliamentary candidature ship is on, you know that the various aspirants would have to pay some monies to the delegates whenever they want to meet them, which may result in some politicians not having to spend much to celebrate Christmas with their families’’ he said.

The primaries promises to be very interesting and keenly contested as some big names including a deputy Information Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, a deputy Transport Minister, Dzifa Ativor, a deputy Finance Minister Fiifi Kwetey amongst others have declared their bids.

A total of fifty four out of the 55 public institutions have so far been successfully migrated onto the Single Spine Salary Structure, an exercise which has been characterized by a lot of controversy from professional like Doctors and Teachers.

According to the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, the migration represents 97.57 per cent of the total number of public institutions.

The Sector Minister E.T Mensah made this known when he addressed the media at the Meet the Press series on Tuesday.

Institutions which have been migrated onto the salary structure include the Civil Service, Security Services, Local Government Service, Ghana Health Service and the Judicial Service,

Hon. E.T Mensah admitted that the year 2011 has been one of the difficult years for the labour sector because of the challenges in the implementation of the new pay policy but noted it was to be expected, adding that the Labour Commission was however able to resolve the crisis with “tact and diplomacy”

He noted over 300 labour disputes were settled within the year.

Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh

The New Patriotic Party Member of Parliament for Ablekuma North, Justice Joe Appiah has lashed out at the ruling National Democratic Congress for disbursing the Micro Finance and Small Loans to foot soldiers of the NDC.

The Micro Finance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC) was set up by the Kufuor administration to provide loans to small and medium scale enterprises irrespective of the political affiliation of their owners

However, according to Hon. Joe Appiah, MASLOC has been turned into a job for the boys by the ruling NDC as loans are accessible to only NDC party faithful.

“The MASLOC loan is selective, they just give it to their party faithfuls. I am a sitting Member of Parliament and I know what I’m talking about.”

He indicated that when the NPP members go to the offices of the Micro Finance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), “they tell them this is for the foot soldiers. ”

Hon. Joe Appiah was speaking on Citi FM’s Eyewitness News on Tuesday, where he touched on several issues bothering his constituency and the competition he is facing from NDC activist Ras Mubarak.

Hon. Joe Appiah dismissed the NDC aspirant [Ras Mubarak] who has accused him of not doing anything beneficial for the people of the constituency.

He said he would win the Ablekuma North seat again to represent the people of the constituency.

Mr Mike Hammah, Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, on Tuesday expressed concern about the rate at which the country’s forest was depleting and said Government needed to update laws on forest and natural resources.

He noted that at the beginning on the 20th century, Ghana’s forest cover was about 8.2 million hectares, but now it is about 1.6 million hectares and “we continue to experience a yearly depleting of 65 hectare every year.”

The Minister was speaking at the launch of the “Sustainable Forest Management Partnership, Ghana” programme that brought together seven forest-related non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Mr Hammah said Government was putting in place programmes and projects such as the National Forest Plantation project and the Voluntary Partnership Agreement with support from the European Union, to ensure that only timber obtained through legal means was exported or used for Government projects.

He explained that the programmes and other initiatives being championed by the NGOs aimed at suppressing the demand for illegal timber such that it would become unattractive to those engaging in such acts.

Mr Hammah said the role of the chiefs in the use of lands and natural resources in the country were crucial.

He announced that the Ministry would organize a forum to engage chiefs and other opinion leaders to ensure sanity in the use of forest resources.

Mr Hammah said Government would liaise with civil society to towards the management of the forestry.

Nana Kobina Nketiah, who launched the project, said there was the need for an equitable forest benefit ant that that those who benefited from the forest should be made responsible for replacing the forest.

He said forest and natural resources should be used in a productive way instead of depletion of the forest and natural resources without thinking about the future.

Mr Delle Kpebesaan, Chairman of the Steering Committee of the project, stressed the need for people to be at the centre of sustainable forest management.

He said “sustainable forest management must be for the people, be done with the people and by the people” and called on Government to make forest management business.

Mr Edward Nsenkyire, Chairman of the event, said challenges facing the Forestry Commission were mainly climate change and climate variability issues.

He noted that climate issues posed a serious threat to the forest hence the need to come up with measures that would protect the forest in the face of those challenges.

Mr Nsenkyire advised the chiefs to be actively involved in determining which tree should be cut and which one should not be cut to ensure that young trees were not destroyed.

GNA

Mr Alban Bagbin, Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, on Friday restated the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government’s commitment to providing workers with decent accommodation.

According to him to achieve this objective, government is putting in place measures to secure the necessary funding to enable his Ministry complete a total of 4,720 on-going housing units cited across the country.

Hon. Alban Bagbin was speaking when some officials of the Tema Development Corporation (TDC) led him to inspect housing projects being undertaken by the corporation in some parts of the Metropolis.

The Minister and the team visited Community 22, 24 and 25, where TDC was executing the Housing Ownership Scheme and the Affordable Housing Estates Project.

Mr Bagbin said government resolute in its commitment that the Housing Scheme achieves its purpose for which it was introduced is making sure houses are affordable to workers.

He urged Ghanaians to comply with rules and regulations governing the putting up of structures, warning that developers who built indiscriminately would not be spared.

Mr Joe Abbey, Acting Managing Director of TDC, who led the inspection, warned all illegal occupants of the corporation’s on-going housing projects, to look for alternate accommodation in order not to face forceful eviction when the time came.

The NPP’s Member of Parliament for Jaman South in the Brong Ahafo region, Yaw Maama Afful says the newly elected parliamentary candidate for the NDC for the Constituency Major (rtd) Boakye Gyan poses no threat to him as he is poised to retain his seat.

He said though Major (rtd) Boakye Gyan is popular person in the country that is not enough to unseat him as the Member of Parliament for the area.

The one time second most powerful man in the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council (AFRC) junta was elected as the ruling NDC party’s parliamentary candidate in the Jaman South constituency for next year’s elections after a fiercely contested election over the weekend.

Speaking to Citifm, Hon. Yaw Maama Afful congratulated Boakye Gyan on his victory but added that he together with his campaign team though very confident are not leaving anything to chance now that they know he is their opponent.

According to the MP, his unrivaled successes chalked in the area of bringing development to the area put in an advantageous position to win the impending 2012 election.

He noted that his brilliant record as an MP will be presented to the people of Jaman South against that of Boakye Gyan who has a record of being a de-facto head of state in the late 70s, which is not good enough a record to win him the seat.

Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh