Month: January 2012

Ms Akua Sena Dansua, Member of Parliament (MP) for North Dayi has donated 240 laptop computers and 216 pieces of customized Mathematical sets to the Kpando District Directorate of Education for distribution to selected Basic Schools in the District.

A total of 20 schools are beneficiaries in the present phase that targets equipping all Basic schools within the jurisdiction.

It is aimed at bolstering learning and teaching of information and communications technology (ICT) skills training and bridging the ICT gap.

Presenting the items procured from the Ministry of Education at a ceremony in Kpando, Ms Dansua, who is also Minister of Tourism, called on stakeholders to strive harder towards addressing all challenges militating against the development of the education.

She said the sector continued to be a cardinal priority in her development programmes, which had received a chunk of her MP fund allocations.

Ms Dansua said her target areas include school buildings, procurement of furniture, computer tables and chairs, computers, exchange programmes and scholarship schemes for six students from the area to pursue Master’s programmes in Korea, China and Cuba.

Mr Francis Ganyaglo, Kpando District Chief Executive said the donation had brought to 40 per cent, the District’s coverage in terms of provision of computers in Basic schools, and indicated that the remaining schools would be covered in due course.

He indicated in a lighter note that  the donation would deepen the pupils’ understanding of the difference between a computer mouse and the real mouse in the home,  throwing the assembly into laughter.

Mr Ganyaglo gave the assurance that stakeholders had increased monitoring, supervision and team work in the schools, which was cardinal in the education enterprise, with the district targeting between 70-80 per cent in the pupils’ performance at the next BECE. The District only crossed the 50 per cent mark marginally in the 2011 results.

He announced that two ICT centres with a capacity of 50 computers for Bishop Hermann and Kpando Technical Senior High Schools were at various levels of construction in addition to communal ICT Centres/Post Offices for the Aveme-Sabadu area which would be replicated in Botoku soon.

The DCE said a total of 30 six-unit and three-unit classroom blocks had been built in the basic school level, and gave the assurance that government would continue to provide the requisite education infrastructure.

GNA

Mr. Ambrose Dery, New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament   (MP) for Lawra/Nandom, has suggested to the Electoral Commission (EC) and Government to ensure that the 2012 General Election is carried out on a clean slate, to give all Ghanaians the opportunity to vote on the same day.

He said: “the EC must avoid the tot, tot, system of voting that was experienced in the District Assembly Election,” in the forthcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.

Mr. Dery made the call when he interacted with journalists from the Upper West Region, after presenting 100 sewing machines to young women in Lawra/Nandom, as part of his commitment to the welfare of women in the area.

He said that system of voting was dangerous as it could derail the electoral process, subvert the will of the people and cause confusion in the country.

Mr. Dery appealed to Ghanaians to vote for the flagbearer of the NPP, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, in the forthcoming elections, to enable him to implement good policies and programmes to enhance their living conditions.

The MP said President John Atta Mills’ led Government has performed abysmally, and explained that the President declared 2011 as  action year with no action and also proclaimed 2012 as a year of hope but with increases in petroleum products.

Mr Dery said the Government was being haunted by the several unachievable promises that it has made to the people, and asked Ghanaians not to take the National Democratic Congress serious.

He said “Vice President John Dramani Mahama came to my region and cut sod for the construction of a Regional Hospital in Wa but as I speak now there is nothing in the pipeline but only propaganda and excuses that are being peddled round the communities.

“The loud noise made about the STX Housing Project had now gone dead, the universities at the Volta and Brong-Ahafo Regions, which were supposed to have started admissions in September last year, had been delayed while Government found it prudent to blame Parliament for failing to pass bills regarding the universities”.

Mr. Dery alleged “another classic failure on the part of Government is the dolling out of 58 million Ghana Cedis to an individual without due regards to the tenets and principles to laid down regulations.”

He called on Ghanaians to have hope that the NPP and Nana Akufo-Addo would work diligently to improve their social, economic and political conditions if voted to power this year.

Mr. Dery hosted supporters of the NPP in his constituency to an end of year party at Kokoligu, his hometown in the Nandom District

GNA

The Communication Director of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Member of Parliament for Okaikoi South, Nana Akomea has said the politics of insults in Ghanaian political discourse is far from over.

According to him, this will remain so, as long as the communication team of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) party decide to make  insulting the Opposition leader Nana Akufo Addo, a regular feature in their political discussion.

The MP expressed these concerns following the admonishing by President John Attah Mills when he met the media on the need for Ghanaians especially political commentators to watch the language and the sort of words they spew out when engaging in political debates.

He said what is needed in a political argument is logic, mental agility; power to focus and to make cogent deductions, adding that no amount of insults can win an argument.

However speaking on Oman FM’s Boiling Point programme on Tuesday night, Nana Akomea urged President Mills to first advice the ‘acid tongue’ party commentators and some sector ministers who stop at nothing to insult their political opponents.

He noted that President Mills has allowed his officials who are guilty of this act to go scot free without him condemning or punishing any of them to serve as a deterrent to others who trade such insults, but only come out occasionally to speak out against politics of insults.

“President Mills looks on unconcerned as his officials insult Nana Akufo Addo at will and sometimes publish baseless stories about him, but President Mills fails to hear this and see, he comes out in his usual populist best to come and speak against politics of insult, this act of hypocrisy on the part of the President must stop.

Nana Akomea added that the NPP is committed to running a clean campaign devoid of verbal attacks on personalities in the run-up to the December general elections and will continue to uphold this position, but that the NPP may be forced to go the same road as the NDC if they continue to make baseless claims against Nana Akufo Addo the subject of their arguments.

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A health Centre constructed by the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for Agona East, Mr John Kwesi Agyabeng, from his share of the MPs’ Common Fund has been handed over to the chiefs and people of Kwesitwikrom in the Central Region.

Inaugurating the 30.000 Ghana Cedis facility as part of activities marking the annual local Akwambo Festival of the area, Mr Agyabeng called on Ghanaians not to renew the mandate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in the December Parliamentary and Presidential elections.

He said the NDC had failed the nation and there was the need to reject it and vote massively for the NPP Presidential Candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

He said the NDC had mismanaged all social interventions created by the NPP before it left office in 2008, and did not deserve another mandate to rule the nation.

According to the MP, Ghanaians had now seen that the NPP was better than the NDC and that it was only the NPP that could improve their living conditions.

Mr Agyabeng said an NPP government led by Nana Akufo Addo would still stand by its free Senior High School education promise and would further expand the existing social interventions.

He said the NDC had nothing better to offer Ghanaians, adding that the four years regime of President John Evans Atta Mills had brought untold economic hardship to the people.

Nana Kwesi Twi V, Chief of the town expressed appreciation to the MP for fulfilling the promise made to providea health centre.

He appealed to the government to help reconstruct the road linking the town to facilitate the transportation of goods and services, saying that the people were predominately farmers.

The Chief asked the Ministry of Energy to impress upon the contractor working on the electrification project in the area to speed up the project to ensure its early completion.

Nana Twi said without electricity, most facilities in the health centres could not be utilized.

He commended the Power Vision Chapel International Church for donating some electronic beds and other equipment to the health centre.

GNA

The outspoken New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa, P. C Appiah Ofori, has hit out at President Mills saying he cannot claim to be unaware of the payment of the controversial Gh¢58 million judgment debt to NDC financier Alfred Woyome.

President Mills during his interaction with the media on Monday at the Castle denied knowledge of the payment of the judgment debt and further stated that the finance minister did not require his consent to authorise the payment.

However, speaking to Citi News, Hon. Ofori said the President is being untruthful to Ghanaians with his comments.

“The sole person authorized under the Ghanaian sun to order the release of funds from the Consolidated Funds is the President,” the legislator said.

“Even if it is by the ministers there would have been a prior approval. The ministry on its own cannot just issue monies just because it was a court order. ”

Hon. Ofori said the nationalistic nature of the Woyome case implied that the President could not have been ignorant of it.

Cififmonline.com

The Member of Parliament for Sekyere South,  Hennric Yeboah, has donated three ambulances to the Agona Government Hospital, Beposo Health Centre and Seventh – Day Adventist Hospital all in the Afigya Sekyere District.

The vehicles valued GHC58, 000, were funded from the MP’s share of the Common Fund and National Health Insurance Fund.

Mr Yeboah during the presentation stated that the vehicles were his contribution to ensuring the promotion of quality health care in the rural communities, would enable the three beneficiary institutions to respond promptly to emergencies.

He encouraged the management of the benefiary health facilities to take proper care of the vehicles to prolong their life span.

The MP used the occasion to hand over a GHC 148,000 maternity block and four –unit nurses bungalows he funded to the hospital authorities.

Dr Lamech Addo, District Director of Health Services, thanked the MP for the gesture.

In a related development, Mr Yeboah presented training tools and equipment to some vocational training institutions and Junior High Schools in the constituency at Wiamoase for the training of the youth in various skills to enable them to become self- employed and self –reliant.

The items included 50 sewing machines, 50 hairdryers and 30 desktop computers, are to enhance the teaching of Information and Communication Technology.

He pledged to support the growth and promotion of small medium enterprises in the district and urged the beneficiaries to put the items to good use.

Source: Ghanaian Times

The Minority Leader of Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, has expressed his total amazement at accusations that he has severally hurled insults at President Mills.

He said he respects President Mills as the Leader of the country and will not do or say anything to slight him or bring his office into disrepute.

President Mills on Monday, in responding to questions thrown at him from senior journalists and editors at the Castle, lamented the wave of attacks on his person by his political opponents.

The editor of the Informer newspaper asked; “Mr. President, ever since you became the president of this country, the opposition, led by the minority leader, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu on daily basis, have been heaping insults on you. I want to know if you hear those insults and how do you feel?”

President Mills then replied: “I heard him. I forgive him for he is an honourable man. Indeed as a minority leader, he is even higher than an honourable man. He is Right Honourable minus one. Perhaps this is his style.”

He said he as the President will not go to parliament and use offensive language on anybody, and that all political activists must ensure that they use temperate and decorous when pass judgment on his government.

However speaking on Peace FM’s Platform programme on Monday evening, the minority leader was at a loss to understand which of his several criticisms of the President and his administration constitutes an insult to the President, adding that he does not delight in insulting let alone using abusive words on elders such as President Mills.

He stated that the NPP being an opposition party has performed its duty of giving constructive criticism of the actions and inactions of the government which all Ghanaians bear testimony and the President must not misconstrue their actions.

Hon. Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, urged President Mills to look forward to more positive criticisms from  himself and the NPP from now, as the political campaigns heightens in the run up to the December elections.

Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh

The Member of Parliament for Ayesuano, Samuel Aye-Paye has called for punitive measures to be taken against Building Inspectors at the various Metropolitan Municipal and Districts Assemblies who allow structures to be cited on illegal locations.

According to him, the dereliction of duty on the part of such public officials must be taken seriously by the state and have such people pay for their inactions to serve as a deterrent to other inefficient officers.

He expressed these concerns following a report that the Weija Dam which supplies water to Western and Central parts of Accra and the eastern parts of the Central Region faces looming collapse if the illegal structures in its catchment area are not demolished immediately, as contained in a security report.

The report indicated that the collapse of the dam could cause the water from the reservoir to flood the western and central parts of Accra and wash substantial portions of those parts into the sea.

Contributing on the issue on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo show on Monday, hon. Samuel Aye-Paye blamed the building inspection of the Ga South Municipal Assembly under which Weija falls for allowing the unfortunate situation to arise.

‘’ I find it difficult to understand why public officers paid with state money fail to do their work and allow, we allow people to begin to construct their houses to various stages of completion and in some cases fully completing the houses only for the houses to be pulled down for wrong citing. Where were the building inspectors when the houses were being put up’’ he asked worriedly.

He stated that over the years, the irresponsibility of some building inspectors has resulted in the demolishing of structures thought to be cited in illegal places at a time when economic conditions are harsh, adding that it’s about time that immediate action is taken to hold the building inspectors to account.

Kwadwo Anim/ghanamps.gov.gh