Month: April 2013

The Volta Regional House of Chiefs on Thursday pledged its support for the Regional Minister, Mr. Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo and the Deputy Regional Minister, Mr Francis Ganyaglo, respectively.

Togbe Afede XIV, President of the House, at an emergency meeting to welcome the two personalities, in Ho, said President John Mahama’s decision to appoint a citizen of another region as the Volta Regional Minister, was ‘a very important and bold one.’

The chiefs were briefed on actions taken by government following renewed bloodletting between the people of Alavanyo and Nkonya.

Togbe Afede said such appointments that were done in the first republic under the Nkrumah regime were aimed at promoting national unity and cohesion.

Togbe Afede expressed hope that Mr. Afotey-Agbo would work to bring landmark development to the region, just as other non-Volta region citizens, who were appointed to preside over the region as Regional Ministers did.

Mr Afotey-Agbo commended the House for taking a number of initiatives towards the development of the region, and looked forward to their efforts to lobby for developments and investments in the region.

‘We are Regional Ministers but you are in charge. We are young and energetic men ready to serve the people,’ he said.

On the Nkonya-Alavanyo conflict, Mr Afotey-Agbo appealed to the House to help bring peace to the area, and called for prompt action to curb conflicts in the region.

He said: ‘The very day I arrived here as a Regional Minister I have to go straight for a Regional Security Council meeting on the Alavanyo -Nkonya conflict.

‘I will like to plead with our noble House of Chiefs to assist us take a serious view of this state of affair in the region so that solutions could be found as early as possible before things get out of hand’.

Mr Afotey-Agbo commended the Paramount Chiefs of Alavanyo and Nkonya for initiating measures to maintain peace in their traditional areas.

He asked them to co-operate with the Mediation Committee and the security agencies to find a lasting solution to the conflict.

GNA

The NPP Member of Parliament for Suame Constituency, Osei-Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, has cautioned Ghanaians to be “cool-headed” and not jump in ecstasy over the pending election case at the Supreme Court.

According to him, the commentators of the case should refrain from skewing the facts to suit their parties.

He warned them to stop presenting twisted versions of the proceedings that transpire in the court.

He therefore advised the general public “not to be overly hilarious. Let us be cool-headed and allow the judges to determine the final case for all of us. I think the commentary coming out of the people who have been in the Supreme Court, is coming out a bit differently” is not helpful and so, asked them to be wary of their utterances.

He stressed the party’s commitment to abiding by the Supreme Court verdict on the election dispute.

“I wouldn’t want to be judgemental. Let the court determine. And we have all resort that whatever the outcome, we will live by it. And I think that that’s the wiser way.”

Peacefmonline.com

The Member of Parliament for Bia East,Richard Acheampong has come to the assistance of some of his constituents by sponsoring the connection of Adabokrom and Akosuantokrom to the national grid.

According to the MP, he will fully fund the cost of the project while the inhabitants contribute through communal labour to ensure a speedy completion of the work.

Speaking to Ghanamps.gov.gh, Hon. Richard Acheampong stated that the commencement of the project has brought smiles to the faces of the residents who never envisaged they would have electric power anytime soon.

He said he decided to help connect electricity to the area since the absence of electricity had really affected the social lives of inhabitants of the two villages.

Hon. Richard Acheampong disclosed that in addition, he would also provide 21 street bulbs to illuminate the towns and also enhance security in the area as inhabitants who have activities to engage in the evenings for fear of the safety are unable to do so.

He was also hopeful that the provision of electricity will afford pupils in the areas the opportunity of learning in the evenings and by so doing improve their education.

Kwadwo Anim/Ghanamps.gov.gh

The Member of Parliament for Nsuta Kwaman Beposo, Hon. Kwame Asafu- Adjei has expressed his commitment to ensure that the living conditions of the constituents are greatly enhanced during his term of office.

In pursuit of this goal, the MP has secured materials which would be used in undertaking projects that will improve the social life of the people.

Speaking to Ghanamps.gov. Hon. Kwame Asafu- Adjei disclosed that during his just ended outreach and thank you tour of his constituency which included towns such as Governor, Kwaman, Nsuta, Atonso, Birem and Kyiase among others, he realized the areas lacked adequate social amenities, a situation which negatively affected their social life.

He therefore donated 10 street lights to Aframso to illuminate the area and help improve security.

Hon. Kwame Asafu- Adjei further donated 50 bags of cement to Kwamang Senior High School to help in the constructing a facility in the school. Additional fifty (50) bags of cement was donated to be used in building a community centre for Nsuta while another 50 bags was donated to Atonso for a clinic.

He also indicated his readiness to liaise with the Department of Feeder Roads as soon as possible to rehabilitate the 3km Kyiase to Birem road which is in a deplorable state and as a result has prevented the smooth transportation of food stuff to the neighbouring villages.

Kwadwo Anim/Ghanamps.gov.gh

The Member of Parliament for Tolon in the Northern region, Hon Wahab Suhiyini Wumbei has said that he would marshal efforts and attention to improve accessibility to potable water for his constituents in the shortest possible time.

He claimed a considerable number of the population were struggling to get access to safe drinking water in some of the deprived communities and therefore contended to push for an intervention to ostensibly improve the water situation for inhabitants of such communities.

The MP made the promise in an interview with Ghanamps.gov.gh after embarking on a Thank you tour across-board in some of the communities in the district.

He also assured to give attention to promote the standard of education by enhancing certain policies and programmes in the educational front, as well as engaging the Energy Ministry to assist extend electricity to communities without light.

This was also in line with the promises made to the people during his campaign trail in the
constituency.

Therefore following this, the MP has intimated to engage strongly with some key agencies like the Ghana Water

Company Limited(GWCL), Volta River Authority(VRA), UNICEF and World Vision International to assist facilitate the implementation of these development initiatives in the area.

However, as part of his Thank you tour, Mr. Wahab Wumbei held meetings with various Heads of Department (HOD’s) including the District Directors of Education, Health, Agric and the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) to discuss possible ways to improve a working relation to accelerate growth and development in the district.

Jonathan Adjei/Ghanamps.gov.gh

A former Majority Leader under the Kufuor administration, Felix Owusu Agyapong has called for intense orientation for persons who want to engage in politics or hold political office to help prepare them for life outside or after politics.

Some Ministers and Members of Parliament (MPs) are reported to be living as paupers due to their inability have exit plans while in office and properly re-integrate themselves into society.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Thursday, the former Majority leader advised that Ministers, MPs and other government appointees should see themselves as contract employees because
Recalling his life as a Minister, Mr. Agyapong stated that “when I was a Minister, I used to tell myself that I’m a Minister for a day; 24hours” because the President in any 24 hours can make a change in his government.

According to him, politicians should consciously and continuously tell themselves that “if you are a Minister, you are a Minister for 24 hours; if you are an MP; you are an MP for four years by our constitution…we need to find a way of getting people who want to go into these two public lives would have to accept…so that when things come to an end, there will be no problem.”

In a related development, the former Majority leader under the Mills administration, Cletus Avoka advised his colleague MPs and Ministers to learn to be humble and modest while in office “otherwise…when you leave Parliament, you will run into serious challenges.”

“There are MPs who have left Parliament and after two three years, you look at them and you know that they have challenges written on their faces,” he said.

citifmonline.com

The Member of Parliament for Awutu Senya East constituency, Hon. Mavis Hawa Koomson has donated a brand new Ambulance for the Kasoa Polyclinic as part of effort to assist health delivery in the area.

The MP who disclosed this in an interview with GhanaMPs.gov.gh further noted the vehicle was procured with the aim of assisting emergency situations at the clinic, and expressed optimism that move will go a long way to eradicate instances where patients or accident victims are carried in taxis and other private vehicles especially in situations where a patient needs to transferred from the clinic to another hospital.

According to the MP, health has been a major priority on her development ladder, adding that she was set to provide the necessary equipment needed by health officials in discharging their duty.

Hon. Koomson however urged her constituents to expect more development projects in their various communities in the second quarter of 2013 after describing the first quarter as very fruitful and full of development related issues.

She said, as part of efforts to improve fair water distribution in the area discussions were still ongoing with some water companies to assist the provision and free flow of pipe-borne water to various individual households.

The legislator noted that she had also presented a power generating plant to the Awutu prisons camp, adding that communities including Kpoametey and Asempa-Down have benefited from streetlights with the project still on course to get other deprived communities provided.

The MP however described her first hundred days in Parliament as productive with regards to development in her constituency and therefore urged her constituents to expect continues development in their various communities.

Emmanuel Frimpong/ GhanaMPs.gov.gh

The Dorma West Member of Parliament (MP), Hon. Vicent Oppong Asamoah, has scored President Mahama high marks for his first 100 days in office.

He said President Mahama has through resilience helped the country to record significant progress in all of its sectors despite agitations from the labour front, power and water outages, gas shortages coupled with court issues.

According to the MP, those improvements had been due to the president’s bold steps in setting high targets for himself and seeing to it that those targets were met in areas such as energy, water, among others.

“President Mahama has remained resolute to achieving his set targets amidst fierce hindrances,” he added.

Although he believes 100 days was too short a time to access the performance of any government, Mr. Asamoah scored the president 80 per cent for sailing through successfully.

In an interaction with Ghanamps.gov.gh, Hon. Asamoah intimated his hope that President Mahama would make Ghana proud through persistence and hard work.

On policies to move the country forward, he said Ghana has had considerably good policy document over the years, but maintains that the implementation of such policies had been our major problem hence calling on government to hold sector ministers and stakeholders accountable.

“The government must hold its ministers to their task in order to implement such policy documents for the benefit of the country as a whole,” he added.

Godwin Allotey Akweiteh/Ghanamps.gov.gh