Month: October 2013

Residents in the Ablekuma Central Constituency of Accra have called on the Member of Parliament, Theophilus Tetteh Chaie, to improve sanitation conditions in the area.

A constituency situated right at the centre of the capital cannot boast of good roads, good drainage systems, properly demarcated areas but the constituency is overwhelmed with filth, residents protested.

A visit to the constituency over the weekend revealed the deplorable state in which the constituency is. Some of the residents and even the Member of Parliament for the area confirmed that health-related diseases bothering on sanitation are rampant in the vicinity. Records from Ghana’s premier hospital, Korle Bu confirms this.

Refuse and human excreta are dumped haphazardly without recourse to the health implications. Buildings are situated anyhow as if there are no town planners in the city with floods becoming a part of them, sometimes claiming lives.

The biggest automobile spare parts trading centre is situated there yet the huge revenue generated there, in form of tax, does not reflect on the amenities in the community.

These revelations came to light after the ‘Badwam’ morning show team of Adom TV on Multi TV, took a trip to the area to highlight some of the issues confronting the community.

This new segment of the show called “Mepensuaso” (My Constituency) is part of six new segments introduced on ‘Badwam’.

Adom TV

A former Minister of Health, Mr Algban Sumani Bagbin, has said that the health sector should not be used as an avenue for job creation.

According to Mr Bagbin, to work as a health professional, “you need to have the heart for the work”.

Mr Bagbin, who said it would be suicidal to put people in the sector because they needed jobs, was speaking at a workshop in Accra organised by the Ministry of Health on the proposed setting up of an agency to manage all health training institutions in the country.

Participants in the workshop were expected to come out with modalities for the establishment of the agency and how they were to function. A bill to support the establishment of the agency is expected to be passed by the end of 2014.

The workshop brought together former ministers of health, past and present chief directors at the MoH, agencies of the MoH, directors at the Ghana Health Service (GHS), development partners in the health sector, collaborating ministries, administrators and human resource managers of health facilities among others.

Mr Bagbin stressed the need to get people with the right attitude to work in the health sector since the work required a lot of dedication and commitment.

To him, there was a current high attrition rate in the health sector due to the enormity of their work adding that, “you work yourself to death” and called on people to be more responsible to their health so as to help ease the burden on the health personnel.

Another former Minister of Health, Mr George Sipa Yankey, commended the MoH for the move to establish an agency to manage all health institutions in the country and added that as the world had become a global village, it was imperative for the health sector of the country to be put on an international pedestal.

He expressed the hope that the establishment of an agency would help in elevating the various training institutions into universities to help in the production of quality personnel for the health sector.

Why the agency?

The Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayittey, in an address said as part of its mandate to produce quality medical personnel, the ministry had proposed the establishment of the Health Training Institutions Agency.

The agency, she said, would be responsible for the coordination and administration of all the 75 public health training institutions and 35 private health training institutions in the country.

She said the establishment of the agency had become imperative and very crucial due to the complexity of training quality health professionals coupled with the high numbers of health training institutions currently in the country.

The Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Ebenezer Appiah Denkyirah, who chaired the programme, said the establishment of the agency would help to coordinate the training of quality health professionals in the country.

He said it would also help in addressing the issue of shortage of health personnel, especially in remote areas where their services were needed most.

Some collaborators in the health sector, including the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, pledged their commitment to ensure that the establishment of an agency to regulate the activities of the various institutions across the country became successful.

Daily Graphic

The Minister for Energy and Petroleum, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, says Ghana’s quest to be energy sufficient is unwavering and finds expression in the enabling environment created for independent power producers to invest in the country.

According to him, the country is poised to achieve its target of generating 5,000MW of power by the close of 2016.

The Minister, who was speaking during a meeting with officials from Hunan Electric Power and Hunan Construction Engineering Group Corporation at the Ministry in Accra, said the country’s energy demand was growing fast and needed massive investment.

The Hunan officials are in the country to facilitate their plan to build a 555MW combined-cycle plant at the Domunli power enclave in the Western Region.

According to Cai Pai, Managing Director of the Group, his company’s interest in the country’s energy sector stemmed from the seriousness Ghana attaches to ensuring that it has enough power generation to meet increasing demand.

He said the project will be in two phases. The first will be a 370MW plant with the second phase being a 185MW plant.

Myjoyonline.com

Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Emmanuel Agyarko Kyeremanteng has lashed out at the National Security Advisor, Brigadier General Joseph Nunoo Mensah (retired), over his attack on workers in the country for consistently using strikes to get their concerns addressed.

The MP wondered if arrogance of power had gotten too much to his head and made him ask workers to pick up their passports and leave the country if they do not want the jobs in Ghana.

The two time Chief of Defence Staff(CDS) Brigadier General Joseph Nunoo Mensah speaking at the commissioning of a nine-classroom block he built for O’reilly Senior High School in Accra, called for the suspension of salaries of such striking employees, adding that the many strikes on the labour front is a sign of high level indiscipline in the country.

“As I walk in the sun here from morning till evening sometime I only drink orange juice to build a school for the future of our children. Then some teachers say that they won’t teach them because they are on strike!. It is very sad that we toil with the future of our children,” he bemoaned.

The National Security Advisor said since the introduction of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), salaries of public workers have tripled and yet they are not grateful to government.

“Every Tom, Dick and Harry gets up and is calling for a strike.

If you don’t want the job Ghana is not a police state, take your passport and get out of this country”.

General Nunoo Mensah described the incessant strikes in the country as “indiscipline” and urged government to take steps to address it.

“If you can’t sacrifice like what some of us have don’t then get out. If the kitchen is too hot for you, get out”.

However speaking on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo show on Monday, Hon. Kyeremanteng Agyarko took a swipe at the Security Advisor for having the nerves to talk about indiscipline in the country when he failed to say or do anything about the indiscipline attitude of NDC foot soldiers ever since the party assumed power.

“We are all in Ghana and we saw foot soldiers under his watch destroying national tender documents, seizing NHIS offices and public toilets among others because they were disgruntled, what did he do, he should not waste our ears with his pontificating’’ Hon. Agyarko said.

“ Is General Nunoo Mensah further saying that the junior Nurses at Korle Bu Hospital who had not been paid for nearly two years and thus demonstrated had not justification for that, is he saying they had not sacrificed enough for the country working without pay’’ he asked?

Hon. Kyeremanteng Agyarko urged officialdom to be circumspect in their utterances against the citizenry to avoid further agitations from the public.

Kwadwo Anim/GhanaMPs.gov.gh

NPP Member of Parliament for Essikado, Joe Ghartey has called on the rank and file of the New Patriotic Party to join hands in rebuilding the party in unity towards victory in 2016.

Mr. Joe Ghartey, who is also the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, says it is only when party members and sympathizers close ranks and work assiduously towards the rebuilding of the party, that the NPP can reclaim its position as a governing party capable of helping rebuild the nation.

In a statement issued in Accra on Monday, Mr Ghartey said “I am happy to note the budding spirit with which the National Executive Council has led the party in drawing up a roadmap for election of new party officers even after the disappointing dismissal of our election petition some weeks ago. As disheartening as that experience was, I take consolation in the fact that our great party is quickly re-organizing itself to prepare for the battle ahead.”

“As we prepare for the upcoming series of internal competitions aimed at electing polling station, constituency, regional and national executives, I will like to take this opportunity to caution all party faithful against acts that could damage the party by the end of the contest. In most political parties, such internal competitions are often fraught with the temptation to attack and accuse one another with the view of winning delegate votes.

“I will like to call all well-meaning NPP members and sympathizers to desist from any temptation to employ such strategies during our internal competitions. Campaigners should desist from personal attacks, insults and name-calling and instead adopt an attitude of healthy competition, as has been the custom of the NPP over the years”.

The statement further said: “Any internal squabble during this period, will only provide our opponents with electoral ammunition and leave our party weaker ahead of the 2016 elections. I therefore urge all campaigners and supporters to focus on touting the credentials of their candidate and desist from maligning opponents. This way, we will remain a united from even after this internal electoral process and work with a common sense of purpose towards victory in election 2016.”

An ICT centre and a -16 seater water closet toilet facility has been built at Nkroful, the birthplace of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, first President of Ghana.

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Ellembelle, Mr Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah commissioned the project.

This brings to three, the number of ICT centres the MP has built for the District since he took the seat in January 2009.

Inaugurating the facility, Mr Buah, who is also the Minister for Energy and Petroleum Resources, said it was his major pre-occupation to make ICT education a priority in the District to improve teaching, learning and research work.

He asked the people especially school children to patronize the centre to stay abreast with global issues and contribute meaningfully to national issues.

Mr Daniel K. Eshun, District Chief Executive (DCE) for Ellembelle, said the Assembly plans to put up another toilet facility and a community center for the community.

He said an ICT committee will soon be set up to have an oversight responsibility for all ICT centers in the District to ensure that they are put to good use.

Rev Mrs Elizabeth Akuoko, District Director of Education, lauded the MP for his commitment to prioritize education in the District and asked school children to patronize the center to improve standards in education in the area.

Chief of Nkroful, Nana Kwasi Kwutia thanked the MP and the DCE for the facility and urged teachers, school children and the entire community to put the facility to good use.

GNA

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Manhyia South, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh insists the 2012 election was marred by flaws.

He consequently charged the Electoral Commission (EC) to openly admit that the 2012 polls were fraught with errors.

This open admittance of guilt by the EC, he stated, should precede any plans for electoral reforms to ensure peace during the 2016 elections.

Speaking to Kessben FM in Kumasi, the NPP guru said most Ghanaians were aware of the fact that the EC did shoddy work in 2012 polls.

According to him, the EC must boldly admit its wrongdoing publicly before calling for electoral reforms.

The Manhyia South MP, who is affectionately called ‘Napo,’ stressed that electoral reforms were necessary considering the errors that characterized the 2012 polls. He said the reforms would go a long way to prevent flaws in 2016.

Napo also called for the immediate formation of an independent body to lead the processes for electoral reforms.

A group of able men, he said, should be mandated to tour the country to ask the people to pinpoint flaws in the 2012 polls. The independent group, based on information gathered from the people during the tour, would be well informed to make take the right steps.

The 2012 polls were not organized well so if the necessary steps are not taken to correct the anomalies, the 2016 polls could prove deadly, Napo said.

The NPP MP said the country was fortunate that a pacifist, Nana Akufo-Addo, the 2012 NPP flagbearer accepted the results of the polls despite the flaws. Ghanaians might not be lucky the second time if the polls are not organized in a free and fair manner, he said.

He said though some biometric machines that developed faults were not repaired, surprisingly they worked perfectly the next day.

Napo stressed that the necessary measures should be taken to promote peace in 2016.

Source: I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi