Month: October 2013

In order to bring his constituents together to move development forward, the Member of Parliament for Yendi, M. H. Tijani has initiated efforts to create unity and ensure peaceful coexistence among residents in his constituency.

As a first step, Mr. Tijani organized football gala match for fifteen division 2 clubs from various communities in the constituency.

He noted that his focus is on the youth because they tend to exhibit their youthful exuberance, and so if they are made to accept each other, they would see the need to work together to fight social and economic problems facing them in their various communities.

He said like many youth, they hope to make a living from sports but this can only be achieved if they are well motivated and given the needed supports.

Two clubs, Gbewaa and All Weather who excelled in the competition were presented with jerseys and footballs to help in their training towards bigger competitions.

Ghanamps.gov.gh

Member of Parliament (MP) for Nkawkaw, Eric Kwakye Darfuor. Has constructed a GH¢18,000.00 three-unit junior high school classroom block for the Nsuta M. A. School.

Mr. Darfuor who said he financed the project using his own resources reiterated his commitment to supporting the assembly and other stakeholders to improve education infrastructure as well as other logistics.

He therefore, appealed to all and sundry, especially corporate organizations to assist in this regard to create conducive environment for effective teaching and learning.

Speaking with GhanaMPs.gov.gh, he said there was the need to pay attention and give assistance to schools in deprived communities especially those without JHS to save them the ordeal of travelling long distances to access JHS education after primary.

Mr. Kwakye appealed to the teachers to show commitment and dedication to helping to train the young people to grow into responsible future leaders.

Headmaster of the school Mr. Osei said the project would provide space and ease congestion in the classrooms.

Afua Yeboah/Ghanamps.gov.gh

Member of Parliament for Ayawaso West Wuogon, Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko has said the current economic challenges facing the nation could be easily attributed to the mismanagement of public funds by the government.

According to him, this inefficiency on the part of government could be the only reason for the dire economic situation and nothing else.

Government officials have adduced various reasons for the country’s economic status quo which include the 2012 election petition case at the Supreme Court which dragged for 8 months and the delay on the part of donor partners to release funds to support the economy as has been the case over the years.

Additionally there have been claims that the Multi-donor budget support group which, contributes about 50 percent financial support to Ghana’s annual budget, has issues with the country’s huge expenditure of about 74 percent of revenue on public sector wages, all of these have impacted negatively on the economy.

However contributing to a panel discussion on Peace FM’s Kokrokoo show on Monday, Hon. Emmanuel Kyeremanteng Agyarko stated that the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government cannot cite the aforementioned reasons for Ghana’s current economic woes.

He said the wanton dissipation of public funds by the government is one sure way of destabilizing the Ghanaian economy.

“We are in this country and we are witnesses to how government monies were disbursed to SADA for various business activities which yielded no profits, the SADA Guinea fowl business is nothing to write home about, the trees planted under SADA with millions of cedis, we are told are all burnt. With this sort of mismanagement, why will the economy not suffer? Hon. Agyarko said.

“Monies worth millions of cedis we are earning as proceeds from our share of the oil find should have been able to support the economy but due to mismanagement on the part of the government it’s as though these monies are insignificant’’ he stressed.

Kwadwo Anim/GhanaMPs.gov.gh

Joseph Kwadwo Ofori, MP for Akan constituency has been stabbed in the head and other parts of his body by armed robbers early Friday morning.

He is currently in a critical condition at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.

His brother Anthony Zigah who confirmed the news to Joynews said the robbers numbering four broke into the Sakumono residence of the independent MP while he was sleeping at about 1am.

They attacked him with knives stabbing him in the stomach, arms, legs, chest and in the head.

The attack lasting for 20 minutes ended after the MP feigned unconsciousness. The robbers took off believing the MP dead. They made away with money and several electrical gadgets.

John Kwadwo Ofori aka Wofa Paye is an independent candidate who was able to wrestle power from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) after he was dispelled from the party. He sits with the Majority in Parliament.

The Member of Parliament for Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) Municipal Area, Dr Nana Ato Arthur, has stressed the need for the country’s security services to be beefed up.

Speaking to the Daily Graphic, Dr Arthur said judging from what had happened in Kenya, the country should be wary and security-conscious.

He said this made it necessary for the welfare of the personnel of the security services to be improved.

He added that accommodation for the security services left much to be desired and called for urgent improvement, citing offices of the police personnel at Abrem Agona and the municipal headquarters of the KEEA as examples.

Dr Arthur, therefore, called for the setting up of a security outfit to address their welfare issues and to justify the quest for them to perform effectively and efficiently.

He asked Ghanaians to support the police to combat crime by reporting suspicious persons to the police or the traditional authorities for them to be tracked down to nip crime in the bud.

He also called on Ghanaians, especially those who speak on community radio stations, including politicians, to do so responsibly to prevent the use of hate speech and pronouncements that had the potential to incite people to violence.

He said in this modern era, human and other resources should be used for development and not dissipated or used to cause mayhem and wreak havoc on the people.

Daily Graphic

Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Hanna Louisa Bisiw, has urged veterinary professionals to step up their disease surveillance, control and eradication activities.

They should do this bearing in mind the interrelation between animal and human health.

She made the call at the opening of the 40th annual general meeting of the Ghana Veterinary Medical Association at the Wood Industry Training Centre (WITC), at Akyawkrom, in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality.

More than 250 delegates, made up of veterinary officers, doctors, surgeons, researchers and students from across the country are attending the two-day meeting to discuss pertinent issues affecting their practice.

“Vaccination and its socio-economic impact on health” is the theme.

Dr Bisiw expressed concern about the situation where dogs, sheep, pigs and cattle roam and graze around the cities on daily basis.

This, she said, should give cause to worry considering the health danger posed by these animals and called for their vaccination.

She pledged her ministry’s resolve to work with the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies to tackle the threat head-on to safeguard the health of the people.

The Deputy Minister noted that quality service to a large extent would depend on “how as a nation we take care of veterinary medical practitioners and research services as part of managing our critical human resources”.

They would therefore do everything to ensure a well developed, well resourced and well motivated expertise that would deliver.

She praised them for their contribution to animal health, which was impacting positively on the nation’s socio-economic development, and cited the eradication of considerable number of veterinary diseases, including the deadly cattle disease, ‘Rindepest’ way back in the 1990’s.

The Ashanti Regional Minister, Mr Eric Opoku, in an address read for him, encouraged them to continue working hard to increase animal production.

Dr. Osei Bonsu, President of the Association, called for the early passage of the meat inspection law to promote healthy meat production.

GNA

Information and Media Relations Minister, Mahama Ayariga, has described as, no big deal, President John Mahama’s photo pose in front of a CNN signage.

The picture of the Ghanaian president posing in front of the CNN building in Atlanta in the USA got a lot of critics buzzing on social media websites, facebook and twitter.

The photo, which went viral, has exposed the president to a deluge of criticism, with many of his critics arguing that Mr. Mahama, by his action, has demeaned the West African country.

They wonder why a president of a country would relish such a photo opportunity.

Explaining how the picture came about, Mahama Ayariga said the president took the particular picture, as well as several others, upon incessant photo-op requests from the CNN team that escorted the Ghanaian entourage at CNN’s studios for the two separate interviews.

He said some members of the Ghanaian team, including presidential staffer, Stan Dogbe, the accompanying Ghanaian media, amongst others, also requested similar photo-ops with the president in front of the CNN signage, which he obliged.

Mr. Ayariga said: “…I don’t see how it demeans the country. I mean CNN clearly is a known global brand and they are a major media house, globally, and we had the opportunity to be there to grant interviews to be able to project our issues and issues relating to African and we thank them for that platform and that opportunity.

“…Taking some photographs in front of their signage, I don’t see how that demeans a country like Ghana. I think that one really has to work very hard to establish that to just take some photographs in front of CNN’s head office by their signage demeans Ghana; I don’t see how that demeans Ghana”, he stressed.

Speaking on Joy FM’s news analysis programme, Newsfile on Saturday, Mr. Ayariga said the Presidency will look into who put the picture out onto social media.

Boniface Gambila a leading member of the New Patriotic Party has set out to clarify recent controversial calls by the party’s National Chairman, Jake Obetsebi-Lamptey.

According to the Member of Parliament for Nabdam in the Upper West Region, the idea to allow incumbent MP’s to go unopposed as well as calls to have an early congress, were opinions by the party chairman and nothing more.

He said these suggestions were open to deliberation but were unfortunately misconstrued by media.

Earlier on Wednesday, aggrieved NPP supporters marched to protest these claims at the headquarters of the party, where the National executive committee were meeting on new proposals for the 2016 elections.

However, Mr. Gambila, on Radio XYZ’s Strict Proof programme said, “I think it is just how the information got out. I believe these were suggestions made by the national chairman in an effort to be innovative and creative.

“I don’t see a problem with that. However I think the message that was put out there was simply misconstrued”

Meanwhile, NPP has issued a press release after the meeting, denying claims of imposing MP’s on their various constituencies.

According to the statement, the NPP believes that elections are the best way to judge one’s electability.

It further read “The second misinformation was that the National Executives are seeking to extend their mandate. This too was summarily dismissed. The National Executives are working towards its replacement in March 2014 and the Constituency and Regional elections to precede the National Delegates Congress”.

XYZ News

There will not be any supplementary budget for this year.

That’s according to a Deputy Finance Minister, Casiel Ato Forson.Usually supplementary budget are released in the last quarter of the year to shore up growth.

But speaking to XYZ BUSINESS, Mr. Forson said government is not likely to release a supplementary budget because of shortfalls in revenue.

“We are not doing supplementary budget…..you see you do supplementary budget ideally maybe if you get more revenue and you apportion and make adjustment to spend the money but we’ve not gotten there. Most likely there will not be any supplementary budget.”

XYZ News