Month: March 2014

Mrs Ursula Owusu, Member of Parliament for Ablekuma West, has threatened to transport over 60 Children with Disabilities to the Minister of Education and the Accra Mayors offices on Monday March 31 if no action was taken to relocate them.

The children from the Dansoman Special School are cramped into one deplorable classroom, where they sometimes soil themselves, due to the lack of toilet and urinal facilities in the school.

The Lawmaker has also called on the Ministry of Education to move swiftly to save the children, who are suffering from varied levels and degrees of disabilities from any imminent danger.

Mrs Owusu noted that it was depressing seeing children with such deformities without running water, toilet and urinal facilities, compelling some to defecate openly in the classrooms.

She said when the room got warm during the afternoons the children become agitated and knock their heads together while others fall, sustaining injuries.

She said the Accra Metropolitan Assembly pledged last October to relocate the children from the current classroom to a new structure, but had failed to do so.

Mrs Owusu said it was intriguing that the new structure had been completed and locked up, whilst the children were still packed up in the current classroom with high-hilled stair case and potholes.

According to her, several attempts to get city authorities and the Ghana Education Service to liberate the children from their current state of condition had proved futile.

The lawmaker has, therefore, threatened to transport the children to the offices of the Ministry of Education and the AMA on Monday to present a petition.

The childrens disabilities range from attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders, blindness and deafness.

Others suffer learning disabilities, medical disabilities, physical disabilities, psychiatric disabilities, and speech and language disabilities.

A Media Caucus on Disability team, which visited the school in October 2013 revealed that the children urinate right in front of the classroom and the canteen, which emanates a foul stench and house flies.

The children had been cramped into a single classroom with high-steeped slopping stair cases with holes, making it disability unfriendly.

The school lacks potable water, lighting system, toilet facilities, appropriate desks and specially trained teachers, as well as teaching and learning resources.

GNA

Member of Parliament for Nkwakaw, Hon. Eric Kwakye Darfour has called for urgent repair works to be done on the road from Nkawkaw leading up the hills to the Atibie Tonship which is currently virtually impossible, especially as the Easter festivities draw near.

He said additionally, the stretch of road linking Atibie to the paragliding site that is the take – off ground is in such a bad shape that one wonders whether the Ghana Tourism Authority and the Ministry of Tourism are indeed in charge.

Delivering a statement on the 2014 Annual Easter and Paragliding Festival to be held at Kwahu Atibie on the floor of Parliament, Hon. Eric Kwakye Darfour noted that the Paragliding Festival has come to stay and that the new dimension it has introduced to tourism in Ghana and Easter festivities in Kwahu are tremendous.

He said Ghana stands to gain if the government can play its role by improving the road network to the site.

Hon. Kwakye Darfour asserted that the paragliding sport has added a new dimension to the Easter Festivities which arguably, have over the years been well attended and enjoyed in the Okwahu Traditional Area. This year’s event paragliding festival takes place from 14th April through to 22nd April.

He noted that the economic benefits derived during the festivities, inuring to the District Assemblies, to Hotels, Telcos, Restaurants, various manufacturing companies, food vendors and many more cannot be over emphasized.

The MP urged organizers to work closely with the security agencies to ensure adequate measures are put in place to safeguard the security of the revellers and tourists. He further urged the public to be equally cautious and not to over indulge as they enjoy themselves.

Ghanamps.gov.gh

Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Samuel Atta Akyea has channeled over 70 percent of his share of the MP’s common fund to paying school fees and other related expenses.

This attest to the importance he attached to education in the constituency as a way of helping to reduce poverty among residents in the constituency. He said acquiring better education will help beneficiaries to pursue carrier options and be able to compete effectively in the job market.

Mr. Akyea said though there are a lot of brilliant young men and women, high poverty level makes it practically impossible for them to climb the education ladder. The only option is assistance, and the MP comes in handy needing responds to their demands.

According to him, the interventions cover all levels of education, from the basic level through to the university and currently, two doctors are among the beneficiaries.

In a related development, the Abuakwa State College was provided with quantities of books to help in the academic work for both teachers and students.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.gov.gh

The Member of Parliament for Bekwai in the Ashanti Region, Joseph Osei-Owusu has expressed hope that resources channeled into improving quality of education in the constituency will translate into good grades this year.

Mr.Osei-Owusu said poor grades recorded by schools in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) has compelled him to institute in-schools quiz competition to prepare the students for the BECE and to evaluate performance of students and teachers, adding that the investment was worth it as it helped in identifying a particular zone that is very weak in English and Mathematics.

He therefore invested in bringing qualified teachers from the Akukore Colleges of Education and other higher institutions to take teachers in those zones through refresher courses in English, Mathematics, and Science.

The measure he noted was aimed at eliminating zero percent scores in any school in the district and provides students brighter opportunities for gaining admission into senior high schools and other second cycle institutions.

Apart from these interventions, the MP also facilitated formation of reading clubs in 17 communities, and by means of helping them achieve good results, procured and distributed over 1000 pieces of novels to them. The reading clubs are to enhance and inculcate reading habit in the students and make understanding of the English Language which is the official language of the country a lot easier.

Dominic Shirimori/Ghanamps.gov.gh

Golden Tree Association has organized quiz competition for twelve selected schools in the Prestea Huni Valley Constituency to evaluate performance of the the students as well as teachers.

Golden tree Association is a strategic organization set up by the Member of Parliament for Prestea Huni Valley, Francis Koffie Adu-Blay to champion development in education, health and sanitation and to promote welfare of members in the constituency.

The quiz completion is in line with their educational objective to regularly tease the minds of the students and get them to be abreast of current issues.

Twelve schools including Prestea Goldfields, Prestea Experimental, Synn Upgrade, Darko, Catholic, and Methodist JHS schools.
The rest are Islamic, Presbyterian, Himan, Himan DA, Integration and SDA JHS schools.

Islamic JHS emerged overall winners and took home a set of computer and accessories. They were followed in 2nd position by Experimental JHS and had a set of jersey, while Goldfields placed 3rd and received football as prize. Each of the competitors received exercise books, text books, notebooks, and mathematical sets.

Ghanamps.gov.gh

The Member of Parliament for Dome/Kwabenya constituency, Hon. Sarah Adwoa Safo has called on her constituents to readily provide tip offs and information to the police to enable them effect arrest of suspected characters in the constituency.

This, she noted, would help stem the tide of armed robbery which has bedeviled her people for quite sometime now.

She said the upsurge of the activities of armed robbers have become more pronounced, scary and dangerous to the lives of her people, hence the need for all hands to be on deck to help nip the canker in the bud.

The Dome/Kwabenya lawmaker made this observation when she donated 131 street lights to all Assembly members within her constituency as part of measures to tighten security in the area.

She disclosed that her office had been bombarded with many complaints regarding security failure, thereby, exposing them to the vagaries of armed robbery.

She told the Assembly members that what has made the situation even more precarious was that fact that some of the calls had come from the police themselves which meant that swift measures were needed to arrest the situation .

She asserted that the police have not been proactive in discharging their duties due to unavailability of logistics.

She assured her constituents that she would collaborate effectively with the security agencies to help curb the upsurge of armed robbery.

She noted that she was committed to fighting crime, hence, the provision of the streetlights to brighten up obscure areas within the constituency.

“The provision of the street light will serve as a disincentive to the operations of robbers whose activities are normally under the cover of darkness,” she noted.

The young and energetic MP stressed that so far over 600 hundred street lights were not functioning in her constituency and has therefore tasked experts to assess them and see how they could be brought back to good use.

She said the street lights will be distributed devoid of party lines and therefore asked all Assembly men including electoral coordinators to come together and decide on where the lights should be fixed.

She said she has contracted very technical and competent hands to do the installations when they decide on where they must be fixed.