Month: May 2014

Government is funding the construction of a bridge on the Mole river to open up Daboya/Mankarigu for the purpose of boosting agric related activities, as well as trade and commerce, the Member of Parliament for the area, Baani Abudu Nelson revealed.

He said this move will help minimize the woes of the constituents and also contain the usual situation of over flooding during the rainy seasons whereby commuters are completely cut-off because the route from Busumu-Daboya might be inaccessible due to the rains.

Interacting with Ghanamps.gov.gh, the MP contended that Daboya/Mankarigu is essentially an important spot in the North as the area to a large extent represents the food basket in the Northern region.

He therefore estimated that improving the road network in the district will be a catalyst for pushing growth and development in the whole area.

Meanwhile, the MP also pointed out that the 80 km Daboya-Mankarigu stretch also needs urgent attention to fix it so it could relatively enhance and ease transportation for travelers.

He said the road has not seen any major rehabilitation since its construction in the regime of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, which has left it in a bad shape affecting smooth transportation in the area.

Jonathan Adjei/Ghanamps.gov.gh

The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), has expressed concern about the huge amount of unpaid school fees by students in some senior high schools (SHS).

It expressed the sentiment on day two of its public sitting in Kumasi, when it came out that eight Brong-Ahafo schools are owing a total of GH¢50,550.00 in fees for the 2011 academic year alone.

Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, Chairman of theCommittee, described the situation as quite disturbing.

He said it was a major challenge, the heads of the schools, must find innovative ways to tackle.

Running through the Auditor-General report on the schools, are queries of students indebtedness, disregard for the procurement law, overdue advances to staff and unearned salaries on the part of some teachers.

Added to this, is the delay in responding to audit queries.

The heads of the erring schools, acceptedresponsibility and pledged to do everything to avoid a repetition of themistakes. Already overdue advances and unearned monies paid to many of theteachers have been fully settled.

In all, 29 schools, including one college ofeducation in Brong-Ahafo, appeared before the Committee.

The first batch of schools in the  Ashanti Region to appear before the Committee, include, Effiduase SHS, Bodwesango SHS, Ejura, Mampong Technical College of Education, Tepa, Mabang, Owerriman, Mankranso, Osei Tutu, Nkawie Senior High/Technical, Kumasi SDA, Bonwire Senior High/Technical, Ejisu SeniorHigh/Technical, Saint Louis SHS and Tweneboa Kodua SHS.

Mr Kofi Sarfo Kantanka, Ashanti Regional Education Director, complained about delays in the payment of salaries of newly posted teachers, and said the schools most often have no option but to look for money for the affected teachers to survive.

New teachers must, therefore, be put on thepayroll in good time to save the schools from advancing monies to them.

His Brong-Ahafo counterpart, Dr George Adjei-Henne, advised the heads to ensure early response to audit queries.

The PAC is considering the Auditor-Generals Report of pre-university educational institutions for the year December 31,2010 and 2011.

GNA