Month: October 2014

Member of Parliament for Pru East in the Brong Ahafo Region, Dr. Kwabena Donkor, has urged government to address the problem of youth unemployment in the country as it poses a security threat to the country.

According to Dr. Donkor, the idle hands of unemployed youth are “effective tools for mischief” and the government has a responsibility to adequately and urgently deal with the problem.

“As long as young educated youthful people are unemployed, we will have a security challenge on our hands.

A report from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) revealed that about 74 million young people in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa are unemployed.

President Mahama, in June, stated that government was on track to reduce the rate of youth unemployment in the country, however, Dr. Donkor believes a lot more needs to be done to address the situation in the interest of all the citizens in the country.

According to him, youth unemployment cannot be ignored and “it is in our collective self–interest to help people get work so that they have little time to think relatively of mischief.”

The idle hand is an effective tool for mischief,” he told Citi News. And no matter how high the walls we construct around our minds, those walls cannot protect us.

Government’s attempt to create modules to temporarily engage the youth in some form of employment, especially GYEEDA and SADA has been plagued with massive corruption scandals.

Meanwhile, President John Mahama has launched the Youth Enterprise Support Initiative (YES).

Ghc10 million has been set aside for this fund, and any Ghanaian youth with brilliant ideas can be supported to start a business.

Citifmonline.com

Member of Parliament (MP) for Ablekuma West, Ursula Owusu Ekuful has advised the leadership and members of the New Patriotic Party to take a cue from the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC).

Admiring the NDC’s method of resolving internal conflicts on Peace FM’s “Kokrokoo”, Hon. Ursula Owusu Ekuful urged her party faithfuls to learn from the ruling party and ensure that they don’t wash their dirty linen in public.

According to her, whenever there is any internal strife within the NDC, unlike the NPP; the ruling party refuses to make it a public affair.

They try as much as possible to iron out their differences using internal machinery available to the party and so, she was of a similar view that any conflict in the NPP should be dealt with at the party level without anyone addressing it in the public domain.

This notwithstanding, Ursula Owusu however slammed the ruling NDC over its controversial four-storey office complex building at Adabraka in Accra; a building which is speculated to have cost the party over 20 million dollars was on Wednesday commissioned.

Though the General Secretary of the governing party, Johnson Asiedu Nketia has on several occasions denied the 20 million dollar edifice belongs to the NDC, Hon. Ursula Owusu expressed disappointment in the party.

To her, the building has been established at the expense of the ordinary Ghanaian whose plight seems to worsen at the tick of the clock.

He recounted some economic challenges and State-owned companies that have suddenly become defunct due to the operations of the NDC government.

In her view, the money spent on the edifice could have given a relief to the Ghanaian citizenry.

peacefmonline.com

Member of Parliament for Assin Central Constituency in the Central Region has tasked delegates of the New Patriotic Party to remain steadfast and vote for a candidate whom Ghanaians are desperately yearning for, to replace the incompetent NDC government.

Speaking to delegates of the Awutu Senya West Constituency on Wednesday, October 15, at a meeting between Nana Akufo-Addo and the 500 plus delegates from the constituency who will be voting on Saturday, Hon. Ken Agyepong told the delegates that Ghanaians will never forgive the NPP should any other candidate, but Nana Akufo-Addo, lead the NPP.

Admonishing delegates to be mindful of “last minute” monetary inducements being prepared by some of the aspirants in the forlorn hope of changing the minds of delegates from voting for Nana Akufo-Addo, Hon. Ken Agyepong was, however, confident that Nana Akufo-Addo will still emerge victorious.

“Before Saturday, some people will bring money to you in their bid to buy your conscience and your vote. Prior to the Tamale Delegates’ Conference, you will recollect the big promises some of the aspirants made. One of them told you that he would give pickup vehicles to each constituency if you voted for him by August this year. We are now in October and we haven’t seem a glimpse of the fulfilment of this promise,” Hon. Ken Agyepong noted.

He continued, “Today, as I speak we have been told by the national officers you voted for, that there is no money to conduct Saturday’s elections. So it is now up to us, as Members of Parliament, to find money for the elections. Those who claim to have money, when we went to Tamale, are nowhere to be found now. When we need money for the party, they disappear. But when it is needed to fight for positions in the party, money resurfaces in the party. So when you’re going to vote, you must listen out for whom Ghanaians are calling for. You have one vote, and so does any eligible voter in Ghana, and so you must always listen to Ghanaians.”

Hon. Ken Agyepong further reminded delegates to think of the future of their children and reject paltry sums of money intended as bribes for them on Saturday, a similar development, which he recalled, happened in the run up to the December 2012 elections and has resulted in Ghana facing untold hardships under President Mahama.

“Think of Ghana before casting your ballot for 2016. Give Nana Akufo-Addo one more chance. Today, we have members of the NDC coming to me saying they did not know this was the kind of governance they were bringing. If you bring Akufo-Addo, we will vote for NPP… Ghanaians are saying if you don’t bring Nana Akufo-Addo, they will not vote,” he said.

Hon. Ken Agyepong was, however, confident that delegates from the Central Region were going to vote massively for Nana Akufo-Addo, and in the final scheme of affairs, will emerge as the Region that gave Nana Akufo-Addo his highest vote share.

Source: Office of Nana Akufo-Addo

The Minority Leader, Osei Kyei Mensa-Bonsu in a secret audio recording currently in circulation, is alleged to have said that some people around Nana Akufo Addo, the two-time Presidential Candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), spent lavishly in the run-up to the 2012 presidential and parliamentary election; when the candidate (Nana) was modest.

He is purported to have said that Nana Addo’s followers went to sleep at the Golden Tulip Hotel at the cost of $90,000 while Akufo Addo slept “in a private residence anytime he visits Kumasi. Apart from some people who cook for him, most of the people follow him because of other interests when it comes to the Ashanti Region.”

He was also reported to have said on the tape that the vuvuzelas imported for the campaign cost $1.5 million.

In an interview with the Daily Guide newspaper, the Minority Leader confirmed the voice on the tape to be his, adding “the discussion was in my office with about 40 MPs. Unfortunately, whoever put out the remarks left out the qualifiers tendentiously because they were conditional statements. It was a caucus meeting in my office on the need to restructure our campaigns”.

Reacting to this during a panel discussion on Radio Gold’s Alhaji and Alhaji Programme, Deputy Minister In Charge of Tertiary Education and Member of Parliament for North Tongu constituency remarked that if the opposition NPP could spend such an amount during their campaign, then they will surely “live on the taxpayer’s money” once they come to power. He expressed shock at the content of the audio and wondered if they were the same people who have been complaining about the difficulties in the economy.

“I have been totally shocked by the content of the tape. He has confirmed that that is his voice but as usual he claims there is been some splicing of the tape. What is clear is that he doesn’t deny it… What is more worrying is the content. The content of the tape gives us an insight as to how these people will live at tax payer’s expense and I am deeply worried… all these noises about times are hard and so on…look at the amount of money they are throwing about. God help us,” he stated.

Peacefmonline.com

The Member of Parliament for Dome-Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, has handed over five mechanized boreholes to some identifiable groups and institutions within her constituency to promote access to potable water and to address sanitation issues.

Among the groups and institutions are the Old Ashongman D/A Primary School, Yam Market, Taifa Community Clinic, Agbogba Anglican Basic School and Dome Mosque. These groups and institutions are located in areas with serious environmental and sanitation problems.

Each of the facility, which comes with a polytank reservoir, cost GH?25,000.00.

Ms Safo during the presentation of the facilities last weekend said her motivation for the gesture was to ensure cleanliness in her constituency, especially in areas where water was very scarce.

“This is to ensure that my people, especially, the children are clean, they have good drinking water and are saved from this Ebola and Cholera epidemic. Children are my priority – their education, their health and their livelihood. I believe the facilities are going to help the schools and entire community because they wouldn’t have to buy water anymore,” said Ms. Safo.

The Legislator said five other neighbourhoods and institutions would also benefit from the mechanized borehole initiative soon.

Communities in the Dome-Kwabenya constituency have over the years faced the challenge of getting potable water for domestic use as the quantity of pipe-borne water running through the area falls short of the needs of the people.

Those not connected to the community water system walk long distances to purchase the commodity at exorbitant prices. A bucket of water in such communities sells between Gp70 and Gp80.

The situation worsens during the dry season where a bucket of water is sold for GH?1.00.

Head teacher of the Old Ashongman D/A Primary School, Vinolia Bediako Madogo, said the facility had come at an opportune time and would save the school the difficulty of procuring the commodity.

She said the school had over the years been dependent on irregular water supply from the Municipal Assembly at an average cost of GH?40.00 per month to serve over 900 pupils, agreeing that the gesture from the MP for the area would help save them some money and also improve on the sanitation situation in the area.

“This is a blessing,” noted Madam Madogo.

A class four pupil of the Old Ashongman D/A Primary School, Hannah Abedu Fosu who also expressed gratitude to Ms. Safo for the gesture said “the borehole will give us potable water to drink and help us not to get cholera and Ebola.”

Head teacher of the Agbogba Anglican Basic School, Mrs. Joana Adwoa Brukum, also lauded the Lawmaker for the initiative.

“Water is life and he who brings water brings life. This borehole donated will go a long way to relieve us of the difficulties we encounter in getting water on daily basis. It will also improve on our sanitation issues in the school, especially, with the outbreak of cholera. We promise to take good care of the facility and use it for the purpose that it has been given,” she noted.

Leaders of the Dome Market, Taifa Community Clinic and the Yam Market all expressed appreciation for the gesture and promised to maintain the facility.

GNA