Member of Parliament (MP) for Dome/Kwabenya, Sarah Adwoa Safo, Thursday, cut the sod to commence the construction of a maternity clinic aimed at promoting quality and affordable health care service to all pregnant mothers and their unborn babies in her constituency.

The one- storey building that will be located at Haatso when completed will also be used as the district secretariat for the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) office.

The cost of the 100 bed capacity project which was immediately not known will be financed with the MPs NHIA Fund and support from other charitable institutions and individuals

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) MDG 4 targets a reduction by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.

Globally, the number of deaths of children under-five years of age, according to the WHO, fell from 12.7 million in 1990 to 6.3 million in 2013.

The first 28 days of life – the “neonatal period” – represent the most vulnerable time for a child’s survival

In 2013, around 44% of under-five deaths occurred during this period, up from 37% in 1990.

In Ghana, the World Bank in 2013 estimated that the value of female/child mortality rate was under five (1,000 live births), representing 78.40.

Currently, 80 children out of 1,000 do not make it past the age of five.

According to UNICEF, Somalia has the highest infant mortality rate at 180 deaths per 1,000 live births. Sweden and Finland have the lowest at three deaths per 1,000 live births.

Ghana is currently 41st on the world maternal mortality rate index.

Ms. Safo in an interview with Kasapafmonline.com said although Ghana has made some progress in reducing child mortality rate, a lot more still needed to be done to achieve Millennium Development Goals (MDG) 4.

“Ghana can improve its statistics if we start providing good health care facilities in our small way at the community or constituency level,” she said.

She told this website that the project was chosen to specifically target women because they are an important and integral component in every national development agenda.

Women in Ghana, she said, represent about 52% of the total population and as a matter of fact, are the source of procreation.

“The carrying and birth of babies make a home, community and a nation. Therefore, it is important that for a country’s growth and development, the lives of mothers and their children before, during and after childbirth is adequately safeguarded.”

“Thus, the existence of a modern maternity clinic with all the requisite equipments and personnel would reduce female child mortality rate in Ghana.”

The project which is expected to be completed in the middle of 2016 will compliment other existing health facilities to serve the over 250,000 population in the constituency.

By: Kasapafmonline.com/Ghana

Deputy Majority Leader, Alfred Agbesi says he remains confident of continuing to represent the people of Ashiaman, in the year 2017.

According to him, despite the seemingly stiff opposition he is facing, he is sure to win the ruling party’s upcoming parliamentary primaries which are set for November, which is a step to retaining his seat in Parliament.

Sections of the NDC youth in Ashiaman are pushing for the 3^rd term MP to be unseated as they claim he has not done much to help in the development of the constituency.

His accusers claim he has failed woefully to use his privileged position as a Leader of the august House of Parliament to ensure the improvement of the welfare of youth of Ashiaman most of whom are unemployed.

However speaking on Kasapa FM Monday, Hon. Alfred Agbesi dismissed the accusations against him saying he is responsible for a marked improvement in the area of health, education and several others sectors.

“I’ve ensured several infrastructural developments, the roads are taking shape, and most of them have already been completed. We are okay health wise, our health centre has now been turned into a polyclinic, and I’ve registered over 5,000 people onto the NHIS scheme. There are several developments in Ashiaman I can lay claim to as having been responsible for”.

Alfred Agbesi, says he is not perturbed by the challenge he is facing, adding that his performance is sure to secure him victory at the polls.

By: Kwadwo Anim/GhanaMPs.gov.gh

The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Member of Parliament for Ketu South, Fiifi Kwetey is asking his constituents for another term, as the party prepares to go to the polls on November 7.

Fiifi Kwetey who is also the Minister of Food and Agriculture and yet to be vetted for the party’s November 7 parliamentary primaries said, if given the nod again, his priority will be to empower the youth in his constituency.

According to him, the fortunes of the constituency will be brighter if the youth is empowered economically.

Mr. Kwetey in an interview with Citi News added that he will encourage the youth in the country to enter into the agric sector.

He said, “a lot of young people are making good money in agriculture.”

“We are having conversation with the youth employment agency, who have decided to devote extensive part of their resource intto agriculture and that is one area I believe a lot of young people within my place can be helped. It takes a certain change of mindset; people tend to think that agriculture is not a place for young persons but it’s really the way to go,” he noted.

Fiifi Kwetey said though there may be opportunities for people looking for formal sector jobs he indicated that “the important thing is to have a member of parliament who clearly can be within the very heart of things not just within the party but also in government. When we are in government we will be able to push for those opportunities.”

The incumbent Member of Parliament MP for the Atebubu-Amantin constituency Honorable Sanja Nanja is upbeat about his chances of winning the upcoming National Democratic Congress NDC Parliamentary primaries in the Atebubu-Amantin constituency.

The MP who has been described by his fans as ‘a man of the grassroots’ submitted his nomination forms on the final day amidst pomp and pageantry.

Honorable   Nanja is counting on his performance as an MP and his touch with the grassroots of the party as his trump cards that will lead to a triumph on November 7.

The MP who is currently the vice chairman of the committee on trade and industry and a member of  another on poverty reduction, enumerates some of his achievements all aimed at improving the living standards of his constituents.

Honorable Nanja has provided a 3 unit classroom block for Dobidi Nkwanta and assisted in the payment of school fees at various levels of education for over 40 individuals.

He has supported BECE candidates with over 4,400 pieces of mathematical sets and provided 2 desktop computers to the Beposo DA basic school and one to the district library in Atebubu. The MP has also provided 50 dual desks to Amantin 44 primary school.

On the provision of power, the MP sponsored the connection of Bresuano to the national electricity grid, the extension of power to Amantin Dagombaline and Kokrompe as well as a street lighting project for Nyomoase. He has distributed 500 solar lamps to rural communities and provided 5 power generators to CHPS compounds in Nyomoase, Abamba, and Garadima not forgetting the Ghana Police Service.

Honorable Nanja has also given out 100 street lighting bulbs to various communities in his constituency.

The MP was behind the rehabilitation of the maternity ward of the district hospital in Atebubu while he has provided a pavilion for same.  He also provided funds for the renovation and expansion of the Nyomoase CHPS compound and donated refrigerators to the Nyomoase, Abamba and Garadima CHPS compounds.

On water and sanitation the MP has seen to the mechanization of boreholes in Jato Zongo and Kokofu and the repairs of broken down boreholes at Akanim, Nyansibu no. 1 and Beposo. He has also ensured the evacuation of heaps of refuse at Amantin.

Honorable Nanja has distributed relief items like clothes, roofing sheets and mats to disaster victims in Masando, Shewanhye, Fante New Town and Abamba. To alleviate the plight of women and children in hard to reach communities who have to travel long distances to mill their corn, women groups in Kotope, Pruso, and Boaso have been supplied with corn mills while Kwabena Gyan Ekura is in line to receive one.

He has assisted the district basic schools football team with assorted equipment, donated footballs and jerseys to various youth groups in the constituency and has been a regular sponsor of the district under 13 soccer championship dubbed the ‘MPs Champions Cup’.

Honorable Nanja 47 who was until his entry into Parliament in January 2013 was the DCE of the Atebubu-Amantin district recalls a question he posed to the Minister of Roads and Highways on the floor of Parliament which saw the resumption of work on the Atebubu- Kwame Danso road.

With the inability of Mr. Abdul Wahab a third aspirant to file his nomination to contest the election the race has become a two-horse one between the incumbent and the current DCE Honorable Sampson Owusu Boateng.

Daniel Oduro-Stewart/Ghanadistricts.com

 

The Member of Parliament (MP) for Trobu in the Greater Accra Region, Hon. Moses Anim, has lamented on the new national service scheme modules which sees over 1000 service personnel deployed onto highways to direct traffic.

According to him, the development has the tendency of sinking competitiveness in the job market compared to their colleagues who received posting to other fields of work.

The National Service Secretariat (NSS), introduced a new module in 2015, which will see personnel deployed onto the streets to help manage traffic.

The module, dubbed “Urban Traffic Management”, is expected to complement efforts by the Ghana Police Service in traffic management in the country’s urban areas.

However, speaking on Joy TV’s  AM morning show programme, the MP described as shocking to see graduates from  our various Tertiary institutions been compelled to direct traffic on our high ways.

He said these personnel could have been used to fill gaps in most important field and sectors lacking personnel instead of positioning them on the road to direct traffic.

Emmanuel Frimpong M/Ghanamps.gov.gh

An aspiring parliamentary candidate of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has accused the Member of Parliament for Ekumfi Constituency in the Central region, Hon. Abeiku Crentsil, of masterminding the removal of posters, billboards and banners belonging to two of his opponents.

The allegation came few hours before President John Dramani Mahama commissioned the Otuam Community Day High School in Ekumfi Constituency.

According to Chief Binney Harmiton, all his outdoor campaign materials and that of another aspirant, Mr. George Kuntu Blankson, were torn down on the orders of the incumbent MP whom they had filed their nominations to challenge in the forthcoming parliamentary primaries on November 7, 2015.

Disclosing this in an interview with Accra-based Adom FM yesterday, Chief Binney Harmiton alleged that the incumbent MP hired the services of some thugs to carry out the act.

He told the host of the Adom Morning Show, Captain Smart, that the hired supporters of the MP defaced, destroyed and removed all paraphernalia of him (Chief Binney Harmiton) and Mr. George Kuntu Blankson, pasted in the various villages and towns in Ekumfi constituency.

The NDC supporters of the MP, he further alleged, ordered for the removal of “our posters on walls, billboards, removed flags and banners amidst wild jubilations on Wednesday, September 15, 2015 night.”

He condemned the act describing the MP as “intolerant” whiles calling on the national leadership of the NDC to take action against Mr. Crentsil.

Describing it as unfortunate, Mr. Hamilton stressed: “Such acts of provocation will not intimidate us in anyway.”

“We are not perturbed, but we call on the security agencies to be firm and ensure that this level of insanity is contained beyond degeneration, “Mr. Harmiton added.

President Mahama yesterday commissioned the Otuam Community Day High School in Ekumfi Constituency
That was in fulfilment of NDC’s promise to build 200 senior high schools across the country.

The Minority Leader in Parliament, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu has asked for circumspection in dealing with the judiciary in the wake of the current corruption scandal, as according to him, the system is also made up of fallible officials just like Members of Parliament and the presidency.

His comments come in the wake of the widespread condemnation of the judiciary following the startling revelations of bribery and corruption involving some judges captured in an investigative piece by journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas.

“The judiciary is not made up of saints just as those of us in Parliament; equally so for the executive; even the presidency. We shouldn’t be kidding ourselves; times are hard, and if you are not careful you may overstep your bounds to engage in otherwise illegalities to be able to survive. But that should not be justified in any way.”

In an interview with Citi FM’s Parliamentary Correspondent, Richard Sky, he said the country should manage the development well and purge the system of the corrupt ones and also re-orient the entire judiciary.

“It should never be thought or said that, in Ghana, justice is for sale. That will be very detrimental to our democratic governance,” the Minority leader stressed.

22 lower court judges are currently serving a suspension after they were captured in the said video, allegedly taking bribes to influence judgment.

12 other high court judges have also been implicated and have been queried; together with over 100 judicial service staff also believed to have played various roles in the bribery scandal.

The Minority Leader albeit worried about the development, cautioned against attempts to tag the entire judiciary as corrupt.

He said the exposure should rather be seen as an opportunity to rid the entire judiciary of the canker even if some indicted judges are punished at the end of the investigations.

“… If the emphasis is placed on the corrupt nature of the entire judiciary, that will be problematic because it will not help us to address the problem on hand. I would want to believe that from Anas, his own thinking should not be that he is intending to rock the boat but to throw these matters up so that remedial or corrective actions could be taken to restore the sanctity and the integrity of the judiciary. I think that should be the ultimate consideration.”

The Suame legislator said it would be dreadful for the country if conclusions are made to suggest that the Ghanaian judiciary cannot be trusted.

“People should know that we are not completely out of the woods, and this should not provide a trigger to any trigger-happy personality. I think we can use it to our advantage because if the conclusion should be that the judiciary is in such a terrible shape that it cannot be trusted, it will not only affect our national development in so far as trying to raise the standard of living for Ghanaians is concerned, but it will go to the very bottom of the effort of the president himself in going out there to woo investors. If investors have no confidence in the judiciary, who will come? At the end of the day, the nation would suffer, and we will continue to be marking time and that won’t be good for us,” he warned.

citifmonline.com