Author: Akumaa GhanaMPs

Member of Parliament for Nsawam/ Adoagyire, Frank Annoh – Dompreh has described the recent 2013 Budget retreat held over the weekend by government as a mere talk shop which would not yield any positive results to address the challenges currently facing the economy.

He said if government was really serious about improving the fortunes of the economy which has dwindled terribly; it would have invited experts from academia and economists across the political divide to find solutions to salvaging the economy and not convening the same old economic team members who have supervised the ‘lame’ economy.

President John Dramani Mahama and members of his government went for a retreat to review the nation’s economy, with a directive by the president to Agencies and Institution to reduce their expenditure to enable government reduce the surging budget deficit.

According to the Minister of information and Media Relations Mahama Ayariga, the rising budget deficit was among the key issues that were discussed during the retreat.

“We discussed issues bothering on the deficit that we started the year with, and how we could manage that deficit and then meet our target as contained in the 2013 budget, we assessed our performance so far in trying to deal with that, and also streamline government deficit because that is what causes it, and that is what we have been striving so hard since the beginning of the year to manage,” he revealed.

However speaking on Oman FM’s National Agenda programme on Monday, Hon. Annoh Dompreh stated that he would be surprised if anything substantial is achieved through this review as the government has not shown signs of checking its lavish lifestyle to cut budget deficit.

‘’ We were in this country when this government said it was practicing frugal spending but ended up overspending the budget allocated to the presidency. We all know of the GYEEDA report which unearthed corruption among some public officials and how the government has sort to shelve the report’’ he said.

Kwadwo Anim/Ghanamps.gov.gh

Teachers in private schools are contributing greatly to the acquisition of knowledge and skills of the Ghanaian child and should, therefore, be considered in government policies designed to assist teachers in basic education delivery.

Mr Kwaku Kwarteng, Member of Parliament (MP) for Obuasi West, said government guidelines for determining the work conditions of teachers should include the private school teacher.

Speaking at the 10th annual graduation ceremony of Steadfast Academy at Obuasi, he suggested the inclusion of private school teachers in the best teacher award scheme.

Mr Kwarteng said: “Government policies and programmes on education should be extended to cover and recognize the roles teachers in private schools are playing in the country’s education industry”.

He called on teachers to have special love and patience for their children to help them develop their hidden talents for the benefit of the nation.

Mr Jonny Owusu-Boadi, Obuasi Municipal Director of Education, who was the guest speaker, commended teachers and other players in the school for turning out reliable future leaders for the country.

Speaking on the theme: “Ten years of Steadfastness in Raising the Future Generation – The Role of the Teacher,” Mr Owusu-Boadi called for collaboration between teachers and parents to address the challenges confronting the youth of today.

These, he said, included armed robbery, wee smoking, alcoholism, gayism and the rest.

He was optimistic that raising the future generation of this country to a level that could facilitate progress rests on quality education delivery with quality and committed teachers.

Mrs Evelyn Sintim-Amankwa, Proprietress of the school, said the school had been obtaining 100 percent pass in the Basic Education Certificate Examination after the first batch passed out with all the students obtaining a distinction.

Mr John Owusu, General Manager of Public Affairs of Anglo Gold Ashanti, who chaired the function, encouraged parents who wanted better and God-fearing educational foundation for their wards to send their children to the school.

Mr Nii Armah Ashietey, Member of Parliament for Klottey Korle in the Greater Accra Region, has toured venues of extra classes for final year students of public Senior High Schools (SHS) in three circuits of the constituency.

The free-classes organized every year by the MP forms part of measures to improve the performance of SHS students in the constituency.

Mr Ashietey, who is also the Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, said the students were the future leaders of Ghana and must be encouraged to learn hard in order to pass their exams.

He said the vacation classes had been helping the students to pass their exams, hence the decision to make it an annual affair.

Mr Ashietey said: “I am happy that the students have the enthusiasm to learn, I will organize a mock exams for them prior to their exams next year to prepare their minds.”

He advised the students to respect their parents, elders and teachers always, saying “respect and honesty are some of the things that could take a person to a higher level in life”.

Mr Ashietey also asked the students to look at people who had attained higher level in society to emulate them as role models.

Ms Esther Kissiwa Omare, a student and beneficiary of the programme, said the extra classes had helped them so much to learn, especially topics that their regular teachers could not cover in their respective schools.

She thanked Mr Ashietey for the gesture.

Ms Ursula Owusu, Member of Parliament for Ablekuma South, on Thursday said it is important for all Ghanaians to ensure the implementation of the six month exclusive breastfeeding policy.

She said perhaps the nation also needed to think seriously about granting paternity leave to fathers and giving nursing mothers the opportunity to work half day as well; as such alternatives that could make the six month exclusive breastfeeding policy practicable.

The World Health Organization and the Ghana Health Service are advocating the policy that enables nursing mothers to give breast milk on demand for the first six months to ensure exclusive breast feeding.

Ms Owusu made the comments at the forum to discuss a National Nutrition Policy organised by the Ghana Coalition of Civil Society Organizations for Scaling Up Nutrition (GHACCSUN).

She said “as a country we need to invest into the future of our children if we are to ensure that they have good health” adding that it is important that parents started teaching their children about the importance of balanced nutrition at a tender age.

Ms Owusu also expressed the need to ensure food safety and urged the monitoring organisations to check the health of food vendors since some of them end up selling diseases to their unsuspecting patrons.

The Ghana Coalition of Civil Society Organizations for Scaling Up Nutrition (GHACCSUN) a group of non governmental organizations concerned about improving nutrition in the country is working to make nutrition a priority development issue in the country.

The Forum which brought together members of the Coalition, Members of Parliament and health professionals to solicit new ideas and recommendations on how the new National Nutrition policy should be implemented, also aimed at increasing the coverage of high impact nutrition specific interventions that would ensure optimal nutrition for all Ghanaians.

Mrs Wilhelmina Okwabi, Director, Nutrition Department, Ghana Health Service, said major challenges persisted regarding breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices in Ghana saying 45.9 percent of infants benefited from early breastfeeding which showed a decline from the 52.3 percent in 2006.

“Similarly there has been a decline in the rate of exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months from 62.8 percent in 2008 to 46 percent in 2011,” she said, explaining that rather, bottle feeding babies below six months which was being discouraged, had increased from 11 percent in 2008 to 18 percent in 2011.

Mrs Okwabi said even more problematic was the high rate of sub-optimal complementary feeding that required that breastfed children be given two or more meals of solid, semi-solid or soft nutrients dense food rich in iron and vitamins.

She advised health professionals to educate families to enable them be in charge of their health in terms of nutrition.

She said the National Nutrition Policy also aims at prioritising nutrition so as to generate interest and demand adequate food and nutrition security among policy makers and Ghanaians.

Mrs Okwabi said the health of Ghanaians and the economic development of the country were closely linked hence the need to ensure that all Ghanaians had access to adequate nutrition.

Nana Ayim Poakwah, Coordinator of GHACCSUN, said investing in nutrition can improve several key development outcomes in Ghana which include child survival, educational achievements and ultimately more economic productivity.

He said GHACCSUN was committed to working to change the unacceptable child nutrition indicators in the country especially the prevalence rate of stunting, wasting and anaemia.

The Coalition said high rates of stunting persist in all regions reaching as high as 34.7 percent in the three northern regions.