Wa, Nov. 16, GNA – Alhaji Amidu Sulemana, Upper West Regional Minister has urged media personnel to probe further into society to bring out issues that would promote development and transform the lives of the ordinary people, instead of dwelling on politics.      Alhaji Sulemana cautioned, however, that in doing so they should be fair and objective so that their work would not be seen as partisan but rather issues that needed the attention of stakeholders.      The Regional Minister was speaking at a press soirée organised by the Minister of Information, Mr. Fritz Baffuor during his two-day official tour of the Region.      In his comments, the Information Minister noted that media personnel were so obsessed with personalities to the extent that they appeared “to be blindfolded towards the real issues” that would bring about development.      “There are things that are very important to the development of the people but unfortunately, very little is said about them”, he stated.      Mr. Baffuor said his tour of the Region was to afford him the opportunity to inspect and assess the tools and equipment of the Information Services Department (ISD) and also to interact with the staff in order to acquaint himself with the challenges they faced in the discharge of their duties.      He said successive governments had not given the Information Ministry the attention it deserved in terms of resources, logistics and funds, a situation he was determined to change through advocacy and a well prepared plan of action.      Mr. Baffuor also mentioned a One Million Ghana Cedis media fund that had been set up by government to be used for capacity building of media personnel in the country to help raise standards in the media landscape.      He said there were also plans by government to support State owned media houses such as the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Ghanaian Times and Ghana Television (GTV) to undertake self sustaining initiatives that would help improve their work environment, as well as the welfare of their staff.   GNA...

Ho, Nov. 16, GNA – Vice President Paa Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur on Friday outdoored the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) at Ho, the capital of the Volta Region.   He also unveiled a plaque to mark the event.    One hundred and fifty students have been admitted into the university which opened last September. The university with campuses at Ho-Sokode, Sodome and Hohoe is mandated to train health and allied healthcare professionals to deliver health related services throughout Ghana, particularly in rural communities.   It is also to provide higher education in health services through teaching, research and outreach programmes and provide solutions to communities and environmental health problems.   The late President, Professor John Evans Atta Mills, cut the sod for the construction of the university last year and charged a planning committee to ensure that the institution took off last September.   The establishment of the university with its twin sister, the University of Natural Resources in the Brong Ahafo Region which would be inaugurated on Saturday, November 17, 2012 in the Brong Ahafo Region, is in fulfilment of a campaign promise by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) under the leadership of Professor J.E.A. Mills in 2008.   Vice President Amissah-Arthur underscored the crucial role of good health in national development.   He gave the assurance that government would continue to do what was necessary to ensure that tertiary education was strengthened to produce the required professionals in all sectors.   “Government is committed to ensuring that the university will receive a fair share of the public sector support that will be provided all public universities to enhance learning, teaching and research activities.   “In pursuit of these commitments, the development of the permanent site for the university at Sokode-Lokoe will commence soon.  In the first phase lecture theatres and offices, students’ hotel facilities and residential accommodation for staff will be constructed,” Vice President Amissah-Arthur said.   He prayed that the university imbued its students with the necessary discipline to enable them to serve the nation to the best of their abilities.   The UHAS has Professor Fred Binka as Vice Chancellor and Professor Kofi Anyidoho as the Chairman of the Governing Interim Council.   Professor Samuel Kofi Sefa-Dedeh was the Chairman of the Planning Committee, and Dr Christine Amoako-Nuama, the Chairman of the Implementation Committee.   GNA...

Aflao, Nov. 16, GNA - The chiefs and people of Aflao Traditional Area on Thursday threw a rousing welcome to Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur on his maiden entry into the area, and crowned it with a decoration by Togbe Amenya Fiti, Paramount Chief of the area.   For respects, the people remained and waited for the Vice President and his entourage well until sundown when they arrived.   Despite protestations from the Vice President's entourage, Togbe Fiti respectfully stood up and listened to the speech of the Vice President, who is also the running mate of President John Dramani Mahama, Flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Ghana’s Election 2012.   Vice President Amissah-Arthur, who is on a campaign tour of the Volta Region, praised the people of Ketu South for their support for the NDC, and asked the traditional leaders to pray for a peaceful election.   Vice President Amissah-Arthur defined peace as a requisite for progress and development. According to the Vice President, the spirit of the NDC was in Ketu South and it was inspirational to be there to seek the support of the chiefs and people to ensure victory for the NDC at the polls.   Vice President Amissah-Arthur had earlier visited and addressed a rally at Agbozume, also in Ketu South. He formally introduced Mr Fiifi Kwetey , Deputy Minister of Finance as the NDC Parliamentary Candidate for Ketu South.   GNA...

Adaklu Have (V/R), Nov. 16, GNA – Future Hope Foundation (FUHOF), a community based organisation (CBO), in collaboration with BONGO Development, a United Kingdom based charity, has provided a six-sitter KVIP for Adaklu-Have Junior High School, in the Adaklu District of the Volta Region.     The 16,000-Ghana cedis facility was on Thursday inaugurated by Ms. Valeria Akuffo, School Health Education Programme Coordinator at the Adaklu District Directorate of the Ghana Education Service.       Mr Courage Afenyo Kodzi, Founder and Director of FUHOF, said the facility would help to improve sanitary conditions at the school.       He said the CBO was committed to improving the socio-economic wellbeing of the people, education, with emphasis on the girl-child, healthcare and sanitation and environmental protection and conservation.      Mr. Kodzi said the CBO received clothing, books, stationery, sewing machines and their accessories from Equip Africa, a USA based non-governmental organisation and distributed to beneficiaries.       He said the FUHOF had also provided the school with four street lights to improve upon lighting system on campus, and planned to train girls, who dropped out of school in the community, in dressmaking and other skills.     Ms Akuffo praised FUHOF for the gesture and advised parents to corporate with teachers to enhance teaching and learning.      Mr. Ernest Amedor, Head teacher of the school, commended FUHOF and the people of Adaklu-Have for their support for the educational institution.   GNA...

Accra, Nov. 16 GNA - Parliamentary aspirants vying for the Domeabra/Obom constituency seat in the Ga South Municipal Assembly on Thursday pledged to focus on supporting smallholder farmers to alleviate poverty in the area when voted into power.   They have pledged to provide extension service officers, subsidized fertilizers, pumping water machines, credit facilities, improved road network and help establish a senior high school, technical and vocational schools in the area.   The parliamentary aspirants made the pledge at a forum organized by Actionaid in collaboration with Green Earth Organizations to create a platform for the aspirants to espouse their policy directions on agriculture and also to afford the smallholder farmers the opportunity to bring out issues of concern for attention.   Mr. Edward Qayson, Programme Coordinator of United Communities in Development (UCID), a partner, explained that in spite of the contribution smallholder farmers made in providing food for both the urban and rural folks, the road network linking each community and the national capital was in bad shape.   He noted that due to the bad nature of the road network, the communities largely depended on motorcycles for  the conveyance of goods and people.   He said smallholder farmers did not have access to credit facilities to enable them to expand their farms or buy improved seeds or other inputs such as fertilizers, water pumping machines, cutlasses and wellington boots.   He complained about the absence of agricultural Extension Officers to assist farmers in the areas of fertilizers and chemical application, planting and general education on farming methods and processes.   Other farmers raised concerns such as the lack of potable drinking water, lack of a senior high school or technical/vocational school in the area, sand winning activities and land owners releasing land to mainly commercial farmers at the neglect of smallholder farmers who mainly produced for local and national consumption.   Mr. George Ahadzi, Executive Director of Green Earth representing the two organization, said food security largely depended on smallholder farmers who faced lots of challenges such as bad roads, non-availability of fertilizers, crop disease control and lack of extension officers to offer guidance.   He said parliament usually focussed on discussing issues affecting commercial farmers but neglected those of the smallholder farmers who contributed a lot to national food stock.   Mr. Ahadzi said the forum was also to give the smallholder farmers the platform to hold parliamentary aspirants accountable on pledges they make during electioneering campaigns.   Mr. Daoud Anum Yemoh, aspiring candidate for the NDC and incumbent member of parliament for the area, said he had already done a lot of things for the constituency and would continue to do more as part of his service to humanity.   He mentioned the provision of wellington boots to smallholder farmers, five pumping machines to farmers around Adeiso river for tomato, garden eggs and okro farming, 40 desktop computers to schools, three-bed room teachers quarters each for four communities, 200 street light bulbs, two pickups for the Obom health post and an education directorate at Weija for monitoring, among other things.   Mr. Yemoh asked the people to renew his mandate to enable him to provide subsidized fertilizers to farmers, lobby to improve the road network to facilitate the movement of food stuff and people.   He added that he would collaborate with relevant agencies and partners to provide credit facilities at relatively low interest rates to farmers to enable them to expand their farms.   He would also sit with land owners to address the problems relating to release of land for smallholder farmers.   Mr Yemoh acknowledged sand winning was destroying agriculture land use and pledged to hold a stakeholder meeting between land owners and winners to alleviate the destruction.   On his part, Mr. Sylvanus T. Martey, NPP aspirant, promised to use part of his common fund to establish a senior high school in the area to curb the burden of parents having to take their wards to far distance schools with its attendant cost.   He assured the people he would provide credit facilities to smallholder farmers to enable them to acquire more fertilizers, tractor services and other inputs to improve farming activities.   “I will negotiate with land owners and commercial farmers to release farm lands and also allocate part of their commercial lands to small scale farmers to promote farming in the area and also create dams to encourage small holder irrigation farming”, he added.   Mr. Mushea Nii Akwanor, National Democratic Party candidate on the other hand said the provision of farm machines like tractors and spraying machines were his priority.   He said he had already started a nursery school to provide quality education to children of farmers and was going to provide more school infrastructure to increase access.   Mr. Akwanor promised to fix the bad roads to guarantee smooth carting of goods and movement of people in and outside the area, as well as provision of toilet facilities for the communities.   Mr. Isaac Awuku Yibor, independent candidate, said his focus would be to organize the smallholder farmers into groups to enable them to have easy access to loan facilities and tractor services.   He would lobby the commercial farmers like Blue Skies, Golden Exotic and Bomart Farms Limited in the area to provide toilet facilities, schools, potable water and other social amenities as part of their social responsibilities to the communities.   Mr. Yibor said he would also embark on intensive education to educate land owners on the need to release land for smallholder farmers and impress on sand winners to stop degrading the land.   This forum is the sixth of its kind that has been organised in six regions,  namely Greater Accra, Central, Brong Ahafo, Ashanti, Western and Northern regions.   GNA...

Ho, Nov. 16, GNA - A 122-page book on the functions and procedures of Ghana’s Parliament, was on Wednesday launched in Ho.      The book titled: “Parliament of Ghana’s Fourth Republic: Structure, Practice and Procedures,” is to fill the knowledge gap on the work of Parliament in Ghana.         At a public lecture to launch the book, the author, Mr Harrison Belley, Communication and Corporate Affairs Director of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE), commended parliamentarians for their enormous contribution to democracy in the country.       He observed that laws passed by Ghana’s Parliament were among the best laws in Africa contrary to public perception that Ghanaian parliamentarians do nothing at Parliament.       Mr Belley said research revealed that averagely, parliamentarians in Ghana pass a total of 84 laws in a year, and said that was a demonstration of how hardworking the Members of Parliament (MPs) were.         He said most of the work of MPs was at committee levels and called on the public to support them to work harder for the country.        On the issue of the core function of MPs, Mr Belley said they were fundamentally lawmakers but could also be seen as agents of development because they access MPs’ Common Fund and other financial facilities, which they were supposed to use for development projects.        He asked MPs to make judicious use of their holidays and interact with their constituents regularly.       Mr Francis Ganyaglo, Kpando Municipal Assembly Chief Executive, said demands made by chiefs and the public were compelling MPs to act as development agents.       He said the Assemblies rather than MP were supposed to play the role of development agents.       The first copy of the book was bought at 1,500 Ghana cedis.   GNA...

Kpassa (V/R), Nov 16, GNA -The chiefs and people of Jumbo and Agou, said to be“no-man’s-land” between the Nkwanta North and Nkwanta South districts, have called on the agencies responsible for re-zoning of districts and electoral boundaries to take action on recommendations reached to avoid further disenfranchising them.   These communities, which are on the southern fringes of the Nkwanta North district capital, Kpassa with the Kpassa River as a border, have boycotted both national and local government level elections since 2003, stemming from their request to be part of Nkwanta North district.   Jumbo and Agou are currently under the Nkwanta South District by legislation.   Mr James Blema, Assemblyman for the area, who addressed the media at Agou on the subject, said “Our patience is running out. It looks like we are going to be disenfranchised again.”   He appealed to the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the Electoral Commission to expedite action on the recommendations of the Dispute Boundary Committee and set the records straight.   “People are poised to exercise their franchise this time around after subjecting ourselves to the recent biometric registration exercise but we are apprehensive inactivity on the part of the authorities will deny us our civic responsibility of voting,” Mr Blema said.   He said Jumbo and Agou with population estimated at 5,000 had been relegated to the periphery of national politics, development and inclusion, which are affront to the national Constitution.   Ubor Lason II, Chief of Jumbo, told the GNA that the socio-economic impact of non-alignment of the district boundary has become unbearable as the area is denied development projects and other social interventions not even from Nkwanta South District.   He enumerated the challenges such as 200 children still attending schools under trees, unavailability of teachers and their children denied access to free school uniforms and exercise books due to their “no-man’s-land” status.   Ubor Lason said there was no negotiation about their request, which is knotted on strong linguistic ties and cultural characteristics with natural justice pointing that “our kinsmen will contribute their development quotas to the North than South.”   Mrs Lawrencia Kpatakpa, Volta Regional Director of Electoral Commission, said the Presidential Committee had presented its report to the appropriate quarters for action. She said the EC could not do otherwise than to maintain the status quo.   GNA...

Winneba, Nov 16, GNA -The Manager of the Winneba Vocational Institute, Mr Edward Kofi Appiah-Dwomoh, has said all industrialized nations depended on skill acquisition by their citizens to develop.      Mr Appiah-Dwomoh said this at the graduation of 42 Nigerians after undergoing nine months training in welding and fabrication at the institute.      They were sponsored by the Amnesty International in consultation with the Ghana and Nigerian governments.      An 11-member Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the Institute, chaired by Mr R. C. Ekem, was inaugurated at the ceremony.      Mr Appiah-Dwomoh said the IMC was taking up the mantle of the Institute at such a crucial stage of its development.     He said the institute, established 32 years ago, was facing difficulties and these include roofs going bad and the hostels are overcrowded. Tools and equipment are obsolete and staff accommodation is non-existent.   He appealed to Effutu Municipal Assembly, NGOs, philanthropists and the general public to assist the Institute.     The Minister for Lands and Natural Resources, Mr Mike Allan Hammah, said the government would continue providing infrastructure towards attaining quality education of Ghanaian children.        Mr Hammah, the Member of Parliament for Effutu, appealed to NGOs and other corporate bodies to supplement government efforts at achieving quality education.         The IMC Chairman said vocational training or skills development is one of the pillars upon which any industrialized nation depends, adding that “Ghana cannot decide to be an exception.”        Mr Ekem said vocational education should therefore be accorded its proper place and given attention, adding that infrastructure, jobs and equipment must be adequately provided.             Mr George Anri Porebo, a representative of the trainees, thanked management and staff of the school for the hospitality and the training given to them to improve their lives.   Neenyi Ghartey VII, Paramount Chief of Effutu Traditional Area who chaired the ceremony, appealed to the trainees to go back to their country and exhibit the skills they acquired towards the development of their communities.   GNA...

Takoradi, Nov.16, GNA—The Minister of The Interior, Mr. William Kwasi Aboah, has charged the security agencies to act professionally, remain impartial and demonstrate integrity in the discharge of their duties before, during and after the elections.   He has also entreated the men in uniform to recognize that they owe allegiance to the state and not to any political party and  should therefore, remain neutral.   Mr. Aboah gave the advice when he interacted with the various security agencies in the Western Region at Takoradi to acquaint himself with their preparedness for the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.   The Minster’s maiden visit to the Region was also aimed at boosting the morale of security personnel and acquainting himself with the challenges confronting them in the discharge of their duties.   Mr. Aboah assured the security agencies that his Ministry would provide the necessary logistics for them to discharge their mandate, adding that, “As the leading agencies and custodians of internal security, you have significantly contributed to anchor the democratic dispensation in this country.   “I am, therefore, convinced that with the level of professionalism exhibited so far, your Constitutional mandate of maintaining law and order would be displayed to the letter to ensure a peaceful election come December 7, 2012”, he said.   The Minister, however, expressed dismay over recent involvement of some security personnel in narcotics, armed robbery and extortion of money from civilians, saying such unprofessional conduct had dragged the reputation of the service into disrepute.   Mr. Aboah applauded the government for providing the various security agencies with resources to enhance their efficiency and effectiveness, adding that a number of strategic and technical training programmes had been organized to build the capacity of security personnel.   He entreated leaders of the various political parties, civil society organizations, the clergy, traditional authorities, the media and all stakeholders to educate and advice their sympathizers to avoid acts of violence that could plunge the country into chaos.   In his welcome address, the Western Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Ransford Moses Ninson, pledged the commitment of the Command to ensure peace and harmony before, during and after the elections in the Region.   The security agencies were drawn from the Police Service, Immigration Service, Prison Service, Customs Execise and Preventive Service who were also given the platform to ask questions and express their concerns.   GNA...

Accra, Nov. 15, GNA - The Electoral Commission (EC) on Thursday announced that the number of Polling Stations for Election 2012 have been increased from 23,000 to 26,000.   Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan, the EC Chairman, said this at a media dialogue organized by the Editors’ Forum of Ghana on the topic: “On Election 2012: the EC’s preparations and related matters”.    He said after the compilation of the Biometric Voter Register, the EC realized that some polling stations were oversubscribed and therefore, had to be divided into two.   On the issue of the Voters’ Register, the EC Chairman said: “The Voters Register is a very critical element in the electoral process and it must be prepared very well. That is why it took a long time in it compilation.”   “We put the register there for public viewing because we are a human institution and we are not perfect but during the process of the exhibition, 200 polling stations recorded zero registration which was due to human errors”.   He explained that these were largely due to wrong coding but all these had being resolved.   The EC Chairman said there were instances where there were mix-ups in which male names were given female pictures and vice versa but all had been taken care of.   He said the printing of the main Voters Register was on going and that copies would be made available to political parties on Monday.   Dr Afari Gyan said there would be two registers at each Polling Station with the names arranged in alphabetical order in the first one, while those in the second one would be arranged in numerical order.   He said a voter would have to first go to the alphabetical register and there he will be told the page number on which his details would found in the numeric register. The numeric register had images of the registered voter.   Dr Afari-Gyan said the printing of ballot papers was on going and that those of presidential candidates had been completed since the EC does not foresee any increase in the number of candidates except by a court order.   He said under the biometric system of voting, the law allows proxy voting by special categories of registered voters such as Ghanaians on diplomatic missions.   GNA...

Kadjebi, Nov. 16, GNA - The Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG) has launched the Kadjebi District version of the “Farmers Manifesto for Election 2012 and Beyond,” a comprehensive document seeking the affirmation and commitment of political candidates of the various parties to implement the document's content when given the mandate.   Mr Godwin Atokple, Vice President of PFAG said the document provided presidential and parliamentary candidates an insight into the plight of small-scale farmers to make the sector an engine of growth.   He said the African Agro-Business Summit in Abuja, 2010, adopted the Abuja Declaration which was sequel to the Maputo declaration, entreating African governments to increase public investment as a percentage of annual national budgets to at least 10 per cent.   Mr Atokple said this should be in tandem with the annual agricultural growth rate of six per cent for the achievement of the first Millennium Development Goal (MGD1) by 2015.   He said the manifesto was a direct result of broad consultations, which identified the insufficient attention given to the critical issues affecting small-scale farmers, especially women, a major setback in the fight against extreme poverty and hunger.   Mr Atokple said the affirmation would compel the aspirants to be accountable to the people and champion the recommendations enshrined in the document, which identified low participation in agriculture and food security governance, lack of access to resources, debased social standing, impoverished living standards, undernourishment and hunger.   Mr Charles Nyaaba, Programme Officer of PFAG said the highlights of the document included insistence for government to allocate specific financing schemes at affordable rates, strengthening agricultural policies in the food crop sector to reverse decades of bias in favour of cash crop production,  establishing a national agency for agricultural development and facilitating the provision of, and timely access to, inputs.   He said the manifesto was a panacea to the problems confronting small-scale agriculture but added that “this will remain a mirage if those entrusted to implement the document continue to be adamant and treat it scantily.”   Mr Seth Alifui, Kadjebi District Chief Executive commended PFAG for its foresight and ‘taking the bull by the horn’ to mainstream agricultural production with increased funding.   Mr John k. Gyapong representing the National Democratic Congress, Mr Harry Afraim-Darko, candidate for the New Patriotic Party, Mr Joseph Ofori, incumbent MP, and Mr Solomon Okorie, Independent; affirmed their commitments by signing the declaration forms to abide by the tenets of the manifesto, when given the mandate.   They espoused their political parties' position on the sector with relation to the Akan Constituency.   Meanwhile, Mr Rashid Alao, candidate of Convention Peoples Party, Mr Maxwell Gyambiby of the Peoples National Convention and two independent candidates, Mr Emmanuel Edjeame and Mr Mohammed Muniru, were absent for the event.   PFAG is in collaboration with SEND Ghana, ActionAid Ghana, General Agricultural Workers Union (GAWU) of TUC, Ghana Trade and Livelihood Coalition and supported by Oxfam.   GNA...