THE Trinity Congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana at Mampong-Akuapem has donated assorted items worth GH¢2,500 to the Tetteh Quarshie Memorial Hospital at Mampong-Akuapem.
The items, meant for the both patients and staff of the facility, included several bags of rice, loaves of bread, cartons of milk, biscuits, provisions and toiletries.
The donation, which was aimed at assisting the beneficiaries to also share the joy of the Yuletide, formed part of activities to mark the church’s 150th anniversary.
Presenting the items, the Chairman of the Akuapem Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Rev. Dr J. O. Y. Mantey, said the members of the church decided to give to the beneficiaries as part of their contribution to make the celebration of the festivity “a meaningful one for them”.
“Since God chose to give His best gift to mankind, Jesus Christ, we have also decided to give to the patients and staff of the hospital as required of us as Christians to support our fellow human beings to put a smile on their faces during the Christmas festivity,” Dr Mantey said.
Receiving the items, the Administrator of the hospital, Mrs Devine Narteh, thanked the church for the support to the patients and staff of the hospital, noting that the gesture would make the celebration of the Yuletide an enjoyable moment for them.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
ORGANIC FARMING...GOPDC shows the way (PAGE 20, DEC 23)
TODAY, more than ever before, a growing number of health-minded consumers, especially those dealing with chronic illnesses, are switching to organic food.
A key motivation for consumers to eat such food is the belief that it is simply better and healthy for them.
It is widely believed that the use of organic fertilisers ensures that food items produced are free from harmful chemicals. As a result, end-consumers who eat these organic products are less prone to diseases such as cancer, strokes, heart diseases and skin disorders as compared to those who consume food items produced by using chemical fertilisers.
In spite of the countless health benefits of the production of organic food today, most food growing industries, in the rush to produce more crops to satisfy a growing demand, have resorted to using a lethal cocktail of pesticides to control diseases and insect attack.
This unfortunate situation, though admittedly has solved food crisis across the world, has significantly resulted in most cases in the production of poor quality food, which though appears attractive are harmful to the health of consumers.
A recent medical research has revealed that if one consumed an average fruit, say an apple or an orange, one would be eating over 30 pesticides, even after the fruit has been thoroughly washed. In another report, the quality of food has definitely gone down since the Second World War. For instance, the levels of vitamin C in today’s fruit bear no resemblance to the levels found in wartime fruit.
The report stated emphatically that pesticides residues in food have been linked to many diseases such as headaches, cancer, obesity, Alzheimer’s, some birth defects, tremor, lack of energy, depression, anxiety, poor memory, dermatitis, convulsions, nausea, indigestion and diarrheoa with dietary intakes of pesticides, mostly common in inorganic produce.
Unlike organic food that is known to contain 50 per cent more nutrients, minerals and vitamins, inorganic produce that has been intensively farmed with the application of artificial fertilisers may appear otherwise, though science is yet to confirm that.
Consequently, according to the research, one would have to eat more fruits nowadays to make up for the deficiency but that means one eating more chemicals, which is detrimental to the health of consumers who rather consider eating something that should be good for them.
Again, a Belgian medical research has found that women diagnosed with breast cancer are six to nine times more likely to have the pesticides DDT or hexachlorobenzene in their bloodstream compared to women who did not have breast cancer.
Given the various negative health implications of the consumption of inorganic produce, the nagging question that should engage the minds of every Ghanaian who is serious about good health is “how can it be possible to eat chemicals and not expect some form of reaction in your body since our bodies are delicately balanced wonderful machines which habour any form of foreign chemicals that are bound to irritate them at the least?”
Encouragingly, health consciousness among Ghanaians lately has been complemented by some farming organisations in the country, not the least in the oil palm plantation.
Now, some of these organisations have taken a sustainable approach to organic oil palm production and have been applying organic fertilisers.
Today, palm oil is the most widely used oil in the world, for both food and medicine. As a natural vegetable oil, it contains no trans fatty acids or cholesterol and is currently being used by health institutions to treat specific illnesses and improve nutritional status.
One of the companies in the country that has become a pioneer in sustainable agriculture and the leading grower of commercial organic oil palm plantation has been the Ghana Oil Palm Development Company (GOPDC) which is today proud to have created a sustainable model for the oil palm industry.
The company’s plantation at the Kwae and the Okumaning estates in the Eastern Region are all certified organic as no chemicals, pesticides or herbicides are used, resulting in a healthy superior quality product that attract a bonus on the world and the local market.
The products include crude palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm kernel cake, refined bleached deodorised oil, refined palm kernel oil, free fatty acid, olein and supper olein and stearin.
With its plantation cultivated on a 21,000-hectre land, GOPDC has integrated its palm production from seeder to farming, harvesting, mechanical pressing, physical refinery and finally to end products.
The company, which has been able to sustain its lead in the field of oil palm cultivation in the country started to reduce its agro-chemical usage in 1999. In 2002, the company received its first organic certificate from ECOCERT in France,a wordwide organisation that certifies organic produce.
As part of its focus on maintaining its market lead in the oil palm industry, every year inspectors from ECOCERT carry out an inspection round the plantation that covers its Kwae and the Okumaning estates as well as its over 5,000 outgrower and the smallholder farmers, the mills, refinery and its tank farm at Tema, which are all certified.
According to the Environmental, Health and Safety Manager of the compay, Mr Emmanuel Wiafe, his outfit strictly applies organic fertilisers and follows the rules of integrated pest management (IPM), which is a sustainable approach to managing pests by combining biological, cultural, physical and as a last resort chemical tools in a way that minimises economic, health and environmental risks.
He indicated that GOPDC, which receives annual certificate from the ECOCERT, as part of its biological pest control ensures that every pest is monitored throughout the year to ensure that the population of the species is below the threshold of becoming a pest, hence no need to apply pesticides to control their growth.
In addition, he said, as a measure to protect some of the animal species, some biodiversity plots have been created within the company’s concessions which are left untouched, a move that has also contributed to the control of pests as they form a habitat for predators mostly birds.
“The company also maintains buffer zones along the mainstreams in the plantation and agro-forestry activities are undertaken to enhance biodiversity”, he added.
In his opinion, in exceptional cases when all methods have failed to manage a serious pest outbreak, the company will resort to the use of registered agro-chemicals in restricted plots of which the company keeps records of all the plots that received the agro-chemicals. These plots, he added, go into a conversion period of three years and that the entire fresh fruit bunch collected from such plots will not be considered as organic for three years.
“After three years, no residues are left in the field and the plots become organic again”, he said, indicating that at the processing mill, the organic and inorganic fresh fruit bunch are separated upon arrival and that each time organic processing will take place, the cleaning procedures for mill, refinery and that tank farms are followed and all the activities are documented.
Given the consistent successful track record of the GOPDC in the sustainable production of organic produce over the years, the government should lend the necessary support to other industries in the country to also take a cue from the success of GOPDC and venture into the production of healthy organic produce as part of their contribution to ensuring the health and well-being of Ghanaians.
Surely, the cost of organic production is expensive but the long-term benefits should be given a priority over profits since it is widely believed that the health of the people always drives the economy.
A key motivation for consumers to eat such food is the belief that it is simply better and healthy for them.
It is widely believed that the use of organic fertilisers ensures that food items produced are free from harmful chemicals. As a result, end-consumers who eat these organic products are less prone to diseases such as cancer, strokes, heart diseases and skin disorders as compared to those who consume food items produced by using chemical fertilisers.
In spite of the countless health benefits of the production of organic food today, most food growing industries, in the rush to produce more crops to satisfy a growing demand, have resorted to using a lethal cocktail of pesticides to control diseases and insect attack.
This unfortunate situation, though admittedly has solved food crisis across the world, has significantly resulted in most cases in the production of poor quality food, which though appears attractive are harmful to the health of consumers.
A recent medical research has revealed that if one consumed an average fruit, say an apple or an orange, one would be eating over 30 pesticides, even after the fruit has been thoroughly washed. In another report, the quality of food has definitely gone down since the Second World War. For instance, the levels of vitamin C in today’s fruit bear no resemblance to the levels found in wartime fruit.
The report stated emphatically that pesticides residues in food have been linked to many diseases such as headaches, cancer, obesity, Alzheimer’s, some birth defects, tremor, lack of energy, depression, anxiety, poor memory, dermatitis, convulsions, nausea, indigestion and diarrheoa with dietary intakes of pesticides, mostly common in inorganic produce.
Unlike organic food that is known to contain 50 per cent more nutrients, minerals and vitamins, inorganic produce that has been intensively farmed with the application of artificial fertilisers may appear otherwise, though science is yet to confirm that.
Consequently, according to the research, one would have to eat more fruits nowadays to make up for the deficiency but that means one eating more chemicals, which is detrimental to the health of consumers who rather consider eating something that should be good for them.
Again, a Belgian medical research has found that women diagnosed with breast cancer are six to nine times more likely to have the pesticides DDT or hexachlorobenzene in their bloodstream compared to women who did not have breast cancer.
Given the various negative health implications of the consumption of inorganic produce, the nagging question that should engage the minds of every Ghanaian who is serious about good health is “how can it be possible to eat chemicals and not expect some form of reaction in your body since our bodies are delicately balanced wonderful machines which habour any form of foreign chemicals that are bound to irritate them at the least?”
Encouragingly, health consciousness among Ghanaians lately has been complemented by some farming organisations in the country, not the least in the oil palm plantation.
Now, some of these organisations have taken a sustainable approach to organic oil palm production and have been applying organic fertilisers.
Today, palm oil is the most widely used oil in the world, for both food and medicine. As a natural vegetable oil, it contains no trans fatty acids or cholesterol and is currently being used by health institutions to treat specific illnesses and improve nutritional status.
One of the companies in the country that has become a pioneer in sustainable agriculture and the leading grower of commercial organic oil palm plantation has been the Ghana Oil Palm Development Company (GOPDC) which is today proud to have created a sustainable model for the oil palm industry.
The company’s plantation at the Kwae and the Okumaning estates in the Eastern Region are all certified organic as no chemicals, pesticides or herbicides are used, resulting in a healthy superior quality product that attract a bonus on the world and the local market.
The products include crude palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm kernel cake, refined bleached deodorised oil, refined palm kernel oil, free fatty acid, olein and supper olein and stearin.
With its plantation cultivated on a 21,000-hectre land, GOPDC has integrated its palm production from seeder to farming, harvesting, mechanical pressing, physical refinery and finally to end products.
The company, which has been able to sustain its lead in the field of oil palm cultivation in the country started to reduce its agro-chemical usage in 1999. In 2002, the company received its first organic certificate from ECOCERT in France,a wordwide organisation that certifies organic produce.
As part of its focus on maintaining its market lead in the oil palm industry, every year inspectors from ECOCERT carry out an inspection round the plantation that covers its Kwae and the Okumaning estates as well as its over 5,000 outgrower and the smallholder farmers, the mills, refinery and its tank farm at Tema, which are all certified.
According to the Environmental, Health and Safety Manager of the compay, Mr Emmanuel Wiafe, his outfit strictly applies organic fertilisers and follows the rules of integrated pest management (IPM), which is a sustainable approach to managing pests by combining biological, cultural, physical and as a last resort chemical tools in a way that minimises economic, health and environmental risks.
He indicated that GOPDC, which receives annual certificate from the ECOCERT, as part of its biological pest control ensures that every pest is monitored throughout the year to ensure that the population of the species is below the threshold of becoming a pest, hence no need to apply pesticides to control their growth.
In addition, he said, as a measure to protect some of the animal species, some biodiversity plots have been created within the company’s concessions which are left untouched, a move that has also contributed to the control of pests as they form a habitat for predators mostly birds.
“The company also maintains buffer zones along the mainstreams in the plantation and agro-forestry activities are undertaken to enhance biodiversity”, he added.
In his opinion, in exceptional cases when all methods have failed to manage a serious pest outbreak, the company will resort to the use of registered agro-chemicals in restricted plots of which the company keeps records of all the plots that received the agro-chemicals. These plots, he added, go into a conversion period of three years and that the entire fresh fruit bunch collected from such plots will not be considered as organic for three years.
“After three years, no residues are left in the field and the plots become organic again”, he said, indicating that at the processing mill, the organic and inorganic fresh fruit bunch are separated upon arrival and that each time organic processing will take place, the cleaning procedures for mill, refinery and that tank farms are followed and all the activities are documented.
Given the consistent successful track record of the GOPDC in the sustainable production of organic produce over the years, the government should lend the necessary support to other industries in the country to also take a cue from the success of GOPDC and venture into the production of healthy organic produce as part of their contribution to ensuring the health and well-being of Ghanaians.
Surely, the cost of organic production is expensive but the long-term benefits should be given a priority over profits since it is widely believed that the health of the people always drives the economy.
Monday, December 21, 2009
'TOTAL CARAVAN FOR SAFETY' PROGRAMME LAUNCHED (PAGE 3, DEC 21)
A PROJECT aimed at educating members of local communities along major highways in the country on the dangers associated with stealing petroleum products from accident tankers has been launched at Asuboi in the Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar District.
The initiative, dubbed “Total Caravan for Safety”, is aimed at using effective communication tools such as drama and other strategic media in local languages to bring about attitudinal change among the people.
It is hoped that it would help to discourage the people from rushing from their homes to scenes of accidents involving fuel tankers and siphoning fuel from them, which in the event of a fire outbreak claim many lives.
In addition, the campaign is also being used to educate members of the targeted communities on how to reduce domestic accidents due to poor storage and use of hydrocarbons in local communities.
The project, which was targeted at members of communities along Nsawam-Suhum stretch of the Accra-Kumasi Highway, would also be launched at three key highway routes in the country, namely the Accra-Aflao, the Accra-Takoradi and the Kumasi-Tamale Highways.
It is being sponsored by the Total Petroleum Ghana Limited and supported by other stakeholders such as the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Transport, the Ghana National Fire Service, Road Safety Limited, National Disaster Management Organization, Motor Traffic and Transport Unit and the Ghana Police Service.
In an address last Friday, the Managing Director of Total Petroleum Ghana Limited (TPGL), Mr Jonathan Molapo, said his outfit decided to specifically launch the campaign at Asuboi because of the spate of accidents along the Nsawam-Suhum stretch of the Accra-Kumasi Highway, which have claimed many lives.
He indicated that since the spate of road traffic accidents mostly intensified, especially during festive occasions, “we could not have chosen a better time than now to launch the “Total Caravan for Safety Project” to ensure the safety of lives and property on the roads.
“Our leadership in a highly competitive industry of over 50 Oil Marketing Companies placed a greater responsibility on Total to deliver not only top notch services to its customers but also to ensure that we are socially responsible to all manner of stakeholders in our communities,” the MD stated.
According to him, the highly volatile nature of products the company transported across the length and breadth of the country made it imperative to take the necessary steps to carry out “all activities with safety as the overriding principle”.
In his view, many safety measures taken by the company, such as the establishment of the Programme for Improvement on Overseas Road Transport (PATROM) and Road Safety Limited, a school meant to train its drivers, and inspect and maintain its trucks, were already yielding encouraging results.
“By these safety undertakings, we have been able to significantly reduce the number of accidents and the levels of their severity,” Mr Molapo added.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Transport, Mr Joe Gidisu, said the transport sector, being a major driver in the Ghanaian economy, continued to face major challenges, especially in the area of road safety.
“Records at the ministry indicate that 30,351 heavy goods vehicles, including bulk road vehicles, were involved in road traffic crashes with 213 recorded fatalities”, he said, adding that “8,802 of these casualties occurred in rural areas”.
He recounted the accident on the Accra-Winneba Road involving the transportation of hydrocarbons, which claimed several lives when the victims attempted to siphon fuel from the tanker but were burnt to ashes when the tanker caught fire.
Mr Gidisu, who expressed the delight of his outfit to be associated with the good works of TPGL, said as part of measures to ensure the highest safety standards in the transport sector, the ministry had, in partnership with other stakeholders, launched a massive road safety campaign dubbed “Arrive Alive” along the major highways and communities in the country.
In an address read on his behalf by his deputy, Mr Baba Jamal, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, noted that since road safety was a shared responsibility, other stakeholders should also intensify their education on road safety to protect lives and property on the roads.
He also urged the MTTU of the Ghana Police Service to intensify its checks on the roads and apprehend drivers who flouted road traffic regulations.
The initiative, dubbed “Total Caravan for Safety”, is aimed at using effective communication tools such as drama and other strategic media in local languages to bring about attitudinal change among the people.
It is hoped that it would help to discourage the people from rushing from their homes to scenes of accidents involving fuel tankers and siphoning fuel from them, which in the event of a fire outbreak claim many lives.
In addition, the campaign is also being used to educate members of the targeted communities on how to reduce domestic accidents due to poor storage and use of hydrocarbons in local communities.
The project, which was targeted at members of communities along Nsawam-Suhum stretch of the Accra-Kumasi Highway, would also be launched at three key highway routes in the country, namely the Accra-Aflao, the Accra-Takoradi and the Kumasi-Tamale Highways.
It is being sponsored by the Total Petroleum Ghana Limited and supported by other stakeholders such as the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Transport, the Ghana National Fire Service, Road Safety Limited, National Disaster Management Organization, Motor Traffic and Transport Unit and the Ghana Police Service.
In an address last Friday, the Managing Director of Total Petroleum Ghana Limited (TPGL), Mr Jonathan Molapo, said his outfit decided to specifically launch the campaign at Asuboi because of the spate of accidents along the Nsawam-Suhum stretch of the Accra-Kumasi Highway, which have claimed many lives.
He indicated that since the spate of road traffic accidents mostly intensified, especially during festive occasions, “we could not have chosen a better time than now to launch the “Total Caravan for Safety Project” to ensure the safety of lives and property on the roads.
“Our leadership in a highly competitive industry of over 50 Oil Marketing Companies placed a greater responsibility on Total to deliver not only top notch services to its customers but also to ensure that we are socially responsible to all manner of stakeholders in our communities,” the MD stated.
According to him, the highly volatile nature of products the company transported across the length and breadth of the country made it imperative to take the necessary steps to carry out “all activities with safety as the overriding principle”.
In his view, many safety measures taken by the company, such as the establishment of the Programme for Improvement on Overseas Road Transport (PATROM) and Road Safety Limited, a school meant to train its drivers, and inspect and maintain its trucks, were already yielding encouraging results.
“By these safety undertakings, we have been able to significantly reduce the number of accidents and the levels of their severity,” Mr Molapo added.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Transport, Mr Joe Gidisu, said the transport sector, being a major driver in the Ghanaian economy, continued to face major challenges, especially in the area of road safety.
“Records at the ministry indicate that 30,351 heavy goods vehicles, including bulk road vehicles, were involved in road traffic crashes with 213 recorded fatalities”, he said, adding that “8,802 of these casualties occurred in rural areas”.
He recounted the accident on the Accra-Winneba Road involving the transportation of hydrocarbons, which claimed several lives when the victims attempted to siphon fuel from the tanker but were burnt to ashes when the tanker caught fire.
Mr Gidisu, who expressed the delight of his outfit to be associated with the good works of TPGL, said as part of measures to ensure the highest safety standards in the transport sector, the ministry had, in partnership with other stakeholders, launched a massive road safety campaign dubbed “Arrive Alive” along the major highways and communities in the country.
In an address read on his behalf by his deputy, Mr Baba Jamal, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, noted that since road safety was a shared responsibility, other stakeholders should also intensify their education on road safety to protect lives and property on the roads.
He also urged the MTTU of the Ghana Police Service to intensify its checks on the roads and apprehend drivers who flouted road traffic regulations.
Sunday, December 20, 2009
KOREA DONATES AMBULANCES TO TWO DISTRICTS (PAGE 15, DEC 19)
THE Government of the Republic of Korea has presented two new Stavic ambulances and a pick-up worth $2 million to the Yilo Krobo and the Upper Manya district assemblies in the Eastern Region.
The ambulances, equipped with all the necessary life-saving gadgets, are to support health facilities in the beneficiary districts to respond to emergency cases in their remote areas, especially women in labour.
The initiative, which is under a project dubbed, “Supporting Mother and Children Health Care in the Eastern Region”, is expected to help reduce maternal and infant mortality and improve health delivery in the two districts.
Presenting the keys to the vehicles, the Korean Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Lee Sank-Hak, said the presentation of the vehicles was an indication of the Korean Government’s commitment to supporting health facilities in the country to reduce the high incidence of maternal and infant mortality.
According to him, Korea over the past four decades had a similar high infant mortality rate which was around 12 per cent; one of the highest in the world. Korea, he said, was, however, able to overcome this problem due to the support other countries gave to the country and the support of the Korean Government.
Receiving the keys to the vehicles on behalf of the two beneficiary districts, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, thanked the Korean Government for its commitment to improving healthcare delivery in the country.
He recounted how one of the Ophthalmologists at Koforidua who underwent a knee surgery at the St. Joseph Hospital, Koforidua passed away since there was no ambulance with life-saving gadgets at Koforidua to transport her to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
He, therefore, appealed the Korean Government to help provide an ambulance at Koforidua to service all the health facilities in the area.
The ambulances, equipped with all the necessary life-saving gadgets, are to support health facilities in the beneficiary districts to respond to emergency cases in their remote areas, especially women in labour.
The initiative, which is under a project dubbed, “Supporting Mother and Children Health Care in the Eastern Region”, is expected to help reduce maternal and infant mortality and improve health delivery in the two districts.
Presenting the keys to the vehicles, the Korean Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Lee Sank-Hak, said the presentation of the vehicles was an indication of the Korean Government’s commitment to supporting health facilities in the country to reduce the high incidence of maternal and infant mortality.
According to him, Korea over the past four decades had a similar high infant mortality rate which was around 12 per cent; one of the highest in the world. Korea, he said, was, however, able to overcome this problem due to the support other countries gave to the country and the support of the Korean Government.
Receiving the keys to the vehicles on behalf of the two beneficiary districts, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, thanked the Korean Government for its commitment to improving healthcare delivery in the country.
He recounted how one of the Ophthalmologists at Koforidua who underwent a knee surgery at the St. Joseph Hospital, Koforidua passed away since there was no ambulance with life-saving gadgets at Koforidua to transport her to the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital.
He, therefore, appealed the Korean Government to help provide an ambulance at Koforidua to service all the health facilities in the area.
JOURNALISTS TOLD TO ABIDE BY CODE OF ETHICS (PAGE 19, DEC 19)
THE President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Ransford Tetteh, has called on media practitioners to abide by the code of ethics of the profession in the discharge of their duties.
He urged them to strive to be balanced, accurate, fair and objective in their reportage to enable the media to effectively contribute to the country’s democratic governance.
Speaking at a press soiree in Koforidua on Thursday, Mr Tetteh reminded the media practitioners that “it is only when we abide by the code of ethics of our profession that we can win the goodwill of the public and uphold politicians, businessmen and individuals alike accountable”.
The event, which was organised by the Mac Dic Royal Plaza Hotel in Koforidua, was attended by members of the Eastern Regional branch of the GJA.
It was aimed at creating a flexible atmosphere for members of the inky fraternity to interact with the management of the hotel.
According to Mr Tetteh, members of the public had lately had concerns to express strong reservations about the negative attitude and reportage of the media and its practitioners, a situation which he said was gradually making the media to lose the goodwill of the public.
He indicated that as the Fourth Estate of the Realm, the media reserved a great power to hold members of society including politicians, businessmen and individuals accountable for their actions and conducts.
“However, we can only be in a better position to hold these public holders and individuals accountable when we ourselves behave professionally by being accurate, balanced, fair and objective in our reportage,” said the GJA President.
He told members of the association not to cultivate the habit of destroying the hard-earned reputation of businessmen and individuals.
“Rather, we must hasten slowly to cross-check every information with our sources and endeavour to partner businessmen to develop their businesses to create wealth and jobs for the people.”
He also told media practitioners to be prepared to admit and apologise when they erred in their reportage, saying that “as human beings, we are likely to make mistakes, but when we do, let us be prepared to apologise for our wrongs and make sure that we do not repeat them,” he added.
For his part, the Eastern Regional Chairman of the GJA, Mr Edmund Quaynor, appealed to members of the association to help champion the development of business entities in the region.
He, however, urged other corporate bodies to join hands with the media to ensure the socio-economic progress for their mutual benefits.
The Managing Director of Mac Dic Royal Plaza Hotel, Nana Kofi Twinin, who briefed media practitioners on the commencement, successes and challenges of the facility, indicated the readiness of his outfit to co-operate with the media to grow business in the New Juaben Municipality to create more employment for the people.
He acknowledged the power of the media in the socio-economic development of the country, adding that “we must use this power to team up with business entities to ensure their successful growth”.
He urged them to strive to be balanced, accurate, fair and objective in their reportage to enable the media to effectively contribute to the country’s democratic governance.
Speaking at a press soiree in Koforidua on Thursday, Mr Tetteh reminded the media practitioners that “it is only when we abide by the code of ethics of our profession that we can win the goodwill of the public and uphold politicians, businessmen and individuals alike accountable”.
The event, which was organised by the Mac Dic Royal Plaza Hotel in Koforidua, was attended by members of the Eastern Regional branch of the GJA.
It was aimed at creating a flexible atmosphere for members of the inky fraternity to interact with the management of the hotel.
According to Mr Tetteh, members of the public had lately had concerns to express strong reservations about the negative attitude and reportage of the media and its practitioners, a situation which he said was gradually making the media to lose the goodwill of the public.
He indicated that as the Fourth Estate of the Realm, the media reserved a great power to hold members of society including politicians, businessmen and individuals accountable for their actions and conducts.
“However, we can only be in a better position to hold these public holders and individuals accountable when we ourselves behave professionally by being accurate, balanced, fair and objective in our reportage,” said the GJA President.
He told members of the association not to cultivate the habit of destroying the hard-earned reputation of businessmen and individuals.
“Rather, we must hasten slowly to cross-check every information with our sources and endeavour to partner businessmen to develop their businesses to create wealth and jobs for the people.”
He also told media practitioners to be prepared to admit and apologise when they erred in their reportage, saying that “as human beings, we are likely to make mistakes, but when we do, let us be prepared to apologise for our wrongs and make sure that we do not repeat them,” he added.
For his part, the Eastern Regional Chairman of the GJA, Mr Edmund Quaynor, appealed to members of the association to help champion the development of business entities in the region.
He, however, urged other corporate bodies to join hands with the media to ensure the socio-economic progress for their mutual benefits.
The Managing Director of Mac Dic Royal Plaza Hotel, Nana Kofi Twinin, who briefed media practitioners on the commencement, successes and challenges of the facility, indicated the readiness of his outfit to co-operate with the media to grow business in the New Juaben Municipality to create more employment for the people.
He acknowledged the power of the media in the socio-economic development of the country, adding that “we must use this power to team up with business entities to ensure their successful growth”.
Monday, December 14, 2009
99-YEAR-OLD MAN GRADUATES FROM PRESBY UNIVERSITY (PAGE 11, DEC 14)
NINETY students, including a 99-year-old man, graduated at the 3rd congregation of the Presbyterian University College (PUC) held at Abetifi in the Eastern Region at the weekend.
The 99-year-old graduate, Mr Akasease Kofi Boakye Yiadom, a veteran who fought in the Second World War enrolled in the university at the age of 96, to read Business Administration.
In an address read on his behalf by the Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr Alex Segbefia, President John Evans Atta Mills advised graduates of tertiary institutions to stay in the country to apply the skills and knowledge they had acquired in the nation’s re-building process initiated by the government.
He said rather than migrating to other countries to become part of the common unskilled labour done there, they should use the skills in such areas as Information and Communication Technology (ICT), among other professions, to contribute their quota to the country’s socio-economic development.
The President reminded products of tertiary institutions that “since education at such higher levels had equipped them with the requisite knowledge and skills of critical thinking and creativity, they must strive to apply such skills to enable them to become self-employed”.
He reminded the graduates that “nation-building calls for hard work, dedication and the desire to achieve something for your country”.
“Remember the church, the nation and others have sacrificed to make you what you are today. You must arise and join the government to build this nation to realise our dream of a better Ghana”, said Prof. Mills.
On government education policy, the President said his government had put in place structures and measures which would, in no doubt, transform the educational system to produce “men and women who will positively impact on the search for solutions to the numerous challenges confronting our developmental agenda”.
He mentioned the provision of school uniforms for basic school pupils, starting from December this year, the abolition of all extra fees at the basic education level, increase in Capitation Grant from GH¢3 to GH¢4.5 per child and the improvement on the quality of teaching and learning with, incentive packages for teachers in deprived areas as part of the policy.
Prof. Mills also gave an assurance that the government would continue to subsidise the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) registration fees by 70 per cent, adding that in 2010, additional 415 school buildings would be provided in schools whose pupils attended classes under trees.
The President acknowledged the role being played by private tertiary institutions in the country, noting that the increase in the enrolment of students in tertiary education from approximately 10,000 in 1990 to 100,000 currently had been attained through the involvement of private tertiary institutions.
To enable the nation to enjoy the full benefit of the expansion of her tertiary educational system, he said the government was critically examining its tertiary education policy and its financing, adding that “we remained committed to its policy of cost sharing”.
Prof. Mills commended the Presbyterian Church of Ghana for playing a significant role in the educational system of the country from basic to tertiary levels, and appealed to the management of the PUC not to ignore the church’s noble principle as enshrined in the Presbyterian educational philosophy, but to inculcate it in its students.
Earlier in his welcoming address, the Principal of the PUC, Prof. K. Sraku-Lartey, said as part of the strategic plans to reposition the institution to become a centre of academic excellence and a pacesetter in tertiary education delivery, the University Council had approved plans to enable the institution to obtain a charter by 2013 and introduce new demand-driven programmes, which would meet both local and international requirements.
He announced plans to increase student population to at least 1,500 in five years and to at least 3,000 in the next 10 years, indicating that there were plans to establish a School of Agriculture, which he said would be backed by a viable commercial agriculture and take advantage of the University of Ghana’s College of Health Science Biomedical School to establish a medical school
On the challenges facing the institution, Prof. Sraku-Lartey expressed concern over the lack of accommodation for both staff and students, the lack of water on all campuses, lack of computers and accessories to run ICT programmes, and books for its library, and called on the government and well-endowed individuals to assist the institution.
The 99-year-old graduate, Mr Akasease Kofi Boakye Yiadom, a veteran who fought in the Second World War enrolled in the university at the age of 96, to read Business Administration.
In an address read on his behalf by the Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr Alex Segbefia, President John Evans Atta Mills advised graduates of tertiary institutions to stay in the country to apply the skills and knowledge they had acquired in the nation’s re-building process initiated by the government.
He said rather than migrating to other countries to become part of the common unskilled labour done there, they should use the skills in such areas as Information and Communication Technology (ICT), among other professions, to contribute their quota to the country’s socio-economic development.
The President reminded products of tertiary institutions that “since education at such higher levels had equipped them with the requisite knowledge and skills of critical thinking and creativity, they must strive to apply such skills to enable them to become self-employed”.
He reminded the graduates that “nation-building calls for hard work, dedication and the desire to achieve something for your country”.
“Remember the church, the nation and others have sacrificed to make you what you are today. You must arise and join the government to build this nation to realise our dream of a better Ghana”, said Prof. Mills.
On government education policy, the President said his government had put in place structures and measures which would, in no doubt, transform the educational system to produce “men and women who will positively impact on the search for solutions to the numerous challenges confronting our developmental agenda”.
He mentioned the provision of school uniforms for basic school pupils, starting from December this year, the abolition of all extra fees at the basic education level, increase in Capitation Grant from GH¢3 to GH¢4.5 per child and the improvement on the quality of teaching and learning with, incentive packages for teachers in deprived areas as part of the policy.
Prof. Mills also gave an assurance that the government would continue to subsidise the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) registration fees by 70 per cent, adding that in 2010, additional 415 school buildings would be provided in schools whose pupils attended classes under trees.
The President acknowledged the role being played by private tertiary institutions in the country, noting that the increase in the enrolment of students in tertiary education from approximately 10,000 in 1990 to 100,000 currently had been attained through the involvement of private tertiary institutions.
To enable the nation to enjoy the full benefit of the expansion of her tertiary educational system, he said the government was critically examining its tertiary education policy and its financing, adding that “we remained committed to its policy of cost sharing”.
Prof. Mills commended the Presbyterian Church of Ghana for playing a significant role in the educational system of the country from basic to tertiary levels, and appealed to the management of the PUC not to ignore the church’s noble principle as enshrined in the Presbyterian educational philosophy, but to inculcate it in its students.
Earlier in his welcoming address, the Principal of the PUC, Prof. K. Sraku-Lartey, said as part of the strategic plans to reposition the institution to become a centre of academic excellence and a pacesetter in tertiary education delivery, the University Council had approved plans to enable the institution to obtain a charter by 2013 and introduce new demand-driven programmes, which would meet both local and international requirements.
He announced plans to increase student population to at least 1,500 in five years and to at least 3,000 in the next 10 years, indicating that there were plans to establish a School of Agriculture, which he said would be backed by a viable commercial agriculture and take advantage of the University of Ghana’s College of Health Science Biomedical School to establish a medical school
On the challenges facing the institution, Prof. Sraku-Lartey expressed concern over the lack of accommodation for both staff and students, the lack of water on all campuses, lack of computers and accessories to run ICT programmes, and books for its library, and called on the government and well-endowed individuals to assist the institution.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
OSABARIMA PINKOR FINALLY SHOWS UP IN COURT (PAGE 19, DEC 12)
THE Chief of Akyem Apinamang in the Eastern Region, Osabarima Oware Pinkro III, last Thursday appeared before the Koforidua High Court, in obeisance of the court’s order to purge himself of contempt of the court.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Kossi Efo Kaglo, last Monday issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the chief, following his refusal to appear before it to explain why he should not be convicted for contempt.
He was granted bail in the sum of GH¢200,000 with two sureties to be justified.
Granting the bail, the court also ordered Osabarima Pinkro, who doubles as the Commandant of the Ghana Police College in Accra, to make available to the registrar of the court two recent passport pictures for the purposes of identification in case he absconded.
Prior to the granting of the bail, the court indicated that it could have remanded Osabarima Pinkro in police custody until December 15, 2009, the next adjourned date, warning him not to show any form of defiance to the court again.
When Osabarima Pinkro appeared in court, his counsel, Mr Kofi Asante, prayed the court to rescind the bench warrant for the arrest of his client, since he had made himself available to the court.
This position was supported by the plaintiff’s counsel, Mr K. Amoako Adjei, who also prayed the court to grant the defendant bail on condition that he would continue to make himself available to the court.
J.B. Dartey Mining Limited, a small-scale mining company, filed a motion on notice at the court, praying for an order to commit the chief for contempt for wilfully and spitefully interfering in the administration of justice.
The company instituted contempt proceedings at the court against the chief for allegedly preventing execution of the court’s order.
According to an affidavit in support of the motion filed by J.B. Dartey Mining Limited, the court, in an earlier judgement, restrained two traditional rulers, including Osabarima Pinkro and two others from entering or working on the concession granted to the company per an agreement between the Government of Ghana and the company.
According to the affidavit, after the judgement, the moveable properties of one of the judgement debtors, Victor Odonkor, a miner at Kobriso, were attached.
It said as a result, three armed policemen, led by a police officer, a court bailiff, an auctioneer and drivers who were to drive the attached vehicles to the court premises, went to Kobriso for the execution.
The affidavit said in the process of the execution, Victor Odonkor called Osabarima Pinkro, went to the scene and invited the auctioneer and the bailiff to Victor’s residence.
According to the affidavit, the auctioneer, Mr James Ampah, invited the Police Officer, Chief Inspector Djokoto, to accompany them to hear whatever the respondent had to say.
It said Osabarima Pinkro told the group that he would not allow them to execute the court order and that blood would be shed if they attempted to execute the order.
It averred that the chief further offered GH¢1,000 to the group that went to Odonkor’s residence, but it was refused.
The affidavit stated that the respondent further invited the group to his own palace at Apinamang, but members of the group declined, and out of fear for their lives, they returned to Koforidua.
According to the affidavit, as a result of the conduct of the respondent and the threat of death, the officers of the court and the others concerned were unable to execute the order.
“The conduct of the respondent, who is a chief and senior police officer, and who by his position is expected to train and instil discipline into the Police Service, has brought the administration of justice into disrepute,” it contended.
The court, presided over by Mr Justice Kossi Efo Kaglo, last Monday issued a bench warrant for the arrest of the chief, following his refusal to appear before it to explain why he should not be convicted for contempt.
He was granted bail in the sum of GH¢200,000 with two sureties to be justified.
Granting the bail, the court also ordered Osabarima Pinkro, who doubles as the Commandant of the Ghana Police College in Accra, to make available to the registrar of the court two recent passport pictures for the purposes of identification in case he absconded.
Prior to the granting of the bail, the court indicated that it could have remanded Osabarima Pinkro in police custody until December 15, 2009, the next adjourned date, warning him not to show any form of defiance to the court again.
When Osabarima Pinkro appeared in court, his counsel, Mr Kofi Asante, prayed the court to rescind the bench warrant for the arrest of his client, since he had made himself available to the court.
This position was supported by the plaintiff’s counsel, Mr K. Amoako Adjei, who also prayed the court to grant the defendant bail on condition that he would continue to make himself available to the court.
J.B. Dartey Mining Limited, a small-scale mining company, filed a motion on notice at the court, praying for an order to commit the chief for contempt for wilfully and spitefully interfering in the administration of justice.
The company instituted contempt proceedings at the court against the chief for allegedly preventing execution of the court’s order.
According to an affidavit in support of the motion filed by J.B. Dartey Mining Limited, the court, in an earlier judgement, restrained two traditional rulers, including Osabarima Pinkro and two others from entering or working on the concession granted to the company per an agreement between the Government of Ghana and the company.
According to the affidavit, after the judgement, the moveable properties of one of the judgement debtors, Victor Odonkor, a miner at Kobriso, were attached.
It said as a result, three armed policemen, led by a police officer, a court bailiff, an auctioneer and drivers who were to drive the attached vehicles to the court premises, went to Kobriso for the execution.
The affidavit said in the process of the execution, Victor Odonkor called Osabarima Pinkro, went to the scene and invited the auctioneer and the bailiff to Victor’s residence.
According to the affidavit, the auctioneer, Mr James Ampah, invited the Police Officer, Chief Inspector Djokoto, to accompany them to hear whatever the respondent had to say.
It said Osabarima Pinkro told the group that he would not allow them to execute the court order and that blood would be shed if they attempted to execute the order.
It averred that the chief further offered GH¢1,000 to the group that went to Odonkor’s residence, but it was refused.
The affidavit stated that the respondent further invited the group to his own palace at Apinamang, but members of the group declined, and out of fear for their lives, they returned to Koforidua.
According to the affidavit, as a result of the conduct of the respondent and the threat of death, the officers of the court and the others concerned were unable to execute the order.
“The conduct of the respondent, who is a chief and senior police officer, and who by his position is expected to train and instil discipline into the Police Service, has brought the administration of justice into disrepute,” it contended.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
ZAIN DONATES TOWARDS OKYENHENE'S EDUCATION FUND (SPREAD, DEC 10)
MR Amit Agrawal, the Country Head of Olam Ghana Limited, a leading cocoa buying company and leader in the packaged food business, has predicted an appreciable growth in the Ghanaian business environment in 2010.
He said the stability achieved in the economy, backed by other favourable economic indicators, pointed to Ghana growing its business environment next year.
Mr Agrawal was speaking with the Daily Graphic at a business development dinner organised by the company for distributors of its packaged foods from the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Northern regions in Kumasi.
The occasion was to take a retrospective look at business activities for the year and chart a path for further progress in 2010.
Mr Agrawal said the company was taking advantage of the economic climate to build a world-class consumer business in the country.
"Ghana deserves the best and this is what OLAM is doing to meet the needs of the people,” he said.
He said the company, which also dealt in cashew, shea-nut and cotton, was well alive to its responsibilities and would never turn back.
The country head commended the distributors for their hard work, which enabled the company to see a significant growth in the business for the year and expressed the hope that they would continue to work hard in the coming years.
He said the stability achieved in the economy, backed by other favourable economic indicators, pointed to Ghana growing its business environment next year.
Mr Agrawal was speaking with the Daily Graphic at a business development dinner organised by the company for distributors of its packaged foods from the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo and Northern regions in Kumasi.
The occasion was to take a retrospective look at business activities for the year and chart a path for further progress in 2010.
Mr Agrawal said the company was taking advantage of the economic climate to build a world-class consumer business in the country.
"Ghana deserves the best and this is what OLAM is doing to meet the needs of the people,” he said.
He said the company, which also dealt in cashew, shea-nut and cotton, was well alive to its responsibilities and would never turn back.
The country head commended the distributors for their hard work, which enabled the company to see a significant growth in the business for the year and expressed the hope that they would continue to work hard in the coming years.
Friday, December 4, 2009
24 ALLEGED RIOTERS GRANTED BAIL (PAGE 3, DEC 4)
TWENTY-FOUR people who were arrested for engaging in violence during the recent chieftaincy dispute at Krobo-Odumase in the Lower Manya District were on Wednesday granted bail by the Odumase circuit court.
The accused persons were first remanded by the court on November 20, this year for breaching public peace that resulted in gunshots in which six persons sustained various degrees of injury.
They were granted bail in the sum of GH¢10,000 each with two sureties.
The release of the accused persons came when the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Emelia Kessie Ebeheakey, prayed the court to warn them to be of good behaviour and desist from engaging in acts that could stir up violence in the area.
The court, presided over by Mr Asamah Kwasi Asiedu, consequently cautioned the accused persons to comport themselves while on bail, failure of which the bail would be revoked.
The suspects, who are yet to be charged, are to reappear before the court on December 22, 2009, while investigations into the chieftaincy dispute continue.
According to the facts of the case, the suspects were arrested when some youth joined opposing royal families in the Piengwa chieftaincy dispute and clashed with youth supporting the incumbent chief, Nene Tetteh Zogli III, at the Yokwenor Palace on November 20, 2009.
The prosecutor said the enstoolment of Nene Zogli three years ago had been opposed by the three royal families — the Zogli Kwabla We, the Angmortey Zogli We and the Tetteh Akora We — who had called for his destoolment, since he was not a royal but rather a “Sipim”, a king maker.
She said the three factions set up a committee that confirmed that the chief was not a royal.
They petitioned the Paramount Chief of Manya Krobo, Nene Sackitey, against the enstoolment of Nene Zogli as the chief of the Piengwa Division, but Nene Sackitey did not approve of their call for the sitting chief’s destoolment.
Angered by the disapproval by the paramount chief, the three opposing royal families, going by the findings of the committee, insisted on destooling Nene Zogli.
According to her, the police received reports that the three opposing factions had confined one Staff Sergeant Martin Odjidja of the 37 Military Hospital to be installed but Nene Zogli confronted them at the main palace, resulting in the gunshots in which six persons from the opposing royal families sustained injuries.
She said the police immediately intervened and arrested the youth belonging to the three opposing royal families and those who attempted to destool Nene Zogli without notifying the police.
The accused persons were first remanded by the court on November 20, this year for breaching public peace that resulted in gunshots in which six persons sustained various degrees of injury.
They were granted bail in the sum of GH¢10,000 each with two sureties.
The release of the accused persons came when the prosecutor, Chief Inspector Emelia Kessie Ebeheakey, prayed the court to warn them to be of good behaviour and desist from engaging in acts that could stir up violence in the area.
The court, presided over by Mr Asamah Kwasi Asiedu, consequently cautioned the accused persons to comport themselves while on bail, failure of which the bail would be revoked.
The suspects, who are yet to be charged, are to reappear before the court on December 22, 2009, while investigations into the chieftaincy dispute continue.
According to the facts of the case, the suspects were arrested when some youth joined opposing royal families in the Piengwa chieftaincy dispute and clashed with youth supporting the incumbent chief, Nene Tetteh Zogli III, at the Yokwenor Palace on November 20, 2009.
The prosecutor said the enstoolment of Nene Zogli three years ago had been opposed by the three royal families — the Zogli Kwabla We, the Angmortey Zogli We and the Tetteh Akora We — who had called for his destoolment, since he was not a royal but rather a “Sipim”, a king maker.
She said the three factions set up a committee that confirmed that the chief was not a royal.
They petitioned the Paramount Chief of Manya Krobo, Nene Sackitey, against the enstoolment of Nene Zogli as the chief of the Piengwa Division, but Nene Sackitey did not approve of their call for the sitting chief’s destoolment.
Angered by the disapproval by the paramount chief, the three opposing royal families, going by the findings of the committee, insisted on destooling Nene Zogli.
According to her, the police received reports that the three opposing factions had confined one Staff Sergeant Martin Odjidja of the 37 Military Hospital to be installed but Nene Zogli confronted them at the main palace, resulting in the gunshots in which six persons from the opposing royal families sustained injuries.
She said the police immediately intervened and arrested the youth belonging to the three opposing royal families and those who attempted to destool Nene Zogli without notifying the police.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
EDUCATION OFFICERS DON'T JUST FIND FAULTS (PAGE 11, DEC 2)
THE Eastern Regional Manager of the Presbyterian Educational Unit, Rev. Samuel Yeboah Antwi, has appealed to teachers to regard education officers as partners in the delivery of quality education and not as people who just wish to find faults with them.
According to him, the general perception among teachers that education officers were people who went round to various schools only to find faults was seriously undermining efforts at improving the standard of education in some Presbyterian basic schools in the New Juaben Municipality.
“The visits by the educational officers, as part of the educational focus of the church, are aimed at encouraging teachers to offer their best and work with them as partners in the delivery of quality education at the basic levels, but not to find any fault,” Rev. Antwi stated.
Rev. Antwi made the appeal at a one-day capacity building workshop for 50 Mathematics, Integrated Science, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Basic Design Technology teachers drawn from the Presbyterian junior high schools (JHS) in the New Juaben Municipality at the weekend.
The workshop was to equip the participants with the requisite knowledge and skills to enable them to proficiently teach the subjects to improve educational standards at the Presbyterian basic schools in the area.
It was organised by the Presbyterian Education Unit in Koforidua.
Rev. Antwi said the frequent visits by the education officers from the Presbyterian Education Units to various basic schools of the church in the New Juaben Municipality were aimed at ensuring that teachers put in their best, were punctual, prepared their lesson notes and gave assignments to their pupils.
He, however, expressed worry about the perception among some teachers who had often considered such visits by the education officers as “a fault-finding mission to be used to punish them”.
This negative perception, according to him, was seriously undermining efforts by the education unit to work closely with teachers so as to improve educational standards at the basic schools in the area.
According to him, the general perception among teachers that education officers were people who went round to various schools only to find faults was seriously undermining efforts at improving the standard of education in some Presbyterian basic schools in the New Juaben Municipality.
“The visits by the educational officers, as part of the educational focus of the church, are aimed at encouraging teachers to offer their best and work with them as partners in the delivery of quality education at the basic levels, but not to find any fault,” Rev. Antwi stated.
Rev. Antwi made the appeal at a one-day capacity building workshop for 50 Mathematics, Integrated Science, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Basic Design Technology teachers drawn from the Presbyterian junior high schools (JHS) in the New Juaben Municipality at the weekend.
The workshop was to equip the participants with the requisite knowledge and skills to enable them to proficiently teach the subjects to improve educational standards at the Presbyterian basic schools in the area.
It was organised by the Presbyterian Education Unit in Koforidua.
Rev. Antwi said the frequent visits by the education officers from the Presbyterian Education Units to various basic schools of the church in the New Juaben Municipality were aimed at ensuring that teachers put in their best, were punctual, prepared their lesson notes and gave assignments to their pupils.
He, however, expressed worry about the perception among some teachers who had often considered such visits by the education officers as “a fault-finding mission to be used to punish them”.
This negative perception, according to him, was seriously undermining efforts by the education unit to work closely with teachers so as to improve educational standards at the basic schools in the area.
OKORASE MURDER CASE: TWO REMANDED (PAGE 3, DEC 2)
THE District Magistrate Court in Koforidua yesterday remanded in prison custody the spiritualist who is alleged to have murdered a popular 30-year-old businesswoman at Okorase, near Koforidua.
The accused, Joseph Tetteh, 35, alias Mallam, was remanded together with his landlord, Derrick Ameyaw, 28, alias Papa Yaw, whom he suspected to have killed the deceased.
Tetteh and Ameyaw, who have been provisionally charged with murder, are to re-appear on December 17, 2009.
The premises of the court, which was presided over by Mrs Priscilla Yeboah, were filled to capacity by black-clothed relatives and friends of Rita Baah’s, alias Afia Atta, the businesswoman who was murdered on November 15, this year.
The prosecutor in the case, Inspector Patrick H. K. Sackitey, had prayed the court to remand the accused persons in prison custody to enable investigators to carry out further enquiries into the case.
He was of the opinion that the two-week remand would enable investigators to take the two suspects to the Police Hospital in Accra for fluid tests to be conducted on them.
However, counsel for the accused, Mr Alfred Agyei-Mensah, opposed that and rather prayed the court to remand the two in police custody to ensure that he had easy access to them.
The court, considering that the police had recently become a target of public criticism over the frequent death of suspects while in police custody, agreed to put the two in prison custody.
Counsel also prayed the court to prevail on the prosecutor to make available the charge sheet of the case to him to enable him to study it to ensure proper defence of his clients.
Prior to the court sitting, some female relatives of the deceased were seen pointing fingers at Tetteh and verbally threatening him.
According to the facts of the case, the deceased was a trader and resident of Osabene at Mile 50, a suburb of Koforidua, while the suspects lived at Domeabra Junction at Okorase.
The prosecutor said about 1.30 a.m. on November 15, 2009, Nana Semanshia Ohene Ansah Akofa II, the Chief of Ahwerease, called the Koforidua Central Police Station to report that he, in the company of four colleagues of his, was in a vehicle from Akropong-Akuapem to Suhum and that on reaching Okorase he spotted Tetteh with a dead body tied to his motorbike.
He said when Nana Semanshia and his colleagues attempted to confront and arrest the suspect, he abandoned his bike, with registration number GN 8843 Z, and the body of the deceased and ran into the bush.
According to him, investigations revealed that the deceased had been consulting Tetteh for spiritual assistance to enhance her business and marriage.
The prosecutor indicated that on November 14, this year, Rita visited the spiritualist upon a previous appointment to undergo spiritual cleansing at the shrine.
He told the court that Rita was killed by Tetteh about 10 a.m. at the shrine in a house owned by Ameyaw, who also lived in the house.
“The spiritualist waited until 12.50 a.m. on November 15, this year when he wrapped the body of the deceased in a bed spread, tied her onto his motorbike and was going to dump the body near where her fiancé, one Samuel Kwasi Asamani, lived at Osabene at Mile 50, near Koforidua,” Inspector Sackitey stated.
However, Nana Semanshia and his colleagues saw him and attempted to arrest him but he managed to escape to the house to clean the traces of blood in the house. However, on hearing a crowd approaching the house, Tetteh again escaped, but he was arrested at Tei Nkwanta by a mob who nearly lynched him.
He denied killing the deceased, whom he claimed had rather been killed by his landlord and his friend, one Martin, adding that the deceased had earlier informed him that the landlord had proposed to marry her but she refused and he had since been harassing her.
Meanwhile, Rita will be buried in Koforidua on Saturday, December 5, 2009.
The accused, Joseph Tetteh, 35, alias Mallam, was remanded together with his landlord, Derrick Ameyaw, 28, alias Papa Yaw, whom he suspected to have killed the deceased.
Tetteh and Ameyaw, who have been provisionally charged with murder, are to re-appear on December 17, 2009.
The premises of the court, which was presided over by Mrs Priscilla Yeboah, were filled to capacity by black-clothed relatives and friends of Rita Baah’s, alias Afia Atta, the businesswoman who was murdered on November 15, this year.
The prosecutor in the case, Inspector Patrick H. K. Sackitey, had prayed the court to remand the accused persons in prison custody to enable investigators to carry out further enquiries into the case.
He was of the opinion that the two-week remand would enable investigators to take the two suspects to the Police Hospital in Accra for fluid tests to be conducted on them.
However, counsel for the accused, Mr Alfred Agyei-Mensah, opposed that and rather prayed the court to remand the two in police custody to ensure that he had easy access to them.
The court, considering that the police had recently become a target of public criticism over the frequent death of suspects while in police custody, agreed to put the two in prison custody.
Counsel also prayed the court to prevail on the prosecutor to make available the charge sheet of the case to him to enable him to study it to ensure proper defence of his clients.
Prior to the court sitting, some female relatives of the deceased were seen pointing fingers at Tetteh and verbally threatening him.
According to the facts of the case, the deceased was a trader and resident of Osabene at Mile 50, a suburb of Koforidua, while the suspects lived at Domeabra Junction at Okorase.
The prosecutor said about 1.30 a.m. on November 15, 2009, Nana Semanshia Ohene Ansah Akofa II, the Chief of Ahwerease, called the Koforidua Central Police Station to report that he, in the company of four colleagues of his, was in a vehicle from Akropong-Akuapem to Suhum and that on reaching Okorase he spotted Tetteh with a dead body tied to his motorbike.
He said when Nana Semanshia and his colleagues attempted to confront and arrest the suspect, he abandoned his bike, with registration number GN 8843 Z, and the body of the deceased and ran into the bush.
According to him, investigations revealed that the deceased had been consulting Tetteh for spiritual assistance to enhance her business and marriage.
The prosecutor indicated that on November 14, this year, Rita visited the spiritualist upon a previous appointment to undergo spiritual cleansing at the shrine.
He told the court that Rita was killed by Tetteh about 10 a.m. at the shrine in a house owned by Ameyaw, who also lived in the house.
“The spiritualist waited until 12.50 a.m. on November 15, this year when he wrapped the body of the deceased in a bed spread, tied her onto his motorbike and was going to dump the body near where her fiancé, one Samuel Kwasi Asamani, lived at Osabene at Mile 50, near Koforidua,” Inspector Sackitey stated.
However, Nana Semanshia and his colleagues saw him and attempted to arrest him but he managed to escape to the house to clean the traces of blood in the house. However, on hearing a crowd approaching the house, Tetteh again escaped, but he was arrested at Tei Nkwanta by a mob who nearly lynched him.
He denied killing the deceased, whom he claimed had rather been killed by his landlord and his friend, one Martin, adding that the deceased had earlier informed him that the landlord had proposed to marry her but she refused and he had since been harassing her.
Meanwhile, Rita will be buried in Koforidua on Saturday, December 5, 2009.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
SUPRISO-SUHUM GETS POTABLE WATER (PAGE 20, DEC 1)
THE Rotary Club of Accra Ring Road Central, in partnership with the Hunger Project has constructed an $8,050 water project at Supriso in the Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar District of the Eastern Region.
The Supriso Epicentre Water Project, which comprises a borehole connected to a 7,000-litre water tank with a submersible pump and a generator, is to provide clean drinking water for 150 residents of the area and surrounding villages.
Members of the beneficiary communities frequent the epicentre building for their health care services, education, banking services as well as food storage and processing facilities.
The Supriso Epicentre of the Hunger Project supports villages surrounding the epicentre and is aimed at ensuring food security and enabling them to emerge from abject poverty within five years.
In an address read on her behalf at the inaugural ceremony of the project, the President of the Rotary Club of Accra Ring Road Central, Nana Okyerewaa Asiedu-Addo, said the provision of clean water would drastically reduce the incidence of water-borne diseases and enable young girls to engage in productive ventures instead of walking long distances to fetch unsafe water on a daily basis.
According to her, the construction of the facility was made possible through the support of the Rotary Foundation, the Rotary Clubs of Accra Ring Road, Rotary Club of Wakiki and other partners
The National Programmes Officer of the THP, Mr Isaac Olesu-Adjei, said until the completion of the Supriso Epicentre Building in 2008, health personnel were reluctant to move into the nurses’ quarters and work at the clinic due to the absence of potable water and electricity.
He noted that before the construction of the water project, the nurses were operating under difficult conditions and, therefore, expressed happiness that the provision of clean water would be a relief to the health workers and people in the community.
“The provision of clean water is consistent with THP’s aim of supporting partner communities to meet the Millennium Development Goals”, Mr Olesu-Adjei stated.
For their part, Messrs Samuel F. Kwarbi and Frederick Opare-Ansah, the District Chief Executive for the Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar District and the MP for the area respectively, commended the Rotary Club of Accra Ring Road Central for the support given to the people. They urged the beneficiary communities to take good care of the facility to enable them derive the intended benefits.
The Supriso Epicentre Water Project, which comprises a borehole connected to a 7,000-litre water tank with a submersible pump and a generator, is to provide clean drinking water for 150 residents of the area and surrounding villages.
Members of the beneficiary communities frequent the epicentre building for their health care services, education, banking services as well as food storage and processing facilities.
The Supriso Epicentre of the Hunger Project supports villages surrounding the epicentre and is aimed at ensuring food security and enabling them to emerge from abject poverty within five years.
In an address read on her behalf at the inaugural ceremony of the project, the President of the Rotary Club of Accra Ring Road Central, Nana Okyerewaa Asiedu-Addo, said the provision of clean water would drastically reduce the incidence of water-borne diseases and enable young girls to engage in productive ventures instead of walking long distances to fetch unsafe water on a daily basis.
According to her, the construction of the facility was made possible through the support of the Rotary Foundation, the Rotary Clubs of Accra Ring Road, Rotary Club of Wakiki and other partners
The National Programmes Officer of the THP, Mr Isaac Olesu-Adjei, said until the completion of the Supriso Epicentre Building in 2008, health personnel were reluctant to move into the nurses’ quarters and work at the clinic due to the absence of potable water and electricity.
He noted that before the construction of the water project, the nurses were operating under difficult conditions and, therefore, expressed happiness that the provision of clean water would be a relief to the health workers and people in the community.
“The provision of clean water is consistent with THP’s aim of supporting partner communities to meet the Millennium Development Goals”, Mr Olesu-Adjei stated.
For their part, Messrs Samuel F. Kwarbi and Frederick Opare-Ansah, the District Chief Executive for the Suhum-Kraboa-Coaltar District and the MP for the area respectively, commended the Rotary Club of Accra Ring Road Central for the support given to the people. They urged the beneficiary communities to take good care of the facility to enable them derive the intended benefits.
Monday, November 30, 2009
URBAN TRANSPORT WORKSHOP ENDS (PAGE 3, NOV 30)
A TWO-DAY capacity building workshop to equip various professionals with communication skills to enable them to contribute to the successful implementation of the Urban Transport Project in the country ended in Koforidua last Friday.
The workshop drew about 60 public relations officers, surveyors, marketers, among others, working at the Urban Passenger Transport units of 10 metropolitan and municipal assemblies in the country.
They were equipped with the rudiments of effective communications management, media and public relations skills to enable them to effectively communicate with different stakeholders in the transport industry.
They were drawn from the Urban Passenger Transport Unit offices of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), the Tema Metropolitan Assembly, as well as the Ledzorkuku, Krowor, Ga East, Ga West, Adenta, Ashiaman, Ejisu and Weija Municipal assemblies, who would be implementing the project on a pilot basis.
It was organised by the Urban Transport Project and facilitated by the Staurus Training Ghana.
Addressing the participants at the opening ceremony, the Head of Communications and Public Relations of the Urban Transport Project, Mr Kwadwo Antwi, said the implementation of the project was aimed at improving urban mobility and dealing with traffic and congestion in towns and cities.
Under phase one, he said, the government would give priority to providing the necessary infrastructure such as the construction of bus lanes from Mallam to the central business district of Accra and high occupancy vehicles and buses to facilitate the movement of the people.
“To this end, the government, in implementing the project ,is constructing a road from Mallam to the central business district and providing dedicated special bus lanes to reduce the long hours commuters spend moving from one place to another”, Mr Antwi said.
He was hopeful that the successful implementation of the project would encourage Ghanaians to “move from their private vehicles into these buses and commute to any destination without the delays and other hindrances often encountered on our roads”.
A resource person from the Staurus Training of Ghana, Mr Graham Rose, an international consultant and trainer in communications and advertising, educated the participants on the need to effectively package their message using the appropriate communication medium to reach the desired target audience.
That, according to him, would enable them to effectively and efficiently communicate the immense benefits of the project and solicit the support and co-operation of the public.
The workshop drew about 60 public relations officers, surveyors, marketers, among others, working at the Urban Passenger Transport units of 10 metropolitan and municipal assemblies in the country.
They were equipped with the rudiments of effective communications management, media and public relations skills to enable them to effectively communicate with different stakeholders in the transport industry.
They were drawn from the Urban Passenger Transport Unit offices of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), the Tema Metropolitan Assembly, as well as the Ledzorkuku, Krowor, Ga East, Ga West, Adenta, Ashiaman, Ejisu and Weija Municipal assemblies, who would be implementing the project on a pilot basis.
It was organised by the Urban Transport Project and facilitated by the Staurus Training Ghana.
Addressing the participants at the opening ceremony, the Head of Communications and Public Relations of the Urban Transport Project, Mr Kwadwo Antwi, said the implementation of the project was aimed at improving urban mobility and dealing with traffic and congestion in towns and cities.
Under phase one, he said, the government would give priority to providing the necessary infrastructure such as the construction of bus lanes from Mallam to the central business district of Accra and high occupancy vehicles and buses to facilitate the movement of the people.
“To this end, the government, in implementing the project ,is constructing a road from Mallam to the central business district and providing dedicated special bus lanes to reduce the long hours commuters spend moving from one place to another”, Mr Antwi said.
He was hopeful that the successful implementation of the project would encourage Ghanaians to “move from their private vehicles into these buses and commute to any destination without the delays and other hindrances often encountered on our roads”.
A resource person from the Staurus Training of Ghana, Mr Graham Rose, an international consultant and trainer in communications and advertising, educated the participants on the need to effectively package their message using the appropriate communication medium to reach the desired target audience.
That, according to him, would enable them to effectively and efficiently communicate the immense benefits of the project and solicit the support and co-operation of the public.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
PRODUCTS OF TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS MUST BE CREATIVE (PAGE 11, NOV 25)
THE challenge facing the country’s development is not the absence of human resource but how to expose the available human resource to opportunities that need creative undertakings to solve problems to improve the lot of the people.
Professor Alfred A. Oteng-Boateng, a former Deputy Director of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) who made this statement said the country needed young entrepreneurs with creative abilities to come up with innovations that would boost the country’s development aspirations.
He, therefore, has challenged products of tertiary institutions in the country not to only acquire the requisite knowledge and skills but to be creative to enable them to contribute meaningfully to the country’s socio-economic development.
“The purpose of your education as products of universities has been to expose you to knowledge that has opened you to capacity to be innovative and use your mind to create something from an existing entity in order to benefit society,” Prof. Oteng-Boateng said.
He was speaking at the matriculation and the fourth convocation of the All Nations University College (ANUC) at Koforidua.
The event saw the admission of 472 students to pursue various programmes and the graduation of 360 students out of which nine had first class.
According to Prof. Oteng-Boateng, the debacle of the 2008 global financial downturn had posed serious global economic upheaval to almost all economies across the world.
This unfortunate situation, he said, required the government to pursue good economic policies to overcome the effects of the global financial crisis in the areas of poverty, severe hunger, urbanisation, violence, diseases and depletion of both renewable and non-renewable natural resources.
“The success of such a policy demands the availability of a certain cadre of human resource that understands what it takes to make an economy tick and contribute to sustainable social and environmental development of the country,” he stated.
More than ever before, he noted that Ghana needed people with creative abilities to come up with innovative inventions that would boost agricultural practices to enhance food security, promote safe and efficient exploitation of the mineral wealth of the country and address environmental degradation, among others.
Speaking on the topic “Science and Technology Education in Nation Building”, the President of ANUC, Dr Samuel Donkor said in a world dominated by technology, access to knowledge was more important than access to natural resources and capital, saying advances in science and technology had affected every sphere of human life, from education, transport, communication, commerce, employment and many others.
According to him, unlike the past, countries like Japan and others with limited natural resources had evolved into dominant economies by focusing on science and technology which had been their engine of economic and social development.
“These countries including India can boast of a reasonably strong educational, research, pharmaceutical, industrial infrastructure, space technologies and automobiles”, Dr Donkor said.
He indicated that it was the immense advantage of technology to the country’s socio-economic development that the ANUC had deliberately chosen science and technology based education to prepare the youth to look into the future with confidence and contribute to nation-building.
“But we must not forget that the fast changing technologies of today often make skills redundant unless a continuous programme of skill upgrading is taken. Education can no longer be limited to the days of university but has to be a continuous exercise,” he reminded the graduands.
Professor Alfred A. Oteng-Boateng, a former Deputy Director of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) who made this statement said the country needed young entrepreneurs with creative abilities to come up with innovations that would boost the country’s development aspirations.
He, therefore, has challenged products of tertiary institutions in the country not to only acquire the requisite knowledge and skills but to be creative to enable them to contribute meaningfully to the country’s socio-economic development.
“The purpose of your education as products of universities has been to expose you to knowledge that has opened you to capacity to be innovative and use your mind to create something from an existing entity in order to benefit society,” Prof. Oteng-Boateng said.
He was speaking at the matriculation and the fourth convocation of the All Nations University College (ANUC) at Koforidua.
The event saw the admission of 472 students to pursue various programmes and the graduation of 360 students out of which nine had first class.
According to Prof. Oteng-Boateng, the debacle of the 2008 global financial downturn had posed serious global economic upheaval to almost all economies across the world.
This unfortunate situation, he said, required the government to pursue good economic policies to overcome the effects of the global financial crisis in the areas of poverty, severe hunger, urbanisation, violence, diseases and depletion of both renewable and non-renewable natural resources.
“The success of such a policy demands the availability of a certain cadre of human resource that understands what it takes to make an economy tick and contribute to sustainable social and environmental development of the country,” he stated.
More than ever before, he noted that Ghana needed people with creative abilities to come up with innovative inventions that would boost agricultural practices to enhance food security, promote safe and efficient exploitation of the mineral wealth of the country and address environmental degradation, among others.
Speaking on the topic “Science and Technology Education in Nation Building”, the President of ANUC, Dr Samuel Donkor said in a world dominated by technology, access to knowledge was more important than access to natural resources and capital, saying advances in science and technology had affected every sphere of human life, from education, transport, communication, commerce, employment and many others.
According to him, unlike the past, countries like Japan and others with limited natural resources had evolved into dominant economies by focusing on science and technology which had been their engine of economic and social development.
“These countries including India can boast of a reasonably strong educational, research, pharmaceutical, industrial infrastructure, space technologies and automobiles”, Dr Donkor said.
He indicated that it was the immense advantage of technology to the country’s socio-economic development that the ANUC had deliberately chosen science and technology based education to prepare the youth to look into the future with confidence and contribute to nation-building.
“But we must not forget that the fast changing technologies of today often make skills redundant unless a continuous programme of skill upgrading is taken. Education can no longer be limited to the days of university but has to be a continuous exercise,” he reminded the graduands.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
LET'S ADDRESS CAUSES OF CLIMATE CHANGE (NOV 24, SPREAD)
President John Evans Atta Mills has called for effective collaboration among metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies, traditional authorities, religious bodies and other stakeholders to help address the causes of climate change, which is threatening human survival.
He said global warming was creating severe environmental consequences such as drought, floods, rise in sea levels, coastal erosion, deforestation, land degradation, loss of biodiversity and many other harmful effects.
The President made the call in an address read on his behalf by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, at this year’s Akwantukese Festival of the chiefs and people of the New Juaben Traditional Area.
“Unfortunately, developing countries, including Ghana, are the primary and worst casualties of global warming and this calls on us to constitute community watch committees to fight this menace,” he said.
The occasion, which marked the 131st anniversary of the settlement of the people of New Juaben at their present location, attracted a large gathering of people from all walks of life, including the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo; his deputy, Mr Baba Jamal, and the President of the City of Rochester and Livingstone, New York, Mrs Cynthia Oswald.
It was on the theme, “Effective partnership between the State and traditional authorities for sustainable development”.
The President said the burning issues concerning climate change had assumed global dimensions because of the immense danger they posed to human survival across the globe.
To reduce the effects of the phenomenon, he stressed the need for collaboration among stakeholders, not only at the international and local levels but also at the community level, as “we in the community are invariably the architects of these hazards”.
Emphasising the role traditional authorities could play, the President indicated that in the few past decades chiefs were responsible for the preservation of natural resources in their areas.
“They ensured that at least water bodies were kept safe and clean, curbed societal and individual habits that threatened the safety of our forests, sea fronts and the general surroundings. This was done through surveillance and pressure to comply with established customs and practices,” Prof. Mills said.
He, however, indicated that under current trends in rural development, “this aspect of traditional responsibility has, to a very large extent, diminished”.
On development, he said the government was determined to get the nation firmly anchored on the ladder of economic development to ensure that the desired economic transformation was realistically achieved.
“In this regard, I want to assure Ghanaians that my government is vigorously pursuing its agenda of building a better Ghana and we shall surely succeed,” he stressed.
Prof. Mills assured the people that since the country’s economic strength resided in agriculture, investment in the sector had been ranked high in the government’s development priorities.
The President commended the Omanhene of the New Juaben Traditional Area, Daasebre (Prof. Emeritus) Oti Boateng, and the New Juaben Traditional Council for their commitment to the development of the area.
In his welcoming address, Daasebre Oti Boateng said some of the achievements of his 17-year reign included extensive installation of street lighting system, electrification projects, the construction of affordable housing units, a new modern library for New Juaben and the ongoing Koforidua water project.
With respect to education, he expressed joy at the establishment of the All Nations University College (ANUC) in Koforidua and the initiative of the college to introduce a Faculty of Oil and Gas for the emerging oil industry.
The Omanhene appealed to the government to upgrade New Juaben from a municipality to metropolitan status, since its population remained higher than some of the metropolitan areas in the country.
He said global warming was creating severe environmental consequences such as drought, floods, rise in sea levels, coastal erosion, deforestation, land degradation, loss of biodiversity and many other harmful effects.
The President made the call in an address read on his behalf by the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Joseph Yieleh Chireh, at this year’s Akwantukese Festival of the chiefs and people of the New Juaben Traditional Area.
“Unfortunately, developing countries, including Ghana, are the primary and worst casualties of global warming and this calls on us to constitute community watch committees to fight this menace,” he said.
The occasion, which marked the 131st anniversary of the settlement of the people of New Juaben at their present location, attracted a large gathering of people from all walks of life, including the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo; his deputy, Mr Baba Jamal, and the President of the City of Rochester and Livingstone, New York, Mrs Cynthia Oswald.
It was on the theme, “Effective partnership between the State and traditional authorities for sustainable development”.
The President said the burning issues concerning climate change had assumed global dimensions because of the immense danger they posed to human survival across the globe.
To reduce the effects of the phenomenon, he stressed the need for collaboration among stakeholders, not only at the international and local levels but also at the community level, as “we in the community are invariably the architects of these hazards”.
Emphasising the role traditional authorities could play, the President indicated that in the few past decades chiefs were responsible for the preservation of natural resources in their areas.
“They ensured that at least water bodies were kept safe and clean, curbed societal and individual habits that threatened the safety of our forests, sea fronts and the general surroundings. This was done through surveillance and pressure to comply with established customs and practices,” Prof. Mills said.
He, however, indicated that under current trends in rural development, “this aspect of traditional responsibility has, to a very large extent, diminished”.
On development, he said the government was determined to get the nation firmly anchored on the ladder of economic development to ensure that the desired economic transformation was realistically achieved.
“In this regard, I want to assure Ghanaians that my government is vigorously pursuing its agenda of building a better Ghana and we shall surely succeed,” he stressed.
Prof. Mills assured the people that since the country’s economic strength resided in agriculture, investment in the sector had been ranked high in the government’s development priorities.
The President commended the Omanhene of the New Juaben Traditional Area, Daasebre (Prof. Emeritus) Oti Boateng, and the New Juaben Traditional Council for their commitment to the development of the area.
In his welcoming address, Daasebre Oti Boateng said some of the achievements of his 17-year reign included extensive installation of street lighting system, electrification projects, the construction of affordable housing units, a new modern library for New Juaben and the ongoing Koforidua water project.
With respect to education, he expressed joy at the establishment of the All Nations University College (ANUC) in Koforidua and the initiative of the college to introduce a Faculty of Oil and Gas for the emerging oil industry.
The Omanhene appealed to the government to upgrade New Juaben from a municipality to metropolitan status, since its population remained higher than some of the metropolitan areas in the country.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
MAN FOUND HANGING IN COMPOUND HOUSE (BACK PAGE, NOV 21)
THE body of a man, believed to be in his 70s, has been found hanging from the pillar of a wall in a compound house at Timber Market, a suburb of Koforidua, in a case suspected to be suicide.
This comes less than a week after another case in which a popular businesswoman in Koforidua was allegedly murdered by a spiritualist in the town.
In the latest incident which occurred about 5.30 am yesterday, the body of Mumuni Zakaria, who lived in the house at Timber Market, was found by family members and neighbours with a rope around his neck in an open place where, according to his neighbours, the deceased used to pray.
A large crowd gathered at the scene to catch a glimpse of the deceased, whom many described as “a decent and quiet fellow”.
Grief-stricken relatives who spoke to the Daily Graphic indicated that the deceased, who had two elderly children, looked healthy and sound prior to his death.
According to them, he had spent time with them the whole of Thursday.
“We fed him just last night, after which we parted, until 5.30 a.m. when we found him hanging dead by a wall where he used to pray,” a 21-year-old niece of the deceased said.
This comes less than a week after another case in which a popular businesswoman in Koforidua was allegedly murdered by a spiritualist in the town.
In the latest incident which occurred about 5.30 am yesterday, the body of Mumuni Zakaria, who lived in the house at Timber Market, was found by family members and neighbours with a rope around his neck in an open place where, according to his neighbours, the deceased used to pray.
A large crowd gathered at the scene to catch a glimpse of the deceased, whom many described as “a decent and quiet fellow”.
Grief-stricken relatives who spoke to the Daily Graphic indicated that the deceased, who had two elderly children, looked healthy and sound prior to his death.
According to them, he had spent time with them the whole of Thursday.
“We fed him just last night, after which we parted, until 5.30 a.m. when we found him hanging dead by a wall where he used to pray,” a 21-year-old niece of the deceased said.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
I SUSPECT MY LANDLORD KILLED BUSINESSWOMAN...Spiritualist tells police (PAGE 3)
THE spiritualist who is alleged to have murdered a 30-year-old businesswoman at Okorase, near Koforidua, has provided a statement to the police, alleging that the lady might have been killed by his landlord.
Joseph Tetteh told the police that during the deceased’s previous visits to his shrine, she had often complained to him about the landlord’s harassment and proposals to marry her.
According to the spiritualist, he, on that fateful day, had an appointment with the deceased at his shrine at Domeabra Junction but he was at Okorase when he received a call from the deceased about 9.30 a.m. that she was being harassed by his landlord, upon which he returned home, where he heard an unusual noise.
He said when he entered the house he saw Rita alive but lying in a pool of blood at the shrine and he quickly held her and asked her to tell him what had happened.
“With her mouth open, she attempted to speak but she could not,” Tetteh was said to have told the police.
He said in his confused state, he rushed out to drink heavily and went back to the house to sleep until about 12 a.m. when he woke up and found the body of Rita still lying in the pool of blood.
He then wrapped the body in his bedspread and made an attempt to dump it close to the house of her fiancé, near Mile 50 in Koforidua, adding, “I did this because Rita was good to me.”
Prior to her death, Rita’s boyfriend had picked her up early Saturday morning in his car and taken her to Srodae, a Koforidua suburb, where she was said to have told the boyfriend that she was going to see somebody at the Koforidua Central Market.
The police said Tetteh claimed that he had an appointment with the deceased because she had offered to come to his shrine at Domeabra Junction to thank him with an amount of GH¢250 and to seek further assistance to enable her to win the heart of her boyfriend, one Samuel Kwesi Afranie, a carpenter, who, she said, suspected her of cheating on him.
He claimed that the GH¢250 was GH¢50 more than the GH200 he had demanded for assisting her spiritually to expand her business.
According to the police source, the fetish priest said during interrogation that Rita, also known as Afia Atta in and around Effiduase, a Koforidua suburb, had been a regular customer who often visited his shrine to seek spiritual assistance.
Joseph Tetteh told the police that during the deceased’s previous visits to his shrine, she had often complained to him about the landlord’s harassment and proposals to marry her.
According to the spiritualist, he, on that fateful day, had an appointment with the deceased at his shrine at Domeabra Junction but he was at Okorase when he received a call from the deceased about 9.30 a.m. that she was being harassed by his landlord, upon which he returned home, where he heard an unusual noise.
He said when he entered the house he saw Rita alive but lying in a pool of blood at the shrine and he quickly held her and asked her to tell him what had happened.
“With her mouth open, she attempted to speak but she could not,” Tetteh was said to have told the police.
He said in his confused state, he rushed out to drink heavily and went back to the house to sleep until about 12 a.m. when he woke up and found the body of Rita still lying in the pool of blood.
He then wrapped the body in his bedspread and made an attempt to dump it close to the house of her fiancé, near Mile 50 in Koforidua, adding, “I did this because Rita was good to me.”
Prior to her death, Rita’s boyfriend had picked her up early Saturday morning in his car and taken her to Srodae, a Koforidua suburb, where she was said to have told the boyfriend that she was going to see somebody at the Koforidua Central Market.
The police said Tetteh claimed that he had an appointment with the deceased because she had offered to come to his shrine at Domeabra Junction to thank him with an amount of GH¢250 and to seek further assistance to enable her to win the heart of her boyfriend, one Samuel Kwesi Afranie, a carpenter, who, she said, suspected her of cheating on him.
He claimed that the GH¢250 was GH¢50 more than the GH200 he had demanded for assisting her spiritually to expand her business.
According to the police source, the fetish priest said during interrogation that Rita, also known as Afia Atta in and around Effiduase, a Koforidua suburb, had been a regular customer who often visited his shrine to seek spiritual assistance.
I SUSPECT MY LANDLORD KILLED BUSINESSWOMAN...Spiritualist tells police (PAGE 3)
THE spiritualist who is alleged to have murdered a 30-year-old businesswoman at Okorase, near Koforidua, has provided a statement to the police, alleging that the lady might have been killed by his landlord.
Joseph Tetteh told the police that during the deceased’s previous visits to his shrine, she had often complained to him about the landlord’s harassment and proposals to marry her.
According to the spiritualist, he, on that fateful day, had an appointment with the deceased at his shrine at Domeabra Junction but he was at Okorase when he received a call from the deceased about 9.30 a.m. that she was being harassed by his landlord, upon which he returned home, where he heard an unusual noise.
He said when he entered the house he saw Rita alive but lying in a pool of blood at the shrine and he quickly held her and asked her to tell him what had happened.
“With her mouth open, she attempted to speak but she could not,” Tetteh was said to have told the police.
He said in his confused state, he rushed out to drink heavily and went back to the house to sleep until about 12 a.m. when he woke up and found the body of Rita still lying in the pool of blood.
He then wrapped the body in his bedspread and made an attempt to dump it close to the house of her fiancé, near Mile 50 in Koforidua, adding, “I did this because Rita was good to me.”
Prior to her death, Rita’s boyfriend had picked her up early Saturday morning in his car and taken her to Srodae, a Koforidua suburb, where she was said to have told the boyfriend that she was going to see somebody at the Koforidua Central Market.
The police said Tetteh claimed that he had an appointment with the deceased because she had offered to come to his shrine at Domeabra Junction to thank him with an amount of GH¢250 and to seek further assistance to enable her to win the heart of her boyfriend, one Samuel Kwesi Afranie, a carpenter, who, she said, suspected her of cheating on him.
He claimed that the GH¢250 was GH¢50 more than the GH200 he had demanded for assisting her spiritually to expand her business.
According to the police source, the fetish priest said during interrogation that Rita, also known as Afia Atta in and around Effiduase, a Koforidua suburb, had been a regular customer who often visited his shrine to seek spiritual assistance.
Joseph Tetteh told the police that during the deceased’s previous visits to his shrine, she had often complained to him about the landlord’s harassment and proposals to marry her.
According to the spiritualist, he, on that fateful day, had an appointment with the deceased at his shrine at Domeabra Junction but he was at Okorase when he received a call from the deceased about 9.30 a.m. that she was being harassed by his landlord, upon which he returned home, where he heard an unusual noise.
He said when he entered the house he saw Rita alive but lying in a pool of blood at the shrine and he quickly held her and asked her to tell him what had happened.
“With her mouth open, she attempted to speak but she could not,” Tetteh was said to have told the police.
He said in his confused state, he rushed out to drink heavily and went back to the house to sleep until about 12 a.m. when he woke up and found the body of Rita still lying in the pool of blood.
He then wrapped the body in his bedspread and made an attempt to dump it close to the house of her fiancé, near Mile 50 in Koforidua, adding, “I did this because Rita was good to me.”
Prior to her death, Rita’s boyfriend had picked her up early Saturday morning in his car and taken her to Srodae, a Koforidua suburb, where she was said to have told the boyfriend that she was going to see somebody at the Koforidua Central Market.
The police said Tetteh claimed that he had an appointment with the deceased because she had offered to come to his shrine at Domeabra Junction to thank him with an amount of GH¢250 and to seek further assistance to enable her to win the heart of her boyfriend, one Samuel Kwesi Afranie, a carpenter, who, she said, suspected her of cheating on him.
He claimed that the GH¢250 was GH¢50 more than the GH200 he had demanded for assisting her spiritually to expand her business.
According to the police source, the fetish priest said during interrogation that Rita, also known as Afia Atta in and around Effiduase, a Koforidua suburb, had been a regular customer who often visited his shrine to seek spiritual assistance.
Monday, November 16, 2009
BLOODY WEEKEND...Boy, 6, beheaded at Abesim, Woman, 30, killed at Okorase, 4 Robbers gunned down in Ksi (LEAD STORY, NOV 16)
Story; Akwasi Ampratwum Mensah & Samuel Duodu at Abesim, Nana Konadu Agyeman at Okorase & Kwame Asare Boadu in Kumasi
THE grisly murder of a famous business woman, 30, near Koforidua, the gruesome beheading of a six-year-old boy near Sunyani and the gunning down of four armed robbers in Kumasi in a shootout with the police marked a weekend of blood and horror for some residents of those parts of the country.
At Abesim, near Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, hundreds of residents besieged the crime scene, eager to catch a glimpse of Ernest Kwame Awuah, alias President, who was on display with the mutilated body of his six-year-old nephew, Charles Sey.
Awuah allegedly pierced Charles’s right eye and ear and then slashed his throat.
The victim was the son of the suspect’s younger brother.
Briefing the Daily Graphic after the bizarre incident which happened about 11 a.m. on Saturday, the Sunyani Municipal Police Commander, Superintendent Charles Botwe, said following a report from a resident, he dispatched a team of policemen to the deceased’s grandmother’s house where the little boy lived and the team found the suspect carrying the body of the boy on his lap in a room where he had allegedly committed the crime.
Charles’s body has been deposited at the Regional Hospital in Sunyani for autopsy.
According to Mr Botwe, the police had found it difficult to take a statement from the suspect, since he was behaving abnormally, but noted that a caution statement had been taken from the suspect’s father, while the police were yet to take another one from Charles’s grandmother, after which Awuah would be put before court.
An uncle of the boy’s, Mr Kwasi Ollu, a farmer, told the Daily Graphic that Charles’s mother, who is staying in Techiman, was yet to be informed about her son’s death, saying that she separated with the boy’s father about five years ago when they were staying together at Tanoano, a farming community near Abesim.
At Okorase in the New Juaben municipality of the Eastern Region, news of the Sunday morning murder of Rita Baah, affectionately called Afia Atta, allegedly by a fetish priest, spread like bush fire throughout the town.
The deceased, a resident of Effiduase in Koforidua who operates a cosmetics shop and a boutique at the Daasebre Roundabout in Koforidua, was said to have been hit several times on the forehead with a hammer by the fetish priest at his shrine at Okorase about 12.30 a.m.
After the crime, Joseph Tetteh, the 35-year-old traditional priest, popularly known as Mallam, was reported to have tied the victim’s hands and legs, covered it with a cloth and placed it on his motorbike in an attempt to dump it at a spot far away from Okorase and create the impression that she had been knocked down by a vehicle.
However, luck eluded him when he was spotted by some passengers travelling along the Okorase-Mamfe road about 1.30 a.m. with the body of the deceased strewn across the motorbike.
He was reported to have swerved to the left of the road where he abandoned both the body and the motorbike and fled into a nearby bush at Tei Nkwanta near Okorase.
That was after the passengers in the vehicle travelling from Aburi to Koforidua attempted to question him over where he was taking the body to.
Briefing the Daily Graphic in Koforidua, the New Juaben Municipal Police Commander, Superintendent John A. Naami, said about 12.30 a.m. the police received a distress call from some travellers at Tei Nkwanta that they had spotted a man conveying a dead body on a motorbike.
He said the passengers told the police that the fetish priest had been seen driving from Okorase to dump the body by the roadside to create the impression that the deceased had been knocked and killed by a vehicle.
When the passengers attempted to question him as to where he was taking the body, the fetish priest was said to have fled into the bush.
Supt Naami said a team of police investigators was immediately dispatched to the scene where they found Rita’s tied body covered in a cloth and strewn across the motorbike, with registration number GN 8843 Z.
He said the police traced the motorbike to the fetish priest’s house but they never found him. However, some of the youth of Okorase and Tei Nkwanta, two neighbouring communities, mounted an intensive search and arrested Tetteh in a bush at Tei Nkwanta where he was hiding about 1 a.m. on Sunday.
The timely intervention of the police saved him from being lynched.
During interrogation, Tetteh was reported to have told the police that some unknown people had killed Rita but that he had only attempted taking it to dump it somewhere.
The New Juaben Municipal Police Commander, who indicated that the police were carrying out further investigation into the murder, commended the residents of Okorase and Tei Nkwanta for helping to arrest the fetish priest.
Meanwhile, when the Daily Graphic visited the New Juaben Central Police Station, a large gathering of residents, including the family of the business woman and her boyfriend, was seen in utter shock and tears over Rita’s death.
In the Ashanti Region, the regional Police Command took the fight against armed robbery to another level at the weekend when they shot dead four suspected armed robbers, all believed to be in their late 30s, during a gun battle at Konkromase, a suburb of Kumasi.
Friday night’s operation was the second biggest police offensive against armed robbery in Ashanti this year and the dead suspects brought to 26 the number of armed robbers killed by the police in the region this year.
One of the four robbers was identified as Abdul Razak Ibrahim, alias Fante-Fante.
Razak, described as a hardened criminal, had earlier been arrested in a robbery case but he was granted bail by a Kumasi High Court in November 2006 but had since failed to appear before court.
Two others were identified only as Fiifi and Rashid, both ex-convicts, with the fourth one yet to be identified.
They were among a group of seven armed robbers who had gone on a robbery spree on the rainy night. They were actually in the process of attacking their fourth victim when men from the Police Buffalo Unit encountered them.
According to the police, those who managed to escape bolted with cash of GH¢95,000 believed to have been taken from victims of the robbery operations.
A number of offensive weapons, including four pump action guns, three locally manufactured pistols, 21 live ammunition, eight spent cartridges, one heavy-duty cutter and two mobile phones, were retrieved by the police from the scene of the shooting.
A KIA taxi, which the robbers had snatched from its driver, and a Nissan Pathfinder, which they took from its female owner after shooting her in the right shoulder, were later found abandoned at various locations in the city.
The woman was treated and discharged at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
Briefing journalists, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Patrick Timbillah, said it all started about 6 p.m. when the robbers snatched the KIA taxi from its driver at gunpoint at Buokrom, a Kumasi suburb.
They then used the taxi in the second operation in which they attacked a woman about 7 p.m. at Atonsu, also in Kumasi, and snatched her Nissan Pathfinder from her.
DCOP Timbillah said the robbers shot the woman, who was returning from work, before taking her vehicle away.
They abandoned the taxi and used the Nissan Pathfinder to attack a man who had just arrived in Kumasi from Accra at Asokwa and took away his bag containing GH¢95,000.
DCOP Timbillah it was when the robbers went on the fourth operation at Konkromase that the police pounced on them. About 8.30 p.m., they attacked a house at Konkromase and when the police reached there, the robbers opened fire on them.
He said the police returned fire, killing the four, while the three others escaped.
The Nissan Pathfinder was later found abandoned at Buokrom, together with the bag which contained the GH¢95,000.
THE grisly murder of a famous business woman, 30, near Koforidua, the gruesome beheading of a six-year-old boy near Sunyani and the gunning down of four armed robbers in Kumasi in a shootout with the police marked a weekend of blood and horror for some residents of those parts of the country.
At Abesim, near Sunyani in the Brong Ahafo Region, hundreds of residents besieged the crime scene, eager to catch a glimpse of Ernest Kwame Awuah, alias President, who was on display with the mutilated body of his six-year-old nephew, Charles Sey.
Awuah allegedly pierced Charles’s right eye and ear and then slashed his throat.
The victim was the son of the suspect’s younger brother.
Briefing the Daily Graphic after the bizarre incident which happened about 11 a.m. on Saturday, the Sunyani Municipal Police Commander, Superintendent Charles Botwe, said following a report from a resident, he dispatched a team of policemen to the deceased’s grandmother’s house where the little boy lived and the team found the suspect carrying the body of the boy on his lap in a room where he had allegedly committed the crime.
Charles’s body has been deposited at the Regional Hospital in Sunyani for autopsy.
According to Mr Botwe, the police had found it difficult to take a statement from the suspect, since he was behaving abnormally, but noted that a caution statement had been taken from the suspect’s father, while the police were yet to take another one from Charles’s grandmother, after which Awuah would be put before court.
An uncle of the boy’s, Mr Kwasi Ollu, a farmer, told the Daily Graphic that Charles’s mother, who is staying in Techiman, was yet to be informed about her son’s death, saying that she separated with the boy’s father about five years ago when they were staying together at Tanoano, a farming community near Abesim.
At Okorase in the New Juaben municipality of the Eastern Region, news of the Sunday morning murder of Rita Baah, affectionately called Afia Atta, allegedly by a fetish priest, spread like bush fire throughout the town.
The deceased, a resident of Effiduase in Koforidua who operates a cosmetics shop and a boutique at the Daasebre Roundabout in Koforidua, was said to have been hit several times on the forehead with a hammer by the fetish priest at his shrine at Okorase about 12.30 a.m.
After the crime, Joseph Tetteh, the 35-year-old traditional priest, popularly known as Mallam, was reported to have tied the victim’s hands and legs, covered it with a cloth and placed it on his motorbike in an attempt to dump it at a spot far away from Okorase and create the impression that she had been knocked down by a vehicle.
However, luck eluded him when he was spotted by some passengers travelling along the Okorase-Mamfe road about 1.30 a.m. with the body of the deceased strewn across the motorbike.
He was reported to have swerved to the left of the road where he abandoned both the body and the motorbike and fled into a nearby bush at Tei Nkwanta near Okorase.
That was after the passengers in the vehicle travelling from Aburi to Koforidua attempted to question him over where he was taking the body to.
Briefing the Daily Graphic in Koforidua, the New Juaben Municipal Police Commander, Superintendent John A. Naami, said about 12.30 a.m. the police received a distress call from some travellers at Tei Nkwanta that they had spotted a man conveying a dead body on a motorbike.
He said the passengers told the police that the fetish priest had been seen driving from Okorase to dump the body by the roadside to create the impression that the deceased had been knocked and killed by a vehicle.
When the passengers attempted to question him as to where he was taking the body, the fetish priest was said to have fled into the bush.
Supt Naami said a team of police investigators was immediately dispatched to the scene where they found Rita’s tied body covered in a cloth and strewn across the motorbike, with registration number GN 8843 Z.
He said the police traced the motorbike to the fetish priest’s house but they never found him. However, some of the youth of Okorase and Tei Nkwanta, two neighbouring communities, mounted an intensive search and arrested Tetteh in a bush at Tei Nkwanta where he was hiding about 1 a.m. on Sunday.
The timely intervention of the police saved him from being lynched.
During interrogation, Tetteh was reported to have told the police that some unknown people had killed Rita but that he had only attempted taking it to dump it somewhere.
The New Juaben Municipal Police Commander, who indicated that the police were carrying out further investigation into the murder, commended the residents of Okorase and Tei Nkwanta for helping to arrest the fetish priest.
Meanwhile, when the Daily Graphic visited the New Juaben Central Police Station, a large gathering of residents, including the family of the business woman and her boyfriend, was seen in utter shock and tears over Rita’s death.
In the Ashanti Region, the regional Police Command took the fight against armed robbery to another level at the weekend when they shot dead four suspected armed robbers, all believed to be in their late 30s, during a gun battle at Konkromase, a suburb of Kumasi.
Friday night’s operation was the second biggest police offensive against armed robbery in Ashanti this year and the dead suspects brought to 26 the number of armed robbers killed by the police in the region this year.
One of the four robbers was identified as Abdul Razak Ibrahim, alias Fante-Fante.
Razak, described as a hardened criminal, had earlier been arrested in a robbery case but he was granted bail by a Kumasi High Court in November 2006 but had since failed to appear before court.
Two others were identified only as Fiifi and Rashid, both ex-convicts, with the fourth one yet to be identified.
They were among a group of seven armed robbers who had gone on a robbery spree on the rainy night. They were actually in the process of attacking their fourth victim when men from the Police Buffalo Unit encountered them.
According to the police, those who managed to escape bolted with cash of GH¢95,000 believed to have been taken from victims of the robbery operations.
A number of offensive weapons, including four pump action guns, three locally manufactured pistols, 21 live ammunition, eight spent cartridges, one heavy-duty cutter and two mobile phones, were retrieved by the police from the scene of the shooting.
A KIA taxi, which the robbers had snatched from its driver, and a Nissan Pathfinder, which they took from its female owner after shooting her in the right shoulder, were later found abandoned at various locations in the city.
The woman was treated and discharged at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.
Briefing journalists, the Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) Patrick Timbillah, said it all started about 6 p.m. when the robbers snatched the KIA taxi from its driver at gunpoint at Buokrom, a Kumasi suburb.
They then used the taxi in the second operation in which they attacked a woman about 7 p.m. at Atonsu, also in Kumasi, and snatched her Nissan Pathfinder from her.
DCOP Timbillah said the robbers shot the woman, who was returning from work, before taking her vehicle away.
They abandoned the taxi and used the Nissan Pathfinder to attack a man who had just arrived in Kumasi from Accra at Asokwa and took away his bag containing GH¢95,000.
DCOP Timbillah it was when the robbers went on the fourth operation at Konkromase that the police pounced on them. About 8.30 p.m., they attacked a house at Konkromase and when the police reached there, the robbers opened fire on them.
He said the police returned fire, killing the four, while the three others escaped.
The Nissan Pathfinder was later found abandoned at Buokrom, together with the bag which contained the GH¢95,000.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
OIL PALM ...The multi-purspose tree (pages 24 & 25) NOV 7
SOME call it the wonder tree, but others think it is a utility crop because of the many uses it is put to. In the rural settings, the palm tree is regarded as a reliable crop and those who cultivate it never regret.
They can get palm fruit, palm oil and palm kernel oil. The branches can be used to weave baskets and provide shelter, while the leaves can be used to make brooms. In some cases, palm oil is applied to wounds to aid the healing process, as it is believed that unrefined palm oil has additional anti-microbial effect, although research has not clearly confirmed this.
When the crop reaches what may be termed its “menopause”, it is felled for palm wine, which may be drunk or distilled into the local gin popularly called ‘Akpeteshie’. One can get mushrooms from the decaying stem, which can also serve as manure and many other uses.
While the palm tree produces all the products listed above, through technology many value additions have been obtained from the cultivation of oil palm, such as soap, detergents, biscuits, ice cream, margarine, biodiesel, as a supplement in animal feed, candles, cosmetics, glue, lubricating grease, among others.
Given the immense usefulness of the crop and the numerous employment opportunities it can offer to the people, the government must give a serious consideration to launching an agricultural diversification programme to reduce the country’s over reliance on cocoa and fast dwindling natural resources and address the land tenure problems to facilitate large-scale cultivation of oil palm in the country.
The country’s reliance on cocoa over the past decades should seize because it has been realised that oil palm offers a better solution to the its foreign exchange constraints, since there is abundant demand and market for vegetable oils.
According to one palm oil expert, if Ghana should plant between 10,000 and 20,000 hectares of palm oil for the next 10 years, the country would not import oil but would rather increase its foreign exchange earnings.
In his opinion, if the Government desired to ensure access to cheap food and potable water, which should not be a challenge for the daily survival of the people, then the concept of integrated agriculture should not focus only on cocoa but also all food crops, including economic crops such as the oil palm, on which Malaysia concentrated after it had put to the background its reliance on cocoa.
Indeed, if Ghana had, over the years, pathetically failed to recognise the huge economic potential of this wonderful crop, the abundant successes obtained from the large-scale cultivation of the crop by Malaysia and Indonesia since the 1870s should be a motivating factor for the government to also show commitment to the cultivation of oil palm in the country.
The palm oil industry has been a historically significant part of Malaysia’s economy. The tree, originally from West Africa, mainly Ghana, was first introduced to Malaysia in the early 1870s as an ornamental plant. However, commercial planting of the tree took place in 1871, though the industry remained largely dormant until the 1960s when the Malaysian government launched an agricultural diversification programme to reduce the country’s economic dependence on rubber and tin.
In the late 1960s, the government introduced several land settlement schemes for planting oil palm as a means to raise landless farmers and smallholders out of poverty. Ever since, Malaysia has used the returns from oil palm to leap its economy from that of a developing one into an Asian Tiger.
Recognising the huge economic potential of the crop, the Malaysian government started refining the crude palm oil in the 1970s, marking the introduction of a wide range of processed palm oil products.
Today, the Malaysian palm oil industry has grown to produce 51 per cent of the world’s palm oil and 62 per cent of the world’s oil palm exports, making palm oil the country’s main agricultural produce that it exports.
Besides, it is said that in 2008 the country exported over 15 million tonnes of palm oil, majority of which went to China, the EU, Pakistan, the US, India and Japan, giving Malaysia $17.7 billion in export earnings in just one year.
At the height of the economic crisis which has crippled many economies across the world in the past two years, palm oil exports have played a significant role in saving the Malaysian economy from bankruptcy.
With Malaysia’s economy now slowly recovering from the recession, the palm oil industry is poised to play a leading role in its economic boom.
Looking at the immense economic gains Malaysia has derived from the cultivation of oil palm, there is so much that Ghana can also do to gain the same way. After all, the very oil palm that Malaysia has strategically used since 1870 to build its developing economy into an Asian Tiger was believed to have been obtained from Ghana, where successive governments terribly failed to recognise the economic potential of the crop.
Malaysia’s strategic use of the crop should encourage Ghana to either copy or show similar commitment to initiate steps aimed at ensuring the large-scale cultivation of this “crop of gold”.
It would be recalled that in the late 1960s Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, established many state farms, majority of which focused on the development of oil palm plantations, many of which later collapsed. In spite of that, if the net effect of oil palm cultivation is anything to go by, the country should reflect on Acheampong’s far-sighted “Operation Feed Yourself” programme, during which he also established many oil palm plantations in the country.
A typical example of Acheampong’s legacy is the Kwae Oil Palm Plantation located in three districts in the Eastern Region, namely, Kwaebibirem, Akyemmansa and Birim North. This plantation has gone through many transitions, from being state-owned to state-private partnership till today when it is wholly owned by a Belgian company, SIAT Ghana Limited, with many other plantations in Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria.
Distinctly, this plantation today remains the biggest and most successful oil palm plantation in Ghana, a situation that has arisen as a result of prudent managerial skills and the hard work of the management, staff and outgrowers of the company over the years.
What strikes many visitors to the Kwae plantation in recent times is the vigorous regeneration of the plantation through a replanting exercise. An oil palm plantation is said to have a 20-year cycle, at the end of which period if anybody wants the plantation to continue to be viable, it has to be replanted.
At Kwae, the green landscape offered by the replanting is something that those who cherish an environmentally friendly atmosphere must desire to see. This deliberate replanting exercise explains why most of the state oil palm plantations collapsed after the felling of the trees because the state did not have the wherewithal to undertake such capital and labour intensive exercise. The same elaborate exercise characterised the Kwamoso plantation in the Eastern Region.
The Ghana Oil Palm Development Company (GOPDC) is an integrated agro-industrial company specialising in the organic cultivation of oil palm, the extraction of crude oil and palm kernel oil and refining and fractionation of these produce.
It was initiated by the government in 1975 and privatised in 1995 to a Belgian company, SIAT Ghana Limited, which owned 80 per cent, with the government taking the remaining 20 per cent. However, the GOPDC is now wholly owned by SIAT and two other stakeholders.
The company, which has been able to sustain its lead in the field of oil palm cultivation in the country, currently has more than 21,000 hectares of oil palm plantation at Kwae, with more than 13,000 hectares being developed by over 5,000 outgrowers the company has contracted.
The company, with processing facilities, including a palm oil mill with a capacity of 60 metric tonnes (mt) per hour, a palm kernel crushing plant of 60mt per day, a refinery and fractionation plant with a capacity of 100mt per day and a total storage capacity of more than 13,000mt for finished products, is spread over a vast stretch of land with a radius of 30km.
It also has other facilities, including a tank farm in Tema with a capacity of 8,200mt, with an additional 12,000mt expansion capacity which is almost near completion.
The company’s plantations at the Kwae and the Okumaning estates are all certified organic, as no chemicals, pesticides or herbicides are used, resulting in a healthy superior quality product, making the company’s products attract a bonus on the world market.
The products include crude palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm kernel cake, refined bleached deodorised oil, refined palm kernel oil, free fatty acid, olein and supper olein and stearin.
The company, which planted its first sets of palm trees in 1976 and initiated the cultivation of an organic palm oil plantation in 1999, is already listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) and has created secure income for over 50,000 people.
In 2002, the plantation positioned itself to produce certified organic palm oil and palm kernel oil and since 1977 it has implemented a vast outgrower scheme.
As part of its focus on maintaining its market lead in the oil palm industry, the GOPDC also provides high-yielding seedlings, fertilisers and extension services for farmers on a loan basis and has created 31 collection centres in its catchment area to facilitate the collection of fruits from outgrowers.
Sharing the company’s strategic development with the Daily Graphic, the Managing Director, GOPDC, Mr John C. Inkumsah, said his outfit was fully committed to future sustainable growth of the oil palm business and, therefore, it would ensure that very high quality seeds were nursed and planted.
“The GOPDC is committed to quality products and has equipped its mill and refinery with state-of-the-art laboratory equipment to analyse each processing stage before the products reach consumers, both for domestic and industrial use,” he explained.
The adhere to strict environmental practices to ensure the conservation of the environment, Mr Inkumsah, said his outfit had installed an environmentally friendly 30-metric tonne boiler which produced 2.5 megawatts of electricity, adding that waste generated from the company’s plant was used as fuel for the boiler to reduce pollution.
He indicated that the company obtained 60 per cent of its energy requirement from the boiler, while 30 per cent was being supplied by the Electricity Company of Ghana, with the remaining 10 per cent produced by the genset.
“As part of our conservation action plan with the Ghana Wildlife Society, the management of GOPDC does not only ensure ecological monitoring of its plantation and but also undertakes regular reforestation activities and the planting of cover crops and indigenous trees along rivers within the company catchment areas,” he said, adding that it had also created awareness among its employees, schools and communities within its catchment area and constructed a third treatment pond to avoid any waste spillage.
Mr Inkumsah, who expressed delight at the achievements of the company over the decades, said as part of its corporate social responsibility, the GOPDC had constructed various water projects at Kusi, Anweam, Kwae and Jamestown, while, to improve educational standards in its catchment areas, it had constructed a classroom block at Anweam and a community library at Akwatia.
“We have also provided electricity and street lamps at Okumaning and undertaken the rehabilitation of various stretches of roads in our catchment areas, while we have facilitated the construction of an MTN antenna which has improved mobile phone business at Kwae and its environs,” he stressed.
On challenges, the MD said the company had been paying high sums of GH¢140 to farmers for their produce, an incentive that had attracted other oil palm growers from the Western Region to sell their produce to the company.
“In spite of these motivating prices, some of the outgrowers have always been diverting their produce for domestic consumption and selling it to poachers in neighbouring countries such as Togo who are ready to offer any amount,” he lamented.
He also mentioned the uprooting of seedlings by members of communities within the company’s catchment area.
In the opinion of the GOPDC MD,, Ghana stood to gain enormously if the Government could lend support to the Ghanaian and foreign investors interested in large-scale oil palm plantation, as well as provide subsidies for smallholders in the form of fertilisers and other farm inputs to enable them to expand their farms to lift poor farmers and their dependants from poverty.
“Ghana will not only reap huge foreign exchange from the export of palm oil but also be in a better position to tackle head-on the unemployment problem facing the people,” he stated.
Considering the huge economic potential of oil palm and the enormous employment avenues it can create for the teeming unemployed youth, it is time the Government introduced viable land settlement schemes and provided the necessary support in the form of subsidies as a means to raise landless farmers and smallholders out of poverty, given the fact there are vast tracts of land that are suitable for oil palm plantation in the country.
Furthermore, if the Government is, indeed, determined to increase the country’s foreign exchange and not solely depend on exports of cocoa and other natural resources, the resort to the large-scale cultivation of oil palm, as amply demonstrated in the country by the GOPDC and internationally by Malaysia and Indonesia, which have leaped their developing economies into Asian Tigers, then the diversification of agriculture must be given the needed attention at all cost.
They can get palm fruit, palm oil and palm kernel oil. The branches can be used to weave baskets and provide shelter, while the leaves can be used to make brooms. In some cases, palm oil is applied to wounds to aid the healing process, as it is believed that unrefined palm oil has additional anti-microbial effect, although research has not clearly confirmed this.
When the crop reaches what may be termed its “menopause”, it is felled for palm wine, which may be drunk or distilled into the local gin popularly called ‘Akpeteshie’. One can get mushrooms from the decaying stem, which can also serve as manure and many other uses.
While the palm tree produces all the products listed above, through technology many value additions have been obtained from the cultivation of oil palm, such as soap, detergents, biscuits, ice cream, margarine, biodiesel, as a supplement in animal feed, candles, cosmetics, glue, lubricating grease, among others.
Given the immense usefulness of the crop and the numerous employment opportunities it can offer to the people, the government must give a serious consideration to launching an agricultural diversification programme to reduce the country’s over reliance on cocoa and fast dwindling natural resources and address the land tenure problems to facilitate large-scale cultivation of oil palm in the country.
The country’s reliance on cocoa over the past decades should seize because it has been realised that oil palm offers a better solution to the its foreign exchange constraints, since there is abundant demand and market for vegetable oils.
According to one palm oil expert, if Ghana should plant between 10,000 and 20,000 hectares of palm oil for the next 10 years, the country would not import oil but would rather increase its foreign exchange earnings.
In his opinion, if the Government desired to ensure access to cheap food and potable water, which should not be a challenge for the daily survival of the people, then the concept of integrated agriculture should not focus only on cocoa but also all food crops, including economic crops such as the oil palm, on which Malaysia concentrated after it had put to the background its reliance on cocoa.
Indeed, if Ghana had, over the years, pathetically failed to recognise the huge economic potential of this wonderful crop, the abundant successes obtained from the large-scale cultivation of the crop by Malaysia and Indonesia since the 1870s should be a motivating factor for the government to also show commitment to the cultivation of oil palm in the country.
The palm oil industry has been a historically significant part of Malaysia’s economy. The tree, originally from West Africa, mainly Ghana, was first introduced to Malaysia in the early 1870s as an ornamental plant. However, commercial planting of the tree took place in 1871, though the industry remained largely dormant until the 1960s when the Malaysian government launched an agricultural diversification programme to reduce the country’s economic dependence on rubber and tin.
In the late 1960s, the government introduced several land settlement schemes for planting oil palm as a means to raise landless farmers and smallholders out of poverty. Ever since, Malaysia has used the returns from oil palm to leap its economy from that of a developing one into an Asian Tiger.
Recognising the huge economic potential of the crop, the Malaysian government started refining the crude palm oil in the 1970s, marking the introduction of a wide range of processed palm oil products.
Today, the Malaysian palm oil industry has grown to produce 51 per cent of the world’s palm oil and 62 per cent of the world’s oil palm exports, making palm oil the country’s main agricultural produce that it exports.
Besides, it is said that in 2008 the country exported over 15 million tonnes of palm oil, majority of which went to China, the EU, Pakistan, the US, India and Japan, giving Malaysia $17.7 billion in export earnings in just one year.
At the height of the economic crisis which has crippled many economies across the world in the past two years, palm oil exports have played a significant role in saving the Malaysian economy from bankruptcy.
With Malaysia’s economy now slowly recovering from the recession, the palm oil industry is poised to play a leading role in its economic boom.
Looking at the immense economic gains Malaysia has derived from the cultivation of oil palm, there is so much that Ghana can also do to gain the same way. After all, the very oil palm that Malaysia has strategically used since 1870 to build its developing economy into an Asian Tiger was believed to have been obtained from Ghana, where successive governments terribly failed to recognise the economic potential of the crop.
Malaysia’s strategic use of the crop should encourage Ghana to either copy or show similar commitment to initiate steps aimed at ensuring the large-scale cultivation of this “crop of gold”.
It would be recalled that in the late 1960s Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, established many state farms, majority of which focused on the development of oil palm plantations, many of which later collapsed. In spite of that, if the net effect of oil palm cultivation is anything to go by, the country should reflect on Acheampong’s far-sighted “Operation Feed Yourself” programme, during which he also established many oil palm plantations in the country.
A typical example of Acheampong’s legacy is the Kwae Oil Palm Plantation located in three districts in the Eastern Region, namely, Kwaebibirem, Akyemmansa and Birim North. This plantation has gone through many transitions, from being state-owned to state-private partnership till today when it is wholly owned by a Belgian company, SIAT Ghana Limited, with many other plantations in Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria.
Distinctly, this plantation today remains the biggest and most successful oil palm plantation in Ghana, a situation that has arisen as a result of prudent managerial skills and the hard work of the management, staff and outgrowers of the company over the years.
What strikes many visitors to the Kwae plantation in recent times is the vigorous regeneration of the plantation through a replanting exercise. An oil palm plantation is said to have a 20-year cycle, at the end of which period if anybody wants the plantation to continue to be viable, it has to be replanted.
At Kwae, the green landscape offered by the replanting is something that those who cherish an environmentally friendly atmosphere must desire to see. This deliberate replanting exercise explains why most of the state oil palm plantations collapsed after the felling of the trees because the state did not have the wherewithal to undertake such capital and labour intensive exercise. The same elaborate exercise characterised the Kwamoso plantation in the Eastern Region.
The Ghana Oil Palm Development Company (GOPDC) is an integrated agro-industrial company specialising in the organic cultivation of oil palm, the extraction of crude oil and palm kernel oil and refining and fractionation of these produce.
It was initiated by the government in 1975 and privatised in 1995 to a Belgian company, SIAT Ghana Limited, which owned 80 per cent, with the government taking the remaining 20 per cent. However, the GOPDC is now wholly owned by SIAT and two other stakeholders.
The company, which has been able to sustain its lead in the field of oil palm cultivation in the country, currently has more than 21,000 hectares of oil palm plantation at Kwae, with more than 13,000 hectares being developed by over 5,000 outgrowers the company has contracted.
The company, with processing facilities, including a palm oil mill with a capacity of 60 metric tonnes (mt) per hour, a palm kernel crushing plant of 60mt per day, a refinery and fractionation plant with a capacity of 100mt per day and a total storage capacity of more than 13,000mt for finished products, is spread over a vast stretch of land with a radius of 30km.
It also has other facilities, including a tank farm in Tema with a capacity of 8,200mt, with an additional 12,000mt expansion capacity which is almost near completion.
The company’s plantations at the Kwae and the Okumaning estates are all certified organic, as no chemicals, pesticides or herbicides are used, resulting in a healthy superior quality product, making the company’s products attract a bonus on the world market.
The products include crude palm oil, palm kernel oil, palm kernel cake, refined bleached deodorised oil, refined palm kernel oil, free fatty acid, olein and supper olein and stearin.
The company, which planted its first sets of palm trees in 1976 and initiated the cultivation of an organic palm oil plantation in 1999, is already listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) and has created secure income for over 50,000 people.
In 2002, the plantation positioned itself to produce certified organic palm oil and palm kernel oil and since 1977 it has implemented a vast outgrower scheme.
As part of its focus on maintaining its market lead in the oil palm industry, the GOPDC also provides high-yielding seedlings, fertilisers and extension services for farmers on a loan basis and has created 31 collection centres in its catchment area to facilitate the collection of fruits from outgrowers.
Sharing the company’s strategic development with the Daily Graphic, the Managing Director, GOPDC, Mr John C. Inkumsah, said his outfit was fully committed to future sustainable growth of the oil palm business and, therefore, it would ensure that very high quality seeds were nursed and planted.
“The GOPDC is committed to quality products and has equipped its mill and refinery with state-of-the-art laboratory equipment to analyse each processing stage before the products reach consumers, both for domestic and industrial use,” he explained.
The adhere to strict environmental practices to ensure the conservation of the environment, Mr Inkumsah, said his outfit had installed an environmentally friendly 30-metric tonne boiler which produced 2.5 megawatts of electricity, adding that waste generated from the company’s plant was used as fuel for the boiler to reduce pollution.
He indicated that the company obtained 60 per cent of its energy requirement from the boiler, while 30 per cent was being supplied by the Electricity Company of Ghana, with the remaining 10 per cent produced by the genset.
“As part of our conservation action plan with the Ghana Wildlife Society, the management of GOPDC does not only ensure ecological monitoring of its plantation and but also undertakes regular reforestation activities and the planting of cover crops and indigenous trees along rivers within the company catchment areas,” he said, adding that it had also created awareness among its employees, schools and communities within its catchment area and constructed a third treatment pond to avoid any waste spillage.
Mr Inkumsah, who expressed delight at the achievements of the company over the decades, said as part of its corporate social responsibility, the GOPDC had constructed various water projects at Kusi, Anweam, Kwae and Jamestown, while, to improve educational standards in its catchment areas, it had constructed a classroom block at Anweam and a community library at Akwatia.
“We have also provided electricity and street lamps at Okumaning and undertaken the rehabilitation of various stretches of roads in our catchment areas, while we have facilitated the construction of an MTN antenna which has improved mobile phone business at Kwae and its environs,” he stressed.
On challenges, the MD said the company had been paying high sums of GH¢140 to farmers for their produce, an incentive that had attracted other oil palm growers from the Western Region to sell their produce to the company.
“In spite of these motivating prices, some of the outgrowers have always been diverting their produce for domestic consumption and selling it to poachers in neighbouring countries such as Togo who are ready to offer any amount,” he lamented.
He also mentioned the uprooting of seedlings by members of communities within the company’s catchment area.
In the opinion of the GOPDC MD,, Ghana stood to gain enormously if the Government could lend support to the Ghanaian and foreign investors interested in large-scale oil palm plantation, as well as provide subsidies for smallholders in the form of fertilisers and other farm inputs to enable them to expand their farms to lift poor farmers and their dependants from poverty.
“Ghana will not only reap huge foreign exchange from the export of palm oil but also be in a better position to tackle head-on the unemployment problem facing the people,” he stated.
Considering the huge economic potential of oil palm and the enormous employment avenues it can create for the teeming unemployed youth, it is time the Government introduced viable land settlement schemes and provided the necessary support in the form of subsidies as a means to raise landless farmers and smallholders out of poverty, given the fact there are vast tracts of land that are suitable for oil palm plantation in the country.
Furthermore, if the Government is, indeed, determined to increase the country’s foreign exchange and not solely depend on exports of cocoa and other natural resources, the resort to the large-scale cultivation of oil palm, as amply demonstrated in the country by the GOPDC and internationally by Malaysia and Indonesia, which have leaped their developing economies into Asian Tigers, then the diversification of agriculture must be given the needed attention at all cost.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
RCC DONATES SECOND-HAND CLOTHING TO ORPHANS (PAGE 20, NOV 3)
THE Eastern Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC) has donated five bails of second-hand clothing to the All Nations Development Agency (ANIDA), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), to support the upkeep of 205 orphaned children under its care.
The items, worth more than GH¢1,000, were in appreciation of the NGO’s commitment to reach out to marginalised and vulnerable children in society.
Presenting the items on behalf of the RRC last Wednesday, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, said the donation was also to complement ANIDA’s project “The Silent Cry”, meant to reach out to underprivileged children who needed care and support.
He commended ANIDA for initiating a child-sponsorship programme through which it had spent not less than GH¢700 on each child per term on their education and general upkeep.
“Admittedly, the plight of these children is very pathetic and worrisome as they really need care, support and compassion to enable them to be well integrated into society,” he said.
Mr Ofosu Ampofo stated that since the plight of the orphaned children could “befall the children of anyone of us, we must all come to the aid of unfortunate children who need our support to become responsible in the future”.
Receiving the items on behalf of the children, the President of ANIDA, Rev. Mrs Rose Donkor, thanked the RCC for the gesture.
The items, worth more than GH¢1,000, were in appreciation of the NGO’s commitment to reach out to marginalised and vulnerable children in society.
Presenting the items on behalf of the RRC last Wednesday, the Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, said the donation was also to complement ANIDA’s project “The Silent Cry”, meant to reach out to underprivileged children who needed care and support.
He commended ANIDA for initiating a child-sponsorship programme through which it had spent not less than GH¢700 on each child per term on their education and general upkeep.
“Admittedly, the plight of these children is very pathetic and worrisome as they really need care, support and compassion to enable them to be well integrated into society,” he said.
Mr Ofosu Ampofo stated that since the plight of the orphaned children could “befall the children of anyone of us, we must all come to the aid of unfortunate children who need our support to become responsible in the future”.
Receiving the items on behalf of the children, the President of ANIDA, Rev. Mrs Rose Donkor, thanked the RCC for the gesture.
Friday, October 30, 2009
PRESBY UNIVERSITY ADMITS 300 STUDENTS (PAGE 11, OCT 30)
THE Presbyterian University College (PUC) last Saturday, held its seventh matriculation at Abetifi with 300 students from the institution’s three campuses admitted to pursue various programmes.
The students will be pursuing their studies at the Asante-Akyem (Agogo), Akropong-Akuapem and Abetifi campuses of the university.
Addressing the ceremony, the Principal of the institution, Professor K. Sraku-Lartey, said after six years of operation there was the need for the institution to reposition itself to achieve more academically.
To this end, he indicated that plans were far advanced for a double enrollment in five years and to work hard to obtain a charter within the same period, while more innovative and demand driven programmes would be introduced.
“With the assistance of the chief and people of Obo, we plan to introduce a faculty of Science and Technology at the Okwahu campus and intensify our efforts to expand the facility of Health and Medical Science at the Asante-Akyem campus”, Prof. Sraku-Lartey said.
According to him, the university in collaboration with the Kwahu Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana had embarked on a smallscale agricultural project in crops and animal husbandry at the PCG Agricultural station in the Kwahu North District (Afram Plains).
“The objectives are to increase our capacity to engage in large scale commercial farming and also use the station to provide outreach services in terms of training for the community members to improve their livelihoods”, he explained, adding that the college had trained over 1,200 farmers in the area to improve on their productivity.
Prof. Sraku-Lartey, expressed concern about the negative impact the internet and other electronic media had on the youth, and advised them to refrain from unhealthy lifestyles that could jeopardise their future ambitions.
For his part, the Paramount Chief of the Kwahu Traditional Area, Nana Akuamoa Boateng, commended the university for complimenting the government’s commitment to provide quality tertiary education in the country.
He, however, appealed to the government to support private universities with the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to enable them to live up to expectation in the delivery of quality tertiary education in the country.
The students will be pursuing their studies at the Asante-Akyem (Agogo), Akropong-Akuapem and Abetifi campuses of the university.
Addressing the ceremony, the Principal of the institution, Professor K. Sraku-Lartey, said after six years of operation there was the need for the institution to reposition itself to achieve more academically.
To this end, he indicated that plans were far advanced for a double enrollment in five years and to work hard to obtain a charter within the same period, while more innovative and demand driven programmes would be introduced.
“With the assistance of the chief and people of Obo, we plan to introduce a faculty of Science and Technology at the Okwahu campus and intensify our efforts to expand the facility of Health and Medical Science at the Asante-Akyem campus”, Prof. Sraku-Lartey said.
According to him, the university in collaboration with the Kwahu Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana had embarked on a smallscale agricultural project in crops and animal husbandry at the PCG Agricultural station in the Kwahu North District (Afram Plains).
“The objectives are to increase our capacity to engage in large scale commercial farming and also use the station to provide outreach services in terms of training for the community members to improve their livelihoods”, he explained, adding that the college had trained over 1,200 farmers in the area to improve on their productivity.
Prof. Sraku-Lartey, expressed concern about the negative impact the internet and other electronic media had on the youth, and advised them to refrain from unhealthy lifestyles that could jeopardise their future ambitions.
For his part, the Paramount Chief of the Kwahu Traditional Area, Nana Akuamoa Boateng, commended the university for complimenting the government’s commitment to provide quality tertiary education in the country.
He, however, appealed to the government to support private universities with the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) to enable them to live up to expectation in the delivery of quality tertiary education in the country.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
VODAFONE DONATES CASH, COMPUTERS TO OKUAPEMAN SHS (PAGE 21, OCT 28)
VODAFONE Ghana last Sunday donated 20 new computers valued at GH¢8,000 and a cheque for GH¢5,500 to the Okuapeman Senior High School as part of its contribution to the school’s library.
The donation, which formed part of the company's corporate social responsibility, was aimed at enhancing teaching and learning to improve the academic performance of the students.
The donation of the items was facilitated by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Foundation for Future Leaders (FFL), Mr Emmanuel Dei-Tumi, who also presented 19 computer tables to the school.
The donation coincided with a motivational seminar organised by the FFL for students, including the visually impaired students of the school.
Vodafone used the occasion to organise a dinner for the visually impaired students.
Presenting the items, the Head of Internal Communications of Vodafone Ghana, Mr Isaac Abraham, said the company was proud to associate itself with the Foundation for Future Leaders’ commitment to making life more meaningful for under-privileged youth.
For his part, Mr Dei-Tumi said one of the major drawbacks to the development of visually-impaired and other handicapped youth in society, was the society’s lack of support for such persons to develop their potential and pursue their future ambitions.
“It is to address these lapses on the part of society that the FFL is organising various motivational seminars to inspire the under-privileged to aim high to achieve their future ambitions in life,”,he stated.
Mr Dei-Tumi appealed to corporate bodies to support the under-privileged in society to make life bearable for them.
He commended Vodafone for its readiness to assist the unfortunate in society.
Receiving the items, the Headmaster of Okuapeman SHS, Mr Felix Essah-Hienno, thanked Vodafone Ghana and the FFL for their support.
He said the gesture would enhance teaching and learning and improve the lives of the visually-impaired in the school.
The donation, which formed part of the company's corporate social responsibility, was aimed at enhancing teaching and learning to improve the academic performance of the students.
The donation of the items was facilitated by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Foundation for Future Leaders (FFL), Mr Emmanuel Dei-Tumi, who also presented 19 computer tables to the school.
The donation coincided with a motivational seminar organised by the FFL for students, including the visually impaired students of the school.
Vodafone used the occasion to organise a dinner for the visually impaired students.
Presenting the items, the Head of Internal Communications of Vodafone Ghana, Mr Isaac Abraham, said the company was proud to associate itself with the Foundation for Future Leaders’ commitment to making life more meaningful for under-privileged youth.
For his part, Mr Dei-Tumi said one of the major drawbacks to the development of visually-impaired and other handicapped youth in society, was the society’s lack of support for such persons to develop their potential and pursue their future ambitions.
“It is to address these lapses on the part of society that the FFL is organising various motivational seminars to inspire the under-privileged to aim high to achieve their future ambitions in life,”,he stated.
Mr Dei-Tumi appealed to corporate bodies to support the under-privileged in society to make life bearable for them.
He commended Vodafone for its readiness to assist the unfortunate in society.
Receiving the items, the Headmaster of Okuapeman SHS, Mr Felix Essah-Hienno, thanked Vodafone Ghana and the FFL for their support.
He said the gesture would enhance teaching and learning and improve the lives of the visually-impaired in the school.
30 PRESENTED WITH TOOLS TO START BUSINESS (BACK PAGE, OCT 28)
THE Rural Enterprises Project and the Asuogyaman District Assembly have presented assorted start-up equipment worth GH¢1,500 to 30 people who have completed their apprenticeship in various trades in the area.
The incentive is to ensure that graduate apprentices who have undergone their apprenticeship but cannot establish their own businesses due to financial difficulties start them.
The items, which were presented to dressmakers, hairdressers, electrical welders, barbers, auto mechanics and carpenters, included sewing machines, grinding machines, spraying machines, hair dryers, vulcanising machines, among others.
In an address, the Head of the Business Advisory Centre of the Asuogyaman District Assembly, Mr Daniel Owusu Ansah, said the initiative was part of the government’s effort and strategy to alleviate poverty through increased incomes for graduate artisans to set up their own business ventures.
He said the programme was also aimed at equipping the beneficiaries with the requisite knowledge and skills to enable them to efficiently manage their businesses and provide employment for others.
Mr Ansah said since the inception of the programme in the district, about 400 people had already been trained in marketing, small business management, soap making, grasscutter rearing, fish farming, batik and tie and dye making, among others.
He added that the project had supported the people to register their businesses with the Registrar-General’s Department, while 60 master craftsmen and apprentices had been assisted to undertake the NVTI certificate examinations, out of which 15 had received their certificates, with the remaining awaiting their results.
For his part, the District Chief Executive for Asuogyaman, Mr Johnson Ehiakpor, said since the government was committed to eradicating poverty and improving the well-being of Ghanaians, it recognised the potential of the programme to alleviate poverty in the district and the country as a whole.
He said plans were far advanced to establish a service centre in the district to train the youth in various vocations, adding, “This is part of the assembly’s commitment to job creation for unemployed youth.”
The incentive is to ensure that graduate apprentices who have undergone their apprenticeship but cannot establish their own businesses due to financial difficulties start them.
The items, which were presented to dressmakers, hairdressers, electrical welders, barbers, auto mechanics and carpenters, included sewing machines, grinding machines, spraying machines, hair dryers, vulcanising machines, among others.
In an address, the Head of the Business Advisory Centre of the Asuogyaman District Assembly, Mr Daniel Owusu Ansah, said the initiative was part of the government’s effort and strategy to alleviate poverty through increased incomes for graduate artisans to set up their own business ventures.
He said the programme was also aimed at equipping the beneficiaries with the requisite knowledge and skills to enable them to efficiently manage their businesses and provide employment for others.
Mr Ansah said since the inception of the programme in the district, about 400 people had already been trained in marketing, small business management, soap making, grasscutter rearing, fish farming, batik and tie and dye making, among others.
He added that the project had supported the people to register their businesses with the Registrar-General’s Department, while 60 master craftsmen and apprentices had been assisted to undertake the NVTI certificate examinations, out of which 15 had received their certificates, with the remaining awaiting their results.
For his part, the District Chief Executive for Asuogyaman, Mr Johnson Ehiakpor, said since the government was committed to eradicating poverty and improving the well-being of Ghanaians, it recognised the potential of the programme to alleviate poverty in the district and the country as a whole.
He said plans were far advanced to establish a service centre in the district to train the youth in various vocations, adding, “This is part of the assembly’s commitment to job creation for unemployed youth.”
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
MEDIA URGED TO PROMOTE SMEs ( PAGE 17, OCT 27)
THE Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, has called on media practitioners to help promote the activities of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), in the country to enable them to become more vibrant and competitive.
This, he said, would spur such private entities on to expand and create more employment opportunities for the people.
“We can achieve this objective if the media consciously promotes the activities of the SMEs to enable them to effectively contribute to efforts at alleviating poverty among the people,” he stated.
Mr Ampofo made the call when executive members of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the KAB Governance Consult and SMEs in the Eastern Region called on him at his office at Koforidua.
He said, “The media, as a powerful development tool, can help accelerate the socio-economic development of the region and country if they pay less attention to politics”.
The visit was to brief the regional minister on how the media could effectively be used to promote the activities of SMEs in all the 21 districts and municipalities in the region, and also seek his support and that of the Eastern Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC), districts and municipalities in facilitating the growth of the SMEs in the region.
The delegates included Mr Bright Blewu, General Secretary of the GJA; Mr Edmund Quaynor, Eastern Regional Chairman of the GJA; Mr Kwesi Afriyie Badu, Chief Executive Officer of the KAB Governance Consult and some executive members of the SMEs.
The regional minister noted that one of the major challenges facing the socio-economic development of the region and the country as a whole was poverty, a problem he attributed to lack of employment among the people.
He, therefore, stressed the need for the media to shift focus from politics and promote the activities of the SMEs to enable them to grow and provide employment for the people.
“The global recognition of the media as a development tool should encourage media practitioners to give priority to promoting the interests of SMEs as their contribution to the alleviation of poverty, and not for politics and criticisms,” he stated.
According to him, for media practitioners to effectively promote the interest of SMEs, they must acquire the requisite knowledge in business and financial reporting to enable them to effectively contribute to efforts at addressing the challenges facing the SMEs.
He pledged the support of municipal and district assemblies to the development of the SMEs in the region.
He said 20 years after the introduction of the decentralisation process, there was the need for district assemblies to also be business-oriented to enable them not to relysolely on their common funds for the implementation of development projects.
He also indicated that some of the poverty alleviation programmes, especially the National Youth Employment Programme, which were introduced under the previous government, was taking a chunk of the district assemblies’ common fund.
He, therefore, stressed the need for such funds to be invested in profit-making ventures, including the SMEs.
“Since 70 per cent of the population in the region are engaged in agriculture, supporting the youth to go into farming can immensely address poverty among the people”, he stated, adding that he was working with two municipal assemblies to equip 210 girls with vocational skills to enable them to become self-employed to provide employment for others girls.
The regional minister called on MMDAs to collaborate with the various SMEs to facilitate the socio-economic development of their districts.
On the lack of a permanent market for beads traders at Koforidua, he pledged his preparedness to help in relocating the traders from their present location at the Jackson Park to a more decent and spacious place, where they could carry out their trade.
“I am collaborating with the New Juaben Municipal Assembly to accomplish this goal, “he said.
For his part, Mr Afriyie Badu said surveys carried out across MMDAs in the country revealed that most of the SMEs had no support from the district assemblies, a situation that had hindered their growth and development.
He, therefore, stressed the need for district assemblies to include SMEs in their decision-making process with regard to business activities in the region.
“District assemblies must also award contracts to the SMEs instead of giving them out to big business entities, ” Mr Afriyie Badu said.
Mr Blewu pledged the commitment of the media to extend the coverage to the activities of SMEs to enable them to overcome the inherent challenges facing the enterprises.
This, he said, would spur such private entities on to expand and create more employment opportunities for the people.
“We can achieve this objective if the media consciously promotes the activities of the SMEs to enable them to effectively contribute to efforts at alleviating poverty among the people,” he stated.
Mr Ampofo made the call when executive members of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the KAB Governance Consult and SMEs in the Eastern Region called on him at his office at Koforidua.
He said, “The media, as a powerful development tool, can help accelerate the socio-economic development of the region and country if they pay less attention to politics”.
The visit was to brief the regional minister on how the media could effectively be used to promote the activities of SMEs in all the 21 districts and municipalities in the region, and also seek his support and that of the Eastern Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC), districts and municipalities in facilitating the growth of the SMEs in the region.
The delegates included Mr Bright Blewu, General Secretary of the GJA; Mr Edmund Quaynor, Eastern Regional Chairman of the GJA; Mr Kwesi Afriyie Badu, Chief Executive Officer of the KAB Governance Consult and some executive members of the SMEs.
The regional minister noted that one of the major challenges facing the socio-economic development of the region and the country as a whole was poverty, a problem he attributed to lack of employment among the people.
He, therefore, stressed the need for the media to shift focus from politics and promote the activities of the SMEs to enable them to grow and provide employment for the people.
“The global recognition of the media as a development tool should encourage media practitioners to give priority to promoting the interests of SMEs as their contribution to the alleviation of poverty, and not for politics and criticisms,” he stated.
According to him, for media practitioners to effectively promote the interest of SMEs, they must acquire the requisite knowledge in business and financial reporting to enable them to effectively contribute to efforts at addressing the challenges facing the SMEs.
He pledged the support of municipal and district assemblies to the development of the SMEs in the region.
He said 20 years after the introduction of the decentralisation process, there was the need for district assemblies to also be business-oriented to enable them not to relysolely on their common funds for the implementation of development projects.
He also indicated that some of the poverty alleviation programmes, especially the National Youth Employment Programme, which were introduced under the previous government, was taking a chunk of the district assemblies’ common fund.
He, therefore, stressed the need for such funds to be invested in profit-making ventures, including the SMEs.
“Since 70 per cent of the population in the region are engaged in agriculture, supporting the youth to go into farming can immensely address poverty among the people”, he stated, adding that he was working with two municipal assemblies to equip 210 girls with vocational skills to enable them to become self-employed to provide employment for others girls.
The regional minister called on MMDAs to collaborate with the various SMEs to facilitate the socio-economic development of their districts.
On the lack of a permanent market for beads traders at Koforidua, he pledged his preparedness to help in relocating the traders from their present location at the Jackson Park to a more decent and spacious place, where they could carry out their trade.
“I am collaborating with the New Juaben Municipal Assembly to accomplish this goal, “he said.
For his part, Mr Afriyie Badu said surveys carried out across MMDAs in the country revealed that most of the SMEs had no support from the district assemblies, a situation that had hindered their growth and development.
He, therefore, stressed the need for district assemblies to include SMEs in their decision-making process with regard to business activities in the region.
“District assemblies must also award contracts to the SMEs instead of giving them out to big business entities, ” Mr Afriyie Badu said.
Mr Blewu pledged the commitment of the media to extend the coverage to the activities of SMEs to enable them to overcome the inherent challenges facing the enterprises.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
ASEMPANEYE RESIDENTS GET FREE MEDICARE (PAGE 15, OCT 22)
MEMBERS of the Accra Ring Road Central Rotary Club last Saturday organized a free medical care for residents of Asempaneye, a farming village in the Akuapem North District in the Eastern Region.
The exercise, which involved a 10-man medical team, including five doctors, was used to screen the people, mostly the aged, women and children of various health problems.
Beneficiaries with minor health conditions were provided free drugs while those with serious ailments were referred to the Eastern Regional Hospital at Koforidua and the Tetteh Quarshie Hospital at Akuapem-Mampong.
The initiative was also used to present a 100 school uniforms, exercise books and stationery, as well as footballs to the 100 school children in the village, which members of the club have adopted and are putting up a three-unit class room block.
The school building would provide a conducive teaching and learning environment for the pupils and their teachers who, hitherto, were accommodated in a dilapidated mud structure that posed danger to them.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic during the exercise, the Service Project Director of the club, Mr Victor Yaw Asante, said the club embarked on the health screening and presented the school uniforms and stationery to the community as part of their community assistance project aimed at improving the lives of the beneficiary community.
He said through the various fund raising, members of the club were able to raise GH¢3,000, which had been spent on the first phase of the school building project, comprising a library and a staff common room in addition to a playing field.
Mr Asante added that “we are committed to raising an additional GH¢50, 000 for the second and third phase of the school project”.
“The project will signify the realisation of the objective of the club to provide community service to communities who are less fortunate in the country and also to support the government to provide public services to the citizens of Ghana”, Mr Asante stated.
The exercise, which involved a 10-man medical team, including five doctors, was used to screen the people, mostly the aged, women and children of various health problems.
Beneficiaries with minor health conditions were provided free drugs while those with serious ailments were referred to the Eastern Regional Hospital at Koforidua and the Tetteh Quarshie Hospital at Akuapem-Mampong.
The initiative was also used to present a 100 school uniforms, exercise books and stationery, as well as footballs to the 100 school children in the village, which members of the club have adopted and are putting up a three-unit class room block.
The school building would provide a conducive teaching and learning environment for the pupils and their teachers who, hitherto, were accommodated in a dilapidated mud structure that posed danger to them.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic during the exercise, the Service Project Director of the club, Mr Victor Yaw Asante, said the club embarked on the health screening and presented the school uniforms and stationery to the community as part of their community assistance project aimed at improving the lives of the beneficiary community.
He said through the various fund raising, members of the club were able to raise GH¢3,000, which had been spent on the first phase of the school building project, comprising a library and a staff common room in addition to a playing field.
Mr Asante added that “we are committed to raising an additional GH¢50, 000 for the second and third phase of the school project”.
“The project will signify the realisation of the objective of the club to provide community service to communities who are less fortunate in the country and also to support the government to provide public services to the citizens of Ghana”, Mr Asante stated.
PAY ATTENTION TO NEEDS OF DISADVANTAGED IN SOCIETY (PAGE 21, OCT 21)
THE Board Chairman of the Akropong School for the Blind, Osahene Kwesi Ofei Agyeman IV, has passionately appealed to corporate bodies and well-to-do individuals to pay more attention to the needs of the physically-challenged and the disadvantaged in society.
Such commitment, he said, would enable such people to feel part of society to enable them to develop their potential and contribute their quota to national development.
“There comes a time in the life of every nation to pay serious attention to the needs of the blind, the deaf and mental patients whose welfare must be taken care of not only by the government but also all corporate bodies and responsible individuals”, he stated.
Osahene Agyeman was speaking at the inauguration and handing over of two school phone booths donated by Vodafone Ghana to the School for the Blind at Akropong.
The booths have the functions of a standard mobile phone and would enable the students not only to make and receive calls, but to also to send text messages.
As part of the initiative, Vodafone also freely gave out 600 chips to the students to enable them to access the facility.
Osahene Agyeman, who is also the Krontihene of Akuapem, said in the past, persons with disability were mostly left to their parents to cater for their needs without any support from society.
The unfortunate situation, he said, left many physically-challenged persons “isolated, neglected and marginalised to the detriment of their mental, physical and emotional development”.
Osahene Agyeman added that the unhealthy attitude of society could be reversed if “corporate bodies and able bodied persons recognised their responsibility towards the unfortunate ones in society and lend them a helping hand”.
He, therefore, commended Vodafone for its commitment to make the underprivileged and handicapped also enjoy what “an enlightened society has to offer everybody, including the physically-challenged”.
For his part, the Head of Internal Communications of Vodafone Ghana, Mr Isaac Abraham, said since communication had become very crucial in the lives of the people today, his outfit decided to take advantage of the Ghana Education Service policy, which did not allow students to use mobile phones on campuses, to introduce the school boots to the students.
According to him, Vodafone had committed US$2,650,000 to the project, bringing to 941 the number of boots provided for 300 schools across the country.
“The project, identified as Vodafone corporate social responsibility, was initiated to provide global accessibility to basic telephony in schools, where students are not allowed to handle mobile phones while in school”, he stated.
Such commitment, he said, would enable such people to feel part of society to enable them to develop their potential and contribute their quota to national development.
“There comes a time in the life of every nation to pay serious attention to the needs of the blind, the deaf and mental patients whose welfare must be taken care of not only by the government but also all corporate bodies and responsible individuals”, he stated.
Osahene Agyeman was speaking at the inauguration and handing over of two school phone booths donated by Vodafone Ghana to the School for the Blind at Akropong.
The booths have the functions of a standard mobile phone and would enable the students not only to make and receive calls, but to also to send text messages.
As part of the initiative, Vodafone also freely gave out 600 chips to the students to enable them to access the facility.
Osahene Agyeman, who is also the Krontihene of Akuapem, said in the past, persons with disability were mostly left to their parents to cater for their needs without any support from society.
The unfortunate situation, he said, left many physically-challenged persons “isolated, neglected and marginalised to the detriment of their mental, physical and emotional development”.
Osahene Agyeman added that the unhealthy attitude of society could be reversed if “corporate bodies and able bodied persons recognised their responsibility towards the unfortunate ones in society and lend them a helping hand”.
He, therefore, commended Vodafone for its commitment to make the underprivileged and handicapped also enjoy what “an enlightened society has to offer everybody, including the physically-challenged”.
For his part, the Head of Internal Communications of Vodafone Ghana, Mr Isaac Abraham, said since communication had become very crucial in the lives of the people today, his outfit decided to take advantage of the Ghana Education Service policy, which did not allow students to use mobile phones on campuses, to introduce the school boots to the students.
According to him, Vodafone had committed US$2,650,000 to the project, bringing to 941 the number of boots provided for 300 schools across the country.
“The project, identified as Vodafone corporate social responsibility, was initiated to provide global accessibility to basic telephony in schools, where students are not allowed to handle mobile phones while in school”, he stated.
PAY ATTENTION TO NEEDS OF DISADVANTAGED IN SOCIETY (PAGE 21, OCT 21)
THE Board Chairman of the Akropong School for the Blind, Osahene Kwesi Ofei Agyeman IV, has passionately appealed to corporate bodies and well-to-do individuals to pay more attention to the needs of the physically-challenged and the disadvantaged in society.
Such commitment, he said, would enable such people to feel part of society to enable them to develop their potential and contribute their quota to national development.
“There comes a time in the life of every nation to pay serious attention to the needs of the blind, the deaf and mental patients whose welfare must be taken care of not only by the government but also all corporate bodies and responsible individuals”, he stated.
Osahene Agyeman was speaking at the inauguration and handing over of two school phone booths donated by Vodafone Ghana to the School for the Blind at Akropong.
The booths have the functions of a standard mobile phone and would enable the students not only to make and receive calls, but to also to send text messages.
As part of the initiative, Vodafone also freely gave out 600 chips to the students to enable them to access the facility.
Osahene Agyeman, who is also the Krontihene of Akuapem, said in the past, persons with disability were mostly left to their parents to cater for their needs without any support from society.
The unfortunate situation, he said, left many physically-challenged persons “isolated, neglected and marginalised to the detriment of their mental, physical and emotional development”.
Osahene Agyeman added that the unhealthy attitude of society could be reversed if “corporate bodies and able bodied persons recognised their responsibility towards the unfortunate ones in society and lend them a helping hand”.
He, therefore, commended Vodafone for its commitment to make the underprivileged and handicapped also enjoy what “an enlightened society has to offer everybody, including the physically-challenged”.
For his part, the Head of Internal Communications of Vodafone Ghana, Mr Isaac Abraham, said since communication had become very crucial in the lives of the people today, his outfit decided to take advantage of the Ghana Education Service policy, which did not allow students to use mobile phones on campuses, to introduce the school boots to the students.
According to him, Vodafone had committed US$2,650,000 to the project, bringing to 941 the number of boots provided for 300 schools across the country.
“The project, identified as Vodafone corporate social responsibility, was initiated to provide global accessibility to basic telephony in schools, where students are not allowed to handle mobile phones while in school”, he stated.
Such commitment, he said, would enable such people to feel part of society to enable them to develop their potential and contribute their quota to national development.
“There comes a time in the life of every nation to pay serious attention to the needs of the blind, the deaf and mental patients whose welfare must be taken care of not only by the government but also all corporate bodies and responsible individuals”, he stated.
Osahene Agyeman was speaking at the inauguration and handing over of two school phone booths donated by Vodafone Ghana to the School for the Blind at Akropong.
The booths have the functions of a standard mobile phone and would enable the students not only to make and receive calls, but to also to send text messages.
As part of the initiative, Vodafone also freely gave out 600 chips to the students to enable them to access the facility.
Osahene Agyeman, who is also the Krontihene of Akuapem, said in the past, persons with disability were mostly left to their parents to cater for their needs without any support from society.
The unfortunate situation, he said, left many physically-challenged persons “isolated, neglected and marginalised to the detriment of their mental, physical and emotional development”.
Osahene Agyeman added that the unhealthy attitude of society could be reversed if “corporate bodies and able bodied persons recognised their responsibility towards the unfortunate ones in society and lend them a helping hand”.
He, therefore, commended Vodafone for its commitment to make the underprivileged and handicapped also enjoy what “an enlightened society has to offer everybody, including the physically-challenged”.
For his part, the Head of Internal Communications of Vodafone Ghana, Mr Isaac Abraham, said since communication had become very crucial in the lives of the people today, his outfit decided to take advantage of the Ghana Education Service policy, which did not allow students to use mobile phones on campuses, to introduce the school boots to the students.
According to him, Vodafone had committed US$2,650,000 to the project, bringing to 941 the number of boots provided for 300 schools across the country.
“The project, identified as Vodafone corporate social responsibility, was initiated to provide global accessibility to basic telephony in schools, where students are not allowed to handle mobile phones while in school”, he stated.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
FREE HEALTH SCREENING FOR OYOKO RESIDENTS (PAGE 14, OCT 15)
ABOUT 1,000 people from Oyoko and its environs in the New Juaben Municipality in the Eastern region have benefited from a free medical screening organised by the Oyokohene, Nana Kodua Kesse III.
During the exercise, the beneficiaries, mostly the aged, women and children, were examined for various health problems.
Those with minor conditions were diagnosed and provided with free drugs, while those with severe ailments were referred to the Eastern Regional Hospital for further treatment.
The initiative, which formed part of activities marking the 30th anniversary of Nana Kesse’s enstoolment as the Oyokohene, was sponsored by the Kama Health Group and supported by the Intravenous Infusions Ghana Limited in Koforidua.
The Chief Executive Officer of the KAMA Group of Companies, Dr Michael Agyekum Addo, told the Daily Graphic during the exercise that since the health of the people was wealth, the company had decided to provide GH¢5,000 worth of assorted drugs for the provision of quality health-care to residents of the area.
During the exercise, the beneficiaries, mostly the aged, women and children, were examined for various health problems.
Those with minor conditions were diagnosed and provided with free drugs, while those with severe ailments were referred to the Eastern Regional Hospital for further treatment.
The initiative, which formed part of activities marking the 30th anniversary of Nana Kesse’s enstoolment as the Oyokohene, was sponsored by the Kama Health Group and supported by the Intravenous Infusions Ghana Limited in Koforidua.
The Chief Executive Officer of the KAMA Group of Companies, Dr Michael Agyekum Addo, told the Daily Graphic during the exercise that since the health of the people was wealth, the company had decided to provide GH¢5,000 worth of assorted drugs for the provision of quality health-care to residents of the area.
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