Sunday, August 31, 2008

FOLLOW LAID DOWN PROCEDURE — NCCE (PAGE 13)

THE acting Volta Regional Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Ms Annie Modesta Sapaty, has asked the electorate to follow the procedure for the compilation of the voter’s register in order not to lose track of various activities of the Electoral Commission.
She said the Electoral Commission had organised a limited registration exercise and that there would soon be an exhibition to check names in the register to guarantee people’s chances of exercising their franchise on the election day.
Ms Sapaty said this when she addressed a voter education rally on the theme, “Effective Participation and Peaceful Non-Violent Election” at Keyime in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District.
She said under the present political dispensation, Article 55 of the 1992 constitution enjoined any citizen of voting age to join any political party and also gave them the right to vote.
She said political parties had drawn their code of conduct for the election and that it was pertinent for all to be tolerant, promote peace and fairness before, during and after the elections, adding that development could only flourish in a peaceful environment.
The District Director of NCCE , Togbe Adzimah V, aka Prosper Lagble, advised the electorate to be guided by their conscience and not to be swayed by gifts, money or the like since that was likely to render them impotent to challenge their wrongdoings.
He called on them to maintain the peace prevailing in the country in order to avoid the bad precedents set in Rwanda, Liberia, Kenya and Zimbabwe which had become flash points of election disturbances.
In an address, the Chief of Keyime, Togbe Morkpli Awlimega, said the problems that characterised the recent registration should not be glossed over, adding that efforts should be made not to disenfranchise those who attained the voting age but were not captured in the just ended voter registration exercise.
For his part the assemblymember for the area, Mr Agbesi Latsu, who chaired the function, called for more of such educational programmes to enable the people to exercise their basic rights and assume their civic responsibilities.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

EP CHURCH HOLDS 67TH SYNOD (PAGE 36)

THE Evangelical Presbyterian (EP) Church has entered the 21st century with a new set of leadership that has delivered services beyond the expectation of its congregation spread throughout Ghana and the Diaspora.
At the onset of the millennium in 2000, the Right Reverend Dr Livingstone Komla Buama and Reverend Frank Kwame Anku were consecrated to become the millennium spiritual leaders of the church, that is, the moderator and the synod clerk, respectively.
By Saturday, August 23, this year, the two men would have ended their two terms of office with significant achievements.
Their achievements manifested in the establishment of the premier university for the Volta Region and championing the peace process of the fratricidal war between the people of Nkonya and Alavanyo in the Jasikan and Hohoe districts, which had existed for more than eight decades as a result of land conflict.
The church was also actively involved in the implementation of international conventions, especially the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which bordered on gender issues. That led to the election of the first female presbyter executive, Mrs Lydia Adajawah.
The new university known as the Evangelical Presbyterian University College (EPUC) now has an outreach campus at the Peki Seminary of the church known as the Greenhills campus with the central campus at Ho.
The establishment of the university was not by chance. It serves as a symbol of the achievements of the church in the provision of sound education for Ghanaians for more than 100 years of the existence of the religious body in the Volta Region and other parts of the country.
The church, which was founded on November 14, 1847, has established two teacher training colleges at Amedzofe and Bimbilla, five senior high schools (SHS), 94 junior high schools (JHS), 370 primary schools, 197 kindergartens, two vocational institutions. A total of 2,908 teachers are currently teaching in the primary and JHS. It is logical that the ultimate was to establish a university to consolidate the path for quality education, and that has happened. Congratulations to the synod and the church.
Apart from the education portfolio, the EP Church has made outstanding achievements in agriculture, health, tourism and the hospitality industry, pharmacy.
The church has nine hospitals and clinics, six agricultural stations, one agricultural training centre, 23 self-help projects, a pharmacy and a hotel in Ho.
The church has also invested in the development of African womanhood, printing press, soap making, urban/rural water services, rural and community development, preservation, beads making, pottery, Kente weaving, carpentry, masonry and cookery.
Against the backdrop of those achievements, the EP church has stood tall and resistant to several challenges that have plagued it.
The climax of the synod is the election of a new moderator and a synod clerk, who are expected to work to generate funds to sustain the new university and the tempo of the peace process at Nkonya and Alavanyo.
Delegates to the synod should, therefore, consider themselves as apostles of the church and take decisions that would help the progress of the church.
The most crucial event of the synod is expected to be the election of a new moderator and synod.
The EP Church has more than 163, 000 members spread across 121 districts both local and international.
Although the church has faced several secession activities by some members, it continues to grow by leaps and bounds with more international partners.
The religion has overseas partner churches in Bremen, Germany, England, Wales and Scotland in the United Kingdom, Louisville, Cleveland, Atlanta, Ohio and Richmond in the United States of America.
The church has undertaken several projects such as the Agenda 21 project, which is still more relevant than before in view of the emphasis placed on “Climate Change” by the international communities in contemporary times.
What is more important about the church now is the mounting of an intensive campaign on the use of computers in village schools in order to bridge the gap between rural and urban schools.
The church should endeavour to advocate computer laboratories in all 94 JHSs and 370 primary schools in order to give all children of the church the opportunity to prepare adequately to meet the challenges of Information Communication Technology (ICT) that is currently ruling the world, and without which rural children would continue to be marginalised and remain underdeveloped.
This should be approached in the same vein as the church promulgated a policy on water as a precious gift of God in the previous synod.
Because it is a logical sequence that after the rural electrification programme, there should be a rural computerisation programme and other rural programmes to make life meaningful in rural areas.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

MAIDEN MIDEZOR FESTIVAL CELEBRATED (PAGE 35)

From Tim Dzamboe, Sokode-Bagble

The people of Sokode-Bagble in the Ho municipality have celebrated their first Midezor or Progress festival (in Ewe, Midezor Za) aimed at mobilising human and material resources for the development of the community.
The occasion was used to inaugurate a GH¢4,580 computer laboratory with the support of the First Presbyterian Church of Kalamazoo of the United States of America (USA), which donated nine computers, and also of Blue Print Ghana Limited, an ICT company.
The maiden festival was celebrated on the theme, “Education, A tool for Developing the Youth as Future Leaders — The Way Forward.”
In an address, the Dufia of Sokode-Bagble, Togbui Amedziklu II said it was the determination of the community that every individual strive to grow and mature to take up leadership positions.
He therefore called on the youth to remain focused so that the adults who already possess rich experience would help nurture their youthful exuberance with dynamic and well-sustained leadership qualities.
He said from time immemorial the people had been peace-loving, always resolute and united and that as a result they shared values to initiate development programmes and projects to enhance development.
Togbui Amedziklu therefore said the maiden celebration would be used to source funds to renovate the local junior high school and also inaugurate the computer laboratory for the Evangelical Presbyterian Primary School.
He said the community would be happy with anyone who would recommend the project to any non-governmental organisation for assistance.
Addressing the durbar, the chairman of the planning committee, Togbui Kwaku Adzima VII said the time had come for every child to learn through computers.
He said further that every female contributed GH¢2 and every male, GH¢3 for the computer project. He commended the community for embracing the festival as a means to development.
An Assistant Director of Ghana Education Service at the Ho municipal education office, Mr Lawrence Blaise Alai, for his part, said the facility was more than gold to children and cautioned them against inordinate interest in television super stories.
He urged every youth in the community to develop an interest in computer knowledge, since it is a catalyst to development world-wide.
For his part, the presiding member for Ho municipal assembly, Mr Leonard Kokroko, commended the community for their unique sense of purpose.