YOUTH MUST REFRAIN FROM NEGATIVE PROPAGANDA — GROUP (PAGE 14, JUNE 29, 2010)

A PRESSURE group that seeks to encourage adherence to the principles of good governance and political culture in the country has cautioned the youth to refrain from negative propaganda and unhealthy politics at local, regional and national levels.
“It is indeed regrettable if we, as youth, allow ourselves to be used by self-seeking individuals or politicians who, by virtue of their position in society, want to use them to achieve their parochial interest,” the group, known as One Ghana Network stated.
The group has, therefore, condemned the actions of some agitating “foot soldiers” who indulge in open attacks and threats on personalities with a view to chasing them out of office, adding that it would not be to the benefit of the district, region and the nation as a whole.
In a press statement, the group called for more creative ways of addressing the grievances of the electorate and development programmes.
The statement said it was untenable for some youth activists to resort to violence, insults, attacks on personalities, hijacking of public facilities, violent and baseless demonstrations in contrast to their civic responsibilities.
It added that, according to Thomas Jefferson, “every generation needs a new revolution” and, therefore, what the present generation needed was industrious, proactive leadership, morally disciplined and technologically advanced people and not bullies.
The statement said the network had observed that media attacks, anonymous letters, posters and notices were, just symptoms of the “ pull him down” syndrome instead of taking the path of constructive criticisms.
The network advised the youth to desist from making unguarded statements and committing acts which would undermine good governance and multi-party democracy and also called on privileged appointees to continue to engage all sections of the public in discussing projects.

RELIGIOUS LEADERS URGED TO LEAD EXEMPLARY LIVES (PAGE 22, JUNE 25, 2010)

THE Director of the Church of Christ Orphanage, Village of Hope, at Gomoa- Fetteh, Brother Fred Asare, has called on religious leaders to lead lives worthy of emulation.
He said the life of a preacher should be one of integrity and consistency.
Brother Asare who was the quest speaker for the occassion, made the call at the seventh graduation ceremony for 19 evangelists of the Volta School of Evangelism at Ho.
He stressed that as religious leaders, they should exercise circumspection in their lifestyles.
In an address read on behalf of the Volta Regional Minister, Mr Joseph Amenowode, he commended the church for its role as a dependable partner in the fields of education, health and agriculture, among others.
He charged the church to preach against the use of the pulpit to amass wealth rather than soul winning, adding that those tendencies had brought the church into disrepute in recent times.
“The church should also step up the campaign against spiritual degeneration,” he added.
The Co-ordinator of Missionaries from the United States of America (USA), Mr Ben Fulks, advised the new graduates to demonstrate good leadership skills in all their undertakings.
The Principal of the College, Evangelist Sammy Dzamesi, said the training scheme of the college embraced the teaching of local languages in addition to English to enable the preachers to communicate effectively with their congregations.
He disclosed that since the inception of the school 17 years ago, a total of 77 evangelists or preachers had been trained with the support of Ben Fulks, the Dangerfield and Pine-Tree Churches of Christ all in the USA.
Evangelist Dzamesi announced that the college was to be affiliated to the McDonough Bible Institute of Georgia, adding that when the agreement was completed, the name of the school would be changed from Volta School of Evangelism to Volta Bible College, with the hope that the school would be elevated to award advance diploma and degrees.
He said the challenges facing the college included the lack of a school bus, computers and books for the library, as well as limited funds which had compelled teachers to teach on a voluntary basis.
Evangelist Dzamesi paid tributes to the Yoruba Linda Church of Christ, Glenn McCoy of State College Church of Christ in California and Chris Murray and Ray Boat Right of USA for their immense support for nurturing the college over the years.
The school prefect, Mr Andrews Eric Agble, urged his colleagues to be humble and never to discriminate against anybody.
He said the students had installed a water system on the college campus, supplied electric bulbs and mosquito nets in the course of evangelisation.
The Principal of the Ghana Bible College in Kumasi, Dr S.B. Obeng, commissioned the graduates, while the Member of Parliament (MP) for Nkwanta-South and Majority Chief Whip, Mr Gershon Gbediame, presented certificates to the graduates.   

CONTRACT AWARDED FOR 21 SIX-UNIT CLASSROOMS (PAGE 46, JUNE 24, 2010)

The government has awarded contracts estimated at GH¢5,310,244.02 for the construction of 21 six-unit classroom blocks for 20 senior high schools (SHS) in the Volta Region.
The projects are to enable the schools to contain the infrastructure challenges associated with the intake of students for the four-year SHS programme.
The beneficiary schools include OLA Girls SHS in Ho, Evangelical Presbyterian Church Mawuko Girls SHS, Abor SHS, Nruboman SHS at Brewaniase, Kpassa SHS, Nkonya SHS and Kpeve SHS.
Others are the Adidome SHS, Oti SHS, Dodi Papase SHS, Some SHS, Bueman SHS, Akatsi SHS/T, Kpando Technical Institute, Anlo Technical Institute, Comboni Voc/Tech Institute, Have Technical Institute, Awudome SHS, Kpando SHS, Battor SHS, and Agotime SHS.
The contractors are expected to complete the projects by September 30, 2010 at the fix contract sums without any variations based on price fluctuations.
At a pre-commencement meeting held with the chief executives of the construction firms, the Volta Regional Minister, Mr Joseph Amenowode, said the construction firms were chosen because of their capabilities and that nothing should stop them from delivering to expectation.
He asked them to employ a sizeable number of skilled and unskilled labour from the communities in which the projects were sited, adding that they should report to the district chief executives and chiefs of their areas.
The regional minister lauded the contractors for their ability to pre-finance the projects.
The consultant of Procurement Project Consultant, Mr Gabriel Nani, asked the contractors to adhere strictly to specifications, warning that any deviations would not be compromised.
He also urged them to comply with the work schedule because payment for work done would be done according to the programme.
He asked them to use quarry stones and not to compromise on quality because of the short time they were expected to deliver.
Mr Nani said the region had been divided into three zones and that consultants had been posted to each zone to monitor the projects to ensure that they were executed on time to meet the aspirations of the government.

CRC ROUNDS UP MEETING IN VOLTA REGION (PAGE 13, JUNE 19, 2010)

THE Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) has rounded up its consultative meetings in the Volta Region where the people of the region were unanimous that the indemnity clauses in the Constitution should be maintained and not reviewed.
According to them, any attempt to review those clauses would constitute a recipe for chaos likely to endanger the peace currently being enjoyed in the country.
The indemnity clauses set out in the first schedule of the Constitution indemnifies from any legal proceedings, players in coup d’etats that were undertaken by various regimes in the country prior to the coming into force of the 1992 Republican Constitution.
In all, the Commission held consultations in 17 out of the 18 districts of the Volta Region. They could however not hold one in the Biakoye District since that district which was created recently had been inoperative due to a controversy over the siting of its capital.
Mr Eric Delanyo Alifo, the Counsel and lead researcher of the Constitution Review Commission, who headed the operations in the Volta Region told newsmen that the people of the region were definitive on the fact that any attempt to review the indemnity clauses would divide the country and thereby reverse the gains made with regard to national unity and cohesion.
According to Mr Alifo, the consultative meetings in the region had been highly successful, adding that the patronage was “marvelous”.
The next step, he said, was the convening of a regional consultation which would precede a national one before a report would be presented to the President.
He said that a revelation that came up was the fact that the exercise had brought enlightenment to people who hitherto were ignorant about pertinent issues in the Constitution.
“The people said that they had been enlightened on the Constitution through this exercise which means that the people’s knowledge of the constitution was on the low side”, he explained.
He said that opinion in the region was split on the election of District Chief Executives with a slight majority saying that the status quo must be maintained.
They added that should it become necessary to elect DCEs, then the President must nominate a number of them for the people to decide on one through voting.
Opinion on the abolition of the death penalty was also split with a slight majority saying that it should be retained.
On the ceiling to the number of Supreme Court justices, the people of the Volta Region said that there was the need to set a ceiling in order to prevent the situation where the executive arm of government could manipulate the Supreme Court to suit its own agenda and thereby thwarting the course of justice.
The people of the region have also called for the divorcing of the Attorney General from the Minister of Justice so that there would be an institution of an independent prosecution office to handle matterS relating to prosecution while the Minister of Justice could advise the President on legal issues.

AVOID CONTRACTING COMMUNICABLE DISEASES — ANKAMA-ASAMOAH (PAGE 54, JUNE 16, 2010)

THE Managing Director of Cleaning Solutions Limited, Mr Kofi Ankama-Asamoah, has underscored the need for public institutions to take steps to ward off the devastating effects of emerging communicable diseases such as the HINI influenza at their work places.
He, therefore, stressed that hand washing culture must be taken seriously in all schools to prevent infection.
Hand washing, he said, must always be done with soap in order to kill micro-organisms which were the agents of diseases.
“We recommend hand washing and not hand wetting. When you wash your hand with only water, you are hand wetting. Hand washing entails the use of soap to clean the hand and kill micro organisms,” he stated.
Mr Ankama-Asamoah gave the advice in a speech read on his behalf at the second leg of a three phase regional workshop on hygiene training for senior high schools at Ho in the Volta Region.
The workshop was designed in collaboration with the School Health Education Programme (SHEP) of the GES for 400 participants comprising bursars, chairmen of procurement departments, matrons, housemasters and housemistresses.
Mr Ankama-Asamoah said the use of the hand in recent times had become circumspect although it was the source of riches, a better relationship and affability.
The hand, he said, was now attributed as the source of illnesses and death, especially when considered after using it for sneezing, holding of door locks where the largest deposit of micro-organisms accumulated.
Mr Ankama-Asamoah claimed that medical experts had underscored that washing of hands regularly, especially after visiting the lavatory reduced visits to out patients department (OPD) by 10 per cent.
He stressed that more gains would be made if the culture was sustained.
The Volta Regional Officer in charge of SHEP, Madam Sitsofe Amegboe, said the workshop fitted into the medium-term policy of the GES to ensure that schoolchildren were educated to become agents of change in the promotion of proper hygiene and sanitation communities.
She commended Cleaning Solutions Limited for the initiative, which she described as laudable, especially when launched in an era of the HINI epidemic.
Madam Amegboe, however, expressed regret that one could not overlook the fact that the main aim confronting schools today was the unhygienic practices, which had visited negative consequences on the health of citizens such as diarrhoea, worm infestation, tuberculosis and cholera.
The Tema/Volta/Eastern Zone Manager of Cleaning Solutions, Mr Fred Nyame, said some of the principles that were brought on the agenda included the use of paper tissues in hotels and restaurants to replace the multiple use of towels at bars by clients.
He called for the use of soap dispensers, adding “good hygiene costs money but poor hygiene costs more”.

PUPILS URGED TO TAKE READING SERIOUSLY (PAGE 54, JUNE 16, 2010)

THE Ketu South District Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES),Mr Sam Kwami Tumaku has advised pupils to take reading very serious since it is the bedrock for the growth and development in their education career.
He said with good reading habits,they could easily articulate themselves in public and also serve as a platform to achieve success in their examinations.
Mr Tumaku said this when he delivered a lecture on the theme,“Reading: Pivot of transformation” at the inaugural ceremony of a reading club for the Kekeli Preparatory and Junior High Schools at Aflao.
He commended the organisers of the programme for choosing a theme which was vital and apt to make everyone become useful for the family and the society
Education, he said, is a process that has no end and principally based on the ability to read.
Mr Tumaku said when education was received,it built knowledge, skills, ability, habit, values,attitudes, which were cumulatively considered as indices for shaping human character.
He stated that the most important asset of a nation was it’s citizens, adding that productive citizens could superimpose their talents on natural resources and tap them, but without productive citizens, the resources would remain untapped to the disadvantage of the nation.
Mr Tumaku warned that lack of education could cause “an academic death” that would consequentially cause unwarranted suffering to those deprived of it.
The Chairman of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) of the school, Mr David Dzikunu, paid tribute to the founding fathers of the school, saying that perseverance conquered all difficulties.
He said the new reading club would expose their potential to become news readers and allied professionals in the media industry.
Mr Dzikunu commended teachers of the school for keeping pupils in the correct track towards the achievement of high laurels.
The patron of the reading club, Mr Gabriel Donne Amuzu, disclosed that the club reached the semi-final stage of the Abidjan Lagos Corridor Organisation quiz competition and took awaya 21-inch colour television set and plastic chairs.
He added that the reading club was presented with exercise books, pens, pencils, among other items at a similar quiz competition organised by an Accra-based non-governmental organisation.
Mr Amuzu stated that members of the club had appeared on radio programmes to display their ability in news presentation, debates, poetry recitals and quiz competition.
He appealed to the general public to come to the aid of the club with reading materials, and impressed on parents to encourage their wards to read at home.
The chairperson for the occasion,Mama Ayaba II, who is the queen of Adafienu, commended the teachers for the exposition of skills which had led to the delivery of quality education and high rate of success in the district.

PAY COMPENSATION TO DEFILEMENT VICTIMS (PAGE 54, JUNE 16, 2010)

THE Volta Regional Co-ordinator of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU), Mr Augustine Dogbega has called for the payment of compensation to defilement victims to reduce the trauma of their ordeal.
He said for now, defilement as a criminal act only led perpetrators into jail and the victims left to go home without anything, adding that efforts must be made to make the proposed victim support fund functional.
Mr Dogbega was delivering an address on the topic: “The Domestic Violence Act; The roles of the law enforcement agencies in its implementation” at a day’s sensitisation workshop on domestic violence act in Ho.
It was organised by the Department of Women in the Volta Region with sponsorship from the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands.
Mr Dogbega said nobody was allowed to settle cases of defilement except at the law courts.
He said such cases should not be delayed because there had been few instances where parents concealed the crime until serious infections occurred before they were forced to rush to the police and hospitals.
The acting Volta Regional Director of Department of Women, Ms Thywill Eyra Dordor, said domestic violence had become a pertinent societal issue that had inundated the media in recent times.
She said domestic violence was on the ascendancy, hence the need for stakeholders to discuss the issue and to solicit support to reverse the trend.
Ms Dordor disclosed that 149 cases of defilement, 24 cases of rape and 147 cases of assault were recorded last year, adding that more defilement cases were expected, analysing the trend so far.
Delivering a lecture on the topic: “The role of various stakeholders in the fight against domestic violence”, a principal investigator of the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Mr Charles Mensah, said every citizen was a stakeholder in the fight against domestic violence.
He said failure on the part of anybody to report cases on domestic violence to the police could be charged of abetment of crime.
Mr Mensah said CHRAJ had the mandate to offer remedies for cases, as well as the power to investigate human rights violation associated with domestic violence.
He stated that no stakeholder could single-handedly tackle the problem of domestic violence, and therefore called on stakeholders to join forces to reduce it to the barest minimum.
Speaking on the topic: “The effects of domestic violence on the family and society,” the Assistant Director of the Department of Social Welfare, Mr Peter Hlovor, said families should desist from creating tension at homes to the detriment of peace.
He said families should support victims rather than rebuking them for undermining their perpetrators.
Mr Hlovor advised families to peacefully co-exist and depend on one another to avoid quarrel because it was a major source of disintegration of families.

AVATIME FORMS ECOTOURISM GROUP (MIIROR, PAGE 35, JUNE 5, 2010)

FromTim Dzamboe, Amedzofe

The Avatime- Gemi Otoga Ecotourism Society of the people of Avatime traditional area in the Ho Municipality has been inaugurated with the view to exploring and maximising gains of the enormous potential in ecotourism in the area for development.
The society aims at facilitating the development of tourist products and projects through community participation, support from government, development partners and non-governmental organisations for the upgrading and expansion of tourist sites and products to meet domestic and international standards.
In an address, the Chairman of the society, Mr Sammy Akagbor, said the society had developed a hiking trail between Fume and Gemi and also redeveloped the original trail to the Amedzofe waterfall and christened it as Gelitsa Waterfall Trail.
Mr Akagbor said one other project is to develop a recreational park and game reserve, adding that there were over 10 products that could be derived from the recreational centre and could be of great interest to tourists.
In an inaugural address, the Deputy Minister of Tourism, Mr Kobby Acheampong, underscored the need for all stakeholders to gather their act to explore all untapped avenues in the tourism industry for national development.
He said there was the need to develop and market all segments of tourism products to meet the target in a highly competitive industry.
Mr Acheampong called for collaboration between the public and private sectors to help achieve targets that will benefit the nation, adding that plans were afoot by the ministry to introduce mountain hiking and biking on a yearly basis and tasked the society to liaise with the ministry to that effect.
The Osie of Avatime, Togbe Adjatekpor VII, commended the society and advised them to form stronger bonds in order to reap the benefits of ecotourism, stressing that they should work closely with traditional authorities to sustain interest in the project.
The advisor to Avatime Development Committee, Mr Herbert Adedeme, called for partnership with stakeholders to explore other eco-tourism sites.
He appealed to the Ghana Tourist Board and the Ministry of Tourism to construct receptive centres at Biakpa and Gbadzeme to consolidate the development and promotion of tourism in the area.