NURSES AT TAMALE TEACHING HOSPITAL TO EMBARK ON STRIKE IF……

Over 40 percent of health personnel at the Tamale Teaching Hospital constituting members of the Ghana Registered Nurses Association (GRNA) could embark on strike by the end of June 2011, if the Fair Wages and Salary Commission (FWSC) fails to explain to them their salary placement levels under the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).

This follows an earlier call by the National Executive Council of the Association for the FWSC to migrate nurses and midwives onto the SSSS by the end of July, 2011.

Against this background, the Tamale Teaching Hospital branch of the GRNA is requesting for a very clear and comprehensive explanation regarding the placement levels of their members and the accompanying salaries that can be realistically expected after the migration process so as to avoid disappointments and its attendant consequences.

Addressing a press conference at the hospital’s premises last week, Chairman of the Association, Mr. Musah Salifu, said the request for information was informed by the fact that none of their members, including local, regional and national executives seem to have any clear idea as to what was contained in the SSSS package for nurses and midwives.

He said information on the package seems to be shrouded in some kind of secrecy and treated like national security information. Adding that, the Association deemed it as a right to know exactly what is contained in the package being prepared for them as nurses or workers of Ghana before June 30.

The Tamale Teaching Hospital branch of GRNA thus, stated in no uncertain terms that the FWSC must come out and furnish them with the necessary information not later than the June 30, 2011 deadline, otherwise they should not blame them for any unpleasant consequences that might arise in the future as a result of their silence and secrecy over the SSSS which they thought was completely uncalled for.

TOBACCO CONSUMPTION IN NORTHERN REGION ALARMING– HEALTH OFFICIALS

Officials of the Northern Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), say the rate of tobacco consumption in the region has assumed an alarming proportion as most people particularly farmers in the rural areas do not only smoke the product, but also chew or mix it with food.

According to the health officials, large quantities of tobacco were being farmed in the area and therefore, its consumption could have serious health implications among the populace if stringent measures were not put in place to curtail the phenomenon.

Deputy Director of Public Health, Dr. Jacob Mahama, who addressed journalists as part of the directorate’s quarterly media sensitization programme in Tamale, blamed the situation on the failure by government to pass the Anti Tobacco Bill into Law.

The Bill, which has been in Parliament for about 7 years now, is yet to be passed into Law. Some of the details of the bill seek to ban public smoking which has serious health effects on passive or non-smokers.

It would also, when passed into law, restrain children from handling any tobacco related product and anyone caught smoking at public places would be sentenced to jail or probably fined.

The Northern Region in particular, is said to be leading the whole Ghana in terms of tobacco consumption or cigarette smoking as an estimated 17.7% people were involved.

Dr. Mahama said tobacco can be used as a dry snuff, moist snuff, chewed and smoked, citing tar, nicotine, ammonia, acetone, arsenic, benzene, cadmium, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide and methanol as chemical substances found in tobacco.

When smoked, chewed or sniffed, it could cause heart disease, lungs, lip, tongue and throat cancers, dry skin and frequent headaches, stroke, bad breathe and among others, he warned.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Director of Public Health called on government and non-governmental organizations to help reduce the ill-effects of smoking in the society by banning smoking and also using stickers with warning signs like “NO SMOKING” at work places.

Owners and directors of hotels, restaurants and chop bars he said, should also protect the health of non-smokers by setting aside special places for smokers.

He charged teachers to avoid smoking in school compounds or during school hours as this might affect those around them and also encourage students to smoke.

Dr. Jacob Mahama advised parents who smoke in the presence of their children to put a stop to it. Adding that, they should stop asking children to light cigarettes for them.

ENGAGE IN INCOME GENERATING ACTIVITIES TO AUGMENT YOUR SALARIES

The Teachers and Educational Workers’ Union (TEWU) of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC) in the Northern Region, has ended its 2011 quadrennial women’s delegates conference, with a call on it’s members to improve on their professional skills and engage in other income generating activities to augment their salaries.

The need for women to be economically empowered and independent cannot be over-emphasized, said Sister Johanna Hammond, National President of TEWU Women’s Committee.

Addressing delegates at the 2-day conference held in Tamale, she explained that TEWU members could fight poverty by improving on their professional skills and engaging in other income generating activities to augment their salaries to supplement their family budget.

According to her, the long search for a lasting solution to the issue of poor remuneration for workers in the country resulted in the introduction of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS).

Sister Hammond observed that, in the Ghana Education Service (GES) the implementation of the new salary structure brought about reduction of salaries of some teachers and non-teaching personnel, non-payment of salaries as well as the wrongful placement of others.

However, after the payment of salaries in February, 2011, she said the authorities have acknowledged that there were errors which led to the unfortunate situation that needed to be rectified very quickly.

The National President of the TEWU Women’s Committee assured members that the Union in collaboration with other stakeholders was working constructively to resolve the salary problem.

She also indicated that, the Union was in touch with the authorities to decide on the implementation of the SSSS for members in the public universities, polytechnics and other subvented institutions and on the way forward in reviewing their expired Conditions of Service.

The National Chairman of TEWU, Brother Peter Lumor on the other hand, observed that so much emphasis was placed on the classroom teacher to the neglect of non-teaching staff.

He stressed that, TEWU members are a unique group of people and very critical component of the educational delivery system that could not be taken for granted or treated as a by-product saying “that explains the extension of the teachers’ retention premium to TEWU members.”

Brother Lumor thus, charged members to get themselves abreast of the opportunities that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provide in order to meet current challenges.

The conference which was the eighth in the series of Regional Conferences of TEWU Women’s Committee saw the election of new regional executives ahead of the tenth National conference of TEWU scheduled for August 2011 at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi.

Delegates also took stock of activities in the region during the past four years and in particular, deliberated on issues such as constitutional amendments, adoption of resolutions and among others.

BUSH BURNING THREATENS FOOD SECURITY

The Northern Regional Minister, Moses Bukari Mabengba has attributed food insecurity situation in the area to the increasing spate of bush burning which seriously affects farmlands and trigger climate change effects.

He said a recent assessment by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) indicated that about 5% of Ghana’s population was food insecure. This covered the population who were constrained in terms of physical availability of food, ease of accessibility to food and how food supply was sustained, the minister added.

Unfortunately according to him, a greater proportion of the population considered to be food insecure was located in Northern Ghana –comprising Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions.

Mr. Moses Mabengba who was addressing a one-day regional conference in Tamale organized by Community Life Improvement Programme (CLIP), a Tamale based NGO, on climate change, described the phenomenon as unacceptable.

The conference which was on the theme: “Bushfires, climate change and food security in Northern Ghana”, was intended to examine various human-induced agricultural activities, their impact on climate change and strategies for adoption of climate change coping mechanisms.

Participants were drawn from the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, research and academic institutions, Non-Governmental Organisations, Farmer-Based Organisations, the media and Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).

According to the Northern Regional Minister, notwithstanding the efforts of government to curtail the effects of climate change, bush burning, and ensure food security in the country, the onus lies on the citizenry to protect the environment to ensure their sustainable livelihoods.

Mr. Moses Mabengba commended CLIP through its Food for Life (F4L) project to organize such an important conference to address these challenging concerns affecting the resource-poor farmers in Northern Ghana.

Abubakari Mutari, F4L Focal Person at CLIP in a power-point presentation explained that, the F4L initiative was to provide food insecure farmer households with opportunities to improve their household food security situation through climate change adaptation strategies.

He noted that, the short-term objective of F4L was to improve linkages between research and farm household practices in vulnerable communities through dissemination and adoption of climate resilient technologies.

Mr. Mutari stated that, the goal of the programme is that 60% of farmers in 30 communities in the Northern Region would learn to apply localized and preventive strategies in addressing climate change.

CLIP as an organization is doing this through awareness creation/animation of climate change and its effects, building a knowledge/resource pool to serve as reference point for Food Security and Climate Change resilience technologies, testing and promoting innovations, building concerted efforts to tackle Food Security and Climate Change issues and among others, he stressed.

NORSAAC RAISES ALARM OVER SCANTY BUDGET FOR CONTRACEPTIVES

With barely four (4) years left for Ghana to attain goals 4 and 5 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which are among other set targets, non-governmental organization – NORSAAC – says it fears the country might not meet these important goals if vigorous measures are not put in place to increase funding for contraceptives.

According to Northern Sector Action on Awareness Centre, the MDGs 4 and 5 emphasize very much on the wellbeing of women and children, however government’s budget allocation for contraceptives mostly used by women have dwindled over the years, without government giving any recourse to the consequences or the effects of the non-availability of those commodities.

Adopted by world leaders in the year 2000 and set to be achieved by 2015, the MDGs provide concrete, numerical benchmarks for tackling extreme poverty in its many dimensions.

Speaking at a Regional Reproductive Health Fair for Contraceptive Security in Tamale, the Executive Director of NORSAAC, Alhassan Mohammed Awal, observed that Ghana has a relatively well-functioning reproductive health supply system, which has been successful in making available a wide range of contraceptive methods to Ghanaians even in the most inaccessible and rural areas.

He said while this has ensured that Ghana remains a leader in the sub-region in terms of contraceptives supply, but it is still awfully inadequate.

Mr. Alhassan Awal stated categorically that, Ghana faces an ever-widening financing gap for purchasing of contraceptives and thus advocated for Ghana to take charge of her reproductive health supplies including contraceptives.

Revealing figures on government’s contribution towards the purchase of contraceptives from 2003 to 2010, he said it averages below 25% while huge support from donors’ ranges from 59% to 89%. Adding, “In the event that the donors pull out from this partnership, it means that Ghana is going to face a very serious challenge with regards to managing reproductive health issues which already is on the negative side.”

However, the Executive Director of NORSAAC observed that, there are government policies that support free healthcare for pregnant women up to the time of delivery and after delivery. Besides, government also provides free education at the basic level and has made some progress in improving the educational status of girls in particular.

Mr. Alhassan Awal noted with concern that, if family planning programmes were not integrated into these policies and programmes, it could be seen by adults or married people as licence to reproduce.

Meanwhile, reports released by the Northern Regional Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service showed that, Copper T, Jadelle units, Trocas, Overette tabs, Lo-feminal, Micro G, Female condoms, Male condoms, Depo, Nongynon and Pregnon were the only approved contraceptives or family planning methods provided at the various hospitals across the region.

For the first quarter of 2011, 175,351 people mostly women according to the report used one of the aforementioned family planning products with male condoms, female condoms, depo, lo-feminal and nongynon being the most subscribed in the region. The cost of these products ranges from 20 pesewas to GH¢2.00. All the products can only prevent a woman from getting pregnant except the female and male condoms which play double roles in preventing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.

Chief Alhassan Issahaku Amadu, Northern Regional Population Officer who chaired the event also observed that, there was growing uncontrolled child-bearing and sexual habits among the people of the region most especially adults.

According to him, a greater number of women in the region gave birth to their children out of wedlock, and as a result a large number of these children grow to become irresponsible and hopeless due to lack of good parental care and guidance.

Quoting from the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) to buttress his point, he said only 6% of married women in the region between 15 and 49 years use contraceptives, adding that, strong sexual desire among adolescents is contributing to more teenage pregnancies which could have been avoided through the use of condoms and other forms of contraceptives.

Chief Amadu bewailed that, the number of children between the ages of 1 and 15 constitute about 47% of the total population of the whole region, and about 23% of young girls between ages 12 and 19 are already mothers or are currently pregnant. The average number of children per every single woman is 6.8% representing about 7 children per woman as against the maximum national figure of 4 children per a woman, he added.

Meanwhile, participants at the fair proposed that government should invest heavily in family planning and contraceptive security by legislating for the creation of a budget line in the national budget.

They demanded that Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies especially those at the poorest areas of the country should create budget lines in their annual budgets to support improvement in access, quality and availability of family planning services.

The participants further asked that steps be taken by government to include family planning in the National Health Insurance Scheme package.

NORTHERN JOURNALISTS BLACKLIST REGIONAL POLICE COMMAND, RCC

Journalists in the Northern Region have unanimously agreed to blacklist the Northern Regional Police Command and Regional Coordinating Council (RCC) after the police had decided to prosecute one of their colleagues working with Savannah Radio 91.2.

A statement jointly signed by the Acting General Secretary and the Chairman of the Private Journalists Association (PJA) Francis Npong and Edmond Gyebi respectively, indicated that the decision to boycott activities of the two offices was to draw stakeholders’ attention to bizarre tactics employed by the police to suppress journalists in the area.

Mr. Murtala Issah was arrested, brutalized and detained briefly by the police during the December District Assembly elections when he tried to video-tape a scuffle that ensued between some voters and an election task force at Sankpala Polling Station in the Tamale Central Constituency.

Members of the taskforce upon realizing that the journalist was attempting to capture their abysmal behaviour towards civilian voters pounced on him and destroyed his digital camera beyond repairs. They also brutalized and tore his shirt and finally detained him at the charged office for several hours.

The police however apologized and promised to replace the camera for him after the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and PJA protested against the act.

The police later however called the reporter and indicated to him that the Attorney General’s Department (AG) has advised the Northern Regional Police Command to charge the reporter for offensive conduct contrary to Section 209 of the Criminal Code under the 1992 Constitution after six long months the incident occurred.

"We members of PJA and GJA wish to condemn the action of the police and the AG’s Department for attempting to put fears into Journalists and prevent them from carrying out their legitimate duties", the statement said.

"The statement added, “in consultation with PJA and GJA members, all journalist practitioners based in the region are urged to boycott all activities of the regional police command and RCC until further notice."

The statement said members of PJA and GJA would not be deterred by the act of the police and would continue to exercise their constitutional duties to keep the society safe.