MID-YEAR REVIEW SHOWS EAST GONJA DISTRICT PROGRESSING

The East Gonja District Assembly in the Northern Region of Ghana, has held its mid-year performance review meeting with highlights on various projects being executed within the period showing the district was progressing despite certain challenges.

In a presentation of the Assembly’s activities for the period under review, the District Development Planning Officer, Abukari A. Alidu stated that the district witnessed massive construction of projects within the period under the areas of education, health, water and sanitation, security and governance, road and transport and food security.

He disclosed that 19 projects are at various stages of completion under education, 4 health facilities renovated and new ones built, 5 water projects constructed, construction and rehabilitation of 6 KVIP toilets, 6 projects under security and governance and the construction of market stores and stalls at Salaga and Gindanturu to improve food security in the area.

On road and transport, Mr. Alidu mentioned the spots improvement projects at Abrumase, Mabun and Talkpa as projects that were implemented to open up the food producing areas in the district.

The sources of funding for these projects he disclosed were mainly from development partners, Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) and the District Assembly Common Fund (DACF).

He however indicated that the DACF was beset with problems such as late release of funds and at source deductions involving big amounts of money. This, according to Mr. Alidu was affecting the Assembly’s capacity to fund projects mainly from that source.

On the development challenges of the district, the Planning Officer mentioned poor performance of students at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), inadequate departmental staff, inadequate logistics and poor budgetary allocations, armed robberies and depletion of the district’s vegetation cover by various human factors.

Performance reviews such as mid-year and end of year reviews are monitoring tools designed purposely to assess progress of work, achievements, challenges and to chart the way forward in terms of deviations or modifications of planned projects and activities. It is in line with this thinking that the East Gonja District Assembly organized its mid-year review for the 2011 planning period.

The review brought together development partners, Non-Governmental Organizations, Civil Society Organizations, Government Institutions and Departments as well as Community-Based Organizations.

The presentations of various development partners including SNV, SEND-Ghana, Triple S, Ghanaian Developing Communities Association (GDCA), Choice Ghana, and Association of People With Disabilities, among others revealed that every area of the district was being touched with their activities, either implemented directly or through community based groups.

However, one major issue that came up strongly from the presentations of the development partners and the Civil Society Organizations was lack of collaboration and harmonization of development activities.

They also charged the District Assembly to concentrate more in developing softwares in education rather than putting so much funds into physical projects which sometimes did `not contribute to good academic performance. This stemmed from the general concerns expressed by the participants about the poor percentage score of 19 % by the district for 2011 BECE.

Meanwhile, District Chief Executive for East Gonja, Alhassan Mumuni thanked development partners for assisting the District Assembly to provide socio-economic infrastructure to improve the lives of the people, stressing that their support would always be put to good use.

He also disclosed that the District Assembly would soon organize Town Hall meetings in the communities to give opportunity to heads of department in the district to inform the people about their activities so as to enhance local participation in development.

GWCL WAGES WAR ON NON-REVENUE WATER IN TAMALE

The Management of Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) in the Northern Region has embarked on a massive exercise to control the amount of Non-Revenue Water which is having negative impact on its operations in the Tamale Metropolis and its environs.

The issue of non-revenue water in the annals of GWCL is described by many as a cancer on the revenue performance of the company.

As at the year 2009, 66 percent of all customers of the GWCL within the Tamale Metropolis were unmetered and this among other factors, cost the company huge loss of revenue. For instance in that year, the company lost a whopping GH¢1,696,508.18 through illegal connections and reconnections, metre bypass, non-payment of bills and the tempering of transmission lines by some residents and road contractors leading to loss of water.

Officials say about 50 percent of the 10 million gallons of water produced daily for residents is regularly lost to such negative activities.

Also, most of the sachet water producers operating within the Tamale Metropolis using dubious means to tap water, resulting in the loss of revenue to the company.

Besides, some of the car washing-bay operators are also noted for engaging in illegal connections throughout the city. All these nefarious activities coupled with the non-payment of bills by a large number of customers who are not on metres were impeding the operations of the company in the city and region as a whole.

However, officials of the GWCL since last year had begun what could best be described as a major step towards addressing the issues that had beset the company.

According to the Communications Officer of GWCL in charge of Northern Region Nicholas Nii-Abbey, the company has installed about 3600 domestic metres so as to help quantify the amount of water used by consumers in Tamale and its environs.

He told blogger in an interview that there is currently an ongoing Subsequent Year Investment Program (SYIP) which is aimed at enhancing the water distribution network, thereby replacing all the weak pipelines and extending the distribution network to other surrounding communities.

Nii-Abbey also explained that as part of this exercise some of the sizes of the pipelines would be increased so as to be able to carry more volumes of water in meeting the growing demand of the population.

One of the things he also mentioned the company was doing to check non-revenue water consumption was by putting in place zonal metres which were able to quantify the amount of water that go into each district. Adding “These zonal metres are able to help the company determine the consumption rate and demand for water in each district and this go a long way to help the company to know about its physical and commercial losses”.

Meanwhile as at July 2011, consumers in the Tamale Metropolis alone owed the GWCL an estimated GH¢2.5 million which according to the Communication Officer, was an indication that consumers had used the water for free for about 8 months.

Also, since January 2011 till date about 40 consumers have been prosecuted by the company and they were asked by the court to pay everything they owed, he told the paper.

OFFER WOMEN THE NEEDED RECOGNITION –FOMWAG

The Northern Regional branch of the Federation of Muslim Women’s Association in Ghana (FOMWAG) has held its 3^rd Regional Conference in Yendi, with a call on government and traditional rulers to offer women the needed recognition, respect and opportunities to contribute their quota to national development and peace building.

The Northern Regional President of the Federation, Hajia Hajara Telly who made call said that the Muslim women just like any African woman had come of age and were ready to take higher leadership positions at all levels.

But Hajia Telly quickly reminded the Muslim women about the importance of education especially among the girl child to become more knowledgeable, confident and assertive to handle leadership positions.

According to the Muslim Women’s Federation President, it was time for the Muslim parents to cut down their extravagant spending, stop the unnecessary stocking of their wardrobes and sacrifice for the education of their children.

“We have to forgo the Yaayi (plenty cloths) and stocking of our cupboards with all sorts of English bowls or sell them to cater for the education of our children, because the best legacy one can give to a child is education. It is sad to know that when one visits places like the institutions, work places of professions like the hospitals and other important organizations, one gets to realize that only a handful of Muslim women or girls are there and even sometimes none at all”.

On the other hand, Hajia Hajara Telly urged the women to be advocates of peace in their locality and most especially in their homes.

She emphasized that FOMWAG would not relent in its campaign for peace, unity and development, since women and their children always become the worst victims of any form of violence or conflict.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Muslim Women’s Associations in Ghana has since 1997 mobilized, sensitized and empowered its members for self-reliance. The Federation has also engaged in the training of its members in conflict management and peace building with support from the Catholic Peace Council and NOGCOSP a branch of Sustainable Peace Initiative (SPI) at all regional and district levels.

That notwithstanding, Hajia Telly revealed that the Muslim Women’s Federation also had advanced plans to establish a Foundation to support the numerous needy children especially the girls in the area of education to ensure a better future for the Muslim women.

On his part, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Yendi, Issah Zakaria who also represented the Northern Regional Minister, Moses Bukari Mabengba commended the leadership of the Federation for their high interest in the promotion of peace and national development.

He emphatically described it as a waste of talents and nation’s human resource, considering the fact that women who constituted about 52% of Ghana’s population continued to be excluded from leadership positions and high decision-makings.

“Undoubtedly, women have made and continue to make tremendous contribution to the socio-economic development of this country especially in the area of agriculture, trade, education and peace building”.

Mr. Issah Zakaria observed that the current global economic challenges required the participation of every citizen in all spheres of human endeavour in order to overcome the level of deprivation, poverty, underdevelopment and diseases among others.

He called for an end to the traditional stereotyping that women’s role was only in the kitchen and place more emphasis on the girl child education especially in the Muslim Communities.

The Yendi MCE however said the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) government was determined to bridge the yawning gap between the north and south through interventions such as the Northern Rural Growth Programme, the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority and other interventions such as irrigation systems, mechanized agriculture, access to credit and improved marketing.

Mr. Issah Zakaria also mentioned the provision of free school uniforms and exercise books, increase in the capitation grant, expansion of the School Feeding Programme, introduction of the block farming concept, subsidy on fertilizers, sales of tractors to farmers on hire purchase as other measures by government to improve on the lot of Ghanaians.

Speaking on the theme for the Conference, “Promoting Sustainable Peace in Ghana-the role of Muslim Women”, the Tamale Metropolitan Director of the National Commission on Civic Education (NCCE) and a Lecturer at the International Institute of Journalism (IIJ) Tamale, Alhaji Razak Saani commended the Federation for its role in promoting peace and unity in the Northern Region in particular.

He however admonished the women to use their God’s given persuading ability to prevail upon their husbands and their male children whenever they attempted to engage in violent conflicts.

Alhaji Saani also expressed worry about the high level of political interferences in chieftaincy disputes in the Northern Region especially in Dagbon, where members of both the Abudu and the Andani families had been divided between the New Patriotic Party and the National Democratic Congress respectively.

He appealed to the youth to close their ranks and desist from allowing some unscrupulous politicians to use them as instruments for destructive violence for their selfish gains.

TEACHERS, CAUSE OF STUDENTS POOR PERFORMANCE

THE DISTRICT Chief Executive (DCE) for East Gonja District, Alhassan Mumuni has descended heavily on teachers in the district especially the professional teachers for unjustifiably performing poorly and contributing positively to the falling standard of educations in the area.

According to the DCE, the poor performance of the teachers was immensely affecting the district in producing the needed qualified students to enter into the Senior High School and the Health Assistants Training School in the district.

Speaking at a workshop on Promoting Effective Collaboration between Traditional Authorities and the Youth to Facilitate the Course of Development held in Tamale, Hon Mumuni announced that only 19% of the Students who wrote the last West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) passed the exams, which situation he said had persisted for sometime now.

The Workshop which was under the theme: “Effective Communication and Information Sharing: A Platform for Effective Collaboration with the Traditional Authorities in the Northern Region” was organized by the Mwanachi Ghana and Grassroots Sisterhood Foundation with sponsorship from the East Gonja District Assembly. The Workshop was attended most prominent traditional leaders in the East Gonja and Dagbon areas.

The DCE hinted that his major worry emanating from the poor performance of the teachers was the fact that the SHS and the Health Training School were filled with students from outside the East Gonja District, whiles from the district were either going into Kayaye or early marriages.

Hon Alhassan Mumuni equally turned the heat on irresponsible parents show little or no attention to the education of their children, but continue to give birth to so many children. He also blamed the parents for allowing their children to attending Discos and roaming aimlessly on the streets at nights.

The DCE also a former Circuit Supervisor of the District had earlier threatened to deal drastically with any parent who would toy with the education of their children given the high investments government was making in making education free and attractive to all children.

He however implored on traditional authorities to regularly monitor the teachers’ attendance to school and feel free to report the lazy ones to the assembly for actions to be taken against them, as means of reversing the situation.

The Executive Director of Grassroots Sisterhood Foundation (GSF), Madam Fati Alhassan who outlined the purpose of the workshop said that it was to bring about diverse development and social changes through collaboration between traditional leaders and Community Based Organisations.

Madam Fati who is also a key gender advocate in the Northern Region called for fair treatment and respect for all women, and provide them with the necessary opportunities to contribute their quotas to national development.

She estimated that the Northern Region was seen as the most poor in Ghana because the potentials of Chiefs and other individuals especially women were not properly harnessed.

The Lepowura, Alhaji Mohammed Nurudeen Jawula encouraged the parents in the area to take the development of their children seriously.

He said he did not totally support the family planning crusade in Ghana but was rather concerned about how the nation could promote responsible parenting to ensure more children were educated, sheltered, clothed and become responsible citizens.

The 2008 Running mate of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Dr. Abu Sakara on his part admonished Chiefs in the Northern Region to desist from selling almost every land without projecting into the future or think about the unborn generations.