Tamale KVIPS Poorly Kept

Following the distribution of Long Lasting Insecticidal Nets by the government to combat mosquito bites or malaria coupled with the generally bad sanitation situation in most parts of the Northern Region, Savannahnews takes a critical look at the state of public toilets popularly known as KVIPs within the Tamale Metropolis with particular attention on Lamashegu community in the Tamale South Constituency.

Toilet facilities in the community instead of helping to improve on the sanitation situation of the area have rather turned to be an expletive. The paper discovered that managing public toilets and waste in general has become a very difficult thing for the authorities at the Tamale Metropolis.

Even though Tamale has been adjudged three time cleanest city in Ghana, the evidence on the ground is far from the reality. When Savannahnews first got to Nakpanzoo, one of the communities in Lamashegu, it discovered how a dilapidated KVIP toilet sited in between houses was causing inconveniences and serious environmental hazard to the people.

Distances between the toilet and the nearby houses were not up to five meters. What seems more disgusting was the fact that women and men of high reputes were also seen sharing the same toilet facility simultaneously exposing their dignities to one another.

Meanwhile, a new KVIP built at a different location in the same community for the people had been locked up by the authorities after four months of completion without giving access to the residents. Some of the community members expressed disappointment at the situation.

However, the paper also visited another dilapidated toilet facility near the Internal Revenue Service Regional Office at same Lamashegu also sited in between houses. The KVIP which is almost collapsed was still being used by the people in the area.

It was not only serving as a death trap for children and a playing ground for livestock animals but also posing health dangers on the lives of the people. Even though the Tamale Metro Assembly is taking money from the residents before accessing the KVIP, it is still poorly managed.

Apart from the bad scent around the place, the Assembly is not regular in disposing refuse in the area. However, a new KVIP also built close-by has been locked up after several months of completion.

1.3 million LLINs To Fight Malaria In Northern Region

An estimated 1.3 million Long Lasting Insecticide Nets (LLINs) are to be distributed among thousands of households in the Northern Region of Ghana as part of efforts by the government and its global partners to eradicate the spread of malaria.

Addressing journalists at a media briefing in the Northern Regional capital, Tamale, Dr. Felicia Amoa-Sakyi, Programmes Officer of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), said demographic counting which began on 17^th July and completed on 19^th July, had paved the way for the distribution of free LLINs in the whole region.

According to her, about 145,000 LLINs (80% of the overall total) had so far been made available to the Tamale Metropolitan Health Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) to be distributed to each household whilst the remaining 20% would be supplied later.

Ghana has adopted the universal coverage policy of LLINs distribution. This approach ensures that one LLIN is given to every two people in a household. Therefore, this distribution would target the entire household including pregnant women and children under five (5). This, according to officials of the Northern Regional Health Directorate of GHS was to ensure that all people at risk of malaria were targeted to reduce overall disease transmission.

What are LLINs?

LLINs are a type of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs) which do not need to be re-treated if handled with care. LLINs are factory treated mosquito nets made with netting material that had insecticide incorporated within or bound around the fibers. The insecticide on the net lasts for the lifetime of the net (usually 3years or after 20 washes).

According to health experts, LLINs protect all populations at risk from malaria; protect the pregnant woman and her unborn baby from malaria; protects the pregnant woman from anaemia as well as ensure that the unborn child is not born too small or sickly, since the mother’s use of a LLIN helps prevent her and her child from malaria. 

Mother and child sleeping under treated net

Aside protecting one against mosquito bites, LLINs could sometimes kill other domestic pests such as fleas, lice, bedbugs and cockroaches that come into contact with the net. Moreover, yellow fever is another dangerous disease that is transmitted by mosquitoes, and LLINs could therefore help protect one from getting yellow fever and other mosquito-borne illnesses.

Any side effects for using LLINs?

Contrary to claims that LLINs are hazardous to human health, the insecticide used for ITNs and LLINs are approved to be safe by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Ghana’s Ministry of Health.

Side effects from LLINs are rare and not serious. They will only last for a short while if they do occur. Common side effects such as sneezing, sore eyes and itching skin may come from freshly opened packages. New nets should therefore be aired for a day or two to avoid these side effects. Airing it would allow any excess build up of insecticide to disperse.

How to care for LLINs

The net fabric of LLIN can get dirty, tear or burn like any cloth. Avoid closeness to open fire such as candles; do not use strong detergents or bleach as this would cause some of the insecticide to come off; the insecticide in the net only lasts for twenty (20) washes and must not be over washed.

Also, after washing the net should be dried in the shade (out of direct sunlight) and if holes appear due to wear and tear, it should be sewn as any fabric. This will ensure that the net lasts up to the intended lifetime.

Female anopheles mosquito

Malaria is spread by the female anopheles mosquito which bites during the night. The disease is the leading cause of illness among all other ailments in Ghana. In Ghana, the statistics as supplied by the NMCP are no less staggering. Malaria causes about 8,200 cases daily and 3,000,000 illnesses every year with over 3000 deaths in 2010. As high mortality as this is, the NMCP is quick to point out that this represents a steady drop from the 40, 000 deaths reported ten years ago. The most vulnerable groups remain children under five years of age, pregnant women and non-immunes.

Mr. Maurice Ocquaye, Head of Social Mobilisation of Promoting Malaria Prevention and Treatment Ghana (ProMPT-Ghana), also made a call to the general public to watch out for any volunteer who would sell the net to them.

According to him, the nets were not for sale, because they were sponsored by the American government and other donors, and were to be given out for free to everybody who registered. “People have been arrested in the past and prosecuted for selling the nets. So anyone who sells them commits a serious offence”, he admonished.

Meanwhile, at the time of filing this report, the distribution of the Long Lasting Insecticide Nets had began on the 25^th of July and expected to end on 7^th August 2012. This exercise would take place throughout all the twenty Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the Northern Region including newly created ones.

Peace, Unity Are Foundations For Development

Mrs. Charlotte Osei, NCCE Chairman

The National Commission for Civic Education NCCE, District Director for Nanumba South, Mr. Abdulai B. Fuseini has stated that peace and unity are the foundations of democracy and development, without which there was no way Ghanaians could sustain the nation’s democracy in order to pursue any development agenda.

Mr. Abdulai made this statement when he was addressing an Inter– Party Youth Dialogue Committee meeting held at Wulensi, the Nanumba South District capital of the Northern Region of Ghana.

He said there was the need for Ghanaians to show to the World once again that democracy had always been part and parcel of the country’s traditional political system and that they had deep understanding of its ramifications.

Mr. Abdulai advised political parties and their followers to do away with divisive tendencies and rather concentrate on the challenges of poverty, disease and under development that had placed the district amongst the poorest in the country.

He advised the Committee and the various political parties to work hard to ensure that the district was violent–free before, during and after the upcoming bye–election and beyond, and desist from acts that would mar the peace of the area during and after the 2012 presidential and parliamentary elections.

The District Electoral Officer, Mr. Alex Kwabena Daliri who took the participants through the electoral processes, assured them that the Electoral Commission would live up to the expectation of Ghanaians in order to justify the confidence reposed in it.

He appealed to the political parties to cooperate, so that they organise a successful bye–election and subsequently the general elections come December 7 2012.

Meanwhile, the Nanumba South District Electoral Officer announced that the exhibition of the biometric register would begin next month August 2012 and called on all qualified voters who registered to avail themselves in order to check their names.

Farmers In East Gonja Encouraged To For Regular Medical Checkup

Alhassan Mumuni, DCE for East Gonja

People living in rural communities especially farmers have been advised to go for periodic medical check-ups to prevent them from avoidable deaths and other ailments. The District Chief Executive (DCE) for East Gonja of the Northern Region, Alhassan Mumuni gave the advice at a three day’s medical screening exercise organized for the local farmers by one Fuseini Wumbei, a native of the area and Chief Executive Officer of Mawums Limited.

In all about 3,000 farmers in the East Gonja District were given the free medical screening to ascertain whether or not they are medically fit for the this year’s Muslim fasting and prayers. It is believed majority of the people in the rural areas especially those with peptic ulcer and others, mostly develop health complications or even die during or after the fasting.

It was against this backdrop that, a team of medical practitioners was deployed by Mr. Fuseini Wumbei, to carry out the exercise. The DCE for East Gonja, Alhassan Mumuni commended the medical team and the sponsor of the screening exercise for complementing government efforts of ensuring healthy society.

The initiative, the DCE said also sought to reduce the traumas the people go through to access healthcare service especially when the district had had a limited number of health centres and large number of inaccessible roads.

Mr. Mumuni hinted that the CEO of Mawums Limited had within the last few years lived a life worth of emulation by other influential natives of Gonjaland. He said apart from supporting of the deprived communities with boreholes and other things, Mr. Fuseini Wumbei had also started the construction of school blocks for some of the communities to promote quality education.  

He was however confident the screening exercise would help position the farmers especially the aged ones to determine how and when to or not to do certain activities to the detriment of their life.

The DCE took advantage of the exercise to appeal to the conscience of the people in the East Gonja District to maintain the prevailing peace in the area especially in the coming December polls.

He encouraged traditional, religious and opinion leaders in the district to also control their members to live peacefully with one another and desist from any act of violence. He emphasized that the East Gonja District Security Committee (DISEC) which he is the Chairman would deal drastically with any person or group of persons who would attempt to foment trouble in the area during and after the elections.

Mr. Mumuni was also quick to advice the people in Salaga and the entire East Gonja District to fiercely reject any politician or political party that would base its campaign on insults and personality attacks rather than addressing issues or talking about development. The East Gonja District is undoubtedly one of the largest in the whole of Ghana with several resources and tourist attractions, yet, it still remains one of the poorest in Ghana.

However, the Leader of the Medical Team, Dr. Alhassan Abdul Latif of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital said that the screening exercise had become necessary to save the people from developing avoidable health complications. Expressing joy for the high turnout, Dr. Latif explained that, the exercise was to look out for diseases like; Hepatitis B’ and C’, Diabetes, Blood Pressure (BP) and Malaria.

He indicated that those who would be tested positive to any of the targeted ailments would be given free treatment but those with complications would be referred to the Tamale Teaching Hospital.

Media Practitioners Charged To Report More On Issues In Rural Areas

Abdallah Kassim, Exec. Dir. RUMNET

The Executive Director of the Rural Media Network (RUMNET), Mr. Abdellah Kassim has charged media practitioners in the Northern Region to move away from their conventional way of reporting from the urban centres and rather focus on highlighting issues pertaining in the rural areas, especially in this electioneering period.

Mr. Kassim was unhappy about the constant neglect of rural communities by politicians after seeking the mandates of the people in elections and thus, encouraged the media to adopt ways of giving lauder voices to the rural folks to attract the needed attention and demand for accountability from their leaders.

Speaking in an interview with Savannahnews in Tamale during a quarterly media review meeting organised by the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA), Mr. Abdellah Kassim also the Publisher of The Advocate newspaper reminded the media of their core value as the voice of the voiceless and work in that direction.

He noted that about 85% of the people in the Northern Region lived in the rural areas where they were faced with poverty, lack of safe drinking water, quality road networks, health and educational facilities as well as other social amenities. Saying, “It is only the media who can let the politicians and the whole world know about the sufferings of these people”.

Even though Mr. Kassim acknowledged the under-resourced nature and challenges facing most of the media practitioners and their media stations in the Northern Region, coupled with the bad nature of the roads, he was certain that with self-determination or tenacity the media could still play efficient role in promoting rural development.

“We must always set the agenda for the people, even on our airwaves- we can design programmes that will promote the interest of the rural poor and probably not necessarily going to the hinterland. Radio for instance is a powerful tool and can travel far. So if we decide to set the agenda for the politician to act in accordance with the aspirations of the people, we will see that there will be limited or no poverty in our rural communities and there will be availability of basic social amenities", he told this blogger.

The Programme Officer of GDCA, Mrs. Rosemond Kumah also added her voice to the call on the media to prioritize rural reporting to bring the needed transformation in the lives of the rural poor. She also encouraged the media to partner with GDCA in their sustained efforts of promoting rural development.

Mrs. Kumah noted that apart from championing the rights of the rural poor, advocating for gender equality, fighting against poverty, promoting girl child education, food security, building the capacities of the rural people including the youth, women groups and traditional authorities to demand accountability and also participate in local governance, the GDCA had supported farmers in diverse ways to have good yields and to also improve on their economic situation.

She also hinted that GDCA would in the near future institute an Annual Award Scheme to honour journalists who had distinguished themselves very well in the field of development journalism in the North so as to encourage them to continue to highlight on issues affecting the rural poor.

The North Can Only Be Rich If Major Roads Are Tarred

Residents of Yendi-Bimbilla demonstrate for construction of their road

The three regions of the North – Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions, for many people, would continue to remain poorer or the poorest in Ghana if major road networks linking the various districts to the regional capitals which are in deplorable states, are not tarred or asphalted. 

In the Northern Region for instance, about 90% of the roads are not tarred apart from the Tamale-Yendi road. The other tarred roads including Tamale-Buipe, Tamale-Savelugu and Savelugu-Walewale were accidentally constructed because they are located on the Kumasi-Bolgatanga trunk roads.

Out of the 25 districts (including the newly created ones), only four (4) are linked with the regional capital, Tamale. 

The situation has compounded the poverty situation of the people, most of who (about 90%) are farmers and found it difficult to transport their farm produce to the markets in the city. In fact, this has over the years also contributed to the dwindling efforts or achievements of the North which sometime past, was regarded as the bread basket of the nation.

The nature of the roads compelled most farmers to keep their produce on the farms, which sometimes got consumed by fire, through the negligence of alien herdsmen.

However, at a public forum on the Road Fund in Tamale recently, most participants called on the Ministry of Roads and High Ways to endeavour to tar major road networks linking the various districts to the regional capitals in order to lift residents out of extreme poverty.

The participants stated, that a greater percentage of the population in the rural areas were farmers, and could be better off if they had improved access roads to their farms to enable them cart their farm produce to the city centres for sale.

The public forum on the Road Fund, organised by the Ministry of Roads and High Ways under the theme: “Financing Road Maintenance”, was intended to sensitise the public and all stakeholders on the role of the Road Fund in the financing of road maintenance in the country. It also provided the platform for explaining the rationale for the collection of road tolls and other levies into the Fund and also the challenges confronting the Ghana Road Fund Secretariat.

Engineers say, it is increasingly recognised that road users must have to directly or indirectly contribute to the cost of maintaining roads in the country, because it is a shared a responsibility between the government who constructs and the road user who benefits from the access thus created.

Against this imperative need to address the shortfall in the financing gap in the country’s road maintenance programme, the Road Fund Act, Act 536 was passed by Parliament in 1997 to establish the Road Fund Board. Revenue accruals into the Fund are exclusively dedicated to routine and periodic maintenance of the country’s road network. The Act specifies the derivation of these funds from levy on fuel, fees from registration of vehicles, road user fees, road tolls, bridge tolls, ferry tolls and international transit fees.

Mr. Joe Gidisu, Min. Roads/High Ways

The Minister of Roads and High Ways, Joe Gidisu, said the projected total revenue for 2012 was GH¢230 million, adding that, the revenue accruing to the Road Fund had consistently increased from GH¢182 million in 2010 to GH¢209.4 million in 2011.

He disclosed that, in spite of the above financial achievements, the Fund carried forward an indebtedness of GH¢180.5 million from 2011 to 2012 increasing the previous year’s indebtedness by GH¢106 million. “Since the capacity of the Fund can sustain only 60% of our road maintenance needs, the implication of this 40% financing gap on our road maintenance works should be obvious to all of us assembled here, especially our road contractors whose payment certificate for works done are from this source and also our Assemblies who roads maintenance requirements continue to increase”, the minister noted.

Mr. Gidisu hinted that, government had been studying some recommendations that had been made by the ministry to make the Fund responsive to road maintenance needs. Adding that, government had also been exploring other financial methods such as the long term pre-financing to carryout road maintenance. “Another area of funding which government has been giving serious consideration to, is the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) and the Maintain, Operate and Transfer (MOT) concepts of Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangements”.

According to the Minister of Roads and High Ways, a national road network of about 39,000 kilometres as at 2011 was now over 67,000 kilometres, saying the road condition mix had improved from 27% good, 17% fair and 56% bad as at 2001 to 42% good, 28% fair and 30% bad as at the end of 2010. 

Meanwhile, Engineer F.D Ahlidza of the Ministry of Roads and High Ways noted that, maintaining a paved road for fifteen years costs about $60,000 per kilometre, and if a road is not maintained and allowed to deteriorate over time, it will cost about $200,000 per kilometre to rehabilitate it. 

Besides, he said if gravel roads are maintained for ten years it costs between $10,000 and $20,000 per kilometre depending on traffic volumes and climate, but if they are not maintained for ten years, the cost of rehabilitation is about $40,000 per kilometre. “Research indicates that every $1 of under-expenditure in maintaining roads to an optimum condition costs vehicle operators an additional $3”he disclosed. 

Engineer Ahlidza emphasised that Ghana desired that the condition mix of the road network be as 50% Good, 30% Fair and 20% Poor. To attain this mix, he said the total network must receive 100% routine maintenance and a good balance of the periodic maintenance and rehabilitation.  

He attributed inadequate funding leading to deferment of road maintenance programmes; Low delivery capacity of the local construction industry, thereby affecting the early completion of road projects; conversion of a large number of vehicles from the use of petrol to Liquefied Petroleum Gas on which no levy is charged; Inadequate logistics for project supervision and Delays in honouring contractors’ payment certificates, as some of the challenges causing the deterioration of the country’s road networks.

 

Engineer Ahlidza thus, called on road users to pay realistic road user charges to ensure continuous and sustainable flow of funds into the Ghana Road Fund for road maintenance.

Gumani Nuri Islamic School Needs Help

Alhaji Abdulai Harruna Friday, Tamale Mayor

AUTHORITIES AT the Gumani Nuri Islamic Primary School in the Tamale North Constituency are likely to close down the school which is currently in a devastating state after the recent rainstorm disaster that hit the school and some parts of the Tamale Metropolis.

The Lives of the children in the school are in extreme danger as their school is now serving as “death trap”.

The Nuri Islamic Primary School is one of the few schools that were affected by the recent rain storm that led to serious flooding and loss of human life and other properties. 

The whole six unit classroom block with three offices and stores was completely ripped-off by the rain leaving most of the ceilings dangerously hanging. 

At the time Savannahnews visited the school, the pupils were still being forced by their authorities to take classes in the same dangerous looking classrooms. Some of the classes had lost their ceilings and the children studying in the direct sun. 

Meanwhile, it is almost three weeks now since the disaster occurred, yet the Nuri Islamic Primary School has still not received any attention from NADMO or the authorities at the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly. The children and their teachers are at the mercy of the weather and are compelled to run home anytime it threatens to rain.

So how does it feel to study in completely devastating structure with damaging ceilings? “In fact I told my mother that I will not come to this school again because when we sit in the classroom, we cannot look into our books and my eyes always pain me because of the sun. Sometimes too the wind will blow and the ceilings begin to shake as if it is about to fall. Now our masters say we are going to write our exams so we should not stay at home but me I am afraid, one Primary 4 pupil, Abu Emmanuel complained to this blogger.

A Teacher in the School, Madam Abdul Rahaman Adishetu told Savannahnews that the current nature of the school building had made teaching and learning more difficult, since both pupils and teachers could not concentrate whenever there was a severe wind.

She did not understand why the Ghana Education Service and the Metropolitan Assembly had not yet ordered for the temporary closure of the school.

The Headmaster of the Gumani Nuri Islamic School, Mr. Abdul Rahaman complained that his request to the Ghana Education Service to temporary close down the school before any catastrophe befell the children, had not received any response yet. According to him, even though the children were to write their terminal exams in a week’s time, the school ought to be closed down since it posed serious danger to the lives of both the pupils and teachers. 

The Headmaster expressed the fear that it would be very expensive for the authorities to allow the building to trap the children, rather than renovating it, and thus called on the Mayor of Tamale, Alhaji Abdulai Haruna Friday to come to the aid of the school.

All efforts to speak with the Mayor of Tamale proved unsuccessful but the Assemblyman for Gumani, Mohammed Awal Zakaria could not comprehend why the Nuri Islamic Primary School had still not received any attention from NADMO or the Metro Assembly.

According to him, the Tamale Mayor personally visited the school to inspect the level of damage but had not yet seen the need to salvage the situation.

The Assemblyman promised to assist the authorities of the school to plant trees around the school to serve as wind breaks.

Pressure Mounts On “Saboteur” Contractors

INTENSE PRESSURE is being mounted on local contractors in the three Northern Regions whose irresponsible demeanor seeks to sabotage government’s efforts aimed at enhancing road networks in the country, especially in the rural areas.

Savannahnew’s intelligent source in the ruling government hinted that such contractors would soon be descended on irrespective of their political affiliations since their actions and inactions were purportedly detrimental to the chances of the ruling party in the December polls.

Last month, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr. Kwesi Ahwoi terminated several contracts in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions during a surprise visit to some feeder road project sites in these areas.

The projects funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB) were part of Northern Rural Growth Project (NRGP) aimed at opening up the rural communities and enhancing transportation of agricultural products to market centres.

According to the source, government had realized the significance of quality roads in promoting socio-economic wellbeing of the people and had thus decided to put premium on the reshaping and tarring of most roads in the three regions before the December polls. 

The latest to issue a stern warning to those “saboteur” contractors is the Upper West Regional Minister, Alhaji Amidu Sulemana. The Minister threatened to deal with irresponsible contractors in his region.

Some of the local contractors executing various projects in the area, according to the Minister had unjustifiably abandoned major road works with others also ran away with huge contract sums.

He has therefore issued a one week ultimatum to all the contractors to report on site or have their contracts immediately terminated and re-awarded.

Alhaji Sulemana issued the ultimatum when inspecting a bridge that had been washed off along the Tumu-Gwollu road by a heavy down pour recently.

He disclosed that government had awarded all major roads in the region on contract for reshaping and warned that any contractor who would want to thwart this effort of ensuring good roads in the region would not be tolerated.

Meanwhile, the three Regions of the North continue to remain poorer as a result of the bad nature of most of the roads. 

In the Northern Region for instance, about 90% of the roads are not tarred apart from Tamale-Yendi road. The other tarred roads; Tamale-Buipe, Tamale-Savelugu and Savelugu-Walewale were accidentally constructed because they are located on the Kumasi-Bolgatanga trunk roads.

Out of the 25 districts including the newly created ones, only four (4) are linked with the regional capital, Tamale. 

The situation has compounded the poverty situation of the people (predominantly farmers) as they found it difficult to transport their farm produce to the market centres.

The nature of the roads compelled most farmers to keep their produce on the farms which sometimes got consumed by fire, through the negligence of some Alien Fulanis herdsmen.