Three Year Project By Gub-Katimali Society Yield Results

Sheik Abdul Kareem Yakubu

The implementation of a three-year project by the Gub-Katimali Society (GKS) in the Northern Region of Ghana, which seeks to promote an all inclusive governance and empower the vulnerable to be able to demand accountability from local officials, has so far recorded some significant gains within two years since its inception.

The project, sponsored by the European Union and implemented by BasicNeeds-Ghana in collaboration with four of its local partners including the GKS, is being rolled out in some 20 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the Upper West, Upper East, Northern and Greater Accra Regions to advance socio-economic and political development by holding MMDAs accountable.

Some of the 20 MMDAs include Central Gonja, East Mamprusi, Bunkprugu-Yunyoo, Nanumba South, Tamale Metropolis, Bawku West, Builsa, Wa, Lambussie-Karni, Ayawaso Sub-metro, Okaikoi Sub-metro, Ashiedu-Keteke Sub-metro and Ablekum Sub-metro areas.

The 471,029 Euros project intends to contribute to ensuring people-centered development that meets the needs and aspirations of the majority of the population, especially the poorest and most vulnerable. The poorest and vulnerable in this case refers to men and women with mental illness or epilepsy and their caregivers, women groups, the youth as well as peasant farmers who are mostly excluded in decision making or development processes at the local level. 

According to the Executive Director of GKS and Project Coordinator Sheik Abdul Kareem Yakubu, since the inception of the project two years ago the various Assemblies officials are now beginning to see the need to involve vulnerable groups in the decision-making processes of the Assemblies so as to achieve an all inclusive development that would make everyone satisfied and go a long way to promote unity and peaceful coexistence.

Speaking at a forum organized by GKS in Tamale, that saw participants drawn from the different beneficiary districts in the region, Sheik Yakubu lauded the accommodating attitude of the District Assemblies and encouraged them to do more for vulnerable groups in order to attain a level of development that would be considered unbiased and friendly.

However, most participants at the forum confirmed that their respective District Assemblies were now living up to expectation by honouring their obligation towards them through the allocation of their share of the District Assemblies Common Fund as well as other social protection programmes which were gradually bringing improvement into their lives.

For instance, in the Nanumba South District a lot of persons with disabilities had been enrolled onto a skill training programme like dressmaking whereas some four other individuals had also been supported with money totaling GH¢6,100.00 to open a provision shop, smock weaving shop, ruminants rearing and farming as well as payment of schools at the tertiary level.

In the Nanumba North District, three PWDs had been offered GH¢3,600.00 to buy a sewing machine and its accessories, open a computer repairing shop, operate plastic bags business as well as some amount of GH¢25,000.00 to foot the medical bills of a child with ceil anus.

Elsewhere in the West Mamprusi District, Assembly officials also supported the mentally handicapped and epileptic group with GH¢4,000.00 to buy their medications and organise sensitization programmes to enhance their understanding of some governance issues. Besides, those into farming were supported with inputs such as fertilizers, weedicides and tractor services to boost their farming activities.

It also emerged at the forum, that PWDs in the East Mamprusi District received 32 sewing machines from the Rural Enterprise Project in 2012 which were given to members who were being trained in dressmaking. Hair dressers also received 30 driers from the Assembly in the same year whereas about ten children received financial support towards their education.

Furthermore, women who are into rice processing in the Tamale Metropolis were contracted by the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly to supply rice to schools under the Ghana School Feeding Programme as well as the National Food and Buffer Stock Company. In the Central Gonja District, PWDs received skills training in dressmaking and hair dressing.

Meanwhile, by the end of the project in October 2014, best practices for engaging disadvantaged civil society groups would have been well documented, widely disseminated and adopted or adapted.

Also, persons with disabilities, women groups, the youth and farmer groups would effectively participate in decision-making processes; and the 20 MMDAs in the target regions effectively respond to mental health and other social development issues to improve quality of life of the poorest and most vulnerable people, their families and communities.

ZEFP Support Communities Susceptible To Climate Change Effects

The Zasilari Ecological Farms Project (ZEFP), a non-governmental organization based in Walewale in the West Mamprusi District of the Northern Region of Ghana, has provided alternative livelihood support to five communities that are prone to climate change vulnerability effects.

The support was part of the implementation of a 15-month project dubbed “Expanding Climate Change Resilience in Northern Ghana Project (ECCRING)” and funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Canadian Hunger Foundation (CHF) and implemented in partnership with Northern Ghana’s Association of Church-Based Development NGOs (ACDEP).

ZEFP, an implementing partner of the ECCRING in the West Mamprusi District is currently supporting 1000 individual smallholder farmers; 200 people from each of the five communities namely Sayoo, Zangum, Nayoku, Guakudow and Guabuliga with climate change resilient livestock breed and technology, Project Coordinator Issifu Sulemana Jobila told Savannahnews in an interview. 

According to him, a total of 2080 goats of local breed  and improved sahelian male goats had been given to the five communities to enable them adapt to climate change effects. Adding, he said each community had been given 80 Sahelian goats to take care of them, so that they could proliferate and enable them and their families to stay off the natural vegetation as a source of livelihood that often comes in the form of hunting, charcoal production, tree felling and among others. 

Mr. Jobila also explained that, the selection criterion was based on individuals, whose livelihoods were being destroyed by climate change impacts, adding that farmyard manure particularly from the livestock support would boost an organic agriculture programme introduced alongside the ECCRING project.

ZEFP provides support to Women and Farmer Associations with the aim of complementing the nation’s efforts in fighting rural poverty in Northern Ghana. The principal objective of ZEFP is to upscale environmentally friendly innovative approach in food production to improving livelihoods of the rural poor. 

The ECCRING project was announced early this year by the CHF in the lead up to the 2013 International Women's Day and is expected to support women and other vulnerable farmers in Northern Ghana to adapt to increasingly erratic rainfall and rising temperatures in the region.  The project sought to build on earlier successes in the region by expanding into 18 new rural communities to increase harvests and augment incomes amongst families.

"Rising temperatures, less predictable rainfall and shorter growing seasons are all making it harder for farmers— especially women —to support their families in Northern Ghana," said Garry Comber, President and CEO of the Canadian Hunger Foundation in his address when he announced the package for the project in March 2013. 

Adding, he said: "Women are disproportionally affected by the challenges of a changing climate. This means a core part of our work must be to strengthen their efforts with tools, seeds, livestock, new farming techniques and other inputs, but also to develop their capacity to claim their role in shaping their communities."

The ECCRING project would raise awareness of the negative impacts of climate change and how they could be reduced, and would build the capacity of regional organizations, districts, communities and beneficiaries to address climate change and manage natural disasters. 

New farming techniques and technologies would also be introduced to increase the use of drought-tolerant crops and improve livestock production methods. Protecting and enhancing natural resources would also be a focus, including growing more trees and controlling bushfires.

Although both women and men would participate in the project, some activities, such as provision of small livestock, fuel-efficient stoves and other income-generating activities, would specifically target women more than men, increasing their control over resources, or reducing their time constraints. Women's increased participation and leadership in community organizations would also be promoted in order to give them a greater voice in decisions that affect them and their families.

10,000 vulnerable rural women and men in the 18 communities including the ones mentioned above would receive direct support, and the project is expected to benefit approximately 50,000 people in total. Household food security and income are both expected to increase by 35% over the 15 months of the project.

Chiefs Cited for Youth Violence Over Nomination of MMDCEs

N/R Minister

Some Chiefs and traditional rulers have been cited for the lead roles in the violent agitations against the nominations of some District Chief Executives (DCEs) in the Northern Region. They have therefore been reminded that their offices bar them from engaging in such acts which tends to cast a slur on their reputation and the office they hold.

 

The Northern Regional Minister, Bede Ziedeng who made the observation indicated that key traditional rulers in the region were said to be compromising their integrity and respect, by leading riot youth to violently reject nominations and confirmations of some DCEs for their parochial interests. 

According to the Minister, even though the constitution provided for freedom of expression and democracy, it was completely unacceptable for traditional rulers who were entrusted by the same Constitution as the custodians of the land, to instigate young people to destroy state properties in protest against people who are nominated by the President as DCEs.

Speaking at the 2^nd Ordinary Meeting of the Northern Regional House of Chiefs in Tamale, Lawyer Bede Zeideng cautioned the chiefs to stop meddling in political matters which he indicated expose them to public derision and mistrust. 

“Nomination and confirmation of District Chief Executives are political matters and it is safer for the Chiefs to be out of them. Even though as citizens and people who are part of the local governance system, they are also entitled to express their opinions or views but they can only do so through lobbying and not to incite people to cause destructions”. 

In the last few months, the ruling government has had it very tough to win the support or backing of some community leaders and youth groups, who somewhat hold the view that they were not consulted before some of the nominations were done. 

However, the Northern Regional Minister was of the view that using violence instead of dialogue and negotiation, would affect the smooth development of the region, since development he noted, could not strive in the midst of violence. 

According to Mr. Bede Zeideng, the region had already suffered serious socio-economic setback and appealed to the chiefs and people to cooperate with government to put up the necessary structures at the assembly level to facilitate development. 

On the other hand, the Minister also descended heavily on the traditional leaders in the Northern region for engaging themselves in multiple sales of land to local and foreign developers, thereby creating tension and unhealthy litigation in the region.

He lamented what could best be termed as “the selfish conduct” of some of the chiefs who are bent on selling almost every piece of land in their localities.

He further lamented that “lands belonging schools, hospitals, state institutions and even those reserved for roads, markets, recreational and industrial purposes are being sold by some of our chiefs because they want to satisfy their parochial interest”.

The Northern Regional Minister who commended the Chiefs in the region for their unflinching support to his administration, requested from them, to control their subjects especially the youth to behave peacefully during and after the Supreme Court verdict on the 2012 election petition.

The President of the Northern Regional House of Chiefs, Nayiri-Naa Abdulai Mahami Sheriga who is also the King of Mamprugu Traditional Area commended the ruling government for the numerous development interventions especially the ongoing construction of the Buipe-Tamale trunk road and Fufulso-Damango-Sawla-Wa road. But appealed for the construction of the Tamale-Salaga-Makango road, Yendi-Bimbilla, Walewale-Bunkpurug and Tamale-Kumbungu roads. 

He also called for the division of the Northern region into two separate regions to fast truck development.

The Overlord of the Mamprugu Kingdom added his voice to the call for peace in Ghana during and after the Supreme Court verdict on 29^th August 2013.

Alhaji A.B.A Sympathises With Ghanaian Journalists

Alhaji A.B.A.Fuseini

The Deputy Northern Regional Minister Alhaji A.B.A. Fuseini has observed that, the Ghanaian media is among few categories of professions where professionals are given very little in terms of remuneration yet the public expect much from them.

According to the former Night Editor of the state-owned newspaper, The Daily Graphic, conditions of service of majority of journalists and other media practitioners in the country was nothing good to write home about, yet professionals were faced with a lot of challenges such as lack of working tools and interference in their duties by media owners and other persons as well as state and private corporations.

This situation, he said, was making it impossible for many journalists and media practitioners to deliver to their utmost best as they were susceptible to all kinds of inducement that could influence their professional sense of judgment in the discharge of their duties.

Speaking at a media forum in Tamale, the minister who is also the legislator for the Sagnarigu Constituency, thus commended Ghanaian journalists and media practitioners for being able to discharge their duties successfully despite the numerous challenges they were confronted with on a daily bases.

Alhaji Fuseini encouraged participants to continue to be circumspect in their reportage and programming and also respect the tenets of the profession in order to safeguard their personal integrity and the media houses they worked with.

The forum, under the theme “Towards A Responsible and Peaceful Media Reportage on The Supreme Court Verdict”, was organized by the Northern Regional branch of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in collaboration with the Ghana Developing Communities Association (GDCA) and the Northern Sector Action on Awareness Centre (NORSAAC).

It was intended to sensitise journalists and media practitioners on the need to exercise greatest circumspection in their reportage and on-air discussions before, during and after the final verdict of the Supreme Court on the case of the 2012 presidential election results that was being challenged by some leading members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP).

The Deputy Northern Regional Commander of the Ghana Police Service ACP Kojo Appiah-agyei in a statement assured the public that men and women of the service were steadfast to ensuring that there was no breach of peace on the day of the Supreme Court’s verdict.

He noted that the police had been sufficiently equipped to take control of any untoward situation that might arise after the court’s ruling and called on the public to support them in the discharge of their duties.

ACP Appiah-agyei also appealed to the public particularly those who intend to foment trouble to advice themselves or face the full rigours of the law when caught in any act of unlawfulness.

Meanwhile, the Northern Regional Chairman of the GJA Mr. Caesar Abagale in comparing the 2004 and 2008 electioneering years, said that of the 2012 was the best when it came to good reportage by journalists in the region.

He commended journalists for their good sense of professionalism and urged them to show similar traits now and forevermore. 

Participants were taken through a thorough discussion of chapter twelve of the 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana that talked about the Freedom and Independence of the Ghanaian media as well as the GJA Code of Ethics, seeking to refresh their minds on the dos and don’ts of journalism.