CARE International Extends ALP Project for Two More Years

Romanus Gyang

CARE INTERNATIONAL,  an international NGO operating in Ghana has extended its Community Based Adaptation Learning Programme (ALP) for Africa by two more years to further address existing development challenges such as food and income security, poverty, disasters, diseases, environmental degradation and women marginalization among others.

The five (5) year ALP programme which started in 2010 in Ghana, Mozambique, Kenya and Niger and was expected to exit in this year 2015, is now extended to 2017 for all the target countries except Mozambique.

The ALP Programme Manager for CARE Ghana, Romanus Gyang at seperate meetings in Gambanga and Gara-Tempane to reflect on the successes chalked by the programme in the beneficiary communities, hinted that the ALP programme which was supposed to exit in January 2015 is now given a two more year extension.

So far, eight (8) disaster prone communities in the Upper East and Northern Regions of Ghana are benefiting from the ALP programme. They include; Jawani, Saamini, Zambulugu and Dimia all in the East Mamprusi District of the Northern Region and Akara, Farfar, Kugri and Tariganga also in the Garu-Tempane District of the Upper East Region.

Mr. Romanus Gyang disclosed that the ALP programme by CARE International was fashioned to combat climate change and build the capacity of vulnerable people in sub-saharan Africa to adapt to the impact of climate change. It is also to influence the incorporation of Community Based Adaptation (CBA) into goverment policies and programmes.

The CBA framework he indicated has four inter-relating strategies which include the building of resilient livelihood to improve cultivation of variety of crops such as onion, pepper, okro, tomatoes and early maturing cassava among others to mitigate the impact of climate change. Most of these communities are now into dry season farming for the cultivation of the aforementioned crops. CARE International also provided the communities with Water Pumping Machines for the dry season farming.

The second strategy is about Disaster Risk Reductions Strategy which is integrated into the district development plan and aimed at protecting the development investments or livelihoods of the people from any form of disaster be it rainstorm, floods, fire or draughts and to also make their districts or communities more resilient to climate change.  

The third strategy as outlined by Mr. Romanus Gyang was about Building Local Organisational Capacities (also known as Adaptive Capacity) which is also aimed at building capacity of community people to have the requisite knowledge to act in the rightway, design their own strategies to bridge development gabs and respond to climate change impacts and the fourth strategy is about Poverty Reduction Strategies which also is empwering the local women to play critical roles in reducing the impact of climate change and also increase thier incomes.

The ALP programme according to the Programme Manager had created a strong collaboration between district assemblies or duty bearers and the local people towards promoting common development goals.

Farmers with early maturing cassava

With the Community Based Adaptation strategy, development interventions are now decided or designed based on the understanding of the current and future impacts of climate change. At the moment, every development activity or projects executed by the district assemblies are determined by or done with the explicit concern of the people.

In further broadening the knowledge base of the people on climate change, CARE International under the Community Based Adaptation has established Climate Information Centres each in the two districts to educate the people on climate dynamics.

The District Coordinators for Gambaga and Garu-Tempane, Zakariah Abudulai and Philip D. Baazeng respectively in seperate speeches read for their District Chief Executives commended CARE International introduction of the ALP which they admitted had broought unimaginable transformation in teh beneficiary communities.

They indicated that the initiative had made the work of the assemblies very easy in terms of planning and winning the support of the community people.

The ALP according to the Coordinating Directors had also helped the assemblies to design several implementable disaster risk reduction and mitigation plans and also helped them to encourage the communities to plant more trees within localities.

There were other presentations by the various District Planning Officers and communities monitoring teams on the general performance of the ALP programme and how it had impacted on the lives of the people and the communities at large.

NLA To Increase Revenue To 230% By 2017

THE NATIONAL Lottery Authority (NLA) has unveiled plans to increase its revenue generation by 230% by the year 2017 and also contribute a whopping GHC100 million to the national consolidated fund in the same year.

The Acting Director General of the National Lottery Authority, Brigadier General K.G. Martin Ahiaglo (Rtd) dropped the hint when he met some journalists in Tamale as part of his familiarization tour of the Northern Regional Offices of the NLA to assess their condition of service and also solicit their views on how to transform the authority.

He was accompanied by Ms Bruce Afumwaa, Director of Administration and Human Resource and Lt Col Dzitefe-Mensah (Rtd), General Manager for Security and Special Projects at the NLA.

The Acting Director General disclosed that his major priority was to transform the NLA with the introduction of what he termed “the innovative strategy for growth” where all the stakeholders including the Board of Directors, Management, Staff and customers would intertwine with common goal of ensuring the growth of the NLA and Ghana as a whole.

He disclosed that the NLA had a set goal of contributing at least GHC30 million to the Consolidated Fund in 2015 and to become one of the strong pillars for the economic growth of the nation.

According to Brigadier General Ahiaglo, his administration in consultation with the Board and Management had lined up series of training programmes for the NLA staff across Ghana to make them more effective and efficient in their operations.

He noted that the NLA in the next three years would roll out one new product every year to ensure customer satisfaction.

Retired Brigadier General K.G. Ahiaglo said that the Authority was also set to create two new departments namely; Department of Marketing and the Corporate Communications Unit to rake in more revenues and also solidify their relationship with the customers and the general public.

Brig. Gen. Rtd. Ahiaglo

He however complained about the activities of the illegal lotto operators popularly known as “Banker to Banker” whom he said were taking a chunk of the monies that could have been paid into the Consolidated Fund for national development.

Brigadier General K.G. Ahiaglo also commended the media in the Northern Region especially the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) for the strong relationship they had established with the NLA in recent times.

The Northern Regional Chairman of the GJA, Mr. Caesar Abageli on behalf of the journalists in the region commended the NLA for their resolve to work with the media as one of their key partners or stakeholders.

He further commended the Authority for being the lead sponsor of the recent clean up exercise organized by the GJA in Tamale in support of the National Sanitation Day campaign. The Clean up exercise was fully supported and participated by the President of the Republic of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Lemuna, the Member of Parliament for Tamale South, Haruna Iddrisu and the Mayor of Tamale, Abdul-Hanan Gundadow.

Mr. Abageli who is also the Regional Manager of the Ghana News Agency appealed to the NLA management to support the construction of the planned Northern Regional Media Centre by the GJA. He assured the NLA of the GJA’s unflinching support in all their operations.

Classroom Churches in Sagnarigu District Face Ejection

Sagnarigu DCE

THE DISTRICT Chief Executive (DCE) for Sagnarigu, Alhassan Mohammed Sorogudoo has directed for the immediate ejection of churches that have adopted classrooms as places of worship and did not contribute or support the Ghana Education Service in the maintenance of the schools. 

The DCE asserted that majority of the churches were mismanaging the classrooms, breaking study desks and windows without any attempt to repair them. As a result, Mr. Sorogudoo noted that, most of the schools in the district were now faced with furniture problems thereby compelling some of the pupils to sit on the floors during class hours.

The Sagnarigu DCE, who was receiving over 500 dual desks to some 15 public schools in the district, noted that the government could not continue to expend monies on school infrastructure and allow Churches to destroy them. The Dual Desks were provided by the Ministry of Education through lobbying from the two Members of Parliament (MPs) for Sagnarigu Alhaji A.B.A. Fuseini and Alhassan Dahamani of Tamale North constituencies.

The DCE charged the District Education Directorate to invite the leadership of all the churches worshiping in the various classrooms in the district to discuss how each of them could contribute some amount of money every month into a special fund for the maintenance of the schools.

“Director I hope you will take this seriously and communicate this to our churches and religious bodies who are using our schools and our classrooms as place of worship. They should see how best they could partners us. This message is not only going to our religious bodies but our masters or teachers who are holding extra classes and are charging fees to also see how best they could partner the GES directorate to maintain our schools, because I am somebody who is not far from saying that they should stop using our classrooms”.

He however commended the two MPs and the government for the support and therefore called on the chiefs and people in the district to equally support the government in the delivery of projects to the people by maintaining peace and security.

Mr. Sorogudoo charged the District Director of Education, heads of schools, circuit supervisors and teachers to play their expected roles to enhance quality teaching and learning.

DCE Receiving furniture from Alhjai A.B.A. Fuseini (R)

The DCE expressed dissatisfaction about the performance of schools in the district in the BECE examinations.

Presenting the furniture to the DCE for onward presentation to the District Director of Education, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sagnarigu, Alhaji A.B.A. Fuseini said that the education was single most important thing that should occupy the attention of every person especially parents and office holders.

He acknowledged the high infrastructure deficit that had existed in most schools in the district in recent times especially in the provision of furniture. The MP confirmed meeting most of the pupils sitting on bare floors to write in most of the schools he had visited, which situation he said was affecting effective teaching and learning.

Alhaji A.B.A. Fuseini assured that more of such furniture would be supplied to the schools in the district based on the assurance given to him by the Ministry of Education.

He warned the beneficiary schools not to charge parents or pupils for the furniture since it was part of government’s commitment to enhancing quality teaching and learning.

Northern Regional Minister Says He is Not Afraid of Sakawa Boys

Alhaji M. M. Limuna

THE NORTHERN Regional Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna who is currently on the wanted list of some “Sakawa boys and wee smocking girls” in Tamale for speaking against them in public and ordering the police to go after them, says he is not afraid of such threats.

Alhaji Lemuna who claimed to have been receiving several death threats through anonymous text messages, has vowed to ruthlessly deal with those irresponsible and indiscipline youth to ensure that investors maintain their confidence in the region.

The Minister is not only much enraged by the open activities of the “Sakawa boys” in Tamale which sought to put the region in a bad light and derail its development opportunities, but also the negative influence they might have on the rest of the youth in the region.

Speaking on UTV’s Adekyensroma show on Wednesday, Alhaji Lemuna hinted that the Northern Regional Security Council (REGSEC) of which he is the Chairman was putting in place some stringent security measures to face those “Sakawa boys” boot-for-boot and possibly end their activities.

It would be recalled that videos of some Tamale based girls and boys in their early 20s passionately smoking “wee” and openly boasting about their conduct went viral on various social media platforms a week ago.

Their irresponsible conduct met the wrath of some opinion leaders and youth chiefs within the Tamale Metropolis who arrested and shaved the girls for bringing a lot of disgrace to the metropolis. Some of them have been suspected of ritual murders, kidnapping, open splashing of monies on the streets and engaging in power wrestle (experiment) among others. They are said to have also made some areas in the metropolis no go areas for some residents at night.

Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna issued a three-day ultimatum for the arrest and prosecution of the youth captured in leaked videos perpetrating the acts of indiscipline.

According to the minister, he was particularly worried about the indifferent attitudes of some parents towards the behaviour of their wards.

He has therefore directed the police to go after the “wee smoking girls” and “sakawa boys” who were captured in the leaked videos smoking Indian hemp for prosecution.

The move, he noted, would serve as a first step towards instilling discipline in the youth of the region in order to restore its lost moral values.

Alhaji Limuna therefore charged all the stakeholders in the region especially the chiefs, opinion leaders and religious leaders to support the REGSEC to succeed in clamping down on those youth to serve as deterrent for others.

GhIE To Support SADA Realise Dream Of Developing Northern Ghana

The Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE) has began a partnership with the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to roll out a “comprehensive, integrated, sustainable and rapid infrastructure development plan” for the SADA region using engineering expertise.

The plan document, dubbed “Bridging The Gap”, addresses climate change issues and engineering response, education, health, transportation, energy, water, agriculture, tourism, waste management and employment opportunities through the deployment of engineering.

This came about following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two institutions after GhIE submitted a proposal to SADA in March 2014 expressing interest to support SADA realize its objectives of developing northern Ghana, Vice President of GhIE Ing. B.C. Attipoe told journalists in Tamale.

“Recognising the potential SADA holds for bringing development to the regions covered and Ghana as a whole, the GhIE and SADA have agreed to cooperate to ensure that the professional advice and technical assistance of GhIE and its members are made available to SADA to ensure well thought-out and engineered projects are delivered towards realizing the objectives SADA”, he emphasized.

Per the agreement, Ing. Attipoe said, GhIE would provide advice and technical assistance through its technical committees where required and made recommendations to SADA for projects in line with SADA objectives.

According to him, GhIE would work with SADA to indentify a landmark engineering project to mitigate the effects of perennial flooding in parts of the SADA zone which comprised of Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions as well as parts of the Northern Volta and Brong Ahafo Regions.

GhIE, he said, would also ensure that all engineers working on SADA projects were registered as required by law and made available to SADA its full list of members of good standing when SADA required it.

In view of the symbiotic relationship that has been established between SADA and GhIE, the latter is to hold its 2015 Engineering Week Celebration and Annual General Meeting in Tamale the Northern Regional capital.

Under the theme: “Engineering –Key Driver to Sustainable Infrastructure in the Savannah Region of Ghana”, the meeting is expected to bring together several participants from March 25^th – 28^th to hold discussions centered on multidisciplinary issues such as human development, private-public partnership, the institutional, regulatory and monitoring frameworks for development as well as for budgeting and sustainability.

By the end of the forum, organizers of the meeting expect a strong beneficial partnership between stakeholders for sustainable human development of Northern Savannah and Ghana as a whole would have been established.

SADA, a government policy initiative established by an Act of Parliament (Act 805, 2010) is aimed at addressing the development gap that exists between Northern and Southern Ghana. SADA’s mandate is to accelerate the socio-economic development of the northern savannah zone through strategic investment in resource development.

It envisions a “Forested North” by 2020, where agricultural production is modernized and oriented towards a larger market. It seeks to benefit citizens of the northern savannah zone.

Prez Mahama To Chair Dialogue Session Of SADA Business Investment Forum

Prez John D. Mahama, Ghana

FROM TUESDAY March 24^th – 28^th, Tamale will host the first ever SADA Business and Investment Forum (SABIF 2015) aimed at facilitating and promoting multi-stakeholder investment policy dialogue and business match-making opportunities.

Organised by the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) in partnership with the Ghana Institution of Engineers (GhIE), the forum is designed to fast track the Northern belt of Ghana into an era of unprecedented growth.

A high point of this event is the high level dialogue session to be chaired by His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama with other global speakers drawn from the fields of engineering, civil society, banking, investment and business.

Some of the global high profile speakers include Dr. Victor Koh from Singapore, Dr. Ken Kwaku, formally of Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank Group and former Senior Advisor to President Mkapa of Tanzania, Dr. Charles Abugre, CEO of SADA and Dr. George Donkor, Vice President of ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development. Overall, 13 international and local development/business experts are expected to speak at the forum.

Alhaji A.B.A. Fuseini

The Deputy Northern Regional Minister Alhaji A.B.A. Fuseini, who launched the upcoming event in Tamale last week, noted that the advent of SADA had brought about huge respite and the necessary impetus needed to accelerate socio-economic growth in the northern belt of Ghana.

Alhaji Fuseini who is also Member of Parliament for Sagnarigu Constituency, urged all stakeholders to continue to dialogue on the prospects and the way forward for SADA to find easy ways to deal with issues that would bring about development in the SADA zone. 

Under the theme: “Engineering Opportunities and Shared Prosperity in the Savannah Region of Ghana”, SABIF is transactional in nature and is expected to nurture and to broker home grown investment opportunities in areas such as agriculture, agro-business and infrastructure.

The primary objective of the forum is to contribute positively to the process of business and investment co-operation and ensure that commitments from transactions at the forum are translated into concrete actions by SADA officials and private sector participants.

The forum will bring together private sector champions, business leaders, local and international investors, development partners, traditional authorities, ministries, departments and agencies, local government, civil society, youth groups and citizens to dialogue, network and promote business and investment opportunities for the accelerated development of the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone (NSEZ).

Programmes Director of SADA Dr. Emmanuel Abeere-inga, explained that the forum will consist of plenary sessions, business exhibitions by private sector players in agriculture, agro-processing, banking and finance, renewable energy, construction and tourism and business-to-business match-making  sessions.

The forum, he said, will culminate into the establishment of SADA Investment Council that will carry on the task of deepening and enhancing business ties between the private sector, government institutions and traditional authorities in the SADA zone.

Dr. Abeere-inga, SADA

Dr. Abeere-inga further explained that, participants will have information and ideas on best practices for investment and business development within the context of area development as well as create a perfect setting for several high level business to business match-making investment deals to be brokered, initiated and probably sealed at the end of the forum.

He said it will also offer participants opportunity to contribute to an action plan for enhancing business climate reforms across the SADA zone with particular focus on establishing an investment-friendly environment and incentives for local and international businesses.

SADA, a government policy initiative established by an Act of Parliament (Act 805, 2010) is aimed at addressing the development gap that exists between Northern and Southern Ghana. SADA’s mandate is to accelerate the socio-economic development of the NSEZ through strategic investment in resource development.

It envisions a “Forested North” by 2030, where agricultural production is modernised and oriented towards a larger market. It seeks to benefit citizens of the NSEZ which include the Upper West, Upper East and Northern Regions as well as parts of the Brong Ahafo and the Volta Regions.

More Husbands Abused By Their Wives In Northern Region

ASP Emmanuel Horlotu

518 husbands in the Northern Region of Ghana were said to have been beaten by their wives or subjected to various forms of domestic violence that eventually forced them to seek redress at the police station.

Fresh statistics made available to Savannahnews by the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service in Tamale, said there is an increased number of men who are now coming out boldly to report their abusive wives to the Unit in the Northern Region between 2009 and 2014.

In 2009, 71 cases were reported by the men, 47 in 2010, 44 in 2011, 77 in 2012, 147 in 2013 and 132 in 2014. Although the figure is still far below that of women reported within the same period, the Northern Regional Coordinator of DOVVSU, ASP Emmanuel Holortu said that the level of confidence exhibited by the men portrayed the level of understanding and acceptability of the Domestic Violent campaign in the region.

At a capacity building workshop organized for District and Divisional Police Commanders and DOVVSU Desk Officers on the effective implementation of the Domestic Violence Policy, ASP Holortu complained that women however continued to be at the receiving end of the worst forms of abuses which hinder their fundamental human rights and socio-economic development. 

Statistics indicated that as high as 2,391 domestic violence cases were recorded in the region between 2009 and 2014 by the DOVVSU. Major cases of abuse reported to the DOVVSU included rape, defilement, indecent assault, threat of unlawful harm or death, causing unlawful harm or damage, assault, compulsion of marriage, non-maintenance of spouse and children among others.

Out of the 2, 391 figure, 1,937 women were victims of the domestic violence as against 518 men in the years under review. In 2014 alone, the Northern Region recorded 667 cases of domestic violence representing 544 females and 132 males.

wife abusing husband

The Regional DOVVSU Coordinator noted that the high number of cases reported over the years suggested that most of the victims of domestic violence were now appreciating the fact that they had their rights, freedom and protection under the Constitution.

He pointed out that as high as 84 percent of women in the region accept domestic violence as social or cultural norm (Multi Indicator Cluster Survey 2011), and as a result, most of the cultural and traditional practices and norms were at found to be at variance with existing laws of the land.

ASP Holortu said that Domestic Violence occurs when a person connected to another in a relationship defined by law to be a domestic relationship treats the other in an intentionally violent or controlling manner.

The Northern Regional Police Commander, DCOP Ken Yeboah, regretted that the number of abuses recorded between 2009 and 2014 were less than 20 percent of the true cases of domestic violence that occurred in the various communities in the region.

He bemoaned that domestic violent victims in the rural areas were mostly prevented by their traditional rulers and opinion leaders from reporting such cases to the law enforcement agencies.

DCOP Yeboah who had on several platforms and on one-on-one basis cautioned some of the traditional rulers to desist from always trying to handle criminal cases in their palaces, also encouraged the victims to report to the Police for the necessary legal actions.

He also encouraged police officers to enforce the existing laws to change all the harmful practices and conducts, which were dehumanizing and served as impediments to social progress.

A similar workshop was organized in 2014 for DOVVSU Desk Officers and investigators in the region, which has yielded very good results. Reporting of Domestic Violence cases which used to be a challenge in the region is gradually becoming a thing of the past he added.  In January 2015 alone, 75 cases of Sexual and Gender-based Violence were reported to the DOVVSU in Tamale.  

NGO Advocates For Women’s Access To Health Education

Hawawu Issah Seini

The Executive Director of Health Aid West Africa (HAWA) Hawawu Issah Seini has advocated for more access to healthcare education for women in Ghana especially those in the rural areas so as to protect them from preventable diseases.

Madam Hawawu said access to thorough basic healthcare education was one of the proven ways to build a healthy population. “Diseases like breast cancer, obstetric fistula, malaria and cholera which are claiming the lives of many women and their children while others are deformed are preventable and manageable”, she emphasised.

According to her, some of the women suffer from the diseases till they die or get deformed due to the lack of adequate knowledge about some of the diseases as well as superstitions surrounding those diseases in their locality.

In a signed press statement issued to the media including Savannahnews to mark the 2015 International Women’s Day celebration, Madam Hawawu observed that many women in the world, especially those in developing countries, were suffering from preventable diseases due to lack of or inadequate basic healthcare education.

She said that women needed to be healthy to take part in socio-economic and political activities and development processes of the nation. Thus, she called on all stakeholders to explore new technologies and innovative ways of making basic healthcare education more accessible to women, especially those in the rural areas in order to reduce preventable medical conditions which threaten the lives of women.

Health Aid West Africa (HAWA), a non-profit making organization, is currently running a radio programme on health dubbed “Radio Clinic” aired on Bishara Radio, a Tamale-based radio station every Thursday.

The focus of the programme is to educate the public on their health and other important issues that affect their lives. The programme, which seeks to provide basic healthcare information while cultivating health seeking habit among listeners, is supported by the Global Media Foundation (GLOMEF) and Bishara Radio.

CSO Platform Cites EC, Parliament For Botched 2014 District Level ElectionsP

Alhassan M. Awal

The Civil Society Platform on Good Governance in the Northern Region has blamed the botched 2014 District Assembly and Unit Committee Elections on the failure of the Electoral Commission and Parliament to implement key findings surrounding the elections of 2010 which suffered apparent difficulties.

According to a petition presented by the Platform to government, during the 2010 District Assembly and Unit Committee Elections, the Electoral Commission (EC) postponed 8 out of 10 regions election dates 5-times before the execution of the elections in different months from 29^th December, 2010 to 4^th January, 2011. The result of this development, the petition said, was the great apathy that greeted the event.

 “In line with challenges suffered during the 2010 elections, parliament set up a twenty (20) member Fact Finding Ad hoc Committee to investigate issues surrounding the apparent difficulties of the EC in conducting the originally 28^th December, 2010 District Assembly and Unit Committee Elections and to make recommendations to parliament to forestall recurrence in future elections”, Platform Chairman Alhassan Mohammed Awal who signed the petition, said.

Portions of the Committee’s report made available to Savannahnews, said “It was revealed that the period between the time of releasing of L.I. 1983 and the filing of nomination was too short and could not allow for effective interaction with the public, especially the prospective candidates of the respective newly created Electoral Areas/Unit Committees.

“Again, the postponement of election date and the conduct of election on different dates at different polling stations affected the quantum of funds and other resources allocated for public education. Public education information had to be changed to suit different communities as to when voting was taking place. Most District Electoral Officers found it difficult to communicate the new dates of election to electorates in different areas which could not vote. There were instances where the election date had been postponed but District Electoral Officers themselves did not know the new dates”, the report said.

Parliament of Ghana

Following this, Mr. Awal noted that, the 20 member fact finding Committee among others recommended that: “The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in consultation with the EC should fix firm date for the conduct of the District Level Elections in the country. This will enable the EC to work towards that date and to avoid the tendency of postponing elections.

“The Committee realizing that, said there are a lot of processes and programmes that need to be rolled-out timorously by the EC to both prevent the mishaps associated with the 2010 District Assembly Elections happening again and also ensuring transparency and fair conduct of 2012 elections. This involves a lot of stakeholders working efficiently and effectively (Executive, Parliament, Judiciary, etc). Parliament is being urged to maintain this Committee to monitor the electoral process and report periodically to parliament,” he revealed.

Mr. Awal said the EC and Parliament were supposed to work hand in hand for the successful execution of the 3^rd March, 2015 elections due to the Committee’s recommendation. Adding, he observed that, the inability of the two institutions to work together resulted in the cancellation of the entire elections and also led to the waste of a huge sum of GHȼ317 million of the tax payers’ money spent in preparing for the exercise.

The petition said both the EC and the Parliament of Ghana woefully failed Ghanaians and demanded of the two institutions to restore the confidence of citizens in their mandates as state institutions by ensuring that the recommendation to have a fix date for District Level Elections was adhered to.   

Dr. Afari Gyan, EC Chairman

It urged Parliament and the EC to as a matter of urgency act swiftly to have an LI within the shortest possible time to ensure that the District Level Elections were organized within the shortest possible time to avoid throwing the nation into a constitutional crisis.

It also said government must as a matter of urgency provide the needed resources for the EC to organize the election once a date was fixed and do same for the National Commission for Civic Education to carryout voter education to deal with voter apathy and restore voter interest in the District Level Elections.

The petition further suggested that, any individual or group of people who have done Ghanaians this great disservice must be shown the exit immediately whereas parliament must enact a law that would ensure that presidential, parliamentary and district level lections were organized together on the same day.

The Northern Regional Minister Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna who received the petition on behalf of the government, though commended the Platform for championing a good course, also chastised them for not alert the government and parliament earlier enough to act on the report of the Committee.

Sawla Girls Model JHS Tops In National ICT Competition

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) education may be relatively new to a lot of basic and second cycle schools and students in Northern Ghana as compared to their counterparts in the Southern part of the country. 

However, conscious efforts by government and the private sector could yield enormous results especially when a not so popular and less endowed school such as Sawla Girls Model Junior High School in the Sawla/Tuna/Kalba District in the Northern Region won this year’s National ICT Quiz Competition.

The school, which was represented by Tomah Lydia, Adams Janaba and Gien Monica, scored a total of 69 out of 100 points to beat Darul Hardis Junior High School and Ho Polytechnic Junior High School (JHS) respectively to win this year’s competition.

Other contesting schools were Adom Model JHS from Nkwanta in the Volta Region and Pong Tamale M/A Junior High School also based in the Northern Region.  

The event was organized by Savana Signatures (SavSign) in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service (GES) with financial support from IICD and additional support from Eco Bank Ghana, Radach Lodge and Conference Center and Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC).

The quiz competition fell under SavSign’s Integration of ICT in Education Project (IIEP), a project being implemented by the organization in the Northern and Volta Regions of Ghana. The project sought to build the capacity of teachers, school administrators and pupils in the use of ICT tools in teaching, learning and managing school based data among other uses to improve their performances.

This year’s quiz competition which saw five schools from the Northern and Volta Regions of Ghana participating was also aimed among other things to facilitate the implementation of Ghana’s ICT in Education Policy.

The Northern Regional ICT Coordinator Mr. Alhassan Seidu who represented the Northern Regional Director of the GES, said ICT was the foundation of every economy and that the future of every nation depended on effective deployment of ICT. He thanked SavSign for the initiative describing the event as a “noble venture”.

Darul Hardis JHS represented by Abdulai Fuseina, Ahmed Arimiyaw and Mohammed Abdul-Haliq also scored 62 points to win the second position while Ho Polytechnic JHS represented by Ebenezer Afful, Isreal Ahua and Seyram Adadevoh scored a total of 56 points to take the third position.

The winning school, Sawla Girls Model JHS received a trophy, 2 refurbished desktop computers and a printer. The first runner-up, Darul Hardis JHS also received a trophy and two (2) refurbished desktop computers while the second runner-up received a trophy and a refurbished desktop computer.  

 

An initiative of SavSign, the quiz competition intended to promote ICT education in Ghana as well as develop the skills, interest and ability of the youth to effectively use ICT facilities to better their lives.

Executive Director of SavSign John Stephen Agbenyo, said though initiated as a regional event, the ICT quiz competition had been transformed to become a national event because of the overwhelming endorsement and acceptance by schools and for that matter the GES.

According to him, the competition was not about prizes to be won but about knowledge to be shared among the participating schools and their pupils. He admonished students to take their academic work serious especially the study of ICT.

Mr. Agbenyo thanked IICD for the support it had given to SavSign over the years and wished the participating schools the best of luck.