Media Implored To Promote The Crusade Of Evangelists Bonnke And Kolenda

The Vice Chairman of the Planning Committee for the 2017 crusade by Christ for All Nations (CfAN), Apostle Isaac Nii Kotei Djani, has made a passionate appeal to the media in Tamale to whip up the enthusiasm of residents to attend the event scheduled for January.  

According to him, there are many believers and non-believers who are going through spiritual problems, hence the need for the media to create awareness about the biggest crusade anticipated to provide solution to the spiritual needs of people through prayer.

Apostle Djani who is also the Tamale Area Head Pastor of the Ghana Pentecostal Church, made this appeal when he chaired the maiden meeting of the Media Sub-committee held in Tamale.

Members of the Media Sub-committee include Reverend Yirsob Bowan, Chairman, Brother Joseph Ziem, Vice Chairman and Brother Isaac Nongya, Secretary. The rest include Brother Alexander Kwadwo Akrofi-Gyampo, Brother Edmond Gyebi, Pastor Christopher Laary and Bishop James Kofi Abbrey, CfAN.

The Media Sub-committee is tasked with the responsibility of mobilising and organising journalists from various media houses to provide adequate media coverage and publicity before, during and after the event. The committee is also expected to provide technical advice to the Planning Committee as and when necessary in order to ensure a successful event.

Apostle Nii Kotei Djani implored the Committee to live up to its expectation in order to ensure the success of the event.   

Bishop James Kofi Abbrey, Special Aid to the African Director of CfAN, Rev. John Darku, told journalists during a media briefing that about 500 state security personnel would be engaged during the crusade.

Apostle Isaac N.K. Djani Sandwiched by Bishop James k. Abbrey & Rev. Wumbei

He also indicated that, the city of Tamale would be whitewashed with posters, fliers and billboards in the coming days whereas the airwaves of major radio stations would also be ‘hijacked’ with announcements and jingles.

Bishop James further pointed out that, various groups would be formed and sent out to market places, schools and other public places to encourage people to endeavour to attend the crusade.

Dubbed: “The Great Gospel Crusade With Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke”, the 76year old Evg. Bonnke would also be accompanied by his successor Evg. Daniel Kolenda who is now the President and Chief Executive Officer of CfAN.

Estimated to bring together about 400 thousand believers and non-believers across the entire Northern Ghana and other parts of the country, the crusade seeks to win more souls for Christ.

The crusade, which is being scheduled by Evg. Reinhard Bonnke’s ministry, Christ for All Nations (CfAN) in partnership with local churches in the Tamale Metropolis, is scheduled to take place between January 26 and January 29 at the outer periphery of the Tamale Sports Stadium.

Evg. Bonnke is a German international Pentecostal evangelist, principally known for his gospel missions throughout Africa. Bonnke has been an evangelist and missionary in Africa since 1967. 

According to his biographer, “Bonnke has had 75 million recorded decisions for Christ made during his crusades. He has preached the gospel to more people than anyone in history.”  

Evangelist Daniel Kolenda is also a modern missionary who has led more than 17-million people to Christ face-to-face through massive open air evangelistic campaigns in some of the most dangerous, difficult and remote locations on earth.

Meanwhile, this is the ninth (9^th) time Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke is coming to Ghana and his second (2^nd) time in Tamale since his last visit some 3oyears ago.

People Of STK District Demand Health Officials Pay Them Before Giving Them Treatment

Mr. Thomas Suuri

The Disease Control Officer for the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba (STK) District in the Northern Region, Thomas Suuri, has lamented over the attitude of majority of the people towards healthcare promotion despite persistent behavioural change education being given to them.

According to Mr. Suuri, many parents especially mothers, refuse to take their children to the hospital for post-natal care weeks after delivery. “Even when community nurses go to their homes, they demand that they are paid before they allow the nurses to attend to their children.

“Gone are the days when health officials went out for outreach services and community people would give them fowls, yam and other gifts. Nowadays, when our staff go out there for immunisation, parents refuse to bring out their children. They demand that unless they are paid they will not bring their children. I feel so sad about the behaviour of our people.”

The STK District Disease Control Officer who is also the Focal Person for Malaria, therefore appealed to the chiefs and other opinion leaders to encourage their people to heed to the advice of health officials in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Mother sleeping under net with child

Mr. Suuri made these revelations at a stakeholders meeting on Advocacy for Resource for Malaria Stoppage (ARMS) project organised in Sawla by the Institute of Social Research and Development (ISRAD-Ghana).

The purpose of the meeting was to sensitise stakeholders from decentralised departments, chiefs and assembly members on the high incidence of malaria in the district and how they could find a solution to it. 

It was also to form a multi-stakeholder group that would lead in the mobilisation of critical resources to enable the district combat malaria and its associated problems in the district.

Sponsored by the UKAID, ARMS is a one year project (2016-2017) being implemented by ISRAD in 54 districts across Ghana. The overall goal of ARMS, according to the Northern Regional Coordinator of ISRAD, Abdul-Raxak Bawah, is to contribute to the reduction of malaria cases in Ghana. 

Mr. Abdul-Raxak Bawah

He also explained that, through ARMS, District Malaria Advocacy Groups (DMAGs) are formed and operationalised in beneficiary districts. “Members of the DMAGs are expected to mobilize resources to assist their districts to combat malaria through public education, procurement of anti-malarial drugs, long lasting insecticide nets and testing kits”, Mr. Bawah indicated.

The six member group in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District is led by the Sawlawura Alidu Bukari who has pledged to lead his colleagues to look for the necessary resources that the district health directorate requires to eradicate malaria. 

Mr. Bawah noted that, so far, testing prior to malaria treatment has increased by 10 percent in all 10 regions of Ghana where the ARMS project is being implemented. “Formation and operationalization of District Malaria Advocacy Groups in 25 percent of districts in Ghana”, he stressed.

He also mentioned that, 10,000 healthcare service providers have been sensitized to adhere to the national malaria diagnosis protocol whereas 1 million healthcare seekers sensitized to demand to be tested prior to malaria treatment. 

Meanwhile, Ghana is said to record about 9million cases of malaria each year. By 2020, the Ghana Health Service is expected to reduce the disease and death due to malaria by 75 percent using 2012 as a baseline.

Child Marriage Prevalent In 5 Districts In Northern Region – Survey

Mrs. Lamnatu Adam

Children and women’s rights non-governmental organisation, Songtaba, has through a survey, identified five districts in the Northern Region of Ghana where child marriage is very prevalent.

According to the report made available to Savannahnews, girls as young as 13 years are being given out for marriage whereas in some cases, they are betrothed to men at birth and given out for marriage as soon as they get their first menses.

The Executive Director, Lamnutu Adam, who briefed the media in Tamale shortly after a stakeholder forum organised to present findings of the survey, cited poverty, fear of teen girls to get pregnant, teenage pregnancy induced marriages and lack of protection or support for young women to be self-reliant as the causes of child marriages in the five districts.

The survey was conducted in five districts of the Northern Region namely; Sagnarigu, Nanumba North, Gusheigu, Saboba and Mion Districts. It was conducted from September to November 2016. 

The conduct of the survey formed part of the implementation of a five year project that aims at addressing the root causes of early child marriage and sexual abuse against girls among others in the districts.  

Dubbed: “Girls Advocacy Alliance” (GAA), the project is being implemented by Songtaba with support from Plan International Ghana. Aside the Northern Region where GAA is being rolled out in 40 communities across the districts, other partner organisations of Plan International Ghana are also implementing the same project in the Upper West, Eastern and Greater Accra Regions. 

Mrs. Adam said the objective of the survey was to assess basic information on how cultural norms and traditions influence child marriage and sexual abuse of girls and women in the five districts.

Participants At The Forum

“It sought to gather information on the extent, magnitude and consequences of child marriages in Ghana, as a basis for raising awareness on how children, particularly girls are affected by the practice”, she emphasised.

Although part of the blame for child marriage practices lies with the communities who consider the practice to be part of their traditions, she noted that, substantial blame should also be placed on the inadequacy of implementation of policy and legal frameworks for the protection of children.

Going forward, Mrs. Adam indicated that, there is the need to press for legal reforms to bring in a uniform definition of childhood by removing the contradictions in current legislation.

She also called for the intensification of education on the need to stop the practice of early child marriages and sexual abuse against girls by the use of traditional durbars and the mass media.

Mrs. Lamnatu Adam further stressed the need to support religious and traditional leaders to report perpetrators of such human rights violations to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.

Project Officer of Songtaba, Mohammed Alhassan, in a presentation said the Upper West, Upper East and the Northern Regions of Ghana are no exception to the issue of child marriage, citing that the current prevalent rate of 27.4 percent is still higher than the national average of 27.0 percent which is a source of concern and needs bold steps to address it.

Knowledge on child marriage, he noted, was somewhat good among respondents during the survey. “This was more evident in the Sagnarigu, Mion and Gushegu Districts. 

“Statistically, 95 percent of respondents knew what child marriage means, while 4 percent stated that they did not know anything about child marriage and its effects. The remainder 1% represented missing values”.

Mr. Alhassan further explained that, even respondents who had indicated that childhood ends at 18 years subsequently claimed that, in marital terms, childhood ends after puberty and that always coincides with the completion of primary schooling.

Meanwhile, participants at the forum condemned the prevailing incidents of early child marriages in the five districts. 

They called on all stakeholders including the police, chiefs, parents, religious leaders and human rights organisations to report such practices for the perpetrators to be brought to book.

Dr. Kusi Adjudged Best Agricultural Research Scientist in Ghana

A senior research scientist and lead scientist of the Kirkhouse Trust sponsored project at the CSIR-SARI in the Northern Region of Ghana, Dr. Francis Kusi, has been adjudged the Best Agricultural Research Scientist at the 2016 National Farmers Day  celebration held recently.

He was selected by a team of professional jury who combed through a list of highly competitive scientific write-ups submitted by scientists for the prestigious award. Eventually, Dr. Kusi emerged winner.

With less than a decade in the field of scientific research, Dr. Kusi already has to his credit, a number of peer-reviewed scientific papers published in international and local journals, and has attended several international conferences across the world.

He is also a lead scientist for other key projects such as Legume Innovation Lab and Innovation Lab for Climate Resilient Cowpea being implemented in collaboration with the University of California, Riverside, in the United States of America.

Dr. Kusi who holds a PhD in Entomology, has over the past two years, supervised 10 MPhil and three PhD students from the University of Cape Coast, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, University for Development Studies and University of Ghana under his projects at CSIR-SARI.

Through contract proposals, Dr. Kusi in the year 2012 was able to get Kirkhouse Trust to establish a molecular lab at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) of the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) located at Nyankpala.

Through the project, he secured funding for a number of young scientists from SARI to go for short training courses abroad whereas others enrolled on MPhil and PhD studies in Ghana.  

Dr. Francis Kusi Receiving The Award

Over the years, he has also collaborated with the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and non-governmental organisations such as PAS-Garu, Northfin Foundation, Trias Ghana, Care International and ZOFA Farmer Training Centre, World Vision and ECOSIB in technology development and dissemination to farmers in the Upper East Region. These collaborations have resulted in significant improvement in the farmers’ knowledge and skills in managing crops, soil pests and diseases using Integrated Pest Management with good agricultural practices as the main component.

An alumnus of the University of Ghana, Dr. Kusi comes across to many of his peers and colleagues as a team player. He is not just a team player, but also leader, teacher and mentor.

For instance, he is passionate about training agricultural extension agents, field staff of NGOs and technicians as well as staff from SARI in insect pest identification and their management strategies as well as establishment, management of field trials, demonstrations and data collection.

With his unique skill set, he regularly trains technicians and research scientists in molecular techniques, and in collaboration with other scientists of different disciplines, they implement programs to generate and/or disseminate technologies to address farmers’ problems in a more sustainable approach.

Like many promising research scientists, Dr. Kusi belongs to a number of professional bodies and associations. He is a member of the Research Staff Association of CSIR, Ghana’s leading research institution. He is also member of the Ghana Science Association and the Entomology Society of Ghana. 

Between 2012 and now, he has also led and managed 9 major research projects sponsored by AGRA, WAAPP, Kirkhouse Trust, LIL and IL-CRC  and FABS among others.