Harmattan School Urged To Provide Solutions To Devt Issues In The North

UDS Vice Chancellor

The Vice Chancellor of the University for Development Studies (UDS) Professor Haruna Yakubu, has implored participants at the 2013 edition of the Harmattan School to endeavour to understand how culture and climate change adaptation would be employed as a tool to advance the socio-economic development of Northern Ghana.

In a speech read for him at the event held in Tamale the Northern Regional capital, Prof. Yakubu said Northern Ghana was particularly vulnerable to the effect of climate change because of limited adaptive capacity. 

This phenomenon, he observed, “was accounted for by the absence of viable climatic prognosis to deal with the impact of climate change”, adding to this, according to the energy and climate change expert were “recurrent droughts, overdependence on rain-fed agriculture and the widespread echelons of poverty that have all contributed to exacerbate the impact of climate change”, he emphasised. 

The Harmattan School is one of the several platforms created by the UDS and opened to researchers, civil society organisations, policymakers, and non-governmental organisations to meet and brainstorm on developmental issues confronting Northern Ghana in particular and the country at large.

The Harmattan School is not just a platform for academic peer review but most importantly an avenue for the discovery of practical solutions to address the developmental challenges of Northern Ghana.

Under the theme: “Accelerating Socio-Economic Development in Northern Ghana through Culture and Climate Change Adaptation”, the 2013 edition is the seventh in a series organized by the Centre for Continuing Education and Interdisciplinary Research (CCEIR) which is the lead organizer of the annual event.

According to Prof. Yakubu, the predicaments of residents of the country’s North were made worse on accounts of the lack of flexibility in some cultural beliefs and practices, but was quick to note that  “There are various ways by which culture and climate change adaptation can influence socio-economic development.”

He also disclosed that the UDS had provided the academic leadership and commitment to the promotion of culture, stressing that was reflected in the establishment of the Endogenous Development Studies Programme at the postgraduate levels (masters and PhD). 

Meanwhile, the Northern Regional Minister Moses Bukari Mabengba, observed that culture and climate change adaptation had serious implications for the welfare of humans and local economies.                 

Modifications of cultural practices to protect the environment, he noted, were very essential to achieving Ghana’s development goals. Thus, he opined that the practice of conserving forest resources as sacred places or shrines was an effective adaptive measure that needs to be promoted. 

Accordingly, the minister also called on residents of the North to put a stop to bush burning and group hunting since the practice had negative effects on the environment.  

11,986 Pupils In Northern Region Immunised Against Cervical Cancer

An estimated 11,986 female-pupils of classes four and five, in 547 basic schools across six Districts in Ghana’s Northern Region, are being immunised against the human papilomavirus (HPV), a virus that causes cervical cancer.

 

An advanced and uncontrolled growth or division of abnormal cells of the cervix of the uterus of a young woman is called cervical cancer. Globally, cervical cancer is the second most common cause of cancer deaths amongst women. 

 

About 510,000 cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed or reported annually with 68,000 in Africa, 77,000 in Latin America and 245,000 in Asia, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The global body says in 2005, almost 260,000 to 290,000 women died of the disease, nearly 95 percent of them in developing countries including Ghana thus making cervical cancer one of the gravest threats to women’s lives. 

 

According to health experts, at least 80 percent of all incidents of cervical cancer and related mortalities had been observed in regions of Africa with women from underserved and resource-poor populations carrying the greatest burden of the disease. 

 

In Ghana for instance, between 18 and 22 percent of cancers in women are caused by cervical cancer. The disease as peculiar as it is, takes between 10 and 30 years to incubate and spread in the affected person. It is however difficult and costly to treat if it multiplies in the system of a person. 

 

But, thanks to the Rural Women Initiative for Development and Empowerment (RUWIDE), a non-governmental organisation headquartered in Salaga in the East Gonja District, through whose effort a national pilot immunisation programme was undertaken in two regions of Ghana including the Northern and Central.

 

The Northern Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) Dr. Akwasi Twumasi, told journalists that RUWIDE through its partners abroad had made available the expensive drugs for the immunisation exercise in six selected districts in the region including East Gonja, Kumbungu, Tolon, Mion, Savelugu-Nanton and Yendi as well as some other districts in the Central Region.

 

He explained that there were two types of HPV vaccines, namely; gardasil and cervarix, adding that in the vaccination exercise, it was the gardasil vaccine that was being used and each child would be required to take three doses in order to be fully protected.

 

Dr. Twumasi also stated that the class four and five pupils were targeted for the exercise because it was very important for them before their first sexual contact, since they would not have been exposed to the HPV infection. Once a girl or woman has been infected with the virus, the vaccine might not work at all, he noted.

 

He further expatiated that it was important to go for cervical cancer screening even after the vaccination from age 30, stressing that the gardasil vaccine does not prevent other kinds of sexually transmitted infections including HIV or against pregnancy.  

 

Cervical cancer is caused by smoking, unprotected sex with multiple sex partners, early sex before adulthood, infection with the HPV and among others. 

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Twumasi recommended that, all women especially teenagers who are at risk of cervical cancer should regularly go for screening or testing, and urged young girls to abstain from early sex, avoid multiple sex partners and vaccinate against HPV.

ACUTE Water Starvation Hits Parts Of East Gonja

DCE, East Gonja/MP Gonja North

More than 25 agrarian communities including Danshelli, Takpilla, Kpinchilla, Fuu among others in the East Gonja District of the Northern Region of Ghana lack potable water and largely depend on polluted dam water as their only means of survival. 

 

The situation is even acute during the dry season, as most residents had to travel long distances [2miles] in search of water for domestic use. A visit to some of the affected communities in the district revealed that residents shared their only source of drinking water, which is the dam, with domestic animals that pollute them with their excreta and urine.

 

Checks by Savannahnews at the District Assembly revealed that several attempts to drill boreholes for the affected communities to get water yielded no results, because most of the communities had low water table. 

 

Some residents who spoke to this reporter noted that they had to travel long distances to community dams to draw water and each time they drink the water, they suffer from stomach pains.  

 

The Assemblyman for one of the affected communities, Fuu Electoral Area, Iddrisu Saani appealed to other benevolent individuals and organizations to help the communities in the district to have access to clean water.

 

The outgoing Chief Executive for the East Gonja District and Member of Parliament for the Gonja North Constituency Alhassan Mumuni, confirmed the problem confronting the communities but noted that, efforts would be made to treat the water in the various dams for people to use.  

 

Mr. Mumuni stressed that he would be liaising with the Ghana Water Company Limited and other stakeholders in the water sector for a lasting solution to the problem. 

 

SARI Introduces New Maize, Soybean Seeds

The Savanna Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) has released five new maize and three soybean genotypes with a call on farmers in Northern Ghana to purchase seeds from truly certified seed growers in order to avoid contamination since most seeds being sold by uncertified seed growers were not of good quality. 

 

The National Variety Release and Technical Committee under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) approved the release of the five new maize and three soybean genotypes for the 2013 farming season at Nyankpala in the Kumbungu District of the Northern Region.

 

The five new maize genotypes or seeds include Sanzal-sima, Ewul-Boyu, Wang Dataa, Kpari-sima and Tigli. The soybeans include afaya, songda and another type.

 

The new genotypes are more adaptable to the Savanna Ecological Zone (which comprise the Upper East, Upper West and Northern Regions as well as the Northern parts of Volta and Brong Ahafo Region), which is commonly characterized with challenges of drought and striga infestation, according to crop scientists at SARI.

 

The new maize and soybean seeds took between 90 and 115 days to mature with potential yields ranging from 4.5 tonnes per hectare to 5.4 tonnes per hectare.

 

The lead scientist at SARI with specialty in plant breeding and genetics Dr. Nicholas Denwar, noted that the cultivation of these new seeds were more adaptable to the climatic conditions of Northern Ghana and would help improve crop yields to achieve the needed food security in the area.

 

However, he cautioned farmers against purchasing seeds from uncertified seed growers in the region since MoFA did not regulate their activities. Most of the seeds sold by these uncertified seed growers, he added, were largely mixed or contaminated with different varieties of hybrid seeds that could reduce the yields of crops.

 

Farmers, according to Dr. Denwar “should always try to buy certified seeds from seed growers or commercial seed sellers because they are at least supervised by the MoFA to ensure that the seeds that they produce are of good quality and thus will give farmers the desired bumper harvest they yearn for.”

 

Dr. Denwar also emphasised that the new varieties released by SARI and MoFA were good breeds intended to control fields with striga infestation, which were common among cereal crops.

 

Some of the new varieties of soybeans such as afayah and songda, he explained, were good for the control of striga in maize, millet and sorghum, stressing that “if a farmer had striga infestation on his field and he grows these two materials for two years, he is going to reduce the striga seed bank in the soil such that, the following year when he (farmer) grows maize or sorghum he would have high yield.”

 

Meanwhile, Dr. Mashark Abdulai of SARI also told newsmen that the new breed would be converted into the breeding of hybrid seeds that will make it easier for farmers to use to produce their seedlings.

 

Tamale Mayor Not Happy With Outsiders Negative View Of The City

Tamale Mayor

The Mayor of Tamale Metropolitan Assembly in the Northern Region of Ghana Alhaji Abudulai Haruna Friday, has stated that his biggest worry since he took over office in the last four years has been how to deal with the negative perception outsiders have about the city and its people.

 

Speaking to a cross-section of journalists in his office, he noted that even though there are troubles in every part of the country, many Ghanaians who have never stepped a foot in Tamale or lived in this city before, often exaggerate what they hear in media reportage concerning social disorders caused by some few lawbreakers.  

 

This kind of development, he said, did not augur well for the smooth and accelerated development of the city, because most prospective investors tend to believe what they hear or read in the media instead of coming to Tamale to find out what the investment potentials in the area are as against the so-called negative happenings. “Tamale is still the cleanest city in Ghana when compared to other cities. There has not been any outbreak of diarrhea in the last few years and incidents of malaria in hospitals and other health institutions in the metropolis have reduced and continue to drop”, he stated.  

 

Alhaji Friday admitted that Tamale like every regional capital in the country has its own challenges in the areas of sanitation and waste management, health, water, education, peace and stability. But he indicated that, conditions in Tamale as compared to the rest of the nation are far better than what outsiders think.

 

When asked by this reporter whether he was lobbying for any position in the current administration being led by President John Dramani Mahama, he said he was not doing any kind of lobbying but was hopeful that he was likely to be retained as Mayor of Tamale or promoted by the president.

 

According to Alhaji Friday: “I know deep down my heart that I’ve done a lot of work to move Tamale forward even though some people think that I’ve done nothing and therefore ought to be kicked out. But I know what President Mahama is thinking of me. He [President] has good thoughts about me and at the appropriate time, he will make his intentions known to me and the rest of the region”, the mayor emphasised. 

 

He thanked traditional and religious leaders as well as various stakeholders in the metropolis that over the last four years helped him to succeed in many aspects of his vision and hoped that they would continue to assist him or anyone who would take over from him in future.

 

Meanwhile Alhaji Friday reiterated his call on residents of Tamale particularly the youth who to support him in his effort to promote peace and development since the future of the city rest on their shoulders because they were still strong and could do any kind of hard work to bring a positive change.

Ibn Timiya T.I Amadiyya School Desperately Needs Help

Most often, we hear of the existence of schools under trees or in dilapidated structures in rural areas where people are still faced with the challenges of serious underdevelopment. However, the situation has just manifested itself in the newly created Sagnarigu District carved out of Ghana’s third largest city– Tamale, in a suburb called Choggu-Manayilli. This reporter visited aschool that was destroyed by rainstorm last year and uncovered how the situation has forced pupils and teachers to learn under terrible weather conditions.

It is the dream of the children of Choggu-Manayilli to go to school every weekday and learn under the guide of their teachers, as is the normin all public and private schools in Ghana. 

However, the dream of these children who are pupils of the Ibn TimiyaT.I Amadiyya Primary and Kindergarten School, one of few basic schools remotely located in the community seemed to be akin to building castles in the air; and this is due to the hapless circumstances in which they have found themselves.

The poor children and their parents have yearned for support towards the rehabilitation of their four unit classroom block which roofings were ripped-off by rainstorm in June 2012, but even though support eventually came from the Assembly, work seemed to be moving at a very slow pace.

The teachers and pupils who spent most part of the last term of the 2011/2012 academic year as well as the first term of the 2012/2013 academic year at home due to frequent rains, have began to dread sitting in the same dilapidated structures as the rains approach once again. 

At the moment, they still come to school every day and sit inside the roofless building as the merciless sun heat scorches them till they close in midday. 

The questions on the lips of concerned residents now are; would government be able to achieve its Better Ghana Agenda? How about the United Nations Millennium Development Goal II which aims at achieving universal basic education by the year 2015, considering the plight of these innocent children who also desire to climb to the top of the academic ladder?

The standard of basic education in the Tamale Metropolis has been falling so sharply over the years. Students’ performances at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in recent years have been very abysmal. From 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010, Tamale secured 60^th, 69^th, 88^th, 91^st, 89^th, 98^th, and 103^rd positions respectively, out of the then 134 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in the country.    

Assistant headmistress of the school madam Adakudugu Cynthia told The Daily Dispatch in an interview, that school activities have been seriously affected since the disaster occurred. 

She disclosed that the Kindergarten pupils sit under a mango tree as one class whereas the rest of the primary one to six share three classrooms pending when the building would be refurbished. 

Madam Adakudugu noted with deep regrets, parents frequent withdrawal of their wards to enroll in different schools, because of the dangerous nature of the dilapidated structure and appalling conditions in the school. 

The school, according to her has inadequate classroom furniture, textbooks as well as lacked sanitary facilities (toilet and urinals). “The absence of these facilities compel the children to always go into the bush to answer nature call”, she stressed.  

The Assistant headmistress therefore, appealed to benevolent organizations to come to the aid of the school.

Kpinchilla Community In East Gonja District Now Has a School

Prof. Jane Naana, Education Minister

School children at Kpinchilla, a farming community in the East Gonja District of the Northern Region of Ghana would no longer walk miles away to attend school. This is because, the Presbyterian Farmers Training and Child Development Programme, an offshoot of the Presbyterian Church has put up a 3-unit classroom block for the community.

 

The project with funding from Child Fund Korea, an umbrella organisation of Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC) which cost GH¢83,450.00 was part of efforts to provide quality teaching and learning for children of the area.

 

Commissioning the project, Programme Manager of the Presbyterian Farmers Training and Child Development Programme Emmanuel Akiskame, said the children of the community used to walk about seven kilometres to the next community to attend school and it was for this reason that the Presbyterian Church of Ghana sought support to end the hassle of walking long distances to acquire education.

 

On his part, Chairman of the Northern Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Reverend Dr Martin Bugri Nabo, challenged parents of the community to place priority on their wards education by insisting on both teachers and children to attend school regularly.

 

He appealed to the chief and people of the community to take good care of the facility in order to enjoy the full benefits of what it would offer them.

 

Mrs. Rowena Sugay, Grants Manager of CCFC International also stressed that early childhood development was very important and it was for that reason that, her organisation continued to support such efforts in Ghana’s less endowed communities. 

 

Meanwhile, the facility included a dining hall, rain water harvesting reservoir, toilet, children recreational equipment, hand washing bowls and cupboards.

Reward Your Hardworking Staff– Hoteliers Told

Mole motel

Owners and operators of hotels and other hospitality facilities in the country’s tourism sector have been urged to reward their hardworking staff in order for them to give-off their best in whatever they do.

Speaking at a staff awards night organized by management of Mole Motel Company Limited, Manager of the Mole Game Reserve in the Northern Region of Ghana Dubiure Umaru Farouk, advised hoteliers, restaurateurs and other actors who served as the ‘engine’ of the tourism industry, to seriously consider their staff as the most valuable asset they have and appreciate their efforts.

Whiles commending management of the motel for recognizing the contributions of their hard working and dedicated staff, Mr. Dubiure encouraged the management to do more for them as they continued to grow in the business. “For the sixteen years of existence of the motel in the park, it really contributed immensely to the daily influx of tourists into the place and this was due to the hard work, dedication and excellent services rendered by the staff of the motel”, he noted.

According to him, the motel as small as it appears to be, also plays a very significant role in the sustenance and maintenance of the game reserve, saying it offers accommodation and kitchen services to almost all the 15,000 visitors to the park every year and their nonexistence, perhaps could have discouraged a lot of people from visiting the place. The park, he added, is currently the most prestigious game reserve the nation has and is amongst the best tourism destinations in the country.

Ghana’s tourism sector undoubtedly has contributed significantly to the growth of its economy particularly in recent years as the sector still continues to demonstrate its potential as a key driver of growth and development.

In fact, it is not overemphasising to say that tourism plays a very vital role in poverty alleviation through income generation, employment and infrastructural development for the local communities where tourist attractions are located as well as generates revenue for the government.

The sector is currently Ghana’s fourth largest foreign exchange earner, after gold, cocoa and oil. International tourist arrivals and receipts according to records have grown consistently over the last decade, with tourist arrivals tripling and corresponding tourist receipts increasing tenfold over the same period.

Fortunately, when talking about the tourism industry in Ghana, one name that comes to mind is the Mole National Park, the largest game reserve in West Africa and one of the most popular eco tourism destinations in the sub region.

The only hospitality haven located in the aforementioned park is the Mole motel which has become synonymous with the name of the place. Regarded as one of the best places to stay for at least a night in order to get the full experience of the park, it is situated on top of an escarpment overlooking the flat savannah plains where many game frequent. Indeed, it is an ideal base for a walking safari which could be arranged through the motel.

The motel started operating on March 24, 1997 to give decent accommodation and catering services to the several thousands of tourists who visited the park on daily basis.

The Manager of motel Sylvester Kubi said management over the past 15 years without the injection of new capital, drastically made improvement in the facility and offered quality services to tourists/clients who came and slept there.

Mr. Kubi stated that the management and staff of the motel need to be applauded for working in such a remote area for over a decade now, hence the organisation of the get together to reward those who stood with them through thick and thin over the years.

The Board Chairman of the motel Samuel Addo Nartey, also said not long ago the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation entered into a partnership agreement with the Wildlife Division of the Forestry Commission with the simple objective of promoting tourism in the Mole Game Reserve as well as maximizing returns for its stakeholders.

He indicated that considering the high annual tourist arrivals, it was the dream of the GNPC to raise the motel to the status of a hotel very soon so that it could meet the growing demand of the numerous tourists who visited the place on daily basis.

Meanwhile, a total of nine staff were rewarded for their selfless contribution and hard work in the last sixteen years. For those who had worked at the motel for ten years each received a 24 inch LCD Plasma Television set, a certificate of appreciation and 50 percent of their monthly salary whiles those who served more than ten years were given a table top refrigerator, a certificate of appreciation and also 50 percent of their monthly salary.