TAMALE METROPOLITAN ASSEMBLY TO DECONGEST MAIN MARKET

The Tamale Metropolitan Assembly would soon embark on an exercise to decongest the main Central Business District including the main market as part of measures to ensure the safety and convenience of traders in the market.

The exercise will be carried out in collaboration with the Metropolitan Fire Service Department, the Volta River Authority (VRA) and other stakeholders which will then make it possible for the Assembly to undertake some minor works within the market.

This was announced by the Mayor, Alhaji Abudulai Harruna Friday at a meeting with members of the Tamale Progressive Traders Association (PTA) in Tamale recently.

The meeting which was at the instance of the traders was to afford them and Alhaji Harruna Friday the opportunity to interact and to discuss issues of mutual concern and benefit as partners in development.

Alhaji Harruna Friday warned that not even a needle may be salvaged from the Central Market in the event of a fire outbreak and therefore the planned exercise would be in their own interest since most businesses in the market were not insured against fire or any natural disaster.

According to him, the safety of traders and shoppers not only in the Central Market but in all the Markets in the Metropolis is of paramount importance hence the urgent need to ensure and guarantee safety standards in the markets.

He said the intended exercise would first entail a dialoguing session with chiefs and the traders to secure their understanding and co-operation which would soon be followed by the removal and possible dismantling of all unauthorized structures within the market such as store extensions and wrongly placed tables after the expiry of a stipulated period of time.

Alhaji Harruna Friday assured that the exercise would be done with a human face so that no trader or shop owner suffers unduly as a result of the exercise and used the opportunity to appeal to all owners of such unauthorized structures and tables who undoubtedly will be affected during the exercise to consider re-locating to the Lamashegu, Kalpohin, Aboabo market area and other satellite markets within the Metropolis.

The Mayor of Tamale commended members of the Association for their continuous participation in all the Assembly’s sanitation campaigns and collaborative effort in mobilizing revenue for the Assembly, and urged them to continue to encourage more traders to join the Association so as to widen the tax net for increased revenue for development.

The Chairman of the Progressive Traders Association (PTA), Alhaji Yasaba on behalf of the group thanked the Mayor for accepting to attend the meeting and assured the Assembly of the Association’s co-operation and unflinching support to decongest the central market saying “they will do all in their power to ensure the success of the exercise when it starts”.

Alhaji Yasaba however appealed to the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly and Central Government to urgently intervene and take steps to protect local businesses which he said were gradually being taken over by some ‘aggressive traders’ from neighboring countries and the Middle East alleging that, the retail sector of the economy which is usually the preserve of the local traders was now virtually run by foreigners.

"CHOP-CHOP" AT BAWKU SEC/TECH

THE AUTHOURITIES of the Bawku Senior High and Technical School in the Upper East Region on Monday faced the humiliation of their lives as they came face-to-face with the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament and failed to justify why they had diabolically imposed huge unapproved fees and levies on the poor students of the school.

Even though Second Cycle education in Ghana is supposed to be free for all students, the Headmaster of the Bawku Senior High and Technical School, Linus Tuuli has been slapping all first year students with a whopping Three Hundred Ghana Cedis (GH¢300.00) as admission fee. Aside that, the committee found out that the School Authourity was also causing the students to pay other unapproved levies including, entertainment fee, sports fee, PTA, cultural fee, development fee and additional GH¢10.00 from each of the 1,630 students as fence wall construction fee.

The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, Albert Kan Dapaa and other members especially the Member of Parliament for Dormaa, Kwaku Agyeman Manu were fuming with excessive rage, as they suspected that the behaviour of the School authourity might have scared a large number of parents and guidance from seeking admission in the school for their wards.

He said the high fee being charged by the school was completely defeating the purpose of the government’s free basis education for all especially the rural poor.

The Public Accounts Committee was sitting in Tamale to examine the Auditor General’s Reports on accounts of 42 pre-university institutions in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions between 2004 and 2007.

Some of the School summoned before the Committee include; the Navrongo Senior High School, Awe Secondary Technical, Bawku Secondary Technical, Gbewaa Training College, St. John Bosco Training College, Bolgatanga SHS, Tamale Business Secondary School, Dabokpa Vocational Institute and the Savelugu School for the Deaf.

The rest are Saboba EP Secondary School, Nando SHS, Lawra SHS, Kanton SHS and Kaleo Sec/Tech among others.

However, the Public Accounts Committee has therefore charged the School authority to as a matter of urgency review the cost of admission fee they were charging so as to reduce the financial burden of parents and also make education more attractive to all children.

But in trying to explain himself, the Headmaster told the Committee that the fee was duly approved by the Upper East Regional Directorate of the Ghana Education Service to enable the procure some vital textbooks to supplement what were being supplied by the government.

But a representative of the Upper East Regional Director of Education completely denied the claims by the Headmaster and however admitted that he was hearing about the figure for the first time.

The GES representative further accused the School authourities for sometimes giving false reports to the GES.

The Committee quickly pounced on the Upper East GES for being part of the blame, accusing them of poor monitoring and supervision.

The Bawku Senior High and Technical School authourities also received some lashes from the Committee for failing to submit their 2007 budget expenditure for auditing and also failing to produce proper documentation on certain firewood purchased for the school.

The Headmaster of the Awe Senior High and Technical School in Navrongo, Paul Achana almost faced the same charges from the Committee for also charging the students with some unapproved fees.

Mr Albert Kan-Dapaah, Chairman of the Committee urged public institutions to abide by the legal and professional accounting principles when handling public funds. He said the heads of these institutions would be answering questions relating to lapses in expenditure and possibly face sanctions.

GENDER BASED CSOs URGE GHANAIAN MEN TO STOP PERPETUATING VIOLENCE

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) championing the course of gender advocacy in Ghana think that men could contribute immensely towards the drastic reduction of HIV/AIDS and maternal mortality if only they could offer adequate support and show more love, care and stop perpetuating violence against their wives.

They stressed that men’s involvement in the fight against HIV/AIDS and maternal mortality is key towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goal 5, because women alone cannot achieve sexual and reproductive health without the cooperation and participation of men who can go in for multiple sex partners leading to the contraction of STDs and also deciding the number of children a woman should give birth to whether she is capable or not.

Despite the massive awareness being created about the harmful effects of domestic violence, it is believed that deeply entrenched socio-cultural practices and systems held by men still remain which thus give them the edge to perpetuate violence against women.

Speaking at a day’s conference organized by the Ghana chapter of the International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Ghana) in Tamale, Ms. Saratu Mahama, Programme Coordinator of FIDA-Ghana, said men’s health status and behavior affect women’s reproductive health, thus involving men increases their awareness, acceptance and support to their partners’ needs, choices and rights.

She quoted statistics from the World Health Organisation (WHO) as saying “over one-third of all healthy-life lost in women is due to reproductive health problems, compared to 12% for men” stressing that, men who are the decision makers play a dominant role in couples’ fertility decisions, family size and other significant issues related to sexual and reproductive health.

Ms. Mahama also observed that, all methods of family planning and most methods of Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) and HIV prevention were traditionally labeled either as male-only or female only methods. “More attention should be paid in identifying to what extent each one of the methods requires co-operation and support of both sexes and its implications on the health and sexual relationship of both partners”, she opined.

A representative of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which sponsored the conference, Miriam Iddrisu, said the agency beliefs that if men are presented with relevant information they could become valuable allies in addressing reproductive health issues, from maternal mortality to violence against women.

According to her, UNFPA sought to increase men’s sense of ownership over programmes that promote gender equity, equality and women’s empowerment.

Ms. Iddrisu noted that, many men feel it is their right to refuse to use contraception, to allow their female partners to use it, or even to discuss family planning. These refusals she observed could lead to unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortion, and maternal death or disability.

Some men, she said may feel entitled to beat female partners who simply raise the issue of family planning or HIV prevention, saying “indeed, gender-based violence is a major contributor to the spread of sexually-transmitted infections including HIV and poor reproductive health and other health outcomes for women”.

Meanwhile, the conference which was under the theme: “Male involvement in promoting gender equality and reproductive health of women” was aimed to ensure constructive male involvement in gender equality, women’s human rights, reproductive health programs and the introduction of concrete and effective strategies to involve men reproductive health issues from a gender-equity perspective; and call for male commitment to implementing these strategies to ensure gender equality.

GERMAN’S PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION VISITS GHANA

The German Government has deployed a five member parliamentary delegation to Ghana to study our decentralization concept which is now described as one of the best and most efficient in Africa and the world at large.

The delegation which held a roundtable discussion with one of the nation’s best governance think-thanks, Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) Tamale office, to learn more about the country’s decentralization system, is expected to visit other African countries.

Led by the Charge d’ affairs and Deputy Ambassador at German Embassy in Ghana, Mr. Hans Christian Winkler, the delegation was at the Centre to interact with the staff on the framework and dynamics in the implementation of the decentralization and local governance in Ghana.

The team was particularly impressed about how most of the Ministries, Departments and Agencies are decentralized in almost all the regional and district capitals for the sake of ensuring grassroots participation, accountability, transparency and democracy.

Ghana’s decentralization concept has attracted a lot of nations across the globe or the African continent to come and study the system for replication in their own back-yard.

For instance, countries like Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya all came to learn from Ghana’s decentralization system and had given testimonies to the effect that, the system is a model in Africa because it allows full grassroots participation by offering opportunity to the people to get involve in the administration from the point of planning, implementation, monitoring and delivery of services to improve the living conditions of the masses.

Speaking on the topic “State institutions and decentralized structures in Ghana”, Mr. Paul Osei-Kuffuor, Programmes Manager of CDD-Ghana Tamale Office, gave a comprehensive account of local government in Ghana where he traced the history of local governance from the colonial period involving the British system of indirect rule to the current decentralized framework.

He asserted that successive governments have trended towards centralization rather than decentralization in pre-colonial and post colonial era until the launch of the most comprehensive effort at decentralization in 1988 with the passage of the PNDC Law 207 which was subsequently consolidated in the 1992 Constitution following Ghana’s transition into multiparty democracy.

Mr. Osei-Kuffuor stated that decentralization was largely motivated by the need to entrench local democracy in Ghana and achieve equilibrium in national development to countering the centralized-bureaucratic nature of the policy and decision-making process and the management and control of resources in the country.

Whilst commending government for passing the New Decentralization Policy and Action Plan which presently provides the path for reforms in local governance, he advocated for a concerted effort from all stakeholders including the active participation of Civil Society Organizations in monitoring and demanding the full implementation of the policy objectives and measures.

Mr. Paul Osei-Kuffuor proposed for the popular election of District Chief Executives, the payment of remuneration to Assembly members, greater transparency in the award of contracts in Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies and clear guidelines and regulations in the appointment and removal of the 30 percent members of the assembly to enhance popular participation, accountability and openness, and deepen Ghana’s decentralization programme.

In contributing to the discussion, staff of CDD-Ghana and the delegation collectively demanded for concrete interventions from state and non-state actors towards resolving apathy, which characterized the recent Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assembly elections.

Ms. Susanne Giese and Peter Schussler from the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Accra and some staff of the German Embassy participated in the discussions.

HIGH DEMAND FOR EMPLOYMENT WITHOUTH SKILLS

For how long can the youth of Northern Ghana precisely the three Northern Regions continue to wallow in abject poverty. It is revealed that the problem of unemployment facing majority of the youth is not about the lack of jobs, but their inability to obtain the requisite skills or knowledge suitable for the available jobs.

With the lessons learnt from the Oil Rich Western Region of Ghana, where majority of the energetic youth of the area failed to grab the huge job opportunity created by the Oil Industry, one would have expected that the government, the district assemblies and other Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the three Northern Regions would proactively begin to empower or create career training opportunities for the overwhelming idle youth to become employable under the much publicized Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA). However, such an attempt is yet to be carried out by any of these bodies.

Meanwhile, there are several job opportunities in the region due to the large number of NGOs operating the area, in the agric sector and other sectors, but majority of the staff in these organizations are brought from the Southern part.

In the Western Region at the moment, both the government and other private organizations and even some unaccredited institutions are now rushing to train or empower some of the local unemployed youth at exorbitant fees to be able to work in the Oil Industry.

A chunk of the applicants or job seekers have had their applications turned down by the Oil Management on the grounds of not having the requisite know-how to work.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s Oil Industry commenced operations (explorations) some five years ago. But the few who were engaged as labourers are even yet to find their rhythm.

The SADA Project however, was announced some three years ago by this current government and it is expected to take off anytime soon for a whole 20 years running, but majority of the youth both the elites and the illiterates are yet not sure as to the specific roles they could play in the implementation of the programme, even though they are aware of the enormous employment the SADA seeks to offer.

So are we waiting for the SADA to engage expatriates or skillful people from the southern part of Ghana, before we begin to as usual play the fiddle?

The SADA Programme notwithstanding, the Chiefs and the entire leadership of the three Northern Regions have become advocates for the immediate upgrading of the Tamale Airport to meet International standard.

Several Experts in the Aviation Industry have openly admitted that the Tamale Airport has the potential to become even the largest International Airport in Ghana, and the safest place for international businesses for the Sahel countries.

The Aviation Experts also believe that the upgrading of the Airport would drastically reduce the poverty situation in the North and could also support the other sectors of the economy of the three regions.

Once again, the leaders of the area especially the District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies appear to have not yet seen the need to support some of their youth to empower themselves ahead of time in anticipation for greater job opportunities in the Aviation Industry.

Some of the Ministries and Agencies rather prefer to sponsor beauty contests so that they can get the opportunity to watch “big and smaller buttocks”, which in a large extent is insignificant to the development of their people.

There are thousands of youth in the various districts who have qualified for further studies in the various professions, yet the assemblies have not been able to assist them. Majority of them are with big ambitions but have no support to implement them.

Meanwhile, the Global Aviation Industry is said to be growing at the fastest speed in the developed and developing economies like Ghana. It is estimated that the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) would at least employ 84million people globally by the year 2014.

Other statistics from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) have also indicated that airline and airports employ 4.3million people globally and aerospace industries employ 730,000 people.

No matter what time it would take, the upgrading of the Tamale Airport into an International Airport would definitely be a reality, since the demand for aircraft keeps increasing on daily basis.

The industry’s diversity enables it to provide numerous support services to almost every other industry in the global business landscape today.

General aviation, which is one of the subsets of the industry, generates huge cash flows in health and medicare, agriculture, media, oil and gas, emergency services, environment, transportation and training and development, among others.

UK GOVERNMENT SUPPORTS SADA PROJECT

The Department for International Development (DFID) has extended technical assistance to the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) to enable it to achieve its goals.

Even though SADA programmes have not started yet, DFID has been assisting in drafting its pro-poor policy to ensure that the needs of the ordinary persons are well addressed.

Ms Sally Taylor, DFID Country Director to Ghana, said this when she addressed a press conference in Tamale where she gave the assurance that the UK Government would continue with its development assistance to Ghana.

The press conference was attended by the Northern, Brong-Ahafo, Upper West and Upper East Regional Ministers who come from the SADA programme areas as well as some of the Board members of SADA.

She said the UK had confirmed that Ghana was among few countries that would receive more aid from the British in the coming years, adding that the UK would increase its financial commitment to Ghana from 85million pounds in 2010/11 to 100 million pounds in 2014/15.

Ms Taylor said the UK Government, through the DFID would help Ghana in creating 144,000 jobs, provide family planning to 608,000 Ghanaians, distribute 4.5 million treated mosquito nets to help prevent malaria and a cash grant of 250,000 pounds to poor and vulnerable people all by 2015.

The Board Chairman of SADA, Mr. Alhassan Andani said the Board since its inauguration in January this year had met twice, one in the Northern Region and the other in the Upper East Region to deliberate on major issues that will have to be done before the full implementation of the SADA.

He noted that funds allocated to SADA would only be made available to it when employees especially the Chief Executive and other officers were appointed since they were supposed to be managers and signatories to SADA funds and projects.

The Northern Regional Minister, Mr. Moses Bukari Mabengba on behalf of the five regions, commended the DFID and SADA Board for their enthusiasm in getting things done on time.

AGRIC MINISTER CUTS SOD FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF 154KM ROAD AT KUKOBILA