BECCE QUAICOE'S LIBRARY

Gender Responsive Skills Project for 59 districts

2010-07-30T10:40:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphicc (Pg 11) Tues., June 29/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A four-year pilot project, dubbed the Gender Responsive Skills and Community Development Project (GRSCDP), is to be implemented in 59 selected districts across the country at a cost of $14.63million to include gender concerns into the assemblies' policies.
Under the project, all budget planning officers and other selected district assembly staff including some stakeholders in the various regions have undergone a day's seminar to enhance their knowledge about the project.
The four-year pilot project which is supported by the Ghana Government and the African Development Bank (AfDB) will benefit about 3.5 million women. The project will also sponsor 500 needy boys and girls to go through vocational training within the selected districts.
The regional distribution of the selected districts are Eastern; seven, Ashanti; six, Brong Ahafo; seven, Volta; six, Upper East; five, Upper West; four, Northern; four, Western; six, Central; six and Greater Accra; eight.
It also recognises the importance of women empowerment and equitable participation in development as vital to reducing poverty in the country.
Speaking at the last of a series of regional seminars at Koforidua in the Eastern Region, the Project Manager, Mr Forster Kwame Boateng said some of the benefits that the participating districts would enjoy include the rehabilitation of 25 community vocational institutes which would train the youth on employable skills.
He said as part of the project, the National Vocational and Training Institute (NVTI) would be supported to redesign its curriculum in order to be more responsive and also focus on competence based training to boost middle level manpower for the development needs of the people.
Also he said 512 teachers within the NVTI sector who had been identified would be trained on the new curriculum to enable them support the programme which would also link potential employers to training, as a way of managing the labour market.
According to him, the project through the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC), which was the implementor of the project, was working at ensuring that teachers under vocational training were employed by the government.
He said the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDA's) would also benefit from capacity building in order to make them more gender sensitive in their development programmes.
Mr Foster said when completed, the project would help bring socio-economic independent to women and their children in the participating districts and the country as a whole adding that the project would also ensure equitable socio-economic development in the country.
During an open forum, participants lauded the project and rather mentioned that the issue of gender was critical to the development of the country since women were the most vulnerable in the country.
The participants called for more support for women so that they could engage themselves in more employable skills to improve on their socio-economic needs in future.
Others also called for an increase in the number of scholarships for needy boys and girls in the various communities.

Plan Ghana champions children’s right to education

2010-07-30T10:34:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Pg 21) Thurs., July 22/10

Article: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
Education is a basic human right recognised since the 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Since then, numerous human rights treaties have reaffirmed this right and have supported entitlement to free, compulsory primary education for all children.
In 1990, the Education for All (EFA) commitment was launched to ensure that by 2015, all children, particularly girls, those in difficult circumstances and the vulnerable, have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality.
There is, however, much work to do before this is achieved. UNESCO estimates that 75 million children are not in school and in 2005-2006, as many as 90 million children were without access to education. Beyond the basic need for education to support one’s self and family in later years, many social ills occur in the vacuum of free and accessible education. Moreover, the education gap runs much deeper than a rural-urban divide. Even in urban areas, poor and marginalised children are unable to benefit from greater access to school facilities because of cost, distance and culture.
A 2007 UNESCO and UNICEF report addressed the issue of education from a rights-based approach. Three inter-related rights were specified which needed to be addressed by all countries: The right of access to education with emphasis that education must be available for, accessible to and inclusive of all children; the right to quality education emphasising that education needed to be child-centred, relevant and embrace a broad curriculum, and be appropriately resourced and monitored; and finally the right to respect within the learning environment which also states that education must be provided in a way that is consistent with human rights, equal respect for culture, religion and language and free from all forms of violence.
Also goals two and three of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) focus on universal primary education and aim to reduce the gender gap in education.
While a notable progress has been made in the category of enrolment in Ghana, much progress was still needed, especially, in addressing gender parity especially at the higher levels and quality of education that addresses socio-economic needs.
This is why Plan Ghana, a child's right organisation working in six areas in the country, namely Asesewa, Bawjiase, Mankessim, Tumu, Wa and the Volta Region, works to ensure that all children, especially those from rural and impoverished parts of the country, access their rights and have a say in their own development.
Plan Ghana works to improve access to quality education by supporting the recruitment and training of teachers, providing textbooks, school supplies and equipment, and running school health education programmes in 52 schools. It is also piloting a feeding programme in one community, benefiting 350 children.
Plan Ghana started its operations in the country in 1992 and its core areas of activity include the provision of quality education and teacher training, better health, food security and creating awareness of child rights, all of which are rooted in the rights of the child.
In the area of quality education, the programme focuses on encouraging community participation in children's learning and provides child-friendly environments and infrastructure for effective teaching and learning, as well as scholarships to needy children, enabling them to fulfil their full academic potential when money is a barrier.
Among Plan's notable achievements over the years is the increase in school enrolment figures from 60 per cent to 95 per cent through a partnership with 300 communities to improve 180 school facilities in rural areas where it operates. In remote communities, conditions have been improved with increased access to usable water from 27 per cent in 2003 to 73 per cent in 2008 and 3,500 students have also benefited from Plan's scholarship scheme for secondary, vocational and tertiary education. It has also facilitated the training of more than 1,000 teachers in rural areas and also spear-headed a birth registration campaign with registration jumping from 17 per cent in 2003 to 62 per cent in 2008 in its project areas.
Plan Ghana has also pioneered the participation of children in international programmes including the Commonwealth games in Australia in 2005 and the UN Session on Children in 2006. It also devised the sponsorship of six child ambassadors to the US and two other children who played key roles at the UN General Assembly to discuss child participation in New York. The two were part of Plan-West Africa's 'Violence Against Children' project, and have received advocacy training, helping them to help other children participate.
Also Plan Ghana is running a football project in the Eastern Region which aims to get more girls in school, because in Ghana, girls often drop out, increasingly due to teenage pregnancy. Within the last three years that the project has been operational, over 1,200 girls from rural communities have joined the project, increasing school enrolment, with the condition being that they must be in school before they can participate.
Vida, a pupil who dropped out of school and had two children, in an interview said: “I was encouraged by three members of the girls' football team to go back to school. Today, I am in school and a member of the team. With the support of my team mates, my family, the community and Plan Ghana, I hope to attain my highest potential.”
Through the football project, the area has since seen a 15 per cent increase in girls’ enrolment in school and a decrease in absenteeism and dropout rates. The project also aims at highlighting barriers to education for girls in rural communities and help reduce teenage pregnancy rates in the Eastern Region.
One of Plan Ghana’s notable achievements in its project areas last year was when the President of Ghana, Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills, praised Plan Ghana's management and staff for their good work during a visit to its offices in Tumu in the Sisala District of the Upper West Region.
He said: “I am very happy for the good work Plan Ghana is doing in this area to uplift the living standards of children and their families. I commend you highly for that. I hope you will keep it up and possibly expand your programme to cover more districts in the region. Keep the good work up Plan Ghana.”
Through its work, the Tumu area has seen an increase in school enrolment and library books have also been provided to primary schools to encourage good reading habits among children. This has lead to an improvement in their ability to read and write. The project has also supported the training of 19 pre-school teachers in the latest teaching methodologies. This has made teaching and learning more efficient and effective.
Also in the Wa West, Wa East and Wa Municipalities where Plan Ghana works in 50 communities and sponsors about 5,000 children, the School Health Programme has helped to train teachers in safe hygiene and provided hand-washing facilities to schools, improving sanitation for both teachers and pupils.
In addition, a Plan study carried out in the Sissala District of the Upper West Region found that food insecurity was a severe and chronic problem. Though it was widespread among the district's population, pre-school children, school-going children and young mothers were the worst affected and most vulnerable.
Through the survey, Plan Ghana piloted a project in Kupulima in Wa East in the Upper West Region which is managed by the community to feed children in schools, helping increase school enrolment, attendance and performance. It organised community awareness-raising meetings and trained parents to stress the importance of balanced nutrition and school attendance.
What's more, Plan Ghana has trained 63,561 teachers and built and rehabilitated 8,152 child-friendly schools so that they can deliver quality education, since learning is crucial for development and one of the most powerful tools in breaking the cycle of poverty.
The organisation invests more in education than any other programme area and works to ensure that children, young people and adults get the knowledge and life skills they need to realise their full potential.
As part of its school-improvement programme, which is a major part of its formal education work, Plan Ghana delivers support to every aspect of a school, which is essential in creating the best learning environment for children, ensures the active participation of children and communities in school governance, and holds individual school management accountable for children’s enrolment, attendance, learning and successful completion.
The organisation also reaches out to children who have never been to school or who have dropped out, offering them the chance of a quality education, and works to break down barriers that prevent many girls from being educated with projects to help thousands of them into school.

Ga East Assembly reasons with drivers

2010-07-30T10:32:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Pg 23) Thurs, July 22/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Dome Zonal Council of the Ga East Municipal Assembly have suspended a decision to implement a ‘no parking’ bye-law on the Atomic to St John’s route which was aimed at bringing sanity on that route.
The authorities had to rescind their decision after hundreds of drivers and their mates from the early hours of last Monday morning when the ban was to be enforced, began demonstrating against the decision by not allowing any Urvan bus to work on that stretch of road for well over eight hours.
The situation caused chaos as passengers had to find alternative means of getting to their destination while the already bad traffic situation in that part of the area was worsened as some drivers resisted the demonstrators from including them in their exercise.
It took the intervention of the Ga East District Commander of Police, DSP Ameyaw Afriyie to calm tempers down after he had held a meeting with the leaders of the four major transport unions operating in the area, the Ga East District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Ekow Sackey and the executive of the district council.
The transport unions were the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU), Progressive Transport Owners Association PROTOA, Co-operative Transport and Tiger Transport Association.
To help salvage the situation, the DCE also tasked a five-member committee headed by the District Commander of Police to address the concerns of the drivers whose main claim was that the distance between the earmarked bus stops was too long and therefore, they would not comply.
The committee, which was expected to present its report to the assembly last Tuesday morning together with leaders of the various union, some drivers and their mates, have so far earmarked new stops which they would present to the DCE.
Speaking to DSP Afriyie after the meeting, he said the council had been asked to suspend the bye-law and arrange for a meeting between all the parties coming Sunday where they would be briefed on the new demarcation and the necessary punitive measures that would taken any driver who flaunt the bye-law.
The Zonal Council Chairman, Mr Sampson Ato Ampah, also in an interview denied claims by the drivers that the council’s task force was charging GH¢50 for wrongful parking and picking of passengers.
According to him, the council earmarked the designated bus stop about a month ago and had since been educating the drivers and their mates to ensure that they only pick and alight passengers at the assigned bus stops.
He said the decision to implement the bye-law was communicated to them last Sunday at a meeting which was expected to be attended by all stakeholders.
However, he said before they could implement their decision, he had a call at 5.30 am that some organised drivers and their mates were preventing others to work on the route as they did not want to comply with the council’s bye-law.
This, he said, resulted in a clash between the council’s task force some of whom had to use force to bring the situation under control, and in the process, some drivers and their mates were assaulted and were asked to go to the hospital for treatment at the expense of the council.
Speaking to some of the drivers and their mates, they said the council was noted for forcing decision down their throat.
They explained that although at the meeting on Sunday they opposed the ear-marked bus stop, the council executive refused to listen to them, adding that a similar case was the charge of a daily fee of GH¢3 which they were currently paying, but they had since its inception some months ago complained that it was too much and needed to be reviewed.

Obtain forest certification • Wood producers urged

2010-07-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Pg 46) Wed., July 20/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
WOOD producers in the country have been urged to acquire forest certification to satisfy international consumers.
If not, wood and wood products from Ghana in the next few years would not be bougth on the international market.
A Forest Certification Auditor, Mr Joseph W. Osei, made this known at a media sensitisation workshop in Accra on forest certification and sustainable forest management in Ghana.
This would be a big blow to Ghana’s forest sector, which is said to contribute five to six per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with over 50 per cent of the products exported to Europe and the United States of America.
The international forest management certification mandates that forest products such as timber were harvested in a manner which would not lead to deforestation or desertification in the near future.
Ghana, at the beginning of the 20th century, was said to have over eight million hectares of high forests stocked with both timber and non-timber forest products but today it has been reduced to 1.6 million hectares.
According to Mr Osei, even though Ghana’s annual allowable timber cut was two million cubic meters per annum, the current estimated harvest including illegal chainsaw operations was 3.5 million cubic meters.
He said this and other factors had made consumers of topical forest products, especially on the EU and American markets, become concerned about the source of forest products as they want to be assured that the forest products they bought originated from sustainably managed forests.
Retailers and manufacturing industries, he said, were therefore, threatening to stop buying forest products that were not certified.
He said the only way out of the situation was to ensure that timber companies acquired forest certifications through the Ghana Forest Management Certification (GFMC), where they would be mandated to comply with all national laws and international agreements.
He added that forest certification ensured that timber companies acknowledged the cultures of communities living close to the forest, contributed to their development by signing a social responsibility agreement and also enabling forest workers to get better working conditions.
The Director of the National Working Group on Forest Certification, Ghana, Dr Ernest Asare Abeney, who spoke on sustainable forest management and the future of Ghana’s forest, said presently, forest certification was voluntary, independent, non-discriminatory, transparent and market-driven.
According to him apart from one plantation in the country no timber company had a forest certification although a few had applied and were yet to be certified.
He said sustainable forest management required a deliberate human intervention such as policy, legislation and management, to safeguard productive and protective functions of the forest.
Mr Abeney said sustainable forest management in the country aimed at ensuring that the goods and services derived from the forest met present day needs while at the same time securing their continued availability.
He added that forest management was required to help improve forest health and vitality in order to reduce risks and impacts of unwanted disturbances, wildfires, airborne pollution, invasion by species, pests, diseases and insects.

‘Let’s strengthen laws protecting children’

2010-07-30T10:29:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Pg11) Tues., July 20/10

Article: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989, provides for a uniform set of rights for children. It is the first legally binding international instrument to incorporate the full range of human rights that is civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.
In 1989, world leaders decided that children needed a special convention because people under 18 years of age often needed special care and protection which adults did not. The leaders also wanted to make sure that the world recognised that children also had human rights.
It, therefore, provided member states the opportunity for their governments to institute legislation, policies and structures for setting in motion the mechanisms for realising these rights at the country level.
The convention sets out the rights that must be realised for children to develop their full potential, free from hunger and want, neglect and abuse. It reflects a new vision of the child.
The convention offers a vision of the child as an individual and as a member of a family and community, with rights and responsibilities appropriate to his or her age and stage of development. By recognising children's rights in this way, the convention firmly sets the focus on the child as a whole.
Apart from making provisions for enhancing child survival, participation, and development, the convention makes provisions for the protection of children from harm and exploitation, and to consolidate child protection and improve the welfare of children in the country, Ghana enacted Children’s Act 1998; Act 560).
The law provides an opportunity for tailoring some meaningful services to many children in Ghana in the last ten years. A careful study of national and regional initiatives indicated an awareness of the idea of rights pertaining to children. The general population is also becoming cognisant of the attention paid to the welfare of children from both public and private institutions including local and international NGOs.
Human rights apply to all age groups and children have the same general human rights as adults. But children are particularly vulnerable and so they also have particular rights that recognise their special need for protection.
Other laws that seek to protect children in the country include the Domestic Violence Act and the Criminal Code of Ghana.
In line with the objective of giving children the needed protection that they require, the Greater Accra Regional Multi-sectoral committee on children met in Accra to discuss the issue of child protection and early childhood care in the region.
The meeting was attended by representatives from the Regional Co-ordinating Council, the Basic Education Division of the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Department of Social Welfare, the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, the National Population Council and the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs (MOWAC).
Others were some child related non-governmental organisations working in the area of child protection such as BASICS International and representatives from educational centres such as the Autism Centre and the Dzorwulu Special School in Accra.
Hosted by the Greater Accra Department of Children, members deliberated on the need for a co-ordinated effort where society would be involved by ensuring that all vulnerable children or children living under harsh conditions with either their parents or guidance would be identified and taken out of such situations.
According to the Regional Co-ordinator of the Department of Children, Mr Peter Akyea, despite the numerous laws that sought to protect children, a number of children were still used as child labourers some of whom worked as house helps and did not have access to education while others were made to hawk on the street from morning till dusk.
He said children continued to experience numerous abuses and that the time had come for the laws that protected them to be strengthened to ensure their survival, protection, development and participation in all spheres of life.
A Commissioner of CHRAJ, Mr Simon S. Agbeehia who chaired the meeting, blamed the issue of the lack of child protection in the country on parents and the economy at large saying that "parents are chasing money instead of protecting their children" and that people seem to prefer material wealth than the welfare of their children.
He said the current economic pressures in the country did not allow the society especially parents and guardians to treasure their children the way they should.
The Programmes Director from the Autism Awareness, Care and training centre, Mr Mawusi Adiku was more concerned that parents and guardians did not take into account the behavioural changes in their children because they were sometimes too busy to notice them.
Some parents he said were also too overly protective of their children with disabilities, a situation which he said did not allow them to seek early or prompt care for such children for swift intervention.
He said such children especially those with autism, which he said was a developmental disorder characterised by communication, behaviour and social disorders, could be managed effectively with some of these children given skills training for their livelihood.
Members of the committee in their various submission called for the integration of children with disabilities into mainstream educational schools so as to help develop them socially and mentally.
They also called on parents and teachers to help build the confidence of such children so that they would not feel inferior to other children, a situation which they said demoralised them for life.
They also called for the education of parents on child protection to ensure that children were given the needed opprtunity to develop their capabilities without hindrances.

Postgraduate admissions to go up

2010-07-28T11:39:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Pg11) July 14/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Government is developing an educational policy which would mandate public universities to allocate 10 per cent of their admissions to postgraduate education.
Currently, postgraduate admissions make up only six per cent in all the public universities in the country.
This was made known by the Deputy Executive Secretary of the National Council for Tertiary Education, Mr Paul Dzandu, at a national dialogue on postgraduate education in Ghana organised by the Graduate Students Association of Ghana in Accra.
According to Mr Dzandu, who spoke on behalf of the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, postgraduate education which focused on research and development was an important avenue for national development.
He said the government-approved norm for postgraduate intake in the public universities in the country was 10 per cent of the total student enrolment. However, data available from the NCTE indicates that out of 102,548 students enrolled in the public universities for the 2008/2009 academic year, only 5,919, representing six per cent, were postgraduate students.
He said “both the government and the leadership of the universities were aware that the survival of university education and the contribution of university to national development depended on the postgraduate education we provide.”
He added that “as a nation, we need to focus on postgraduate programmes which are of quality and relevance with research outputs geared towards the advancement of knowledge in the country and beyond.”
He said the government had so far put in place measures aimed at ensuring that postgraduate education was promoted in the country, and he mentioned some of the support provided to include an award of government bursary and thesis grant to all postgraduate students in public universities.
He said despite the challenges confronting postgraduate education in our universities, the future was not bleak.
A Lecturer at the University of Ghana, Dr Vlademir Antwi-Danso, said postgraduate education which should be the engine of growth in the country had for a long time been reduced to the acquisition of knowledge, a situation which he said was worrisome.
He said postgraduate education was a platform for research and development which should be linked with national planning and development.
Dr Antwi-Danso said for the country to be totally developed it required good leadership, resources and knowledge and when postgraduate education was well developed, it can provide the solution.
He called on the students to be aggressive in their research work, saying that they must endeavour to do proper research which would help improve national development.
The Vice Dean of the University of Ghana Graduate School, Prof. K. Ofori, who said research led to the acquisition of knowledge, also said every establishment in the country needed research for a sustainable development.
He, however, bemoaned the fact that most research work ended on book shelves.
The Dean of Nutrition and Food Science, Prof. Esther Sakyi-Dawson, said there was the need to reorient graduate students to come out with qualitative research to benefit the country.

MPs attend workshop on gender skills project

2010-07-28T11:35:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (soc) Tues. July 13/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Gender and Children, Mr Kobla Mensah Woyome has called for a better and more effective data collection system that will be reflective of the actual poverty levels in the country.
He said that was necessary to ensure that vulnerable people most of whom were women and children, received social interventions which would positively affect their livelihoods.
According to him, a project which was intended to benefit 59 needy districts in the country, did not capture some of the poor districts which had been clasified as poor under the Ghana Living Standard Survey, and were benefiting from the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP).
Mr Woyome made the call when he chaired a sensitisation seminar organised by the Gender Responsive Skills and Community Development project (GRSCDP), for members of the committee in Accra at the weekend.
According to him, the lack of an effective and co-ordinated data in the country was one of the major causes of under development among people especially, women and children and therefore called on the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) to compile and harmonise data that would be reflective of the actual poverty levels in the country.
The seminar was aimed among other things at sharing information with the members to enhance their knowledge about the project and also to establish a platform for dialogue and consensus building for the successful implementation of the project.
The four-year project which is being funded by the Government of Ghana and the African Development Bank (AfDB) is aimed at promoting a gender and equitable socio-economic development through institutional capacity building for the overall improvement of women’s employment and entrepreneurship.
According to him, linking data would help identify areas where poverty was endemic to enable people in such areas to benefit from social intervention programmes for them to improve on their lives.
According to Mr Woyome, the need for more effective data had become necessary since most pro-poor communities did not enjoy the needed interventions that would help them to come out of their poverty, because they had not been identified.
He said if the country had a viable data on poverty levels in the various communities, it would make it easier for such communities to benefit from social interventions that would help improve on the livelihood of the people.
He added that poverty and gender inequality was among the most persistent and pervasive global challenges of the century and as such there was the need to make gender issues the core of all programmes and structures geared towards the socio-economic development of the country.
“Just as gender inequality exacerbates poverty, poverty contributes to increased gender disparity”, he said adding that gender equality was not only a women’s issue and therefore should also concern and fully engage men and boys who can contribute to advancing gender equality as individuals within the family, community and in all spheres of society.
The Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Ms Juliana Azumah Mensah in a welcome address said the project was aimed at promoting equitable socio-economic development that was gender sentive through improved national capacities for enhancing gender mainstreaming, improved access to quality skills training for gainful employment and entrepreneurial development of women.
This she said would increase women’s access to financial and non-financial services for sustainable development that would equally benefit men and women, adding that the focus of the project was to alleviate poverty among women at both national and local levels.
The Project Manager, Mr Forster Kwame Boateng who gave a general overview of the project, said it was aimed at achieving three main components which were; Institutional strengthening for enhancing gender mainstreaming; support to skills training and entrepreneurial development and; a project management.
He said aside supporting 59 districts within the 10 regions, the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC), four Community Development Colleges, micro-finance institutions, project staff of other African Development Bank funded projects in the country, business development service providers and micro and small scale women entrepreneurs, would directly benefit from the project.
He said the project, which would be reviewed annually, had a monitoring and evaluation component which would ensure that it impacted positively on the lives of beneficiaries.
The MPs in their various contributions expressed concern about the manner of selection for beneficiary communities saying that they were not involved in the selection process, They however said they were ready to support the project to achieve its overall objective.

Women organisers champion affirmative action

2010-07-28T11:33:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Pg.11) Sat., July 10/10

Article: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

THE issue of affirmative action seems to have received serious backing from women organisers of the four major political parties in the country.
The four, Ms Anita De-Sosoo, National Democratic Congress (NDC) Women’s Organiser, Ms Otiko Afisah Djaba, New Patriotic Party (NPP), Hajia Hamdatu Ibrahim Haruna, Convention Peoples Party (CPP) and Ms Christine Bentie of the Peoples National Convention (PNC), have added their voices to the call for affirmative action and other measures that would help increase women’s participation in governance in the country.
Currently, women constitute 19 out of the country’s 250-member legislature, whereas in other countries such as Rwanda, Mozambique, South Africa and Namibia, women are said to form between 30 to 50 per cent of their various parliaments.
The women organisers added their voice to previous calls made by gender activists from across the country who have, since the inception of democratic governance in the country, called for affirmative action and other forms of quotas to get more women to participate in decision making processes in the country.
Ms Djaba did not mince words when she took the podium to speak on the topic: “Strengthening women’s rights and gender equity: Towards a gender responsive constitution”, saying that “the practice of tokenism with which gender issues are handled by men should be discouraged by the constitution.”
The forum was organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra with the aim of collating views from the women organisers to make inputs into the constitutional review processes which was currently underway in the country. It brought together other women organisers from across the country, gender activists and other participants, including men.
According to Ms Djaba, a quota system could also be enshrined in the country’s constitution to “jump-start the process of increasing women participation in leadership and to incorporate them in the development processes.”
She also called for the political party laws to be amended as a way of compelling parties to select women for at least 30 per cent of the seats they contest.
Moreover, she said there should be measures to ensure that adequate safeguards were put in place to ensure that 30 per cent of the seats in a party’s stronghold were reserved for women.
Not only did she call for quotas and affirmative action, she also called for more budget support for the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) so that they could support women to embark on more prosperous economic ventures to ensure that when they stood for elections they would be adequately resourced to finance their political activities.
“National budgets for the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs should appreciate to reflect Governments commitment to straighten women.”
Also, she called for the constitution to be amended to stipulate an appropriate percentage of the budget to empower women in business and in politics. Such funds, she said, should be distributed equitably and be devoid of party affiliations for micro credit financing and access, from the grassroots level.
She further suggested the need for people to invest in women who have the desire to contest political elections but do not have the resources, saying that most women have the desire but do not have the financial backing.
On education, which she said was a key component to increasing women’s participation in decision making positions in the country, she said in so far as the dropout rate for girls far exceeds the rate for boys, this will act as a barrier to women’s empowerment.
She therefore called for an inclusion of specific provisions in the constitution which would cater specifically for the girl child and safeguard their schooling, saying that such provisions must include sanctions against whoever compromises or subverts the education of the girl child among others.
She also called for legislative provisions which would provide affordable health and reproductive care for women and girls saying that the status of 51 per cent of the country’s population need to be improved for them to contribute meaningfully to national development.
On culture, Ms Djaba said although Article 26 section 2 states that "all customary practices which dehumanise or are injurious to the physical and mental well-being of a person are prohibited", saying that this was a "lip service" since 'trokosi', Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and widowhood rites were perpetrated against women.
She concluded that "at the speed at which we are travelling, it is very glaring that we will not achieve the lofty ideals of equality between the sexes if we do not put in place a legal framework to fast track the process," adding that constitutional amendments alone would not be enough unless enforcement of laws were followed.
The NDC Women’s Organiser, Ms De-Sosoo, said statistically women constituted about 51 per cent of the country's population, yet have less representation in all spheres of society adding that throughout the world, human activities, practices and institutional structures were organised with respect to the social distinction people made between men and women.
She said for most part of the State, the law, politics, religion, higher education and economy, were institutions that have been historically developed by men and dominated by men and are symbolically interpreted from the standpoint of men.
She therefore suggested that to help increase women's status in terms of decision making, some parliamentary seats should be reserved for women to help increase women’s representation in parliament.
She mentioned some strategies that would help groom more women into decision making as building of capacity of women through skills training, grooming of women from tertiary levels and the training of women to be part of the political parties communication team to be abreast of current issues of governance to help build confidence in them.
The fact that women were perceived as lesser beings than men was a major concern for the CPP's Women’s Organiser, Hajia Haruna, who said society's appreciation of women issues were affected by beliefs which needed to be changed.
She said one challenge that prevented women from taking up political leadership was the fear that they would be tagged and labelled by men or sometimes their fellow women who use all manner of names including prostitutes and flirts which, in the end, dampen the spirit of several women who hitherto would have been good materials for political activities.
Hajia Haruna said although several laws and policies had been put in place to help increase women's participation, they had not achieved the right impact as more needed to be done for women to be accepted as equal to men by all in the society.
Ms Bentie of the PNC who also had similar concerns as the other women organisers called on women in the country, irrespective of their background, status, tribes and region to stand united in the fight for equality of opportunities in all societal and national development endeavours, saying that this would not be achieved on a silver platter but with hard work and persuasions.

Women organisers call for an LI to back affirmative action

2010-07-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg14) Frid., July 9/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

FOUR national women organisers of the four main political parties with representation in Parliament have called for a legislative instrument (LI) to back affirmative action in political and decision-making positions in the country.
They have also called for a fixed quota system for all political parties and in parliament to ensure that women were adequately represented in all spheres of the country’s political endeavours.
The four made the call at a women’s forum organised by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) in Accra on Wednesday. The forum, which had the theme “Strengthening women’s rights and gender equity: Towards a gender responsive constitution”, was aimed at collating ideas and views to be sent to the Constitutional Review Committee which is mandated to review the country’s 1992 Constitution.
The Women Organisers are: Ms Anita J. De-Sosoo of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Ms Otiko Afisah Djaba of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Ms Christina Bentie of the People’s National Convention (PNC) and Ms Hajia Hamdatu Ibrahim-Haruna of the Convention People’s Party (CPP).
For a fair representation of the people in Parliament, Ms De-Sosoo said it was necessary for Parliament to reserve seats for women as a way of increasing their numbers.
She said the NDC government, led by President John Evans Atta Mills was on the right path of ensuring that women had 40 per cent representation in decision-making positions in the country.
She, therefore, proposed that the Constitution Review Committee should consider reserving a quota of parliamentary seats for women from different political parties.
She said the current constitution did not make any specific provision for the President to appoint women into any positions.
Ms De-Sosoo also called for a law mandating political parties to adopt quota systems for women as well as support them to contest elections through the provision of financial and logistical support for their political campaigns.
Touching on governance, Ms Bentie of the PNC said it was time for the country to harmonise its constitution with the numerous international protocols such as the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and other laws that it had acceded to, to ensure that issues concerning women were adequately dealt with.
She called for legislation that would mandate political parties to set up special support funds for female candidates as well as educate and encourage more women through capacity-building programmes to participate in political activities at all levels.
On women and employment, she said women were still harassed although the country had ratified the CEDAW and the constitution also stipulated that every Ghanaian, irrespective of gender, must have equal access to employment opportunities.
On women in agriculture, Ms Bentie said although majority of women in the country were into agriculture, they continued to use outdated technologies which prevented bountiful harvests.
She added that women do not also have access to credit which would enable them to utilise modern technologies.
She said given the number of women in agriculture, the government should strive to modernise agriculture, promote an effective supply chain system as well as come out with a clear deliberative affirmative action policy to make it easy for women access credit and reserve a quota of the subsidised inputs like tractors and fertilisers supplied by government for women in the agricultural sector.
On the issue of social support for women, Ms Bentie recommended a rehabilitation and support system for women who were abused.
Ms Ibrahim-Haruna, for her part, called for a legislation which would at least mandate political parties to present 30 per cent of women candidates for parliamentary election before the parties were allowed to contest a general election.
She also called for a legislation which would ensure that 30 per cent of appointments to critical public offices were reserved for women, adding “the President must be encouraged to look beyond the confines of his party for such appointments”.
She called on political parties to stop paying lip-service to women empowerment and make conscientious efforts to give women the opportunity to serve their country.
Ms Djaba of the NPP also said the country’s constitution must define an electoral system that was gender-sensitive, adding “our constitutional right of freedom against discrimination from all forms must be reinforced to stop women from groping with challenges of disparity because the governments always failed to translate the constitutional requirement into action”.
She said “the electoral system that addresses gender disparity must provide for membership of women representation proportionately in the Electoral Commission but not merely tokenism”.
She therefore proposed for a constitutional review to allow nomination of women members of parliaments or to local assemblies by political parties proportionately in the event that the minimum requirement of 30 per cent was not realised.
She said the constitution should adopt a quota system of representation which would be entrenched in the constitution and electoral laws.
She said there should be an amendment where 30 per cent of seats to boards, governorship, regional ministries and district assemblies were reserved for women and admission to tertiary institutions were made more flexible for females.
She said in future, the reform must conform to the prescribed minimum benchmark of 50 per cent by the African Union.
She also called for the strengthening of the role of electoral monitors with a view to minimising electoral fraud, which according to her, may have the worst impact on the chances of women winning an election.
Ms Djaba also called for the outlawing of night meetings saying that “nuptial activities undermined the effectiveness of female politicians whose husbands would not tolerate such and are likely to cause domestic violence”.
She also suggested that the review committee should take into account the fact that political parties fielding candidates for elections conformed to the prescribed democratic practices that were gender sensitive and also be accountable for their implementation.
Finally, she said the new constitution should include measures that would ensure that the presidential candidate, if a man, must have a woman as his running mate or appoint a woman as the deputy.
The moderator of the forum, Ms Anna Bossman, a Deputy Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), in a submission said although the country had a women’s manifesto drawn by civil rights activists, not much had been done about it, and that the manifesto brought out a lot of issues confronting women in the country and how best they could be solved.
She said the time had come for the country to look at the issue of affirmative action and quota systems as a way of ensuring that women had a fair representation in decision- making processes.
The Catholic Bishop of Ho, Bishop Francis Ludonu, also called on the women organisers to come together and form an organisation through which they can project issues confronting women collectively.
A Senior Fellow of the IEA, Mr Francis Agyemfra, on behalf of the organisation commended the women for playing diverse roles in championing the cause of women in the country.
He said the institute was ready to support the women further if they came together to collate their participation in the decision-making processes.

Business turns bloody • Woman, 52, murdered • Police hunt for Cop

2010-07-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (front page) Mon., July 5/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE alleged gruesome murder of a 52-year-old businesswoman over a failed business transaction with her ex-boyfriend has sent the Police Service hunting for Lance Corporal Hope Semevor, who has been interdicted by the police.
According to the police, the body of Constance Naa Ago Addy, who resided at Dome Pillar 2, was found at Bewadze, near Winneba, with the neck broken, after she had allegedly gone to Semevor to settle a deal involving a GH¢25,000 property at Dome Pillar 2.
The Public Relations Officer of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Chief Inspector Joseph Benefo Darkwah, said the body was discovered by a farmer, which saw it being thrown out of a pick-up which sped off.
The farmer later informed the Winneba Police.
Chief Inspector Darkwah said the police were still investigating the case and had mounted a search for Lance Corporal Semevor.
A daughter of the deceased, Ms Diana Mensah, told the Daily Graphic that although she did not know the exact nature of the relationship between her mother and Hope, she knew that Hope had a piece of land with a house on it at Dome Pillar 2 which her mother was supposed to sell for him.
She said someone bought the said property for GH¢25,000 but Hope refused to release the documents on it, claiming that he had increased the selling price to GH¢50,000, following which the buyer decided not to buy it again and her mother was to retrieve the money from Hope or be dragged to court.
Diana said in pursuit of the money, her mother had been travelling to Swedru, where Hope resided, adding that on one such visit, Constance had called to tell the children that she was with Hope and that she would return the next day.
However, when the children realised that their mother had still not returned the following day, they called her cell phone, explaining that although it had rung several times, there had been no response.
She said they then called Hope’s number to enquire about their mother but his phone was switched off.
Diana said together with another sibling and a friend, she left for Swedru, after the children had realised that their mother’s phone was switched off and Hope was also not responding to their calls.
She said although they did not know where Hope lived in Swedru, they decided to enquire from the police station, with the hope that since he was an ex-police officer, someone might know him.
She said luck smiled on them and they were directed to a friend of Hope’s, who told them that Hope had left for Accra but that he would return that same day.
Diana said upon advice from the Swedru Divisional Police, she reported a case of a missing person to the Golden Star FM and an announcement was made.
Through the announcement, she said, she had a call from someone who informed her that the body of a woman had been found on the Winneba-Cape Coast road
When she rushed to Winneba, she was shown some pictures which turned out to be those of her mother’s, after which she followed up to the morgue, where she identified the body.
The police are still investigating the case.

Rev. opposes gay rights

2010-07-28T11:18:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg3) Sat., July 3/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A Lecturer at the Religions Department of the University of Ghana, Legon, Rev. Dr Brandford Yeboah, has condemned the call for the acknowledgement of the rights of homosexuals in the country, saying it is a dangerous trend that should not be countenanced.
According to him, a crisis of identity is becoming a major issue in the country due to globalisation and if that is not checked, it will hurt the very foundation of the country.
Rev. Dr Yeboah said this in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra on the fringes of the second National Media Day of Prayer organised by the Lutheran Media Ministry, in collaboration with the Religious Department of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC).
The programme was aimed at instilling in people the need for personal repentance and prayer and to mobilise the Christian community to intercede for Ghana's leaders and families.
Rev. Dr Yeboah said although democracy was good to an extent, it was breeding freedoms without control, adding that the issue of freedom was getting into the consciousness of people and called for boundaries to be set to limit such freedoms to suit the country's norms.
He said if the negative effects of globalisation on the country was not checked, the nation would lose its national identity to foreign cultures and this, he said, would erode the future of the youth who would have nothing meaningful to contribute to the world.
“We should be Ghanaians first and foremost and we should have our own culture, values, traditions and norms which we should cherish and guard against their infiltration by foreign cultures,” he added.
Rev. Dr Yeboah, who made a presentation on: “How religion is helping the development of the nation”, said the country was currently experiencing a situation where Christianity was experiencing new idolatry in the form of miracles and materialism.
A media consultant, Nana Essilfie Condua, who also spoke on: “How is the media helping in the development of the nation?”, said the media was at the moment being sidelined from projecting policies and programmes of governments, a situation which he said did not allow for development.
He said the media had, therefore, been turned into mere reporters who sat on the sidelines instead of being part of the planning stages of development programmes in the country.
A lecturer at the Ghana School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences, Professor John H. Amuasi, who chaired the programme, said the forum created an opportunity for people to pray for God’s favour upon the nation, saying there was the need for people to pray to understand current happenings in the country.
The Very Rev. Helena Opoku-Sarkodie, the Head of Religious Broadcasting Department of the GBC, in a welcoming address, said the time had come to foster unity within the Christian church and encourage and emphasise prayer, regardless of current issues and positions, for the country’s development.

Add more value to products

2010-07-26T01:39:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (spread)Sat., July 3/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Assistant United States Trade Representative for Africa, Ms Florizelle Liser, has cautioned Ghana against neglecting its diverse economic background to concentrate only on developing the oil sector.
She, therefore, advised the government to ensure an increase in value added products for exports and not depend solely on the country’s oil as some countries had done to the detriment of their economies.
Ms Liser, who gave the advice at the sixth council meeting of the Ghana-US Trade Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in Accra yesterday, said the country’s diverse economy such as agribusiness should be explored further for the total development of the country.
Ghana and the United States of America signed TIFA in 1999 and have since held bilateral discussions to operationalise the agreement.
Represented by a 17-member delegation from the US, the meeting was for the two countries to deepen their trade and investment relations, among other issues.
The meeting covered issues on bilateral trade relations, investment climate, transportation, infrastructure, trade, capacity building and technical assistance.
Ghana was represented by a 26-member inter-ministerial team and led by the Minister of Trade and Industry, Mrs Hanna Tetteh.
Ms Liser called on the government of Ghana to ponder over the issue of how resources from the oil sector could be used effectively to support other sectors of the economy including farming.
According to her many countries where oil was being explored had solely relied on the oil business to the neglect of other sectors, a situation which she said had brought a lot of untold hardships to their people.
She bemoaned the fact that although Africa was home to many resources, it contributed to just three per cent of world trade, a situation which she said was “unbelievable”.
She said the only way to change the situation was to add value to raw materials from the region, saying although most of the raw materials were from Africa, value was only added to them when they were exported to other continents.
Ms Liser said the USA was ready to work with Ghana to help it add value to its raw materials, especially agricultural products, and called on the government to come up with sector-specific plans that could help in the country’s development.
Mrs Hanna Tetteh for her part said the government was working at ensuring that other sectors of the economy were equally developed, saying her ministry was in the process of reviewing the Ghana Investment Promotion Act to improve on it to face current challenges.
She added that in the next five years the non-oil sector of the country’s economy would be given continuous attention to ensure that it was not neglected.
According to her, it is the vision of the government that the country will be competitive in all spheres and not be in oil only.
She, however, said the major challenge currently confronting the country was infrastructure, saying the infrastructural needs of the country needed to be improved for accelerated growth of the economy.
She said special attention would be given to agricultural production to help boost productivity, as well as add value to agricultural products for export.
The US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Donald Teitelbaum, in an address said although Ghana was not particularly food insecure, the country would be in a better position to help solve some of the food crises on the continent.
He said Ghana was an excellent designation for business and the USA was ready through its team of experts to help the country become the “bread basket” of Africa to increase food security on the continent.
He added that when well managed, the country could become the hub of business in Africa.

Metro Mass Transit Limited trains 24 female drivers

2010-07-26T01:34:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg11) Thurs., July 1/10

Story & Picture: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
DRIVING of commercial vehicles by women in Ghana is not a common sight as women are mostly associated with driving private cars be it salon or four-wheel-drives (4WD).
One will not be far from the truth to say that all commercial vehicles in the country are being driven by men and this has become the accepted norm although society will not frown on women driving either taxis or buses.
The Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMTL) operators of the Metro Mass Transport services across the country after eight years of its operation in the country, has been the first to recruit and train the first batch of 24 female drivers to augment its 1,400 male driving staff.
Another batch of 26 women will also be recruited soon to increase the number to 50. The first batch were recruited from the various depots with the breakdown as nine from Accra, three from the Western, one from the Ashanti, four from Brong Ahafo, one from Koforidua, two from Ho, two from Bolgatanga and another two from the Oda depot.
The female drivers have so far undergone nine months of training both in Accra and in Cote d’Ivoire where they have been taught the rudiments of how to operate the 50-seater Metro Mass buses.
The ladies all of whom were employed as conductors on the buses some years ago, with most of them not having any knowledge of driving, undertook a three-month driver training course in Accra before leaving for Cote d’Ivoire for further training at the SOTRA Institute after which they again underwent another three-month training on the road where the Metro Mass have its services.
They have been awarded a licence ‘F’ certificate by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) in Accra.
Speaking with one of the ladies who underwent the training, Ms Joyce Kwakyewaa, said although she did not have any knowledge of driving when she was recruited, she could now move the 50 seater bus from Accra to Cape Coast, Swedru, Koforidua and Ho.
She said she was yet to be put on the road where she can have passengers on board and said she had the confidence that she could drive the bus easily since she has been adequately prepared for the job.
A vocational school leaver, Ms Kwakyewaa said although the training was intensive and tough for herself and her colleagues, they were able to go through it and were confident of the future.
A Communications Officer at the MMTL, Mr Collins Ben Forson who explained the idea behind the introduction of women in the operations of the MMTL, said their aim was to ensure that the service became more gender sensitive during its recruitment.
Mr Forson who spoke on behalf of the Communications Director of the MMTL said the general idea was also to help improve on the safety needs of its passengers, since according to him, women had been identified to be more careful, tolerant and more patient when it came to driving.
The Head of Recruitment and Training, Mr Eric Otu said the women would be put on the Kimbu to Tema route in Accra for the next six months starting from July 2, 2010.
The Metro Mass Transit Limited presently has 642 buses operating across the country and 20 of the said buses operated on the Accra to Kimbu route.

Ghanaian midwife receives International award

2010-07-26T01:26:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg 11) Tues. June 24/10

By Linda Asante Agyei, Washington DC & Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho, Ghana

THE term Zorkor Initiative would be popular to the people in the Upper East Region, especially women as it has helped reduce maternal mortality and increased delivery at the Zorko Health Centre.
Introduced by Hajia Mary Isaka, a 53 year old Senior Staff Midwife from Zorkor, a village in the Bongo District, the initiative blends both orthodox and traditional birth attendance practices.
Through the initiative, delivery at the Zorkor Health Centre increased from 40 in 2002 to 88 in 2003 then 216 in 2004, 417 in 2005, 460 in 2006, 479 in 2007 and then dropped to 423 in 2008.
Through the initiative and other best practices introduced by Hajia Isaka in all the three health centres in the Bongo District where she worked, precisely at the Valley Zone Community Clinic, from 2000 to 2003, the Zorkor Health Centre; 2003 to 2009 and the Anafobisi Clinic where she currently works, she was recently presented with the international Midwife Champion of the Year award.
Awarded by Jhpiego, a global health non-profit making organisation affiliated with the John Hopkins University, it is in recognition of her invaluable work as a midwife in her community.
The Midwife Champion of the Year Award recognises the work of midwives in low-resource settings and the award is given to a midwife who has made an extraordinary effort in a developing nation, specifically in training midwives, educating communities, advocacy and implementing evidence-based midwifery care and innovating to save life.
As part of the award, she was given 5,000 dollars to support her work in the community at a ceremony in the United States of America (USA) on June 6, 2010.
She was selected from more than a dozen nominations that were solicited from the World Health Organisation (WHO), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO). She was nominated by UNFPA for her work in the Bongo District in the Upper West Region.
Hajia Isaka completed her midwifery training in 1997 at the Bolgatanga Nursing Training College and has dedicated herself to improving the health of her community and, through her work and other activities, she has helped saved the lives of hundreds of pregnant women and their new-borns.
Expressing her gratitude, she said “I did not think anyone really cared about someone working in such a remote place. I didn’t think the world would care about what I was doing. I am overwhelmed by the honour and the attention."
She was posted to the Zorko Health Centre in 2003 where maternal mortality was quiet high coupled with high rate of teenage pregnancy. It was the only health facility but was not patronised by pregnant women as they preferred to deliver at home.
To help find solutions to the problems, she met with opinion leaders; the district assembly, religious groups and other groups where she discussed the issue of reducing the maternal mortality rate and control of the high incidence of teenage pregnancy in the district.
Hajia in consultation with the women in the community realised that the reason why the women were delivering at home was to exhibit to their husbands and the entire community that they have been faithful to their husbands. Again, delivering at home, they will be getting family members to assist them and also prepare them hot water to bath and ‘Zomkum’, a drink prepared from millet flower with a nutritious value which enhances the production of breast milk.
This brought about the Zorkor Initiative where she allowed women in labour to choose family members who they want to enter the labour ward with them, ensured that the health centre provided hot water for bathing after delivery and finally prepared the ‘Zomkum’ drink for the mothers.
Also she re-organised the health centre’s maternity ward, insisted on strict infection prevention measures and increased the number of delivery kits.
Hajia then educated the women and the entire community on the need to attend antenatal, deliver in the health facility and attend postnatal clinic.
She entreated people to rush to the health centre and inform them when a woman was in labour and she then arranged to have an old Toyota truck, which she borrowed from the Catholic Diocese, to pick the pregnant women, who may be living far away, to the health facility.
Since 2003, she has single-handedly delivered 2,240 babies.
At her facility, she ensured the staff’s commitment to high-quality, effective and efficient health services; respect for their clients; adherence to punctuality; pleasant interpersonal relationships; and regular dialogue with patients.
Hajia continues to train community health nurses and works to establish innovative and effective health care programmes throughout the Bongo District.
She explained that the delivery rate at Zorkor dropped in 2008 because she formed Virgin Clubs, which succeeded in greatly reducing teenage pregnancy. She has provided training for peer educators, on-the-job training for community health nurses and extension workers, preparing them to participate in uncomplicated, supervised births, maintain records and network with community and health volunteers.
At Anafobisi where she currently works, Hajia Isaka has not rested on her oars, as since 2009 that she joined the Anafobisi Clinic, she has introduced initiatives such as building a temporary bathroom structure for the mothers to bath after delivery, giving motor riders a litter of fuel when they bring in pregnant women in labour, among other interventions, which ecourage women to deliver at the facility.
This has also helped to increase delivery rate at the clinic from three in January 2009, when she started work at the facility, to 156 from September 2009 to date.
She said her award would serve as a motivation to all midwives in the country to give of their best and thanked the Director General of the Ghana Health Service and his staff, UNICEF, the Upper East Regional Health team, the Bongo District Health Management team and the Bolgatanga Catholic Diocese, among others, for their support.

FPSO arrives @ Jubilee field

2010-07-26T01:23:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (front) Tues. June 22/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE FPSO Kwame Nkrumah, which will pave the way for the commercial production of oil in the country, entered Ghanaian waters yesterday morning.
The floating vessel, which set off from Singapore and docked at the Jubilee Field in the Western Region, will effect the production, storage and offloading of Ghana’s oil from all 17 wells on the Jubilee Field by the end of the last quarter of the year.
The vessel, with 17 modules weighing more than 12,500 tonnes installed on it, has a storage capacity of 1.6 million barrels and can process 120,000 barrels of oil a day.
The modules include a water treatment plant, crude separation plant, chemical injection plant, gas processing and injection plant, electricity generation plant and a 120-room accommodation.
At a ceremony in Accra yesterday for MODEC International, an FPSO builder, to hand over the vessel to the government, the Minister of Energy, Dr Joe Oteng-Adjei, said the country was on course in ensuring that it began its oil production by the end of the year.
He, however, challenged all partners involved in ensuring that the vessel commenced operations at the scheduled date to work fervently towards achieving such a target.
He also appealed to the fisher folk in the area to ensure that they worked within the limit set for them so as not to cause any inconveniences to the operators of the vessel.
He called on Ghanaians to be vigilant in ensuring that they protected the oil find for the sake of posterity.
The Managing Director of the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), Nana Boakye Asafo-Adjaye, said the successful production of oil on the Jubilee Field would benefit the country to a large extent and, therefore, called on all Ghanaians to give their maximum support.
He said the vessel, which would separate oil, gas and water for processing, had come at an opportune time for the country.
The Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MODEC International, Mr Shashank Karve, said the FPSO Kwame Nkrumah was a unique vessel, as it was built specifically to suit the country’s needs.
The President and General Manager of Tullow Oil, Mr Dai Jones, who spoke on behalf of other exploring partners, said the vessel was a world-class equipment which would be used in achieving a standard result.

Children call for child friendly budgets

2010-07-26T01:18:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg11) Sat., June 19/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
TO commemorate this year's African Union (AU) Day of the Child, a call has been made to the government to ensure that national budgets were child friendly to help improve the lives of children in the country.
Also heads of families and communities have been called upon to factor in the needs of children in their budgets, such as prioritising home needs to favour children as well as the provision of parks, playgrounds, schools and other recreational centers in the communities.
The call was made by some selected children at a press conference organised by the Department of Children under the Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs (MOWAC) and UNICEF.
The press conference which was addressed by the children was aimed at pressing home their demand for better education facilities in their schools, provision of better health services, good roads, among others.
This year's AU Day of the Child was on the theme “Planning and budgeting for children: Our collective responsibility”. Every year, the AU adopts themes and campaigns relating to the welfare and progress of African children.
The day was instituted on June 16, 1976, during the Apartheid era when thousands of black school children were killed as they undertook a peaceful walk to draw attention to the inferior quality of their education and to demand their right to be taught in their own language.
Although the children who presented the statement commended efforts so far made towards the well-being of children, like 'Oliver Twist', they asked for more saying that “when we receive priority it will tell on the future we have”.
A Junior High School Two Pupil of Osu Salem in Accra, Master Frank Appiah who addressed the media also called for the issue of gender budgeting to be looked at critically since the needs of boys and girls, men and women in the country were different ,which he thinks should be factored into the country's budget.
He also called for more pupils to be covered under the school feeding programme, as well as equal attention for the physically challenged children in the country.
Ms Roxanne Tsegah of the May's Education Centre in her submission also called for separate toilet facilities for boys and girls in both the public and private schools so as to reduce sexual abuse.
She further called for proper budgeting to reduce the incidence of street children in order to ensure that more children had access to education as well as the support for brilliant but needy children who she said also needed to have better education.
Ms Tsegah also called for better health, water, child protection and sanitation facilities to make life more convenient for the Ghanaian child.
The Deputy Minister of MOWAC, Hajia Hawawu Boya Gariba in an address appealed especially to parliamentarians to promote and approve budgets with children and women in mind and should also ensure that they allocated a sizeable amount of their Common Fund towards programmes and projects that would enhance the survival, development, protection and participation of children.
She said although this year's theme was challenging it would help all those responsible for the well-being of children to access themselves on how “we are planning and budgeting for the future generation”.
Hajia Gariba said it had become imperative for a child friendly budget to be instituted in the country as children who formed a majority of the country's population were voiceless and were affected by poor nutrition, poor health, poor schooling among others.
She also said budgetary spending affected the well-being of children and their life opportunities as spending on them determined further sustainable development of the nation.
The Deputy Country Director of UNICEF, Mr Rene Van Dongen in an address said “now more than ever we have to make sure that children are on top of the development agenda.
On behalf of UNICEF, he congratulated Ghana for spending significant proportions of its budget on issues such as health care and education but however said it could do more.
He said UNICEF would continue to work with the Government of Ghana and other governments to analyse their budget with regards to its impact on children to facilitate a more effective use of public finances for social purposes.
A Deputy Minister for Information, Mr Okudzato Ablakwa in a submission said the government will do everything possible within its means to ensure that all children including those who are physically challenged were given the needed attention that they deserve.

Ban corporal punishment • School children plead

2010-07-22T09:15:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg11) Thurs. June 7/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
CHILDREN in the Greater Accra Region have called for an end to corporal punishment and sexual abuse in schools.
According to them, those two abuses retarded their ability to study effectively in the school environment.
At a discussion forum preceding the celebration of this year’s International Day of the African Child, which falls today, the children, who were mostly from the Ablekuma and the Amasaman districts, voiced out their concerns against corporal punishment and child sexual abuse in schools.
They said there was the need for the government and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to intervene to ensure that those two abuses were halted in schools.
The International Day of the African Child was initiated by the then Organisation of African Unity (now the African Union) on the anniversary of the 1976 Soweto protests when thousands of black schoolchildren took to the streets under the South African apartheid regime. The day was dedicated in honour of the children’s actions.
The celebration of the day is aimed at fighting the cause of children in trouble, AIDS orphans, child soldiers and impoverished youth who will inherit the continent and this year’s celebration is on the theme, “Budgeting for children — Our collective responsibility”.
The discussion forum, organised by Plan Ghana, in conjunction with ActionAid, Ghana, was on a local theme, “Sexual violence and corporal punishment in schools”.
It brought together about 1,000 basic and junior high schoolchildren.
The children, in their various submissions, said corporal punishment such as caning was the least and most ineffective way of correcting a child and called for the use of dialogue or other forms of punishment that would not be injurious or harmful to the child.
They also argued that corporal punishment, when meted out to them in the classroom, usually made them timid and unable to concentrate on what was being taught in class.
On sexual abuse, the children enumerated the contracting of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as HIV and AIDS and also teenage pregnancy as some of the end results of sexual abuse in schools.
The Country Director of Plan Ghana, Mr Samuel Paulous, in a brief remark, said children were the future of every nation and there was, therefore, the need for all stakeholders, including the government and parents, to ensure that they had the best of education and a safe environment where they could grow.
He said all children had the right to quality education but indicated that several factors, including sexual abuse and corporal punishment, made it impossible for them to complete school.
He said the programme was aimed at giving the African child the opportunity to voice out his or her concerns for action to be taken to better his or her future.
The Country Director of ActionAid, Ghana, Ms Adwoa Kwateng-Kluvitse, said the programme was aimed at raising awareness of violence against children in schools to help put an end to it.
She said a communiqué which would voice out the concerns of the children would be presented to the Ministry of Education and Parliament for consideration.
A drama dubbed “Cinderama”, which focused on child abuse and was sponsored by the National Theatre, was screened for the children with the aim of helping them to be more assertive when they were confronted with issues of abuse in school.

EC reopens register • 5,000 centers involved

2010-07-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (spread) June 12/10

STORY: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho.
THE Electoral Commission (EC) yesterday announced the reopening of the voters register and pleaded with political parties not to engage in acts that would mar the June 11 to June 20 exercise.
About two million Ghanaians who have attained the age of 18 since the last registration exercise in 2008, as well as older ones who had not registered previously are expected to be captured in the register during the limited exercise.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the reopening of the register, the acting Director of Public Affairs of the EC, Mr Christian Owusu-Parry, asked political parties not to repeat acts such as the transportation of people to the registration centres for them to be registered.
He said political parties were only expected to send agents to the various registration centres as observers and not to meddle in the registration exercise.
He said although some people had earlier expressed concern over the fact that the voters register was bloated, that assertion could not be established because presently the commission did not know the voter population of the country until the 2010 National Population and Housing Census was done.
He said the EC would ensure that minors or foreigners would not be registered, saying that the country’s laws frowned on the registration of such people.
Mr Owusu-Parry said it was an offence for anybody whose name was already in the voters register to register again, adding that it was equally an offence for a person to register or attempt to register if he or she was not yet 18.
“A person who registers or attempts to register, knowing that he or she does not qualify, shall, on summary conviction, be imprisoned,” he pointed out.
He said the registration would be done at a designated registration centre in each electoral area throughout the country from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the registration period, including Saturdays and Sundays.
He called on voters who had lost their voter ID cards to report the loss to the registration officer at the registration centre in the electoral area during the period or a district officer of the EC now or at least a month before elections for replacement.
He said registered voters who had moved from the area where they registered would be given the opportunity to transfer their votes at the appropriate time.
He called on people who had genuine ID cards but could not find their names in the voters register during the last elections to exercise patience and wait till the register was opened for exhibition at a later date for them to make their complaints.
Mr Owusu-Parry called for co-operation from all stakeholders and the general public to ensure a smooth registration exercise.
Representatives of some of the political parties whom the Daily Graphic spoke to said the EC’s call was in order.
The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, Mr Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie, welcomed the call and said since the EC was the authority on the subject, it knew what it was talking about and, therefore, it behoved all the political parties to stay clear of the exercise.
The General Secretary of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Mr Ivor Greenstreet, in a reaction to the call by the EC, said the party would only make sure that the right thing was done.

GSB cautions on sub-standard cables

2010-07-22T09:07:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (spread), June 8/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Ghana Standards Boards (GSB) has alerted users of electrical cables to a large consignment of smuggled sub-standard cables on the Ghanaian market.
The cables, which are yet to be traced by the GSB, were smuggled into the country through unapproved routes, especially the eastern corridor.
The Head, Marketing and Public Relations of GSB, Mr Kofi Amponsah Bediako, at a press conference in Accra, therefore, called on users of electrical cables to be more assertive and careful when purchasing such goods.
He commended the members of the Ghana Electrical Dealers Association (GEDA) for their vigilance which led to the detection of some of the goods on the market.
Mr Amponsah Bediako linked most of the recent fire outbreaks that the country was witnessing to the use of such sub-standard cables and said the situation was very alarming and, therefore, needed to be checked.
Briefing journalists on the fake cables found on the market, a Chief Standards Officer at the GSB, Mr Emmanuel Kwa-Kofi, said tests conducted on some of the cables showed that they were of inferior standard.
He said the test revealed that a 1.5 conductor cable which should have a maximum of 12.1 ohms rather had 133 ohms, while a 2.5 square millimetre conductor cable which should have a standard conductivity of 7.41 ohms measured 74 ohms.
Giving the implications of those findings, Mr Kwa-Kofi said it those cables were used in wiring a building, it would not be able to withstand the heat that would be generated by the electricity and, therefore, cause fire outbreaks.
The Chairman of GEDA, Mr Joseph Obeng, said his outfit became alarmed when it was alerted to a truck full of fake electrical cables that was being offloaded in Accra but said before GEDA could alert the GSB, the owners had gone underground.
He said as a major stakeholder in electrical cables, the association was doing everything possible to ensure that the GSB and other relevant bodies got rid of all inferior cables from the Ghanaian market.
According to him, because most African countries had banned the importation or production of such sub-standard electrical cables, Ghana had become a dumping ground for some manufacturers from other countries outside the sub-region.

25 participants attend workshop on good governance

2010-07-22T02:56:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg11) Sat., June 5/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

TWENTY-FIVE representatives from human rights and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) whose operations are related to governance, have completed a five-day training in making governments in their countries more accountable to the needs of the citizenry, especially women.
The participants, drawn from West Africa and Cameroon, were trained on how to use a tool kit dubbed ‘The Citizens Education Action Learning (CEAL) guide designed by the Commonwealth Foundation under the Commonwealth Secretariat’.
The guide, which has so far benefited other activists in East Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, is designed to enable the participants have more insight into good governance.
The training programme organised by WiLDAF Ghana with sponsorship from the Commonwealth Secretariat, was attended by participants from organisations such as Campaign for Good Governance in Sierra Leone, the West Africa Association of Development Organisations, Cameroon, Gender and Development Action, Nigeria. Others organisations from Ghana were the Centre for Democratic Development (CDD), Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEGC), Federation of International Women Lawyers (FIDA), KAB Consult, ABANTU for Development, the Hunger Project, the Gender Centre among others.
Facilitated by the Executive Director of Dignity International, Mr Jerald Joseph, the participants were taken through the benefits to be derived from consistent application of the tool kit.
The Head of Governance at WiLDAF, Mr Frank Bodze, said the tool kit, under the citizens governance programme under the Commonwealth Foundation, was meant to bridge the gap between civil society and the citizenry, and to ensure that people at the grassroot were more involved in governance.
The guide, he said, would help them to better understand topics on poverty eradication, sustainable development and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
According to Mr Bodze, the guide would also help them better understand the nature of democracy and the relationship between democracy and development and the importance of good governance.
The kit, he said, also focuses on the rule of law, respect for human rights, the application of new public management systems and structures, as well as transparency and accountability.

Impact of Cigarette Smoking on Women

2010-07-22T02:53:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg11) Tues. June 1/10

Article: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THIS year’s World No-Tobacco Day focuses on women on the theme “Gender and Tobacco with an emphasis on marketing to women”. Cigarette smoking is a known killer, but hundreds of thousands of people, including women, continue to smoke.
Tobacco smoking has been a habit among both men and women with dire consequences for both the primary smoker and those around them (secondary inhalers). According to health experts, 40,000 deaths are recorded every year among people exposed to second hand-smoking.
Tobacco smoking is the practice where tobacco is burned and the vapours either tasted or inhaled.The substance for years had been criticised, but became popular nonetheless.
Smoking is the most common method used in consuming tobacco, and tobacco is the most common substance smoked. The agricultural product is often mixed with other additives.
The resulting vapour is then inhaled and the active substances absorbed through the alveoli in the lungs. The active substances trigger chemical reactions in nerve endings which heightens the heart’s rate, memory, alertness, and reaction time. Dopamine and later endorphins are released, which are often associated with pleasure. As of the year 2000,smoking was said to be practised by some 1.22 billion people across the globe and men were said to be more likely to smoke more than women, however, health experts say the gender gap declines with the young and the poor more likely to smoke more than the wealthy.
Many smokers started smoking during adolescence or in the stage of adulthood. Usually, during the early stages, smoking provides pleasurable sensations, serving as a source of positive reinforcement. After an individual has smoked for many years, the avoidance of withdrawal symptoms and negative reinforcement become the key motivations to continue.
Despite known risks of cigarette smoking, more than 23 per cent of women across the world still smoke, increasing their risk of cervical cancer, heart disease, respiratory problems and more.
Most women who smoke are between the ages of 25 and 44. Teenage women are said to make up a significant percentage of smokers.
Women are said to be more at risk for certain problems related to smoking than men. Women who use oral contraceptives or other hormonal forms of birth control are especially, at risk of developing serious side effects. Women using hormone forms of birth control, who smoke, increase their risk of developing life threatening blood clots and strokes. This is even worse for women over the age of 35 who smoke and use birth control pills.
Also, women smokers who use oral contraceptives according to health experts, can develop high blood pressure and they may have fertility problems.
Studies suggest that women who smoke are three-four times more likely to experience problems conceiving than those who do not. This may be because of a decreased ovulatory response. In some women, the egg has trouble implanting when the woman smokes.
Smoking also affects women's normal cyclical changes, including those that occur during menopause and menstruation.Women who start smoking during their teen years are said to be more at risk of developing early menopause than women who do not smoke.Smokers may also experience more menstrual problems including abnormal bleeding or amenorrhoea than women who don't smoke. This is because smoking often lowers levels of oestrogen’s in the body.
However, women who quit smoking are said to be more likely to realise immediate health benefits.Those who quit smoking before they reach the age of 50 reduce their risk of dying of smoking by as much as one-half.Smoking cessation also reduces the risk of heart disease in people exposed to second hand smoke.
Smoking is said to increase ones risk of developing a condition called chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The lung damage that occurs from pulmonary disease is not often reversible. However,if one quits smoking, the lung function according to scientists would not decline further, and one may notice an improvement in coughing and breathing.
Also cigarette smoking is a leading cause of cardiovascular disease and women who smoke more than double their risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Immediately stopping smoking can result in instant improvement in ones cardiovascular function and a reduced risk of heart disease.
After smoking cessation has continued for at least a year, one’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease according to health experts, drops by 50 per cent and will continue to decline further. Some studies suggest the heart attack risk for smokers drops after two years of cessation.
Cigarette smoking contributes to developing several different kinds of cancer, including cervical cancer, lung cancer, cancer of the oesophagus, mouth, bladder and pancreas and stopping can improve ones survival rate and reduce the risk of developing severe cancers resulting from smoking.
Smoking also contributes to bone loss, thus increasing a woman's risk of developing osteoporosis and experts say 10 years after stopping smoking, a woman's excess risk of osteoporosis declines significantly.
Women who smoke are also more at risk in developing breast cancer. Experts say the risk of developing fatal forms of breast cancer is 75 per cent higher for women who smoke than those who do not, and the number of cigarettes a woman smokes per day is said to have a resultant effect on their breast cancer survival rate. Women who smoke are also 48 per cent more likely to develop a rare form of vulva cancer.
Smoking is dangerous to pregnant women. Pregnant women who smoke, often give birth to babies with birth defects and low birth weights. Mothers who smoke are also more at risk of a miscarriage, premature rupture of the membranes and placenta previa, increased risk of strokes, heart attacks and blood clots.
Babies born to mothers who smoke often experience withdrawal symptoms during the first week of life.Over time,smoking also contributes to skin wrinkling and may even reduce one’s sexual ability.Quitting smoking however,improves all these conditions immediately.
Younger female smokers are said to be at risk of a heart attack compared to men who smoke. Women who smoke according to experts have on the average a first heart attack at about age 66, compared to women who don't smoke at age 81.
The good news according to health experts is that, there are many methods one can adopt to help quit smoking. Unfortunately, smoking cessation, they say is difficult. Smoking is an addiction. Nicotine is addictive and causes many people to fail when they try quitting.
This is because when one quits smoking, one is likely to have withdrawal symptoms. These are often unpleasant, and may include cigarette cravings, insomnia, fatigue, irritability, anxiety, restlessness and even depression. These withdrawal symptoms are usually hardest to deal with and most intense during the first three days after smoking cessation. Fortunately, the cravings according to experts do go away if you remain smoke free.
Some people in trying to quit also experience mild depression, but usually this is not severe enough to warrant any treatment. However, experts advise that when one is having difficulty with depression, treatment may be recommended.
According to health experts, another factor that prevents most women who are into smoking from stopping, was because they were likely to gain weight. According to them, the reason people gain weight when they quit smoking was simply because they eat more. Many women gain between two and five pounds when they first quit.Over a period of time, this may increase to ten pounds.
However, the good news according to experts, is that weight gain and smoking cessation are not unavoidable. They say if one adopts an exercise programme and eat healthy foods, one is not likely to gain much weight. And more importantly, the benefits of quitting smoking outweigh any small weight gain by ten times.
Some recommended remedies for ‘cold turkeys’ developed by people who try to quit smoking, is by using over-the-counter cures such as nicotine gum and patches.
Nicotine patch, according to experts, helps reduce the physical withdrawal symptoms and cravings associated with smoking cessation.

Business School to expand facilities

2010-07-22T02:39:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Pg 29) Friday, May 28/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

THE University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) is constructing a $21 million facility to house its Executive Masters Business Administration (EMBA) programme.
The facility, which would have an administration block, a six-unit 250-seater lecture hall, a six-storey office block for library, syndicate rooms, a 1,000 seater conference hall, faculty offices and lecture theatres, is the first phase of an estimated GH¢100 million project aimed at establishing a world class executive business school in the country.
The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon, Prof. C. N. B. Tagoe who launched the 10th anniversary celebrations of the EMBA during a ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction of the state-of-the-art EMBA facility, said the construction of the project formed part of a bigger dream of making the University of Ghana a centre of greater excellence.
He said from a humble beginning of 60 students in 2000, the school can now boast 400 students admitted each year and therefore, the need to expand the facility to accommodate the ever increasing population of the school.
Prof. Tagoe, who congratulated the management of the school, said “In 10 years, you have led the way, created opportunities and through your work,many others have now come to see the opportunities that abound in providing executive education in Ghana”.
He, however, called on the management to ensure that they appropriately name the facility or sections of it in memory and honour of the late Prof. Stephen Acheampong, whose dedication, passion, drive and vision were key in the establishment of the school.
The acting Dean of the Faculty of the EMBA, Mr S. Takyi-Asiedu in an address, said when completed, the facility would be a world class teaching and learning centre comparable to others such as Harvard in the United States of America.
According to him, the EMBA was the first academic programme of its kind in the country and West African sub-region, saying the school has come very far in its quest for excellence in both teaching and learning.
He said the school was blazing the trail to provide a completely modern, excellent and state-of-the-art executive building to provide first class teaching and learning facility for its valued students.
He said in future, other facilities such as a hostel, a three-star hotel, a one-stop shopping mall, a stock exchange centre, a cafeteria among others would be added to the project.
Mr Takyi-Asiedu commended the UG for proving the school with the land for the project.
Representatives from the Merchant Bank, Fidelity Bank, CAL Bank and the Intercontinental Bank, all pledged their readiness to support in the construction of the facility.

Finney Hospital delivers first In Vitro baby

2010-07-22T01:58:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (spread) Thursday, May 27/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

A year after it was officially inaugurated, the Finney Hospital and Fertility Centre at New Bortianor, near Accra has delivered its first In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) baby.
The healthy looking baby girl was delivered at 11.30 a.m. through a caesarean section (CS) on Tuesday and weighed 2.65 kilograms.
The Consultant Embryologist of the centre, Mr Ellis Fleischer-Djoleto, who led the team in the fertilisation process, said the centre was poised for changing the face of health care, especially women’s health, in the country.
Assisted by Mr George Serlom Quarcoe, a senior embryologists and IVF Director at the centre, and Dr Henry Markham, a resident clinician, Dr Fleischer-Djoleto said the centre, which was established in 2008 but was officially opened in September, 2009, opened an Assisted Conception Unit (ACU) to cater for the increasing demand for fertility services in the country.
He said the hospital was capable of helping to solve the fertility needs of women in the country and beyond.
According to him, the hospital, which has a modern sperm bank, offered specialised services such as sperm and egg freezing for oncology patients, embryo freezing, surgical sperm retrieval, sperm donation and surrogacy, among others, to help couples who had difficulty in having babies.
He said since the unit was set up, it had performed 32 IVFs and Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injections (ICSIs) out of which 12 pregnancies had been achieved.
Mr Fleischer-Djoleto said the centre was elated at the delivery of the baby because it was the first IVF baby to be delivered in the hospital.
The Midwife at the hospital, Ms Sahadatu Abubakar, said after performing the necessary checks on her, the baby was found to be in a normal condition.

'Let's review sentencing policy'

2010-05-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg29), Wed, May 19/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A retired Prison Officer, Deputy Director General of Prisons (DDGP), Hayford Okpoti Korney, has observed that the country needs to review its sentencing policy to incorporate more non-custodial sentencing to address overcrowding in prisons.
“As a nation, we need to adopt a proactive and preventive approach rather than reactionary interventions,” he said and added that “we must adopt best practices”.
DDGP Korney made this observation at a pulling-out ceremony organised in his honour by the Ghana Prisons Service in Accra.
In his farewell speech, he said the issue of overcrowding had been the bane of the service for many years and that currently, the rate was about 70 per cent which posed a big challenge to the service.
He said it was unfortunate that the service on its own could not address the problem without the collaboration of the police, the courts and the Attorney-General’s Department, which had crucial roles to play.
The retired DDGP Korney urged all stakeholders to show greater commitment to addressing the high rate of overcrowding in the prisons.
He said although the Justice for All Programme introduced in 2007 was to address the issue of protracted remand, it was yet to make the desired impact, as “it appears to be too slow and required a review of the strategy”.
According to him, the Ghana Prisons Service had come a long way and has seen some impressive transformations at various fronts including improved transportation, regular supplies of uniforms, a new ICT department, research and monitoring units among others.
However, he said the service had a long way to go as budgetary allocation from the central government would continue to be inadequate and it would be expedient to source funding outside its budget to address some of its challenges, including residential accommodation.
He called for an expedited action on efforts to modernise the outdated prison rules and regulations in order to produce a new Prisons Service Act.

FFPJ holds seminar on gender equity

2010-05-23T08:05:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Pg11), Tues, May 18/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Foundation for Female Photojournalists (FFPJ) has organised a seminar on promoting gender equity for students of the African University College of Communication (AUCC) as part of their Student Representative Council (SRC) week celebrations in Accra.
The seminar was aimed at sensitising the youth to be concerned with the underlying causes of gender inequities in the society in order to achieve positive change for women.
The Executive Director of the Foundation, Ms Mardey Ohui Ofoe, said promoting gender equity, equality and women’s empowerment was a step to attain greater economic prosperity for the development of the country.
Speaking on the theme ‘The Politics of Gender, Women's Rights and Democracy', she said in most countries, women continued to play stereotype roles that relegated them to the background and affected their ability to rise to the top, both in academic, economic and social spheres.
Ms Ofoe called on the students to support efforts aimed at dealing with prejudices and discrimination against women, to bring about qualitative improvement in the lives of both men and women.
According to her, the needs of women and men varied, depending on their age, ethnicity, disability, income levels, employment status, marital status, as well as other socio-cultural factors.
She said different strategies may be necessary to achieve equitable outcomes for women and men and different groups in the society, considering their various needs, capacities and responsibilities.
The SRC President of the AUCC, Nana Glover, in his welcoming address, underscored the need for students to have access to information, saying that was an essential tool for their professional development and the development of the country.
In a related development, the FFPJ also organised a similar programme at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) as part of its Women’s Week celebration.

• Pix 1: Ms Mardey Ohui Ofoe addressing the students during the seminar.

Plaque unveiled for new five-star hotel

2010-05-23T07:57:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (back page), Sat. May 15/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A PLAQUE was today unveiled to mark the beginning of the construction of a five-star hotel at the former Race Course in Accra.
To be known as the Kempinski Hotel, the US$60million project will have facilities such as 269 rooms, two presidential suites, a 1,000 seating capacity banquet hall, a 3,000 square metre spa, a salon and health club, swimming pools and tennis courts.
The luxury hotel, which is scheduled for completion by January 2012, will also have three speciality restaurants and a 400 underground capacity car park.
The hotel is expected to be managed by a subsidiary of the Kempinski Group, Europe’s oldest hotelier since 1897. The facility is the first phase of a series of other projects to be located on the 32-acre plot at the old Race Course site.
The Minister of Tourism, Mrs Zita Okaikoi, who unveiled the plaque, said the gesture was a positive response by the private sector in partnering the government to make Ghana a preferred vacation and business destination in Africa.
She said it was the ministry’s strong conviction that now was the opportune time for the tourism sector to experience tremendous growth in view of the enabling environment created for investments in the sector.
Mrs Okaikoi said the ministry was poised to support private initiatives to boost tourism and make the sector play its expected role in the transformation of the country’s economy especially in foreign exchange generation, employment creation and poverty reduction.
The Managing Director of Zakhem International, one of the facilitators of the project, Mr Marwan Zakhem, said the Kempinski Hotel, which was the first phase of a project dubbed: “The Gold Coast City Project,” was designed to provide a 300,000 square metre development project, which would comprise commercial towers, residential accommodation, shopping mall, among others, over a seven-year period.

Dealing with impact of migration on families

2010-05-23T07:55:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg 11), Sat. May 15/10

Article: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
TODAY, Saturday, May 15, is being observed globally as the International Day of the Family on the theme “The impact of migration on families around the world”.
The United Nations (UN) General Assembly proclaimed the year 1994 as the International Year of Families through the UN Resolution A/RES/47/237 of 1993 and since 1995, May 15 has been celebrated as Families Day, with the aim of promoting national and international awareness of issues relating to families, described as the essential units of society. It is also to strengthen public efforts for supporting families who are confronted with fundamental changes in economic, social and cultural terms.
The day, proclaimed in response to changing social and economic structures which have affected and still affect the structure and stability of family units globally, is used to highlight the importance of families with the aim of fostering equality to bring about a fuller sharing of domestic responsibilities and employment opportunities. It is also to celebrate the importance of families, people, societies and cultures around the world.
Programmes undertaken to commemorate the day in various countries work towards supporting families in the discharge of their functions. They tend to promote the inherent strengths of families, including their great capacity of self-reliance, and stimulate self-sustaining activities. The protection of the family by society and the State is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
Supporting families, providing social protection and furthering social integration through the strengthening of inter-generational solidarity are all important facets and objectives of social policy and social development.
According to the UN, the family constitutes the basic unit of society, hence the widest possible protection and assistance should be accorded families so that they fully assume their responsibilities within the community in line with the provisions of the UDHR, the Declaration on Social Progress and Development and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
The family is the agency that teaches the growing generation various traditions. It teaches the individual what situations to anticipate, how to behave and what behaviour to expect, by giving one the gifts of language and dress, which are part of one’s cultural ethos.
The family set-up plays an important role in the transmission of cultural traditions from one generation to another. It also acts as an educative unit and a socio-cultural agency. The importance of this role lies in the fact that children all over the world get their earliest instruction in the family, beginning with language.
A report on the follow-up to the 10th anniversary of the International Year of the Family by the Secretary- General of the UN in 2009 stated that many developing countries were affected by displacement and migration, which have very visible impacts on families. It said displacement was usually driven by distress.
Humanitarian crises and natural disasters are increasing and conflicts are becoming more protracted, resulting in large numbers of internal and cross-border displaced persons and refugees.
Also the report said migration in search of work was becoming a way of life, with close to 200 million international migrants recorded globally, saying that the number would be much higher if internal migrants were included.
The report, however, stated that whether there is displacement or migration, either of individual family members or of the whole family unit, there can be significant psychological impacts and social costs resulting from the separation of family members. In some countries, significant numbers of children live without one or both parents, who are working abroad.
In Ghana, it is estimated that over 50 per cent of the population suffer internal migration. This is primarily from the north to south, with in-migrants representing over 40 per cent of the population in the Greater Accra, Brong Ahafo and Western regions.
Most of these migrants are young people, especially young girls from the northern part of the country who end up doing menial jobs such as carrying loads in the market. These girls are referred to as ‘Kayayei’ . Others, including children, engage in exploitative labour such cracking of stone at quarry sites.
Most of these migrants, who lack the basic necessities of life, including shelter, are exploited and abused sexually in violation of their human rights. They are exposed to harsh conditions of life with no access to education, proper health care nor sanitation facilities and also become vulnerable to diseases such as HIV and AIDS.
One can also talk about the migration of many Ghanaians, including both professionals such as teachers, lawyers, doctors, administrators and artisans, as well as nonprofessionals such as school drop-outs, who migrate to European countries and the United States of America (USA) in search of greener pastures.
Many observers have expressed concern that mass emigration has depleted the country of the much needed human capital. While skilled professionals have been leaving Ghana since independence, the numbers have continued to increase.
Statistics indicate that between 1975 and 1981, Ghana lost approximately 14,000 teachers trained in its institutions. Also high percentages of Ghana-trained health care professionals have opted to leave the country in search of work abroad since 1995.
Despite the negative impact of external migration on the country, the Central Bank of Ghana estimated that US$1.2 billion in remittances flowed into the country in 2004. Analysts believe this represents approximately half of the total flows of money remitted through informal channels.
Many of these migrants are sometimes successful in their quest while others also struggle to survive, with women especially forced to engage in prostitution or other forms of inhuman acts to survive.
When men migrate leaving their wives, mothers and sisters behind to care for their children, the women play a central role in maintaining family cohesion. They provide economic support, contribute to child upbringing and provide essential care to the family. They keep their families together, provide care for those who are sick, play a key role in securing food and are, in general, the backbone of socio-economic activities.
The impact of migration on the family has resulted in significant changes to families. These include increases in social vices, child exploitation, female-headed households and non-residential fatherhood, but it behoves all those who cherish peace to hold the family dear to their hearts and avoid things that impede the progress of the family.
A statement released and signed by the Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah to mark the day, stated that due to socio-economic pressures, people leave their families and migrate to other countries in search of better opportunities to improve upon their lives and that of their children and other extended family members back home.
It said although migrants may help to improve upon the lives of individuals and their families in many ways, they also present great hazards and hardships to individuals and their families, especially women and their children.
According to the statement, family members do not only provide material support for each other, but emotional support as well, adding that, migration brings about separation among family members and the migration of a parent, particularly the mother, could affect the education, health and overall development of young children left back at home.
It said research has shown that the absence of migrant parents may lead to many forms of psychological deprivation for young children which may in turn lead to psychological challenges including deviant behavior among children.
It said unemployment, low wages, discrimination and other socio-economic conditions can expose migrants to social problems such as robbery, prostitution, and drug abuse, and pointed out that migrant children in such situations become vulnerable to streetism, child labour, human trafficking and other forms of violence.
“As Ghana joins the rest of the world to observe this year's International Day of Families, MOWAC wishes to draw attention to these aspects of migration and how it has impacted negatively on the survival and maintenance of healthy family units and ultimately healthy societies.
“We take this opportunity to call on migrant parents and prospective migrants to take keen interest in the welfare and development of their young children back home. They should maintain a strong and influential presence in their children's lives regardless of the distance and ensure that their children are left in the care of reliable and trustworthy family members who would be able to provide the necessary emotional and psychological direction needed for the proper growth and development of the children” it said.
The statement called on all families in Ghana to use the occasion to foster peace and unity among themselves, stressing that cohesion at the family level will translate to national cohesion and unity.

Getting ready for Election 2012- Register Reopens •EC pleads with political parties

2010-05-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (lead), Fri, May 14/10

STORY: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho.
THE Electoral Commission (EC) yesterday announced the reopening of the voters register and pleaded with political parties not to engage in acts that would mar the June 11 to June 20 exercise.
About two million Ghanaians who have attained the age of 18 since the last registration exercise in 2008, as well as older ones who had not registered previously are expected to be captured in the register during the limited exercise.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic on the reopening of the register, the acting Director of Public Affairs of the EC, Mr Christian Owusu-Parry, asked political parties not to repeat acts such as the transportation of people to the registration centres for them to be registered.
He said political parties were only expected to send agents to the various registration centres as observers and not to meddle in the registration exercise.
He said although some people had earlier expressed concern over the fact that the voters register was bloated, that assertion could not be established because presently the commission did not know the voter population of the country until the 2010 National Population and Housing Census was done.
He said the EC would ensure that minors or foreigners would not be registered, saying that the country’s laws frowned on the registration of such people.
Mr Owusu-Parry said it was an offence for anybody whose name was already in the voters register to register again, adding that it was equally an offence for a person to register or attempt to register if he or she was not yet 18.
“A person who registers or attempts to register, knowing that he or she does not qualify, shall, on summary conviction, be imprisoned,” he pointed out.
He said the registration would be done at a designated registration centre in each electoral area throughout the country from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the registration period, including Saturdays and Sundays.
He called on voters who had lost their voter ID cards to report the loss to the registration officer at the registration centre in the electoral area during the period or a district officer of the EC now or at least a month before elections for replacement.
He said registered voters who had moved from the area where they registered would be given the opportunity to transfer their votes at the appropriate time.
He called on people who had genuine ID cards but could not find their names in the voters register during the last elections to exercise patience and wait till the register was opened for exhibition at a later date for them to make their complaints.
Mr Owusu-Parry called for co-operation from all stakeholders and the general public to ensure a smooth registration exercise.
Representatives of some of the political parties whom the Daily Graphic spoke to said the EC’s call was in order.
The General Secretary of the New Patriotic Party, Mr Kwadwo Owusu-Afriyie, welcomed the call and said since the EC was the authority on the subject, it knew what it was talking about and, therefore, it behoved all the political parties to stay clear of the exercise.
The General Secretary of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), Mr Ivor Greenstreet, in a reaction to the call by the EC, said the party would only make sure that the right thing was done.

GES allays fears over SHS intake

2010-05-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (front page), Wed, May 12/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
FEARS that the admission of fresh students to senior high schools (SHSs) will have to wait till next February has been assuaged.
This follows an assurance from the Ghana Education Service (GES) that the September 2010 deadline for the provision of infrastructure for the schools will not be compromised.
And to confirm that, work has been intensified to provide each of the 495 SHSs in the country with an additional six-unit classroom block and a dormitory to meet the September target of the four-year programme.
Dispelling rumours that the intake of first-year students would be delayed to February 2011 due to inadequate infrastructure, the Director of Basic Education at the GES, Mr Stephen Adu, told the Daily Graphic that the GES was working around the clock to ensure that the projects were ready by September.
The construction of the buildings has become key due to the extension of the SHS course from three to four years by the previous administration.
The current government has however expressed its intention to pursue the necessary legal instruments to revert to the three- year SHS programme.
According to Mr Adu, the GES was relying on the contractors working on the projects to pre-finance them, in addition to money that would be provided by the government, so that the work would be completed on time.
He said work in some schools was almost complete and cited the Accra Girls’ SHS in Accra as an example.
Furthermore, he said the sector minister had met with the contractors on the projects, who gave the assurance that work would be completed by the stipulated date.
In March this year, the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, told newsmen in Accra that a minimum of six-unit classroom structures for the schools and more than 100 dormitories would be built to cater for at least 200 students in all the schools.
The government, he said, needed hundreds of millions of Ghana cedis and had provided GH¢45 million from the GETFund, while Cabinet had charged the Ministry of Finance to provide the rest.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said in addition to the six-unit classroom blocks, construction work on projects in some schools would be fast-tracked and completed, adding that the donors in charge of those structures would be contacted to get them completed.
A report in the Daily Graphic issue of April 7, 2010 said the government had secured GH¢45 million from the GETFund as the first tranche of a multi-million cedi package for the construction of accommodation facilities for students in the 495 SHSs due for admission in the 2010/2011 academic year.
The GH¢225 million package programme is expected to prepare the schools in readiness for the academic year, as well as allay fears among parents and heads of SHSs.
The programme, which is expected to be in two phases, began with the first phase of 150 schools in April, while the second phase began in May and will be completed by September this year.
The first phase of the package covered selected schools which had classroom blocks that could take care of the students but did not have dormitories.
To ensure the successful completion of the projects, a task force, comprising the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Water Resources, Works and Housing, the Office of the Chief of Staff, the Public Works Department (PWD) and the Architectural Engineering Services Limited (AESL), has been set up to work on the timely completion of the project.
The ministry has identified quick-built technology using both local and foreign materials for construction.
Three companies conversant with the adoption of the technology in the country have been engaged to carry out the construction works.

Towards Beijing Platform for Action- MOWAC to re-position itself

2010-05-23T07:36:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg11), Tues, May 11/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
The Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) is taking steps to re-position itself to help accelerate Ghana’s progress made in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA).
According to the sector Minister, Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah, Ghana organised a side event which was on the theme: “Beyond commitment to responsive institutional structures” at the just-ended meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), held in New York.
She said the participants had the opportunity to share Ghana’s perspective and experiences on the evolution of the national women’s machinery and how it had plans to promote gender equality through re-engineering the ministry and involving women at the grassroots level.
She was speaking at a forum organised in Accra by MOWAC in collaboration with the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) and supported by the United Nations Systems, during which a statistical compendium on women and men was launched.
Mrs Azumah-Mensah, who convened the meeting to brief the public on the outcome of the CSW meeting at a forum in Accra, said a lot of programmes and policies, spearheaded by MOWAC and other ministries such as the Ministry of Health (MOH), were commended as having contributed to the empowering of women socially, economically and politically.
This year’s CSW meeting also coincided with the fifteen year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and its contribution to the achievement of the MDGs.
Programmes such as the issuance of a policy directive to public sector agencies to roll out gender responsive budgets across ministries, departments, and agencies, as well as the ministry’s co-ordination with 16 key sectors such as the Ministries of Health, Agriculture and Education were hailed as a good practice.
She also said MOWAC’s central management role and the elevation the ministry to Cabinet status was seen as an outstanding achievement and other participants expressed interest in selling the idea to their countries.
Other achievements such as the enactment of the Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking Acts, criminalisation of sexual offences and the passage of laws on women’s rights in marriage and divorce, social protection policies targeting poor women, the National Health Insurance Scheme, free school uniforms for school children and the Health Service Act, which ensured free maternal care to help in addressing the country’s high maternal mortality, and the appointment of women into key positions, were all commended.
She said the Commission wrapped up the 54th session by adopting seven resolutions which were key to women’s empowerment and they were issues on women’s economic empowerment, women and girl child and HIV and AIDS, protecting women and girls from harmful practices such as female genital mutilation (FGM), elimination of maternal mortality and a decision to consolidate four existing offices working on issues related to gender under the United Nations into a composite gender entity.
The Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA), Mr Joseph S. Abbey, a guest speaker who spoke on ‘the importance of gender statistics for development’, underscored the importance to have more women in decision-making positions so that they would speak for women.
He said the country would be wasting a lot of resources if the potentials of women, who formed the majority of the country’s population, were not tapped, saying: “Investment made in women should be utilised to ensure maximum returns.”
He said statistics over the years did not quantify the work of women, especially, in the domestic settings and pointed out that, it made it difficult to appreciate the input of women in national development.
Mr Abbey said it was essential that the country gathered separate data for men and women so that the country would know the needs of boys and girls and men and women. This according to him, would enable the Government to build appropriate infrastructure such as clinics and schools and that the gender dimensions of all these have not been sufficiently focussed on in the country.
The Chief Director of MOWAC, Ms Nancy Dzah, in a welcome address said that as institutions and organisations promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in the country, it was important that “we avail ourselves with the global, regional and national trends of achievements and challenges confronting us in our zeal to achieve the MDG3, which is: Promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment”.
An International Gender Consultant and chairperson of the programme, Mrs Jane Amavi Kwawu, said Ghana has become a flagship of achieving results in many areas and it cannot afford to fail in the empowerment of women.
Representatives from Parliament, MDAs, the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, who were at the CSW meeting in New York, gave their impressions about the way forward for MOWAC.

Lets hail our illustrious mothers

2010-05-23T07:28:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg 11) May 8/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE work of women in the home has not been quantified enough to know their contribution to national development.
It is estimated that of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty around the world, 70 per cent are women.
Most women, some years ago, were mainly housewives who stayed at home to nurture their children while their husbands worked in offices and brought money home.
Although today, according to the Women’s International Network, women perform 66 per cent of the world’s work, they earn less than five per cent of its income.
Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours, produce half of the world’s food, earn only 10 per cent of the world’s income and own less than one per cent of the world’s property.
Also two-thirds of children denied primary education are said to be girls, and 75 per cent of the world’s 876 million illiterate adults are women.
The culture of most societies make the people appreciate the work of men better than that of women. Today, society has come to appreciate the home-based care services that women perform and celebrate motherhood on the second Sunday in May of every year.
Motherhood is an honoured and exalted state in life, and most countries all over the world have their own customs in celebrating motherhood to show appreciation to mothers as those who bring forth children and nurture them to life.
It has become a day when children, be they adults, reflect on their mothers contribution to their lives and say thank you to them in special ways and a number of people have used both the electronic and print media to express their gratitude to their mothers for their commitment, love and encouragement, for making a difference in their lives and communities and for making them realise their dreams.
However, a human resource practitioner at the Volta River Authority (VRA) in Accra, Mrs Esther Mangortey says motherhood should be celebrated everyday, adding that women contribute a lot to the development of the country and should therefore be appreciated on daily basis.
She, however, said that the celebration of Mother’s Day should not be confined to celebrating women in urban centres but that women in the rural areas should also be empowered economically to take care of their children.
According to her, women in the rural areas suffer from a lot of hardships, making it difficult for them to give their best to their wards adding that such women should be identified and supported.
She said Mother’s Day celebration would be more relevant when all women in the country were empowered socially, economically and politically, and appreciated for the work that they do.
Congratulating her fellow mothers on how far they have come, she also advised that women should always live up to their responsibilities, stressing that women should make friends with their children so that they would know whatever happens in their daily lives.
Mrs Saint Claire Adotey, a Beautician and mother of three boys, said, although it was worth celebrating, Mother’s Day should also be a time for mothers to sit down and analyse themselves to see whether they have been good mothers to their children, both those who are their biological children and those they cater for.
She said, today, most mothers are so engrossed in their work and therefore, do not spend quality time with their wards, leaving their responsibilities to househelps and making their children take so much interest in television and the use of the computer.
She said to make the celebration of Mother’s Day more relevant to mothers and their wards, there was the need for sustained education on the values of motherhood.
“Most children today have become wayward because they lack parental care and therefore seek affection or solace in drugs”, she said.
Saluting mothers on this important day, she also reiterated the importance of mothers befriending their wards, saying that due to the harsh living conditions in the urban centres, most mothers were unable to give the maximum care that their children required.
The Minister in-charge of the Atomic Hill Estate Presby Church, Reverend Dei Awuku, has also saluted mothers saying that they are giving their best in this trying circumstances.
According to him, many mothers had become breadwinners or are helping their husbands due to the harsh economic circumstances but were still making time for their children.
He said it was important to appreciate women for all that they were doing saying that “mothers are great, we are what we are because of the way our mothers trained us.”
Rev. Awuku, who is also a lecturer in Communications Studies at the Christian Service University College, Kumasi, acknowledged that today’s mothers were also going through difficult moments as some were combining school, work and child care, all in the name of making their lives and that of their families better.
He said although all this affects the survival of their children, the present state of the economy, both in the country and on the international scene, has made it imperative that mothers work to support their husbands.

Gov't will shore-up local paper industry- Ayariga

2010-05-23T07:22:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Spread), Thurs, May 6/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry,Mr Mahama Ayariga, has said that the government will tackle policies which place the local printing industry at a disadvantage.
He said the current regime exempted tax on all imported books whereas local printers paid about 32 per cent of taxes on inputs, a situation which he said had the tendency to cripple the local industry if not checked.
Mr Ayariga said this when he paid a working visit to the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) to acquaint himself with the operations of the company.
The Deputy Minister’s visit, which took him to other printing houses in Accra, was at the instance of the Ghana Printers and Paper Converters Association, and it was to give him first hand information about some of the problems that hinder the smooth operations of the local printing industry in the country.
He said the government would pursue policies that would help local industries to grow, saying that it would ensure that the country had a vibrant printing local industry.
Mr Ayariga said the government’s policy of printing at least 60 per cent of all textbooks under the Free Compulsory Basic Education (FCUBE) programme was to ensure that local printers who won the bid for such jobs them locally to benefit the country as a whole.
He, however, bemoaned the fact that although the government had good intentions for the industry, some people who won the bid to print under the FCUBE textbook programme still printed their books from outside due to the profit that they made on them.
He said his ministry would liaise with the Ministry of Education to ensure that local printers who won the bid to print such textbooks, did so locally in order to create more employment for the youth.
The Managing Director of GCGL, Mr Ibrahim Awal, said Graphic Packaging (G-Pak), a subsidiary of GCGL, had the capacity to print millions of textbooks a day, and could also create about 5,000 direct and indirect jobs.
He said the €3 million facility at the G-Pak was working below its capacity, and called on the government to channel some of its printing jobs to the company so that it could employ more people.
The President of the Ghana Printers and Paper Converters Association, Mr James Appiah-Bekoe, appealed to the minister to help the local industry to flourish.

GSS developes handbook on gender statistics

2010-05-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg11), Thurs. May 6/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) has developed a handbook on gender statistics which reflects the relative levels and differentials between women and men, girls and boys in terms of education, health, politics and access to credit, among others.
The statistical compendium on women and men is a collection of concise, but detailed gender-sensitive indicators, which will help the formulation of policies in the country.
The Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah, who launched the handbook at a programme in Accra, said the collection of sex desegregated data was vital to women’s development in the country.
She said such a data was essential to enable the country track the progress so far made in attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The minister said such a data was also important to ministries, departments and agencies since it will help them to implement the gender budgeting strategy, which had been introduced by the government effectively.
Giving some highlights on the book, the minister said it deals with household leadership and divorce, school enrolment for males and females at the various levels of education, illiteracy among men and women and power and influence.
She said the statistical compendium showed that 23 per cent of female-headed households were divorced women and 51 per cent of women in the country were illiterates.
On the issue of power and influence, she said the results were nothing to write home about, and that a huge gap still existed between men and women in the decision-making process, adding that there was the need to encourage more women into politics.
She, therefore, advised women who were interested in politics to participate in active politics at the various levels, to get more women involved in the country’s decision-making process.
A Chief Statistician at the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), Mr Baah Wadieh, who made a presentation on ‘The status of the provision of gender statistics’, said developing gender statistics required that the statistical processes should be applied diligently when acquiring the data.
He said such gender-sensitive data should not merely to be indicators which had been compiled and presented by sex, although it is a fundamental requirement, but should also signal gender-related changes in a condition or phenomenon over time, shed light on social processes and interventions and how these affect women, men and their relationship with each other.
He said gender statistics was one of the basic requirements of the Beijing Declaration which calls on national, regional and international statistical institutions to “ensure that statistics related to individuals are collected, compiled, analysed and presented by sex, and age, and reflect problems, issues and questions related to women and men in society”.
The Government Statistician, Dr Grace Bediako, said the statistical compendium was a collection of data which were already in public domain but had been brought together to focus mainly on gender differentials.
She said the compendium would help the country to gain insight into how far it had advanced, saying that “we need to be able to assess what gains we have made”, and also identify where there were problems.
She said the handbook would help the country to learn from its successes in terms of gender equality, empowerment and equity, and also bring out the disappointing results so that they can be dealt with.
Dr Bediako said nationally and globally , it was difficult to see the achievements on the field, and that many organisations found it necessary to have ‘gender’ as a component of their programmes, instead of mainstreaming it into all facets of public and private life, decision-making and programmes.
She bemoaned the fact that two-and-a half decades after the adoption of the MDGs, with MDG 3 calling for the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, “we still have to remind policy makers that gender equality is a rights issue like poverty and survival”.
She said as a country, “we have an opportunity with the upcoming population and housing census to improve our database for the MDGs”, and that many of the questions for the census would provide the basis for computing the indicators required.
Dr Bediako, however, said the country still needed to explore all potential sources, censuses, sample surveys and administrative records to provide the complete picture.

Labour market lacks decent jobs

2010-05-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg. 54), Wed, May 5/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
Ghana’s labour market is saddled with a huge decent job deficit, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has said.
According to the Deputy General Secretary of the TUC, Dr. Yaw Baah, over six million people working in the country did not have regular pays, benefits, contracts, rights or job security in their line of work.
Dr. Baah who made this known in an interview with the Daily Graphic said only one million working Ghanaians have decent jobs in the country out of a working population of about 11 million.
This year’s celebration is on the theme “Consolidating workers solidarity and legacy of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah”.
Dr Baah who explained that the statistics were indicative figures said the one million people in decent jobs comprised of 500,000 in the public sector with the others found in the private sector of the economy.
According to him about 70 per cent of the working population were self employed with majority of them seeking decent jobs because they earned less than the minimum wage and did not have job security.
Dr Baah therefore, said for any government to succeed, it had to make it a priority to create decent job avenues where workers would have job securities and benefits even when they retire after 60 years.
He said it was sad to note that previous governments did not make labour statistics a priority saying that people should be able to measure the performance of a government by the labour statistic figures that it was able to release monthly through authentic measures.
He said it was only when the government was able to know the number of people who were employed in decent jobs, that it could address the defecit in the job market.
Dr. Baah who wondered how people were able to assess government’s performance without data on employment said “it was easier to gather data on employment than on inflation”.
He said the last job statistics gathered in the country, the National Representative Data, 2006 which was captured in the Ghana Living Standard Survey Five (GLSS V) was yet to be reviewed.
He said for years past things had not changed much in the labour market as demand for more jobs far outweighed supply with over six million people living below the poverty line.
Dr Baah said the theme for this year’s celebration was appropriate because it gave the labour market the opportunity to celebrate Dr. Kwame Nkrumah who he said gave workers the conciousness that they mattered in the country.
He said Dr Nkrumah in an effort to secure the future of workers in the country, ratified 35 of the 47 International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention in the country and also enacted the Industrial Relations Act 1958 and 1965 for workers.

Malaria- Bane of the developing world

2010-05-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg 19), Wed, May 5/10
By Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
MALARIA, an infectious disease caused by a parasite known as the Plasmodium Falciparum found in the female anopheles mosquito, continues to be the bane of underdevelopment in most countries especially in the developing world.
Malaria is a global problem causing more than one million deaths per year and endemic to 109 countries across the globe with 45 of them found in Africa. Ninety-five per cent of deaths occur on the continent among children under five years and it is estimated that one child in Africa dies every 30 seconds due to malaria-related illnesses.
In Africa, the estimated annual economic burden of malaria is $1.7bn and in Ghana it accounts for the loss of one per cent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). It is also estimated that a single bout of malaria costs a sum equivalent to over 10 working days in Africa.
Ghana continues to have its fair share of the burden of malaria among its people and the disease is responsible for a ‘growth penalty’ of up to 1.3 per cent every year in the country.
Due to the dynamic nature of the disease in the country, the health sector finds it difficult to cope despite the numerous interventions it has and continue to put in place such as in the 1950s and 60s when it introduced the indoor residual and aerial spraying and the Pinotti project which was the addition of salt to chloroquine. In the 1970s and 80s the Malaria Action and Control was also introduced through case management; from 1996 to 1997 the Accelerated Malaria Control Programme was also introduced, which also dealt with case management, building capacity in prompt treatment and pilots in 30 districts across the country.
Since 1999, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has introduced the “Roll Back Malaria” initiative, which is a combination of preventive and curative methods such as the use of the Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs).
Current malaria preventive strategies include the use of ITNs for children under five years and pregnant women; giving pregnant women sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) to prevent malaria during pregnancy; indoor residual spraying in some districts; environmental management and targeted killing of the mosquito larvids.
They also include curative measures such as an anti-malaria drug policy which would ensure a quick and long-lasting resolution of the clinical conditions of patients, reduce incidence of malaria and its accompanying complications, stop the progression of simple malaria to severe and potentially fatal disease and minimise the chance and rate of development of drug resistance, among others.
Also a case management policy has also been put in place to ensure that accurate diagnosis are made and an effective, safe, affordable and quality anti-malarials are on the market.
Despite all these interventions, last year a total of 3,600,000 of outpatient malaria cases were said to have been recorded throughout public hospitals in the country and 3,900 deaths due to malaria was recorded. One thousand five hundred of the deaths were children under five years and 80 were pregnant women.
However, according to health professionals in the country, all is not lost, and as the Programme Manager of the National Malaria Control Programme, Dr Constance Bart-Plange, puts it, the situation is not as gloomy as it seems, explaining that most of the cases which are classified as being malaria are sometimes not malaria but they present with similar fevers as malaria.
At a workshop for media personnel organised by the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN) in Accra as part of activities marking this year’s World Malaria Day, Dr Bart-Plange said the GHS was on course with its aim of reducing the malaria disease burden of the country by 75 per cent by 2015 in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
According to her, so far, only 14 per cent of malaria cases were confirmed through microscopy and the aim of the GHS was to ensure that all fever cases were properly diagnosed, adding that only 10 per cent of presumptive treatment of malaria were true cases of malaria in urban areas.
For the laboratory confirmation of all malaria cases, the Rapid Diagnostic Test (RDT) kit has been introduced by the World Health organisation (WHO) and adopted by the GHS and this is aimed at, among other things, ensuring the better management of other febrile illnesses, enhancing better estimation of the real burden and impact of interventions put in place, ensuring the rational use of drugs, eliminating under exposure to drugs and also minimising pressure on malaria drugs.
According to health experts, investment in malaria control is saving lives and has far-reaching benefits, and according to Dr Bart-Plange, from 2003 to 2009, over 20,000 cases of malaria deaths were averted through the numerous interventions that had been put in place over the years.
Also, malaria control is rapidly advancing throughout Africa due to intensified efforts, and according to a Programme Officer of the NMCP (Northern Zone), Mr Sylvester Segbaya, a new initiative that would significantly reduce the cost of medicines for the effective treatment of malaria was to be piloted in seven African countries, i.e. Ghana, Cambodia, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.
Known as the Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMF-m), it is an innovative financing mechanism to expand access to affordable Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for the treatment of malaria, thereby saving lives and reducing the use of inappropriate treatment.
At a similar media sensitisation programme to mark WMD, organised by the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) in collaboration with the John Hopkins University Centre for Communications - Voices for a Malaria-free Future Project in Accra, Mr Segbaya said the initiative would facilitate the increased use of ACT by reducing the cost of those drugs in malaria-endemic countries and also ensuring that additional activities were carried out to assist in the safe and effective implementation of AFM-m.
It is believed that malaria control, research and elimination activities, when effectively undertaken, would significantly impact on the country’s attainment of the MDGs, since, according to health experts, achievement of many of the MDGs depends heavily on a successful anti-malaria eradication effort.
According to health experts, malaria control interventions can help lift poor people out of poverty, since the disease burden of malaria on a household helps to reinforce the poverty level of the people in that house, and this, when done, can help contribute to achieving MDG1, which is aimed at poverty reduction.
On the MDG2, which calls for universal education, malaria control interventions can help achieve this goal, since it contributes to absenteeism and poor school performance, as malaria is a leading source of illnesses and absenteeism in school-age children and teachers.
On child survival, which is captured in the MDG4, an effective malaria control intervention can help reduce significantly child mortality, since malaria is a leading cause of child mortality in endemic areas.
With regard to the attainment of the MDG5, which is on maternal health, health experts estimate that pregnant women are four times more likely to contract malaria; the disease causes anaemia in pregnant women and low birth weight in infants. Malaria infections in Africa is said to cause 400,000 cases of severe anaemia contributing to maternal mortality across the continent and therefore effectively controlling malaria in pregnant women will help reduce maternal deaths and infant mortalities.
The MDG6 calls for a combat on infectious diseases including malaria and the GHS target of zero per cent deaths through malaria is in order.
The MDG7 also calls for environmental sustainability and according to health experts, poor co-ordination in the control, elimination and eventual eradication of malaria from the country could lead to lack of widespread access to essential drugs for malaria.
The last goal calls for developing global partnership and an improved co-ordination and collaboration among different actors and private-public partnership across the country, which could lead to the proper control of malaria in the country.
As this year’s World Malaria Day is marked on the theme “Counting Malaria Out”, 2010 can be said to be a milestone year for the fight against malaria and it holds multiple opportunities for global leaders to demonstrate their commitment to combat malaria with an increased resources and action.
As noted by Mr Emmanuel Fiagbe of the Voices of Malaria puts it “Let us remember that an insufficient investment in 2010 and beyond could lead to a reversal of the progress achieved to date and the malaria treat made worse, costing more in the future”.

Work begins on ICT university college

2010-05-23T06:36:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg 11), Mon, May 03/10
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
WORK has began for the construction of a GH¢3 million Information Communication and Technology (ICT) University College at Adenta in Accra.
The Dignified Life International (DLI) University College (DUC) would focus on awarding scholarships in degree programmes in ICT to identifiable needy, brilliant children who cannot afford the cost of their university education, as well as other students who qualify for admission to the university.
The first phase of the project is expected to be completed by September this year.
The DLI University College, when completed, would be an upgrade of the Michael and Vivien Blair Information Technology Training College (MVBITC) which had been awarding scholarship to hundreds of needy Ghanaian youths each year to acquire world class ICT skills at the Institute of Professional Studies (IPS), Legon, for the past seven years.
At a ground-breaking ceremony to mark the beginning of the construction of the first phase of the project, the DUC Chairman and Co Founder, Mr Michael Blair said the establishment of the university college was in appreciation of the blessing his family got from Ghana and Africa through their company, GS Telecom’s investment in Ghana, which is now part of the Vodacom Group.
He therefore, made a lifetime financial commitment on behalf of his family to the university college in order to give scholarships to majority of its students.
At the ceremony, officials from the Gateway Communications Group (now owned by Vodacom), which is one of the major corporate sponsors of the university college, also pledged to continuously support the institution, financially and with equipment.
The ceremony was witnessed by executives of the Gateway Communications Group, Africa’s telecommunication giant and satellite carrier service provider, Mr John Wishart and Mr Holli Worsworth and DUC Founders, Mr Michael Blair and Mrs Vivien Blair, as well as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the International Certified Institute of Information Technology (ICIIT) UK, Reverend Mawuli Tasiame, and Mr Peter Larson, Vice Chair and Co-founder of the DUC.
Others were a representative from the Ga Traditional Council, some religious and opinion leaders in Adenta and the Vice President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Mr Affail Monney.

'Good Samaritan' in trouble

2010-04-30T09:07:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Back Page) Frid. April 30/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A ‘Good Samaritan’ who went to the aid of a junior high school (JHS) student who was being defiled by a man, allegedly ended up defiling her apparently because he was turned on by the nakedness of the victim.
The victim, a 15-year-old student, who wrote the just ended Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), had allegedly been defiled by another man at the Kpehe Roman School on Wednesday at around 3 a.m. when the victim was returning home after helping her mother who is a roadside food vendor.
Mohammed Sani, who is a 20-year-old butcher at the Amasaman slaughter house, is currently in police custody.
The Public Relations Officer of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service, Inspector Irene Oppong, told the Daily Graphic in an interview that the suspect had been charged with defilement.
She, however, said the first rapist was nowhere to be found.
According to her, the victim’s mother was a food vendor at Kpehe near Kotobabi and she went there to assist her to sell and around 3 a.m. in the morning on Wednesday, her mother dispatched her to go and sleep.
Inspector Oppong said the girl left in the company of a young boy, a schoolmate, and they went through the Kpehe Roman School park.
She said on their way they met a man who at knifepoint asked the boy to give him his phone and the girl to release all the monies she had on her.
After they obliged and gave him the items which included a phone and GH¢56, the man sacked the young boy to go home and leave the girl with him.
She said after the boy had left the man defiled the girl and Mohammed Sani, who was on his way to the Mosque, chanced upon them and the first rapist ran away.
Seeing that he could not pursue the rapist, he went to assist the young lady and in his statement to the police, he said he was “sexually aroused by seeing the girl half naked” and did not know what came over him.
Luck was not on his side as the young boy who was earlier sacked by the first rapist went and raised an alarm for people to come to her aid.
The young lady, according to Inspector Oppong, had been hospitalised and was currently at home.

Interventions made for attainment of MDG4

2010-04-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Back page) April 29/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Ghana Health Service (GHS) has put in place various interventions to ensure that the country achieves the fourth goal of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The MDG4 calls on countries to reduce under-five morality by two thirds and the GHS is aiming at reducing the country’s under five mortality from 80 per every 1000 live births to 40 per every 1000 live births.
At a media briefing to highlight this year’s Child Health Promotion Week, which is organised annually by the GHS, the National Child Health Co-ordinator, Dr Isabella Sagoe-Moses, said some of the interventions were the administration of Vitamin A supplement for children from six months to 59 months, routine immunisation and the use of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITNs), as well as the weighing and registration of children under five years.
The Child Health Promotion Week, which will begin from May 10 to 14, 2010, will be on the theme: “Men on Board for Healthier Children”, and it is aimed at focusing on men to improve the health and survival of children in the country.
The rationale for focusing this year’s theme on men is that they are key decision markers but most of them do not take active part in seeking health care for their children. The week is therefore aimed at educating and encouraging men to be strong advocates and partners for the health and development of their children.
Dr Sagoe-Moses said the GHS and the Ministry of Health were working at overcoming challenges that would impede the attainment of MDG4 in collaboration with developing partners and other ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
She said the challenges included the high morbidity and mortality rate of children under five, the difficulty in giving special attention to new-borns, how to ensure that key interventions reached the targeted population and also addressing harmful cultural beliefs and practices.
Dr Sagoe-Moses said the health sector had evolved initiatives that would improve the range of interventions and coverage to address those challenges.
Those initiatives include the introduction of new vaccines, malarial control and new drugs, child health promotion weeks, high impact of rapid delivery approach, integrated measles campaign and integrated maternal and child health campaigns.
She said the GHS would continue with the Child Health Promotion Week to ensure that the gains made were sustained.
The Registrar of the Births and Deaths Registry, Mr Steven Kwaku Amoah, said in an address that it was imperative that parents ensured that their children were registered at birth so that the state made provision for their education and health needs, among others.
Two fathers from the Osu Fathers Support Group, a group that encourages men to support their wives through childbirth and care, called on other fathers to ensure that they got involved in the care and upbringing of their children.

Cost of production inches up

2010-04-30T08:55:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg 54), Thurs. April 29/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE cost of producing goods and services in Ghana increased by 0.44 per cent in March, this year over the previous month’s producer prices.
This was contained in the monthly Producer Price Index (PPI) released today by the Director, Economic and Industry Statistics Division of the Ghana Statistical Service, Mr Magnus Ebo Duncan.
The producer price measures the average change of prices received by domestic producers over time for the month.
In real terms the PPI went up from 190.56 points in February to 191.39 points.
The PPI for the country reports the price indices with reference to September 2006 base year period.
Mr Duncan said the respective yearly change in the PPI between March 2009 and March 2010 was 19.58 per cent, indicating 2.55 percentage points lower than the figure for February 2010.
According to him, between March 2009 and March 2010, the mining and quarrying sub-sector exhibited the highest inflation rate, except in February 2010.
He indicated that gold price was the major push of the index for March.
Mr Duncan said manufacturing recorded an inflation rate of 23.53 per cent and added that the rate of inflation for that sector for March was lower than that for February 2010 by 4.11 percentage points.
Additionally, for the mining and quarrying sector, the March 2010 inflation was lower than for February 2010 by 0.44 per cent, while in the utilities sector, the March inflation figure was lower than the February figure of 0.22 percentage points.
He explained further that in the manufacturing sector there was appreciable inflation in the manufacture of coke and refined petroleum products by 55.91 per cent, while the manufacture of wood products and cork recorded negative inflation rates of 3.01 per cent.

Chiefs to play key roles in 2010 census

2010-04-30T08:52:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg 51) Wed. April 28/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
TRADITIONAL leaders are to play key roles in the upcoming 2010 National Population and Housing Census, according to the National Census Secretariat.
They are to assist in the sensitisation and education of their subjects at the National and Regional Houses of Chiefs and at the district level through the Traditional Councils.
The Director of Field Operations at the Census Secretariat, Mr David Kombat, who made this known to the Daily Graphic in an interview, said to ensure the success of the 2010 census , the secretariat had formed committees at both the district and regional levels to help in diverse ways.
He said his outfit was also working at involving religious groups in the census.
The committees at the regional levels include the Regional Co-ordinating Director, who is the Chairman, the Regional Statistician, the Secretary, with other members including the Regional Population Officer, the Regional Director of Education and the Regional Information Officer. Others are the Regional Planning Officer, the Regional Director of the NCCE, the Regional Social Welfare Officer, the Regional Community Development Officer, the Regional Electoral Officer, the Regional Director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and a representative of the Regional House of Chiefs.
At the district level, the committee comprises the District Co-ordinating Director, who is the chairman, the district statistician, the secretary, the district population officer, the district education officer, the district information officer, the district planning officer, the district director of the NCCE, the district social welfare officer, the district community development officer, the district electoral officer, the district director of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture and a representative of the traditional council.
He said at the national level, a representative of the National House of Chiefs is a member of the National Census Steering Committee.
The 2010 National Census is expected to be held in the last quarter of the year.
Ghana’s 2010 national census, which was originally expected to take place in March, is being delayed because the Census Secretariat needed ample time to capture data from a trial census organised in November last year.
About 50,000 field officers are to be recruited and trained for the field operation.
Mr Kombat, who was assisted by the Head, Census Mapping, Mr Kofi Agyeman-Duah, said the involvement of these strategic officers at both the district and regional levels would help the publicity and education of the programme, saying it was through their efforts that the message of the census could reach the hard-to-reach people in the communities.
He said the members of the committee would also help in the recruitment and training of field officials for the programme, adding that the training, which would be at three levels, would be done at the national, regional and district levels.
He said at the national level, a trainers-of-trainers workshop would be organised for officials from the regions, who would in turn train regional officers, who would also train people at the district levels, with the district trainers training the field personnel.
Mr Agyeman-Duah said the members of the committee would also help in mobilising logistics and transport which would convey field materials to the field.
He said they would also help with the monitoring and supervision of the filed officers and provide office space where materials for the programme could be stored.
He advised people not to travel to their home towns for the census because they could be counted in their homes so they should be at home on the night of the census.
Mr Agyeman-Duah said there was the need for people to understand what census was all about, saying censuses organised across the world now did not demand that citizens should go to their home towns to be counted and that enumerators would visit the homes of people to count them.
He said no other programme could be substituted for the census and therefore called on all to support for it to be successful.

Cost of malaria treatment to go down

2010-04-30T08:50:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (spread composit story) Tues. April 27/10

Cost of medicines for effective Malaria control to reduce)
GHANA will, by August this year, introduce a system that will significantly reduce the cost of medicines for the effective treatment of malaria from GH¢10 to GH¢3 for the next two years.
Other countries to benefit from the initiative are Cambodia, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.
Dubbed, Affordable Medicines Facility-malaria (AMF-m), the project is an innovative financing mechanism to expand access to affordable Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) for the treatment of malaria, thereby saving lives and reducing the use of inappropriate treatment.
The initiative will facilitate the increased use of ACT by reducing the cost of those drugs in malaria-endemic countries and also ensuring that additional activities are carried out to assist in the safe and effective implementation of AFM-m.
This was made known in Accra when the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), in conjunction with the Johns Hopkins University Centre for Communication Programmes Voices for Malaria-free Future Project organised a day’s briefing session for journalists as part of this year’s World Malaria Day.
Addressing the participants, a Programme Officer of the NMCP (Northern Zone), Mr Sylvester Segbaya, said the initiative was to help people suffering from malaria have access to inexpensive but effective recommended anti-malaria treatment.
He said it was also to promote the use of effective anti-malaria drugs and push away ineffective medicines from the market by reducing the consumer prices of effective medicines to an affordable level.
Mr Segbaya said AFM-m had the potential of introducing in-country supporting interventions to ensure that those suffering from malaria benefited from the reduced price.
He stated that progress towards the achievement of the goals and objectives of AFM-m in the country would be measured by increased affordability, availability and use of ACT, as well as pushing away from the market Arteminisin mono-therapies which were less effective and had the potential of causing drug resistance.
Speaking on the topic, “Adopting Effective Malaria Medication in Ghana”, an official of the NMCP, Mr James Frimpong, stated that Ghana moved away from the use of the mono-therapy malaria medicines it was using previously to the ACT because research had indicated that the ACT aided the rapid reduction in the parasite load in the blood and it had fewer side effects, if any.
The Communication Officer of the NMCP, Mr Kwame D. Gakpey, said as part the country’s efforts to control malaria, many strategies had been put in place, including behavioural change communication strategy to guide the development, implementation and monitoring of activities to ensure success.
For his part, the Country Director of the Johns Hopkins University Centre for Communication Programmes Voices for Malaria-free Future Project, Mr Emmanuel Fiagbey, urged journalists to support fully the effort to control malaria, since the disease affected the achievement of almost all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The Chairperson for the workshop, who is also the Programme Manager of the NMCP, Dr Mrs Constance Bart-Plange, reiterated the need for doctors not to conclude that all fever cases were malaria but they must conduct the appropriate testing before treatment.
The World Malaria Day, which falls on April 25 each year, was instituted by the World Health Assembly at its 60th session in May 2007. It is a day for recognising the global effort to provide effective control for malaria.
In a related development, the Ministry of Health is to set up a committee to probe the alleged malfeasance that characterised the withdrawal of expired drugs from health facilities in the country, reports Seth J. Bokpe.
The Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, made this known when addressing the opening ceremony of the Ghana Health Summit 2010 and the launch of the World Malaria Day 2010.
He said investigations conducted into the matter indicated that more often than not drugs that were said to have expired and which had to be withdrawn from the warehouses were found on shelves in pharmacy shops, with nothing to show that the drugs had expired.
He said persons found culpable would be dealt with to serve as a deterrent to anyone whose action undermined the health sector and to also save the country the millions of cedis that went down the drain.
The Ghana Health Summit is an annual conference under the auspices of the Ministry of Health and donor partners and it takes stock of developments in the health sector, review performances and make recommendations to improve the health sector.
He said the mismanagement that had become the bane of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) called for a benchmark for public spending to ensure that the policy was of benefit to the people.
The Health Minister pledged the government’s commitment to the one-time premium for health insurance in the country, which he indicated would be implemented.
He said even though the funding gap remained the greatest challenge to implementing the one-time premium, avenues, including uprooting corruption, would ensure that the country achieved the needed results.
Dr Kunbour said more midwives would be trained as part of measures to improve the midwifery deficit in the country.
He called for holistic and co-ordinated interventions to deal with challenges posed by malaria to the health of the people and the economy.
According to the Ghana Health Service, 8,200 malaria cases are reported in Ghana daily, with 4,500 deaths, 1,500 under-five deaths, while 60 pregnant women die from the disease annually.
It has been estimated that the annual economic burden in Africa is $1.7 billion, while a single bout of malaria cost a sum equivalent of over 10 working days in Africa.
The Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Stig Barlyng, noted that even though the country had achieved a lot in the health sector over the past few years, the doctor-patient ratio in the northern part of the country needed to be worked on to curtail the disparities that characterised the distribution of doctors.
He stressed the need for the leadership of the MoH and the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and its agencies to establish a new policy framework adapted to the changing dynamics of drug procurement and distribution, funds collection and reimbursement across the multiple agencies and the levels of the health system.
The Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrisu, who chaired the function, called for co-ordinated efforts to deal with infant and maternal mortality in the country to save lives.
In yet another development, Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho reports that the General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey, has stated that the fight against malaria can be won if researchers and scientists go beyond the “ivory tower” publications and simplified their findings for the public good.
At a seminar for media practitioners as part of activities to mark this year’s World Malaria Day, he said to achieve that, it was imperative for scientists to acquire communications skills and for journalists who were interested in science to specialise in it.
“Scientists should no longer feel comfortable just by publishing their results and papers in ’Ivory Tower’ bulletins and journalists can no longer be comfortable with neutral reporting on events. We must both go beyond our comfort zones and beyond the mundane calls of our professional duties,” he said.
The seminar, which was organised by the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN), in collaboration with the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Population and their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH) network, the Dodowa Health Research Centre and the Malaria Clinical Trial Alliance (MCTA), brought together science journalists from the print and the electronic media.
Speaking on the topic: “Linking science with journalism”, Dr Sodzi-Tettey said when scientists were able to acquire communication skills, they would be able to interpret their findings in a way that would make them easier for journalists to understand, while a journalist with a scientific background would be able to write in simple language for the ordinary person to understand.
He said it was the duty of journalists to ensure that there was behavioural change among their audience, saying that journalists were key to ensuring that people understood what they put across.
The Programme Manager of the NMCP, Dr Bart-Plange, in an update on malaria control in Ghana, said malaria continued to be one of the leading causes of death among children.
The President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, Dr Alex Dodoo, called on journalists to ensure that they were always abreast of current trends so that they could inform and educate their communities effectively.
The Executive Director of AMMREN, Mrs Charity Binka, called on journalists to ensure that they put issues across that would hold their leaders accountable.
She challenged journalists to ask critical questions that would help put the government on its toes.

Increase school counselling services - To help sexually abused children

2010-04-30T08:41:00.001-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg11) Wed. April 21/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
PLAN Ghana, a child centered international non-governmental organisation, has called for the scaling up of school guidance and counselling services to help sexually abused children.
According to the organisation, most children who were sexually abused in the school environment did not receive adequate counselling to enable them continue with their education.
The Advocacy Advisor of Plan Ghana, Mr George Cobbinah, made this known when he briefed the media in Accra on the outcome of a survey conducted in eight communities by Plan Ghana, in the Upper Manya district of the Eastern Region and the Awutu-Senya and Effutu districts of the Central Region in 2009.
The report which was part of Plan International’s three-year global campaign was dubbed; “Learn Without Fear” and it aimed at creating safer school environments for children. It was undertaken by the Child Research Resource Centre (CRRECENT).
The research took into consideration both contact and non-contact forms of sexual abuse in schools and it showed that about 53 per cent of sexual abuse occurs in school environment and 47 per cent happened in homes.
The survey showed that 100 per cent of girl-victims did not enjoy school again after their ordeal while 73 per cent became afraid of their perpetrators.
He said the research further established that 58 per cent of sexually abused children were unable to concentrate on their studies in school.
The call, which formed part of Plan Ghana’s recommendations after the survey, showed that child sexual abuse was rife in schools and therefore called for more sensitisation on the issue for schoolchildren.
According to Mr Cobbinah, the survey showed that out of 304 children sampled, 14 per cent of them between the ages of 14 and 15 years had been sexually abused.
He said the main perpetrators included classmates who formed 89 per cent, teachers, 21 per cent and relatives 13 per cent.
The recommendation which also included an advocacy campaign for the enforcement of legislation, said nothing was done about the 38 per cent of the cases which were reported while 28 per cent of the perpetrators were only warned not to repeat that act again.
Also a total of 11 per cent of the perpetrators were insulted by the victims and their friends while eight per cent were given ground work to perform by school authorities.
The research further advocated more policies that will help alleviate household poverty as five per cent of victims in the survey said they received cash compensations ranging from GH¢1.00 to GH¢ 25.00.
It further called for the strengthening of institutions mandated to address sexual abuse as about 87 per cent of the children sampled did not know of any institution that supported victims of sexual abuse.

We'll reduce poverty level - Ahwoi

2010-04-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (spread), Tues. April 20/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Kwesi Ahwoi, has given the assurance that the government will do everything possible to reduce the poverty level in the country.
Given the agricultural sector’s large population and high poverty rate, Mr Ahwoi said any poverty alleviation initiative of the government would substantially benefit farmers.
According to Mr Ahwoi, three out of every 10 Ghanaians woke up each day neither knowing where their next meal would come from nor were they properly housed or clothed.
In a speech read on his behalf at a five-day regional technical training sampling workshop for statisticians from 16 English-speaking African countries in Accra yesterday, Mr Ahwoi said the living condition of people was worse in other African countries.
The workshop, organised by the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in collaboration with the United States Department of Agriculture (UNDA) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), brought together the statisticians to upgrade their technical knowledge and skills in the implementation of the new World Programme for Census of Agricultural Surveys.
According to Mr Ahwoi, the results of the Ghana Living Standard Survey had shown consistently that poverty among people working in the agricultural sector was the highest among all the major economic activity groups in the country.
He said “as leaders and technocrats who are fortunate to escape this situation of falling below the poverty line, I believe we should have the moral obligation to do our best for our compatriots by giving our best to produce accurate information that would provide the basis for evidence-based decisions that would go a long way to improve upon their lives”.
Mr Ahwoi said although governments all over the continent appreciated the important role of statistics in guiding policy planning and decision-making, budgetary constraints made it impossible for them to support other activities including statistics development.
He, however, said the government of Ghana was determined to change the status quo and had, therefore, supported the upcoming 2010 Population and Housing Census with 50 per cent of its budget and expressed the hope to support the next Agricultural Census, which would be undertaken in 2011.
For her part, the Government Statistician, Dr Grace Bediako, said the country was ready to conduct an agricultural sampling 2011, which, according to her, would guide policies in the country.
According to her, the last agricultural sampling in the country was done in 1985 after the 1984 National Population Survey, saying that the time had come for the country to update its records to benefit people in the agricultural sector.
She said the agricultural sector had for a long time not been accorded the needed recognition that it deserved in terms of statistics, although it continued to be the main stay of most people.
She, therefore, called on statisticians to ensure that they produced relevant data that would inform policies and decisions across the continent to change the standard of living of farmers, who formed the majority of the working force on the continent.
The Regional Representative of FAO, Mr Musa Saibou Mbenga, in a brief remark, said the pivotal role which agricultural statistics played in promoting agricultural development and overall socio-economic development on the continent had been repeatedly underscored.
He said it was the hope of FAO that the workshop would impart knowledge of refined tools needed for collection of reliable agricultural statistics in the region, noting that it would help participating countries to face the challenge of organising collection of agricultural statistics in a cost-effective manner.
The USDA Representative, Mrs Theresa Holland, said the US government had a priority to support food security on the African continent, adding that it was ready to help improve on agricultural statistic systems across the continent.

Session fails to strengthen Beijing commitments

2010-04-30T08:37:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg 11) Tues. April 20/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

THE 54th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) held in New York in March, reviewed the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action (BPfA) after 15 years, and the outcome document of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, as well as their application for shaping a gender perspective towards the full realisation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
A five-point declaration made by representatives of governments who were present at the meeting reaffirmed the Beijing Declaration 15 years ago, the outcome document of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, and welcomed the progress made towards achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women. They also pledged to undertake further action to ensure the full and accelerated implementation of the decisions taken at the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly.
They also emphasised that the full and effective implementation of the BPfA was essential to achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including those contained in the MDGs, and stressed the need to ensure the integration of a gender perspective in the high-level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on accelerating s the achievement of all the MDGs by 2015.
They further recognised that the implementation of the BPfA and the fulfilment of the obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women were mutually reinforcing in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women.
The group also called upon the United Nations system, international and regional organisations, as well as all women and men, to fully commit themselves and to intensify their contributions to the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the outcome of the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly.
However, at a post-CSW54 briefing on the outcomes of the 54th session and the BPfA review by the Network for Women’s Rights in Ghana (NETRIGHT) in Accra at the weekend, Mrs Ruth Grant Antwi, the Programme Officer of NETRIGHT, indicated that the outcome document of the CSW’s 54th session failed to strengthen the commitments undertaken in Beijing, and added that it did not come out with concrete actions or measures that would ensure the full implementation of the platform.
She said the fact that effective implementation was still not achieved in key areas of life such as education and training, sexual and reproductive health rights for young women indicates that the MDGs cannot be achieved.
According to her, the CSW54 outcome document was adopted without due consultations with civil society saying that they did not get the opportunity to influence the conduct and outcome of the CSW meetings.
A joint statement issued by women’s groups which Mrs Antwi shared at the meeting, said the document was adopted without due negotiations with civil society organisations (CSOs) and that women’s groups present at the meeting were unhappy about the development.
She said a statement issued by the CSOs stressed that the lack of consultations with civil society, the absence of information on opportunities for civil society to influence the conduct and outcome of the CSW meetings, the declaration and poor logistics and facilities that have prevented women from participating effectively had significantly reduced spaces for influencing decision-making by women’s organisations at the Beijing+15 review.
The Executive Director of Women’s Initiative for Self Empowerment (WISE), Ms Adwoa Bame, who reported on the Ghana NGOs Beijing+15 Review, said Ghana’s shadow report dwelt on: Women and poverty; education and training of women; women and health; violence against women, women in armed conflict and women and the economy.
Other areas that were tackled were women in power and decision-making, institutional mechanism for the advancement of women, human rights of women, women and the media, women and the environment, and the girl-child.
The Convenor of the Women’s Manifesto, Mrs Hamida Harrison, who spoke of CSOs’ engagement with national, regional, and global institutions, said after 15 years of accepting the Beijing declarations, the world was still grappling with the issue of women empowerment and gender equity.
She said although much progress had been made, there were still many challenges to women empowerment and despite the fact that the CSOs were working hard to uplift the status of women across the globe, their impact was yet to be felt.
According to her, CSOs needed a permanent place in policy and decision-making positions so as to influence policy change at all levels.

Shun greed, avarice - CJ

2010-04-30T08:33:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (spread) Sat. April 17/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Chief Justice, Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, has called on newly qualified lawyers to shun greed and avarice and work honestly to lift the image of the profession.
"My honest advice to you is that you desist from all manner of corrupt influences and practices. Guard jealously your integrity, compromising it is not an option, for I believe that your career will be the richer for having the courage at all times to stand up to what is right," she said.
The Chief Justice gave the advice when she swore in 52 newly qualified lawyers who were called to the Bar at a ceremony in Accra yesterday.
The ceremony, which was organised under the auspices of the General Legal Council, was also attended by the Chief Justice of Uganda, Mr Justice Benjamin Odoki.
"I ask that you remain mindful of the fact that the distinguished profession you have joined is a demanding one. It will demand of you a firm commitment to excellence marked by a zeal for integrity and honest hard work. I am not looking at success in monetary and material terms only," she charged the newly qualified lawyers.
"I assure you that if you do an honest day's work, maintaining high standards of integrity and good faith, you will reap the rewards of a good harvest," she added.
She also called on them to offer free legal services, saying that they should desist from only looking at what they would gain materially, "especially, that which is achieved through fraudulent practices, as sadly, this is the dishonourable path some have chosen for themselves and wreaked their lives".
"I extol the success that derives from professional values and work that impacts positively on society as a whole, particularly, on the lives of the under-privileged, the poor, or the voiceless," she added.
Mrs Justice Wood, who is also the Chairman of the General Legal Council, urged them to endeavour to take their time and study the craft, saying that it would take years of practice, dedication and commitment to learn the procedures of court and the fine nuances of the law.
She also urged them to ensure that they undertook a required six months’ internship under the tutelage and supervision of senior legal practitioners to ensure that they received a good foundation in the practice of law.
"I am very much aware of the many complaints about the appallingly low standards exhibited by young lawyers in the courts. I believe that this is partly as a result of their failure to apply themselves conscientiously to this aspect of legal training.
"I therefore urge you, for your own good, to register with reputable and well-established legal firms and law chambers to undertake your pupilage,” she added.
According to her, the council was in the process of instituting measures that would ensure that in future, law students on the professional law course would be enrolled as lawyers only upon proof that they had done their six months of internship.

We'll resist political trial- Abudus

2010-04-30T08:31:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (spread) Tues. April 13/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Abudu Royal Family in the Dagbon chieftaincy divide has indicated that it will resist any political trial by the government aimed at convicting innocent people to satisfy the Andani Royal Family.
According to the Abudu Family, “while we welcome any investigation into the unfortunate events of March 2002, we are disappointed that the Mills government has elected to embark on a political trial that has the sole objective of increasing its electoral fortunes by energising its political base in Dagbon”.
At a press briefing in Accra yesterday to register their displeasure at the arrest of seven members of the Abudu Royal Family in Yendi on Saturday, April 10, 2010 and one other in Tema in connection with the murder of the King of Dagbon, Ya Na Yakubu Andani II and 40 others in March 2002, the Abudu Family said it would resist any “kangaroo” trial and condemned the mode of arrest by some security operatives.
In March 2002 the King of Dagbon and 40 others were gruesomely murdered. The Wuaku Commission was set up by the then government to investigate the circumstances which led to the death of the king and the others.
After the completion of the work of the commission, a committee of three eminent chiefs was put in place to plot out the details of a road map towards the restoration of peace in Dagbon.
A representative of the Abudu Family, Dr Ziblim Iddi, who read the statement on behalf of the family, said, “No amount of political intimidation and persecution can break the spirit of the Abudu Family.”
“We are not going to stand in the way of justice but all we want is a fair trial,” he noted, saying that what was currently going on was a recipe for a mis-trial.
He said all the 40 Abudus who were initially picked up and screened in Yendi before seven of them were sent to Accra had not been told why they had been arrested, nor were they advised on their constitutional right to legal representation.
Describing the modus operandi of the arrest as being reminiscent of the dark and painful revolutionary days of the PNDC and the AFRC, Dr Iddi said various agents of the government had indulged in constitutional violations over the past 48 hours in their eagerness to appease the Andani Family in partial fulfilment of the NDC’s campaign pledge to the Andani Family.
“It is a sad day for Ghana’s democracy that the pursuit of justice has given way to the appeasement of political allies,” he said.
He said four persons out of the seven who were brought to Accra from Yendi were kept incommunicado from Saturday to Monday, while all efforts by their families to locate and communicate with them had failed.
They mentioned the four as Mahamadu Kojo, Alhassan Kpatuya, Yidana Sugri and Mahama Sayibu.
“We wish to reiterate our message to the President following his inaugural address that we intend to co-operate with any credible investigation initiated by the President to find the perpetrators of the events of March 2002,” Dr Iddi added.

Ghanaian Scientist receives Ronald Ross medal

2010-04-30T08:26:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg 14) Tues. April 13/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A Ghanaian Scientist, Professor Fred Binka, has been awarded the ‘Ronald Ross Medal’ for 2010, by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Prof. Binka, who is currently the Dean of the Faculty of School of Public Health in the College of Medical Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, was given the recognition due to his contribution to research on a wide range of disease problems in the tropics, especially on malaria.
Regarded as one of British most prestigious award in science, the award was instituted in 1997 to award scientist who research into malaria. Prof. Binka is the first scientist from a developing country to be awarded the medal.
It was named after Ronald Ross, a British scientist who was the first to discover that malaria was transmitted to man by a mosquito bite, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1902. The medal was set up to commemorate the centenary of Ross’s discovery of the transmission of malaria by the mosquito.
At a lunch organised in his honour after the award by the INDEPTH Network in Accra, Prof. Binka said “I feel good about this award because it is Ronald Ross who is regarded as the father of Malaria”.
Prof. Binka, who dedicated his award to INDEPTH, a health and demographic surveillance system based in Africa, Asia, Central America and Oceania, did most of his research work when he was the head of the Navrongo Health Research Institute and researched into several other areas such as the importance of Vitamin A supplementation for children, the use of the insecticide treated bed nets, among others.
The current chair of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa Regional Advisory Committee of experts on malaria, Prof. Binka in an interview with the Daily Graphic after the lunch challenged young scientists to ensure that they published their research work, saying that it was only when they published them that they would be recognised.
“The problem with scientists in the developing world is that they do not publish their research work; research and publishing are synonymous,” he added
The main force behind the setting up of the Malaria Clinical Trails Alliance (MCTA) funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, aimed at strengthening the capacity of research centres in Africa to conduct trials of malarial treatment and vaccines, Prof. Binka commended Ghana and the African continent as a whole, saying that although there were many diseases, malaria continued to get the most attention.
He said the country was doing well in its fight against malaria and called on all, especially policy makers and politicians, to commit more resources into finding a lasting solution to the menace of malaria in the country.
Prof. Binka, who also initiated the setting up of the INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies (INESS) to assess the effectiveness and safety of new anti-malarial drugs as they were introduced to African countries, also called on the government to ensure that chloroquine, which, according to him, was still being used by at least 30 per cent of the country’s population, was totally taken off the shelves.
The Director of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Elias Sory, who was present at the lunch, commended Prof. Binka for his achievement.
He called on all in the medical fraternity to devote themselves to selfless and dedicated services to ensure that healthcare delivery in the country became the envy of all on the continent.
Dr Sory also commended the leadership skills of Prof. Binka, saying that he was a visionary leader who nurtured and trained people to take over effectively from him.
The Executive Director of INDEPTH, Dr Osman Sankoh, in his appreciation to Prof. Binka for dedicating the award to the network, said the award would put the organisation on an international pedestal.
In a related development, Prof. Binka has also been awarded by the British Medical Journal, the Research Paper of the Year Award for 2010.

Consolidated African judicial system would foster trade - CJ

2010-04-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Spread) Sat. April 10/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
The Chief Justice (CJ), Mrs Justice Georgina Wood, says a consolidated African judicial system would foster trade and ease legal barriers among countries.
"Co-operation and consolidation of the judicial system will in the long run harmonise the laws relating to commerce especially with respect to the oil and gas industry."
The Chief Justice said this at the opening of a two-day International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC) Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Accra.
The conference, which brought together representatives of ILAC from different countries, was on the theme: "Co-operation and mutual consolidation of African Judicial systems."
ILAC, set up in 2002, is a worldwide consortium of non-governmental organisations, providing technical and legal assistance to post-conflict countries.
It has more than 20 member organisations with three million representatives of judges, prosecutors, lawyers and academics from across the world.
ILAC has carried out assessment missions and initiated legal reform projects in Afghanistan, Algeria, Morocco, Palestine and Rwanda.
According to the CJ, consolidating African judicial systems would also lead to the integration and development of the continent and bridge the gaps between regional economic blocks.
She said the world had become a global village and with the advent of the Internet and video links, “collaboration and mutual consolidation of African judicial systems is not an impossibility".
This, she said, made harmonisation imperative, adding that “even if continental consolidation does not appear to be achievable within the shortest possible time, regional consolidation should not elude us”.
She gave an assurance that the government and people of Ghana were determined to make constitutional democracy with its core values of an independent judiciary, the rule of law, promotion of human rights and freedoms continue to flourish.
"With the institutional support of partners like ILAC, the Ghanaian judiciary is determined to play its role in the nation's constitutional development effectively."
The Chairman of ILAC, Mr Paul Haddinott, commended the country’s justice system, saying that it was a beacon on the continent.
The Sweden Consul General in Ghana, Mr Amarkai Amartefio, who chaired the opening of the AGM, called on the international community, especially stakeholders in peace, security and development, to support ILAC to achieve its noble objectives.
He also urged ILAC to work tirelessly with the same commitment and dedication to the implementation of some of the UN treaties as it aims at restoring civil order after strife and conflicts.
This, he said, could be made possible if members impressed upon their governments to adopt the rights of the child under the UN Treaty in domestic legislation, among others.
Mr Amartefio invited delegates to support the initiative of the World Federation of Consults to amend the Vienna Convention on Consular relations to remove the inequalities between honorary consults and career consults to facilitate the performance of their duties.

ILO to delebrate on rights of domstic workers

2010-04-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (pg11) Sat. April 10/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
DOMESTIC workers, or domestic assistants render invaluable services in most homes to support families, mostly in the working class. They are referred to as domestic assistants when they are aged between 15 and 17, and domestic workers when they are above 18 years. They include house boys, gardeners, caretakers, child minders, cooks and drivers among others.
According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), although they help in the development of a country’s economy since they perform duties which otherwise should have been performed by their employers who are mostly employees and therefore, do not have the time to perform those chores, domestic assistants or domestic workers cnstitute a group of neglected people. This is because issues relating to their rghts addressed.
To discuss pertinent issues relating to the rights of domestic workers which is crucial to their survival and development, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) will in June this year hold a meeting on the issue.
At the forthcoming ILO meeting, delegates will debate on a draft convention on domestic workers, which when adopted, will be binding on all 182 member states of the ILO across the world.
An official from ILO-Ghana, Ms Adwoa Sekyi at an advocacy forum organised by LAWA-Ghana with support from the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) in Accra, who briefed the gathering on the proposed ILO Convention for Domestic Workers and the Women’s Movement, said the adoption of the convention has become imperative, as most laws do not protect the rights of domestic workers in most countries.
The forum will also aim at giving the participants an overview of a draft Domestic Workers’ Regulation of 2007, which is being spearheaded by LAWA-Ghana, and to evaluate a monitoring instrument which has been instituted to access a pilot survey being conducted on some domestic workers and their employers in Accra and Kumasi.
According to Ms Sekyi, most domestic workers were abused or maltreated while others were not paid adequately for the services that they rendered.
A Legal Practitioner, Ms Fidnette Adjatey, who is also a member of LAWA-Ghana gave an overview of the Draft Domestic Workers’ Regulation and said the aim of the organisation was to ensure that the regulation becomes a Legislative Instrument (LI), under the country’s Labour Act.
She said the present act does not provide enough protection to this group of people and the aim of the regulation was to promote their human right.
She said the regulation, which is in seven parts, talks about the purpose and definition of who a domestic worker or assistant is , employment contracts, wages and benefits, maximum hours of work; rest periods and leave, rights at work and enforcement.
Ms Adjetey said when the LI comes into being, it will effectuate the national policies of protecting workers and encourage development of the nation through development of workers.
The LI she said, will also help to formalise the employment relationship between domestic workers and their employers so as to begin the process of professionalising the operations of domestic workers and ensuring that they were not exploited.
The purpose of adopting the LI, she said, was also to recognise the important role of domestic workers to almost every household in the country.
Also,she said the LI would ensure that domestic work was recognised as an honourable and adequately remunerated profession so that more young people can take it up as a profession to help reduce the number of youth on the street.
A Development Consultant, Mr Samuel Asah who gave an overview of the instrument used in monitoring the pilot project, said domestic work was largely an urban phenomenon which has been largely promoted by urbanisation.
He said the issue of rural-urban migration has led to the situation where young people from rural areas moved to the urban centres in seach of non-existence jobs resulting in most of them offering cheap labour in most homes without contract or proper remuneration.
He said the issue of domestic work was an old phenomenon which employs a huge number of people and called for the necessary legislation to help regulate it.
The Executive Director of LAWA-Ghana, Mrs Barbara Ayensu in an address said the draft regulation was the result of a fact finding research organised in March 2003 by LAWA-Ghana, in partnership with the Georgetown University, USA, with the aim to look into the activities of people in that field.
He said the result of the research called for legal reforms which included the passage of a regulation on domestic work, the amendment of some laws such as section 42 of the Criminal Code to adequately cater for such people, a law to prohibit trafficking of children and curtail domestic violence.
She said so far LAWA-Ghana was piloting its research findings in the Ashanti, Western, Volta, Central and Greater Accra regions and hopes to cover the other regions in the country.
She said the focus of her organisation was to ensure that the government adopts the regulation to give a better security to people working in that field.

AGI pledges GH¢24m for 2010 census

2010-04-30T07:32:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Pg3) Sat. April 10/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Association of Ghana Industries (AGI) has expressed its readiness to provide an amount of GH¢24 million to support the funding of the 2010 National Census.
The assurance was given by the President of the association, Nana Owusu Afari, in response to an appeal from Dr Kwabena Duffuor, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, and Ms Hannah Tetteh, the Minister of Trade and Industry, to the private sector to support the funding of the census, estimated at GH¢70 million.
The government has committed itself to providing about 50 per cent of the funding, while the country’s development partners have pledged to provide 20 per cent, leaving a gap of 30 per cent in the budget for the exercise, which is expected to come off in the last quarter of the year.
At a breakfast meeting organised by the Ministry of Finance in Accra yesterday to solicit the support of the private sector towards the exercise, Nana Afari, however, called on the government to package its appeal processes in a way that would be enticing to the private sector.
The meeting was attended by representatives from financial institutions, corporate organisations, industries and enterprises.
Nana Afari commended the government for involving the association in the national data collection, saying that the data, when generated, would help members of the association in their planning processes.
Dr Duffuor said the private sector would gain a lot from a detailed demographic census, adding that most investment decisions and marketing strategies were based on reliable and comprehensive data and information.
He said the government recognised the important role played by the private sector in promoting the development of the country and saw the business community as an indispensable ally in the forthcoming population and housing census.
He, therefore, called on the business community to contribute generously to the conduct of the census.
For her part, Ms Tetteh underlined the need for the country to update its national data, saying today’s market had become competitive and so the business sector needed to have an idea of its target market before it could set up branches.
The Government Statistician, Dr Grace Bediako, who gave an overview of the 2010 Population and Housing Census, said the exercise would capture the geographic and international characteristics, as well as the educational and economic background of people who would be in the country on the census night.
Other areas that data would be generated, she said, were disability, information and communications technology (ICT), agriculture, housing and community facilities, among others.
She underscored the importance of the 2010 census and said the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) had so far mapped out 36,500 enumeration areas, comprising 104,500 localities that would be covered during the census.
About 60,000 field officers are expected to be recruited through the Internet this month as the beginning of the preparations for the conduct of the 2010 Population and Housing Census.

Chinese company to set up clinic

2010-04-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (spread), Tues. April 06/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

Tasly, a Chinese pharmaceutical company, is to open a specialised Traditional Chinese Medicine Service Centre (TCM) in Accra in May, 2010, to concentrate mainly on treating chronic pains.
The centre will also specialise in treating hypertension, diabetes, stroke, hepatitis and malaria, using acupuncture, cupping (a traditional Chinese therapy) and medical massage.
The Managing Director of Tasly Ghana Limited, Mr Tom Xu, in an interview with the Daily Graphic in Accra, said the clinic which would be managed by a doctor from China would be the third in Africa after South Africa and Nigeria.
Tasly has 24 pharmaceutical outlets across the world with 12 in Africa, including Ghana.
He said the clinic which would be purely a herbal treatment centre would combine Chinese therapy and not use any chemical in its treatment in order to avoid any side effects.
“Tasly, the third largest pharmaceutical company in China, has been in Ghana for five years and has been helping more than one million people but we want to serve more people”, he added.
So far, he said, Tasly which was an international pharmaceutical and health industry had 60,000 distributors in the country, with 200 speciality shops located in Accra, Tema, Kumasi and Takoradi.
He said the company which had a $22 billion stock value with a net capital of $2 billion was hoping to open more outlets across the country.
Mr Xu praised the Ghanaian economy, saying “Ghana is a good place to do business”.
The MD who was accompanied by the Administrative Manager of Tasly Ghana, Mr Shawn Lin, also said the company since it came to Ghana occasionally undertook free health screening for hypertension, diabetes and other general illnesses.
He said the company also worked with Family International, a non-governmental organisation, in its communal service.
Mr Xu said Tasly, which was a network of group of companies, also rewarded its hardworking distributors out of which 40 of them had received salon cars and three others had received 4x4 vehicles with 30 others being sponsored in international travels.

Population housing census - 60,000 Field Officers to be recruited

2010-04-30T07:04:00.001-07:00

Daily Graphic (Back Page), Tues, April 6/10
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

SIXTY thousand field officers are to be recruited through the Internet this month as the beginning of the preparations for the conduct of the 2010 National Population and Housing Census.
The National Census Steering Committee has fixed the date for the start of the 2010 National Census in the last quarter of the year but is awaiting confirmation from the Cabinet.
Ghana’s 2010 national census, which was originally expected to take place in March, was delayed because the Census Secretariat needed ample time to capture data from a trial census organised in November last year.
A member of the Recruitment and Training Unit of the Census Secretariat, Mr John Kwabena Agyaho, told the Daily Graphic in Accra that the secretariat would do the recruitment through online applications.
Three new areas, namely agriculture, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and disability, have been introduced into the 2010 questionnaire for the future use of such data.
Some of the normal questions that would appear on the questionnaire would elicit information on age, fertility, religious affiliation, as well as educational and economic characteristics of people.
This year’s census will also capture all housing structures, including kiosks, mosques, churches and school buildings in the country.
The Census Secretariat has estimated to capture about 25 million people, who will be residing within the country during the census.
According to Mr Agyaho, after the trail census, the secretariat realised that some unscrupulous persons sold recruitment forms for GH¢10 and therefore the online application was a way of eliminating such fraudulent deals.
He said the minimum qualification for an applicant would be a Higher National Diploma (HND), adding that an online recruitment, which would attract about 100,000 applicants, would make it faster and easier for qualified applicants to be selected.
He said the online application process will also give all the applicants an equal opportunity for them to be selected.
Mr Agyaho, who is an Assistant Statistician at the Ghana Statistical Service, added that the service would make available its offices at the regional and district levels and also open satellite offices where people who would want to be enumerators or field officers would go and fill the online application forms.
He said the site www.statsghana.gov.gh would be open till the end of May to give ample time for all interested applicants to apply.
He added that the applicants would be shortlisted for an interview and those who would be successful would be trained before they were put on the field.
He said the secretariat was in talks with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the regional and district directors of education to ensure that teachers were encouraged to apply as enumerators or field officers.

Swine flu hits Achimota Basic School

2010-03-31T02:36:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (front page) Monday, March 29/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE H1N1 flu, otherwise known as swine flu, does not seem to go away, with the Achimota Basic School being its latest victim.
Three cases of the H1N1 flu have compelled the authorities to close down the school for two weeks.
The Lincoln Community School in Accra was the first to have been hit by the swine flu in the latter part of last year. Since then, it has spread to the Okuapeman Senior High School in the Eastern Region, the Merton Primary in Accra and the Tema Parents School.
At the Achimota Basic School, students in the boarding house have been asked to stay at home until April 6, 2010 to allow for the fumigation of the school.
The Headmaster, Mr Frank Armah, told an Accra FM station that the school was closed down on the directive of the Director of Basic Education at the Ministry of Education, Mr Stephen Adu.
Pupils in the Primary and the Junior High School departments were sent home at the weekend after a test at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical and Research (NMIMR) had confirmed that three children had been infected with the swine flu.
The school had been deserted when the Daily Graphic visited the place on Sunday, with no sign of any primary or JHS student being around.
Only students of the senior high school could be seen around.
The news of the outbreak of the disease had been reported in the media as of March 24, 2010. However, the reports suggested that authorities of the school were trying to hush it, although they had brought in doctors to educate the pupils on the disease.
The Greater Accra Regional Health Directorate confirmed the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza early last week in an interview with a local FM station in Accra.
The Schedule Officer at the directorate, Mr O. Wula, at that time said the school was strictly monitoring events, even though the situation was not alarming.
Some parents who spoke to the station on condition of anonymity blamed the authorities of the Achimota School for trying to put a lid on the outbreak of the H1N1 influenza in the school.
The parents demanded that their children be released so that they (parents) could take them to their private doctors, since they suspected that the treatment being administered to them at the school might not be the best.
In an interview on the same network, a human rights advocate, Nana Oye Lithur, called for legal action to be taken against teachers of the school whom she accused of harbouring the children after the H1N1 influenza had been detected there.
According to her, parents had the right to know the health status of their children, yet when the disease was detected, school authorities did not inform the parents but rather brought in doctors to educate the children on the disease.
Nana Lithur said bringing in doctors to diagnose and educate the children was in the right direction but the authorities should have informed the children’s parents.

AMAL Bank, Graphic to promote health

2010-03-31T02:31:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Spread) Saturday, March 27/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Amalgamated Bank Ltd (AmalBank) and the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) have expressed their willingness to cooperate in the areas of health promotion, education and business as part of their social responsibility programmes.
This was the outcome of a meeting between the management of the two companies held at the GCGL on Friday.
The Managing Director of AmalBank, Mr Menson C. D. Torkornoo, led a team of four management personnel to the meeting. The other members were the Executive Assistant to the Managing Director, Mr Hamis Ussif; the Head of Legal Services/ Company Secretary, Mr Godwyll Ansah; the Head of Human Capital, Ms Jocelyn Emma Ackon, and the Corporate Affairs Manager, Mr Kobina Woode.
The Graphic team comprised the Managing Director, Mr Ibrahim Awal; the General Manager of Finance, Mr Baah Adade, and the Public Affairs Manager of GCGL, Mr Albert Sam.
Briefing the meeting on his bank, Mr Torkornoo said AmalBank was currently the number 12 among the 25 commercial banks in the country, adding that it was the determination of management to improve on the bank’s rating.
He was, therefore, optimistic that the collaboration between AmalBank and GCGL would help make the bank more visible and profitable.
He commended the GCGL for its role in informing and educating Ghanaians on important national and international issues.
Mr Torkornoo also commended the GCGL on its 60th anniversary, adding that Graphic had become synonymous with credibility within the media circles.
He said AmalBank, which was the first private Ghanaian bank in the country, so far had 19 branches in the country with three in Kumasi and said the bank aimed at opening more business offices in the country.
The MD of GCGL, Mr Awal, noted that the collaboration between the two banks would also help to improve the socio-economic conditions of people living in the catchment area of Graphic and AmalBank.
Mr Awal said GCGL would continue to provide the platform for Ghanaians of different backgrounds to contribute their quota to national development.
According to him, GCGL had come a long way since its establishment 60 years ago and its interest apart from growing its business was to help in the development of the country.

MP urges Prez Mills to be in firm control

2010-03-31T02:23:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic, (Pg. 15), Friday, March 26/10

Story:Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

THE Member of Parliament (MPs) for Akyem Oda, Mr Yaw Owusu Boateng, has challenged President J.E.A. Mills to be in firm control of his government in order to meet the development targets of the country, as well as fulfil the NDC campaign manifesto pledges.
“Judging from the way things are moving in the country, the President, Prof. John Evans Ata Mills, does not seem to be in control of his government and this does not augur well for the progress of the nation,” the MP told the Daily Graphic in an interview yesterday.
From security to the economy, governance and education among others issues, the MP was of the view that there were visible problems which when not checked would hold back the clock of progress and the country’s development agenda.
The MP said recent happenings on the security front showed that the general security of the country was threatened, saying, “There are warning signals such as the Akwatia mayhem which preceded the bye-election in 2009, skirmishes at the Cheriponi bye-elections, the Techimanhene-Asantehene-Tuobodom issue, among other chieftaincy and land issues such as the ones at Garizhegu in the Tamale North Constituency of the Northern Region and Danchira, near Weija in the Greater Accra Region.”
Armed robbery, he said, was also on the ascendancy, as people, including MPs, had for some time now been burgled in succession.
Robbers, the MP noted, were having a field day putting the general security of the country in jeopardy.
He said people were not secured in their daily lives, intimating that “in terms of security things are not working”.
He described the state of the country as being lawless as there is a lot of indisciplined behaviour in almost every sector of the economy.
He said what was worrying of late was the general indisciplined attitudes of some NDC party members who went about ceasing toilets and cars because their party was in power.
On the economy, Mr Boateng wondered why the government was wasting money in going round to get people’s views on how the revenue from the oil find was to be used.
According to him, in his state of the nations address to Parliament this year, President Mills stated that he wanted to leave a legacy by investing in industries and therefore sorting public views was just a window dressing as the President had already made up his mind on how he was going to utilise the revenues.
Mr Boateng, who does not favour the Presidents plans of investing in industries, said public investment in industrialisation from history had neither worked for the country nor many other countries across the world.
Alternatively, he said, the government could invest outside the country where the profit gained could be used in boosting infrastructures such as schools and roads.
On the issue of governance, he said the country had a problem in that area especially with the government’s decision to implement the Representation of People’s Amendment Law (ROPAL) which was passed by the previous administration but was opposed by the current government.
He said the way out was for the government to introduce biometric voting by ensuring that the Electoral Commission was supported to embark on voter education with support from the political parties.
On the educational front, Mr Boateng said the educational system in the country had become problematic, saying that although most experts in education and educationalists believed in a four-year curricula, the present government was burnt on changing the system just because it was in its manifesto to implement a three-year educational system.
Changing the curricula, he said, disturbed the children, as well as their parents, teachers and society at large.
All these happenings, he said, pointed to the fact that things were not going on well although the government claimed things were moving in the right direction, adding that the government should seriously deal with the problems facing the country else it would not meet her development targets.

Datakids crèche inaugurated

2010-03-26T02:30:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic, Pg 11. Tues. March 23/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
MOST nursing mothers, after their maternity leave, find it difficult adjusting to their normal work schedules, since they have to leave their babies in the care of grandparents, other relatives or nannies.
This makes the transition back to work after maternity leave very frustrating and unpleasant, most especially for mothers who are not comfortable with the people they leave their babies with.
Some are forced to take their babies to the crèche at an early age and this also puts the babies at risk of contracting various infections and diseases.
Although most workers relish the idea of a crèche in their offices where they can take their babies and drop in intermittently to either breast-feed or check on them, not many see the idea as materialising in their companies.
The staff of Databank Financial Services in Accra are, however, lucky to have a crèche to cater for the needs of nursing mothers who resume work after their maternity leave.
Built by the management of the bank, the Datakids Crèche, which started operating in September last year, is being manned by a retired nursing officer of the Ghana Armed Forces, Captain Nana Adams (retd), and three supporting crèche tutors.
Presently, the crèche has 14 children, made up of eight toddlers aged between eight months and two years and four pupils who drop in to wait for their parents after they close from school.
Interestingly, at the Datakids Crèche, not only mothers who work at the bank drop in their babies but also fathers whose wives work in other companies where the facility is non-existent also drop in their babies to enable their mothers to have their peace of mind at their various workplaces.
The Datakids Crèche is fitted with a kitchenette and a washroom and the babies are fed with food which their parents pack for them and they are bathed whenever necessary and also just before they are picked up.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Databank, Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, who was at the opening ceremony of the Datakids Crèche, said the project was one of the Databank’s means of ensuring that its workers worked in a comfortable environment.
He said the need for the crèche became necessary when the company realised that it was necessary to meet the needs of its staff to boost productivity.
According to him, the establishment of the crèche within the premises of the company would help attain that objective, since nursing mothers would have the peace of mind to work.
He said if all companies began to put the interest of their employees’ children at the centre of their businesses, the country would begin to cherish its children and that would help make the work of women easier.
The Head of Human Capital and Administration at Databank, Mrs Felicia Gyamfi Ashley, said the company also offered a week’s paternity leave for men whose wives were delivered of babies, saying that enabled the fathers to offer their wives the needed services within the period.
She said Databank had the interest of the family at heart and that in celebrating 20 years of its existence, it saw the crèche as a more appropriate opportunity to cater for the interest of nursing mothers who were staff of the company.
The Crèche Mother, Captain Nana Adams (retd), said with her expertise as a former nursing officer, she was able to offer relevant advice to the young mothers and fathers who brought their children to the crèche, as well as ensure that they were properly taken care of.
She said the Datakids Crèche admitted children from birth to six years when they were ready to be integrated into the formal school system.
A father whose baby has, since the start of the crèche, been benefiting from services provided by the centre, said the facility had been a blessing to him and his wife who also worked in another bank.
The father, Mr Emmanuel Quarm, said his wife had to start work a month after delivery and putting the baby in the crèche had been more of a blessing than they had expected.
According to him, he now worked with a free mind, since he did not have to think of the safety or otherwise of his baby.
Mrs Sophia Quarm said the crèche could not have been established at a better time.
She said the place had been of tremendous help to her as a new mother, since she also learnt a lot from the Crèche Mother.

GIWC commended for its charitable work

2010-03-26T02:29:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic, Pg 11. Sat. March 20/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Mrs Betty Mould Iddrisu, has commended the Ghana International Women’s Club (GIWC) for helping to better the lives of a number of less privileged women in the country.
Speaking at a fund raising and tea party organised by the group in Accra for its members, the minister lauded the club for undertaking various projects in parts of the country to make life more meaningful for women and children.
She called on other women groups in the country to help deprived women progress in live.
She said the government was trying to accelerate development in the three northern regions, and called on private individuals to channel their projects to that part of the country to benefit more women and children.
The President of the club, Mrs Nagwa Katta, said the club had funded over three hundred projects in parts of the country, adding that it was aiming at undertaking more development projects that would better the lives of more women in the country.
She said after 30 years of service in the country, the club, which was made up of women from different nations residing in Ghana, would continue to initiate projects in deprived communities in the country, and called for more support to enable the club to attain its objectives.
The Project Chairperson of the GIWC, Mrs Florence Frimpong, mentioned the Autism Centre in Accra, the Orthopaedic Centre at Nsawam, the Breeches Day Care Centre, the Accra Psychiatric Hospital and the Okuapeman School, as some of the places where the club’s projects are located. She also said others were the Dzorwulu Special School, the Osu Library, the Sesami Women’s Group in the Brong Ahafo Region and a farming project for the Navrongo Women’s Group.
She said in 2008, the club raised $30,000 to fund over 170 cataract operations for some less deprived people.
Currently she said the club was aiming at providing beds for the Obstetric Unit of the Ridge Hospital.

ECOWAS meets on climate change

2010-03-19T10:35:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (spread)Fri. March 19/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
MINISTERS of Environment from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) met in Accra yesterday to adopt and validate a sub-regional programme of action to reduce the negative impact of climate change in the sub-region.
Dubbed, “Programme of Strategic Guidelines on Reduction of Vulnerability to Climate Change in West Africa”, the document is intended to serve as guidelines for countries within the sub-region.
The document was drafted during a meeting of technical committee of experts in agriculture, environment and water resources in conformity with the decision of the Summit of Heads of State and Government held in February in Abuja.
Addressing the meeting, the Minister for Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Sherry Ayittey, said climate change was real and its impact was devastating.
She said climate change was affecting the major drivers of the country’s economy including agriculture, industry and infrastructure.
Ms Ayittey said climate change impacts had the greatest potential to undermine significant components of existing economic and social infrastructure, adding that current changes already threatened to undermine progress made towards the achievement of development goals.
She said adapting to climate change and building climate-resilient economies were a must and there was the urgent need to transition towards a sub-regional green low-emissions economies now.
For his part, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources of the ECOWAS Parliament, Mr Ousseini Salifou said the issue of climate change was of great concern due to its effects on human life, animals and plants.
He said climate change was one of the worst impediments to the promotion of sustainable development, achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and poverty reduction.
According to him, experts had predicted that the West African sub-region would be one of the worst affected by climate change and might probably have the most negative impact.
He said a clear reduction of vulnerability to climate change for the natural, economic and social systems in the sub-region would necessitate production of scientific knowledge and technical innovations, as well as reforms of current policies and habits.
Mr Salifou called for the voluntary adoption of a management system marked by great anticipation capacity in order to significantly achieve effective reduction of vulnerability of the natural systems.

October set for census date

2010-03-19T01:19:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic (Back Page), Friday, March 19/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE date for the conduct of the National Population Census has now been tentatively fixed for October 26, this year.
The National Census Steering Committee is said to have fixed the date for the last quarter of the year but it is waiting for a confirmation from Cabinet.
According to a source at the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the date was fixed after the committee had deliberated with the Ghana Education Service (GES) and other stakeholders to ensure that the date was convenient to all.
The census, which will be undertaken by 36,000 enumerators and 9,000 supervisors, mostly made up of teachers, will be conducted within a period of two weeks.
The 2010 national census, which was originally expected to take place this month, was delayed because the Census Secretariat needed ample time to capture data from the trial census organised in November last year.
Ghana normally organises its national census, which captures the data of every person living within the borders of the country at census night, in or around March every 10 years but this year’s census delayed due to other factors, such as the commencement of the African Cup of Nations and the World Cup.
According to experts, such major events could affect the seriousness of the census programme.
According to the source, three new areas on agriculture, Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and disability will be introduced into this year’s questionnaire.
The new areas will be introduced alongside some of the normal questions on age, fertility, religious affiliation, as well as educational and economic characteristics of people.
This year’s census will also capture all housing structures, including kiosks, mosques, churches and school buildings in the country.
The Census Secretariat estimates to capture about 25 million people who will be residing within the country on the day of the census.
At a press conference organised in January this year, the Minister of Finance, who is the Chairman of the National Census Steering Committee, said the government was sourcing additional funds from the private sector and developing partners to finance the 2010 Population and Housing Census.
He said the country needed more than US$49 million to organise the census, noting that as of January this year, it had set aside GH¢37 million towards the implementation of the census programme.
The minister, at the press conference, commended the country’s development partners, such as the UNFPA, the DFID, the UNDP, DANIDA, UNICEF, the Swiss government and the People’s Republic of China, for their contribution and pledges, which amounted to US$5 million.

Ghana, B. Faso, Mali sign €133.1m energy pact

2010-03-19T01:17:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic,(Back page) Thurs. March 18/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
GHANA, Burkina-Faso and Mali yesterday signed onto a €133.1 million energy interconnection project to link the three countries.
The 742-kilometre project will transfer an initial 130 megawatts of energy from Han in Ghana, to Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Fasso and Sikasso and Bamako, both in Mali.
The project, expected to be completed within 45 months, will be financed by the three countries and will be facilitated by the West African Power Pool (WAPP) Secretariat.
A communiqué that will commit the three countries to the project was signed by the ministers of energy from the three countries in Accra yesterday.
Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Energy, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini, who represented the sector minister, said the natural gas from Ghana’s oil find would constitute the critical fuel for the power generation.
He said presently, a 330kV Coastal Backbone Project, being financed partly by the Korean government, was under construction at the Aboadze-Prestea-Kumasi Transmission Line, to help address the country’s serious transmission capacity inadequacies.
Alhaji Fuseini said the backbone project would form part of the planned infrastructure required for the operation of the proposed West Africa grid network being undertaken by the three countries.
He said the network in the northern part of the country was being strengthened with the construction of a 161kV transmission line linking Tumu, Han and Wa and explained that the project, scheduled for completion by the close of 2013, would tie into the Ghana-Burkina Faso-Mali interconnection project.
He said the generation of power from Ghana’s oil production would help to give a predictable and sustainable energy price for all in the sub-region.
He called on the various utility companies in the three countries to develop common technical standards that would ensure that the systems put in place operated on common standards.
The Secretary-General of WAPP, Mr Amadu Diallo, in an address said the project, which had minimal environmental and social impact, had been approved by the various environmental protection agencies in the three countries.
He said WAPP, after the adoption of the document, would commence with the preparation of bidding documents, mobilisation of funding, as well as a supplementary work to establish an institutional framework.

Give women quality health services

2010-03-19T01:15:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic, Pg. 11 Thurs. March 18/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
UNSAFE abortion is defined as a procedure for termination of unwanted pregnancies either by persons lacking the necessary skills or in an environment lacking minimal medical standards or both.
Health experts say the problem accounts for the country’s high maternal mortality rate, with unsafe abortions accounting for 11 per cent of the country’s maternal mortality rate.
Factors, including harmful socio-cultural practices such as trokosi, widowhood rites, female genital circumcision, women branded as witches, child marriages, stigmatisation of the disabled, among others, work against reducing maternal mortality in the country.
To halt all these negative cultural practises, Ghana has ratified a number of international convention relevant to the realisation of women’s reproductive rights such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, among others.
Also, the government has put in place a lot of domestic legislation and policy frameworks, including the Children’s Act, the National Health Insurance Act, Reproductive Health Policy, Adolescent Reproductive Health Policy, Matrimonial Causes Act, Criminal Code and the Domestic Violence Act to ensure that women make free and informed decisions about issues that affect their reproductive and sexual lives without any fear of coercion, violence or discrimination.
According to a Gynaecologist at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Dr Ali Samba, most women abort unwanted pregnancies because family planning services are not accessible or affordable.
Dr Samba, who was making a presentation on “Saving women’s lives: The situation of maternal mortality in Ghana and the interventions to address maternal mortality” at a seminar in Accra, said most women in the country ended up having unsafe abortions due to the restrictive abortion laws and policies in the country.
The seminar was organised by the Human Rights Advocacy Centre (HRAC) and the Reducing Maternal Mortality and Mobidity (R3M) Programme in Accra recently on the theme “Saving the organ of creation”. It was aimed at educating students of the University of Ghana, Legon, as part of an advocacy activity aimed at enlightening the students on their reproductive rights.
Partnered by the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy (CEGENSA), the seminar also provided a platform for the students to come out on how the economic, social and cultural practices within the country contribute to protecting their reproductive rights.
Dr Samba reiterated his call to make family planning services free, saying women who could not afford the service would rather opt for the free antenatal care services, which were currently being offered in public hospitals as opposed to paying for contraceptive or family planning services.
Nana Oye Lithur, Director of the HRAC, in a presentation, said although abortion, to some extent, was criminal in the country, women rarely reported cases of abortion, neither were they prosecuted for them.
She said between 2002 and 2006, the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service recorded 89 attempted cases of abortion. The same outfit, she said, also recorded 69 cases of abortions within the same period.
According to her, in all circumstances in which abortion is permitted by law, that is when the pregnancy is the result of rape and when the pregnancy poses danger to the health of the pregnant woman, it should be safe, saying that in all cases, women should have access to quality services for the management of complications arising from abortions.
She said the law on abortion in Ghana was stated in the Criminal Offences Act, 1960 (Act 29) Section 58 and 59. She pointed out that although there was no legislative instrument (LI) to back the law, the Ghana Health Service had developed standards and protocols for the prevention and management of unsafe abortion and comprehensive abortion care.

ECOWAS to adopt policy on climate change

2010-03-16T05:36:00.003-07:00

Daily Graphic (spread) Tuesday, March 16/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
AN ECOWAS ministerial meeting on the adoption of a climate change policy for West Africa opened in Accra yesterday, with an assurance by the Ghana government to pursue measures to reduce the environmental consequences of oil production to the barest minimum.
The Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Ms Sherry Ayittey, who gave the assurance, said the government would use appropriate technologies to ensure that carbon emissions and other dangerous greenhouse gases that would be emitted during oil production and processing were captured and stored.
The two-day meeting is expected to adopt a sub-regional document on climate change policy for West Africa.
The minister said with the production of oil, the country would move from being a low to a high carbon emitter, hence the need to take measures to ensure that appropriate environmental management and safety standards were taken.
“Currently, my government has mandated the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct a strategic environmental impact assessment of the entire oil production to advise the government on the relevant steps it needed to take to address the adverse effects of oil production on our economy, culture and, above all, our environment," she stated.
Ms Ayitey underscored the need for the sub-regional leaders and policy makers to make reducing the impact of climate change a topmost priority, saying that with the observed trend and projected increases in temperatures and the concomitant decrease in rainfall in all ecological zones, it was certain that water resources and hydro-power production would be seriously affected.
She said climate change was bound to worsen health conditions because it would lead to the incidence of water, air and food-borne diseases.
She said the Climate Change conference in Copenhagen in December last year did not deliver the fair, equitable and just outcome that was expected by all, adding that African countries would continue to call for a reduction in emissions from developed countries.
Ms Ayittey urged the participants to come up with an effective document, saying that the sub-region must have a broad framework to address all the issues.
For his part, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources of the ECOWAS Parliament, Mr Ousseini Salifou, said the meeting was aimed at coming up with a tangible strategy that would enable the sub-region to deal effectively with the issue of climate change.
He said the document, when finalised, would become a pillar and vital tool to deal with various mitigation measures to combat climate change.
He said Africa was united at the Copenhagen summit and that regional leaders would ensure that they continued to present issues with one voice.
He said ECOWAS would continue to support and contribute its quota to ensure that the sub-region experienced minimal effects of climate change.
Mr Salifou gave the assurance that ECOWAS would work closely with relevant agencies and bodies to help find solutions to the negative effects of climate change.
In a related development, African civil society groups yesterday began a four-day meeting in Accra to seek a solution to climate change and protect the continent’s interest in climate matters, reports Mark-Anthony Vinorkor.
Mindful of the fact that climate change is the defining human development and security issue of this generation and that millions of Africans are being forced to cope with the impact of climate change, the organisations are meeting to discuss ways to combine efforts to deal with the problem.
The conference is being organised and sponsored by Friends of the Earth, Ghana.
Ms Ayittey, in a speech read on her behalf, observed that civil society organisations (CSOs) were closer to the grass roots, lived and worked among local populations and so they were in a very good position to bring out the voices from the ground.
She said the ministry considered CSOs as key stakeholders in environmental management in the country working from all levels of policy making, implementation and monitoring and evaluation.
To that effect, she said, the membership of the national Climate Change Committee included non-governmental organisations.
Ms Ayittey noted that a successful outcome from the Copenhagen meeting on climate change would have been deep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions and adequate funds to address climate change in developing countries, but the summit did not deliver that directly.
“Copenhagen, therefore, fell short of the expectations of many developing countries,” she added.
She said developing countries bore little responsibility for causing the climate crisis but they would be hit hardest, saying that was, unfortunately, the case of the continent.
However, Ms Ayittey added, the political willingness demonstrated by global leaders to be present and attend the conference in Copenhagen clearly showed that there was recognition that climate change was one of the greatest threats to socio-economic development and needed multilateral approach.
“Despite the shortcomings, future negotiations on global climate change debate have not closed but the road will not be easy. That is why there is the need for all stakeholders, particularly Africa, to begin to critically analyse the Copenhagen Accord and its implications as a continent and also as individual countries,” she added.
Mr Mithika Mwenda, the Co-ordinator of the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance, said climate change posed the greatest threat to the survival of humanity and the earth.
He noted that efforts to defeat the challenge of climate change were meeting huge boulders of rock and that time was running out for the global community to act.

Spain presents computers to Immigration

2010-03-16T05:31:00.000-07:00

Daily Graphic, (Backpage) Sat. March 14/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Spanish government has presented 26 computers and accessories to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) to facilitate the establishment of a new Centre of Expertise on Migration and Identity Documents.
The donation formed part of the Spanish government’s support for Ghana to fight illegal migration to other countries, especially Europe.
The computers and accessories, costing €58,000, were received by the Director of the GIS, Ms Elizabeth Adjei, at a ceremony in Accra
The Head of the Migration Desk at the Office of the Director-General of Migration and International Relationship at the Ministry of Interior, Spain, Mr Vincent Garcia Sanjuan, made the presentation of the computers and its accessories.
He said Spain encouraged legal migration through a policy of collaboration and co-operation with third countries, especially West African countries, through the contracting of foreign workers at the point of origin.
He said in the framework of international co-operation, Spain participated in a very active way in all European Union programmes against illegal migration, as well as with other international organisations, as the country was a pioneer in the signing of bilateral and mutual agreements.
He said it was the duty of authorities to fight illegal migration to reduce or eliminate the action of organised groups who perpetuated that crime.
The Charge d’Affairs of Spain in Ghana, Mrs Rebecca Chantel Guinea Stal, said her country would continue to collaborate with Ghana to help stop illegal migration.
Ms Adjei said Ghana had benefited and continued to benefit from support from the Spanish government in the fight against illegal migration.
She said aside from capacity building programmes, her outfit had also benefited from 14 digital border surveillance equipment for 14 major border crossing points in the country at a cost of two million euros from the Spanish government.

Women - Invaluable partners in national dev’t

2010-03-07T05:31:00.000-08:00

Daily Graohic, Pg. 11. Saturday, March 07/10

Compiled by: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

GHANA’s Fourth Republic can be considered as being more gender-friendly than any other regime in the history of the country. It has made history in many ways with the appointment of many females to top decision-making positions in the country.
The Speaker of Parliament, Joyce Adeline Bamford-Addo, who was born on March 26, 1937, is a retired Supreme Court Judge. She is the first female Speaker in Ghana. According to Ghana’s constitution, she is the third in the order of precedence in the country and comes after the President and Vice President of the Republic.
She became a Supreme Court Judge in 1991 from where she continued to dispense justice for more than 13 years until she retired voluntarily from active service in 2004.
There is also the first female Chief Justice of Ghana, Georgina Theodora Wood, who was born on June 8, 1947. She had her basic education at Bishop Girls and Methodist Schools, Dodowa. She then attended Mmofraturo Girls School, Kumasi, from 1958 to 1960. Georgina Wood's secondary education was at Wesley Girls High School, Cape Coast, which she completed in 1966. She proceeded to the University of Ghana, Legon, where she was awarded the L.L.B. in 1970. She then attended the Ghana Law School after which she was called to the bar.
She also did the Post-graduate Officers Training Course at the Ghana Police College. Georgina Wood worked with the Ghana Police Service as a deputy superintendent and public prosecutor for three years. She later joined the Judicial Service as a District Magistrate in 1974. She rose through the Circuit and High Courts to become the presiding judge of the Appeal Court in 1991.
She is a judge and also a former police prosecution officer. She is the first woman to occupy the position of a Chief Justice in the country.
She was nominated for the position in May 2007. On June 1, 2007, Parliament approved her nomination.
The first female Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Betty Mould-Iddrisu, until recently, was the Director of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Division for the Commonwealth Secretariat – a position she assumed in November 2003. She has a vast experience with the Ghanaian Ministry of Justice, specifically in administering various facets of intellectual property law, international law, human rights and gender in Ghana and the rest of Africa.
She was Chief State Attorney and head of the International Law Division of the Ministry of Justice. She established the intellectual property course and taught it on a part-time basis at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon, from 1990 to 2000.
The Director of Immigration, Ms Elizabeth Adjei, was appointed in September 2002. She is the first female Director of the Ghana Immigration Service. She joined the Service as an administrative assistant in 1988.
Ms Akua Sena Dansua was born on April 23, 1958 at Hohoe in the Volta Region. She is the Member of Parliament for North Dayi and is also the first female Minister for Youth and Sports.
She trained as a journalist and worked with the Weekly Spectator newspaper in Accra as the Features Editor. She took a prostgraduate course in Communication Studies at the University of Ghana, Legon, completing in 1990.
She was appointed the Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs by President J.E. Atta Mills in 2009 and moved to the Sports Ministry this year as the first female to occupy that ministerial position, which is largely perceived as the preserve of men.
She has been the Technical Advisor to the National Council on Women and Development, and Media Consultant to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)— 1995.
Other women have also achieved success in other fields, including Akua Kuenyehia. She was born in 1947 and has been a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC), in The Hague, Netherlands since 2003 and until March 2009, she was the First Vice-president of the Court. She is one of three female African judges at the ICC.
She was educated at the University of Ghana, Legon and Oxford University and she has spent most of her professional career teaching at the University of Ghana, becoming the Dean of the Faculty of Law, and as a visiting professor at other institutions internationally.
She was the Dean of the Faculty of Law when she was elected as a judge. During her time in the university, she taught criminal law, gender and the law, international human rights law and public international law.
She is a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ghana. She has experience as a solicitor, advocate and human rights expert, and in criminal law and procedure. She also has experience as an administrator and has expertise in gender and the law, international human rights issues and was a member of the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
Professor Ama Ata Aidoo, is a renowned Ghanaian writer and poet, who was born on March 23, 1942 at Abeadzi Kyiakor in the Central Region. She graduated from the University of Ghana in 1964.
She has taught in universities for many years in Kenya and the United States of America (USA). In 1974 she was a consulting professor to the Phelps-Stokes Fund's Ethnic Studies Programme in Washington.
She gained recognition as a writer with her first publication in 1965, “The Dilemma of a Ghost,” which she published when she was 23 years. She won the Commonwealth Writers Prize with her second novel, ‘Changes: A love story’.
In 1970 she wrote ‘Anowa: No Sweetness Here’. She later wrote ‘Our sister kill joy: Reflections from a black-eyed squint, in 1977. In 1982 she was appointed as the Minister of Education but after 18 months, when she realised that she couldn't achieve her aims, she resigned.
Among some of the books she authored are ‘Someone talking to sometime’, ‘The Eagle and the Chicken’, ‘Birds and other poems’, ‘The girl who can and other stories’. She explored the social conscience of her African peers through her writing, speaking, and teaching endeavours.
She has won many literary awards, including the 1992 Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Africa) for Changes- A Love Story. She also won the Nelson Mandela Prize for Poetry in 1987 for ‘Someone Talking to Something’.
Prof. Abena Dolphyne, the first female Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, Legon. She is also a former chairperson of the Methodist University College and a conference member of the Methodist Church.
She was a Professor of Linguistics and wrote two books in Twi (an Akan dialect in Ghana). The book introduces a non-Twi beginner to the spoken language. The Department of Linguistics at the University of Ghana, Legon, has its library named after her in recognition of the role she played as the first Ghanaian female professor and pro-vice chancellor of the University of Ghana. She is the Chairperson of the IDEG Governing Council.
Prof. Marian Ewurama Addy, a retired professor of Biochemistry, was in 2008 appointed the First President/Vice Chancellor of the Anglican University College of Technology (ANGUTECH), making her the first female Vice Chancellor in Ghana.
Prof. Addy had her basic education at the Government Girls’ School, Kumasi, now Yaa Achiaa Junior High School and the St. Anne’s Anglican School, Sekondi. Her secondary education was at the St. Monica’s Secondary School, Mampong Ashanti and the Holy Child Secondary School, Cape Coast.
She had her tertiary education at the University of Ghana, Legon in 1966, where she came out with a First Class Honours Bachelor of Science degree in Botany (Special, with Chemistry as ancillary), and the Pennsylvania State University, where she obtained Masters and Doctorate degrees in Biochemistry in 1968 and 1971 respectively.
Prof. Addy is a Professor of Biochemistry. She taught at the Howard University College of Medicine as an Assistant Professor of Biochemistry and the University of Ghana as a Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor and Professor at the Department of Biochemistry.
She was the Head, Department of Biochemistry, University of Ghana, Legon and First Head, Chemical Pathology Unit, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research.
She was a Chair and member of a number of research and technical committees and a Director of Programmes, Science Education Programme for Africa (SEPA).
Prof. Addy taught at the Biomedical Centre, Uppsala University, Sweden, the Atlantic Veterinary College, University of Prince Edward Island, Canada, the New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, the Foreign Faculty Mentor, and Minority International Research Training (MIRT) programme.
She is a member of the World Health Organisation ( WHO) Regional Expert Committee on Traditional Medicine, Chair, Policy Committee on Developing Countries of the International Council for Science (ICSU, member, Executive Committee, International Network of Engineers and Scientists and Advisors, International Foundation for Science, Stockholm, Sweden.
She has received several awards such as the Millennium Excellence Award for Educational Development, UNESCO Kalinga Prize for the Popularisation of Science in 1999, Africa-America Institute (AAI)’s Distinguished Alumna for Excellence in 1998 and the Marketing Woman of the Year, for marketing science in 1995.
She was the first Executive Secretary of the Western Africa Network of Natural Products Research Scientists (WANNPRES).
Her experiences in academia are mainly in teaching biochemistry, both basic and applied, to undergraduate, post-graduate, dental and medical students at the University of Ghana, Legon, and at Howard University College of Medicine in Washington DC. Her main area of research is the science of herbal preparations used by Traditional Medical Practitioners, especially their safety, efficacy and how they work.
She was a member of the Kwami Committee, a Technical Committee on Polytechnic Education set up by the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE), to study and make recommendations that would guide the NCTE to formulate policies and advise government on polytechnic education.
She was the first Quiz Mistress of the popular weekly televised National Science and Mathematics Quiz programme, primarily aimed at improving the learning of science and mathematics for secondary school students. She hosted the programme for seven years.
Prof. Takyiwaa Manuh, Director of the Institute of African Studies (IAS), University of Ghana, Legon. She was born in Kumasi, and was educated at the Wesley Girls' High School, Cape Coast, the University of Ghana (LLB (Hons), 1974), the University of Dar es Salaam (LLM, 1978) and Indiana University, Bloomington (Ph.D. Anthropology, 2000).
After her university education at the University of Ghana, Legon, she was appointed a Research Fellow at the Institute of African Studies in 1979, and promoted Senior Research Fellow later on. She worked in that capacity till she left in 1992 for the Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, USA, for a Ph.D. in Anthropology. After her Ph.D. degree in Anthropology from that university, she was promoted to Associate Professor in 1997 and became Director of the institute in 2000. In 2005, she was elected a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was appointed a full professor in 2006.
She is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Association of African Universities (AAU) and of the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). She is also a member of the Governing Board of UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP), a Board Member of the African Gender Institute and a member of the Steering Committee of SEPHIS, the South-South Exchange Programme on the History of Development.
She was elected a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2005 and has received a number of other awards and fellowships, including the University of Ghana’s Meritorious Service Award for 2007, as well as Ghana’s Order of the Volta (Officer Class) in July 2008.
In 2004, she was co-winner with Dr Kojo Saffu (Brock University, Ontario, Canada) of the USA National Women's Business Council Best Paper in Women's Entrepreneurship Award for their paper on “Strategic Capabilities of Ghanaian Female Business Owners and the Performance of Their Ventures,” presented at the 49th Annual Meeting of the International Council for Small Business (ICSB), Johannesburg, South Africa. She is active in the women’s movement in Ghana.

Women were dynamic • In Independence struggle

2010-03-05T01:13:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic. Pg.27 Friday, March 05/10

Article: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

Women in Ghana from the pre to the post-independence era’s have contributed in diverse ways towards the development of the country. Over the years, through systematic educational and empowerment programmes championed by civil society organisations, women have gradually moved from their traditionally ascribed and gender stereotyped roles into roles as professionals, bread winners and role models.
Society has for years experienced significant transformations in the experiences and positions of women in Ghana's history from independence to date thus women are no longer primarily in their domestic roles as caregivers, housewives and homemakers, but have taken on various careers and have chalked up enviable successes in their chosen fields. Some examples of such accomplished women in recent times are Akua Kwenyehia, a judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Prof. Ama Atta Aidoo, a renowned writer and poet, Prof. Abena Dolphyne, first female Pro-Vice Chancellor, Prof. Takyiwaa Manuh, Director of the Institute of African Studies (IAS) University of Ghana, among others.
However, before the advent of women advocates to see more women in the limelight, some women distinguished themselves and therefore gained popular recognition.
One such woman who distinguished herself and her name has become a household one is Yaa Asantewaa, born in 1840 and died on October 17, 1921. She was the Queen Mother of Ejisu and in 1900 she led the Ashanti rebellion known as the War of the Golden Stool against British colonialism.
When the British exiled her grandson in the Seychelles along with the King of Asante, Otumfuo Nana Prempeh I, and the British governor-general of the Gold Coast, Frederick Hodgson, demanded for the Golden Stool, the symbol of the Asante nation, the men feared to voice their displeasure and she is quoted to have said: “Now I see that some of you fear to go forward to fight for our king. If it was in the brave days of Osei Tutu, Okomfo Anokye, and Opoku Ware, chiefs would not sit down to see their king to be taken away without firing a shot. No European could have dared speak to chiefs of Asante in the way the governor spoke to you this morning. Is it true that the bravery of Asante is no more? I cannot believe it. It cannot be! I must say this: If you, the men of Asante, will not go forward, then we will. We, the women, will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight the white men. We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields.”
With these words, she is said to have taken on leadership of the Ashanti Uprising of 1900, gaining the support of some of the other Asante nobility.
This brutality was the instigation for the Yaa Asantewaa War for Independence, which began on March 28, 1900. Yaa Asantewaa mobilised the Asante troops and for three months laid siege to the British mission at the fort of Kumasi. The British had to bring in several thousand troops and artillery to break the siege. Also, in retaliation, the British troops plundered the villages, killed much of the population, confiscated their lands and left the remaining population dependent upon the British for survival. They also captured Yaa Asantewaa whom they exiled along with her close companions to the Seychelles Islands off Africa's east coast, while most of the captured chiefs became prisoners-of-war. Yaa Asantewaa remained in exile until her death 20 years later.
After Yaa Asantewaa one other woman who has held the flag of womanhood high is Mrs Theodosia Salome Okoh, born on June 13, 1922 in Wenchi in the Brong Ahafo Region.
The originator and designer of the Ghana flag, she has seen all the various historical transitions of this country. That is, from British colonial rule through the Gold Coast to modern Ghana.
Responding to an advertisement placed in the Gold Coast newspapers for the designing of a National Flag, she decided to choose the colours red, gold and green and the five-pointed Black Star.
"The red stripe represents the blood our forefathers shed for us during Ghana's struggle for independence, gold represents our rich mineral resources, green for the green belt on which the country lies and also the vast forests and cash crops which we grow, while the black star is our identity as black people and also symbolises African freedom," she explained.
It was adopted as the national flag at 12 noon on March 6, 1957, and was hoisted at a colourful and emotional ceremony held at the Old Parliament House.
In appreciation for her creative work for the nation, she was presented with a medal.
Also partly in recognition of what she had done for the nation, in 1992 she received the entertainment Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana (ECRAG) Mahogany award for designing the national flag. In 1996 she received a Grand Medal from the State during the 40th independence celebration of the country. In 1997 she also received the Arts Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana (ACRAG) award for designing the national flag and in 2004 she received an award from the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports for her role in building a national hockey pitch.
A woman who has blazed the industrial storm in Ghana to become a force to reckon with is the late Dr Esther Ocloo of Nkulenu Industries Limited.
The Cambridge Biographical Society named her as one of the foremost women leaders of the 20th century.
She has contributed in no small measure towards Ghana's economic independence and economic empowerment of women. In her over 40 years’ involvement in human resources development, she founded non-governmental organisations (NGOs) focusing on ways and means of creating jobs for the unemployed youth through the establishment of a farm for the youth and African women entrepreneurial training centre for training unemployed girls and women in employable skills and upgrading the skills of women entrepreneurs.
She started her factory with six shillings in the year 1942.
In the early 1990's she received an award from the African Leadership Prize for Sustainable end of hunger, which aims at encouraging and supporting local initiative in food production, processing and preservation.
She was the first Ghanaian woman to be appointed Executive Chairman, National Food and Nutrition Board of Ghana (1964-1966).
She was a member of the advisory Board, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and a consultant to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, as well as a co-ordinator of the Africa Women in Development from 1982-1987.
She also became a Chairperson, UN Committee for International Federation of Business and Professional Women (IFBPW) from 1985 to 1989.
She served on many boards and councils and also became the first Chairperson of Board of Directors of the Women's World Banking International, New York, USA from 1979 to 1985.
She was honoured and received various awards by institutions including the Ghana Millennium Excellence Awards for Women and Gender Balance Development - 1999.
She is said to have contested the 1969 parliamentary elections on the Progress Party (PP) ticket for the West Danyi Constituency in the Volta Region but did not win. She was also a one-time member of the Council of State. She died at the age of 83.
Ghana's first female scientist, Dr Mrs Leticia Obeng, an educationalist, is also worth mentioning.
Dr Leticia Obeng, First Woman Scientist in Zoology, is an unsung heroine, born on January 10, 1925 at Anum in the Eastern Region.
She is a product of Achimota School from 1939 to 1946 when she took the London University International Examination. Since there was no university in the then Gold Coast, those who passed that examination had to continue their university education abroad.
She was employed at the University College of Science and Technology, where she headed the Zoology department.
She left the university and became the first and only scientist to be recruited into the National Research Council, which is now the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). She was also the first Ghanaian woman to establish a new research institute, Institute of Aquatic Biology, for the Ghana Academy of Sciences in 1964.
She later enrolled at the University of Liverpool for her PhD in 1962 where she obtained her doctorate degree. For her thesis, Dr Obeng investigated into the life cycle of the Simulium fly popularly called the black fly, which transmits the worm that causes onchocerciasis or river blindness. This made her the first Ghanaian female to obtain a PhD in Simuliidae from the Liverpool University in the United Kingdom.
She also worked at the Volta Lake Research Project, where she co-managed for four years and looked at a number of environmental issues related to the lake.
The United Nations invited her to take part in the 1972 UN Human and Environment Conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
From 1974 to 1985, Dr Obeng was appointed the Director at the Regional Office for Africa of the United Nations Environment Programme, initiator and co-ordinator of the African Sub-Regional Environment Programmes and also held the position of a senior Programme Officer in charge of water for five years.
She has received numerous awards and been honoured both nationally and internationally. She was the first female recipient of the CSIR Award for Distinguished Career and Service to Science and Technology in 1997. She also has the CSIR Laboratory, "The Dr Leticia Obeng Block", named after her and "Service to Science and Technology" award was bestowed on her in 1997.
In 1998, she received the first national award for Science and Technology, Biological Sciences, and was the first female Executive Member of the Council of the Africa Leadership Forum.
In 2006, Dr Obeng was selected among the few Ghanaian women to receive the National Award of the "Star of Ghana” in 2006, she was also unanimously appointed as the first female President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences. She has a number of publications to her credit and they include "Man-made Lake"; "Environmental Management"; "Volta Lake Ecology", "Environmental Problem of Africa"; "Health Hazards Of Agricultural Projects"; "Dr Ephraim Amu - A Portrait of Cultured Patriotism" and "Parasites: The Sly and Sneak Enemies Inside You".
In 2007 she became the Chair of the Global Water Partnership (GWP).

First lady launches immunisation day

2010-03-04T03:19:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic (spread). Wed. March 03/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE First Lady, Mrs Ernestina Naadu Mills, has launched this year’s national polio immunisation days with a call on parents to patronise the routine immunisation to ensure that their children are protected against the disease.
“The end of polio is at sight so let us re-kindle our spirits and efforts to deal with the final blow to polio disease. Our children should not die; our children should not be crippled,” she said.
In all a total of 5.1 million children aged between zero and five years are expected to be vaccinated nationwide against the disease.
Polio is an acute viral disease that is easily spread from human to human contact through contaminated food or water and can kill or cripple children for life.
The First Lady launched the exercise in Accra of which the first round will begin from March 5 to March 7, 2010 with a second round from April 23 to 25, 2010 across the country.
Ghana, from September 2003 to August 2008, recorded no case of wild polio virus in the country until November 2008 when eight cases were reported in the Northern Region. However, till date no case has been recorded again.
According to the First Lady the eradication of polio from the country is a subject that ought to receive the utmost attention in preventive health care, adding that “as we all know, polio, one of the childhood killer diseases, has no cure but a vaccine, which has been in existence since 1963, can prevent a child from being affected“.
“It would therefore be very unacceptable to witness children in this modern era being killed or incapacitated by polio,” she noted.
Mrs Mills said Ghana had made considerable progress since the inception of the Polio Eradication Initiative in 1996, adding that the government remained committed to supporting the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in carrying out activities to achieve complete eradication both for campaigns and routine immunisation.
She expressed the government’s appreciation to donor partners including the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Rotary International, Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), who have all contributed immensely to the polio eradication efforts in the country.
Giving an overview of polio situation in the country, Dr K. O. Antwi-Agyei said the rationale for the 2010 National Immunisation Days (NIDs) was to synchronise the exercise in 14 West African countries to ensure that the entire sub-region was free from the disease.
He encouraged parents to ensure that their children were immunised, saying that repeated doses of the vaccine was beneficial as it protected the children who lived in poor environments where the polio virus thrived.
According to him, a Vitamin A supplement would be added to the second round of the exercise for children between the ages of six months and five years.
A WHO Representative, Dr Daniel Kertesz, who spoke on behalf of all donor partners, said the NID was a collective responsibility which must be undertaken by all to ensure that children received the vaccine for their well-being.
He said the fight against polio required that countries worked together for total eradication, saying that polio could not be eradicated unless every child was vaccinated.
The Chairman of the Ghana National Polio Plus of Rotary International (GNPPC), Mr Winfred A. Mensah, said Rotary had committed a total of $1,150,000 globally to help in the eradication of polio.
He said Rotary had supported the eradication of polio from 125 countries with only four countries, which he referred to as the “PAIN” countries, namely Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Nigeria, being the only countries yet to be free from the disease.
He said Rotary, as part of its effort, had also launched a polio free poster and a mobile phone test project where people could text “polio” to 1962 for a fee of GH¢1 in a bid to support the immunisation exercise.
The Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, who chaired the launch, said the country could not afford to lose all the gains that it had made in the eradication processes.
He said the Ministry of Health adopted the mass campaign in addition to routine eradication to ensure that the country was free from the polio virus in the near future.

Christine Churcher - woman of many parts

2010-03-01T09:06:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic. Pg 11. Sat. Feb 27/10

Article: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

A TRIED and tested politician and one of the few women who championed the cause of gender equality in Ghana’s Parliament is Ms Christine Churcher.
At the time when women advocates complained there were only a handful of women in decision-making positions, she was one of the few who were at the helm of affairs.
A former Minister of Environment and Science and a Minister of State in charge of Education, Ms Churcher contributed a lot to ensuring that more girl-children were sent to school.
A former senior prefect of Mfantsiman Girls School and a Junior Common Room (JCR) President, Volta Hall, University of Ghana, Legon, Ms Churcher, when she was appointed the Minister for Environment and Science was very active in policy issues such as sound management of chemicals, the African Stockpiles programme and oceans and coastal management and compliance.
With her organisational skills which won her the Cape Coast Constituency seat on three consecutive ocassions in 1996, 2000 and 2004, she is now vying for the position of the National Women’s Organiser.
Her vision is to ensure that women in her party are not marginalised so as to be represented at all levels in the party.
Her desire for women in the NPP is to ensure that their potentials are not under utilised but harnessed for the growth of the party by ensuring that they are placed side by side with their male counterparts in the 2010 general elections.
A former Deputy Executive Secretary of the National Council on Women and Development, Ms Churcher’s aim is to provide the right leadership training skills to women in the NPP so as to build their capacities to make them effective in both party activities and in their personal lives.
A women’s advocate herself, she is aiming at providing women with the right leadership in the NPP that would propel them to greater heights with the conviction that the potential of women in the party can be unearthed for greater benefits.
Her motivation is that with her organisational skills and expertise, NPP women from across the country can work together to bring the party back to power in 2012.
Since she began her campaign to be elected as the women’s organiser, Ms Churcher has appealed to women within the party to give her the mandate so that she can, together with them, change the hitherto traditional roles of women in the party, saying that “the NPP can no longer take for granted the role of its women if it wanted to re-capture power in 2012.
Her campaign message is that she has every confidence in the capabilities of women in her party, and that all they needed was a strong advocate who would give them a voice at the table where decisions are made in the party.

Strengthen fight against human trafficking

2010-03-01T09:03:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic, Pg 11. Sat. Feb. 27/10

Article: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

HUMAN trafficking, a modern day slavery, has become an international problem affecting millions of people around the world.
In Ghana, aside the international trafficking of the educated to perform informal jobs, the internal trafficking of children to work in fishing or farming communities is a challenge, coupled with the luring of women to engage in prostitution or forced marriages in neighbouring countries or in Europe.
Many children in Ghana are given away by their parents on the pretext of going to stay with a relative but they end up working in the fishing or farming industry under tough conditions.
These children are exploited by their managers or foster parents and are made to carry heavy loads on the farm or dive into the rivers, especially into the Lake Volta, where this activity is most prevalent, to disentangle nets from tree stumps, among other difficult tasks.
Many international organisations such as the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) together with the government has devised many strategies to ensure that the issue of human trafficking became a thing of the past.
Several laws such as the ILO Convention 182 which states that “Each Member which ratifies this Convention shall take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour as a matter of urgency”, and locally such as the Human Trafficking Act 2005 (Act 694), the Domestic Violence Act 2007 (Act 732), the Children’s Act 560 and the Criminal Amendment Code has been ratified to help end human trafficking in the country.
Also the work of the Ghana Anti-human Trafficking Unit under the Ghana Police Service, the Ghana Immigration Service and the Attorney General’s Department is a landmark achievement for criminal justice respondents in the country. This intelligence-led investigation, has led to the arrest and subsequent prosecution of members of organised and international human trafficking rings.
Recently, three Chinese and a Ghanaian suspected of being part of a ring trafficking Chinese women into Ghana for prostitution were arrested and prosecuted.
Also a couple in Cape Coast who received trafficked children for purposes of engaging them to work for them were arrested and prosecuted.
Several other moves have been made to help halt migration across the country, a recent one was by the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) in collaboration with Rescue Foundation, where a national database on human trafficking has been established to provide a comprehensive research on the phenomenon and to serve as a source of information on human trafficking for planning and implementation of projects.
In this regard, an 18-member national steering committee, made up of individuals from both government and non-governmental agencies, have been put in place to oversee the compilation of the database and to ensure an effective co-ordination and the gathering of data.
The objective of the project is to identify relevant agencies in the area of trafficking in persons for effective collaboration and partnership, as well as to help design an effective referral system that will facilitate victim support and other interventions in tracking trafficking.
The target of the project is to gather information from stakeholders operating in the areas of trafficked persons.
Despite all the efforts being made, issues such as lack of shelter, inadequate logistics, ineffective monitoring and evaluation systems, ineffective communication mechanisms for dissemination of information and ineffective collaboration has been identified as some of the major challenges facing the successful elimination of human trafficking in the country.
It is for this reason that a meeting with law enforcement agencies, the judiciary, officials from ministries departments and agencies, civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations was held in Accra over the week to assess the country’s progress in combating human trafficking.
The meeting which was the second to be organised on an annual basis is aimed at challenging participants to review and assess the progress made under a capacity building programme for law enforcement agencies and the judiciary to combat human trafficking and irregular migration through and from Ghana.
Under the capacity building programme, the Royal Danish Embassy has trained 18 judges as resource persons in the area of trafficking and irregular migration with an additional 25 judges who participated in a training workshop which strengthened their knowledge and expertise to prosecute, convict and sentence traffickers.
Also a group of 25 law enforcement officers and prosecutors, involving officials from the AG’s department, the Police Service, Immigration Service, Ghana Navy and officials from the Customs Excise and Preventive Service are also in the process of being trained.
Also through the effort of the embassy, nine law enforcement and judicial officials were taken to the United Kingdom where they visited the UK Human Trafficking Centre, the Crime Prosecution Services, the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the UK Border Agency and the Home Office, all in an attempt for them to acquaint themselves with UK policies and best practises put in place to counter trafficking.
The Chief of Mission, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Ghana, Ms Dyane Epstein, says “in spite of all these implemented activities, the work remains unfinished. We should be under no illusion that we have stopped combating human trafficking, be it in Ghana or elsewhere in the world”.

World marketing forum ends

2010-03-01T09:02:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic, Pg. 33 Wed. Feb. 24/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

This year’s World Marketing Forum 2010 held in Accra, attracted 150 participants from various corporate organisations to share ideas on ways to put the marketing profession on a higher pedestal.
The participants came from the banking industry, commerce, trade, the academia, marketing consultants, among others. Also in attendance was Professor Martin Reynolds, Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean, Ashcraft International Business School at the Anglia Ruskin University, United Kingdom; Mr Martyn Mensah, Managing Director, Kasapreko Company Ltd, and Professor Svend Hollensen of Global Marketing Network (GMN).
Organised by the GMN in association with StratAfrique, the key speakers at the forum included Professor Roger Palmer, Head of Management School, Henley Business School, and Mr Kofi Amegashie, Executive Chairman, StratAfrique.
Earlier, the British High Commissioner to Ghana, Dr Nicholas Westcott, launched the Global Marketing Network (GMN), Ghana, a professional membership association for marketing and business professionals which will award masters qualification for marketing. The network is affiliated to the Anglia Ruskin University.
The network is a worldwide professional membership association of marketing and business professionals designed to provide marketing and business professionals with the most current knowledge, needed to help them take advantage of new opportunities.
Mr Mensah, who is also the Honorary President of GMN Ghana, said the forum, which brought together professors and academicians, was aimed at supporting young marketing officers to learn at first-hand some of the achievements of successful marketers.
According to him, GMN’s ambition was to put marketers back into the boardrooms where critical decisions were taken.
He said unlike other professions where practitioners could rise to higher levels, marketing officers on the other hand had a ceiling where they could not go beyond.
This, he said, was going change with the launch of GMN Ghana where professional marketers could acquire skills to become top executive in any business set-up.
Mr Kofi Amegashie said marketing as a profession needed to be properly understood, saying that unlike others, it was a profession which could not be easily codified or defined by a set of rules and prescriptions.
According to him, marketing had certain enduring fundamentals and there was a growing and constantly evolving body of knowledge that underpinned everything that a professional marketer did.
He added that marketing, much more than any other area of business, required practitioners to constantly update themselves and to enrich practice by drawing from experiences from all over the world.

Complaints on use of sanitary pads-CPA calls for inquiries

2010-02-25T08:47:00.000-08:00

Daily graphic Pg 11. Thurs. Feb. 25/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

THE Consumer Protection Agency (CPA) has appealed to the Ghana Standards Boards (GSB) to look into complaints by some women who use Always Ultra sanitary pads and are alleging that they experience some discomfort anytime they use the sanitary pads.
According to a survey conducted by the CPA among 800 women from Accra, Takoradi, Kumasi and Tamale, the women have complained that they experience discomforts such as heat, trash, rushes and itches.
Out of the 800 women sampled, 647 of them making 65 per cent of the respondents said they experienced trash, rushes and itches, 121 of them making 12 per cent said they experienced severe itches and trash and 32 of the women making three per cent said they experienced only heat.
Such side effects, according to the CPA, which leads to scratching can lead to viral infections and when not treated well can cause severe health problems such as cervical cancer.
A letter signed by the Chief Executive Officer of CPA, Mr Kofi Kapito, and Nana Prempeh Aduhene, Complaints and Research Co-ordinator of CPA, however, said the survey found that all the women interviewed preferred Always for overnight use, since the absorption rate was higher than the other sanitary pads on the market.
The survey alleges that the rise in the coefficient of skin friction, indirect evidence of skin moisturisation when irritant and sensory effects when assessed were due to the quality of the product, which are made in Kenya, saying that the Always sold on the Ghanaian market were of low quality as compared to the ones on the European market.
According to the CPA, comparing Always Ultra used in Europe to the one on the Ghanaian market, the latter are rubber in nature while the one on the European market is made of cotton.
This, they say, goes against doctors and specialists recommendation that ladies use cotton panties to avoid certain infections in their private parts due to the nature of the sun and the heat in Africa and also their advice to use sanitary pads that are of cotton to avoid infections.
The survey identified that the rubber nature of the sanitary pads created severe heat absorption, which leads to itches, a situation which causes the women to scratch, consequently leading to sore and wounds at the private part making the place unhygienic.
The CPA, in a letter dated February 16, 2010 and copied to the Ministers of Health; Trade and Industry; Women and Children’s Affairs; the Director-General of Health Services, FIDDLE and ABANTU for Development, said “much as we know that Always sanitary pad is a good product and has been in the market for long, we also believe that the health of our women should not be taken for granted, since the fears of their complaints are real”.
It therefore recommended that the GSB should immediately conduct its own research to ascertain the seriousness of the matter.
They also recommend that if the research is found to be accurate, the manufacturers and importers of the Always Ultra sanitary pads should be compelled to change the fibre nature of the lining in the pad, as well as do structural changes to suit the weather conditions to help curb the excessive heat absorption that it creates.

Ghana takes measures to resolve issue of human trafficking

2010-02-25T08:44:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic pg 55. Thurs. Feb. 25/10

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

THE country is said to be making gradual progress in resolving the issue of human trafficking after the passage of the Human Trafficking Act (Act 694) five years ago.
However, issues such as lack of shelter, inadequate logistics, ineffective monitoring and evaluation systems, ineffective communication mechanisms for dissemination of information and ineffective collaboration has been identified as some of the major challenges facing the successful elimination of human trafficking in the country.
This was made known in Accra on yesterday at the second annual meeting with law enforcement agencies, the judiciary, ministries departments and agencies, civil society organisations and non-governmental organisations to assess the country’s progress in combating human trafficking.
The meeting, which was on the theme, “Assessment of human trafficking and irregular migration in Ghana: The General overview and way forward” was organised by the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) and supported by the Royal Danish Embassy project.
The passage of the Human Trafficking Act has since seen the establishment of an Anti-Human Trafficking Secretariat within the Ghana Police Service and through support from UNICEF three new anti-trafficking units in the Central, Western and Ashanti regions have also been established.
A National Plan of Action has also been put in place with anti-trafficking units being established within the Ghana Immigration Service and the Attorney General’s Department.
Also, MOWAC, in collaboration with Rescue Foundation, is in the process of establishing a national database on human trafficking to provide a comprehensive research on the phenomenon and to serve as a source of information on human trafficking for planning and implementation of projects.
The issue of eliminating human trafficking in the country became necessary after the US States Department of Labour reported and blacklisted Ghana in their Trafficking in Persons Draft Report, claiming that gold, cocoa and tilapia use worst forms of child labour for production.
Aside the Act, other legislative interventions such as the Domestic Violence Act 2007 (Act 732), the Children’s Act 560 and the Criminal Amendment Code have all been put in place to combat the menace.
The Chief of Mission, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Ghana, Ms Dyane Epstein, said it was a best practice when governments developed the political will to address a difficult problem such as human trafficking and irregular migration.
She said fighting trafficking contributed to a broader fight against poverty, exploitation of migrants, HIV and AIDS, and gender discrimination.
“Fighting trafficking thus contributes to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, and building a better future for humanity,” she said.
The Danish Embassy project, she said, had so far sponsored the training of some judges, law enforcement officers and prosecutors on human trafficking.
A Principal State Attorney at the Attorney General’s Department, Mrs Ivonne Atakora Obuobisa, in a remark said trafficking in human was a complex issue which affected both the poor and better informed people, who were lured under the pretext of gaining lucrative employment’s oversees.
She said due to the monetary gains in the business, perpetrators had become ruthless and therefore there was the need for a more sophisticated means of combating the issue.
The Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, Ms Juliana Azumah Mensah, in a keynote address said the country had good legal framework for combating trafficking, and had also ratified relevant international conventions dealing with human trafficking and human right protection.
She said with the many socio-economic issues confronting the country, the issue of trafficking must be a priority, saying that “we need to accept the magnitude of the problem. Trafficking exists and we should not close our eyes to it”.
A representative of the Danish Embassy, Ms Vibeke Mortensen, in an address called on people to distinguish between culture, abuse and trafficking, saying that the three were related leading to the complex nature of human trafficking.
A representative of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Mr Francesco D’ouidio, said the organisation was concerned about the exploitative part of trafficking where children were made to perform hazardous task while women were also forced into prostitution and forced marriages.
Miss Ghana 2009, Miss Mime Areme, who is an ambassador on child trafficking, called for parents to be educated on the dangers of child trafficking in the country.

Develop policies to create jobs in the North-To halt migration

2010-02-23T00:56:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic Pg. 11. Tues. Feb. 23/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

CO-AUTHORS of a book, ‘Independent migration of children’, have called on the government to develop programmes and policies that will create job opportunities in the northern part of the country to halt migration to the south.
They have also called on the government to address the root causes of ethnic conflicts exhaustively as a way of speeding up the development process of the country especially in the northern sector.
The book, written by Professor Stephen O. Kwankye, a senior lecturer at the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS) at the University of Ghana, Legon, and Dr John K. Anarfi, Head of the Social Division at the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), presents to policymakers and researchers insights into the current phenomenon of independent North-South migration of children especially young girls in the country.
Launched by the Deputy Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC), Hajia Hawawu Boya Gariba, in Accra, the authors examined the life of the young migrant in the city from the perspective of a mixture of socio-economic enhancement of lives of child migrants and the challenges they face.
They also show the various socio-economic and health perspectives of the phenomenon of child migration especially from the northern part of the country to the urban centres, including efforts at return and re-integration of the children back home.
The authors contribute to further research and feed into policy directions with regard to the positive and negative aspects of children as independent migrants and look at independent migration of children in the context of migration, globalisation and poverty.
Some of the recommendations made are a suggestion for a massive educational investment in the affected areas to make education more attractive, affordable and closer to people.
The authors also called on policymakers to make parents integral part of the educational drive through campaigns that educate them on the costs of sending their children to the south through migration.
They also called on the government to consider independent migration of children in migration policies to provide social protection for child migrants who engage in genuine businesses to earn income, as well as consider the establishment of accommodation to double as counselling and support centres for child migrants in the cities.
They further called on the government to intensify sexual and reproductive health educational campaigns targeting child migrants such as “kayayei” in the cities, adding that the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC) should develop a programme to follow up migrants who voluntarily returned with macro-finance schemes to facilitate their sustainable re-integration.
Launching the book, the deputy minister said children’s well-being and the future of the country would depend very much on the amount of investment made in their survival, growth and development.
She said if concerns of children were not mainstreamed into national policies, efforts to promote a sustainable development would not yield much efforts.
She said “a brighter future of our children will hinge on greater commitment from the government to draw, implement and monitor policies and initiatives that would promote the general care system in the country for children of especially school age”.
Delivering a keynote address, Professor Nelson Otto Addo said migration in the country had for a long time been noted to be a north-south one based on differences in spatial development.
He said with the northern half of Ghana being a relatively less developed region, it had continued to remain a pool of migrant labour for the cocoa and mining industries in the middle and southern belts of the country.
Prof. Addo, whose address was read by Prof. John Nelson, a former academic, said there was the need to put in place policies and interventions that sought to minimise the risks or costs of independent migration of children and to maximise the benefits.

Gender statistics needed for informed policies

2010-02-23T00:55:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic pg. 11. Tues. Feb. 23/10

Story & Pix: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
Gender statistics are the body of statistics compiled, analysed and presented by sex, reflecting gender issues in society. This statistics need to be produced in close co-operation with users to respond to the needs of policy makers, planners, researchers, the media and the public.
According to statisticians, in order for users’ needs to be fully considered, it is necessary to examine gender concerns and goals in society and identify the necessary statistics and indicators to address them with adequate policies and plans to assess and monitor the related cases.
The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) defines gender statistics as a field of statistics that cuts across the traditional fields to identify, produce and disseminate statistics that reflect the realities of the lives of women and men and policy issues relating to gender. Gender statistics, it says, allow for a systematic study of gender differentials and gender issues.
Gender issues are determined by gender-based and/or sex-based differences between women and men and it encompasses all aspects and concerns with how women and men interrelate, their differences in access to and use of resources, their activities and how they react to changes, interventions and policies.
According to gender advocates, gender issues exist in all spheres of society and are therefore relevant to the production of statistics in all fields and intervene at every step of the production process. Gender statistics, according to advocates, are not necessarily and not only statistics disaggregated by sex.
Producing statistics that adequately reflect gender issues implies that all statistics are produced taking into consideration the different socio-economic realities women and men face in society. This means that data, both those on individuals as well as those not directly related to individuals, are collected, compiled, and analysed, taking into consideration that gender-based factors influence women and men differently - this, according to advocates, can be called the gender mainstreaming of statistics.
The impact of data collected on women and men needs to be considered in every step of statistical production and in all statistical fields. Concepts and methods used in data collection need to be adequately formulated to ensure that they reflect existing gender concerns and differentials. Additionally, social and cultural factors, according to gender advocates, must be taken into consideration as they can result in gender-based biases in data collection, analysis, and presentation.
They say although the presentation of information on women and men follows the general rules for statistical presentation, one must keep in mind that the presentation aims at facilitating comparisons between women and men, as well as increasing the awareness of gender differentials.
Advocates further contend that the main point is not the mere existence of such differences, but the fact that these differences should not have a negative impact on the living conditions of both women and men, should not discriminate against them and should contribute to an equal sharing of power in economy, society and policy-making processes.
Some policy areas where gender statistics have been identified to influence include population, families and households, work and the economy, education and communication, public life and decision-making, health, crime and violence.
It is in line with ensuring that gender statistics are incorporated in data collection in the country that the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) with support from the United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) has set up a gender statistic working group made up of experts from government and non-governmental agencies to identify gender gaps in the production of statistics in the country.
The group, which was launched in Accra, held its first meeting and made up of researchers, gender advocates, UN agencies, civil organisations and academia, will also outline how gender statistics should be produced and used and how its use should be promoted by the government, planning bodies, the media, research institutions and other stakeholders.
The Government Statistician, Dr Grace Bediako, in an address said the Beijing Platform for Action adopted for nations 15 years ago emphasised the need to disaggregate data by sex across board so as to produce data by sex.
She said there was the need to re-look at the statistical system in the country, since a change in the way of data collection would be met with some resistance as new forms would have to be designed for administrative purposes.
She said the time had come for the country to move the issue of gender statistics forward by striving to ensure that a conscious effort was made to bridge the knowledge gap in gender mainstreaming.
The UNIFEM Country Representative, Ms Afua Ansre, in a remark said Ghana had acceded to all international requirements to make gender equality a reality in the country.
She said a sex disaggregated data was needed in all areas of policy making in the country, saying that without such data the country could not meet its international obligations with regard to gender mainstreaming.
She also called on the government to make use of such data when they were generated, saying that although the GSS had some gender disaggregated data it was underutilised.
A director at the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs (MOWAC), Ms Patience Opoku, in a remark said developing a sex disaggregated data would help the ministry to achieve its mandate of ensuring that issues of women were given the needed priority.
She said the ministry was preparing to actively showcase its achievements at the forthcoming women conference to be held in New York next month.
The Regional Co-ordinator, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, Ms Diana Tempelman, who was the guest speaker at the launch of the group, said the lack of gender statistics was a major constraint in developing gender responsive policies and programmes.
She said statistics and indicators on gender relations were needed for informed policy decisions and monitoring of programmes, saying that the group would help improve the capacity of both producers and users of gender statistics to produce and use gender-sensitive indicators and sex disaggregated data to inform policy formulation, monitoring and reporting.

Gold Coast City Project takes off next month

2010-02-23T00:53:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic (back Page) Tues. Feb. 23/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A US$1.55-billion modernisation project stretching from the Osu Castle along the sea front to the Arts Centre in Accra is to commence next month.
The 160-acre Gold Coast City Project will consist of residential villas and apartments, a shopping mall, a school complex, a recreational centre, a hotel and an office complex, including a World Trade Centre.
The residential apartments, estimated to house about 600 families, are made up of a 124-unit villa, 216 three-unit flats and a 10-unit apartment block of 260 flats.
The project will also see the construction of a six-floor 500-room five-star hotel, a three-floor shopping mall with ice hockey and ice skating facilities, a 21-floor World Trade Centre (WTC), a four-floor modern school complex, a 15-floor office complex for the Ministry of Tourism and a mini golf course.
The commercial development project, which is aimed at changing the face of Accra, is being promoted by Strategic Initiatives Limited with funding from Shuguang Group Company Limited, Guoqiang Construction Group Company Limited and Gemfy Group, all of China.
As part of the component of the project, a US$55-million fund has been earmarked for the relocation of ministries along the coast which will be affected by the project.
The initiator of the four-year project, Togbe Afede XIV, who briefed the Minister of Tourism, Mrs Zita Okaikoi, and his Deputy, Mr Kobby Acheampong, the Osu Mantse, some elders of the Osu Traditional Council and some members of Nai We, said the project, originally intended for either Dubai, Thailand or Angola, was diverted to Accra through his influence, and that it would make the city a tourist centre, which will generate both local and foreign revenues.
According to Togbe Afede, the overall objective of the project is to develop and sustain the entire stretch of the marine drive along the coast in the area.
He said the purpose of the project was to support the sea front development in Accra, as well as improve on sanitation in the area.
He said the project was expected to create social, physical and commercial infrastructure that would attract investment and tourists into the country.
Togbe Afede said the WTC Association, based in New York, had awarded Strategic Initiatives Limited the exclusive licence to build a WTC in the country and according to him, this would encourage most businesses across the country to locate their headquarters in the building.
The Minister for Tourism, in an address, said the siting of the project in Accra was going to help lift the image of Accra and Ghana as a whole.
She said the government had lent its full support to the project and expressed the hope that final arrangements needed would be sorted out for the project to start in March, 2010 as scheduled.
She said her ministry would ensure that the people of Accra were not left out of the proceeds and advantages the project was likely to bring to the capital, saying that it would help create jobs locally, as well as generate revenue for the development of other areas of the city.
The Osu Mantse, Nii Nortey Owuo III, commended the initiation of the project in the area and expressed the hope that it would first consider the youth of Osu so as to help limit the rate of unemployment in the area.
The Osu Stool Secretary, Nii Okwei Nortey, in a remark, called on the initiators of the project to consider other coastal areas in the city for a uniform development of the Accra coastal plain.
The Spokesperson for the Nai We, Henry Nii Yartey Yartey, also gave the family’s consent for the commencement of the project and expressed the hope that it would boost local tourism.

AMA demolition squad faces resistance

2010-02-19T00:42:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic (Back Page). Friday Feb. 19/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
Yesterday’s demolition exercise by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to rid the main Achimota-Apenkwa Motorway of illegal structures nearly turned violent when AMA officials were confronted by an angry mob.
No injuries were recorded but two persons were arrested and detained at the Tesano Police Station for obstructing the AMA officials from doing their legitimate work.
The exercise began about 5 a.m. with the demolition of stalls and kiosks which, according to the assembly, were illegally sited along the highway.
The demolition squad was at work when resistance from owners of the structures intensified, with some pelting the squad with stones.
The AMA task force was supported by 102 policemen, led by the Greater Accra Regional Operations Commander, Superintendent Sylvester Boyuo, and bulldozers were used to undertake the removal of unauthorised structures on the Apenkwa Overhead through to the old Achimota Station to the new Achimota Bus Terminal.
Some of the structures demolished included drinking bars, fitting shops, cosmetic shops, a glass manufacturing company, as well as kiosks which served as residential accommodation for some traders and apprentices.
In spite of the resistance, the crowd looked on as the bulldozers destroyed containers, some of which still contained goods, while some of the people also managed to secure some of their goods.
The leader of the exercise, Chief Joseph Okai from the AMA, said the traders had been given sufficient notice, saying that the exercise was part of the Accra Mayor’s determination to decongest the city of illegal and unauthorised structures.
He said he had personally been to the area three times to inform the people about the intended demolition but all the warnings fell on deaf ears.
The Okaikoi Sub-metro Director, Ms Abena Kwesiwa Kyei, said her outfit had, since the beginning of the construction of the Tetteh Quarshie-Abeka Lapaz Highway, been announcing, through various media, for the traders to remove their stalls and kiosks but they all ignored the warning.
The Director of Works at the AMA, Mr Valentine Amedo, said most of the structures in the area did not have permits from the AMA, for which reason the demolition exercise was in order.
Some of the shop owners who were affected by the exercise, however, claimed they were not aware of the exercise.
According to them, a committee that was set up when the demarcation of the highway was being done assured them that their stalls and kiosks would not be affected.

Empowering women through micro-financing

2010-02-19T00:40:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic. Pg 11. Thurs. Feb. 18/10

Article: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

MAAME Esi, a petty trader, started her business five years ago by moving from office to office to sell her wares.
In 2009, she secured a loan under one of the savings and loan schemes, and today she is a big time entrepreneur.
Hitherto, Maame Esi had to depend on her husband anytime she ran out of money for her business, and this made her vulnerable in the marriage as she had no say in the management of the house, with regard to the education of their children and other decisions related to their marriage.
Today, out of the proceeds from her shop, she is able to contribute to their children’s education and she has taken up the responsibility of paying the utility bills in the home while her husband also takes care of the rent and other bills.
Through the loan, she is now empowered both economically and socially, as she can now make decisions to protect herself and her family. She now takes part in decision-making concerning her children and their general welfare, and she can also negotiate for sex with her husband.
Micro-finance and micro-insurance schemes are innovative ways of providing the poor with access to capital and thus a way out of poverty. Women, especially, often lack access to financial resources necessary to escape poverty and social dependency.
Micro-credit schemes enable women to engage in economic activities as well as join social networks through which both poverty and social dependency could be overcome.
Micro-credit, according to economic analysts is among the strongest, if not the strongest development strategies that work in developing countries for women.
However, targeted micro-credit schemes are said to have proved to be an exceptionally effective tool for poverty alleviation for the urban and rural poor, as well as women in general.
Micro-credit is particularly conducive to empowering women in urban areas and micro-credit institutions can provide vital services beyond credit, such as information, community formation and fostering, mutual support networks and counselling among others.
Micro-credit has empowered women in a number of ways such as improved access to health and education, allied with expanded opportunities for employment and access to micro-credit and has also expanded choice and empowered women.
With increased social and political consciousness, women can now be said to be more likely to take part in local government and national elections. They are gaining control over their lives, reducing their dependency and taking a greater part in family decision making processes.
While disparities still exist, women who are well resourced have become increasingly powerful catalysts for development, demanding greater control over fertility and birth spacing, education for their daughters, and access to services.
Micro-credit, micro-finance and micro-enterprise are now seen as effective poverty alleviation mechanisms, especially for poor women.
A Micro-Credit Summit Campaign in 1997 aimed at ensuring that “100 million of the world’s poorest families, especially the women of those families, receive credit for self-employment and other financial and business services by the year 2005”.
Many micro-credit schemes specifically target women as they have proven to be very good credit risks with high repayment ratios even with credit at market rates.
It is argued that as well as increasing women’s income, micro-credit programmes also improve women’s role in the household. Thus through the provision of economic resources, a woman may gain greater voice in expenditure decisions.
It also helps to increase women’s confidence because they gain not only through the economic success of their businesses but also through increased access to community services and collective action with other women.
Recently, the Greater Accra Regional Secretariat of the National Population Council in collaboration with the regional office of the Department of Women, organised an exhibition in Accra to showcase the handiwork of women in small scale businesses.
The exhibition was in line with the theme of the 2009 World Population Day celebration, ‘Responding to the economic crises: Investing in women is a smart choice’.
According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) no one knows yet what the full scale of the global economic crisis will look like.
It however said women and children in developing countries would bear the brunt of the impact, saying that what started as a financial crisis in rich countries was now deepening into a global economic crisis that was hitting developing countries hard, and that it was already affecting progress towards reducing poverty.
According to the UNFPA, policy responses that build on women's roles as economic agents could do a lot to mitigate the effects of the crisis on development, especially because women, more than men, invested their earnings in the health and education of their children.
Investments in public health, education, child care and other social services helped to mitigate the impact of the crisis on the entire family and raise productivity for a healthier economy.
The Greater Accra Regional Population Officer, Mrs Ellen Osei-Tutu, at the exhibition added her voice to the call to empower women economically to reduce their dependency on their male partners.
She said women were economic agents who could plough back their earnings in supporting their male partners to develop their families and the nation.
Women who are economically empowered, she said, were respected by their husbands and partners because they contributed to the family’s welfare.

600 Students undertake exchange programme

2010-02-19T00:34:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic, Pg 16. Tues, Feb. 16/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
SIX HUNDRED students from 17 schools in six regions in the country are undertaking a three-week exchange programme aimed at promoting intercultural diversity and intellectual advancement among the students.
The programme is under the auspices of the Country Awards Council-Ghana (CACG) and is the third to be organised so far by the Ghana National Exchange Programme for senior high schools in the country.
The students will stay in participating schools instead of their schools where they are expected to learn healthy lifestyles, patriotic service in communities, good cultural practices, HIV and AIDS prevention, promotion of tourism and effective leadership among others to help churn them into good future leaders.
This year’s programme which is under the theme; “Developing a holistic youth in diversity, a tool for national development”, has been dedicated to the memories of the late Major Courage Quashigah (retd), a former Minister of Health and Mrs Beatrice Lokko, a retired educationist who were pioneers of the programmes and were Board Chairman and Member of Board respectively of the CACG.
The programme, which was launched three years ago is being supported by the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Chieftancy and Culture, the National Youth Council, the Ministry of Health and other development partners.
A Deputy Director of Education, Secondary Education Division, Mr Ocansey Edwin Larweh, who represented the Minister of Education lauded the programme, and said that it had come at no better time when “we are witnessing so many challenges in our drive towards national development”.
He stressed the need for the youth to be trained in a manner that would enable them to be part of the development and advancement of the country, and added that the exchange programme was designed to promote a common educational platform.
Participating students, he said, would spearhead a national cultural integration process by allowing exchange students to visit schools in a totally new environment and further bridge ethnic gaps, promote academic advancement by exposing the students to diverse environments that would prepare them adequately for the task ahead of them as future leaders.
The programme, he said, would further promote tourism in the country by educating young people on the importance and future prospects of tourism, the need to safeguard and promote internal tourism and also commit young people to education programmes that would harness their talents and encourage high academic performance.
The Programme Manager, Regenerative Health of the Ministry of Health, Mr Kofi Adusei in an address, also said the programme was going to inculcate in the students the benefits of practising regenerative health practices to enable them have better lives and live longer.
He called on people to relate their lifestyles to their health saying that good lifestyle promotes healthy lives.
He, therefore, called on the students to avoid such vices as smoking, drinking, substance abuse and early sex, stressing that such practices would contribute to the deterioration of their health faster than expected.
He called on them to watch what they eat, exercise regularly and keep clean environments so that they can live healthily and longer.
The National Co-ordinator of the National Youth Council, Mr Sekou Nkrumah called on the students not to give up when times were hard but should forge ahead to realise their goals in life.
He called on the students to emulate role models such as Ghana’s first President Dr Kwame Nkrumah and also keep good friends to secure a better future.
The Country Director of the Country Awards Council, Mr Kobla Asamani, said the programme would help develop quality leaders to suit the geographical terrain and further promote internal tourism.
He said the programme would also ensure that voluntarism and service to the nation was high on the young persons’ development agenda.

Bookreview: Hybrid Eyes- Reflections of an African in Europe

2010-02-19T00:32:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic, Pg 9. Tues. Feb. 16/10

Author: Osman Sankoh (Mallam O)
Pages: 96
Reviewed by: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
Sales point: EPP Bookshops in Ghana

Hybrid Eyes is a must-read for every young person of African descent with the ambition to travel outside, especially to Europe, to seek greener pastures.
The 17-chapter book vividly describes some of the harsh conditions of life that one can expect in a bid to better one’s economic circumstances or seek higher education in Germany or other European countries.
The writer, a Sierra Leonean of the Sierra Leonean Writers Series, shares with readers his difficult experience in his bid to further his education in Germany. From discrimination, because of his colour, to the expectations of his people back home, the writer gives an account of how he dealt with the numerous roadblocks he encoutered.
Osman Sankoh portrays how Africans are rooted in the extended family system, where the support system embraces you when you need help, to the individualism in a European setting where you can be frustrated to a point that you want to abandon the journey and come back home.
The author’s tales include encounters with some Germans who were extremely nice to him, but he still found out that the majority, mostly on trains, in the neighbourhoods, and on the streets, were brainwashed by schools and the media to see Africans as an inferior race who needed to be avoided. Many people, by their actions, reminded him that he was different.
The author touches on challenges that one is likely to encounter abroad. These include differences in language, stereotyping, hustling, and adverse weather conditions, as well as the varying cultures of the people. On the frustrations he endured while seeking higher education, Sankoh finds that the disparity in the educational systems mean that Africans have to go through a more rigorous training before undertaking a particular course. The writer also compares the efficiency of systems, such as transportation in Europe to the chaotic ones in Africa. He describes how Europeans value time and how their laws work.
He sums up all his frustrations in a reply to a long letter of requests that his brother sent him from Sierra Leone. In the letter, he tries to sensitise his degree-holding brother to his challenges and how he manages to survive the harsh conditions of life as well as the sacrifices that he had made to enable him send money back home.
Despite all the hassle, the writer points out that there are many Africans who have become successful in Germany, America, Britain, and other places in the West, although they often have to go into private business since it is difficult for them to secure jobs in their actual professions.
The book also touches on the different ways that marriage and other customary practices work in Sierra Leone and Africa in general in comparison to what pertains in Germany or Europe. The author shows how the emancipation of women is seen differently from both sides of the continent.
Reading the book, one will also get to feel the gender sensitiveness of the author from the way he portrays his wife and three girls and also through a poem dedicated to his mother. He also brings to the fore the positive attitudes that Germans have for Government property and how they are always proud to talk about their country as opposed to Africans who do not see the need to protect or maintain any property owned by Government for posterity.
The typical African hospitality is also brought up in the book as the author demonstrates how Africans are ready to accommodate westerners in their country, but some westerners perceive Africans as economic refugees and a thorn in their flesh.
The final chapter of the book talks about the importance of one’s root, how the West portrays Africa, and how the writer developed the western eye, which made it possible for him to be able to see Africa and Europe from different angles. The book ends with a call on Africans to eschew corruption, which, according to Sankoh is the bane of underdevelopment in Africa.
Sankoh is the Executive Director of the INDEPTH Network, a health information international NGO based in Accra which works to improve public health in developing countries around the world.

AWDF sets up gender resource centre

2010-02-17T00:48:00.001-08:00

Daily Graphic, Pg 11. Sat Feb. 13/10

Story & Pix: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A gender-based resource centre has been inaugurated in Accra to help build the capacities of individuals who are into gender studies and training.
The centre, established by the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF), with support from the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF), aims at compiling knowledge on gender and development in the country and beyond to be accessed by people for their development.
The centre, which was inaugurated by the Executive Secretary of the ACBF, Dr Frannie Leautier, on Wednesday, also aims at showcasing some of the contributions that African women have made towards development in Africa.
It is equipped with a range of literature particularly suited to women working in the non-governmental sector and those looking to enhance their personal or professional development.
Some of the literature are on women’s rights, women’s human rights, feminism, capacity building, political participation, health and reproductive rights, journals, peace-building, financial management, African poetry, among others.
Dr Leautier, who was impressed with the work of the AWDF on the resource centre, pledged her outfit’s continued support to the AWDF in helping to economically empower women’s groups and building the capacities of women, noting that that was about learning and sharing ideas and experiences among the women.
She said her outfit had also launched a book on gender budgeting which would be incorporated in the ACBF’s policies and programmes.
A co-founder of the AWDF and board member, Ms Joana Foster, in an address, said the centre would be accessible to all individuals whose aim was to build their capacities on gender mainstreaming.
The Executive Director of the AWDF, Ms Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi, said “it’s about time African women had a resource centre where they can go to learn, read and develop themselves”.
She said the resource centre was a place where women could meet, share knowledge with one another and network.
She said it would also help to strengthen the AWDF’s documentation capacity, adding that it would be put online soon so that people across the continent and the world as a whole could access its services.
Ms Adeleye-Fayemi said the AWDF, which is a grant making foundation with the aim of supporting the work of the African women’s movement, had a vision for African women to live in a world in which there were social justice, equality and respect for human rights.
She said the AWDF’s mission was to mobilise financial resources to support local, national and international initiatives led by women which would lead to the achievement of its vision.

Sexual harassment in tertiary institutions - A myth or reality

2010-02-11T07:45:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic, pg 11. Thurs. Feb. 11/10

Asks: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A report of a recent research by Professor Louise Morley and Dr Kattie Lussier of the University of Sussex, UK, that established that some male lecturers in Ghana and Tanzania "consider it their right to demand sex for grades", has stirred discussions in various circles. The two conducted 200 interviews with academics and policy makers and 200 life-history interviews with students.
They wrote their study after encountering widespread reports of sexual harassment suffered by female students during separate research on widening participation in the two countries' higher education systems.
In a paper, Sex, Grades and Power: Gender Violence in African Higher Education, they said the "hierarchical power relations within universities appear to have naturalised a sexual contract in which some male academics consider it their right to demand sex for grades".
This has led to the "construction of negative female learner identities", they added, and explained that "If women fail, this is seen as evidence of their lack of academic abilities and preparedness for higher education. If they achieve academically, this is attributed to prostitution."
A survey conducted by the African Women Lawyers Association (AWLA) in 2003 defined sexual harassment as any unwelcome conduct, comment, gesture or contact of a sexual nature, whether on a one-time basis or a series of incidents, that might cause offence, humiliation, awkwardness or embarrassment, or that might reasonably be conceived as placing a condition of a sexual nature on employment, opportunity for promotion, grades, etc.
Sexual harassment negatively affects a woman's psychological and or physical well-being and or leads to negative job or academic environment-related consequences for her.
In the educational environment, the phenomenon which normally affects girls and women more than boys and men, has a potential to erode the future of many female pupils and students who are mostly the victims but do not have access to any counselling or channels for redress.
Professor Morley, Director of the Centre for Higher Education and Equity Research at Sussex and lead researcher, said sexual harassment in universities is not limited to Africa. "It's a global issue," she told Times Higher Education. "It's about power and the abuse of power."
Professor Morley, who hopes to research the issue further, said the interviews showed that sexual harassment had become "normalised" within some universities.
Male students' assumptions about "prostitution" among their female peers "diminished women's achievements", she said.
Recent findings by the United Nations suggest that sexual exploitation and abuse within schools is widespread but largely an unrecognised problem in many countries. The closed nature of the school environment according to the UN findings meant that students could be at great risk of sexual exploitation.
However, the Vice Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Prof. Kwesi Kwarfo Adarkwa according to media reports, had denied that such a thing existed in that particular university. He said the UK report lacked merit.
Prof. Adarkwa said female students were outperforming their male counterparts adding that the university’s quality assurance office ensured students got quality education.
Some lecturers and students however think otherwise and a family life counsellor and lecturer at the Engineering Faculty, Vincent Akwaa said his encounter with female students indicated widespread harassment from male lecturers, and points out that some female students who were faced with academic challenges approached lecturers for such favours.
Some students who were interviewed on a Kumasi-based radio station also confirmed that sexual harassment of female students by male lecturers was real. “It’s not a perception; it’s a reality. It goes on in every campus and the lecturers cannot deny it,” one student said.
The 2003 AWLA survey involved a total of 789 women respondents made up of 440 (56 per cent) workers and 349 (44 per cent) students.
It called for awareness creation on this phenomenon and to combat the incidence at the work place and academic environment. It also recommended the need to formulate 'best practices' in the workplace and in academia to minimise the incidence of sexual harassment.
It also advocated co-operation between key players and stakeholders in the formal workplace environs and in academia, and to sensitise the government to adopt a zero tolerance policy towards sexual harassment.
Among some of the most common effects experienced by respondents in the AWLA survey were anger (48 per cent), followed by surprise, disgust, indifference, shame, and fear.
A total of 29 per cent of respondents said their experience of sexual harassment had a detrimental effect on their productivity and described loss of concentration, loss of interest, and low academic performance among others as some of the effects on productivity.
Seventy-six respondents (15 per cent) expressed fear of losing their job or academic standing.
When asked whether or not the experience had been reported to a superior person, 360 respondents (73 per cent) responded in the negative and 129 (26 per cent) responded in the affirmative. Only 19 per cent of the 129 respondents who reported the conduct to their superiors received a positive response. While 24 per cent of these respondents indicated that their harassers were queried.
The Women’s Commissioner of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Ms Evelyn Ampomah Nkansah in an interview with the Daily Graphic, said most tertiary institution in the country did not have a sexual harassment policy to address such sexual advances in schools.
According to her although some lecturers may be at fault, it could not be ruled out that some female students also indulged in the practise of ‘sex for grades’ because they did not want to learn.
According to her, such issues, when reported to the authorities, were normally dealt with as and when they happened without the schools having any proper or laid down guidelines to tackle them.
The Women’s Commissioner said so far many of such reports were informal as students who became victims were not bold enough to report to the school authorities for fear of being victimised in their examinations and therefore most of them suffer in silence.
As a way of helping to curb the issue, Ms Nkansah said her outfit undertook seminars and programmes on the various campuses to educate female students on their gender and reproductive rights, unsafe abortions among others to ensure that the young ladies were empowered to know their rights sexually.
Most of the tertiary institutions in the country do not have comprehensive policies on sexual harassment and this therefore makes it difficult for such situations to be handled professionally.
Also with the springing up of many diploma awarding institutions and private universities, the issue of sexual harassment has become more complex as it is difficult to track what goes on in all the institutions.
Speaking to some heads of faculties in some tertiary institutions, the general consensus was that they did not have separate laws to tackle sexual harassment but that laws on sexual harassment were captured in the schools general policies that dealt with other issues such as drug abuse, misconduct among other deviant behaviours.
A Human’s Right Activists and Lawyer, Nana Oye Lithur in a reaction to the UK survey findings said there was the need for tertiary institutions in the country to have separate policy guidelines on sexual harassment as the issue has become rampant.
According to her, the National Council on Tertiary Education which had oversight responsibility to tertiary education in the country, should come out with a law that would mandate all tertiary institutions to have separate policies on sexual harassment since the issue has become a pervasive one affecting most tertiary institutions in the country.
She said international practices had clear policies on sexual harassment which according to her were gender neutral and could be accessed by all.
She explained that the issue of sexual harassment in schools hads become one of power relations where the vulnerable ones had no alternative but to accept such proposals from their superiors.
“We need such policies to give victims the strength and courage to report without fearing for their academic performance”.
She said such a policy should have clear provisions on what constitute sexual harassment and how victims could report so that students who fell victims would be able to report to the school authority for the appropriate action to be taken.
Nana Oye said making a sexual harassment policy part of the general policy of an institution was not good enough and termed it as a “weak policy”, which according to her would not encourage students to report the conduct of their lecturers for fear of being failed or referred.
She reinforced the AWLA survey which said “the fact that very few women will report sexual harassment to the police or to an investigative or advocacy institution suggests that the profile of these institutions must be raised so that more people are aware that they may bring complaints to them. However, the ability of these institutions to deliver satisfactory responses to complainants must also be improved”.

Ministry to set up database on human trafficking

2010-02-01T02:53:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic, Pg 14. Mon. Feb. 01/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A national database to record activities on human trafficking across the country is to be established by March, this year.
The project, which is being co-ordinated by the Ministry of Women and Children’s Affairs and the Rescue Foundation Ghana, is being supported with funding by the British High Commission in Accra.
The database, which will provide a comprehensive research on the phenomenon, will serve as a source of information on human trafficking for planning and implementation of projects aimed at combating human trafficking in the country.
To ensure an effective co-ordination and the gathering of data for the establishment of the database, an 18-member national steering committee, made up of individuals from both government and non-governmental agencies, has been inaugurated to oversee to the compilation of the database in the country.
The objective of the project, among others, is to identify relevant agencies in the area of trafficking in persons for effective collaboration and partnership, as well as to help design an effective referral system that will facilitate victim support and other interventions in tracking trafficking.
The target of the project is to gather information from stakeholders operating in the area of trafficking in persons.
Ghana enacted a Human Trafficking Act (Act 694) in 2005 to proscribe trafficking in persons activities, protect victims and punish perpetrators.
The country was recently graded from a Tier two to a Tier one watch level on a three Tier scale after the passage of the Act, by the Trafficking in Persons Report issued by the United States Department, an authoritative benchmark by institutions, practitioners and interested observers worldwide which assesses 173 countries.
The outgoing Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, Ms Akua Sena Dansua, who inaugurated the committee, called on Ghanaians to collaborate to ensure that the worrying trend of human trafficking especially among women and children for exploitative purposes, were eradicated from the country.
According to her, the current trend where some traffickers were issuing death treats to rescue officers should not be encouraged, saying that the entire society should help rescue and protect trafficked persons for rehabilitation.
She said MOWAC was committed to the cause for women and children and since these target groups bore the brunt of the phenomenon, “we owe ourselves that duty in creating a safe haven for women, children and the vulnerable in society”.
The First Secretary, Migration Policy, West Africa, of the British Embassy in Accra, Mr Andrew Flemning, said although the country had done a lot in ensuring that the issue of human trafficking was eradicated from the country, there was the need for a lot more to be done if it was to achieve a fully effective response in the area of trafficking in persons.
He called for stiffer punishment for offenders as one form of deterrent, saying that human trafficking was a high profit, low risk international crime which needed to be combated across the world.
The Executive Director of Rescue Foundation Ghana, Mrs Sylvia Hinson-Ekong, in an address said the data, which would be updated regularly, would gather information such as the mechanisms of recruitment, information on trafficking and their collaborators, number of victims, their age, where they come from and their sex, among others, to ensure that the issue was tackled effectively.

Janet Mohammed wins 2010 Martin Luther King Jr. award

2010-02-01T02:50:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic, Pg. 11. Sat. Jan 30/10
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

MANY women in various parts of the world and Ghana in particular continue to work hard daily to uplift the image of womanhood and society at large.
One such woman is Mrs Janet Adama Mohammed, who was recently awarded the 2010 Martin Luther King Jr. award for Peace and Social Justice by the U.S Embassy.
In 2009, Mrs Angela Dwamena-Aboagye, the Executive Director of the Ark Foundation, Ghana, was the proud recipient of the award, which is aimed at recognising Ghanaians who personify the philosophy and actions of Dr Martin Luther King Jr by helping to build a culture of peacemaking, dialogue and conflict resolution. It also honours activists who have promoted social justice, stability, human rights and peace through non-violent means.
Mrs Mohammed’s award was in recognition of her 20 years of work in peace building and emergency response to local and regional conflicts.
She is currently the Director, Human Rights and Democratisation Programme, IBIS West Africa , a Danish non-governmental organisation (NGO) in West Africa. She joined IBIS in 2006.
She holds a degree in Geography and a Diploma in Education from the University of Cape Coast, a Master of Science degree in Agricultural Extension, Rural Development from Reading University, UK, and a Post-graduate Qualifying Diploma in Management from the Institute of Professional Management Association, also in the UK.
She has provided leadership training in 19 African countries, UK, Jordan and Egypt and in 2006, she was selected by the American Embassy to participate in the International Visitor Leadership Programme on Conflict Resolution and Peace Building.
Mrs Mohammed has devoted herself to the resolution of political and religious conflicts in Ghana's Northern Region by mobilising the youth, women, farmers, elders and chiefs to create a sustainable peace through dialogue and mutual understanding.
Following training she acquired as a process-oriented facilitator in an Inter Action Leadership Programme, Mrs Mohammed has encouraged recognition, appreciation, and communication among disparate groups to create and share hope and, by so doing, helped to bridge the gap among prison, immigration officials, the military, police, and security forces to improve their relationship in the communities they serve in the northern sector.
A native of Siniesa, near Sandama??? in the Upper East Region, Mrs Mohammed was raised in the Catholic faith. She married Prince Mohammed Mahama, a Muslim, and they have three children.
Mrs Mohammed said she started work as a high school tutor, teaching Geography in the Tamale Secondary School in Northern Ghana from 1987 to 1993.
“While a teacher, I took interest in the students at their individual levels to offer them hope and support them build confidence to make the best of their time in school. This was particularly so with the girls and I instituted the Moral Talk Sessions,” she said.
She later joined the Christian Council of Ghana in June 1993 as a training co-ordinator and later became the Director for the Northern Sector Office.
“Here I worked in the communities and built relevant relationships with colleagues in civil society organisations and NGOs, women’s groups, the youth and elders, religious bodies, both Christian and Islamic,” she said.
She also introduced the inter-faith dialogue for peaceful co-existence among the youth, women and elders, stressing that her favourite work was with school peace clubs, where the children gathered confidence to talk at the elders forums about peace through role plays, debate sessions, songs and poems.
She said during the 1994-95 conflict in the Northern Region, she joined the team of NGOs that searched and mobilised emergency support for the conflict victims, while advocating strategic government intervention. In addition to emergency response, she also worked to mobilise groups from communities to engage in conflict resolution.
According to Mrs Mohammed, an interesting part of her work was with the security forces, “whom we provided re-orientation to combine peacekeeping with peace-building. I have organised several peace-building training sessions to contribute to people’s capacities to engage themselves and others in peace building in the communities,”
To enable her gain additional impetus to her work, Mrs Mohammed said, “I learnt and shared knowledge from the British Council's InterAction Leadership Programme, which gave me another perspective to peace-building that creates hope and confidence in people in difficult situations”.
She also learnt different approaches to peace-building, community initiatives and social justice from the American State Visitor's Programme on Conflict Resolution in 2006.
She said the peace-building journey had not been an easy one, stressing that “sometimes I pause to ask myself if I was making any impact. And anytime there was a grim of success, it wiped off all my doubts and that energised me to continue to work harder”.
She thanked the organisations which gave her the opportunity to serve - the Christian Council of Ghana and IBIS West Africa. “Sometimes I did not belong to just one organisation but to platforms and coalitions, and yet my organisations continued to provide space and support for me to be able to perform. I am grateful to them,” she added.

20 Students from Bakkie University on visit

2010-01-29T08:35:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic, Pg 11, Friday, January 29/10
Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho

TWENTY post-graduate students from the Bakkie Graduate University (BGU), Seattle, in the United States of America (USA) are in the country to understudy how the work of government and non-governmental agencies impact on the lives of the deprived.
The students who are being hosted by the Ghana Christian University College (GCUC) are made up of businessmen, lawyers, social workers and industrialists whose aim is to learn at first-hand some success stories of urban ministry which is made up of government and non-governmental organisations.
The Director of the GCUC, Dr Manuel Budu Adjei said the students who were nationals from various countries including Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Niger, Tanzania, China and the USA were the second to visit the country as part of a yearly programme which the two universities were embarking on.
The GCUC is an accredited university college which was founded in 1966 and runs two major programmes in the areas of theology and community development.
The BGU on the other hand is a member of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) having been awarded Reaffirmed Status as Category III and IV Institutions by the TRACS Accreditation Commission in 2005.
It seeks to strengthen leaders who mobilise resources for vulnerable people by means of contextual, Christian-based education innovatively delivered throughout the urban world.
As part of their programme, the group visited financial institutions, churches and business organisations, as well as slums in Accra to explore ways of transferring some of the positive impacts of the work of urban ministry on the marginalised in society.
According to Dr Adjei the objective of the visit was for the students to learn at first hand what the urban ministry was doing to reach out to the marginalised in society.
He said the two universities were also exploring ways of engaging in exchange programmes where students from the GCUC would also visit the BGU to learn good practices of the BGU.
The Director of Institutional Advancement, GCUC, Dr Johnson Asibuo said the visit would benefit the GCUC and the nation as a whole as most of the students who were business owners and industrialists would explore ways of coming to do business in the country in the near future.
On completion of their educational programme, he said the students would come out with dissertations which would enable people in other parts of the world to read about Accra.
The Registrar and Director of Academic Affairs of the BGU, Dr Judy Melton noted that the visit would help the students to be better equipped in their urban ministry to serve their communities better.
And also to be transformational leaders in their lives, ministry and community to become agents of change to better the lot of the deprived in urban societies.

Earthquake-All that you must know

2010-01-25T02:48:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic (Special Feature), Sat. January 23, 2010

Article by Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
"Today's night 12:30 to 3:30 am, COSMIC RAYS entering Earth from Mars. Switch off your mobiles today's night. NASA BBC news, plz pass to all your friends." A harmless text message, perhaps unintended but interpreted wrongly.
Many Ghanaians on the dawn of Monday, January 18, 2010 sat on tenterhooks as they awaited for an earthquake to rock their homes. Their fears confirmed a Biblical saying that “for lack of knowledge my people perish”.
According to geological experts, not even countries in the advanced world with their sophisticated machines are able to determine exactly when an earthquake will occur in a particular place. Earthquakes, they say, are unpredictable. However a text message from a mobile phone and an unknown source was able to keep almost the whole country awake till morning when the rumours were dispelled by the experts. It may be that the recent Haiti disaster and other historical records and repeated tremors experienced in Accra and its environs heightened the fear of the occurrence of a damaging earthquake in the country.
Earthquakes in Ghana
A study in 1986 on the history of earthquakes in West Africa showed that Accra was the most seismically active area in the region.
According to Dr Paulina Ekua Amponsah, Geological Survey Department (GSD), a recent review of geological and instrumental recordings in 2002 shows that earthquakes have occurred in the past and are still likely to occur within the vicinity of the intersection of the Akwapim Fault Zone and the Coastal Boundary Fault.
There have been damaging earthquakes in 1615, 1636, 1862, 1906 and 1939. The 1615 earthquake destroyed what was then known as Takoradi and the fortress of Sao Jorge at Elmina.
In 1636, an earthquake occurred in Axim in the Western Region and the whole of East Nzema was badly shaken. It caused a widespread collapse of buildings in that area. A gold mine in Aboasi, northeast of Axim was reported to have collapsed, burying many of the miners.
In 1862 a very strong earthquake struck Accra and caused considerable damage to many important structures. The Osu Castle, some forts and all stone buildings were rendered uninhabitable. Three people were killed in that earthquake. The shock accompanying the earthquake was felt along the coast east of Togo and in Benin.
Two severe shock waves were felt in Eastern Ghana and Togo at about 9:00 p.m. and 9:20 p.m. on November 20, 1906. It was estimated at 6.2 on the Ritcher Scale. Many buildings were greatly affected by this event; some had cracks and others were partly destroyed. No casualties were reported for this event. It was also experienced by people in Togo and Benin and during the same month several minor shocks lasting three weeks were felt.
On February 11, 1907 a fairly strong tremor was felt in Accra and Lome. An earthquake located in the sea and accompanied by tidal waves destroyed the wharf at Lome in Togo on May 11, 1911. The same day at 3:21 p.m., an earthquake was felt in Accra but it did not cause any damage.
The most destructive earthquake in Ghana that caused a lot of damage and loss of life and property occurred on June 22, 1939. That earthquake, with a magnitude of 6.5, occurred at about 7:20 p.m. and was lasted between 20 and 30 seconds. The intensity of the shock was greatest in James Town, a suburb of Accra. Seventeen people were killed, 133 injured and property worth £1 million in those days was destroyed.
Presently, no law exists in the country that makes geological survey a requirement before one puts up structures, thereby making the housing sector vulnerable in the event of a high-magnitude earthquake.
Microseismic studies in the country indicate that the seismic activity is associated with active faulting, particularly near the intersection of the two major fault zones; the Coastal Boundary Fault and Akwapim Fault Zone. Most of the earthquakes are said to have had their epicentres near the junction of these faults. The epicentres are related to the level of activity of these faults. It is, therefore, not recommended that any infrastructure be located near them.
Earthquake prone zones
Weija, Accra, Ho, Axim, Elmina and Cape Coast have been mentioned as some of the earthquake-prone areas and it is estimated that any location within a 50-kilometre radius of these areas are earthquake-prone.
Weija and McCarthy Hill in the Greater Accra Region, Gomoa Nyanyano near Kasoa in the Central Region, Ho in the Volta Region and Akosombo in the Eastern Region have been declared Ghana’s earthquake epicentres.
Also low-lying areas, reclaimed lands and hills are said to be at risk and the southern part of the country, according to a geologist with the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Mr Philip Yaw Oduro Amoako, should always prepare against an imminent earthquake which could happen any time, but nobody can tell the exact day and time one can happen.
Earthquake and earth tremors
Although many people know about these two, most of them do not know the difference. Experts say if the measurement is between one and 4.9 on the Richter Scale, it is known as a tremor and from five to 10 is an earthquake.
The country experienced earth tremors in 1997 and 2003 with the most recent being in 2005.
The 1997 tremors were felt in all the regional capitals and it occurred on January 8, February 14 and March 6, 1997.
Historical earthquakes of magnitude greater than 6.0 and current local tremors with magnitudes ranging from 1.0 to 4.8 on the Richter Scale have been recorded since the establishment of a seismograph station in the country.
Instrumental recording of earthquakes in Ghana began in 1914 when the colonial government installed a Milne’s single-boom seismograph in the country. It operated until 1933 when it ceased recording due to financial constraints. Several minor shocks were said to have been recorded during the period when the seismograph was in operation.
In March 1973, a seismograph observatory equipped with a world-wide Standard Seismograph Network (WWSSN) system was established at Kukurantumi in the Eastern Region. It operated continuously until October 1974 and then intermittently until continuous recording began again in 1977. At present, a nine-station radio telemetric network analogue recording system with a central recording station at the GSD in Accra is said to have broken down.
How prepared are we as a country?
The analogue seismograph, an instrument used in measuring the movement of the earth, which is the only one the country has, broke down two years ago but through the intervention of the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda, the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning on December 29, 2009 was asked to release an $3million which had been approved by the government for the purchase of a digital seismograph.
However, logistical constraints has over the years made it impossible for the GSD to identify earthquake-prone areas in the northern part of the country. Residents will, therefore, not know their fate.
The Director of GSD, Mr John Agyei Duodu, has stressed the need for the country to step up its preparedness in respect of the occurrence of an earthquake because earthquakes are unpredictable, hence the need to prepare by sensitisation and mass education on what to do before, during and after an earthquake.
He called for a step-up in the education on the measures needed to be taken in the event of an earthquake and the formation of voluntary groups to handle emergencies, among other things.
“People should know what to do before, during and after an earthquake”, he said.
Also according to experts, buildings that have unsupported arches are likely to collapse in the event of an earthquake but the current building regulations in Ghana do not take cognisance of seismic disasters.
Registration of SIM cards
A directive from the National Communications Authority indicated that from June 30, 2010 all new mobile SIM cards will have to be registered in the name of the user before they can be activated for use on any network. Existing subscribers will have a period of 18 months from the said date to submit to the new directive.
Although the directive is aimed at enhancing security and eliminating fraud and crime, it has not gone down well with many Ghanaians because of the involvement of the National Security.
The Monday, January 20, 2010 earthquake hoax originated from a mobile phone and the information was circulated across the country but till date no one knows where the message came from as the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) who were mentioned as the source have denied any knowledge of it.
Recently, a group of about 200 scientists and research officers of the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH) from across the world who went to Puni, India for their 10th annual general and scientific meeting were given only two registered SIM cards from India’s Ministry of Communication as the source of communication for the whole group.
Unlike how one can easily buy a SIM card on the street in this country, it is not easy to acquire a SIM card in India where you will have to write a letter of intent to the Ministry of Communications for them to consider the application before you are given one to use.
In other places one will have to produce an identity card such as passport before a SIM card is sold to one.
According to a Deputy Information Minister, Mr Sam Okudzeto Ablakwa, the rumours of the impending earthquake reinforced the need for mobile phone operators to register SIM cards because if operators had records of all their customers, it would have been easy to trace the origin of the hoax earthquake message.

Workshop on anti-malarial drugs

2010-01-25T02:40:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic, Pg 14. Friday, January 22, 2010

Story: Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
THE Dodowa Health Research Centre (DHRC) in the Dangme West District in the Greater Accra Region has identified 53 chemical shops in the district where a safety and efficacy study on antimalarial drugs sold to patients is to be undertaken.
The study is being replicated in the Kintampo and Navrongo Health Research centres and is being sponsored by the International Network for the Demographic Evaluation of Populations and their Health in Developing Countries (INDEPTH).
Dubbed: “INDEPTH Effectiveness and Safety Studies of Antimalarials in Africa (INESS),” the study is aimed at identifying the authenticity and effectiveness of antimalarial drugs that are being sold out to people to ensure that fake or unwholesome drugs are weeded out of the districts.
The Director of the DHRC, Mrs Margaret Gyapong, made this known to a group of journalists at Dodowa during a day’s training workshop on antimalarials organised by the African Media and Malaria Research Network (AMMREN).
The INESS project, which is currently being replicated in Tanzania and will also be undertaken in Mozambique and Burkina Faso later, is aimed at providing national, regional and international health decision makers with independent and objective evidence on the safety and effectiveness of new antimalarial drugs as a basis for evolving a malarial treatment policy.
Giving a background to the implementation of the project, Mrs Gyapong said the project was in fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which included the development of new tools and evaluation of the effectiveness of both existing and new tools in specific health system settings.
According to her, Phases I, II and III randomised, controlled, clinical trials on new drugs were well supported and established the initial safety and efficacy of such new products.
Mrs Gyapong said, however, that large scale Phase IV studies in African health systems to determine effectiveness and rare adverse events through real-life systems were a missing piece in the drug development pipeline.
She said the INESS project would, therefore, develop and maintain a Phase IV Effectiveness Studies Consortium in Africa, as well as assess the effectiveness and safety of new malarial treatment and its determinants in real life in Africa.
The study, she said, would test the effectiveness of Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) such as Artemether-lumefrantine, Artesunate + amodiaquine, Artesunate + mefloquine, and Artesunate + sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine proven to be efficacious and safe for large scale use in routine health systems using eight District Surveillance Survey (DSS) sites in four countries in Africa with continuous demographic surveillance for monitoring of outcomes.
The district-wide implementation project, Mrs Gyapong said, would cover more than two million population in the implementation countries and would link health facility data to population-based data of DSS.
She said the team had so far visited 856 households out of which 727 had been asked questions on fevers and 165 cases recorded.

Training programme on biometric passports ends

2010-01-18T00:12:00.000-08:00

Daily Graphic. Pg 20, Monday, January 18/10

Story Rebecca Quaicoe-Duho
A Day's training programme has been organised by the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), to educate its regional information officers and commanders on the introduction of the biometric passports next month.
The biometric passports, to be launched on February 3, 2010, will replace the old Machine Readable Passport (MRP) system that was introduced in the country 12 years ago.
Addressing the opening session, Director of Passports, Ms Afua Benneh, said the new passport regime was in compliance with a directive by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for member countries to phase out the use of the MRP by 2015.
The new passport, which will incorporate features such as a watermark paper, holographic foil, invisible and visible features and digital photographs, according to her, has “built-in efficient processing and issuance mechanisms designed to eliminate present frustrations caused by delays and middlemen.
Ms Benneh, however could not give the fees for the acquisition of the new passport, since, according to her, the fees for the new passport, expected to be more expensive than the present one, would need parliamentary approval.
The acting Chief Director of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and Regional Integration (MFA&RI), Mr Lawrence Satuah, called for collaboration from all sectors of the economy to ensure that the new system took off effectively.
He said so far only Accra had been equipped with facilities to issue the new passport, adding that two other centres would be opened in other areas in Accra before similar facilities would established in the regions.
He appealed to prospective applicants to bear with them at this trying moment, saying that the system would be improved to make it more accessible.
A Deputy Director in charge of Operations, GIS, Mr Moses Gyamfi, in an address, called for serious commitment on the part of the regional officers to ensure that the new system took off smoothly.
He called on the officers to package the information that they would receive at the training in a way that people in their respective areas would understand it.
Giving an overview of the implementation of the new system, Mr Martin Quarshie, Deputy Director of Passports, MFA&RI, said the passport would help to guard against foreign nationals acquiring Ghanaian passports and also check against identity fraud and other malfeasance in the acquisition of passport in the country.