2011 National Best Farmer receives prize from adb

By: Benjamin Xornam Glover| Thursday, 27 March 2014

The Agricultural Development Bank (adb) has presented a GH¢108,000 three-bedroom fully furnished house to the 2011 National Best Farmer, Mr Ignatius Agbo, at Old Ningo in the Greater Accra Region. The bank financed the construction of the house as part of the package for Mr Agbo when he was adjudged the best farmer at the 27th National Farmers Day. Speaking at a ceremony to hand over the keys to the house at Old Ningo, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Clement Kofi Humado, recounted the history of the awards and indicated how they had improved from the presentation of machetes, wellington boots and radio sets to award winners at its inception in 1985 through to single cabin pick-ups, double cabin pick-ups or fully mounted tractors to the now soft-furnished three-bedroom houses. He commended the adb for persistently providing a residence for the best farmer each year.

abd The Managing Director of the adb, Mr Stephen Kpordzih, in his address, said the bank’s continuous support to the National Farmers Day was motivated by the fact that it shared the vision of the government to boost agricultural production and productivity. He indicated that the adb regarded its sponsorship of the National Farmers Day as a social responsibility. Mr Agbo Mr Agbo, for his part, expressed appreciation to the government for acknowledging farmers by introducing the National Farmers Day which had continued over the years. He also expressed appreciation to all sponsors of the National Farmers Day, particularly the adb, for continually providing a house for the National Best Farmer - See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/20293-2011-national-best-farmer-receives-prize-from-adb.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook#sthash.N6iTLsPN.dpuf http://graphic.com.gh/news/general-news/20293-2011-national-best-farmer-receives-prize-from-adb.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Pupils in Ashiaman benefit from eye screening and dental treatment

By Benjamin Xornam Glover, ASHIAMAN More than 1,500 pupils of Ashaiman 1 and 2 cluster of schools have benefited from a medical screening exercise conducted by a by a team of medical personnel from the New Crystal Health Services (NCHS). The pupils were screened and given both dental and eye treatment while with support from Unilever Ghana, tooth paste was distributed to all the beneficiaries of the exercise. The exercise began with a talk by hiplife artiste Okyeame Kwame who is collaborating with NCHS to educate the public to adopt a healthy life style. Okyeame Kwame who is also a Health Ambassador stressed on the need for people to take advantage of such screening exercises, saying that it helped to detect diseases. He called on parents and teachers in the area to ensure that all children in the area benefited from such prorgammes and also visit the hospital on regular basis regular to have their system checked to avoid an preventable diseases. A Dentist with the NCHS, Dr. Emmanuel Hinneh Kyere said most of the children examined were found having tooth decay, bleeding gums as well as discolored teeth. He said although most of the pupils claim they brush their teeth, it was observed that they were not brushing well enough and this has led to the depositing of dirt and food particles on the teeth causing stain on the teeth. He said the only way to avoid these problems was to brush the teeth regularly and properly to prevent bacteria from dwelling in the mouth. Dr Kyere also advocated the use of soft bushes and the adoption of the right techniques of brushing the teeth to achieve good results. The NCHS has been holding various public engagements in the Tema, Ashiaman and Takoradi area where it has five hospitals, as part of its corporate social responsibility. These engagements include regular education and health screening and education for people within its catchment area. These include students, traders, and drivers of commuter vehicles all targeted at promoting a healthier society. -END-

Tema Rotary Club Donates books to Koluedor Primary School

By Benjamin Xornam Glover, KOLUEDOR The Tema Rotary Club has donated books worth GH¢ 6,000 to the Primary School at Koluedor, a village in the Ada West District of the Greater Accra Region. The donation of books which covers several topics, which is part of the club's corporate social responsibility, also saw members of the Club offering dental care service to the over 800 pupils as well as teachers and parents in the community. With support from Unilever, which donated toothpaste, the club handed out tooth brushes and tooth paste the students. The President of the Tema Rotary Club, Dr Victor Nyamalor said the books were donated in response to a request made to the club by an NGO Break the Silence Child Development Foundation which supports basics schools in deprived communities. Dr Nyamalor said Rotary Club being a service club thought it wise to donate items to the children to encourage them to read more and improve their standard of education. He expressed the hope that the books will contribute towards building a better future for the children and the community as a whole. The founder of Break the Silence Child Development Foundation, Mr Isaka Koney said his organization had been working in deprived communities and through the support Ga-Damgbe Students Association of the University of Ghana; they identified the community and appealed to the Rotary Club for support. Mr Koney called on parents and teachers to ensure that the children cultivate the culture of reading since it has been established that knowledgeable people read a lot and that reading was an activity of getting information. The Circuit Supervisor for the area, Mr Akpe Glover commended club for its support for the school and appealed to other organizations to emulate the Rotary Club’s example and help to develop other schools in the district. Mr Amanfo Owusu Kesse on behalf of the Headmistress of the school expressed his gratitude to Tema Rotary Club and Break the Silence Child Development Foundation for their collaborative effort of donating the books to the communities. He gave the assurance that the books would be put to its rightful use and that measures would be put in place to provide maximum care for the books as well as avoid pilfering. -END-

Ship Owners call on government to incorporate PPP to help improve port services

By Benjamin Xornam Glover, TEMA The Ship Owners and Agents Association of Ghana (SOAAG) has observed said a public and private partnership arrangement could promote efficient port services delivery and also foster better relationship and high turn-out of goods and services at the ever-busy Ghanaian Port system. They have therefore called on called on the government to come out with innovative initiatives and measures that will attract increased investments from the private sector in port activities to help mobilize the needed revenue for the nation. The Vice President of SOAAG, Mr Adam Imoru Ayarna made the call on behalf of the association at a press soiree jointly organized by SOAGG and the Tema Chapter of the Ghana Journalists Association. Mr Ayarma explained that the private sector participation which could lead to some port services been could lead increase output, extended operational hours. He referred to some port systems, which has been concessioned to the private sector which is yielding results and is worth emulating The Apapa Port Story Citing the Nigerian Ports Systems where since 2005, parts of the Apapa Port has been concessioned, Mr Ayarna said Ghana stood to benefit if the private sector is brought on board to help operate the system He said under the Apapa Port experience, the average vessel wait time reduced from 14‐28 days during the pre-concession era to 0‐24 hours post concession. Additionally, he said the working days per week increased from 5 to 7 days, while the working hours move to 24 hours from 12 hours post concession. This, Mr Ayarna explained led to drastic increase in vessel productivity, increased throughput, reduced turnaround of vessels, extended operating hours for the container terminals. “All of the above will translate into reduced cost of doing business via Apapa port with direct positive impact on the economy” he said stressed on the need for Ghana to adopt a public private partnership to bring about the needed infrastructure development at the port. Challenges on imports He enumerated some of the challenges facing the Ghanaian shipping agent such as high cost of doing business congestion and delays at anchorage, adding that a day’s delay by a vessel costs the principal or carriers a minimum of $25,000 per day. Other challenges are detention long layover of containers with cargo as well as cumbersome procedures and demands on shipping agents. The rest are fictitious documentation presented by some agents and clients, imposition of charges by some regulatory bodies, in adequate security which has led to an increase in stowaways in teh recent past. Mr Ayarna disclosed that cargo due for auction are not auctioned but mostly left to go bad or a selective auction system is dome thereby further congesting the port and its attendant increasing cost to the shipping lines and agents. He said Reefer containers with poultry, meat and pharmaceutical products were also left plugged for 200 plus days, after which they are destroyed with a huge electricity burden on the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority as well as cost to the shipping lines and agents who pay for the destruction. “Due to this situation in the past 5 month, vessels were not able to discharge all of their Reefer containers for lack of plugging points, making them return the boxes or keeping them on board” he said. Mr Ayarna also called for attitudinal change amongst stakeholders to ensure the smooth clearing of cargo at the Ports. GJA President The President of the GJA, Affail Monney described the interaction as very successful and called for more of such fora to highlight issues facing the shipping industry. “The greatest need of the journalist is not the fattest pay cheque or palatial home, but our greatest need is capacity building” He also said it is necessary for both the media and SOAGG to collaborate with the view of empowering their various stakeholders in the shipping industry in order to make a bigger impact on the economy of Ghana. Mr kwasi Afrifa, a member of SOAAG who chaired the function emphasised the need for journalists to take keen interest in the shipping industry which in his view is a crucial industry and controls worldwide 90 per cent of global trade. He commended the Ghana Maritime University for introducing a course in shipping and urged other universities to train more people in shipping. He also advised the journalists to develop keen interest in shipping to help remove some misconceptions by the shippers. -End-

Louis Dreyfus Commodities organizes Safety Awareness Day

By: Benjamin Xornam Glover, TEMA The over 600 factories and establishments within the Tema Industrial setting do not have adequate factor Inspectors who are suppose to ensure safety and good maintenance practices. There are currently only four factories Inspectors in the Tema office of the Department of Factories Inspectorate who also lack logistics and funding to help them effectively discharge their mandate. These were disclosed by Mr Evans Opare, Senior Factories Inspector at an annual Safety, Health & Environment (SHE) Day celebration organized by Louis Dreyfus Commodities, (LDC), Ghana limited at Tema. LDC has set aside a day every year to celebrate safety awareness at workplace to ensure that workers focus their attention on the need to create a safe and healthy work environment. This year’s safety awareness day celebration was on the theme: “Sustainability starts with safety” Inadequate logistics Mr Opare bemoaned the lack of resources and logistics for the factory inspectorate and stressed that the situation has greatly limited the capabilities regularly visit the factories and establishments to enforce safety rules and regulations. He explained that under normal circumstances, Inspectors are expected to visit each factory at least twice a year but due to the logistical challenges they are unable to do that adding that in some cases for close to two years, they have not visited a factory to inspect their premises. “At the moment what we are doing is to improvise by organizing training programmes since we are not able to visit all the factories as we ought to do,” he said He therefore appealed to government to support the department with logistics and fund to enable it discharge its duties effectively. Mr Opare underscored the importance of safety in an organization and encouraged managers of establishments to take keen interest in ensuring a safe working environment for their members of staff. Incorporate safety in output The Chief Executive of Louis Dreyfus Commodities in charge of the West Africa Sub-Region, Mr Robert Dovlo expressed the hope that employees will incorporate health and safety issues into their output and help the company grow. “When you breached common sense, you breach safety and hence put everyone else at risk,” he said. The Managing Director of Louis Dreyfus Commodities Ghana, Mr Francois Centlivre said credible sustainability program must have a strong safety program as a foundation to build upon. He added that as safety results improve, workers will be contributing towards the building of strong sustainability program and stressed the need for all to play their roles efficiently. “To be a sustainable company, we need to move from reactive to proactive safety and risk management”. The SHE Officer of Louis Dreyfus Commodities, Mr Francis Obosu recounted a number of measures taken to ensure a safe and working environment for employees. This he said included the installation of 10,000 liter containment to hold water to be used in by the Fire Service in case of emergency as well as the installation of power regulating device in their offices to check the misuse of energy amongst other safety measures. Awards were presented to three employees of Louis Dreyfus Commodities who have contributed to Safety Awareness in the organization. They are Mr Dauda Djibu, Albert Appiah and Enoch Kwesi Sarpong. Examples of industrial fires in Tema The industrial hub of Tema has in the past years recorded a number of bad fires that led to the lost of properties and job. It will be recalled that in June 2012, the packaging unit of the Tema Chemicals Company Limited (CHEMICO) was razed to the ground by fire at the company’s premises at Community One. Another incident occurred in January 2013 at the BBC Industrial Company a paint manufacturing company, in Tema. In all these incidents not only did it take personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) several hours of intense fire fighting to bring the fire under control under control but also led to job losses and damage to equipment installed at high cost. -END-

Tema Motorway roundabout blocked after gas tanker tumbled

By: Benjamin Xornam Glover, TEMA A Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) tanker overturned in the process of negotiating a turn in the roundabout blocking the main Team-Ada highway. The 40 footer tanker was carrying approximately 34, 000 liters of LPG when the accident occurred. It was traveling from Tema to Aflao when it overturned at about 11 pm on Sunday. At the time the Daily Graphic got to the scene on Monday morning, a private crane belonging to Panasty Construction Limited had been contracted to lift the tanker under the supervision of the personnel from the Motor Transport and Traffic Department of the Ghana Police Service who were also present to direct the flow of traffic.

The Tema Regional MTTD Commander, Superintendent Oduro Amening who spoke to the Daily Graphic confirmed the incident indicating that they were putting in all efforts to remove the tanker and cleared the road to avert danger to other road users. An eye-witness, Abubakar Issah told the Daily Graphic that the tanker rolled over at about 11 pm on Sunday. He said personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service responded to the accident immediately and arrived on the scene to put foam on the leak to prevent a fire outbreak. He said personnel from the Road Safety Management Services with the towing vehicles also came around but tried as they did, they could not move the overturned tanker. Though there was no reported death, the tanker driver whose name was not immediately available had sustained some injury and was taken to the hospital. -End- Quick Read  The Tema end of the Motorway Roundabout remained closed between Sunday evening and Monday afternoon due to an overturned LPG tanker  The tanker, carrying approximately 34,000 liters of LPG was negotiating a turn when it overturned  The driver sustained some injuries while the accident resulted in a huge traffic buildup of the motorway

Odumja ready to take on the world

Written by Benjamin Xornam Glover | Thursday, 20 March 2014 10:22 - See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/entertainment/19806-odumja-ready-to-take-on-the-world.html#sthash.ndknX4qT.dpuf

He trained as a journalist but music is his real passion. From a young age of 12, Odumja, real name, Felix Lambert Dangmaa, identified his musical talent and began his journey into the world of music by copy writing songs produced by his favourite artistes. His music career was boosted when he began entertaining parents and teachers during speech and prize giving days at the 1st Signal Basic School, Burma Camp. Based on that, he was encouraged by a school colleague to join a music group called “Black Kingz” at age 14. As a member of the Black Kingz group, Odumja started writing his own songs and helped the group record its first single in 1999. When he entered Tamale Senior High School, Odumja helped Hayfron House to win several inter house entertainment competitions. On completion of Tamasco, Odumja gained admission into the Ghana Institute of Journalism in 2005. He was appointed as the Entertainment Committee Chairman by the School Representative Council in 2006. In 2008, he came out with his first single Ye de ewo. He followed up with another single titled Look Sharp which was accompanied by his first music video. He went further to release other singles among which were Ma thing, Ma world and Ghetto Life. In the short span of his musical career, Odumja , has worked with several sound engineers including Jay Q, Agengo and Hammer. Danny beatz recorded the rapper’s current single, Akeisem. Currently Akeisem, which features Empire Entertainment boys, Dobble, is enjoying some airplay. Although Odumja works with the State Broadcaster at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region and has practiced journalism for the past five years, he still holds his passion for music very dear. He says he would like to be recognised on an international platform where he can promote both Ghanaian music and the culture of the country. “Ideally, I would like to use my music to promote development issues that I am passionate about such as youth and the environment”, he said. Graphic Showbiz - See more at: http://graphic.com.gh/entertainment/19806-odumja-ready-to-take-on-the-world.html#sthash.ndknX4qT.dpuf

Christian Vertical elects prefects

By Benjamin Xornam Glover / Junior Graphic / Ghana | Wednesday, 12 March 2014

The Christian Vertical Centre in Tema, has held its maiden elections to elect prefects to steer the affairs of the school for this academic year. The exercise was held to assist the youth to be familiar with the electoral process in the country. Students interested in these positions completed nomination forms and were interviewed by a panel made up of their teachers. After that, the successful candidates campaigned and presented their manifestos to the entire student body. The polls were conducted just as is done in national elections. The school used ballot boxes, indelible ink, voting screens, ballot papers bearing pictures of the various candidates to elect the prefects. Students from Class Four up to JHS Form Two were the eligible voters and, therefore, cast the ballot to elect the prefects of their choice for the school. At the end of the process, Master Emmanuel Marful polled 77 votes to defeat his opponent, Master Phillip Bondzie who had 44 votes to become the Boys Prefect. For the position of Girls Prefect, Miss Sandra Nartey polled 88 votes as against Miss Daniela Siaw who had 33 votes. For the position of Boys Compound Prefect, Master Nash Amanin Kwarteng secured 88 votes to beat Aaron Ohene Yeboah who had 33 votes. Miss Elizabeth Bimpeh polled 77 votes to become the Girls Compound Prefect by beating Miss Emmanuella Panford who had 44 votes. Apart from the positions of School and Compound Prefects which were voted for, the other prefects were appointed by the teachers based on competence. They were Kwabena Aponsah Boateng, Sports Prefect (Boys), Victoria Kwei Tetteh, Sports Prefect (Girls) and Loise Amedeku (Worship Prefect.) In an interview with the Boys Prefect elect, Master Emmanuel Marful, he said he was excited for being elected and pledged to work with the school administrators to establish a science and creative centre for the school during his tenure of office. The Headmaster of the school, Mr Abraham Ekow Afer, in an interview, said the decision to conduct the polls was to help inculcate leadership qualities in the students as early as possible and also educate them on the election process and systems in the country. http://www.graphic.com.gh/juniors/junior-news/19253-christian-vertical-elects-prefects.html