WOMAN, 50, KILLED BY ARMED ROBBERS (Thursday August 14, 2008 PAGE 28)

A woman in her early fifties was killed while two others sustained serious wounds when suspected armed robbers attacked a passenger vehicle at Kulungugu, near the Ghana-Burkina Faso border.
Police identified the deceased as Hajia Hasatu Dawuda, a trader, was on the vehicle with other traders from Bittou, in neighbouring Burkina Faso, when they were ambushed by the robbers at about 5:30 pm.
Giving details of the case, a police source said while the traders were returning from Bittou, a market centre in Burkina Faso, the attackers emerged from the bush on a motor bike and attacked them a few metres from the Kulungugu Bailey Bridge.
According to the source, the suspected robbers were wielding guns and machetes, and took an unspecified amount of monies from the passengers.
The source said some of the passengers who mustered courage managed to run away to safety.
However, the deceased was unable to escape so the robbers slashed her with a machete to death and injured two others.
The source said the police were called in and after identification, released the body to the family for burial, while further investigations continued.

GT Workers Back Vodafone Deal(D/G Tuesday August 12, 2008)

Workers of the Ghana Telecommunications Company Limited yesterday embarked on demonstrations in some parts of the country to express their solidarity with the government in its bid to divest 70 per cent shares of GT to Vodafone of the UK.The demonstrations were intended to convince the public and other stakeholders that the intended sale would help recapitalise the company and save it from total collapse.
In Bolgatanga, Benjamin Xornam Glover reports that the demonstrating workers carried placards with inscriptions some of which read “We support Vodafone deal”, “Help! GT is collapsing”, Vodafone /GT deal-Good for Ghana” and “Vodafone Zaare(welcome)”.
Whereas the management and some workers of GT, as well as economists like Mr Kwame Pianim, have given their blessing to the deal, groups like the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP), the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Committee for Joint Action (CJA) have been in the forefront of opposition to the deal.
Parliament is due to reconvene today to deliberate on the ratification of the deal.
Speaking to journalists after the protest, the Upper East Regional Corporate Affairs Manager of GT, Mr Gordon Wellu, said most workers held the view that it was better for the government to sell the shares, since it held well for the future expansion of the company.
“It is better for Vodafone to come in. Even if they are going to retrench workers, that exercise will not affect all the 4,200 workers.
It is better to have a few workers go than allow the entire entity to collapse,” he said.
Mr Wellu said workers were positive about the prospects of GT after the deal had been sealed, adding that “Vodafone, as a giant in the telecom sector, will resuscitate the dying GT”.

Journalists told to assist readers to make informed decisions.(D/G Thursday, August 7, 2008 Page 32)

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover and Alhandu Abdul-Hamid, Bolgatanga.
A Veteran Journalist and the immediate Past President of the Northern Regional Branch of the Ghana Journalist Association(GJA) Mr. Alhassan Imoro, has entreated journalists to provide information that will help empower readers make informed choices and decisions.
“On the media landscape today ,what we see is that instead of focusing on the social significance of news, there is the tendency on the part of journalists to politicise, personalise, trivialize and dramatize social processes by failing to link polices, processes and actions with events, happenings and outcomes”, he said.
Mr. Imoro said this at the opening of a three day workshop on “Decentralisation and the Media” for media practitioners and local government functionaries in the Upper East Region, organised by the Institute of Local Government Studies in collaboration with the German Development Service (DED).
Topics discussed were Civic Journalism and Reporting, Peaceful Electioneering and Democracy in Ghana, Mechanism for Enhancing voice, advocacy, representation and free flow of information within the local government system, Ethics and Values in Local Governance: the role of the Media and District Assembly and Civil Society Organisations as partners in Peace Building and Development.
He said that most media practitioners tend to focus their reportage on events as one-off opportunities for news stories, adding that the daily routine where reporters are invited to cover events has the tendency of overburdening reporters with less time to pursue stories beyond graphic images and meaningless statistics.
“Since event-focused reporting looks at an event and not the underlying issues which need addressing, one wonders what stories of substance or context these reporters can come out with that can have an impact on the lives of the people”.
Mr. Imoro noted that in such situations, event organisers only get very scanty publicity since they cannot influence what was reported or ensure that their activities are highlighted the way they want their stories to be told.
He advised practitioners to play a watch-dog and facilitating role instead of skewing their concentration in favour of political issues and discussions to the neglect of real developmental issues.
The Director of the Tamale Campus of the Institute of Local Government Studies Dr. Callistus Mahama said that the purpose of the workshop was to re-enforce the roles and responsibilities of the media and civil society in advocacy and representation at the local level.
He noted that Government investment in the decentralisation process has not achieved the much anticipated results, saying as partners in the development the Media has been identified as a powerful medium through which much could be achieved.

NDEBUGRE TO CONTEST ZEBILLA AS INDEPENDENT (D/G Monday, August 10, 2008, PAGE 16)

THE sitting People’s National Convention (PNC) Member of Parliament for the Zebilla Constituency in the Upper East Region, Mr John Akparibo Ndebugre, has announced his intention to contest the seat as an independent candidate.
The reason for his actions stems from his long-standing disagreements with the leadership of his party.
In an interview with the Daily Graphic on Saturday, Mr Ndebugre, a one-time Upper East Regional Secretary in the PNDC era, accused the party’s flag bearer, Dr Edward Mahama, and said that his activities were negatively affecting the fortunes of the party.
According to him, he had the backing of over 400 ward chairmen and polling agents, who he claimed, were also dissatisfied with the leadership style of Dr Mahama.
He said that they had urged him to go independent and work for the PNC from Parliament to make it a formidable one.
“We cannot pretend that the party is intact when, in fact, he is doing what he wants and all efforts to get him to straighten out things have failed,” he said
Asked whether his decision to stand as an independent candidate would not affect the fortunes of the party, the one-time National Executive Member of the PNC conceded that his intention would affect the party, but insisted that “it is sometimes better to take two steps backwards and one leap forward”.
A meeting held at his private residence last week, Thursday and Friday, with his constituency ward executive members and polling agents at Zebilla unanimously adopted a resolution that the MP should contest as an independent parliamentary candidate.
Mr Ndebugre, who willingly accepted the decision, gave the assurance that he still remained a member of the PNC, and insisted that “he is indeed the legitimate 1st National Vice-Chairman of the party”.
He also assured his enthusiastic supporters that with their support, he hoped to return to Parliament in 2009, to reorganise the party and develop the Bawku West District Assembly.
He said during his term as an MP, he had made education, health and infrastructure his priority and disbursed all his share of the District Assembly Common Fund in those sectors of the economy.
When contacted, the Regional Secretary of the PNC, Mr Henry Fachu, stressed that the Regional Executive of the party was yet to receive an official communication regarding Mr Ndebugre’s intention to run as an independent candidate.
Mr Fachu insisted that the party had all it took to retain the seat, and assured all party faithful in the constituency to rally behind the party for victory in the forthcoming elections.
A former Regional Minister, Cletus Avoka of the NDC, and the former District Chief Executive, Mr Moses Abaare Appiah of the NPP, are all preparing to wrest the seat from its present occupant, Lawyer John Ndebugre.

ISD OFFICIALS EDUCATE PEOPLE OF UE ON GOVT POLICIES ( D/G Monday August 4,2008 PAGE 40)

THE Upper East Regional Office of the Information Services Department (ISD) has undertaken a 14-day public education campaign aimed at disseminating government policies, programmes, plans and activities to the people.
The campaign covered all the nine municipalities/districts in the region, namely the Bolgatanga and Bawku Municipalities, Bongo, Builsa and Talensi-Nabdam districts.
Others are Kassena-Nankana, Garu-Tempane, Bawku West and Kassena-Nankana West Districts.
Speaking to the Daily Graphic , the Regional Information Officer, Mr Akwasi Amankwa, said in all, 650 communities through out the region and about 58,240 audiences were captured during the campaign.
He listed some of the beneficiary communities as Garu-Nating, Gagberi, Auosum, Kugrago, Denugu and Meliga, all in the Garu-Tempane District. Others were Manchoro, Gwenia, Kologu, Naguagnia, Kalvio and Tampola in the Kassena-Nankana district. The rest are Sandema, Wiaga, Fumbisi, Doninga and Kori, all in the Builsa District.
Mr Amankwa stated that in the Bolgatanga Municipality, the team covered communities such as Yikene, Tanzue, Zorbiisi, Gambibgo and Yorogo.
According to Mr Amankwa, government policies and programmes that were disseminated to the members of the community included the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), the School Feeding Programme, Northern Development Fund, the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the Capitation Grant, Female Genital Mutilation and five-pronged initiative of the President to mitigate hardships facing Ghanaians.
Municipal and District Assemblies development projects and programmes were also incorporated in the education campaign.
Mr Amankwa stated that, to ensure effective impact of the campaign on the residents, local dialects, such as Gurune, Kassem, Nankni, Buli and Kusal were used as a tool of communication.
Jingles, local cassette music, talks and film shows were also used. Markets, open places, lorry parks and chiefs’ palaces were targeted as educational dissemination spots.
The Regional Information Officer added that varied reactions, observations and comments were made by the inhabitants in the affected communities.
He stated that farmers at the Vea Irrigation site in the Bongo District commended the government for reducing import duties on major food items , waiving levies on some petroleum products and subsidies on fertilisers and tractors.
They, however, appealed for further reduction of prices of tractors to enable as many farmers as possible to purchase them.
“As peasant farmers, our income from agricultural produce is woefully inadequate to enable us to purchase tractors at the current price,” remarked by one of the farmers.

35 APPRENTICES IN UE PRESENTED WITH WORKING TOOLS (D/G Monday August 4,2008 PAGE 40)

THIRTY-FIVE graduate apprentices in the Builsa District of the Upper East Region, have been presented with assorted start-up working tools worth GH¢10,000 to enable them to start their own businesses.
The items comprised tools for motor and bicycle repairs, masonry, weaving, hairdressing, vulcanising, barbering, welding as well as television and radio repairs.
The presentation of the equipment falls under the second phase of the Rural Enterprise Project (REP) support for graduate apprentices.
The REP contributed GH¢8,000 while the Builsa District Assembly provided the remaining GH¢2,000.
Making the presentation at a brief ceremony at Sandema, the district capital, the District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Thomas Alonsi, said under the REP, the assembly had been supporting various trade associations through capacity building programmes and the provision of vital tools and equipment to enable them to improve upon their businesses and to employ many more others to reduce the unemployment situation in the district.
In that regard, he said, capacity building programmes on bee keeping, guinea fowl rearing, batik tie - dye production, soap and pomade making, among others, had been organised for 864 individuals in the district.
Mr Alonsi said in addition, 142 individuals were to receive amounts ranging between GH¢240 and GH¢420 as micro credit.
He said the provision of tools to the graduate apprentices was aimed at empowering, improving and supporting the private sector to be the engine of growth of national development, adding that "the skills training for the unemployed is aimed at making them self-reliant to enable them to contribute to national development."
The Tamale Zonal Marketing Officer of the REP, Mr Abu Mahamadu, urged the beneficiaries to make good use of the kits while the Builsa District Head of the Business Advisory Centre, Mr Abu Mutalib, charged the beneficiaries to adopt good business practices, such as efficient record keeping and good customer relations in order to win more customers for their businesses to expand.

BOLGATANGA POLYTECHNIC MAKES POSITIVE STRIDES (D/G Monday August 4,2008 PAGE 40)

A journey of 1000 miles begins with a step, so goes the adage. One institution in the Upper East Region which seems to have adopted this saying and built on it to achieve its current enviable status among the comity of polytechnics in Ghana is the Bolgatanga Polytechnic (B-POLY).
It was established in September, 1999 but admitted its first batch of students in 2003.
Under the leadership of Mr Robert A. Ajene, the founding Principal, B-Poly was started from the scratch and housed in rented premises in Bolgatanga. Through the generosity of the government, through the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund), a new campus was started at Sumbrungu.
Though not completed, the massive investment under way, estimated at GH¢7.5 million, involves the construction of an administrative block, a library, lecture halls and workshops.
The vision of B-Poly management is to transform the institution into a centre of excellence for teaching, learning and research.
The authorities of the polytechnic hope to achieve that ambition by using a three-pronged approach. They are the introduction of innovative and demand-driven academic programmes, developing and maintaining a competent and motivated human resource base and putting in place the requisite state-of-the-art facilities required for the modern study of science, technology and the applied arts.
Student enrolment since the establishment of the institution has been growing steadily. From 79 in the year of its inception, the school can now boast of a total student population of 540.
Academic life has seen tremendous improvement over the years. From two accredited programmes (Statistics and Agriculture Engineering) in 1999, the polytechnic currently runs five programmes.
Four new programmes, Ecological Agriculture, Industrial Art, Civil Engineering, and Hotel Catering and Institutional Management have received approval from the National Accreditation Board and would soon be rolled out.
Speaking to this writer, the current Rector of B-Poly, Prof Paul Tanzubil, said the Higher National Diploma (HND) in Industrial Art programme was geared towards improving upon the flourishing art and craft industry in the Upper East Region through the training of full-time students and local artisans, as well as the generation of appropriate technology and innovation to address the pertinent constraints, as well as modernise the system.
He said similarly, the HND in Ecological Agriculture course was intended to help transform food and fibre production in northern Ghana from an increasingly exploitative model to a more ecologically friendly and sustainable enterprise.
Prof Tanzubil expressed the hope that those new courses would help equip the youth with skills for self-employment and also improve the productivity and efficiency of local producers and entrepreneurs.
The Governing Council, as well as the management of B-Poly, considers human resource development as one of its priorities. For that matter, serious efforts were being made to develop a strong and performing human resource base using the three-pronged strategy of recruitment, training and retraining.
The academic staff strength of B-Poly has increased from 16 in September, 2007 to 65 as of today. More than 80 per cent of the staff possess postgraduate and/or professional qualifications.
Again, as a tertiary institution, B-Poly is making great strides in the area of research. Proposal and report writing courses for academic staff and management training for Principal Officers, Deans and Heads of Department have been organised at various periods with funding from GETFund and other donors.
In spite of all these positive trends, B-Poly is not without challenges. According to Prof Tanzubil, low student enrolment remains probably the institution’s greatest challenge, especially in the areas of science, technology and vocational education.
He stressed that apart from the rather disadvantaged geographical location of the institution, endemic poverty and a relatively weak academic base at the pre-tertiary level within the polytechnic’s catchment area could be the contributory factors to the current state of affairs.
Addressing an audience at the maiden congregation of the polytechnic at Sumbrungu, where a total of 199 graduates, made up of 136 males and 63 females, who completed their academic programmes of study during the 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 academic years, were awarded the Higher National Diploma, Prof Tanzubil mentioned lack of student hostels and low internally generated funds as some of the challenges facing the institution.
He made it clear that much as he was aware that the government policy was to de-link admissions from accommodation in tertiary institutions, there were absolutely no places to rent within the catchment area, making life really terrible for students.
While appealing to the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports to do something about the issue as a matter of urgency, Prof Tanzubil also called on private developers to take up the challenge of providing affordable accommodation for the students and staff.
He stated that due to a variety of reasons, there had been long delays in the completion of some projects, especially the water supply system and the library complex.
The rector, therefore, appealed to the government to channel more resources towards the early completion of those projects.
Polytechnic education plays an important role in national development. Apart from providing career-oriented and skills- based educational polytechnics are supposed to produce people who are career-focused and have a hands–on-direction suitable to the needs of industry, the community and the country at large.
It is hoped that having come this far, B-Poly would be given every assistance to enable it to become first class tertiary educational institution in the Upper East Region.