school feeding caterers go to court(D/G, Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Spread)

Heavy rains in the Bolgatanga Municipality on Tuesday morning disrupted academic work in schools and marred activities lined up to mark , “My First Day in School” programme initiated three years ago .“My First Day in School”, which is observed on the first day of the new academic year of basic education schools, is an initiative by the Ministry of Education to whip up enthusiasm among the pupils and encourage them to stay in school.A visit to different schools in the municipality revealed poor attendance and authorities attributed it to the heavy rains recorded earlier in the day.
As at 10:30 am, only 9 newly admitted pupils comprising 5 girls and 4 boys have reported to school at the Queen Elizabeth Kindergarten, while at the Adabase Primary School, only 8 pupils, all girls had reported to the school as at 11am. At the Bolgatanga Preparatory Nursery the situation was not different as there were only 10 pupils,-seven boys and three girls were making their maiden appearance at school.
The Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Mrs Lucy Awuni have toured the selected schools to interact with the new entrants to basic schools.

FIRE SERVICE FACES EVICTION (MIRROR, Saturday 12, 2009.PAGE 26)

From Benjamin Xornam Glover, Bolgatanga

The Upper East Regional Fire Service faces eviction owing to the non-payment of compensation to landowners for lands where the regional headquarters and municipal fire offices are sited.
The Regional Fire Officer, Assistant Chief Fire Officer Wynni Azomyann, has therefore appealed to the government to pay the compensation to forestall a recurrence of an incident in 2004, when a High Court in Bolgatanga ordered the seizure of an official car of the service to defray a debt, after the service failed to compensate landowners of the site where its junior staff quarters are located.
The High Court found the service guilty in 2004 and impounded the service’s vehicle with registration number, FS 141 for non-payment of judgement debt.
ACFO Azomyann said these at a durbar of security agencies during a working visit to the region by the Minister for the Interior, Mr Cletus Avoka, to assess the performance and the challenges that face the agencies under the ministry.
The Regional Fire Officer said presently, the service was occupying and using landed properties for which they had not completed any title deeds. As a result, the various landowners were claiming compensation for the use of their lands.
“Our continuous use and undisturbed occupancy is fraught with danger in this constitutional era,” he said.
The regional fire officer, therefore, appealed to the minister to help find a quick solution to this challenge in order to avert an impending embarrassment to the Ghana National Fire Service in particular and the government as a whole.
He appealed to Mr Avoka for funds to rehabilitate the residential facilities for fire personnel, which he said had not been renovated since their construction in 1974.
According to the Regional Fire Officer, the estimated cost and bill of quantities provided by the regional consultants of the Architectural and Engineering Services for the renovation of the four senior officers’ bungalows and 20 units of the junior staff quarters have been submitted to the appropriate quarters.
Mr Azomyann said about half of the fire engines in the region were not functioning and, therefore, appealed to the ministry to hasten the arrival of fire engines ordered from India and the USA.
Mr Avoka gave the assurance that the government was doing all it could to improve service conditions and promised that the region would have its fair share of the new fire engines to facilitate their work.
The Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Mr Kwesi Ankonam Quayson, said the focus of the new leadership of the service was to rebrand the service and make it more efficient.
Mr Quayson who is also a Director in charge of Research, Development and Monitoring at the National Headquarters of the service, challenged the personnel to commit themselves to the new vision of the current leadership of the service in order to achieve more successes.
Earlier, Mr Avoka visited the Fire Service installation at Navrongo, where the officer in charge, Mr Willie Anobiga, said work on a new 14-room office building had stalled since 1999 and appealed to the minister to ensure its early completion.

MAMPRUSI REPS QUIT ETHNIC PEACE C'TTEE (D/G, Friday, September 11, PAGE 3)

REPRESENTATIVES of Mamprusis on the Bawku Inter Ethnic Peace Committee have announced their withdrawal from the committee until further notice.
The Leader of the Mamprusi team and Co-chairperson of the committee, Alhaji Kobila, told the Daily Graphic that they had been compelled to take that decision because of harassment of Mamprusis by the military in Bawku.
He alleged that in recent times, the military in Bawku had taken undue advantage of the situation anytime news of violence broke out in the town to go on the rampage in a discriminatory attack on Mamprusi suburbs, and without provocation manhandled everyone in sight.
He accused the military of discriminating against the Mamprusis and also criticised the soldiers for harassing his people.
Alhaji Kobila said personnel of the military on peace-keeping operations were treating opinion leaders in the Mamprusi communities in Bawku with contempt and arrogance, and that did not give room for co-operation from the Mamprusis.
A three-day workshop planned for members of the committee to enhance their capacity in peace building was postponed last Monday, due to the absence of the Mamprusis, who said they were mourning their relatives who were killed during the fatal clash, which claimed five lives on Sunday, September 4.
The Minister for the Interior, Mr Cletus Avoka, who was scheduled to address the workshop, explained that the workshop had to be rescheduled to Wednesday, September 9, 2009, but this was not to be as none of the participants made it to the venue of the workshop.
When the leadership of the committee, namely Mr Thomas Abila for the Kusasis and Alhaji Kobila for the Mamprusis, were contacted on phone, they both expressed doubts about the future of the committee.
While Mr Abila said the fate of the committee rested with the Government, Alhaji Kobila said his side was unhappy with the way the military in Bawku, in particular, was maltreating the Mamprusis, and that not even a change in the top hierarchy of the military in Bawku would bring them back to the negotiating table.
He also mentioned mistrust on the part of some members of the committee, who were stifling the peace process, adding that nothing would motivate them to go back to the committee to continue with the process that they had started.
The committee, comprising both Kusasis and Mamprusis in Bawku, was set up by the Upper East Regional Co-ordinating Council to broker permanent peace in the Bawku metropolis and its environs.
It was later expanded to include leaders of the minority groups in Bawku.
To facilitate their work, the Government has donated a bus, as a means of transport, to the committee members to be able to shuttle every nook and cranny of Bawku and its environs to preach peace.
The terms of reference to guide the committee includes opening up of genuine, constructive and effective dialogue among the people of Bawku, especially the major protagonists in the conflict.
It is also to help educate the people on the need for a peaceful co-existence, placing emphasis on commonalities that unite the people, instead of their differences.
The Officer Commanding the Airborne Force in Bawku, Captain Frank Abrokwah, when contacted, declined to comment on the allegations made against the military personnel.

CHILDREN'S COURT (JUNIOR GRAPHIC, PAGE 15)

I want to congratulate the organisers of the Girls Camp organised in the Upper East Region because it has been an interesting eye-opener for most of us from the deprived communities who took part in the programme.
The camp enabled me to learn a lot of important things. For instance, it has taught me how to speak confidently in public. It has also encouraged me to appreciate the importance of education, especially for girls.
Now, I know that if I take my education seriously, it will help me have a bright future.
When I return to my community, I hope to share all that I have learnt with my friends and make them aware that it is only through education that girls can be empowered for a better future.


I think the annual Girls Camp is a very good one indeed.
I believe through these camps, we will learn more about ourselves, what is happening in the country and around the world.
It is only through education that we can make progress as girls and that is why I am happy to have taken part in the camp.
I look forward to going back home and telling my friends all that I have learnt at the camp.
l also hope to pass on the knowledge that I have acquired to my parents and other parents in my community, so that they will appreciate the importance of girl-child education.
That might make them send all their children, especially girls to school.

It is good that this camp is held regularly to expose us to the changes that are taking place around us.
My participation in the programme will help me a lot in future. For instance, I have learnt how to be disciplined, tolerant and I appreciate the need to speak politely to others.
This will help me relate better with my friends and family members.
When I get back to my district and school, I will definitely share whatever I have learnt here with my friends who did not get the chance to participate in the training.
That way, I will be helping them also to know that without education they cannot get far in this modern world.

This camp has been very educative. I have learnt a lot of things and I will encourage the organisers to ensure that all girls participate in it.
One of the key things I have learnt is that there is no significant difference between boys and girls as far as education is concerned. The training has taught me how to talk politely to people, respect their views and be tolerant.
When I get back to my school, I will share what I have learnt with my friends, so that they will also benefit from it.
I have made up my mind to put in more effort at school because it is only through education that my future will be safe.

ARREST 'EM...To stop impunity in Bawku - Minister (LEAD STORY)

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover

The Minister of the Interior, Mr Cletus Avoka, has directed personnel of the various security agencies to effect the prompt arrest of all troublemakers in the volatile areas of Bawku.
Addressing a durbar of officers and men of the various security agencies under his ministry at Bolgatanga on Monday, Mr Avoka also appealed to the judges to deal expeditiously with suspected criminals who were arraigned before the courts to curb the culture of impunity and to serve as a deterrent to others.
According to him, the government was very much disappointed in the continuous violence in Bawku in particular and other parts of the country and said everything would be done to ensure that peace prevailed in the country to promote development.
The Interior Minister asked security personnel in the region to close their ranks and work as a team to bring peace to Bawku and minimise crime in the area.
“The situation in Bawku and other places such as Dagbon, is becoming an embarrassment to all of us. The country is using all the resources meant for development by the district assemblies to fund the operations of soldiers and policemen in these conflict areas.”
The meeting formed part of the minister’s three-day working visit to the region to interact with the personnel and learn at first-hand the challenges confronting them.
He said since the government assumed office, the country had begun recording some success in the fight against armed robbery and the drug menace and stressed that the recurrent conflicts in Bawku could not be allowed to draw back the progress made in improving security and enhancing development.
He advised the officers to find novel ways of dealing with the security challenges they faced in the region such as fuel smuggling, cultivation of narcotics such as “wee”, armed robbery and ethnic conflicts, and emphasised that promotion in the security services would depend on the output of personnel and not the number of years of service.
The Upper East Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bright Oduro, said in spite of the successes chalked up by the police in the fight against crime in the region, the recurrent violence in Bawku was a dent on their professional capabilities as a law enforcement agency.
He, however, gave the assurance that the police, together with other security agencies in the region, would do their very best to bring the perpetrators of violence to book.
ACP Oduro said Bawku should be treated as a special case if the police were to stop the carnage and lawlessness and appealed for strong 4x4 vehicles, preferably pick-ups, for patrols, as well as motorbikes to be able to access areas and paths that would ordinarily not be accessible by cars.
Additionally, he said, there was the need to increase allowance of the security personnel to motivate them, provide good quality tents and bullet proof vests to the security personnel, as well as provide street lights in the Bawku municipality.
The Regional Police Commander also appealed to the minister to build police barracks, saying it was only the Upper East Region that did not have a decent police barracks.
He said out of the 703 personnel in the region, only 202 were living in police barracks, 143 were without accommodation and 304 occupied rented quarters.
He said equally disheartening was the fact that four or five personnel were compelled to share one room.
Other heads of security agencies such as the Immigration Service, Fire Service, Prisons Service and CEPS also presented the challenges facing their institutions.
They mentioned the main challenge as the lack of accommodation for personnel and appealed to the minister to address the problem.

UPPER EAST FISH FARMERS APPEAL FOR SUPPORT (PAGE 14)

Fish farmers in the Upper East Region have expressed concern about lack of logistics which is one major challenge confronting their business.
They mentioned lack of fishing gear such as nets, boats, cold storage facilities, life-saving jackets, access to fish feed and difficulty in getting fingerlings as problems facing the industry.
The farmers who depend on ponds, dams and rivers for their operations, said though there exist the potential for good business, the difficulties identified were posing a great challenge for their business and said the time had come for the government to give them the necessary attention.
The farmers who made the appeal when the Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Nii Amasah Namoale, paid a working visit to the region said at times, they had to travel to Accra, Kumasi or Tamale to buy fingerlings and feed to stock their ponds and these made the venture too expensive and called for support.
Some of the fish farms the deputy minister included the Pwalugu Integrated Duck-Fish Culture Farm, the Vea Irrigation Fish Farm and Tono Irrigation Fish Farm.
He also interacted with members of the Gambigo Water Users Association, who utilise the water in the Gambigo Dam to produce fish as well as fishmongers of Kajelo. He also visited a fish processor in Bolgatanga.
At Vea near Bolgatanga, the chief of the area, Naba Thomas Azubire, said since the construction of the fish ponds in 1970, the laterals have broken down and the fish ponds are heavily silted making the ponds unable to contain the maximum requirement of fingerlings in each session of stocking.
He also mentioned inadequate credit facilities for farmers to start, expand and sustain fish farming as a serious drawback.
He, therefore, appealed to the government to go to their aid since that will go a long way to prevent the youth of the area from migrating down south in search of non-existing jobs.
An investor, Madam Faiza Ibrahim Taimako, said one other challenge confronting the industry was pilfering. He said in spite of all the measures put in place, some unscrupulous persons sneak in to steal the fish.
The Regional Director of Fisheries, Mr Ebenezer Wellington, who briefed the deputy minister on the state of fishing in the region said the region has the potential of producing enough fish for domestic consumption.
He said the total surface area for production in Tono is 5.07 hectares while that for fingerlings was 0.9 hectares and the total surface area for Vea was 3.6 hectares. He said if all these were to be operational and all things being equal, there will be increased yield.
Mr Wellington said the regional directorate of MoFA was working on a pilot integrated Duck-Fish Culture Project at Pwalugu along the White Volta, where farmers do fishing alongside duck rearing, which would be replicated in some parts of the region, especially in communities along the White Volta and Red Volta. He indicated that a lot of fish mongers have also been trained in a new technology of smoking fish to enable them to undertake large scale fish smoking.

LATEST BAWKU KILLINGS CONDEMNED (PAGE 14)

A co-chairman of the Bawku Inter Ethnic Peace Committee, Mr Thomas Abila, has condemned the latest violence in the Bawku Municipality, describing it as a serious drawback to efforts being made by the committee to bring lasting peace to the area.
Speaking to journalists in Bawku last Sunday, Mr Abila, who is also a personal assistant to Naba Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, the paramount chief of the Bawku Traditional Area, said the latest killings and injuries to innocent citizens was a big blow to the committee which is at the verge of making a headway in its efforts to broker permanent peace in Bawku.
“The committee has come to a point when people are beginning to understand each other and embracing the work of the members only to be struck by this unfortunate incident. In fact what has happened today has taken us back and it will take time for us to bring the peace we are all yearning for”, Mr Abila said.
The committee, comprising both Kusasis and Mamprusis was set up by the Upper East Regional Co-ordinating Council to broker permanent peace in the Bawku Municipality and its environs.
The terms of reference to guide the committee include the opening up of genuine, constructive and effective dialogue among the people of Bawku, especially the major protagonists in the conflict.
It is also to help educate the general populace on the need for peaceful co-existence, placing emphasis on commonalities that unite the people, instead of the insignificant differences dividing them.
Last Sunday, five lives were lost and four others were seriously injured in Bawku, following clashes in the municipality. The clashes were as a result of the shooting to death of a taxi driver, Rufai Sumani at Zongo Natinga.
The driver and two other occupants were travelling to Cinkanse, a market centre in neighbouring Togo, when some unknown persons ambushed them and shot at them killing the taxi driver. The death of the taxi driver led to a spontaneous rioting in the Bawku town which led to further shooting in the centre of the town and the subsequent death of the four others.
Mr Abila noted that the continuous conflict in Bawku was taking a toll on the government, which has to spend more money to provide security personnel for the area and appealed to the people to lay down their arms.
A youth leader, Mr Majeed Alhassan Mbawin said some criminal elements in Bawku were taking advantage of the situation to foment trouble and urged the security agencies to strengthen their efforts in arresting those perpetrating the violence in Bawku.
He also questioned the legality of a group calling itself Bawku Youth Development Association, which he accused of peddling some falsehood about the situation in Bawku and called on the security agencies to investigate the background of the leaders of that group and arrest them since they have not been registered and also they have no office location in the area.
Mr Mbawin called on the media to be circumspect about their reportage on issues in Bawku, stressing that any negative reports could trigger conflict in the area. He cited a recent report carried by a private newspaper, The Ghanaian Observer about the existence of a guerilla training camp at Nafkoliga, and described such publications not only as false but something that has the potential of provoking more violence in Bawku
Earlier, the Bawku Naba, Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, condemned the shooting incident in Bawku and declared his support for and full co-operation with the security agencies in unravelling those behind the act.
“What has happened today is not and should not be linked in any way to the supposed chieftaincy issues between Kusasis and Mamprusis and if the perpetrators are identified and discovered to Kusasis, I hereby declare my support and full co-operation to the security agencies to deal with them drastically,” Naba Azoka II said.
While sympathising with the families of the deceased and those who sustained gunshot wounds, Naba Azoka extended a hand of friendship to “my Mamprusi brothers led by Elder Akalifa so that we can work together as brothers to restore peace in Bawku immediately.”