Friday, July 31, 2009

KASEC STUDENTS PROTEST OVER TRANSFER OF HEADMASTER (PAGE 47)

Students of the Kadjebi Asato Senior High School (KASEC) in the Volta Region have organised a peaceful demonstration to protest against the reported transfer of their Headmaster, Mr Musa Yamba Issahaku, from the school.
In a spontaneous reaction of “No” after the announcement at the morning devotion, the students numbering about 700, held placards with the inscriptions “ No Yamba, No KASEC, No Anniversary” and marched around the compound to display their disagreement with the transfer.
The staff of the school, led by the Assistant Headmaster in charge of Academic and the Chaplain, Mr Ben Owusu and Reverend A. K. Ofori, respectively, had a hard time in prevailing upon the student body not to take to the streets.
In the process, only the boys prefect and the girls prefect, the four, namely Francis Asare, Sylvester Ayivi, Leilla Abdella and Peace Avornyo, accompanied by the two teachers, Mr Owusu and Rev. Ofori, left the compound to present their petition to the Kadjebi District Director of Education, Mr D.M.K Dotse for onward transmission to the Director–General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Bernnerman Mensah.
In their petition, signed by 14 prefects, the students called on the authorities to allow the headmaster to be with them for their 50th anniversary celebration of the school which falls on October 3, 2009.
According to them, the hardworking and disciplined headmaster had been the brain behind the preparation of the celebration and it would be unfair to move him out of the school before the scheduled date.
According to the letter of transfer signed by the director-general of the GES, the headmaster was to hand over to his successor by September 1, 2009.
A cross-section of the tutors interviewed said they were not against the transfer but they pleaded for a bit of time.
The Headmaster, Mr Issahaku, who was posted to the school in 2003 and lifted the school from the doldrums to category “B”, according to the national rating, said in an interview that he was at the convenience of the director-general.

Friday, July 24, 2009

ASUBONTENG RURAL BANK MAINTAINS LEADERSHIP (PAGE 29)

THE Worawora Asubonten Rural Bank Limited in the Jasikan District in the Volta Region has attained a position as the best managed rural/community bank in the country.
This position was bestowed on the Bank by the ARB Apex Bank Limited, the controlling body of the rural banks, and was announced by Abusuapanin Wilson Seth Antwi, Chairman of the Board of Directors, at the 8th Annual General Meeting of the bank at Worawora over the weekend
He said by dint of hard work and sacrifice their bank had been able to stand tall out of the 124 rural/community Banks under the ARB Apex Bank.
Abusuapanin Antwi noted that the bank had recorded a net profit of GH¢108,077 as at December 31, 2008 as compared to that of GH¢73,769 as at the end of 2007.
“This is a remarkable achievement of 47 per cent over that of 2007 in a year of stiff competition and falling interest rates, he said.”
The chairman informed the shareholders that their bank was among the few rural banks that had been able to increase their stated capital to the minimum of GH¢ 150,000 required by the Bank of Ghana.
“Your bank’s stated capital is now GH¢151,913 as compared to GH¢50,863 in 2007,” he announced. And after 10 years of operations, the bank “has decided to reward our loyal shareholders with GH¢ 0.41 per share as at the end of last year,” he added.
The Supervising Manager of the bank, Mr Joshua Odoom, expressed his gratitude to the bank’s customers and staff for their contribution to the attainment of such enviable position.
He, therefore, appealed to the bank’s customers to buy more shares even though the bank had reached where it was.
Mr Odoom commended the women at their Dambia, Kpando and Hohoe agencies for patronising their micro-finance scheme, adding that the quicker they paid back the more they would benefit.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS ATTEND WORKSHOP (PAGE 39)

HEALTHCARE providers from the Jasikan and Worawora hospitals in the Jasikan District have attended a day’s workshop at Worawora.
The workshop, on the theme: “ Best practices in wound management”, was attended by about 70 participants including nurses, theatre staff, ward nurses and pharmacy staff.
The workshop sought to equip the care providers with the necessary skills and best practices in wound management.
Closing the workshop, the acting Medical Superintendent of the Worawora Government Hospital, Dr Pius Nanabanyin Mensah, said the hospital was seriously understaffed.
He said currently, there was only one medical officer and four nurses out of the required staff of 60.
According to him, the only medical officer handled about 200 outpatients daily.
Dr Mensah said infrastructure at the hospital had seen no repairs or renovation in the last 50 years.
He said to ensure that work progressed at the hospital,the management of the facility had used part of its internally generated revenue to refurbish the theatre.
Dr Mensah expressed the hope that the participants would apply what they had been taught at the workshop and ensure that their patients were healed properly within the shortest possible time.

Monday, July 20, 2009

KADJEBI HEALTH INSURANCE SCHEME NEEDS CLAIMS MANAGER (PAGE 20)

THE absence of a substantive manager and a claims manager is threatening to erode the gains chalked up by the Kadjebi District Health Insurance Scheme in the Volta Region.
The scheme also has no board to provide guidelines for its operations.
This picture was painted at the Second Saints Day Celebration at the Mary Theresa Hospital at Dodi-Papase in the Kadjebi District last Wednesday, during which 17 employees were rewarded.
The Administrator of the hospital, Mr Stannard Issah Mahama, noted that if the scheme derailed, it would be a big blow to the district where about 87 per cent of the people were NHIS card holders and poor farmers.
He said the hospital, which is 46 years old, had brought succour to its clients in the rural areas, claiming that last two years the facility recorded 543 deliveries without any loss of life.
Mr Mahama expressed concern over the fact that the hospital was operating without qualified health personnel.
For its part, he said, the management of the hospital had instituted incentive packages to attract and retain such personnel and it was sponsoring midwives and nurses in nurses training colleges in the country.
The administrator expressed happiness that the management had secured the services of two doctors, a Ghanaian and a Nigerian.
He called for the early completion of the hospital mortuary and the theatre project.
The Director of the Jasikan Catholic Diocese, Reverend Father Kofi Appiah, commended the staff of the hospital for offering their best in trying conditions.
He however bemoaned refusal of some doctors and nurses to accept posting to the rural areas and assured them that although they might not be confortable and rich in such deprived communities, the patients they served would carry them in their hearts as treasures for generations.
The 17 workers who were rewarded for their dedicated services and hard work received various items, ranging from table-top fridges, cooking utensils and blenders.
Mr Charles Gadzeah, a Laboratory Technician, was adjudged the overall best worker.

74 PASS OUT OF TRADES SCHOOL (PAGE 14)

Seventy-Four young men and women have passed out of the Evangelical Presbyterian Trades Training Centre (EPTTC) at Alavanyo Kpeme in the Hohoe District of the Volta Region to join the job market this year.
This was after undergoing a three-year course in various vocational subjects.
Some of the courses were Electrical, Engineering and Installation, Building/Construction, Dressmaking/Fashion Designing, Catering, Office Practice/Computer Studies and Carpentry/Joinery.
At the passing-out ceremony, the Manager of EPTTC, Mr Seth Yeboah, said after their training, the graduates had acquired the necessary skills to stand on their own, form co-operatives or join various industries.
He lamented that apart from the salaries of the staff which the government paid, the cost of funding the provision of all other infrastructure for academic work was borne by the E. P. Church and the students themselves.
The manager of the centre said apart from the dormitories for both males and females, the classrooms and a bungalow for the manager, the centre was constructing an administrative office complex, which is nearing completion.
About GH¢25,000 has been spent so far on the complex, which contains an administration block, a library and a computer laboratory.
Mr Yeboah said the E. P. Church provided part of the cost, while the centre also used part of its internally generated funds to support the project.
He explained that the centre generated funds from jobs undertaken by the various departments.
The Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Victor Herman Condobbrey, extolled the vital role of technical and vocational education towards the development of the nation.
In view of this, he said, the government had restructured the educational system emphasising technical and vocational education in order that by the time the students were out of school, they would have acquired a vocation that would make them employable.
“Tradesmen and artisans were regarded highly in society until formal education was introduced but they are not valued now,” he regretted.
He said technical/vocational education could not be underestimated in the country’s development, since the quest to attain a middle-income status by 2015 depended on it.
An appeal for funds to complete the administrative complex yielded GH¢350.
Deserving graduates were presented with various prizes.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

BODY SET UP ON CHILDREN'S SURVIVAL IN HOHOE (PAGE 35)

THE Hohoe Municipality in the Volta Region has set up a nine-member body to address issues relating to the survival of children,in view of the upsurge of child abuse cases in the area.
The nine-member committee will champion the “Learn without fear campaign” set in motion with the assistance of PLAN Ghana, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), to gradually combat the phenomenon.
Members of the committee, under the Chairmanship of the Hohoe Municipal Director of Education, Mrs Bridget Dede Kumah, were inducted into office at a ceremony to commemorate this year’s African Union Day of the African Child at Hohoe.
Speaking at the durbar, the Volta Regional Officer of PLAN Ghana, Mr Eric Ayamba, said children in schools were subjected to all forms of sexual abuse which negatively affected their education.
The sexual harassment or abuse of girls, who are the most vulnerable, is being attacked globally under the theme: “Stop Child Sexual Abuse Now, Let Kids be Kids”.
Mr Ayamba expressed regret that most of the girls were compelled by poverty and lack of parental control to surrender to those forms of abuse leading to premature sex.
He, therefore, called on all allied forces in the municipality to join in the fight till the menace was completely eradicated from the area.
The Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Herman Condoberry, in his inaugural address, said the day was set aside by the former Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now the Africa Union (AU), in 1971, in memory of the children who lost their lives in Soweto, South Africa while protesting against the inequality in standards of their education, compared with their white peers.
He said the rights of children had been abused and relegated to the background or ignored in spite of several legislation passed to that effect.
“The incessant flogging as well as inadequate and improper care given to our children have negative effects on their health, mental capacity and physical development,” he said.
Mr Condoberry called on all and sundry to ensure that children, who were expected to develop into responsible adults, were given all the necessities for their development.
He promised that the municipal assembly would collaborate with the committee.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

BODY TO ADDRESS SEXUAL HARASSMENT (PAGE 11)

THE Hohoe Municipality in the Volta Region has established a nine-member body to address issues on the survival of children in view of the upsurge in sexual harassment.
The nine-member committee will champion the "Learn Without Fear Campaign" set in motion with the assistance of PLAN Ghana, a non- governmental organisation, to gradually eliminate the phenomenon.
The members, led by Mrs Bridget Dede Kumah, the Hohoe Municipal Director of Education, were introduced and swornin at the commemoration of this year’s African Union Day of the African Child at Hohoe.
The day was celebrated on the theme " Africa Fit for Children; Call for Accelerated Action Towards their Survival".
At the durbar to mark the day, Mr Eric Ayamba, the Volta Regional Officer of PLAN Ghana, said school children, were subjected to all forms of sexual harassment which negatively affected their education.
The harassment or sexual abuse of children, especially the girls is being condemned globally under the theme, “Stop Child Sexual Abuse Now, Let Kids be Kids".
Mr Ayamba regretted that most of these girls, compelled by poverty and lack of parental control, are lured into these forms of abuse leading to premature sex and teenage pregnancy.
He, therefore, called on all concerned in the municipality to join in the fight till the menace is uprooted from the area.
The Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive, Mr Herman Condoberry, in his inaugural address said the day was set aside by the former Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now Africa Union (AU) in 1971 in memory of the children who lost their lives in Soweto, South Africa while protesting the inequality in standards of their education, compared to their white peers.
He noted that the right of children had been abused and relegated to the background or ignored in spite of the several legislature passed to that effect.
"The incessant flogging, inadequate and improper care given to our children has negative effect on their health, mental capacity and physical development", he noted.
He lamented the issue of child labour with estimated an 100 million girls engaged in it all over the world.
Mr Condoberry called on all to ensure that the children are given the needed support to enable them develop into responsible adults.
He promised the municipal assembly’s readiness to collaborate with the committee in all its efforts.