A FIVE-DAY governance training workshop on women participation in governmental processes has ended at Kpetoe in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District of the Volta Region.
The workshop which attracted 28 participants formed part of the three year governance project in 20 districts being undertaken by Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF) with support from European Union.
It was dubbed “we know politics: good governance through increasing women’s participation in Ghana’s processes”. The workshop will also lead to the formation of a Coalition of Women in Governance (COWIG).
Closing the ceremony, Mr Michael Kobla Adzaho, Adaklu-Anyigbe District Chief Executive (DCE) hoped that the workshop would put women in the right perspective to participate in the democratic process.
Mr Adzaho expressed the hope that the COWIG so formed would continue to train women to attain leadership position in the district assemblies and parliament.
“ I am sure the workshop will equip you with the requisite knowledge and skill and sharpen you in politics,” he noted.
Topics treated included gender, women participation and representative in politics, governance, local government system, power and governance and team-building.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
CHANGING FORTUNES OF HOHOE RICE FARMERS (PAGE 27, OCT 2, 2010)
“Harvesting, threshing and winnowing of paddy rice by small scale rice farmers in the Hohoe Municipality has become more laborious and time consuming, leading to massive post-harvest losses, which reduces our incomes as well. Because of the obsolete way it is harvested and threshed before reaching the market, the amount lost in the process is phenomenal,” says Mr George Agbemavor, a rice farmer based at Gbi Wegbe in the Hohoe Municipality.
Mr Agbemavor, who cultivated 50 acres of rice last year, observed that labour was what took most of the resources and time of rice farmers.
“ I will be happy if the government could bring in more farm equipment to reduce the tedium and expense in using manual labour in order to attract the youth into agriculture, ” Agbemavor said.
He said the bumper harvest recorded by rice farmers had been eroded by the laborious harvesting and threshing processes they had to undertake to bring their produce to the market.
The government of Ghana spends a lot of money on the importation of rice for local consumption. This is against the background that the country has the capacity and resources to be self-reliant in rice production.
Past and present governments have realised this all along and have been taking steps to ameliorate the situation but to no avail. An example of the steps is the establishment of irrigation projects for large scale rice production at such places as Dawhenya, Afife, Kpong and Asutsuare.
But these projects, which were undertaken under various governments, could not survive the demise of the regimes that established them.
During the rice farming season in July, Madam Adzo Kemetse, a rice farmer based at Santrokofi-Benua, near Hohoe, and her family migrated from their home to communities where they could find swampy fields on lease for rice cultivation.
Madam Kemetse said even though the peasant farmer could produce enough rice, most Ghanaians preferred buying the imported one.
“Go to a rice field and you will find trees and other objects which will make it very difficult to use tractor services. As such, manual labour is employed. So a job which can be done in a few hours takes days to complete, ” she lamented.
And because sometimes the labour is not available or very difficult to obtain, there are problems that affect the crops during harvesting.
Harvesting, threshing and winnowing are the most problematic because if they are not done at a specific time, there is the likelihood one could experience post-harvest losses, she said.
For this reason, she said, rice farmers travelled as far as the northern part of the region to look for labour. The labour comes with a problem. The men come with their wives and children and the farmers have to look for accommodation for them, feed them three times a day and provide them with medical care when they get sick.
“After the harvesting, the farmer looks for another set of labourers to come and pick the harvested rice from the ground and prepare it for threshing. This is a critical part of the process because if not picked quickly, they might germinate because the ground is wet and marshy, ” she said.
This accounts for the high cost of labour and drudgery leading to post-harvest losses of about 30 per cent annually.
It was no wonder that the farmers were happy when the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with FINATRADE, procured a combined harvester, a planter and a seeder worth $ 40,000 for them.
Being a big boost, this will really assist the rice farmers a lot in their farming activities.
With the seeder, the rice seeds will be made to germinate before being transferred to the planter which plants in lines. When the plants are ready for harvesting, the combined harvester comes in handy to harvest and bag the produce.
This gesture was facilitated last year by ADCI/VOCA, which organised the farmers in the Hohoe Municipality into groups on a pilot basis, gave them training in good agricultural practices and supported them to increase their yield with credit facilities from a local rural bank and supplied them with agricultural inputs.
The organisation did not only support the farmers but also introduced them to new varieties of rice, which are comparable to what is imported and sold on the market.
Apart from this, FINATRADE, a Ghanaian trading firm, assured the farmers of ready market for their produce.
According to the firm, they were ready to buy any quantity of rice the farmers could produce provided the quality was good and met the requirement of the Ghanaian consumer.
Mr Ben Dadzie, a senior agronomist and a consultant with ACDI/VOCA, says the biggest problem facing rice production in the country is getting the best varieties such as the Togo Marshal and Viwonor and improving on efficiency in the cultivation process.
The Togo Marshal is white rice and popular on the market whilst Viwonor is red.
“If these two can be tackled, Ghana will have no problems, ” he said.
As a result of the initiative, “84 rice farmers, comprising 75 out-growers and nine nucleus farmers with farm sizes ranging from two to 50 acres were mobilised to cultivate 438 acres of low land rice in the Hohoe Municipality last year, ” he said.
Out of a target of 2,000 tonnes of rice earmarked for the season, he said, an initial total of 1,604 tonnes of paddy rice harvested had been transported to the Praire Volta Ltd at Aveyime for milling and onward delivery to FINATRADE.
“This season, in July, the project has increased the number of farmers and the area under cultivation to 2,500 acres in support of the government’s policy of increasing local rice production and reducing rice importation”, Mr Dadzie said.
“I have always been advising these farmers to see agriculture as a big venture and am happy that the region has witnessed a boost in rice production, ” said Bessa Akpalu, an official of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA).
Mr Akpalu said very soon the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) would facilitate the cultivation of rice in the municipality by removing the stumps to enable the farmers to fulfil their promise of feeding half of the nation with rice.
Efo Kumah Ameyibor, Operation Manager of Green Shield Agro-Chemicals, expressed optimism that the troubles faced by these farmers would one day be over.
He wondered whether the prices of the local varieties would be the same as the imported rice even if the municipality could put the same varieties of rice on the market. He was so concerned because the mode of producing the local rice was not efficient.
He said the only way forward after the introduction of the right varieties was to remove all the stumps in the rice fields to ensure that those tractors, planters and harvesters could be used to facilitate production.
With the provision of the seeder, combine harvester and other equipment, if the stumps are removed and the right varieties of rice are provided Ghana can achieve efficiency in production, attract competitive prices, and then talk of reducing the importation of rice.
Mr Agbemavor, who cultivated 50 acres of rice last year, observed that labour was what took most of the resources and time of rice farmers.
“ I will be happy if the government could bring in more farm equipment to reduce the tedium and expense in using manual labour in order to attract the youth into agriculture, ” Agbemavor said.
He said the bumper harvest recorded by rice farmers had been eroded by the laborious harvesting and threshing processes they had to undertake to bring their produce to the market.
The government of Ghana spends a lot of money on the importation of rice for local consumption. This is against the background that the country has the capacity and resources to be self-reliant in rice production.
Past and present governments have realised this all along and have been taking steps to ameliorate the situation but to no avail. An example of the steps is the establishment of irrigation projects for large scale rice production at such places as Dawhenya, Afife, Kpong and Asutsuare.
But these projects, which were undertaken under various governments, could not survive the demise of the regimes that established them.
During the rice farming season in July, Madam Adzo Kemetse, a rice farmer based at Santrokofi-Benua, near Hohoe, and her family migrated from their home to communities where they could find swampy fields on lease for rice cultivation.
Madam Kemetse said even though the peasant farmer could produce enough rice, most Ghanaians preferred buying the imported one.
“Go to a rice field and you will find trees and other objects which will make it very difficult to use tractor services. As such, manual labour is employed. So a job which can be done in a few hours takes days to complete, ” she lamented.
And because sometimes the labour is not available or very difficult to obtain, there are problems that affect the crops during harvesting.
Harvesting, threshing and winnowing are the most problematic because if they are not done at a specific time, there is the likelihood one could experience post-harvest losses, she said.
For this reason, she said, rice farmers travelled as far as the northern part of the region to look for labour. The labour comes with a problem. The men come with their wives and children and the farmers have to look for accommodation for them, feed them three times a day and provide them with medical care when they get sick.
“After the harvesting, the farmer looks for another set of labourers to come and pick the harvested rice from the ground and prepare it for threshing. This is a critical part of the process because if not picked quickly, they might germinate because the ground is wet and marshy, ” she said.
This accounts for the high cost of labour and drudgery leading to post-harvest losses of about 30 per cent annually.
It was no wonder that the farmers were happy when the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), in collaboration with FINATRADE, procured a combined harvester, a planter and a seeder worth $ 40,000 for them.
Being a big boost, this will really assist the rice farmers a lot in their farming activities.
With the seeder, the rice seeds will be made to germinate before being transferred to the planter which plants in lines. When the plants are ready for harvesting, the combined harvester comes in handy to harvest and bag the produce.
This gesture was facilitated last year by ADCI/VOCA, which organised the farmers in the Hohoe Municipality into groups on a pilot basis, gave them training in good agricultural practices and supported them to increase their yield with credit facilities from a local rural bank and supplied them with agricultural inputs.
The organisation did not only support the farmers but also introduced them to new varieties of rice, which are comparable to what is imported and sold on the market.
Apart from this, FINATRADE, a Ghanaian trading firm, assured the farmers of ready market for their produce.
According to the firm, they were ready to buy any quantity of rice the farmers could produce provided the quality was good and met the requirement of the Ghanaian consumer.
Mr Ben Dadzie, a senior agronomist and a consultant with ACDI/VOCA, says the biggest problem facing rice production in the country is getting the best varieties such as the Togo Marshal and Viwonor and improving on efficiency in the cultivation process.
The Togo Marshal is white rice and popular on the market whilst Viwonor is red.
“If these two can be tackled, Ghana will have no problems, ” he said.
As a result of the initiative, “84 rice farmers, comprising 75 out-growers and nine nucleus farmers with farm sizes ranging from two to 50 acres were mobilised to cultivate 438 acres of low land rice in the Hohoe Municipality last year, ” he said.
Out of a target of 2,000 tonnes of rice earmarked for the season, he said, an initial total of 1,604 tonnes of paddy rice harvested had been transported to the Praire Volta Ltd at Aveyime for milling and onward delivery to FINATRADE.
“This season, in July, the project has increased the number of farmers and the area under cultivation to 2,500 acres in support of the government’s policy of increasing local rice production and reducing rice importation”, Mr Dadzie said.
“I have always been advising these farmers to see agriculture as a big venture and am happy that the region has witnessed a boost in rice production, ” said Bessa Akpalu, an official of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA).
Mr Akpalu said very soon the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MOFA) would facilitate the cultivation of rice in the municipality by removing the stumps to enable the farmers to fulfil their promise of feeding half of the nation with rice.
Efo Kumah Ameyibor, Operation Manager of Green Shield Agro-Chemicals, expressed optimism that the troubles faced by these farmers would one day be over.
He wondered whether the prices of the local varieties would be the same as the imported rice even if the municipality could put the same varieties of rice on the market. He was so concerned because the mode of producing the local rice was not efficient.
He said the only way forward after the introduction of the right varieties was to remove all the stumps in the rice fields to ensure that those tractors, planters and harvesters could be used to facilitate production.
With the provision of the seeder, combine harvester and other equipment, if the stumps are removed and the right varieties of rice are provided Ghana can achieve efficiency in production, attract competitive prices, and then talk of reducing the importation of rice.
GOVT WON'T ABANDON COCOA SECTOR (1C, OCT 2, 2010)
President John Evans Atta Mills has assured cocoa farmers that the government will not abandon the cocoa sector because of the discovery of oil in the country.
“We have learnt from the mistakes of our sister countries that have discovered oil and will never repeat those mistakes in our dear country,” Prof Atta Mills said.
The President said that in a speech read on his behalf by Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister of Lands and Forestry at the Cocoa Producers Alliance (COPAL) Cocoa Day celebration at Hohoe in the Volta Region yesterday.
The day brought together cocoa farmers from all over the country. An exhibition was mounted to showcase the various products that could be obtained from the cocoa plant, including cocoa butter, chocolates, beverages, cocoa pomade, brandy and soap.
President Mills said cocoa was so dear to his heart that he would ensure that the sector continued to play a critical role in the ‘Better Ghana’ agenda set by his administration.
The President said that the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had implemented various measures and policies to ensure that the Better Ghana Agenda was reflected in the cocoa sector.
Those measures and policies, Prof. Mills said, were geared towards achieving the target of producing one million tonnes of cocoa annually.
Some of the measures and policies, he said, were the re-introduction of cocoa extension services, the rehabilitation of the old unproductive farms, hi-tech cocoa seeds and mass spraying programmes.
The President said research had shown that the weakest link between the country’s drive to achieve the one million-tonne target was the lack of cocoa extension services.
He commended the cocoa farmers and informed them that the government had listened to their cries and had as such decided to introduce a pension scheme for them.
“The technocrats are currently working on the modalities to ensure an effective, efficient and sustainable scheme,” he said.
He added that the government was fine-tuning the farmers housing scheme to expand it to cover more farmers.
The President assured the management of COCOBOD that the government would continue to support them in their effort to raise the per capita consumption of cocoa in the country.
“We should eat what we grow and grow what we eat” and for that reason, he called on Ghanaians to make conscious effort to substitute tea breaks with cocoa breaks.
Mr Anthony Fofie, the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, noted that the celebration of the Cocoa Day in Hohoe, and for that matter the Volta Region, was to re-awaken the people in the region to redouble up their efforts at cocoa production.
Mr Fofie said the region, which used to produce an average of 20,000 tonnes per annum in the 1970s, was currently producing an average of 1,000 tonnes.
“We need to reverse this trend since the region has the potential to bounce back to assume its rightly position as a major cocoa-producing region,” the Chief Executive said.
He said in a bid to rejuvenate the cocoa production in the region, COCOBOD had established a seed garden at Saviefe in the Ho Municipality to provide interested farmers with improved planting materials.
On cocoa consumption, Mr Fofie reiterated that the per capita consumption was still low, about half a kilogramme per head.
COCOBOD, he said, had targeted to attain at least a kilo per head in the medium term.
“To this end, COCOBOD will soon embark on a massive campaign programme, which includes conference for researchers to share ideas on the health benefits of cocoa consumption and the inauguration of cocoa drink dispensing joints,” he said.
He said that the surest way of ensuring the sustainable local consumption was to have children inculcate the habit as they would not only develop the taste for cocoa products but also stay healthier to contribute their quota toward the Better Ghana agenda.
He, therefore, appealed to the government to consider incorporating cocoa consumption into the School Feeding Programme.
“We have learnt from the mistakes of our sister countries that have discovered oil and will never repeat those mistakes in our dear country,” Prof Atta Mills said.
The President said that in a speech read on his behalf by Alhaji Collins Dauda, Minister of Lands and Forestry at the Cocoa Producers Alliance (COPAL) Cocoa Day celebration at Hohoe in the Volta Region yesterday.
The day brought together cocoa farmers from all over the country. An exhibition was mounted to showcase the various products that could be obtained from the cocoa plant, including cocoa butter, chocolates, beverages, cocoa pomade, brandy and soap.
President Mills said cocoa was so dear to his heart that he would ensure that the sector continued to play a critical role in the ‘Better Ghana’ agenda set by his administration.
The President said that the government of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) had implemented various measures and policies to ensure that the Better Ghana Agenda was reflected in the cocoa sector.
Those measures and policies, Prof. Mills said, were geared towards achieving the target of producing one million tonnes of cocoa annually.
Some of the measures and policies, he said, were the re-introduction of cocoa extension services, the rehabilitation of the old unproductive farms, hi-tech cocoa seeds and mass spraying programmes.
The President said research had shown that the weakest link between the country’s drive to achieve the one million-tonne target was the lack of cocoa extension services.
He commended the cocoa farmers and informed them that the government had listened to their cries and had as such decided to introduce a pension scheme for them.
“The technocrats are currently working on the modalities to ensure an effective, efficient and sustainable scheme,” he said.
He added that the government was fine-tuning the farmers housing scheme to expand it to cover more farmers.
The President assured the management of COCOBOD that the government would continue to support them in their effort to raise the per capita consumption of cocoa in the country.
“We should eat what we grow and grow what we eat” and for that reason, he called on Ghanaians to make conscious effort to substitute tea breaks with cocoa breaks.
Mr Anthony Fofie, the Chief Executive of COCOBOD, noted that the celebration of the Cocoa Day in Hohoe, and for that matter the Volta Region, was to re-awaken the people in the region to redouble up their efforts at cocoa production.
Mr Fofie said the region, which used to produce an average of 20,000 tonnes per annum in the 1970s, was currently producing an average of 1,000 tonnes.
“We need to reverse this trend since the region has the potential to bounce back to assume its rightly position as a major cocoa-producing region,” the Chief Executive said.
He said in a bid to rejuvenate the cocoa production in the region, COCOBOD had established a seed garden at Saviefe in the Ho Municipality to provide interested farmers with improved planting materials.
On cocoa consumption, Mr Fofie reiterated that the per capita consumption was still low, about half a kilogramme per head.
COCOBOD, he said, had targeted to attain at least a kilo per head in the medium term.
“To this end, COCOBOD will soon embark on a massive campaign programme, which includes conference for researchers to share ideas on the health benefits of cocoa consumption and the inauguration of cocoa drink dispensing joints,” he said.
He said that the surest way of ensuring the sustainable local consumption was to have children inculcate the habit as they would not only develop the taste for cocoa products but also stay healthier to contribute their quota toward the Better Ghana agenda.
He, therefore, appealed to the government to consider incorporating cocoa consumption into the School Feeding Programme.
Friday, October 1, 2010
CAR-JACKERS TO DIE BY HANGING (MIRROR, PAGE 20, OCT 2, 2010)
From Emmanuel Modey, Ho
A HO High Court, presided over by Justice Kofi Essel-Mensah has sentenced two persons, Benjamin Deble alias Haruna Yakubu and Raymond Agbeve alias Ahiane to death by hanging for murdering a taxi driver at Takuve in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District.
The two, Deble and Agbeve, who pleaded not guilty on three counts of conspiracy, robbery and murder were found guilty by a five-member jury for murdering Shalif Abu, a taxi cab driver.
Presenting the facts of the case, a State Attorney, Mr Kwaku Mensah Akude, said on July 10, 2000, the convicts hired Abu, the murdered driver of an Opel taxi with registration number GW 3464 Q, from the Tetteh Quarshie roundabout in Accra to convey some building materials to Takuve, near Ziope , the hometown of Agbeve.
After dropping the items, Mr Akude said, Deble and Agbeve asked Abu to drive them to Aflao for a business transaction and on the way, they requested the driver to stop for them to attend to call of nature.
He said, as soon as Abu stopped, Agbeve fired a pistol at him but the bullet missed him narrowly, resulting in a fierce struggle.
During the struggle, the State Attorney said, Deble took a hammer lying in the car and hit Abu on the head resulting in his instant death in cold blood.
He said, Agbeve then rushed to Takuve and returned with a pickaxe and a shovel with which they dug a trench in a nearby okro farm and buried the deceased. After their heinous act, the two then pushed the vehicle to the house of Agbeve and left for Aflao.
Unknown to them, Akude said, a school boy had seen them in the act and narrated it to his mother who alerted one, Kofi Attah, the father of Agbeve, who is now at large.
He said, sensing danger, Attah chased his son, Agbeve and Deble to Aflao to come and remove the taxi immediately from the village since the cat was out of the bag. They, therefore, responded and came back in the early hours of the following day at about 3.00am.
But just as they set off, they had a punctured tyre which was mended. Soon after that, another tyre also got burst, compelling Agbeve to travel to Aflao to buy new tyres, the prosecutor said.
This, he said, led to the information leaking to the police and their subsequent arrest and prosecution.
A HO High Court, presided over by Justice Kofi Essel-Mensah has sentenced two persons, Benjamin Deble alias Haruna Yakubu and Raymond Agbeve alias Ahiane to death by hanging for murdering a taxi driver at Takuve in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District.
The two, Deble and Agbeve, who pleaded not guilty on three counts of conspiracy, robbery and murder were found guilty by a five-member jury for murdering Shalif Abu, a taxi cab driver.
Presenting the facts of the case, a State Attorney, Mr Kwaku Mensah Akude, said on July 10, 2000, the convicts hired Abu, the murdered driver of an Opel taxi with registration number GW 3464 Q, from the Tetteh Quarshie roundabout in Accra to convey some building materials to Takuve, near Ziope , the hometown of Agbeve.
After dropping the items, Mr Akude said, Deble and Agbeve asked Abu to drive them to Aflao for a business transaction and on the way, they requested the driver to stop for them to attend to call of nature.
He said, as soon as Abu stopped, Agbeve fired a pistol at him but the bullet missed him narrowly, resulting in a fierce struggle.
During the struggle, the State Attorney said, Deble took a hammer lying in the car and hit Abu on the head resulting in his instant death in cold blood.
He said, Agbeve then rushed to Takuve and returned with a pickaxe and a shovel with which they dug a trench in a nearby okro farm and buried the deceased. After their heinous act, the two then pushed the vehicle to the house of Agbeve and left for Aflao.
Unknown to them, Akude said, a school boy had seen them in the act and narrated it to his mother who alerted one, Kofi Attah, the father of Agbeve, who is now at large.
He said, sensing danger, Attah chased his son, Agbeve and Deble to Aflao to come and remove the taxi immediately from the village since the cat was out of the bag. They, therefore, responded and came back in the early hours of the following day at about 3.00am.
But just as they set off, they had a punctured tyre which was mended. Soon after that, another tyre also got burst, compelling Agbeve to travel to Aflao to buy new tyres, the prosecutor said.
This, he said, led to the information leaking to the police and their subsequent arrest and prosecution.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
DZODZE CATHOLIC HOSPITAL INSTALS OXYGEN PLANT (PAGE 46, SEPT 29, 2010)
The Saint Anthony’s Catholic Hospital at Dzodze in the Ketu North District of the Volta Region has installed its own oxygen-generating plant. With the facility in place, the hospital can generate its own oxygen needs without going to L’ air Liquide in Tema for its supplies.
To man the plant, two technical staff of the hospital have been trained by the Medico Engineering and Supplies Ltd in Koforidua in the Eastern Region which supplied and installed the plant.
The plant was handed over to the hospital authorities at the weekend.
At the handover ceremony, Mr Mac-Okorwu, the Sales and Marketing Executive of Medico-Engineering said the plant, which cost GH¢84,000.00 was provided with a credit facility.
He said the hospital entered into a contractual agreement with them after they had been briefed on it.
The plant, called, MODULO2 , made in France, will be ready for use anytime oxygen was needed for operations.
The Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr William Gyan-Dwamena, received the plant and expressed the hospital’s satisfaction and its ability to acquire the facility.
Dr Gyan-Dwamena said the plant would save the hospital much time and expense in acquiring oxygen for their operations.
To man the plant, two technical staff of the hospital have been trained by the Medico Engineering and Supplies Ltd in Koforidua in the Eastern Region which supplied and installed the plant.
The plant was handed over to the hospital authorities at the weekend.
At the handover ceremony, Mr Mac-Okorwu, the Sales and Marketing Executive of Medico-Engineering said the plant, which cost GH¢84,000.00 was provided with a credit facility.
He said the hospital entered into a contractual agreement with them after they had been briefed on it.
The plant, called, MODULO2 , made in France, will be ready for use anytime oxygen was needed for operations.
The Medical Superintendent of the hospital, Dr William Gyan-Dwamena, received the plant and expressed the hospital’s satisfaction and its ability to acquire the facility.
Dr Gyan-Dwamena said the plant would save the hospital much time and expense in acquiring oxygen for their operations.
OVERCROWDING , CAUSE OF SKIN DISEASES IN HO PRISION PAGE 42, SEPT 29, 2010)
OVER crowding and poor diet for prisoners in the Ho Central Prisons have been identified as the major cause of skin diseases attacking the inmates.
According to the findings of the five-member committee set up by the Volta Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service and Ghana Prisons Service, 32 out of the 109 remand prisoners had various degrees of skin lesions on their buttocks, groins, backs, legs and abdomen.
The investigation was conducted on the orders of the Ho Circuit Court presided over by Justice Ernest Yao Obimpe.
The judge gave the order when one Amaglo Dela Vidza who appeared before him complained of rashes on his penis and anus.
The five-member committee found out that cells which were meant for 10 and 12 people, contained 53 and 56 inmates who had to be packed “like sardines with bodies touching one another when sleeping at night.”
Some of the remand inmates have been in the prison since 2001 and have appeared before court several times but they have neither been sentenced nor freed.
They also found out that the 60 pesewa feeding allowance per inmate was grossly inadequate to provide them any reasonably balanced diet three times a day to boost their immunity.
To solve the problem, the committee recommended that the courts should dispose of cases before them rapidly and should award fines in lieu of custodial sentences for minor offences like “ stealing of plantain.”
The committee also recommended the fumigation of cells and the isolation of persons with the skin diseases.
“If possible, the prison should be expanded since the population has increased,” the committee recommended.
According to the findings of the five-member committee set up by the Volta Regional Director of the Ghana Health Service and Ghana Prisons Service, 32 out of the 109 remand prisoners had various degrees of skin lesions on their buttocks, groins, backs, legs and abdomen.
The investigation was conducted on the orders of the Ho Circuit Court presided over by Justice Ernest Yao Obimpe.
The judge gave the order when one Amaglo Dela Vidza who appeared before him complained of rashes on his penis and anus.
The five-member committee found out that cells which were meant for 10 and 12 people, contained 53 and 56 inmates who had to be packed “like sardines with bodies touching one another when sleeping at night.”
Some of the remand inmates have been in the prison since 2001 and have appeared before court several times but they have neither been sentenced nor freed.
They also found out that the 60 pesewa feeding allowance per inmate was grossly inadequate to provide them any reasonably balanced diet three times a day to boost their immunity.
To solve the problem, the committee recommended that the courts should dispose of cases before them rapidly and should award fines in lieu of custodial sentences for minor offences like “ stealing of plantain.”
The committee also recommended the fumigation of cells and the isolation of persons with the skin diseases.
“If possible, the prison should be expanded since the population has increased,” the committee recommended.
Monday, September 27, 2010
EP CHURCH GOOD NEWS CHOIR MARKS 15TH MILESTONE (PAGE 46, SEPT 27, 2010)
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana Good News Choir Union, has climaxed its 15th annual rally with a thanksgiving service at Gbi Wegbe in the Hohoe Municipality of the Volta Region.
The week-long rally, organised by the Central Presbytery of the Church, which attracted congregations from Have through Kwamikrom to Nkwanta was on the theme: “Rejoice over One Repentant Sinner”.
Preaching the sermon, Reverend W.R. Sakoe, Moderator of the Central Presbytery Synod, said as God was still searching for lost souls, it behoves leaders at all levels to change their attitude towards wrong doers by assisting them to reform.
Rev. Sakoe reminded the congregation that God wanted us to repent from our sins, since he was prepared to take us back.
“We should pray ceaselessly and obey the commandments of the Lord since God will never shower his favour upon a proud nation”.
He said society needed the contribution of all for it to succeed and that we should all join hands for its development, adding that since God did not cast anybody away from Himself, everybody should see him/herself as beneficial to society.
The Guest Speaker, Mr Prince Jacob Hayibor, Member of Parliament for the Hohoe North Constituency, called on the people to unite and eschew partisanship for progress and development.
“We need humility and modesty in all our endeavours in order to receive the blessing of God, “ Mr Hayibor said.
He called on the people to put up attitudes of righteousness, modesty and utmost commitment to ensure that the country moved along the right path for the achievement of its desired goals.
“You should pray for peace at all levels and also for the leadership of the country, ” Mr Hayibor said.
He said the country belonged to all of us, no matter our political position, so we should seek the progress of Ghana first in all that we did.
Mr Hayibor explained government policies and programmes to the congregation and urged those who had not as yet registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme to do so in order to access quality health care.
Mr Victor Herman Condobery, the Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive, called on the clergy to use the pulpit to preach to the youth to desist from negative attitudes.
He mentioned some of these attitudes as armed robbery, sakawa and ritual murders, which had assumed alarming dimensions.
The week-long rally, organised by the Central Presbytery of the Church, which attracted congregations from Have through Kwamikrom to Nkwanta was on the theme: “Rejoice over One Repentant Sinner”.
Preaching the sermon, Reverend W.R. Sakoe, Moderator of the Central Presbytery Synod, said as God was still searching for lost souls, it behoves leaders at all levels to change their attitude towards wrong doers by assisting them to reform.
Rev. Sakoe reminded the congregation that God wanted us to repent from our sins, since he was prepared to take us back.
“We should pray ceaselessly and obey the commandments of the Lord since God will never shower his favour upon a proud nation”.
He said society needed the contribution of all for it to succeed and that we should all join hands for its development, adding that since God did not cast anybody away from Himself, everybody should see him/herself as beneficial to society.
The Guest Speaker, Mr Prince Jacob Hayibor, Member of Parliament for the Hohoe North Constituency, called on the people to unite and eschew partisanship for progress and development.
“We need humility and modesty in all our endeavours in order to receive the blessing of God, “ Mr Hayibor said.
He called on the people to put up attitudes of righteousness, modesty and utmost commitment to ensure that the country moved along the right path for the achievement of its desired goals.
“You should pray for peace at all levels and also for the leadership of the country, ” Mr Hayibor said.
He said the country belonged to all of us, no matter our political position, so we should seek the progress of Ghana first in all that we did.
Mr Hayibor explained government policies and programmes to the congregation and urged those who had not as yet registered with the National Health Insurance Scheme to do so in order to access quality health care.
Mr Victor Herman Condobery, the Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive, called on the clergy to use the pulpit to preach to the youth to desist from negative attitudes.
He mentioned some of these attitudes as armed robbery, sakawa and ritual murders, which had assumed alarming dimensions.
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