NDC MEMBERS MST BET ON MILLS — AFRIYIE ANKRAH (PAGE 12, OCT 29, 2010)

Mr Elvis Afriyie-Ankrah, the Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, has urged members of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to remain calm, stay united and bet on President John Evans Atta Mills to lead them to a resounding victory in the 2012 general elections.
Addressing party members, assembly members and a cross section of the public at Jasikan and Kadjebi as part of the Ministry’s country-wide monitoring and evaluation tour last Monday, Mr Afriyie Ankrah asked them to bury all their differences and work for the success of the NDC party.
The tour is to find out how the Metropolitan/Municipal/ District Assemblies were utilising resources put at their disposal in furtherance of the decentralisation policy of the government.
He reminded the members that the party leadership had been aware of the way they all worked to get the NDC party into power, adding that “the forces and powers that brought Prof. Mills into power is beyond human understanding”.
The Deputy Minister asked the party faithful not to seize the slightest excuse and run onto the streets under the pretext of staging demonstration, adding that, within 18 months, President Mills had done everything he could to keep the economy on tract.
“ And when you demonstrate, do not expect the government to agree positively to your demands since you could have over-reacted,” he said.
Mr Afriyie Ankrah reminded the members that they should know that the government could not satisfy everybody in just less than two years of winning political power.
He agreed that the 1992 Constitution admitted demonstrations, “but you cannot hold the government to ransom because some few people have been organised to sing a particular song”.
“You should wait patiently for the government to study your grievances in order to come out with an answer which will be in the interest of the nation as a whole,” he cautioned.
On the ex-gratia payment of Assembly Members on completion of their term of office, the Deputy Minister said they should not expect it from the consolidated fund.
This is because Article 171 of the 1992 Constitution clearly spelt out those who can be paid out of the consolidated fund, he pointed out.
At Jasikan, the Deputy Minister ofLands and Forestry and Member of Parliament for Buem Constituency, Mr Ford Henry Kamel noted that the 2012 elections were going to be the turning point in the history of the country.
This is because the party that would win the elections would be sure to rule the country for a very long time, Mr Kamel said.
According to him by then, the country would be on the threshold of entering the middle income group with oil being produced thus raising the per capita earnings of the people in the country.
Because of this, there will be considerable affluence and the government that is in power will be able to satisfy most of the needs of the people so there will be no need to change it.
The MP for Buem therefore called for calm and unity in the camp of the NDC to be able to win those “critical elections” and be sure of a long hold on the governance of the country.
Earlier, Mr Afriyie Ankrah had taken time off his schedule and toured some of the completed and on-going projects in the two districts and commended the District Chief Executives for their efforts.
Mr Afriyie Ankrah noted that he had realised that the biggest challenge facing them were their roads to which they invest the greater part of their resources.

LIONS LOSE AT HOME (BACK PAGE, OCT 25, 2010)

Kessben FC yesterday maintained their lead after handing BA Stars a 3-1 defeat at the Sekondi Stadium amidst rowdy scenes by fans in the stands.
Kessben’s goals were scored by James Boadu in the sixth and 65th minutes and a contentious penalty well executed by Hans Kwofie in the 46th minute.
BA Stars piled pressure on the homesters after the opener and scored their goal on the 27th minute through Daniel Larbi-Coomson.
A 75th minute BA Stars goal disallowed by referee E.R. Biney caused pandemonium in the stands, requiring the intervention of the police to bring things under control.

GOLOKUATI CELBRATES DODOLEGLIMEZA (SHOWBIZ, PAGE 3, OCT 21, 2010)

By Emmanuel Modey

THE annual Lukusi festival dubbed Dodoleglimeza by the Chiefs and people of Ve Traditional Area in the Hohoe Municipality of the Volta Region was last weekend celebrated with pomp and pageantry at Golokuati.
Originally linked with the escape from the brutalities of King Agorkoli at Nortsie about three centuries ago, the festival has gradually taken on a traditional tone.
The week-long celebration under the theme Education: Key to Youth Employment for Accelerated Rural Development attracted eminent traditional and opinion leaders from all walks of life including Members of Parliament, District Chief Executives, Chinese investors and tourists.
It was a memorable afternoon as crowds gathered at the Roman Catholic Junior High School park where the grand durbar which climaxed the celebrations was held.
In his welcome address, Togbe Delume VII, Paramount Chief of Ve Traditional Area called for the conversion of the Ve Golokuati ICCES centre into a technical institution to train the youth in employable skills.
Togbe Delume VII also used the occasion to appeal to citizens and friends who have the clout to come to their assistance and contribute towards the development of the area which abounds with various natural resources to promote employment avenues for the youth.
Speaking at the durbar, Mr Joseph Amenowode, Volta Regional Minister and Member of Parliament for Hohoe -South Constituency who was the guest of honour said the theme was very relevant since education was the key to the success of the youth.
Mr Amenowode said for that matter, the government was transforming the local Ve Community Senior High School to a reputable standard to enable the school admit as many of the youth who are desirous of improving themselves.
In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Joseph Gidisu, Minister of Roads and Highways underscored the importance of good roads to the socio-economic development of the country and said the ministry was re-shaping about 50 kilometres of roads in and around Ve Traditional Area.
Mr Victor Herman Condobery, Hohoe Municipal Chief Executive urged the youth to take education very seriously since it was the only tool that will empower them for the future.
Other activities which marked the celebration were bicycle race, football gala and a state dance at which Miss Patricia Donkor, a 21 year-old student was crowned Miss Lukusi 2010. For her prize, she took home a cooker, gas cylinder and a set of cooking utensils.

TORRENTIAL RAINS COLLAPSE BRIDGE, CUT OFF BODADA (PAGE 46, OCT 20, 2010)

Recent torrential rains have washed away a bridge at Bodada, a farming community and the Paramount seat of the Buem Traditional Area, which links that part of the Jasikan District to the district capital in the Volta Region.
In view of this, commuters between Bodada and Jasikan have to make a detour of about 48 kilometres through Hohoe instead of the 17 kilometres between the district capital and traditional capital.
Some of the communities which have been cut off from the district capital are Bodada, Teteman, Baika and part of Bowiri which constitute the largest cocoa growing area in the Volta Region.
A sizeable quantity of cocoa produced in the area has been lockedup and farmers may be compelled to travel to Hohoe to market their produce.
The Member of Parliament for the Buem Constituency, Mr Henry Ford Kamel, told the Daily Graphic at Jasikan that the Bodada- Tetema –Baika road was “in its worst state and an embarrassment to the people”.
Mr Kamel, who is also the Deputy Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, said the situation was worrying and that the affected communities and commuters were not happy with the state of the road.
He has, therefore, appealed to the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) to quickly come to the aid of the people under its road reconstruction programme and expressed the fear that farmers in the affected communities would take advantage of the situation to smuggle their produce across the borders.
The Volta Regional Principal Monitoring Officer of the Produce Buying Company (PBC), Mr Prosper Zegbla, asked the farmers not to smuggle their produce across the borders but to sell to their usual buying agents. He gave the assurance that the PBC would evacuate the produce to Hohoe.
For his part, Barima Bonsi II, the Jasikan District Chief Executive, said he would soon visit the area to assess the extent of damage.
He also appealed to the COCOBOD to respond quickly and install a bailey bridge to facilitate the movement of people, goods and services.
He further called on the cocoa farmers to continue sending their produce to the nearest buying centres and leave the problem of evacuation to the COCOBOD.
A Cocoa Purchasing Agent based at Bodada, Mr Alex Adom, said the people were not happy with the situation since it cost them several times more to travel on the safer routes.
Apart from that, Mr Adom said, they spent more time on the route than necessary.
He called for something to be done immediately since it was an important road in the district.

SAND WINNING THREATENS POWER SUPPLY TO PARTS OF VOLTA (PAGE 46, OCT 14, 2010)

The Volta Regional capital, Ho and the northern part of the region risk being thrown into total black out with the disruption of economic activities if the indiscriminate sand winning activities close to electricity pylons between Sokode and Bame in the Ho Municipality are not checked immediately.
The Volta Regional Director of the ECG, Mr William Hutton-Mensah, expressed this worry when he conducted a team of journalists round to see the menace caused by the activities of the illegal sand winners. During the tour reporters saw that deep pits had been dug very close to the pylons by the sand winners.
Mr Hutton –Mensah noted that sand winning within a radius of 50 square feet radius to the pylons was very dangerous since it could facilitate the collapse of the pylons.
“Should the pylons collapse, it would lead to the disruption of almost all economic activities, including the supply of potable water to Ho and the northern part of the region for some months, he said”.
According to Mr Hutton-Mensah, sand winning had become an economic activity in the area which was being carried out with the collaboration of the land owners who often granted permits to the contractors in the community to win sand.
He, therefore, called on the general public to alert the ECG of any sand winning activities close to the pylons because if such illegal activities were not checked, they would go a long way to disrupt economic activities in the area.
The Volta Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP), Mr David Ampah Bennin, warned that it was illegal for chiefs and landowners to grant permits to sand winning contractors without considering the dangers such activities could pose to the pylons.
He gave a promise that the police would make their presence felt in the area if the sand winning activities continued.
He stressed that sand winning contractors needed to obtain licences from the Ho Municipal Assembly to operate so that their activities could be monitored.
He expressed concern about the trend which he attributed to the failure of the landowners to collaborate with the Ho Municipal Assembly before allocating land for winning of sand.
The regional police commander stressed that all illegal contractors who did not have permits would be arrested.
A technician of GRIDCo, Mr Johnson Ilupeju, said most of the sand winning activities took place at odd hours and those who engaged in them were well-armed.
He said “controlling them is very difficult because they work at night and in the early hours of the day”.
As part of measures to control the menace, the Volta Regional branch of the Electricity Company of Ghana, (ECG) has mounted an intensive campaign to check the massive winning of sand under their pylons between Sokode and Bame in the Ho Municipality of the Volta Region.
The family head of the land on which the pylons were erected (name withheld) is assisting the police in their investigations.

POOR RAINFALL UNDERMINES AGRIC PROGRAMME (SPREAD, OCT 11, 2010)

BENEFICIARIES of the Youth-In-Agriculture module of the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) have been hit by crop failure as a result of poor rainfall during the major season in the Akatsi South and North districts of the Volta Region.
The 350 young farmers under the module, who were supported by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and their respective district assemblies with GH¢42,000.00, have been grieving as they could not harvest enough to pay back the financial assistance extended to them.
While the farmers in South Tongu cultivated 200 acres of maize, those in North Tongu and Akatsi planted 83 acres and 96 acres of rice respectively.
A visit to some of the maize and rice farms in the South and North Tongu districts during which the Daily Graphic interacted with some of the farmers revealed a sorrowful sight.
Apart from the Youth-in-Agriculture farms, there were other individual maize and rice fields such as the agricultural component of the Millennium Challenge Account being managed by MiDA also having been affected by poor rains.
The farmers under this pilot project were given training in good agricultural practices in addition to special interventions to increase their yields.
Some of the affected farms under the Youth-in-Agriculture programme are in Kpotame, Sondo, Hodzadzi, Ahlihakpe, Kpodzadzi, Dabala Junction, Agbakofe, Dekpoa, Hikpo, Dordoekope, Tsavanya and Agbagorme.
Mr Steven Dzorkah, 47, leader of the Young Farmers League at Kpodzadzi in the South Tongu District, said his group began the season in May, 2010, with 16 acres of maize but not even two maxi bags were realised at the end of the season.
According to Mr Seth Adu-Wadie, South Tongu District Agriculture Officer in charge of Extension, the assembly ploughed the land while MoFA gave them the seeds, fertiliser and technical advice.
After the first application of fertiliser, Mr Adu-Wadie said, the rains ceased, leading to the withering of the crops.
Mr Gabriel Amezah, one of the rice farmers who has been cultivating rice for the past four years at Dabala Junction in the South Tongu District, said the season had left them in despair.
According to Mr Ignatius Klu Wetsu, MoFA Extension Officer in charge of Dabala Junction Area, the failed rice has dampened the spirit of the farmers who were trying to operate under one umbrella to be able to solicit for credit.
In the North Tongu District, when the youth realised that the maize was failing, they quickly introduced Chili pepper which they are harvesting now, said Mr Agbo Halloway of the South Tongu District Assembly. Mr Halloway said through this they hoped to recoup some of their losses.
The Volta Regional Director of MoFA, Mr John R. Tsrakasu, bemoaned the losses of the farmers involved in the programme, which was to open up the area and offer jobs for the youth.
To offset the cost, Mr Tsrakasu said MoFA had acquired water pumping machines which would be given to the farmers on credit basis.
The Regional Director appealed for support for the Chili project, which has been found to be doing well in the area. To make the youth able to pay back what has been invested in them, he called on the government and various district assemblies to re-invest in them during the next farming season.

WEAVER, DRIVER JAILED 8 YEARS FOR THEFT (PAGE 61, OCT 11, 2010)

A Ho Circuit Court, presided over by Mr Ernest Yao Obimpe has sentenced Atsu Gafa, 30, a weaver and Richard Agbodoe, 32, a driver, to four years imprisonment in hard labour each for breaking into a store and stealing a quantity of Kente cloth and GH¢ 700.00 cash at Kpetoe in the Volta Region.
One other suspect, Amidu Musa, was acquitted and discharged by the court whilst the fourth suspect, Anani, alias Anas is at large.
Prosecuting, Chief Inspector Sampson Agboado said Mr Israel Kporku, the owner of the store and the complainant, together with the accused persons were all from Kpetoe.
Chief Inspector Agboado said on February 28, last year at about 7.30 a.m., Mr Kporku realised that his store had been broken into and 21 male and eight female Kente cloths as well as GH¢ 700.00 cash, all totalling GH¢ 9,900.00 had been stolen the previous night.
He said police investigations led to the arrest of the four persons and they were charged with unlawful entry and stealing and subsequently arraigned.
Although, they pleaded not guilty to the charges, the court found Gafa and Agbodoe guilty and sentenced them accordingly.
Mr Obimpe ordered the suspects to return the stolen items and cash after serving their sentences.