National food security committee plot to combat army worms
Parents want name of school changed
Ghanaian doctors abroad urged to return home
Electricity tariffs undermining industries?
Human rights commission settles 88 cases in Nzema east
Assembly institutes scholarship for girls
National food security committee plot to combat army worms
Accra (Greater Accra), 20th July 99 –
The National Food Security Committee of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) on Monday held an emergency meeting in Accra to plot strategies to combat the army worm invasion in the Northern sector of the country and to chart a way forward.
The Ministers of the Interior, Food and Agriculture, Finance, and Communications as well as regional ministers from the Upper East, Upper West, Northern and Greater Accra attended. Also in attendance were the Army
Commander, the Inspector-General of Police, the Commissioner of CEPS and Director of the Immigration service.
The minister of the Interior, Nii Okaija Adamafio who is also the chairman of the National Disaster Management Committee, told the opening that the army worm invasion of five out of the 10 regions of the country is of national concern.
He said even though the invasion has been brought under control, the meeting was convened to take urgent measures to address the havoc it has left in its trail.
"It is believed that about 100,000 hectares of crops have to be replanted immediately to enable the farmers reap the benefits of the rains for a few months."
He said the replanting of the food crops so far destroyed by the worms is paramount and very challenging because failure would mean inviting the inevitable - massive food relief in the coming months.
"It is regrettable to mention that while during early visits to the Northern sector there was a clear indication that they could reap food surpluses this year, we are now gripped with the present gloomy situation.''
Mr John H. Owusu Acheampong, Minister of Food and Agriculture, expressed his appreciation to all those who assisted in bringing the army worm invasion under control.
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Sefwi Juabeso (Western Region), 20th July 99 –
Plantain and rice farmers in nine towns in the Sefwi Juabeso-Bia district have undergone training to become experts in their own farming vocation.
The training conducted by the Farmers' Field School (FFS) of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) exposed the farmers to pests and disease management, treatment of planting materials, nursery establishment, land preparation, and fertiliser application, among others.
The farmers were drawn from Essam, Nkwanta, Sayerano, Asuentaa, Ngyerisi, Asuopri, Kwamebikrom, Asikuma and Debiso.
Mr George K. Mburathi, Deputy Regional Representative for Africa, urged the participants to apply the technical know-how to produce high yielding quality crops.
He said the workshop was to contribute towards achieving national food security efforts and enable the participants to go into agriculture as a business.
Mr Mburathi urged them to take advantage of available land, good weather conditions and excellent soil fertility to go into agriculture on large scale to produce for both export and local markets.
Mr Johnson Asiedu-Nketiah, Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, urged graduands of the Food Fisheries School to form co-operatives to enable them to secure loans to expand their farms and have bargaining power over their own produce.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, Madam Agnes Appiah, a plantain farmer, said: "Now I know how to raise seedlings and protect my farm against diseases."
"This training will not benefit me alone because I will pass on the technical-know how to my children".
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Parents want name of school changed
Apowa (Western Region), 20th July 99, -
A gender debate took an interesting turn at Apowa, near Takoradi, at the weekend when parents of Saint Mary's Senior Secondary School called for a change of the school's name to Saint Joseph's or Saint John's since it is a boys' school.
They explained that the present name confuses the public and prospective SSS students who wish to enter the school.
The appeal was made at a Parent/Teacher Association meeting held on Saturday at the school.
They emphasised that their wards are sometimes in a dilemma when they are asked about the name of the school and others make fun of them, as attending a female school.
In an address, Mr. P. P. Cann, the Assistant headmaster, noted that he had had to send some females who selected the school to Sekondi Senior Secondary School (SECKO) since there is no facility for the number of females who selected the school as their first choice.
Mr. Cann informed the parents that to enhance easy payment of fees for the final year students, their bills for the second and third terms would be combined and issued at the end of the first term.
He urged the parents to regularly visit the school to monitor the progress of their wards and to settle their bills early for the smooth running of the school.
The Reverend Joe Atta-Kweku, Chairman of the PTA, assured the parents that the association would discuss their appeal and inform the Catholic church about their request.
He said over 11 million cedis has so far been spent on two new staff bungalows, which are now at the lintel level, adding that they would be completed soon.
Master Joseph L. Akotey a former student and best student in the Western Region in the 1997 Senior Secondary School Certificate examination, was presented with a sounds system and 100,000 cedis by the PTA.
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Ghanaian doctors abroad urged to return home
Ho (Volta Region), 20th July 99 –
Dr Frank Nyonator, Volta Regional Director of Health Services, on Monday appealed to Ghanaian doctors resident in the United States to come home during their leave to assist their colleagues.
He was speaking at a ceremony at which the Ewe community in Dallas Texas, U.S., presented four wheel chairs valued at 1,500 dollars to the Ho Government Hospital.
Dr Nyonator told Mr Lawrence Yao Dagadu, president of the community who handed over the chairs, that, with the construction of a modern hospital for the region, specialists are needed to man it.
Dr Nyonator expressed his profound appreciation to the community for the gesture and assured the members that they would be put to judicious use.
Mr Dagadu said the gifts were the beginning of their participation in the health delivery service in the region.
He assured Dr Nyonator that they will continue to mobilise the members to assist the hospital with other equipment to enhance its effective operation.
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Electricity tariffs undermining industries?
Apowa ( Western Region ) 20th July 99—
Mr. Eric Dodoo, Administrative Manager of INTEX Limited , a timber company, has said tariffs of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) are so high that many industries are finding it extremely difficult to pay.
Mr Dodoo alleged that some industries are paying bills between 25 million cedis and 46 million cedis a month.
He told newsmen that if nothing was done about the new tariffs, most industries would be compelled to lay-off workers to enable them to break even.
Mr Dodoo alleged that some industries were disconnected for their inability to pay their bills and appealed to the Minister of Trade and Industries to intervene to ensure that industries that produce for export enjoy the same consideration given to the mining sector.
Mr Dodoo called for efforts to sustain and encourage industries to maintain their present strength of workers in order not to worsen Ghana's high unemployment rate.
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Human rights commission settles 88 cases in Nzema east
Axim (Western Region), 20th July 99, --
The Nzema East district secretariat of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) settled 88 out of 103 cases brought before it last year.
Mr William Osafo-Offinam, the district commissioner, told the GNA that 50 of the petitions were written while 53 were verbal.
He said the cases included neglect of children by irresponsible fathers, unlawful termination of employment and issues pertaining to enforcement of the intestate succession law.
The District Commissioner said child negligence topped the number of cases received and therefore called for more stringent laws to deal with fathers who deliberately refuse to cater for their children.
He spoke of efforts of the commission to educate the public on child maintenance laws and asked that his outfit be given enough logistics to enable it to reach all communities in the district.
Meanwhile, the commission has embarked on an immunisation campaign against the six childhood killer diseases in Averebo and Ahunyame communities.
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Assembly institutes scholarship for girls
Effiduase (Ashanti), 20th July 99-
The Sekyere East District Assembly, in collaboration with the Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), a non-governmental organization, has instituted a 20 million-cedi scholarship scheme for brilliant but needy girls in first and second cycle schools in the district.
The scheme, which has already taken off, is aimed at enhancing girls' education and improve enrolment of girls in schools in the district.
These were disclosed by Mr Kwame De-Graft Agyei, the District Chief Executive, during the finals of a debate for girls in second cycle schools in the Sekyere East District at Effiduase.
The theme for the debate was "If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if educate a woman you educate a nation - Is this still relevant in the contemporary Ghanaian society today?".
Mr Agyei urged the students to abstain from immoral practices, such as drug addiction, and concentrate on their studies so as to become useful citizens.
In the debate, Kumawu Tweneboa Koduah Secondary School came first with 20.5 points to beat Effiduase Secondary/Commercial School who had 20 points in the finals.
The two schools had earlier disposed off Asokore Ahmadiyya Secondary School and Dadease Agricultural College respectively to reach the finals.
Both winner and runner-up schools were each presented with a world map, a dictionary and a scientific calculator while the losers took home a calculator each.
Mr Daniel Anni Okine, Manager of Effiduase Ghana Commercial Bank who presided, advised girls to disabuse their minds of the notion that science and mathematics are difficult subjects and be determined to rub shoulders with their male counterparts to let the sky be their limit.
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