GRi NEWSREEL 06-01-99

Ho, (Volta Region) 5 Jan. 

The new Volta Regional Hospital at Ho will start providing limited specialised services in the third week of January this year.

The referral hospital will, however, need about 1.5 billion cedis to become fully operational.

Dr Frank Nyonator, Volta Regional Director of Health Services, made this known when he conducted Mr Kofi Attor, Member of Parliament for Ho Central, round the various units of the hospital today.

Dr Nyonator said the health administration has so far identified 135 out of 539 staff needed to support the hospital's operations.

He advised the public not to make the hospital the first point of call but to use the district and the old hospital.

Dr Nyonator said one major problem that needs urgent attention is the provision of staff quarters and therefore appealed to both the regional co-ordinating council and Members of Parliament from the region to explore ways of addressing the problem.

Mr Attor said the completion of the new hospital to conform to international standards is in fulfilment of government's promise to the region.

He said the hospital should be adopted as a regional asset to which every citizen must make a positive contribution, and suggested that people should come forward with new ideas to raise funds for its maintenance.

The hospital was constructed and equipped at a cost of 28.4 million pounds sterling.

Klefe (Volta Region), 6 Jan.  

It is unlawful for any community to form, promote and encourage town development committees to rival unit committees.

Mr Kofi Attor, Member of Parliament for Ho-Central, stressed this at the weekend when he met a number of communities in the constituency to explain the functions of the unit committees, the Value Added Tax and the state of development in the constituency and the Volta Region.

Mr Attor explained the 15 main functions of the unit committees, and added that unit committees could take up other functions as circumstances demand.

He said each unit committee is allowed to form sub-committees like the district assemblies to tackle specific problems.

Mr Attor warned the unit committees not to take over the functions of chiefs, whose support they should seek in the effective discharge of their duties.

He, therefore, charged the committees to hold regular consultations with chiefs and urged the people to exchange ideas and information for transparency and popular participation in decision-making and implementation.

On the Value Added Tax , Mr Attor said it will affect only those who indulge in ''above-average life-styles and tastes''.

It is for this reason that the government has exempted some categories of goods and services from VAT because they affect the lives of the average Ghanaian.

Accra, (Greater Accra) 6 Jan. 

The Professional Musical Spinners Association of Ghana (PROMSAG) today asked the public to beware of "floating musical spinners" who charge exorbitant fees but do not pay royalty to the association.

In a statement issued in Accra today PROMSAG said some mushroom "spinning groups" who have not registered with it are defrauding the public through high charges.

"This group of spinners are known as floating spinners whose operations are in defiance of PNDC Law 110 which deals with the payment of royalty and it is an offence to engage them".

PROMSAG is the sole agent assigned with the duty of collecting royalty from spinners for the Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA).

The form of registration is by issuing receipt books to members to ensure effective monitoring of their revenue and levels of fees they charge to safeguard the interest of the public.

"But because those floating spinners are not registered with us, they do not have our receipt books and therefore charge any amount they want yet they do not account to anyone."

The statement asked members of the public to demand PROMSAG receipts from "any spinner you engage to ensure that you are not cheated."

Accra, (Greater Accra) 6 Jan. 

The Minister of the Interior, Nii Okaija Adamafio, said today that tomorrow, January seven, the anniversary of the fourth republic, is not a statutory holiday.

He GRi in Accra that there will be a march past tomorrow at the Independence Square by the security services and other voluntary organisations to mark the sixth anniversary of the Fourth Republic, but ''the day is not a holiday''. The Minister=92s statement became necessary in because of rumour in town that the day will be celebrated as a holdiay. The Minister listed the 12 statutory holidays as December 25 (Christmas day), December 26 (Boxing day), January one (New year's day), March six (Independence day) and May one (Workers' day). The rest are Good Friday, Easter Monday, July one (Republic day), the first Friday of December (Farmers' day), Ramadan (End of Muslim fasting), Id el Adha (Feast of sacrifice) and June four (June four Uprising).

Twenty schools benefit from British assistance

Tolon (Northern Region), 6 Jan.

The Tolon/Kumbungu District Education office yesterday took delivery of a consignment of school furniture and teaching and learning materials worth 100 million cedis for distribution to 20 pilot schools to enhance the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme in the district.

The consignment forms part of a package made available to the Ghana Education Service (GES) under a British government assistance programme through its Department for International Development.

Three districts in the Northern Region are among 30 others nation-wide selected as beneficiaries of the programme.

The consignment is made up of 830 desks, 120 each of teachers tables and chairs, 20 each of headteachers tables and chairs and 20 cupboards.

Other items are 20 picture reels, English Language and Mathematics textbooks and school uniforms for 222 needy children. The distribution is being channelled through the GES under the Whole School Development Process (WSDP).

Mrs Rosaline Shaita Bawah, District Director of Education, said WSDP, apart from material assistance, has a component for teachers to develop and modernise their skills.

She said the main hindrance to the development of education in the district are poor teaching and learning, absenteeism and lateness, poor school structures, lack of textbooks and other logistics and poor enrolment especially of the girl-child.

Mrs Bawah expressed the hope that WSDP would ensure a more congenial atmosphere in the schools to enhance teaching and learning in the district.

Mr Seiku Herbert Zaato, Director in charge of Manpower at the Regional Education office, asked parents to co-operate with school authorities to ensure the success of the FCUBE programme.

He said since the management of schools is now community-based all stakeholders should help to improve conditions in the schools to motivate teachers and pupils to give of their best.

Tema (Greater Accra), 6 Jan.

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) will as from the end of this month take legal action to recover rent arrears of 600 million cedis from tenants.

The trust will also be compelled to re-allocate the houses of defaulting tenants to interested people, Mr Kwaku Osei-Bimpong, Acting Head of public affairs department of SSNIT, disclosed at Tema today.

He was speaking at the handing-over of a 500 million-cedi eight-classroomed pre-school to the Tema Community Three residents. The school "Ami Margaret" was built in two years.

He said SSNIT rents are highly subsidised and was surprised that the tenants are refusing to honour their obligation to pay to enable the trust to recoup monies invest for the benefit of workers.

He said the school is part of SSNIT's programme to provide facilities at its housing estates to make the communities live in comfort and hoped the communities would reciprocate this gesture by honouring their obligations.

Mrs Hanna Amoah, Tema Municipal Director of Education, commended SSNIT for providing the communities with schools and appealed to it to build more of such schools at Ashaiman.

Kpando, (Volta Region) 5 Jan.  

Dr Gabriel Tanson, a Ghanaian medical practitioner in California, United States, has donated two aerosol nebulizer equipment worth two million cedis to two health institutions in Kpando to minimise the sufferings of asthma patients.

The Margret Maquart Catholic Hospital and St. Patrick hospital, were the beneficiaries.

Dr Tanson, who left Ghana 30 years ago, said his aim is to bring relief to asthma patients in the two hospitals.

He promised to mobilise funds in the United States to procure more of such simple medical equipment to other hospitals in the country.

Dr Lawrence Akoto, medical director of the Saint Patrick hospital, received the equipment on behalf of the two hospitals.

Savelugu (Northern Region), 5 Jan.  

Alhaji Abdulai Haruna, District Chief Executive for Savelugu/Nantong, has praised Members of Parliament in the district for their untiring efforts towards development of the area.

Hajia Marie Salifu Boforo and Alhaji Alhassan Yakubu, MPs for Savelugu and Nantong were given the commendation by Alhaji Haruna at Savelugu yesterday.

This was when Hajia Boforo accompanied by Mr Hossain Golbabasi, project manager of Agricultural and Rural Development (ARD) briefed the DCE on ARD's plans for the district.

The ARD is an Iranian non-governmental organisation (NGO) supporting rural groups to improve their living standards.

Alhaji Haruna expressed satisfaction with the efforts of the two MPs to improve the lot of people of the district's rural communities particularly women. The two have helped in in the building of a multi-million cedi mosque at Koduzegu.

Alhaji Haruna thanked the ARD and other NGOs for their contribution to the district's development and pledged the district assembly's support and co-operation.

Mr Golbabasi said the ARD plans to establish a food processing centre at Savelugu to create employment avenues for women.

Kumasi (Ashanti), 6 Jan.

A Kumasi Circuit Tribunal has sentenced an 18-year-old house boy, Yaw Bismark to four years' imprisonment in hard labour on his own plea of guilty to electrical gadgets systems and electrical gadgets worth about 11 million cedis, property of Mr Joseph Broni, a Kumasi businessman. Prosecuting, Police Chief Inspector Nicholas K. Darkwah, told the tribunal, chaired by Mr Joseph A. Abanga, that the accused was the house boy of Mr Broni's father at Bomso in Kumasi, where Mr Broni kept the gadgets in a room. Mr Darkwah said sometime last month, Mr Broni detected that some of the gadgets were missing and suspected the accused, who had then run away from the house and a report was made to Police. He said the Police had a tip-off that the accused had gone to Mim in the Brong Ahafo Region, from where he was arrested and during interrogation he admitted the offence and named some people whom he gave the items to but could not trace them. The Prosecutor said a video deck was retrieved from the accused.

Accra (Greater Accra), 6 Jan.

A university run by the Methodist Church will formally become operational from October at Wesley Grammar School, Dansoman, in Accra. The university, to be known as the Methodist University, Ghana, will initially focus on first degree programmes aimed at addressing the need to provide university education for the many frustrated qualified students. In an interview with GRi in Accra today, the Reverend Dr. E. K. Marfo, co-ordinator, said the university will begin degree programmes in Agriculture, Home Economics, Business Administration, Estate Management and Land Valuation. Other programmes will be Mathematics/Statistics, Computer Science, Economics, Psychology, Developmental and Environmental Studies. Programmes in English, Ethics and Religious studies will be compulsory for all students. Reverend Marfo said the university will initially be non-residential, but individuals and church members will be encouraged to build hostels to accommodate the students. Efforts are being made to put up permanent structures for the school at Dawhenya in the Greater Accra region. The science programmes, which will need laboratory services, will be started later on at a different campus in Kumasi. Students will be required to pay fees to facilitate the smooth running of the school. The Methodist church under the Weselyan Mission in the then Gold Coast established over 83 schools in the country at the primary, junior and senior secondary levels and training colleges. Notable among its secondary schools is the Mfanstipim School, which has produced eminent academicians, lawyers, doctors, engineers and administrators.

Accra (Greater Accra), 6 Jan.

A three-member committee of enquiry, which investigated the October 28 Dansoman shooting incident in which one man was killed during a Police operation, yesterday presented a 40-page report to the Minister of the Interior, Nii Okaija Adamafio. Details of the report were not released. But Mr. Ernest Owusu-Poku, Commissioner of Police and chairman of the committee, told the Minister :=

"We are confident that you will thoroughly go through the report and implement the recommendations''. The committee paid two fact-finding visits to the scene of the incident, examined 15 documents and heard 37 witnesses. Nii Okaija appealed to the Police to approach their work with confidence to enable them to "neutralise and disperse mob action in a professional manner". ''It is your responsibility to live up to the expectation of the public, who expect so much from you''. He expressed commended the committee for their "painstaking effort" to present their report on schedule, '' Government will study the report and the recommendations and take the appropriate measures,'' he promised. Last October 28, Policemen from the Striking Force were involved in a shooting incident at Dansoman, when they allegedly went to arrest a "notorious" criminal called Man China. In the process, the Police killed one Isaac Biney, alias Joe. Following a public outcry against the action, the Minister of the Interior set up a three-member committee to look into the circumstances surrounding the incident.