Nalerigu, Jan 17, GNA - President John Dramani Mahama on Friday renewed his commitment to serve the country diligently to achieve all the development goals in the coming years.He said:"You all did well by voting massively for me in the 2012 Presidential election and I will not forget what you did, and will not disappoint you in my administration."President Mahama was addressing a mini- durbar of chiefs and people of Nalerigu as part of his his two-day official visit to the Northern Region.The durbar was also attended by Ministers of State, Members of Parliament in the Region, District Chief Executives, National Democratic Congress leadership and supporters in the area.President Mahama said the government would invest an excess of one billion dollars in road construction to open the country to businesses and investors.He said the Walewale/Gambaga/Nalerigu road would be improved to connect the Bunkrugu and Nakpanduri stretch of the road to facilitate the movement of goods and services in the area.President Mahama promised to work around the clock to help reduce interest rates on loans to enable businesses to flourish all over the country.He said the current state where interest rates were soaring everyday was not conductive for the development and growth of enterprises and gave the assurance that all legal measures would be explored to ensure that businesses grow.The President commended the Nayiri of Mamprugu for maintaining peace and unity among the ethnic groups in the area and appealed to him to extend that feat to Bawku and Dagbon to bring peace and unity to the people."There cannot be any significant development without peace and I want to thank the Nayiri for maintaining peace in the traditional area over the years,” President Mahama said.He said the government had accredited the Gambaga College of Education and it would be part of the Colleges that would benefit from government support.Naa John Awuni, Representative of the Mamprugu overlord, commended the government for upgrading the Gambaga Nursing Training College into a diploma awarding institution and gave the assurance that the upgrading would provide the necessary manpower for health facilities in the Region and beyond.He appealed to the government to complete an assembly hall complex that was initiated by the late General Ignatius Kutu Achempong regime in the 1970s.Dr Alfred Tia Sugri, a Deputy Minister of Health, said although President Mahama won in all the five constituencies in the area only two NDC members of parliament won and called on the people to change the trend in subsequent general elections.He said 33 basic schools were constructed in the Mamprusi East District since NDC took over power.GNA

Sunyani, Jan 17, GNA - Quick intervention by the police on Thursday prevented some group of people from attacking the Nkoranza police station following the death of their colleague arrested by the police in their special routine swoop at Nkoranza.Four persons were arrested on January 15 in a police swoop at a “wee” base at Nkoranza possessing some dry leaves suspected to be Indian hemp.Briefing The Ghana News Agency in Sunyani , Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Patrick Sarpong, Acting Brong Ahafo Regional Police Commander, said y organized a special swoop at a location at Nkoranza.He said during the exercise two of the four persons arrested complained of illness the next day and were taken to Saint Teresah Hospital at about 1320 hours and one of them was treated and discharged but Kwasi Damoah, 25, was detained at the hospital.ACP Sarpong said at about 1600 hours Damoah died at the hospital.He said when news of the death got to his friends they grouped themselves into three, armed themselves with offensive weapons such as stones, cutlasses and clubs and marched to the Nkoranza Police Station to attack the place.He said they threw stones at the police station blocked the Nkonza main road to prevent movement of vehicles and burnt car tyres in the middle of the road but police cleared and brought the situation under control.ACP Sarpong said a police vehicle returning to the station was attacked and had its windscreen and left hand side mirror damaged.He said police had brought calm to the place and three persons who were arrested, Kofi Fosu,22, Ameyaw Nicholas, 20, and Nana Yaw, 18, will be put before court.GNA

Kumasi, Jan 17, GNA - A businessman standing trial over a fraudulent land transaction has been sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by a Kumasi Circuit Court, presided over by Mr Emmanuel Amo-Yartey.Kwadwo Baah alias “Wofa K”, 48, had sold a building plot at Mamponteng in the Kwabre East District to Mr. Charles Kofi Nti, an engineer, for GH¢ 24,000.00 but trouble began when he (Nti) moved to develop it.It was realized that the plot had been re-sold to another person.The convict promised to return the money paid to him by Mr. Nti but reneged and a formal report was made to the police leading to his arrest.Baah pleaded guilty to the fraudulent transaction.Police Chief Inspector Sylvanus D’Almeida told the court that the offence was committed in year 2011.GNA

Afrancho (Ash), Jan 17, GNA – The Ghana Haulage Transport Owners Association (GHATOA) has expressed strong opposition to the planned implementation of the new axle load policy and is urging the government not to go-ahead with the decision.It threatened that its members would be forced to withdraw their services should its call be ignored.Mr. Salia Adams, the General- Secretary of GHATOA, said at a news conference held at Afrancho in the Afigya-Kwabre District that the new policy carried the twin-danger of pushing them out of business and denying the nation revenue.He said their counterparts from neighbouring landlocked nations, who are using the country’s ports, had started looking elsewhere because of poor axle-load handling.The new policy, expected to take effect from February 01, pegs allowable axle load limit for a six-axle truck at 60 tonnes as against the permissible limit of 68 tonnes under the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) protocol.Mr. Adams said the protocol was designed to harmonize allowable axle-load limit for all countries in the sub-region.He complained that high fuel prices and vehicle parts combined with increased taxes and road tolls had put severe strain on their operations.He said the Association said it found it disheartening that the representations about the potential problems and dangers with the news policy it made to the Roads and Highways Ministry were disregarded.The General-Secretary said it was ironical that a government that was trying to develop and expand infrastructure at the ports to increase the volume goods passing through there should at the same time be pushing aggressively to cripple businesses.He said it was difficult to understand why patrol tankers should be allowed to carry load in excess of about 80 tonnes but trucks continued to be haunted.Mr. Adams said it was neither in the interest of members of the Association to destroy the roads nor be asking for unacceptable loading practices without any form of regulatory checks.He said they just wanted to see that things were done such that businesses would flourish to bring optimal benefit to the economy.GNA

Accra, Jan. 17, GNA – This year European Union (EU)-Africa Summit would prioritize on investing in peace to ensure security for all investors in achieving national development.The EU granted 50 Euros million to support the African-led International Support Mission to Mali through the African Peace Facility, to supports the African Union and regional African organisations in carrying out peace-keeping operations such as AMISOM in Somalia and MICOPAX in the Central African Republic.The EU since 2004 had provided more than 1.1 billion Euros through the African Peace Facility to prevent conflict and promote peace, in Darfur, Somalia, South Sudan and the Central African Republic.Dr Nicholas Westcott, European Action Service Managing Director for West African made the remarks on Friday in an interaction with the press in Accra on preparation towards the 2014, 4th EU Africa Summit.The Summit scheduled to take place in Brussels in April 2014, would discuss bilateral cooperation and political dialogue between the two continents in promoting shared interests and tackle common regional and global challenges within the Joint Africa-EU Strategy.Other key topics would be the environment and climate action, sustainable energy and agriculture, food safety and security, resilience, education, employment, health and migration.The event comprising of 28 European members and 55 African countries would focus on the theme “Investing in Peace, Prosperity and people”.Dr Westcott said the theme is timely because Africa is growing faster but experiencing high rate of unemployment adding that the Summit will engage member states to chart the way forward in addressing the phenomenon.He noted that a common challenge for both Africa and Europe remains to consolidate sustainable economic growth and ensure that it is inclusive in creating jobs, especially for women and young people.Dr Westcott said the issue requires coordinated action at continental, regional and national levels to address the challenges facing African countries.He said the Summit would look at ways to cooperate more closely on the structural challenges in helping economies to prosper in addressing education, health, women- and youth empowerment and development of human capital.He said the Summit would create a business platform for African countries to develop their own trade and investment plans including trade and infrastructure, economic governance and raw materials and customs and taxation.Dr Westcott said the EU is the biggest trading partner for Africa and remains its most important donor adding that African countries received close to 24 billion Euros of Official Development Assistance from the EU in the period 2007 to 2012.He said the relationship between Ghana and EU is productive in the field of technical and financial support through regional integration of creating bigger markets for global competition.Dr Westcott commended Ghana for its active role of supporting peace by sending 850 troops to South Sudan in order to help restore peace and stability and prevent the country from descending into civil war.Dr Westcott is schedule to meet President John Dramani Mahama to officially invite him to the Summit, as well as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration and Minister of Finance for international and economic relations.Eighty Heads of State and Government from Africa and Europe adopted the Joint Africa-EU Strategy at the Summit in Lisbon in December 2007.Both sides agreed to pursue common interests and strategic objectives together and outline a long-term shared vision of the future of Africa-EU relations in a globalised world.GNA

Akim Swedru (E/R), Jan. 17, GNA – The Akim Swedru Circuit Court has sentenced Ishmael Brako, an electrician, to 24 months in jail.The court presided over by Mr. Yaw Atta Sampong, convicted Brako on his own plea of guilty to causing damage, unlawful entry and stealing.Police Inspector Sabian Sellah said Mr. Alex Mensah, the complainant, is a businessman and lives at Akim Oda Quarters, while Brako lives at Akim Oda Old Town.She said on September 18, 2013, Brako entered Mr. Mensah’s kitchen and in the process, damaged the kitchen’s wooden window and stole a gas cylinder valued at GHC 95.Inspector Sabian stated that a witness in the case spotted the convict leaving the kitchen with the stolen cylinder and he was arrested and handed over to the police.GNA

Asamankese (E/R), Jan. 17, GNA – The Member of Parliament (MP) for Lower West Akim, Madam Gifty Klenam, has said she would table a motion in Parliament for a debate on the high expenditure of National Association of Local Authorities of Ghana (NALAG).She said the financial strength of any organization like NALAG depended on efficient acquisition and management of its resources.Mad Klenam said there were six metropolitan, 49 municipal and 161 district assemblies in the country, whose ultimate goal was to fast track socio-economic development under the decentralization programme.“It goes without saying that cutting down general expenses to the minimum will help NALAG achieve its noble objectives,” she said.Madam Klenam said this at the West Akim Municipal Assembly’s last session for 2013, at Asamankese in the Eastern Region, during a heated debate on NALAG’s funds and its high spending.Mr. Moses Timpo Ofori, Presiding Member (PM) of the assembly, had delivered a report on NALAG’s Conference held in November 2013 at Sunyani.The 47-member assembly wanted Mr. Ofori to describe in detail policies, procedures, rules and regulations in business correspondence, personnel and financial administration of NALAG.These include NALAG’s supply of dairies, calendars and feeding fees for the MMDA chief executives who attended the conference.The Assembly described NALAG’s purchase of motorbikes for the assemblies as “cut throat” prices and the cost would deducted from the Assemblies’ Common Fund.The assembly members said they were not happy with the “unsatisfactory report” on NALAG’s uncontrolled expenditure and registered their dissatisfaction with the performance of the budgetary operations of the Association.GNA

Tamale, Jan. 17, GNA – President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday announced that the multi-purpose storey Aboabo Market in Tamale, which had been abandoned for years, would be completed during his tenure of office.He said funds had been sourced for the completion of the market which started during the regime late Head of State General Kutu Acheampong.President Mahama said this in Tamale during the inauguration of the first phase of the Tamale Teaching Hospital facelift project and sod cutting ceremony for work to begin on the second phase that will cost 48.5 million euros.Late President Atta Mills, in April 2010, cut the sod for the refurbishment of the Hospital with 39.3 million euros jointly funded by the Dutch government and the Ghana government.President Mahama said Tamale was growing fast and that the market, when completed, would boost the economy and many investors would move to the metropolis.He said major roads linking Tamale to the district capitals would be tarred and mentioned the Tamale/Kumbungu road, Tamale/Salaga road, Walewale/ Nalerigu/Bunkpurugu road, Nyankpala/Tolon road would be constructedHe said the Fufulso/Damongo/Sawla road was going on commendably and that the NDC government would work tirelessly to bring development to the doorsteps of the people to justify the confidence reposed in the NDC government.President Mahama thanked the people of the Region for voting overwhelmingly to retain the NDC in power in the 2012 elections and gave the assurance that equitable distribution of the national cake would not elude them.He said government was committed to ensuring the Eastern corridor road was completed to ease the pressure on the Tamale/Kumasi/Accra highway and that work was progressing on portions of the road.GNA

Accra, Jan 17, GNA - Ms Joyce Bediako, a nurse at the Home Maternity Clinic at Agege in Accra, on Friday affirmed that antenatal care was critical and imperative for the survival of the unborn child and mother.“It is not a matter of choice for the expectant mother to undergo antenatal care to ensure healthy delivery,” Ms Bediako told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra.Ms Bediako said antenatal care formed part of holistic medical diagnosis for pregnant women, which aimed at early detection of abnormality or any malfunction of the baby for treatment.“It also serves as a platform for providing counselling sessions for the pregnant women and if possible the husband,” Ms Bediako said.She explained that the unborn baby was being protected from diseases through medication and this could only be done when the mother takes the prescribed medicine directed by their midwives.Ms Bediako said the medication that pregnant women took was important and failure to go by it could deform the unborn baby.She expressed concern about the attitude of some pregnant women who failed to adhere to medical directives, depended on friends and relatives for antenatal advice.GNA

Tamale, Jan. 17, GNA – President John Dramani Mahama on Thursday appealed to people of the Northern Region to drop the negative and destructive attitudes towards the administration of the Tamale Teaching Hospital to enhance quality healthcare delivery.He said, “I am aware of the problems here concerning a new CEO and I have tasked the Minister of Health to help address such problems to ensure that the position is occupied for effective and efficient administration at the hospital”.President Mahama said this during the inauguration of the Hospital’s first phase facelift project and cut the sod for work to begin on thesecond phase which is to cost 48.5 million euros.Late President Atta Mills, in April 2010, cut the sod for the refurbishment of the Hospital with 39.3 million euros jointly funded by the Dutch government and Ghana government.President Mahama said the “pull him down” attitude in the Hospital’s administration was not healthy to improve conditions and called for unity, collaboration and teamwork to ensure that the Hospital became a centre of excellence.He urged management and staff of the Hospital to reaffirm their stake in it to ensure excellence and avoid negative acts that would bring acrimony and draw back the clock of progress.The President said the government was committed to investing in the health sector and added that more facilities would be provided to befit its status as a teaching hospital.Dr Prosper Akanbong, the Acting Chief Executive Officer, said management and staff of the Hospital would continue to work hard to ensure that it excelled to justify government’s investment in refurbishing the facility.He commend government for honouring its campaign promise by giving the Hospital a facelift and gave the assurance that management and staff would work hard to ensure that the Hospital became the best in the country.GNA

Atimpoku (E/R), Jan. 17, GNA - The National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) has held a stakeholder consultation meeting, involving Local Government Officers from the Eastern and Volta regions, to gather their inputs into the draft of the National Development Planning Regulation.Municipal and District Chief Executives (MDCEs) from the two regions formed part of the stakeholders at the meeting held on Thursday at Atimpoku in the Asuogyaman District.Article 87 of the 1992 Constitution mandates the NDPC to conduct studies and make strategic analyses on macro-economic and structural reform options and to make proposals for multi-year rolling plans for the even development of districts in the country.The NDPC, established by Act 479, 1994, is also to monitor and evaluate the implementation of development policies, programmes, projects and to report annually on national development progress as well as advise the President on development planning, policy and strategy.Similarly, the National Development Planning (System) Act of 1994, Act 480, was enacted to provide a legal framework for the implementation of decentralized planning in Ghana.Mr Paul Victor Obeng, Chairman of the NDPC, said in a speech read on his behalf that 19 years after the enactment of ACTs 479 and 480, the Commission had not prepared the required Legislative Instruments (LIs) containing the regulations that would ensure compliance with the planning requirements under specific provisions in the two Acts.Mr Obeng said to be able to deliver on its mandate to bring optimum benefit to all Ghanaians and to effectively implement decentralized planning in the country, the Commission had therefore decided, this time, to take steps to have the requisite Legislative Instruments (LIs) drafted and enacted.He said the decision was derived from the 2012 Manifesto of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which promised to take steps to complete the implementation of the National Decentralisation Action Plan.Mr Obeng appealed to stakeholders to contribute their experience and expertise for the possible revision of the draft LIs for final implementation.Ms Helen Adjoa Ntoso, the Eastern Regional Minister, expressed worry that the absence of planning regulations to guide the decentralized planning system had negatively affected Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in matching resource allocation to the Annual Action Plans (AAPs) that they had prepared.She said some districts achieved less than 60 percent implementation of their Action Plans due to the absence of the regulations.Ms Ntoso therefore commended the NDPC for the workshop, adding that, the regulations were coming at the right time to enable the MMDAs to match their resource allocation to their respective AAPs.GNA

Sekondi, Jan. 17, GNA – Prof Franklyn Achampong Manu, Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), says building the resource capacity of teachers was imperative than infrastructural development.“Investment in learning is very important and not just the physical infrastructure. What matters is the human infrastructure,” he told the GNA at the maiden matriculation ceremony of GIMPA’s satellite campus in Takoradi.Prof Manu said the country also needed to train more PHD holders for tertiary institutions in order to maximize the benefits of quality education.The matriculation saw 89 undergraduate and master’s students officially admitted into the GIMPA family.He said, “Cuba has not the best of educational infrastructure but yet they are able to produce quality human resources and are able to export some to other countries.”Professor Manu said investing in learning would also require the provision of internet services, audiovisuals equipment and other learning materials, adding that education in today’s world was critical to the individual’s self advancement and nation building as a whole and therefore called on government to invest more in learning rather than infrastructure.GNA

Cape Coast Jan.17, GNA - The Cape Coast Metropolitan Assembly has made an upward adjustment in the fee charged for the registration of marriages at the Assembly.The Assembly last year charged 20.00 Ghana cedis for normal process of registration which takes 21 days but is now charging 30.00 Ghana cedis and special cases which involve less than 21 days public notice moves from 30.00 Ghana cedis to between 35.00 Ghana cedis and 85.00 Ghana cedis depending on where the marriage will be celebrated.Mr Edward Steele-Dadzie, Principal Executive Officer in charge of Marriage Registry at the Assembly, told the GNA on Friday that last year the Assembly made 18,360 Ghana cedis from the registration of 693 marriages as against 10,125 Ghana cedis from 675 marriages registered in 2012.Out of the figure, 580 went through the normal process of 21 days public notice and 113 were special cases which took less than the 21 days’ notice.He said 17 days into the New Year, 38 marriages including one special case had so far been registered with the Assembly.Mr Steele-Dadzie said the oldest couple to register their marriage last year was aged 81years for the groom and 63 for the bride and the youngest couple 23 years old for the groom and 21 for the bride.He said in 2012 the oldest couple to register their marriage was 82 years old for the groom and 52 for the bride and the youngest couple was 21 years for the groom and 18 for the bride.Mr Steele-Dadzie said those whose marriages were contracted under the customary or ordinance stood to benefit from the PND C Law 111/112 and the CAP/127 ordinance law in case of the demise of a spouse.He appealed to couples to have their marriages registered to enable them benefit from the provisions under the law.GNA

Wa, Jan. 17, GNA – The Swiss Red Cross has organized a training session in repairs and maintenance of ophthalmic (eye) equipment for equipment technicians in Wa.The training is to enable the technicians to take charge of the maintenance of the equipment as part of efforts to sustain the project following the exit of the Swiss Red Cross on December 31, 2013.Mr. Evans Kevi, Swiss Red Cross Training and Development Coordinator, said the training was in partnership with the Ghana Red Cross Society and the Ghana Health Service.He said the Swiss Red Cross eye care project had been in the Region for about 20 years and had established eye care facilities in almost all districts in the Region.He said these facilities were not just established but were also equipped with modern eye care equipment that stood the test of time.Mr. Kevi said they also supported the training of ophthalmic nurses including over 600 volunteers in various communities to help identify and report people with eye diseases to the facilities for treatment.Mr. Edward Kaba, Deputy Director of Administration at the Upper West Regional Health Administration, expressed gratitude to the Swiss Red Cross for bringing the project to the Region.He commended the Project Coordinator for providing good leadership that enhanced the success of the project in the region.He further lauded him for his foresight in thinking and putting in measures to ensure the sustainability of the project even as they exited.Mr Kaba appealed to the technicians to take the training serious so that they would be up to the task in the repairs and maintenance of the equipment in the absence of the Swiss Red Cross.Dr. Zakarea Al-Hasan Balure, the Regional Eye Care Coordinator, advised the public to undertake regular eye examination for early detection of any eye disease.He also appealed to people to wear glasses or contact lenses, avoid looking direct into the sun, eat healthy diet, quit smoking and also avoid poking things into their eyes and to avoid buying glasses from unapproved sources.GNA

Tamale, Jan. 17, GNA – Dr Prosper Akanbong, the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Tamale Teaching Hospital, has said management and staff of the Hospital would continue to work hard to justify the government’s investment in refurbishing the facility. “I must commend the government for honouring its campaign promise by giving the Tamale Teaching Hospital a facelift and I assure the people of Ghana especially Northern Region that management and staff would work hard to ensure that this Hospital becomes the best in the country,” he said. Dr Akanbong gave the assurance on Thursday during the inauguration of the Phase One of the Tamale Teaching Hospital Facelift project for which late President John Atta Mills cut sod in April 2010. The first phase included the construction of a four-storey building, an accident and emergency unit with full complement of modern equipment and CT scanner as well as the refurbishment of existing structures. President John Dramani Mahama inaugurated the new facilities and cut the sod for the second face to begin. Dr Akanbong said with the refurbishment and the new four-storey 400- bed facility, it had improved the work of the Hhospital and that management and staff would strive hard for more excellence. “We are in our second gear to deliver quality healthcare to the people and we need the cooperation of all to ensure that we achieve the needed results,” he said. Dr Akanbong said despite the problems that the Hospital faced in the past, it was adjudged the best in the country and commended the staff on its outreach programme. Madam Sherry Ayitey, the Minister of Health, gave the assurance that the government would continue to invest in people and that offering the best healthcare to the people was one priority area of the government. She said the government in its first four years in office was able to build a lot of polyclinics, Community-based Health Planning Services (CHPS) compounds as well as giving facelifts to some health facilities. Mr Bede Ziedeng, the Northern Regional Minister, said the refurbishment of the Tamale Teaching Hospital was a fulfilment of a manifesto and expressed the hope that before 2016, the government would be able to fulfil all its campaign promises.GNA

Atimpoku(E/R), Jan. 17, GNA- The National Development Planning Commission(NDPC) has not prepared Legislative Instruments to ensure that District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies comply with planning requirements 19 after the enactment of the law establishing the Commission.This was contained in a speech read on behalf of Mr Paul Victor Obeng, Chairman of the NDPC, at the opening of a stakeholders’ meeting involving Local Government officers from the Eastern and Volta regions to gather their inputs into the drafting of the National Development Planning Regulation at Akosombo on Thursday. The meeting is being attended by Municipal and District Chief Executives (MDCEs) from the Eastern and Volta regions. He said the Commission had decided to take steps to have the requisite Legislative Instruments (LIs) drafted and enacted to be able to deliver on its mandate to bring optimum benefit to all Ghanaians and to effectively implement decentralized planning. Mr Obeng said the decision was derived from the 2012 Manifesto of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) which promised to take steps to complete the implementation of the National Decentralisation Action Plan. He appealed to the stakeholders to contribute their experience and expertise to have a positive impact on the draft LIs. Ms Helen Adjoa Ntoso, the Eastern Regional Minister, expressed worry that the absence of planning regulations to guide the decentralized planning system had negatively affected Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) in matching resource allocation to their Annual Action Plans (AAPs) which they had prepared. She said some districts achieved less than 60 per cent implementation of their Action Plans due to the absence of the regulations. Ms Ntoso commended the NDPC for the workshop, adding that, the regulations were coming at the right time to enable the MMDAs to match their resource allocation to their respective AAPs.GNA

Kumasi, Jan 16, GNA – Efforts at helping to provide farmers especially vulnerable women with adequate security of land tenure have been stepped up and these are found in the Ahafo-Ano North and Assin South districts. This is being spearheaded by the Land Resource Management Centre, an NGO, under a project dubbed “Innovative Tools to Secure Land Rights in Ghana” implemented in 12 communities in Ashanti, and the Central Regions. Mr. Mark Kakraba Ampeh, the Project Director, said the goal was to protect the land rights of the farmer for improved agricultural productivity. He was speaking at a workshop held in Kumasi to share the lessons from the pilot phase of the project, which lasted for two-and a-half years. It brought together traditional authorities, land owners, tenant farmers, land sector agencies, land commissioners, government agencies and NGOs. Mr. Ampeh said there was the need for land owners and tenants to engage the services of qualified surveyors for proper demarcation of their lands and efficient documentation of farmlands. The workshop provided the platform for participants to share experiences and challenges and to discuss some innovative tools developed by the Centre. These include community-based land survey with the involvement of para-surveyors, formation of community-based dispute resolution committee and land agreement templates. Mr. Kofi Abaka Blankson, Senior Officer (Planning and Administration) Ghana Land Administration Project (LAP), said that land survey was a special field and therefore must be handled by only professionals. Mr. Joseph Okyere, Programme Director, Landseal Company, urged the government and civil society to do more to support land data collection. Nana Nsuase Poku Agyemang, the Ashanti Regional Stool lands Officer, appealed to communities to insist that stool lands revenue was openly and transparently accounted for by district assemblies.GNA

Ho, Jan 17, GNA - A trade unionist has called for an overhaul of human resource practices within the public sector in content and context as labour readied to dialogue with government over consistently low wages in Ghana. Mr Elvis Van-Lare, Volta Regional Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) , said in many public organizations positions were largely without job descriptions, undermining performance evaluation and reward systems. He was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Ho Wednesday on issues connected with workers welfare including pay, work environment and attitude to work. Mr Van-Lare said institutions became weak, non-functional and less productive if their Human Resource departments were clueless. He said this situation could leave room for tried and tested appraisal administrations being overrun by decisions motivated by self-interest and pressures from sneaky workers. Mr Van-Lare disagreed with the notion that the Ghanaian public sector was voluminous, saying the issue was rather the inability of functional Human Resource Managers to identify the less used workers, re-train them based on aptitude for redirection to other areas. He said public sector emoluments in Ghana had remained one of the lowest in the sub-region despite the many touted policies to address the issue. He made available to the GNA a TUC document which quoted a World Bank report entitled “Building State Capacity in Africa: New Approaches, Emerging Lessons” published in 2004.The report said in part “the top salary in Ghana’s Public Sector declined (in dollar parity terms) by 46 per cent (from $ 6,261 in 1992 to $ 3,373 in 2000) while the bottom salary declined by 55 per cent (from $ 555 to $ 252 during the same period)”. Mr Van-Lare said “analysis of earnings in Ghana shows that real earnings declined by over 200 per cent between 1960 and the early 1980s and the declining trend continued in the 1990s”. He said what the Single Spine Pay Policy had set out to do failed even before it started as the disparity between formal private sector wages and public sector wages remained big and this meant the public sector would continue to lose more of its valued workers to the private sector. Mr Van-Lare said generally increases in salaries under the Single Spine Policy were swamped by hikes in prices of goods and services. He said in certain cases poor knowledge of job functions by Human Resource Managers resulted in low ratings in job evaluations and therefore zero or minimal pay increases. Mr Van-Lare said he could not understand why some countries not endowed as Ghana could pay their public sector workers better than Ghana and expressed dismay at the squalid environment of some workplaces, rickety furniture and stench-ridden lavatories.GNA

Tema, Jan 17, GNA - The Domestic Violence Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service has appealed to the public to treat any threat made on their lives with seriousness. Superintendent of Police Rebecca Nyamah, Tema Regional DOVVSU Coordinator, told the GNA in an interview that every threat of harm or threat of death made on a person's life must be immediately reported to the police. She said some people had been murdered by relatives, spouses and other people because they neglected such threats issued to them in the past. SP Nyamah said threats such as "you will see" are criminal and must therefore be treated as such by lodging a complaint with the Police for action to be taken. The Tema Regional DOVVSU office recorded an increase in cases of threat of harm and threat of death in 2013 compared to 2012. A total of 104 and 88 reports on threat of harm and threat of death respectively were recorded in 2013 compared to the 88 threat of harm and 76 threat of death received in 2012. Out of the 104 threat of harm cases, Ashaiman accounted for 73 of the cases while the Tema New Town, Dodowa, Ada, Prampram, Community 11 and the Community Two offices recorded none. The Tema DOVVSU also recorded 1,458 criminal cases and 1,829 family related cases. Four-hundred-and-forty-one cases of the family related cases were referred to court, 278 to Family Tribunal, 157 to Social Welfare Department and six to the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ). Officers in DOVVSU offices settled the remaining 1,388 of the family related cases. The unit was successful in securing 12 convictions with a minimum sentence of one to 25 years whiles 77 cases are pending before court.GNA

Accra, Jan. 17, GNA - The Northern Development Forum (NDF) has expressed concern about the news in the public domain that Senior High Schools in the three Regions of Northern Ghana may not be able to commence the academic year on schedule due to delays in receiving their feeding grants.In a release signed by Dr Hakeem Wemah, Chairman of NDF, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, the Forum underlined the point that Northern Ghana was lagging behind the rest of the country in many educational indicators.“It is for this and other reasons that we would appreciate it very much if the current situation is addressed with all the seriousness that it deserves in order to prevent a seemingly bad situation from getting worse.”NDF observed that the problem of delayed release of grants seemed to be a perennial one, and wondered how such administrative lapses continued to persist.“We are therefore appealing to the relevant state institutions responsible, particularly the Ministry of Education, GET-Fund, Ministry of Finance and the Scholarships Secretariat, to work together to solve the current problem without delay”, it said, adding that students should not be made to undergo such needless suffering or become disadvantaged due to administrative actions or inactions.The release also stated that NDF was ready to engage with all relevant stakeholders in finding a lasting solution to the problem.NDF is a non-political, non-partisan, non-religious and non-ethnic organization that serves as a platform to galvanise support for the development of the three Northern Regions of Ghana. GNA