By Edward Adjei FRIMPONG, Sunyani Caterers who have been engaged in the School Feeding Programme have expressed their unhappiness over the ‘late disbursement’ of funds by its Managers; a situation they say is largely affecting effective implementation of the programme. According to the anxious caterers, managers of the programme have not disbursed any money to them in the last six months -- compelling them to purchase all foodstuffs on credit from their suppliers within that period. They say the enormity of their accumulated debts has exhausted the patience of their suppliers who have vowed not to do business with them anymore until they settle their indebtedness, thus putting the fate of the School Feeding Programme in serious jeopardy in the next academic term should managers delay further to disburse the ‘meagre’ outstanding money.   The caterers shared this sentiment during a regional consultation workshop on the formulation of a National School Feeding Policy held in Sunyani. The gathering was aimed at developing a national policy process that involves citizens, intended beneficiaries, and all other stakeholders with a common purpose of validating findings and proposals for betterment of the programme. The caterers, who were fuming frustration, stressed that the late disbursement of funds is not their only worry but also the quantum of the money -- saying the amount allocated for it is awfully inadequate per the high price of goods coupled with its unpredictable upward adjustments.  Every pupil under the School Feeding Programme is budgeted for GH¢0.40p per day. Meanwhile, GH¢199milion was allocated for the running of the programme in the 2013 Budget. They noted with concern that the financial constraints confronting it has the tendency to collapse the programme, should Government and other relevant stakeholders fail to intervene any time soon. One of the caterers who spoke to Business & Financial Times on condition of anonymity regrettably said her engagement in the programme has carved a ghastly reputation for her as someone submerged in indebtedness. “If I had known the programme was cash-strapped to this extent, I wouldn’t have taken the appointment as caterer whereby I will always be swimming in a pool of debt,” she said. Mr. Seidu Paakuna Adamu, the National Coordinator of the School Feeding Programme, pointed out that if well-managed the programme could enhance local economic development and serve as a long-term investment in human capital to reduce hunger and also achieve nutrition, education as well as gender equality outcomes. The Programme was rolled-out in 2005 with the cardinal aim of improving food security and reducing poverty in deprived and rural communities. Under its implementation children in selected public schools receive one meal, prepared from locally grown foodstuffs on every school-going day. Mr. Adamu said the Programme, which currently has about 1,642,271 pupils nationwide benefitting from it, is being hampered by inadequate information-sharing between different levels of Government -- thereby leaving districts and school-level decisionmakers as well as beneficiaries at the trouble-end. He therefore called for a holistic and concerted effort to formulate a national policy to streamline the programme in order for the country to derive the intended benefits from it.

Platinum Jewelery Demand to Soften This Year -Johnson MattheyWall Street JournalDemand for platinum jewelry is likely to soften this year, as the metal's relatively high price compared to gold puts off price-sensitive buyers, a senior manager at Johnson Matthey, a U.K.-based specialty chemicals company that also markets and refines ...and more »

Kotoko team manager Godwin Ablordey has rebuffed allegations he instigated rioting fans in their bad-tempered clash against Medeama SC last Wednesday.

The IndependentLiverpool 'target' Christian Eriksen holds talks with Borussia DortmundThe IndependentAjax midfielder Christian Eriksen has revealed talks have taken place over a possible move to Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund. The 21-year-old Denmark international has caught the eye of clubs across Europe with his performances this ...Agger urges Eriksen to join LiverpoolSoccerwayDe Boer: Bundesliga suits Eriksentwentyfour7 FootballSpurs and Liverpool target Christian Eriksen opens talks with Borussia DortmundExpress.co.ukSports Mole -Sportige -Inside Futbolall 31 news articles »

Ms Ackonor receiving her award Ms Barbara Ackonor becomes the first Ghanaian to receive UK’s Chevening-Mansion House Scholarship. Barbara Ackonor, Operations Supervisor at Fidelity Bank was announced last week as the 2013/14 Chevening-Mansion House Scholar. “Ms. Ackonor is the first …

  An ambitious new partnership to save the lives of a million of the poorest children in the world has been launched by GSK and Save the Children. This unique collaboration will see the two organisations work together in a very different way: sharing expertise, resources, reach and influence to tackle some of the leading causes of childhood deaths.  Amongst the key initiatives are the transformation of an antiseptic used in mouthwash into a life-saving product for new-borns, and the roll-out of a powder-form of an antibiotic in child-friendly doses to help fight pneumonia -- one of the main killers of children under five.  For the first time, Save the Children will be involved in helping GSK to research and develop medicines for children, with a seat on a new paediatric R&D board to accelerate progress on innovative life-saving interventions for under- fives, and to identify ways of ensuring the widest possible access in the developing world. GSK will be able to leverage Save the Children’s child health expertise and on-the- ground experience to reach children in the most remote and marginalised communities with basic healthcare.  The GSK-Save the Children partnership will also focus on widening vaccine coverage to the poorest children, increasing investment in health workers, as well as developing a low-cost nutritional product to help combat child malnutrition.    Flagship programmes will run initially in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya. These will be closely monitored and the evidence on how to save children’s lives at scale will be used to replicate programmes in other countries within sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America.    While good progress has been made in recent years, almost seven million children died in 2011 through lack of access to basic healthcare, vaccines or nutritious food. Through these and other initiatives, the partnership aims to help save the lives of one million children in the next five years.  Justin Forsyth, the Chief Executive of Save the Children said: “This ground-breaking partnership involves both organisations working in genuinely new ways to save the lives of a million children. In the past Save the Children may not have embarked on a collaboration with a pharmaceutical company like GSK, but we believe we can make huge gains for children if we harness the power of GSK's innovation, research and global reach."    Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GSK said: “A partnership of this scale gives us an opportunity to do something amazing -- to save the lives of one million children and to transform the lives of millions more.  At GSK we are motivated by developing innovative life-saving medicines and getting them to the people that need them. By joining forces with Save the Children, we can amplify these efforts to create a new momentum for change and stop children dying from preventable diseases. I hope this partnership inspires GSK employees and sets a new standard for how companies and NGOs can work together toward a shared goal.”                                                                                                               

[Ghana Govt.]A former Minister of Education, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, has stated that Ghana's educational system must deliver new and updated content to students if they are to become more employable after graduation. Dr Spio-Garbrah was speaking to some 1,000 mostly first year students of the University of Ghana at the Great Hall of the University as part of the University's 65th anniversary celebrations.

By Patrick PAINTSIL Government must focus on improving access roads and networks in the country in order to improve economic trade activities and facilitate hassle-free movement of goods and people, Mavis Ama Frimpong, Deputy Eastern Regional Minister, has said. “Good access roads and networks underpin growth. We cannot improve socio-economic activities, including free movement of goods and people, if there are no good roads. “We must work with a new paradigm of road maintenance and standard of care if we are to get value for money -- in terms of enhanced trade and industrial activities and significant reduction in the rate of carnage on the roads,” she said at the closing ceremony of a two-week road maintenance management training for regional supervisors of Youth in Road Maintenance -- a module under the Ghana Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) -- in Koforidua. The training programme was organised by Zeera Group, operators of the road maintenance programme, in collaboration with GYEEDA with expertise drawn from the Ministry of Roads and Highways. It formed part of a continuous refresher-training programme to improve supervisors’ knowledge on quality road maintenance management and practices. She lauded the work of participants but asked them to work to attain the mission for which the programme was rolled out, stressing the need for the personnel to be retrained every quarter to be continually updated on quality road management practices. Isaac Adjei Mensah, Deputy Minister for Roads and Highways, said the capacity-building programme is Government’s way of providing skilled personnel to assist in ensuring good road networks across the country. He said the rationale behind the youth in road maintenance programme is to create jobs for people as part of Government’s resolve to tackle unemployment, and part of a process to find a lasting solution to the carnage on the roads. He said the project has so far registered 7,000 beneficiaries.He enjoined participants to be diligent and apply the skills acquired to offer best services, in terms of providing road maintenance in the country. Mr. Awal Mohammed, National Coordinator for Zeera Group in charge of Youth in Road Maintenance, implored the supervisors to eschew certain negative practices and rather practically apply what they were taught in their various stations. “We have the responsibility to provide road maintenance services -- patching, de-silting of drains and working along the shoulders of roads -- through the use of innovative and modern technologies and methods, and you must always work in line with this mandate,” he advised.

  A one-day international training workshop on by-catch mitigation measures on tuna surface-fishing vessels has ended in Accra, with a call on participants to help find appropriate methods to sustain the fishing industry. Under the kind sponsorship of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) in partnership with the Ghana Tuna Association (GTA) and the Pioneer Food Cannery (PFC) Limited -- Ghana’s largest tuna processor and exporter -- the workshop is the third to be organised for Skippers, Captains of tuna vessels, Boat Owners and Stakeholders in the tuna industry. Major highlights included the need to strengthen the knowledge base in tuna fishing, with particular emphasis on the sustainable management of our fisheries resources, and to find ways of reducing by-catch species, unwanted or incidental catches, in any tuna fishing activity. Opening the workshop, the Deputy Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mr. Aquinas Tawiah Quansah, noted that fisheries provide a vital source of food, employment and also economic well-being of people throughout coastal states, and must therefore be managed responsibly. He observed that the diverse dynamic nature of fisheries and their interactions with the eco-system poses additional challenges for management, adding that fluctuations in catches and challenging technological regimes are some of the key challenges for fisheries management and sustainability. The Deputy Minister said that technology has improved worldwide, bringing in its wake some negative effects such as targetting or trapping endangered species like the marine birds and mammals which are often discarded. He said that by-catches -- which are non-targetted or undesired species -- need to be managed effectively taking into consideration all linkages; be it the technical aspects of the mechanism involved in fishing gear and equipment, or the socio-economic aspects of the industry. He hoped that the workshop will provide the needed information to address over-exploitation of the nation’s fish resources, and illegal unreported and unregulated fishing which are common -- adding: “Ghana has intensified her Observer Programmes On-board Vessel, re-established her vessel Monitoring System (MS) and strengthened her Surveillance by the acquisition of more patrol boats, which will occasionally provide joint naval and fisheries patrols to further curb the mismanagement of our resources.” Mr. John A. Farmer, a long-standing executive member of the Ghana Tuna Association with more than 30 years experience in the fishing industry who chaired the function, in his closing remarks urged participants to help fight and protect the industry ‘which we live for’, proposing:  â€œWe must conform to the best practices and other regulatory instruments soon to be introduced by Government to protect the industry.” Two international research scientists, Gala Moreno and Jefferson both from AZTI, took the over-forty-four (44) participants through thoroughly researched presentations from various sites, worldwide. The International Seafood Sustainability Foundation is a global partnership among scientists, the tuna industry and WWF -- the world’s leading conservation organisation -- promoting science-based initiatives for the long-term conservation and sustainable use of tuna stocks, reducing by-catch and promoting ecosystem health.  

Kenyan police launch a manhunt after 40 mentally ill patients escape from Nairobi's Mathari Mental Hospital after overpowering guards.

(CNN) -A car bomb exploded in the Libyan city of Benghazi on Monday, killing and wounding an unknown number of people, the state news agency reported.

A 36-year-old teacher of Agona Nyakrom Junior High School has been remanded into prison custody by the Agona Swedru Circuit Court for allegedly raping a final-year student of Swedru School of Business.

The Makola Cloth Sellers Association has appealed to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) to beef up security in the market to ensure the protection of their goods against

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PLASTIC surgery addict Alicia Douvall looks battered and bruised after having yet another op – to REMOVE her facial implants. The former glamour model has recently revealed details about her £1million-worth of body enhancements. But this time she was seen … Continue reading →