Friday, March 14, 2008

Two kids were not murdered — Police

Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi
14/03/08
Police investigations into the alleged murder of the two children whose bodies were found on a school field at Tafo/Pankrono in Kumasi have revealed that the children were rather trapped in a taxicab and suffocated to death
The Ashanti Regional Police Commander, Mr Seth Charles Oteng, who briefed the media about the latest developments on the death of the children, said an autopsy report by doctors gave the cause of death as “asphyxia due to suffocation”.
Speculations on the death of the children — Fatao Issaka and Kawusa Alhassan — aged three-and-a-half and two-and-a-half years respectively, were that they were murdered and their bodies dumped on the school field.
The children got missing on March 4, 2008 when they left their house to the Famous Basic School at Tafo Pankrono, 200 meters away, to watch the rehearsals of a march past by the schoolchildren, but never returned home until their bodies were discovered at dawn on March 5, 2008 by a public toilet attendant.
At a press conference in Kumasi on Tuesday, Mr Oteng ruled out any foul play and said their investigations had revealed that the children died through excessive heat when they were trapped in a taxi.
He explained that the taxi driver, one Mahawia Osman, parked the car at a mechanic shop and discovered the bodies when he went there to start the engine.
Mr Oteng said the bodies were at the back seat of the car when he reached the shop around 7p.m. on March, 4, 2008 and explained that fearing that he would be implicated in police investigations, the driver retrieved the bodies two hours later and deposited them 20 metres away.
According to Mr Oteng, the taxi driver was arrested through police investigations for failing to report the death of the children to the police before retrieving their bodies from the vehicle.
He said this was after the driver had admitted that he saw the bodies in the car and later retrieved them after he had conferred with the car owner.
He said the suspect had already been granted a police enquiry bail, pending further investigations into the case.
Mr Oteng said fingerprints experts also detected that the fingerprints found on both sides of the front glasses of the car were those of the deceased children, stressing that “the bodies had no marks to suggest that they were assaulted or strangled to death”.
He said there were scratches on the forehead and legs of Fatao Issaka, but doctors explained that they were normal, and could have occurred when he was struggling to get out of the car.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Amansie West farmers get hybrid cocoa seedlings

Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi
13/03/08


THE Millennium Villages Project (MVP) is to provide 500,000 hybrid cocoa seedlings valued at GH¢50,000 to farmers in the Amansie West District in the Ashanti Region to replant their old, unyielding farms.
The move is to help develop the cocoa industry and reduce extreme poverty in the farming communities in the district.
The Agriculture and Environment Co-ordinator of the MVP, Mr Isaac Kankam-Boadu, disclosed this at a capacity workshop for 24 cocoa farmers and two agricultural extension agents from a cluster of communities in the Amansie West District.
The workshop was aimed at assisting the participants to manage their farms effectively.
The beneficiary farmers were also expected to take advantage of the workshop to maximise productivity and improve their incomes.
The workshop dubbed “Farmers Field School,” focused on building farmers’ capacity to enable them to make well-informed crop management decisions through increased knowledge and understanding of the agro-ecosystem.
It was organised by the MVP in collaboration with the Sustainable Tree Crop Programme (STCP) and supported by the Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG).
Some of the topics treated were agro-ecosystem analysis and nursery management of cocoa, seed selection, transplanting, soil fertility and management, pruning and thinning, black pod and capsid management and facilitation skills.
The beneficiary farmers were expected to be the main facilitators in their respective communities on crop management.
The aim is to ensure that as many farmers as possible benefit from their training to enhance productivity and thereby maximise income generation to reduce extreme poverty among cocoa farmers.
The FFS has been applied to tree crops by the STCP and farmers are being encouraged to experiment on their own farms, to make their own decisions based on their observations and knowledge, through regular field visits.
The new technology is gaining root in countries like Nigeria, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire and parts of Ghana.
The MVP is a new bottom-up approach, aimed at lifting villages in developing countries out of the poverty trap.
It also emphasises the principles of participation and empowerment of communities encouraging them to make decisions that positively enhance their future development, as well as support them to have access to resources that enable them to design, implement, monitor and evaluate projects they have initiated.
The beneficiary farmers and the agricultural extension officers were selected from communities in the Amansie West District described as “hunger hot spot” where residents experienced extreme poverty.
The communities have, however, demonstrated self-help spirit and the community initiated projects, which proved that, given the necessary support and assistance, they could lift themselves from extreme poverty and contribute more meaningfully towards sustainable national development.
Mr Kankam-Boadu urged the participants to return to their respective communities, ready to impart their newly acquired skills to other farmers, to enhance effective crop management.
He stated that by imparting their knowledge to other farmers in their communities, as many as 780 farmers would directly benefit from their training, thereby maximising cocoa production and income generation to reduce extreme poverty.
Mr Kankam-Boadu says although cocoa is very important to the national economy, many farmers at the Millennium Village Cluster are not deriving the optimum returns from their plantations.
According to him, this is due to the poor management of their crops, which in turn leads to poor harvest and low income generation.
Mr Kankam-Boadu added: "It is to improve the situation that the MVP was introduced to train farmers on good cocoa management practices and supply them with high yielding cocoa hybrids.”

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Malaria cases up in Kumasi

Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi
March 12, 2008
Laboratory examinations conducted on a section of residents in the Kumasi metropolis who sought medical treatment in the various hospitals in the metropolis since 2005 indicated that as many as 892,801 of them had malarial parasites in their blood stream.
The Kumasi Metropolitan Director of Health, Dr Joseph Oduro, who made this known to the Daily Graphic, said malarial cases had always topped hospital attendance among patients in the metropolis in the past three years.
He said in 2005 a total of 333,307 residents were diagnosed but the number reduced to 242,773 in 2006.
He said last year, malarial cases at the various health institutions jumped to 316,721 to top hospital attendance among the 10 top reported diseases in the metropolis for the third consecutive year .
He said apart from malarial cases, cold or cough had also taken a centre stage in hospital attendance among residents in the metropolis with skin diseases also creating a lot of problems for residents and undermining productivity and revenue generation.
Dr Oduro said in 2006, as many as 59,442 residents were diagnosed to be suffering from cough and in 2007, the number of cases reported at the health institutions increased to 73,229.
He said skin diseases also shot from 31,434 in 2006 to 40,417 in 2007.
He attributed the increase in malarial, cough and skin diseases in the metropolis to the prevailing unhygienic environment.
He said indiscriminate disposal of solid and liquid waste into gutters, streams and other public places had always created heath hazards among residents, but little or no attempt was being made to sensitise residents to change from such negative attitudes.
Dr Oduro said diseases such as malaria, cold and skin diseases could also spread when there was filth, and the environment was also polluted, “so the need to create a healthy environment will go a long way to bring these diseases under total control”.
He said the increase in such diseases undermined income generation because apart from spending a lot of time on their treatment, which was very costly, it prevented them from engaging in any productive ventures to generate income to support themselves and their dependants.
Dr Oduro, therefore, stressed the importance for residents to keep their environment clean to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes and other parasites from attacking them.
He said by keeping the environment clean, the atmosphere would also not be polluted, and that would go a long way to improve the health of residents.
Other reported cases in Kumasi included diarrhoea, acute urinary tract infections, hypertension, rheumatic and occupational injuries. He, therefore, urged residents to keep healthy lifestyles and a clean environment to reduce the spread of diseases in the metropolis.

KATH to establish emergency nursing college

Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi
March 12, 2008

An emergency nursing training college is to be established at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) by the end of June this year to produce specialist nurses to enhance the management of accident victims and other disaster-related cases.
The Chief Executive of the hospital, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare, who announced this at the annual performance review of the hospital in Kumasi, said specialist attention was critical for the effective management of accident victims.
He, therefore, expressed the hope that with the establishment of the college, KATH would score another first in health delivery in the country.
Dr Nsiah-Asare also stated that the hospital was collaborating with the Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons (GCPS) to start the training of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Physicians by the end of this year.
This will be part of the KATH’s vision of making the hospital a leading medical tourist destination in the West African sub-region within the shortest possible time.
Also collaborating with the KATH authorities to establish a Cardiothoracic Centre at the KATH early next year to cater for patients with cardiovascular diseases in the northern sector of Ghana and its environs, were specialists from the Boston Children’s Hospital of the Harvard University in the United States of America.
Already, a Research and Development Unit (R&D) has been established at KATH to initiate and co-ordinate research activities at the hospital to enable them to fully address all challenges that may confront the teaching hospital in future in its quest to become a medical tourist centre of international repute.
The R&D unit will also focus on addressing the challenges in scientific and technological advances in health care to enhance efficiency in providing healthcare services to patients.
Dr Nsiah-Asare said plans were far advanced to make the KATH a centre of excellence of international repute.
The chief executive indicated that the next strategy of turning things around to make KATH a medical tourists centre to create wealth while providing quality health care to its clients would kick off early next year.
He said already, the Boston Children’s Hospital was arranging with one of their collaborating institutions in India to build the capacity of the staff of KATH “to enable us fully to man the cardio centre when it is eventually set up”.
“Given the rate of infrastructure and human resource development at the hospital it is our belief that the hospital can position itself to take advantage of the growing medical tourism market,” he stressed.
He gave the assurance that funds for the construction of a Urology, Eye, Plastic Reconstructive Surgery, Paediatric Cardiothoracic and Cardiothoracic Centres, were seriously being sought.
That, he said, would “ensure that the medical tourism dream is realised so that together with the Accident and Emergency Centre, they could be used to stimulate the inflows of medical tourists”.
“By this, the hospital will be helping to create direct wealth through health by generating foreign exchange through the provision of world-class specialist services at the specific centres,” he said.
Dr Nsiah-Asare said as part of their preparations towards the establishment of the Paediatric Cardiothoracic and Cardio Centre at KATH, the management would host the Boston Children’s Hospital of the Harvard University for the second consecutive time in two years to perform free open heart surgery next month.
Specialists from the Boston Children’s Hospital were at KATH in October last year to perform the first free open heart surgeries for selected patients.
Dr Nsiah Asare further gave the assurance that his administration would continue “to maintain its position as a dominant provider of specialist healthcare services by investing heavily in its human resource capital base, strengthening the research and development unit, expanding the range of services and continuing the aggressive infrastructure development programmes”.
“It has always been the conviction of the management that well-trained personnel and not necessarily equipment and infrastructure, is what is most critical to the provision of quality healthcare services,” he explained, adding that “no expense has, therefore, been sparred in providing short and long-term opportunities for both clinical and non-clinical staff.”

Friday, March 7, 2008

Bodies of two children found

Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi
07/03/08
Residents of Old Tafo in Kumasi woke up in the morning of Wednesday to find the bodies of two children suspected to have been murdered and dumped on a school playing field.
The children were reported missing on Tuesday and all attempts to trace them proved futile until their remains were found early in the morning.
They were identified as Fatau Issaka, three, and his cousin Kausan Alhassan, two.
Family sources said the children had gone to the Tafo Pankrono Block B Junior High School, popularly known as Famous, unaccompanied to witness the rehearsal for the March 6 march past by schoolchildren but never returned home.
The school field where the bodies were discovered was fenced and locked at the time the bodies were discovered.
Both Fatau and Kausan were foaming at the mouth when their bodies were discovered, raising suspicion of foul play.
According to the children’s parents, they got missing last Tuesday and all efforts to trace them proved futile until they got wind that their bodies had been found on the school field.
A family spokesman, Mr Hamidu Adamu, told the Daily Graphic that since the school shared a common compound with their family house, the children had been going there to play all the time.
He said on Tuesday, March 4, 2008, they had gone there as usual to witness the rehearsal for the Independence Day march past by the schoolchildren but failed to return home, compelling them to search for them throughout the day.
Mr Hamidu said when their efforts to locate the children proved futile, they made a report to the police.
According to Mr Hamidu, it was a KVIP attendant in the school who first saw the bodies when he went there perform to his duties at dawn yesterday.
He explained that the attention of the attendant was drawn to the barking of some dogs in the school and it was when he went there to find out why the dogs were barking that he found the bodies of the children.
At the time of going to press, the police had initiated investigations into the incident.

Tax college for Domaa Ahenkro

Story: George Ernest Asare, Kumasi
07/03/08

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, in collaboration with the Revenue Agencies Governing Board, is to establish a Tax College at Domaa Ahenkro in the Brong Ahafo Region to train staff of the revenue agencies.
The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Mr Kwadwo Baah-Wiredu, who announced this in a speech read on his behalf in Kumasi at the weekend during the 2008 Management Seminar on the IRS, did not disclose when the college would be established, but urged the revenue agencies to take full advantage of the college as soon as it became operational.
This, he said, would not only help them to develop and sharpen their skills in revenue mobilisation, but would also make it possible for them to provide efficient service to their clients.
The revenue agencies are made up of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Customs Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS ) and the Value Added Tax (VAT) Service.
Mr Baah-Wiredu pointed out that the effectiveness of the IRS as tax administrators “would not be measured by how much you mobilise or your ability to meet set targets, but also by the quality of service you deliver to taxpayers”.
The seminar, which was on the theme: “Effective tax administration for efficient client service delivery”, was meant to take stock of the challenges that faced the IRS last year and strategise to enable them to meet their target for this year.
Mr Baah-Wiredu noted that it was only when the IRS improved customer consciousness and identify their clients’ need and also planned to meet such needs in a timely and professional manner, that their dwindling image among the public would be improved.
He expressed concern about the unethical practices of some officials of the IRS and said such negative attitudes undermined efficient revenue mobilisation.
He, therefore, urged them “to show integrity in their dealings and avoid all unethical practices which will tarnish the image of the service”.
The minister pointed out that his ministry “will not hesitate to invoke the necessary disciplinary measures against officers who abuse their offices for personal gains”.
He commended the IRS for achieving its revenue target for 2007, but noted that there was still room for improvement.
Mr Baah-Wiredu, therefore, urged them to expand their revenue base, especially at the informal sector, where a number of people did not honour their tax obligations.
He said it was equally important for the management of the IRS “to closely supervise and monitor the implementation of the Vehicle Income Tax Sticker, as well as the Tax Stamp System”.
Mr Baah-Wiredu said weak monitoring of tax collection could negatively affect the anticipated revenue from rent, vehicle tax sticker, tax stamp system and the small-scale self-employed sectors.
He said it was therefore important for the management to strengthen its supervision and monitoring systems to ensure that as many people as possible were brought into the tax net.
He gave assurance that the government would provide the requisite resources to fully equip the IRS to enable them to perform creditably in revenue mobilisation.
The minister said the computerisation and automation programmes of the IRS, for example, which would enable the service to operate more efficiently and reduce the opportunities for corruption, would commence this year, and therefore and urged the management to provide the necessary leadership and commitment for the project.
In his address, the Commissioner of the IRS, Major Daniel Ablorh Quarcoo (retd), said notwithstanding the numerous challenges they faced in their revenue collection in 2007, they collected GH¢910,235,784.12 representing a two per cent increase of the ministry’s target of GH¢907,054, 409.59.
The revenue achieved, however, fell short of the management’s target of GH¢930 million.
He said the management was putting measures in place to bring a lot of positive changes into the IRS to enable them to meet the target of GH¢1.22 billion set for this year.
He gave assurance that with “hard work, review of work habits, attitudinal change and positive effort to widen our tax net to capture all those prospective taxpayers outside the net we can achieve this target”.

Workshop on tolerance, patriotism organised

Story: George Ernest
Asare, Kumasi
07/03/08

A forum designed to create a conducive atmosphere and a sense of unity, tolerance and patriotism among the electorate and political parties in the country in the run-up to the December general election has been organised in Kumasi.
The forum, which was on the theme, “Making politics friendly and enriching democracy through nationalism”, was organised by Intermark Multi Media Consult, an NGO, and attended by representatives of the media, religious leaders in the metropolis and politicians.
In his address, the Chairman of Intermark Multi Media Consult, Mr Isaac Rockson, commended past political leaders for their tremendous contributions to sustainable national stability and development.
He said it was the serene atmosphere in the country, coupled with stable political conditions the country had enjoyed over the years, that had enhanced socio-economic development. He, therefore, stressed the need for Ghanaians to accept the challenge to hold on to those qualities.
He pointed out that Ghana had been a pacesetter for democracy and African unity since the days of the late President Kwame Nkrumah and, therefore, it could not compromise on anything that might undermine the peace and economic development being enjoyed.
“Ghana must continue to be the stem that champions internal democracy in Africa and beyond and it is the present generation who have been bestowed with that responsibility to do just that,” he noted, adding, “The country has come this far because of the sacrifices of some past leaders and individuals.”
“Such people should be recognised by society and honoured to entice others to emulate their shining examples,” he stressed.
He expressed concern over political intolerance among a section of the public, especially during radio phone-in programmes, and said the time had come for the media to initiate policies and programmes that would educate the public on how to speak on radio to enhance sustainable peace.
Mr Rockson said it was equally important for the public to respect the Presidency and those who held public offices as a way of creating a sense of nationalism and patriotism for accelerated development to take place.
“If we have a nation where the public places Ghana at the centre of all activities, a few people who hold high office will dare not do anything that undermines stability, peace and economic development and this will also make it possible for the country to attain a middle-income status earlier than required.
The slogan should always be ‘Ghana first, all other things later’. This can become a reality if the media take up the mantle to champion a sense of nationalism among the present generation,” he said.
A representative of the Islamic religion, Sheikh M.A. Nazair, said it was ignorance that had created enmity among some politicians, religious groups and the public, leading to sporadic violence in certain communities.
He said since Ghanaians were the same people with a common purpose, there was the need for everyone to respect one another’s views and tolerate one another.
“The will of God is that we should promote peace and shun any form of violence so we should learn to tolerate one another to enhance sustainable peace,” he stressed.
Rev Elijah Sasu, who represented Christian religious groups, urged Ghanaians to offer good counsel to politicians to enable them to take the correct decisions at every point in time.
He said it was equally important for political leaders to meditate on the Word of God before taking major decisions to enhance national unity and peace.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

NDC poised to win votes in Ashanti Region — Agyekum

Story: George Ernest
Asare, Kumasi
06/03/08

THE Opposition National Democratic Congress ( NDC) is poised to win massive votes in the Ashanti Region in the presidential elections and also win not less than 10 constituencies in the region.
This will position the party to win both the presidential and parliamentary elections in December.
The Ashanti Regional Chairman of the NDC, Mr Daniel Ohene Agyekum, who stated this during an interview with the Daily Graphic, pointed out that members of the party were not leaving anything to chance in their quest to win the December general election to bring quality leadership to Ghanaians.
“Ashanti is a difficult terrain for the NDC but times are changing very fast, and the electorate have become very conscious about their interest and would, therefore, not allow any politician to take them for granted anymore,” he stated.
He said that the NDC was positioning itself for the battle ahead to win the required seats because the atmosphere was very conducive.
“We are a very sensitive and caring party and ready to relieve Ghanaians of the difficult plight that they now find themselves in,” Mr Ohene Agyekum declared, adding that “we are democratic and have demonstrated over the years that we are a party with the philosophy to precisely take care of the youth, as well as the masses in the various rural communities”.
Mr Agyekum said the NDC had concentrated on developing projects like power, potable water, good roads, and recreational facilities that would improve their lives during the party’s reign, and is poised to bring quality life to Ghanaians again, when the party assumed power next year.
Mr Ohene Agyekum pointed out, “The NPP is boasting undertaking so many development projects, but the question is, they accused the NDC of wasting resources on the same development projects to the rural communities; so do we now chew roads and consume classrooms, just as they asked us?” He questioned.
“The truth is that, now Ghanaians are living under very difficult economic conditions, and so the improvement of the macroeconomics like the low interest rate and downward movement of inflation that have become the slogan of the NPP government do not translate into income to fill the pocket of the ordinary worker in any way and improve their living standard,” he added.
Mr Ohene Agyekum cited the escalating prices of fuel, especially kerosene, petrol and gas, as perfect examples of the hardship that farmers, the small-scale industrialists, as well as the common worker that the NPP claimed to protect were facing, which made making it very difficult for them to make ends meet.
He said the problems that Ghanaians had gone through since the NPP took over the reins of the country eight years ago were such that the citizens were not prepared to offer the party another chance to toy with their lives.
He said already, the NDC had started electing parliamentary candidates in all the orphan constituencies in the region and were following it up with the other constituencies to position the party for the December elections.
Mr Ohene Agyekum pointed out that of the 39 constituencies in the region, the NDC had only three sitting Members of Parliament “ but we are going to shock the NPP by taking not less than 10 in the December election, and also win massively in the presidential election to catapult us to victory to govern the affairs of the state next year,” he noted.
He said the party would complete the election of their parliamentary candidates by the end of March to enable them start active campaigns to sensitise the electorate to the need to reject the NPP government and return the NDC to power to enable the party initiate policies and programmes that would restore their dignity as Ghanaians, and also empower them economically to take their destiny into their hands.
He said as part of their plans to win the elections, the NDC had started training their foot soldiers to build their capacity to enable them become very vigilant before, during and after the elections to prevent any form of rigging.
“ A party wins or loses elections at the constituencies, branches or polling station levels, so if the party is unable to protect and defend its integrity at these levels, then it is doomed and needs to forget about the elections, so from the experience we had in 2004, we are strengthening the capacity of the foot soldiers to prevent any rigging”, he explained.