Winner of Miss Upper East 2019,Sumvela and Second Runner-ups have received a first class treat from the Chief Executive Officer(CEO) of Charger Limited, Dr. Emmanuel Borketey.
The 2019 crowned Queen and her counterparts had the rare opportunity to cruise with the Family of Dr. Borketey on a tour to the most expensive tourism sites in Ghana.
CEO of Charger Limited Dr. Emmanuel Borketey(right) in a pose with the Queens and Manager of Ayelbis Events.
It was part of a package for the Miss Upper East contest organized by Ayelbis Events which aimed at projecting the rich culture in the Upper East Region and giving a platform to young ladies to showcase their talents.
The exciting and memory packed journey started with a media tour where the Queens had the exposure to both radio and Television interviews in Accra on their plans and projects they intend to execute.
They were also taken to Parliament on a familiarization visit to interact with Members of Parliament especially, those from the Upper East Region.
MP for Bawku Central, Mahama Ayariga in photograph with the Queens
After the visit to Parliament, the Team from Charger Limited and Ayelbis Events headed to the Luxurious Royal Senchi Resort and Akosombo Dam where they were given a special treat on a boat cruise. Other exciting places like the Dodi World was not left out in the tour.
Queen Sumvela
This trip which was enriched with entertainment and merry making was eventually climaxed at Ghana’s most expensive Five star Hotel,Kempinski with a dinner.
Charger Limited ,producers of Happy Man bitters, Onaapo Atadwe Ginger and Happy Man Ginger Liqueur has contributed monumentally to the improvement of the showbiz industry as well as sports activities and other sectors in the Upper East Region and other parts of the country.
Dr. Emmanuel Borketey extends his benevolence to these areas as part of his social corporate responsibility to unearth and create opportunities for hidden talents to shine especially in deprived communities.
Upper East Regional Minister and former Ambassador to Italy, Hon. Tangoba Abayage has publicly pledged to carry out her campaign with decorum and without vexatious utterances against anyone.
The Former Ambassador to Italy has picked nominations forms to contest the upcoming parliamentary primaries of the governing New Patriotic Party(NPP) in the Navrongo Central Constituency of the Upper East Region.
In a Facebook Page post , Hon. Tangoba said “I am in the Campaign for Navrongo Central with a clear Purpose and Message. For now the message from my team and I is precise, concise and targeted at the almost 600 delegates”.
According to Hon.Tangoba,her Team has also been cautioned against the use of intemperate and foul language even if they are provoked in order to ensure that the NPP remains united ahead of the general elections in December.
“I HAVE PLEDGED, together with my team to be as decorous as required. We have PLEDGED not to use any intemperate or indecent language on any person”.We have PLEDGED to stick to our message and work with our target!” she assured.
She has also called on any interested party in the primaries to engage her Team with decorum and decency. “I’m hoping people will engage us on same terms!” she stressed.
Until this public pledge, the incumbent Member of Parliament who is also serving as an Aviation Minister and seeking re-election, Hon.Joseph Kofi Adda in a radio interview on A1 Radio,made comments that were deemed ‘reckless’ and targeted at the personality of Hon. Tangoba Abayage which were condemned by a section of the public.
Hon. Adda accused his contender without facts of dashing ‘Mercedes Benz cars’ and Ghs15000 to some Journalists in the region to do her biding adding that, her role to the NPP in Navrongo was to drink beer without anything to support the NPP.
However, Hon. Tangoba has not responded to these vexations and disparaging comments,so it is unclear if this public pledge is an advice to hon. Kofi Adda to be descent in his campaign.
The Navrongo Central Constituency is the hottest seat most eyes are fixed and anxious to know the outcome in the parliamentary primaries slated for April 2020. So far, only Hon. Tangoba Abayage and Hon. Kofi Adda have picked nomination forms to contest.
Communications Officer for National Democratic Congress,NDC in the Bongo Constituency of the Upper East Region, David Asanga says, he is not happy about the “copy copy” nature of his District Chief Executive for the area.
According to him,the DCE who doubles as the Parliamentary Candidate for the NPP, Peter Ayinbisa has the penchant of trailing and copying every initiative by his MP Edward Bawa in the Constituency.
He claimed that the DCE is on such errands in his bit to make himself relevant and score political points which will not make any impact.
“What I’ve realized is that, our Hon. MP Edward Bawa has realized that Bongo needs so much water and he is going round drilling boreholes for people and i saw my dear DCE also running helter-skelter trying to do as my MP is doing,not less than 40 boreholes have been drilled my MP and that is what the DCE cannot match and he is running helter-skelter” he claimed.
Mr. Asanga also stressed with optimism that no matter what the NPP does in Bongo , the seat cannot be taken from the NDC because not much can be pointed out as an outstanding achievement by the DCE.
But Upper East Regional Communications Director of the NPP, Sanusi Issah expressed disappointment in his comments indicating that, the Bongo District was the highest beneficiary government among all 15 districts in the region hence ,it will be out of dishonesty for one to make such claims.
“If there is any district,any constituency in this 15 districts across the region, that needs to be grateful to the President of the Republic,it should be the Bongo District in the sense that there is no ambiguity about the work the Honorable DCE is doing, anytime his name is mentioned the NDC cannot sit.I know he is doing something better for the people of Bongo for that matter im convinced that come what may, 7th December he will represent the people of Bongo because of what he has done within the short period of time” he assured.
The ineffectiveness of School Management Committees (SMCs) and the Parent Teacher Association in public schools in the country is said to be a contributory factor to the encroachment of school lands.
External Affairs Manager of Afrikids Ghana, Raymond Ayinne who said indicated that the inexistent of the SMCs and PTAs is public schools has paved way for some people to build very close to school’s infrastructure.
Speaking on the contribution of the SMCs and PTAs the External Affairs Manager revealed members of the school manager bodies have contributed in diverse ways towards improving the quality of education.
It is against this backdrop that Mr. Ayinne said AfrikidsGhana, “has decided to take a leap step by engaging and revamping the SMCs and the PTAs”.
Afrikids Ghana, a Non-Governmental Organization operating in all 5 regions of the north is rolling out an educational project in 4 districts of the Upper East Region geared towards improving the standards of education.
This initiative Afrikids believes can be achieved through a child centered teaching and learning approach known as Dynamic Approach to School Improvement (DASI).
Lead Project Manager of DASI, Cletus Anaaya made this known to A1 News in Bongo during a day capacity building for some selected teachers in the district.
According to Mr. Anaaya the project is aiding government’s efforts towards improving the standards of education in the country.
“The resources given to the schools can used to make teaching practical, easier, more interesting and motivating to learn by a child”.
In all, 80 schools from Bongo, Nabdam, Builsa North and Builsa South districts are implementing the DASI project with funding support from the Department for International Development (DFID).
The 3-year project which started in 2018 and expected to end in 2021 supports the beneficiary schools with teaching and learning resources not limited to abacus, phonics games, calculators, pens and pencils.
Silas Ayaaba, one of the project managers said the introduction of the project is based on a research survey which unraveled the falling standards of education in the 4 operational districts.
“We have realized that, all these 80 schools they lack basic teaching and learning resources and without teaching and learning resources, a teacher cannot carry out effective teaching and learning for pupil to be able to understand and apply. That is why we have introduced this locally made teaching and learning resources”.He explained.
The beneficiary teachers expressed gratitude to Afrikids and promised to impart the knowledge gained unto the pupils.
The Upper East Regional Police Command has arrested a suspected notorious armed robber terrorizing residents through rape ,robbery and murder.
The arrest was made on February 8,2020 .
The suspect , Pius Ayomah Anindiabil is said to be behind some robbery attacks at Fumbisis in the Builsa South District and other parts of the country .
The suspect is 21 years and a native of Fumbisi in the Upper East East Region who has been on the wanted list of the police for two years on allegations of rape and robbery cases in Accra and murder in Koforidua.
He is currently in police custody as plans are underway to transport him to Accra for further investigations and possible prosecution.
In a press release issued from the Public Affairs Unit of Ghana Police Service in the Upper East Region , residents of Fumbisi and it’s environs have been commended for their cooperation and assistance leading to the maintenance of law and order in the Builsa North and South Districts.
Residents leaving along the borders have however been cautioned to remain vigilant and report suspicious characters to the nearest police post or reach out to the police emergency lines 18555 or 191.
A Development Expert in Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, Reuben Jagri Binpori, has firmly rubbished findings of a recent survey that declared Garu District as the poorest District in the Upper East Region.
The survey which was
conducted by the Ghana National Household Registry (GNHR), a monitoring
database in Ghana, revealed that its 2018 survey has identified Garu District
as the poorest District in the Upper East Region.
Under the chart
records, Garu District was declared extreme poorest District in the region with
42.02 percent.
According to the
survey, 184,125 households in the region were registered out of which 28 percent
households were categorized as the most extremely poor, 37 percent were poor
whereas 35 percent were non-poor households.
The data also revealed
that only 15 percent of households in the Upper East Region had benefited from
at least one of the social protection programmes.
However, Mr. Binpori (MPhil,
BSc) in a statement critiquing the survey, described the GNHR data as superfluous,
misleading, and are at variance with Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS) 7 and
other existing evidence.
He also questioned why
the need for the GNHR to conduct another survey when the GSS conducted its latest
survey (GLSS 7) which was published in June 2019.
Mr. Binpori, therefore, suspects that a number of things would have gone amiss in the GNHR survey resulting in what he describes as awful outcomes.
BELOW IS THE FULL STATEMENT
DEBRIEFING
OF THE GHANA NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD REGISTRY DATA FOR UPPER EAST REGION: OUTLIER OR
TRUISM?
On
Monday, the 20th of January 2020, the Ministry of Gender and Social
Protection launched the Upper East Regional report of the Ghana National
Household Registry (GNHR) survey in a Data dissemination workshop at
Bolgatanga. The report declared the “Garu District as the extremely poorest of
42.02% as compared to the Bolgatanga Municipality with the least of 14. 97%”
(a1radioonline.com). This report has received mixed feelings and apprehension
among stakeholders (Municipal and District Assemblies), Development Partners, Non-Government
Organisations, Researchers and Development Practitioners. For instance, the
Garu DCE, Mr. Emmanuel Avoka covered his mouth in dismay after the announcement
that his district was the poorest in the Upper East Region (a1radioonline.com)
As a development
practitioner, I seek to have a reflection, an impartial review of the report and
proffer suggestions on the way forward. I choose to do my critique on two
important indicators that came out strongly at the workshop: Unemployment rate and
Poverty levels in the region.
THE
UNEMPLOYMENT ASSESSMENT.
The
GNHR data indicated that 386,596 households representing about 68.5% in Upper
East region were unemployed whilst the employed were 156,284 representing 31.5%
(GNA, Jan 2020). That is quite curious, isn’t it? These figures from GNHR
appear superfluous, misleading, and are at variance with GLSS 7 and other
existing evidence.
Let
me proceed by stating the position of the Ghana Statistical Service’s Ghana
Living Standards Survey (GLSS) which is the body responsible for providing
information on living conditions and also monitoring the welfare system in
Ghana. It is a customized version of the Living Standards Measurement Study
(LSMS), initiated in 1980 by the Policy Research Division of the World Bank.
Over the past 30 years (since 1987), Ghana has conducted seven of living
standard surveys. The GLSS has, therefore, been established as a permanent
welfare monitoring tool in Ghana. So I beg to ask why the need to conduct
another survey when the GSS with all its skills, experience and expertise in
data collection and analysis [has published its data]? In any case, GSS has
just conducted its latest survey (GLSS 7) which was published in June 2019.
According to
(GLSS 7) in the Upper East region, among the economically active (the
population of 15 years and older), 55.8% were employed, and 4.7% were
unemployed while 39.6% were not in labour force (economically inactive). These
results kind of reflect the reality on the ground to me as a development
practitioner working in the region for about ten years. Therefore I am very
hesitant to accept the GNHR conclusions that 31.5% were employed while a
whopping 68.5% were not employed.
POVERTY INDICATORS IN THE REGION.
The
GNHR report suggests to me that instead of the districts graduating households
out of poverty, they are busily enrolling more households into the poverty
academy. Although poverty is often discussed in terms of dollar amounts,
quality of life is also part of the conversation. But extreme poverty is not
only about low income; it is also about what people can or cannot afford.
Living in poverty means a life of struggle and deprivation.
Historically,
poverty has been calculated based on a person’s income and how much he or she
can buy with that income. Before I go further, let me explain some key terms
that will be used frequently in my review: International poverty line,
Prevalence and Depth of Poverty.
International poverty line is the standard poverty line for measuring
poverty globally. This line helps measure number of people in extreme
poverty and also helps compare poverty levels among districts, regions and
countries. Since 2015, the World Bank has pegged poverty as people living on
1.90 USD or less a day.
Prevalence
is the proportion of the population below the poverty line. It is also termed
Poverty incidence or poverty headcount.
Depth of Poverty
is the gap between the poor people’s income and the poverty line expressed as
percentage. It is also called the Poverty gap.
In
determining both the Prevalence and Depth of poverty at any location, two nutritionally-based
national poverty lines are required: The national extreme poverty line, and The
national absolute poverty line.
The national extreme
poverty line: This is the lower poverty line which
is about GHS 2.17 per day per adult equivalent expenditure.
The national absolute
poverty line: This is the upper poverty line which
is about GHS 3.60 per day per adult equivalent expenditure
Having
laid the foundation to Poverty Assessment, I now proceed to look at the
existing evidence and compare them to the GNHR poverty indicators in the
region.
Firstly, The Ghana Poverty and Inequality Report:
Using the 6th Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS 6) acknowledged
“progress in reducing poverty in Upper East appears to have been dramatic since
2006, declining from 72.9% in 2006 to 44.4% in 2013” (Cooke et al, 2016).
Secondly, The Feed the
Future indicators for Upper East Region, Ghana 2015 District baseline estimates
USAID METSS (Guvele et al, 2016) had the following revelations;
That, using the
international poverty line (1.90 USD). The prevalence of poverty per day in
Upper East Region was 25.8%. It ranged from 10.9% in Bawku Municipal to 39.6%
in Kassena Nankana West District, while average poverty depth in the region was
also 9.1%. The Garu district recorded
23.1% prevalence and 9.0% depth of poverty.
Also, the average
prevalence of poverty at the national extreme poverty line (GHS 2.17 per day)
was 33.1% while the regional average depth of poverty is 12.3%. The Garu
district recorded 37.1% and 12.8% of prevalence and Depth of poverty
respectively.
Again, using the
national absolute poverty line (GHS3.60 daily per), the average Prevalence was
57.6 percent whilst the depth of poverty averaged 26.8 percent. However, this
time around Garu district scored 67.1% prevalence and 29.7% depth of poverty.
Remember that this measure is the upper poverty line so therefore you don’t
expect many people to be there. In fact, it is just the direct opposite of the
lower poverty line.
My take is that, the Poverty
and Inequality report had predicted a progressive and consistent decline in
poverty in the Upper East Region. And since 2016, a number of development
interventions had taken place in the region targeted at food security and
poverty reduction by government and its development partners. Mention is made of
the USAID/ADVANCE program, Northern Rural Growth Program, SADA/NDA initiatives,
the Planting for Food and Jobs, and other social interventions. So I am
struggling to understand why poverty which is on a steady decline in the region
has increased to those levels with specific emphasis on Garu district (42%) according
GNHR report.
In conclusion, I reckon
that a number of things would have gone amiss in this particular GNHR survey
resulting in these awful outcomes. My suspicion includes the following;
Pre-field. I think some
important steps before the data collection have been skipped. For example
piloting (letting experts in development issues assess the questionnaire to
correct wording, ordering, simplifying, amending certain questions) before
pre-testing.
On field activities.
During data collection, the ability of the enumerator to effectively translate
the questions into the respondent’s local language is key in collecting quality
data. Also, some respondent interests would have aroused when they began to
here certain words like poverty, jobs, among others during the interview. These
frequently occurring words stimulate them to respond to the questions in a way
that makes them eligible for any anticipated or future program arising from the
survey.
Finally, Post data
analysis, it is always advisable to get the report reviewed by external
independent Development practitioners, same way when you send an article for
publication in a reputable journal for publication. This would enable the
independent reviewers to critique the report and offer useful suggestions
before it became public.
I suggest the following
ways to effectively measure employment and poverty going forward;
Firstly, that future
surveys should adapt the Standard labour force framework which is very useful in
monitoring employment and labour market developments. There are also new
indicators such as forms of work, potential labour force and labour underutilization
which need to be measured. These new indicators offer us the opportunity to
have more comprehensive measures of labour underutilization for monitoring
labour markets and thus help improve policy decision making.
Secondly, future
surveys could employ the Multidimensional poverty approach. I think it is more
integrated and sustainable as compared to the poverty line. This approach
acknowledges that poverty isn’t always about income. It also goes beyond income
to measure a person’s healthcare, education, and living standards to determine
poverty levels. Within the categories of health, education, and living
standards. There are ten key indicators of multidimensional poverty that
include nutrition, child mortality, years of schooling, school attendance,
cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, and assets. If a
person is experiencing deprivation in three or more of these standards, then he
or she is compositely poor.
The
author is a Development Practitioner with emphasis on Agriculture,
Food Security, Sustainable Livelihoods and Rural Development.
Some Ghanaian Social Media users are not happy that President Nana Akufo Addo has been credited for the procurement and distribution of Ambulances across the country.
The reactions followed a news report about an accident published on A1radioonline.com and culled by ghanaweb.com with the headline “Akufo Addo’s Ambulance rapidly response to accident at Bawumia’s hometown”.
But this headline has not gone down well with some Ghanaians on Facebook. They hold the view that since the money is not from the personal accounts of the President,he deserves no credit.
Below are some of the comments captured on our Facebook page.
Founder of Kassena Nankana United based in the Upper East Region,Azanlerigu Cherry Mboma has expressed optimism that his ‘Boys’ will whip it’s counterpart ,Soccer Masters in their first friendly match at home this Sunday.
He told Host of ‘What’s the Score’ Humul Khrusum Tahiru on A1 Radio that it will be miraculous and a record for any Team to win a match in his home.
He therefore threw a challenge to Coach of Soccer Masters , Nicholas Ayine to prepare properly to receive not less than 3 goals without any excuse.
He said, “let Nicko know that there is no way a needle can ever pierce a needle so Sunday ,they will see wonders in Navrongo. Nicholas is only saying it because people will follow him to Navrongo to watch football that’s all but the real action will be on Sunday . And you know ,how can I lose this first match of the year at home , even I will disappoint my People so Nicholas should prepare and come and we don’t want excuse after the game. If he will not collect kroaaa, we will give him 3 goals.”
But Coach Nicholas Ayine said he was not going to talk match about the outcome of the game but it will be a match everyone will watch out for in Navrongo because it will be like a ‘Division 1” soccer match.
As part of measures to expand water supplies and improve the quality of water supplied to communities in the Upper East Region, the Regional Director of Community Water and Sanitation Agency(CWSA) John Aduakye has assured that 25 communities out of a total of 37 Communities will receive modernized water supply systems.
According to him, his outfit will be able to execute the target on schedule because ,CWSA has been made autonomous thereby giving it the free will to operate with innovations.
The main aim of the target to ensure residents in deprived communities get access to potable drinking water in an attempt to fight water-borne diseases.
However, Mr. Adua lye has indicated that deprived communities will be prioritized in the execution of the project.
He said, “With this directive by the government; we now have full control of the community water projects, so our outfit has deemed it fit to supply potable water to all and sundry at the community level. Our core mandate is to provide quality water those who need it the most, hence the target for this year.”
Meanwhile, he has accentuated that despite the Agency’s readiness to supply potable water to various communities, challenges such as mobilizing revenue cannot be overlooked.
The Community Water and Sanitation Authority (CWSA) is an executive agency under the Ministry of Works and Housing, mandated with the responsibility for water supply to rural communities, including small towns.
The Agency also deals with water-related sanitation and hygiene promotion, but the main focus lies within water supply.
