Members of the Tertiary Education Institutional Network, (TEIN), a youth wing of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) have been urged to spread the ideology and good works of the party to the populace.

Speaking at a welcome ceremony for new members of TEIN in the Bolgatanga Polytechnic at the weekend, Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Daniel Syme appealed members of the group to ensure Ghanaians knew what the NDC party stood for. According to him, government was geared up to fulfill its 2012 campaign promises and accelerated development at all levels.

The Dean of students at the Bolgatanga Polytechnic, Ebenezer Yaw Amevo called on members of the group to fully register as recognized members to prevent misunderstanding during election of executives. He also cautioned members of different groups on campus to unite to promote peaceful coexistence among students.

Addressing members of the group, President of the B-Poly chapter of TEIN, Akambe Kenneth further appealed to regional communications team of the NDC to prioritize the agenda and policies of government and commended the Regional Youth Organiser for his immerse contribution in the development of the youth at various institute.

By: Adugbire Cletus | A1radioonline.com  | Ghana

The Chief of Sherigu, Naba Thomas Apasinaba has called on government to address the numerous challenges the community is faced with.

According to the Chief of Sherigu, despite the numerous contributions the community has made in the development of the Bolgatanga Municipality, it has seen little or no development in the area.

Naba Apasinab whose speech was read on his behalf by the chief of Dorongo Naba Akazire Afayure during this year’s Naba Yesika festival celebrated by the Chiefs and people of Sherigu appealed to president Mahama to consider sitting one of the 200 Senior High School to the Sherigu community.

Naba Apasinaba also reiterated his support of providing one hundred and eighteen acres of land for the construction of the proposed Bolgatanga Regional Referral Hospital.

Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Daniel Syme while promising the people of Sherigu of their share of the national cake, appealed to them to avoid the practice of bush burning and desertification as it contributes to climate change. He appealed to the miners in the area to as much as possible practice legal mining and go by the mining regulation of the country.

 By: Joshua Asaah | A1radioonline.com | Ghana

The people of the Namogligo and Tindingo communities in the Talensi district of the Upper East Region have poured libations and made a sacrifice to mark the end of a year-long land dispute between the two communities.

The ceremony came after a long dispute resolution process spearheaded by the Talensi District Security Committee and a Committee of some eminent Chiefs of the area.

Last year, a clash between members of the Namogligo and Tindongo communities over a disputed piece of farmland resulted in the death of four men.

Members the two communities have been living in animosity since then, even though they are neighbors and the district security committee (DISEC), has been making efforts to settle the dispute between them.

After a long dispute resolution process, the people finally agreed to bury the hatchet by performing some rituals.

The chief priest of Tindongo poured libations in the presence of the committee of eminent chiefs of the Talensi district, the Talensi District Chief Executive, elders of the Namogligo and Tindongo communities as well as members of the two communities to mark the end of the dispute.

The District Chief Executive for Talensi, Edward Awonoore said the two communities accepted to eschew violence and live together peacefully after several meetings with the DISEC.                          

A bull was slaughtered as sacrifice and its blood, made to drip into a four-feet ditch. Members of the two feuding communities ate the meat of the bull together and buried all remainders of the meat in the ditch together with the blood, signifying a burial of their differences and the beginning of a peaceful co-existence.

Chief of Baare, Nyaakora Mantii Sylvester Balagumyetime, a member of the committee of Talensi chiefs who played a role in settling the dispute between Namoligo and Tindingo congratulated the Chief of Namogligo and the land custodian (Tindaana) of Tindongo for the maturity they exhibited during the process of resolving the dispute.

By: Albert Sore | A1radioonline.com | Ghana

The President of the Upper East Regional House of Chiefs, Naba Sigri Bewongon Thursday called on Ghanaians to seize the de-politicization of corruption in the country and forge ahead to deal decisively with it. He said with the ever-increasing alleged incidences of corruption, there is urgent need for all Ghanaians to unit in fighting the menace which is fast gaining grounds in the country.

Naba Sigri Bewong made the appeal when he addressed a gathering in Bolgatanga during a two-day working visit by the President, Mr John Dramani Mahama to the Upper East Region. The visit also afforded him the opportunity to inspect some developmental projects underway in the region.

Naba Sigri Bewongwho is also the Paramount Chief of the Sakoti Traditional Area encouraged government to institute stringent measures to deal with the social canker as it was gradually getting out of hand, calling on all to give the president the needed support to eradicate corruption in the country.

President John Dramani Mahama for his part said his administration had a will to fighting corruption, adding that he would provide the needed leadership in dealing with acts of corruption.

He said there was need to put in place systems to fight corruption, indicating that measures had been put in place to minimize the act to deal with individuals involved in such acts regardless of their political party or religious affiliations.

He said despite the numerous challenges the country encountered in his first year in office including economic difficulties, energy crises, labour unrest, market fires amongst others, he was resilient and resolute in dealing with the challenges.

According to the President, the economy was rapidly responding to the various measures initiated by government, adding that many more initiatives had been taken into consideration under the 2014 budget to strengthen the economy further and ultimately make it robust.

Earlier, he inspected lands acquired for the Regional Aerodrome Project expected to take off for domestic air transport in the region.

By: James Amoh Jnr. | A1radioonline.com | Ghana

Members of the Association of Teacher Trainees in Colleges of the Northern Sector (ATTRICONS) on Tuesday afternoon embarked on a demonstration on the streets of Bolgatanga to protest against government’s decision to scrap the teacher trainee allowance and have it replaced with the students’ loans scheme.

The teacher trainees said they prefer having the allowances reduced by half to having them completely scrapped.

Decorating themselves with red ribbons, they marched through the streets of Bolgatanga, singing protest songs and carrying placards with various inscriptions to register their grievances.

Northern Sector President of ATTRICONS, Mbugri Solomon Ndedaug speaking to journalists before the demonstration started said the allowances serve as a bond that allows government to post teachers upon graduation, to teach in very remote areas, sometimes under very harsh conditions. Therefore, he said the allowances should not be scrapped.

The teacher trainees later marched to the upper east regional coordinating council where they presented a petition to the regional minister for onward delivery to the president.

By: Albert Sore | A1radioonline.com | Ghana

PNC and NPP communication Team Members Johnson Ayine and Samuel Akonga have condemned government’s idea of scrapling Teachers Trainees’ allowances.

Deputy Minister for Education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa has said the quota system which had been in existence for almost three decades, has become inimical to the progress of teacher education hence the decision to remove it. He also revealed that continuing students at the Colleges of Education are not affected by the decision to withdraw allowances paid to teacher trainees.

Discussing the topic on Daybreak Upper East on Monday, Mr. Ayine and Mr. Akonga said the move defeats the NDC government’s touting of itself as a social democratic government. They said the scraping of allowances for Teacher Trainees will make be unbearable for poor Trainee Teachers.

 Their colleague from the NDC, Jonathan Abdullah Salifu however agrees with government’s decision to scrap the Allowances, arguing that the move is enable government expand infrastructure in the colleges for more students to be admitted every year.

By: A1 News | A1radioonline.com | Ghana

The Upper East Regional Coordinating Council (UERCC) on Wednesday signed an agreement with STAR-Ghana, a multi donor pooled funding mechanism at a brief ceremony in Bolgatanga.

The agreement, which involves a 50,000 US Dollars fund, seeks to support the RCC in its development drive and to accelerate development as part of the Region’s Strategic Plan. It would ensure strong stakeholder participation to make the strategy a citizen owned and to ensure transparency by informing and discussing various steps in soliciting citizen feedback by further strengthening participatory local governance in the region.

Star-Ghana is a multi-donor pooled funding mechanism which seeks to increase the influence of civil society and parliament in the governance of public goods and service delivery, with the ultimate goal of improving the accountability and responsiveness of government, traditional authorities and the private sector.

Alhaji Limuna Mohammed Muniru, Upper East Regional Minister before signing the agreement noted that the region abounds with resources with lots of potentials in terms of development in the country.

Mr Ibrahim-TankoAmidu, Team Leader of STAR Ghana explained that beyond economics, governance lied at the root of the challenges encumbering the region as it offers a way out of the challenges.

Jens-Peter Dyrbak, Head of Governance at UKAID (DFID) commended STAR Ghana for its immense contribution in the poverty alleviation drive of the country through CSOs and called on the UERCC to ensure the full implementation of the development strategy for the benefit of the citizenry.

BONABOTO, a civil society organization of the Upper East region has called for an objective investigation into the circumstances that led to the death of the twenty five year old electrician who got electrocuted on Monday while doing maintenance works on some high tension electricity poles near the library junction in Bolgatanga.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with A1 news, Public Relations Officer for BONABOTO, Stanley Abopaam Akamiri, said the Volta River Authority and all actors involved in the electricity business must come together to investigate the incident and make public the outcome of the investigations to prevent a recurrence.

Mr. Abopaam said the law must be allowed to take its course and whoever is found culpable after the investigation must be made to face the full rigors of the law to serve as a deterrent to others. He however cautioned the VRA and electricity contractors to provide adequate protection for their workers and apprentices

By: Cletus Adugbire | A1radioonline.com | Ghana