Members of the New Patriotic Party across the country on Monday started electing polling station executives to represent the party at all polling stations in the 2016 general elections. In that regard, a member of NPP’s communications team in the Upper East Region, Latif Solomon has called on members of the party to elect competent people to represent the party at the polling stations in 2016.
Mr. Solomon in an interview with A1 News, urged party members to elect hard working persons divoid of religious and ethnic biases.
Latif Solomon who is also vying the position of NPP Upper East Regional Organizer, cautioned individuals who are contesting for polling station executive positions not to do so for their own parochial interest but the interest of the party.
The Zorko Senior High School in the Bongo district of the Upper East Region is in a state of dilemma as to if it can admit first year students this year. This is because the school is currently grappling with a problem of limited accommodation.
Though the school is a boarding one, it does not have accommodation facilities of its own.
The Zorko senior high school began operation in 2009 from the Zorko Catholic Social Center and was taken up by government a year later.
With a current student population of 565, some students of the school currently live in rented rooms in houses in and around Zorko because the school does not have boarding facilities of its own.
The school’s buildings are also situated at three different locations within the community. This makes teaching and learning ineffective because teachers have to keep moving to each of the locations to teach.
Students and community members are constantly at loggerheads because they fetch water from the same borehole.
Teachers of the Zorko Senior High School commute from Bolgatanga, Bongo and other places to school every day due to the lack of accommodation.
Headmistress of the Zorko senior high school, Rose Avonsige bemoaned the numerous challenges facing the school but said despite the challenges, the school recorded a hundred percent pass rate in the just ended West African Senior School Certificate Examination.
The Ghana Education Trust Fund provided funds for the construction of both boys’ and girls’ dormitories and an eighteen unit class room block for the school. However, some of the contractors who should have been handing over the projects to the school by now, have abandoned work because some monies due them have not been paid.
District Chief Executive for Bongo, Alexis Adogdaa Ayamdoo told A1 News that efforts are being made to get the contractors back to site. He added that the assembly has made a budgetary provision to connect some communities in the district to the national grid and the Zorko Senior High School will benefit.
A climate change resilience project dubbed: “Water, Climate and Development Project,” has been launched in Bolgatanga. The project would be implemented over a three-year period at the Bongo and Bawku West Districts as well as Bawku Municipality where flooding and other forms of climate related impacts are experienced by the people.
The 600,000- Euro project would be borne by Australian Development Agency, DANIDA and DFID. It would among other things foster a strong linkage between water resources and the climate and integrate water security and climate resilience into development planning and decision making processes.
Chairman of the Water Partnership Ghana, Nii Boi Ayibotele said the project would select planning and other relevant staff from the beneficiary assemblies and the related sector ministries. He said the assemblies would work with communities to identify the need for domestic water, irrigation, power, environmental protection and flood control.
Maxwell Boateng Gyimah, Executive Secretary of the Country Water Partnership of the Global Water Partnership gave the assurance that his outfit would engage with all stakeholders to enhance delivery of the project. Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Daniel Syme who launched the project praised the project partners and said the project will help address the problem of de-siltation of the White Volta Basin.
President of the Guinea Fowl Farmers Association (GUIFA) has advised guinea fowl farmers in the Upper East Region to work as a team and remain united in order to achieve their aim of eradicating poverty in the region through the rearing of guinea fowls.
This was when Members of GUIFA held a one-day workshop sponsored by TRIAS Ghana over the weekend. The Farmers were taken through leadership, group dynamics and conflict resolution trainings.
President of GUIFA, Nyaaba Adongo underscored the need for farmers to adopt new strategies of rearing the birds to avert high infant mortality which is a major challenge in the guinea fowl rearing industry.
Managing Partner for New World Consulting and Facilitator for the workshop, Michael Bakiamoh Weyage called on members of GUIFA to be prepared for conflicts and be ready to solve them when they occur. Mr. Weyage who is also a member of GUIFA advised his colleagues to apply the knowledge they acquired at the workshop to resolve issues in their various community groups.
Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Daniel Syme has said government is promoting women in political decision making as a composite index for enhancing good governance through participatory approach to national development in every facet of society. He noted that government was unswerving to the socio-economic empowerment of women at all levels because women’s participation in nation building was an essential ingredient in achieving an equitable, peaceful and more prosperous society.
Mr. Syme was speaking at a forum organized by Action Aid Ghana (AAG), a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), into development to support women small holder farmers in the Upper East Region and to take stock of the organisation’s activities in the region for the year 2013.
Action Aid Ghana, started operations in Sapeliga and Teshie in the Bawku West District in the Upper East Region in 1990, based on the relative levels of development, the lack of involvement of other NGOs in the area, coupled with the high degree of community interest and improved livelihood indicators in the area.
The Deputy Minister said though women wield greater influence in the attainment of the development aspirations of the country, their contribution was often undermined by negative acts perpetuated against them mostly by their male counterparts.
James Kusi-Boama, Upper East Local Rights Programme Manager (UELRP) of AAG, commended its community development partners for their tremendous contribution in the organization’s development efforts. He said the interventions of AAG sought amongst other things, to improve access to basic social services, including education, water and sanitation, as well as improved food security, by facilitating access to agricultural practices and access to productive resources.
Acting chief of the Navrongo Traditional area, Navro-Pio Arthur Wekem Balinia Adda has called on the electoral commission of Ghana to reverse the name of the Atosali/Azaasi electoral area to its original – Akurugu Daboo or take the blame for any loss of lives that may result from violence due to any further delays in reversing the name of the area.
Atosali/Azaasi or Akurugu Daboo became a major hot spot here in the Upper East Region prior to the 2012 general elections after disturbances erupted there over the renaming of the area.
In March 2012, Residents of AKurugu Daboo in the Kassena Nankana east District of the Upper East Region boycotted the biometric voters’ registration exercise to register their disagreement with the change of name of the area from Akurugu Daboo to Atosali/Azaasi electoral area without their consultation. The boycott was later followed by disturbances which forced electoral commission officials to stop the registration exercise in that area. This left many qualified voters in the area unregistered.
Later, a human rights court ruling on November 30, 2012 directed the EC to organize fresh registration for voters in eight communities of the Kasena-Nankana east district including Atosale/Azaasi. New registrations were opened on Monday, December 3, 2012.
However Chief Justice, Georgina Theodora Wood on the last day of that registration exercise revealed that though the people had registered, they still could not vote in the 2012 election because in Regulation 9 (5) of CI 72, the constitutional instrument which deals with an individual’s right to register and to vote, the Electoral Commission (EC) was still prohibited from including in the voters register, the names of persons who qualified to register as a voter for an election but who registered less than sixty days to that election.
One year on, the controversy over the renaming of Akurugu Daboo to Atsali/Azaasi by the electoral commission has resurfaced.
Chief of the Navrongo Traditional, Navro-Pio, Arthur Wekem Balinia Adda at a press conference held at his palace on Friday said the refusal of the EC to reverse the name of the area to its original – Akurugu Daboo is an act of disrespect to the traditional authorithy.
He added that an eruption of serious violence in the area is eminent and the EC should take the blame if it does not act fast in reversing the name.
A1 Radio’s Daybreak Upper East Host, Albert Sore has been nominated in the Best Radio Personality, Northern Sector category in this year’s Radio and TV Personality Awards.
The Radio and TV Personality (RTP) Awards seeks to recognize various persons in the Radio and Television industries in Ghana for their hard work. This year’s edition is scheduled for the 5th of December.
To vote for A1 Radio’s Albert Sore, text RTP Sore NS to short code 1446 (across networks).
Remember it’s the Radio and TV Personality Awards. Let’s vote for Albert Sore to win the award for Best Radio Personality for Northern Ghana.
Text RTP Sore NS to 1446.
Go on! Text now and let’s win this for the Upper East Region!!
Microsoft has confirmed it is in talks with the Spanish football club Real Madrid to acquire naming rights to its Bernabeu Stadium.
The 85,454-seat venue is currently named after its former president Santiago Bernabeu.
Speaking on Spanish television, the president of Microsoft in Spain said discussions were at an early stage.
“They’ve raised… renaming the stadium and we’re only talking about this possibility,” said Maria Garana.
Online reaction to the news included possible new names for the stadium.
“At most the stadium will be called the Microsoft Estadio Santiago Bernabeu,” said one forum member.
“The Gates Ground?” was a suggestion on Twitter by @HuffPostUK, in a nod to the company’s founder, Bill Gates.
Others wondered whether Microsoft would use the opportunity to promote its products.
“Will it be called the Surface and feature players like Cristiano RonalDOS?” tweeted @tomwarren from technology news website The Verge.
The Surface is Microsoft’s tablet computer and DOS was one of the company’s former computer operating systems.
Upset fans
The announcement was not well received by all fans of the club.
“I’m a Real Madrid fan, I hate Microsoft forever if they touch anything related to Madrid,” said Haidi Farnoud.
If Microsoft are successful in obtaining the naming rights, they will join a group of several other companies whose names are linked to stadiums.
In the English Premier League, the airline Emirates has a tie-in with Arsenal, while Etihad sponsors Manchester City’s ground. The German club Bayern Munich play their home matches in the Allianz Arena after signing a 30-year deal with the financial services company.
But not all stadium renaming deals have been successful. When Newcastle United changed the name of their ground from St James’ Park to the Sports Direct Arena in November 2011, the local council refused to use the new name on official street signs.
At the time, the council said the decision to change the name would “upset the overwhelming majority of fans”.
Parliament today adjourned prematurely because the house could not form the needed quorum to do government business.
Parliament has been considering the revised Value Added Tax bill. The passage of the bill is expected to pave way for the presentation of the 2014 budget but MPs on the majority side, including the finance minister and his two deputies abandoned the house forcing the second deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joe Ghartey to suspend sitting. MPs on the minority side said they were disappointed.
“All of us would have wished to cooperate, overlook some of the little things and permit business to go on, but when deputy leader of the house puts it on record that indeed, we have been passing bills in this house without a quorum. what he is suggesting is that we have been making illegal bills.
“This is the business of the whips to make sure that members are here pursuing business of government rather than urging us to overlook home.
“It doesn’t appear that the front bench of the majority is interested in building this path.
“Probably, it is because this part of the house are willing to do the work for them. We are here in our numbers. They are prepared to overlook their members abandoning the business of the house”, a member of the minority indicated.
Another member of the minority stated categorically that statements made by the deputy Majority Leader, Alfred Agbesi that members of parliament are not interested in passing bills, should be withdrawn since Parliament is a house of record.
“Since this is a house of record, the statement made by the honourable deputy Majority Leader is a serious indictment which I hope he withdraws”, the minority member said, stressing that the records of parliament could not have it that members pass bills without a quorum.
Deputy majority leader, Alfred Agbesi told Joy News that members are simply not interested in the consideration of bills in the house. He also denied suggestions that the house has been illegally passing bills without a quorum. He spoke to Joy News’ parliamentary correspondent Elton John Brobbey.
“The bill was started only last week and we have done this bill. Yes, naturally when the house is considering bills, members do not normally show interest because many people think that making bills is for lawyers but with particular reference to this bill, people have been anxious to have it through because of value added bill and that is what people want to know what is going to happen to industry, to people paying tax, or proving services”, Mr. Agbesi noted.
Explaining further, the deputy majority leader said “in the first place, the house had a quorum but in the course of doing business, members one way or the other have business that they might have gone out to do including attending cabinet meeting. I cannot know what happened. Today is Thursday, and majority side had a meeting”,
In this respect, Mr. Agbesi pointed out that the majority leader had to attend a cabinet meeting and so had to leave together with the finance minister and his two deputies.
“Almost all the ministers and their deputies had left for the cabinet meeting and that explains the emptiness of the house”, he asserted, stressing that by tomorrow, November 8, all things being equal, the house will complete the bill.” He further emphasized that there had always been a quorum when any bill passed by parliament.
A former Minister for Energy, KT Hammond, has launched a blistering attack on Deputy Minister for Information, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, describing him as a schoolboy who doesn’t know anything.
KT Hammond Wednesday accused Kwakye Ofosu of indulging in propaganda and peddling falsehood, despite his position as a Minister of State.
Sounding very angry, the former Minister condemned Kwakye ofosu’s approach to analysing national issues, describing it as crude and unbecoming of a Minister.
“When you are appointed a minister, you refine your language and speak in a manner that befits the dignity of your office”, he told Accra-based Asempa FM.
KT Hammond was reacting to Kwakye Ofosu’s earlier assertion on the same network that the NPP administration under President Kufuor had sold GNPC’s drill ship like tomatoes on the market.
Kwakye Ofosu also alleged that the NPP administration also appropriated to themselves properties meant for public servants.
The remarks had not gone down well with KT Hammond, prompting him to criticise the Deputy Minister in a caustic manner.
GNPC’s drill ship Discoverer 511 was sold by the Kufuor administration in 2001 reportedly to clear the state-owned oil company’s indebtedness of $19.5 million to multinational French bank Societe Generale.
The sale is, however, the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Judgement Debt Commission headed by Justice Yaw Apau.
