The Upper East Regional Police Training School in Pwalugu has passed out 316 newly-trained police officers. They include 205 men and 111 women.

The recruits have graduated after six months of intensive training in Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, Law of Evidence, Criminal Investigation, Practical Police Duties, Basic Officer Skills, Professional Ethics, Human Rights, Community Policing and Map Reading. Other skills they acquired include weapon handling, physical training, and environmental cleanliness/sanitation. The recruits are now ready to be integrated into the main stream of the Ghana Police Service.

Speaking at the graduation ceremony on Thursday, Reviewing Officer, COP Alhaji Hamidu Mahama Sampa said the police service is focusing on enhanced maintenance of law and order and the protection of life and property through Visibility policing to bring personnel of the service closer to civil society. He said there is therefore visibility and accessibility of personnel especially in the major settlements of the country in the area of intensifying day and night patrols, improving upon intelligence gathering and increasing traffic management activities.

COP Sampa also reminded the recruits that the career they have chosen is a very challenging one that demands excessive commitment from them.

 General Recruit, Mutala Tijani emerged the Best Recruit at the graduation ceremony.

By: Stephen Chidozie | A1radioonline.com | Ghana

Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN) is investing an amount of 105 million dollars in modernizing, expanding and upgrading the network to ensure quality of services to customers. Despite the investment of this amount of money, fiber cuts continue to be a major challenge encountered by MTN.

Fiber cuts due to road constructions and small scale mining activities cause the company to lose millions of Ghana Cedis through repairs. Also network failures resulting from these fiber cuts have tarnished the image of MTN.

These were made known by Cynthia Lumor, Corporate Services Executive for MTN at this year’s MTN Editors Forum organized for editors and senior journalists in the Upper East Region. The forum was aimed at enlightening journalists on MTN operations and also to collaborate with them to help educate the public on the difficulties and challenges the company is facing in its efforts to provide quality telecommunication services to its customers.

Charles Osei Akoto, Head of Technical Unit at MTN also complained about the acts of some unscrupulous individuals who steal batteries at MTN mast sites meant for stand-by power supply in cases of electric power cuts.

 As part of its corporate social responsibility, MTN is investing an amount of Ghc 750,972 in the Upper East Region. This amount will go into areas like health, education and social issues.

MTN has already provided an ICT facility for the Saint Charles’ Primary School, a CHPS compound at the Azuribisi community in Zuarungu and another ICT center at Pwalungu in the Talensi District.

By: Joshua Asaah | A1radioonline.com | Ghana

The Irrigation Company of Upper Region (ICOUR) currently lacks funds to fully carry out its mandate of helping farmers in the region by providing water through irrigation to complement the rains, so that the farmers can maximize their agricultural yields each year.

Established in 1985 by the Government of Ghana, ICOUR was given the mandate of managing the Vea and Tono irrigation projects here in the Upper East Region by providing farmers with water all year round, so they can produce food crops for domestic and commercial consumption.

However a Yikene- based crop farmer, Joseph Akugrevaala Adongo speaking to Albert Sore on Day break Upper East last week, lamented that ICOUR has not been helpful to dry season farmers who benefit from the Vea Irrigation project for some years now.

Managing Director of ICOUR, Alhaji  Bukari Issah explained that the company needs about seven million Ghana Cedis to fix a damaged ten-kilometer canal from the Vea dam which serves Zaare, Yikene and Sumbrungu farmers.

Speaking to Albert Sore on Daybreak Upper East on Wednesday, he said the Vea dam was constructed in 1965 and has not seen any major rehabilitation since then. Therefore the canal on the left bank which was not lined with concrete during construction has eroded and can no longer hold water.

Alhaji Issah said the levies ICOUR collects from the farmers who benefit from the irrigation facility at the dam are not enough to fund a rehabilitation of the canal. He therefore called for government’s intervention.

By: Albert Sore | A1radioonline.com | Ghana

An estimated Six Hundred and thirteen new cases of Tuberculosis are detected in the Upper East Region every year. This is far below the expected case notification of 1, 136. Using the analogy of 106 TB cases per a 100,000 population, the region is expected to detect and make notifications of 1,136 TB cases. This means that about 523 TB cases representing a percentage of 46.04 % go undetected every year.

This is according to a shadow report on the state of Tuberculosis in the Upper East Region released by TB-affected People in the region and the Rural Initiatives for Self-Empowerment (RISE-Ghana). The research was funded by the Stop TB Partnership Challenge Facility for Civil Society. Project Manager for RISE Ghana, Ahmed Awal threw light on the report on A1 Radio’s Daybreak Upper East with Albert Sore on Wednesday.

Assistant Upper East Regional Coordinator for TB and HIV, Sulemana Majeed explained that though the treatment of TB is free for everyone even without health insurance, the Ghana Health Service in fighting the disease has faced some peculiar challenges across rural communities in the region. He said stigma and the unwillingness of people who show TB symptoms to go for tests are major challenges they face and encouraged such people to make sure they go for the tests since they are for free including the treatment.

Mr. Majeed added that late detection of TB cases result in more complicated treatment procedures and can even lead to death of the patients involved.

By: Albert Sore | A1radioonline.com | Ghana

Assembly members for the Bawku West District Assembly on Tuesday voted to confirm the president’s nominee for District Chief Executive, Simon Ayande Agbango.  Prior to his elevation as DCE, Mr. Agbango was the chairman of the Finance and Administrationsub-committee of the assembly.

The District Assembly has been without a District Chief Executive for close to a year. Out of the 48 members of the assembly present at the time of voting, 45 of them voted to confirm Mr. Agbango representing 93.7 per cent while three members of the assembly voted against him. In accordance with the standing orders of the Assembly the DCE would need a two-thirds majority of members of the assembly present during the time of voting to become DCE.  

Alhaji Limuna Mohammed-Muniru, Upper East Regional Minister addressing members of the assembly before voting commenced called on members to as much as possible give the nominee a 100 per cent endorsement as that would enhance the development process of the assembly.  He said development would be stalled if members failed to confirm the president’s nominee as DCE, adding that development in others parts of the region had been hindered due to the inability of members to confirm the president’s nominee.

Cletus Avoka, Member of Paliarment for Bawku West adding to the clarion call for members to vote to confirm the president’s nominee, said that the president had heeded to the calls of the people to swiftly nominate a member for the DCE position.

He said the nominee was a development oriented individual who would bring the needed development the district desired. Simon Ayande Agbango, newly elected DCE for the Bawku West District Assembly expressed appreciation to the members of the assembly for reposing confidence in him and said he will together with others members of the assembly work to increase the income generated by the assembly.

District Chief Executive for Talensi, Edward Awunuure has advised caterers of the Ghana School Feeding Program in the Talensi District to ensure that the food they prepare for school pupils there is always hygienic.

The DCE also charged the caterers to consider the children they prepare the food for as their own children and cautioned them to do well to report at their various assigned schools regularly.

Mr. Awunuure made these appeals when he handed over 4, 800 spoons, 1, 680 bowls and 288 drinking caps purchased by government for the 16 schools under the school feeding program in the Talensi district.

 Some of the caterers expressed delight over the donation. They said the items have come at the right time since some of the pupils often bring bowls which are sometimes not hygienic from their various homes for their meals.

By: Joshua Asaah | A1 radioonline.com | Ghana

President John Mahama, has on the advice of the Board of Directors of the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), appointed the Authority’s Chief Technical Advisor, Dr. Charles Jebuni, as acting Chief Executive pending the appointment of a substantive head.

 Dr. Jebuni, who was part of the team that prepared and established SADA, replaces Mr. Gilbert Seidu Iddi whose tenure as Chief Executive has expired. The appointment is part of the President’s plans for the restructuring of SADA and a re-focusing of the management on the core mandate of the Authority.

He has accordingly directed the Board to facilitate the recruitment of a new CEO and technical advisors to enable the Authority establish systems for sustainable management and the delivery of the Authority’s core mandate.

The accelerated development of the Northern Savannah zone remains a core priority for Mr. Mahama who has tasked the Board to fast track the search for a new head and quicken the pace of the restructuring of the organization

1,157 students of the Bolgatanga Girls Senior High School have been given Bibles for free, to help strenghten their relationship with God.

Dubbed “the Ghana First Lady Senior High School Students Bible project” this is an initiative of Ghana’s Former First Lady, Dr. Ernestina Naadu Mills, aimed at producing Godly future leaders for Ghana’s workforce.

Delivering the Bibles to students of the Bolgatanga Girls Senior High School here in Bolgatanga, Dr. Naadu Mills said an estimated 500,000 SHS students in the country will be given free copies of the Bible.

She said the Bible was her source of inspiration during the death of her late husband, former President John Evans Atta Mills. Reading the Bible from the Book of Psalm and John to the students during the occasion, Dr. Naadu Mills urged the students to desist from immoral practices because they are contrary to the word of God.

Deputy Upper East Regional Minister, Daniel Syme while commending the former First lady for her initiative, called on the students to make good use of the Bibles.

The General Director of Scripture Union (SU) Ghana, Kwame Adu thanked the former first lady for her partnership with SU Ghana in promoting Bible use in the country.

Dr. Naadu Mills later gave an amount of Ghc 10,000 to the Scripture Union of Bogiss before proceeding to the Upper West Region to continue the distribution of Bibles to Senior High Schools.

By: Joshua Asaah | A1radioonline.com | Ghana

Director for the Center for Continuing Education of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. George K.T. Oduro has called on the Ghana Education Service to link up with the various Colleges Of Education in Ghana anytime the service is planning their human resource base, to see how graduates from the Distance Education Programs can be recruited as teachers. This he believes, can solve the problem of staff deficiency which often results in the GES relying on untrained teachers to teach in some rural areas.

Prof. Oduro was speaking at the 6^th Annual National Delegates Congress of the Distance Education Students Association of Ghana (DESAG) – University of Cape Coast held in here in Bolgatanga.

The theme for the congress was: “National Development; the role of the distance student”.

Delivering the Keynote address, Director for the Center for Continuing Education of the University of Cape Coast, Prof. George K.T. Oduro said Ghana as country should not be facing a problem of lack of teachers when the distance education program exists. He therefore called on the Ghana Education Service to consider roping in graduates from the distance education programs when planning the human resource base of the service.

By: Albert Sore | A1radioonline.com | Ghana

NPP national chairman Jake Obetsebi Lamptey will have custody of a government bungalow he bought during the Kufuor administration at the end of this month.

An Accra High Court has ordered the Odododiodio MP and deputy Trade Minister Nii Lantey Vanderpuye to hand over the keys to the contentious bungalow to Jake Obetsebi Lamptey, who the Supreme Court ruled as having legally acquired the state bungalow in 2008.

Deputy works and housing minister Samson Ahi told Joy News government will comply with the order but says the Accra redevelopment policy fashioned by the NPP under which government bungalows were sold to officials of the Kufour administration has left ministers and public officials stranded without accommodation.

He said the government will take steps to scrap that policy.

But former works and housing minister in the NPP administration Hackman Owusu Agyemang says government must come clean on the lack of accommodation for minister of state.

He dismissed assertion the redevelopment policy was a creation of the Kufuor administration, stating, it was implemented by the Rawlings administration.

He explained the Kufuor administration found the policy good enough, a reason why it continued.

He alleged if current claim they do not have accommodation then it is because former government appointees under the Mills administration are still occupying state bungalows and not because of the redevelopment policy.

Source: Peacefmonline.com