The Upper East Regional Lead of Farmerline, Elijah Musah has indicated that the company exists to fully meet the expectations of farmers and those in the value chain addition of agribusiness.
Mr Musah said Farmerline works to fill in the gaps and lapses that they have identified in the system because Farmerline is there to help industry players make profit but the farmer is at the centre of it.
He said farmers are at the heart of all the activities of Farmerline and their ultimate goal is to create lasting profit for farmers across the world.
Mr Musah who was speaking in an exclusive interview on Day Break Upper East show on A1 Radio said for the past 8 years of their existence they have been engaged in farmer’s training, supply of quality agro-inputs and the creation of market access for farmers across the country.
He said a technology-driven company, they have a customized app for their clients such as out-growers or input dealers so they can use it to track their sales so they can easily know their inflows and outflows.
A Reporters Without Borders (RSF) report compiled as part of the 2021 World Press Freedom Day, shows that journalism, the main vaccine against disinformation, is completely or partly blocked in 73 percent of the 180 countries ranked by the organisation.
This year’s Index, which evaluates the press freedom situation in 180 countries and territories annually, shows that journalism is totally blocked or seriously impeded in 73 countries and constrained in 59 others, which together represent 73 percent of the countries evaluated.
These180 countries are classified as having “very bad,” “bad” or “problematic” environments for press freedom, and are identified accordingly in black, red or orange on the World Press Freedom map, copied to the Ghana News Agency.
The Index data reflect a dramatic deterioration in people’s access to information and an increase in obstacles to news coverage. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been used as grounds to block journalists’ access to information sources and reporting in the field.
The data shows that journalists are finding it increasingly hard to investigate and report sensitive stories, especially in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
The 2021 Edelman Trust barometer reveals a disturbing level of public mistrust of journalists, with 59 percent of respondents in 28 countries saying that journalists deliberately try to mislead the public by reporting information they know to be false.
In reality, journalistic pluralism and rigorous reporting serve to combat disinformation and “infodemics,” including false and misleading information.
Mr Christophe Deloire Secretary General of RSF said “Journalism is the best vaccine against disinformation.”
“Unfortunately, its production and distribution are too often blocked by political, economic, technological and, sometimes, even cultural factors. In response to the virality of disinformation across borders, on digital platforms and via social media, journalism provides the most effective means of ensuring that public debate is based on a diverse range of established facts.”
For example, in Egypt (166th), President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s government simply banned the publication of any pandemic statistics that didn’t come from the Ministry of Health. In Zimbabwe (down 4 at 130th), the investigative reporter Hopewell Chin’ono was arrested shortly after helping to expose the overbilling practices of a medical equipment supply company.
Biggest movements in the Index
Norway is ranked first in the Index for the fifth year running even though its media have complained of a lack of access to state-held information about the pandemic. Finland maintained its position in second place while Sweden (up 1 at 3rd) recovered its third place ranking, which it had yielded to Denmark (down 1 at 4th) last year. The 2021 Index demonstrates the success of these Nordic nations’ approach towards upholding press freedom.
The World Press Freedom map has not had so few countries coloured white – indicating a country situation that is at least good if not optimal – since 2013, when the current evaluation method was adopted.
This year, only 12 of the Index’s 180 countries (7%) can claim to offer a favourable environment for journalism, as opposed to 13 countries (8%) last year. The country to have been stripped of its “good” classification is Germany (down 2 at 13th). Dozens of its journalists were attacked by supporters of extremist and conspiracy theory believers during protests against pandemic restrictions.
The press freedom situation in Germany is nonetheless still classified as “fairly good,” as is the case in the United States (down 1 at 44th), despite the fact that Donald Trump’s final year in the White House was marked by a record number of assaults against journalists (around 400) and arrests of members of the media (130), according to the US Press Freedom Tracker, of which RSF is a partner. As a result of falling four places, Brazil joined the countries coloured red, indicating that the press freedom situation there is classified as “bad”.
Most of the 2021 Index’s biggest gains are in Africa. Burundi (up 13 at 147th), Sierra Leone (up 10 at 75th) and Mali (up 9 at 99th) have all seen significant improvements, including the release of four journalists with the independent Burundian media Iwacu, the repeal of a law criminalising press offences in Sierra Leone and a fall in the number of abuses in Mali.
Europe and the Americas (North, Central and South) continue to be the most favourable continents for press freedom, even though the Americas registered the biggest deterioration in its regional violations score (up 2.5%).
Europe registered a sizeable deterioration in its “Abuses” indicator, with acts of violence more than doubling in the European Union and Balkans, compared with a 17% deterioration worldwide.
Attacks against journalists and arbitrary arrests increased in Germany (13th), France (34th), Italy (41st), Poland (down 2 at 64th), Greece (down 5 at 70th), Serbia (93rd) and Bulgaria (down 1 at 112th).
Although there was less deterioration in Africa’s “Abuses” score, it continues to be the most violent continent for journalists, and the Covid-19 pandemic fueled the use of force to prevent journalists from working.
In Tanzania (124th), President John Magufuli called the virus a “western conspiracy,” suggesting that Tanzania had kept it at bay “by force of prayer” and imposed an information blackout on the pandemic before his death in March 2021.
In the Asia-Pacific region, the “censorship virus” spread beyond China, in particular to Hong Kong (80th), where the National security law imposed by Beijing seriously threatens journalists. Australia (up 1 at 25th), experienced a disturbing variant: in response to proposed Australian legislation requiring tech companies to reimburse the media for content posted on their social media platforms, Facebook decided to ban Australian media from publishing or sharing journalistic content on their Facebook pages.
There has been no significant change in the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region, which maintained last place in the regional rankings.
RSF’s global indicator – its measure of the level of media freedom worldwide – is only 0.3 percent lower in the 2021 Index than it was in 2020.
However, the past year’s relative stability should not divert attention from the fact that it has deteriorated by 12 percent since this indicator was created in 2013.
The National Road Safety Authority in the Upper East Region has revealed that 33 people have lost their lives in the first quarter of 2021 through road accidents.
The deaths the authority says were caused largely by poor driving on the part of drivers and riders in the region.
Speaking exclusively on Daybreak Upper East show on A1 Radio, the Planning Manager of the authority, Sheriff Appiah indicated that 30 of the victims were males while 3 represented females.
“Per our records, 30 of the victims were males while the rest females. And if one looks closely it shows that the accidents recorded; a majority of them were caused by motorcycles (64), followed by Salon cars (11), then Tricycles(9). For bicycles, our records showed that two people have been involved in that kind of accident.”
Mr. Appiah stressed that per their records, most of the accidents did occur at the Bolgatanga -Bwaku road and were due to riders’ over-speeding as well as overtaking.
“Our checks revealed that most of the accidents recorded occurred at the Bolgatanga -Bwaku road and as well as the Zuarungu area. As an authority, we are doing everything we could to ensure that contractors put something that can help minimize it. As a road safety agency, we can not be on every road so we are doing everything possible to keep ensuring that the public and drivers are road conscious.”
Meanwhile, reports have it that a total of 771 persons have died through road accidents from January to March 2021 in Ghana.,
The figure, the Ghana Police Service said has seen a significant increase of 393 recorded in 2020.
Members of the Wa Market Women Association are crying foul over their inability to access some of the COVID-19 funds created by government to help mitigate the impact of the global pandemic on small businesses across the country.
The women, who channeled their hopes of also accessing the fund through the Business Resource Centre (BRC) in Wa, are lamenting that since they started the process in September, 2020, none of their members was able to access the fund.
Members of the Association, including; used cloth sellers, tomato sellers, prints sellers, onion sellers, and provision shop owners who acknowledged the huge impact of the disease on their businesses said they now feel dejected, disappointed and deceived.
Narrating the issue, Hajia Anti Mairy Mahama Jigbali, the Organiser of the Wa Market Women Association in an interview with the GNA in Wa, said the BRC contacted them last year to inform them that some funds were available for small businesses to access and support their growth.
The interview was on the “Mobilizing Media to Fighting COVID-19” project being implemented by the Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) in collaboration with the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA).
“Therefore, we were required to put ourselves into groups to enable us access the funds to do our business”, she said noting that after forming the groups they were asked to apply for Tax Identification Numbers (TIN) so they could register their businesses.
Hajia Anti Mairy who sells prints noted that while they were still on the process, the BRC came with another information that the funds they wanted to access for them were not ready, but the COVID-19 funds were ready and the process would be facilitated to access that instead.
“So, we spent GH¢ 10.00 on the TIN and GHS50.00 on the registration totaling GH¢ 60.00 and yet, we are not able to access the fund till date as we have been promised; but we have been told that people in other places are accessing the funds to do their businesses”, she lamented.
She said painfully some members of the Association were accusing the executives of conniving with the BRC to take their monies under the pretense of business registration.
“They have caused dissatisfaction among us, they have also deceived and put us to shame especially we the leaders”, she said and called on the BRC to do something about the situation to save their businesses and the executives from the insults.
Meanwhile, Mr Abu Ibrahim, the Manager of the BRC Office in Wa, explained that before they could work with anyone or group as a client, that person or group must have a business certificate.
He said many of the market women had no business certificates; hence, the idea to assist them to get them to formalize their businesses to take advantage of grant opportunities.
He said it was in the spirit of this that they took them through processes of business formalization before linking them up with funding opportunities.
“As we speak, some of our other clients have already received their grants, while some will soon be receiving theirs as well”, and urged the market women to keep calm as they worked to link them up with other opportunities.
Mr Ibrahim noted that with the coming of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, many opportunities would soon be available for them to link their clients to grow their businesses.
Hajia Memunatu Angaamwine, one of the leaders of the Wa Market Women said Mr Ibrahim’s outfit did not explain to them that they wanted to register them as their clients to do business.
She said the BRC approached them and categorically told them that they wanted to assist them to access the COVID-19 funds, which they accepted because they were all feeling the impact of the disease on their businesses.
We have been deceived and we don’t think we have that trust to engage in any business with the BRC in the future”, Hajia Memunatu said. Source: GNA
The Paramount Chief of Wungu in the West Mamprusi Municipality of the North East Region, Naazori Saaka Sulemana, has authorized a manhunt for a group of armed residents who attacked and killed a bull elephant.
The assemblyman for Wungu, Alhassan Nasiru who spoke on behalf of the Paramount Chief said the Chief is furious about the matter because the residents chose to disregard his warning against the killing of the animal after its presence in the area was brought to his attention.
“The paramount Chief of Wungu Traditional Area gave orders that they shouldn’t touch it. Once he said they shouldn’t kill it, it should have been left alone. I think that is why it has been lying there since yesterday,” he said.
The animal was killed Friday afternoon near a small stream outside the village. It is still not clear how the animal was killed but locals at the scene have been unwilling to give information.
However, it was gathered that the animal was cornered by not less than 20 armed men who fired from different directions as it attempted to flee a small burnt forest in the area.
The animal was slaughtered and butted, its eyes were plugged out and taken away by the killers while the rest of the body was severely riddled with bullets.
The chief has therefore ordered the residents to stay away from the carcass as attempts are being made to report the incident to the Forestry Services in Walewale.
Sammy Gyamfi, National Communications Officer of the NDC has questioned the basis for the prosecution of leaders of Christ Embassy Church for organizing an event that has the potential of super-spreading COVID-19 in the country, a cause championed by civil society group, OccupyGhana.
The Ghana Police Service was after the leadership of the Christ Embassy Church in Accra for organizing a mass youth event at the Fantasy Dome, Trade Fair Centre in Accra in total disregard for COVID-19 protocols.
A statement from the police on Sunday said the youth event was “in flagrant disregard of COVID-19 protocols”, adding that the leaders are being sought after for questioning as well as management of the event facility.
The event has been roundly condemned by Ghanaians, especially on social media.
In condemning the event, OccupyGhana said: “The government must answer to Ghanaians whether or not this event was held on its blind side, and if so, how was that possible? Was the police present at the event, and if so, why? Were government officials invited and were they present? Were the venue owners present, and did they take any steps to prevent or stop this?
While the authorities investigate this matter, we call on the government to immediately stop any further meetings and apply the law on COVID-19 protocols to the organizers of this event to the fullest extent possible.”
But reacting to the statement from OccupyGhana, Sammy Gyamfi wrote on his Twitter timeline, “Where was OccupyGhana when politicians were gathering thousands during the 2020 election campaign in breach of COVID protocols.”
When was the last time these hypocrites visited pubs, nightclubs and markets in the country? Or is it the case that the church is a soft target?”
The organizers of the mass Christian gathering held at the Dome have been arrested.
According to Rainbowradioonline, “the leadership of the church that led this mass crusade has since this morning been arrested by the Ghana police and investigations has already commenced as to who gave them the permit to organize such a mass gathering crusade”.
A promising and upcoming rapper in the Upper East region, Clement Ayamga, popularly known as Nambawan has said the region does not have a music industry because there is no seriousness in the entertainment industry in the region.
Nambawan said, “The Upper East does not have an entertainment industry, we are trying to build one but we don’t have one because you see, the seriousness level is very low from both artist and industry players.”
He said artists and industry players did not attach much seriousness to the industry which slows it down in the region.
According to the rapper who spoke to A1 Radio entertainment show host DJ Phatbone D5 Star General, artists in the region are failing to study the relevance and the architecture surrounding music reason the music industry in the Upper East region has not achieved its value and attractiveness.
According to him, industry players ignore the most important stuff and rather take the irrelevant things as important.
He attributed the failure of the music industry in the upper east region to “failing to learn from the bigger world, we think music is just all about writing a lot of sweet words, you will take the whole night to deliver and bring it out, but music is beyond that I always said, we do show, we don’t do showbase, that is what we do here.”
Nambawan concluded by saying they can build a bigger and attractive industry in the region if musicians put seriousness in place but not just always in a hurry to put out anything music for the public.
Rising Ghanaian singer and songwriter Maa Adwoa says profanity in today’s music is having a negative impact on the lives of the youth.
Signed onto Clarkzville Entertainment, Maa Adwoa since her breakthrough last year has been touted as one of the best vocalists in the music industry.
The budding songstress urged musicians to limit the use of profane words in the songs as it was misleading the youth who indulge in all kinds of deviances.
“I think music should send out a message of peace and love and the need to cherish life but not to destroy them. I get really saddened by the choice of words used by some artistes which I think is not in the right direction,” she said in an interview.
Maa Adwoa added that her new single titled “Joki” was a clear example as to why you don’t need profane words to make a tune song good.
“My new single is an awesome piece and I urge all to take a listen and enjoy the lyrical vibes and to also experience good song writing abilities,” she said.
Residents of Kukuo Electoral Area in the Tamale metropolis are instituting a community sanitation project known as the sanitation festival.
The sanitation festival which is a community mobilization project is meant to help community members curb the increasing sanitation challenges that the electoral area is facing.
Rubbish around a refuse container at Kukuo
In an interview with A1 News, the assembly member of the Kukuo electoral area, Mohammed Mutala Mahamudu said the project is in fulfillment of his campaign promise to initiate measures to deal with the sanitation situation when he was seeking to be elected as an assembly member of the electoral area.
He said the assembly has been to the electoral area and collected some data with the promise of coming back to dispose of all their refuse in their electoral area but have failed to come back.
According to him, as an assemblyman, he is soliciting funds to make sure he disposes off or evacuates the refuse to make Kukuo the cleanest electoral area in the Tamale Metropolis.
Mr. Mutala also mentioned that the electoral area has four public toilet facilities which only two are not functioning with one under construction and the other facility is a death trap posing danger to the lives of residents.
He mentioned that following government for every house to have a toilet the assembly has taken the initiative to help them build toilets in their homes through reducing the cost of building toilet facility in their homes.
The assemblyman said the residents of the electoral area are adopting the idea and they will educate the residents on the positive impact of having toilets in their homes.
He thanked the Social Welfare Department for intervening to boost the initiative by helping build the toilets for free for seven people in the electoral area.
A resident of the electoral area, Mohammed Awal, said their new assembly member is putting up efforts to ensure the project dubbed “Sanitation Festival” brings them together to make the environment clean.
He revealed that the electoral area has refuse containers but residents pour their waste around the container instead of putting the waste inside the container.
According to him, the assemblyman tasked someone to take care of the place and adopted a strategy known as pay-as-you-dump which is making the sanitation situation better in the Kukuo electoral area.
Source: A1Radioonline.com|101.1MHz|Tii Sanduogbil Thomas |Ghana
Statistics released by the Ghana Health Service on 30th April 2021, show that the Upper East Region recorded as many as 6,533 teenage pregnancies in 2020.
The Upper East Region placed 7th among the sixteen regions of Ghana while the Ashanti Region is on top of the statistics table with 17, 802 teenage pregnancies, the Ahafo is at the bottom of the table with 2,625 cases
