‘Control Child Bearing’

The Brong Ahafo Regional Director of Education, Dr Adjei Hinneh, has admonished parents to adopt proper birth control mechanisms in order to reduce the pressure on educational infrastructure that is recorded every year, due to the high enrollment in schools.

According to him, admission in 2010 for kindergarten at ‘my first day at school’ which was 89,000 increased to 93,000 in 2011 and went up again in 2012 to 98,000.
He related the increase to parents’ failure to practise family planning.
He also advised parents to do their best by providing their wards with little things like slate, crayon and other things that would encourage them to stay at school.
Dr Hinneh was speaking at this year’s ‘my first day at school’ ceremony and commissioning of six-unit classroom block at Nyamaah School in Sunyani which was heavily attended by parents and traditional leaders.
He urged the teachers to lead exemplary life which could be emulated by the pupils.
The Sunyani Municipal Chief Executive, Kwasi Oppong Ababio, in his welcome address applauded parents who have chosen to enrol their children in school and urged them to fully play their roles to make the children successful in their various schools.
He said the Sunyani Municipal Assembly recognises education as the key to development. He added that the Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda (GSGDA) through the Assembly had implemented over 250 development projects since 2009 in the Sunyani Municipality with the educational sector taking a chunk of them.
The MCE promised that the Assembly would continue to work hard to improve academic standards in the municipality through the construction of more school infrastructure and provision of furniture and logistics.
Mr Ababio revealed that the six-unit classroom block which cost GH¢ 199, 719.50 is a promise he made to the queen mother of Sunyani on her 40^th anniversary.
The building which was named after the queen mother, he said, is an appreciation for the invaluable role she has played towards the development of the municipality.
He called on the queen mother to continue to support them especially on gender mainstreaming.
The headmistress of Nyamaah School, Mercy Baah Nuakoh, said the management intends to divide the school into “A” and “B” due to high enrolment and therefore appealed to the assembly to construct more classroom blocks for them.
She said new admissions into the school, especially at the kindergarten level was steadily progressing and appealed to parents to collaborate with teachers to ensure that they always attend Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings.
The queen mother of Sunyani Traditional Area, Nana Yaa Nyamaah II, thanked the Municipal Assembly for the honour done her. She pleaded with parents to stop buying funeral cloth and invest in their children’s education.
 From Vivianna Mensah, Sunyani

4 Years SHS Is Better Than 3 Years

The Brong Ahafo Regional Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Yaw Dabie, has called on those who matter in the educational system to reconsider going back to the four-year system of education at the senior high school level.

 He pleaded with the government and everyone involved in education in the country to put aside political differences and consider the four-year system of education again to help push education forward in the country.
According to him, the recent WASSCE results have shown that the four-year education is the best. He said since infrastructure is already in place, the government should reconsider and go back to the four-year system introduced by the erstwhile Kufour government to produce matured graduate.
Mr Dabie who was interacting with the media in Sunyani on education expressed worry over the way education is being politicized in the country and called on Ghanaians to think of the future of the country when meddling with education.
He further mentioned that, the NDC in their manifesto mentioned that they would build ten additional teachers’ training colleges in the country was quick to ask that since this has not materialized, he is wondering where the teachers from the training colleges would teach after coming out of school.
“The three years will bring redundancy in the schools because there will not be classes for teachers to teach,” he added.
He pleaded with the teachers to give their best when teaching so as not to produce half-baked graduates who he claimed speak and write only Pidgin English.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Minister for Education who is also the Member of Parliament for Techiman North, Alex Kyeremeh has denied allegations in the public that the four-year students who wrote the WASSCE with the three-year students did better.  He noted that, the three-year students performed equally better than the four year students.
Mr Kyeremeh called on Ghanaians to have faith in the educational system because the government has put in place measures to improve the educational system.
 From Vivianna Mensah, Sunyani

‘Lower Interest Rate On Loans’

The National President of Ghana Association of Business Education Teachers (GABET), Gordon Osei Marfo, has appealed to micro-finance institutions in the country to lower their interest rates on loans so that their customers may not eventually become poorer than they were.
He also commended them for their vital role in the country’s development and said a visit to some micro-finance institutions showed that many applicants especially parents queued up for loans to pay their wards’ school fees and also inject some of the money into their businesses.
Mr. Marfo, who was speaking at the 21^st Conference of GABET in Sunyani, further called on the Central Bank to put in place mechanisms for detecting unregistered micro-financial institutions and getting them either to regularize their operations or shut down.
“This in my opinion will help eliminate or at least reduce fraud on unsuspecting public,” he added.
The GABET President expressed worry over the refusal of public nursing training schools to admit business students who seek admission at their institutions and commended some private nursing schools for going all out to admit their students.
Mr. Marfo, who is also the assistant headmaster of Twene Amanfo Senior High Technical Institute (TASTECH) in Sunyani, called on his colleagues to encourage their students to read cost accounting, as students who intend reading accountancy, auditing, taxation, financial management and other related business programmes should have knowledge in cost accounting.
Speaking on judgment debts, the President of GABET expressed worry over the many judgment debts and admonished the government to prosecute offenders after ordering them to pay the money.
“Additionally government officials who through omission or commission or negligence bring about such debts should be brought to book,” he opined.
The guest speaker at the GABET five-day conference and workshop under the theme “The Growth of microfinance industry and its impact on the economy”, Dr. Yaw Gyimah-Larbi, Assistant Director, Banking Supervision Department, said the theme for the conference was timely considering the fact that most stakeholders in the microfinance industry seemed to have been taken by surprise with the recent proliferation of microfinance institutions all over the country.
“The role of microfinance institutions in ensuring credit availability to the economically poor people and small entrepreneurs is critical in the sustainability of growth in the poor and emerging economies such as ours,” he added.
He said due to the influx of the microfinance institutions in the country, the Bank of Ghana would be publishing licensed micro-finance institutions in the dailies soon and advised people to go on their website and check the licensed ones before dealing with them.
He also mentioned that the Bank of Ghana intends to constantly monitor and review the business environment and enact laws or issue out relevant guidelines that would ensure stakeholder satisfaction thereby enabling the micro finance sector to remain vibrant and sustainable.
From Vivianna Mensah, Sunyani

GIBA Denies Meeting Gbevlo

Executive Secretary of Ghana Independent Broadcasters Association (GIBA), Gerald Ankrah,  has denied media reports that the National Security has met GIBA members to deliberate on how they will operate on the day of the Supreme Court verdict.

According to him, the group together with the National Media Commission (NMC) and National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) are on regional tour organising workshops for their members on how they can help maintain peace before and after the Supreme Court verdict.
Mr. Ankrah, who sounded surprised, said none of the members of GIBA had informed the association of any meeting with the national security. “We haven’t received any invitation from the national security for any meeting” he added.
He denied the reports on Ark FM in Sunyani and said it was unconstitutional for the national security to tell radio stations not to pick phone calls or have panel discussions after the Supreme Court verdict.
Mr. Ankrah said the Association had already organised workshops in the Eastern, Ashanti, Greater Accra, and the Northern regions.
He noted that the next stop would be in the Central and Western regions. He also promised that the association would train all its members in the country before the Supreme Court verdict.
From Vivianna Mensah, Sunyani

Kotokrom To Protest Against Government

Some Inhabitants of Kotokrom in the Sunyani West District of the Brong Ahafo are calling on the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister to come to their aid and clear the refuse dump that is causing havoc in their area or else they will hit the streets to protest against the suffering they are going through.

According to the people they have appealed several times to the Sunyani West Municipal Chief Executive for the past one year but he hasn’t done anything about it.

They said the refuse was pushed close to their house when the MCE came to commission a close by public toilet started by the erstwhile NPP government.

According to Adjei Darkwah, the rubbish was pushed close to their house because the MCE didn’t want the rubbish to block the way to the public toilet.

He noted that, the MCE promised to take the refuse off the area since it in the middle of people’s houses but he has refused to take it off and people still throw rubbish there.

Mr. Darkwah said right now that the rains has set in it will drain the dirt’s into their homes and also they will find it difficult staying in their rooms because of the stench that comes out from the rubbish when it rains.

When our reporter visited the site, a preparatory school was spotted close by the refuse dump with several houses surrounding the refuse dump.

The Director of the Heavenly Royals Preparatory Daycare School, Kwasi Nkrumah said the closeness of the school to the refuse has caused parent to take their children from the school for fear of contracting airborne diseases.

 He expressed his fear that the school might collapse because of the refuse dump.

He noted that they have appealed to the Assembly woman and all those that they can help them in taking off the rubbish but nobody is ready to help them in taking it off.

According to him, when it rains the stench becomes so great that they always close the school when they see the signs of rains.

 From Vivianna Mensah, Kotokrom

llegal Mining Decline Quality of Water In BA

Source of water for people of Abronye curveso

Information gathered by the Daily Guide indicates that there has been a decline in quality and quantity of water resources in the Brong Ahafo due to illegal mining, discharge of untreated industrial effluent, bad farming practices among others.

To access the quality of these water resources, water quality campaign was carried out from January, 2011 to December 2012 on some selected water resources in the region.

After the assessment and comparing the results with Water Resources Commission criteria for raw water, it was revealed that almost all the ground water sources were slightly acidic and may have the potential to cause health problems to the users.

This was made known by Jackson Adiyiah Nyantakyi, a programme officer at the Environmental Protection Agency at a dissemination of environmental results in Sunyani.

He disclosed that the research took place in Rivers Tain, Subin, Pru, Goa, Tano, Akokora as well as the Kintampo and the Fula waterfalls including some boreholes at places like Drobo, Jinijini, Atebubu and Kwame Danso Senior High schools and an Artesian well at Bonsu near Nkoranza.

He has therefore called on NGOs and CWSA to first investigate into the geology of places before drilling boreholes for communities. “Chambers containing lime may be constructed and connected to the boreholes to increase the pH before consumption”, he advised.

A senior programme officer at EPA, Anthony Duah, has also called on District, Municipal and Metropolitan Assemblies to purchase noise detector metres to measure noise pollution to be able to prosecute those who offend the law.

He further gave ways to help clamp down on noise pollution as planting of trees in and around sound generating areas. He also advised that churches are given a plan where temples will be designed in search a way that suitable noise absorbing materials for the walls, windows and ceilings can be used.

According to him, regulations should be imposed to restrict the usage of playing loudspeakers in crowded and public places.

“Social awareness programmes should be taken up to educate the public about the causes and effects of noise pollution”, he added.

The Principal Programme Officer of EPA, Samuel Oteng, who spoke on behalf of the Brong Ahafo Regional Director of  the EPA, Philomena Boakye Appiah, stated that the effective approach to handling environmental problems required a multi-sectoral approach.

According to him, EPA Act, 1994(Act 940) mandates the Agency to prescribe standard and guidelines relating to the population of air, water, land and noise.

He mentioned that section 10(3)(e) of the Local Government Act, 1993 (Act462) empowers the MMDAs to be responsible for the development, improvement and management of human settlements and the environment in the districts.

Mr. Oteng stated that to know the implications of one’s activities and make informed decisions, the relevant information should be put out appropriately and the media has the advantage of reaching the public, since the media provides the largest platform for the dissemination of information and creation of awareness.

“We as humans beings are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature, and this can be achieved only when we make individual as well as collective effort to operationalize the concept of sustainable development”, he added.

 

From Vivianna Mensah, Sunyani

Student Burnt With Hot Water

17 year old student of Barahamia Islamic school at Penkwase in the Sunyani municipality is currently undergoing treatment at the Sunyani Municipal Hospital after her next door neighbor allegedly poured hot water on her.

The suspect whose name was only given as Rita is said to have picked up a fight with the victim, Abiba Awudu at their house in Sunyani Zongo.

The girl who looked traumatized told journalists that her neighbour picked a fight with her when an old lady in the house nearly fell because of a curtains pole she left in the middle of the house.

She said the old lady asked who placed the curtains pole in the house and the suspects instead of saying the victim did rather started insulting her parents.

“Her insults on my parent got me angry so we fought and she bite my left hand and the neighbours separated us because my parents were not at home”, the victim said.

According to her after the neighbours separated them she went to change her clothes to go and bath. She said, immediately she stepped out of her room to go and bath the suspects threw hot water on her.

When Daily Guide spoke to the victim’s mother, Muniratu Seidu she said they reported the matter to the police and the suspects was arrested but has been granted bail to appear before court on Thursday 22^nd August 2013.

When Daily Guide visited the Sunyani Municipal Police Station, the crime Officer was not on his seat to answer whether the case has come to his unit. 

 From Vivianna Mensah, Sunyani