MEDIA MUST BE CIRCUMSPECT IN THEIR REPORTAGE (PAGE 14, MAY 5, 2010)

THE District Chief Executive for Jirapa, Mr Bernard Puozing, has advised media personnel in the Upper West Region to be circumspect in their reportage.
He said this would go a long way to ensure credibility for the media and further raise the standard of journalism in the country.
Reacting to recent media reports which attributed a statement to Naa Ansoale Gana II (Mr Peter Nanfuri) a Member of Council of State and Paramount Chief of the Jirapa traditional area that the Jirapa town had been engulfed in filth and that the work of Zoomlion Ghana Limited was very appalling and irritating, Mr Puozing wondered where the story emanated from.
According to him, during an assembly meeting held recently which was attended by Naa Gana II and addressed by the Deputy Regional Minister, Mr Caesar Kale, many issues came up but the paramount chief never made such comments.
He said Jirapa had an enviable record of being adjudged the cleanest town in the region on a number of occasions and that the assembly would not allow such records to go into oblivion.
“There are a lot of positive things happening in the district yet, some media personnel chose to concoct their own stories for reasons best known to themselves”, he added.
Mr Puozing said a number of infrastructure including school blocks, clinics and boreholes were being provided by the government to uplift the living standards of the people in the district and wondered why such developments were not reported by the media.
“We should not allow our parochial interest to influence our sense of judgement since it has the tendency to create credibility problems for us all”, he concluded.

ASSEMBLY INITIATES ACTION TO MOBILISE RESORCES (PAGE 15, APRIL 14, 2010

AS PART of its resolve to strengthen fiscal management, the Sawla–Tuna-Kalba District Assembly in the Northern Region is to form a committee to mobilise resources and control expenditure.
The goal of the committee is to enhance prudent and efficient cash management.
The District Chief Executive, Alhaji Alhassan Bukari, announced this during an assembly meeting at Sawla, the district capital.
He explained that the broad objective was to ensure that the assembly used public funds for both recurrent and development expenditure efficiently.
According to him, under a social democratic government such as the NDC, the returns from economic growth had to be distributed fairly, and that through resource distribution the pace of development could increase while poverty reduced.
Alhaji Bukari outlined major developments such as the construction of a number of school blocks, clinics, boreholes, standpipes and places of convenience in the district.
He said the assembly had also awarded contract for the construction of a three-unit classroom block for the Tuna Secondary School; a six-classroom block at Kalba and a multi-purpose community centre and teachers quarters in Sawla.
On rural electrification, the DCE said the assembly and the Ministry of Energy were supporting a number of communities including Kalba, Kunfisi, Nahari, Kong, Gunsi, Kentilpe and Nasoyiri.
Mr Bukari also said the assembly had initiated electrical network drawing for those communities and that expansion of electricity to Sawla, Tuna, Gindabuo, Yipala and Kulmasa was ongoing.
Alhaji Bukari gave the assurance that considerable resources would be released for the needs of all law enforcement agencies in the district.
The Presiding Member of the assembly, Mr Joseph Sanbangchorie, commended the assembly members for their dedication and cooperation.
He said being one of the newly created assemblies, the district faced challenges which needed the support and cooperation of all stakeholders to enable it to surmount them.

MP SUPPORTS EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS (PAGE 17, APRIL 9, 2010)

THE Member of Parliament (MP) for Sawla–Tuna–Kalba in the Northern Region, Mr Donald Soditey Dari, has supported a number of educational institutions in the area.
The MP has used part of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFUND in buying 20,000 exercise books and distributed them to schools in the constituency.
He has also provided support for 20 schools with temporary structures and headteachers’ bungalows.
Furthermore, the MP has purchased a quantity of electric poles for the Saint Cyprian Minor Seminary at Sawla.
Interacting with members of the Sawla-Tuna–Kalba District Assembly, Mr Dari said apart from supporting needy students in various tertiary educational institutions in the country, water and radio telephones had been provided for the people of Kalba.
“I have used part of my share of the District Assemblies Common Fund to support three junior high schools in Kulmasa and Soma for them to enjoy solar panel services while 10 corn mills have been distributed to some communities,” he added.
The MP announced a special package including roofing sheets and food items for some residents whose buildings were recently destroyed by a severe rainstorm, and promised to rehabilitate a staff bungalow at Kulmasa for the assembly.
He appealed to other individuals and organisations to come to the aid of the people of Kulmasa since it served as the gateway between the Northern and Upper West Regions.
Mr Dari advised the staff of the assembly to limit their travels outside the district during working days and do so at weekends.
“If it is not an emergency situation or official, I don’t see the reason why you should abandon your office and travel to your village,” he stated.
The MP gave the assurance that he would continue to work with the assembly in all its endeavours.
The presiding member of the assembly, Mr Joseph Sagbachopire, on behalf of the assembly, thanked the MP for his continuous support for the people of the area.
He urged members of the assembly to support the MP in order to improve upon the living standard of the people.

NPP WILL WIN 201 ELECTION — ENGMEN (PAGE 17, MARCH 9, 2010)

The Upper West Regional Secretary of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Stephen Engmen, has said the party will bounce back to power in the next general election in 2012.
This, according to him, was due to the inability of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) to fulfil its campaign promises, resulting in total disappointment among Ghanaians.
Mr Engmen, who was speaking during the handover ceremony of the TESCON branch of the Wa campus of the University for Development Studies at the weekend, said “supporters of the party must start mobilising and working towards this victory which will not come on a silver platter”.
The new executive has Mr Sumaila Nambe as President; Clara Tia, Vice-President; Yussif Salia, Secretary and Mohammed Mariwan, Vice Secretary.
The rest are Daniel Adamu, Organiser; Adamu Rasak, Financial Secretary, Bawa Awal, Treasurer, and Farusa Iddi as Women Commissioner.
Mr Engmen said the NPP was stronger than the NDC and that the party would have won the 2008 elections, but for certain mistakes on its part.
“They have so far failed woefully and must, therefore, not be given the opportunity to rule Ghana again,” he told the TESCON members amid wild applause.
Touching on the flagbearership, Mr Engmen, who is also a lecturer at the Wa campus of the UDS, called on members of TESCON to look for a person who was politically convenient and capable of winning the election in 2012.
He advised TESCON members to be worthy ambassadors of the party by explaining the party’s programmes to the electorate wherever they found themselves and also form a strong partnership with the various constituencies in the country.
The Regional Youth Organiser of the NPP, Mr Mustapha Goveir, gave the assurance that TESCON would be resourced to play its expected role towards the next general election.
The outgoing President of the Wa campus branch of TESCON, Mr Mohammed Hakam, charged the new executive to embark on a membership drive to make the party a strong one on campus.
For his part, the incoming President, Mr Sumaila Nambe, pledged to work hard to uplift the party among the student body.

DON'T FORM POLITICAL CLUBS IN VARIOUS PRISONS — BIN-SALIH (PAGE 15, 2010)

The Upper West regional second vice chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Hafiz Bin-Salih, has warned against the formation of political clubs in the various prisons since it has the potential of generating serious conflict between inmates on one hand and prison officers on the other.
“It can also lead to victimisation or maltreatment of prisoners when their views are at variance with the prison officers”, Mr Bin Salih pointed out.
He described the decision by the Supreme Court to give prisoners their voting rights as a step in the right direction.
According to him, Article 42 of the Constitution bestowed on every Ghanaian who is of a sound mind and has obtained the age of 18 or above to vote and by virtue of this, prisoners were eligible to vote.
“It is a landmark decision by the Supreme Court,” he stated, and called on the Electoral Commission to put in place mechanisms and structures to ensure that prisoners were catered for in future elections.
Sharing his personal views with the Daily Graphic in Wa, Mr Bin-Salih said provision should also be made to allow political parties to have access to the prisons so as to be able to sell their manifestos to them.
“Even though the decision is laudable it should not be implemented now, may be 2016 when all modalities have worked out. The EC should work painstakingly towards it, “ he added.
Touching on the filing fee of GHC 50,000 for presidential candidates of the NPP, the NPP regional second vice-chairman was of the opinion that there was nothing wrong with that since it would go a long way to deter large number of people from entering the race as happened about two years ago.
He called on the national executive of the party to expedite action on the appointment of the deputies for the national organiser, general secretary, women organiser, and youth organiser.
“Competence and regional balance should guide these appointments and the Upper East must be considered since it is the only region without an elected national executive officer”, he said.
Mr Bin-Salih advised the former Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, not to contest for the NPP flagbearership for the sake of his reputation
He said although the former veep had the democratic right “I think people would try to smear him just to score political points, which I do not think would be in his interest”.

RECOGNISE NORTHERNERS WHO HAVE EXCELLED (PAGE 13, MARCH 27, 2010)

A non-partisan political pressure group in the Upper West Region, Equality for Neglected Northern Heroes (ENNORTH), has called on the government to immortalise the names of people of northern extraction who excelled in their various fields of endeavour.
The group said there were many northerners who were doing extremely well yet they had not been recognised by successive governments.
“We the 21st century youth from northern Ghana wish to overturn this line of thinking through advocacy work for all northerners who have evidently distinguished themselves in their public lives, dead or alive”, a spokesman of the group, Mr David Banamini, said at a press conference in Wa to officially launch the group.
He said most of the leaders of northern Ghana were perhaps not assertive enough, thus making them easily accept subservient positions as demonstrated in the selection of running mates for politicians.
He attributed this to the lack of knowledge of some heroes of northern Ghana like Dr Hilla Limann, S.D. Dombo, Imoro Egala, Yakubu Tali, Aliu Mahama, John Mahama and Edward Gyader.
Mr Banamini said among the heroes the one who stood tall was Dr Hilla Limann, who was the President of Ghana during the Third Republic.
He said the government of Dr Limann was egalitarian and socialist in nature and had a semblance of the current government and “we wish to use this medium to tickle the government to expedite action by appropriately honouring and recognising Dr Limann for his valuable contribution to the political history of Ghana”.
“We are highly disappointed, however, by the fact that all the compatriots of Dr Limann except him have been given absolute recognition by successive governments. These acknowledgements come in various forms including erecting statutes and naming of institutions and principal streets across the country to the sheer neglect of Dr Limann”, he added.
Mr Banamini, therefore, called on the government to erect a bronze statue of Dr Limann at a vantage point with a beautiful landscaping to match so that the only President produced by northern Ghana would be appropriately immortalised while a model senior high school must be established immediately in northern Ghana and subsequently named after Dr Limann. It should have modern facilities, state-of- the-art classrooms, library and an ICT centre.
Additionally one of the principal streets in the capital city of Accra must be named after him.
Mr Banamini was grateful to the leadership and council of the Wa campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) for naming one of its halls after the former President.
“We wish to call on the students of this great hall to learn about the principles and ideals of Dr Limann and partner the group to institutionalise a lecture series for the purpose of the creation of greater awareness of Dr Limann”, he concluded.

MAINTAIN THE SOUTH-NORTH PARTNERSHIP, NPP URGED (PAGE 17, MARCH 15, 2010)

The Upper West Second Vice-Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Hafiz Bin –Salih, has urged the leadership of the party to maintain the south–north partnership of the presidential ticket for the 2012 election.
He, however, suggested that the choice of a running mate should be based on competence and not religion.
Addressing a press conference in Wa, he said the party should focus its campaign in the three northern regions which have shown steady support for the NPP since 1996.
“Former President Kufuor and Vice-President Aliu Mahama should also be courted to actively participate in the recapturing votes exercise while the youth and women wings of our great party must be adequately resourced”, he added
According to him, in order to rebuild the party “we need to have a sense of unity and the belief in the absolute supremacy of the NPP and take full responsibility for our actions”.
Mr Bin-Salih noted that for the party to be able to leap from opposition to power, it must remain attractive, visible, show the potential of winning the 2012 election, avoid self-destructive tendencies and offer constructive proposals.
“Let us not be deceived into thinking that because of the lack of inspirational leadership on the part of President Mills as well as the economic mismanagement, media oppression, human rights abuse, high cost of living, reckless use of political power and the deliberate frustration of genuine Ghanaian businesses and people who are perceived to be sympathisers of NPP are sufficient grounds for the NPP to secure power from the NDC in 2012 on a silver platter. We must recognise that after all, power is not given but taken”, he said
Mr Bin-Salih pointed out that for the NPP to recapture power there was the need to rekindle the spirit which guided the forebears of the party to establish the United Party in 1957 which also made the Danquah–Busia–Dombo tradition unique because it brought on board people of diverse ethnic and religious persuasions, yet they were able to get along very well.
He recalled that the political history of the NPP was replete with painful truths that any time the party allowed its loyalty to be focused on individuals or groups of people the party found itself on the wrong side of history.
He, therefore, advised members of the party not to allow their selfish and parochial ethnic sentiments to derail the foundation of the party’s tradition and added that people must learn to bury their individual ambitions and ensure the collective interest of the NPP.
Touching on the 14-month rule of the NDC’s Mr Bin–Salih said it had failed Ghanaians by breaking most of its electoral promises. Prominent among these, he said, was the government reneging on the payment of the initial start-up contribution of GH¢200 million towards the Savanna Accelerated Development Authority and an annual contribution of GH¢ 100 million each year for 20 years.
“Also the NDC government has not been able to put money in our pockets. The safety and security of most Ghanaians are in danger. We are collapsing under filth after they promised to clear the nation of filth within 100 days in the office”, he noted
Mr Bin–Salih used the opportunity to congratulate the newly elected national executive and urged them to live up to the challenge of bringing the party back to power.