The managers of the South Dayi District Tilapia Project have assured investors that it has in place effective measures to run and expand its operations to secure shareholders’ funds and thus, boost public confidence in the project. The assurance follows recent reports of alleged shady activities by some players in the tilapia farming business leading to a drop in investor confidence in fish farming. The Operations Director of the Safeway Group, the managers of the project, Mr Della Geraldo, said “Our project, which is a public-private partnership between the Safeway Group and the South Dayi District Assembly is ongoing and we have always endeavoured to boost investor confidence by involving them directly in our operations”. He pointed out in an interview that every month, investors and other stakeholders were invited to the project sites at Abui and Gjakiti in the Volta Region, “To do their own assessment of our activities”. He said the group had plans to collaborate with the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development to set up a training centre at Abui to offer refresher courses to fish farmers and also ran three-month courses for people who wished to start their own farms. The operations director said the Group would soon begin shrimp farming at Sege and Ada in the Greater Accra Region and Denu in the Volta Region, where top quality shrimps would be produced for export. “We are committed to the national job creation and poverty alleviation drive and we will not do anything to derail that laudable pursuit,” Mr Geraldo stressed. The various initiatives, he said, were also aimed at improving the revenue generation capacity of the district assemblies in the operational areas. The South Dayi project, initiated in June, 2011 is the first public-private partnership (PPP) in the aquaculture subsector, and is in line with the Ghana National Aquaculture Development Plan (GNADP), which was launched on July 3, 2013 by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development. The farm has several plastic - Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) hatchery and production cages, and has recently added some High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) cages.  Its new state-of-the art hatchery has the capacity to produce three million fingerlings in a month. The project covers a total land area of five acres and water area of three hectares. The hatchery was built by the Tilapia Services Limited of The Netherlands and a team of technical consultants from India, led by Mr Nanga Moral. The Deputy Minister for Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Mr Aquinas Quansah, at a recent ceremony to inaugurate the Abui site gave the assurance that the ministry would continue to facilitate such ventures through the provision of relevant infrastructure such as motorable roads leading to the project sites, electricity, markets, telecommunications as well as technical guidance. The Minister hinted that this year, “The Ministry will embark on two major initiatives under the West Africa Regional Fisheries Project (WARFP), first; to strengthen the capacity of aquaculture associations to provide business advisory services for existing and potential investors in medium and large scale ventures”. That, he said, was to support trade and business development, technology transfer and training of individual farmers and associations to operate along business lines to enable them to receive financial support from the various financial institutions in the country. The second initiative would support new individual small scale aquaculture investors who present viable business plans with training programmes and credit facilities. The District Chief Executive for South Dayi, Mr Kafui Semenu Bekoe, also said there were plans to increase the production of tilapia at the Abui site for export and appealed to the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development for continuous assistance.  

  A forty-year-old farmer and resident of Worapong, near Barekese in the Ashanti Region, Bashiru Yakubu, also      known as Rasta, has been sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment with hard labour for threatening to kill one Madam Afua Pokuaa. Yakubu threatened to kill Madam Pokuaa for ejecting him from her house when he decided not to work for her again on her farm. Though Yakubu pleaded not guilty to the two counts of threat of death and causing unlawful damage, the Kumasi Circuit Court, presided over by Mr Emmanuel Amo-Yartey, found him guilty on both counts and sentenced him accordingly. He was given 10 years’ jail term on the first count and one month for causing unlawful damage to the wall and door of the complainant’s house. The sentences are to run concurrently. Presenting the facts of the case, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Archibald K. Fandoh said both Madam Pokuaa and Yakubu were farmers residing at Worapong, near Barekese. ASP Fandoh told the court that on December 2, last year, Yakubu told Madam Pokuaa that he could no longer work with her because she had failed to fulfil certain promises she made to him. ASP Fandoh said because of Yakubu’s decision, Madam Pokuaa also asked him to quit her house as she would not want to be held responsible for anything that would happen to him. According to the prosecutor, before Yakubu left Madam Pokuaa’s house, he rained insults on her and threatened to kill her. He said the following day, December 3, 2013 Yakubu deliberately passed in front of Madam Pokuaa’s house wielding a sharp machete and warned her not to step on her cocoa farm that day else he would decapitate her and bury her on the farm. Fearing for her life, the prosecutor said Madam Pokuaa reported the matter to the area unit committee chairman who sent three men to bring Yakubu but they did not find him. ASP Fandoh said around 12 a.m, Yakubu went back to Madam Pokuaa’s house with the machete, broke her main gate and damaged her door in an attempt to enter her room and accomplish his mission. However, ASP Fandoh said the shouts for help from Madam Pokuaa attracted her neighbours who rushed there and arrested and handed Yakubu over to the police.  

  As the moral and political debate on the acceptance of gays and lesbians continues to rage in Africa, with neighbouring Nigeria recently passing an anti-gay marriage law, the gays in Chorkor, a suburb in Accra and its environs have been sent into perpetual exile as the community’s residents are leaving no chance for them to go on with their activities publicly.  The gays were recently chased out by residents of Chorkor when a group of men belonging to a gay community association decided to hold a grand homecoming in the area.  On Monday afternoon, The Mirror visited the community to find out whether the gays had started their 'activities' after their recent mass banishment. However, information gathered reveals that the community leaders are winning the fight against the gays and lesbians.  Some of the youth in the area confided in this reporter that there are still a few practising gays in the community, although they  do not operate from there anymore. Rather they go to Osu, Labone and Adabraka all suburbs in Accra to meet their partners there.  The Assemblyman for the Chorkor Electoral Area, Mr Derick Addotey Myers (Showman), disclosed that the gays and lesbians were currently finding it difficult to come out publicly as they used to do.   "As the assemblyman for the area, I personally know almost all the gays and lesbians who have tried to go underground and I am happy about the way things have turned out because as a Christian, I believe such practices are simply satanic and not a healthy practice for the youth of the community".  Mr Myers said recently, news went round that some gays were planning to organise a party at the Korle-Gonno Beach but the leaders of the community moved in to stop them.  "My sister, people laugh at them and call them funny names like Supi Supi, therefore, this has made them to keep their distance," he mentioned.  "Currently my major concern is the children that some of these gays attempt to lure into their fold. Therefore, I am doing my best to educate them to be very assertive and fend off attractive gifts like the ipads, mobile phones, expensive trainers and clothes, which they use as bait to get the young ones".  According to him, there are lesbians as well in the community but their activities are not as offensive to members of the community as that of the gays. "Recently, I had the information that a certain lesbian who was chased out of Bukom had managed to rent a room at Chorkor and was claiming to be a prophetess. Interestingly, when I went to the lady's house I met as many as eight lesbians gathered there doing their own thing. I, therefore,  pleaded with the youth of the community not to attack them.”  Asked how he is able to make homosexuals out easily, he explained that the men do not work, yet they wear very expensive clothes which they receive from their rich partners. The lesbians, on the other hand, come in two forms.   We have the ladies who dress like men by wearing 'T' Shirts, canvass shoes and speak like men and there are those who wear the normal ladies’ clothes and walk in a particular way".         

  The Ghana Trades Union Congress (TUC) has asked utility service providers to ensure efficiency in the distribution of water and electricity to avoid wastage and losses that are passed on to consumers. With the implementation of the Automatic Adjustment Formula (AAF), which allows quarterly tariff adjustment, the TUC stressed that service providers needed to avoid losses and wastage, to spare consumers the burden of having to pay for suchcost. The  Secretary General of the TUC, Mr Kofi Asamoah, made the call at a meeting between the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) and stakeholders, in Accra, to discuss the AAF and quality of service. Mr Asamoah also called on the government to ensure the prudent management of the economy so that the indicators for the AAF would be correct. In his presentation, the Executive Secretary of PURC, Mr Samuel Sarpong, explained that the indicators for the AAF, included generation mix, exchange rates, inflation, demand forecast, fuel price, power purchase cost, materials and chemicals. Therefore, he explained, the adjustments in tariffs were totally dependent on the state of the various indicators. Complaints system To ensure quality service, Mr Sarpong said the PURC would enhance its complaints system, to give consumers wider platforms to lodge their complaints for redress. The new channels would include a call centre with toll-free lines, use of social media,  and  other web applications. Utility providers Meanwhile, the service providers have rolled out measures to ensure efficiency and improvement in their services this year.  For his part, the Managing Director of the Electricity Company of Ghana, Mr William Hutton Mensah, cited the installation of automatic meter reading systems as one of the measures. The acting Managing Director of Ghana Water Company, Mr Kweku Godwin Dovlo, said the company would introduce a pre-paid metering programme on pilot basis and apply the technology in its activities this year.  

  Nearly 130,000 Ghanaian farmers have been captured on a national database for farmers, designed to enable the government track their activities and offer them assistance on a regular basis. Known as the National Farmers’ Registration Programme, the exercise, which started in 2010, has been registering farmers who are recognised by agricultural extension agents under the Extension Services Department of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA). Training and support A management information system software to help the registration process was sponsored by the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and other international organisations. GTZ also provided equipment such as computers and their accessories to MoFA and district and regional directors of MoFA underwent training on how to use the software for the exercise.  Officials of the Agricultural Extension Services (AES) in Accra regularly receive district and regional updates on farmers in the country. A member of the team working on the programme, Mr Shaibu Muniru, told the Daily Graphic that the exercise was still going on and had so far been successful in the 194 operational districts under the AES. Other benefits The database is also expected to help farmers, farmer-based organisations (FBOs), agricultural producers, traders and processors to maximise their produce and also hold outreach programmes to solve marketing problems. According to Mr Muniru, efforts had been intensified to register as many farmers as possible. The Agricultural Extension Division of MoFA, which is mandated to undertake the exercise, is collaborating with agricultural extension agents (AEAs) for the development of a comprehensive database for the farmers. The Northern Region recorded the highest number of farmers, 20,751, while the Upper East had the least number of 4,402. Information The AEAs gathered the required data on the farmers at the district level for onward transmission to the regional offices, from where the information was communicated to the national office before being factored into the national statistics. Nigeria Some African countries have adopted the system to extend support to their farmers. The Nigerian government, as part of efforts to ensure abundant food supply and even distribution of incentives to farmers in the country, is in the process of collecting and collating a comprehensive farmers’ database. A Nigerian government official, Dr Ezekiel Oyemomi, was quoted as saying “gone were the days when only a few benefited from government assistance to farmers”. Writer's email: [email protected]  

  Rehabilitation of the Spintex Road and other traffic management projects in and around the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange are scheduled to be completed by July, this year. The project, which aims at reducing the constant traffic congestions within the interchange, is being undertaken by Messrs Ussuya Ghana Limited, a road construction company. Work on the project started in October 2009 and was expected to be completed in July 2011 but suffered delays due to a number of constraints. Scope of Work The rehabilitation works include the widening of the Spintex road between the Flower Pot roundabouts and the Accra Mall, construction of drains on the entire road section, provision of lay byes for public transport, surfacing of the road, provision of traffic lights and junction improvement measures at critical intersections around the Accra Mall. During a routine inspection, the Minister of Roads and Highways, Mr Amin Amidu Suleman, said the purpose of the construction was to reduce the perennial congestion experienced on the various roads in the area. Road Minister explains The minister explained that the taxi rank behind the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange would be relocated  to create space for the movement of cars. He added that work at the various sites was in its advanced stages, and indicated that the ministry was fully aware of the complaints by Ghanaians from all quarters of the country about the state of roads in the country. Enhancement of roads Speaking on the enhancement of good roads in the country, the minister explained that the government was taking entrenched measures to effectively facilitate its mandate of providing adequate infrastructural facilities to Ghanaians. He therefore urged Ghanaians to exercise restraint, since various projects were underway to address the issues pertaining to bad roads in the various regions in the country.  Importance of roads “Roads mean a lot to the economy of Ghana and the people. Ghanaians have to be a little patient because road construction is a very expensive enterprise. We don’t have the resources to do it all at once in all parts of the country. We are on course to deliver our mandate of being elected into office. Road construction is not an event, it is a process. The government is encouraging everyone to be patient; the roads will be delivered in due course,” he said. The minister also announced that the Adjiriganor road and some selected roads in East Legon would be rehabilitated while the Spintex road behind the Shangri-La Hotel would be realigned. Furthermore, he said, the road would consist of a dual carriageway with asphalt overlay which would have passenger walkways and divert traffic from the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange, which was usually high during peak hours, onto the Spintex Road and other link road.  

    The Ghana Water Company (GWC) has announced its decision to introduce prepaid metering services for water by the end of the year. The Public Relations Director of GWCL, Mr Michael Agyemang, told the Daily Graphic that the metering service would first be piloted in some communities in Accra and Kumasi “We are looking at localities that have very good flow of water but are not introducing them in distressed areas where people are not getting water,” he said. He added that a committee had been set up to see to the successful implementation of the service, which is intended to curtail the physical and commercial losses incurred by the company. “The system would allow for an efficient use of water and reduce the huge bills as people will now pay per their consumption,” he said. Mr Agyemang mentioned that the company was currently undertaking projects across the country, most of which would be completed by the end of the year. “So we believe that when all these projects are completed, there will be enough water and the project of prepaid meters will be successful,” he added. Reactions However, a question posed to the public on their views on the new directive brought out some mixed reactions. For Kojo Ellimah, a journalist and development planner, the introduction of the prepaid meters would not solve the problem of the GWC. “If the company can search within and correct their own administrative and technical issues, there will be no need for this exercise,” he said. “The wastage associated with water production and supply is unacceptable, and I don’t think resorting to the use of prepaid meters will solve the problem. lt will rather increase water-related diseases for poor communities that cannot access water,” he added. Another protester, Bless Ahiawor, a student, said the problem facing GWCL was not financial but an administrative one. He said the GWC should address anything but focus on how to take care of its pipelines to reduce the rate at which water was being wasted in the various communities. “They should also focus on their information system so that they respond swiftly to complaints from the public, especially those about broken pipelines, to prevent a lot of water gushing out,” he added.    

  A 64-year-old man was yesterday arraigned before an Accra circuit court on counts of defilement and incest. The accused, Emmanuel Oko Lartey, a businessman, was said to have defiled his 15-year-old granddaughter, resulting in a pregnancy. The victim delivered three weeks ago at a secluded place allegedly provided by Lartey. Lartey pleaded not guilty to the charges and was remanded in custody to reappear on January 30, 2014. Case of the prosecution Prosecuting, Assistant Superintendent of Police (Mrs) Sarah Acquah told the court presided over by Ms Ellen Amoah that the victim lived close to the accused person who happened to be her maternal grandfather at Korle Gonno in Accra. The prosecution told the court that Lartey had sexual intercourse with the victim on two occasions when she went to run errands for him last year. Victim gets pregnant  According to the prosecution, the parents of the victim later realised the victim was 32 weeks pregnant and upon interrogation, she disclosed that her grandfather was responsible. However, the accused person managed to hide the victim at an unknown location until she delivered. Lartey was picked up after investigations and charged with the offences. Man defiles cousin In a related development, an unemployed man has been remanded in custody by an Accra circuit court for defiling his 13-year-old cousin. Abdul Rashid Morgan Acquah, alias Zion Junior, was alleged to have defiled his cousin sometime in 2013. He has pleaded not guilty to one count of defilement and has been remanded by the court presided over by Ms Ellen Amoah to reappear on January 30, 2014. According to the facts of the case as presented by an Assistant Superintendent of Police, Mrs Mary Acquah, the victim and the accused person lived in the same house. Last year, Acquah was said to have lured the victim into her grandfather's room and had sexual intercourse with her. He repeated the act on two separate occasions until a house help informed the victim’s grandmother that Acquah had been making sexual advances at her (house help). The house help's complaint prompted the victim's grandmother to interview her on whether or not Acquah had made passes at her too. At that point, the victim narrated her ordeal to her grandmother who subsequently lodged a complaint with the Odorkor office of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Ghana Police Service. Investigations led to the arrest of Acquah. Writer's email: [email protected].  

          The Students Representative Council (SRC) of the University of Ghana, Legon, has kicked against the decision of the university authorities to introduce user charges for all vehicles entering the university from February 1, 2014. The President of the SRC, Mr Eric Edem Agbana, told the Daily Graphic Thursday that the proposed charges were too exorbitant and that it was also wrong for students to be included in the category of people who would be paying the full charges. He indicated that the leadership of students would use all avenues at its disposal, including demonstrations, to fight the introduction of the user charges that were  announced. Mr Agbana, therefore, appealed to the government and the authorities of the university to revise the policy of duty charges to save students from any  burden, adding that commercial drivers would definitely pass the user charges onto students. User charges The university has announced that with effect from February 1, 2014, all vehicles entering the main campus and those using the road passing through the Staff Village would be required to pay a user charge. Private vehicles are to pay GH¢1 per entry while taxis and other small commercial passenger vehicles would be required to pay GH¢2 per entry. The university authorities indicated that large trucks delivering goods or passing through the campus would pay GH¢3 per entry. They also said arrangements were being made for private road users to make one-time payments of GH¢400 per year; GH¢250 for six months and GH¢150 for three months. For the first two months, a manual collection will be used at the toll booths, while arrangements are being made for an electronic access control. Exemption The university authorities said only employees of the institutions and their dependants using vehicles registered with the university would be exempted from paying the charges. Action illegal Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Subsidiary Legislations, Mr O. B. Amoah, has described the action of the university authorities as illegal, since the university had not received parliamentary approval to introduce such charges, reports Mabel Aku Baneseh. He said Parliament had not received any bill seeking to introduce road tolls at the university and further indicated that the legislature was currently on recess and would resume on January 28, 2014. “They can, therefore, not start on February 1, 2014 as they intend to do,” Mr Amoah added. He further indicated that it was the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MoFEP), which had the mandate to send rates, fees and charges to Parliament on behalf of government agencies to do so.          

  Members of the Ghana Road Transport Coordinating Council (GRTCC) Thursday held a marathon meeting to discuss increases in transport fares, following an upward review in the prices of petroleum products. The meeting was held behind closed doors and at the time of filing this report, the meeting was still in session. A source close to the council advised drivers and transport operators not to increase transport fares until the necessary consultations had been done and a final decision taken. The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) announced increases in the prices of petroleum products, effective from yesterday. The price of petrol has now been increased by six per cent. This means that petrol will now be sold at GH¢ 2.23. Kerosene was increased by 19 per cent, while liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has also gone up by 8.73 per cent.   According to the statement issued by the NPA, the ex-pump price for gas oil has been increase from GH¢ 2.26 to GH¢2.42 per litre. There has, however, been no price change in premix fuel. The product will continue to be sold at GH¢ 1.16 per a litre.  During a visit to some bus terminals in Accra, the Daily Graphic observed that drivers had not increased their fares. In an interview with the Welfare Chairman of the Neoplan Station in Accra, Mr John Awuah, he explained that the transport operators were mandated to increase the fares after a report had been issued by the GRTCC. He said the drivers would continue to charge the old fares until a decision had been made by the GRTCC. “But as of now we have not increased anything at all, whether tro-tro, taxi, long-distance bus, cargo; nobody has increased fares by a pesewa… we hope for a reasonable increment in the price of fuel in future,” he said. Mr Awuah added that they felt cheated at the various fuel stations because most of the stations delay in adjusting their pumps when there was an increment in the price of petroleum products. A Koforidua station master who gave his name as Wofa Yaw said the last time there was an increase in transport fares, passengers initially boycotted their services. Wofa Yaw, therefore, urged the government to increase transport fares consistently with the increases in fuel prices.  

  Journalists at a workshop on Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) have called on Parliament not to rush the passage of the Plant Breeders Bill. They said Parliament should allow for more stakeholder engagement on the bill and also subject the reading of the bill to a more rigorous debate to ensure that only what was good for Ghana was passed into law. The workshop, organised by the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL) and the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD), a non-governmental organisation, was designed to provide journalists with smore information on GM foods so that they could set the agenda on the quest for the genetically engineered foods in the country. The journalists, therefore, decided to submit a resolution to Parliament, urging the legislators to delay the passage of the bill until a national forum was held to get the inputs of all interest groups. Speaking at the opening ceremony of the workshop attended by more than 40 journalists, the Managing Director of the GCGL, Mr Kenneth Ashigbey, urged media personnel to acquire adequate knowledge about GMOs to be able to educate the public on the subject so that they could make informed choices. He advised journalists to be particularly abreast of national issues so that they could hold authorities accountable for their actions. GMOs Professor Walter S. Alhassan, a Biotechnology Consultant in his presentation said no visible adverse effects of GMOs on farmers had been recorded yet.  He said all the negative perceived attributes of the Genetically Modified Technologies (GMT) also occurred in conventional crops.  Professor Alhassan said GMOs were formed when genes (hereditary material) were moved artificially from one species to another. He said while the anti-GM agencies had enhanced awareness creation activities, they had created lots of anxiety among the public.  According to him, the problems that the adoption of GMOs in Ghana are likely to face included infrastructure facilities and other support services such as market for the food and warehousing. Mr Bernard Guri of the Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Organisational Development (CIKOD) said there was a lack of scientific consensus on claims of benefits of GMOs. Difference between biotechnology and GM biotechnology A member of Food Sovereignty, a grass-roots food advocacy movement, Mr Yaw Opoku, said there was a difference between biotechnology and GM biotechnology, adding that it was unfortunate that scientists would not want to make that clear for people to make informed choices. Mr Opoku said biotechnology referred to the application of science and technology to agriculture, while GM biotechnology referred to the transference of genes from any species, either plant or animals to crops. He said GMO was a system that had health impacts on humans and animals, as well as socio-economic impacts on farmers and their families. Mr Opoku said Section three of  ACT 831 of the Biosafety Law required that a biosafety authority (technical committee) had to be instituted to do risk management and assessment of GM foods already on the market.  

  Five more victims of the gas explosion at Kwahu Fodoa are reported to have died at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi. According to the Deputy Public Relations Officer of the hospital, Mr Ernest Abban, who confirmed this to the Daily Graphic, out of the five, three were males, one female and a three-year-old girl. He could not give details of the deceased but said eight of the victims were being treated at KATH. The victims were among the 13 people who were admitted at KATH after they had sustained various degrees of injury following an accident involving a gas tanker. Calamity befell Kwahu Fodoa, a farming community off the main Nkawkaw-Kumasi road, last Wednesday, when a five-month old baby was burnt to death, after a gas tanker crashed into a building situated by the roadside. The body of the deceased, whose name was given as Yusif, was deposited at the Holy Family Hospital at Nkawkaw. Twenty-seven others sustained injuries and were sent to the same hospital and KATH for treatment. The driver of the vehicle, who was said to have also sustained injuries, could, however, not be traced. Although the tanker, with registration number GE 6376-13 and with the inscription ‘Kan Royal’, which was heading towards Kumasi, did not explode, volumes of the gas which leaked and spread in the direction of the wind  caused an explosion in one of the houses which spread to 36 other houses, leading to the casualties. According to the Kwahu West Municipal Fire Officer, Mr George Frempong, the incident occurred at about 4:30 a.m last Wednesday. He said when the tanker, which was fully loaded with gas, crashed into the building, housing the New Faith Church International, firemen drawn from Mpraeso, Nkawkaw and Konongo were mobilised to seal the leakage on the tanker. According to him, the firemen at the same time went round the community to warn the people not to set fire for some time, but suddenly there was an explosion in one of the houses killing the child. He said the fire spread to a number of other houses, including three big sheds containing cola nuts being prepared for export, destroying the houses and the commodity.  

      Healthcare delivery in  northern Ghana took a giant stride yesterday, when President John Dramani Mahama inaugurated phase one of the Tamale Teaching Hospital project and cut the sod for the phase two. The first phase, involving the rehabilitation and expansion of existing structures and installation of new equipment, cost 39. 3 million euros, while the second phase will cost 48.5 million euros. The two projects are expected to add a major boost to the government's quest to develop the hospital into an international facility of excellence. Funding for the projects are provided by the Dutch and Ghanaian governments. Second phase Specific projects under the second phase include the construction of a five-storey block with medical and surgical wards, faculty offices, tutorial and conference rooms; a second five-storey block with operating theatres, maternity wards and facilities; a three-story accident and emergency building and reception area, as well as beds for emergencies. Others are: a link building, a new mortuary with pathology unit and laboratory; a new medical gases plant; assorted medical equipment; ancillary facilities including power plant; waste management section and staff accommodation.. Completion of the first phase brought the bed capacity of the hospital to 400. The second phase will add 400 more beds and increase the bed capacity of the hospital to 800. Background of the project The Tamale Hospital was constructed in 1974, but it had not seen any major rehabilitation for years until about two years ago when the late President, Professor John Atta Mills cut the sod for the commencement of the first phase of rehabilitation and upgrading of the facility to the status of a teaching hospital. Since then, the government has worked assiduously to ensure the continuation of the project. Inaugurating the project, President Mahama stressed the government’s determination to invest heavily in healthcare, since quality health for the people was paramount in building a vibrant nation. He described the Tamale Teaching Hospital project as a critical investment that would bring a lot of benefits to the people of the Northern Region and beyond and said it was his vision to see to it that the hospital became the best in every aspect of health delivery. With the rapid increase in the population of Tamale in particular and the Northern Region in general, the President said it was very important to ensure that the health facilities matched the growth. The population of the city that was about 400,000 when the hospital was constructed in 1974, has more than quadrupled. Touching on the NDC government's social democratic principles, Mr Mahama said that had informed the emphasis placed on projects that would improve the lot of the people. On medical training at the University for Development Studies ( UDS), the President expressed delight that the medical students now used the new facilities at the hospital. He also said the fact that the teaching hospital would also provide training for allied health personnel would add another dimension to its importance. President Mahama promised that every region would have a regional hospital by the end of his term and charged the hospital’s management to take good care of the facilities and renew their commitment to their jobs. He also paid tribute to his predecessor who initiated the project. Health minister The Minister of Health, Ms Sherry Ayitey, said the projects would enable the UDS to produce more doctors for the northern sector and the entire nation. She said this year, the hospital would introduce a programme that would help improve the nutrition of children in the three northern regions. The CEO of the hospital, Dr Prosper Akambom, praised the government for fulfilling its promise to the people of the region. Regional  Minister The Northern Regional Minister, Mr Bede Ziedeng, in a welcome address, said the people in the region would forever be grateful to the government for living up to its promise to help change the face of health delivery in the region.  The Deputy Head of Mission of The Netherlands Embassy in Ghana, Mr Harry van Dijk, said The Netherlands was proud to be part of the project.      

    The Ghana Police Service has automated the Fingerprint Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), as part of efforts to fight crime. With the automation, verifying fingerprints to ensure speedy investigations and background checks on suspected criminals can now be done within a day or two.  The police, as a result of the automation, have succeeded in resolving 20 high-profile cases which would have taken a longer period to deal with and 65 suspects involved in the cases have been arrested. Some of the cases had occurred before the automation project started in 2011. Fingerprints from 1925 The project has made it possible to upload almost all fingerprints and criminal records (termed profiling of people) gathered since 1925.  The Commissioner of Police (COP) in charge of the CID, Mr Prosper Agblor, told the Daily Graphic that with the automation of the Fingerprints Unit, the staff only needed to scan and feed an impression into the system for it to automatically generate a report to indicate if it matched an existing fingerprint or not. That, he said, was an improvement over the old manual system where personnel had to search for files before using a magnifying glass to search the database and classify fingerprints before doing any matching of fingerprints. Holding on to manual fingerprints Mr Agblor also said the CID was, however, keeping the manual fingerprints as a backup in the event of any disaster or challenge that might arise. He added that although some owners of the fingerprints might be dead, the department was keeping them for teaching and record-keeping purposes. According to him, when the fingerprint impressions were listed on the system, it automatically searched the database to establish any fingerprint match or mismatch, to quicken investigations. On the automation of the criminal record system, he said it had made the profiling of people very easy. The Spanish government sponsored project, Mr Agblor said, had also made it faster to pick up people with criminal records.  He said all those measures were enhancing criminal investigations and had contributed greatly to the turnaround of investigations. Training  Six hundred and seventy-nine detectives of the CID have been trained on the automated system since 2011, while mobile training units have been established to provide training at the regional level. A number of retraining programmes have also been organised for crime officers and detectives.  Mr Agblor indicated that the training was a way of motivating police personnel. For effective investigation, the CID director said he insisted on teamwork by officers working on cases, particularly where there were fatalities involved. “Mostly, murder cases are resolved best due to teamwork led by superior officers. We also have a review after each operation,” Mr Agblor said.    

  The Paramount Chief of the Gomoa Ajumako Traditional Council, Obirempon Nyamfo Krampah XI, has appealed to investors to invest in his paramountcy to help create jobs for the youth. He noted that the unemployment rate in the area was very high and the only way to reduce the situation was the establishment of businesses that would offer ready employment to the youth.  Obirempon Krampah, who doubles as the President of the Gomoa Ajumako Traditional Council, said most of the youth were usually seen engaging in activities that were harmful to their lives, all due to the lack of business people to invest in the area. Natural resources in Gomoa area He said Gomoa consisted of three districts, namely Gomoa East, Gomoa West and Gomoa Central, which are rich in natural resources such as gold and salt, as well as arable lands for agricultural purposes.  In addition, it has calamite and tantalite (minerals used for the manufacture of aircraft) and aside these, the paramount chief indicated that the Gomoa area had vast lands conducive for investors, and, therefore, urged them to throng the area with investments to create jobs avenues for the youth. The paramount chief further called on the government to invest in the area due to the abundance of natural resources. Preparation by the chief Obirempon Krampah stated that vast lands had been specially designated for investors who would want to come on board and partner him to help create jobs, for the youth in the area.  He described the inhabitants as very friendly, accommodating and hard-working and pledged his unflinching support for any investor, both local or foreign, who would be ready and willing to invest in the Gomoa area, especially within his paramountcy. Commendation Obirempon Krampah commended the government for its immense contribution towards the development of the three districts and mentioned the construction of schools, Kumasi Ventilated Improved Pits (KVIPs), as well as Community Health Professionals Service (CHPS) compounds as some of the major projects undetaken in the area. He charged the contractors working on the Gomoa Ankamo-Dawurampong-Afransi road to speed up the work to finish the road in order to help farmers transport their produce to the cities.  

  The Oforikrom assembly of the Apostolic Church Ghana in the Asafo Sub-Area, Kumasi, has presented a cheque for GH¢2,700 to support the operations of the Ashan Children’s Home based at Denase in the Afigya Kwabre District in the Ashanti Region. The presiding elder of the church, Mr Sampson Kofi Wiredu, who made the presentation on behalf of the church at the church premises in Kumasi, said GH¢1,200.00 out of the amount was meant for the purchase of 50 bags of cement for expansion works at the home. The church also presented a sheep as a New Year gift to the children. He said the church’s relationship with the home since last year had been sustainable and pointed out that the donation was made in conformity with the church’s decision to support the home every second Sunday of January. He,also, on behalf of the church, presented money totalling GH¢2,400 to some selected aged, students and orphans in the church, describing the gesture as a normal plan to support the needy. Speaking at the ceremony, the district pastor, Joseph A. Eshun, who based his speech on Mathew chapter five, said as Christians they should show mercy to others, and that giving to the needy was an important Christian doctrine that should not be underestimated.  The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ashan Children’s Home, Nana Baffour Konadu, expressed gratitude to the church for the support and called on other churches to come to their aid as well as that of other orphanages in the country.  

Ghanaian workers on the FPSO-Kwame Nkrumah are working in fear following a recommendation by an official of an expatriate company, Global Energy Ventures (GEV) for the dismissal of four Ghanaian workers.   Aside the dismissal of the four Ghanaian scaffolders and their indigenous company, Seaweld Engineering, which has been working with Modec, managers of the facility since 2010, the company has had its services withdrawn and awarded to a Scottish company, GEV. GOGSPA call for investigation The Executive Secretary, Ghana Oil and Gas Service Providers Association (GOGSPA), Mr Nuertey Adzeman says the development came as a shock to members and they had petitioned the Petroleum Commission to investigate the matter. He said the move by Modec, managers of the FPSO placing an expatriate company over a local company and its employees was against the Local Content and Local Participation Regulation 2013. The Regulation 12 (2), he said, indicates that “Where an indigenous company has the capacity to execute a job, that indigenous Ghanaian company shall not be disqualified exclusively on the basis of that it is not the lowest financial bidder.” He said it was also shocking that in less than two hours after the dismissal of the local company and its staff, there was an elaborate plan already in motion to replace them.   More soon  

  Four persons including a one-year-old girl lost their lives when the VIP Yutong Bus on which they were travelling was involved in an accident on the Cape Coast Takoradi road Thursday morning. The bus collided with an articulated truck in a curve at Aduagyei near Atabadze in the Central Region. The deceased include two men and a woman all of whom are yet to be identified. Three out of the 43 injured persons are in a very critical condition and are receiving treatment at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. According to the police, the accident occurred at about 7.30 am. The articulated truck with registration number BA 438-09 and the Yutong bus with registration number GR 4844-13 were said to have come close to each other whilst negotiating the curve at Aduagyei. According to Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr Godfred Asare in charge of The Komenda-Edina-Eguafo Abrem (KEEA) District Police Command, the two vehicles came close to each other in the middle of road. He told GraphicOnline that the impact of the clash forced the Yutong bus to skid off the road into a ditch. He said the driver of the articulated truck who failed to stop after the accident was pursued and has been arrested by the Elmina police.  

  Tipper truck drivers have urged the government to set guidelines to ensure fairness in the axle-weigh regime.  They contended that the current axle-weigh regime was biased against privately-owned trucks, because state-owned trucks infringed  the laws with impunity. In an interview with the Daily Graphic, Mr Anthony Agbemehia, the Chairman of the Tema-Accra branch of the Tipper Truck Drivers Association, said the law that debarred tipper trucks from exceeding a maximum payload of 27,000 kilogrammes was only applicable to private trucks, whereas state-owned trucks flagrantly flouted the directive without the authorities sanctioning them. He held the view that it was unfair for the authorities to punish private truck drivers who contravened the directive of the Ministry of Roads and Highway when trucks belonging to the state and some companies whose tonnage far exceeded the set axle load limits operated without any hindrance. Level playing field Expressing the frustrations of members of the union, Mr Agbemehia insisted that there should be a level playing field for stakeholders in the haulage business. “It is our candid opinion that the government should come out with a comprehensive standard that all stakeholders must comply with. Common Position Mr Agbemehia suggested that the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), the Ghana Highway Authority (GHA), the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) and the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) should adopt a common position on the issue to guide those who imported trucks into the country. He explained that this was necessary because for the past 10 years, there had been consistent importation of trucks that weighed over the maximum tonnage even when empty. He contended that it was the lack of standardisation that had made buyers patronise those trucks. Destruction of roads Mr Agbemehia also discounted the claim in certain quarters that truck drivers were the cause of the deplorable state of roads in the country. He pointed out that many roads within the Accra and Tema metropolises, which were not regularly used by trucks, had been destroyed soon after construction due to shoddy work by contractors. He said much as the union conceded that there was the need to protect the roads from destructive activities, it was pleading with the government to give the operators of such trucks a period of grace of two years, to enable them to phase out the overweight trucks. Permissible load Tipper trucks were initially permitted to carry loads exceeding 30,000 kilogrammes but this had been revised downwards to a maximum tonnage of 27,000 kilogrammes to prevent the rapid deterioration of roads.  However, according to the tipper truck drivers, some trucks had an empty weight of 14,000 kilogrammes with the cubic capacity of about 29,000 kilogrammes, totalling a gross weight of about 43,000 kilogrammes a clear 16,000 kilogrammes over the permissible axle payload.  

  A centre of excellence for the dissemination of practical knowledge on production of vegetables and horticultural crops has been established at Vakpo in the North Dayi district of the Volta Region. The centre has a ‘pack house’ for the packaging and storing of vegetables and fruits for export and six houses of a technology known as the “greenhouse technology” for the cultivation of crops.  The new technology is designed to attract the youth into agriculture and to make it more lucrative  to solve the high rate of unemployment in the country. The centre of excellence was established by the Export, Marketing and Quality Awareness Project (EMQAP) under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and managed by a private agribusiness services and innovative services firm, Agri Impact Consult.  Youth in agriculture Briefing the Volta Regional Minister, Mr Joseph Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, during a visit to the centre, the regional director of MoFA, Mr Kofi Larbi, said a youth employment drive would soon be launched to motivate graduate youth to enter agriculture as a livelihood. He said there was an inexhaustible demand for vegetables on the export market but this opportunity was still unknown to the youth hence the slow response to the active involvement of the youth in agriculture in the wake of rising unemployment rate in the country. The agri-business project development manager of Agri Impact, Mr Joseph Agyiri, said machines had been installed at the ‘pack house’ to facilitate packing and storage of mangoes and pineapples for export. In a comment, the Volta Regional Minister said all municipal and district chief executives would be impressed upon to take advantage of the new technology in view of its potential to reduce the high unemployment rate as well as to enhance income earning in the area.   Volta Region Agricultural Development Project Earlier, Mr Afotey-Agbo and his deputy, Mr Francis Ganyaglo and district chief executives for South Dayi and Afadjato-South districts, Mr Semenu Bekui and Madam Angela Alorwu-Tay  visited the defunct Volta Region Agricultural Development Project(VORADEP) at Kpeve. The regional director, Mr Larbi, told the team that the research centre was reputed to have supplied the poultry needs of  the whole Volta Region and beyond under the project. However, he said, funding to proceed with the project ceased with the withdrawal of funding from the World Bank. Efforts are being made, he said, to source funding from a West African agricultural project  to revamp the centre. According to him all the four pens available for poultry will be rehabilitated soon to house 4000 birds.  He said mango, papaya, pineapple would also be cultivated as income generating crops at the centre in addition to the cultivation of cassava, cocoyam, sweet potato, yam and plantain as food security crops. Nii Laryea Afotey-Agbo, said the visit was to assess the situation on the ground to attract investment  to the centre which  had been underutilised for a long time.