Accra, Feb. 12, GNA - Mr Alhassan Azong, Minister of State responsible for Public Sector Reforms on Wednesday said sector ministries would be taking full responsibility to make the public service more responsive to the needs of citizenry.He explained that under the “Ghana Shared Growth and Development Agenda” (GSGDA 2014-2017), the capacity of the Public and Civil service was to be improved to promote efficiency and effectiveness of performance in their services.“Government is seeking to pursue

Accra , Feb. 12, GNA - The Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) on Wednesday launched its School of Graduate Studies and Research, to provide in-depth training in Communication Research Methods, and open new opportunities for research works in Journalism and other Communication related areas.The occasion was also used to officially introduce four Master’s programmes in the areas of Journalism, Public Relations, Media Management and Development Communication, which were approved in 2013 by the National

Accra, Feb.12, GNA - An Accra Circuit Court on Wednesday sentenced Kwabena Atta, a trader to three years imprisonment for possessing narcotic drugs.Kwabena, a 30-year-old trader at the Agbogbloshie market pleaded guilty to the possession of narcotic drugs without authority.In his explanation before the court presided over by Mr Francis Obiri, Kwabena said he sold the drugs to enable him take care of his two year-old-child, since the death of his wife.The trial judge therefore convicted him on his

Accra, Feb. 12, GNA - An Accra Circuit Court on Wednesday sentenced one Samuel Adjei, Fisherman, to a two-year imprisonment for possession of narcotic drug without authority.Police Chief Superintendent Duuti Tuaruka, told the court, presided over by Mr Francis Obiri that the witnesses in the case were policemen stationed at Teshie, whiles the convict was a fisherman and lives at Teshie Maami.He said on February 8, the witnesses, who were on patrol duty, received information to the effect that, the

Accra, Feb. 12, GNA – Nii Armah, a welder, has been remanded into prison custody for possessing firearms without lawful authority, by an Accra Circuit court.Nii, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, was remanded by the court to reappear on February 19, 2014.Prosecuting Chief Inspector E. Afful told the court that the complainant is the Gyasehene of Teshie and a member of the Aya Kwablah Family, while the accused person is a resident of Kwabenya.He said on February 1, 2014, at about 0930 hours

Accra, Feb.12 GNA - Mr Nuru Hamidan, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for Asokore Manpong on Wednesday continued his testimony at the trial of Abuga Pele, former National Coordinator of the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) at the Financial Court.Abuga Pele Former National Coordinator and Philip Akpeena Assibit, Chief Executive Officer of Goodwill International Group (GIG) have been charged with 19 counts of causing financial loss to the state, defrauding by false

Accra, Feb. 12, GNA – Dr De-Gaulle Moses Dogbatsey, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Medi-Moses Prostate Foundation, has urged Ghanaians, especially men to avoid alcoholism and smoking to prevent prostate problems at old age.They should also eat meat in moderation, but rather take in a lot of fruits, as well as greens such as cabbage, kontomire and carrots.Dr Dogbatsey, who is a specialist in prostate cancer treatment, gave the advice in an interview with Ghana News Agency on Wednesday

Ho, Feb. 12, GNA - Dr Ebenezer Appiah-Denkyira, Director - General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) on Tuesday called for change in attitudes to ensure that the mix of expertise in the Service results in better health among the citizenry.“Let us clean our image this year.”He was addressing the 2013 Volta Regional Health Services performance review conference in Ho.It was under the theme, “Focusing on the frontline staff: A key determinant for improving access and quality health services in

Ho, Feb. 12, GNA - Peer review has resulted in vast improvements in aesthetic outlook and service delivery of hospitals in the Volta Region since 2009.Mr Robert Adatsi, Deputy Director in charge of Clinical Care at the Volta Regional Health Directorate stated this when he presented a technical overview of the region’s health sector at the 2013 performance review conference of health managers in Ho.The theme for the conference was “focusing on the frontline staff: A key determinant for improving

Accra, Feb. 12, GNA - Foster Kpordzih, the Chief Executive Officer of Capital Assurance Company Limited, an investment advisory firm, was on Wednesday put before an Accra Circuit Court for allegedly defrauding a construction firm of GH 200,000 cedis.Kpordzih, charged with carrying out banking business without licence, defrauding by false pretence and issuing false cheque, pleaded not guilty.He was remanded into police custody by the court presided over by Mr Francis Obiri to reappear on February

Kumasi, Feb. 12, GNA - Mrs Matilda Nana Manye Amissah-Arthur, wife of Ghana’s Vice President, has stressed the need for library associations in the country to provide members with competency and skills needed for rendering quality service.Herself a professional librarian, urged fellow professionals to prepare themselves adequately for new challenges of global librarianship in the face of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) through continuous education to its members.This, she said, would

Tamale Feb. 12, GNA - Pregnant women whose husbands accompany them to antenatal at the Nyohini Clinic, in the Sagnerigu district of the Northern Region are given priority service over women whose husbands refused to do same.Personnel of the health facility said the move was to motivate and encourage other women to emulate the act by also convincing their husbands to accompany them.Madam Rose Akanko, a nurse at the Nyohini clinic explained to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview on Wednesday

Tamale, Feb. 12, GNA - Expectant mothers in the Northern Region have been advised to desist from the use of “kaligutim”, a traditional black substance used to facilitate delivery.The “Kaligutim” is the local name of the mixture of some special selected leaves, prepared and given to pregnant women to insert into their private parts with the notion that it would facilitate safe delivery.The substance, which is normally mixed with porridge, tea or soup, is given to a pregnant woman in her third

Accra, Feb. 12, GNA - Vice President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur on Wednesday urged investors to take advantage of existing structures and provisions in Ghana to increase their investments to Ghana.He acknowledged the difficulties the nation is currently grappling with but gave the assurance that Ghana would overtime have more incentives to scale up domestic production.He therefore urged both domestic and foreign investors to take advantage of the good investment climate being created by Government

Accra, Feb. 12, GNA - The Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) is collaborating with various donor partners to introduce in Ghana, the Scaling Seeds and Technologies Partnership in Africa, intended to accelerate smallholder farmer access to transformative agricultural technologies.The partnership which is being funded by USAID is to be implemented in the country by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), under a 47- million-dollar project that would also be implemented in six African

Accra , Feb. 12, GNA - Ghana is seeking to amend its legislation on Trademarks to reflect global dynamics and the changing circumstances of creativity and innovation and to improve the standards for intellectual property rights.Thus, Parliament is currently considering the Trademarks Amendment Bill, 2013 that seeks to fine-tune the existing Trademarks Act, 2004 (Act 664) to counter the rising menace of piracy of trademarks of Ghanaian innovations and products and to prevent unfair business competition

Bolgatanga, Feb. 12, GNA - Alhaji Limuna Mohammed Muniru, Upper East Regional Minister on Tuesday presented an amount of GH¢8,000 and a cheque of GH¢500 for the treatment of four -year- old Miss Akena Akanure; a hole-in-heart patient.The money is to be lodged with the Emergency Tertiary Health Foundation Fund (ETHFF) instituted by the Upper East Regional Directorate of the Ghana Health Service (GHS).The presentation was the second chunk of funds raised by the Regional Minister to fulfill a promise

Cape Coast (C/R), Feb. 12, GNA - Mr Akwasi Oppong-Fosu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development said the National Decentralisation Action Plan (NDAP) of 2010 provides the involvement of Non-State Actors (NSA) in local governance as one of the ten action areas.He said the policy objectives were to clarify and strengthen the roles and relationships between key NSA members, such as traditional authorities and civil society groups in local governance.Mr Oppong-Fosu was addressing members of

Cape Coast, Feb. 12, GNA - Mr Kwesi Oppong Fosu, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, has expressed concern about the slow pace of the integration of departments into Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).He said to help address the situation the Local Government Service Secretariat would provide assistance to the MMDAs with guidelines and technical support to speed up the process.Mr Oppong Fosu expressed the concern on Tuesday at a meeting with heads of departments

Tema, Feb. 12, GNA - A three-member car snatching syndicate operating in the Ningo-Prampram District have been arrested by the Tema Police Command.The three suspects are Emmanuel Maxwell Nartey, 26- year-old phone repairer, Felix Agyei, also 26 years and phone repairer and Mohamed Issifu alias Akorkora,40, a car dealer.Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Olivia Turkson, Public Relations Officer of the Tema Police, told the media that between January 12 and February 08, Nartey and Agyei snatched