Tamale, July 10, GNA – The Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI) will soon complete its training in the energy sector aim at equipping beneficiaries with skills for the oil and gas job market.   A release issued in Tamale and signed by Mr Philip Assibit Akpeena, Managing Consultant of MDPI said, the phase one of the training, which ended successfully, saw all the 7,020 beneficiaries schooled in the foundation modules, overview of the oil and gas industry and health safety and environment.   He said the beneficiaries also received training in entrepreneurship and career development and natural gas, which was aimed at repositioning in the oil and gas industry.   “After our initial scan of the job market, it became apparent that the support services sector has a high potential of creating many more jobs than the direct job market, and this is buttressed on our study of the UK oil and gas industry where about 500,000 jobs were created as in 2010 alone of which 450,000 are absorbed in the indirect job market”.   He said MDPI/Goodwill developed the entrepreneurship and career development module to train all the participants to develop strategic entrepreneurial skills to equip them to set up their own business enterprises.   Mr Akpeena said, “Our interaction with the newly formed Ghana Gas Company Limited (GGCL) also suggests that lots of jobs are going to be created along the value chain of natural gas, especially when we start utilizing the Jubilee gas and the Bonyere Gas processing plants, which are to be built”.   He explained that the natural gas model was developed to equip all the participants with the necessary skills to have a very good understanding of natural gas.   Mr Akpeena observed that the feedback that the MDPI received from the participants was overwhelming and that majority of the trainees had already developed interest in setting up their own enterprises to sell products and services in the industry.   He said the second phase organised participants into various specialised disciplines within the oil and gas industry that covered both the technical and non technical aspects of the industry.   According to him, each discipline took 20 credit hours of training to complete where local and international consultants to MDPI were tasked to develop modules that conform to international standards, while reflecting the legal framework, value chain and policy leads of the industry in Ghana.   He said the third phase of the training was designed to introduce the participants to practical hands on field based projects where they shall underpin theory with practice.    This, according to the statement, would be achieved through case studies, internships, attachments and field based projects with oil companies structured in two parts.     The structures included practical case study on the oil and gas value chain and regulatory environment and respective topics pertaining to participant’s areas of specialization.   The projects would be supervised by MDPI’s local and international consultants and the studies and works on the projects would be based on practical cases on players and regulators of the industry.   Mr Akpeena said beneficiaries would be awarded internationally accredited certificates that could earn industry related jobs in Ghana and abroad, especially in Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Africa and the Middle East.   GNA...

From Linda Asante Agyei: A GNA Special Correspondent, Kampala, Uganda   Accra, July 10, GNA - Journalists have been asked to see themselves as the mirror of society relating issues to both government and the general public, especially when the world is advancing in technological development.   “With the emergence of biotechnology, which has received a lot of negative perceptions and fears, you need to equip yourselves with the facts and help allay the fears of our people”.   Dr James .A. Ogwang, Director of the National Crops Resources Research Institute (NaCRRI) of the Uganda National Agricultural Research Organisation, said on Tuesday when a group of science journalists from Africa and Europe paid a courtesy call on him as part of a media study tour to Uganda’s biotechnology laboratory facilities.   The media tour was sponsored by the Uganda’s NARO, Africa Harvest, a Biotech Foundation International and the European Association for Bioindustries (EuropaBio).   The tour was aimed at offering the journalists, including those from Europe, an insight into the challenges and opportunities that Africa is facing in terms of food security. It was also to enable these journalists see how African researchers, farmers and the collaboration between public private partnerships to address the challenges, including biotechnology.   Dr Ogwang noted that Africa is faced with challenges of food security despite the widespread of cultivation, and mentioned climate change, emergence of pest diseases and drought among others as key examples.   “We therefore need to move from our traditional way of farming to the use of biotechnology and genetically engineering to address food security and improve our crop varieties”, he added.   The NaCRRI Director expressed the concern that many African politicians were not aware of the dangers our current traditional agricultural practices could pose in the near future and “We as research scientists and journalists have to help them understand and appreciate the need to embrace this whole idea of biotechnology”.   Uganda, which has the best biotechnology laboratory facilities, is undertaking Confined Field Trials for seven of its main food crops. These are different varieties of bananas, cassava, cotton, maize and sweet potatoes.      “All what has been done is on Confined Field Trials whilst our biosafety bill is currently being discussed in parliament and we will go straight into commercialization”.   Uganda’s testing of biotech cassava is to fight the cassava brown streak virus, which causes deadly streaks in the roots, whilst biotech corn would be resistant to drought, cotton to bollworm and banana to wilting.     Journalists earlier toured NaCRRI biotechnology laboratories, Bio sciences laboratories, the greenhouses and sweet potato experiments sites, the virus resistant cassava confined field trials as well as the farms of some Ugandan farmers.   GNA...

Accra, July 10, GNA - The Tema Metropolitan Assembly has elected a 37-year old Mr. Romeo Elikplim Akahoho as its new presiding member.   Mr. Akahoho polled 37 out a total of 46 votes to occupy the seat. He had five more votes than the required minimum of 32 votes to qualify for the position.   The position of Presiding Member for the Tema Metropolitan Assembly became vacant when the former presiding member, Mr. Jonathan Otu Okunor, had to leave his position to become an Assembly member in the newly created Kpone District.   Mr. Akahoho's only contender, Captain Ben Edmund Duah (retired), lost with the remaining nine votes.   A third contestant, Mr. Baba Abdulai, in his introductory speech before the commencement of voting, dropped from the contest, saying "We need a Presiding Member who is capable. I am stepping down because that person is right here. That person is Romeo Akahoho. I urge my supporters to vote for him."   In his acceptance speech, Mr. Akahoho, who had lost to Mr. Okunor two years ago, when he first contested against him for the position, noted "It has never happened before in this Assembly for a contestant to win within the first round of voting so easily. It is a sign of unity and we will keep it going."   He said there was the need to create more revenue to develop the Tema Metropolis.   "The main thing is to identify areas of revenue generation that we have not tapped."   He also promised to work hard towards improving the lot of members of the Assembly.   The Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr. Robert Ofosuware, congratulated the Assembly members for conducting themselves well without any partisan behavior.   "We have done it without going through any rigorous processes. What is left ahead now is what is most important. We would ensure that areas that lack development are promptly tackled," he said.   GNA...

Accra, July 10, GNA - Government is to pay another 1.3 million dollars judgment debt to a Spanish company, INSOFOTON SA, for a breach of contract, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of Information has said.   Speaking to journalists on Tuesday in Accra, the Deputy Minister said the Company was contracted in September 2005 to provide solar PV powered water pumping and irrigation systems in remote rural areas in Ghana under the second Ghana-Spanish Financial Protocol.   Mr Ablakwa said however that INSOFOTON SA’s contract was abrogated and subsequently INCATEMA INDENMA, another Spanish firm, was awarded the contract to provide the pumping and irrigation systems.   INSOFOTON SA in a letter from its lawyers protested over the breach of agreement by the ministries of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) and Energy.   In the said letter, the company indicated its intention to commence legal action against the two ministries. Subsequently, it notified the Attorney General office’s to claim specific and general damages for breach of contracts.        The then Attorney General, Mr Joe Ghartey in response to INSOFOTON SA‘s letter, indicated that the NPP Government was in breach of contract with INSOFOTON SA and that the Company was entitled to special and general damages and interest on the said amount at the prevailing bank rate from the time of breach till the day of judgment.   According to Mr Ablakwa, Mr Ghartey’s letter therefore advised the then government that any law suit arising out of the matter would be detrimental to government and consequently, a substantial financial burden could be imposed on government.   In the said letter, Mr Ghartey recommended that to avoid a lawsuit by INSOFOTON, government was to try and reach an amicable settlement with them.   Government, however, ignored the said advice and ISOFOTON sued government.   Therefore, on October 10th 2008, INSOFOTON proceeded to Court and the State entered appearance. Both parties agreed to accept the payment of 1.3 million dollars out of which MoFA agreed to pay 850,000 dollars, while the Ministry of Energy agreed to settle 450,000 dollars.            The Court, therefore, entered into a consent judgment. Based on that Mr Ablakwa said government had so far paid one third of the judgment debts and it was finding ways to defray the rest.   “In the spirit of transparency and accountability, government has decided to come out with all judgment debts to put the ongoing national discourse into its proper prospective”, Mr Ablakwa indicated.    GNA...

Cape Coast, July 10, GNA - Mr Stephen Anokye, the Central Regional Manager of the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), has called on political parties to create safe environment for road users since most of their campaign trips begin and end with road transport.   He said road transport played a pivotal role in the socio-economic and developmental agenda of the country’s political system.   Mr Anokye said it was unfortunate that vehicular driving to political programmes in the country were characterized by poor driving standards, poor vehicle maintenance, overloading, over speeding, drunk driving as well as fatigue driving.   He said this at a day’s workshop held by the Commission for the various political parties in the Central Region in Cape Coast on Tuesday.   The workshop, which was attended by about 50 participants, was aimed at promoting a peaceful and crash-free election year, under the theme: “Road safety, my responsibility, your responsibility and our collective responsibility towards a peaceful and crash-free election”.   He pleaded with all political parties and their supporters, as well as Ghanaians at large to rededicate themselves to responsible road safety management since it was a collective responsibility and that it could affect anyone one way or another.   According to him, statistics available to the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) suggest that previous election years had seen disturbing development in relation to road safety.   He observed that increased political activities had partly been identified as contributing to the rise in road-crash related deaths and injuries. He added that as at the end of May 2012, a total of 5,918 crashes had been recorded nationwide, with 928 persons losing their lives and 5,670 being injured.   For the Central Region, he said, a total of 621 crashes had been recorded as at June 2012 with 113 fatalities and 780 injuries.   He said 90 percent of these road crashes were as a result of human error and advised that if much attention was not given to road safety this year, the number of fatalities would increase drastically.   Mr. Thomas Tawiah Aquinas Quansah, Deputy Central Regional Minister called on political party leaders to advise their members to conform to road safety rules and regulations, particularly in this election year.   He also advised them to plan their time and travels well and also avoids the use of unnecessary motorcades which also contribute to road crashes.     Mr Quansah further advised political parties not to fight among themselves since insults and lies would not win them votes but rather live in peace and harmony and also accept the results of the December polls in good faith.   GNA...

Apremdo (W/R), July 10, GNA — Confusion broke-out on Tuesday between artisans occupying a parcel of land at Apremdo near Takoradi and the Police over a demolition exercise ordered by the court.   It started when bulldozers stormed the area near the Galaxy Oil Filling Station at Apremdo, where the artisans and traders had erected temporal structures for their businesses.   According to the Chairman of Apremdo Garages Association, Mr. Peter Quazi, a court bailiff in the company of the Police was at the area at about 0530hours on Tuesday morning to carry out the demolition exercise.   This, he said, did not go down well with the artisans, who prevented the users of the bulldozers from carrying out the exercise.   Mr. Quazi said that the Police tried to prevail upon the artisans to allow the exercise to continue but that resulted in the scuffle.   The situation, however, calmed later when the Police softened their stance and stopped the demolition exercise.   Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Chief Executive for Sekondi-Takoradi, Captain (Retired) Anthony Cudjoe, said his outfit was not informed about the demolition exercise and therefore faulted the Police for the confusion.   He said since the demolition exercise would economically affect the artisans, it should have been properly communicated to them earlier for them to vacate voluntarily.   Captain Cudjoe said although the Assembly intended evacuating artisans in the Metropolis to Kokompe Large Industrial Enclave, the project had not been completed.   He said funds had been secured by the Assembly for the project while a consultant had been engaged to look into the design of the project.   The Ghana News Agency (GNA) gathered that the parcel of land belonged to a stool at Apremdo and the owners went to court for an order to evict the squatters.   GNA...

Accra, July 11, GNA - The Management of the Amputee National Football team, the Black Challenge, is to organize two special justify-your-inclusion sessions in Kumasi and Accra to create an opportunity to amputee footballers to exhibit their prowess to be selected for the national team.   The first session will be held at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) on Thursday, July 19, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. with the second to take place at the Accra Technical Training Centre (ATTC) on Tuesday, July 24, 2012.   The Kumasi exercise is meant for potential players from the northern sector which comprises the Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper West and Upper East Regions, whilst the one in Accra will bring together potential players from the Volta, Eastern, Western, Central and Greater Accra Regions.    The Liaison Officer of the team, Philip Otuo in an release to GNA Sports said the Management is therefore inviting prospective players to avail themselves of the opportunity to ensure their inclusion in the national amputee football team, the Black Challenge.   He appealed to the general public, especially the corporate bodies to support the team to excel in their activities and events.   GNA...

Accra, July 11, GNA - The National Tuberculosis Control Programme (NTP) has intensified its efforts to help reduce the spread of the disease through a new campaign dubbed the ‘KICK TB’.   The campaign aims at raising the awareness of Tuberculosis (TB) among children through the use of football events in schools.   Due to its enormous popularity and potential as an attention grabber, football is being used by the ‘KICK TB’ campaign to promote the cough etiquette and respiratory hygiene, said the NTP Manager, Dr Frank Bonsu, after a two day workshop in Accra.    The workshop, on the theme “making KICK TB Live in Ghana”, follows the launch of the national campaign and the World TB day by the National TB Control Program and the Ghana Health Service in March.   Dr Bonsu said the South African (SA) KICK TB campaign is being replicated in Ghana due to its success adding that a consultant from SA is taking participants from NGOs, Civil Society Organizations, health officials and the Media to discuss the concept as well as brainstorm to adopt appropriate implementation strategies in Ghana.   He said children through the knowledge acquired from the campaign would “serve as communication tools to effect change and at the same time help spread the cough etiquette message”.   Dr Bonsu said one expected outcome amongst others, is that a proportion of school children would have positive attitudes towards TB cases and that more people would report early to clinics should the need arise.   He said the objective of the campaign is to increase TB case detection, increase awareness and knowledge, dispel common myths and misconceptions, promote behavioural changes required to prevent infection and to increase treatment outcomes.   Ms Wena Moelich, SA National Project Manager of KICK TB, appealed to participants to take advantage of every opportunity as South Africa did with the 2010 World cup to push the campaign forward.   She described the programme as her brainchild and that she worked on her dream for a year before the World Cup came to SA saying "you have to take advantage of such a huge international event like The FIFA World Cup."    Ms Moelich said the campaign focused on primary school learners where footballs with appropriate messages were distributed to them in their schools.    She said one of the challenges affecting the management of TB was the stigma attached to the disease and suggested that educating people was the answer to de-stigmatizing.   Ghana, she said, could replicate the South Africa campaign and that monitoring and evaluation was crucial to the program.   According to the WHO global TB report release in 2011, Ghana  is  among few African countries  that have met the world health assembly target of  seventy percent TB case detection and eighty-five percent treatment  success target.   Ghana’s TB incidence and prevalence has reduced almost by fifty percent. However with no interventions in place to address the problem of childhood tuberculosis as there is for adult tuberculosis it was time to put childhood TB on the agenda through the game of football as a communication strategy.   GNA...

Accra, July 11, GNA – The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has named Maxwell Konadu as the interim coach of the Black Satellites.   Konadu, who is also the deputy trainer of the Black Stars will hold the fort following the 'shock' resignation of coach Orlando Wellington last Tuesday.   According to the sources from the  GFA, the out-going Asante Kotoko coach will handle the team until a substantive coach is named.   Meanwhile, Prince Yaw Owusu, Head Coach of Tema Youth has been drafted into the team as one of the assistants alongside Charles Akunnor of Accra Hearts of Oak FC.   The Satellites are due to play Uganda in the qualifier of the 2013 African Youth Championship later this month.   GNA...

Accra , July 11, GNA - Government has between 2009 and 2011 spent some GH¢121,443.71 on renovation works on the Flagstaff House,   Ghana’s Presidential Palace, a move intended to shore up the structural integrity of the sprawling national asset.   This was revealed on Wednesday on the floor of Parliament by Water Resources, Works and Housing Minister, Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, when asked by the MP for Binduri, Stephen Yakubu, on what renovation works had been done on the edifice since 2009 and how much that had cost the nation.   Giving a breakdown of the cost of the renovation, the Minister said fumigation of the facility within the period under review (2009-2011) cost government an amount Gh¢48,956.99, whilst the sum of GH¢41,554.57 was expended on the maintenance and repair of the edifice’s central air condition system.   He said an amount of GH¢26,291.15 was incurred in the maintenance and servicing of generators and minor renovation works on electrical fittings, with the supply and installation of two airconditioners and re-routing of server room costing an additional Gh¢4,641.00.        The Flagstaff House previously served as the residence and office of the President of Ghana, it was reconstructed and inaugurated with the name Golden Jubilee House in November 2008 when construction was nearly complete.   The facility is currently occupied by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, after fire gutted its high-rise offices within the ministries in 2010.   GNA...

Accra , July 11, GNA - Government is working towards completing the housing projects initiated by the previous administration, committing itself to source funding to undertake the venture.   To this end, a committee has been constituted to advice government on interventions aimed at realising that goal to ensure that the initial investment by government was not lost.   Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, Water Resources, Works and Housing Minister, who disclosed this in Parliament on Wednesday, said the Ministry had also constituted a Housing Project Committee to evaluate proposals received from the public on the issue for implementation.   He was answering a questioned posed by the MP for Oforikrom, Mrs Elizabeth Agyemang on what was being done by the ministry to complete the various affordable housing projects being currently occupied by squatters.   Mr Mensah told the House that under the affordable housing programme, not a single unit out of the over 4,700 housing units dotted across the country were completed even though some 70 million Ghana cedis had been sunk into the project, drawing criticisms and heckling from the minority.   He said the ministry had to devise measures that would enable the completion of the projects, including a technical audit to determine why the programme stalled; the exact status of each single unit of housing; the contractors working on the project and those on site; how much it would cost to complete those facilities; where to acquire funds and revaluation of the housing units and the mode of allocation.   The Minister said investigations revealed that the housing project had been held up due to a plethora of reasons that created complexities to completing the projects.   One major hindrance to completing the project, he noted, was a directive by the previous government that the ministry procured building materials for the project and supply same directly to contractors working on the project, describing it as a “disincentive to contractors that compromised the diligent execution of work”.   The Minister said that stance meant the progress of the project was dependent on the ability of the ministry to mobilize financial and other resources to supply the inputs, which led to the stalling of the project.   He said the ministry had also initiated action to get contractors who had been paid advance mobilisation but did not move to site to refund the monies paid to them.   The project was initially funded with an amount of 40 million Ghana cedis from HIPC sources and an additional 30 million Ghana cedis sourced from the Social Security and National Insurance Trust.   The projects including the Nungua Bortey-man, Kpone, Asokore-Mampong, Koforidua, Tamale and Wa housing units are at various stages of completion.   GNA...

Koforidua, July 11, GNA - The Eastern Regional Police Command, on Wednesday destroyed 45 acre Indian hemp plantation at Obosi in the Upper Manya Krobo District.      Two suspects Tetteh Narnor, 30,  Moses Bualor, 26, who claimed ownership of the plantation have also been arrested.      Three others, who had been identified as co-owners of the plantation are on the run and are being pursued by the police who located the plantation based on a tip-off.      The combined team of police personnel led by Superintendent Richardson Kumeko, the Asesewa District Commander, later set fire to the plantation, which was located on a hill.      The suspects told the police that hitherto they were cultivating cash crops but foraging cattle destroyed them hence their decision to switch to the cultivation of Indian hemp.      They said they started the Indian hemp cultivation about a year ago.   GNA...

Accra, July 11, GNA - Former President John Agyekum Kufuor, said on Tuesday in Suzhou, China, that relations between China and Africa must be based on a win-win situation in which the aspirations of both Africans and Chinese are met.   He said Africa should seek partnerships that will open up the enormous wealth of their markets in a way that will benefit their people and not those that deprived them of their well-being even as their resources were being taken away.   Former President Kufuor was speaking at a banquet in honour of the 150 delegates attending the Second China-Africa People's Forum at the Taihu International Conference centre. It is under the theme:"People's Voice, People's Friendship and Cooperation of the People."   This was contained in a release signed by Mr Frank Agyekum, Spokesperson and Special Aid to former President John Agyekum Kufuor and issued on Wednesday   It said five other former African heads of state and two current first ladies are attending. They are Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Joaquim Chicano of Mozambique,  Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, Sylvestere Ntibantunganya of Burandi and Abdel Rahman Swar el-Dahab of Sudan.   The first ladies are Mrs Azeb Mefin of Ethiopia and Mrs Widad Babiker Orner Mudawi of Sudan.   Former President Kufuor said China's immense influence in the world must affect Africa positively to enable her to develop alongside other continents.   "Africa should benefit from the technical know-how of China and there should be equity in transactions. Chinese companies must take seriously the social responsibilities of the communities in which they work and the government must offer scholarships for studying and training to the youth," he said.       The two-day conference was opened by the Vice-President of China, Mr Jiangping Xi.   GNA...

Accra, July 11, GNA - STAR-Ghana a multi-donor pooled funding mechanism (funded by DFID, DANIDA, EU and USAID) has pumped a total of 4,783,285.75 dollars to 36 organisations in an effort to consolidate democracy, a statement made available to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Wednesday.      The support seeks to inject accountability and transparency in the country’s electoral system as the nation prepares for Election 2012.      According to the disbursement figures obtained by the GNA, the highest amount which was 332,943.00 dollars was given to the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (GFD) to educate Persons with Disability on the election 2012.      The least amount of 30,000.00 dollars was given to Ahenbroso Care Foundation to whip up public interest and support to ensure peaceful election in December.      Others are Action for Sustainable Development which received 60,000.00 dollars, while Alliance for Reproductive Health Right also got 60,000.00 dollars.      The rest were Blogging Ghana which got 100,000.00 dollars, Centre for promotion of Democratic Governance, 65,000.00 dollars, Centre for Alternative Development, 60,000.00 dollars, and Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis, 100.000.00 dollars.     The others are Centre for Development of People, 60,000.00 dollars, Chaufra Company Limited, 60.000.00 dollars, Choice Ghana, 70.000.00 dollars, Development Gateway, 70.000.00 dollars and Drama Network/Rite 90.1FM got 98,579.00.     The rest are Ghana Integrity Initiative, 120,000.00 dollars, Ghana Journalists Association, 100.000.00 dollars, Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council, 80,000.00 dollars, Institute for Democratic Governance, 200.000.00 dollars, Institute for Economic Affairs, 100.000.00 dollars, and Legal Resource Centre, 80,000.00 dollars.       The National Catholic Secretariat for Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference received 150,000.00 dollars; Northern Ghana Aid received 150,000.00 dollars with Pan African Organisation for Sustainable Development getting 70,000.00 dollars.     Other recipients were Partners in Participatory Development, 50,000.00 dollars, Penplusbytes, 150,000.00 dollars, Skyy Media, 80,000.00 dollars, Society for Youth Policy and Poverty Alleviation, 70,000.00 dollars and Sustainable Aid through Voluntary Establishment, 50,000.00 dollars.     The rest were the Ark Foundation, Ghana, $200.000.00, Voice of People with Disability Ghana,  36,000.00 dollars, Wassa Communities Affected by Mines, 10,000.00 dollars, West Africa Network for Peace Building, 100,000.00 dollars and Women in Law and Development in Africa, 78,000.00 dollars.     The Youth Action and Reproductive Order also got 40,000.00 dollars, Youth Alive received 80,000.00 and finally Youth and Women Empowerment also got 35,000.00 dollars.      It has the ultimate goal of improving the accountability and responsiveness of Ghana’s government, traditional authorities and the private sector and to build on previous programmes including the Rights and Voice Initiative (2004-2010); the Ghana Research and Advocacy Programme (G-rap) (2005-2011); KASA (2008-2010); and the Civil Society Governance Fund (2004-2010).     Rights and Voice Initiative used a rights-based approach, while G-rap focused on research and policy advocacy by the more mature organisations engaging with the state, and these are think tanks and policy analysis organisations which were collectively called research and advocacy organisations.     KASA focused solely on natural resource governance and the Civil Society Governance Fund sought to strengthen the capacity of CSOs for monitoring and advocacy around good governance and human right.   GNA...

Accra , July 11, GNA  - Annual inflation rate rose for the fourth consecutive month in June up to 9.4 percent compared to 9.3 percent in May, the Ghana Statistical Service said on Wednesday.   Addressing a press conference to announce the rate, Mr Kofi Agyeman-Duah, Acting Deputy Government Statistician, said the rate was likely to fall with the start of the harvest season in line with previous trends.   "All things being equal we expect inflation to start going down after June,” he said.   Monthly inflation, however, dipped to 1.4 percent in June, which is 0.6 percentage point lower than the 2 percent in May.   The non-food inflation rate exerted much influence on the overall rate with transport and clothing and footwear major contributors.   The year-on-year non-food inflation rate of 11.9 per cent was more than twice that of the food inflation rate of 5.4 per cent.   The major contributors to the food inflation rate of 5.4% were Bread and Cereals, Fish and Meat.   Central Region recorded the highest inflation rate of 12.2 percent while Upper East & West regions had the lowest rate of 5.1 percent.   Three regions Central, Ashanti and Greater Accra recorded inflation rates above the national average of 9.4 percent.   GNA...

Accra , July 11, GNA -Neonatal deaths, which constitute deaths that occur within the first four weeks of birth, constitute almost half of all deaths in children under the age of five in Ghana.       According to UNICEF, Ghana would not be able to meet the targets for the Millennium Development Goal 4 (MDG4) unless there are significant reductions in the first four weeks of life.   There is however evidence and experience that almost 80 percent of these deaths are preventable through simple and relatively inexpensive measures and UNICEF believes that changing this would need the active collaboration of all stakeholders in the health sector and beyond including changes in behavior among families and communities.       Dr Isabella Sagoe-Moses, National Child Health Coordinator, Ghana Health Service (GHS) in an address at a stakeholders meeting on accelerating newborn health care in Ghana in Accra on Wednesday said Ghana has achieved some progress in under five mortality reduction in the past five years, but coverage and quality of interventions needed to be improved in order to attain the MDG 4 on reducing under five mortality rates by 2015.        The two-day meeting organized by UNICEF in collaboration with the GHS would discuss the parckage of neonatal health interventions outlined in Ghana’s Child Health policy and strategy and agree on the way forward in scaling up these in order to accelerate Ghana’s progress towards the MDG 4 on reducing maternal mortality by 2015.         The meeting would also examine the need and feasibility of other interventions that are currently in the Child Health Policy and develop consensus on the strategies for delivering the package of these interventions.        Dr Sagoe-Moses presented a clear picture of what pertains in Ghana including the various intervention that are stated in Ghana’s Child Health Care Policy and also outlined the bottle necks that poses major challenges to achieving significant reductions in neonatal mortality.        She said it was factual that 70 percent of neonatal deaths could be prevented by known, effective interventions delivered along the continuum of care, however major bottle necks such as persistent practices of harmful socio-cultural beliefs and practices, poor road networks, water and sanitation and other socio-economic factors continue to hinder the progress of improving access, quality and demand for quality neonatal health care in the country.        She said currently neonatal deaths constitute a significant portion under five mortality in the country, while indicators for neonatal mortality rate have not improved in the past 10 years.       However over 50 percent of these neonatal deaths are believed to take place at home, often unseen and uncounted, citing the three major causes of neonatal deaths as infections, asphyxia and preterm birth.         “In addition, lack of improvement in maternal health in Ghana continues to impair newborn survival,” she said.        Dr Sagoe-Moses said addressing specific bottlenecks in areas of access, quality and demand would require among other things improvement in information for planning, improved human resources, equipment and improving community practices through improvement in training manual and child records.              Dr Hari Krishna Banskota, UNICEF Representative, gave the global perspective of newborn care standards, practice and lessons learned, saying out of 7.6 million under-five mortality 3.1 million representing 40 percent occur in the newborn period globally, however there are Regional disparities in newborn survival and trends, but no significant changes have been recorded within the last decade.       He said strategic shift are therefore required for accelerating reduction of neonatal mortality, which could be possible through strengthened political commitment and leadership across sectors, good governance and accountability, empowerment of women to make decisions on reproductive health, adoption of functional health systems to context within the continuum of care and evidence-based programme prioritisation with equity.          Dr Banskota stressed that strong national leadership and partnership of key actors as well as the implementation of a National Newborn Health Strategy and action plan were critical for accelerating the newborn care as a priority.         He further indicated the need for improved care at the facility level with enhanced human resources, supplies and referral systems, as well as ensuring the integration of newborn care interventions into frontline health worker delivery platforms within the framework of continuum of Maternal and Neonatal Child Health Care.   GNA...

Kumasi, July 11, GNA – The Akyempimhene, Oheneba Adusei Poku, has expressed worry about the high incidence of maternal in the area and called for the situation to change.      He said it was unacceptable to see women die in the cause of childbirth, given the advances in technology and modern health care.      He advised couples to take reproductive health issues seriously and to plan the size of their families.      This, he said, would not only help to reduce the pressure on family budgets but give protection to the health of women and children. Oheneba Adusei Poku was speaking at the national launch of the 2012 world population day celebration in Kumasi.      The day, which is observed annually on July 11, has been instituted by the United Nations (UN) to draw attention to global issues affecting population dynamics, reproductive health and sustainable development.      This year’s event was under the theme “Universal access to reproductive health services.”      Oheneba Adusei Poku said it was curious that in spite of awareness about family planning services many people continue to refuse to space childbirth.      There was therefore the need for a sustained education to promote universal access to reproductive health services at all levels.      Dr Kwaku Agyeman-Mensah, Ashanti Regional Minister, said even though Ghana had made progress in reducing maternal deaths, improving access to reproductive health services including family planning remained a big challenge.      He attributed the inability of most women to accept and use modern family planning methods to fear of side effects, unfounded rumours, myths and misconceptions.      The Regional Minister said government was committed to improving access to quality health care and the promotion of maternal health in order to achieve the fifth target of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG).      He said emphasis was being placed on bringing population growth rate to a level that would support and help to sustain economic growth and social development.      Professor Stephen O. Kwankye, Executive Director of National Population Council (NPC), said the Council was working with all partners to reposition family planning as a development priority in Ghana.   GNA...

Tarkwa (W/R), July 11, GNA - The demand for electricity at the new municipal education office in Tarkwa will soon be over as Goldfields Ghana Limited, Tarkwa Mine, has promised to award a contract soon to connect electricity to the edifice.        According to the company, its corporate social responsibility considered initiatives on education as a major component of its community development agenda.         This was disclosed on Wednesday at a community consultative meeting organized by Goldfields Ghana Limited, Tarkwa mine for its catchment communities and stakeholders within the Tarkwa Nsuaem municipality.       The Tarkwa municipal education office which was commissioned in 2008 has since been operating without electricity and this has made working there quite difficult.       Mrs Christina Kobinah, the Municipal Chief Executive Officer for Tarkwa Nsueam, who was present at the meeting on her part, thanked Goldfields Ghana Limited, Tarkwa mine for their contribution towards the development of the municipality and the nation as a whole.      She said with the connection of electricity to the office, work will be easier for the staff and that the assembly is doing its best to develop other communities in the municipality as well.      She appealed to mining companies not to be upset with the increment of their tax adding that this will help government develop the country.   GNA...

Man slips and drowns in the Butre River     Mpohor (W/R), July 11, GNA -Tragedy struck the residents of Mpohor in the Western Region when information went round that Victor Kwame had drowned in the Butre River.      The Mpohor Police said the deceased went to farm with four of his friends at Mpohor in the early hours of Saturday July 7.      They said when they were returning home around 0900hours the same day, Kwame slipped on a wooden bridge along the Butre River and drowned shortly after.      The corpse has been deposited at the Effia-Nkwanta Regional Hospital awaiting autopsy.      The police have arrested the four friends who were with him to assist them in their investigations. GNA...

New Town Wharf (W/R), July 11, GNA -A 40-year old fisherman, Philemon Ahiato, is in the grips of the police for allegedly defiling and impregnating a 12-year old girl.      According to the New Town Wharf Police in the Jomoro District, the suspect called the victim who was selling kenkey to his house, in order to purchase some kenkey.      When the victim went to his house, Ahiato grabbed her and forcibly had sex with her.      The suspect then warned her not to disclose it to anyone or else she will die.      The police said four months later, the father, Uncle Kwasi detected that her daughter was pregnant and when he interrogated her, she mentioned Ahiato as the one responsible for the pregnancy.      Thus the father reported the issue to the police who arrested Ahiato and charged him with the offence. GNA...