Day: June 23, 2023

Members of Development Planning Co-ordinating Unit (DPCU) of the Kadjebi District Assembly have been trained on Project Management at Kadjebi in the Oti Region.

The participants were taken through the introduction to Project Management, Project Initiation, Project Planning, Project Execution and Project Closing and Ex ante Evaluation by Officers from the Oti Regional Co-ordinating Council (ORCC).

Opening the training, Mr. Cletus Chevure, the Kadjebi District Co-ordinating Director, said the orientation was necessary to build the capacity of staff since there were gaps in their work.

He said without acquiring knowledge is like working in the darkness, ‘so there’s the need to gain new skills daily and charged the participants to take the training seriously.’

Reverend Wiafe Asante, the Oti Regional Economic Planning Officer, said the ORCC had noticed project management as problem for most Assemblies in the Region, Kadjebi inclusive.

He said they observed the deficiency during monitoring visits to project sites in the Region and this has necessitated the training to help learn and improve on what they already knew.

Rev. Asante asked the District Engineers to terminate expired projects, but they should do final accounts before terminations to avoid Court cases and been slapped with judgment debts.

On Project Initiation, he said, this is the stage where problems are identified through feasibility studies and needs assessment.

The Regional Economic Planning Officer said at planning stage, resources must be assessed well, all stakeholders involved, and information well communicated to avoid rejection and successful project execution.

Mr. Johnson Senyo Kumah, the Acting Regional Engineer, who spoke on Project Planning, said planning and management were essential, but ‘the key is not to prioritize what’s on you

He explained project schedule as a timetable that organised tasks, resources and due dates in an ideal sequence so that project could be completed on time.

Mr. Kumah said some tasks were critical, others not and that many tasks had some slack and could therefore, delayed a bit without delaying other tasks or affecting the project finish date.

The Acting Regional Engineer said projects compete with one another with same resources, so there was the need to ‘manage resources in such a way as to optimize the use of a limited supply, trade-offs must be made.’

He said in project execution, there must be a Contingency Plan, or better still, Plan B to address unforeseen events that might cause the project costs to increase.

Mr. Kumah entreated the participants to work as a team and contribute their quota to the development of Mother Ghana.

Mr. Edward Arthur, Internal Auditor, ORCC, who spoke on Project Execution, said in the project management process, project execution tends to get the spotlight, because ‘it is the stage where things get done and the activities completed or not during it have a big say in a project’s performance.’

He said; ‘No matter flawless your project plan is, projects in the execution phase are still subject to potential drawbacks.’

On Quality Assurance, Mr. Arthur said, ‘there’s an element of quality control in quality assurance-they go hand in hand.’

The Internal Auditor charged the DPCU members to try solving the right problems during project execution, as ‘no matter how good the team or how efficient the methodology, if we’re not solving the right problem, the project fail.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Adaklu District Assembly has commemorated Child Labour Day with a call on government to intensify education on the rights of children and the responsibilities of parents.

Also, all governmental and non-governmental child related agencies must mobilize and harness resources to enable them to play their roles effectively and efficiently.

Mad. Juliana Kpedekpo, Adaklu District Chief Executive, who made the call, said the capacities of all relevant stakeholders should be built for the effective implementation of the laws on children.

The day was on the theme: ‘Intensify action against child labour, do it fast, do it now.’

Madam Kpedekpo noted that child labour had a serious debilitating effect on children since it destroyed them physically, mentally, socially and morally.

She mentioned some forms of hazardous and exploitative labour as fishing, mining, quarrying, porterage, shepherding and night work.

The DCE said though the government had put in place policies and programmes to combat child labour, most people seemed not to be aware and still engage children in all forms of child labour.

She said some of the interventions were the implementation of the child and family welfare policy, which educates families on the rights of the child and the responsibilities of parents towards their children.

Others, she said, were economic empowerment of households such as the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty, Labour-Intensive Public Work, School Feeding Programme and standard operating procedures to protect child domestic workers.

Madam Kpedekpo called on all stakeholders to come on board to eradicate child labour in the country and help children to develop their latent talents for them to become useful citizens.

He added: ‘By doing so we can eradicate poverty from society.’

Mrs Susan Akortia, Adaklu District Director of Department of Social Welfare, urged all, especially parents, to be a hedge around their children so as not to expose them to dangerous people and hazardous conditions.

The DCE advised parents against large family sizes, pushing their girl child into prostitution.

Rather, they should undertake profitable ventures to look after their children.

She also urged them not to expose them to premature financial independence as it would disrupt their education and breed indiscipline.

During an open forum, the people attributed child labour to poverty, economic hardships and broken homes.

Pictures of some forms of child labour were shown to the gathering and one which depicted a man escorting a small boy struggling under a big load and visibly tired got the people screaming in unison.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Albert Henyo, the North Tongu District Director of the Department of Social Welfare, has tasked parents and caregivers to pay special attention to children with visual impairment ‘rather than discriminating against them.’

He said disabled children, especially the visually impaired, had an equal chance of becoming great personalities in the future.

Mr Henyo made the appeal at a day’s community sensitisation event for children with visual impairment at Juapong ,in the Volta Region.

He charged parents to involve their visually impaired children in all family activities so they could also live better lives.

Mr Henyo further cautioned parents to desist from hiding their children with visual impairment but extend their total support and love towards them.

‘Teach them the right things so they can also adjust to life. Show them love and care because they equally deserve that,’ he said.

Mr Henyo indicated that children with various forms of disabilities could also become great people if properly trained.

The event, which registered over a hundred vision-affected participants, offered an opportunity for the free provision of medical eye tests services.

The programme, was the third to be organised within the North Tongu District under the auspices of the Department of Children with support from Royal Dutch Visio and Presbyterian Health Services.

The main aim was to provide adequate support for the holistic development of children aged zero to 15 years with visual impairment, to ensure their full participation at home, school, and the community at large.

It was under the theme ‘The Holistic Development Programme for Visually Impaired Children (HODVIC).’

Some participants who interacted with the Ghana News Agency, expressed gratitude to the organisers for supporting them.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Africans living in the diaspora have been urged to reconnect with their roots and influence development in their motherlands.

They have also been advised to show keen interest in the economic, political, social and spiritual emancipation of Africa and Africans everywhere.

Bishop Dr Charles Abban, President of the International Clergy Association (ICA), gave the advice during the launch of the International Convention of Africans in Diaspora (ICAD) Conference 2023, organised by ICA in collaboration with NACAG Travel and Tours, in Accra.

The event would happen at four different locations; Chicago, USA-July 28 to 29, 2023; Maryland, USA-August 4 to 5, 2023; New York, USA-August 19, 2023, and Accra, Ghana- December 9 to 10, 2023, under the theme, ‘The Truth Need to be Told’.

He said the Conference would bolster tourism and relations between the Diasporas and the African continent.

The Bishop said it would also bring together Africans and African-Americans in the diaspora for a common goal of developing their Motherland- Africa, and consider Africa as their home.

‘The conference is opened to Africans, Americans, and friends of Africans on the continent in the United States and around the world, who seek to bring about the true economic, political, social and spiritual emancipation of Africa and Africans everywhere,’ he said.

He said among other activities, the Conference would organise a renaming ceremony for the participants and help to establish patent right for inventions made by Africans in the Diaspora.

The Bishop urged the Ga Traditional Council to collaborate with the ICA to receive the diasporas.

Nii Quao Donkor II, Asere Tsono Mantse, said: ‘We on the other hand are eagerly expecting the diasporas to come and join us in Africa to participate in all we do here.’

In a speech read on his behalf, Mr Akwasi Awuah Ababio, Director of the Diaspora Affairs, Office of the President, said the mandate of the Office was to engage diasporas and help them regain their lost existence to foster economic, political and socio-cultural development.

He said the Diaspora Affairs had successfully engaged many Africans in the diaspora to come home and contribute their quota to the development of the country.

Mr Ababio said the various programmes put together by the Office had increased Ghana’s remittances, making it the second most remitted

country in Africa only after Nigeria.

He said the Diaspora Affairs would continue to lobby for convenience and inclusive policies to build a long-term relationship with diasporas to the benefit of Ghanaians.

Dr Hamet Maulana, President, Ministry of the Future, said Ghana and Africa needed the economic viability and skills of diasporas to positively impact the continent.

He described Ghana as a special country, adding that, he would do everything in his power to make sure that his people scattered in the diaspora returned home.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Chiefs and People of the Offinso Traditional Area have appealed to the government to prioritise the infrastructural expansion of the Paramedic and Emergency Care Training School (PECTS), at Nkenkaasu.

According to the chiefs, the people in the area are not entirely pleased to see that the training school had remained in the same state as it was handed to the National Ambulance Service (NAS) by Nana Wiafe Akenten III, the late paramount chief of the traditional area.

Nana Kwaku Dua II, Acting President of the Offinso Traditional Area, who made the call, said PECTS required an urgent attention to enable it deliver on its mandate of training professionals for the country’s emergency medical services.

In an address read on his behalf at the graduation parade for the fourth batch of Advance Emergency Medical Technicians (AEMTs), at Nkenkaasu in the Offinso North District, Nana Duah said the NAS played a critical role in the country’s health care delivery and required the necessary support from the government to fulfill its mandate effectively.

Nana Dua said the training school was the sole institution that produced paramedics and that there was the need to develop it to international standards.

He said the chiefs and the people would continue to support and work closely with the management of NAS, especially in training, security, and the provision of pre-hospital care, to achieve the school’s objectives.

Mr Augustine Collins Ntim, Deputy Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, who was the reviewing officer at the parade, said since its inception in 2004, the NAS had increased its station from Seven to 297, across the country.

The 157 AEMTs who graduated had also added up the number of personnel of the Service to 2,958, throughout the country.

They received training in anatomy and physiology, patient assessment and vital signs, I.V access and pharmacology, trauma and emergency care, medical, behavioral, environmental and obstetrics and gynecology emergencies, among others.

Mr Ntim, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the area, said lack of dedicated source of funding, inadequate infrastructure and capacity building facilities were some of the challenges facing the training school.

As an MP for the area, he makes personal efforts to support and tackle some of the challenges, especially the infrastructure inadequacies of the school.

He called on all well-to-do individuals, agencies and organisations to support the government to improve infrastructure at the school.

Nana Wiafe Ababio, Board Chairman of NAS, said the Board would work hand in hand with the management and the Ministry of Health to strengthen and expand services and ensure that quality emergency care reached every corner of the country.

Source: Ghana News Agency