Day: June 30, 2023

The Islamic Senior High School (SHS) at Sromani, Dormaa-Ahenkro now under construction would be managed by government when completed and admissions would be opened to all persons regardless of religious persuasion.

Sheikh Zakaria Alhassan, the Chief Imam of Dormaa Central Municipality said this in an interview with the media after he had led the local Muslim community to offer the Eid-Ul-Adha prayers to precede the festival celebration at the Zongo Park, Dormaa-Ahenkro in the Bono Region.

The festival is annually observed by Muslims worldwide to remind them of Abraham’s obedience to God to offer his son for a sacrifice.

Sheikh Alhassan said nobody would be allowed to force anyone to change his religion to become a Muslim while in the school because ‘that will be contrary to the laws of Islam’.

He said the school would be the first Islamic SHS in the municipality, saying it would provide quality tuition to contribute in developing the human resource base of the country and therefore appealed to individuals and organisations to aid its construction.

Sheikh Alhassan observed most Islamic schools had about 80 per cent non-Muslim teachers, so restricting admissions to only Muslims would be improper.

He cited the Islamic Primary and Junior High School (JHS) at Dormaa-Ahenkro comprised a mixture of Christians and Muslims with the head teachers for the primary and JHS levels being a Christian and a Muslim respectively.

Sheikh Alhassan implored the media to check and lead the campaign to change the negative perceptions and tagging of Muslims in crime incidents and crime-related stories.

He said it was unfair to make generalization of one person’s crime as a group’s symbol and its character, arguing that ‘there’s no research conducted anywhere to justify the fact that the numbers of Muslims in the prisons are the highest’.

Sheikh Alhassan therefore urged all Muslims to make the effort by educating the youth, particularly in the local communities to exhibit positive attitudes to help in demystifying and changing the negative narrative.

Aided by some elders, Sheikh Alhassan slaughtered a ram to signify the essence of the festival’s celebration.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Nana Elluo Panin III, Chief of Nsuansua and Kyidomhene of the Wiawso Traditional Council, has called on the National Media Commission of Ghana to call Captain Smart to order.

The chief said Captain Smart, known in private life as Blessed Godsbrain Smart, has made some disparaging comments on the creation of the Western North Region and therefore needed to be called to order.

Captain Smart, a host of the Maakye Show on Onua TV is said to have commented that the creation of the Western North Region was a fruitless venture by the government.

The traditional council indicated that the ‘Western North Region can boast of Gold, Bauxite, cocoa and other natural resources and to describe the region as useless was rather unfortunate.’

According to the Council, the creation of the region has brought development closer to the people and reduced traveling distance from the area to Takoradi just to sign documents.

Nana Pannin said the council has therefore banned any such reporter or reporters from the station from operating in the area, ‘We are therefore banning media General and its reporters from operating in the region.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Gaming Commission of Ghana has inaugurated a six-member audit?committee to help to ensure sound financial management?and control systems. ?

The Committee has Mr. Abdul Karim Hatsu as Chairman and Mr. Fiifi Kwakye, Ms.?Juliet Nana Yaa Opoku-Manu, Mr. John Bayuo Waris and Mr. Ransford Kissi Appiah as?members, with Ms. Beatrice Baiden being the secretary. ? ?

Deputy Games Commissioner, Mr. Kobby Annan, congratulated the Committee members and?expressed appreciation to the outgoing Committee members for their tremendous work in?ensuring improvement in the Commission’s good governance, risk management and control?systems. ?

He reiterated management’s commitment and readiness to work with the new?team to achieve better financial discipline through the Organisation’s prudent financial?management. ?

Dr. Eric Oduro Osae, Director General, Internal Audit Agency, (IAA) touched on the statutory,?advisory and supporting roles expected of the Committee and urged it to work with?management of the Commission to implement recommendations of both the internal and?external auditors for effective control systems. ?

Dr. Osae also urged members to produce annually, an audit committee report, which captured?all reports that came to the Committee’s attention, as well as all recommendations that the?internal auditors, external auditors and Parliament made on the Organidation’s operations. ?

In the area of the Committee’s advisory role, Dr Osae urged the members to advise the?Commission on mainstreaming enterprise risk management in its operation.

‘At the moment, the public sector internal audit system is moving away from the conventional?pre-auditing to risk-based audit so that internal audit can be proactive in supporting?management. We don’t want management to fall into the deep ocean before we pull them out.?Ours is to prevent so, we are moving away from conventional pre-auditing to risk-based?auditing. So, support the institution to mainstream enterprise risk management in their?operations, ‘ he added. ?

The Director General of the IAA also reiterated the need for the Committee to support the?Internal Audit Unit of the Commission to develop an annual risk plan and implement the plan,?by conducting and submitting quarterly internal audit reports as an update on the internal control?systems. ?

He said government was working with the Agency, the Audit Service, and Controller and?Accountant Generals Department, to develop an audit report implementation tracking tool.

‘This?tool will help to monitor the implementation of all the recommendations made either by the?internal auditor, external auditor or parliament.’

Mr. Abdul Karim Hatsu, Chairman of the Committee, assured that they would work diligently.

The Committee would serve for a period of two years, renewable for another two-year term,?subject to satisfactory performance. ?

Source: Ghana News Agency

Ms Christine Kande, the Executive Director, Endaas Indigenous Women Empowerment Network (EWEN), has urged the Government of Kenya to support the Bogoria community which had been displaced by floods more than 45 years ago with the people still living under poor conditions.

About 3,000 households were forced to leave their homes as the floods destroyed their houses, health facilities and three primary schools.

Ms Kande said the communities along the Rift Valley were affected by rising water levels of Lake Bogoria which displaced marginalized communities in the area, leaving settlements, social amenities such as health facilities, schools and places for community rituals submerged due to floods.

The indigenous people had been evicted from their ancestral lands to pave way for conservation activities, a situation that left the marginalized communities displaced for a long time without adequate intervention measures to reduce the harsh living condition.

Ms Kande who shared the experiences of the Begonians with the media before an African Launch of the release of the Minority Trends Report – focus on water in Kenya, said the people had been displaced since 1975 and were suffering many challenges including drought and poor livelihoods.

According to Ms Kande, all attempts since 2003, to seek justice for the people had proofed futile.

She said after deliberations between the African Commission on Human Rights and the Government of Kenya, it was agreed that the government would compensate the displaced people but that had not helped much and the people were still living under poor difficult conditions.

She said the people had not only lost their ancestral lands but their identity as well.

Ms Kande said her main concern was that ‘It is not only the problem of dispossession and eviction matters but also eviction due to natural disasters caused by climate change, which called for quick action by the government of Kenya’.

She said the water was gradually encroaching the communities and had increased to an average of 30 per cent with impact on the health of the people, because the health facilities had been destroyed.

She said the consequential impact was on lactating mothers and children who had to walk long distances to neighbouring towns to access health services.

‘We are poor communities, our adaptive capacity is impacted and numbers affected are huge’, she reiterated.

She urged the Kenya government to use the findings of the research on the community, conducted since the encroachment, to support the people and build up the community.

In response to what should be done, she advocated for government to take livelihood issues seriously by putting in interventions that would address livelihood challenges as a result of the environmental issues arising from climate change.

Source: Ghana News Agency