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AMOSA 99 hands over reconstructed gate to alma mater


The 1999-year group of the Aggrey Memorial A.M.E Zion Senior High School (AMOSA 99) has handed over an ultramodern gate constructed to improve security and give the school a facelift.

The GHC400,000 legacy project of the 1999 Year Group, who are the main sponsors of the school’s 84th anniversary, was in commemoration of their 25th anniversary.

The monumental gate has been marked with yellow, mauve and black colours, with a sculpture of the school’s emblem, a golden eagle, sitting on top, presenting a magnificent entrance and arousing a sense of pride.

Other activities undertaken by the group included free medical screening, registration and renewal of National Health Insurance Scheme membership cards, refurbishment of the school’s kitchen to transition from firewood to gas, provision of projectors and rewiring of some school blocks. Commissioning the project during the school’s 84th-anniversary celebration, Mr Theophilus Teye Ayano, Board Chairman of the AMOSA’99 25th Anniversary commemoration, stressed t
he critical importance of the gate to the security of the students and staff.

He said they settled on reconstructing the gate because it was the first point of call, adding that as a year group, they also aimed to become the gateway to the school.

He said putting up the structure was quite daunting due to time and financial constraints, but the commitment of the group was enough to defy all odds.

‘We want to set the pace for other year groups to undertake major projects instead of minor ones to resolve the infrastructural needs of the school.

‘So, I’ll encourage other years groups, especially the 2,000 year group, who will be next to take over from us, to put something significant,’ he said.

Mr Ayanoo encouraged the young students to put up good behaviour in school and study to succeed in life to return to support the school.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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Oti Regional Minister Nominee outlines strategy to address future flooding


Mr Daniel Machator, the Oti Regional Minister Nominee, has outlined strategies to avoid flooding of communities in the Region in case of future spillages of the Akosombo dam.

The Nominee, who was responding to questions during his vetting at the public sitting of the Appointments Committee of Parliament in Accra, informed the Committee that when given the mandate as the Oti Regional Minister, he would use community engagement to ensure that people living in flood-prone areas during spillages of the dam moved to higher grounds.

‘We would also encourage them to also think about building on higher grounds. If they have to move away from island communities, we will engage them and encourage them to move from those island communities, which most of the times, are affected when the dam spilt to a higher ground,’ he said

‘So that, they wouldn’t be affected when the dam is spilled. Mr Chairman, it is going to be an issue of engagement, engaging the fisherfolks in these island communities, so that they rethink wher
e they are staying, especially, for the places that probe to the flooding during the spillage.’

With regards to the state of prisons in the Oti Region, Mr Machator said he would collaborate with the Interior Ministry to transform the prisons into true centres of rehabilitation.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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GIMPA Professor calls for enforcement of environmental laws


Professor Charles Teye Amoatey, Director, Academy of Leadership and Executive Training at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA), has called for the enforcement of environmental laws across the continent.

He said the continent, in collaboration with the environmental protection authorities, had developed laws to preserve the planet, but enforcement had been a challenge.

The Professor said, ‘In the mining sector, we are destroying the environment with impunity, as if we are leaving the country without laws.

‘Sometimes some of these destructions of the environment are actually being influenced by some people or authorities who should know better.

‘We need to come to a point where we make the laws work with no respect for persons so that together we can preserve a future for the next generation,’ he said.

Prof Amoatey was speaking at a six-day training programme for a certificate course on the Essentials of Environment and Social Risk Management in Accra.

The programme is organ
ised by GIMPA in collaboration with the Regional Transport Research and Education Centre of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) with funding from the World Bank Group.

The training programme brought together 45 participants from the Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, and local government and public service from the African continent, including Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Gambia.

The aim of the course is to contribute to the appropriate management of environmental and social risks that can result from the implementation of projects on the continent.

The objective is to increase the uptake of environmental and social standards by governments in Africa.

Several studies have been conducted on improving results in sub-Saharan Africa, showing that government projects in the region do not achieve satisfactory environmental, social, health, and safety ratings.

Also, lack of capacity among various government institutions to implement environmental and social risk management has be
en identified as a challenge.

In response to the challenges, the Professor said they felt the need to bring all implementers of the projects in the region, to train them so they would be conscious of the environmental and social impact of their activities.

‘We want governments to take ownership of environmental risk issues and not be compelled by the World Bank to do so. We need to take ownership of our project to lead to development. We do not have to wait for the World Bank to tell us what is right,’ he said.

He advised the participants to take the session seriously, have a change of attitude, and share the knowledge acquired with their project teams for better environmental outcomes.

Professor Helen Essandoh, Director, Regional Transport Research and Education Centre, KNUST, underscored the importance of managing environmental risks, adding that the course was critically designed for project development and implementation.

Ms Michille Keane, Operations Manager for Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone, Wor
ld Bank Group, said people were at the core of all development, and the objective of development projects was to have a positive impact on people and on the environment.

‘The World Bank has made its mission to not only make positive contributions to poverty reduction in economic development but also support the protection of the environment and people’s safety,’ she said.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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Empowering women is empowering humanity – Gender Champion


Madam Perfect Ayatey, a Gender Champion and a Tutor at the St. Francis College of Education (FRANCO), Hohoe, says empowering women to attain higher heights and break all barriers meant that the entire humanity was being empowered.

She said women at all levels and in all spheres of their lives irrespective of their occupation must be included in processes that aimed at empowering them.

Madam Ayatey was speaking at the St Francis College of Education during the 2024 International Women’s Day (IWD) on the theme: ‘Inspire Inclusion.’

Madam Ayatey said the IWD was not only to celebrate women but also to identify the significant roles women played in their various societies.

She said the voices of women must be heard and the IWD came in handy to showcase the importance of women in society.

Madam Ayatey said it was realised that there continued to be a gap between males and females in some aspects of life such as the political and economic.

She said some reports had shown that it could take more than a century
to ensure gender parity, hence, the continuous celebration of the Day would help in getting to a level.

Madam Ayatey noted that the celebration of IWD was in line with achieving the Goal Five of the Sustainable Development Goals adding that it could not be achieved alone if women do not get empowered.

She said inspiring inclusion called on all to celebrate women with diverse backgrounds, ideologies, and occupations as well as break barriers that affected women.

Dr Adwoa Kwegyiriba, Principal of St Francis College of Education, said the Day was to help women especially those of the FRANCO community to identify their problems and design solutions to help them overcome the problems.

She urged the students to invest in themselves, strategise and remain focused on their goals to enable them to reach greater heights in life.

The International Women’s Day which is marked annually on March 8, is observed as a holiday in some countries including Armenia, Belarus, Cambodia, Cuba, Georgia, Laos, Mongolia, Montenegr
o, Russia, Uganda, Ukraine, and Vietnam.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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No woman must be allowed to die from cervical cancer – Clinical Epidemiologist


Dr Grace Adjoa Ocansey, a Clinical Epidemiologist, has said no woman must be allowed to die from cervical cancer because the cancer is ‘preventable and curable.’

She also said that cancer of the cervix ‘happens when the cells of the cervix begin to change to precancerous cells.

He however noted that’ not all precancerous cells would turn into cancer thus, the need to find these problematic cells early and treat them to prevent the disease and its attendant problems, including death.

Dr Ocansey, who spoke to Ghana News Agency in an interview, said it was time for action against the disease ‘persistently ranked as the second most diagnosed cancer and the second leading cause of cancer deaths among Ghanaian women.

‘Everybody including health care providers, churches, youth groups, parents/schools, and civil society groups must get involved to educate and act, so we don’t lose any woman through cervical cancer which is preventable and curable.

Ghana developed a national strategy for cancer control in 2011, w
hich covers strategies for cervical cancer prevention with two objectives to reduce the incidence and mortality of cancer by 30 per cent and improve effective diagnosis and treatment of cancer by 30 per cent but not much has been achieved over the past 10 years, leading to a rise in cervical cancer incidence and mortality in the country.’

‘Also, while the World Health Organisation recommended among others vaccination of 90 per cent of girls below 15 years, screening of 70 per cent of women with high-performance tests by 35 years and again by 45 years in Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination has not yet been rolled out neither the population-based screening,’ she said.

Dr Ocansey said cervical cancer could be categorised into four stages where it is found only in the cervix, spread beyond the cervix and uterus, spread beyond the lower part of the vagina and possibly to pelvic walls, ureters and nearby lymph nodes and lastly, to the bladder, rectum, or other body parts
like the bones or lungs.

She underscored the need for women to avail themselves to be screened by a pap test, HPV test, or pelvic exam (visual) for early detection of any precancerous or cancerous lesions for action, saying the cancer could be treated through surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, cryotherapy and thermal coagulation.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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Nzema youth wants work to commence on petroleum hub project in Jomoro


The Western Nzema Youth League (WNYL), a youth group, has called on the government to commence work on the establishment of the proposed Petroleum Hub in Jomoro Municipality of the Western Region.

Dr Patrick Ekye Kwesie, Leader of the WNYL, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview that the delay by the government in establishing the Hub since 2020 was a source of worry for the youth in the area.

According to him, ‘There is growing despondency among the youth regarding the delayed proposed petroleum hub because they were promised thousands of jobs which have not yet happened.’

He said the WNYL, with support from traditional authorities in the area had toured and sensitised residents in communities within Jomoro on the need to have the hub and the positive impact it would bring to the Municipality.

However, after their full buy-in and cooperation, the project was yet to materialise, he said.

Dr Kwesie noted that: ‘Some farmers who vacated their lands for the establishment of the hub have been put i
n a serious situation because they were assured by the operators of the hub to offer them alternative jobs but failed.’

Dr Kwesie, therefore, called on the government and other stakeholders to initiate plans to update the youth on the status of the hub to help calm any agitation among them.

‘We want to see the willingness and commitment on the side of the government because as a youth group, we have been able to do the needful to calm our people, but now it is beyond us and we see this to be the usual political deception to win votes,’ he stated.

The WNYL Leader Indicated that as a national flagship project, the petroleum hub should be given the necessary attention to see the light of day.

The Petroleum Hub Development Corporation (PHDC) was established by an Act of Parliament in 2020 to promote, develop and strategically position Ghana as a petroleum and petrochemical hub in the West African sub-region.

Source: Ghana News Agency

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