346 Ghanaians deported from Europe, 1st three months

Story: Fauziatu Adam

THREE hundred and forty six Ghanaians with ages ranging from 20 and 40 were recorded by  the Ghana Immigration Service for the first three months of this year to have been deported  from other countries for illegally entering those countries.

A total of 17,565 Ghanaians were also recorded to have been evacuated from Libya this year due to the crisis that escalated in that country early this year.

The Assistant Controller of Immigration (ACOI), Mrs Belinda Adwoa Sika Anim disclosed this to the Daily Graphic  after a sensitisation workshop at Kinbu Secondary School to sensitise students about the dangers of illegal migration to other country.

She said there was a pressure on the North African countries to clamp down on irregular migration occurring over their territory through increased border controls, toughening migration laws, readmitting irregular migrants from Europe and deporting others from their territory.

She lamented about  the swelling masses of Ghanaians who flee from poverty to try to enter Europe illegally at an alarming rate.

She said that irregular migration issue had been put high on the Policy Agenda of the European Union and its member states.

The ACOI mentioned the effects of irregular migration  as fatalities in the desert  and the Mediterranean,  poor living conditions for illegal immigrants, under employed and overworked in dirty, dangerous and difficult jobs.

Mr Belinda said the reason why  they were targeting the schools was that many of the students fall victims of illegal migration and they record the highest number anytime any Ghanaian was deported back to the country.

She observed that people who went travelled through the dessert did not tell the real stories whenever they come back to the country.

She said the immigration service has targeted all the senior secondary schools in the country to sensitise them about the need to stay in the country after their education.

The workshop included a drama about four students who left the shores of their country for greener pastures and some of them died due to snake bites while others were arrested and sent to prison and later deported to their country.

Ghana, 3 others to access further grants under MCC

Story: Fauziatu Adam

Ghana has been selected among four developing countries to continue to access grants under the Millennium Challenge Compact (MCC) of the United States of America (USA) for its development.

The other three countries are Tanzania, El Salvador and The Philippines.

The Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Hannah Tetteh, announced this at the second International Convention of Edmark, manufacturers of health products for direct marketing industry, in Accra.

The theme for the convention was, “Love’s the Reason”.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a bilateral United States agency created by the US government in 2004 to give a new dimension to foreign aid.

A country is considered eligible for a compact if its score on 17 indicators exceeds a median score.

The 17 indicators include good economic policies such as a free market and low corruption.

The focus of the MCC is to promote economic growth in the recipient countries. The programme emphasises good economic policies in recipient countries. 

Ghana received $547 million in the first compact in 2007. The second compact is contingent on the successful completion of the first compact, continued good policy performance and the development of proposals that have significant potential to promote economic growth and reduce poverty.

Ms  Tetteh said the US government had seen that there was potential in the country’s economy and had, therefore, chosen to partner Ghana to look at its challenges and possible areas of investment.

“This is the second time the country has been given this opportunity to partner the US government to develop proposals that have the potential to promote economic growth and move the country to the next level,” she added.

Sha lauded the ideas of Edmark to invest in Ghana’s economy by setting up a one-stop centre for the sale of Edmark’s healthy living products.

That, she said, would reduce unemployment in the country and improve economic growth.

“There are many young people in the country who do not know how to start businesses or manage them and I believe that Edmark will help these youngsters achieve their dreams of becoming entrepreneurs,” Ms Tetteh said.

In a speech read on his behalf by the Deputy Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, the Vice-president, Mr John Mahama, suggested that Edmark rather establish its manufacturing company for the country to be able to export its products.

That, he explained, would create more job opportunities for the youth and help in rapid economic development.

He advised Edmark to live up to its corporate social responsibility and also ensure the safety of its staff.

The CEO of Edmark, Mr Sam Low, expressed appreciation to the government for allowing it to work in the country, adding that Ghana was a very good place for investment.

Ghana Database Project in the offing

Story: Fauziatu Adam & Dana Sherne

Government is to establish a national information portal, the Ghana Database Project, to make important economic and cultural information widely available to investors, tourists and Ghanaians.

Speaking at a meeting with the Greater Accra Regional Minister and District Chief Executives (DCE) in Accra, the Deputy Minister of Information, Mr Baba Jamal, said that the project would help brand Ghana from inside by publicising information on the Internet.

The enterprise, which is expected to begin on July 1 and end within eight weeks, would allow everyone to easily access information on each of the 158 districts in the country.

The Ministry of Information, in partnership with the District Assemblies, is to collect relevant information on each district’s infrastructure, including major towns and landmarks, schools, government agencies and hospitals, as well as the contact information for all of these institutions.

The portal would also make demographic information such as population size, major ethnic groups and main languages available to the public. 

Mr Jamal added that the project would include major tourist attractions and the investment potential of the districts. All of this information would be available on the website for all stakeholders.

“We will brand our districts to make them more attractive and encourage foreign firms to invest in Ghana,” he said.

According to him, the portal would allow each district to control its own branding, complete with slogans to establish a sense of belonging and pride in that area’s heritage. For example, the Central Region adopted the slogan, “Centre of Excellence,” and the Volta Region adopted the slogan, “Very Reliable.”

Mr Jamal added that each car registered in the district would have that slogan embossed on its license plate.

The Greater Accra Regional Minister, Nii Ashiettey Armah, said that such branding is “long overdue,” adding that he would do everything in his power to support the project.

Mr Jamal’s meeting with the regional minister and DCEs, as well as staff from the Ministry of Information, was the culmination of his two-week tour throughout the different regions of the country.

His talk also focused on the management of government information on the ground level as well as the diffusion of tension between the DCEs and the Information Service Officers (ISO). Mr Jamal warned that ISO’s who did not conform to government policy could be fired.

He reprimanded all ISOs who did not propagate the ideas of the government, adding that “outside of the office, you have no opinion except those in line with party policy.”

He advised that this could best be accomplished by maintaining good rapport with the DCEs and their staff.

GHANA HAS 33,000 STREET CHILDREN

Story: Fauziatu Adam

RESEARCH conducted by the Department of Social Welfare indicates that there are 33,000 children living on the streets in the country.

According to the research, 75 per cent of all street children live in Accra and Kumasi, with 71 per cent of them being illiterate.

The Country Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Dr Iyabode Olusanmi, made the revelation at this year’s celebration of the International Day of the African Child in Accra yesterday.

The celebration was on the theme, “All Together for Urgent Action in Favour of Street Children”. 

The International Day of the African Child has been celebrated on June 16 every year since 1991 when it was first initiated by the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and now the African Union (AU)..

The day honours those who participated in the Soweto Uprising in 1976 and also raises awareness of the continuing need for improvement in the education provided for African children.

In Soweto, South Africa, on June 16, 1976, about 10,000 black schoolchildren marched in a column more than half a mile long, protesting the poor quality of their education and demanding their right to be taught in their own language.

Hundreds of young students were shot. More than 100 people were killed in the protests that ensued the following two weeks and more than 1,000 were injured.

 The 2011 observance of the day seeks to contribute to widespread awareness of the dangers street children face, promote the taking of urgent steps to protect them and determine strategies for providing effective child protection and care.

Dr Olusanmi added that the theme was a real call to action for everyone, given the scientific, as well as physical, evidence.

“This theme challenges us to reflect on the data available on street children and advocates with civil society, the development partners and the government to mobilise all our efforts towards improved well-being of children and for greater resource mobilisation for the protection of children living on the street,” she added.

She noted that Ghana was the first country in the world to ratify the Convention on the Rights of the Child and, therefore, was bound by international law to act in the best interest of those children.

She gave assurance of UNICEF’s commitment to protect the vulnerable in society and expressed belief in strengthening community-based systems which were very effective in protecting children and preventing unsafe migration.

“Our approach is to support government institutions such as the departments of Social Welfare and Community Development to implement community-based protection interventions by empowering child protection teams (CPTs) to equip communities with the knowledge and skills required to take measures to prevent children from unsafe migration,” she said.

As a result of those efforts by UNICEF, some 19 communities in the Northern and Upper East regions are completely free of kayayeis, while 30 communities in the same regions have achieved 100 per cent birth registration.

The UNICEF Country Representative urged stakeholders to propose effective, innovative and sustainable child protection and care strategies and support child participation forums.

She commended the government’s efforts at incorporating children’s issues in the ongoing constitutional review and

congratulated it on the recent launch of the National Plan of Action for the protection of orphans and vulnerable children.

 One of the interventions of that action plan, she added, was the provision for the reunification and reintegration of orphans and vulnerable children, including street children, with families or within family-based care.

The Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs, Mrs Juliana Azumah-Mensah, called on all stakeholders and collaborators to continue to support the government to chart a good path for the young ones.

She said the call for urgent action was a reminder that the active involvement of all duty bearers was critical to complement one another’s efforts at curbing the menace of streetism.

A number of social protection interventions and strategies were also in place to address the phenomenon of street children, she added.

These include the establishment of community child protection teams, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP), the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA), the capitation grant and the school feeding programme, the implementation of the free compulsory universal basic education (FCUBE), the registration of young girls doing menial jobs (Kayayes), among others.

(Two-year grace period for ban on refrigerator imports)

Story: Fauziatu Adam

A two-year grace period has been allowed on the ban on second-hand refrigerators effective January l, 2011 to December 31, 2012.

During this period, all traders and importers of second-hand refrigeration equipment will be registered and licensed after which import quotas will be issued to some selected importers to bring them into the country in controlled quantities.

The Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Mrs Sherry Ayitey,  said this in a speech read on her behalf at a day's workshop for second-hand refrigerator dealers at the Environmental Protection Agency Training School at Amasaman.

She added that littering of the city with discarded unserviceable refrigerators was of much concern to the ministry.

" You will agree with me that the cost of cleaning up the mess would have been borne by the tax payer, consequently we have to support measures and the efforts of the Energy Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to stop the importation of these junks that have outlived their usefulness in their countries of origin," she said.

The Executive Director of the Energy Commission, Dr Alfred Ofosu-Ahenkora,  explained that $6.3 million was needed to implement the programme for the three-year period that it was scheduled to last but sponsors had so far released only $2.7 million. 

He said the commission had submitted some documentation to the Global Environment Facility of the United States, the main sponsor of the programme, and added that by the end of the year, money would be released for the commencement of the policy. 

The policy includes an incentive package for people who will replace their old refrigerators and buy five-star rated refrigerators for a fee yet to be decided by the commission and relevant stakeholders. 

The move will ensure that all electrical gadgets, particularly refrigerators, air-conditioners, microwave ovens and washing machines, imported into the country have the five-star label on them. 

The sponsors include the Multi Lateral Fund of Canada, the Global Energy Fund and the Government of Ghana. 

   

GRC gives ultimatum to 6 firms

Story : Rose Hayford Darko & Fauziatu Adam, Tema  

SIX companies have been given a two-week ultimatum to relocate their lines and cables to enable work on the laying of rail tracks to go on as scheduled at the Japan Motors Railway Station in Tema.

The companies are the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), Vodafone Ghana, GHACEM and Sahara Oil.

 A tour of the project site by board members of the Ghana Railway Development Authority (GRDA) and some service providers revealed that the pipelines and cables belonging to the six companies had been laid in the path of the rail line, causing the project to suffer some challenges.

Estimated at U$8.35 million, the project, which commenced on April 19, 2011, is about 70 per cent complete to link the Asoprochona rail line to Accra.

The project, which is expected to be completed in the next four months, comprises two new platforms, a station, seven highway crossings, drains and seven main culverts.

Another rail project is under consideration to link Akosombo with the rail system.

The obstacles posed by the cables have contributed to some delay, without which the Israeli contractor on the project, Amandis Holding, would have completed it on schedule.

The Chairman of the board, Mr Dan Markins, called on the service providers to relocate their lines and cables in two weeks to enable work to go on as scheduled.

President John Evans Atta Mills cut the sod for the 3.5-kilometre rail project to serve commuters from Tema Community One to the Tema Harbour.

Mr Markins noted that the government’s intention to revive the rail system in the country was on course to reduce traffic on the country’s road network and make commuting easier and accessible.

He said delays had not been anticipated, considering the pace of work, and called on the contractor to maintain the pace to ensure that the  work was completed on time.

The Managing Director of Amandis Holding, Mr Yaron Tal, gave the assurance that the company would ensure that the contract was executed promptly after the obstacles had been relocated.

Ayawaso East MP presents bikes to co-ordinators

Story: Fauziatu Adam

THE Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayawaso  East , Dr Mustapha Ahmed, has presented 10 motorbikes and  five bicycles worth GH¢15,000.00 to co-ordinators of the wards in the various electoral areas in the constituency to boost their morale towards the 2012 general election campaign.

Presenting the vehicles to the beneficiaries, he called on party members to unite and work hard towards a massive victory in 2012.

He added that this was the beginning of good things to happen in the constituency under the leadership of President Mills' Better Ghana Agenda.

He said the ‘Better Ghana Agenda’ was manifesting in the constituency with the current renovation of the Nima Highway from the Nima Police Station through to  the Nima overhead  to the Accra Girls’ Secondary School.

Dr Ahmed, who is also the Deputy Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing,  added that he would not take the praise for the development of the constituency alone adding that his party members had supported him very much and he was very grateful for their support.

He added that the purchase of the items was not made from his share of the MP's common fund but from his personal account to express his appreciation for their support.

One of the beneficiaries, Mr Emmanuel Akwei,  who is the co-ordinator for the Kanda Sub Metro, expressed his appreciation to the MP for this gesture.

He said, in 2008, he used his money for transport for the campaigns and this would go a long way to help him for the 2012 campaigns towards a successful election.

MP for Ayawaso East supports women,

Story: Fauziatu Adam

THE Member of Parliament (MP) for Ayawaso East Constituency, Dr Mustapha Ahmed, has presented equipment and materials to a number of women in the constituency.

They include , 180 pieces of wax prints, 16 television sets, 10 refrigerators, 10 fans, eight hair dryers, six sewing machines and two industrial machines .

This, he said, was to show his appreciation to motivate hardworking mothers to work harder to enhance their personal and professional fortunes.

Presenting the items, the MP said that development was not only about initiating  projects in the community but providing opportunities  to enable the people develop their talents for the  benefit of their families and the community.

Dr Mustapha said the donation was financed from his personal resources and contributions from friends  who were committed to the development of women in the constituency..

The MP further appealed to the women who did not  benefit from the scheme to be patient adding that  plans were underway to support other underprivileged women in the constituency.

In another development,  Dr Mustapha Ahmed  called on parents in the Muslim community to invest more in their children's education.

He said that the future development of the community depended on how parents invested in their children's education .

Dr Mustapha made this call at the installation of imam (spiritual leader) for the Chamber community in the Greater Accra Region.

He urged spiritual leaders to preach the relevance of education and invoke the spirit of unity in the people in the community.

The new Imam of the Chamber community, Yusha T. Kuta, cautioned the youth  to be selfless and sacrifice their well-being for the development of others.

He said, “Majority of our Muslims leaders have failed to leave up to expectation with just a few individuals excelling in their leadership roles.”