Day: June 18, 2024

The 6 Garrison of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) has officially inducted Brigadier General Frank Nartey Tei as the General Officer Commanding (GOC) the Northern Command.

The induction was done at a religious parade at the Air Force Base in Tamale, which witnessed a blend of Christian and Muslim solemn activities and was attended by traditional leaders, personnel of the GAF and the Northern Regional Minister.

Odeneho Kwafo Akoto III, Chief of Akwamu Traditional Area, was the Special Guest of honour for the occasion on the theme: ‘I Will Be with You Always (Joshua 1:1-9)’.

Brigadier General Frank Nartey Tei swore an oath of service and pledged to discharge duties of the office devotedly.

Officers of the Northern Command also affirmed their dedication to give the GOC maximum cooperation in his tenure of office.

The GOC, until his current appointment, was the Deputy Chief Staff Officer, Operations and Training at the Army Headquarters, Accra.

The Command, after the induction ceremony, cut sod for the construc
tion of an official residence for the office of the GOC, Northern Command.

Apostle Colonel Benjamin Godson Kumi-Woode, Acting Director-General of Religious Affairs, who inducted the GOC, urged personnel of the command to accord the Commander the needed cooperation.

He stated that there was a connection between faith and service and indicated that the office of the GOC had spiritual implications just like that of the prophet and advised personnel to respect the Commander so that his leadership could be a blessing to them.

Brigadier General Frank Nartey Tei, the newly inducted GOC Northern Command, in his address, said it was a privilege to serve as the Commander of the Northern Command, describing it as a noble one characterised by outstanding performance in maintaining peace in the region, despite the complex and demanding nature of the operations.

He said ‘I am deeply aware of the weight of the responsibility and trust placed in me by the High Command and all stakeholders. I pledge to lead with integrity
, courage and a steadfast commitment to our mission.’

He encouraged personnel to keep up hard work in supporting the civil authorities and other stakeholders, especially the other services to foster a conducive environment for all as the country approached the general election.

The GOC urged his men to act with professionalism and integrity and to avoid actions that could be perceived as biased and gave assurance that the High Command was actively working to address the logistics constraints of the Command.

He solicited support in building the residence for successive GOCs, referred to as the Eagle Nest.

Alhaji Shani Alhassan Saibu, Northern Regional Minister, in congratulating the GOC on his position, expressed confidence in his ability to lead a good course.

He said the previous GOCs distinguished themselves in serving the Command, adding his relationship with the new GOC revealed that he would not be an exception and urged the Command’s personnel to maintain diligence in their duties, stating that men
in uniform must act with dedication.

He said, ‘What you find yourselves doing is a call to national unity, a responsibility that requires commitment and unwavering dedication to our shared goals.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

Major renovation work has begun at the Sunyani residency to put the official residence of the Bono Regional Minister into good shape.

‘We want to turn the residency into a Peduase Lodge annexe’, Madam Justina Owusu-Banahene, the Bono Regional Minister told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) during a visit to the residency.

The GNA noticed that the main official apartment of the Regional Minister had been re-roofed and was undergoing essential rehabilitation works.

Mad Owusu-Banahene said the renovation of the facility was necessary because many of the quarters had been left to deteriorate for years.

Describing its beauty as unparalleled, the Regional Minister said, ‘We are determined to add up to make the residency more attractive and welcoming like the Peduase Lodge’.

Mad Owusu-Banahene said other facilities and government quarters within the residency would also undergo some renovation works to put the building into good shape. ‘

Adding up to the beauty and the serene environment will make the residency one
of the best good-looking residencies in the country’, the Regional Minister added.

Mad Owusu-Banahene therefore appealed to the entire business community as well as wealthy natives of Bono, home and abroad to support the renovation of the residency.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The government is negotiating with the European Union (EU) to expand its funding support for the construction of more feeder roads to cover the remaining districts of the Upper West Region.

‘This is important for us because the EU is a strategic partner to Ghana and we hope and we are confident that the EU will understand and appreciate the strategic importance of the region and its development gap challenges and provide additional funding so that the entire region will be covered under the EU -World Bank funded farm road project’, Dr Mohammed Amin Adam, the Finance Minister has hinted.

He said if the request was considered, it would demonstrate the presence of the EU in the region and in Ghana to bring development to the doorsteps of the people.

Dr Adam gave the hint at the commissioning of a 670-kilometre of rehabilitated, upgraded and maintained feeder and farm access roads in the region, which was funded by the EU in the Upper West Region at Daffiama to connect the people in the communities to market c
entres to sell their goods and agricultural products.

He said the achievement marked not only the improvement of infrastructure but also strengthening and extending partnership between the EU and the government of Ghana.

The results of such commitment through improved road connectivity to enhance livelihoods for rural communities, also enhanced interconnectivity between food production areas and market centres, which will help to address critical barriers to economic growth in the rural communities, especially in transportation.

‘The roads are indeed lifelines that connect the farmers to market centres to enable them to sell their products more efficiently and at better prices. The intervention also came to help reduce travel time, improve road safety and enhance institutional management of our transport sector’, he said.

Dr Adam said the government was determined to continue to provide for the needs of the people to improve livelihoods and to bring the development desired to uplift the living standards o
f the people.

He appealed to development partners not just the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, and African Development Bank but all bilateral partners to continue supporting Ghana’s economic development agenda saying, ‘We need to work together to address the challenges and create an enabling environment for development in Ghana’.

The EU’s continued support of Ghana’s development agenda, particularly in the areas of general reforms of public financing management, decentralisation, sustainable agriculture, education, employment creation and social protection was evident in the allocation of 203 million euros under the Ghana 2021-2027 multiannual indicative programme for the 2021-2024 programming period.

He announced that a financial agreement to the tune of 120.1 million euros had so far been signed to commit funds under the three focal areas of green growth for jobs, smart and sustainable cities and good governance and security.

The finance minister noted that the EU’s generous grants of 35 millio
n euros for this project highlight a shared commitment to sustainable agriculture development and poverty alleviation

He assured that the government would continue to work with the people and its development partners to bring development to the region

Mr Irchad Razaaly, the EU Ambassador in Ghana, who graced the occasion, said the EU was committed to supporting the socio-economic transformation of Ghana, particularly in the northern regions.

He said the 35 million Euros roads project was special as it was an important part of the EU Global Gateway initiative, which was the EU global connectivity plan.

The EU was supporting three Global Gateway projects; two of them, which included the feeder roads and the Kaleo Solar Power Plant in the region.

He said large-scale quality and sustainable investments were the bedrock of economic development, driving growth, creating jobs, fostering innovation, generating long-term value and uplifting the communities; that transformative potential was the essence of the EU
Global Gateway.

The EU Ambassador said many of the communities in the region were isolated and could not effectively trade among themselves due to inadequate proper access roads, noting that the occasion was a milestone in EU -Ghana partnership to ensure the socio-economic transformation of the country through improved access and connectivity of roads in rural areas.

Mr Razaaly said the roads were to provide links between areas of agricultural production and market centres to help unlock new economic opportunities for the people, diminish transport costs, shorten travel time, increase the trade of agricultural products and raise the incomes of the farmers.

The intervention also empowered the government with innovative planning, execution and maintenance of its transport investments.

‘Back in 2019 when the EU started, it was the first time that the Ministry of Roads and Highways used the Output and Performance-based Road Contracting (OPBRC) model. This ‘design-build-maintain’ approach had proven to be effi
cient for road assets management and maintenance’, he said

Mr Razaaly said aside from the roads, the project also rehabilitated 16 Community-based Health Planning and Services and provided them with mechanised boreholes powered by solar, and that intervention could not be overstated.

He said with the infrastructure, the EU had empowered the local Communities, promoted socio-economic advancement and fostered inclusive growth in northern Ghana.

The road rehabilitation was only one of the components of the broader EU -Ghana Agricultural Programme EU-GAP 132 million Euro grant to promote sustainable Agriculture in the region.

‘I want to recognise the joint efforts of the World Bank and the EU in the delivery of the project. When we join forces, we multiply the impact. Looking into the future, the EU remained committed to continue fighting poverty in rural areas, notably in northern Ghana’, he said.

An additional 30 million euros in funding support has been allocated to improve food security and support for c
limate change adaptation across northern Ghana for the next three years.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Okofo Katakyi Nyakoh Eku X, The Paramount Chief of Agona Nyakrom Traditional Area, has expressed concern over the alarming rate of chieftaincy disputes currently prevailing in the area.

He said the rate at which the disputes were unfolding in the area was not palatable and if measures were not put in place to resolve them, it would have negative effects on the chieftaincy institution as well as the development and transformation of the area.

Okofo Nyakoh Eku expressed the sentiment when he addressed the 2024 first meeting of the Agona Nyakrom Traditional Council at Nyakrom in the Central Region.

The Overlord of Agonaman expressed disappointment about the growing disputes in the various towns of the traditional area and appealed to kingmakers, heads of clan, elders and other stakeholders to help find lasting solutions to the matter.

The Paramount Chief said the Agonaman Council was doing everything possible to restore the town to its former glory devoid of chieftaincy disputes.

He therefore called for pea
ce and harmony to ensure that development thrived, adding that without peace in the traditional area, it would be difficult to attract investors and get infrastructural development.

He said if the situation had not changed for the better, investors would not invest in the traditional area which had large prospects of gold and other natural resources for job creation and wealth for the inhabitants.

Okofo Katakyi Nyakoh Eku assured that various committees of the traditional council including the standing committee were poised to ensure that all chieftaincy disputes were resolved to enhance development.

The newly installed Omankrado, Nana Tekyi Korkor XI was introduced to the Omanhene as customs and traditions demanded.

Nana Korkor pledged his support for the chief of Agona Asafo, Nana Yamfo Asuako XI and the Omanahene to ensure peace and development.

On chieftaincy cases, Nana Tekyi Korkor called on the kingmakers and elders of families to keep records of stools and their history to help check members who
qualified and those who did not qualify to ascend the throne to avert rampant chieftaincy disputes.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Naa Fuseini Seidu Pelpuo, the overlord of the Waala Traditional Council, has bemoaned the deplorable Wa-Bole-Bamboi Road saying ‘It is giving sleepless nights to drivers and passengers and killing patients on referrals to hospitals in Tamale and Kumasi’.

He said the condition of the road made it harder to be called a road again; only the drivers who have been driving on it could locate it.

‘Drivers plying on it for the first time easily get missing and rather veered off into the bushes because the bush path and the road are identical in sight. Its dreadful condition makes it a nightmare in the true word’, the Wa-Naa lamented.

The Wa-Naa said this before the Road and Highways Minister, Mr Francis Asenso-Boakye, during a courtesy on him at his palace to start an inspection tour of the European Union and World Bank-funded feeder roads and other roads in the Upper West Region.

The Wa-Naa said hitherto, a journey of six hours from Wa-Kumasi had now become 15 15-hour journey by commercial vehicles and as a resu
lt, perishable goods transported from the southern sector got wasted because of the long hours spent on the road.

‘A major worry to our people has to do with patients on referrals to Tamale and Kumasi Teaching Hospitals for specialists’ medical attention, as they get to their destinations declared dead on arrival’, the Wa-Naa said.

‘It is that when patients are on referral to these hospitals, relatives start to prepare for their funerals because the roads will virtually kill them’, he added.

The Wa-Naa however commended the government for providing the region with two universities, which had developed excellent programmes to educate the teeming youth with skills to serve the manpower needs of the region in particular and Ghana as a whole.

He, however, expressed disappointment that the intake of students in the two universities had dwindled and attributed it to the poor road network, while government workers, especially some critical medical personnel were rejecting transfers to the region.

‘Equally, busi
nessmen and women have also found the region unattractive and are refusing to set up their enterprises due to the high cost of doing business regarding transportation and poor road network’, he stated.

Naa Pelpuo reminded Mr Asenso-Boakye of a promise made to the people of the region by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo that he would fix the Wa-Bole-Bamboi Road and present it as a gift before the end of his tenure of office.

He said the people were hopeful to see the fulfilment of that promise because already the government had tarred the Wa-Charia, and Dobile-Kambali roads and work was ongoing on the Wa-Jongu road and ‘these give us reasons that we trusted he would deliver on his promise’, he said.

He appealed to the government to construct the Wa-Boli- Loggu and the Wa-Magazine roads, which he said were in deplorable conditions to facilitate the movement of people, goods and services, and provide traffic lights for the Kambali section of the road to help reduce accidents.

Responding to the Wa-Naa’s
request, Mr Asenso-Boakye said, the government had developed two options for the development of the Wa-Bole-Bamboi portion of the Wa-Kumasi Road; one being the parching of all the potholes and bad portion of the road to make it accessible for the movement of vehicles, after which government would consider asphalting it to enhance trade.

He assured the people of the region that the government would bring development to the region to improve livelihoods at the local level.

The Roads and Highways Minister inspected ongoing construction works on the Kamba River near Nandom after he had commissioned the EU Roads at Daffiama.

Source: Ghana News Agency