Day: June 20, 2024

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has empowered pupils of some basic schools in the Garu District of the Upper East Region to be agents of peace ahead of the 2024 general elections.

The pupils were from Garu Day Senior High School, Denugu Junior High School and Siisi JHS.

The move by the Commission was to ensure that the pupils were involved in democratic governance, act as agents of change for accelerated development and contribute significantly to protecting the prevailing peace in their communities.

The Commission engaged the pupils in Garu as part of the celebration of this year’s Citizenship Week on the theme ‘Children, let’s build Ghana together’ and aimed to use public figures considered role models, to influence the life of the children positively and enable them to become good citizens.

Some of the personalities used by the NCCE to interact and impart virtues of good citizenship were representatives of the Garu District Court, Ghana Education Service, Information Services Departm
ent, CAMFED, Garu District Assembly and the Business Advocacy Centre.

Speaking to the pupils, Mr Samuel Akolgo, the Garu District Director, NCCE, said the mandate of the Commission was to create and sustain awareness of the principles and objectives of the 1992 Constitution in the citizenry, to enhance participation and development.

He said ‘Children are a source of vitality and a remarkable gift to every society as the future leaders and catalyst for peacebuilding, it is important to engage them early.

‘They can be powerful agents of change in promoting peaceful elections by educating themselves and others, advocating for peace, engaging in community activities and modelling peaceful behaviour to contribute to a more peaceful and democratic society.’

He urged the children to engage their peers, families, schools, and communities to promote peaceful dialogue, respect for diversity, and use non-violent means to resolve conflict, as a way to promote peace during Election 2024.

On his part, Mr. Thomas Boadi
Soyori, the Garu District Court Judge, explained that Ghana was a beautiful country with a rich history and diverse culture and there was a need for a culture of political tolerance to sustain the peace the country currently was enjoying.

‘You must understand that our differences make us unique and special and we come from different backgrounds, speak different languages, and have different beliefs, but we are all Ghanaians.

‘Children we must respect each other’s opinions and work towards a common goal of building a better Ghana. It is our responsibility as young citizens to get involved in the development of our country. We can do this by participating in community projects, volunteering, and being informed about the issues that affect our country. We must also encourage our friends and family to do the same,’ he added.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council (GARCC) through the Department of Gender has organised a dialogue session on ending child marriage and Gender Based Violence (GBV).

It was organised with funding from United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Canadian Government to sensitise participants on their role in reducing GBV, the child marriage legal framework and the implications on the mental health of the child.

The workshop brought together identifiable groups such as Okada riders, apprentices of garage operators and Unit Committee Members at Medie in the Ga West Municipal Assembly between the ages of 18 and 60 years.

Madam Matilda Banfro, the Greater Accra Regional Director, Department of Gender, said marriage must be consensual and parties must be of age.

She said child marriage occurred when either of the partners was below 18 years.

Madam Banfro said research showed that child bride rate in the Greater Accra Region was 11 per cent.

The Regional Director said girls in the rural areas w
ere twice more likely to be child brides.

Madam Banfro acknowledged that there were legal frameworks which prohibited children under 18 years from marriage but the children were powerless to refuse when forced into it.

Madam Juliana Abbeyquaye, Eastern Regional Director, Department of Gender, explained that child marriage could be formal where rites were performed or informal where there was no rite but partners cohabitted.

She said child marriage was mainly caused by poverty, low educational rate, strict adherence to culture and religion, low access to higher education, and teenage pregnancy among others.

Madam Abbeyquaye said the most successful strategy to prevent child marriage was the investment in girls’ education and keeping them in school.

She called on communities, traditional and religious leaders to work together to address gender inequalities and harmful cultural practices that contributed to child marriage.

Madam Jemima Marfo, a health officer, Ga West Municipal Health Directorate, said the
health implications of child marriage included teenage pregnancy, urinary tract infection, obstetric fistula, cervical cancer and depression.

She said according to studies, three out of every five Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infected persons in Ghana were between the ages of 15 to 24 years.

Mr Rees Oduro, a Deputy Director, National Narcotics Control Commission, described drugs as any substance that brought changes to the body after using them either internally or externally.

He said any drugs taken without doctor’s prescription was drug abuse and people usually abused drugs for the pleasure, high performance, as stimulants and depressants.

The Deputy Director said research revealed that a married girl below the age of 18 years risked mental depression, which usually led to her abuse of drugs.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Unknown persons have damaged over 14,000 Green Ghana tree seedlings at Abokwame, a farming village near Yonguase in the Lower Manya Krobo municipality in the Eastern region.

Danya, Mahogany, Cedrela, Prekese, Cibar Minlliner, Papao, and, among other trees, seedlings meant for reforestation of Bukonor Forest Reserve were sprayed with gramoxone weedicide.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr. Ebenezer Agyakwa, the Somanya Forest District manager who also oversees Asuogyaman, Okere, and Akuapem North and South, Lower and Upper Manya Krobo districts, said they suspected farmers in the area who farm in the forest reserve were responsible for the plant destruction.

He stated that they intended to implement all of the plantation models this year at the Bukunor Forest Reserve because all 11 forest reserves, including Boti Forest Reserve, Abobeng Forest Reserve, Dawa Forest Reserve, Anyamoni Forest Reserve, and others, are steep and rocky.

He said, ‘We decided to undertake the tree planting here because
the land is flat and fertile to green the area and safeguard the land from illegal farmers encroaching on the forest reserve after it was abandoned due to the construction of Akosombo, which overflowed and took over some part of the forest some years ago.

Adding, ‘Since the water is not overflowing, we have decided to re-forest the remaining part of the forest reserve.’

He said that they delivered the seedlings to the forest reserve last weekend, and by Thursday last week, they had planted seedlings covering five hectares with support from the forest guards, deputy district managers, YEA members, district managers, and other senior staff.

He explained that because Friday was a taboo day in Abokwame village and Monday was also the Eid-ul-Adha holiday, they went to the forest to plant the remaining seedlings, only to discover that the plants had been destroyed with weedicide.

According to him, the action of the people was to prevent the Forestry Commission from carrying out its mandate of protecting and gre
ening the forest.

Mr. Agyakwa also stated that when they first started the project, they sensitized the community about modified Taungya systems, but the residents didn’t cooperate with them.

‘When we informed the chief of the area of the incident, he instructed us to arrest everybody we discovered,’ he added.

He further said the 1974 forest protection order prohibits anybody from farming or even going into the forest to pluck a leaf without first obtaining an authorization from the Forestry Commission.

Meanwhile, residents are cultivating maize and cassava, and farm produce in the forest reserve.

He stated that the government has lost around GHc 750,000.00 worth of seedlings and that, because of the actions of the people, they will arrest all of them and destroy all their corn crops and plantations.

Mr. Nartey Djornobua, Yonguase’s community chief told Ghana News Agency that he had been briefed by forest authorities about the unfortunate circumstance and was disappointed.

He stated that forest staff s
hould arrest everyone they come across in the vicinity and those individuals found responsible for the act face full rigors of the law.

‘I believed that the arrest would help bring to justice those responsible for the seedling destruction,’ he said.

Ghana’s forest resources are valuable national resources because one of the key sources of foreign exchange earnings is the timber resource.

From an environmental standpoint, forests are essential for maintaining biological variety, watersheds, windbreaks, and tackling climate change.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Police have so far arrested and detained three suspects in connection with the robbery on students and lecturers of the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR).

The robbery occurred on the Odomase-Badu road in the Sunyani West Municipality around 1900 hours on Tuesday, April 16, 2024.

A reliable police source at the Bono Regional Police Command told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) the arrest was made through police intelligence, saying investigations were still on-going.

The police retrieved several mobile phones, and other valuables from the suspects who were arrested in their hideouts.

On the day, the suspects attacked and robbed the victims as they were returning from a field trip, however police highway patrol teams intervened and arrested one person.

Sadly, a student identified as Abdul Aziz Issah lost his life during the attack while six other students who sustained minor injuries had since been treated and discharged.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr Justice Yaw Ennin, Western Regional Director for the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has encouraged Ghanaians to participate in the tree planting exercise initiated by the government to sustain the environment.

That, he said, was the only way to help restore the vast forest reserves and farm lands destroyed by the activities of illegal miners.

Mr Annin gave the advice in Tarkwa when he launched the annual NCCE Citizenship Week for Basic Schools in the Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality.

He said, ‘We are fast depleting our environment, this is the fourth year since the Government launched the Green Ghana Day programme, I am told every year they plant 10 million tree seedlings of various species, so am expecting 40 million trees. I am, therefore appealing to our children to embrace this laudable exercise to restore the country’s forest.’

The main theme for the week-long programme was ‘Together we can build Ghana,’ and a sub theme for the school children was ‘Children let’s build Ghana.’

Mr Ennin
explained that each year, the Commission dedicated to remind pupils of their right and responsibilities as citizens, and the role they play in building the country because the future depends on them.

He also educated the pupils to ensure their parents lived in peace with others as the country prepared for the 2024 polls, importance of peaceful election and the negative consequences of violence.

Mr Peter Dyaka, Municipal NCCE Director for Tarkwa Nsuaem, added that the week-long activity covered thirty-one Basic Schools both public and private schools.

Some of the schools his office visited were the University of Mines and Technology (UMaT), Tarkwa Basic School, Roman Catholic Basic School, Melody International School, New Excellence Basic School, Golden Age School Complex, Gogo Memorial Basic School, New Atuabo Community School among others.

He said, ‘The message we carried across the various schools was the responsibilities of children in building Ghana because nation building required the efforts of ever
ybody, both the elderly and the young ones.’

Source: Ghana News Agency