SARPONG'S BLOG

Wassa-Akropong Government Hospital, Dunkwa Government Hospital and the Ayanfuri Pentecost Clinic have received Ebola protection kits from Perseus Mining Ghana Limited. The items were resented to these hospitals within the business operation areas of Perseus Mining Ghana Limited. .According to the company the Ebola protection kits cost US$10,129. The items are personal protective equipment (PPE) which includes chemical gloves, gum boots, infrared thermometers, digital thermometers, dust masks, examination gloves and disposable overalls were in response to an appeal made to the company. Nana Prah Agyeinsam, Board Chairman of Perseus, said the gift was meant to aid the emergency response preparedness to deal with any suspected case of the deadly hemorrhagic viral Ebola fever. He underlined the determination of the company to invest in the health of the people. Mrs Mary Magdalene Arthur of the Wassa-Akropong Health Directorate, on behalf of the other beneficiary faci...

The Northern Region is to host the forthcoming National Sanitation Exercise, which would take place on February 7, Mr Edwin Nii Lantey Vanderpuye, a Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development has announced. Mr Vanderpuye, who made the announcement at a meeting with metropolitan, municipal and district chief executives (MMDCEs) in the Northern Region in Tamale said the choice of the region to host the national exercise formed part of efforts to bring governance to the doorsteps of the people. The Minister is in the Northern Region ahead of the National Sanitation Day that falls on February 7, 2015. The meeting with the MMDCEs was to share ideas on how to coordinate the National Sanitation Exercise in the region to ensure success. The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development in collaboration with the   Regional Coordinating Council, has drawn a comprehensive programme, which involves a week-long prior visit to communities to interac...

Policy think tank, IMANI Ghana, has observed that because the Controller and Accountant General Department (CAGD) wants to avoid the overbearing powers of Ministers of state and heads of Departments and Agencies, it has not been able to police its mandate. It said due to this lackadaisical attitude, the CAGD has not been up and doing in removing ghost names from the public payroll, a situation it argued, was having serious repercussions on the country’s wage bill. According to IMANI, it was about time the CAGD woke up from its slumber and stood firm to enforce its mandate. This, the policy think tank believes, would help empower the CAGD to block all fictitious payments, so as to regain confidence in the public payroll administration. “The CAGD must be able to enforce its mandate in making sure that it is empowered to block all fictitious payments. It is apparent that the CAGD is weak in this regard, probably because it wants to avoid clashes with Ministers, Departm...

Communications Minister Edward Omane Boamah has set a 2016 target to eliminate the incidence of SIMbox fraud, which is estimated to cost the country in excess of US$70million annually in non-paid taxes. Mr. Omane Boamah is banking government hopes on the yet-to-be established Interconnect Clearing House to stem the prevalence of a crime that telcos blame for the loss of more than 40 percent of call traffic from the US. The minister, speaking at a news conference following the arrest of some SIM box operators, said ICH will become fully operational by middle of the year and is capable of rejecting or blocking calls emanating from improperly registered SIM-cards, which fraudsters rely on for their illegal deeds. SIMbox fraud is a complex fraud system that makes a call from overseas appear on the phone screen as a local call. This is because the fraudsters channel the calls from abroad through unapproved routes by terminating them on SIMboxes fitted with local SIM-car...

Farmers in southern Malawi urgently need seeds and livestock after intense flooding destroyed their fields and homes, washing away animals and crops and threatening local food security. More than 170,000 people have had to leave their homes. Some 79 deaths have been confirmed so far, while 153 people are still missing in Nsanje district alone. An estimated 116,000 households have lost their crops and livestock. Malawi is regularly affected by droughts and floods. But the current heavy rains have come ahead of their usual schedule - repeatedly bursting the banks along the Shire and Ruo rivers - and their impact has been far wider. Warnings of flash floods remain active as moderate to heavy rains are expected in the country's northern regions. It is estimated that more than 63,000 hectares of land is under water, including 35,000 hectares of crop land, and a state of emergency has been declared for 15 of Malawi's 28 districts. The the  most affected districts a...

In June 2014, the African Union summit, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, endorsed the Malabo Declaration on Accelerated Agricultural Growth and Transformation for Shared Prosperity and Improved Livelihoods. One of the seven commitments that were adopted, ‘Ending Hunger in Africa by 2025’, grew out of the Renewed Partnership to End Hunger in Africa by 2025 , involving the African Union Commission, its NEPAD Planning and Coordination Agency (NPCA), the Institute Lula and FAO among other partners . ‘At FAO, we are proud to have partnered with the African Union and the Lula Institute in contributing to the Declaration to End Hunger in Africa by 2025. With a focused set of actions at national, sub-regional and continental levels, the investments and commitment we make to alleviating hunger on the continent are critical prerequisites to achieving the African vision articulated in the Agenda 2063’, declared Ms Maria-Helena Semedo, FAO Deputy Director-General, in an intervention at...