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It is the fourth poorest region in the country despite its agriculture, fishing and the high level of brisk business which goes on in one of its towns, which is arguably the most expanding urban area in West Africa, Kasoa.

The Central Region prides itself in its educational institutions, but a recent finding that left the Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan, and other very concerned inhabitants of the Region fuming was that indigenes of the Region hardly access the best senior high schools here. The reason: poor performance in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE).

A 2017 news report revealed how poverty and low level of education are worsening teenage pregnancy numbers coupled with significant levels of teenage prostitution. A total of 5,106 cases of teenage pregnancies were recorded between July and December 2016 alone.

Due to this inglorious picture, the Region has unfortunately assumed that any project, national or local, sited in it should be with the intent of alleviating its chief enemy, poverty.

It is thus heart-breaking to find diverse projects carried out in the region wasting away, despite the sweet talk from politicians who claim to have the interest of the region at heart.

The CEDECOM irony

The Central Region Development Commission (CEDECOM), was specifically established to spearhead the reduction of poverty and to facilitate the development of the Region. In fact, as a means of ultimately deleting the poverty tag.

It is of great relevance to the Region that every Regional Minister who heads the Region is the default Board Chairman of the Commission.

A lot of funds have been injected into CEDECOM by governments over the years with the aim of alleviation aim of alleviating poverty in the Central Region. In 2009 for example, the late President Atta Mills promised it GHC 5.2 million, and the Commission later admitted receiving “some chunk of money”.

That was good news! But what did the Region witness? Several mind-boggling decisions have been taken by CEDECOM that makes every follower of the Commission wonder what is wrong with its handlers. Let me feed you with only three of them.

CEDECOM spent GHC 612,000 to construct a rest stop for commercial purposes on a marshy piece of land at Ekumfi Eyisam on the Accra-Cape Coast highway. The rest stop currently wastes away overgrown with weeds, years after its construction. The only time the facility saw some life was a one-day programme on the premises, where the current President, Akufo-Addo, launched the first of the factories under the One District-One Factory Policy, that is to produce pineapple juice in the Ekumfi area.

Another CEDECOM irony is the use of GHC 220,000 by the Commission to construct a fence wall around the Agona Swedru cemetery. Yes, around a public cemetery! That was a decision.

There is also the CEDECOM piggery project drama. The project that was recorded in the Commission’s 2011 projects records as having swallowed GHC100,000 was initially claimed to be at Assin Manso, but was never seen there, only for the people of the Region to be later told it had been moved to Assin Ando – and the piggery drama goes on.

All the above and other CEDECOM decisions have been taken in the Central Region where the youths are craving jobs that could simply minimize the poverty it is plagued with.

Central Region continues to be Ghana’s fourth poorest Region, years after CEDCOM’s creation, while no serious probe has been carried out to let people answer why those decisions were taken.

The Komenda Sugar Factory show

At a colourful event at the historical town of Komenda in 2016, ex-President John Mahama inaugurated the $35 million Indian EXIM Bank loan project meant to produce sugar to save the country the hundreds of millions of dollars it spends on sugar importation.

The factory was also projected to create over 7,300 jobs, most of which would have probably been for people in the Central Region.

That was visionary, wasn’t it? Yet those who established the magnificent factory, whose construction began in 2014, failed to realise that the raw materials needed for sugar production, sugarcane, had to be available for the factory to run.

The factory is also wasting away now, but the other side of the vision that requires providing the factory with 225,000 metric tonnes of sugarcane for the factory to operate at optimum capacity is yet to be realized by the nation.

That is pathetically another embellishment of the Central Region with no proper planning, killing hopes of the natives and Ghanaians at large, and the Region appears shortchanged again!

The John Evans Atta Mills Presidential Library

It is a project the current Regional Minister, Kwamena Duncan, has publicly described as a purely private facility meant to honour the late Atta Mills, but the digital library is yet to be fully used as it is now under lock and key.

Ghanaians were made to understand the Library was going to be in the hands of the University of Cape Coast, but a recent explanation by the institution has revealed no official documentation exists to that effect.

The contractor for the project has reportedly shut down the facility because of a failure to pay him some monies owed him since 2016.

The monument shares a neighbourhood with the Cape Coast Castle, and has a 100-capacity auditorium, a 45-seater multimedia centre, seminar rooms and a museum meant for keeping historical materials and works by or on the late President.

By all standards, it is a good centre for the research purposes attached to it; however, it appears to be the next major project in the Region to go defunct.

The shock of those who are passionate about the Central Region, is the flamboyance and pageantry that surround many sod-cutting and inauguration of projects here, only for such projects to get abandoned or fail to impact lives.

Moving around the Region and observing the people as well as communicating with residents on issues, show how they yearn to see their lives improved by those who profess love to them, but it is apparent their hopes may continue to be unattainable as Ghana as a whole continues to battle for proper planning and policy implementation.

It is also clear the people of the Central Region would want to have answers to the numerous questions on their minds, on why some particular decisions were taken on their behalf, most of which are a clear slap in the face.

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By: Joseph Ackon-Mensah

Email: [email protected]

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The injured have been rushed to the Winneba Trauma and Specialist Hospital for treatment.

The accident, which occurred around 6 pm yesterday [Saturday], involved a sprinter bus, a Hyundai bus and a taxi.

Eyewitnesses say the sprinter bus with registration number GS 8702-12 which was coming from the Accra side of the Accra-Cape Coast highway collided head-on with the Hyundai bus with the registration number GS 8994-17 and the taxi that were overtaking other cars from the Cape Coast end of the stretch.

The eyewitnesses also indicated that more lives could have been saved had the Winneba Fire Service personnel arrived on time to rescue the injured.

The Fire personnel had reportedly been delayed by the traffic jam that had built up on the stretch as a result of the accident.

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By: Joseph Ackon-Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post C/R: At least 6 dead in accident at Gomoa Dominase appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The construction of the Switching Station adds to the numerous interventions by the management of the Electricity Company of Ghana [ECG], to reduce system losses, improve power supply and ultimately enhance operational efficiency.

Upon completion, the Switching Station with 4No off-loading circuits is expected to distribute power more reliably and efficiently to the Brimsu Headworks, New and Old Ebu, Abakrampa, Asuansi and surrounding communities.

Speaking at a meeting in Cape Coast to discuss the project, the Construction Manager, Ing. Nee Abbey, indicated that currently these aforementioned areas with a growing customer population, are fed on a single line which is difficult to sustain.

He added that, this single line further distributes power to the various communities within the locality.

According to him, this often “results in a number of distribution challenges, leading particularly to the unreliable power supply to the Brimsu Headworks for water production”.

He indicated that, as part of the construction of the Switching Station, the Brimsu Headworks would have a dedicated line to help provide reliable power supply to enhance its water production activities.

Ing. Abbey further said that, a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) facility would be installed as part of the works.

The project and all ancillary works are valued at a cost of US$4m. The Construction Manager stated that, Amandi Energy Solutions Limited has been engaged to carry out the works.

The Project Manager of Amandi Energy Solutions Limited indicated that, the project will completed by the end of first quarter of 2018.

The Central Regional General Manager of the Electricity Company Limited,  Anokye Abebreseh, said that the facility, when completed and commissioned, “will lead to faster faults restoration times, remote monitoring of network conditions for pre-emptive action to be taken, and maintain high level of supply reliability”.

Mr. Abebreseh said that, the company continues to improve upon its customer service delivery through network improvement and infrastructure development initiatives.

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By: Joseph Ackon-Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Eclampsia is a condition in which one or more convulsions occur in a pregnant woman suffering from high blood pressure, often followed by coma and posing a threat to the health of mother and baby.

Mr. Richard Darko, Regional Information Officer of the Ghana Health Services (GHS) disclosed this at the Central Regional Coordinating Council meeting in Cape Coast.

[contextly_sidebar id=”jCah02qxspCLZ1DPvoRdvWMtPKusi07o”]He described the situation as disheartening and mentioned the predominant districts to include; the Abura Aseibu Kwamankese (AAK), Komenda Edina Eguafo (KEEA), Mfantsiman, Awutu Senya East, Gomoa East, Gomoa West, Ajumako, Assin North and Effutu.

He said maternal deaths increased from 45 in the first quarter of 2016 to 48 in 2017 over the same period, despite having improved on supervised delivery, family planning coverage and qualitative improvement in healthcare services.

That notwithstanding, he expressed the unwavering determination of the Directorate through increased public education, improvement in healthcare services and the adoption of more innovative and pragmatic measures to drastically reduce the maternal deaths in the region.

Touching on HIV/AIDS, Mr Darko said the HIV Sentinel Survey Report showed that the region had been recording a stagnated HIV prevalence rate of 1.8 per cent in the last three years.

Health experts have attributed the increase to high illiteracy rate, poverty and perennial rural-urban migration for non-existent jobs as these factors predisposes individuals to HIV infections.

Nonetheless, the Region did not record any case of cholera in 2017 despite registering 725 cases in the previous year which he explained that the feat was due to a number of health measures put in place by the Health Directorate and other stakeholders, following the high cases record in 2016.

He urged the public to frequently wash their hands with soap, keep their surroundings clean as the rains would soon set in and desist from buying food that was prepared or sold near chocked gutters and unhygienic places.

He indicated that the adoption of hygienic practices to prevent cholera and other communicable diseases was the best way to end the frequent outbreak of the preventable diseases adding that the Region consistently performed well in all disease surveillance indicators and malaria accounted for 37 per cent of OPD attendance in the region.

He assured that the Directorate would continue to train staff in Malaria cases management and provide on-site supportive supervision to improve diagnosis and management.

The GHS had outlined priority areas such as the scaling up of CHPS activities, emergency care and preparedness, commodity security and supply chain, financial management and data quality improvement to serve as a guide in 2018.

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Source: GNA

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According to the police, the three are Bright Abdulai, Joe and Felix Quarm, all residents of Breman Adumanu in the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa District of the Central Region.

[contextly_sidebar id=”yLBkrdoS8Rh3lfyM32r3imV8a305AUMU”]The police say the three will be charged with publication or sale of an obscene material.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by the Regional Director of Public Affairs of the Ghana Police, ASP Irene Serwa Oppong, the girl in the video has in her statement to the police, accused the three of circulating the content.

The police have also in their statement, indicated that they have traced the alleged girl, Priscilla Tettey, to her school, Agona Odoben SHS where she is a final year student.

According to the police, she has revealed in her statement that she was born in 1999, making her an eighteen (18) year old girl, and  that she and the head teacher, Robert Seppey, have been lovers for some time.

The sex video allegedly capturing the two, has been circulated widely on social media, but the Central Regional police remained tight-lipped initially, saying it had not officially come to their notice.

However, the police at Breman Asikuma began investigations on Monday, as they met the alleged girl to obtain her statement to help in the investigations.

When Citi News contacted ASP Serwaa Oppong, she explained that the head teacher allegedly captured in the video has not been charged with any crime.

Meanwhile, the Breman Asikuma Police have indicated that their investigations is progressing slowly as they struggle to establish contact with the head teacher who is currently on the run for fear of being lynched by the youth of the community.

They say they have issued an open invitation to the head teacher to help them in the investigations.

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By: Joseph Ackon-Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Police chase 3 for leaking sex video of headmaster and 18-yr old girl appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Police arrested two of the suspects, named Emmanuel Osei and Abdul Razak, aged 22 and 23 respectively, just hours after they stole the taxi with registration number GX 3027-17 from a driver named Prince Amemoo.

Luck eluded the two other suspects who had been on the run until they were arrested by the Kasoa Police today [Tuesday].

The Police say the suspects hired the victim’s taxi from the Winneba Roundabout to Gomoa Potsin, and forced him to drive to the outskirts of the town.

They stated that Emmanuel Osei, who was sitting next to the driver, allegedly threatened him with a machete while his accomplices pushed him out of the car.

They then tied the victim with a rope, and gagged him with a handkerchief before absconding with the taxi.

The police explained that the Accra Central District Police Command received a tip-off that a group of young men were offering a taxi, similar to the stolen one for sale at Agblogbloshie.

Police officers who were deployed to the scene feigned interest in the car and arrested the suspects who confessed to the robbery.

The Accra Central District Police then handed over the suspects to the Winneba Police who placed them in a lineup, where Emmanuel Osei was identified by the complainant as the assailant wielding the machete.

Both the complainant and the suspects were taken to the crime scene for a reconstruction of the crime.

The car is currently in the possession of the police as evidence, while all four suspects will be put before the Winneba Magistrate Court today [Wednesday].

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By: Joseph Ackon-Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post C/R: Four suspects in police custody for carjacking appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Two of the area’s economic backbones, tourism and salt mining, have been negatively affected by the menace in recent years, but the Municipal Assembly has now mapped out measures to deal with it.

According to the Environmental Officer of the Municipality, Alex Kwame Damptey, open defecation, especially in and around Elmina, has been due to the influx of fisher folks from different parts of the country as a result of the vast landing bay at Elmina.

He explained most of the fishermen who flock to Elmina stay mostly in their canoes and other fishing vessels and resort to indiscriminate defecation along the beaches.

Another factor for the menace is the lack of toilet facilities in many households, which leads to open defecation in gutters, on the beaches and at refuse dumps.

According to the Environmental Officer, the perpetrators say they “have their comfort” defecating at the beaches, an act they describe as “free range”.

He admits the pollution has to be sustainably tackled since it has the potential to affect the eagerness of tourists to stay for prolonged periods of time when they visit sites like the Elmina Castle.

Speaking to Citi News, the Officer in Charge of the Elmina Castle, Ato Eshun, noted: “The open defecation at Elmina may not necessarily affect the arrival of visitors, but it could affect the visitors staying longer because after you have gone through the Elmina Castle, you would want to walk along the beach but it is soiled, so you would back off and the time you would want to spend in Elmina would be shortened.”

He further revealed the on-going construction of a sea defence around the Castle and the recent prosecution, by the Assembly, of people who defecate openly have helped in drastically minimizing the shameful act.

On the salt mining industry in the area, Mr. Damptey lamented how people used to defecate at the mining sites, stating that their actions almost collapsed the business.

“You go to Dentsido, Bronyibima and some few areas where we have salt industries, and some notorious persons decide to defecate in the pans, which is very serious; businesses are falling apart. People have made investments in salt mining,” Mr. Damptey reveals.

The Assembly has intensified public education, arrests and prosecution of perpetrators as well as the engagement of fisher folks along the beaches to adopt good sanitation practices at the beaches in order to improve the sales they make from the catches.

Landlords are also under strict regulations to construct toilet facilities for their families and tenants.

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By: Joseph Ackon Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post C/R: KEEA fights open defecation to boost economy appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to the Regional NADMO Public Relations Officer, Eric Arthur, the long delay was due to the non-existence of a NADMO board to sanction the purchasing and supply of the items.

In June this year, a downpour caused the Offin River to overflow its banks destroying some buildings and other properties of many residents of Dunkwa-on-Offin.

The displaced and distressed victims were registered by NADMO and had since been housed in a temporary shelter awaiting relief items from the Municipal and Regional authorities for the last few months.

On September 6, the Governing Board of NADMO was eventually sworn in by the Interior Minister, Ambrose Dery, to spearhead the activities of the organization under the Act 927 (2016).

Items presented to the victims include 200 bags of cement, fifty bags of rice, 250 mattresses, twenty mini cartons of soap, mosquito nets and thirty blankets.

Other items were 100 rubber buckets, 100 rubber basins, four bales of used clothes and twenty cartons of cooking oil.

Presenting the items, the Central Regional Director of NADMO, James Appiah Mensah, charged the newly appointed district Director of NADMO for Dunkwa-on-Offin and his officials to ensure that all disaster victims who were duly registered are allocated the relief items.

He further urged the victims to exercise patience since more items may be brought to them later.

Speaking to Citi News, the Regional PRO admitted the frustrations of the victims as a result of the delay but added, “The Regional Director together the Municipal Assembly has been assisting them, but it was not enough, so we registered them and counselled them”.

He further stated the work of NADMO goes beyond the supply of relief items, and that the organization will also be visiting the victims and counsel them as they recover from the distress the disaster caused them.

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By: Joseph Ackon-Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Dunkwa flood victims receive relief items after six months appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

An operation dubbed ‘Operation Father Christmas’ has thus been launched in the region to declare war on criminals as the police intensify security before, during and after the Christmas season.

“I want to warn all the armed robbers; I want warn all pick-pockets; I want to warn all drug peddlers and addicts that we are on them this time, so they should start fleeing before we catch up on them”, COP Ampah-Benin threatened.

COP Ampah-Benin sounded the warning at a short parade at the Regional Police Command at Cape Coast on Wednesday, aimed at making the public aware of the police’s readiness to protect them.

The Regional Commander announced that the Command has deployed 1,450 officers to guard the Cape Coast area, while 560 officers will be deployed particularly on the night of December 31.

He further charged his officers: “All unregistered motorbikes and all vehicles without registered numbers moving at odd times should be arrested, and everyone whom you find at odd places where we suspect are hideouts for criminals should be apprehended”.

This latest security plan across the region, according to the police command, is to “make sure that citizens of the region live in peace” this Christmas.

He has indicated that his outfit has received intelligence on the hideouts of criminals, and has correctly mapped out all key hideouts in the Region as a way of fighting crime.

COP Ampah-Bannin has also urged his officers to “shun malingering and work as if (their) whole life depends on this short period (Christmas)”.

The year 2017, has seen a marked improvement in security on the Central Region’s stretch of the Accra-Takoradi highway due to the setting up of daily night police checkpoints.

This security arrangement by the Regional Police Command has immensely helped to curb armed robbery on the Accra-Takoradi highway.

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By: Joseph Ackon Mensah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post C/Region: Police to pursue criminals with ‘Operation Father Christmas’ appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.