The meeting will be held on 21^st March, 2018.

The Extraordinary Summit will witness the signing of an agreement that will launch the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), intended to make Africa “the largest free trade area created since the formation of the World Trade Organisation.”

A statement signed by the Director of Communications at the Presidency, Eugene Arhin, said Akufo-Addo was accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Shirley Ayorkor Botchway; the Minister for Trade and Industry, Alan Kyerematen; and some officials of the presidency and the Foreign Ministry.

The President will return to Ghana on Wednesday, 21^st March, 2018.

In his absence, the Vice President, Alhaji Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, shall in accordance with Article 60(8) of the Constitution act in his stead.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to her, the public education will help calm the fears of the persons who had become alarmed over the number of student deaths recorded at the school due to the viral infection.

[contextly_sidebar id=”M4DCbYN2sTZGWedYvDexFG3SHuuQesQg”]Speaking to Citi News, she explained that when the public is better informed about the condition, they can effectively protect themselves from being infected.

“We need to put messages out there because there is still work to be done now that we have identified that there is an H1N1 outbreak. People need to be educated about hand-washing, about covering their mouth and nose when sneezing, and avoiding crowded places when you have symptoms ”she said.

Prof. Irene Agyapong further commended the regional health directorate for their swift response to the situation at the school.

“I think they have done what they should do, they quickly put a team together, they establish there is an outbreak, they have verified the diagnoses and in a few days they have come out to confirm it is H1N1,” she noted.

It emerged on Thursday that out of the 19 samples sent to the Noguchi Memorial Institute from the Kumasi Academy in the Ashanti Region, 12 tested positive for influenza type A.

The Health Minister, Kwaku Agyeman Manu who made the announcement said reports on further tests received confirmed Influenza type-A H1N1 2009 [Otherwise known as Swine Flu], pandemic strain.

The tests became necessary following what many have called mysterious deaths involving four students of the school in the past week.

Four other students had died earlier in 2017, bringing the total number of deaths to eight students.

Officials from the Ghana Health Service had previously ruled meningitis out in the recent deaths and noted that a bacterial infection was more likely.

The whole student population has been administered with antibiotics as part of a prophylaxis.

There are three types of seasonal influenza viruses, types A, B, and C, but only influenza type A viruses are known to have caused pandemics.

Some symptoms of the disease include; sudden onset of fever, cough, headaches, muscle and joint pain, severe malaise, sore throat and a runny nose.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post KUMACA deaths: Education needed to calm fears – Health officer appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He said this was necessary due to the globally increasing trend of eye conditions such as diabetic retinopathy and myopia, which could result in dire consequences.

Dr. Ninkpe, who was addressing the 2017 Annual General Meeting of the Association in Ho, said a recent survey, showed that refractive errors, cataracts, and glaucoma obstructed the sights of some 200,000 Ghanaians, although 79 per cent of such complications were avoidable.

He said available eyeglasses in the country were capable of correcting defects for only 44 per cent, and said it was important for government functionaries to investigate the causes of failing eyesight, and place special emphasis on eye care, as the world “enters a new era of blindness and visual impairment”.

Dr. Ninkpe called for a resourced Health Service with increased activity in hard-to-reach areas, towards providing quality and affordable eye care services to the less privileged.

He said though there were over 300 trained optometrists and 500 optometric nurses in the country, uneven distribution of personnel had led to sparse coverage of quality eye care.

Dr. Ninkpe said the Volta region, for example, has eye centres in only 13 out of 25 districts, and said, “a nation that allows its people to go blind is in itself a blind nation.”

Dr. Archibald Yao Letsa, the Volta Regional Minister, encouraged Optometrists to continue to serve with love and form an Optometric Council to promote quality eye care services.

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Source: GNA

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The tutors, who threatened to boycott lectures, are demanding that the principal steps aside to pave way for investigations into his conduct.

The tutors, numbering about 18, took a unilateral decision to lock up the office of the principal, Bawa Awula, accusing him of violating the Procurement Act in the procurement of goods and services as well as neglecting the plight of both lecturers and students.

A senior lecturer and convener of the lecturers, Mr. Edward Atiim, said “since the coming of our principal to Bolga Nursing Training College, he had indicated to us his vision, but it has been almost two years, but his vision has not materialized. First and foremost, he wanted to work from bottom-up, but we are not seeing that, procurement is ongoing without a procurement committee or board, and he’s not even taking the procurement procedures into consideration”.

“There are inadequate facilities in the school, yet we have been collecting development levy since 2008, and tutors allowances which are supposed to be paid are not being paid, and we think that these are reasonable enough for us(tutors) to be able to tolerate.”

“This has prompted us to lock up his office so that we all stay out of office until the authorities respond because we have served letters in respect of these issues to the acting head of Health training institutions, and copied the Regional Director of Health Services, the Upper East Regional Minister, the Minister for Health, and the Economic and Organized Crime Office (EOCO),” he said.

Some students who spoke to Citi News said, the situation, if not urgently dealt with, would affect their studies.

“I’m not happy about what is happening, so the authorities should address the issue so that we can get back to the classroom, because if the tutors embark on the sit down strike as threatened, it will affect our studies,” one of the students said.

Another student added that,”In our classrooms, we do not have sockets or enough furniture, which affects our studies, so we also want the school authorities to do something about it.”

When Citi News contacted the Principal, Bawa Awula for his side of the story, he said he was attending to some important meetings, and would respond at the appropriate time.

Supervision in nursing training colleges

It appears supervision in most of the country’s nursing training colleges is quite weak, a situation that allows a lot of improper practices spearheaded by principals and other officials to thrive.

This has in some cases led to the interdiction of some principals accused of wrongdoing, with the recent one being the Principal of Tepa Midwifery and Nursing.

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By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Group in a statement copied to citifmonline.com, said Accra-based Joy FM as well as other media platforms that carried the allegations, must apologize or risk being challenged to provide ample evidence to substantiate the claims.

It said the report is a calculated attempt to tarnish its image.

“On the face of the evidence, we deem the publication in question by the Joy FM and Manaseh Azuri Awuni as malicious and calculated to tarnish the hard-won reputation of the Jospong Group, the Chief Executive and its subsidiaries.”

“Accordingly, we call on Joy FM and its sister stations to retract the defamatory statements made against the Jospong Group and the Chief Executive of the Jospong Group, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, within three days upon receipt of this rejoinder, failing which the company may be constrained to take any further action that it deems appropriate without further recourse to the Multimedia Group,” it said.

A report on Joy FM earlier this week indicated that Universal Plastic Product and Recycling Ltd, a subsidiary of the Jospong Group of Companies, and four other firms all belonging to the Jospong group, had overpriced a contract to supply 1 million waste bins and 900,000 packs of disposable bin liners to the country by about Ghc130 million.

The report said the company sold each of the 240litre bin to the state at GH¢258 when an invoice from the same company showed that the actual price was GH¢135.

The directive to supply the bins was given by the Office of the President at the time, through sole sourcing procurement method.

Responding to the specific claim of bloated cost, it said, the “agreement is a Pre Financing and Credit Sale contract. The total number of waste bins to be supplied under the initiative is 1,000,000 at a supply rate of $60 per piece (to be paid at the prevailing Bank of Ghana interbank exchange rate) plus 900,000 (nine hundred thousand) pieces of Biodegradable Bin Liners at $15.60 per piece ”

“The total contract sum of 74,040,000 United States Dollars was to be pre financed by the companies, which therefore allowed the Government of Ghana flexibility payment terms for a period of 24 months. Definitely a cash sale has different terms as compared to a credit sale.

i. Further to the production cost involved in the above, a major component of the contract is the transportation and distribution of the bins to households within the 216 districts in Ghana by the companies involved which has additional cost implications, and same was factored into the pricing. ii. It should be noted, contrary to claims, the bins are durable; coming with a replacement warranty and a competitive price to the international market price.”

Read excerpts of the company’s statement below:

Allegation of payment of the contract sum.

i. It must be placed on record that none of the five companies has supplied any item under the contract and neither has any payment been made by the Ministry of Local Government to the said companies.

3. The reports and statements in the Multimedia Group, authored by Manasseh Azure Awuni, to the effect that the contract price has been inflated in excess of one hundred and thirty million Ghana cedis (GH¢130,000,000.00) is, therefore, grossly misleading and unfortunate to say the least. Clearly, there was no wrong doing in the procurement or award of the contract.

4. Splashing pictures of waste bins We wish to state categorically that the references made to waste bins in the district with pictures displayed online by Joy FM were meant to mislead the public that, because some assemblies have not distributed existing bins, there was no need for distributing the bins as required by the contract is unfortunate. It should be noted that, The One million Bins Distribution Programme is meant to ensure that households in Ghana have bins to enhance waste management, disposal and collection in all communities. Currently, the lack of such bins in houses is leading to poor waste disposal and indiscriminate dumping of waste generated daily.

On the face of the evidence, we deem the publication in question by the Joy FM and Manasseh Azuri Awuni as malicious and calculated to tarnish the hard-won reputation of the Jospong Group, the Chief Executive and its subsidiaries.

Accordingly, we call on Joy FM and its sister stations to retract the defamatory statements made against the Jospong Group and the Chief Executive of the Jospong Group, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, within three days upon receipt of this rejoinder, failing which the company may be constrained to take any further action that it deems appropriate without further recourse to the Multimedia Group. You may kindly contact the undersigned for further clarification

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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This is one of the many proposals that have came up for consideration at the party’s 25th Annual Delegates’ Conference at Cape Coast on Saturday.

Only 5,000 delegates are allowed to vote for national officers at the party’s congresses but the current proposal seeks to have the number increased to 150,000 to be at par with the number of delegates who vote for to choose a flagbearer at the party’s presidential primaries.

The conference has directed the National Council of the party to set up a Committee to look into all the proposals for constitutional amendments.

The Committee is expected to report to the Council with its report on the proposals for the necessary action to be taken.

Other proposals that committee will consider include one to allow Members of Parliament to elect their constituency executives to promote unity.

This comes after reports of resistance and fracas between some Members of Parliament and the party’s constituency executives.

It is believed that if the MPs are given the power to appoint their preferred options for the constituency positions, they will be able to work effectively together.

The committee is also expected to look into a proposal to have the position of deputies voted upon. If accepted, any individual who seeks to occupy a position as a deputy must campaign and convince electorates to vote for them.

An extraordinary conference is expected to be called by the National Executive Committee in few months’ time before the end of the year to take a decision on the proposals.

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By: Jonas Nyabor & Sammi Wiafe/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The school was disconnected on July 7, 2017 over its indebtedness to VRA and that greatly affected both academic and administrative work.

The management of the school on Monday,  July 17, 2017 pleaded with VRA to reconnect the school to the national grid to enable authorities for the appropriate authorities to settle the arrears.

Speaking to Citi News, the Acting Area Manager of VRA Bolgatanga Station, Mr. Abubakari Gbanzaba indicated that, the indebtedness of the Polytechnic and many other institutions was affecting the operation of VRA, thus the disconnection.

He said the  Bolgatanga Polytechnic main campus owed VRA a sum of GHC346,652.72 while its Bukeri campus owes GHC366,675.78, adding that, the last payment was in 2013.

“We (VRA) have agreed to connect the Polytechnic to electricity today  July 17, 2017 after a plea by management of the school to enable them write correspondence to the authorities that be, to  settle the arrears and they have up to 3rd August to make payment of their electricity bills. failure to do so will force us to disconnect them,” Mr. Gbanzaba noted.

Mr. Gbanzaba bemoaned the huge indebtedness of educational and health institutions as well as departments and agencies to VRA hence needed a multi-faceted approach to get them to settle their bills.

“Educational institutions within Bolga, Talensi and Bongo districts owe VRA GHC3,136,222.31 as at May 2017. The Bolga Regional hospital Out Patient Department (OPD) alone owe GHC1,310,850.34 while the Bongo district hospital owe GHC69,529.22, both made the last payment of electricity bills in 2012.”

VRA to embark on mass disconnection

Mr. Gbanzaba stated that, his outfit have served all MDAs, Educational and Health institutions within the Bolga, Talensi and Bongo districts a demand notice to pay all outstanding electricity bills within two weeks or risk being disconnected.

He added that, the exercise will be extended to the Navrongo and Bawku VRA stations to ensure that customers clear their indebtedness to VRA.

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By: Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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This, he assured, would help Ghana effectively manage waste, and also go a long way to improve the water situation.

The issue of collection, management, and disposal of solid waste, continues to be a challenge for several cities across the country.

The contamination of water bodies; leading to the spread of water-borne diseases, is also another headache for government.

Mr. Adda, who was speaking at the opening of the 2017 Sector Strategic Stakeholders workshop of the Sanitation and Water Resources Ministry, also disclosed that as part of government’s plans to manage waste effectively; it will build two waste management plants in all ten regions of the country.

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By: Kojo Agyeman/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The members of the group were standing trial for forcibly entering a court room in Kumasi and freeing some of their members who were in lawful custody.

But they were discharged by the court, presided over by Her Honour, Patricia Amponsah was forced to discharge the accused persons and dismissed the case of the Delta Force members after the prosecutor said she had instructions from the Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo, to drop charges against the accused because they had insufficient evidence against them.

The Ministry for Information in a sharp contrast said in a statement that the Principal State Attorney in the case took the decision to drop charges on his own accord without consulting his superiors.

According to the ministry, the government is investigating the matter and will deal with persons whose actions in the matter “bring the work and commitment of the department into disrepute.”

It also assured that it will take the necessary measures to remedy the situation in the interest of the Republic.

But Mr. Amaliba believes the Principal State Attorney took the decision upon the instruction of the Attorney General.

He told Citi News’ Umaru Sanda Amadu that, “The statement emanating from the Ministry of Information for me, is a cock and bull story. That point is that, the Attorney General’s rep in Kumasi will not take a decision of such a matter which is of national interest without recourse to his bosses in Accra. Even if that was the case, that the reps unilaterally took that decision, the buck still stops with the Attorney General here in Accra.”

“I think that it is a damage control mechanism that the ministry of information is coming out with,” he added.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Govt’s alibi for release of Delta Force members untrue – Amaliba appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Association also congratulated Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, Minister of Education Designate and assured of good working relationship with the government.

Addressing a press conference in Ho on Friday, the Association appealed to the government to continue with the process of converting the two remaining Polytechnics in Wa and Bolgatanga to Technical Universities as promised during his campaign.

They also appealed to the President to address challenges associated with the transition process of the conversion of the Technical Universities.

The Association called for a team to be put together as a matter of urgency to deal with challenges concerning their conditions of service as teachers of Technical Universities.

They appealed for the timely payment of their Book and Research Allowances for the 2016/2017 academic year, as well as the release of their “Tier 2” “Pension contributions to their Trustee.

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Source: GNA

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