It believes the move is to check indiscipline and prevent the JHS graduates from engaging in social vices.

It said when the recommendation is implemented, it will not only result in the upbringing of responsible citizens, but will improve educational standards which have been on the decline for decades in the area.

The recommendation was made at Sampa, the district capital, when the committee presented its report for approval by the general assembly at its first ordinary meeting.

The District Chief Executive (DCE) in addressing the meeting, said the assembly owned an amount of over GH¢3.3 million to contractors and suppliers.

This, according to him, covers DACF capital expenditure of GH¢2.6 million, DDF Capital expenditure of about GH¢624,000 and Internally Generated Fund (IGF) Recurrent expenditure of over GH¢229,000.

He pledged to ensure the debt is cleared.

“The debt, although huge, as the District Chief Executive, I am committed to ensuring that the indebtedness is cleared since the projects and programmes that accounted for these huge debts are very crucial to the District,” he assured.

On IGF, he disclosed that the assembly collected an amount of GH¢363,695.00 as of July 2017, as against GH¢380,943.00 budgeted for the year, and appealed to revenue collectors and members to pull their expertise and efforts together so they can collectively increase the IGF.

He proposed the implementation of pragmatic measures such as the use of Revenue Task Force, produce permit, erection of revenue barriers at strategic points and establishment of a database for revenue collection.

The DCE said to complement government’s “Free Senior High School” policy in the area,  the Assembly is engaging stakeholders to facilitate the passage of a “Truancy Free Zone policy in this District to strengthen the existing regulation on quality education and to ensure that children of school going age are very much regulated and not allowed to roam after 8:30 pm in line with the Assembly’s Bye-laws, as well as continue to invest in the area of educational infrastructure, sponsorship and other incentive packages that are necessary for quality education.

“In this regard, notwithstanding the ongoing school projects, the Assembly intends constructing a dormitory in each of the three (3) public schools of the District, lecture Hall at Sampa Nursing Training College, and a classroom block at Nafana Presby Senior High School, and also absorb Duadaso No.1 Secondary Technical into the Government public school system to boost vocational education,” he added.

On agriculture, the DCE said funding was being sourced to promote the cultivation of cashew, and appealed to the youth and farmers in the area to take advantage of the “Planting for Food and Jobs” as a package of over 9,300 bags of subsidized fertilizer, 606 bags of improved seeds of maize, rice, tomatoes, and pepper have been received by the District MoFA.

He also touched on measures instituted by the assembly to improve health, security and water and sanitation, and made a passionate appeal to government and donor agencies to come to their aid in addressing the challenges of poor road network which is retarding the development of the area.

In his welcome address, the Presiding Member (PM), Paul Desmond Tutu, called for closer collaboration to accelerate the area’s development to justify the confidence reposed in them by their constituents.

He expressed concern over the inadequate vehicles and logistics for the assembly, and tasked the DCE, MP and management to ensure the little resource available for development is not misused.

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By: Mashoud Kombat/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Jaman North Assembly to ban school leavers’ jams appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

In a press conference addressed by the EC’s Director of Electoral Services, Samuel Tettey, he admitted that “several efforts by our officers to move materials to the 92 polling centres in the constituency were unsuccessful.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”79FTJ52VNDZSOAx5Du5WpL8as76Dl37C”]Mr. Tettey also noted that “the security teams on the field could not guarantee a safe environment for the polls to continue.”

“Therefore, as a result of the security challenges, the Commission has decided to reschedule the elections in the Jaman North constituency to tomorrow, Thursday, December 8, 2016,” the Commission concluded.

Mr. Tettey reminded that voting in the constituency will start at 7am and end 5pm at all polling centres in the constituency per usual.

Earlier on Wednesday, representatives of the various political parties, the District Security Council (DISEC) and stakeholders in the area agreed to postpone the voting to Thursday.

This followed a disagreement over the voter transfer list which the National Democratic Congress (NDC) claimed was bloated by over 30 names.

But the Commission quashed a decision by the political parties to postpone the elections because it said it was not consulted before the prior decision to postpone the polls.

The latest turn of events appears to have vindicated the General Secretary of the NDC, Johnson Asiedu Nketia, who was for the postponement of the polls.

He had explained to Citi News that they arrived at the decision because “Jaman North is a difficult terrain,” hence it will be difficult to dispatch electoral materials before close of polls today, Wednesday.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post #GhElections: Start of polls in Jaman North postponed to Thursday appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Some callers into the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday lamented over how they are fleeced by real estate developers.

This comes on the back of a new report by the Housing Data Center which suggests majority of Ghanaian workers may not be able to buy a house.

The report suggested that salaried workers who plan to buy a home but whose income fall below GHC 4, 000 may have to find a way to increase their salaries or switch to jobs that will boost their income.

Ghana, according to the Minister of Water Resources, Works and Housing, Alhaji Collins Dauda has a social housing problem, with a deficit of 1.7 million units.

He stated that spreading it over a 10-year period, a minimum of 170,000 housing units would have to be built annually.

Government is therefore partnering some private and international companies to help solve this deficit.

Although there are a number of real estate and mortgage companies in the country, many have argued that the houses they construct are not affordable and the prices are way above the pay grade of most Ghanaians.

A lot of Ghanaians have also complained about the stress they have to endure looking for an affordable apartment or house to rent or buy.

A caller into the show said: “When it comes to salary levels, I think the man really has to re-check because I work with one of these insurance companies and we don’t earn around GHC 2,000 and then again, when it comes to these real estate people, the materials they use, I doubt if they really import them.”

Another also stated that “I am looking for a building to rent; just to rent, but the way I am suffering and all I could get was just one self-contain and it’s being priced at GHC 450. Can you imagine?”

“They asked me to do a down payment of 15 percent and the cost of property is $150,000. Now they are getting back to me and saying that they have to increase the price of the property due to the cost of materials. I know my payment is in dollars and so if you look at the dollar to the cedi rate and I am paying it in dollars, why should the inflation and the escalating of prices in materials affect the price? Now that they have increased the price of the property, I want my money back but how do I get my money back?” asked another caller.

Meanwhile, the leader of the research team who came out with the report, Kelvin Kwaku Yeboah, in an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show explained the findings in the report.

According to him, “one bedroom facility is around GHC 120,000 and the monthly payment of that is about GHC 1,820. The qualifying income is around GHC 12,000 so if you earn below GHC 12,000, I’m telling you, you won’t be able to have access to a decent one bedroom facility.”

He noted that the price requires an individual “to make a necessary contribution of not less than 20 percent of the cost of the facility and you can decide to make that contribution to the estate developer or to some of these mortgage firms.”

He insisted that persons who earn below GHC 4,000 will find difficulty in accessing a one bedroom facility.

Regarding the salaries of civil servants, Mr. Yeboah mentioned that public sector workers who earn less than GHC 1,000 “and are spending one third of that per the UN [United Nations] standard as your monthly payment for mortgage and it’s about GHC 330.

Obviously, you can’t get any facility in Ghana that will enable you to be paying GHC 330 a month. You are just out of the bracket.”

By: Efua Idan Osam/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @osamidan

The post We need affordable homes – Ghanaians cry out appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.