Hence, food items will be delivered to various school by suppliers contracted by the Buffer Stock Company for the first term of the academic year.

[contextly_sidebar id=”ugMGMKOrDor2cIcaOIRIflXBmDFuSFk7″]Non- perishable food items will be supplied to boarding schools through the Buffer Stock Company under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture to ensure smooth implementation of the Free SHS Policy.

The Buffer Stock Company has been contracted to serve as an interface between suppliers and schools with the sole aim of ensuring quality and providing standardized food products to promote local content.

The list of food items supplied to schools is in strict adherence to the agreed national menu for schools.

The Government’s engagement with the Buffer Stock Company is to ensure that the various Senior High Schools in the country are supplied with locally produced food items in order to create a ready market for local farmers.

50 contracts from various suppliers  to various Senior High School were cancelled by the Ghana National Food Buffer Stock due to non-performance of those suppliers.

This action was taken to ensure that Buffer Stock does not compromise in terms of the timeliness of its delivery.

Presenting the cheque to the CEO of Buffer Stock Company, the Coordinator of Free SHS Program, Mr William Antwi Darkwah, called on Heads of Schools and suppliers to submit their returns to expedite efforts to clear all payments.

The Deputy Food and Agriculture Minister, George Oduro, told Parliament last year that the National Buffer stock company had put in place measures to purchase harvested farm produce from farmers signed unto the Planting for food and jobs programme in connection to implementing government’s flagship programmes ‘Planting for Food and job programme’.

The programme is expected to be rolled out in all 216 districts of the country and will involve the supply of farm resources such as high yielding and improved seedlings to participating farmers.

The government said the programme will create some 750,000 jobs and would motivate farmers to grow staple foods such as maize, millet, and beans.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Free SHS: Gov’t pays GH¢62m to Buffer Stock Company appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

This document will among others come up with the best ways to end incessant clashes between peasant farmers and herdsmen.

[contextly_sidebar id=”nVZwWkAGiQHUbc5UlvHQV8m3oUKxMzic”]Speaking to Citi News, the Minister said if the document is generated and passed into law, the sporadic clashes would be curbed.

“The government has tasked about four ministries to produce a national cattle Ranching document that will be sent to parliament to be approved or pushed into a law such that whoever rears cattle in Ghana, would have to abide by that document, but that has not come out yet” he said.

The conflict between herdsmen and peasant farmers in some parts of the country in the past, has led to the loss of lives, property and farm produce.

In recent times, nine persons have died from such clashes at Dwerebeafe, Aboyan and Mpeamu in the Kwahu East District of the Eastern Region.

Eric Kwakye Darfour has asked local authorities in the region to come out with by-laws for the time being that will help minimize clashes between crop farmers and herdsmen.

“In the meantime, I have asked my MMDCEs to also come out with bylaws, bring it to the state attorney, they will look into it, if it doesn’t infringe on our national constitution, they will send it back to the assembly members who will adopt them and they will become a working document that will be used to regulate cattle rearing in various jurisdictions, otherwise we do not have specific laws which will readily come into place to regulate” he said

He said cattle rearing has become a crucial part of Ghana’s agriculture economy hence the need to regulate and sanitize the sector.

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Cattle Ranching document needed to end Nomadic clashes – Minister appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The two have been bickering in the past few days, exchanging abusive words on various media platforms in what many have described as a serious blot on the government’s image.

[contextly_sidebar id=”3MJsZzF7pbiZbUUY8rJkdC8ANky1mbxT”]The Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Afisa Djaba in a media engagement last week, accused the NPP Northern Regional Chairman, Bugri Naabu, of receiving goats and cows among other forms of inducement from individuals, with the promise of securing appointments in public office for them.

This was after Mr. Bugri Naabu had disrupted a meeting between the Minister and some women in the Northern Region, over allegations that the Minister was ganging up against some of the President’s MMDCE nominees.

The Northern Regional Chairman also accused Otiko of disrespect for holding a meeting in the region without his knowledge.

Mr. Naabu in a subsequent media interview caused a stir when he reportedly suggested that Otiko Djaba and the current Upper East Regional Minister, were involved in the murder of the former NPP Upper East Regional Chairman, Adams Mahama.

A Deputy General Secretary of the NPP, Nana Obiri Boahen, told Citi News the development was “unfortunate.”

He said, “it has been decided that the party will be meeting to discuss that particular issue because it is very much important and particular to us.”

The meeting was further confirmed on the Point Blank segment of Eyewitness News on Tuesday by National Youth Organizer of the party, Sammy Awuku.

We’ll take serious action against Otiko, Bugri Naabu – Sammy Awuku

According to Mr. Awuku, the New Patriotic Party is outraged by the fracas, and will thus take a firm decision on the development.

“The party is angry about this development. We find this very disheartening, especially at a time when the President had been touring West African countries promoting free border trade, holding bilateral talks and chalking tremendous success in some of these areas. The party will take a very serious stance on the issue.

“If you are a senior member of the party, both serving in government and serving in the party hierarchy and you think opening your mouth will not promote this government and the President then do not open your mouth.”

The National Council is the second highest decision-making body in the party after Congress.
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By: Ebenezer Afabyi Dadzie/citfmonline.com/Ghana

The post NPP to decide Otiko and Bugri Naabu’s fate today appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The 2016 National Campaign Coordinator for the NDC in the 2016 general elections; who is livid over the seizure whiles he is away in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), says what matters is that, the cars belong to him because they are registered in his name.

[contextly_sidebar id=”zj5UuIhiQc2iL0ZHHBlaPJ8LQ3E3enon”]It is believed the vehicles, two land cruisers and three pick-ups may have been seized following allegations that some officials of the previous government have misappropriated some state assets including vehicles.

When the Host of Citi Eyewitness News, Richard Sky, asked whether he owned all the vehicles, Mr. Adams said “I am the owner of the two land cruisers and a pick-up. They are registered in my name. If something is registered in your name don’t you own it?” he asked.

But when he was pushed further, he now claimed ownership of all the five vehicles.

“I just want to cut a long story short by letting you know that everything is mine because they are not all registered in anybody’s name. They are not registered in anybody’s name or it’s not as if I bought them for anyone to register them.”

When he was specifically asked whether he purchased the cars himself, he said, “Is the purchase of the vehicle also in any argument now? Richard; is that why you called me? Are we contesting the purchase of the vehicles?” he queried.

‘Let’s be concerned about the seizure, not the purchase’

According to him, people should rather be concerned about the unlawful entry and seizure of people’s assets in their private homes in the name of national security, rather than who purchased the vehicles.

“A state vehicle cannot be registered in an individual’s name. State vehicles they don’t pay taxes on them, so they can’t be registered in an individual’s name unless it is sold or auctioned after a period of time, then the ownership is then transferred from the state to that individual; but that is not the case here either. It’s not a state vehicle that I bought; and it is not a state vehicle that was transferred at any given time; so that should not even be an issue at all.”
How did you come by five vehicles?

Mr. Adams said in his capacity as a national officer of a major political party, coupled with his previous engagements, he believes he has the wherewithal to acquire five personal vehicles.

“…You have just counted the number of things that I do; and I will be surprised that you will think that a national officer of a political party of my calibre, should not be able to have means of transport to move around the country to work, and that an officer of my level cannot have operational cars to be able to send people around to work. People who have used those vehicles know what they use them for” he argued.

Mr. Adams, who wondered what the cars are going to be used for, said he will resort to every necessary and legal means possible to retrieve his vehicles from the national security operatives.

“What they are going to them; are they going to break them up so that if I drive them I will go and die? Are they going to plant things in them? Are we living in a country where anybody can come to your home at any time and take things away? One is a personal vehicle, the others are operational vehicles that people use for assignments; and one particular vehicle contains a lot of things that I use with a lot of information; and taking that vehicle out in my absence is something that is quite serious and we must all follow up to get answers from the government” he stated.

“There are many options; we report to the police or we take legal action. If those who have taken them realize the folly in what they have done and return the vehicles with apology, we will look at that, and I will make sure that anything in the vehicle is returned intact. And the action that I will take, there are a lot of options available for me.”

The seizure

Narrating how the alleged seizure occurred, Mr. Adams said explained that, before he travelled to the UAE last Sunday, some six officials claiming to be National Security personnel visited his House on Saturday in an attempt to seize the cars in his absence.

He said he managed to stop them when he was called at a funeral grounds, and later confirmed that the men were not ordered to carry out the act by the National Security Minister.

He said he found it strange to receive a call whiles outside the country on Wednesday that the same six men with others, had returned to seize his five vehicles.

“I had to travel to Dubai for the function, so I left Ghana on Sunday, only to receive a call that sixteen military persons and some police officers together with four of the six who came the last time and a DVLA officer with a machine, came to the house, got into the yard, and insisted on getting the vehicles out. The DVLA official had a system that could check the genuineness of the registration when you enter the number of the vehicle; he did so according to the Youngman who was at home then, and everything clearly indicated that these were vehicles that had been properly registered and did not even belong to the state.”

“So the advice was that they needed to go back, but it looks as if the taste for seizing vehicles was so high, so they insisted the Youngman must bring the keys for them to do a test on a particular one. He told them he won’t do that; but one of them used the rear side of his AK-47 to hit him, and so he was frightened. Once he was walking into the room to pick the keys, they followed him forcefully, and whether he was picking the keys, they picked the other keys and tried each car to find out which one fitted and drove everything away.”

Meanwhile authorities at the Ministry of Defence have denied sanctioning any soldier to carry out such an assignment.
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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post It doesn’t matter who bought my 5 cars – Kofi Adams appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.