The Health Minister, who supervised the much-criticized ceremony to officially announce the restoration of the allowance, said the allowances will ease financial burden on them and their families.

At a ceremony to celebrate the restoration of the allowance, the nurses who were introduced to the gathering to testify receipt of their allowances for the month, said they were overwhelmed with joy.

“We thank the President for giving us our allowance. We were hoping, but now we have it,” one of the trainee nurses said.

“I want to say thank you to His Excellency. This is going to lessen the financial burden on our parents, and it’s going to help in our education as well,” another said.

The previous National Democratic Congress (NDC) government, scrapped the GHC 450 per quarter allowance for trainee nurses in 2013.

It explained that it canceled the regular payments because it prevented the state from investing in infrastructure to admit more students.

President Akufo-Addo, however after winning the December 2016 elections, gave assurances that government would restore the allowances.

Addressing over 1,000 trainee nurses, traditional leaders and some state officials at the launch of the restoration of the allowance, President Akufo-Addo said a total of GHC232 million had been committed by the government for this academic year’s payment.

“For the 2017/2018 academic year, effective September 2017, 58,000 health trainees comprising nurses and midwives, will be paid GH¢400 per person for each of the 10 months of the academic year. This means the government will be spending a total of GH¢ 232 million for this academic year.”

He further gave assurances that the government will be able to sustain the programme.

“To the professional cynics and skeptics, those who have made an industry out of constantly asking if this policy is sustainable, I wish to assure them that with the proper management of public finances, the nation’s budget can accommodate such an amount,” Akufo-Addo said.

–

By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Former finance minister Jose Mario Vaz, candidate of the dominant African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde (PAIGC), secured more than 40 percent of the vote in the first round and is considered the front runner.

He faces Nuno Gomes Nabiam, the former chair of Bissau’s civil aviation agency, who won around 25 percent of the first round vote, comes from the Balanta ethnic group – the country’s largest – and is seen as close to the army.

Large crowds lined up in front of polling stations in the capital Bissau. Over 775,000 voters, most of them young and voting for the first time, cast ballots in the first round.

“These elections will allow Guinea-Bissau to get out of the abyss,” said 40-year-old Maria de Fátima Almada Gomes, one of the first to vote after the polls opened at 3 a.m. EDT.

Guinea-Bissau’s last vote in 2012 was abandoned after soldiers under army chief Antonio Injai stormed the presidential palace just days before a scheduled run-off.

In his final speech ahead of the poll, Vaz called upon the country’s military to remain neutral this time.

“I am asking the army not to get mixed up in political matters and to remain in barracks,” Vaz told a rally of around 20,000 supporters gathered in National Heroes’ Square late on Friday. “I am also asking the people to forgive each other and for nobody to spread terror in our country.”

Weak state institutions, along with its array of islands and unpoliced mangrove creeks, have made the former Portuguese colony a paradise for smugglers of Latin American cocaine destined for Europe.

Since it won its independence in 1974, no elected leader has completed a five-year term in Guinea-Bissau and analysts say donors and regional powers who have been bankrolling the interim administration are frustrated with the recurrent crises.

SECURITY RISKS?

The final two weeks of campaigning in the country have mostly taken place in a peaceful, celebratory atmosphere.

Vaz campaigned on promises to reduce poverty and invest more in agriculture. Nabiam said he would focus on health, education and tackling youth unemployment.

“It’s the beginning of a new era that needs to be marked by radical change,” Nabiam told supporters during his final rally.

Edmundo Alfama, one of the early voters in Bissau, said the candidates’ promises of economic development would ring hollow unless they ended the country’s chronic cycle of instability.

“We must turn this black page of our history in order to finally decide upon a better future for our people, exhausted by so many years of political, economic and social crisis,” he told Reuters.

Both candidates have said they will accept the results whoever wins. But Dr Marie Gibert, an expert on Guinea-Bissau at Nottingham Trent University, remained skeptical.

“Much will depend on the reaction of their support bases. This is particularly true of the army if Vaz is declared the winner,” she told Reuters on Saturday.

Police sources said that around 5,000 men made up of police and forces drawn from the Economic Community of West African States regional bloc had been deployed since Friday to provide security until the results are announced.

They said the army had been forbidden from mobilizing on the day of the vote.

No major incidents were reported during the first round.

“I’m truly optimistic and serene,” Jose Ramos-Horta, U.N. Special Representative in Guinea-Bissau, said on Sunday. “The second round will be as peaceful, transparent and free.”

Source: Reuters

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The President, who doubles as the Chairman of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) made this promise on behalf of ECOWAS member states and governments.

In a statement, President Mahama urged the various stakeholders and all responsible officials, especially the Military Services of Guinea-Bissau, to ensure the run-off election “is conducted and concluded in the same peaceful, free and fair manner as the first round.”

“We call especially on the Electoral Commission to do everything in its power to ensure the integrity and credibility of the electoral process,” he added.

Below is the full statement

STATEMENT BY THE CHAIRMAN OF ECOWAS AUTHORITY OF HEADS OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT ON UPCOMING SECOND ROUND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN GUINEA-BISSAU

On behalf of the Authority of Heads of State & Government of our Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and in my capacity as Chair of the Authority, I would like to extend our best wishes, solidarity and support to the people of Guinea-Bissau as they prepare to participate in the second round of elections this weekend to choose the next President of their nation.

We renew our congratulations to people of Guinea-Bissau for the free, fair, and peaceful manner in which the first round of the electoral contest was held on 13th April 2014.

As the electoral regulations stipulated a second round became necessary because there was no outright winner of the first round.

We call on the various stakeholders and all responsible officials, especially the

Military Services of Guinea-Bissau, to ensure that this run-off election is conducted and concluded in the same peaceful, free and fair manner as the first round.

We call especially on the Electoral Commission to do everything in its power to ensure the integrity and credibility of the electoral process.

ECOWAS is committed to working with the next democratically elected President to return Guinea-Bissau to peace, security, democracy and prosperity.

The election that will take place on Sunday, 18th May 2014, is an important part of this process.

We urge all sections of Guinea-Bissau society, all stakeholders and friends of Guinea-Bissau to do everything possible to ensure that the country is steered onto a new and sustainable path, through a credible second round presidential run-off, so that the people of Guinea-Bissau can be the ultimate winners.

H. E. John Dramani Mahama

President of the Republic of Ghana

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

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