The health walk, which is the first of its kind forms part of many other pre-festival activities ahead of the main event which comes off in the first week of December.

The walk, according to organizers, is aimed at getting participants to stay healthy as well as connect and socialise among themselves.

The General Secretary of Gbidukorza National steering committee, Korku Baka, told citifmonline.com, that the walk is to get participants stay healthy as well as serve as a platform for networking between with indegenes from both traditional areas.

Mr. Baka explained that, the Gbidukorza celebration is a festival of re-unification between the people of Peki and Hohoe.

About Gbidukorza Festival

Narrating the history surrounding the Gbidukor festival, Mr. Baka noted that, the Gbi’s used to live in Togo under King Agorkorli until they decided to migrate.

He said it was during the migration process, that there was separation where some of the Gbi’s settled at Hohoe known as the ‘Gbi Dzigb3’, whilst others settled at Peki also known as the ‘Gbi Anyigb33.’

However, 22 years ago, the Traditional leaders from both Traditional areas initiated a process to come together and re-unite with their brothers and sisters hence the Gbidukorza festival.

He said the festival has been celebrated for the past 22 years, which has brought about peaceful coexistence and brotherhood among both indegenes.

“Gbiza is an annual festival which rotates between the two Traditional Areas, Peki and Hohoe, and each year the host receives its counterpart from the other Traditional area until the celebration is over.”

This year’s celebration, which is being hosted by the people of Peki, starts from the 1st of December to the 5th, 2017.

Activities outlined for the celebration includes ‘Miawoezor’, which is to welcome the indegenes from Hohoe on the 1st of December, which would be followed the next day by a grand durbar of chiefs and people of Gbidukor.

Mr. Baka called on all indegenes from both Traditional areas to endeavour to participate in this year’s celebration as it is a way to learn and observe the true traditions of Gbidukor.
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By: Elvis Washington/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Coming from the same ancestral roots and migrating together as a united family among the host of other Ewes from Notsie, the Gbis, separated in two groups upon arrival to present day Ghana.

Although events of history separated them about 56 miles apart, the people have since been making efforts to reunite through social-cultural activities.

The reunion, which was attained two decades ago, was commemorated by a traditional festival dubbed Gbdidukorza, aimed at initiating development in this part of the Volta Region.

The two traditional blocks; Peki in the South Dayi District, and Hohoe in the Hohoe Municipality, are set to mark another year of the rotational festival in the Peki Traditional Area.

Speaking at the launch of the festival at Peki, Togbe Ayim Mordey VI, Adontehene of Peki, hinted of plans of to use proceeds from the celebration to establish a craft village for the two areas.

The project, which comes with a guest house, fuel filling station and other economic ventures, seeks to provide direct jobs for the youth in the area and stimulate the local economy.

He said a 60-acre land has been secured for the project, and was optimistic the project would be completed before the next celebration.

The theme for this year’s celebration is “consolidating two decades of Gbidukor Unity” with objectives of resolving chieftaincy disputes in the area, and fostering unity among citizens.

A grand durbar is expected to be held in Peki Tsame on December, 2, 2017, and it promises to be an exciting celebration with highlights that include health walks, Quiz contests, and food bazaars.

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By: King Nobert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The River, which is referred to by the natives as Homblor, has served generations in the area for years.

Speaking in an interview with Citi News, the Assembly Member for the area, Victor Amegbe, aka Awudu, said “the River has been there since the days of our great grandfathers, and it has served us very well as the only source of potable drinking water.”

Describing the River and its significance in the area, he noted that “Homblor River is believed by the natives to be a female River god which has compassion for mankind due to the purpose it serves in our lives here. Before we had water flowing through our pipes, Homblor River, though not that big and wide, it serves the entire community without running dry. Not even when water is hard to come by during dry season,” he narrated.

The River starts flowing from the soil of Dzake, and flows through to Abutia in the Ho West Constituency. It is however surrounded by bamboos.

Explaining why the community chose to celebrate Easter Mondays at the River bank, Mr. Amegbe added that, it was necessary for the community to continue to recognize the significance of the Homblor River, since apart from being a source of potable drinking water in the area in the past, the River, which is believed to be a River god, also protects the indigenes wherever they are home and away.

“This is a female River god which seeks the welfare of its indigenes wherever they find themselves and so it is important we celebrate it, and make the entire world know about our River, so we agreed to celebrate the Easter picnic here starting from last year, and it has been very massive and welcoming by our people.”

Mr. Amegbe said plans are being made to make the Homblor picnic celebration a great one, which would showcase the rich culture of the people of Dzake and Peki as a whole.

The venue though not too big, was full to capacity with both indigenes of Peki Dzake and people from adjoining towns trooping the venue to celebrate the occasion.

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By: Elvis Washington/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Abochie Eric, a young man believed to be in his mid-20s,  is alleged to have slain one Philip Ahornu, a 37-year-old carpenter of the Peki Government Hospital in his room yesterday [Thursday].

According to reports, the suspect, after inflicting cutlass wounds on the deceased, absconded to Torsone Nayo, a suburb of Anum.

Luck however eluded him when the search team caught him at his hideout.

The suspect, who was nearly lynched by the angry mob, was handed over to the Peki District Police.

The District Police Commander, DSP Mathew Asante, who confirmed the incident to Citi News said his outfit has commenced investigations.

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By: King Nobert Akpabli/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The deceased, Philip Ahornu, was said to have been taking a nap when the unknown assailant broke into his room and attacked him inflicting  cutlass wounds on his body on Thursday.

An eyewitness who spoke to Citi News narrated that, the unknown assailant after allegedly committing the crime, took to his heels.

He added that, the victim, who initially passed out and had his intestines gushing out, was rushed to the Peki Government Hospital and later to the Volta Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.

The youth in the area have since mounted a manhunt to apprehend the assailant.

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By: King Norbert Akpablie/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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“I am looking for a time when our leaders will engage with people in the private sector such as the CSOs  to figure out some of the things they can do to fix Ghana’s problems,”Dr. Ansah proposed.

Government has been criticized for  its failure to halt the depreciation of the cedi, high inflation rate, rising budget deficit and increased cost of borrowing and other economic challenges facing the country.

A group of protesters on Tuesday took to the streets to demonstrate against what they describe as unfavourable economic conditions in the country.

The group also threatened to stage more demonstrations if government fails to address the current challenges facing the country.

Inflation currently stands at 14.7 percent, representing the highest rate since Feburary 2010.

An economist, Dr Mahamadu Bawumia earlier this year, described Ghana’s economy as a crisis situation.

According to him, Ghana must ask the International Monetary Fund(IMF) for a bailout for the ailing economy.

Speaking on Citi FM’s News Analysis Programme, The Big Issue, Dr Esi Ansah described Tuesday’s protest as  “the beginning of just an awakening of citizens.”.

She decried the state of affairs in the country saying “we [Ghana] have fuel shortages, we don’t have running water, the currency has depreciated so quickly, and there is a lot of helplessness and despondency.”

According to her, though the country’s challenges are not new, it will make a big difference if government takes immediate steps to address the problems.“These challenges are not new, but if you were in an era that you felt that something was being done, that will make a difference.”

Dr. Ansah further  attributed the surge in corrupt practices in the country to a system failure. “The corruption we see is not about individuals who are greedy but a system failure.”

By: Marian Efe Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @EfeAnsah

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Taking his turn at the Distinguished Speaker Series organised by the Central University College, Prof Kwesi Botchwey said, ”Mahamudu is a young man whose professional credentials I particularly respect; I offer no rebuttals [to his lecture]. On the contrary, I do agree with much of what he said.”

According to Professor Botchwey a nation’s political economy shows the way political forces influence economic decisions.

” We must study and analyze the true state of things,” he noted.

Reflecting on what he called the critical challenges affecting the country’s political economy, the former Finance Minister said, ”I see a nation reeling in widespread disaffection; a bit of despair…, a popular mood that is marked by some frustration and rising cynicism about any and all utterances,explanation and assurances by government and even by technocrats and public servants.”

He said the feeling out there supposes that ”everybody in public office is somehow engaged in corruption and just money grabbing”.

He also added that this has led to indiscipline on our roads as motorist defy the laws. ”I see a spillover of this mood onto our roads in the breakdown of discipline as motorists take the law into their our hands and defy traffic lights and the police,” he said.

Touching on the macro-economic stability of the country, Mr. Botchwey said there is the need for managers of the economy to pay attention to ”policy credibility” for the restoration of macro-economic stability.

”We have missed macro-economic targets in  two consecutive years with budget outcomes deviating not marginally…; but rather significantly from published forecast,” he said.

He furthered explained that there have been some erosion of the country’s credibility among the public and developing partners.

Professor Botchwey also mentioned that the panic driven changes in measures announced by the Bank of Ghana have not worked because ”the very structure of government expenditure had begun to impose a certain rigidity on the national budget”.

”In last year’s budget alone; the wage bill and interest cost on public debt accounted for about 82 percent of government spending,” he added.

He noted that during the National Economic Forum in Senchi the group [participants] noted that government expenditure has become inefffective for the attainment of growth.

”There is a need therefore to align the expenditures of the earmarked or statutory funds to the national budget taking into consideration the administrative and legal aspect of such an alignment,” he said.

In a lecture delivered in May at the Distinguished Speaker Series organised by the Central University College in Accra, Dr Bawumia painted a very gloomy picture of the Ghanaian economy

“I’ll like to repeat without exaggeration that the Ghanaian economy is in a crisis,” Dr Bawumia said, pointing to high inflation, double digit budget deficit, depreciation of the cedi, and the general lack of growth in the economy.

The Distinguished Speaker series organized by the Central University College is under the theme  “State of the Nation’s Political Economy and the Role of Civil Society”.

By: Evans Effah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Ghana has just completed three days of a National Economic Forum with some serious expert thinking on how to turn around the country’s dire economic fortunes. Of course the main opposition engaged in its usual boycotts. These fortunes have been dire enough to spark discussions of a possible wage freeze and retrenchment of workers. While the shallowness of my economic knowledge is not in doubt, I believe I have learned a few simple lessons along the path of life. These perspectives are derived from the two main positions outlined above by Coleman and myself.

Why do our governments talk about a policy of fiscal discipline when the actual policy is fiscal indiscipline? It is almost an established curse that with each election cycle, governments are going to overspend despite pledges to the contrary. Inevitably, good old politics takes over, thus eroding marginal economic gains in the pre-election years. I recall the public lambasting the Kufour administration for leaving a deficit in the range of 14.5%. It was as if the world had come to an end. After three years of tinkering with the situation, Mills handed over to Mahama, a deficit in the range of 11%. Given that these figures reflect the same level of performance, it has become clear to me that it is virtually the same economic system and fundamentals that are in operation. Nothing has changed; we are doing the same things and recording the same outcomes while pretending to be surprised.

Time without number, I have heard many argue for some sort of a home grown economy; grow what you eat, eat what you grow, set up local manufacturing industries, trade among your selves etc. Meanwhile, the real policy is high flying importation of toothpicks, second hand clothes, rice, canned tomatoes etc. While we pursue this discordance between policy intent and actual policies, the produce from our farms rots by the roadside. In the President’s recent State of the Nation Address, he outlined a noble intent to grow home-grown business giants while promoting made in Ghana goods etc. Beyond exhortations to us to patronize made in Ghana goods, I am yet to hear the specifics of how the President intends to execute the plan as a comprehensive national agenda.

Why do you develop impressive plans without knowing either how much it would cost or the secured source of funding for executing same? Two distinct approaches are worth reflecting on. In the first, I have really come to appreciate organizations whose budgets represent valid translations of the realistic costs of activities they actually intend to embark on. They rarely spend above or below 10% margins of the budget and the discipline in implementing according to the budget is rigorous. Activities are executed because they were planned and budgets secured for them and not because it suited anybody’s whims. Great visions, specific activities, secured funding, rigorous implementation and reflective evaluation seem to be the motto. There is no loud declaration of visionary intent without a defined source of funding. I have observed these features in mainly global or international organizations.

On the other spectrum are those organizations that create what I will call phantom budgets with unrealistic forecasts. Further, there is no attempt to correlate budgets with actual activities to be executed in the achievement of the vision. Budgeting is done because it is a requirement and not because there is intent to adhere to it. These organizations are chronically either underspent or overspent with respect to various budget items. In some bizarre circumstances, activities already budgeted for with secured funding are not executed because resources are not released to officers on the ground. In some instances, visionary declarations are made before sources of funding are identified or actual funding secured. The majority of organizations with this profile in my experience have been local.

Where does Ghana as an organization fall? The government made a manifesto promise to build 1600 health posts over four years. This translated to an average of 400 health posts per year. Needless to say, the government did not build 400 health posts in 2013 and neither is it on the verge of completing 200 health posts by mid- 2014. The reasons for this have largely been financial. So the question is, could government not have identified a clear line of funding for executing these projects prior to making the promise, especially since it was the same party in government? The same goes for the intent to build 200 secondary schools, not one of which has been built after more than one year.

Each year, various Ministries, Departments and Agencies draw up heavenly budgets. Consistently, they receive a tiny fraction of their requests from central government. As Coleman has argued, given your five year trend of expected budget support from government, why not stop deceiving ourselves with gargantuan plans and plan only for the activities that your budget can realistically support? Alternately, why don’t we embark upon a separate path of securing alternate nontraditional funding sources?

GETFund contractors are owed, health insurance claims reimbursements to health facilities is in 5-6 months of arrears, caterers in the school feeding program are crying. At a recent public forum, the budget on emoluments was overspent by almost 300% in one sector of the Ghanaian economy. But still, the government promises more programs with no defined source of funding, the latest of which is free school shoes and free secondary education in 2016 including free for those citizens who can afford to pay. When we asked for source of funding, Mr. President said we should wait for the 2016 budget, and so we will.

In conclusion, we need more than good intentions. If we have to assess, between what you say (policy intent) and what you do (policy action), we will go for the latter. Similarly, our plans ought to be informed by rigorous and disciplined respect for funds clearly secured for the purpose. Without this, our plans simply assume the status of wishes.

By: Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey
www.sodzisodzi.com
[email protected]

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