According to a Ghanaian news portal, “the Deputy Minister of Education said the ministry took the action after investigating (I wonder how many days of investigation) and confirming reports on social media that the headmaster was charging the unapproved fees. According to him, the Ministry upon hearing and reading the news dispatched the regional director of Education to go to the school and investigate the reports. The regional director, the report said, confirmed the act and this caused the Director of Ghana Education Service (GES) to also go to the school for further investigations. The Director after confirming this handed an interdiction to him and has asked someone to take charge of the school”.

This is all winding, arbitrary, lack of due process and confusing. The long and short of the story is that the Deputy Minister is attempting to look good in the eyes of the public, that he has spotted a wrongdoing in St Augustine’s College, and has taken action to punish the person involved, right?

Why are we using Mr Joseph Connel to justify our relevance? You see why I get angry at myself all the time? Why did I even read this story in the first place; am just checking my BP.

Ghana Education Service, please, just take a sample of twenty schools across the country, and audit how much the schools are charging for both continuous and newly admitted students, and you will realize how much you have failed in your supervisory role.

We sit down for a social media to tell us how much schools are charging, and we are proud to say these things on air, and the headmaster get interdicted, but the Minister retains his job? If a person responsible for secondary education does not know that charging unapproved fees has been a rule rather than exception, then what is he occupying his position for?

Maybe I should help the Ministry to know how wide spread the situation is. And please don’t tell me I am boasting; I’m only giving you an information.

I am sponsoring a fresh student in Apam Secondary school. Last Friday I paid GHC922.20 for his fees, did you get that?

Again, I am sponsoring three continuing students in T. I. Ahmmadyya Secondary school. A few weeks ago I paid GHC483 for each one of them in fees. I am sponsoring two continuing Day Students in Winneba Secondary School, and I’m paying GHC133 each for their fees. I am sponsoring one student in Zion Girls, and I am paying GHC713 for her fees, and I’m sponsoring two girls in Cape Coast Technical Institute, and I am paying GHC400 in fees for each one of them.

So Mr. Deputy Minister, this is not social media. This is me informing you about some of the fees I have paid to the schools I have mentioned. Do you think any one of them have violated the rules of approved fees? Is it time for some of them to be interdicted as well?

In September 2012, while visiting Iowa State, in USA, I met a gentleman who was introduced to me as the consulting campaign strategist for President John Dramani Mahama. Our meeting lasted for a couple of hours, as he tried to glean as much information out of me as possible, to help him plan effective consulting strategy for the President.

This consultant, let me call him Jeff, had told me that his research findings, prior to meeting me, showed that what was going to decide the outcome of the elections was the performance of the Ghanaian economy. That if the government was able to fix the economy, the president stood a chance of winning the election.

I disagreed with Jeff’s research claims, and argued that if the president focused only on the economy, he was bound to lose the election. I believed the election was about the promise of the introduction of free education.

So I was not surprised when I later saw the president, on his campaign tours, mentioned gradual introduction of free secondary school education, just to neutralize the effect the catch phrase was having on the general public.

In August 2015, the Ghana Education Service issued a statement to the effect that all Day Students across Ghana are exempted from paying any fees in the various secondary schools in the year under review, and for the rest of their secondary schooling. That, according to the government, is the first step in making secondary school education progressively free. And my enquiries also showed that this year, the 2016/2017 academic year was going to see over 45,000 targeted disadvantaged secondary school students who will benefit from government scholarships.

Hear this; amongst the secondary school students I am personally sponsoring are two day students of Winneba Secondary School. One of them has two other siblings in other secondary schools. The parents are unemployed and poor, but the boy is a brilliant and smart. However this so called Day student scholarship did not cover him.

Again the second boy is one of six children being taken care of by his single unemployed mother. All his siblings have been affected by child trafficking, and I had helped the family to be established in the community. He too did not benefit from this so called free Day School scholarship.

Amongst the students I am sponsoring this year is an orphan whose father died when he was barely two years old, and his mother died when he was in primary class two. I took responsibility for the two of them, the youngest just got admitted to Apam Secondary school.

Obviously if anyone should qualify for any government scholarship, all the above are more than qualified to receive those so called scholarships. An orphan who lived in a very poor fishing community, and scored a distinction in the BECE, who else qualifies more than him?

But unfortunately, he too has not been covered by this gradual introduction of free secondary school education, and I had to pay over GHC900 before he was allowed in the school.

I can go on and on, but let me give you one last example: I brought Rita from the Lake Volta when she was barely seven years old. She was the sixth born of four girls, and three surviving boys. I took all the four girls to school while their parents continued to wallow in poverty.

In the course of time all the three other teen sisters became pregnant, some having had four children presently. Soon the mother was strike with massive stroke, and for five years has been confined in the house. To help the family survive, I offered the father a job as a security guard.

Rita, despite all these challenges, was determined to go to school. She eventually completed her BECE in 2014, and got admitted to a girls secondary school. Currently in form three, I have just paid GHC713 in fees for Rita, and GHC1,150 for her books, totaling GHC1,863.

My question: Is this a question of the non existence of the scholarship scheme, or a question of unfair inequitable selection of the beneficiaries, or is it a question of mental ulcer? Are we talking here of ethics, morality, or sheer insensitivity?

If Rita, and all those I have referred to in this article do not deserved to be covered by a government scholarship, then who are those who are deserving of our government scholarships?

Do you now see why I support a universal application of free secondary school education? My view is that if you make it free for all, then you remove the greed, the corrupt partisan cronyism, and you give fairness a chance to apply.

Saint Augustine’s college has done what every secondary school head is doing. Some ask for cement, brooms, shovels, paint, and others ask for fish. In the end, they have all asked the poor parents more than they can afford.

So please, leave Mr. Joseph Connel alone, and fix the system. What you have done is an unnecessary unsustainable show of power, a show of being a strong man. That is not what we need. We need Obama’s strong institutions, strong systems that does not need you to spot the problems on social media.

We are doing these to ourselves, to our children. One day we will all be punished, some for crimes they did not commit, but the crimes they saw being committed. One day we will all be punished, for the pain we wore, and the greed we shared. One day, and this day will be to all those who took their riches in government, that day the poor will rise, and the rich will fall…

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By: James Kofi Annan

The post St Augustine’s yes, Minister no? [Article] appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Board has argued that Mr. Connel’s interdiction on October 14 was not premised by the investigations anchored in proper procedure.

The Board in a letter addressed to the Ghana Education Service (GES) said it had noted a number of flaws in the whole process including the procedure for the interdiction; the date and time of interdiction, date and time of the investigation and a breach of natural justice.

The Board also questioned why the Central Regional Director of Education would exempt himself from the emergency meeting that interdicted Mr Connel adn instead chose to  nominate someone to represent him on the Board of the investigative committee.

The letter thus said, “In view of the above the Board of Governors having considered the issues mentioned Supra, is of the opinion that the interdiction of the Headmaster was done and not premised on needed investigation as natural justice and request that it should be reversed.”

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Reinstate our headteacher – AUGUSCO Board to GES appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The three-paragraph statement signed by Kweku Sersah-Johnson, Head of Public Affairs, for the Power Minister, said ” the Ministry of Power wishes to inform the public that its load shedding programme in respect of electricity supply has been brought to an end”.

“The Ministry takes this opportunity to express its profound gratitude and appreciation to the entire citizenry and residents of Ghana for their forbearance and understanding during those difficult times”.

[contextly_sidebar id=”L4SX5u9Prjar0Cz22SuYCMTdSDu5TvLB”]”The Ministry of Power and its agencies wish to assure the public that it shall continue to pursue policies and programmes to consolidate the gains so far made in the generation and transmission of electricity for the country” the statement concluded.

The announcement is timely and significant as Ghanaians were eagerly looking forward to the resignation of the Power Minister Dr. Kwabena Donkor, who had repeatedly promised to resign by the end of the year if load shedding or ‘dumsor’ persists.

It is however unclear how Ghanaians will receive this announcement considering that the Power Minister recently gave different meanings to ‘dumsor’ and load shedding.

In his view, load shedding occurs when there is inadequate power and so consumers share what is available.

He said ‘dumsor’ refers to intermittent outages caused by technical faults which can happen at any time and cannot always be controlled.

If his explanation is anything to go by, then the latest announcement would mean that he has fulfilled his promise a day to January 2016, and can therefore escape the wrath of Ghanaians by ending load shedding.

The announcement would also mean that the country has now met its generation capacity and would not have to share power anymore.

In the last four years, Ghana has not had stable supply of power as demand has outstripped supply.

But in the last two years, the crisis deepened with the country suffering job losses as industries cut down on their intake to remain in business.

Small scale enterprises have also not been spared the effects of the crisis coupled with an unstable currency that made life more difficult.

Government has in recent times implemented some initiatives to make up for the shortfall in power supply.

These include the Karpower Barge from Turkey which docked at the Tema Port this December to produce 225 megawatts of power.

A second power barge is also expected in the first quarter of 2016.

Government has also secured ten power plants from the UAE-based Ameri Energy, which have since been connected to the national grid.

The Ghana Gas Company upon a request from the Volta River Authority (VRA) shut down its facility at Atuabo on November 23, to allow the AMERI Power Plant, to be connected to the supply of gas.

Ghana Gas is currently supplying gas to the VRA to power its plants despite the VRA’s huge indebtedness to them for the gas supplied over a long period of time.

Ghana Gas recently warned that it could shut down completely if the VRA did not honour its debt obligations since it needed to fix faulty equipment to supply gas effectively.

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By: Ebenezer Afanyi Dadzie/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AfanyiDadzie

The post Load shedding is over – Power Ministry appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The manufacturers lament the influx of imported bagged cement coupled with a reduction in freight value of the product is detrimental to their business.

[contextly_sidebar id=”w6BBpkGzoMA1oscqSNtzEGxb1OUgOKSC”]In their bid to get their concerns addressed, they have petitioned the Ministry of Trade, Tariff Advisory  Board  and  the Commissioner  of the  Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority.

Their petition comes on the back of a recent demonstration by the youth of Aflao over similar concerns.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, Chairman of the Cement Manufacturers Association of Ghana, Rev. Dr. George Dawson Amoah, said the local industry needs  to be protected in order for them to be sustained.

“How do you encourage a local industry to expand and to invest then you keep a blind eye and encourage what we call imports? If the private sector is the engine of growth, then why don’t we encourage the private sector here in Ghana to utilize its capacity? he quizzed.

“If the Chinese government is actually subsidizing and even giving discounts for them to actually import into their country, then it is also an issue because the problem is that, then what safe measures are putting in place as a country to protect the local industry?”

Cement producers in the country particularly Diamond Cement, which has its factory in Aflao, has expressed concern about the influx of imported Dagonte cement into the country.

Angry  youth in Aflao recently demonstrated against the government’s seeming silence warning the trend could threaten their jobs and livelihood since they could be laid off due to unfair competition to their local employer.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Save us from collapse – Local cement manufacturers cry out appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

While approving the GHc826million allocated to the EC by the Finance Ministry, the parliamentarians warned that to avoid any problems regarding the elections, government should make up the difference of GHc400million.

[contextly_sidebar id=”nRXfVo5ysuw6xlOHW7JlxtP9cEKBrDce”]The special budgets committee of parliament indicated that: “Given the importance of conducting a successful election to the peace and stability of the country, the committee is cautiously urging the MoF to look for avenues of getting additional funding to successfully conduct the elections.”

The EC initially proposed GHc1.7billion, but government agreed to pay GHc1.2billion — over GHc400million of which is in arrears.

Speaking on the matter, Majority Leader Alban Bagbin said the nation’s peace and security should override any other consideration, a reason for which the EC must be given adequate funding to conduct the elections.

Alban Bagbin, who is also the chairman of the Special Budgets Committee, advised the EC to also look for innovative ways of cutting down the budget for the elections without compromising their integrity.

Furthermore, the committee recommended that releases for procuring some electoral materials and equipment should be made a “priority requirement”.

The chair of the Electoral Commission, Charlotte Osei who presented the Commission’s budget estimates to Parliament prior to the approval, had said the budget was premised on 30,000 polling stations for an election that will involve about 152,000 election officials.

“We also premised the budget on an exchange rate of GH¢3.89 to a dollar. The total budget for the elections is GH¢1.047billion. If we include the administration and other costs which are not directly election-related, it gives us a budget of GH¢1.2billion. In the budget ceiling announced by the Finance Ministry, we have a budget of GH¢800million for the elections — the first round. So this gives us a funding gap of GH¢400million.

“This budget does not include the cost of a new register; the cost of auditing a new register. There is however some provision for a run-off; the Ministry of Finance made a provision of GH¢200million. I think we have a budget of about GH¢350 million, so there is another shortfall there. However, the budget makes provision for all the reforms we have agreed with the political parties.

“Since announcement of the ceiling, we have been looking internally and discussing how to bridge the budget gap; and subject to the agreement of the IPAC (Inter Party Advisory Committee), we think that we may be able to reduce the number of polling stations to 29,000 instead of the projected 30,000,” she said.

According to the EC boss, the Commission would cut the cost of the election budget by about GH¢60million if the number of polling stations can be reduced to 29,000 and still be able to achieve the Commission’s objective of having 850 voters per polling station.

She said the Commission is also looking at postponing implementation of some recommended electoral reforms that are not critical to beyond 2016, in a bid to bridge a funding gap in the elections’ budget.

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Source: Thebftonline

The post Parliament demands release of full EC budget appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

According to the Meteorological Service, the harmattan has reduced visibility to just a few hundred meters making it difficult for airplanes to land or take off.

[contextly_sidebar id=”SaNuH6zwc266J3JfSZ2QfOagaJs3hPqi”]The Service told Citi News it is risky to use all airports in Ghana except the Kotoka Kotoka International Airport.

Airlines were forced to halt operations in the first week of December due to bad weather.

Ghana’s harmattan season, which comes with cold and dryness particularly in the mornings, started becoming visible on Tuesday December 1.

Speaking to Citi News, Assistant Meteorologist at the Ghana Meteor Service, Sarbeng Emmanuel said, motorists must also be cautious during this period.

“The harmattan from last Thursday intensified and visibility across the country significantly reduced. At the moment, places around the northern part of the country are recording as low as 100 metres of visibility. The middle part of the country looks a bit better, some places recording 300 and 400 metres visibility. The coastal parts of Accra are recording visibility value of 800 metres, as at now.”

According to  Sarbeng Emmanuel  the situation “will affect operation of airlines.”

He explained that “when the visibility goes beyond 3000 metres operations of airlines are halted.”

“So once the visitiblity has reduced, motorists are to be cautious because it becomes difficult even seeing a vehicle ahead of you when you are driving. This particular situation is going to continue for at least two days before the visibility improves a bit,” he added.

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

Follow @AlloteyGodwin

The post Harmattan: Domestic airlines warned to suspend flights again appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Even as the government seeks to intensify fiscal consolidation by bringing its budget deficit down to 5.3% of GDP, it is also aiming to raise economic growth back towards more familiar territory.

The 4.1% GDP growth rate achieved in 2014 and which looks to have been more or less repeated this year, is the lowest since 2009. Between the following year and 2013, Ghana’s growth rate averaged twice the rate that has been achieved over the past two years, indeed peaking at a world beating 14.4% in 2011. In 2016 the target is 5.4%, the first step towards returning growth to over 8% by 2018.

But to resume the robust economic growth Ghana was becoming accustomed too, the country has to win back the confidence of the international donor community on which it necessarily relies as well as that of the IMF and the World Bank whose endorsements are needed to attract both donor support and international investment. While critics abhor Ghana’s heavy reliance on foreign assistance it is currently more important than ever in the face of government’s poor financial circumstances and lack of fiscal space to maneuver in.

Instructively, Ghana hopes to attract grants from its development partners to the tune of GH1.6 billion in 2016, this amounting to 1.0% of GDP and 4.2% of total revenue. This is to be matched by millions of US dollars in foreign loans on concessionary terms.

This will require more prudence, more integrity, more innovation and more commitment from the top level technocrats who run the machinery of government.

Especially in the Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) that facilitate and regulate activities in the productive sectors of the economy such as the Ministries of Trade & Industry, Agriculture, Petroleum, Energy, Lands and Mines. MDAs such as these are the frontline institutions with responsibility for facilitating economic productivity by ensuring the optimal operating environment and maximal public sector support for the productive private sector.

Interestingly, a major opportunity is about to present itself in this regard as new Chief Directors are about to be appointed for the various Ministries along with other government institutional heads. This offers the chance to identify and appoint the kind of Chief Directors that Ghana needs to fulfil its agenda for restoring high economic growth rates through improved productivity.

Indeed, a think tank, Concerned Citizens for Good Corporate Governance suggests that the Chief Directors and other institutional heads to be appointed should be people who are coming to the position with new ideas and ways of thinking and savvy for the application of technology rather than people who are selected simply because of their longevity in the civil service and their familiarity with the old ways of doing things.

Another key criterion should be their ability to work with bilateral and multilateral development partners to their satisfaction in order to ensure that they contribute the material resources and expertise that the country direly needs currently.

To this end, government’s decision to exclude civil servants with less than four years till they reach retirement is a good one. It deliberately makes the old brigade ineligible even as it ensures that whoever get the positions available will stay in service long enough for there to be continuity in the institutions they have been appointed to head.
The agricultural sector needs this the most.

A non governmental organization, the Alliance for Industrialization and Development, points out that agriculture holds the brightest prospects for inclusive, wide reaching economic growth and improvement in living standards because it employs more than half of the population. Indeed cocoa farming alone impacts on the livelihoods of some 800,000 households across Ghana.

On a wider level, since food and beverages accounts for about half of the entire basket of goods used in computing consumer price inflation, agriculture has the biggest impact on price levels apart from providing food security. Furthermore agricultural production offers the best potential for increasing foreign exchange earnings from non traditional exports which will be crucial in stabilizing the cedi in the face of depressed oil and gold prices on the global markets.

It also offers locally sourced inputs for industry and thus would actually allow for a focused reflation of the economy without leakages of the financial resources applied into higher demand for imports and resultant cedi depreciation.

However, the agricultural sector is now at its lowest ebb. Sectoral growth for 2015 is an inconsequential 0.04%. Its contribution to GDP has fallen to below 15%, down from over 30% as at 2009. And whoever manages the Food and Agriculture Ministry as its Chief Director from 2016 onwards will need to drastically improve the sector’s fortunes with barely 1% of government’s budget.

Which is why it is most worrying that there are clear attempts to over ride the eligibility criteria for the post in that Ministry, by some civil servants who have less than four years till their retirement but are still insisting on presenting themselves for selection. Their actions if accommodated, would defeat the prudent purpose for the eligibility criteria and result in the application of old ways to meet new challenges, an effort bound to simply replicate old institutional failures.

The qualities, capacities and capabilities of the incoming Chief Directors and other institutional heads will be crucial to Ghana’s fortunes going forward. Ghana’s future may depend on government making the right appointments.

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By: Toma Imihere

The post Enhancing government-led productivity – Toma Imihere appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

The Railway Workers Union announced the withdrawal of passenger services from Accra to Tema and Accra to Nsawam last week [Friday, December, 18] following government’s failure to pay their three-month salary arrears.

[contextly_sidebar id=”RRRN8hiOnsdT4C7y81XjdkdwpZf4n32q”]The Railway Workers Union also demanded the immediate dissolution of board of directors of the company and salary adjustments for the workers before calling an end to their strike action.

Government had earlier resolved to pay the workers’ salaries by Christmas day, according to Deputy Transport Minister, Joyce Bawa Mogtari, on Wednesday December 22 but that has not happened according to the Railway Workers Union.

In an interview with Citi News General Secretary of the Railway Workers Union, Godwill Ntarmah said the salary arrears had still not been paid hence their resolve to continue with the strike action.

“We’ve suffered for a long time. It’s so disgraceful. It’s so annoying. We’ve entered into 26th December and salary of railway workers have not been paid,” he said.

Mr Ntarmah further stated that “you think we should go on working for people to get their profit then we continue to go hungry? It’s not going to work.”

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By Delali Adogla-Bessa/citimonline.com/Ghana

The post Railway workers continue strike after failed gov’t promise appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

These unwholesome goods were collected over a period of three months under its Post Surveillance Activities which work at ensuring goods sold in markets are safe for consumption.

[contextly_sidebar id=”qG8YCpBf48EDeEdVekVPYtU6FEdBT0b6″]The regional director of the FDA, Mr. Braimah Zachariah, after disposing of the goods at Sirigu sai, the products were  retrieved from shops, supermarkets, shell shops and at the main markets of the region.

He said the products included can drinks, drugs, mineral water, biscuit, oil, among others.

Speaking to Citi News, Mr. Braimah further assured to undertake such exercise to rid the markets of dangerous and expired products during the festive season.

“A lot of producers’ and businessmen have come into the market with expired goods…we will visit every shop to ensure that consumers’ do not purchase expired products for this Christmas,” Mr. Zachariah added.

He emphasized that his outfit will work to provide and enforce standards for the sale of food, herbal medicine, cosmetics, drugs, medical devices and household chemical substances.

He reiterated that the FDA will continue to surcharge recalcitrant businessmen who keep unwholesome goods on their shelves for sale to serve as deterrents to others.

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By Frederick Awuni/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post FDA destroys goods worth GHc50,000 appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Produced by Ghanaian-owned total beverage maker Kasapreko Company Limited, the new look for the multiple-award winning Alomo Bitters comes in the form of a new sleek looking bottle with an already existing hologram security seal, a step seen by many as a major innovation drive for the product.

At a colourful ceremony recently held in Accra, the new look for Alomo Bitters and all its its variants was unveiled and the first bottle was customised and presented to President John Dramani Mahama who graced the well-attended occasion with high-level personalities, stakeholders and industry players in the country.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of Kasapreko, Mr. Richard Adjei, innovation and quality are the biggest launch pad that drives sustainability of a product. “It is in this spirit that we have renovated our flagship brand Alomo Bitters by giving it a bold new look and standard befitting of an international brand whilst maintaining its authentic liquid that it’s renowned for,” Mr Adjei added.

The product is said to be the embodiment of the success that propelled Kasapreko into cutting across the world.

Marked as Ghana’s first scientifically crafted herbal based alcoholic beverage, Alomo Bitters in 1997 became the country’s first herbal bitters produced on an industrial scale, an achievement that saw a major success breakthrough for the beverage manufacturer.

The product has been at the top of the list when it comes to herbal alcoholic beverages in Ghana and now in several African countries, even spreading beyond the continent.

Alomo Bitters which is packaged in 200ml PET and 750ml glass bottle has won several local and international awards, the recent being the Official Tourism Drink of Ghana. In 2012 Alomo Bitters became a Super Brand. In the last quarter of 2013, CNN Money identified Alomo Bitters to be among the top five emerging brands in the world.

The product comes in four variants – Alomo Bitters itself, Alomo Silver, Alomo Gold and Alomo Black.

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Credit: Kasapreko

The post Alomo bitters gets new look appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.