Month: May 2023

The Bawku West District Assembly and its partners have initiated plans to relocate migrants from Burkina Faso to new settlements in the district by the close of May 2023.

Most of the migrants who have been settled in Sapelliga and other parts of the Upper East Region stemming from attacks in Burkina Faso will be relocated to Talkuom, in the Bawku West district to ensure all social amenities were made available for improvement of livelihoods of the people.

Though UNICEF, with help of community members of Sapelliga have provided some structures for the over 400 refugees, the area is isolated and close to the border to Burkina Faso where basic social amenities such water, toilets, school, and health facilities are not available.

Alhaji Issahaku Tahiru, the Bawku West District Chief Executive (DCE), made the planned relocation known in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Zebilla said the Assembly in collaboration with the Ghana Refugee Board, UNHCR, was working to improve roads, health care and educational facilities in Talkuom.

‘As at now they are clearing and putting up the structures and even though the Talkuom community has no electricity, the people have been given re-chargeable lamps and torchlights and will soon be provided solar panels to support them.

‘Extension of electricity is a general issue and in some parts of Sapelliga, there are some communities that do not have electricity and we are working on that and once the entire Sapelliga gets lights, the Talkuom community and all outlining areas will get hooked,’ he said.

On the security of the refugees, the DCE said: ‘You receive people who are looking for security in your neighbourhood and you still keep them by the border when they are running away from jihadists attacks, leaving them so close to the borders , chances are that they can be re-attacked in Ghana and this is what we as a country are trying to prevent.

‘We think that it is a risk, leaving the refugees there because if they are attacked it means the jihadist are so close to the country, hence we need to move them away from that place and where we are moving them, there will be police presence to ensure their safety, there will regular feeding at the camp, since the current feeding situation of the people is not encouraging.’

According to him, sending the refugees into Talkuom will improve their lives, their children will also be enrolled to school and also ensure the benefit of the community and livelihoods will be improved.

He said though there was only one CHPS at Talkuom, there were plans to put up a health centre to improve health delivery services there.

Speaking on other economic opportunities for the refugees, the DCE said: ‘For those who have made up their minds to stay, we will look at their potentials because there are other stakeholders who have their welfare at heart and will soon take advantage to build their capacities to enable them to find income earning activities to engage in.’

Source: Ghana News Agency

Ms. Dorcas Afo-Toffey, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Jomoro Constituency in the Western Region, has constructed and commissioned a potable water project for the people of Fante Newtown, near Elubo.

Fante Newtown, a cocoa farming community, has a population of 500 people, but has been without potable water for more than a decade.

The MP thus constructed the project to prevent residents from sharing water with domestic animals and prevent water-borne diseases among residents.

Similarly, the MP had commissioned another water project for Allengenzule Catholic Basic School in her Constituency.

Ms. Afo-Toffey, during the handing over ceremony, commended the chiefs and people of the area for supporting the contractor in delivering the project on time.

‘I am also happy that I could deliver on my promise; In fact, I was saddened when I visited your source of drinking water as a community in my constituency.’

She appealed to the people of the area to effectively manage the facility.

The sub-chief of Fante Newtown, Odikro Job Paintsil commended the Jomoro MP, for fulfilling her pledge adding ‘this is what we call action.’

He also commended the MP for providing the community with streetlights and appealed to the MP to rehabilitate their main road which was in a deplorable state.

Odikro Paintsil urged the MP to work efficiently to provide lots of social amenities for the area to raise their standard of living and prayed for the MP against all forms of evil dealings in her daily activities.

The Assembly Member for Anwiafutu Electoral Area, Mr Hamid Abubakar Kabenla, expressed his appreciation to the MP for the gesture, adding that the water project would go a long way to help reduce the challenges in accessing drinking water at long distances.

He promised the MP that the community would maintain the project to serve its intended purpose.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The CODESULT Network, a non-government organization, and its partner Rainforest Alliance, have trained more than 20 community observers on the eradication of child and forced labour in the various farming and mining communities in the Bibiani Municipality.

The training was to, among others, ensure that companies and government’s commitment towards the prevention of children and forced labour in cocoa growing and mining communities were eliminated.

The training, funded by the Norwegian Government through NORAD was attended by representatives from, the Ghana Education Service, Social Welfare, the Ghana Health Service, Labour Department, NCCE, Planning Unit, and CHIRAJ and members from the Bibiani Municipal Assembly.

The training also brought together representatives from Cocoa Buying Companies such as Cargill, Fedco, MDLZ Ghanaians, Nestle Tuoton, Food Ingredients, and Mining Companies Chirano Gold Mines Limited, Awaso Bauxite Company, Mensin Gold Limited Bibiani as well as religious leaders and educators who are all duty-bearers in the fight against forced and child labour.

Mrs Alvin Adu-Asare, Senior Associate, Monitoring and Evaluation Learning for Rainforest Alliance, expressed concern about the increasing incidents of child and forced labour globally.

He said there has been an increase in the number of children involved in child labour which is about 8.4 million in just over four years, as published by the International Labour Organization and UNICEF.

She described child labour as the positive participation of children in economic and non-economic activities that were not harmful to their health or mental and physical development.

Mrs Adu-Asare however said: ‘The line is crossed, when children perform hazardous work, that is likely to harm their health or limit their education.’

Mrs Adu-Asare said a lot had been done by stakeholders and government officials to stop child labour, particularly in mining and cocoa farming communities, stressing that producing and consuming countries have raised numerous concerns about the menace and were working hard to identify, prevent, and eradicate child labour.

She announced plans to support farming communities in Ghana, adding that, funds would be made available to establish community-based child protection systems across the region, with a focus on protecting local children from hazardous farm work and assist them to stay and succeed in school.

She mentioned the need for institutions to collaborate with NGOs, the government and community members to win the battle against forced and child labour due to its complexity.

Nana Robert Obiri Yeboah, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CODESULT Network, urged Ghanaians to support the fight against child and forced labour in the various cocoa growing and mining communities, since child and forced labour eradication was a shared responsibility.

He was optimistic that with support from the government and their implementing partners, the elimination of child and forced labour in the Municipality would be achieved.

Participants were taken through advocacy, prevention and detection.

Source: Ghana News Agency

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has reiterated government’s commitment to finding a lasting solution to the protracted chieftaincy conflict in Bawku.

The longstanding conflict re-emerged in November 2021, and has since claimed many lives and destroyed lots of property with many people, especially public sector workers, fleeing the area.

The conflict has affected healthcare and education delivery, halted economic activities and is raising security concerns to the country, considering the area’s proximity to the Sahelian region which had been experiencing violent extremism in recent years.

‘In response to the appeal by the Secretary-General to intensify efforts at bringing peace to Bawku, I want to assure him and, indeed, the nation at large, that there is no higher priority for government on the agenda of national security than the resolution of the Bawku conflict,’ he said.

The President was speaking at Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region, at the celebration of the International Workers Day, on the theme, ‘Protecting Incomes and Pensions in an Era of Economic Crisis; our Responsibility.’

The President noted that the government was engaging with all the relevant stakeholders involved in the conflict to ensure that sustainable peace and stability returned to the area to promote economic growth.

‘Not only are we enhancing, as we speak, the security deployment in the area to promote more strongly the rule of law, and hold accountable all who violate law and order in the area, we are also intensifying the efforts to find a solution to the customary tensions that underline the Bawku conflict, so that, hopefully, a final resolution of that conflict can be attained, just as it has been attained in Dagbon.

‘Nothing will give me greater pleasure, in the concluding days of my presidency, than to help bring lasting peace to Bawku. May God grant me the wisdom to achieve that outcome,’ he said.

Dr Yaw Baah, the Secretary General of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) urged the government to intensify efforts to bring peace to Bawku as quickly as possible and appealed to the factions to give peace a chance.

He called on the government to fix the economy through cutting down expenditure on non-essential projects to bring relief to Ghanaians.

Some of the dignitaries present included Mr Ignatius Baffour Awuah, Minister of Employment and Labour Relations; Mr Ambrose Dery, Minister of the Interior; Mr Bright Wireko Brobbey, Deputy Minister of Employment and Labour Relations; Mr Stephen Yakubu, the Upper East Regional Minister; Ms Tangoba Abayage, former Upper East Regional Minister; Tongraan Kugbilsong Nalebetang, Paramount Chief of the Talensi Traditional Area and some Municipal and District Chief Executives.

More than 30 labour unions participated in the celebration.

Source: Ghana News Agency