Monday, August 24, 2009

‘Don’t rush to acquire wealth’

THE Moderator of the Global Evangelical Church, Rt Reverend Dr E. K. Gbordzoe, has called on the youth not to hurry into seeking material wealth at the expense of their future
He explained that wealth and prosperity did not come within a day, rather it is the result of hard work and self sacrifice.
Rev Gbordzoe made the call when he addressed the youth at the annual youth conference of the Global Evangelical Church at Kpando in the Volta Region over the week end.
The conference, which brought together youth across the country was on the theme: “Dreaming new Dreams”.
Rev Gbordzoe said the youth of the church and the country at large must learn to work hard in order to achieve their dreams of becoming what they want to be in the future.
He said a lot of the youth today had lost focus and direction because their desires were not in agreement with God's purpose for their life.
The moderator said for one to discover his or her purpose in life, the person must first have an intimate relationship with the maker.
The main speaker and Synod Clerk of the church, Rev Prince Y. Tefe, called on the youth not to allow the pleasures of the world to force them to move away from God because He did not discriminate but did all things right in His own time.
Rev Tefe lamented the increase in anti-social vices which were affecting the lives of the youth and mentioned lesbianism, homosexuality, Internet fraud and occultism as having been learnt from watching foreign movies.
The Director of the youth ministry of the church, Rev H. A. C. Agbesinyale, challenged the youth to lead the crusade against the "get rich quick" attitude that had become a challenge to society.
Rev Agbesinyale called on the government to see the youth as the energy of the nation and provide them with the needed resources in order to make them develop their full potential.
Two members of the national youth council of the church, Mr Francis Adatsi and Mr Ken Kuleke, in an interview with the Daily Graphic urged youth bodies to be courageous enough to expose injustice in society.
They stressed that if Christians who formed the majority of the country’s population could eschew arrogance, hypocrisy and deep seated hatred for each other, “we can have a corrupt free society.”
The two added that those practices must first be eradicated from the church which would in turn impact on the society as a whole.
As part of the conference, the youth donated blood to the Margret Marquat Hospital in Kpando.

CAPTION

Consider risk in investments alongside benefits

THE Head of Treasury at CAL Bank Limited, Mr Philip Duodu Fynn, has advised the public to consider the risk involved in any form of investment they want to undertake and not necessarily the interest on that investment.
He cited the case of Pyram where the interest on investment in that financial institution was so high that it attracted a lot of Ghanaians, but were not able to pay the interest forcing it to fold up after a few months of operation in the country.
Mr Duodu Fynn gave the advice when he addressed customers of the Spintex road branch of CAL Bank at a customer focused meeting in Accra.
He said demanding higher returns on one's investment in itself was not a bad thing to do "but the question is, does the financial institution have the ability to pay that sum of interest," he asked.
He, therefore urged the public to invest with credible financial institutions so as to secure their investments and also to achieve their purpose of investing.
Mr Doudu Fynn also outlined the various stages on investment, which he metioned as Accumulating phase, Consideration phase and the Spending phase. These stages, he said, were very important in order to know what to do at every stage of the investment.
A General Manager of the bank in charge of Finance and Administration, Mr Philip Owiredu, answering questions from some customers gave the assurance that, the bank with all it achievement over the last few years was putting in place approprate measures to meet the demands of their cherised customer across the country.
Mr Owiredu said the purpose of the customer focused meeting was to educate their customers on the bank's products and also to address problems they encountered while doing business with the bank

Karikari lauds media for sustaining democracy

The Executive Director of the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Professor Kwame Karikari, has attributed improvement in the country’s democracy to the significant role being played by the media.
He, therefore, underscored the need to strengthen the capacity of the Ghanaian media to make them more effective in sustaining the country’s democracy and expanding the frontiers of freedom of expression.
Prof. Karikari made the remark at the first meeting of editors and media managers in the country to discuss the Ghana Media Standards Improvement Project, an initiative launched in June, 2009 to enhance the performance of the media in the country.
The project, which is a collaboration between the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the MFWA and funded by the Royal Dutch Embassy in Accra, seeks to develop and improve a culture of investigative, editing and analytical writing among Ghanaian journalists.
In a presentation of the concept of the project, Prof. Karikari said the project had become necessary as a result of the changing trends in the media industry worldwide and the need for Ghanaian journalists to catch up with these trends.
To achieve this, he said the pilot project was considering four main objectives in investigative reporting, to cover many of the issues that had not been covered by the media due to some factors beyond the capacity of the Ghanaian media practitioners.
Other objectives include the improvement in the management and administration of media houses.
The project seeks further to help and to empower media houses and their reporters to go into specific areas of specialisation such as petroleum, which is regarded as a very complex domain to report on.
It is expected to last for two years, and would involve four selected newspapers and eight radio stations, most of which must be based in the rural areas of the country.
The project would involve three main activities, which includes organising series of fora on selected issues of concern to the media, such as the use of photographs in newspapers.
Professor Nana Ansu-Kyeremeh, a lecturer at the School of Communication Studies of the University of Ghana, presented a paper on preliminary findings on a survey conducted to establish the media habit of Ghanaians in the country.
He said the core objective of the research was to ascertain the public’s estimation of the media terrain and journalists in the country, as well as to establish who was reading what.
Though findings from the work were yet to be finalised and made public, he sought the permission of the house on the possibility of making the outcome into a media rating.
The Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Ransford Tetteh, moderated the programme, while Mr Berfi Apenteng, a media consultant, led the discussions.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

NGOs fight malaria

MINISTERS of Health in the West African sub- region have initiated policies and programmes aimed at eradicating malaria , the Minister of Health Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey has said.
The initiatives, he said had become necessary since no individual country has the capacity to fight or eradicate the disease from their respective countries.
Dr Yankey said this when he inaugurated the Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Malaria (GCNM) in Accra and called on them to formulate policies that would compliment the government's effort at the eradication of malaria.
Dr Yankey mentioned some of the programmes currently going on in Ghana as the distribution of insecticide treated mosquito nets to a number of households and the distribution of treated curtains.
He said that the ministry was also in the process of mapping out all breeding sites for spraying.
These programmes among others, the minister said, would sustain the efforts made over the years at the eradication of malaria, admitting that eradicating malaria in the country needed the collaboration of all.
The minister said about three million malarial cases were reported annually in the public health care facilities while about 15 per cent of all deaths in the country were attributable to malaria.
Dr Yankey assured the leadership of the coalition of the government's support of achieving the government's dream of a malaria free society.
The Programme Manager of the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), Dr Constance Bart-Plange said the NMCP had made some remarkable progress in the past by reducing the number of recorded cases of malaria at public health facilities across the country.
Dr Bart-Plange said the coming together of the NGOs in malaria was in the right direction as it would help in the formulation of unified programmes and policies at the national and community level towards the eradication of malaria.
The Minister of Women and Children Affairs, Ms Akua Sena Dansua said that malaria affected women and children than any other group in the country, for that reason she pledged her ministry's support to curb it.
She said anything that affected women and children would also impact negatively on the socio economic development of the country.
Ms Dansua called on the coalition to factor in their campaign issues early treatment, since this would prevent most of the death recorded as a result of malaria.
The country Director of Johns Hopkins University, Mr Emmanuel Fiagbey and the president of the coalition, Mr Collins Agyarko-Nti also addressed the gathering.

Provide for Agric insurance

THE National Insurance Commission (NIC) has called on insurance companies to develop products that would address challenges facing the agricultural sector.
Currently, there is no insurance company that offers any product for agriculture although the sector employs about 60 per cent of the country’s working population.
The Deputy Commissioner of the NIC, Mrs Nyamike Kyiamah, posed the challenge at the launch of the Donewell International Travel Policy in Accra on Tuesday.
The product, developed by Donewell Insurance Company, seeks to address the numerous risks faced by the travelling public to Europe. An insurance policy has become a requirement for travellers securing visas to travel to most European countries.
Mrs Nyamike said the agricultural sector, which accounts for 35 per cent of the nation’s GDP, could not be left out in matters of insurance.
She explained that any initiative to cover the sector would contribute towards increasing the level of insurance penetration in the country.
She said Ghana’s insurance penetration, currently at 1.6 per cent compared to an insurance penetration of 12.7 per cent for South Africa, was too low and needed immediate action to address the trend.
Mrs Nyamike observed that the discovery of oil in commercial quantity had opened up a huge market for insurance companies and challenged them to position themselves to take advantage of the opportunities.
In a statement read on his behalf, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, commended Donewell for the initiative and pledged the support of the government towards the growth of the insurance sector.
He tasked the players in the industry to take measures that would address the declining standard in marine insurance.
Dr Duffuor noted that the level of knowledge in insurance in the country was very low and called on the insurance companies to ensure consistent education of the public.
The Managing Director of Donewell Insurance, Mr Victor Larbi, said some of the benefits of the new policy were the payment of medical expenses and provision of legal assistance by an insurance company while the policy holder had travelled abroad.
Some other benefits include medical transportation being catered for, lost or delayed baggage and repatriation after treatment.

‘Don’t rush to acquire wealth’

THE Moderator of the Global Evangelical Church, Rt Reverend Dr E. K. Gbordzoe, has called on the youth not to hurry into seeking material wealth at the expense of their future
He explained that wealth and prosperity did not come within a day, rather it is the result of hard work and self sacrifice.
Rev Gbordzoe made the call when he addressed the youth at the annual youth conference of the Global Evangelical Church at Kpando in the Volta Region over the week end.
The conference, which brought together youth across the country was on the theme: “Dreaming new Dreams”.
Rev Gbordzoe said the youth of the church and the country at large must learn to work hard in order to achieve their dreams of becoming what they want to be in the future.
He said a lot of the youth today had lost focus and direction because their desires were not in agreement with God's purpose for their life.
The moderator said for one to discover his or her purpose in life, the person must first have an intimate relationship with the maker.
The main speaker and Synod Clerk of the church, Rev Prince Y. Tefe, called on the youth not to allow the pleasures of the world to force them to move away from God because He did not discriminate but did all things right in His own time.
Rev Tefe lamented the increase in anti-social vices which were affecting the lives of the youth and mentioned lesbianism, homosexuality, Internet fraud and occultism as having been learnt from watching foreign movies.
The Director of the youth ministry of the church, Rev H. A. C. Agbesinyale, challenged the youth to lead the crusade against the "get rich quick" attitude that had become a challenge to society.
Rev Agbesinyale called on the government to see the youth as the energy of the nation and provide them with the needed resources in order to make them develop their full potential.
Two members of the national youth council of the church, Mr Francis Adatsi and Mr Ken Kuleke, in an interview with the Daily Graphic urged youth bodies to be courageous enough to expose injustice in society.
They stressed that if Christians who formed the majority of the country’s population could eschew arrogance, hypocrisy and deep seated hatred for each other, “we can have a corrupt free society.”
The two added that those practices must first be eradicated from the church which would in turn impact on the society as a whole.
As part of the conference, the youth donated blood to the Margret Marquat Hospital in Kpando.

Cal holds customer focus meeting

THE Head of Treasury at CAL Bank Limited, Mr Philip Duodu Fynn, has advised the public to consider the risk involved in any form of investment they want to undertake and not necessarily the interest on that investment.
He cited the case of Pyram where the interest on investment in that financial institution was so high that it attracted a lot of Ghanaians, but were not able to pay the interest forcing it to fold up after a few months of operation in the country.
Mr Duodu Fynn gave the advice when he addressed customers of the Spintex road branch of CAL Bank at a customer focused meeting in Accra.
He said demanding higher returns on one's investment in itself was not a bad thing to do "but the question is, does the financial institution have the ability to pay that sum of interest," he asked.
He, therefore urged the public to invest with credible financial institutions so as to secure their investments and also to achieve their purpose of investing.
Mr Doudu Fynn also outlined the various stages on investment, which he metioned as Accumulating phase, Consideration phase and the Spending phase. These stages, he said, were very important in order to know what to do at every stage of the investment.
A General Manager of the bank in charge of Finance and Administration, Mr Philip Owiredu, answering questions from some customers gave the assurance that, the bank with all it achievement over the last few years was putting in place approprate measures to meet the demands of their cherised customer across the country.
Mr Owiredu said the purpose of the customer focused meeting was to educate their customers on the bank's products and also to address problems they encountered while doing business with the bank

License Journalists-Dattey

THE Executive Secretary of the National Accreditation Board (NAB), Mr Kwame Dattey, has called for the licensing of journalists as a prerequisite for them to practise in the country.
The licensing, he said, did not imply that restrictions were being placed on journalists in the performance of their legitimate duties and work.
Making the suggestion at the first meeting of the Governing Council of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) in Accra yesterday, Mr Dattey said the licensing would rather help to improve the media landscape as the unprofessional ones would not be allowed to operate.
He said there were too many individuals in the country who carried themselves as journalists, whose conduct, he said, was questionable and denigrated the image of the profession.
Providing further justification for his suggestion, Mr Dattey said the measure, if implemented, would also contribute to eliminating mushroom journalism schools, most of whom were operating without proper accreditation from the NAB.
By his suggestion, he said unless one was licensed by the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) or an appropriate body, that person should not be allowed to do anything as a professional journalist or be recognised as such.
The Chairman of the Governing Council of GIJ, Mr A. B. A Fuseni, assured the public of the council’s commitment to transform the institute to reflect the current trends in the media industry.
Mr Fuseni explained that recent development in the media landscape required a very high calibre of human resource to match up to the challenges of the industry.
He said that challenge demanded absolute commitment on the side of the council to formulate policies and give direction to the institute to enhance the calibre of the products that the institute turned out every year.
He said one of the immediate tasks of the council was to help in shaping students for the job market, both in and outside the country.
“To this end, our focus as council would be to update training facilities, especially in the areas of information communication technology (ICT), provision of basic infrastructure and the recruitment of seasoned staff, both teaching and non-teaching, for the institute,“ he added.
Mr Fuseni expressed worry about the limited facilities in the school, saying the situation was driving away too many potential students from the institute.
He, therefore, called for extra commitment on the side of council members to address the situation.
The Rector of the institute, Mr David Newton, in his report, gave an overview of previous strategic plans that were developed and what had been achieved in that direction.
Mr Newton said in 2006, another corporate strategic plan was developed, and noted that “so far, two major achievements have been recorded under the new corporate strategic plan”.
The two, he said, included the passage of the new legislation, Act 717, to make GIJ a degree-awarding institution and the granting of ??? a Presidential Charter in June, 2009.
He informed the council on progress made so far on the construction of a 12-unit classroom block which was awarded as far back as 1998, and said that only the basement of the project had so far been completed.
Mr Newton attributed the delay in the project to a lack of funds and the inability of the contractor to pre-finance the project.

Friday, August 7, 2009

Global Evangelical Church, Nungua Youth Ministry Bible Studies

Global Evangelical Church (Rohi Chapel, Nungua) youth Ministry
Theme: Reviving the Ministry through Discipleship and Holiness
Bible Studies- Reviving the Ministry (Revelation 2:1-7)
Introduction
We have heard of boxers who started very well but after a few wins started losing and never made their way back to the boxing ring. We know of footballers who made money becuase of their skills but are now very poor. There are equally men of God who were once on fire for God, performing miracles and were threat to satan's camp but cannot pray for themselves now. We can list similar examples but the big question is why can't these "big names" hold on to their victory to the end or is it possible to finish still a winner?
Section A
1. What does the passage say?
2. What are some of the commendation made by the Lord?
3. What are some of the shortcomning the Lord identified in this church?
4. What positive comments can you make of the youth ministry
5. Discuss how a church or ministry can be commended and repremanded at the same time.

Section B
1. What is the meaning of the word revive?
2. What are some of the situations that mandate revival?
3. Do you think you need revival yourself?
Section C
1. What are some of the things we have to do as a ministry to revive the ministry?
2. What do you have to do as an individual?

Rastafarians mark 117th anniversary

THE Rastafari movement in Ghana last Thursday celebrated the 117th birthday anniversary of Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia with a commitment to promote unity within the movement.
The day, which was marked with an educational forum to educate the Rastafari movement and the public on the work and life of the man referred to within the Rastafari community as the King of Kings, was a departure from the usual musical shows that had marked the celebration over the years.
In an interview with the Director of Juddah promotion, the organisers of the programme, Jahknow Kojo Kombolo said the main purpose of departing from the usual musical show was to educate the public on the Rastafari movement.
Jahknow Kombolo added that it was also to disabuse the mind of the public about the negative images of Rastaferian.
???“People see the Rastaman as all the bad things one could think of on the street, no man, the Rastaman is a man of peace and integrity,” he said.???
Jahknow Kombolo said rasta was not all about wearing dreadlocks.He called on the public to disregard people who wear dreadlocks and do bad things around as they were not true Rastamen.
Ras Kofi Collins in a separate interview with the Daily Graphic, said the Rastafari Council had established the Black Star Line Cooperative Credit Union, (B S L C U) as part of efforts to empower their members to be economically reliant.
Ras Collins added that the main objective of the union was to foster wealth creation mentality within the Rastafari community and facilitate the culture of saving.
Haile Selassie was born Lij Tafari Makonnen translated literally to mean,??? child and serves to indicate that every youth is of a noble blood.???
He was later named Ras Tafari Makonnen, Ras, translated to mean, head, and is equivalent to the “Duke”, though it was often rendered in translation as Prince. In 1928, he was elevated to the position of Negus, meaning King.
Upon his ascension to the Emperor in 1930, he took the name Selassie, meaning “Power of the Trinity.”
Haile Selassie’s full title in office was His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the tribe Judah, and an Elect of God.

Census pilot project to cover six districts’

THE Government Statistician, Dr Grace Bediako, has disclosed that the 2009 population and housing census pilot project slated for October and November, 2009 will cover only six districts including some key settlements in Accra.
The selected districts include, Bia, Sene, Saboba, Awutu Senya, and Chiriponi. In Accra the exercise will cover, Osu Klotey, East Legon, and Commonwealth and Volta Halls of the University of Ghana, Legon.
Dr Bediako who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in an interview said the change of date was because some of the selected districts were likely to experience some amount of rainfall during that time of the year.
The government statistician said the Statistical Service considered a number of factors including the eco-logical zone of the district, newly created districts, fast growing areas, institutions and high wall residential communities in the selection process.
She again added that, these districts and areas were selected having in mind some of the difficulties the area might pose to officers during the original census in 2010.
Dr Bediako said that the pilot project was estimated at $ 1.2 million and explained that the amount did not include logistics that would again be needed for the original census in 2010 such as vehicles, allowance for personnel and data processing among others.
The Census Co-ordinating Director, Mr David Kombat who was present at the interview said the pilot project would cover three weeks, explaining that the actual data collection would be done in the second week of the exercise while the first and second weeks would be for field work.
Mr Kombat said committees for all the districts had been formed and were expected to start work in the districts.
He said the committees would have the responsibility of putting in place the appropriate measures to make the exercise successful .
He explained that unlike the registration for voting during elections where each voter was expected to register in person, only responsible persons in each house would be made to speak on behalf of all the others.
He, therefore, called on all persons within the respective districts to provide their vital information before going out of their homes during the period.

AFAG Demonstration

Hundreds of demonstrators yesterday hit the streets of Accra to protest against what they perceive as a harsh economic condition and the failure of the government to fulfil its campaign promises.
Organised by the Alliance for Accountable Governance (AFAG), a pressure group, and identifiable groups, including the National Service Scheme (NSS), traders, students and some fishermen, the demonstration was peaceful and incident-free.
Clad in red clothes and bands, the demonstrators walked from the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, through the Nkrumah Avenue to Farisco and then to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to the Ministries and converged on the Accra Hearts of Oak Park, close to the Arts Centre.
The people, who demonstrated for well over four hours, carried placards, some of which read “Atta 419”, “Where is the better Ghana?”, “No premix”, “Atta Walk your talk”, “Atta fix the economy”, “Where is the jobs you promised us?”, “Avoid killer loans”, “Our children need pampers”.
Some of the demonstrators also wore pampers, others were also seen chewing kebab. Some fishermen sat in their canoe that had been mounted on a big truck and paddled as their way of demonstrating against the shortage of premix fuel.
According to Chief Superintendent B. Bonga of the Ghana Police Service, which provided 350 men and women to provide security, there was no major incident and the demonstration could, therefore, be described as “peaceful and incident-free for now”.
Addressing the demonstrators at the Hearts Park after the demonstration, Mr Kwabena Bonfeh, a leading member of the alliance, commended the people for turning out in their numbers to participate in the demonstration, which was “to defend our democracy from those who threaten it”.
“There are people in power who think they can perpetuate in Ghana a culture of deceit, falsehood, lies, misrepresentation, pretence, intimidation and vague propaganda which constitute the very anti-democratic credentials notable of illegitimate regimes,” he alleged.
He said most fishermen in the country could not go fishing, although this period was their peak fishing season, because some people were smuggling the fuel to other areas, thereby denying the fishermen the fuel to go fishing.
Mr Bonfeh, who is also the National Youth Organiser of the Convention People’s Party (CPP), added that salaries of teachers and nurses had been slashed, traders were facing precarious commodity prices and students had had their school fees increased astronomically all due to the bad economic decisions of the current administration.
Mr Bonfeh urged Ghanaians not to allow politicians to take them for a ride and should constantly raise reservation against President Mills’s decision to allow his Foreign and Sports Ministers who had corruption issues to answer to be parading without any charges.
He said President Mills had arrogated to himself the power to review the work of Parliament in violation of the principle of separation of powers and added that he was in constant touch with his lawyers and would take the matter to the law courts.
He also asked what had become of the 40 per cent women representation promised by the NDC in their manifesto, their pledge to fight corruption and the promise to relieve Ghanaians of their heavy tax burden, and added that the NDC used all these promises to deceive Ghanaians to vote them into power.
Mr Bonfeh disclosed that AFAG would replicate the demonstration throughout the 10 regional capitals in the country to educate Ghanaians on the corrupt and deceptive nature of the NDC administration and the need to keep it on its toes.
A national service person, Master Harold Boateng, noted that he was of the view that he would be employed at the Ministry of Health where he did his national service but this could not happen because of the conditionalities on a World Bank loan.
The demonstration also attracted some bigwigs of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) including Nana Ohene Ntow, NPP General Secretary; Mr Dan Botwe, Member of Parliament (MP) for Okere; Ms Shirley Ayokor Botchwey, MP for Weija; Dr Akoto Osei, a former Minister of State at the Ministry of Finance; and Mr Stephen Asamoah Boateng, a former Information Minister, who was in the company of his wife.

Private partnership needed for census — Dr Bediako

THE Government Statistician, Dr Grace Bediako has called for private partnership in preparation towards the 2010 Population and Housing Census.
This partnership she said is very crucial particularly for the Census Reference Day which is the day set aside for every Ghanaian “in an ideal situation” to be counted.
In an interview, Dr Bediako said the Census Reference Day is important for the avoidance of double counting.
Dr Bediako mentioned for instance, the telecommunication companies as potential partners who would send text messages to their subscribers reminding them of the day.
Others, she said, could also brand the officers who would be involved in the collection of the data or any other thing that could be done to mark the day so that people could easily remember the day.
Dr Bediako mentioned that private partnership was needed to create the much needed awareness on the Census Reference Day.
The government’s s tatistician said both the private and the public sector would need the data collected for their works and should therefore be involved in the exercise.
She reminded the public that, the Population and Housing Census is different from the voter registration where each person is expected to register in person.
“In the census only a responsible person in the house would be required to speak on behalf of all the others in the house,” she said.
Dr Bediako added that a similar partnership would be needed for the pilot census in October and November, 2009.
"The Census Reference Day is the day officers who come to a household will for instance ask about those who were in the house on the Census Reference Day, and these are the people who will be counted” she said.
Dr Bediako stressed that the relevance of the day must be communicated properly to the public.
Explaining further, she said for instance if one resided permanently in Accra, but travelled to visit the parents in, say, Adaklu Waya in the Volta Region on the 18th October, 2009 which is the Census Reference Day; This person, she said, would be counted among the people of Adaklu Waya and not Accra even if he returns to Accra before his household in Accra were counted.