Mahama touts achievements on his ‘Accounting to the People’ tour

President John Dramani Mahama has on Tuesday  justified his 'Accounting to the people tour’, which  is aimed at showcasing projects done by his government across the country and to interact with Ghanaians.

The tour which has already  taken the President to the Western and Eastern regions in the past weeks, has been fiercely criticized by some critics including the opposition New Patriotic Party, describing it as an ‘abuse of incumbency’ which the President is taking advantage of to campaign ahead of the November 7, elections.

However, speaking on the third leg of the tour to inaugurate the Dodo-Pepesu to Nkwanta section of the Eastern Corridor road in the Volta region, President Mahama explained that, he is only rendering account to Ghanaians who gave him the mandate during the last election.

According to him, just as chiefs organized regular durbars to update their subjects about development in their areas, it is just prudent for him as the president to update Ghanaians about projects and programmes his government has undertaken in the last three years.

“When you are put in a position of leadership, it is necessary for you to account to your people and tell them  how  you have discharged that responsibility and also interact with them to ask them, what more they expect from you,” he noted.

He noted that, his government in the last three years has undertaken massive infrastructure projects in various sectors across the country, which has to be accounted for.

Touting his achievements at Hohoe on day one of his 3 days tour, the President stated that “in all the regions I have inspected and commissioned projects, be have interacted with the traditional leaders and the people to discuss other projects that they want government to undertake. If you look at the track record we have been able to achieve, it is phenomenal, from electrification, to water, healthcare, education, definitely the track record of this government is an enviable one.”

Roads in Ho and two other towns to be asphalted

Ho Poly - SSNIT flat road

Road networks within three towns in the Volta region  are  to be  given an asphaltic facelift, President Mahama has revealed.

The re-surfacing which will take place before the end of 2016 forms  part of an urban roads improvement project being undertaken by government to improve  the standard of roads in Ho, Hohoe and Keta. 

President Mahama  who disclosed this, during  a courtesy called on the paramount chief of Asogli traditional area, Togbe Afede XIV, in Ho over the weekend, said 25 kilometers of roads have been earmarked for the asphaltic surfacing in Ho as part of the phase of the project. 

“The project is being awarded and very soon the contract will be on site to raise the standards of the roads with asphalt and this will also be done in Keta and Hohoe,” he stated.

The president’s assurance comes on the back sentiments expressed by  residents, which Togbe Afede re-echoed  at the meeting, about the  quality of some roads which were recently resurfaced with bituminous  chipping within the Volta regional capital.

Gov't rebuilds Gbi Paramount Chief’s residence

Government has  reconstructed the vandalized residence of the paramount chief of Gbi traditional area, Togbega Gabusu VI in Hohoe. 

The residence, which   was vandalized  by some irate zongo  youth in June, 2012 during a communal clash  with some indigenes of area, was rebuild as part of peace efforts by government through the Volta regional coordinating council.  

The  GHc 254, 000 two bedroom self contain and  three semi-detached chamber and halls were constructed by CW constructions Ltd within a period of 18 months.

At a brief ceremony to handover keys to the walled and gated facility on Tuesday, Director of CW Constructions Limited, Mr William Chidiak told journalists  the facility is ready  for occupation by the chief.

He however said the company will be on standby to rectify any defect which will detected during the initial  period of occupation.

The deputy Volta regional minister, Mr Francis Ganyaglo,  who received the keys to the house, said the completion of the residence will ‘cement the existing peace and tranquility’ currently prevailing in the area.

He commanded the contractor for contributing towards the peace process and urged the zongo community and the indigenes to coexist peacefully.

Mr. Ganyaglo also charged the police in the area to provide 24 hour surveillance at the residence until the chief relocates to the place. 

Togbega Gabusu who is currently out of town, will be handed over the residence at an official ceremony upon his return. 

‘We need a generator’-Volta school for the deaf appeals

Imagine not being able to communicate with other persons, whenever power goes off…? This is the situation, in which students of the Volta school for the deaf in Hohoe found themselves, due to their hearing and speech impairment.

Because of the current power crisis, the students who communicate through sign language, can no longer interact in the evenings during power outages, as they unable to see and interpret their own ‘signings’ [gestures] in darkness.

The situation has therefore left with no option than to retire to early bed, since the school also lack a standby generator to remedy the situation.

Headmistress of the school, Madam Diddy Ntim told Volta Online in an interview that, the erratic power situation is adversely affecting school activities in the evenings and appealed to benevolent individuals and organizations to come to their aid.

“We use our eyes to see what we sign, so when the lights are off, everything goes mute, because we cannot communicate in darkness. So we need a standby generator to use in times of light off.. We’ will be grateful if people will support us.”

The school founded in 1971 and solely funded by the government of Ghana, currently has a population of about 400 students.

 Madam Ntim, has therefore asked for public support in terms of food items and sponsorships to complement government’s efforts in educating these children with special needs.

Ho Poly Ready For Technical University

Ho Polytechnic is ready to join the first batch of Polytechnics in Ghana to be converted into Technical Universities in 2016.

According to the Rector, Prof. Emmanuel Kojo Sakyi, Ho Polytechnic is more than 50% ready for conversion into Technical University having started implementing the recommendations of the Dr. George Afeti Committee.

The Rector made the announcement recently at a press conference in Ho in commemoration of his 100 Days in Office which originally fell on the 5^th of January, 2015.

As part of the recommendations of the Technical Committee, for a polytechnic to be granted technical university status, it should be offering a minimum of four (4) Bachelor of Technology degree programmes in science and technology based disciplines.

Eastern Corridor Road Is Death Trap – Greenstreet

Ivor Green Street of CPP

Convention People’s Party (CPP) General Secretary Ivor Kobina Greenstreet, has charged the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government to stop the propaganda and fix the eastern corridor road it had repeatedly promised to.

He said the major road which connects the south-eastern part of the country to the north, is “a death trap” and sympathized with the people living along that stretch of the road.

He told DAILY GUIDE that on his way to the north to assess the ongoing CPP constituency executive elections, he used the road to see for himself what had actually been done. He said he was surprised at the way some government communicators presented a different picture about the same carriage way.

“Asikuma to Kadjebi is like a death trap. The road is in a terrible condition. Nothing has been done over there,” he lamented.

Motorists upset with Deplorable Eastern Corridor road

truck grounded on the road

Motorists and passengers plying the Hohoe-Jasikan to Kadjebi road in the Volta region are calling on the Ghana Highway Authority to as a matter of urgency carry out emergency repair works on deplorable portions of the highway to ease their travelling woes.

According to them, travelling on the road has become a nightmare in recent times as vehicles plying the route often get stuck at various portions of the stretch which has become very muddy with lots of ditches due to heavy downpours.

Last Wednesday, stranded passengers have to endure the inconvenience of pushing vehicles to manoeuvre through the muddy ditches around Bueman Senior High School in the Jasikan district.

Some traders who frequent the road say the situation is adversely affecting their businesses as most food stuffs being cart from the northern part of the region get destroyed before reaching Accra and other market centres in south.

They also complain of the exorbitant fares being charged by some drivers because of the bad state of the road; as the drivers also express frustration over the damage being caused to their vehicles when plying that route.

Varsity of Health, Allied Sciences gets substantive Council

The first substantive Governing Council for the University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) Ho have been inaugurated in Ho last Wednesday.

The 13-member council replaces the University’s Implementation Committee, which acted as interim Council, since its establishment by an Act of Parliament (ACT 828) in 2011.

The Council which has a-three-year tenure to be renewed once is under the chairmanship of Prof. Kofi Anyidoho of the University of Ghana-Legon, who was also chaired the interim council.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyeman, who inaugurated council, commended the interim Council for the “remarkable progress” made and urged the substantive Council to be guided by provisions in the University’s Act in all its deliberations.

Other members on the Council are Mrs Justice Agnes Dordzie of the Court of Appeal, Togbe Tepre Hodo IV, Legal Practitioner, Prof. Ernest Aryeetey, Vice-Chancellor of University of Ghana, Dr. Yaw Adu-Gyamfi, CEO Danadams Pharmaceuticals Industries and Dr. Sodzi Sodzi-Tettey, Catholic Health Services.

Others include Prof. Fred Binka, Vice-Chancellor UHAS, Mr Paul Dzandu, Deputy Executive Secretary National Council on Tertiary Education (NCTE), Mr Dzidzeme K. Sedanu-Kwawu, representative of Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS).

The rest are Mr Emmanuel Adjei, Chief ICT Officer UHAS, Mr Kwabena Sakyi, representative of the Federation of Universities Senior Staff Associations of Ghana (FUSSAG), Dr. Francis Zotor, representative of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG), and Mr Daniel Y. Sarfo, representative of the Students Representative Council (SRC).