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Antrak Air Flight EU-KUL, on board to Tamale

2013-11-13T02:59:00.000-08:00

I have had times to complain about the kind of customer service that our airlines offer us. Sometimes it either leaves you wondering whether it is a privilege to be using their airline or that you entered their plane by mistake.

An Antrak Air plane

On one of my journeys on (name withheld) airline, a tall and slim male flight attendant was so disrespectful to another passenger that I felt very bad. The passenger, a man younger than I, was seated next to me. We were the first from the back, as there was no one on the back row.

He had served us the usual packed light meal, turned and served those on the opposite side and just when he was about moving away, my seating mate tapped him on his arm in an attempt to draw his attention to himself. Apparently, he had just realised he needed some water.

Surprisingly, the host ignored him and went pass. I was so sad because I could see that the guy was embarrassed and uncomfortable. When the flight host returned and finished serving tea to one of the passengers, I excused him and asked why he had ignored the gentleman. In response, he asked me, arrogantly, whether it was right for the guy to touch him.

“Ah, so is that why you ignored him,” I asked, with disbelief. I could see he was getting angrier. He disappeared and returned after sometime with the water.

A few days after that, I joined this same domestic flight and I was shocked again by another happening. When the air host who was serving got to our row, towards the end, he apologised and said that the sandwich/tuna/chicken had finished and so he could only offer juice.

Unbelievable, right? That was the reality and whilst I was still trying to come to terms with such appalling customer service, the one seated next stared at me and asked “Are these people serious.”

“Hmmm....,” was all I could say and shook my head.

I have a different story to tell, however, about Antrak Air flight – EU-KUL – to Tamale on Saturday – Nov 2, 2013.

There was a young female flight attendant, of medium height, black beauty and light-heavy figure. Depending on the situation, she either had smiles on or a serious look, that seem to suggest that ‘flying is serious business, check that your seat belt is on’.

For the first time, I walked straight to one of the seats in the front row and the following conversation ensued between this beautiful damsel and me.

“I hope you know what it means to be seated here,” she asked, with a smile.

“Yes.” “Oh, well, no.”

Initially, I thought I understood her well, but in a moment I noticed she actually meant that there was special information for anyone who sat on the front row.

“You are sitting next to the emergency exit and so you would ...bla bla. Please read the instructions brochure. And try not to sleep,” she said, with laughing smiles.

“Hmm, thank you.” I replied, adding “I am in control” and she smiled once again and resumed her duties, making sure she was seated when the pilot sounded “Cabin crew, prepare for take-off.”

Her subsequent interactions were excellent. I think flight attendants like this lady would surely make every customer say “I would use that flight again, again and again.”

Meanwhile, there was also something exciting about this particular flight, for which reason I counted myself very lucky to be on board.

On board was a fascinating mix of professionals, including musicians, such as D-Black and Sherifatu Gunu and Nana Agyemang, the popular sports analyst on television.

I saw on board Alhaji A. Y. M. Ibrahim, a notable politician and educationist in Tamale. I am not too sure if Dr Sulley Gariba, Policy Adviser to the President, got on board, although I saw him at the boarding gate 6.

There were NGO workers as well, particularly staff of IBIS in Ghana. Surely, we could not have had such a combination without foreigners. I counted six of them on board.

Last, but not the least, a middle-aged man and two old ladies clad, beautifully, in white were equally on board. Your guess is as good as mine. They were newly baptized Muslims who just returned from a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

As I stole glances at them, I formed pictures of myself returning from Mecca, one day.

The language

“Welcome to Antrak Air Flight....” What about it, you would ask. Well, I have a feeling Ghana could use the airline industry to promote our local languages. Yes, I will explain. Our local languages are so crucial to our lives. They are a core component of our identity and without it all other forms of culture would suffer.

So what? Well, we must be exploring various ways to promote these languages. Would it not be wonderful if the pilots could in addition to issuing out instructions and information in English, play a recorded bit of the instructions in a local language predominant in the area of departure?

From Accra, it could be a Ga recording. From Kumasi, twi of course and from Tamale, Dagomba. Imagine what questions foreigners on board would be asking: “What language is that. Oh, what does this mean? Oh, nice. I will learn that.”

Also, imagine the feeling when you hear your own language from the speakers in the plane. Maybe it is a stupid idea, but we can still think about it. We must set our own standards us a country to reflect our identity and sense of purpose.

Well, after responding to the “Chicken, Tuna Salad or Sandwich,” request and enjoying my book – Playing Dad (Chals Wontewe) – the journey ended peacefully as the pilot made a good landing at the Tamale Airport.

Hope to see you on board next time.

Who swallowed who - the sun or the moon?

2013-11-04T03:32:00.000-08:00

Viewing an eclipse brings much excitement to children

It certainly wasn’t very exciting to me, since it was not the first time. For the kids, however, it was one of excitement. They had asked several questions about this so-called eclipse that was to happen and they checked outside several times to see any signs of the coming eclipse.

“Uncle Deen, would the place be dark,” my nephew asked. After answering him, another question followed: “would there be heat.”

Question after question until it finally happened and he and other kids in the house jumped and yelled as they took turns to watch it with the single pair of eclipse shades in the house.

I had managed to store that pair of shades since I bought it in 2006 in Accra to watch my first solar eclipse.

I still have memories of 2006 when we stood outside our hostel to view the eclipse. It was a feeling of confusion and anticipation that was later transformed into excitement and understanding.

I was then in school at the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) and I joined other students at the so-called international students hostel at airport residential to view the eclipse.

Credit: AFP

There had been so much hype in the media and I remember clearly how newspapers, like the Daily Graphic, laid out beautiful photos on their front and other pages about the eclipse. Even photos of the President, John Agyekum Kufour watching the eclipse were published to reflect the national feeling.

So at that time, it meant a lot to Ghanaians. It did not seem so this time around although the media still gave it some coverage.

From morning till about 11:40 am when it started in Tamale, people went about their activities without any sign that something significant was happening.

The last time there was an eclipse in Ghana, it was a lunar eclipse and it happened on the night of Wednesday, June, 15, 2011.

It was described by astronomers as beautiful and the longest of its kind in 11 years.

“It was, particularly, a dark eclipse because the lunar disk passed through the densest central part of our planet's shadow,” Andrew Hough of the United Kingdom’s The Telegraph wrote.

In Ghana, not many people were aware of this beautiful phenomenon, since the media did not find it important to highlight it.

It was however a different scenario in the north, Tamale to be precise. There was intense drumming and dancing that evening in the various traditional suburbs, as it is an ancient belief of the people that the noise generated from this celebration brings the eclipse to a stop.

Some people claim that the sun might have swallowed the moon, resulting in the darkness and that after some agitation from humans on earth, the sun would rescind its decision and release the moon.

One could hear “zom naawuni zon-ngo bahi” echoing from the neighbourhoods, which literally means “fear God and release the moon.”

They also believed that the subsequent release of the moon, which results in some moonlight, is an indication that the sun had been disturbed by the noise and pleas coming from earth and had been compelled to release the moon. That is tradition for you.

I am not clear which of them swallowed the other on Sunday – Nov 3, 2013 – but for me, whether solar or lunar eclipse, these are further manifestations of the great order instituted by no other than the Master of creation.

I hope I live to witness another eclipse.

End.

Where did SADA go wrong?

2013-10-29T21:37:00.002-07:00

AS I wrote this piece my heart was bleeding. Angry voices blurred from my little radio set. I could hear a gentleman from a civil society group in Tamale swearing fire and brimstone should President John Mahama not axe Dr Charles Jebuni, who has been asked to act as Chief Executive Officer for the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) following the exit of Alhaji Gilbert Iddi.

In 2010, the enthusiasm was at a crescendo as the SADA Law (Act 805, 2010) was passed and subsequently inaugurated to begin work. There had been so much rhetoric about the need for the establishment of a body to spearhead an agenda to quicken the pace of development in the north.

So the goose to lay the golden eggs was finally hatched and it became a popular refrain, particularly from politicians, that SADA would offer a quick fix to the problems of the north, such as unemployment, poor road networks, ailing agriculture, environmental degradation, high illiteracy, name them.

So what went wrong? What has happened to all the expectations and promises? How could a beautiful initiative suddenly go bad?

In the last two years, SADA has received so much bad publicity and its reputation has been seriously compromised. Complaints about failed projects, incompetent leadership and questionable contractual agreements have continued to mar the image of a unique institution that has failed to win the confidence of the people it is mandated to serve.

We do not need to dig deep to find these answers and I hope another consultant would not be paid to diagnose and prescribe solutions to SADA’s self-inflicted paralyses.

As a journalist who has followed closely SADA from preconception to take-off, my little post-mortem reveals that SADA failed due to the following reasons.

The rule of the few

I call it the rule of the few because SADA’s ideas were basically sourced and credited to a few ‘scholars’ close to the President and they made sure they suffocated him with their ‘best’ ideas and did not allow for adequate pool of ideas and consultation.

At many of their consultation forums, all they did was to tell the participants what they ‘the experts’ intended to do to save the rest of those in the north and then seek their approval in an atmosphere that did not allow for more ideas to be brought on board.

Failed Projects

Why would the reforestation project not fail? I agree that desertification is approaching the northern savannah due to activities such as increased logging, bush burning, land degradation, mining activities, among others.

But come to think of it, was the solution simply to plant trees. Did SADA not know about the numerous failed reforestation projects and what lessons did they draw from it.

How were the communities involved in this project? Did they own the plantlets and were they committed to supervising these plants to grow. Were the chiefs or assembly men playing any lead roles? What about the development needs of the people? Did they say tree planting was their priority at that moment and how well do they appreciate the value of trees.

How about the much-maligned guinea fowl project? How much efforts was put into bringing guinea fowl farmers (real ones, I mean) to sit and discuss this project, provide their inputs and participate actively from the conception to take-off.

Were guinea fowl farmers eager about the project? You see, when people do not feel any attachment, hope or sense of ownership to a project supposedly targeting them, the project is already doomed.

The successes of any project are reflected in the demeanour and wellbeing of the beneficiaries and they are the best persons to spread the good news. So are there any people sharing the good news of SADA’s projects. Who are they and how many.

Poor communication

What even amazed me was the poor communication from SADA. When the agitations gained momentum and Alhaji Gilbert Iddi, the then CEO, begun to feel the heat, he made strenuous efforts to rescue his image, but it was a total disaster.

Alhaji Iddi was simply helpless as people kept asking “where are the guinea fowls?” He could not explain effectively the partnership with Asongtaba, how it came about, why the huge costs and what the prospects were for such an investment. He was simply drowned as he tried catching at a straw.

Desperate to save his reputation, he resorted to carrying journalists from place to place showing them supposed successful projects (some of which were not initiatives of SADA, such as the butternut and guinea fowl project).

At a point I was wondering whether SADA had no communication officer to coordinate its communication and why Alhaji Iddi was trying to be everywhere in the media explaining and confusing Ghanaians the more.

I was informed that an experienced journalist had been appointed the communication manager, but that he was based in Accra and rarely visited the project areas.

It is important to state that communication is not only useful during crisis, it is crucial from planning stage, take-off to end of project. It is also not limited to media engagement. Such projects require a lot of participatory development communication activities to deepen understanding, stimulate a sense of ownership and participation and ensure sustainability.

Waste of resources

It appears to me that a lot of funds given to SADA have been committed to non-intervention expenditure and not on the supposed development interventions. These include paying of consultants and office personnel (some of whom are virtually not working), buying cars, furnishing office space, paying allowances for travels and so on.

I think a lot of prudence should have been exercised in the expenditure of SADA from the beginning. Mr President, what were the parameters you gave Alhaji Iddi in terms of spending.

A different approach could have helped

So what could have been done better? I am not an economist or development practitioner, but a Ghanaian with a viewpoint, however nonsensical it may sound.

I think SADA could have started on a better note by pooling ideas across board, building consensus, stimulating a sense of ownership and letting the people feel they are directing the focus of SADA.

For instance, SADA could have organised open forums in the regions to seek the views of the people on what are their priorities and to indicate the problems they think need attention first.

It would have been appropriate too for SADA to have instituted a dialogue platform where various stakeholders agree on how SADA should progress and to keep reviewing SADA’s operations periodically. Let us remember always that SADA is not a private company to be left in the hands of the board and management alone.

Such a platform would have had various governmental institutions and private enterprises who would discuss a number of programmes they are pursuing or intend to implement which could lead to the transformation of the north.

SADA’s role would be to help in prioritising these programmes and explore funding avenues to execute these programmes. For instance, SADA cannot build roads, but SADA can work with the roads ministry to prioritise key road networks in the north and secure funding to execute these road projects.

Such dialoguing promotes transparency and ensures that everyone gets on board.

I am not privy to what the President is doing to revitalize SADA, but I hope it is really for the best. I would keep watching and hoping for the best, although with teary eyes. It is not too late to redirect this development vehicle.

End.

Women in shea nut trade back to business

2013-07-24T02:06:00.000-07:00

Mma Azara and her sister drying shea nuts

WOMEN who collect and sell shea nuts in Tamaligu, a farming village in the Savelugu-Nanton district of the Northern Region, are back to active business.

Their business slowed down drastically for several years when the road they use to transport the nuts to market centres deteriorated and virtually became impassable during the rains.

That particular stretch of road is a 4.5km feeder road that links the community to Kukuobila, another town in the district that is located off the Tamale-Bolgatanga highway.

Luckily for the women and the entire village, the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP) intervened and awarded the road on contract for rehabilitation.

The NRGP is an eight-year agricultural project jointly funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of Ghana and is being implemented by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA).
Following the completion of rehabilitation works on this feeder road, the women are happily back to business and have began transporting several bags of shea nuts to market centres.
“We send the nuts to markets in Savelugu and Tamale to sell,” the largest trader of shea nuts in Tamaligu, Mma Azara Issah mentioned when the Daily Graphic visited the community.
She said when the road was in a poor shape, they had to wait in the dry season to transport the shea nuts using donkey carts and it was costly and time-consuming.
Mma Azara said because the road had been put in a good shape, big buyers of shea nuts now prefer to bring their trucks to the village to buy the nuts.
“So we do not even go to the market, because they come here for the nuts,” she said, adding that it had made life easier for them and their families.
Mma Azara is the second wife of her husband and she has seven children, the youngest being 3 years.
She said apart from the two elder ones, the rest were in school and that the income she makes from the shea nut business was what she was using to support her husband and in the upkeep of the home.
Each year, she is able to aggregate up to 80 bags of shea nuts that she buys from other women in the community who go into the bush to pick the nuts.
“Last year, we sold a bag of shea nuts between GH¢25 and GH¢40. Even though this is not so good, it is better than none,” she said.
In addition to the shea nut business, Mma Azara also cultivates maize, groundnuts and soya beans on a three-acre land.
“I use the maize and some of the soya beans and groundnuts to feed the family and sell the rest,” she mentioned.
The leader of the women in the community, known as the ‘magazia’, Mma Lamisi Yakubu said the rehabilitation of the road had not only improved their shea nut business, but also improved their general wellbeing.
“When the road was bad, travelling to Kukuobila was very difficult.

Anytime, somebody was sick, we had to put the person on a bicycle and push it through the muddy road to get to Kukuobila before we could get a car,” she lamented.

“Now, we use motorbikes without any difficulty and when we need cars, they come into the village without hesitation,” she further noted.
Mma Lamisi commended the NRGP and the government for rehabilitating the road.
She however entreated the government to extend electricity to the community to enable them establish a grinding mill.
“With a grinding mill, we can also process the shea nuts into oil and butter,” she stated.
The rehabilitation of feeder roads that link to farming communities is a part of the infrastructural component of the NRGP.
The other components are focused on strengthening commodity value-chains, providing matching grants to farmers for equipment purchase and building the capacity of financial institutions to provide financial services to actors in the value-chains.
(Also published in the Daily Graphic, July 17, 2013, p. 13)

Northern Rural Growth Programme transforms agriculture in Northern Ghana

2013-07-24T01:48:00.000-07:00

A dry season maize farmer in Jirapa

AGRICULTURE has over the years been noted as the backbone of Ghana’s economy.

More than 50 per cent of the country’s labour force was estimated to be in the agricultural sector, as indicated by the 2000 Population and Housing Census.

In spite of this, many farmers in Ghana remain poor, especially in Northern Ghana, which boasts of boundless agricultural potentials.

It was to address this problem that the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP), an eight-year agricultural initiative, was formulated.

The programme was launched in 2009 by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) to contribute to equitable and sustainable poverty reduction and food security among rural households in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions as well as five other districts in the Brong Ahafo region.
They are Sene, Pru, Tain, Kintampo North and Kintampo South.
The African Development Bank (AfDB), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Government of Ghana are co-financing the programme.
After visiting a number of its intervention areas, the Daily Graphic observed that the NRGP had made significant progress towards transforming agriculture in Northern Ghana.

Rehabilitation of feeder roads

A section of the Arigu road

Under its infrastructural component, the NRGP earmarked about 70 feeder roads, totalling over 600km, for rehabilitation as a major intervention to open up heavy production areas to market centres.
So far, over 15 of these roads have been completed and work is still in progress on the remaining.
The completed ones include the Pwalugu-Arigu, Yaga-Gbetouri, Kukuobila-Tamaligu, Tongo-Senti and Tainso-Kogua roads.
It is evident in these communities that life has not been the same since these roads were rehabilitated.
Aside the ease of transportation, it is now possible for the people to transport fresh produce to market centres to avoid any post-harvest losses.
In Arigu, for instance, the regent, Naa John Asabigi said the Pwalugu-Arigu road used to be in a very poor shape and that in the wet season, vehicles could not travel to the village.
“Today, vehicles come here regularly to pick people and also carry agricultural produce to the market. We can now take pregnant women and the sick to the hospital without any difficulty” he said.

Grants for agricultural machinery

One of the innovative strategies that for farmers in the beneficiary districts.the NRGP has introduced is a subsidy scheme on heavy agricultural equipment
Under the scheme, known as matching grants, the cost of farm equipment, such as tractors, planters, harvesters, threshers, and ploughs, have been subsidised between 40 and 60 per cent to enable the farmers acquire these equipment.
A commercial farmer in Savelugu, Mr Mahama Alhassan, who has benefited from this scheme, said he acquired three irrigation pumps for 76 farmers in Tamaligu to enable them source water from a nearby river for dry season farming.
“With the aid of the pumps, we were able to cultivate 15 acres of butternut squash and several acres of other crops in the dry season,” he stated.

Irrigation for dry season farming

With the acquisition of irrigation pumps, many farmers are now able to source water from nearby rivers to engage in all-year round farming and not wait for the rains.
The 2011 Best Farmer in Jirapa, Nyelle Niyogkuu is one of the farmers who has been assisted by the NRGP to cultivate maize, rice, pepper, groundnuts, butternut squash and okro on large tracts of farmlands close to the Black Volta both in the dry and wet seasons.
He told the Daily Graphic that in 2011, he cultivated 10 acres of maize and harvested 130 bags and it was this achievement that made him excel over other farmers in Jirapa and consequently he was declared the 2011 Best Farmer in Jirapa.

Linking farmers to markets
One bane to agriculture in the country has been the lack of market for the tonnes of food produced by farmers.
The NRGP has therefore taken the initiative to facilitate a link between farmers and production companies that require some of the produce to feed their industries.

Through the linkage, the farmers have come to understand the crop varieties that are exportable and how to produce to meet the standards demanded by the big industries.
For instance, farmers of sorghum and soy beans have been linked to Guinness Ghana, Ghana Nuts Company and Golden Web.
Other farmers have been linked to major produce buyers such as the Savannah Farmers Marketing Company, and the National Buffer Stock Company (NAFCO).
In Tain, the District Director for Agriculture, Mr Francis Ennor said the maize produced by the farmers is aggregated by middle men, who in turn sell the maize to poultry farmers in Dormaa and other places.
Some farmers in Jirapa however complained of low prices being offered by the buyers for which reason they failed to sell large quantities of the maize that they produced through the NRGP’s assistance.

Promoting value-chain approach
The NRGP has successfully introduced the commodity value-chains concept to farmers in its beneficiary areas and the idea is beginning to catch on well.
The value-chains approach ensures that there is some co-ordination among all the stakeholders from the input dealer to the farmer, the middleman (if any), the marketer, the buyer and the consumer and that at each stage, premium is placed on value-addition and market demand for the product.
In many of its intervention areas, the NRGP has facilitated the formation of commodity value-chain committees for various crops.
In Jirapa, for instance, the Chairman of the Maize Value-Chain Committee, Mr David Baloro said the committee is made up of farmers, input dealers, buyers, a rural bank and personnel of MoFA.
He said through the committee, the farmers are supported by the Sonzele Rural Bank to access inputs and tractor services.
“It is a cashless system and so the money is not given directly to the farmers, but it is rather deposited into the account of the input dealers. The system is such that buyers of the produce after harvest also make payments into the accounts of the farmers for the bank to recoup its investments and the remaining being the profit of the farmers,” he explained.
Aside these, the NRGP has also implemented several other interventions such as the introduction of butternut , an export commodity, to farmers in its intervention areas and the adoption of measures to improve crop yields through integrated soil fertility management techniques.

Successes attributed to co-financing
In an interview, the National Co-ordinator of the NRGP, Mr Roy Ayariga said the success of the NRGP was a clear manifestation of the benefits of co-financing.
“One funding agency would not be in the position to sponsor all of these activities and that is why partnership is crucial if we are to make any significant progress in transforming agric and improving the livelihoods of our rural folk,” he noted.
Mr Ayariga said the NRGP was using a multi-faceted approach to address food insecurity in Northern Ghana.
The programme, which still has four years to roll, is premised on commodity value chain development, rural infrastructural development and improved access to financial services by all stakeholders in the production chain.
(Also published in the Daily Graphic, July 17, 2013, p. 23)

Savelugu School for the Deaf - saddled by poor infrastructure

2013-07-24T00:14:00.000-07:00

THE Savelugu School for the Deaf is one of the country’s special schools that provide education to hearing-impaired children.

Some of the kids in class

Established in March, 1978, the school was initially set up as a unit under the Nyohini Rehabilitation Centre in Tamale, but was subsequently moved to the Savelugu Middle Boarding School located in the outskirts of Savelugu.
Since then, the school has provided formal education to many hearing-impaired children, particularly from the three regions of the north.
During a visit to the school, the Daily Graphic observed that poor infrastructure and the delays in the release of subvention, among others, continue to impact negatively on academic work and the general wellbeing of the children.

Poor infrastructure
A lot of the facilities that were handed over to the school during its inception have remained the same, although the school’s population has increased from 8 to 316.
These facilities, which used to belong to the then Savelugu Middle Boarding School, include classroom blocks, dining hall, staff bungalows and dormitories.
According to the Head of the School, Madam Gertrude Dasah, the dining hall is now too small to contain all the children and as a result, the school runs a shift system for dining.

“We let the little ones take their meals before the older ones,” she said, adding that most of the children stand to have their meals due because the hall does not have enough space to take more tables and chairs.
Madam Dasah also bemoaned the lack of teachers’ quarters in the school and how it was having an adverse effect on academic and extra curricula activities.
“Out of 25 teachers, only four are staying within the school and so the remaining teachers have to trek from Tamale to Savelugu each school day.

During the rains, a lot of them are not able to get to school and this affects lessons,” she stated.

Meanwhile, the accommodation problems facing the school are not limited to only teachers, but also the pupils.
Although new dormitory blocks have been constructed, these facilities are still not adequate to provide space for all the pupils, the Senior House Master, Mr Daniel Nsoah indicated.
He said some of the dormitories, particularly the girls’ dormitory, were overcrowded. The school has 128 female pupils.

Delays in the release of subvention

Like other government schools, the Savelugu School for the Deaf is relying heavily on its suppliers to provide it with food items on credit basis.
This is due to the delays in the release of subvention to special schools by the government.
According to the headmistress, these suppliers have gotten fed up with this situation and have threatened to stop the supplies.
Madam Dasah therefore reiterated a recent plea by heads of special schools to the government to address the bottlenecks in the release of subvention to special schools.

Prepaid meter wahala

Just recently the Northern Electricity Distribution Company (NEDCo) of the Volta River Authority (VRA) installed a prepaid meter in the school and this has posed a fresh challenge to the school.
“We do not have money to be buying power,” the headmistress lamented.

The plea for a fence wall

The Savelugu School for the Deaf is in dire need of a fence wall to protect the children from danger. The closeness of the school to the Tamale-Bolgatanga trunk road puts the lives of the hearing-impaired children in peril.
Traffic on this road has increased lately and although there is a speed table and a signpost warning drivers of the presence of hearing-impaired children in the area, most drivers fail to slow down on reaching that portion of the road.
The authorities are mostly vigilant to ensure that no child goes close to the road, but the headmistress admitted that it was not possible to keep an eye on all the kids at all times.
“A fence wall would help us confine the children and protect them from any danger,” she said.
Madam Dasah also revealed that the absence of a fence has made it easy for some newly-admitted children to escape from the school.

“Some of them run back home after their parents have brought them,” she said.

Counting on the PTA

The school authorities recently convened an emergency meeting with the executive members of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) to discuss challenges facing the school.
The chairman of the PTA, Mr Ali Yakubu told the Daily Graphic after the meeting that the PTA executives had decided to impose a monthly levy on every parent.
“Every parent should pay GH¢5 each month so that we can raise money to support the school to pay its bills,” he said, adding that this proposal was yet to be put before the entire PTA membership for approval.

(Also published in the Daily Graphic, July 5, 2013, p. 55)

14,000 farmers benefit from AGRA-DANIDA project

2013-07-23T23:56:00.002-07:00

A smallholder farmer in Jirapa

FOURTEEN-THOUSAND farmers in the Northern Region have so far benefited from an agricultural project initiated by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) with funding from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).

The Agricultural Value Chain Mentorship Project (AVCMP) seeks to transform agriculture in the Northern Region through three main approaches: intensifying the adoption of integrated soil fertility management technologies, enhancing farmers' access to inputs and linking farmers to markets.
It is in line with a broader strategy to contribute to the government's objective of achieving food security and developing the region's agricultural sector into an agro-industrial economy.
The Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) in Nyankpala is implementing the soil fertility component of the project, whilst the International Centre for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development (IFDC) and Ghana Agricultural Associations for Business Information Centre (GAABIC) are implementing the two other components.

Quick Read

· Soil scientists have noted that soils in the savannah area are weak in nutrients and this is worsened by environmental degradation.

· The AVCMP is one of notable projects that are working towards improving soils in the north and strengthening the value chain system.

The AVCMP Productivity Coordinator, Mr Wilson Dogbe told a team of journalists who visited the project sites that the impact of the project had been phenomenal.
“Farmers who have so far benefitted from the project recorded a bumper harvest last year. Their yields increased by almost three times that of previous years,” he said.
Mr Dogbe said the 14,000 farmers were involved in various trainings on and off the field in soil preparations and the best crop management practices at learning centres in 16 districts of the region.
He said 123 demonstration farms had been established in the beneficiary districts to showcase the application of ISFM technologies and its immense benefits to soils and crop yields.

A member of the Tiyumba Farmers Association, Yakubu Mohammed confirmed that the use of improved soil fertility management practices, such as the use of organic compost, had led to improved yields.

“I applied what we were taught on my farm last year and I harvested more maize,” he said.

He also commended SARI for supporting them to secure tractor services and other inputs.

Agriculture in the north is largely rain-fed, causing production levels to vary according to weather conditions.
Smallholder farmers have very limited access to improved seeds, quality fertilizers and the credit to purchase them.

They also lack knowledge of proper crop and water management practices.

Often, farmers are unable to sell the crops they have grown because of post-harvest losses and a shortage of storage and processing facilities.
The AVCMP is therefore hoping to make some progress in tackling these challenges by the end of the project in 2014.
(Also published in the Daily Graphic, July 5, 2013, p. 23)

Dr Susan Herlin, 18 years as Tamale's Chief of Friendship

2013-06-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

Dr Herlin sitting in state in 1995

ON July 25, 1995, an American scholar of History, Dr Susan J. Herlin was installed as a chief in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital.

She was given the title 'Zo-Simli Naa', meaning 'Chief of Friendship'. It was a gesture by the people of Tamale to acknowledge the role she and others played in promoting the sister city relationship that was forged between Tamale and Louisville in the United States (US) in 1979.

By so doing, she became a symbol of this friendship, which has been growing ever since the parties shook hands.

It has been 18 years since this significant ceremony and for Dr Susan, life as a chief has been a humbling and learning experience.

"It has been an important part of my life," she told the Daily Graphic in an interview at her palace.

According to her, at the time the idea was put to her, she felt a bit awkward because she knew very little about how to act in that position.

"As you know there are no chiefs in America," she said jokingly.

However, Dr Herlin has become well-accustomed to her role as Zo-Simli Naa over the years and attributes this to the support of the people around her, including her palace elders and members of the Sister-Cities of Tamale.

She particularly acknowledged the support of the late King of Dagbon, Ya-Naa Yakubu Andani, the late Choggu-Naa, the late Gukpe-Naa Abdulai and the late Dakpema Richard Alhassan.

These chiefs, she noted, accepted her into their fold in spite of the fact that her position was already non-existent in Dagbon custom and she was also a foreigner.

At the time of her installation, however, she had no permanent abode in Tamale.

Consequently in 2001, Dr Herlin took up the challenge and championed the construction of a palace at Lamashegu, a suburb of Tamale.

The building, an improved version of the traditional architectural round houses, serves not only as her home in Tamale, but also as the office of the Sister Cities of Tamale, the organisation that coordinates the relationship between Tamale and Louisville.

Her room is decorated with various African cultural relics, including paintings and art works.

The idea of being an embodiment of friendship is a tag that Dr Susan fills very comfortable wearing and she has spent the last 18 years promoting friendship between Tamale and Louisville.

But beyond the friendship and aside the pride and royalty that comes with being a chief, the one thing that brings greater joy to Dr Susan is the opportunity she has had to touch the lives of the people of Tamale.

She has worked hand in hand with the Sister-Cities of Tamale and Louisville to implement a number of development initiatives and by so doing have left her footprints in the sand of the savannah.

Notable among these is a scholarship programme which was instituted in 1999 to support brilliant but needy children in Tamale.

Zo-Simli Naa Palace

Since then, more than 270 students, half of whom are girls, have benefited from this scheme. Many of them enjoyed the scholarship from primary to the tertiary level and are now graduates gainfully employed.

This scheme, Dr Herlin intimated, is very dear to her heart because she gets inner satisfaction each time she thinks of the number of young people that this scheme has helped to provide a good future to.

"When some of our first beneficiaries completed their secondary school education, I was asked what do we do and I said we have to find money to let them continue their education," she said.

"Many of them have become successful college and university graduates holding responsible positions around Ghana,"she stated, with a wan smile.

The Daily Graphic learnt that since the inception of the scholarship programme, an amount of $35,000 has been pumped into this programme each year.

At the moment, the Zo-Simli Naa is working towards expanding this scholarship programme to cover more needy girls and is planning a fundraising event in Louisville to raise $750,000 to support the expanded programme.

Aside the scholarship programme, the flourishing relationship between Tamale and Loiusville has yielded dividends in many other areas.

Each year, through the sister cities link, a total grant of $35,000 is disbursed to civil society groups in Tamale implementing various development interventions, including girl child empowerment. These grants are funded by the Trull Foundation of Texas.

Through the same sister cities link, the University for Development Studies (UDS) has established a fruitful partnership with the University of Louisville in the area of medical and allied fields.

A similar exchange programme has been forged between the Tamale Islamic Senior High School and the Kentucky Country Day School.

Dr Susan Herlin was born on May 26 1939. She has three children.


Dr Herlin, children and grandchildren

She is currently married to an anthropologist, Prof Wyatt MacGaffey, who recently authored a book on Northern Ghana, entitled: "Chiefs, Priests and Praise Singers - History, Politics and Land Ownership in Northern Ghana.

They met and got married after her enskinment as they were both interested in researching and appreciating the culture, traditions and history of the north.

Prof MacGaffey has also been given a chieftan title - Saba Naa - of a village called Fooshegu.

Dr Herlin first came to Tamale in 1960 as part of a volunteer work with Crossroads Africa, a US organisation, little did she know she would one day become a chief in this northern city.

She said since then she fell in love with the hospitality and warmth of the people of Tamale and has been hoping that the people preserve this unique trait.

(Also published in the Daily Graphic of June 14, 2013, p. 13)

Tamale Government Secretarial School facing infrastructure challenges

2013-06-21T09:41:00.001-07:00

THE Government Secretarial School in Tamale is facing a huge infrastructure deficit which is crippling efforts by the school to expand its programmes and admissions.

For over 60 years since the school was established, no additional infrastructure has been constructed for the school.

The entire school is still housed in a single storey block. Whilst the ground floor is used as a hostel to accommodate some of the students, the rooms at the upper floor serve as the lecture halls, administration and other departments of the school.

This building has been renovated on a number of occasions by the Northern Regional Coordinating Council.

The school currently has a total population of more than 100 and 20 are staying in the hostel, which poses some discomfort to them due to the limited space.

"We are crowded in the halls and some of us have no beds to sleep on," a Grade 1 student, Fauzi Yakubu lamented.

Aside the overcrowding, she said the hostel lacked essential facilities like a kitchen and that the bathhouse could only take four students at a time.

Another student, Hamza Balchisu, also in Grade 1, complained of shortage of potable water.

"The tank we have is small and so when the pipes are not flowing, the water in the tank gets finished in no time and we are left stranded," she said.

History

Principal

Established in 1952, the Tamale Government Secretarial School was one of seven secretarial schools and other training schools set up by the government to train office secretaries to work in the civil and public service.

Courses such as Typewriting, English, Shorthand and Office Management were introduced.

Over the years, the authorities of the school have seen the need to introduce a Diploma in Business Studies (DBS) to provide an opportunity to the graduates of the intermediate level to upgrade themselves further.

However, the lack of infrastructure and funding support remains a setback to the school.

The French Assistance

The French Government recently came to the assistance of the school by establishing a computer laboratory in one of the rooms at the upper floor. It has 32 computers, a server for internet connection and other auxilliary facilities.

In addition, the French government also extended a portion of the storey building with an additional hall to accommodate more students.

The total cost of the two projects were estimated to cost GH182,000.

The French Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Federic Clavier inaugurated these facilities on Monday and explained that the support to the school was part of a project assisting the government of Ghana to train the requisite human resource needed for the civil service.

He said the France government was preparing a new cooperation with the government of Ghana to improve accountability mechanisms in the functioning of both local and central government structures.

Speaking at that ceremony, the Acting Chief Director in the office of the Head of Civil Service, Alhaji Alidu Fuseini, said government secretarial schools and sister training institutions have remained relevant because they continue to fill the gaps in the skills and competency levels of civil and local government staff.

"They continue to also provide employable skills to the youth," he further noted.

Alhaji Fuseini admitted that over the years these training institutions have not had adequate budgetary allocation for maintenance and upgrading of their infrastructure and this accounts for their current poor state.

Serious attention needed

The Principal of the School, Mrs Sherifatu Gyimah lauded the French government for coming to the aid of the school and indicated that the computer laboratory, for instance, would greatly enhance the teaching and learning of ICT.

She however stressed that the school required serious attention to fix its infrastructural deficit to bring it at par with other secretarial schools throughout the country.

"Till date, we are still dwelling in a single storey building," she lamented, adding that the school did not also have a means of transport.

"We are making a humble appeal to the government, development partners, non-governmental organisations and other able and capable bodies to assist us have at least one more storey classroom block," she appealed.

"The hub of every developed and developing country is human resource development and secretaries are a pivot of this development," she said.
(Also published in the Daily Graphic of June 15, 2013, p. 28)

Maize yields increase...following application of organic 'biochar' fertilizer

2013-06-20T03:49:00.001-07:00

Some of the farmers on their maize farms

THE application of a type of organic fertilizer introduced by soil scientists to smallholder farmers in the Northern Region has led to significant increases in the yields of maize.

Maize produced from the use of this organic fertilizer appeared much bigger as compared to those produced on farms where only chemical fertilizer were applied.

An international organisation, the Abokobi Society of Switzerland (ASS) is distributing this organic fertilizer to farmers in the Northern Region to help them improve the soils on their farmlands and consequently increase their yields.

It is produced through a combination of fine-grained charcoal, known as biochar, and organic waste, such as chicken manure, shea butter waste and household organic waste.

The ASS, in partnership with soil scientists at the University of Freie, Germany introduced this particular composition of organic compost after a number of field tests revealed positive results on crop yields.

Awudu Alhassan, a farmer who applied this organic compost on his maize farm at Kukuo Yepalsi in Tamale last year, said his yield per acre had increased considerably.

“Before I was introduced to the organic compost, I was getting between six and eight bags from my farm. Last year, when I first applied this compost, I got up to 10 bags after harvest,” he stated.

He further added: “initially, I was using four bags of chemical fertilizer on the farm, but when I was given the biochar, I only used a bag of Amonia alongside the biochar and the yields were better.”

A researcher from the Department of Earth Sciences of the Freie University, Ms Kathrin Roessler told the Daily Graphic that this form of organic compost improves the structure and fertility of soils and contributes to greater yields.

She explained that when the charcoal is mixed with the organic manure and applied on farms, it works to conserve the soil structure, preserve the nutrients, allow for aeration and promote the activities of micro-organisms in the soil.

Soils in the north are said to be poor in nutrients. Crop yields are low partly due to poor soil fertility

Field trials of the biochar started in 2010 on soils in southern Ghana and were later shifted to the north, where it proved to be effective.

The ASS is now working with DeCo, another agric-based organisation, to produce the biochar in large quantities and distribute it freely to farmers to increase their yields.

Last year, 2000 50kg bags of a mixture of biochar and organic manure were distributed to 20 farmers.

This year, the ASS has already begun the distribution of the organic fertilizer to 60 farmers in the Tamale metropolis and four districts: Karaga, Tolon, East Gonja and West Mamprusi.

Farmers loading sacks of the organic 'biochar' fertilizer

Mr Peter Billa, the Tamale Co-ordinator for the ASS Biochar Project said he was happy that though the project was being implemented on a small scale, it was making an impact on the lives of the farmers.

“Each of the farmers selected this year would receive 100 bags,” he stated.

Among the beneficiaries he mentioned, were five women who received awards during last year’s Best Farmer Awards organised by the Tamale Metropolitan Directorate of Agriculture.

“The ASS chose to give them some of this product to further boost their yield and motivate other hardworking women farmers,” he stated.

Some of the compost, he also noted, would be donated to the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to support the institution in its field tests on organic composting.

Low soil fertility, which is prevalent in Northern Ghana, affects crop yields and impacts negatively on farmers’ livelihoods and food security.

It is expected that initiatives like this would improve the fertility of soils in the north and consequently safeguard food production in the country.
(Also published in the Daily Graphic of June 14, 2013, p. 36)

Leadership is a calling for me - Hikimat Baba

2013-05-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

A TWENTY-THREE year-old graduate of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ms Hikimat Baba Dua who has been nominated among Africa’s most outstanding emerging women leaders believes that she was born a leader.

“I think it is a calling,” Ms Baba Dua told the Daily Graphic, as if to re-echo Tupac Shakur’s famous controversial words “I think I’m a natural-born leader.”

According to her, throughout her life as a student, she had always had a passion to take up leadership positions and each time she tried, she ended up being successful.

Last week the Moremi Initiative for Women’s Leadership in Africa, after screening over 2000 applications, selected 28 young women from Africa and the Diaspora with outstanding leadership potentials as Fellows of its leadership programme.

Ms Baba Dua and another successful applicant, Ms. Mawuenana Yomekpe were the proud Ghanaians among the 28 young women.

A statement on the website of the Institute indicated that the Fellows were chosen through a highly competitive selection process after demonstrating outstanding leadership promise, community service accomplishments, and commitment to the advancement of women in Africa.

“The 2013 Fellows are between the ages of 19 and 25, but are already actively leading change on pertinent issues, both at the grassroots and international level,” it further noted.

The Institute described Ms Baba Dua as someone who had a “passion for advancing the course of incorporating the feminine voice at all levels of decision making.”

It acknowledged the leadership roles that she took up whilst pursuing her studies at the KNUST, for which reason she was awarded the 2011/2012 KNUST Personality of the Year at the Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Awards.

She served as a Deputy PRO of the SRC and a Public Relations Officer (PRO) for the Junior Common Room at the Independence Hall at different times whilst at KNUST.

She also acted as the Editor-in-Chief for the JCR publication – the Searchlight and rose from various positions in the Students’ Parliament of KNUST to become its Deputy Speaker in 2011.

Aside these, Hikimat also occupied various leadership positions in associations that she was affiliated to.

One thing that impressed the judges most was the efforts that Ms Baba Dua had made to promote the course of women.

“She has for the past years advocated for girl child education and women in decision making on radio and on TV,” the Institute indicated.

It commended her also for putting together an advocacy group of young dynamic female leaders known as the “league of young female leaders” to advocate for girl child education and mentor these young ones to take on leadership roles in their schools.

How was the feeling when you received the message that you had been selected, I asked her.

“I was so excited. It was not easy. We went through several difficult processes and interviews. Although I knew I had a good record, I was not so sure I would make it,” she said.

“I am a leader still growing and I am happy the little I have done has already been appreciated,” she intimated.

For Hikimat, the fact that she is a Muslim and resident in Northern Ghana gives her more pride because there seem to be a perception that Muslim women are not allowed to be in the forefront of leadership.

“This is a wrong impression. The religion allows us to realise our talents and take leadership roles where necessary,” she said, adding that she hopes her achievements would inspire other young female Muslims.

She mentioned Ms Ursula Owusu, Hajia Alima Mahama and Dr Dufie Azuma Mensah as some of the accomplished Ghanaian women she gets inspiration from.

Ms Baba-Dua would be joining her colleague Fellows for the 2013 Moremi Initiative Leadership and Empowerment Development (MILEAD) Programme, which is a yearlong training programme.

The first in the series of this training programme would be hosted by the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon.

It would consist of interactive sessions, lectures, skills-training and teambuilding exercises in addition to a mentoring session by experienced and accomplished women leaders.

Ms Baba-Dua, who is currently pursuing her National Service at the Central Administration of the University for Development Studies (UDS), said she hopes this training would spur her onto a successful leadership career.

“I do not know how far God would take me, but I am hopeful of rising to the highest level,” she stated, with an assuring smile.

The Moremi Initiative for Women's Leadership in Africa is a non-profit organisation founded in 2004 to engage, inspire, and equip young women and girls to become the next generation of leading politicians, activists, social entrepreneurs, and change agents.

The expectation is that these young women would be at the forefront of efforts to transform and change institutions that legitimize and perpetuate injustices and discrimination against women.

(Also published in the Daily Graphic of May 28, 2013, p. 11)

How do we resolve conflicts in the north - Views from Tamale

2013-05-28T10:27:00.001-07:00

1. Jemilatu Musah – National Service Personnel

The image of the north has been soiled by these prolonged conflicts. These conflicts have overshadowed the great culture and traditions of the north and so instead of the world talking about our Damba and Fire festivals, they rather talk about conflicts in the north.

For me, conflicts in the north could be blamed on the level of poverty in the area. Many of the people in deprived villages are very poor and depend largely on farming for their survival.

So they would go great lengths to fight for ownership over their farmlands, especially when they feel threatened.

The government must extend development projects to various parts of the north so as to create equal opportunities for people to be employed and live better lives.

When people are employed and educated, they are less likely to fight each other.

2. Baba Iddi, Graduate Student, UDS

Conflict, undoubtedly, is a worrying phenomenon in our part of the country. Even though poverty and illiteracy could be said to be the major cause of our conflicts, usually the fusion of ethnicity, chieftaincy and politics have been the main causes of the conflicts in our area.

The eye-watering impact that conflicts have had on the development of the north is clear for everybody with an active mental frame to see.

It is sad to note that resources that would have been channelled into areas desperately in need of infrastructure had been used in keeping peace in the north.

It was therefore refreshing to hear that both gates in the Dagbon Chieftaincy conflict had seen the need to smoke the peace pipe.

The future of northern Ghana lies on the shoulders of the present leadership and they would be judged by posterity.

Our leaders, including chiefs, political heads and elite, owe us a responsibility to obviate the conditions that lead to these conflicts by seeing Northern Ghana as bigger than their individual, ethnic, chieftaincy or political ambitions.

Together, we must all work to put an end to these conflicts before the conflicts put an end to Northern Ghana.

3. Bintu Alhassan – Trader, Tamale Central Market

Over the years, conflicts have destroyed our region and prevented us from developing faster.

Each time there is violence, we are unable to do business and this brings hardship to our families because we do not get income to take care of our homes. Our children cannot go to school and this would affect their future.

Many of our youth have remained unemployed because they are mostly used by the politicians to fight for them.

The government must punish all those involved in violent conflicts. It would send a signal to others not to engage in violence.

Without peace, the north would remain where it is, whilst the south continues to progress.

4. Gayoni Dorwii Joseph, KEK Insurance

Most conflicts in the north are either inter-ethnic or chieftaincy-related. It is either people of different ethnic groups are fighting over the right of ownership over parcels of land or that people from the same ethnic group are fighting over chieftaincy.

For me, it would have been easier to resolve these issues, but for the interference of politicians. Politicians mostly poke their noses into these conflicts to serve their interests, especially when the feuding factions belong to opposing political groups.

The reality is that people in the villages, many of whom are illiterates, rely on the educated ones for guidance. Unfortunately, these educated ones, who are occupying political posts, misguide their people just to ensure that they remain in office.

Our people had traditional ways of resolving conflicts and it included dialogue, negotiation, mediation and adjudication by chiefs. So for me, the best way to resolve these conflicts is to allow the traditional authorities to use their traditional methods to resolve these conflicts and eschew political interference.

5. Katumi Alhassan, Retired Midwife

I feel sad that every time you hear about the north in the news, it is about conflicts.

Due to this, investors are not coming to the north to invest and create job opportunities, yet our people are jobless and poor.

Many doctors and other health professionals refuse posting to the north due to the perception that there is always conflict in the north.

It is high time, the leaders of the region sit and analyse how the region is suffering as a result of these conflicts.

They must sit together and agree to co-operate, respect each other’s views and resolve their differences amicably.

6. Alhassan A. Rashid, Opinion Leader, Tamale Central Mosque

For me, we are overwhelmed by conflicts in various parts of Ghana because of our intolerant and selfish nature.

Many people cannot understand why others should have opposing views and belong to opposing political parties. They are not willing to accept the views of others because they think theirs is the best.

They also want their interests and demands to be met, not considering the interests of others. It is because of this that we cannot resolve simply differences among ourselves and this degenerates into violence.

People should realise that even in their own homes, they are unable to get every family member to follow their beliefs and act in unity. How then do they expect the larger society to act like them?

We must begin to preach tolerance to ensure that people appreciate the views and interests of other people. We must be willing to compromise and sacrifice our interests for the benefit of the entire society.

(Also published in The Mirror of May 25, 2013, p. 40)

Playgrounds attract children to school

2013-05-28T10:13:00.002-07:00

Children playing heartily at the playground

IT has been widely acknowledged that children in many communities are attracted to schools with a feeding programme.

As it is evident, schools benefiting from the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) have extremely high enrolment figures.

However, for pupils in some rural schools in the Northern Region that do not have a feeding programme, the presence of playgrounds in their schools gives them the urge to attend school each passing day.

One of such schools is the Dakpemyili Primary School in the East Gonja district, which is one of the few rural schools that boast of a playground with these facilities: seesaw, merry-go-round, slide and rope swing.

During a recent visit to Dakpemyili, I came across a number of kids heartily engaged at the playground of the school.

One of them, Fadila Ndemu of the nursery class said the playground brings excitement to their lives.

“We like to play here because it makes us happy,” she said.

Her nursery mate, Huzeifa Mahama said among the play facilities, the one that excited her most was the seesaw.

Surprisingly, two of those kids were from a different school in another community.

“My name is Sumaila Yakubu. I am in class four at Kpandu Primary School,” one of them said and pointed to his friend, Mustapha Seidu, as his classmate.

They claimed they did not have a playground in Kpandu and so they sometimes walked to Dakpemyili, which is about 8 miles apart, just to spend sometime at the playground.

Their favourite was the ‘merry-go-round’ which they call ‘vilo’ in local Dagbani dialect.

“We wish they could construct a playground in our school so that we would not have to come here and play,” Yakubu appealed.

The playground, according to information that I gathered, was constructed in 2010 by a community-based organisation, the Presby Farmer’s Training and Child Development Programme (PFT-CDP) with funding from the Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC), an international child-centred organisation.

“Because the kids like the playground, everyday they feel motivated to come to school,” the Head Teacher of the school, Mr Ibrahim Mohammed Saani told The Mirror.

He said since it was constructed absenteeism had decreased.

Mr Saani indicated that the children were only allowed access to the playground during break time, but was quick to add that most a time the children get so engrossed in playing at the ground until their teachers sacked them back into their classrooms.

During my visit to other rural schools with such facilities, I noticed that, playgrounds were equally as important to pupils in those schools just as they were to those in Dakpemyili.

Experts agree that playgrounds play vital roles in the physical, intellectual and social development of children. They enhance the confidence, skills, creativity and general wellbeing of children.

In spite of this, playgrounds are often overlooked when school infrastructure is being considered in Ghana, with the excuse of lack of funds.

Fortunately, some NGOs, who are particularly focussed on early childhood development, give priority to the construction of playgrounds when providing school infrastructure.

So as pupils of the Dakpemyili Primary School continue to do their ‘merry go round’, their colleagues in other schools would have to wait until an NGO comes to their aid as it still looks unlikely that government would invest in the construction of playgrounds.

(Also published in The Mirror of May 25, 2013, page 32)

Dagomba movies have come of age - Jehanfo

2013-05-23T04:09:00.001-07:00

A scene in Torbu-Nyango

ONE of the popular movie producers and directors in Tamale, Alhassan Yushawu Jehanfo believes that Dagomba movies have come off age and needs a shot in the arm to reach the next level.

“We have come a long way in spite of the difficulties and I think we deserve some recognition for surpassing numerous hurdles to keep the industry alive,” is what he said when the Graphic Showbiz interviewed him in Tamale.

“It is not easy to finance the production of movies, but we have managed to keep producing more and more movies each year,” Jehanfo, who is the Vice Presdient of the Northern Drama and Film Makers Association (NODRAFIM), stated.

He said averagely 90 movies were released annually in the region and that although not all of them met the mark, a number of them were commendable.

“It is still a growing industry and so we do not expect all the movies to be standard. We are still discussing about reduce the numbers and improving on the quality,” he further noted.

Jehanfo receiving his award from Prez Mahama

Jehanfo has become a household name in Tamale due to his exploits in the local movie industry, which has earned him some recognition outside the region.

In 2012, his movie ‘Bibil-Tindana’ was adjudged Movie of the Year and Traditional Movie of the Year at the 2012 Kumawood Awards.

Jehanfo’s production company, Dahin Sheli Film Production boasts of 15 movies in its 15 years of operation.

Aside pure entertainment, Jehanfo’s movies, which include ‘Dabaata’, ‘Sochira’, ‘Bibil-Tindana’ and ‘Torbu Nyanga’, carry important messages which he intends to convey to his audience.

“I mostly do my movies to reflect certain wrongs in society and try to create change,” he said.

In his movie, Torbu Nyanga (The Aftermath of War), Jehanfo attempts to warn the people of the north about the repercussions of conflict, if allowed to degenerate into violence.

The failure of two villages to amicably resolve a raging conflict led to a bloody confrontation that resulted in a near wipe out of the population of the two villages.

The lesson: “nobody wins in war.”

“I do my movies based on my experience with rural life,” Jehanfo said, explaining that this was the reason why most of his movies had traditional settings.

“I get the stories as I walk through the village,” he further noted.

Jehanfo believes that the Dagomba movie industry could do better if it gets the needed financial and technical support.

“We need funding support from government and non-governmental organisations to grow the industry,” he said, whilst also stressing the need for movie producers in the north and south to establish partnerships for collaborative productions.

“The industry is providing employment to several people and so it must not be neglected to die,” Jehanfo stated.

(Published in the Graphic Showbiz, May 23, 2013, p. 3)

TaMA to decongest Tamale Central Market

2013-05-22T03:59:00.002-07:00

A section of the market

THE Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TaMA) is to demolish structures that have blocked pathways in the Tamale Central Market as part of efforts to decongest the market.

This is to reduce the congestion in the market and also allow for easy passage of all vehicles, especially a fire tender in the event of a fire.

Over the past few days, there have been announcements on radio warning traders who have impeded on the right of way in the market to evacuate before the end of May.

On Monday, the Co-ordinating Director, Alhaji Shehu Kadri and other members of the assembly toured the market to assess the situation and also prepare the minds of the traders for the decongestion exercise planned for next month.

The Tamale Central Market, known widely as the Old Market, was built with wide gates and large passages, big enough for cars and humans to use simultaneously.

Mayor of Tamale, Alhaji H. Friday

However, over the years, the increased business activities in the market has led to the situation where owners of stalls have done extensions in the form of sheds, cages, containers and zinc roofs.

Other market operators have also raised new structures in the middle of these pathways, further reducing the space and making it impossible for vehicles to access the market.

Alhaji Sumani, a stationary dealer in the market told the Daily Graphic that the situation in the market was worrying.

“We have raised our voices on several occasions against the narrowing of space in the market, but the authorities have failed to do anything about it,” he said.

Alhaji Sumani said during the reign of W. W. Zakaria as District Chief Executive, the market was in good condition because he visited the place regularly and “he ensured that even if somebody extended his store by a block, it was removed immediately.”

Aside the lack of access, traders in the market also engage in activities that could lead to fires and this is a source of worry to the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS).

“Some of the women make fire to cook in the market and this is a very dangerous activity which must be stopped,” Ms Veronica Dongbakuro, an Assistant Divisional Officer at the Tamale Metropolitan Fire Office stated in an interview.

She said there was also the need for the Volta River Authority (VRA) to check electrical wirings in the market to ensure there are no dangerous and illegal connections.

The Progressive Traders Association (PTA) of Tamale recently embarked on an advocacy campaign to get the assembly to decongest and rehabilitate the market.

According to the Secretary of the PTA, Mr Thomas Ade, the market needs to be modernised to suit the status of Tamale and also guarantee the safety of the market for the traders.

“Tamale is a big city now and so our markets must reflect this status,” he stated.

He said he was happy that the assembly was heeding to the call by the association and residents for the market to be rehabilitated.

A narrowed section in the market

The Chairman of the Decongestion Task Force of the TaMA, Mr Mohammed Rashid told the Daily Graphic that the assembly had always nurtured plans to decongest the market but had procrastinated due to lack of resources.

He said the recent spate of fire outbreaks in other markets across the country had served as a warning to the TaMA to take some urgent action to avoid similar disasters happening in Tamale.

“There is a local saying that when your friend’s beard is on fire, you should get water close to yours,” he stated, adding that the assembly intends to reorganise the market to ease movement and aid the fight against any disaster that may occur in the market.
(Also published in the Daily Graphic of May 22, 2013, p. 22)

United States to increase development assistance to the north

2013-05-21T08:55:00.001-07:00

Freshly harvested rice

THE United States (US) government is increasing its development assistance to Northern Ghana over the next five years.

The US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Gene Cretz, who made this known, said this gesture was part of a broader strategy by the US government to contribute significantly to poverty reduction and to create economic opportunities for communities in the north.

He however cautioned that in the long term, trade, and not aid, was the more sustainable path to economic transformation in the north due to what he termed as the north’s “strategic opportunities for economic growth and investment.”

Ambassador Cretz spoke to journalists during a working tour of the Northern Region, which was to enable him assess at first hand the impact of US-assisted development interventions in the region.

He noted that most of the US’ development interventions were concentrated in the three regions of the north as a result of the poverty situation vis a vis the economic opportunities inherent in that part of the country.


Ambassador Cretz (middle) receiving briefing

The ambassador mentioned that the US, through President Obama’s flagship food security initiative – Feed the Future – was co-financing the construction 18 new 50-tonne warehouses in the north to improve grain storage and sales.

He said the US was also supporting interventions in water, sanitation, nutrition and skills training for the youth.

He projected that by the end of 2017, US investments and development interventions in the north would have reached a value of $200million.

Among the places that the ambassador visited was Bontanga in the Kumbungu district, which is one of the areas that the US is making an impact through its Agricultural Development and Value Chain Enhancement (ADVANCE) program, funded through the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Under this project, a number of big marketing companies and industries have been brought on board to support farmers who farm on the irrigated lands of the Bontanga Irrigation Scheme to produce rice according to market specifications.

Botanga Irrigation Scheme

This had ensured that the farmers get the necessary assistance in terms of machinery, inputs, technical assistance and funds and there is also a guaranteed market for their produce.

One of the farmers, Mr Sule Alhassan said there were about 600 farmers currently farming on the catchments of the dam.

He said although the ADVANCE project had contributed a lot to improving the business of farming in the area, the farmers could still produce more with adequate support in terms of machinery, input supplies, pest and disease control and milling facilities for processing.

The Ambassador also visited the Gunda Grains Warehouse, which is one of a number of warehouses being established with funding from the USAID and through the Ghana Grains Council.

These warehouses are expected to help reduce post-harvest losses and operate the warehouse receipt system, where farmers deposit their grains upon receipt of the necessary documentation.

This system allows the farmers to aggregate their grains in safe warehouses and use these grains as collateral for loans. It also makes it easy for farmers to combine their grains and sell it to big marketing companies.

According to Ambassador Cretz, these projects are expected to contribute positively to the transformation of the north.

Water extended to three communities in Tamale

2013-04-30T05:28:00.000-07:00

WATERAID, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working in the water and sanitation sector, has extended pipe-borne water to three deprived communities in the Tamale, metropolis.

They are Nyohini South-West, Nyohini South-East and Dungu.

For several years, many households in these communities had no access to potable water although situated in an urban area.

In Nyohini South-East, for instance, the residents relied on a dam in the area, which also serves animals in the area.

“We use the water to cook, bath and wash our clothes,” said Mma Sanatu Abdulai, a resident of the area.

She said a few well-to-do people in the area were able to connect pipelines to their homes and so the rest of the community goes to fetch the water from these houses at a fee.

“We reserve the little pipe water we get for drinking,” she further stated.

Mma Sanatu and other women, children and men of the three communities were therefore excited when WaterAid decided to establish potable water facilities for their respective areas.

The facility, in each of the three communities, comprise an overhead tank and five stand pipes, estimated to cost over GH¢32, 000.

A Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) Committee has been formed in each of these communities to oversee the management of the facilities and make accessible to all residents, although at an agreed fee.

The Chairman of the WATSAN committee for Nyohini South-East community, Mr Fuseini Adam assured the providers of the facility that the committee would work hand in hand with members of the community to maintain the facility.

“We would agree on a price for various containers so that the revenue generated would be used to maintain the facility and also pay water bills,” he said.

The Programme Manager of WaterAid Ghana, Mr Sulaiman Issah-Bello told the Daily Graphic that the facilities were constructed through its local partners, Intagrad and Bido.

He said the provision of potable water facilities in deprived communities formed part of a five-year project being implemented with funding from HSB Corporation in the U.K.

The project, he explained, seeks to provide Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) facilities to communities that are deprived of such facilities.

Mr Issah-Bello mentioned that a total amount of 107,718 was spent on the extension of pipe-borne water to the three Tamale communities.

He said in 2013, an amount of 128,968 would be committed towards providing pipe-borne water to four other communities in Tamale, namely Taha, Kulaa, Gbalahi and Nyanshei.

Mr Issah-Bello mentioned that the goal of WaterAid and its partners was to extend potable water to about 130,000 poor and marginalised people and also support over 90,000 people to have access to safe sanitation facilities.

The sanitation component of the project, he noted, involves providing latrines to schools and supporting communities to implement Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) initiatives.

(Published: Daily Graphic, April 30, 2013, page 17)

Zoomlion intensifies cleaning of drains in Gumani...As rains set in

2013-04-30T05:21:00.000-07:00

AS part of efforts to prevent the reoccurrence of floods in Gumani, a suburb of Tamale, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a sanitation company, has intensified efforts to empty choked drains in the area.

Zoomlion and Nasara Youth emptying choked gutters

In the last two years, a number of areas in the Tamale metropolis had consistently been inundated each time there was a heavy downpour, leading to the destruction of property, as well as the loss of lives.

Gumani happens to be one of the areas that mostly got flooded and the cause of this annual disaster has been attributed to the clogging of drains in the area by all manner of debris including plastic waste, sand, tins, cans, and organic waste.

However, this year, Zoomlion is hoping to minimise the extent of flooding in Gumani and many other parts of Tamale by intensifying clean up campaigns.

Over the weekend, personnel of Zoomlion, together with the Nasara Youth Association, organised a clean up to empty choked gutters along the various streets of Gumani.

With their gloves, pick axes, shovels and wheel barrows, the hardworking young men got themselves busy throughout Saturday morning removing garbage and sand from the gutters from street to street.

In addition, personnel of the vector control unit of Zoomlion undertook a spraying exercise to fumigate the gutters and kill mosquito larvae in the area.

Vector Control officers busy at work

The assembly man for Nyanshegu-Gumani, Mr Mohammed Awal Zakaria, who joined in the clean up, said he was worried about the extent to which some people in the area disposed off garbage into open gutters.

“Because of this practice, many of our gutters are full of garbage and so when it rains the water does not run freely,” he lamented.

Mr Zakaria said Gumani was particularly noted for floods due to problems with the drainage system and therefore expressed hope that a permanent solution would be found to this problem.

The Northern Regional Vector Control Officer of Zoomlion, Mr Abdulai Aziz Yelsuma told the Daily Graphic that the mosquito spraying exercise formed part of the National Mosquito Control Programme (NAMCOP), which is being implemented by Zoomlion and the Ministry of Health.

The programme, he explained, was primarily aimed at reducing significantly the mosquito population in the country by releasing chemicals that destroy mosquito larvae into areas considered to be the breeding places for mosquitoes, such as open gutters, ponds, dumpsites and public toilets.

This, he noted, was considered as one of the key methods to curb the spread of malaria, since the disease is spread by particular specie of mosquitoes.

“In the first quarter of this year, we have sprayed 25 communities in Tamale and we hope to increase the number,” Mr Yelsuma stated.

(Published in the Daily Graphic of April 30, 2013, page 17)

TECH Girls Club celebrate 'Girls in ICT Day'

2013-04-30T05:06:00.000-07:00

Some members of the Club busy on the computer

A GROUP of hundred primary school girls, known as the TECH Girls Club, have celebrated this year’s ‘Girls in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Day’ to reiterate the message that girls are equally good in the use of ICT.

The day, which falls on the last Thursday of April every year, was set aside by the International Telecom Union (ITU) to raise global awareness and prompt action towards encouraging girls and young women to pursue careers in ICTs.

It highlights the opportunities in the growing ICT industry and how females could play their part in this new world order.

This was the first time that the TECH Girls Club of Ghana was celebrating this day centred on the theme: “Girls and Women can make a difference using ICT.”

They were joined in the celebrations by members of the Female ICT Teachers Association (FICTTA).

Both groups were formed by Savana Signatures (SavSign), an ICT-focused non-governmental organisation, with the objective to promote girls participation and use of ICTs.

Some of the members of the club said they were enjoying the benefits of being in the club because they were learning more things in ICT than their colleagues at school.

“I have learnt how to play some educative games on the computer,” said Musah Aisha of St Theresa’s School in Yong Dakpemyili.

Ms Angela Boateng, the President of FICTTA said members of her groups assist the girls in their training programmes and mentors them to believe in themselves.

The Director of SavSign, Mr Stephen Agbenyo explained that the club was formed as part of its Girls in ICT project being funded by Empower Foundation.

“We want to bridge the ICT gap between males and females and we feel that starting with the kids is the most successful and sustainable method,” he noted.

“When these kids sit in front of the computer, they can do a lot that adults cannot even do,” he further stated.

Mr Agbenyo said the girls have been engaged in hands on training in various application software and how to play educational games on various subject areas.

“We also organise knowledge-sharing platforms, such as quiz competitions in ICT and mentoring sessions with female teachers of ICT,” he mentioned.

He said the NGO also takes the girls on excursions and study tours to institutions that make good use of ICT in their work, such as telecom companies and media houses.

Mr Agbenyo said in 2013, 10 more girls would be recruited into the Tech Girls Club.

“This time, we are picking the ten girls from the Junior High Schools and they would be trained in Advanced ICT skills, such as programming and coding,” he explained.

He predicted that a number of the girls would consider taking careers in ICT in their youth and adult life.
(Published in the Daily Graphic of April 30, 2013, page 11)

King's Village Nutrition Centre...Where malnourished children find hope

2013-01-28T08:35:00.001-08:00

Some mothers and their malnourished kids at the centre

BONTANGA, a tranquil village in the Kumbungu district of the Northern Region, is popular for its irrigation dam, which was established several years ago to irrigate farms within its catchment.

A few kilometres away from this dam is another institution that should equally attract attention, especially from the development community.

It is certainly not a hotel or zoo but a charitable organisation that provides quality education, healthcare, water and sanitation services to the deprived communities in the Tolon and Kumbungu districts.
Among the services that the King's Village offers, the one that touched me most was the provision of paediatric care and long term rehabilitation for children suffering from severe malnourishment.

The King's Village Project, as it is called, was established by Rev Ben Owusu-Sekyere and his wife, Rev Marion Owusu-Sekyere, both of whom settled in Northern Ghana in 1999 having returned from the United Kingdom (UK) to continue with their missionary work.

Rev Ben Owusu Sekyere and Rev Marion Owusu-Sekyere

They initiated this charity project in 2003 with support from the Christian Centre of the Assemblies of God Church based in Nottingham in the UK, which they were affiliated to.

Just before the Christmas break, I visited Bontanga and I could not help but marvel at how God had used these two evangelists to transform the lives of children, women and entire communities.

Under the project, they had succeeded in establishing an educational complex that provides quality education, at virtually no cost, to children from these communities, some of whom walk or ride from villages more than five miles away.

“We pay GH¢10 at the beginning of each term. We are very happy that our children are also receiving quality education and we pray that God supports pastor and his wife,” said Alhassan Adam, a farmer who is the father of a nursery-three pupil, Nuhu Alhassan.

A proud father picking his child at the close of school at the King's Village

In 2005, the couple succeeded in fulfilling another vision of theirs by establishing a medical centre to address the health needs of the people and reduce the incidence of deaths resulting from malaria, cholera and labour-related complications.

“We realized that a number of children were dying from preventable and treatable conditions, like malaria and we felt the need to do something about it,” Rev Owusu-Sekyere said in an interview.

He said they also found out that two-thirds of these communities did not have clean water and sanitation services and so went a step further to drill boreholes and construct household latrines in a number of these communities with funding support from their international donors.

Care for malnourished children

Among the services that the King's Village offers, the one that touched me most was the provision of paediatric care and long term rehabilitation for children suffering from severe malnourishment.

Having witnessed how some children brought to the medical centre were at the point of death as a result of malnourishment, Mr and Mrs Owusu-Sekyere were inspired to set up a special unit to breathe new life into these children.

With funds from two of their volunteers from Nottingham, Mr and Mrs Terry Carpenter, a Nutrition Centre was established less than 100 meters away from the medical centre.

When I got to centre, I was moved by the sight of a skeletal boy sitting on the lap of his mother.

I must confess that I had never seen a severely malnourished child physically, except those I see on television from places like Somalia.

Hadija undressing her son

The boy, Misbawu Mohammed, looked so skinny, frail and dehydrated. Whilst his bulky eyes appeared to be sinking into his skull, his ribs were protruding on his sides.

His mother, 30-year-old Hadija Abu said her son, who was over two years, became sick a year after birth, but they could not tell what was wrong with him.

“He started to have higher temperature and later developed skin rashes all over his body. Later, he lost appetite and his situation grew from bad to worse until we came here,” she narrated.

Sitting next to them was another young mother, Awabu Mahamudu and her emaciated four-year old daughter, Amina Issah.

“She has been sick since birth and in spite of all that we did, her condition never improved,” 36-year old Awabu said.

Both mothers however maintained that the health of their children had begun to improve since they arrived at the centre a few weeks back.

“They were worse than what you are seeing. Now they eat better and are gaining weight,” Hadija said.

The Nutrition Officer in charge of the centre, Mr Norma Abudu Birresborn said children brought to the centre mostly suffer from three main conditions: kwashiorkor, marasmus and marasmus kwashiorkor.

These conditions, he explained, indicate low levels of protein and energy in these children, adding that children with these conditions are thin and have bloated stomachs and yellowish sparse hair, among others.

“When they arrive, they are usually in a precarious state and so the first thing we do is to stabilize them, such as normalizing their temperature and treating any infections,” Mr Birresborn indicated.

He said during the rehabilitation phase, the children are given medication, nutritional meals and some food supplements.

Attached to the Nutrition Centre is a traditional-styled compound house with ten rooms where children admitted to the centre stay with their mothers or caregivers during the rehabilitation stage.

Inside the compound, I saw a middle-aged woman drying corn and pepper, whilst two healthy-looking children were playing ‘catch me if you can.’

The woman, Mma Sakina Yakubu told me that she was the caretaker of the two children, Fuseina and Alhassan, who are twins and that they were brought to the centre in the early days of its operation, but had now recovered successfully.

“Both of them are in class three at the school,” she said.

The bigger picture

Malnutrition remains one of the threats to the country's efforts to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on reducing child mortality (goal four) and eradicating extreme poverty and hunger (goal one).

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), malnutrition occurs “when a person is not getting enough food” and that “even if people get enough to eat, they will become malnourished if the food they eat does not provide the proper amounts of micronutrients - vitamins and minerals - to meet daily nutritional requirements.”

The United Nation's Standing Committee on Nutrition (SCN) claims that malnutrition is the largest single contributor to disease and that it also affects the mental and physical development of children.

The Ghana Health Service (GHS) recently painted a grim picture about the state of malnutrition among Ghanaian children when it revealed that 12,000 children in Ghana die every year of ailments due to malnutrition.

The Deputy Chief Nutrition Officer at the GHS, Mrs Esi Amoaful, who made this disclosure, further indicated that “one out of every thirteen children in Ghana die before their fifth birthday mostly as a result of under-nutrition.”

She mentioned the Northern, Upper East, Central, Western and Eastern regions as the most affected regions.

Mma Sakina and Fuseina

The Northern Regional Director of Health, Dr Akwasi Twumasi confirmed that the region had a high rate of malnutrition, but indicated that cases of acute malnutrition had reduced from 21 per cent in 2011 to 18.3 per cent in 2012.

He attributed this downward trend to a number of interventions implemented by the GHS in partnership with its development partners, such as the supply of supplementary drugs to children.

The Northern Region was one of the regions that benefitted from the Nutrition and Malaria Control for Child Survival Project (NMCCSP), a five-year World Bank-funded project that sought to strengthen community-based health and nutrition services for pregnant women and children under the age of two.

One unique component of the project, which spanned 2007-2012, was the promotion of indigenous meals prepared with ingredients, like moringa, beans, agushi, smoked fish and spinach.

The Programme Manager of this project, Mrs Hannah Adjei told the Daily Graphic that local foods contained the recommended combination of nutrients needed to support the growth of children.

Indeed, the King's Village Nutrition Centre as part of its services trains caregivers in how to prepare nutritious local meals for their children, particularly those affected by malnutrition.

“We train them in the preparation of ‘winimix’, which is made from corn, soya bean, groundnut and millet,” the Nutrition Officer stated.

One thing that remains significant is that the King’s Village Nutrition Centre is as important to the deprived villages of Tolon and Kumbungu as water is to the people in the desert.

It can however continue to offer these life-saving services if it gets the needed partnership and funding support from the government, philanthropists and donor agencies.
(This article was also published in the Daily Graphic, Jan 29, 2013, page 40-41)

Farmers in tears as rice farms razed down

2013-01-28T08:27:00.002-08:00

FORTY (40) rice farmers in the Northern Region were thrown into a state of anguish over the weekend as fire razed down their rice farms, totaling over 350 acres.


Each year, farmers lose their farms to bush fires

A spark of fire from the engine of a rickety combine harvester that was being used at a rice farm lighted the rice plants and due to the intensity of the winds, it degenerated into an uncontrollable blaze and spread to other farms.

Attempts to stop the fire proved futile as it continued to raze down farm after farm over a two-day period, until it brought was under control in another community, by which time it had already caused unimaginable damage.

The farms were situated in three communities in the Savelugu-Nanton district of the Northern Region. They are Malgi-Naayili, Nakpanzoo and Nobogu, which are located off the Tamale-Bolgatanga highway.

One of the affected farmers, Mr Lucman Yakubu told a group of journalists that the blaze begun on Wednesday whilst they were in the process of harvesting.

“We suspect the engine was over heated and so it set the rice plants alight,” he stated.

He said they made strenuous efforts to stop the fire, but were unsuccessful and that efforts to alert the Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) were also in vain because the telephone network was inaccessible.

Mr Yakubu said they were shocked later to find that the blaze went beyond their farms and that between Thursday and Friday, it had razed down rice farms in two other adjourning communities.

Following the incident, the farmers have become distraught as each of them claimed to have invested so much resource into the farms, only for these farms to vanish in one day.

They lamented the consequences of the fire on the welfare of their families as rice farming was their main source of livelihood.

Many of them also claimed that they financed their farming business through credit facilities and so, as they pondered over how to feed their families, they were also contemplating how to repay their loans.

One of them, who appeared very troubled, said since the fire occurred he had become so dejected and confused that at a point he was even contemplating committing suicide.

The farmers called on the government and non-governmental organisations to intervene and help assuage their plight.

“If we get some food donations, it can help us continue to feed our families,” one of the faremers, Mr Hamza Abdul-Hamid suggested.

He said it was crucial also that they got some support in the coming farming season to enable them continue with the farming business.

Incidentally, each year farms are razed down as a result of bush fires, but unlike this particular incident, these fires were usually blamed on hunters, herdsmen and other farmers.

A rice farmer, Mr Moses Olad said the annual fires on rice farms would not happen if government made available modern rice harvesters that could be used when the farms are still wet.

“We always wait for the farms to dry so that we can hire some old combine harvesters from private people to use for the harvesting,” he indicated, adding that many rice farmers were mostly unlucky as by the time they got these harvesters, fires might have already razed their farms.

When contacted, the Northern Regional Director of Agriculture, Mr William Boakye-Acheampong said he had not yet been briefed on the incident because he was indisposed.

(This story was also published in the Daily Graphic, Jan 28, page 32-49)

Tamale women farmers get recognition

2012-11-12T01:43:00.000-08:00

WOMEN have been deeply involved in various aspects of agriculture, be it land preparation, planting, weeding, harvesting, processing, animal rearing or marketing.

Some of the proud women farmers

In spite of this, they have often not been given due recognition for their contribution to food production, apparently because the men always take the credit for the productivity of their wives and sisters.

It was therefore heart-warming to see a number of women receive awards at this year’s farmers’ day awards ceremony in Tamale, which was held at Kogni.

Mma Hamza Hadija, a beans farmer from Jarigu, a community located off the Tamale-Salaga road, was adjudged the best female farmer in the Tamale metropolis.

Apart from her, four other women were rewarded for beating their male counterparts in the cultivation of some crops and the rearing of livestock.

They are Mma Yahaya Raabi, best shea nut picker, Mma Baba Ayishetu, best farmer of soya beans, Mma Yakubu Fuseina, best farmer in the rearing of small ruminants and Mma Abdulai Faati, best women extension volunteer.

They were presented with a number of items including cutlasses, wellington boots, pieces of cloths, sowing machines and fertilizer bags.

After receiving their prizes, they told the Daily Graphic that they were delighted to have been recognised for their contribution to food production.

Mma Hadija said she had been farming for more than 15 years and it has not been easy.


Mma Hadija receiving her award

“Our lives depend on good harvest and this also depends on good rains,” she noted, adding that anytime the rains were favourable, she got up to 14 bags of beans on her five acre farm.

Mma Hadija mentioned that one of the challenges facing her and other farmers was how to get tractor services when the planting season is due.

She also mentioned the lack of pesticides and other agro-chemicals as one factor that sometimes affected crop yields thereby denying them the opportunity to reap what they had sowed.

For Mma Faati, who was rewarded as the best agric extension volunteer, she became an extension officer because there had been concerns about the low number of females in agric extension service.

“I was one of those who were selected, trained and given bicycles to go into the communities and carry out extension service,” she stated.

She said her role enables her to interact with farmers in various communities and help them adopt improved farming technologies.

Mma Fati also happens to be a vegetable farmer and was actually rewarded in 2005 as the best vegetable farmer in the Tamale metropolis.

“I grow cabbage, sweet pepper, spring onions, carrot, ayoyo at my farm at Builpela,” she stated.

Meanwhile, the Chenshei Suhuyini Women’s Group, which comprises female farmers, processors and marketers, was also adjudged the best farmer-based organisation (FBO) in Tamale.

My life depends on good harvest - groundnut farmer

2012-10-26T03:36:00.000-07:00

Afa Alhassan being assisted by mom and auntie to dry his nuts

EACH year between August and October, one can see chains of women carrying sacks and pans filled with freshly harvested groundnuts and walking along dusty or muddy paths in villages in Northern Ghana.

It is that period of the year when groundnut farmers harvest their groundnuts, which were planted earlier in the year.

Groundnut or peanut happens to be one of the most farmed food crops in Northern Ghana due to its health, culinary and economic values.

In 2011, the Ministry of Food Agriculture (MoFA) indicated that the total output of groundnut produced in the three regions of the north accounted for about 80 percent of the nation’s total groundnut production.

In a recent trip to Zokuga, a farming community in the Savelugu/Nanton district of the Northern Region, I met with a 44-year old farmer who has been cultivating groundnut since childhood.

It was midday and Afa Mohammed Alhassan as he is called was busily drying groundnut he had harvested from his 10-acre farm. He was being supported by his mother, Mma Salamatu and auntie, Mma Maata.

In the interaction that followed, he mentioned that although he farms both maize and groundnut, it was the latter that was so dear to his heart.

Afa Alhassan speaking to me

“I focus much of my attention on farming groundnut because it is through this that I get enough income to take care of my family,” he said, adding that his favourite variety is ‘abaen’.

Afa Alhassan was unequivocal in stating that his life as a groundnut farmer depended on good harvest.

“When harvest is good, I can get about seven bags of groundnuts from an acre and this happens only once a while,” he stated.

At the time, a bag of groundnut was selling between GH¢50 to GH¢70 and this in an incentive to Afa Alhassan.

“When prices are good, it helps us farmers to reap what we have sown,” he said with a smile.

I asked him what were the factors that can account for a good harvest and he mentioned good rains as paramount.

He noted that having a good harvest depended also on planting at the right time, adding that to plant one needs to mobilise the seeds and get the land prepared.

Unlike maize and other crops, groundnut does not depend heavily on fertilizer and this, in the estimation of Afa Alhassan, is one thing that makes farming groundnut conducive for the rural poor.

In spite of this, he thinks that groundnut farmers, like other farmers, need some support from government and other organisations.

“When the season arrives and there are no tractors to prepare the land, then it could affect planting,” he said.

Afa Alhassan said the lack of equipment for harvesting and shelling groundnuts makes the work of harvesting groundnut a bit laborious.

During harvest, he and other farmers use either their hands or hoes to uproot the vines from the ground, depending on the texture of the soil.

“When the ground is still wet, we can use our hands, but if it is dry, we have to use hoes,” he said.

He said after the vines are uprooted, he employs the services of some women to separate the nuts from the vines, assemble them in heaps and transport them in pans and in sacks to his house.

It is then that another process begins as the nuts have to be dried for a period of time, before being shelled, separated from the kennels and packed into sacks.

“It is a painstaking process,” he said.

Of course, Afa Alhassan is also concerned about getting the needed technologies to increase yield.

“If we can get help to enable us get better yields, it would help us a lot because our lives depend on it,” he noted.

Like many other rural men, Afa Alhassan has two wives and four children, but is not satisfied.

“I want to have more children,” he intimated, adding that “Three of the children are for my first wife and so my second wife would also be delivering two more.”

He admitted that taking care of his four children, together with his mother and other extended family, is quite a challenge, especially in keeping his children in school.

Three of them, Zakaria, Alhassan and Memunatu attend the Zokuga nursery and primary school.

“Sometimes, the teachers ask us to pay some dues and buy some items for the children and I try to get it for them,” he said.

Afa Alhassan's children are in school

“They tell us that education is good, but I am yet to feel it because none of my children has gone far with their education,” Afa Alhassan said, with a sense of uncertainty.

“Have you not heard of family planning,” I asked him and his response was expected: “I have heard of it, but I want to have more children because I do not know which one of them would prosper in future.”

Efforts to explain that family planning is about planning child birth would however not sink.

Well, it appears that Afa Alhassan’s 44-years of farming has shaped his idea of life and what he considers the most important is how to get a good harvest each farming season.

(This article was also published in the Daily Graphic - Oct. 22, 2012, p.23)

Isreali International Percussionist, Gilad Dobrecky performs in northern Ghana

2012-10-26T02:48:00.002-07:00

Gilad in action with local drum

A DURBAR has been held in Saakuba, a small farming community in the Tolon/Kumbungu district of the Northern Region, in honour of an International percussionist from Israel, Gilad Dobrecky.

Mr Dobrecky, who is considered one of the world’s top 12 percussionists by the JAZZIZ magazine, visited the community courtesy the Embassy of Israel in Ghana and the Paabinaa Meriga Peace Initiative (PAMEPI), a Tamale-based non-governmental organisation.

Using his percussion instruments and local Dagomba drums, Mr Dobrecky produced interesting rhythms and compositions that delighted both the young and old people of Saakuba and nearby villages who had converged at the durbar grounds upon hearing of his arrival.

The visit formed part of efforts to cement the relationship between the embassy and the community.

The embassy is in support of the “School for All” project, which is being implemented by PAMEPI and aimed at creating opportunity for school children in Saakuba to have access to learning materials that could help improve their studies.

Mr Dobrecky said he was happy to share, to connect with people and give what he has to offer, adding that music is an international language and so his performance was to show to the people that “we all are the same.”

“I wanted to expose them to different forms of drumming and making rhythms. One of my goals has always been to respect cultures and so I respect Ghanaian cultural music, which is why I also performed with the local drum,” he stated.

Speaking at the durbar grounds, the Deputy to the Israeli Ambassador, Mr Eyal Lampert said the Israeli embassy was committed to supporting rural communities, especially in the area of education.

He said Israel had much experience in development and had developed innovative systems, particularly in improving early childhood education through creative teaching skills.

Mr Lampert said the embassy had collaborated with the Ghana Education Service (GES) to build the capacity of teachers to impact knowledge to children at the early childhood level.

He said this training programme would be extended to Tamale in the Northern Region, adding that already some experts had been sent to the area to survey and find out the most effective way to implement the programme.

“We have seen already in Kumasi that the teachers who were trained through this programme in the last three years have been employing these teaching methods that they learnt and it has improved teaching and learning in that area,” he stated.

The Executive Director of PAMEPI, Mr Fuseini Yakubu said the organisation could pride itself in helping the people of Saakuba establish an education fund.

He thanked the Israeli Embassy for its support to the activities of PAMEPI and expressed hope of further co-operation.

He hinted of efforts that his organisation was making to seek assistance from schools and organisations in the United States to enable him implement a mobile library project in Saakuba.

WOMEN RIDING MOTORBIKES WITHOUT HELMETS - a daily occurence in Tamale

2012-08-28T02:40:00.000-07:00

TAMALE, the Northern Regional capital, could easily earn the reputation as the motor city of Ghana as the streets of this sprawling northern city is dominated by motorcycles of various kinds.

Unfortunately, wearing of helmets is the exception rather than the norm.

Each day, hundreds of motor riders take to the streets of Tamale meandering their way through chains of vehicles without crush helmets. Among these recalcitrant riders, we have children, youth and adults, many of whom are females.

It is difficult to decipher why a sane person, fully conscious of how crucial, but fragile, the human head is, would pick a motorbike, zoom off like thunderbolt, without a crush helmet for protection.

It is even more difficult to appreciate why women, who are perceived as more conscious of safety, would be riding motorcycles, although admiringly, without any protective gear.

After sampling views from a number of young and adult female riders in Tamale, it came out that the challenge for many of them was how to use a crush helmet without messing up their hairstyles.

“You know women put on various hairstyles to make them look beautiful, but the use of helmets mostly destroy the styling of the hair,” said Joyce Kande, a teacher.

She explained that apart from weave-on and low pony, other hairstyles, particularly those raised high, make it difficulty for women to use helmets.

For Hajia Fati, a business woman, using a helmet, does not only destroy the styling of her hair, but also poses other inconveniences.

“When you use a helmet, you feel so much heat and this makes it uncomfortable,” she intimated.

“You are forced to carry the helmet with you everywhere you go and this also creates discomfort. Imagine going into a banking hall holding your handbag in one hand and your helmet in another hand,” Hajia Fati further stated.

It was revealed also that many young ladies like to show off when riding their motorbikes and so do not want to use a helmet, since that would make them unrecognisable.

“When they are riding their bikes, they want people to recognize them and so they prefer not to wear helmets,” Muniratu Issah, a tertiary student, remarked.

According to her, many of her colleagues fancy riding motorbikes whilst waving at people they know – “they just want everybody to know that they too have ‘mapouka’ bikes.”

‘Mapouka’ is the name given to a type of medium-sized motorcycle that has caught on with women in Tamale, partly because it comes in various beautiful brands, that include Luojia, Super Access, Hoajin, Beautiful, Sukida, Motor King, TVS and Savvy.

Shockingly, the apathy towards helmets has become so ingrained in many riders in Tamale so much so that even when they are forced to use helmets by the police, they only obey as long as the police are within sight.

Do not be amazed therefore to see a motor rider on the move with a bare head, whiles a helmet hangs on the side of the motor.

“Sometimes the police or the Zoom police would be standing on the road arresting people without helmets and so you have no option than to carry a helmet with you so that when you are approaching them, you can wear it,” a female rider said, with a guilty smile.

One is left pondering over whether women in Tamale place more value on their convenience than their lives.

Road safety experts generally agree that wearing a helmet is one of the most important things a motorcycle rider can do for protection as it protects the rider by preventing brain and spinal cord injuries in times of crush.

According to the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC), each year, a number of people die from motorbike accidents as a result of injury to their heads.

“Last year, we had 70 reported cases of accidents involving motorbikes in the region. The figure is probably higher than that because many of such cases are not reported,” the Northern Regional Manager of the NRSC, Mr Alexander Ayatah mentioned to the Daily Graphic.

He explained that many of those who lost their lives through such accidents could have survived if they were wearing helmets.

He described the situation where women ride without helmets as regrettable, noting that females were more cautious on the road than their male counterparts, “but that is not enough to protect them if they ride without helmets.”

The country’s motor traffic laws make it criminal for any person to ride without helmet, irrespective of the person’s sex.

“When we go on the streets to arrest people who ride without helmets, we do not care whether you are male or female, because the law is no respecter of sex or gender,” the Commander of the Motor Transport and Traffic Unit (MTTU) in the Northern Region, Supt. Cashman Blewushie said in an interview.

He admitted, however, that the police were facing a daunting challenge in dealing with the helmet problem because the number of people engaged in the practice was overwhelming.

He also mentioned that anytime the police tried to prosecute offenders, people in big places would interfere in the process and this encourages impunity and indiscipline.

“One thing I know for sure is that they can continue to run as far as they can from the police, but they can certainly not run away from death if they continue to ride without helmets,” Supt. Blewushie said.

How long would female riders in Tamale continue to avoid helmets in the name of comfort?