Category: General

The Ghana National Fire Service recorded a total of 656, 591 prank calls from the public in 2023.? The incidents, which overstretched?the operations of the Service happened between January and November 2023.? This was revealed at the Thanksgiving Service of the Service's 60th Anniversary Celebration where senior officers, who just retired were awarded for their selfless contributions to the Service.? Mr Julius Kuunuor, Chief Fire Officer (CFO), said the prank calls had put the rescuers' lives in danger and created room for wastage of fuel.? 'When we engage in prank calls,?we put incident responders at risk and waste fuel also,' he said.? Mr Kuunuor urged the public to desist from such practices because the Service would not entertain such deviant behaviours in 2024 and beyond.? Fire outbreaks also reduced by 4.92 per cent for the first eleven months of 2023 with 5256 incidents recorded as compared to 5,530 incidents recorded in the same period in 2022.?? The Chief Fire Officer attributed the reduction ?to the extensive Public Fire Safety Education carried out nationwide.?? 'Through the timely intervention of the Service, property worth millions of cedis was salvaged,' he said. The Service intended to build clinics in all the regions and would start the construction of a Fire Trauma Hospital to provide adequate healthcare for personnel and the public this year.? It is in the process of signing a Memorandum of Understanding with some universities to train?Fire personnel in the relevant fields from undergraduate to postgraduate programmes. The University of Cape Coast, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) and University of Energy and Natural Resources are being engaged for the training. 'The Service in collaboration with the Government is in the process of procuring Fire Appliances and Equipment, including Dual Purpose Tenders, Water Tankers, Rapid Intervention Vehicles and Utility Vehicles and Command Vehicles in 2024,' Mr Ku unuor said. The new appliances would replace the obsolete fire appliances at the Fire Stations and also ensure the opening of more Fire Stations to improve response time.? Source: Ghana News Agency

The 6th Ghana Hotels Association (GHA) Awards, slated to take place at the Labadi Beach Hotel on January 27, 2024, has taken a new dimension to select awardees of members of the association in good standing. In line with the digitalization agenda of the Ghana Hotels Association (GHA), the management has created an online portal for all members in good standing to do the nomination. Dr Edward Ackah-Nyamike Jnr., President of the Ghana Hotels Association, speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, said the idea of creating an online portal for the nomination was to encourage members to adhere to digitalization as it was a way to grow the hotel industry in the country. Dr Ackah-Nyamike also noted that participation in the nomination was not as massive as was expected, believing it was part of digitalization phobia. He added even though they were yet to investigate the reason behind the low nomination, it could also stem from the hectic nature of the online nomination. 'I want to believe that it i s all part of this digitalization phobia, the fear of doing online things because the online nomination was quite hectic; it involves gathering data, downloading pictures and other documents,' he opined. 'I would find out after the awards why some of the members did not apply and to give a better understanding because I know that a lot of the hotels have gone digital one way or the other and it was very surprising that they didn't take the opportunity to nominate themselves online' He, however, said members who could not do the online nominations probably were not ready for the 6th GHA Awards because the nomination process was simple and user-friendly. He reiterated that the digital approach helped the hotels do the right thing as the assessment process made them gather their scattered information in a presentable manner, providing rich information. He was somewhat convinced that the low nomination had to do with the issue of the adoption process 'where a few people attempt and when it sits well, others w ill also come on board.' 'We cannot reverse this whole digitalization process; that is the way to grow, that is the future and we need to encourage everybody to embrace it,' he noted. He was of the view that the online nomination was no excuse for the complexity of the system as some hotels were able to do it as expected. 'It wasn't a complex process. It meant that it was for those who were prepared in a way, it was for those who understood their work and knew that there is information that is available in the system and they could provide it,' he said. Going into categories for the 6th GHA Awards, Dr Ackah-Nyamike said the opportunity was given to members in good standing to assess themselves in line with the awards categories and nominate themselves if they believe they deserve to win the chosen categories. He further said that the difference in the 6th GHA Awards was that eight awards categories called the Departmentalised Award Categories had been created with the help of an Assessment Committee, com prising a consultant and a colleague to assess the nominations to see if they meet the criteria of the categories chosen and shortlisted. He added that another Awards Selection Committee was established to crosscheck and ensure that the right and deserving hotels were awarded. The Departmentalised Awards Categories include; Conference and Banqueting Team of the Year, Front of House Team of the Year, Green Hotel of the Year and Hotel Restaurant of the Year. Others are House-Keeping Team of the Year, Most Customer-Oriented Hotel of the Year, Most Digitalised Hotel of the Year and Most Secure Hotel of the Year. Apart from the Departmentalised Awards, Dr Ackah-Nyamike also disclosed the General Awards, which would crown the Budget Hotel of the Year, One-Star Hotel of the Year, Two-Star Hotel of the Year, Three-Star Hotel of the Year, Four-Star Hotel of the Year and the Five-Star Hotel of the Year. He said the General Awards would be given to the best from the Departmentalised Awards and then crown a hotel of the year. 'With the General Awards, we didn't ask the hotels to nominate themselves for that. What we did was to pick the best out of the Departmentalised Awards and then crown a hotel of the year,' he explained. He also mentioned the Specialised Awards for individuals who are managers, directors and owners of hotels and have contributed to the progress of the industry as well as the Regional Branches Awards. To make the awards credible and people-centred, Dr Ackah-Nyamike said the 10 Regional Branches were asked to nominate one hotelier in each region with reasons the nominees deserve to be crowned the hotelier of the year; thus, seven hoteliers were nominated from seven regions after a careful assessment of their profiles. He added that this category of the awards was through public voting, constituting 50 per cent and profile assessment also 50 per cent to prevent monetization from overshadowing that category. '…the one who garners more votes scores 50 per cent, the 2nd person no matter the number of votes scores 45 per cent and the 3rd gets 40 per cent and so to the last person. The assessment of the profiles is as important just as the public voting; so that the public voting is not weaponised against the profile,' he underscored. He, therefore, mentioned that the 6th GHA Awards would recognise people who have significantly contributed to the hotel industry and a lifetime achievement award, acknowledging Ghana Tourism Authority, Ashfoam Ghana Limited, Multichoice Ghana (DSTV), World Business Support, Nedict Hospitality Suppliers, Tour Mother Land, Animal Welfare League, BEL-ACQUA, Sahara Solace, Daisy Hotel Amenities, SIC and SIBL for sponsoring the 6th GHA Awards. Source: Ghana News Agency

Twenty-seven brilliant but needy students in the Upper West Region have received support from the Regional Chief Imam Education Endowment Fund (IMAMFUND) to further their studies at the tertiary level. They included 12 females and 15 males with 25 of them identifying as Muslims and two non-Muslims, who had their school fees for the 2024/2025 academic year fully paid. A total of GHS64,906.41 had been disbursed to the beneficiaries with each receiving between GHS1,000.00 and GHS4,000.00 based on the request. They form the second batch of beneficiaries of the Fund as 16 students were supported in the 2023/2024 academic year. Mr Moomin Seidu, the Council Secretary, who announced this at a press conference in Wa on Wednesday, said 44 entries were received from students when the application was announced in October 2023 during the Fund's second annual conference. The establishment of the IMAMFUND was necessitated by the numerous requests for financial support for school fees to the office of the Regional Chie f Imam, Alhaji Osman Mahama Kanihi, since he assumed office about four years ago. 'Acknowledging the prevalent poverty levels and substandard educational conditions among the youth, the Upper West Regional Chief Imam's Office finds it imperative to proactively address these challenges by identifying suitable solutions to enhance financial support for education within the Muslim communities in the Region,' he said. 'This initiative aims not only to liberate financially disadvantaged yet academically gifted youth from the constraints hindering their educational aspirations but also to narrow the substantial educational gap between Muslim youth and their peers'. Mr Seidu, however, said the inclusion of deserving non-Muslim students in the scholarship scheme was an indication of the non discriminatory nature of the IMAMFUND. He said the significance of education in personal, community and national development could not be over emphasised and that the IMAMFUND believed in education as a catalyst for building s trong and enlightened communities. The Council Secretary noted that the Holy Quran considered education as a religious duty, hence the Regional Chief Imam's decision to promote education among the youth. He expressed gratitude to the individuals, organisations, communities, clans and groups among others, whose contributions in cash and kind made the establishment and sustainability of the Fund possible to 'transform the beneficiaries' tears into smiles'. Mr Seidu, however, encouraged the donors to continue their support to enable the Fund to provide financial assistance to more needy students in the region. Miss Amina Hamidu, a beneficiary, thanked the managers of the IMAMFUND for the support, without which she and the other beneficiaries would have struggled to pay their fees. She pledged their commitment to working hard to justify the investment made in their education to make the Chief Imam proud. Source: Ghana News Agency

A Chinese company, "Sichuan Road and Bridge Group" (SRBG), won the tender to complete the main section of the new Bizerte bridge project , said, Wednesday in a press release, the Ministry of Equipment and Housing. An approach which will be followed by the start of procedures to finalize the contract between the Tunisian State, represented by the Ministry of Equipment, and the Chinese company, a local source told TAP. Works will start during the first quarter of 2024, the same source adds. These two sections are being built by Tunisian companies. The first phase concerns the work linking the south and west of the region through the construction of a 4.7 km long motorway equipped with 3 transformers at the intersection of national road 8 and the A4 motorway. A highway which constitutes the starting point of the project from the entrance of the technological center to the entrance to the town of Menzel Abderrahmane, while the third section, linked to the northern link, consists of the construction of a high way of 2.7 km with the construction of a transformer at National Road 11 leading to Menzel Bourguiba. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse

Drivers have been advised to be prepared for potential threats on the road to enable them to react promptly to any such threats and mitigate the risks of accidents for a safer journey. Mr David Rogers, an instructor of the Ashaley Botwe branch of the Freight Masters Driving and Bussiness Institute, underscored the importance of concentration, urging drivers to focus and steer clear of distractions, particularly when using mobile phones and other electronic devices while driving. Employing all the senses helped the driver to create a comprehensive approach to navigating the complexities of driving, he said. Mr Rogers stated this during the launch of the Tema branch of the Freight Masters Driving and Business Institute and asked drivers to strictly adhere to driving edicts; 'Concentration, Observation, Anticipation, and Tolerance (COAT)'. He said 'Concentration' was very important as it prevented the driver from distraction, while 'Observation' ensured a comprehensive approach to navigation. 'Anticipation ' is the bedrock of defensive driving,' he said, and that 'Tolerance' enhanced patience with fellow road users, fostering a harmonious and secure driving environment. 'Defensive driving is a holistic strategy encompassing the protection of oneself, the vehicle, passengers, or goods, and respecting time commitments,' Mr Rogers added. By adopting the 'COAT' attitude, drivers could play an active role in making the roads safer for everyone, he noted. Mr Richard Nana Amoako, the Chief Executive Officer of Freight Masters, expressed gratitude to the dedicated workers of both the shipping and driving schools, emphasising the importance of their contributions to economic growth. Source: Ghana News Agency