Category: General

The human rights girls are enjoying are fueling teenage pregnancies in the country, a Queen mother has observed. According to Nana Akosua Akomah, the Sompahemaa (good servant) of the Sunyani Traditional Area, many girls had gone wayward, with their parents losing control of them because of 'the so-called human rights which have eaten into their minds'. She admitted girls had some rights, but it behoved on their parents to ensure they were brought up in a God-fearing and more responsible manner, regretting 'nowadays you can't even discipline or punish your own daughter because of the so-called human rights'. The Queenmother said this when speaking at a stakeholder's engagement on the dissemination of the National Family Planning (FP) 2030 commitment which coincided with the launch of the FP Day in Sunyani. With support from its partners, the Bono Regional Directorate of Health organised the engagement attended by representatives from transport unions, market women traders' associations, disability groups, health workers, and traditional authorities. Among other objectives, the meeting also aimed at sensitizing the participants on the nation's FP 2030 commitment, protocols and acceptor rate. Nana Akomah said teenage pregnancies were rising in the country, partly due to parents' inability to control their girls, coupled with the uncontrolled use of social media among the girls. 'There are excesses in some of these human rights provisions, alien to our culture and tradition and we must re-look and revise them to enable us to discipline our wayward girls in society', she stated. Dr Prince Quarshie, the Deputy Director, of Public Health, Bono Regional Directorate of Health indicated the need for parents to also encourage their girls to access FP services to stem and control alarming cases of teenage pregnancies in the country. He dispelled some myths about FP services, saying it was untrue that FP services such as combine pills, secure, injectables, spermicides, intra-ulterior contraceptive devices, implants a nd vasectomies were hazardous to harmful to human health. Dr Quarhsie said the region's FP acceptor rate remained low despite intensified public education on the services, FP practices kept decreasing, declining from 42.2 per cent in 2021 to 30.2 per cent in 2022 and 27.2 per cent in 2023. Nonetheless, the Deputy Director stressed the FP acceptor rate in some of the Districts and Municipalities in the region was encouraging. Dr Quarshie said every individual or couple, including teenagers, were eligible for their own choice of FP options, and advised health workers to counsel and provide sexually active people with the services. The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) also covers FP services and those who had registered with the scheme could use their cards to go for the services, he stated. Source: Ghana News Agency

Adaklu Kpodzi Basic School was among the nine award winners at the 39th Adaklu district farmers' day celebration at Adaklu Torda. The school won the best school garden category and for their prize, they were given two knapsack spraying machines, machetes, weedicides, and wellington boots. The overall district best farmer award was won by Mr. Moses Ekpe of Adaklu Anfoe. His prize was a tricycle, two knapsacks spraying machines, cutlasses, wellington boots, and weedicides. Madam Juliana Kpedekpo, Adaklu District Chief Executive, addressing the gathering stated that agriculture have become the driving force of the economy. She said for this reason the government was putting measures in place to make agricultural implements and seeds available to farmers to increase their yields. The DCE urged the youth to take up agribusiness not as a vocation but as a serious business. Mad. Kpedekpo said a delegation from Korea was in the district to set up a food processing factory and urged farmers in the district to seize the opportunity to expand their farms, especially vegetables. Mad. Eugenia Nana-Bruce, Adaklu District Director of Agriculture stated that farmers were not just food producers, but stewards of the land and that their wisdom combined with modern innovations could lead to more sustainable food security. She urged the government to invest in smart agricultural practices, provide access to the latest technologies and empower farmers with modern methods of farming. Togbe Agumedra Afehe VII, Chief of Adaklu Torda who chaired the function said roads in the district were in a very deplorable state and appealed to government to come to their aid by upgrading the roads to enable farmers cart their foodstuffs to the marketing centres. The celebration was on the theme 'delivering smart solutions for sustainable food security and resilience.' Source: Ghana News Agency

The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has stated that testing to know one's HIV status, adherence to Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) and awareness creation, are critical to reducing the disease prevalence across the country. Mr Ebenezer Abrokwa, the Eastern Regional Technical Coordinator of the Commission, said HIV and AIDS remained a health threat, and people must keep to the preventive protocols. Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), on the HIV situation in the Eastern Region, he said there had been an increasing trend in the disease prevalence in the area over the last four years. It was estimated that presently, 46,339 people were living with HIV in the Eastern Region and this comprised 12,806 males, 30,180 females and 3,353 children. Out of the figure, over 30,000 were on the ARTs at various health facilities and designated centres across the region, while the remaining could not be traced or defaulted along the way. The Technical Coordinator disclosed that this year about 362 new infe ctions in children from zero to 14 years had been recorded, raising concerns about mothers' patronage of antenatal care services, where there were mother-to-child transmission prevention protocols, to ensure babies born to infected mothers were negative. He said as part of the World AIDS Day activities, the Region in collaboration with other stakeholders would embark on vigorous testing and education drive 'so people get to know their status and put on the ART for viral suppression which reduces infection.' Mr Abrokwa advised the public that the absence of massive HIV and AIDS awareness activities did not mean that the disease was gone, as it remained a threat to public health. Source: Ghana News Agency

Pandemonium broke at the Mataheko Police Station Park in the Ablekuma Central Constituency where the New Patriotic Party (NPP) is conducting parliamentary primary, after delegates abandoned voting and followed someone with a violet bag. The bag contains small sealed envelopes. A delegate, who sought anonymity, told the Ghana News Agency that the envelopes contained money for delegates, who voted for a particular aspirant. Scores of delegates, including the elderly and persons with disability, about an hour into the election, deserted the voting and went after the 'Manager' of the bag. Quickly, a long queue was formed ,with jostling and shoving for the money. It is not clear, which candidate is giving out the money. However, the tent under, which the money is being shared has the image of Mr Collins Amoah, one of the four aspirants. A total of 1,571 delegates are expected to vote to elect one of the four aspirants to represent the Party in the parliamentary election next year. The aspirants are Mr Jef ferson, Sackey, a Presidential Staffer, Mr Ebenezer Nartey, a former Member of Parliament, Mr Collins Amoah and Mr Larry Angered Adjei. Source: Ghana News Agency

Gobabis, Namibia - Melba Tjozongoro, representing the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), was re-elected as Mayor of Gobabis on Friday. She retained her position unopposed in the eastern town. Nona Gogases will continue to serve as deputy mayor, having also been re-elected without opposition. Additionally, Alivira Theron, Silvester Binga, and Isaak de Beers were re-elected as members of the management community.

According to Namibian Press Agency (NAMPA), In nearby towns, incumbents also held onto their positions. At Witvlei, Matilde Eises and Sheya !Gaogoses maintained their roles as Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson of the management committee, respectively. In Leonardville, Petra Salomi Witbooi was re-elected Chairperson with Bernard Gariseb as her deputy.

During her acceptance speech, Tjozongoro addressed the financial challenges facing Gobabis, particularly the municipality's debt to Nampower and the potential for load-shedding. To mitigate these issues, the town encouraged residents to transition to prepaid water and electricity systems.

Tjozongoro reported significant progress in the implementation of prepaid water meters, with 45 pensioners in Gobabis and 25 households in the newly formalized Freedom Square and Promiseland residential areas benefiting from the rollout. The informal settlements of Epako and Nossobville also saw improvements, with the addition of communal water standpipes, bringing the total to 30 in these areas. The mayor expressed her desire to eliminate informal settlements in Gobabis.

She also highlighted the successful construction of around 73 houses by the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia's savings group, with 16 more houses under construction on land provided by the municipality in the current fiscal year.

Addressing the town's water conservation needs, Mayor Tjozongoro urged Gobabis residents to use water sparingly. She noted the uncertainty of future water availability, citing poor rainfall in the Omaheke region in recent years.