Mr. Shola Junior Thompson, the President of the Sandwich Students Association of Valley View University (VVUSSA) has won the 2024 Students Representative Council (SRC) best student award. The Excellence Awards Night, which forms part of the SRC Week celebration, crowns students for various categories after three months of voting. Other categories include student photographer of the year, sports personality of the year, student entrepreneur of the year, lecturer of the year, most outstanding female personality of the year, student philanthropist of the year, and student writer or poet of the year. Mr. Thompson, who is studying Bachelor of Education, in English, was the General Course Representative for level 300 and the first semester of level 400 before becoming president of the association. He said he believed hard work, dedication, and engaging in humanitarian services were key things that moved most of his colleagues and loved ones to vote for him. He added that there were some courses that needed to be graded in the first year of their academic journey, and he took it upon himself to follow up with lecturers to ensure that such concerns were addressed. Mr. Thompson added that he also assisted some students with financial difficulties and reminded upcoming student leaders to be patient and know that not everyone would appreciate their hard work after benefiting from their efforts. Dr. Hassan Ayariga, the founder and Presidential Aspirant of the All-People's Congress (APC), who was the special guest for the awards night, addressed the students on youth empowerment and how to make Ghana a prosperous nation. He urged the students to take their studies seriously and be mindful of who they elect to positions to manage their affairs.? Source: Ghana News Agency
Address our concerns before May 13-Teacher Unions
Some Pre-Tertiary Education Teacher Unions in the Upper East Region have called on the government to take steps to address the concerns of teachers regarding their unpaid allowances before May 13, 2024. The teachers gave the ultimatum at a news conference in Bolgatanga jointly organised by the Teacher Unions. They stressed that, should the government fail to heed to their request before the given date, they would advise themselves accordingly. The Teacher Unions were made up of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT) and Coalition of Concerned Teachers Ghana (CCT GH). 'We wish to stress, that we have had enough of the nonchalance, complacency, and aloofness of the employer, and would thus not countenance this situation any longer. '…We wish to state in the strongest terms that, should the Employer fail to address our demands on or before May 13, 2024, we will take our next line of action,' they stressed. Addressing the news conference, Mr Lare Kitonname, Regional Secretary, GNAT, indicated that since the negotiation of their Collective Agreement in 2009 and after the 2020 Collective Agreement, the government had failed to implement the allowances agreed on as well as promises given. The Teacher Unions are demanding the payments of the deprived area allowance, the extra assessment allowance, the book/data/online allowance and upwards adjustment of the continuous professional development allowance. 'Currently, our Collective Agreement has expired since August 2023 and all efforts to get the Employer on the negotiating table to agree on the new Collective Agreement have proved futile. We have been contemplating on 17 types of allowances, however, due to several considerations we have reduced them to four. 'Despite this gesture of good faith from the Unions, the government is still adamant and has demonstrated bad faith. This has oftentimes culminated in high level despondency and disaffection for leadership,' he said. He explained that the cu rrent economic hardships had had serious toll on the Ghanaian teacher in recent years and non-payment of the demanded allowances had further worsened their plights and called on stakeholders in the education sector to support their efforts. 'We have had to hang on the thin line with our members complaining bitterly. These complaints have become worse, especially as our members are reeling under the utter hardship imposed on us all by the current economic conditions in the country. 'We wish to emphasize that the last 24 months have been the most tortuous for the Ghanaian Teacher, with no ray of hope of relief initiated by the Employer', he added. The Regional Secretary underscored the significant role of teachers to the country's quest to achieving quality and universal access to education and underscored the need to pay attention to the welfare of teachers. 'We thus call on stakeholders to support our next line of action if the government fails to meet this deadline,' he said. Source: Ghana News Agency
MP warn foreigners, as EC opens limited voter registration exercise
Mr John Kwabena Bless Oti, the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Nkwanta North constituency has urged sympathisers of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), to be vigilant at registration centres. This, he said would prevent foreigners from participating in the limited voter registration exercise. The MP cautioned individuals under 18-years against participating in the ongoing limited voter registration exercise and called on all eligible voters to take advantage of the registration exercise by the Electoral Commission (EC) to get registered. He told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that registering and acquiring a voter ID card to vote in the December 2024 Presidential and Parliamentary elections was just a basic civic duty. The MP said the youth held immense power in Ghana's democracy and the ongoing limited voter registration exercise by the EC, was therefore an opportunity to start the process towards making their voices heard and shaping the future of the country. Mr Oti reminded the youth of the need to use their votes responsibly to demand accountability from leaders, which could only happen when they get their names onto the voter register, to enable them to participate effectively in the decision-making process of electing a leader. Source: Ghana News Agency
Voter registration exercise at Anyaa Sowutuom suffers technical hitch
The National Voters Registration exercise has suffered a technical hitch at the Anyaa Sowutuom Constituency in the Greater Accra region. The Electoral Commision (EC) officials say they are finding it difficult to log into the Commission's database to start the process. Although, the set up was in place by 0700 hours at the premises of the Ga Central Municipal Assembly EC office at Sowutuom in Accra, hundreds stood in a queue waiting. People who had thronged the two registration centres as early as 0600 hours to get registered but as of 1120 hours, no one had been registered. The situation caused many registrants to complain about the stalled process and nature of the exercise with others threatening to abandon the process because 'the EC was wasting our time.' 'We've have been here since 6am but we have only been made to fill the form. The sun is scotching but the tent and chairs provided by the EC can't provide the shelter we need. They haven't also explained the cause of the delay,' said Isaac Kwasi Of ori, one of the registrants. 'I brought my daughter who is now 18 years old to register. Up till now our names have not been captured. And we have waited for so long. I feel like giving up because the weather is so hot,' said Madam Harriet, a mother of two teenagers of voting age. Others who had filled their forms despite the delay waited eagerly for the technical hitch to be resolved. 'The process is too slow, but I have no choice but to wait. I want to vote in this year's election.' Saudatu Darpoh, who recently turned 18 years, told the GNA Mr Ofori, another 18-year-old, who sat next to Saudatu also said he would wait patiently to be captured on the electoral roll. However, the EC official in charge, Nana Esi Dadzie, said the issue was a nationwide problem which was being resolved. The EC on Tuesday, began a nationwide mass registration exercise to register new voters and replace missing voter IDs ahead of polls on December 7 this year The MCE of the Ga Central Municipal Assembly, Edward Ambrose Tseg ah, who visited to access the process calmed frustrated constituents, stating that the technical issue would be resolved. Present at the centres were officials from the two major parties: the NDC and NPP, who were keenly observing the process, particularly that of the new registrants. One of them, Al Khali Abdul Rafah, blamed the NCCE for not sensitizing new voters on the 22 -day exercise. 'The NCCE has failed in its mandate to offer adequate education on voters' civic rights, so I was here to guide some of the prospective voters,' he said. The NDCs parliamentary candidate for the Anyaa Sowutuom, Mr Emmanuel Adotey Allotey, also visited the premises to observe the process. The limited voter registration exercise is set to last for 21 days. In the Anyaa Sowutuom Constituency RCs office, a staff strength of ten are supervising the process. Source: Ghana News Agency
Asante-Akim South: Power outage, network challenges impede limited registration exercise
The first day of the limited registration exercise across the country by the Electoral Commission (EC) was fraught with a combination of power outage and network challenges in the Asante-Akim South Municipality. The commencement of the exercise which was held at the Municipal office of the Commission delayed due to power outage, leaving registration officials, party agents, and prospective registrants helpless. When power was finally restored, the registration could still not proceed due to a nationwide network challenge. Despite hundreds of people mostly brought to the registration centre by political parties, operators of the Biometric Verification Devices (BVDs) were sitting idle when the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the centre. Other registration officials were however filling the forms of prospective registrants as they waited for the network to improve. There was, however, spontaneous excitement among all stakeholders at the centre when the network was restored at exactly 1202 hours Some of the party agents who spoke to the GNA, said they were satisfied with the arrangements for the exercise. They however, entreated the EC to find a lasting solution to the network problem which they said was crucial to the general election on December 7. Mrs. Franca Dei Yeboah, the Municipal Director of EC, said but for the network challenge, her team was set to attend to the prospective registrants without delay. She projected that, at least 120 people would be registered daily all things being equal and called for the cooperation of all stakeholders for a successful exercise. To ensure proximity of the exercise to the people, Mrs. Yeboah said a mobile team would visit three communities during the three-week exercise to register them. She said the team would spend two days each at Kyempo, Dampong and Breku to allow those who could not travel to the Municipal office to get their names on the register. Source: Ghana News Agency