Day: April 20, 2023

Mrs. Patience Ami Mamattah, Ashaiman Municipal Director of Health, has disclosed that the directorate in 2022 initiated and sustained various interventions and strategies that helped improve health service access and delivery in the municipality.

Mrs. Mamattah revealed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Ashaiman after the Municipal Health Directorate was adjudged the second-best performing health district in the Greater Accra Region out of 29.

She said setting clear targets for staff and ensuring management provided enablement to facilitate performance were key to its strategies during the year under review.

She also stated that frank talks with staff were also held periodically, in addition to giving required feedback on issues at stake, adding that another key strategy was the continuous flow of information among staff coupled with intermittent data review and validation among others.

According to her, she and the team celebrated the small gains and successes with the staff openly to encourage the positive behaviour they desired.

The Ashaiman Municipal Director also indicated that good documentation practices were also a priority of the directorate, adding that leadership and teamwork were key and essential to achieving their targets.

“Our staff has a strong sense of responsibility and takes ownership of their work by constantly seeking tailor-made creative solutions to address the everyday challenges that we face in the course of our work to meet our client’s needs and satisfy them, including the communities we serve,” she stressed.

Touching on their challenges, Mrs. Mamattah said even though they were enormous, she and her team kept pressing on.

She however appealed to the public and organizations to support the staff with basic medical equipment like BP apparatuses and other needed equipment to undertake home visits to help reduce hypertension among residents, which she stated was a major problem in the municipality.

She expressed appreciation to all for their support while calling on others to join in augmenting their committed efforts to provide quality health care in the municipality.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Fans of Blu Nations singer, Tzy Panchak, are split over his new song ‘Self-made’. These criticisms come as a result of the featuring of a masquerade being kissed by a girl whom they said was poorly dressed.

The song also features artists like Vivid, Cleo Grea, J Kree, Vancy and Phido has been in the spotlight also given that the masquerade is seen in the video clip of the song displaying a bottle of alcoholic wine.

According to some fans, it is taboo and disrespectful to the African tradition and culture of the people of the North West Region in particular.

“It is a disgrace and traditionally it’s not right. For a masquerade to even drink water and talkless of alcohol, is something else. A masquerade kissing or being kissed by a lady half naked, that’s totally bad and not portraying perhaps what he meant” Fur Gilfort, expressed frustration in a comment.

“If that’s something from Nso then it is not the Nso I am from. A masquerade is something sacred, it is something ladies are not even allowed to come close to talk less of kissing, it’s a taboo, an abomination. If she does that and stays alive then it’s a miracle” Another fan, Mbiydzenyuy Unique, added.

Going by CY Mukolah, Tzy Panchak has through his new song shown total disrespect, “it’s quite a good song but a wrong video direction not just the acts of displaying the almighty “Kama Kam” in an afro song video if it’s cultural music, maybe but this is wrong. In which African country do you see people kissing their masquerades, who does that? It’s totally wrong, let’s learn to respect our culture” he noted.

“This is not funny at all, we all are Africans and as true Africans especially from Cameroon, Northwest Region for that matter we know how these things work, Women don’t even go closer to such not to talk hugging and kissing who does that ?” He continued.

On the other hand, some other fans see nothing wrong with the song and are attributing the criticisms to envy and jealousy.

“You all should leave Tzy Pancack alone, all the juju that drink and get drunk on daily bases, is he the one that gives them these drinks? The guy is a big boy and nothing will bring him down. Those talking rubbish are not real fans and followers but just noise makers” a fan said.

Recently, US rapper Rick Ross on his Instagram live session promised a collaboration with Tzy Pancack and has put in $10,000 for the ‘Self-made’ challenge.

CNA reached out to the Blu Nations management on this issue, they said “We have decided as a team not to say or make any formal or informal statement pertaining to the issue at hand. Thanks in anticipation for your comprehension”.

Source: Cameroon News Agency

The Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development has started a pilot deployment of an Electronic Monitoring System (EMS) on industrial trawlers as part of measures to sustain Ghana’s fisheries.

Madam Hawa Koomson, Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, who launched the exercise, said the six-month pilot project would be carried out on three vessels volunteered by the Ghana Industrial Trawlers Association (GITA).

Madam Koomson said the pilot project was funded and technically supported, respectively, by the USAID-sponsored Ghana Fisheries Recovery Activity (GERA) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) at a cost of USD$250,000.

Madam Koomson said the EMS would be fully installed on all the licensed industrial trawlers and Tuna vessels in Ghana by December 2025.

She said that even though a total of 74 trawlers have been registered by the Ministry, currently only 30 have had their licenses renewed.

She said during the pilot project, other activities would include the establishment of the monitoring and control centre, training of Fisheries Commission officers in handling, deployment of EMS equipment, and analysis of EMS data.

She said the deployment of the EMS on the industrial trawlers would help to monitor the activities of pirates and check Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing practices, transshipment at sea between trawlers and artisanal canoes, and the use of illegally modified gears to catch small pelagic fish and juvenile fish as bycatch and the dumping of fish at sea by the trawlers.

The EMS, she said, used onboard video cameras, the Global Positioning System (GPS), and sensors to automatically track and verify fishing activities on board fishing vessels, adding that the data and information collected from the EMS could be used to monitor and enhance compliance with available regulations.

The Fisheries Minister expressed the expectation that the EMS would complement existing measures being implemented by the Ministry, such as the Ministerial Directive on Trawl Gear, the application of VMS and AIS, port inspections, and the Observer programme.

She added that it would also improve transparency and provide better oversight for Ghana to discharge its flag-state responsibility.

Mr. Steve Adzokatse, the President of the Ghana Industrial Trawlers Association, expressed their support for the programme to help fight IUU as well as sustain the country’s dwindling fisheries.

Mr. Adzokatse however called on the Ministry to collaborate with them and share needed information with them to ensure the success of the monitoring programme.

Source: Ghana News Agency