Day: May 12, 2023

Ms. Felicia Adjei, a National Democratic Congress (NDC) aspiring parliamentary candidate for Kintampo South has expressed worry about the poor parenting the constituency.

She claimed that paradoxically most parents had neglected their responsibilities and rather focused on material wealth acquisition, saying the situation was a threat to the holistic growth of children, especially girl-children in the area.

Ms. Adjei was speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Jema, the constituency capital, Bono East Region about the reason of her desire for re-election to parliament.

She noted most young boys and girls were being misled by the negative effects of social media and peer pressure due to poor parenting resulting from lack of having enough time to monitor and supervise the day-to-day activities of their children.

Ms. Adjei consequently blamed the increase in teenage pregnancy on forced child-marriage and other social vices militating against the general good of girl-children in the area.

He said the failure of stakeholders such as the local religious bodies, parents and teachers to strategically play their roles in preparing those young ones for responsible lives in future.

The ex-parliamentarian stated she was therefore seeking for the nod of the party’s delegates in the upcoming primaries and proceed with effective campaign to recapture the seat from the New Patriotic Party in the Election 2024 to enable her to lead in addressing those social challenges to create a path of promising future for the young boys and girls in the area.

Source: Ghana News Agency

European Parliament (EP) adopted on Thursday, by a very large majority (536 votes in favor, 4 against, 18 abstentions), at an emergency resolution expressing concern about the significant deterioration of press freedom in Algeria since the Hirak protests in 2019 and the harassment of journalists.

With this resolution, the European Parliament urges the Algerian authorities to immediately release all those arbitrarily detained and charged for exercising their right to freedom of expression, including prominent journalist Ihsane El-Kadi.

Ihsane El-Kadi, a prominent Algerian journalist and manager of ‘Interface Médias’, one of the last independent media enterprises in Algeria, with the online outlets Radio M and Maghreb Emergent, was

arrested without a warrant the night of 23-24 December 2022.

On 2 April 2023 an Algerian court sentenced El-Kadi to five years’ imprisonment, of which two suspended, a fine of 700 million Algerian dinars, the dissolution of his media company and the confiscation of its assets following his conviction on unfounded charges of ‘receiving funds for political propaganda’ and ‘harming the security of the state’.

The resolution called on the Algerian authorities to amend security-related charges in the country’s Penal Code used to criminalise the right to freedom of expression.

It noted that, ever since the so-called Hirak protests in 2019, the situation of media freedom had taken a substantial turn for the worse in Algeria, with the authorities blocking more news sites and publications critical of the government.

The European Parliament called for the EU’s institutions and Member States to raise El-Kadi’s

case with Algeria’s authorities and openly condemn the crackdown on media freedom.

Parliament urged all EU institutions and member states to openly condemn the crackdown on media freedom in Algeria, while calling on the EU delegation and EU countries’ embassies on site to request access to imprisoned journalists and observe their trials.

Finally, MEPs want the Algerian authorities to guarantee visa and accreditation authorisation to foreign journalists and their freedom to operate.

Source: Ghana News Agency

The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), has underscored the urgent need to encourage marginalized persons to partake in this year’s district elections, to promote inclusive and participatory governance.

Mr Mawuli Agbenu, the Upper East Regional Director of the Commission, who made the call, noted that over the years, women and persons with disability had not been much involved in the district level elections due to their vulnerabilities.

He said the situation was worrying and defeated the principles of democratic governance and called on major stakeholders to work to remove barriers confronting them and support them to stand for leadership positions in the impending district and national elections to enhance good governance.

He was speaking to staff of the Upper East Regional Customs Division of the Ghana Revenue Authority as part of activities marking this year’s Constitution week, one of the Commission’s flagship programmes.

This year’s celebration was on the theme, ‘Thirty years of consolidating Constitutional democracy: building national cohesion through civic education and participation in local governance.’

Mr Agbenu said the 1992 Constitution had stood the test of time and outlived all previous Constitutions and all efforts must be made to ensure inclusive governance, to deepen the democratic credentials of the Constitution.

Generally, he said participation of women in the Ghanaian political space had been poor, adding that out of the 275 Members of Parliament in the current Parliament, only 40 were women, representing an insignificant number of the total women population in Ghana.

This, he said, was even worse in the district level elections as many people did not have interest in such elections and the situation had always led to low turnout but the Commission was determined to change the narrative.

‘We know there are lots of issues of socio-cultural beliefs and practices, finances among others hindering vulnerable people like women from contesting in elections and we are intensifying education to encourage more people to show interest in district level elections and support more women this year.

‘We are also calling on the Parliament to pass into law the Affirmative Action Bill which has been in Parliament since 1999 to encourage more women into politics,’ he said.

On the threats of terrorism from the Sahelian region to the peace and security of Ghana, the Regional Director noted that conflicts between communities and herdsmen were major breeding grounds for terrorists to attack the country.

He said the border communities needed to be sensitized on the protocols on transhuman protocols of the Economic Community of West African States and urged the Customs Division who worked at the borders to help educate the residents to ensure peace among the people.

Mr Samuel Owusu, the Upper East Regional Sector Commander of the Customs Division, hauded the efforts of the NCCE for driving home civic education among Ghanaians and said the move would help consolidate the peace and security of the nation.

He said the Customs Division in the region was working with other security agencies to ensure the borders of Ghana were properly manned to prevent any spillover of the activities of the terrorists into the country.

Source: Ghana News Agency

Mr. Yohane Amarh Ashitey, Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, has advocated an innovative approach to addressing blood shortages in the metropolis.

As a result, he urged traditional authorities, religious leaders, business bodies, educational institutions, health officials, and other stakeholders to collaborate to encourage more people to donate blood willingly.

During an Annual Performance Review at the Assembly’s ordinary meeting in Tema, Mr Ashitey remarked that frequent blood donation was critical to filling blood banks, especially for emergency situations, and raised concern over people’s refusal to donate blood to save lives.

In response to the Tema Health Directorate’s call for blood donations, the TMA MCE stated that the assembly will work with other stakeholders to organize blood donations to stock the blood bank.

He stated that the TMA staff and assembly members would set a good example by organizing a blood donation drive in partnership with the Tema General Hospital.

In a related development, Mr Ashitey added that the implementation of the 2022-2025 Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) was also on schedule, with 23 per cent of the overall activities in the 2022-2025 Medium Term Development Plan completed by the end of December 2022.

He indicated that 23 per cent fell short of a 25 per cent target for 2022, with 86 per cent as a baseline in 2021.

Mr Ashitey pledged that the Assembly, in collaboration with Assembly Members, Civil Society Organizations, and other stakeholders, will ensure that the Medium-Term Development Plan is implemented in a way that accelerates the metropolis’s progressive expansion.

He also stated that his organization’s ongoing efforts to attract public-private partnerships (PPP) to address developmental gaps would continue unabated and that the Assembly was ready to provide the necessary facilitation with corporate institutions and individuals through PPP to address the city’s developmental gaps.

Meanwhile, Ms Priscilla Aboagye-Mensah, an Officer at the Reproductive Health and Child Unit at the Tema General Hospital, noted that most pregnant women develop anaemia during pregnancy, which causes a shortage of blood during delivery.

She urged expectant women to visit antenatal clinics on a regular basis and to follow the advice of health officials to reduce maternal mortality in the country.

According to Ms Aboagye-Mensah, 25 maternal deaths happened in 2021, with 23 occurrences occurring in 2022, the maternal mortality ratio for the period was 286 per 100,000 live births, compared to 294 in 2021.

Source: Ghana News Agency