THE Poultry Farmers Association of Ghana has welcomed the government’s intervention for the revival of the domestic poultry industry, saying its success or failure will depend on how the provisions in the 2010 budget are given a practical implementation.
Responding to the government’s projections in the budget for revamping the industry, the President of the association, Mr Kenneth Quartey, pointed out that “everything will depend on how the objectives stated in the budget are implemented”.
He said the long period during which imported poultry products were dumped on Ghana had eroded both the fixed and working capitals of many of the members of the association, to the extent that there was the need for a special package to help them revamp the sector.
Presenting the budget in Parliament on Wednesday, the Minister of Finance and Economic Planning placed a heavy premium on agriculture and touched on the government’s objective of seeing to it that Ghana was able to meet the domestic demand for fish and poultry by the year 2012.
Dr Duffuor observed that the government was aware of the threats posed by the indiscriminate dumping of goods and services on the country, thereby making domestic production uncompetitive, adding that even in sectors such as food and agriculture where the country had comparative advantage, indiscriminate importation had robbed it of the benefits of domestic production.
To cut down on imports of poultry and fish into the country, the Finance Minister hinted that the government would levy duties on those imports and support local production, adding that “the target is that Ghana should be able to meet the domestic demand for fish and poultry by the year 2012”.
“The government will also assist poultry farmers to acquire equipment, chicken feed, chemicals and other inputs to enable them to undertake large-scale chicken production in the country,” he pointed out.
Lauding the measures, Mr Quartey said Ghanaian farmers were capable of feeding the nation, provided they were given the right push and incentives, adding that before the market became flooded with foreign products, it was the local farmers who provided for the local market.
He reiterated that the assistance being promised by the government should include a special package which could help farmers to be strong on their feet to deliver, not short-term loans which members could not afford to repay.
He explained that if poultry farmers were assisted with loans with high interest rates from commercial banks, they might not be able to turn it round to make the needed impact.
In addition, he said, since the sector had gone down for such a long time, it would take some time for it to really come up to an appreciable level, adding, “The situation cannot change overnight.”
Friday, November 20, 2009
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Budget lacks ambition -NPP (Spread)
HE Minority Spokesman on Finance, Dr Anthony Akoto Osei, has described the 2010 budget as one lacking ambition in terms of spurring economic growth.
He said that was not surprising, considering the government’s dealings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Dr Akoto Osei, who is the Minority Spokesman on Finance, explained that by committing itself to IMF programmes, the NDC government had been very limited in terms of its ambitions for economic growth.
He said that was not surprising, considering the government’s dealings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Dr Akoto Osei, who is the Minority Spokesman on Finance, explained that by committing itself to IMF programmes, the NDC government had been very limited in terms of its ambitions for economic growth.
“In an IMF programme, if you get too ambitious, the economy will collapse,” he stated.
He explained further that with the IMF model, growth is residual and rather the emphasis was on stabilisation and “tightening the belt”.
He, however, said growth was critical, stressing that an over-bearing emphasis on the reduction of deficit was not healthy.
“Economic management is not just about deficit reduction. If you tighten up too much, you go into a recession. For a social democratic government, they have to ask themselves “where are we getting ourselves into?”
He said the restoration of import duties on food items such as rice and wheat gave an indication that the government needed revenue to meet its targets.
He said an NPP government would not have gone to the IMF, adding that the recognition of the need to promote growth had prompted the NPP to get out of the IMF programme in 2006.
He said it was important the government adopted measures to protect domestic production of food items but cautioned that care must be taken when putting taxes on imported stable foods in order not to make them too expensive for the ordinary person.
However, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, who was one-time Minister of Finance and Economic Planning in the Kufuor regime, said he is impressed with the government’s attempt at using the 2010 budget to stabilise the cedi against the major foreign currencies.
Mr Osafo-Maafo, however, said the budget did not come up with strategies to raise domestic revenue, which, he said, had dropped.
On his part, the Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Mr James Klutse Avedzi disagreed with the views of Dr Akoto Osei, stressing that the government was on the right track.
He said when the government assumed power this year, there were so many undisclosed arrears, which they became aware of in the course of the year.
He said the growth rate of 6.5 per cent targeted for 2010 was realistic, stressing that there was no point in setting targets that could not be attained.
Mr Avedzi said because of the global economic recession, average growth in the world was between two and three per cent, hence 6.5 per cent growth was ambitious enough.
On the restoration of the import duties on some food items such as rice and wheat, Mr Avedzi explained that the NPP government created a mess by removing those taxes.
He said the idea was that the reduction in prices would be passed on to the consumers but that had not been the case as the middlemen were rather the beneficiaries.
A former Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, said this year’s budget did not come up with anything new apart from the introduction of taxes and tariffs on food items, which the previous government withdrew, as well as few areas where costs were going to be cut.
Mr Agyeman-Manu, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dormaa West, said without any knowledge of the volume of local rice production, the government was rushing to cut down on importation of rice, which was considered a stable food in Ghana.
He also said there was also no single statement in the budget to encourage workers to do more apart from the old issue of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), whose implementation period had elapsed.
“All the social interventions which the Finance Minister talked about were introduced by the NPP. He was forced to continue with them because they had already begun,” he stated.
The MP for Akwatia, Dr Kofi Asare, said he did not hear anything significant being said about the health sector, adding that if the highlights of the budget was anything to go by, then it was tantamount to collapsing the health sector.
The MP for Juabeso, Mr Sampson Ahi, was in full support of the government’s intention of re-introducing tariffs on imported rice so as to encourage local production, adding that it could help increase employment locally.
Mr Ahi also expressed gratitude to the government for giving indication that it would pay bonuses to cocoa farmers and also on time.
For his part, the NDC MP for Sege, Mr Alfred Abayeteye, said that the 2010 budget would put things right for effective growth.
He called on Ghanaians to be nationalistic and rally behind the government to achieve the laudable goals set in the budget.
“This is not the time to share blame. All hands should be on deck for the betterment of Ghana,” he said.
The NDC MP for Nadowli West, Mr Mathias Puozaa, is a rural-friendly budget since all the initiatives set out would enhance the living standards of the rural folks.
He mentioned policies under the agriculture and education sectors as clear indications of the government’s intention to better the lot of rural people.
He said that was not surprising, considering the government’s dealings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Dr Akoto Osei, who is the Minority Spokesman on Finance, explained that by committing itself to IMF programmes, the NDC government had been very limited in terms of its ambitions for economic growth.
He said that was not surprising, considering the government’s dealings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Dr Akoto Osei, who is the Minority Spokesman on Finance, explained that by committing itself to IMF programmes, the NDC government had been very limited in terms of its ambitions for economic growth.
“In an IMF programme, if you get too ambitious, the economy will collapse,” he stated.
He explained further that with the IMF model, growth is residual and rather the emphasis was on stabilisation and “tightening the belt”.
He, however, said growth was critical, stressing that an over-bearing emphasis on the reduction of deficit was not healthy.
“Economic management is not just about deficit reduction. If you tighten up too much, you go into a recession. For a social democratic government, they have to ask themselves “where are we getting ourselves into?”
He said the restoration of import duties on food items such as rice and wheat gave an indication that the government needed revenue to meet its targets.
He said an NPP government would not have gone to the IMF, adding that the recognition of the need to promote growth had prompted the NPP to get out of the IMF programme in 2006.
He said it was important the government adopted measures to protect domestic production of food items but cautioned that care must be taken when putting taxes on imported stable foods in order not to make them too expensive for the ordinary person.
However, Mr Yaw Osafo-Maafo, who was one-time Minister of Finance and Economic Planning in the Kufuor regime, said he is impressed with the government’s attempt at using the 2010 budget to stabilise the cedi against the major foreign currencies.
Mr Osafo-Maafo, however, said the budget did not come up with strategies to raise domestic revenue, which, he said, had dropped.
On his part, the Chairman of the Finance Committee of Parliament, Mr James Klutse Avedzi disagreed with the views of Dr Akoto Osei, stressing that the government was on the right track.
He said when the government assumed power this year, there were so many undisclosed arrears, which they became aware of in the course of the year.
He said the growth rate of 6.5 per cent targeted for 2010 was realistic, stressing that there was no point in setting targets that could not be attained.
Mr Avedzi said because of the global economic recession, average growth in the world was between two and three per cent, hence 6.5 per cent growth was ambitious enough.
On the restoration of the import duties on some food items such as rice and wheat, Mr Avedzi explained that the NPP government created a mess by removing those taxes.
He said the idea was that the reduction in prices would be passed on to the consumers but that had not been the case as the middlemen were rather the beneficiaries.
A former Deputy Minister of Finance, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, said this year’s budget did not come up with anything new apart from the introduction of taxes and tariffs on food items, which the previous government withdrew, as well as few areas where costs were going to be cut.
Mr Agyeman-Manu, who is also the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dormaa West, said without any knowledge of the volume of local rice production, the government was rushing to cut down on importation of rice, which was considered a stable food in Ghana.
He also said there was also no single statement in the budget to encourage workers to do more apart from the old issue of the Single Spine Salary Structure (SSSS), whose implementation period had elapsed.
“All the social interventions which the Finance Minister talked about were introduced by the NPP. He was forced to continue with them because they had already begun,” he stated.
The MP for Akwatia, Dr Kofi Asare, said he did not hear anything significant being said about the health sector, adding that if the highlights of the budget was anything to go by, then it was tantamount to collapsing the health sector.
The MP for Juabeso, Mr Sampson Ahi, was in full support of the government’s intention of re-introducing tariffs on imported rice so as to encourage local production, adding that it could help increase employment locally.
Mr Ahi also expressed gratitude to the government for giving indication that it would pay bonuses to cocoa farmers and also on time.
For his part, the NDC MP for Sege, Mr Alfred Abayeteye, said that the 2010 budget would put things right for effective growth.
He called on Ghanaians to be nationalistic and rally behind the government to achieve the laudable goals set in the budget.
“This is not the time to share blame. All hands should be on deck for the betterment of Ghana,” he said.
The NDC MP for Nadowli West, Mr Mathias Puozaa, is a rural-friendly budget since all the initiatives set out would enhance the living standards of the rural folks.
He mentioned policies under the agriculture and education sectors as clear indications of the government’s intention to better the lot of rural people.
Shop owners, Tata bus drivers heading for collusion (Metro Page)
SHOP owners along the Kaneshie main road have appealed to the city authorities to stop trotro drivers from parking in front of their shops.
The traders who operate along the road between the Kaneshie First Light and the first overhead bridge opposite the Kaneshie Market Complex said they were gradually becoming bankrupt because the buses prevented customers from seeing and buying their wares.
The traders, who deal mainly in hardware, building materials, stationery, toiletries, electrical appliances, cement and household wares, complained about the hostile attitude of the drivers who were making life unbearable for them.
In separate interviews with the traders, many of them told the Daily Graphic that they were being frustrated by the drivers hence their plea to the city authorities through the media.
“My sister, we find it difficult to understand why the city guards allow these buses to park all day along the road but move in quickly to clamp smaller vehicles whose drivers park to buy from us. Is it a way of preventing us from getting our daily bread?”, 26-year-old Joojo queried.
According to the traders, those long Tata buses used to park near the second bridge near Mpamprom until last June when a heavy downpour in Accra destroyed that portion of the road.
They said the drivers moved to the present location with the excuse that they would move back after the road had been rehabilitated but had failed to do so months after the rehabilitation work has been completed.
The traders complained that apart from blocking their wares from prospective buyers, the bus drivers and their mates also use the road as a dumping site where they off-loaded refuse from the buses onto the street each morning.
In addition, the traders alleged that the drivers and their mates used the road as their bathroom where they wash down each morning and also clean their vehicles.
A dealer in hardware, 32-year-old Mr Martin Korle, told the Daily Graphic that the attitude of the drivers was making them lose customers which should not be allowed to continue now that Christmas was approaching.
Another trader alleged that the issue had been reported to the Kaneshie police but no action had been taken on the matter.
A dealer in cosmetics who is known only as Connie said her sales had dropped to about 60 per cent since the buses began parking in front of her shop.
She said if the trend continued, she and many of the shop owners might find it difficult to pay their taxes and loans they had contracted from the banks.
A gentleman who trades in paint said that few days ago, a truck pusher who asked a driver to park well to enable him load some items from a shop had his head hit with a a metal by a driver’s mate on one of the buses.
Auntie Yaa, one of the traders, said the earlier the city authorities found a solution to the problem, the better since they could not continue to look on unconcerned as the drivers prevented them from making sales.
“We might end up organising street protests if nothing is done about the situation. Our businesses are going down gradually and no one seems to care”, she lamented.
“The other time one of the drivers picked a fight with one of the shop owners here and it took the intervention of passers-by to avert bloodshed”, another trader told this reporter.
A visit to the area revealed that the way the buses were parked, sometimes extending to the middle of the road, contributed significantly to the heavy traffic situation on the road.
At about 9.30 am today when the Daily Graphic visited the place, about 10 long buses were seen parked close to the other, preventing anybody who would want to walk to any of the shops from doing so.
There was no way any vehicle could park to buy from any of the shops since the whole area was already congested with those long Tata buses.
In one of the buses, this writer saw a young man pouring out what looked like urine through a small opening on the side of the bus onto the road.
The traders who operate along the road between the Kaneshie First Light and the first overhead bridge opposite the Kaneshie Market Complex said they were gradually becoming bankrupt because the buses prevented customers from seeing and buying their wares.
The traders, who deal mainly in hardware, building materials, stationery, toiletries, electrical appliances, cement and household wares, complained about the hostile attitude of the drivers who were making life unbearable for them.
In separate interviews with the traders, many of them told the Daily Graphic that they were being frustrated by the drivers hence their plea to the city authorities through the media.
“My sister, we find it difficult to understand why the city guards allow these buses to park all day along the road but move in quickly to clamp smaller vehicles whose drivers park to buy from us. Is it a way of preventing us from getting our daily bread?”, 26-year-old Joojo queried.
According to the traders, those long Tata buses used to park near the second bridge near Mpamprom until last June when a heavy downpour in Accra destroyed that portion of the road.
They said the drivers moved to the present location with the excuse that they would move back after the road had been rehabilitated but had failed to do so months after the rehabilitation work has been completed.
The traders complained that apart from blocking their wares from prospective buyers, the bus drivers and their mates also use the road as a dumping site where they off-loaded refuse from the buses onto the street each morning.
In addition, the traders alleged that the drivers and their mates used the road as their bathroom where they wash down each morning and also clean their vehicles.
A dealer in hardware, 32-year-old Mr Martin Korle, told the Daily Graphic that the attitude of the drivers was making them lose customers which should not be allowed to continue now that Christmas was approaching.
Another trader alleged that the issue had been reported to the Kaneshie police but no action had been taken on the matter.
A dealer in cosmetics who is known only as Connie said her sales had dropped to about 60 per cent since the buses began parking in front of her shop.
She said if the trend continued, she and many of the shop owners might find it difficult to pay their taxes and loans they had contracted from the banks.
A gentleman who trades in paint said that few days ago, a truck pusher who asked a driver to park well to enable him load some items from a shop had his head hit with a a metal by a driver’s mate on one of the buses.
Auntie Yaa, one of the traders, said the earlier the city authorities found a solution to the problem, the better since they could not continue to look on unconcerned as the drivers prevented them from making sales.
“We might end up organising street protests if nothing is done about the situation. Our businesses are going down gradually and no one seems to care”, she lamented.
“The other time one of the drivers picked a fight with one of the shop owners here and it took the intervention of passers-by to avert bloodshed”, another trader told this reporter.
A visit to the area revealed that the way the buses were parked, sometimes extending to the middle of the road, contributed significantly to the heavy traffic situation on the road.
At about 9.30 am today when the Daily Graphic visited the place, about 10 long buses were seen parked close to the other, preventing anybody who would want to walk to any of the shops from doing so.
There was no way any vehicle could park to buy from any of the shops since the whole area was already congested with those long Tata buses.
In one of the buses, this writer saw a young man pouring out what looked like urine through a small opening on the side of the bus onto the road.
2010 Budget Statement-PUSH FOR AGRIC (Front Page)
AGRICULTURE, with emphasis on the local production of rice, fish, poultry and livestock, has been handed a massive impetus in the government’s 2010 budget and financial statement.
The measures, as contained in the budget statement read by the Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, in Parliament yesterday, included the restoration of duties on imported rice, wheat, yellow maize and vegetable oil which were removed during the food crisis of 2008.
With an overall objective to modernise agriculture, the budget introduced a number of initiatives to also change the face of rural Ghana, increase the scale of production and productivity, enhance food security, create employment opportunities and cut down on the use of foreign exchange for food imports.
“The target is that Ghana should be able to meet the domestic demand for fish and poultry by the year 2012,” it said.
“The strategy to replace hoes and cutlasses, as the main implements of production, with tractors, power tillers and bullock ploughs still remains in place,” Dr Duffuor said.
He indicated that the government would promote large-scale public-private commercial framing, provide agricultural machinery and equipment, enhance their distribution and provide resources to rehabilitate irrigation schemes, particularly the Tono and Vea Irrigation schemes.
Throwing more light on the issue, the Finance Minister said the project would be supported by the standardisation and improvement in the quality of seeds, double the production of millet and sorghum by 2012, as well as double the cultivation of vegetables and provide training to increase technology and the knowledge content of aspects of food crop value chain.
He stated that the government was aware of the threats posed by the indiscriminate dumping of goods and services in the country, thereby making domestic production uncompetitive, adding that even in sectors such as food and agriculture where the country had competitive advantage, indiscriminate importation had robbed it of the benefits of domestic production.
To cut down on imports of poultry and fish into the country, Dr Duffuor hinted that the government would levy duties on those imports and support local production, adding that “the target is that Ghana should be able to meet the domestic demand for fish and poultry by the year 2012”.
He stated that to ensure that the target was achieved, the government would support farmers through the provision of standardised and quality rice seedlings, machinery and equipment, chemicals and fertilisers and also look at the issue of high cost of production attributable mainly to the high interest rates charged by commercial banks.
In addition, he said it would, as a matter of importance, support fish production by constructing fish landing sites and cold stores in the main fishing towns along the coast, as well as supply high-powered outboard motors to fishermen.
“The government will also assist poultry farmers to acquire equipment, chicken feed, chemicals and other inputs to enable them to undertake large-scale chicken production in the country,” he pointed out.
On cocoa production, Dr Duffuor said the government was looking at hitting 1,000,000 metric tonnes by 2012, adding that that was why it was encouraging cocoa farmers by paying 71.1 per cent of the net FOB value for cocoa exports for the 2009/2010 season.
“This translates to GH¢2,208 per tonne, compared to the GH¢1,632 per tonne paid during the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration in the 2008/2009 season,” he said.
He added that the government had also directed that bonuses totalling GH¢50 million for the 2008/2009 main crop season should be paid in two instalments to farmers: 50 per cent in November 2009 and the remaining 50 per cent in April and May 2010.
The Finance Minister further stated that in October this year the government provided seed money of GH¢15 million for the establishment of the Cocoa Farmers Social Security Fund, adding that it would continue to support the implementation of the Special Cocoa Farmers Housing Scheme, the mass spraying of cocoa farms, improvement in road condition in cocoa growing areas and the replanting and rehabilitation of old cocoa farms in the Eastern, Ashanti and Western regions.
“These interventions, we hope, will provide enough incentives to farmers to step up production to meet the target of 1,000,000 tonnes in 2012,” he stated
Dr Duffuor also touched on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Ganges Jute West Africa Limited and COCOBOD for the establishment of a jute factory in Kumasi and said the government would provide all the needed support for the implementation of the project without delay.
He said the government would support CALF Cocoa, a cocoa processing facility which he described as the largest in the region, to take off to enable it to contribute to the economic growth of the country.
The measures, as contained in the budget statement read by the Finance Minister, Dr Kwabena Duffuor, in Parliament yesterday, included the restoration of duties on imported rice, wheat, yellow maize and vegetable oil which were removed during the food crisis of 2008.
With an overall objective to modernise agriculture, the budget introduced a number of initiatives to also change the face of rural Ghana, increase the scale of production and productivity, enhance food security, create employment opportunities and cut down on the use of foreign exchange for food imports.
“The target is that Ghana should be able to meet the domestic demand for fish and poultry by the year 2012,” it said.
“The strategy to replace hoes and cutlasses, as the main implements of production, with tractors, power tillers and bullock ploughs still remains in place,” Dr Duffuor said.
He indicated that the government would promote large-scale public-private commercial framing, provide agricultural machinery and equipment, enhance their distribution and provide resources to rehabilitate irrigation schemes, particularly the Tono and Vea Irrigation schemes.
Throwing more light on the issue, the Finance Minister said the project would be supported by the standardisation and improvement in the quality of seeds, double the production of millet and sorghum by 2012, as well as double the cultivation of vegetables and provide training to increase technology and the knowledge content of aspects of food crop value chain.
He stated that the government was aware of the threats posed by the indiscriminate dumping of goods and services in the country, thereby making domestic production uncompetitive, adding that even in sectors such as food and agriculture where the country had competitive advantage, indiscriminate importation had robbed it of the benefits of domestic production.
To cut down on imports of poultry and fish into the country, Dr Duffuor hinted that the government would levy duties on those imports and support local production, adding that “the target is that Ghana should be able to meet the domestic demand for fish and poultry by the year 2012”.
He stated that to ensure that the target was achieved, the government would support farmers through the provision of standardised and quality rice seedlings, machinery and equipment, chemicals and fertilisers and also look at the issue of high cost of production attributable mainly to the high interest rates charged by commercial banks.
In addition, he said it would, as a matter of importance, support fish production by constructing fish landing sites and cold stores in the main fishing towns along the coast, as well as supply high-powered outboard motors to fishermen.
“The government will also assist poultry farmers to acquire equipment, chicken feed, chemicals and other inputs to enable them to undertake large-scale chicken production in the country,” he pointed out.
On cocoa production, Dr Duffuor said the government was looking at hitting 1,000,000 metric tonnes by 2012, adding that that was why it was encouraging cocoa farmers by paying 71.1 per cent of the net FOB value for cocoa exports for the 2009/2010 season.
“This translates to GH¢2,208 per tonne, compared to the GH¢1,632 per tonne paid during the New Patriotic Party (NPP) administration in the 2008/2009 season,” he said.
He added that the government had also directed that bonuses totalling GH¢50 million for the 2008/2009 main crop season should be paid in two instalments to farmers: 50 per cent in November 2009 and the remaining 50 per cent in April and May 2010.
The Finance Minister further stated that in October this year the government provided seed money of GH¢15 million for the establishment of the Cocoa Farmers Social Security Fund, adding that it would continue to support the implementation of the Special Cocoa Farmers Housing Scheme, the mass spraying of cocoa farms, improvement in road condition in cocoa growing areas and the replanting and rehabilitation of old cocoa farms in the Eastern, Ashanti and Western regions.
“These interventions, we hope, will provide enough incentives to farmers to step up production to meet the target of 1,000,000 tonnes in 2012,” he stated
Dr Duffuor also touched on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between Ganges Jute West Africa Limited and COCOBOD for the establishment of a jute factory in Kumasi and said the government would provide all the needed support for the implementation of the project without delay.
He said the government would support CALF Cocoa, a cocoa processing facility which he described as the largest in the region, to take off to enable it to contribute to the economic growth of the country.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Health summit underway - To strategise for future (Health Page)
Stakeholders in the health sector are attending a five-day summit to map the way forward and renew their commitment towards improving the country’s health care delivery.
With the theme; “Going beyond strategy to action”, the health summit, which is a bi-annual event within the health sector, will provide the Ministry of Health (MoH), its agencies, development partners, civil society and other stakeholders the opportunity to dialogue, reflect on their performance and strategise for the future.
Opening the summit, the Minister of Health designate, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, said the Mental Health Services and the National Ambulance Services are to benefit from a financial package from the government to support their activities.
Out of the package, the Mental Health Services will receive GH¢1.3 million while the National Ambulance Service will be a beneficiary of GH¢ 3.3 million to scale up their operations.
To expand the Community Based Health Planning and Services Programme (CHPS), there is also an initial allocation of GH¢ 3.4 million under the HIPC Fund, the Government of Ghana and sector budgetary support.
Dr Benjamin Kunbuor expressed the hope that funds for the CHPS programme would go a long way in providing basic equipment to ensure more functional CHPS zones in deprived areas across the country.
He said since the government assumed office in January, this year, the summit had been the first major plan initiated within the health sector and was optimistic that the outcome of the summit would accelerate the implementation of the health programmes in the health sector.
Touching on some of the government’s promises, the minister mentioned the introduction of a one-time premium payment scheme under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), adding that the pledge was borne out of the need to ensure universal access to basic healthcare by all.
Dr Kunbuor, however, pointed out that the government intended to initiate a strategic and continued dialogue on the subject when all the required information was gathered to enable the health partners make inputs in the implementation.
Speaking on behalf of the development partners, the Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Stig Barlyng, said “Ghana is a champion in health, just as in soccer”.
He explained that the government spent more on health than other developing countries did, adding that the country was committed to reaching the Abuja target of 15 per cent GDP spent on health.
Mr Barlyng, however, pointed out that the results achieved in the health sector did not fully match the investment made and that some areas were still underserved, resulting in many maternal deaths and too many children dying or suffering from malnutrition.
In his welcoming address, the acting Chief Director of the MoH, Mr Samuel Boateng, said the theme for the event summed up the vision and disposition of the current leadership of the health sector whose focus was achieving results within the resource constraints.
The chairman for the function, Alhaji Dr Mustapha Ahmed, who is also the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, expressed the hope that the participants would come out with recommendations to help promote health care delivery in the years ahead.
With the theme; “Going beyond strategy to action”, the health summit, which is a bi-annual event within the health sector, will provide the Ministry of Health (MoH), its agencies, development partners, civil society and other stakeholders the opportunity to dialogue, reflect on their performance and strategise for the future.
Opening the summit, the Minister of Health designate, Dr Benjamin Kunbuor, said the Mental Health Services and the National Ambulance Services are to benefit from a financial package from the government to support their activities.
Out of the package, the Mental Health Services will receive GH¢1.3 million while the National Ambulance Service will be a beneficiary of GH¢ 3.3 million to scale up their operations.
To expand the Community Based Health Planning and Services Programme (CHPS), there is also an initial allocation of GH¢ 3.4 million under the HIPC Fund, the Government of Ghana and sector budgetary support.
Dr Benjamin Kunbuor expressed the hope that funds for the CHPS programme would go a long way in providing basic equipment to ensure more functional CHPS zones in deprived areas across the country.
He said since the government assumed office in January, this year, the summit had been the first major plan initiated within the health sector and was optimistic that the outcome of the summit would accelerate the implementation of the health programmes in the health sector.
Touching on some of the government’s promises, the minister mentioned the introduction of a one-time premium payment scheme under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), adding that the pledge was borne out of the need to ensure universal access to basic healthcare by all.
Dr Kunbuor, however, pointed out that the government intended to initiate a strategic and continued dialogue on the subject when all the required information was gathered to enable the health partners make inputs in the implementation.
Speaking on behalf of the development partners, the Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Stig Barlyng, said “Ghana is a champion in health, just as in soccer”.
He explained that the government spent more on health than other developing countries did, adding that the country was committed to reaching the Abuja target of 15 per cent GDP spent on health.
Mr Barlyng, however, pointed out that the results achieved in the health sector did not fully match the investment made and that some areas were still underserved, resulting in many maternal deaths and too many children dying or suffering from malnutrition.
In his welcoming address, the acting Chief Director of the MoH, Mr Samuel Boateng, said the theme for the event summed up the vision and disposition of the current leadership of the health sector whose focus was achieving results within the resource constraints.
The chairman for the function, Alhaji Dr Mustapha Ahmed, who is also the Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Health, expressed the hope that the participants would come out with recommendations to help promote health care delivery in the years ahead.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
TEWU to seek redress at Labour Commission
EXECUTIVES of the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) say they are preparing to lodge a complaint with the National Labour Commission (NLC) after their employers reneged on an agreement to pay their salary increments.
The General Secretary of TEWU, Mr Daniel Anim-Antwi, told the Daily Graphic that a 17 per cent salary increase for this year that should have been paid to members in two tranches from August did not materialise.
He said the government and the executives of TEWU had agreed that the arrears from January to July would be paid in two instalments, with the first being paid in September and the second in October, but no payment was made by the government in either month.
Local executives of TEWU, therefore, met a week ago and agreed to a resolution demanding full payment of the arrears in November and forwarded their concerns to their management, that is, the vice-chancellors of the universities.
Mr Anim-Antwi said no response had been had from the vice-chancellors, for which reason a meeting was held yesterday with their members to brief them on the development.
He stressed that the executives of TEWU had not declared any strike and that they expected their members to go back to work after the meeting.
To those who had not gone back to work, Mr Anim-Antwi said he had already appealed to them to continue working as normal, as the executives resorted to the options available to them to address their grievances.
In an interview, a source at the University of Ghana, Legon, said although there had not been an official declaration of a strike on the Legon campus, many of the workers had taken advantage of the situation to stay away from work.
The source, who would want to remain anonymous, said many of them reported for duty yesterday but refused to work as expected.
It said members of the union were expected to meet their executives today for a final decision on the matter.
Meanwhile, reports from the Kwame University of Science and Technology (KNUST) indicate that many of the workers who belong to TEWU failed to perform their duties yesterday.
Our Ashanti Regional correspondent, Kwame Asare Boadu, reports that academic work at KNUST was disrupted by the indefinite strike embarked upon by members of TEWU over unpaid salary arrears.
Critical areas, including faculty libraries, were locked as the members of TEWU stayed out of work.
That followed the expiry of a one-week ultimatum they gave to the government to pay their seven-month salary arrears.
On the KNUST campus, some of the workers wore red armbands and roamed about, chanting war songs.
A source at the College of Art and Social Sciences told the Daily Graphic, “They are not working. We don’t know what is going to happen in the coming days.”
According to some of the striking workers who spoke to this paper, the government had taken them for a ride for far too long and it was about time they reacted.
They insisted that they would return to work only when the arrears had been paid in full.
According to them, the government wanted to play tricks on them and that was why it had released just three months of the arrears owed them, adding that until everything was released, they would not get to work.
The General Secretary of TEWU, Mr Daniel Anim-Antwi, told the Daily Graphic that a 17 per cent salary increase for this year that should have been paid to members in two tranches from August did not materialise.
He said the government and the executives of TEWU had agreed that the arrears from January to July would be paid in two instalments, with the first being paid in September and the second in October, but no payment was made by the government in either month.
Local executives of TEWU, therefore, met a week ago and agreed to a resolution demanding full payment of the arrears in November and forwarded their concerns to their management, that is, the vice-chancellors of the universities.
Mr Anim-Antwi said no response had been had from the vice-chancellors, for which reason a meeting was held yesterday with their members to brief them on the development.
He stressed that the executives of TEWU had not declared any strike and that they expected their members to go back to work after the meeting.
To those who had not gone back to work, Mr Anim-Antwi said he had already appealed to them to continue working as normal, as the executives resorted to the options available to them to address their grievances.
In an interview, a source at the University of Ghana, Legon, said although there had not been an official declaration of a strike on the Legon campus, many of the workers had taken advantage of the situation to stay away from work.
The source, who would want to remain anonymous, said many of them reported for duty yesterday but refused to work as expected.
It said members of the union were expected to meet their executives today for a final decision on the matter.
Meanwhile, reports from the Kwame University of Science and Technology (KNUST) indicate that many of the workers who belong to TEWU failed to perform their duties yesterday.
Our Ashanti Regional correspondent, Kwame Asare Boadu, reports that academic work at KNUST was disrupted by the indefinite strike embarked upon by members of TEWU over unpaid salary arrears.
Critical areas, including faculty libraries, were locked as the members of TEWU stayed out of work.
That followed the expiry of a one-week ultimatum they gave to the government to pay their seven-month salary arrears.
On the KNUST campus, some of the workers wore red armbands and roamed about, chanting war songs.
A source at the College of Art and Social Sciences told the Daily Graphic, “They are not working. We don’t know what is going to happen in the coming days.”
According to some of the striking workers who spoke to this paper, the government had taken them for a ride for far too long and it was about time they reacted.
They insisted that they would return to work only when the arrears had been paid in full.
According to them, the government wanted to play tricks on them and that was why it had released just three months of the arrears owed them, adding that until everything was released, they would not get to work.
Cervical cancer vaccine available (Women and Gender Page)
FEMALES between the ages of 10 and 50 years could protect themselves against cervical cancer by being vaccinated.
In Ghana, health facilities where the vaccination could be provided are the Ridge Hospital, Trust Hospital at Osu, Akai House Clinic, Valumed at Accra Mall, Lister Hospital on the Spintex Road, the Surgical Medical Emergency (SME) Pharmacy of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Franklyn Medical and Medifem Hospital at Dzorwulu.
At the opening of a two-day annual general meeting (AGM) of the Lady Pharmacists Association of Ghana (LAPAG), in Accra on Thursday, a representative of the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Ms Theresa Galley, said since the vaccine (Cervarix) was introduced in Ghana in March this year, only about 1,000 women had availed themselves for the protective intervention.
She advised more women to take advantage of the vaccine to protect themselves from the disease, which she said was claiming the lives of many women globally.
The theme for the event was: LAPAG Cares; Cervical Cancer Prevention, a Smart Choice”.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), every two minutes, a woman dies of cervical cancer worldwide. The disease is the second most common cancer affecting women globally and accounting for about 80 per cent of all cancers. Every woman is said to be at risk of the disease, irrespective of her age.
Cervical cancer develops in the cervix, which is the low, narrow neck of the uterus that opens into the vagina. The cervix is of vital importance because it protects the uterus, which leads into the vagina, from infections.
Health professionals describe cervical cancer as malignant neoplasm of the cervix uteri or cervical area. It may present with vaginal bleeding but symptoms may be absent until the cancer is in its advanced stages.
Treatment of the disease consists of surgery in the early stages and chemotherapy and radiotherapy in its advanced stages.
Pap smear screening can identify potentially pre-cancerous changes. Treatment of high grade changes can prevent the development of cancer.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a necessary factor in the development of nearly all cases of cervical cancer.
The HPV vaccine which has been introduced in Ghana since March this year, is effective against the two strains of HPV that usually cause cervical cancer. The vaccine has been licensed in the U.S. and by the European Union (EU). The two HPV strains together are currently responsible for approximately 70 per cent of all cervical cancers.
The LAPAG President, Mrs Sybil Ossei-Agyeman-Yeboah, advised Ghanaian women to avail themselves of regular screening to ensure the early detection and treatment of the disease, stressing that in developed countries, the widespread use of cervical screening programmes had reduced the incidence of invasive cervical cancer by 50 per cent or more.
In her address, a Physician at Franklin Medical Service, Dr Mrs Lynda Decker, gave some of the factors that caused cervical cancer as early sex, number of sexual partners in life, cigarette smoking, suffering persistent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and a high number of pregnancies, among others.
In a speech read on her behalf, the Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, Ms Akua Dansua, advised mothers to encourage their young daughters to go for vaccination before they became sexually active.
She gave the assurance that the government would support women to go for vaccination against the disease by paying for it in the near future.
Further checks done on the vaccine on the Internet at www.Patriciatrial.com indicated that the final analysis of the Patricia study shows that the HPV-AS04-adjuvanted vaccine (Cervarix) developed by GlaxoSmithKline for HPV types 16 and 18 had high efficacy against the pre-cancerous cervical lesions that could eventually lead to cervical cancer.
Cervarix is designed to prevent infection from HPV types 16 and 18, which currently cause about 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases.
Health professionals say HPV is a sexually transmitted virus, which causes cervical cancer in a small percentage of those infected. Cervarix is a preventive HPV vaccine, not therapeutic. HPV immunity is type-specific, so a successful series of Cervarix shots will not block infection from cervical cancer-causing HPV types other than HPV types 16 and 18; experts, therefore, continue to recommend routine cervical pap smears even for women who have been vaccinated.
In Ghana, health facilities where the vaccination could be provided are the Ridge Hospital, Trust Hospital at Osu, Akai House Clinic, Valumed at Accra Mall, Lister Hospital on the Spintex Road, the Surgical Medical Emergency (SME) Pharmacy of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Franklyn Medical and Medifem Hospital at Dzorwulu.
At the opening of a two-day annual general meeting (AGM) of the Lady Pharmacists Association of Ghana (LAPAG), in Accra on Thursday, a representative of the GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Ms Theresa Galley, said since the vaccine (Cervarix) was introduced in Ghana in March this year, only about 1,000 women had availed themselves for the protective intervention.
She advised more women to take advantage of the vaccine to protect themselves from the disease, which she said was claiming the lives of many women globally.
The theme for the event was: LAPAG Cares; Cervical Cancer Prevention, a Smart Choice”.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), every two minutes, a woman dies of cervical cancer worldwide. The disease is the second most common cancer affecting women globally and accounting for about 80 per cent of all cancers. Every woman is said to be at risk of the disease, irrespective of her age.
Cervical cancer develops in the cervix, which is the low, narrow neck of the uterus that opens into the vagina. The cervix is of vital importance because it protects the uterus, which leads into the vagina, from infections.
Health professionals describe cervical cancer as malignant neoplasm of the cervix uteri or cervical area. It may present with vaginal bleeding but symptoms may be absent until the cancer is in its advanced stages.
Treatment of the disease consists of surgery in the early stages and chemotherapy and radiotherapy in its advanced stages.
Pap smear screening can identify potentially pre-cancerous changes. Treatment of high grade changes can prevent the development of cancer.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is a necessary factor in the development of nearly all cases of cervical cancer.
The HPV vaccine which has been introduced in Ghana since March this year, is effective against the two strains of HPV that usually cause cervical cancer. The vaccine has been licensed in the U.S. and by the European Union (EU). The two HPV strains together are currently responsible for approximately 70 per cent of all cervical cancers.
The LAPAG President, Mrs Sybil Ossei-Agyeman-Yeboah, advised Ghanaian women to avail themselves of regular screening to ensure the early detection and treatment of the disease, stressing that in developed countries, the widespread use of cervical screening programmes had reduced the incidence of invasive cervical cancer by 50 per cent or more.
In her address, a Physician at Franklin Medical Service, Dr Mrs Lynda Decker, gave some of the factors that caused cervical cancer as early sex, number of sexual partners in life, cigarette smoking, suffering persistent sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and a high number of pregnancies, among others.
In a speech read on her behalf, the Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs, Ms Akua Dansua, advised mothers to encourage their young daughters to go for vaccination before they became sexually active.
She gave the assurance that the government would support women to go for vaccination against the disease by paying for it in the near future.
Further checks done on the vaccine on the Internet at www.Patriciatrial.com indicated that the final analysis of the Patricia study shows that the HPV-AS04-adjuvanted vaccine (Cervarix) developed by GlaxoSmithKline for HPV types 16 and 18 had high efficacy against the pre-cancerous cervical lesions that could eventually lead to cervical cancer.
Cervarix is designed to prevent infection from HPV types 16 and 18, which currently cause about 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases.
Health professionals say HPV is a sexually transmitted virus, which causes cervical cancer in a small percentage of those infected. Cervarix is a preventive HPV vaccine, not therapeutic. HPV immunity is type-specific, so a successful series of Cervarix shots will not block infection from cervical cancer-causing HPV types other than HPV types 16 and 18; experts, therefore, continue to recommend routine cervical pap smears even for women who have been vaccinated.
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