SHOCKING-TWINS SOLD FOR GHC 100

From Michael Sarpong Mfum, Kete Krachi

Over 600 trafficked children sent to work in fishing communities along the Volta Lake in both the Volta and Brong Ahafo regions have been rescued by Partners in Community Development Programme (PACODEP).

Over 100 others who engaged in child labour in various communities have also been sold into slavery, some for as low as GH₵50 for three years, Weekend Finder has learnt.

Communities along the Volta Lake in the Volta Region where these children are trafficked to include Old Nanasewi, Cement, Basare, Ketsense, Ofoase, Nkatinkwan, Old Kadentwe, Sablakope, Kotakota, and Kporviegyi.

In the Brong Ahafo Region, trafficked children are sent to Lalakope, Yebedanagya, Bakpakope, Adakope, Manoyikope, Gakope, Old Nkomi, Atikagome, Wayokope, Kwasistsekope, and a host of others.

Living in miserable conditions and working long hours every day, these kids are exploited by fishermen desperate to feed their families and eke out a living along the banks of Lake Volta.

The Weekend Finder gathered that many of the victims do not see anything wrong with what they are doing instead of being in school.

 The depletion of fish stocks is one of the key reasons why children are needed as workers in the fishing industry.

 In addition to being cheap labour, the small nimble fingers of the children are useful in releasing the fish from the smaller nets.

Another task that trafficked children frequently perform is diving to disentangle the fish nets from the numerous tree stumps that are scattered in the lake. As nets are often dragged along the bottom of the lake, they tend to get stuck.

Diving is a dangerous job that can have dire consequences for the children, from catching water-borne diseases such as bilharzia and guinea worm to death from drowning.

Partners in Community Development Programme (PACODEP), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) based at Kete Krachi in the Volta Region, is working hard to rescue all trafficked children working on the Volta Lake.

Project Co-ordinator of PACODEP, George Achibra told Weekend Finder that though a number of children have been rescued, there are many more working under unacceptable conditions in  the area.

“Many more children have been trafficked and are working under very heinous conditions; it’s very pathetic. We are collaborating with the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service, International Organisation for Migration, Geneva Global, Touch a life Foundation, among others, to rescue these children. There are 140 children in other homes because when we started we were not having a place to see them,” he revealed.

Mr Achibra said PACODEP is currently keeping 65 of the rescued children at the Village of Life.

He identified poverty as a major cause of trafficking, saying: “Some of the children are given out for as low as GH₵200.”

“We recently rescued two boys who are twins; our investigations revealed that each of the boys was given out for GH₵150 for three years, which means the masters would pay GH₵50 for each child per year,” he added.

Apart from this, he also revealed that girls trafficked along the Volta Lake are at times raped by their masters.

A 12-year-old girl told Weekend Finder that she was raped by her master on several occasions.

Mr Achibra called on other NGOs to support PACODEP to cater for the rescued children, and commended World Vision Ghana for providing them with 20 dual desks.

PACODEP was established in 2003 to help rescue trafficked children working along the Volta Lake. It has so far reunited 460 rescued children with their parents.

FOODSTUFFS ROT IN SENE DISTRICTS

FROM MICHAEL SARPONG MFUM, KWAME DANSO

Foodstuffs are getting rotten in the Sene East and West Districts of the Brong Ahafo Region because of unmotorable roads to cart the produce to market centers in the two districts and beyond.

The two districts are the hub of farming in the region-producing yam, rice, cassava, maize and livestock  and many other crops not for consumption only in the region but the entire country.

Farmers in the two districts are in a state of hopelessness after investing much into their work and not been able to break even due to bad roads. Apart from the Kwame Danso town roads, which are tarred, there is not a single road tarred in the Sene West District, that of Sene East district is worst because not a single road is tarred in the district.

With the setting in of the rains, the roads have become slippery because of its clay nature, which has made it very difficult to ply the roads to the hinterlands of the two districts to cart foodstuff to the market centres. Communities worst hit in the Sene West include; Bantama, Wiase, Akyemede Bator, Menko, Lemu, Kofi Gyan, Chaboba and Kyeamekrom. Sene East communities where farmers cannot cart their foodstuff are Bassa, Bodinka, Nyankotore, Premuase, Kojokrom, Defour Bator. Buyers outside the districts buy the foodstuff at a cheap price; the famers have no option than to sell it to at least get something.

Kofi Anyobode a yam farmer at Chaboba, a major yam producing community in the Sene West District in an interview with The Independentsaid he took a loan from the Bank and it would be very difficult for him to break even to repay the loan though he had a good harvest, carting his produce to the farming centres has become a problem even tractors cannot ply the road.

The Sene West District Director of Agriculture, S.Y. Apiiga says farmers in the district are really suffering.

“We are facing a lot of marketing problems because of bad road network in the district this has led to collapse of a yam market we used to have in Kwame Danso. Because of the bad roads people were not patronizing the market this lead to collapse of the market. Last year we had a bump harvest of maize and we are finding it difficult to sell, the price of maize went as a low as GH50.00 cedis. I want to appeal to organizations and individuals who need yam, maize to come to the Sene districts because we have a lot,” he noted.

The 31 kilometer Atebubu-Kwame Danso road has been abandoned three years after the late President Prof. John Evans Atta Mills cut a sod for the construction of the road at the cost GH¢32.5 million which was supposed to be a single-seal bituminous surface dressing and single-dash carriage two-way road awarded to Wa-based Contractor A and N. The contract was subsequently re-awarded to GHANEM Construction Firm but nothing has been done on the road.

Attached is the picture of Vehicles stacked on Kwame Danso-Atebubu road.

FOODSTUFFS ROT IN SENE DISTRICTS

FROM MICHAEL SARPONG MFUM, KWAME DANSO

Foodstuffs are getting rotten in the Sene East and West Districts of the Brong Ahafo Region because of bad roads to cart the produce to market centers in the two districts and beyond.

The two districts are the hub of farming in the region-producing yam, rice, cassava, maize and livestock  and many other crops not for consumption only in the region but the entire country.

Farmers in the two districts are in a state of hopelessness after investing much into their work and not been able to break even due to bad roads. Apart from the Kwame Danso town roads, which are tarred, there is not a single road tarred in the Sene West District, that of Sene East district is worst because not a single road is tarred in the district.

                                           Vehicles stuck on Kwame Danso-Atebubu road.

With the setting in of the rains, the roads have become slippery because of its clay nature, which has made it very difficult to ply the roads to the hinterlands of the two districts to cart foodstuff to the market centres. Communities worst hit in the Sene West include; Bantama, Wiase, Akyemede Bator, Menko, Lemu, Kofi Gyan, Chaboba and Kyeamekrom. Sene East communities where farmers cannot cart their foodstuff are Bassa, Bodinka, Nyankotore, Premuase, Kojokrom, Defour Bator. Buyers outside the districts buy the foodstuff at a cheap price; the famers have no option than to sell it to at least get something.

Kofi Anyobode a yam farmer at Chaboba, a major yam producing community in the Sene West District in an interview with The Independentsaid he took a loan from the Bank and it would be very difficult for him to break even to repay the loan though he had a good harvest, carting his produce to the farming centres has become a problem even tractors cannot ply the road.

The Sene West District Director of Agriculture, Samuel Yaw Apiiga says farmers in the district are really suffering.

“We are facing a lot of marketing problems because of bad road network in the district this has led to collapse of a yam market we used to have in Kwame Danso. Because of the bad roads people were not patronizing the market this lead to collapse of the market. Last year we had a bump harvest of maize and we are finding it difficult to sell, the price of maize went as a low as GH50.00 cedis. I want to appeal to organizations and individuals who need yam, maize to come to the Sene districts because we have a lot,” he noted.

The 31 kilometer Atebubu-Kwame Danso road has been abandoned three years after the late President Prof. John Evans Atta Mills cut a sod for the construction of the road at the cost GH¢32.5 million which was supposed to be a single-seal bituminous surface dressing and single-dash carriage two-way road awarded to Wa-based Contractor A and N. The contract was subsequently re-awarded to GHANEM Construction Firm but nothing has been done on the road.

LETS WORK AS A TEAM-PAUL EVANS AIDOO

From: Michael Sarpong Mfum, Sunyani

Brong Ahafo Regional Minster Paul Evans Aidoo has called on the media to work closely with the Brong Ahafo Regional Co-coordinating Council (BARCC) and all MMDAs to bring the needed development into the region.

Mr. Paul Evans Aidoo made the observation during his first official interaction with journalists from both the electronic and print media in the region to outline his plans for the region. He urged journalists in the region to support his administration to bring the needed development to the region.

Hon. Paul Evans Aidoo, BA Regional Minister

The Minister advised the journalists, to also cross-check their facts before airing or publishing their stories in order not to scare potential investors to the region.

“I worked with the media in the Western Region effectively, I am going to do the same here and believe all of you would support my administration to achieve the objective of bringing development to the Brong Ahafo Region. I am not going to discriminate against any media house because we all have a critical role to play,” He disclosed.

Mr. Aidoo who is also the Member of Parliament for Sefwi Wiaso in the Western Region noted that the Regional Security Council (RESEC) in collaboration with MMDAs is going to deal with galamsey operators in the region.

“No one is against surface mining; there are some with certificates who are doing legal mining while others are into illegal mining galamsey. I and seriously against mining especially in water bodies and forest reserves,” Mr. Aidoo disclosed.

He also called on MMDCEs who are not media friendly to desist from such an attitude because has major role to play in the various MMDAs in the role.

TENSION MOUNTS ON SUNYANI POLYTECHNIC CAMPUS

From: Michael Sarpong Mfum,Sunyani

There is an easy calm at the Sunyani Polytechnic campus as members of the Polytechnic Teachers Association of Ghana (POTAG) are calling for the removal of the registrar of the school Mr. Samuel Ankama Obour.

They are accusing the registrar of nepotism, divide and rule, financial malfeasance that is retiring the growth of the institution.

Lawrence Amponsah Chairman of the Sunyani Polytechnic branch of POTAG in an interview said the members of the association could not work with the registrar.

“Over the years we have not known peace on the Sunyani Polytechnic campus. There is always divide and rule from the registrar so we cannot work with him because of his attitude towards members of POTAG. Mr. Obour has been peddling falsehood about members of the association to the authorities of the Polytechnic if you challenge him then you must leave the institution. He also likes nepotism, there is no department on campus here where he has not employs his relative, we are tired of this attitude and he must go,” Mr. Amponsah disclosed.

Mr. Lawrence Amponsah, S-Poly POTAG Chairman

The association is also accusing the registrar of giving out a scholarship meant for a staff of the Polytechnic to stay abroad to his brother who is not a staff of the institution.

Mr. Amponsah also disclosed that though he is the Chairman of POTAG and is supposed to attend meeting of the Governing Council of the Polytechnic, he has been denied access to all meetings for a year.

Mr. Samuel Ankama Obour, S-Poly Registrar

The association has also rejected the committee to investigate the impasse between POTAG and the registrar because according the association, members of the committee are all cronies of the registrar because of this they believe the committee would not do a diligent work.

Efforts to get the registrar to get his side of the story proved futile as he refused to and all calls.

BRONG AHAFO RECORDS 1,257 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES

From Michael Sarpong Mfum, Sunyani

Statistics at available at the Brong Ahafo Regional Branch of the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) indicate that the domestic violence increased in the region from 1040 in 2011 to 1,257 in 2012.

ASP Setina Aboagye the Deputy Regional Co-coordinator of DOVVSU in an interview  said the number of domestic violence victims could more but most of victims refuse to report to the police because of reasons best known to them.  ASP Aboagye therefore called on the residents in the region to report all violence cases to the police.

ASP Aboagye noted that the implementation of the domestic Violence Act in the Region is facing many challenges.

She said a legislative instrument, which would have made implementation much easier, does not back the law.

“Most police officers are not conversant with the provisions of the act and therefore implementing it has not been easy. Therefore, training of DOVVSU officers would go a long way to help the implementation of the domestic violence act,” ASP Aboagye appealed.

She also said the charging of fees before the endorsement of forms of victims by medical doctors discourages most of the victims to go to the hospitals because of financial constraints.

ASP Aboagye noted that her outfit is collaborating with ActionAid Ghana and Ministry of Gender, Child and Social Protection to train volunteers to sensitize the public and further help the implementation of the Act.

TANOBOASE SACRED GROVE A TOURISM POTENIAL IN BRONG AHAFO REGION

From Michael Sarpong Mfum, Tanoboase

The Tano Sacred Grove in the Techiman Municipality of the Brong Ahafo Region is one of the leading tourists in the region but unknown to most tourists.

The Grove, a Community Based-Ecotourism Project (CBEP) was started in 1996. With the help of the Ghana Association for the Conservation of Nature (GACON), the Tanoboase community began the development of the Groove as an eco-tourism site. In the year 2001, Tanoboase was selected as one of the 14 eco-tourism sites nation-wide to be developed under the CBEP.

The fund for the project was provided by United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The implementation of the CBEP has been a collaborative effort between the Nature Conservation Research Centre, Ghana Tourist Board, US Peace Corps Ghana, SNV Netherlands Development Organization and the project communities.

The project is to develop community-owned and operated eco-tourism activities at environmental sensitive rural destination, which will serve as income generating opportunities by conserving local ecosystem rather than through unsustainable exploitation.

                                               Some tourists at Tanoboase Sacred Grove

In Tanoboase, a tourism management team comprised of local community members is directing the project at the ground level.

The grove is nestled within a semi-deciduous forest, and encloses a cluster striking sandstone rock formation.

As one hikes along the natural trails, one will observe a variety of plants, trees, birds and butterfly species. A lucky visitor may also spot antelopes, baboons and monkeys, once rare but whose population is increasing by the day. There is a bat colony as well. A climb up to the sandstone rocks leads to a panoramic overlook of what was used during the Ashanti-Bono wars. The grove tour could last approximately one to four hours.

One interesting attraction at the grove is the stone that has carved itself into a shape of a tortoise. Tanoboase sacred grove is the site of one the earliest Bono settlements. Taakora, the highest of the Akan gods on earth, dwells at the source of the Tano River. When the inhabitants of Tanoboase discovered the god, the grove became a place of sanctity and worship and remained so ever since.

The Tano shrine, residing in a brass pan, is currently kept Tanoboase town but it is carried to the grove annually by a fetish for consultation.  The grove is also the site of the annual Apo Festival, which is the time of spiritual cleansing, held April and May every year. Discover the history, tradition and natural beauty of the first settling place of the Bono people.