February 7

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News
DAILY HERITAGE, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2018
WWW.DAILYHERITAGE.COM.GH
60 adolescent girls to
receive training to
prevent school drop-out
MORE THAN 60 adolescent girls
and parent peer counselors within the
Kochem, Ngogu and Bogunaayili
communities in the Northern region,
will receive training on community
response and accountability strategies
to reduce the school drop-out rate
among adolescent girls.
This is part of a series of trainings
and support seminars being organised
to empower the girls, parents and
community leaders.
The programme, ‘Investing in
Adolescent Girls Strengthens our
Community,’ will also equip at least 30
local leaders from these communities
(religious and traditional leaders,
school administration, and business
leaders) with similar strategies.
The project is being led by
Danielle Taylor, the founder and
Executive Director of a non-profit
organisation, Òman Baako. It is being
carried out in collaboration with two
local development organizations.
The communities requested the
project be carried out there to reduce
the number of adolescent girls who
drop out of school shortly after
entering Junior High School.
This worrying development is
common in many rural villages of
northern Ghana where girls desert
their communities to hawk along the
streets of Accra.
Speaking at the launch of the
project, Ms Taylor described the
impact of the abandonment of their
education and homes as “immediate
and profound”.
“It reduces their critical thinking
skills, their future earning potential
and their capacity to contribute to
their community’s well-being,” she
lamented.
She further explained that
members of these communities felt
“existing social norms contribute to
gross gender inequity that leaves girls
ill-equipped to seek and take
advantage of opportunities that would
increase their physical, social, and
economic security and welfare”.
The approach being used by Òman
Baako is to work collaboratively with
and through diverse segments of
communities’ members and leaders, to
build a more equitable community
that celebrates and elevates the
contributions and inherent human
rights of its young girls.
By doing so, the community is
better positioned to tackle a variety of
interconnected Sustainable
Development Goals.
Òman Baako translates into “One
Community” in Twi. The name
reflects the organisation’s belief that
in levelling the playing field for
women and girls, all of society
benefits as one.
We’ll start carrying
guns – Apaak
BY MOHAMMED AWAL
THE MEMBER of
Parliament (MP) for
Builsa South, Dr
Clement Apaak, has
served notice that
Minority members of
the House will arm themselves as a
protective measure henceforth.
His comment followed reports that
Parliament recruited a private firm
whose members were alleged to be
drawn from the dreaded vigilante
groups affiliated to the governing
New Patriotic Party (NPP) such as the
Invisible Forces, Delta Forces among
others to provide MPs protection.
“You go and bring Invisible Forces
and when we are saying it, you say
people are talking about rumours. We
shall see. We are all here. We will all
start carrying guns. When we hear gun
fight here we will come,” Dr Apaak,
who is a former presidential staffer,
said.
The acting Public Affairs Director
of Parliament, Kate Addo confirmed
to Starr News last month that
Parliament recruited new security
personnel and were undergoing
training to familiarise with how
Parliament works.
“It is true that Parliament before
we went on recess had augmented the
number of Policemen in Parliament.
But it’s also true that it had employed
new security men who are being
trained about how Parliament works
and who are being familiarized with
the various surroundings of
Parliament,” she stated on Starr Today
on January 29, 2018.
She added: “In the past few weeks
over the weekend these young men
have been coming for various
orientations and physical training
programme in Parliament…now the
Saturday’s training coincided with the
special sitting of the House where the
Rt. Honourable Speaker was sworn in
as acting president of the Republic of
Ghana following the absence from the
jurisdiction of president Akufo-Addo.
“That explained why they were
there [but] as to whether they belong
to a particular political party or not I’d
not be able to speak to that but I do
not know that. But, what I can tell
you is that they have been employed
by parliament.”
•Member of Parliament (MP) for Builsa South, Dr Clement Apaak
You don’t need prosecutorial powers
– Financial analyst to AG
Anyaa M/A
Basic School
appeals for
support
MRS JULIANA Opokua
Dapaah, the Head teacher of
Anyaa M/A ‘1’ Basic School
in the Ga Central Municipality
has appealed to
philanthropists and corporate
organisations to support the
school.
She appealed for ceiling
fans, tables and chairs for
teachers and pupils as well as
the construction of a fence
wall around the school.
Mrs Dapaah, who made
the appeal during a Parent-
Teacher Association (PTA)
meeting last Friday, said the
school building also need to
be rehabilitated.
She said although the
members of the PTA had
made efforts in improving the
conditions of the school, it
needed the assistance of
other corporate organisations
to uplift its image and boost
the morale of teachers and
students.
She advised parents to
ensure that children did their
homework, instead of
watching television, since that
affects their performance in
examination.
The Head teacher
encouraged parents to pay
regular visits to the school
and interact with teachers on
their children’s academic
performance and also to
discipline their wards.
Mrs Dapaah urged the
parents to ensure that their
children are properly dressed
before leaving for school,
adding that, “this speaks well
of parents as their children
appear neat in public.”
The parents were
unanimous in the decision to
repeat students in ‘Form 3’
with poor academic
performance.
The parents also agreed
that though canning in
schools had been banned, the
school authorities should not
hesitate to discipline pupils,
who would go wayward.
GNA
•Sixty girls are expected to benefit from the training
•Daniel Domelevo, Auditor-General
BY KWAME ACHEAMPONG
A FINANCIAL analyst, Mr Benedict
Gibson has challenged claims by the
Auditor General (AG), Mr Daniel
Domelevo that he needs prosecutorial
powers to be able to effectively fight
financial abuse in the public sector.
Mr Domelevo at a press briefing
Monday listed various actions the
Auditor General’s Department is
taking to deal with persons who
continue to abuse the public purse.
“We are not going to finish our
audit and wait for the TV show at
Public Accounts [Committee]
anymore. When we finish our audit,
we raise observations against you and
you decide to ignore it we will disallow
the expenditure and surcharge you and
I told my colleagues that beginning
this year we must have to apply the
law.
“Under the section 29 subsection 2
it says that ‘anyone who does not even
meet the 30 days deadline…we should
stop his salary’. It is in the law that
once we have raised an observation
after 30 days you decide not to
respond, you should not be paid and
we have to start that now. We have to
block people’s salaries. And even after
blocking your salaries if you don’t
come we will now disallow the
expenditure and surcharge you,” he
said.
Commenting on the claims by the
AG, Mr Gibson told Francis Abban on
the Morning Starr Tuesday that the
status quo where the Attorney General
does the prosecution of defaulting
public servants on behalf of the
department must remain.
“The Auditor General should
follow the due process. Whatever
recommendation he comes up with
should be given to the right institution
to take it up from there. If the Auditor
General is given the power to
prosecute institutions, what then is
going to be the role of the Attorney
General and the Special Prosecutor?
Auditors are supposed to give an
opinion about a particular situation or
event within a certain period of time.
When this is done, their work is
almost done,” he said.
“We are not going to
finish our audit and wait
for the TV show at Public
Accounts [Committee]
anymore. When we
finish our audit, we raise
observations against
you and you decide to
ignore it we will disallow
the expenditure and
surcharge you and I told
my colleagues that
beginning this year we
must have to apply the
law.
•Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh, Minister of Education