HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Story: Zainabu Issah
The Head of the Anti Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Supt Patience Ocquaye, has warned people who engage in human trafficking to desist from the practice or face the full rigours of the law.
She said information available pointed to the fact that some of the traffickers either exploited the victims against their will or removed parts of their internal organs such as kidneys for various purposes without their knowledge and consent.
Supt Quaye was speaking at a community meeting organised by the Legal Resource Centre (LRC), a non governmental organisation in collaboration with the Federation of Youth Clubs (FYC) on the two year on human trafficking project at Maamobi in Accra.
The meeting was aimed at educating people especially the youth about the plight of trafficked victims.
The two year project is aimed at combating trafficking by making sure the civil society in Ghana provides the needed support.
Supt Quaye explained that most of the people engaged in the trafficking business were relations who were mostly trusted.
“They would convince you to come along with them to the south to school and when you agree, you rather come to work for them,” she said.
She added that some people go as far as taking them abroad only to have parts of the bodies of the victims such as the kidney’s removed against their will.
Furthermore, she said, girls who fell victims to such unscrupulous individuals ended up becoming prostitutes and even went to the extent of sleeping with animals for money.
The Chairman of the Council of Chiefs of Ayawaso East, Chief Alhaji Moro Baba Issah, said human trafficking was a crime that must be dealt with.
He therefore urged the youth who are the most vulnerable to be cautious when engaging with organisations that seek to take them abroad.
The President of FYC, Mr Adam Abdul Fatah, said the Nima and Maamobi community youth had interest in travelling no matter how risky it was and, therefore, there was the need to make them aware of the dangers ahead.
Lawyer Dzifa Gakpleazi of the LRC said the project was important was it would ensure that Ghana met the international anti human trafficking standards.

WORLD POLIO DAY

Story: Zainabu Issah
 Five million two hundred and fifty eight thousand children between the ages of zero to five are to benefit from this year’s  national immunization against polio which is scheduled for all the 10 regions in the country from the 27th to the 30th of October 2011.

This is part of the international health strategy to eradicate polio worldwide with the recent outbreak of the disease in the West African Sub Region.

The Chairman of the  Ghana National Poliopus Committee (GNPPC) of Rotary International made this known at a press briefing in Accra to raise public awareness of the ravages of polio and to encourage further actions to reduce the spread of the disease.

He said from the staggering 35,000 polio cases each year in the 1980’s, there are now only 1000 new cases world wide with Ghana recording no case of the disease since 2008. “It is very gratifying to know that we are this close to ending polio for good”, he said.

He further explained that to maintain the gains made in Ghana’s polio eradication, efforts were put in place to prevent the  importation of Wild Polio Virus (WPV) into the country and special immunization says were conducted in Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East, Upper West and the  Western region to contain the situation  in Ghana as a  result of the outbreak of the disease in Cote D’Ivoire in July this year.

Additionally, about  US$6.4 million from the Rotary Foundation through the GNPPC has come in as Rotary contribution to complement the Governments polio eradication efforts. These efforts include the provision of the needed operational support for social mobilization, printing of tally forms, promotional materials and polio T-Shirts for volunteers during National Immunization Days (NIDs).

Mr Mensah however urged Ghanaians to be committed in encouraging their children at the House-to-House campaigns as well as at the Child Welfare Clinics to get immunized against polio.
Ghana  in 2003 recorded eight cases of polio which was spread in six regions. The year 2008 also recorded eight cases in the Northern region.

Polio remains endemic in four countries ,Afghanistan, India, Nigeria and Pakistan(PAIN countries) with India recording only one case of polio so far this year. China for the first time since 1999 has reported seven cases of polio this year being imported form Pakistan, the World Health Organisation has confirmed.

A CHILD SUFFERING FROM POLIO.

The total number of cases for 2011 in the West African sub region by the end of september this year are two from Burkina Faso,thirty Five from Cote D’Ivoire, two from Guinea, Nine from Mali, 34 from Nigeria and two from Niger.

GMSA INAUGRATES NEW BOARD OF PATRONS.

Storyand Picture: Zainabu Issah
A 13-MEMBER Board of Patrons has been inaugurated to guide the activities of the Ghana Muslim Students Association (GMSA).

The Board members include Alhaji Baba Jamal, Hon Alhassan Azona, Mr Umar Saeed, Sheikh Salman Mohammed, Sheikh Abdul Nasirudeen, Mr Mustapha Hamid and Sheik Dr Amin Bonu.

The rest include Sheikh Amin Bamba, Hajia Samia, Hajia Habiba Tanko, Dr Mohammes Kamil Mohammed and Mr Adam Baba Musah.

Addressing the board members, the Chief Patron, Shiehk Ishaaq Ibrahim Nuamah, urged the new board members to put in their best and carry out their responsibilities to help the association attain its objectives.

He added that as members who have experience and knowledge about society, they should do well to impact the knowledge they have on the youth so that they would emulate their footsteps in future.

The National President of GMSA, Mr Rabiu Mohammed, pleaded that the patrons in their own way help to support and raise funds to move and upgrade the image and reputation of the association.

A Deputy Minister of Women and Children Affairs, Hajia Hawawu Boya Gariba, urged Muslims to do well in addressing the high levels of poverty, unemployment, crime, indiscipline, violence against women and children and moral corruption among others that affect them as Muslims.

“The net effect of all these phenomena on the Muslim Ummah is an increase in human suffering and a relegation of Islam to the background. We have lost our place of pride amongst the community of Nations because of this backwardness,” she explained.

She also urged the newly inaugurated patrons to help re-engineer the vision, mission, and values of GMSA and also give guidance on policy direction which would help project the image of the association.

Picture:The Chief Patron of GMSA,Shiehk Ishaaq Ibrahim Nuamah (left) swearing the patrons into office in Accra.

Help the Ghana Society for the Disabled

Story and picture: Zainabu Issah

Fifty three years after the establishment of the Ghana Society for the Socially Disadvantaged (GSSD), the society can still not boost a well-structured facility to accommodate the numerous beggers on the street.

The facility, which was formally called the Kaneshie Cripples Home, is the only cripple home in the country accommodating persons living with various forms of physical disability.

The Chairman for the Board of Directors of the centre, Mr Anthony Mensah said, due to accommodation problems, they cannot house more than 25 persons and this was creating a problem because the main aim of the society was to have all the physically challenged persons in the centre trained in various vocations.

The centre, which is funded through a government-private collaboration, is faced with numerous challenges. To address some of these challenges, Heal the World Mission International, a non governmental organisation, as part of its third year anniversary celebrations, has donated food items to support the society.

The food items included a bag of maize, rice, two detergents, two boxes of bathing soap, a cooling oil, two toiletries and a carton of milk. It was to complement the food that they have and to also show their support to the society.

Mr Awuku Asare, the centre manager,says they have to depend heavily on individuals and corporate bodies for financial support, since government only provides them with human resource.

He added that it would also be important for the society to get a vehicle to transport the physically challenged to visit other parts of country and also introduce them to new workshops as it would help broaden their minds and also develop their interest in their vocation.

He appealed that the physically challenged be brought to the home for them to acquire some skills training to prevent them from begging on the streets.They go through three years of training in dressmaking, shoemaking, computer literacy and other skills.

Mrs Pastor Wumi Olukilede of the Heal the World Mission outreach presents the donation to the society.

NEW THEATER BLOCK FOR PRINCESS MARIE LOUISE HOSPITAL

A THREE-STOREY theatre block for the Princess Marie Louise Childrens’ Hospital has been inaugurated to help improve medical services to children in and around that part of the metropolis.

The building, which was constructed at the benevolence of individuals and corporate bodies at an estimated cost of GH¢500,000, consists of two theaters, a theater recovery ward, library, changing room, an intensive care unit, an anaesthetist office, a conference room among other facilities.

Inaugurating the edifice in Accra toda, the chairman of the management board of the hospital, Rev Father Andrew Campbell, said the completion of the theatre block will bring great relief to both staff of the hospital and parents since children needing immediate surgical services, intensive care and emergency cases would no longer be transfered to other hospitals.

“Before the construction of this facility, emergency cases where transfered to other hospitals some of whom dying before they got to the referral hospitals,” he explained.

Rev Fr Campbell said the hospital, which is the only paediatric hospital in the country, will soon open a Neo Natal Unit to take care premature born babies.

He called for more assistance in furnishing the building and commended Tullow Ghana Limited for its commitment to donate equipments for the two theaters, emergency room and the intensive care unit and Taylor Electric Limited for supplying the pipes for the electrical installation works.

He was hopeful that personnel of the hospital would take good care of the facilities provided so that it last longer.

The  Medical Supretendent of the hospital, Dr Eric Sifah  pledged to maintain a high sense of maintenance culture to preserve the hospital and also called for more donations to keep the hospital running efficiently.

The Executive Secretary of MTN Ghana Foundation, Mr Robert Kuzoe, called on the institution to put mechanisms in place that would help figure out how to manage the facility and also make it last longer.

He said as part of the corporate social responsibility of the organization, MTN Ghana was forever ready to support the cause of saving the lives of children and also the construction of facilities that would support them.

REV. FATHER CAMPBELL

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Story: Zainabu Issah

The Head of the Anti Human Trafficking Unit of the Ghana Police Service, Supt Patience Ocquaye, has warned people who engage in human trafficking to desist from the practice or face the full rigours of the law.

She said information available pointed to the fact that some of the traffickers either exploited the victims against their will or removed parts of their internal organs such as kidneys for various purposes without their knowledge and consent.

Supt Quaye was speaking at a community meeting organised by the Legal Resource Centre (LRC), a non governmental organisation in collaboration with the Federation of Youth Clubs (FYC) on the two year on human trafficking project at Maamobi in Accra.

The meeting was aimed at educating people especially the youth about the plight of trafficked victims.
The two year project is aimed at combating trafficking by making sure the civil society in Ghana provides the needed support.

Supt Quaye explained that most of the people engaged in the trafficking business were relations who were mostly trusted.

“They would convince you to come along with them to the south to school and when you agree, you rather come to work for them,” she said.

She added that some people go as far as taking them abroad only to have parts of the bodies of the victims such as the kidney’s removed against their will.

Furthermore, she said, girls who fell victims to such unscrupulous individuals ended up becoming prostitutes and even went to the extent of sleeping with animals for money.

The Chairman of the Council of Chiefs of Ayawaso East, Chief Alhaji Moro Baba Issah, said human trafficking was a crime that must be dealt with.

He therefore urged the youth who are the most vulnerable to be cautious when engaging with organisations that seek to take them abroad.

The President of FYC, Mr Adam Abdul Fatah, said the Nima and Maamobi community youth had interest in travelling no matter how risky it was and, therefore, there was the need to make them aware of the dangers ahead.

Lawyer Dzifa Gakpleazi of the LRC said the project was important was it would ensure that Ghana met the international anti human trafficking standards.


A VICTIM OF CHILD TRAFFICKING



POULTRY IS SAFE TO EAT

Traders of the Agblogbloshie market and its environs have been sensitised on the way to handle chicken and its products to prevent diseases.

This was due to the outbreak of avian influenza which caused panic and claimed several lives all over the world.

A member of the United States of America Poultry and Eggs Export Council (USAPEEC), Madam Jean Murphy says US poultry was safe to eat and must be handled and cooked well to prevent diseases.

She added that American Chicken has all the nutritional value of red meat yet contains about 30 per cent less fat and fewer calories.
"It has the highest percentage of protein of all meat and has the smallest amount of fat and saturated fat," she said.

Madam Murphy further explained that protein ensures growth in children and  chicken is needed to be eaten regularly as the body cannot store protein.

She advised that poultry products should be kept refrigerated when not in use and hot soapy water should be used to wash hands after coming into contact with poultry products.
She however cautioned for immediate disposal of poultry foods when they go bad.
"Do not try to taste them or cook them to eat. They can cause disease to you," she said.

A representative from the Food and Drugs Board (FDB), Nana Akua Afriye says poultry products are safe to eat and therefore must be handled with caution.
"You must know how to handle them for it to be safe for you," she said.

The General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Poultry Farmers (GNAPF), Mr Kofi Agyei- Henaku says USAPEEC has helped in the training of poultry farmers on the need o handle chicken and chicken products which has resulted in the high yields of quality poultry products.

"They have thought the local farmers on how to cater for poultry and this has resulted in high yields. They have also helped the local industries to access the European markets." he said.

A demonstration on how to prepare have safe chicken was done by Mrs Dzifa Gomashie, the Chief Executive Officer of Mama's Kitchen.
She thoroughly explained the details of how to preserve and cook chicken without effects.