Ashanti Today

The Government has assured second cycle school students to position themselves to take advantage of the numerous employment opportunities being created for graduates.  To benefit from such opportunities however, students must not only pursue tertiary education, but remain focused, committed and determined in the preferred programmes of study while adding more value to themselves to be competitive on the job market.  The Deputy Minister of Education in charge of General Education, Dr. Osei Yaw Adutwum, gave the advice in Kumasi at the opening of this year’s Week-long celebration of the Ashanti Region Students Representative Council. Dr. Osei Yaw Adutwum, said government is creating job opportunities such as the Nation Builders Corps to provide a relief to school graduates, students must also add value to their academic credentials to enhance their employability after school. Formed 22 years ago, the Ashanti Region Students Representatives Council, SRC, is a we...

Government as part of the effort to promote Cocoa consumption is supporting the Ghana Cocoa Board to introduce cocoa consumption into the School Feeding Programme.  This year, COCOBOD will run a pilot with a seed fund of 10 million Dollars for about 50 communities nationwide, where it is going to provide free cocoa drinks to one million pupils.  The Senior Public Affairs Officer of the Ghana Cocobod, Benjamin Tei Larweh disclosed this in an interview on Ashanti Today in Kumasi. He explained that the purpose for this initiative is for the children to be exposed to cocoa products at an early age so that their taste for them will increase in years to come.  Mr. Larweh said there is a likelihood for the expansion of the initiative to more pupils next year if the pilot is successful. He advocated the consumption of natural cocoa products especially be the elderly, as they help in the treatment of some diseases.  According to Mr. Larweh, natural cocoa pr...

The introduction of formal education into the Kumasi Central Prisons is contributing substantially towards reformation of the inmates to integrate well into the larger society as well as help some of them further their education to the tertiary level.  Some of the Reformation Junior and Senior High School graduates who could not continue with further studies upon their discharge from the Prisons have used the knowledge acquired through the school system in the Prisons to set themselves up in business with some others donating items towards sustenance of the Reformation School in appreciation for the knowledge received while serving their sentences.  These came to the fore in Kumasi at the inauguration of a Library for the Reformation School at the Central Prisons.  The school, established in 2004, is attended by inmates of the Prisons selected through screening for their respective psychological, social and educational needs upon their entry to the Prisons f...

The Minister for Inner Cities and Zongo Development, Alhaj Dr. Mustapha Hamid, on behalf of the government, has presented Cheques of 250 thousand Ghana Cedis to each of the seven bereaved families of persons who were shot dead  as armed robbers at Manso  Nkwanta in the  Amansie West district of  Ashanti region.  The total amount involved is one million 750 thousand Ghana Cedis in accordance with a recommendation by the seven member government Committee which investigated the incident.  The presentation took place at the Asawase in the Asokore Mampong Municipality of Ashanti today, Thursday March 7 .   It will be re-called that the seven young men were killed on July 16, 2018 last year by a team of policemen deployed by the Ashanti regional Police command near Manso Nkwanta in the Amansie West district. They are Abdul Razak Sulley, Oliver Konlan, Abdul-Hannan Basiru, Musah Seidu, Mohammed Bashir Musah, Mohammed Kamil and Baach Bont....

The Ghana Agricultural and Rural Development Journalists Association, GARDJA a media agric advocacy organization, is pushing for Ghana cocoa farmers to have a major say in the pricing of cocoa beans on the international market so as to derive benefits that commensurate their toil.  Ghana, currently the world’s second highest producer of the commodity after her neighbour, La Cote d’Ivoir, produced about 880 thousand metric tons of cocoa in the 2017-2018 production year.  Information from the International Cocoa Organization indicate that there were 21 exporting countries of the cocoa in the world at the end of 2018 with most of them in Africa.  However, in the view of GARDJA, the criteria for pricing of cocoa on the international market is not only not transparent but also unfair against the farmers who are the main players in the production value chain.  President of GARDJA, Richmond Frimpong, made the point at Bunso during the 3 rd in a series of ...

Four hundred men and women under the command of 15 officers of the state security services plus contingents of cadet and non cadet from 12 second cycle schools in addition to pupils from 17 public and private basic and special schools drawn from the various Sub Metros of the Kumasi Metropolis were joined by others from voluntary organizations to mount the Ashanti regional Parade at the Jubilee Park at Asem to mark the regional commemoration of the 562 nd  Independent Day.  The contingents, under the command of Captain Allen Akwei Hammond with the Regional Minister, Simon Osei Mensah as the Reviewing Officer, thrilled the large audience with well rehearsed Slow and Quick Time March Past with soothing brass band music by two mass bands of school children and the security services.  Participating children from the Deduako Community Special School and Vocational Centre also entertained the people with their cultural performance attracting a donation of two thousand G...

The Ashanti Regional Coordinating Director of the Nation Builders Corps, NABCO, Dennis Kwakwah, has assured employees of NABCO that their Allowance for January this year is ready for payment. However, management wants to clean the payroll of all ineligible staff to ensure that the available funds are not paid to wrong people, especially those already working in other organizations.  Mr. Kwakwah, disclosed that an appreciable number of NABCO personnel are earning incomes from the Forestry Commission, Youth Enterprise Agency and other institutions and could be drawing double stipend if they are retained on NADCO, a practice which is illegal.  Mr. Kwakwah made this known at a forum in Kumasi organised for NABCO personnel the Kumasi Metro. He explained that the grace period for all NABCO personnel to update their informational and uploaded their signed assumption letters will ends of this week after which anyone who does not meet the deadline will be dismissed from the s...

An Asokwa District Court in the Ashanti region has remanded into police custody for two weeks, three accused persons in connection with the shooting incident at the Ashanti regional office of the NDC at Amakom in Kumasi last month.  They will appear again before the court on Monday, the 14 th of this month.  The three are among 12 persons declared wanted by the Police in connection with the incident. The three suspects, Dauda Ibrahim alias ‘Wayo’, 40, Samuel Agyin affectionately called ‘Rock’ 32 and Abdul Ganiyu, alias ‘Petit’ 37 , were arrested after they turned themselves to the Police last Thursday.  They were all charged with Conspiracy to Commit Murder but pleaded not guilty. Their legal Counsel, Evans Amankwaah, asked the Court to exercise its discretionary powers and grant his clients bail. He noted that the accused had shown good faith by voluntarily tendering themselves to the Police when they were declared wanted.  However, the Prosecut...

Mortuary workers in the country have begun an indefinite strike to press home their demand for better working conditions. The industrial action started this morning, Tuesday March 5.  According to the members of the Mortuary Workers Association of Ghana, MOWAG, the Health Ministry has turned a deaf ear to their concerns which include, lack of maintenance of mortuary facilities, denial of their mandated annual leave and a lack of protective working gear.  The strike follows an unsuccessful meeting between the leadership of MOWAG and the Ministry of Health. One of the hardest hit mortuaries in the Ashanti region is the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi where bodies from across the region and even beyond are brought for preservation.  A visit Ashanti Today to the premises of the Pathology Department of the Hospital showed a number of bereaved people already around to collect bodies of their dead relatives. Speaking to Ashanti Today , the patrons, some o...

The World Food Programme has provided a 300 metric ton capacity warehouse at Ejura in the Ashanti region, to serve farmer-based organizations and other actors along the maize value chain.  This means participating farmer-based organizations will no longer have to sell their maize immediately especially during bumper season for want of storage space.  The warehouse was constructed by the World Food Programme in collaboration with the Ejura-Sekyedumase Municipal Assembly and Ejura Traditional Authority.  The project is a testament to World Food Programme’s capacity in warehousing, food supply chains and logistics, with the capacity to help position Ghana as a competitive and major player in the grain industry in West Africa.  The warehouse has been fitted with an electric platform weighing scale, 50 kilogramme standard weight, wiki bag stitching machine, sowing thread, rodent bait boxes, a grain moisture content metre and other basic equipment. ...

The only Boys’ Dormitory of the Collins Senior High School at Agogo in the Asante Akyem North district of Ashanti has been destroyed by fire rendering many of the students without places of abode.  The incident occurred at about 1 pm last Saturday when most of the students had already left for home on short break.  An eye witness told Ashanti Today that even though the actual cause of the incident is yet to be established, it is suspected to have been occasioned by unstable electricity supply to the dormitory at the time.  According to the eyewitness, the fire was first detected at Room Four of Dora House. It said before personnel from the Ghana Fire Service Fire would arrive from their station at Konongo about an hour after a distress call had been made, all the nine rooms on the first floor had been completely destroyed by the fire.  Consequently, the students could not salvage any of their personal effects such as mattresses, and learning materi...

President Akufo-Addo and the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu, are scheduled to jointly officially open the newly constructed Kejetia Market project on 2 nd May.  This event will be preceded by a relocation of the original occupants of the previous Kejetia terminal who had to be settled elsewhere, to pave the way for the project in 2015.  The new facility has lockable shops for a total of eight thousand, 460 traders some of who will be relocating from part of the Kumasi Central Market earmarked for phase two of the project.  Ahead of the official opening of the Market, the Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama, has outdoored an eight-member Management Board for the Kumasi City Markets Limited. The Board, Chaired by the Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive, Osei Assibey Antwi, with the Amoamanhene, Nana Agyenim Boateng representing the Manhyia Palace serving as the Vice Chairman. The other members are the Kumasi Metropolit...

A Deputy Minister for Education, Osei Yaw Adutwum has visited the Collins Senior High School at Agogo in the Asante Akyem North district of Ashanti to learn at first hand the harm caused by wild fires that engulfed the only Boys’ Dormitory of the school.  Accompanying the Deputy Minister was the MP for the area, Andy Appiah Kubi and the DCE, Oti Boateng. In a remark, Mr. Adutwum assured that he would work closely with the Ghana Education Trust Fund, GETFund to provide the school with a new Dormitory for the boys to replace the burnt one.  Last Saturday at about 1 pm, fire destroyed all nine rooms on the first floor of the one storey Boys’ dormitory of the school. Even though the Agogo Fire Service Station is investigating the actual cause of the inferno, eyewitnesses say, the fire started from Room Four of Dora House and blame it on power fluctuation leading the destruction of personal effects and cash of the students.