Antrak Air Flight EU-KUL, on board to Tamale

I have had times to complain about the kind of customer service that our airlines offer us. Sometimes it either leaves you wondering whether it is a privilege to be using their airline or that you entered their plane by mistake.

An Antrak Air plane

On one of my journeys on (name withheld) airline, a tall and slim male flight attendant was so disrespectful to another passenger that I felt very bad. The passenger, a man younger than I, was seated next to me. We were the first from the back, as there was no one on the back row.

He had served us the usual packed light meal, turned and served those on the opposite side and just when he was about moving away, my seating mate tapped him on his arm in an attempt to draw his attention to himself. Apparently, he had just realised he needed some water.

Surprisingly, the host ignored him and went pass. I was so sad because I could see that the guy was embarrassed and uncomfortable. When the flight host returned and finished serving tea to one of the passengers, I excused him and asked why he had ignored the gentleman. In response, he asked me, arrogantly, whether it was right for the guy to touch him.

Who swallowed who - the sun or the moon?

Viewing an eclipse brings much excitement to children

It certainly wasn’t very exciting to me, since it was not the first time. For the kids, however, it was one of excitement. They had asked several questions about this so-called eclipse that was to happen and they checked outside several times to see any signs of the coming eclipse.

“Uncle Deen, would the place be dark,” my nephew asked. After answering him, another question followed: “would there be heat.”

Question after question until it finally happened and he and other kids in the house jumped and yelled as they took turns to watch it with the single pair of eclipse shades in the house.
 
I had managed to store that pair of shades since I bought it in 2006 in Accra to watch my first solar eclipse.

Where did SADA go wrong?

AS I wrote this piece my heart was bleeding. Angry voices blurred from my little radio set. I could hear a gentleman from a civil society group in Tamale swearing fire and brimstone should President John Mahama not axe Dr Charles Jebuni, who has been asked to act as Chief Executive Officer for the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) following the exit of Alhaji Gilbert Iddi.

 

In 2010, the enthusiasm was at a crescendo as the SADA Law (Act 805, 2010) was passed and subsequently inaugurated to begin work. There had been so much rhetoric about the need for the establishment of a body to spearhead an agenda to quicken the pace of development in the north.

 

So the goose to lay the golden eggs was finally hatched and it became a popular refrain, particularly from politicians, that SADA would offer a quick fix to the problems of the north, such as unemployment, poor road networks, ailing agriculture, environmental degradation, high illiteracy, name them.

 

So what went wrong? What has happened to all the expectations and promises? How could a beautiful initiative suddenly go bad?

Women in shea nut trade back to business

Mma Azara and her sister drying shea nuts

WOMEN who collect and sell shea nuts in Tamaligu, a farming village in the Savelugu-Nanton district of the Northern Region, are back to active business.

Their business slowed down drastically for several years when the road they use to transport the nuts to market centres deteriorated and virtually became impassable during the rains.

That particular stretch of road is a 4.5km feeder road that links the community to Kukuobila, another town in the district that is located off the Tamale-Bolgatanga highway.

Luckily for the women and the entire village, the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP) intervened and awarded the road on contract for rehabilitation.

Northern Rural Growth Programme transforms agriculture in Northern Ghana

A dry season maize farmer in Jirapa

AGRICULTURE has over the years been noted as the backbone of Ghana’s economy.

More than 50 per cent of the country’s labour force was estimated to be in the agricultural sector, as indicated by the 2000 Population and Housing Census.

In spite of this, many farmers in Ghana remain poor, especially in Northern Ghana, which boasts of boundless agricultural potentials.

It was to address this problem that the Northern Rural Growth Programme (NRGP), an eight-year agricultural initiative, was formulated.

Savelugu School for the Deaf - saddled by poor infrastructure

THE Savelugu School for the Deaf is one of the country’s special schools that provide education to hearing-impaired children.

Some of the kids in class

 Established in March, 1978, the school was initially set up as a unit under the Nyohini Rehabilitation Centre in Tamale, but was subsequently moved to the Savelugu Middle Boarding School located in the outskirts of Savelugu.
Since then, the school has provided formal education to many hearing-impaired children, particularly from the three regions of the north.
During a visit to the school, the Daily Graphic observed that poor infrastructure and the delays in the release of subvention, among others, continue to impact negatively on academic work and the general wellbeing of the children.

14,000 farmers benefit from AGRA-DANIDA project

A smallholder farmer in Jirapa

FOURTEEN-THOUSAND farmers in the Northern Region have so far benefited from an agricultural project initiated by the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) with funding from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).

The Agricultural Value Chain Mentorship Project (AVCMP) seeks to transform agriculture in the Northern Region through three main approaches: intensifying the adoption of integrated soil fertility management technologies, enhancing farmers' access to inputs and linking farmers to markets.
It is in line with a broader strategy to contribute to the government's objective of achieving food security and developing the region's agricultural sector into an agro-industrial economy.
The Savannah Agricultural Research Institute (SARI) in Nyankpala is implementing the soil fertility component of the project, whilst the International Centre for Soil Fertility and Agricultural Development (IFDC) and Ghana Agricultural Associations for Business Information Centre (GAABIC) are implementing the two other components.