REHABILITATING ZUJUNG CEMETRY - A COLLECTIVE RESPONSIBILITY

(Daily Graphic, Jan 24, 2012, page 19)

IF we were all destined to perish on the same day and time, we would not have to worry about how nice or dirty our cemeteries are, after all, making the cemetery neat would not bring any comfort to the dead.

The reality however is that we would die and be buried one after the other, so many of us would have to visit the cemetery on many occasions in our lifetime.

It therefore behoves on us to keep the cemetery in good condition so that each time we lose someone, we would not hesitate to visit the cemetery.

It is also incumbent on us to dignify the cemetery because there lay the remains of people we shared laughter, joy, pain and all manner of emotions with when they were alive.

On one morning, whiles on my way to work, I tuned to one of the local radio stations in Tamale, Zaa Radio, and heard an elderly man speaking about efforts that he and some other persons were making to build a fence wall to protect the Zujung cemetery.

I became interested in what these volunteers were doing, because the Zujung cemetery, located off the Tamale-Kumasi road, is the most popular graveyard in Tamale.

However, the current state of this cemetery leaves much to be desired, especially with regards to sanitation. Some people leaving near to the cemetery have turned it into a toilet and dumpsite.

Structures are being raised very close to the cemetery and, hence, the boundaries of the cemetery are being narrowed gradually. There are also no guidelines to bring orderliness in the digging of graves and so graves are located haphazardly on various portions of the graveyard.

It is surprising that in spite of the poor state of this cemetery, many people, including political and community leaders, go there regularly to bury their loved ones and yet have not made any effort at putting the cemetery in good shape.

So, later in the day, I drove to the cemetery and lo and behold, I saw four people busily putting up a fence wall.

But how much work can four people do on such a big burial site, I asked the leader of the group, 72-year old Baba Kisco and he said with divine providence, he was hopeful they would do the work till finish.

Mr Kisco said in 2009, he noticed that the cemetery was being encroached upon and he was deeply worried because he thought in future, there would not be any more space for burial.

“I began to make announcements in mosques appealing for support for the construction of a fence wall to protect the cemetery. I asked for cement, sand, water, and other items,” he said.

Baba Kisco said the response was slow in coming but as the months rolled into years, and the years went by, he was able to mobilise a number of these items and therefore decided to start the project.

He said in early 2011, he and three others – Abukari Munkaila, Nanumdoo Fuseini and Tahiru Fuseini – moulded 10,000 blocks.

In November that same year, they finally decided to dig the foundation and raise the wall beginning from the Northern side of the entrance to the cemetery. Till date, if you visit the cemetery, you would find them there working feverishly.

Mr Kisco pointed out that although the four of them were physically engaged in the work, they were being supervised by the Chief Imams of Tamale Central Mosque and Afajura Mosque, Alhaji Abdul-Salam and Alhaji Seidu Abubakari Zakaria, respectively.

He said occasionally, somebody would come to join hands and later disappear, explaining that some people fear to work at the cemetery.

Baba Kisco said since the work begun, the support has not been coming consistently.

“Once in a while, somebody would bring us some bags of cement or trips of sand,” he said, adding that he owed so much gratitude to some food vendors in town who have continued to provide them food during the work.

Mr Kisco said he was very optimistic that the work would be executed till finish if they get adequate cement, iron rods, river sand, aggregate, tanks, water, wheel barrow, shovels, pick axe and other construction materials.

I asked the four volunteers if the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TaMA) had offered them any form of support and they indicated that the assembly provided part of the construction materials, although the MCE, Alhaji Haruna Friday had not yet visited the project site.

As the conversation with the four people progressed, a group of people brought the remains of a loved one to bury and we joined them to bid farewell to the deceased.

When we returned to the project site, the four people made me understand that the construction of the fence wall was not the only thing they were doing to keep the cemetery in good shape.

“Each year, we come together to weed the grass in the cemetery. We have been doing this since 1997,” Baba Kisco said, adding that the four of them have been doing community service for a long time.

In fact, the four of them were the brains and hands behind the rehabilitation of sanitary facilities at the morgue of the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH).

Meanwhile, some casual labourers engaged by the TaMA to undertake burial activities at the cemetery told this paper that they were witnesses to the good work being done by the four volunteers.

One of them, Mr Abdul-Kahad said the construction of the fence wall would not only stop encroachment, but also keep away unscrupulous persons who visit the cemetery to attend to nature’s call and to do illicit activities, like ‘juju’.

When the Daily Graphic spoke to the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of TaMA, Mr Issah Musah, he said the assembly had not shirked its responsibility towards keeping the cemetery in good shape.

“The construction of a fence wall had always been on the drawing board of the assembly, until an individual by name Yaho Yaho galvanised support to commence the project,” the stated.

He said the assembly was collaborating with Yaho Yaho to construct the fence wall.

The reality however remains that when you go to the project site, it is not a contractor or assembly officials who are there constructing or supervising the work. It is Baba Kisco and his team.

It is therefore high time that the assembly and other corporate institutions, politicians, chiefs and other inhabitants contribute their quota towards making the Zujung cemetery a decent place.

For those who have already done so, May Allah bless them abundantly.

LOUISVILLE COMMUNITY DONATES MEDICAL EQUIPMENT TO TTH

(Daily Graphic, Jan 24, 2012, page 19)

THE Chief Executive Officer of the Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH), Dr Ken Sagoe (second left) receiving medical equipment from the President of Sister-Cities of Tamale, Mr Mohammed Harun (blue smock).

The equipment included two ultrasound machines, beds, mattresses, anaesthetic equipment, theatre gear, kidney dialyses machines, laboratory equipments and other consumables.

The items were provided by the Louisville community in the United States (US) through the Sister-Cities of Tamale, a body that co-ordinates the affairs between Tamale and its sister cities.

Dr Sagoe said the donation had come at the right time, since the hospital was undergoing refurbishment.

“We need these equipment to facilitate quality healthcare delivery and teaching,” he stated, adding that sections such as surgery, orthopaedics and the wards would benefit a lot from these equipment.

TUUNAYILI NURSERY REHABILITATED

 (Daily Graphic, Jan 18, 2012, page 19)

Pupils in one of the delapidated pavilions

THREE dilapidated pavilions that were being used by pupils of the Tuunayili MA Nursery School in Tamale have been rehabilitated and furnished.

Markaz Al-Bishara (MAB), a non-governmental organisation, converted the pavilions into full classroom blocks and furnished the classrooms with a total of 60 dual desks in addition to a play ground that was constructed earlier.

The pavilions, which were constructed for the school some years back by another NGO, School for Life, had been falling to pieces for some time now and during the raining season, water seeps from the floor.

Also, because the facility had open doors and windows, some unscrupulous persons used the place as a toilet and stole the dual desks that had been provided, thereby compelling the pupils to use the floor.

The M.A.B. therefore decided to come to the aid of the school through its Gumani Child Care and Family Helper Programme (GCCFHP), with funding from the Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC).

The Sponsorship Officer for the M.A.B., Mr Samuel Abdul-Rahaman told the Daily Graphic in an interview that his organisation had spent over GH¢15,000 for the rehabilitation works.

“We were not pleased about the state of the nursery block and the suffering of the pupils who were using the facility,” he stated.

Pupils in the newly-renovated classroom block

Mr Abdul-Rahaman noted that the M.A.B. had made early childhood development a priority area because research had shown that a good foundation is a prerequisite for success when climbing the education ladder.

He said in recent times, a lot of students have failed the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), and this has been blamed on the poor state of early childhood education.

“It is our hope that within the next two years we should be able to provide a new block for the nursery,” he added.

The Assistant Headmaster of the Tuunayili MA Primary, Mr Abukari Alhassan and the chairman of the school’s Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Pastor Abu Napari confirmed the support provided to the school by the M.A.B.

“They have provided us a decent structure for the nursery and kindergarten and we are very grateful to the organisation and its partners,” Mr Alhassan stated.

He lamented about the situation where some children come to destroy the school’s facilities when the school is not in session and said there was the need for the school and the PTA to bring their resources together and get the services of security personnel to safeguard the school’s properties.

The PTA chairman pledged the support of the association to the development of the school, saying that the poor state of infrastructure in the school was a source of worry to the association.

NORTHERN REGION FARMERS APPEAL FOR MORE SUPPORT

(Daily Graphic, Jan 18, 2012, page 23)

SMALLHOLDER farmers in the Northern Region have appealed to the government to extend more support to them to enable them increase food production and ensure food security in the country.

They argued that in spite of the introduction of some programmes and projects to support the agricultural sector, they were still unable to utilise fully these initiatives due to a number of setbacks.

Key among these drawbacks, they mentioned, are the difficulties they face in accessing the services of agric extension officers, the late delivery of agric inputs, the lack of agric machinery, poor irrigation facilities and the lack of drought and flood resistant seeds.

The farmers made their concerns known at the end of their annual regional farmers’ network meeting which took place in Tamale organised collaboratively by UrbANET, ActionAid and Grameen Ghana.

The participants included members of the Northern Region Vegetable Farmers Union, Nanumba North Women Farmers, Nanumba South Farmers Network and Northern Region Vegetable Farmers Union.

They said many farmers were not aware of the initiatives introduced by the government to improve the agricultural sector, such as the block farm project, fertilizer subsidy and the establishment of mechanization centres.

They therefore recommended the training of more agricultural extension offices and community extension volunteers to reach out to smallholder farmers.

They also called for the institutionalisation of quarterly appraisal forums between farmers and agricultural officers to find out the status of the implementation of agric support projects and to find solutions to emerging challenges.

On access to finance, the farmers entreated the government to establish more agric credit facilities with favourable conditions such as low interest rates, so as to enhance access to these credits by low income farmers.

They also called for such incentives to be extended to the provision of agricultural machinery so that smallholder farmers could also have access to tractors and combine harvesters, among others.

The farmers lamented about the effects of droughts and floods on their activities, saying that some of their crops failed to yield as expected due to these natural phenomena.

They therefore urged government to make available to them drought resistant and high yielding varieties of crops.

The farmers did not mince words in complaining about the negative effects of the activities of Fulani herdsmen on their farming activities.

They said apart from allowing their animals to destroy farmlands, some of the herdsmen also set fire to bushes during the dry season, thereby causing damage to farms and plantations.

They said there was the urgent need for the various assemblies to institute bye-laws to regulate the activities of the herdsmen.

MIDA EXTENDS WATER TO TAMALE RURAL COMMUNITIES

 (Daily Graphic, Jan 14, 2012, page 18)

THE Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) has extended pipe-borne water to five peri-urban communities in the Tamale metropolis under its Rural Water Extension Project.

They are Wamale, Chansezu, Dufaa, Gbabshei and Nanton Zoo. A total of 12 stand pipes have been constructed in these five communities.

One of the stand pipes in the Wamale area has been situated within the premises of the Shekinah Clinic, a clinic that offers services to the poor in Tamale and beyond at no fee.

During a short ceremony to hand over the facility to the clinic, the Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) of Tamale, Alhaji Abdulai Haruna Friday said the water extension project was implemented by MiDA in partnership with the assembly at the cost of US$366,000.

He explained that the assembly had chosen to situate one of the stand pipes on the premises of the Shekinah clinic because the services being rendered by Dr David Abdulai, who is the founder of Shekinah Clinic, were so crucial to the welfare of the poor in society.

“Dr Abdulai and his team are sacrificing to make life better for the poor by bringing healthcare to the doorstep of poor Ghanaians,” he stated, adding that Shekinah Clinic is a shining example of what each of us can do to support our society.

For his part, Dr Abdulai said the extension of pipe borne water to the clinic would supplement the efforts that had been made earlier to ensure regular water supply at the clinic.

He said the clinic relies on a water system that sources fresh water from a nearby dam, treats the water, and stores it in a reservoir for use by the clinic.

Dr Abdulai reiterated the fact that services provided at the clinic are absolutely for free and aimed primarily at the poor and destitute, stressing “we depend unconditionally on divine providence.

He took the MCE on an inspection of facilities at the clinic, and explained that many of the things were provided by benevolent individuals and institutions.

He noted that apart from the clinic itself, other facilities located on the premises include residential facilities, some of which were provided by the MP for Tamale South, Mr Haruna Iddrisu and others through communal labour.

The assembly man for the Wamale electoral area, Mr Ibrahim Abudu commended MiDA and the assembly for extending pipe-borne water to his community, adding that the people would no more depend on polluted dams.

He also made a passionate appeal to benevolent institutions and the business community to extend a hand of support to the Shekinah clinic because the institution was contributing significantly to the health of the people in Tamale.

Alhaji Friday later presented a number of assorted items to Dr Abdulai for use by beneficiaries of the clinic. The items, which were donated by the assembly, comprise four bales of used clothing, 20 basins and 50 mats.

MORE FEMALES ADMITTED TO HEALTH INSTITUTIONS IN NR

(Daily Graphic, Jan 14, 2012, page 11)

NINE hundred and sixteen students, mainly females, were admitted to health training institutions in the Northern Region during the 2011/12 academic year to pursue various health related programmes.

Of the number, 153 were admitted to the Nurses and Midwifery Training School in Tamale, whiles 105 students were admitted to the Community Health Nurses Training School in Tamale.

The School of Hygiene, also in Tamale, admitted 100 students and the remaining 558 were admitted to Health Assistants Training Schools (HATS) situated in Damongo, Yendi, Nalerigu and Kpandai.

This came to light during the 3rd Joint Matriculation Ceremony of the seven health training institutions located in the Northern Region.

The function was held on the theme: “Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the role of the nurse and environmental health trainee.”

Delivering a statement on behalf of the principals of the seven training institutions, Mr Alfred Assibi, who is the Principal for School of Hygiene, said the training institutions were bedevilled with a number of challenges hindering the training process.

Key among these setbacks, he mentioned, are poor infrastructure, lack of accommodation facilities, limited teaching and learning materials and dwindling financial support from the government.

He also mentioned that the region had only a few clinical sites and this had resulted in a situation where these sites get congested when the students are sent on clinical practice.

Mr Assibi said when there is congestion, the teaching and learning process is hindered because the preceptors are unable to guide all the students and there is lack of space for free movement.

He also noted that apart from congestion, the clinical sites were also poorly equipped.

Mr Thomas Tawiah, who spoke on behalf of the Regional Director of Health, said the health directorate was concerned about the situation where some students refuse postings to rural health facilities.

He said this situation was regrettable, noting that it was in the rural areas that their services were more needed.

Mr Tawiah said there had been suggestions from some people that health trainees who go on clinical practice should be reshuffled regularly so that those in the cities would also go to the rural areas and vice versa.

He also noted that there was the need for health training institutions to introduce quality assurance and customer care into the school curriculum so as to churn out graduates who would approach their job with professionalism and treat clients with respect.