How do we resolve conflicts in the north - Views from Tamale

1.     Jemilatu Musah – National Service Personnel

The image of the north has been soiled by these prolonged conflicts. These conflicts have overshadowed the great culture and traditions of the north and so instead of the world talking about our Damba and Fire festivals, they rather talk about conflicts in the north.

For me, conflicts in the north could be blamed on the level of poverty in the area. Many of the people in deprived villages are very poor and depend largely on farming for their survival.

So they would go great lengths to fight for ownership over their farmlands, especially when they feel threatened.

The government must extend development projects to various parts of the north so as to create equal opportunities for people to be employed and live better lives.

When people are employed and educated, they are less likely to fight each other.

Playgrounds attract children to school

Children playing heartily at the playground

IT has been widely acknowledged that children in many communities are attracted to schools with a feeding programme.

As it is evident, schools benefiting from the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) have extremely high enrolment figures.

However, for pupils in some rural schools in the Northern Region that do not have a feeding programme, the presence of playgrounds in their schools gives them the urge to attend school each passing day.

One of such schools is the Dakpemyili Primary School in the East Gonja district, which is one of the few rural schools that boast of a playground with these facilities: seesaw, merry-go-round, slide and rope swing.

Dagomba movies have come of age - Jehanfo

A scene in Torbu-Nyango

ONE of the popular movie producers and directors in Tamale, Alhassan Yushawu Jehanfo believes that Dagomba movies have come off age and needs a shot in the arm to reach the next level.

“We have come a long way in spite of the difficulties and I think we deserve some recognition for surpassing numerous hurdles to keep the industry alive,” is what he said when the Graphic Showbiz interviewed him in Tamale.

“It is not easy to finance the production of movies, but we have managed to keep producing more and more movies each year,” Jehanfo, who is the Vice Presdient of the Northern Drama and Film Makers Association (NODRAFIM), stated.

TaMA to decongest Tamale Central Market

A section of the market

THE Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (TaMA) is to demolish structures that have blocked pathways in the Tamale Central Market as part of efforts to decongest the market.

This is to reduce the congestion in the market and also allow for easy passage of all vehicles, especially a fire tender in the event of a fire.

Over the past few days, there have been announcements on radio warning traders who have impeded on the right of way in the market to evacuate before the end of May.

United States to increase development assistance to the north

Freshly harvested rice

THE United States (US) government is increasing its development assistance to Northern Ghana over the next five years.

The US Ambassador to Ghana, Mr Gene Cretz, who made this known, said this gesture was part of a broader strategy by the US government to contribute significantly to poverty reduction and to create economic opportunities for communities in the north.

He however cautioned that in the long term, trade, and not aid, was the more sustainable path to economic transformation in the north due to what he termed as the north’s “strategic opportunities for economic growth and investment.”

Water extended to three communities in Tamale

WATERAID, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working in the water and sanitation sector, has extended pipe-borne water to three deprived communities in the Tamale, metropolis.

They are Nyohini South-West, Nyohini South-East and Dungu.

For several years, many households in these communities had no access to potable water although situated in an urban area.

In Nyohini South-East, for instance, the residents relied on a dam in the area, which also serves animals in the area.

Zoomlion intensifies cleaning of drains in Gumani...As rains set in

AS part of efforts to prevent the reoccurrence of floods in Gumani, a suburb of Tamale, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a sanitation company, has intensified efforts to empty choked drains in the area.

Zoomlion and Nasara Youth emptying choked gutters

In the last two years, a number of areas in the Tamale metropolis had consistently been inundated each time there was a heavy downpour, leading to the destruction of property, as well as the loss of lives.

Gumani happens to be one of the areas that mostly got flooded and the cause of this annual disaster has been attributed to the clogging of drains in the area by all manner of debris including plastic waste, sand, tins, cans, and organic waste.

TECH Girls Club celebrate 'Girls in ICT Day'

Some members of the Club busy on the computer

A GROUP of hundred primary school girls, known as the TECH Girls Club, have celebrated this year’s ‘Girls in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Day’ to reiterate the message that girls are equally good in the use of ICT.

The day, which falls on the last Thursday of April every year, was set aside by the International Telecom Union (ITU) to raise global awareness and prompt action towards encouraging girls and young women to pursue careers in ICTs.

King's Village Nutrition Centre...Where malnourished children find hope

Some mothers and their malnourished kids at the centre

BONTANGA, a tranquil village in the Kumbungu district of the Northern Region, is popular for its irrigation dam, which was established several years ago to irrigate farms within its catchment.

A few kilometres away from this dam is another institution that should equally attract attention, especially from the development community.

It is certainly not a hotel or zoo but a charitable organisation that provides quality education, healthcare, water and sanitation services to the deprived communities in the Tolon and Kumbungu districts. 
Among the services that the King's Village offers, the one that touched me most was the provision of paediatric care and long term rehabilitation for children suffering from severe malnourishment.

Farmers in tears as rice farms razed down

FORTY (40) rice farmers in the Northern Region were thrown into a state of anguish over the weekend as fire razed down their rice farms, totaling over 350 acres.

Each year, farmers lose their farms to bush fires

A spark of fire from the engine of a rickety combine harvester that was being used at a rice farm lighted the rice plants and due to the intensity of the winds, it degenerated into an uncontrollable blaze and spread to other farms.

Attempts to stop the fire proved futile as it continued to raze down farm after farm over a two-day period, until it brought was under control in another community, by which time it had already caused unimaginable damage.

The farms were situated in three communities in the Savelugu-Nanton district of the Northern Region. They are Malgi-Naayili, Nakpanzoo and Nobogu, which are located off the Tamale-Bolgatanga highway.

Tamale women farmers get recognition

WOMEN have been deeply involved in various aspects of agriculture, be it land preparation, planting, weeding, harvesting, processing, animal rearing or marketing.

Some of the proud women farmers

In spite of this, they have often not been given due recognition for their contribution to food production, apparently because the men always take the credit for the productivity of their wives and sisters.

It was therefore heart-warming to see a number of women receive awards at this year’s farmers’ day awards ceremony in Tamale, which was held at Kogni.

Mma Hamza Hadija, a beans farmer from Jarigu, a community located off the Tamale-Salaga road, was adjudged the best female farmer in the Tamale metropolis.

Apart from her, four other women were rewarded for beating their male counterparts in the cultivation of some crops and the rearing of livestock.

My life depends on good harvest - groundnut farmer

Afa Alhassan being assisted by mom and auntie to dry his nuts

EACH year between August and October, one can see chains of women carrying sacks and pans filled with freshly harvested groundnuts and walking along dusty or muddy paths in villages in Northern Ghana.

It is that period of the year when groundnut farmers harvest their groundnuts, which were planted earlier in the year.

Groundnut or peanut happens to be one of the most farmed food crops in Northern Ghana due to its health, culinary and economic values.

In 2011, the Ministry of Food Agriculture (MoFA) indicated that the total output of groundnut produced in the three regions of the north accounted for about 80 percent of the nation’s total groundnut production.

In a recent trip to Zokuga, a farming community in the Savelugu/Nanton district of the Northern Region, I met with a 44-year old farmer who has been cultivating groundnut since childhood.

Isreali International Percussionist, Gilad Dobrecky performs in northern Ghana

Gilad in action with local drum

 A DURBAR has been held in Saakuba, a small farming community in the Tolon/Kumbungu district of the Northern Region, in honour of an International percussionist from Israel, Gilad Dobrecky.

Mr Dobrecky, who is considered one of the world’s top 12 percussionists by the JAZZIZ magazine, visited the community courtesy the Embassy of Israel in Ghana and the Paabinaa Meriga Peace Initiative (PAMEPI), a Tamale-based non-governmental organisation.

Using his percussion instruments and local Dagomba drums, Mr Dobrecky produced interesting rhythms and compositions that delighted both the young and old people of Saakuba and nearby villages who had converged at the durbar grounds upon hearing of his arrival.

WOMEN RIDING MOTORBIKES WITHOUT HELMETS - a daily occurence in Tamale

TAMALE, the Northern Regional capital, could easily earn the reputation as the motor city of Ghana as the streets of this sprawling northern city is dominated by motorcycles of various kinds.

Unfortunately, wearing of helmets is the exception rather than the norm.

Each day, hundreds of motor riders take to the streets of Tamale meandering their way through chains of vehicles without crush helmets. Among these recalcitrant riders, we have children, youth and adults, many of whom are females.

It is difficult to decipher why a sane person, fully conscious of how crucial, but fragile, the human head is, would pick a motorbike, zoom off like thunderbolt, without a crush helmet for protection.

It is even more difficult to appreciate why women, who are perceived as more conscious of safety, would be riding motorcycles, although admiringly, without any protective gear.

TTH takes healthcare to Sagnarigu community

Some of the residents waiting to receive drugs

THE Tamale Teaching Hospital (TTH) is to intensify its efforts to take healthcare delivery to the doorsteps of communities in the Tamale metropolis and other parts of the Northern Region.

With the aid of its two mobile clinics, the TTH kicked off this initiative on Tuesday, when the mobile clinics made a stop at the Sagnarigu community, a suburb of Tamale.

A large number of people in and around Sagnarigu, many of whom were women and children, headed to the forecourt of the Sagnarigu Chief Palace, where the mobile clinics were stationed.

When would Tamale Airport become international?

THREE years ago, the Tamale airport, 11 miles from the city centre, was a relatively quiet surrounding. Aside the military flights, just a handful of people were using this airport for domestic flights to Accra.

Today, the story is entirely different. Statistics sourced from airport authorities indicate that, averagely, 4000 passengers use this airport every month.

From Jinhua to Nanning: A taste of Eastern China

A view of Central Shanghai from the Oriental 
Pearl Tower

IT may not be as flashy as Shanghai or as popular as Beijing, but, certainly, Nanning, the capital of the Guangxi Province of China, has a character of its own.

Whilst in Shanghai skyscrapers do the talking, in Nanning, the abundant green vegetation speaks for the city. Almost every corner of this city has been decorated with trees, shrubs and all kinds of green architecture that does not only beautify the city, but gives it a natural and healing effect.

No wonder the people of Nanning prefer to call their city “the green city of China.”

A green park in Nanning

We had the opportunity to spend a number of days in this beautiful city during our recent visit to China for the seminar on “Think Tank for Anglophone Countries” which was organized by the Zhejiang Normal University (ZJNU) with sponsorship from the Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

Northern Farmers receive 319 Tonnes of Fertilizer

THE Savannah Accelerated Development Authority (SADA) and the Millennium Villages Project (MVP) is distributing 12, 760 bags of fertilizer to farmers in 34 communities in the Northern and Upper East regions.

This is to enable each household in these communities have access to fertilizer in order to increase their yield per acre, record higher earnings and consequently reduce the incidence of poverty in these areas.

The fertilizer, estimated at US$276, 943, was donated to the MVP by one of the world’s largest suppliers of phosphate and potash, Mosaic Crop Nutrition LLC of Florida.

Israeli Ambassdor relishes Northern Hospitality

Ambassador Bar-li and Chief Alhassan

ISRAEL’s Ambassador to Ghana, Ms Sharon Barl-li was in the Northern Region last week and one thing she will never forget is the hospitality of the people of the region.

The treatment she received from all the people she met whilst in the region led her to the ultimate conclusion that the hospitality in the north was incomparable.

“I can feel the hospitality of the people and how truly genuine the people are,” she said, at a meeting at the office of the Tamale mayor, Alhaji Abdulai Haruna Friday.

CCFC donates medical equipment to deprived Zogu Clinic

Some of the items

THE Zogu Health Centre, a clinic that serves a number of rural communities in the Savelugu/Nanton district of the Northern Region, has received a quantity of medical equipment to enable it offer healthcare services to the large number of people who depend on it.

The items, which were provided by the Christian Children’s Fund of Canada (CCFC) and its local collaborator, Tuma Kavi, included BP apparatus, thermometers, drip stands, weighing scales, a wheel chair and bed sheets.

Although the clinic is located in Zogu, it also serves inhabitants of other communities, such as Jegong, Saandu, Jegong Kukuo, Zokuga, Tigu and Nyeko.

The clinic is therefore under constant pressure to meet the health needs of the people, particularly in attending to people suffering from malaria and women in labour.

The Daily Graphic learnt that the construction and furnishing of the Zogu Health Centre was funded by the CCFC and commissioned on November 23rd, 2006.

“The CCFC provided this facility to the people of Zogu because it realised that the old building that was being used as a clinic was in a very deplorable state,” the Programme Officer of Tuma Kavi in the Zogu area, Ms Vivian Awabu Sumani, mentioned during the presentation of the medical equipment.

She said her organisation had since then been collaborating with the CCFC to provide logistics to the clinic and also support health promotion activities in the Zogu area.

“We provide support for the immunisation of children against childhood illnesses and the provision of Vitamin A supplements. We also organise periodic de-worming exercises in the area,” she noted.

Officials of the District Health Directorate commended the CCFC and Tuma Kavi for extending support to the Zogu clinic, explaining that the cost of healthcare was too expensive for government alone to bear.

The programmes manager for the CCFC, Mr Paul Twene said the CCFC was working towards improving the welfare of children.

“But children do not leave in isolation, they live in families and communities. That is why we work to improve general living standards in communities by improving access to potable water, healthcare and quality education, as well enhance the capacity of families to make income,” he stated.

(This story was also published in the Daily Graphic of February 13, 2012, page 23)