Residents of Daboziiri in the Siiru Electoral Area of the Wa West District have lamented that the poor nature of road networks in the area is affecting the sales of their farm produce.
They also said that the bad nature of road affects their day to day activities.
Mr Dassah Kyasuo told Info Radio that the bad state of the road negatively affect them during the raining season.
According to him, they face challenges when transporting their farm produce to market centres at Wa or Vieri.
Mr Dassah said during elections, politicians always move to and fro the community, promising to construct the road but never return to the community after achieving their aim.
He however applauded the Assembly Member of the area, Mr. Wulo Richard, for the necessary steps taken to improve the state of the roads in the area.
Mr. Donado Gbangbaa, another resident, noted that they suffer post-harvest losses as their farm produce get rotten at the farms due the poor nature of the roads hindering the timely transportation of the produce.
The residents, therefore, appealed to the government through the Wa West District Assembly to come to their aid.
Popular Business Man cum Contractor, Akwesi John B passed on in July
A revered business Man who resided in Wa for over 40 years, died on the 28th of July 2022 after a short illness.
Before his demise, he was a contractor and operated one of the oldest drinking spots called John B Bar on the J.J Rawlings High Street of Wa.
Akwesi John B was born Oheneba Richard Akwasi Gyamfi 71 Years Ago before his demise. He hails from Busunya in the Nkoransa North District of Bono East Region. He resided at Duori a suburb of Wa before he travelled to his hometown in May.
11th of August has been set aside to organize a befitting day for his burial at Busunya per the Tradition of Bono Man in the Bono East Region.
Several close friends have promised to travel down to his community to mourn with the family.
Four MMDCES were prevented from participating in the Meeting
Some Municipal and District Chief Executives were sent out of a meeting organized by the Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih to spearhead regional Development and to deliberate on proposed plans of future expectancies.
The 4 MMDCES were late
On the 21st of July 2022 a meeting was organized for Regional Coordinating Directors and MMDCEs and heads
of decentralized departments to deliberate on important regional issues, attendance and time were being recorded and in the process it was discovered that the District Chief Executive for Wa West District, Hon. Vida Diorotey, three other DCEs who were locked out , three out of the four went away with the exception of Wa West DCE who sat outside throughout the meeting.
MMDCEs who were present for the Program Included, DCE for Sissala West , MCE for Sissala East , DCE for Lambussie, MCE for Lawra , DCE for Daffiama-Bussie-Issa, MCE for Nandom, DCE for Wa East.
They were locked out of the meeting and were queried. The program which was to begin at 10am rather started at 10:40am.
“Before I proceed to give my address, I want to find out how many of the MMDCEs are here, Wa he is not inn, Wa West, She is not here, I will not allow her inn, Coordinating Directors, 8, I will not tolerate any insorbodination, right, I will not allow anyone to undermine me or undermine the government of his Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, I will not accept that in the Region, I’m particularly disappointed in the MMDCEs who are not here, I just returned from Accra and these are some of the things the president talked to us about, your responsibility is to lead your people”.
MMDCES who reported Late for the Program Include MCE for Jirapa, Hon. Nicholas Soyiri, DCE for Nadowli-Kaleo Hon. Kate Lankono, DCE for Wa West, Hon. Vida Diorotey and MCE for Wa, Hon. Issahaku Tahiru Moomin.
Meanwhile the District Chief Executive for Wa West, Sat at the Meeting hall at the Regional library throughout the Meeting whilst the other three MMDCEs left the venue. The Chief Director of RCC, Peter M. Maala was instructed to serve the three MMDCEs who had left the venue with query letters.
Three MMDCE with the exception of the Wa West DCE were queried for leaving the venue and were asked to respond to the query letters on or before 25th July 2022. The District Chief Executive for Daffiama-Bussie-Issa Took out time to apologise on behalf of his colleagues.
The Regional Minister concluded
“This is a forum for you to voice what is affecting your people so if you decide not to use this plaform you will be denying your people a lot, henceforth I am not tolerate this lackadaisical attitude to official duties”.
Mr Amidu Chinnia Issahaku, Member of Parliament (MP) for the Sissala East Constituency, and Mr Mohammed Issah Batagalia, his opponent in the 2020 parliamentary election have teamed up to encourage students in Tumu Senior High School to make judicious use of their time to make academic progress.
Mr Issahaku said Senior High School education marked the beginning of career choices and stressed the importance of students placing much premium in their studies to progress into tertiary education.
He was addressing some final and second year students of the Tumu Senior High School at a programme organised by old students, to help final year students writing this year’s West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) tackle more effectively their papers.
Mr.Chinnia said: “Those of us who came through here even at difficult times, we had been able to rise above the difficulty and gone far. Your parents and government sacrifices are for your comfort and betterment.”
He advised the students to remain focused and work hard to break the cycle of secondary education and progress to the next level.
The MP donated an amount of GH¢2,000 to the headmaster to buy pens and pencils for the final year students and also pledged to give sixteen streetlights to light up dark spots in the school.
Mr Yussif Napuna Alidu, the President of the Old Students Association , said the rationale of the programme was to encourage students to take an active interest in learning and make good use of the time in school for better grades.
Mr Mohammed Issah Bataglia, the 2020 Parliamentary candidate for Sissala East Constituency of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) advised the students to judiciously utilize the three years stay on campus and harder to pass.
Mr Ibrahim Salifu, the Headmaster of the school, commended the old students for the novelty to share thoughts and ideas with the final year students to inspire, encourage and improve on the school’s performance on the WASSCE results.
He encouraged the students to actively listen and put into good use the various ideas and advice shared by the speakers
Passengers of local airlines have expressed dissatisfaction over a spike in the price of local airline tickets.
This is after prices of local airline tickets shot up by between 15 and 20 per cent, prompting recession fears among local operators following “a gradual drop” in patronage. The development has been associated to the Cedi depreciation.
The new prices, which took effect from July 08, 2022, was in response to a rise in operational cost occasioned by the depreciation of the Cedi against the Dollar, and increment in aviation fuel prices, the Ghana News Agency has gathered.
Domestic airline operators said their cost of operation had doubled since the beginning of the year and that an upward adjustment in airfares was necessary to sustain their businesses.
The Cedi has depreciated by about 28 per cent since the beginning of the year whiles prices of aviation fuel have more than doubled since January this year.
In July alone, the Cedi depreciated by 7 per cent to settle at GHC 8.50 to the Dollar as of August 1, 2022.
According to industry players, Jet A-1 (one of the most commonly used fuels for commercial aviation) which was trading at an average $0.6 per litre, had shot up to an average $1.2130 (ex-refinery price) as of July 31, 2022.
The domestic airline operators claimed they initially resisted the appetite to adjust their airfares for fear that patronage would plummet.
Under the new pricing regime, passengers booking a one-way trip to Kumasi could pay as high as GHS 689 (depending on the airline and the time) while a round trip now costs about GHC 1,300.
A one-way trip from Accra to Tamale now costs an average GHC 642 while a round trip cost nearly GHS1, 400.
A fuel surcharge of between GHC 50 to GHC100, depending on the airline, is embedded in the total price build up; the fee was introduced in March this year to cushion the airlines over the rising cost of aviation fuel.
In an interview with some passengers, they expressed worry about the development, saying the increments would compel them to resort to road transport.
Some of the passengers said they would continue to travel by air to save time and for safety purposes, adding that they would travel “only when it is extremely necessary.”
“Last month, I paid GHC 449 from Accra to Kumasi. Barely two weeks later, I wanted to book for a return trip and the least I got was GHC 689.
“The increment was sudden. At least they should have advertised ahead of time, so we plan accordingly,” a regular passenger, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.
In an interview with the GNA, Mr Duncan Sambu, the Chief Operating Officer, PassionAir, said there had been a gradual drop in the patronage of its services since the introduction of the new fares weeks ago.
He said the increment was necessary as local operators were strained by the rising cost of aviation fuel and the depreciation of the Cedi.
Mr Sambu said although the cost of aviation fuel declined last month (about $0.02 per litre in the second half of July), the decrement was insignificant.
“When you compare our price increment to the depreciation of the Cedi against the Dollar, we are below the depreciation,” he said.
He added that: “We can see the numbers in terms of patronage have reduced because a lot of people don’t have that purchasing power.”
Mr Sambu said a downward adjustment of their prices “is not immediate” as projections suggest that the Cedi may depreciate further in the coming weeks.
“We are still monitoring, and once things start getting better, we will look at our prices again,” he said
Lawra Senior High School in the Lawra Municipality of the Upper West Region was hit by an Unusual storm(Girls domitory) on 21st March,2022 which rendered most of the students (girls ) homeless.
Upon receiving a formal request for support, the Lawra Secondary School Old Students Association (LASSOSA ) came in to support the school with hundred (100) pieces of students mattresses.
Delivering a speech on behalf of the national president of LASSOSA,Hon.Thomas Tingan accompanied by Mr Charles Nuoreye said the association,upon receiving the request was touched to come and relief the students from this unusual disaster
Mr Justine Kpan, the upper west regional PRO,GES presented the mattresses to the headmaster and urged them to use them judiciously so that students who are yet to be enrolled can also benefit from them.
The headmaster, Mr. Seidu Tendana expressed his sincere gratitude to the association and said since he was kept incharge the school till date,”no one has helped the school more than LASSOSA” it earlier helped the school with street bulbs and has done it again.
The assembly member for the area(Tuore),Hon.Justice Wintoraa who doubles as a board member of the school also expressed his heartfelt gratitude to LASSOSA for its generous support to the school.
Dr. Rashid Hassan Pelpuo, Member of Parliament (MP) for Wa Central, has touted himself for helping many people to study abroad in addition to the many scholarships he has awarded to others.
He indicated he would soon release the long, unending list of the beneficiaries to the media to lay bare some of his good works.
He said this in an interview with Tinan Musah Adams on Radio MAK’s Daily Evening Connect Monday, August 1, 2022.
Asked why he was not propagating his works as a politician should, he intimated the party was now doing so much of that on various social media platforms but it is just that their opponents hate reading and hence, fail to see all that is being displayed.
According to him, he was someone who had dedicated himself in serving his people long before he became an MP, and has also done so much developmental projects in the municipality after becoming a legislature which is there for all to see.
The soft-spoken politician claimed that almost all major developmental projects in the region have been carried out by the National Democratic Congress, NDC.
He accused the governing NPP for abandoning the region even though the party in the region managed to win three seats in Parliament.
He slammed critics who are questioning what his new appointment as President of the African Parliamentarians Forum for Population and Development, AfPFPD, stands to bring to the constituency in terms of development.
He opined that it is laughable for anyone to think in that manner since such positions do not come with any budget/funding. According to him, the portfolio is just like being the AU Chair.
He stated: “It’s laughable for one to think that way. You can’t ask President Akufo-Addo what development he is bringing simply because he has been elected the AU Chair. You have just been selected to lead your colleagues, that’s all. There is no any kind of budget, so which country will give you it’s resources to come and develop yours?”
The MP was elected as President of African Parliamentarians Forum on Population and Development (AFPFPD).
The election took place at the General Assembly held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on June 23, 2022.
Residents of Kpaguri were in a state of Shock after a security Man was found dead and shallowly burried within the area per police reports, according to eyewitnesses, his intestines and other parts of his body are missing.
The Upper West Regional Police Command through its public Relations Unit has released a statement Explaining the development on the 1st of August 2022 and measures taken to address it
Statement
UW: A 62 YEAR OLD PRIVATE SECURITY MAN SUSPECTED TO HAVE BEEN MURDERED AND BURIED SHALLOWLY AT KPAGURI
1. The Upper West Regional Police Command wishes to confirm that, On Saturday, July 30, 2022 at about 10:55am, Police received information that, Mumuni Jartoe now deceased left home for work at Kpaguri, a suburb of Wa on Friday, July 29, 2022 at about 8:00pm and did not return.
2. A search party was organized to look for the deceased, whiles Police intelligence was ongoing till when the deceased’s body was discovered in a shallow grave in an uncompleted building opposite the stores he guards at kpaguri on Sunday, July 31, 2022 at about 11:00am.
3. Body of deceased was exhumed with the assistance of the Municipal Environment Hecalth Directorate and same conveyed to the Regional Hospital/Wa, where the Medical Doctor on duty confirmed subject dead.
4. The body has since been deposited at same Hospital morgue for preservation and autopsy.
5. The general public is implored to exercise restraint and assist Police with vvitali to unearth the activities of these miscreants for peacefulc whiles swift investigation is underway.
New Abandoned Road Projects Linking Mangu Electoral Area to Dobile and the Wa Airport have been fixed partly by some Residents of Mangu through a Communal Labor exercise Organized by the Assembly Member for the Area, Hon. Mohammed Sakibu.
The Exercise started on the 30th July 2022 between Dobile and Mangu. Several road users on that portion of the road donated some amount of money towards Making the project successful.
According to Hon. Mohammed Sakibu,
“The project was abandoned by a contractor assigned to fix it but due to the significance of the road we have decided as a community to use communal Labor to fix a part of it whilst we wait for the contractor, if you observe critically, we are not just limiting our efforts to working on the Dobile-Mangu road, you realise that during Rainy season our community Mangu becomes challenged when it comes to accessibility of roads, this has compelled us to seek support and thankfully a resident by Name Jallu Supported us with his tipper truck to fill pot holes on the Mangu to Aahiyao stretch, close to the dam, we hope Assembly comes inn to complete the works”.
An Elderly Man believed to be within the Ages of 70 has been found dead today 31st July 2022 at Kpaguri Residential Area in the Wa Municipality. Parts of his body was missing Including his intestines when some eyewitnesses got to the area some meters to Dan-Ibu international School.
He was a night security Man, Popularly called ‘Watchman’ before his demise.
The Body of the Deceased has since been carried to the Upper West Regional Police Station for Investigations to be carried out.
Other Details Gathered by Sungmaaale FM
Statement
Man killed and buried around Kpaguri estate. A security man popular known as Kiikla a resident at Kambali has been found with stomach cut open and half buried in an uncompleted building in the Kpaguri estate area.
The police have since conveyed the body from the area to assist investigations.
Meanwhile the development is second of its kind third of it’s Kind after a man was found dead at T.I Ahmadiyya Basic School close to Wa Senior High School, before that a Security Man was found dead with his parts found in a sark, investigations are still ongoing to find the killers.
