Parliament commends Cuban doctors
Leave the four regions alone-Avoka
Building designs must conform to weather conditions -MP
MPs express concern expressed about menace of sickle cell
Power cut ends Parliament sitting
Ministry disagrees with call for resignation of Education Minister
Accra (Greater Accra) 25 May 2002 - Parliament on Friday commended Cuban doctors working in the country for their hard work and devotion to duty. Mr Kwakye Addo, NDC-Afram Plains South said in a statement in the house that there are about 154 Cuban health personnel currently working in Ghana and that "when one puts Ghana's population at 18,412,247, one will reckon that the
Cuban Medical Brigade covers 3,859,000 of our population, which is highly commendable."
He said the Cuban Medical Brigade in Ghana, composed of 123 doctors and 31 technicians are located in all the country's ten regions. "Ghanaians are grateful to the Cuban Medical Brigade for their enviable and devoted service to our people and pray that exchange programmes in the sectors of health, tourism and agriculture between Ghana and Cuba will be carried out for the benefit of the two sister nations."
Mr Addo called on the Ministry of Health and the NPP administration to ensure that the brain drain of Ghanaian doctors and other health staff was curtailed, "since we need a healthy people to attain our golden age of business." Mr Kofi Attor, Ho-Central said more opportunities should be provided for Ghanaians to be trained as medical personnel in Cuba as a measure to arrest the brain-drain menace in the health sector.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 25 May 2002- Mr Cletus Avoka, NDC- Bawku West, on Friday asked the Ministry of Education to exclude the four northern sector regions which were not affected by the recent leakage of the Basic Education Certificate Examination from a re-sit.
He said the inclusion of candidates from Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions in the nation-wide re-sit was improper, unfair and illegal. The member was contributing to a debate on a statement made in Parliament by Prof. Christopher Ameyaw Akumfi, Minister of Education, on the government's decision ordering the re-sit.
Mr Avoka said it seemed that the well-endowed regions, which had "stolen" were being punished with the less endowed but clean ones. "The purpose of punishment is to deter people from committing crimes but if an innocent person is going to be punished for somebody's crime then it is unfair and contrary to the philosophy of our legal system."
Mr Avoka said the four regions should rather be commended for doing a clean job. "These poor little ones should not be made responsible for the illegal acts of irresponsible adults." Alhaji M.S.I. Abba, NDC-Chereponi, said the cancellation came late and called for the completion of the scoring (marking) of the papers to ascertain the extent of leakage before a decision could be taken.
The member said all rivers and streams in his constituency would swell to their seams (at the time of the re-sit) and asked the Minister to guarantee the safety of candidates who would be crossing the fast flowing rivers. Mr Kosi Kedem, NDC-Hohoe South, described the situation as " not a leakage, but a dam that has burst open". Ms Christine Churcher, Minister of State for Basic, Secondary and Girl-Child Education, asked the house to support the re-sit.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 25 May 2002 - A member of parliament on Thursday called on architects to design buildings that can withstand rainstorm and the country's tropical conditions. Mr Kwabena Sarfo, NPP-Offinso South observed that the annual rituals of people being rendered homeless as a result of the destruction of their houses by rainstorm should challenge architects to come up with appropriate designs that could resist such stormy weather.
He was contributing to a debate on a statement by Mr Geshon Gbedieme, NDC-Nkwanta on the recent rainstorm at Kpassa in the Volta Region, during which about 3000 people lost their homes. Mr Gbedieme appealed to the government and non-governmental organisations to assist the victims, especially with building materials, to rebuild their houses quickly.
Mr Abuga Pele NDC-Chiana/Paga said Parliament should make provision for such disasters under the contingency fund, to be controlled by parliament to help victims through their MPs. Mr Joe Gidisu, NDC-North Tongu said during such disasters the victims were only helped with bed-sheets and blankets while the building materials they needed most were almost always left out.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 25 May 2002 - Mrs Anna Nyamekye, Deputy Minister of Environment and Science on Friday said the menace of sickle cell disease was as deadly as the six childhood killer diseases and HIV/AIDS. She said unfortunately it was still not very well known and understood by most Africans although the experts view it as constituting the number one genetic disease.
In a statement in Parliament to mark Africa Day of Sickle Cell, Mrs Nyamekye said it is estimated that between 10 and 43 per cent of Africa's 830 million people have symptoms of the disease. She suggested that the disease should be treated free of charge in government hospitals like tuberculosis and leprosy.
The Deputy minister, who is also the Member of Parliament for Jaman, said the Day aims at increasing public awareness of the disease and expressed the hope that the event would be accorded the seriousness it deserves. Mrs Nyamekye said ignorance of sickle cell had made the general public consider it as "rheumatic disease", adding that some patients and families attributed it to witchcraft.
The Deputy Minister said sickle cell was a major cause of mortality among children under five years and parents were often encumbered with the responsibility of spending working hours with their affected children at home. She said the national programme on the disease was not encouraging enough and called on the health authorities to improve on the situation.
Mrs Nyamekye stressed the need to set up centres in all regional and district hospitals to cater for the medical and psycho- social needs of patients by specialists to save especially children from the genetic pain and death. Mr Modestus Ahiable, NDC-Ketu North said most people were not sure of how to handle the disease and it was advisable that "we should know much about it to save the innocent and poor people who are the most vulnerable".
He called for intensive public education about the disease and for people to go for test. Mr Kwasi Akomea Kyeremanteng, NPP-Afigya Sekyere East, stressed the need for couples to undergo test to be sure of their status before marriage and childbirth.
Mr Kosi Kedem, NDC-Hohoe South said sickle cell is called the black man's disease adding that has been established that about 65 per cent of Africans are prone to it. Mr Victor Gbeho, Independent Anlo, urged government to allocate some money towards providing the necessary publications and public education to be made easily accessible to the people.
He said first aid measures should also be propagated to educate the public about the disease and the need to be critical about their life styles to check the spread of the disease. Mrs Cecilia Amoah, NPP-Asutifi South suggested that the Ministry of Health should set up directorate management and research centres, provide health materials and train more health personnel to support sickle cell patients.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 25 May 2002- A sudden power cut, compounded by an ineffective stand-by generator in the middle of a contentious Parliamentary debate forced the house into a pre-mature adjournment on Friday. Members were discussing the decisions by the Ministry of Education on the recent leakage in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) when power went off at 1305 hours.
Prof. Christopher Ameyaw-Akumfi, Minister of Education, had formally informed the house in a statement about his decision to order a re-sit of the examination nation-wide. Mr K.E.K. Tachie, Clerk of Parliament, told the Ghana News Agency that it was the first time the stand-by generator had let the house down since its installation five years ago.
He said a fault was detected on it on Wednesday, for which he asked the designated caretaker engineering firm, M&G, to prepare an invoice for it to be rectified but he was yet to hear from them. Mr Tachie said the normal power supply to the ridge area by the Electricity Company of Ghana was not reliable.
He dismissed the notion that the outage was deliberate to silence the Minority who had put Prof. Ameyaw-Akumfi on the carpet for including the Brong Ahafo, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions in the re-sit even though there was no evidence that questions leaked in those regions. The Clerk said he would consult with the leadership of the house to reschedule the discussion.
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Accra (Greater Accra) 25 May 2002- The Ministry of Education on Friday said it disagreed with a call by the National Democratic Congress (NDC) for the resignation of the minister over the leakage of the 2002 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
A statement signed by the Public Relations Officer, Mr Ahmed Ayuba said the ministry was of the view that the position of the NDC was "indefensible, unjustifiable and totally incongruous."
The ministry said the decision to call for a re-sit of the 2002 BECE was taken in the interest of the Ghanaian child after very careful consideration of various options open as well as the financial and social implications of these options. "The enormity of the issue at stake has reinforced the ministry's view that in a matter as grave as the leakage of the BECE, all and sundry must act cautiously, dispassionately and responsibly," it said.
The ministry said the 42.5 billion cedis that the NDC claims as the cost incurred as a result of the decision taken by the Ministry was inaccurate and that the total amount involved with reprinting all the questions was estimated at five billion cedis and this was to be borne by the West African Examination Council (WAEC).
"The minister cannot be accused of being negligent and incompetent because even through the sector minister has overall responsibility for all educational matters, the responsibility, the responsibility for the conduct of examinations clearly lies with WAEC," it said.
The Minister, the statement said, nevertheless acted with dispatch to save an otherwise impossible situation. The assertion that the Ministry was rewarding the contract for the printing of new sets of examination papers was premature and speculative, the statement added.
The Ministry would also take appropriate action to prevent future leakage as well as apply sanctions against officials who had either by omission or commission contributed to the current problem, the statement said.
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