T-POLY TO HAVE OIL AND GAS FACULTY BY MAY 2012

The Rector of Takoradi Polytechnic, Rev. Prof. Daniel Nyarko is asking Ghanaians to take the commanding highest in the oil and gas sector. He made the call at the ground breaking ceremony by the Jubilee partners to build an oil and gas faculty for the polytechnic in Takoradi on Wednesday.

Re-positioning the Takoradi Polytechnic, Rev. Prof. Nyarko noted that the Takoradi Polytechnic Project being embarked upon by the Jubilee partners has been on the top priority list of the management of this institution to provide critical skills training opportunities for the youth in the western region in particular and the Ghana as a whole.

He expressed delight for the commencement of the project begin the western region saying the region is where most of the resources of the nation are taking from and must take advantage of our proximity to the oil find to being the training for our people in the oil and gas industry.

The Chief of Staff of Tullow Ghana Limited, Kofi Esson told the News team that today’s ground breaking at T-poly is a testimony to the local content the Jubilee partners are committed to in making it possible for Ghanaians to take full grips of their oil and gas industry at least 90% by 20/20.

This he said, is their focus to exiting in-country infrastructure for competency based training, needs of the industry and government sector strategy for skills and development whiles they also reviewed the potential to build upon existing infrastructure in the country.

The Project Management Cost Equipment and Laboratory fittings have all been taking care of bringing the project cost at over 4.7 million USD whiles the project is expected to complete within seven months.

Preforming the ground breaking ceremony together with the Chiefs and Officials from the Jubilee Partners the Western Regional Minister Paul Evans Aidoo a plead to the Jubilee partners and the contractor to complete the project as scheduled.

He as well noted that the existence of this facility here in the region all other mushroom and quack oil and gas training schools that spontaneously begun operating in the region will seize to operate.

End…     

MILLIPEDES INVADES TEBEKROM, KICKING FARMERS OUT OF BUSINESS

Farmers at Tebekrom have been kicked out of business by millipedes while both residents and farmers surfer itching skin rashes which is reported to have been caused by the invasion of the village by the same Millipedes.

According to residents and farmers at Tebekrom in the Prestea Huni-Valley District of the Western Region, they have been living with these Millipedes in the last five years. But they feel their destructiveness heavily on their habitation and farm produce around this time of the year when they expect bountiful harvest.

The Millipedes which started devouring farms lands some five years ago are now found everywhere in the village even on their beds.

Residents and farmers told the news team on arrival in the village on Thursday morning at about 7.43am that they have lost their Water melon farmers, pineapple farmers, pepper, tomatoes and cassava farms to these Millipedes which have invaded their land leaving them with debt to settle.

Most of the children and the adult living in this village are suffering from itching skin rashes believed to have been caused by these Millipedes. But according to Wikipedia, Millipedes are fairly harmless to human, usually causing only minor effect on skin with the main effect being discoloration.

Millipedes are detritivores and slow moving eating decaying leavings and other dead plant matter but in this case, every fresh harvested food crop from Tebekrom has Millipedes in them making it difficult for them to eat their own harvested food staffs or sell them for money. This they say has compelled them to stay out of business eating more of rice or buy food staffs like yam from other farming communities.

Chief Farmer of TebekromUssif Aiddo Mensah told us that he could not harvest any of his farm produce latter past last year and has also not been able to cultivate any thing this years looking at the way the Millipedes are destroying the crops of other farmers in the area. And called on the government and the ministry and agriculture to immediately fine the solution to this problem before it completely get out of hand and extent to some other villages in the area.

According to them the Prestea Huni-Valley District Assembly always fumigate and disinfect the village around this time of the year to allow the farmers go about their duties but has failed to do so this time and has rather send personnel from the Crop Research Institute in Kumasi to take samples of the Millipedes to their laboratory and see how best they can be eliminated from the village.

We also meet the Community Health Officer for the Huniso Chip ZoneAgnes Ackah at the chief house who told us that she was asked by the Prestea Huni- Valley Director to come and see the kind of rashes the residents complain of and send her report for them to see what the can do about the situation.

It is the plea of the residents and farmers of Tebekrom that a concert solution is found to deal with these Millipedes denying them of their farm produce, money to survive their families and causing them the itching skin rashes we found on most of the resident of Tebekrom.

End…

ILLEGAL MINERS MOUNT ATTACK ON THE RIVER ANKOBRA

PRESTEA SIDE OF THE ANKOBRA RIVER

Illegal mining activities also known as “Galamsey” on the River Ankobra has really destroyed the beautiful River body which ones severed as a drinking water for most people in the Northern part of the western region.

The Ankobra River stretches from the north of the western Region and passes through Prestea to enter the sea between Axim and Ankobra Town in the Ellembele District.

Just like other river bodies in the region the Ankobra River has for the past years been under serious siege at the mercies of galamsey operatives in the region and has lost it freshness.

This has cause many in the area to loos their major source of driving water as these illegal miners keep polluting the river bodies day in and out with their illegal activities.

The recent visit by our correspondent to the Prestea end of the Ankobra River following public grievances that illegal miners has denied them access to portable drinking water, revealed that illegal miners in Prestea has really survived in their attack mounted on the Ankobra River and destroyed is beautiful river body as both side of the river has been mined for gold to the extent that the river has completely changed color from white to dirty brown and stinks badly.

The illegal miners have mounted soil at both sides of the river by the activity thereby creating a narrow path for the river to follow with stress. Oil substances were also spotted on the surface of the river while others also engaged in alluvia mining on the same river body which is strictly prohibited by the mining law of Ghana.

 

Some residents who spoke to our correspondent were swift to accuse the authorities in the Prestea Huni-Valley District for looking on to the situation as it got out off hand and deny them portable drinking water.

The District Chief Executive for the Prestea Huni-Valley District, Wisdom Cudjoe our correspondent in a telephone interview that the District had a difficult time dealing with these illegal miners on the Ankobra River yet they have been able to expel them from the area and on the river a day before our visit to the site.

Meanwhile at the time of our visit it was only their excavators that have been moved away from the site but the illegal miners were still on the river working with their pumping machines and were very mad with over correspondent for film them.

End...

927 PEOPLE BENEFITS FROM LESDEP PROGRAMME IN THE WESTERN REGION

LESDEP

Nine hundred and twenty seven (927) people across the length and breath of the seventeen Districts in the Western Region have benefited from the Local Enterprise and Skills Development Programme (LESDEP).

As a collaboration between a number of ministries with the key ministry being the Local Government and Rural Development in supporting employment generation among the unemployed and people who are motivated to do some things but do not have the required support they need.

People who have learn various trades come together under the LESDEP programme to have refresher courses on their learnt trade and how to use the tool kits they will be giving under the LESDEP programme to enhance them engage effectively in their chosen small and medium scale enterprises in the country.

In the Western Region alone, 927 people have so far benefited from the first phase of the LESDEP programme across the seventeen Districts of the Western Region.

Madam Emilia Arthur

According to the Deputy Western Regional Minister who is also the Regional Coordinator for LESDEP, Madam Emilia Arthur noted that in every country it is the small and medium scale enterprises that hold the economy together and it is the desire of the NDC government under the leadership of Prof. John Evans Atta Mills to support these small and medium scale enterprises hence rolling out of the LESDEP programme to help solve the unemployment problems in the country.

She asked the beneficiaries to properly manage the equipment’s they have been given to better their lives and that of their families and also to remember that it is not for free.

In a presentation made to seventy-eight beneficiaries of LESDEP in the Ellembelle District on the 23^rd of January 2012, the District Chief Executive Daniel Eshun thanked the government for rolling out the LESDEP program which according to him has really been embraced by the people in the District with much interest.

End…   

T-POLY TO HAVE OIL AND GAS FACULTY BY MAY 2012

The Rector of Takoradi Polytechnic, Rev. Prof. Daniel Nyarko is asking Ghanaians to take the commanding highest in the oil and gas sector. He made the call at the ground breaking ceremony by the Jubilee partners to build an oil and gas faculty for the polytechnic in Takoradi on Wednesday.

Re-positioning the Takoradi Polytechnic, Rev. Prof. Nyarko noted that the Takoradi Polytechnic Project being embarked upon by the Jubilee partners has been on the top priority list of the management of this institution to provide critical skills training opportunities for the youth in the western region in particular and the Ghana as a whole.

He expressed delight for the commencement of the project begin the western region saying the region is where most of the resources of the nation are taking from and must take advantage of our proximity to the oil find to being the training for our people in the oil and gas industry.

The Chief of Staff of Tullow Ghana Limited, Kofi Esson told the News team that today’s ground breaking at T-poly is a testimony to the local content the Jubilee partners are committed to in making it possible for Ghanaians to take full grips of their oil and gas industry at least 90% by 20/20.

This he said, is their focus to exiting in-country infrastructure for competency based training, needs of the industry and government sector strategy for skills and development whiles they also reviewed the potential to build upon existing infrastructure in the country.

The Project Management Cost Equipment and Laboratory fittings have all been taking care of bringing the project cost at over 4.7 million USD whiles the project is expected to complete within seven months.

Preforming the ground breaking ceremony together with the Chiefs and Officials from the Jubilee Partners the Western Regional Minister Paul Evans Aidoo a plead to the Jubilee partners and the contractor to complete the project as scheduled.

He as well noted that the existence of this facility here in the region all other mushroom and quack oil and gas training schools that spontaneously begun operating in the region will seize to operate.

BREAKING NEWS -- CHOLERA OUTBREAK CLAIM FOUR LIVES IN TARKWA

Information reaching Ennimil News in Takoradi from the Tarkwa Nsueam Municipal Health Directorate indicate that there were reported cases of Cholera outbreak in the various Health Centers within the Tarkwa Nuseam Municipality on Sunday 4^th September 2011 from four different communities in the municipality namely Simpa, Akoon, Tarkwa township and Top, a galamsey town in Nsueam yesterday.

Confirming the news to our Correspondent, the Tarkwa Nsueam Health Director Dr. Jack Gale said sixty eight (65) cholera cases have been recorded so far with four (4) confirmed dead this morning.

Eight (8) he said are currently found in critical conditions whiles the rest have been treated and discharged

He added that the cause of the cholera outbreak is still not known but said they have begun investigations into the case to come out with the exact cause of the outbreak.

For fear of exceeding infections of cholera outbreak in the various communities, the Tarkwa Nsueam Municipal Assembly has acquired a site at Nsueam to bury the four since they all come from the Nsueam community.

Ennimil news will keep you updated on any new development.

TAKORADI MARKET STRUCTURE IS FALLEN APART

The Takoradi Market structure has become a death trap to most traders in the market.

Traders say the structure begun fallen apart in the last six years, in cases had fallen on those trading in the outer lane of the Takoradi market circle.

The Takoradi market circle happens to be the most organized market circle in Ghana. The beautiful market edifice in Takoradi which is geographically situated in the middle of Takoradi has been admired by most tourists who visit the Sekondi- Takoradi Metropolis.

The Takoradi market was built in the early 1960’s and in the late 1973 the top structure was built according to the expansion plan of the then city authorities to accommodate the growth in the trade population in the Sekondi- Takoradi Metropolis.

Almost forty (40) years on, the Takoradi market has not seen any major rehabilitation works on the whole structure and as it stands now the top structure has begun of the fallen apart

treating the lives of traders in the Takoradi market.

The pillars holding the top stores has developed serious cracks with some sections of the same wall fallen off. The yellow rope you see tying the broken pillar is said to have been done by the city guards in the Takoradi market.

The market women who were initial reluctant to speak to the news team with the fear of being ejected from their stores later told Ennimil news that they have logged complain to the metropolitan authorities several times in the last six years and they have come round to access the situation for themselves yet nothing has been done about it.

According to traders in the Takoradi market, the assembly keeps asking them to repair the broken walls themselves if not they should vacate the stores for the assembly to repair it.

When Ennimil News contacted the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly, the PRO for the assembly who spoke to the news team off camera only noted that the assembly is aware of the situation at the Takoradi market circle.

The situation as captured by our lenses of our cameras at the Takoradi market circle is very horrific and traders say it’s getting out of hand each day as city authorities sit unconcern.

Perhaps we all wait for the day it will fall and kill someone before we sit up and do something.

End…

TWO CONFIRMED DEATHS IN A GALAMSEY PIT AT PRESTEA

Two galamsey workers are confirmed dead with one badly injured in a galamsey pit at a popular galamsey site called four bungalows in the Prestea Township within the Prestea Huni-Valley District in the western region today.

The Prestea Huni-Valley District Police Commander who confirmed the report to Metro News Regional Desk in Takoradi said he had a distressed call at about 5am this morning reporting of some galamsey operators being trapped in pit at a popular galamsey site in Pretea called Four Bungalows.

The Police, together with the District NADMO officers and the galamsey operators themselves quickly went to their rescue where they found two people named as Mumuni Yakubu 26 years old and Jennet Sabuku 45 year’s death in the pit with Samuel Ampong 22 years old who surviving with his left leg broken.

Samuel Ampong is reported to have been responding to treatment at the Prestea government hospital whiles the two dead bodies are currently placed in a mortuary at Prestea.

At the time of filing this report no more bodies have been found meanwhile an excavator is still digging the pit to see whether more bodies would be found.

Again no family has come out to say whether his brother or sister in missing. Metro News would keep you updated when there is any development.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              25^TH AUGUST, 2011

End…    

860 COMMUNITIES TO BENEFIT FROM RURAL ELECTRICFICATION PROJECT IN THE W/R

Weldy Lamont Rural Electrification Project

860 communities in the Western Region are to benefit from the Weldy Lamont Turnkey Rural Electrification project underway in three regions in the country.

In line with the implementation of the National Electrification Scheme (NES), the government of Ghana and the Weldy Lamont and Associates International under a United States Government Exim Bank Facility concluded a contract agreement to supply and install materials and equipments valued at US$350 million in the more than 1200 villages, towns and communities in the Western, Central and the Brong Ahafo Regions.

The project which commenced some two months ago in six rural communities in the Western Region has officially been launched at “Bosomtwi” a village in the Prestea Huni-Valley District by the Deputy Minister for Energy, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah.

The Managing Director of Technology Management which also happens to be the local project managers for Weldy Lamont and Associates, John Williams pointed out that the physical works of the project has already started in two communities in the western region and it result will start to manifest in the next four months. The project he said is expected to complete within the next three years.

Addressing the gathering at the Western Regional launch of the Rural Electrification Project, the Member of Parliament for Ellembelle who doubles as the Deputy Minister for Energy, Emmanuel Armah Kofi Buah noted that the Weldy Lamont and Associates Electrification project with the government of Ghana under President Mills is to connect thousand two hundred (1200) villages, towns and communities in Ghana to the national grade.

The largest beneficiary of this project he said is the Western Region since eight hundred and sixty (860) communities in the Western Region alone will benefit from this electrification project when completed.

End…