Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih, has cited administrative issues as the reason for which the new ultramodern Upper West regional hospital is not operational. The hospital which is expected to serve as a referral center to other health facilities in the region and beyond is yet to be opened to the public for medical services after it was commissioned on 18^th August, 2019.

Speaking at the Meet the Press Series in Nandom on Monday, November 11, 2019, Dr. Bin Salih said the hospital “is not operational because there are certain administrative matters that need to be settled.” Among these, he said, is the search for a medical director, whom he is confident, will be recruited soon to run the facility. “There is an advert for the position of a medical director”, he disclosed, assuring that “very soon, the medical director will be appointed to come and spearhead the administration of the facility”.

The Minister was however quick to declare that persons who refused postings to the region should not think of being appointed as the Medical Director of the hospital. He made it clear that “people who have sacrificed to serve this region must be given the opportunity to head that facility. We cannot give a position that is so dear to us to people who refuse to take up postings to this region,” but will want to take such positions from people who have sacrificed for the region. He therefore called on all to support him in ensuring that happens.

Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih also revealed that the new hospital facility has been issued with a certificate to operate by the Health Facilities Regulatory Agency. He said with the 160-bed hospital now having a license to operate, it is now at the stage of seeking approval from the National Health Insurance Authority to be absorbed which he believes will be done soon.

The Minister reiterated government’s commitment to ensuring that the people of the Upper West Region benefit from the many programmes and projects being implemented. He further assured the people of government’s readiness to ensure the effective operation of the hospital, and to improve the lives of the people in the region.

Meanwhile, pro-NDC group, Association for Transparent and Accountable Governance (ATAG) has charged government to operationalize the facility to help prevent avoidable deaths in the region. The group in a statement released on Tuesday, November 12, has given an ultimatum to government to open the hospital to the general public by close of year 2019 or face their wrath. The group said it will use any legal means possible to mount pressure in ensuring the operation of the hospital should government fail to do so by close of December 31, 2019.

The Upper West Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih has set up a five member committee to unravel the issues surrounding the death of a two year old boy, who died of snake bite over the weekend, after he was allegedly denied medical attention at the Regional Hospital, Wa.

Following reports that the boy, bitten by a snake, was denied treatment due to the absence of folder at the Regional Hospital, the minister on Monday at a Meet the Press Series in Nandom pledged to ensure that anyone found culpable in the death of two-year old Ibrahim Shahid will not go unpunished. On the back of this pledge, Dr Bin Salih Tuesday afternoon inaugurated the committee to look into the circumstances that led to the death of the boy.

Announcing the development on his facebook page, Hon Bin Salih said “I had to constitute the committee to investigate whether or not there was negligence and or culpability on the part of the staff of the hospital leading to the death of the child.” The Minister further charged the committee to complete and submit its report on or before 26th November, 2019.

The five-member committee is made up of a retired nurse, Alhaji Issaka Hassan, who chairs the committee; a journalist, Yakubu Abdul-Gafur and Lawyer Frank Asiedu Nimarkoh of the Attorney-General Department. The others are Mr. Alfred Anzagirah of the Ghana Health Service and D/Cpl Richman Ayitey of the Ghana Police Service.

Ibrahim Shahid, now deceased, was a native of Boli, a community in the Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region. He was reportedly referred from the Boli CHPS compound to the Regional Hospital, Wa on Saturday, November 9, 2019, following the snake bite. On arrival, the parents were asked to get a folder before he could be attended to. Allegedly, workers at the folder unit were not at post at the time which made the parents to return home with the boy without treatment thereby leading to his death.

As part of the core mandate of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) in educating the citizenry on civil issues, the Wa West unit of the NCCE has started a community-based sensitization and education campaign on the upcoming district level elections (DLE) and the referendum to amend article 55(3) of the 1992 Republican Constitution. The education campaign seeks to create the awareness of registered voters across all communities in the Wa West district of the Upper West region about the DLE and the referendum slated for December 17, 2019, and the need to participate and vote on the day.

Addressing the press at the sidelines of the NCCE staff conference on Wednesday, 16th October, 2019 ahead of the campaign kickoff, the NCCE director for the Wa West District, Mr. George Dery, said the sensitization and education campaign would run untill November 15, 2019.

According to him, the programme shall begin with the major communities in the district inline with their local market days. “Beginning from tomorrow, we shall be visiting community by community in accordance with their market days to talk to the people and let them know that coming 17th December, 2019 all registered voters should not relent. They should go out massively and vote so that we can elect our able assembly members to man our various assemblies”. He further disclosed that “our objective is to cover at least 90% of all the communities across all the 28 electoral areas in the district by the end of this exercise despite our limited resources.”

Mr. Dery also bemoaned the low participation in the activities of the DLE as well as the low voter turnout being observed over the previous elections. This, he said, is what necessitated his team to begin the campaign early to be able to tell more people the need to participate so as to improve the record.

Touching on the referendum, Mr. Dery said “with the referendum, 40% of the Ghanaian voter population need go out and vote of which 75% of the 40% turnout need to endorse yes for the referendum to be able to amend the article 55(3) of the 1992 constitution so that we will be able to also elect MMDCEs through partisan basis.” He emphasized that “the district assembly elections is the bedrock of our democracy, but many people don’t honour it because political parties do not come in to financially support it”.

The Upper West Regional director of the Electoral Commission (EC), Mr. Ali Osman has called on the general public to support  and encourage women and persons with disabilities (PWDs) to put themselves up to be elected to the district assemblies. He suggested that, “all sociocultural barriers must be broken to encourage them (women and PWDs) to fully participate in the elections”.

According to the regional EC commissioner, the low level of representation by women and persons with disabilities is a worrying situation which needs to be checked. He said despite the meaningful contributions women can make in national development and the democratization process, they have not seen more opportunities as “only a handful of women and PWDs are either elected or appointed to the District Assemblies”. He further disclosed that, “the highest nationwide percentage of women’s representation over the years is 10%, recorded in 2006”.

Mr. Ali Osman also bemoaned the low voter turnout as one of the major challenges facing District Level Elections (DLE) in Ghana. Even though the DLE are expensive to organize, Mr. Ali noted that citizens barely actively participate in them which he attributed to apathy towards the local level elections. “Historically, the highest turnout of 59% was recorded in 1988/1989 District Level Elections”, he revealed. Since this turnout about 30 years ago, there has not been any election at the district level that has a turnout of 40%.

The Regional EC boss was speaking at the Regional Launch of Public Education and Awareness Raising Campaign on the upcoming District Level Elections and the Referendum for the Amendment of Article 55(3) of the 1992 Republican Constitution of Ghana held at the Regional Library, Wa – Upper West Region on Friday, October 11, 2019.

The campaign which is a joint initiative of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), the Information Services Department (ISD) and the Electoral Commission, with funding from the Ministry of Local Governance and Rural Development seeks to whip interest in the electorates to participate in the forthcoming District Level Elections scheduled for 17^th December, 2019.

The regional director of the NCCE in her opening address said the campaign is very necessary as 40%, at least, of total voters on the register is required to decide the referendum, and the amendment of article 55(3) will be effected with the approval of 75% of the turnout. Considering the below 40% turnout at DLE over the years, she noted it is imperative to educate the general public on what the December 2019 elections entail so that they can turn up and make an informed decision.The Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih who declared the campaign duly launched pledged government’s support in seeing to a successful District Level Elections and a Referendum. He said government has already done its part to make the referendum a success, and that, “it is up to us as citizens to turn out in our numbers to vote YES for the amendment.” Hon Bin Salih therefore urged the general public to continue disseminating the information about the referendum so that majority of the population will see the need to turn out on the 17^th of December, 2019 and vote in the DLE and the Referendum.

All political parties at the campaign launch pledged their support to ensuring that the amendment of article 55(3) is made possible. The amendment to this article will allow for multiparty politics at the local level where MMDCEs, assembly members and unit committee members will be elected on partisan bases.

Meanwhile, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) through their regional organizer, Issahaku Nuhu Putiaha, called on the Electoral Commission and the government to provide a credible referendum that will be accepted by all. The party said though they support the referendum and will campaign for its success; the will of the people must be respected and therefore cautioned government and the electoral body against manipulating the result of the referendum in any way.

The Executive Director of the Community Development Alliance (CDA), Salifu Issifu Kanton, has charged leadership of the Wa Campus of the University for Development Studies (UDS) to wake up to their duties and ensure that the institution is appealing to students and the general public or watch it die off.

Speaking on W93.5Fm’s socio-political talk show programme, Hot Spot, Mr. Kanton who is a past student of the UDS said the look of a school’s environment contributes to effective learning at the school. He however noted that the Wa campus of the UDS which is awaiting presidential assent to be an autonomous university known as the University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (UBIDS) “currently doesn’t look attractive” which is the reason for the declining number of people who have interest in joining the institution. He is of the view that, with the current state of the Wa campus of the UDS, no student or lecturer will want to recommend the University to their friends or relatives.

“It is not just the teaching that makes a university; the entire environment must give an ambience for learning. That ambience is what attracts people to want to even sign onto that university” he opined. “The University (UDS-Wa campus) seems to be nose-diving to a certain realm that if we don’t take care it may get extinct. There are so many administrative pettiness, and ethnic, tribal cleavages and alliances that are counterproductive to the emancipation of the University” he added.

The CDA boss further lamented the filthy environment of the University campus and bemoaned the lack of facelift on the University’s infrastructural facilities. “When I visit UDS Campus today, I am embarrassed. I have never seen any university campus so bushy that people have even farmed to the extent that you could see corn almost at the entrance of hostels. [The] buildings look already dilapidated, and it is as if when they were built till now not even a drop of paint was thrown on any wall of them. Everything is in a sorry state!”

To this, the UDS alumnus appealed to the management to stop all squabbles and “sit up to make the University a real university for the good of everybody in Ghana, particularly those who live in the Upper West Region”. He said this is the time for people entrusted with the job of leading the university to be innovative and think about solutions that will help make the University a world class university.

Meanwhile, the Coalition of Concerned Citizens in the Upper West region has accused the Vice Chancellor of the UDS and the central administration of scheming to collapse the Wa Campus before it becomes an autonomous university. They alleged that study programmes that attract prospective students are being moved from the Wa campus with admission intake also reducing drastically. The Coalition also threatened to hit the streets if the regional minister does not swiftly intervene to stop what is described as an anomaly.

The Wa Polytechnic on Saturday, September 28, 2019, held its 7^th Congregation for the 2017/2018 academic year with a total of two hundred and forty (240) students receiving certificates in Higher National Diploma (HND) after successfully meeting their course requirements. The certificates awarded were in Engineering, Applied Science, Applied Art and Business Studies.

The chairman for the Wa Polytechnic Council, Professor Daniel Baga in his address said that, the institution is faced with numerous challenges, but that its major challenge is the non-conversion of the polytechnic into a technical university. ‘Our main challenge is our conversion. As governing Council, we have and still do our bid by way of giving the needed support to guarantee smooth administration and academic work’. He said.

In his report on the state of the Polytechnic, the acting Vice Rector, Idrisu Mwinimpuo Mohammed bemoaned the challenges the polytechnic is facing due to the limited number of staff they have. He however thanked the staff for their hard work and dedication to duty.

He went further to suggest that the staffing challenge could also be hinged on the polytechnic not being converted into a technical university. He stressed that, ‘the continues delay in the conversion of the Wa and Bolgatanga polytechnics into technical universities is further driving down enrolment and also forcing faculty and staff to begin moving to the other side where they feel the grasses are greener and indeed the grasses are greener’.

Mr. Idrisu Mwinimpuo Mohammed also attributed the dwindling enrolment to the polytechnic on the institution not having residential facilities. ‘Wa Polytechnic is the only public tertiary institution in the country without students’ hostel. I’m using this opportunity to appeal to government and GETFUND [secretariat] to do us a favor by allocating funds specifically for the project,’ the Ag. Vice Rector stated.

Special Guest of Honour at the Congregation, the Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih reiterated government’s commitment to enhancing the quality of education in the country.

The congregation saw several stakeholders including representatives of professional bodies, alumni of the polytechnic, and the general public in attendance.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Upper West Region has launched a campaign aimed at sensitizing residents of the region especially farmers and dealers on the best ways of handling pesticides. The public education programme which involves radio talk shows was initiated to protect the lives of residents, the environment and other useful organisms.

Speaking to W93.5FM, Programmes Officer at the Upper West Regional office of the EPA, Anastasia Comfort Blankson said pesticides especially the inorganic ones can cause great damage to the environment and human lives if they are used indiscriminately. She therefore advised users to take precautions before, during and after applying pesticides in order to prevent any associated danger.

Among the pre-spraying precautions, the EPA officer warned farmers against using unregistered or unidentified products in their homes or farms, and to not smell a chemical to determine what it is. She further advised that, instructions on the container should be carefully read to find out the type of pesticide, application rate and the time of the day it should be applied. As she urged farmers to acquire training on the application techniques, she also advised users to always wear protective clothing while applying pesticide, and never to stir the chemical with the hand even when wearing rubber gloves.

On precautions to take during spraying, Madam Anastasia Comfort Blankson said users should avoid talking as much as possible when spraying. Eating, drinking or smoking should as well be avoided. She further advised that the chemical should not be sprayed in the air when there is light wind or breeze, and that spraying should be done in the morning or evening while also ensuring that poultry, diary or meat animals are not grazing the fields or men working there at the time of spraying.

After spraying, the Programmes Officer advised users to dig a hole and spray any remaining particles of the pesticide into it. Protective clothing should be removed and washed immediately after thoroughly cleaning the spray tank and the nozzle. While advising farmers to take their bath or wash their hands with soap after use, Madam Anastasia urged farmers to avoid washing their bodies or clothes into water bodies as aquatic life will also be in danger.

In line with the Pesticides Control and Management Act 1996 (Act 528) which mandates the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure the effective registration of pesticides to avoid indiscriminate handling of the chemical substances, Madam Anastasia Comfort called on the public especially dealers in pesticides in the region to ensure that they are registered to carry out the business of engaging in the sale and distribution of the chemicals.

On his part, Assistant Programmes Officer, Abdul-Rashid Zakaria said pesticide should be bought only when it is needed. He said it is not advisable to keep these chemicals at home, office or close to children. He further advised pesticides sellers to ensure their stores are well ventilated. Mr. Zakaria also cautioned the general public against using empty pesticide containers for storing water or any useful thing and called on farmers to create a disposal pit where unneeded or expired materials can be disposed of.  The pit according to him “should be fenced and labeled DANGER, and gate locked to prevent unauthorized people and animals from entering it”.

Mr. Zakaria also mentioned some of the dangers associated with poor handling and indiscriminate use of pesticide to include the risk of death or health conditions resulting from acute or chronic poisoning of the human system, skin rashes and itchy eyes, infertility in men, risk of losing pregnancy, risk of fire outbreak or explosion, pollution of water bodies and the destruction of microorganisms which enhance soil fertility.

Residents of the Jonga Electoral Area in the Wa Municipality have vowed not to vote in next year’s general elections if the deplorable roads in the area are left unattended.

The main road which links the electoral area to the municipal and regional capital, Wa, and the rest of the Upper West region has been in poor shape for some time now. The situation has left many residents who are farmers reeling with post-harvest losses as they find it difficult to transport their farm produce, especially the perishable goods, to major market centers in the region. This according to some of the residents is bringing untold hardships to them.

Some residents told W93.5fm that successive governments including the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) government and the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) government have promised to fix the road in the run up to the 2012 and 2016 general elections. The road however has seen no facelift after the NDC completed four years with the NPP also in its third year of governance. The development has thus made the people bitter; thereby forcing them to take a decision not to vote should the situation remain unchanged until the next general elections.

Meanwhile, Hajia Humu Awudu, an aspiring parliamentary candidate of the NPP in the Wa Central Constituency has received a lot of praise from the people as she filled some potholes that have developed in parts of the road with gravel. The residents and other users of the road expressed their desire to see Hajia Humu succeed in her quest to lead the NPP party and called on delegates of the party to vote for her in the primaries as she is development oriented. They also urged other aspirants to do same if they want the support of members of the community.

Responding to the development on W93.5FM’s “Tiyiriyela” programme, the assembly member of the area, Ibrahim Daubile bemoaned the plight of his electorates, and joined in the call on the Wa Municipal Assembly and the government to give a facelift to the roads in the area.

Generally, roads in the Upper West region are in bad shape. This has made travelling and transporting goods from one part to the other very difficult, which consequently is affecting the socio-economic growth of the people and the region.

The Upper West Regional Director for Education, Mr. Duncan Nsoh has waded into the controversy surrounding the introduction of new curriculum for basic schools without the corresponding syllabus.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Wa based W93.5FM, he insisted that teachers ought to be able to carry out their duties without difficulty in spite of the absence of the requisite textbooks.

According to Mr. Nsoh, teachers should be effective in the discharge of their duties irrespective of the availability or otherwise of textbooks. “No teacher is supposed to be replaced by a simple book. You are a teacher and you should be able to carry out your work with or without anything” he stated.

The regional director said he is still committed to his vision of teacher rationalisation in order to decongest schools with excess teachers which is predominant in the Wa municipality. Mr. Nsoh indicated that he has already conferred with various stakeholders in the region over the intended rationalisation. He expressed optimism that he would be able to implement the teacher rationalisation policy within the impending academic year.

Mr. Duncan Nsoh took over as the Upper West Regional Education director from then acting regional director for education Mr. Evans Kpebah earlier this year with a vision to improving education in the Upper West Region.