HAVING in the recent past emerged from two major disasters — severe drought and unprecedented floods — the least anybody expected from Bawku and its environs was peace and freedom that would have enabled both the citizens and residents to pick up the pieces, rebuild and regain what had been destroyed or lost.
Therefore, the renewal of hostilities at this time, marked by the free use of heavy weapons by people involved in the communal clash, Kusasis and Mamprusis, arson and senseless killings, has dealt a serious blow to the needed peace and security in the area.
For instance, as of the time of going to press, several people had died following the hostilities and many people were being treated in hospital for various degrees of injury, some houses had been burnt and the curfew which was lifted a week ago re-imposed from 9.00 a.m. to 7.00 a.m. until further notice.
Stories abound of some businesses and shops closing down, workers fleeing from the Bawku municipality under police escort for fear of their lives, while students make it to their schools also under escort.
Certainly, such a situation needs urgent action and the government has acted fast by deploying police and military personnel there to bring the explosive situation to normalcy.
The conflict between the Kusasis and the Mamprusis started way back in 1958 when a Mamprusi Chief, Naba Salma Yerimiah, was destooled and sent into exile in Togo.
The Kusasis enskinned Naba Abugrago Azoka I, but after the 1966 coup d’etat, Azoka was removed and a Mamprusi, Naba Tampure, enskinned as chief of the area.
This process of destoolment and enskinment of chiefs continued with different governments until the present chief of Bawku, Asigri Abugrago Azoka II, was enskinned.
These periods of destoolment and enskinment of chiefs from these two ethnic groups had brought with them intermittent violent conflicts.
In December last year, the hostility between the two ethnic groups resurfaced, claiming many lives. Many people were killed in the Bawku municipality and Garu in the Garu-Tempane District.
The King of the Mamprugu, Nayiri Naa Bohugu Mahami Abdulai Sheriga, resolved to personally intervene in the protracted and internecine conflict by consulting the National House of Chiefs, the elders and sub-chiefs in his area to help find a lasting solution to the problem.
The Nayiri cautioned politicians and the youth in the Northern and Upper East regions to refrain from any reprisals and to rise above parochial interests to help heal the deep-seated hatred between the Mamprusis and the Kusasis.
President J. A. Kufuor, in March this year, held a crucial meeting with some chiefs, opinion leaders and politicians from the Upper East Region to find an amicable solution to the conflict in Bawku.
After the President had met the two feuding factions at the Castle, Osu, it was everybody’s expectation that they were going back home to put their act together and stop the fighting for the government to do what it could to start the reconstruction of the area.
The people of the Bawku municipality should take cognisance of the fact that the area, more than anywhere else in the country, needs peace to develop because it is one of the most deprived in the country.
The huge sums of money the government spends to deploy the military, the police and other auxiliary agencies to the area to keep and maintain peace could be used to provide basic social amenities for the people there.
The conflict in Bawku is affecting the region and the country as a whole and it is time the people there realised this and stopped the fighting for peace to prevail.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
THE POLICE SERVICE NEEDS OVERHAULING
RECENT happenings in the Ghana Police Service leave much to be desired.
Only yesterday, we published the interdiction of five policemen on the orders of the Inspector-General of Police for their involvement in two robbery incidents.
In April this year, the Kojo Armah Committee set up to investigate the missing cocaine from the Exhibits Store at the CID Headquarters in Accra recommended the prosecution of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Patrick Akagbo who kept the keys to the store for dereliction of duty.
The committee also recommended further investigations into the conduct of Chief Superintendent Alphonse Adu-Amankwah, the former Head of the erstwhile Organised Crime Unit, in his administration of the unit, especially with the arrest, transportation and handling of the cocaine which was intercepted at Prampram in the Greater Accra Region.
In the same month, two policemen — General Constable Francis Tagaar and General Constable Samuel Nketsia, both of the Agona Swedru Police Division — were interdicted following brutalities they meted out to a petty trader, Emmanuel Nii Odartey, at Awutu Bawjiase.
In January this year, the officer in charge of the Narcotic Exhibits Store at the Police Headquarters was arrested following the discovery that narcotic substances in the custody of the police had been compromised and substituted with corn flour.
In a move to enforce discipline in the Police Service, the Police Administration, in May 2007, dismissed 39 policemen and interdicted 26 others for gross misconduct, ranging from extortion, stealing, absenteeism, alleged murder, desertion of post, alleged dealing in narcotic drugs, defilement, defrauding by false pretences, assault and, the unkindest cut of all, unlawful discharge of arms.
During proceedings at the committee that investigated the East Legon cocaine bribery scandal, a girlfriend of a cocaine fugitive, Ms Grace Asibi, named some senior police officers as some of the key culprits.
ACP Kofi Boakye, the then Director-General of Operations of the Police Service, was asked to proceed on leave because of his alleged dealings with suspected cocaine barons.
And we can go on and on.
All these cases are not good for the image of the Police Service, an institution set up to prevent crime in society, protect lives and property, arrest and prosecute offenders and maintain law and order in society.
If policemen will turn on the people they are supposed to protect, beat them, defraud them, kill them and steal from them, then there is the need for something to be done, and urgently, too.
Currently, the citizenry feel insecure because they do not know who is a good policeman and who is not, for it appears that the criminals are joining the Police Service to use their uniforms and positions to commit crime.
In view of the present state of the service, and the failed attempts by the Police Administration to reverse the negative posture the service is fast adopting, it’s about time we overhauled the service to make it perform its required functions.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes the time is opportune for a Presidential commission to be set up to overhaul the Police Service and particularly come out with recommendations to transform it into an institution which will prevent undesirable characters from entering it and also make the institution live up to the task of dealing with modern intricate and sophisticated crimes.
Let’s act now.
Only yesterday, we published the interdiction of five policemen on the orders of the Inspector-General of Police for their involvement in two robbery incidents.
In April this year, the Kojo Armah Committee set up to investigate the missing cocaine from the Exhibits Store at the CID Headquarters in Accra recommended the prosecution of Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Patrick Akagbo who kept the keys to the store for dereliction of duty.
The committee also recommended further investigations into the conduct of Chief Superintendent Alphonse Adu-Amankwah, the former Head of the erstwhile Organised Crime Unit, in his administration of the unit, especially with the arrest, transportation and handling of the cocaine which was intercepted at Prampram in the Greater Accra Region.
In the same month, two policemen — General Constable Francis Tagaar and General Constable Samuel Nketsia, both of the Agona Swedru Police Division — were interdicted following brutalities they meted out to a petty trader, Emmanuel Nii Odartey, at Awutu Bawjiase.
In January this year, the officer in charge of the Narcotic Exhibits Store at the Police Headquarters was arrested following the discovery that narcotic substances in the custody of the police had been compromised and substituted with corn flour.
In a move to enforce discipline in the Police Service, the Police Administration, in May 2007, dismissed 39 policemen and interdicted 26 others for gross misconduct, ranging from extortion, stealing, absenteeism, alleged murder, desertion of post, alleged dealing in narcotic drugs, defilement, defrauding by false pretences, assault and, the unkindest cut of all, unlawful discharge of arms.
During proceedings at the committee that investigated the East Legon cocaine bribery scandal, a girlfriend of a cocaine fugitive, Ms Grace Asibi, named some senior police officers as some of the key culprits.
ACP Kofi Boakye, the then Director-General of Operations of the Police Service, was asked to proceed on leave because of his alleged dealings with suspected cocaine barons.
And we can go on and on.
All these cases are not good for the image of the Police Service, an institution set up to prevent crime in society, protect lives and property, arrest and prosecute offenders and maintain law and order in society.
If policemen will turn on the people they are supposed to protect, beat them, defraud them, kill them and steal from them, then there is the need for something to be done, and urgently, too.
Currently, the citizenry feel insecure because they do not know who is a good policeman and who is not, for it appears that the criminals are joining the Police Service to use their uniforms and positions to commit crime.
In view of the present state of the service, and the failed attempts by the Police Administration to reverse the negative posture the service is fast adopting, it’s about time we overhauled the service to make it perform its required functions.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes the time is opportune for a Presidential commission to be set up to overhaul the Police Service and particularly come out with recommendations to transform it into an institution which will prevent undesirable characters from entering it and also make the institution live up to the task of dealing with modern intricate and sophisticated crimes.
Let’s act now.
Monday, May 5, 2008
REBIRTH OF AVEYIME RICE PROJECT
IT is good news that after nearly eight years of inactivity, the Aveyime Rice Project bounces back within the next two weeks.
At the relaunch of the project last Friday, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Ernest Debrah, gave the assurance that “we will not put the project into the hands of people who will fail to deliver and leave it to collapse”.
Equally reassuring was the pledge made by the Chief Executive Officer of Prairie Texas Incorporated (PTI), investors in the project, Mr Everest Anderson, that, “Sure, there will be individual and community problems and issues in the days and years to come. However, with mutual understanding and a united goal, we can solve any difficulty and keep moving forward.”
Indeed, many issues have dogged the project in the past and some of those issues remain unsolved at this phase of the project.
One major challenge that will confront the new investors in the Aveyime Rice Project will be the agitation by the people of the area for the payment of compensation.
Although the payment of compensation is not the responsibility of the investors but the government, which acquired the land for the project, the investors have to find a way of assuaging the feelings of the people for the delay in the payment of their compensation.
At a press conference in Accra last Monday, a spokesman of the citizens of Aveyime had expressed regret that “when the land was acquired by Executive Instrument (EI 15) in 1997, no compensation was paid, no arrangement was made for future payments and to date nothing has been paid”.
The people of the area, particularly the youth, feel that their future is threatened because they have lost their heritage — the land — to the investors.
Their concerns make one wonder whether their land or the compensation thereof could have been considered as equity to guarantee their future stake in the project.
Also, the agitation by the landowners for a stake in the project or the payment of compensation can be reduced if the new owners can guarantee them a percentage of the workforce.
It is unfortunate that the people in the area think that with the new ownership arrangement, public interest in the project has been lost.
With the rising cost of food on the world market, the production of rice for local consumption and export will greatly benefit all Ghanaians.
It is true that a profit motive may have driven the American investors to the Aveyime Rice Project. But whatever the case may be, some benefits will accrue to the local people, the government and all Ghanaians.
The Daily Graphic, however, calls on the government to expedite action on the payment of compensation to those whose lands have been acquired for the project.
The government should not drag its feet on this matter, to the point where the youth of the area will become very frustrated by its inaction and thereby create an unhealthy environment for the investors to achieve their target.
Everything must be done to avoid a repetition of the controversies that dogged the initial phase of the project.
The teething problems must be addressed to ensure the success of the rice project to provide food at affordable prices for our people.
At the relaunch of the project last Friday, the Minister of Food and Agriculture, Mr Ernest Debrah, gave the assurance that “we will not put the project into the hands of people who will fail to deliver and leave it to collapse”.
Equally reassuring was the pledge made by the Chief Executive Officer of Prairie Texas Incorporated (PTI), investors in the project, Mr Everest Anderson, that, “Sure, there will be individual and community problems and issues in the days and years to come. However, with mutual understanding and a united goal, we can solve any difficulty and keep moving forward.”
Indeed, many issues have dogged the project in the past and some of those issues remain unsolved at this phase of the project.
One major challenge that will confront the new investors in the Aveyime Rice Project will be the agitation by the people of the area for the payment of compensation.
Although the payment of compensation is not the responsibility of the investors but the government, which acquired the land for the project, the investors have to find a way of assuaging the feelings of the people for the delay in the payment of their compensation.
At a press conference in Accra last Monday, a spokesman of the citizens of Aveyime had expressed regret that “when the land was acquired by Executive Instrument (EI 15) in 1997, no compensation was paid, no arrangement was made for future payments and to date nothing has been paid”.
The people of the area, particularly the youth, feel that their future is threatened because they have lost their heritage — the land — to the investors.
Their concerns make one wonder whether their land or the compensation thereof could have been considered as equity to guarantee their future stake in the project.
Also, the agitation by the landowners for a stake in the project or the payment of compensation can be reduced if the new owners can guarantee them a percentage of the workforce.
It is unfortunate that the people in the area think that with the new ownership arrangement, public interest in the project has been lost.
With the rising cost of food on the world market, the production of rice for local consumption and export will greatly benefit all Ghanaians.
It is true that a profit motive may have driven the American investors to the Aveyime Rice Project. But whatever the case may be, some benefits will accrue to the local people, the government and all Ghanaians.
The Daily Graphic, however, calls on the government to expedite action on the payment of compensation to those whose lands have been acquired for the project.
The government should not drag its feet on this matter, to the point where the youth of the area will become very frustrated by its inaction and thereby create an unhealthy environment for the investors to achieve their target.
Everything must be done to avoid a repetition of the controversies that dogged the initial phase of the project.
The teething problems must be addressed to ensure the success of the rice project to provide food at affordable prices for our people.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
LET'S EMBRACE HEALTH INSURANCE
IN 2003, the people of Ghana, through their representatives in Parliament, passed a law to provide the legal framework for a health financing system for the country.
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is one of the major policy initiatives of the Kufuor administration designed to make it possible for everybody to have easy access to healthcare services.
All over the world, health insurance is a system that allows for the show of solidarity and support for one another for the common good. It simply enjoins all adults to make contributions to a fund which can be tapped into in the event of any illness of a premium holder for affordable health care.
The NHIS has been hailed as a progressive policy initiative to replace the obnoxious “cash-and-carry” system that caused many avoidable deaths because those in need of health services could not readily afford them.
Beneficiaries of the NHIS have publicly extolled the benefits inherent in the scheme and encouraged those yet to enrol to do so immediately.
Unfortunately, most of the people sitting on the fence have swallowed the propaganda that greeted the introduction of the NHIS as a scheme by the government just to gain electoral advantage. This category of people has forgotten that when it comes to illness, there is nothing like political affiliation.
Indeed, it will be good for the political parties themselves to encourage their members to pay the necessary premiums in order to benefit from the scheme, for, after all, the parties need healthy supporters to sustain their existence.
The good news is that in spite of the teething problems encountered by the NHIS, such as delays in the issuance of identity cards, the lack of accountability on the part of some officials of the district health insurance schemes and commissioned collectors of premiums, the scheme is facilitating better access to health care.
But, for now, more public education from the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) is required to get more people to enrol into the scheme. Such education programmes should take into account our cultural values because people hardly save towards their healthcare needs.
It is commendable that 42 per cent of the country’s population have been issued with ID cards, while a sizeable number of those registered are yet to be issued with the NHIS cards and the NHIA is urged to expedite action in that direction.
The NHIA should carry the campaign to workplaces so that all workers can also register and access health care to avoid the situation where by it will take months for their health claims to be paid by their employers.
Furthermore, the introduction of the new ID cards by the NHIA to enable premium holders to access health care from districts other than where they registered is a step in the right direction.
The authority should marshall all resources to ensure the success of the pilot phase of the new ID card regime so that it can be replicated throughout the country to reduce the burden that premium holders encounter in seeking health care in any part of the country.
The Daily Graphic is encouraged by the assurance by the Chief Executive Officer of the NHIA, Mr Ras A. Boateng, that “we are focused to implement the system to make it comparable to the best health insurance in any part of the world”.
Well said, but the task ahead is not going to be child’s play. It requires tenacity of purpose and a commitment to convince all Ghanaians that the NHIS has a comparative advantage over the “cash-and-carry system” in providing easy access to health care and building a functional health system.
The National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) is one of the major policy initiatives of the Kufuor administration designed to make it possible for everybody to have easy access to healthcare services.
All over the world, health insurance is a system that allows for the show of solidarity and support for one another for the common good. It simply enjoins all adults to make contributions to a fund which can be tapped into in the event of any illness of a premium holder for affordable health care.
The NHIS has been hailed as a progressive policy initiative to replace the obnoxious “cash-and-carry” system that caused many avoidable deaths because those in need of health services could not readily afford them.
Beneficiaries of the NHIS have publicly extolled the benefits inherent in the scheme and encouraged those yet to enrol to do so immediately.
Unfortunately, most of the people sitting on the fence have swallowed the propaganda that greeted the introduction of the NHIS as a scheme by the government just to gain electoral advantage. This category of people has forgotten that when it comes to illness, there is nothing like political affiliation.
Indeed, it will be good for the political parties themselves to encourage their members to pay the necessary premiums in order to benefit from the scheme, for, after all, the parties need healthy supporters to sustain their existence.
The good news is that in spite of the teething problems encountered by the NHIS, such as delays in the issuance of identity cards, the lack of accountability on the part of some officials of the district health insurance schemes and commissioned collectors of premiums, the scheme is facilitating better access to health care.
But, for now, more public education from the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) is required to get more people to enrol into the scheme. Such education programmes should take into account our cultural values because people hardly save towards their healthcare needs.
It is commendable that 42 per cent of the country’s population have been issued with ID cards, while a sizeable number of those registered are yet to be issued with the NHIS cards and the NHIA is urged to expedite action in that direction.
The NHIA should carry the campaign to workplaces so that all workers can also register and access health care to avoid the situation where by it will take months for their health claims to be paid by their employers.
Furthermore, the introduction of the new ID cards by the NHIA to enable premium holders to access health care from districts other than where they registered is a step in the right direction.
The authority should marshall all resources to ensure the success of the pilot phase of the new ID card regime so that it can be replicated throughout the country to reduce the burden that premium holders encounter in seeking health care in any part of the country.
The Daily Graphic is encouraged by the assurance by the Chief Executive Officer of the NHIA, Mr Ras A. Boateng, that “we are focused to implement the system to make it comparable to the best health insurance in any part of the world”.
Well said, but the task ahead is not going to be child’s play. It requires tenacity of purpose and a commitment to convince all Ghanaians that the NHIS has a comparative advantage over the “cash-and-carry system” in providing easy access to health care and building a functional health system.
Friday, May 2, 2008
'AYEKOO', WORKERS
YESTERDAY, working people all over the world celebrated May Day, a day set aside to mark workers’ contribution to increased productivity.
In Ghana, organised labour and allied groups participated in the May Day Parade in Accra and other regional capitals. They carried placards on which they had expressed their frustrations at and appreciation of developments in the nation.
We celebrate the day in the belief that no economy can perform well without the contribution of working people.
It is equally true that society can only make progress in a peaceful and congenial atmosphere where the people can unleash their God-given talents on the development process.
Therefore, the theme for this year’s May Day celebration, “Deepening Democracy in Ghana: The Role of Organised Labour”, was very relevant because the country goes to the polls in December this year.
Workers, as the main producers of wealth and who are at the receiving end of any government policy, have been at the forefront in efforts aimed at articulating the concerns of society.
Democracy, with all its attributes, also promotes constructive dialogue on workers’ rights and welfare. Workers must get actively involved in the decision-making process so that they can offer their insights into efforts to fight the ills of society. If information is shared at the workplace, workers will keep their demands within the budget of their organisations, for they will know that we can only share what is available.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that positive steps must be taken to discount the erroneous impression that the relationship between management and workers should be adversarial. A peaceful industrial atmosphere will lead to increased productivity and better conditions of service in order to disabuse our minds that “the government pretends to be employing, while workers pretend to be working”.
In effect, all of us are collectively not doing enough to propel the economy into a middle-income status by the year 2015.
In order to achieve better conditions of service for ourselves, workers and their management must move away from pursuing any coercive agenda during negotiations of collective bargaining agreements.
To some groups of workers in the country, the only way to get better conditions of service is through the blackmail of industrial action.
On the contrary, the DAILY GRAPHIC believes that if organisations are managed in an open and transparent manner, working people will appreciate the challenges and be prepared to sacrifice for a better future.
Many organisations are pale shadows of themselves today or have collapsed as a result of the intransigence of their workers and sometimes their managers. As we make strides in our democratic dispensation, organised labour and management must also accept that the only way to progress lies in tolerance and accommodation.
We salute all working people on the occasion of May Day and appeal to them to rededicate themselves to selfless service to the nation.
When they fulfil their part of the bargain as working people, then they can demand accountability from their leaders, their management and, indeed, the government.
In Ghana, organised labour and allied groups participated in the May Day Parade in Accra and other regional capitals. They carried placards on which they had expressed their frustrations at and appreciation of developments in the nation.
We celebrate the day in the belief that no economy can perform well without the contribution of working people.
It is equally true that society can only make progress in a peaceful and congenial atmosphere where the people can unleash their God-given talents on the development process.
Therefore, the theme for this year’s May Day celebration, “Deepening Democracy in Ghana: The Role of Organised Labour”, was very relevant because the country goes to the polls in December this year.
Workers, as the main producers of wealth and who are at the receiving end of any government policy, have been at the forefront in efforts aimed at articulating the concerns of society.
Democracy, with all its attributes, also promotes constructive dialogue on workers’ rights and welfare. Workers must get actively involved in the decision-making process so that they can offer their insights into efforts to fight the ills of society. If information is shared at the workplace, workers will keep their demands within the budget of their organisations, for they will know that we can only share what is available.
The DAILY GRAPHIC believes that positive steps must be taken to discount the erroneous impression that the relationship between management and workers should be adversarial. A peaceful industrial atmosphere will lead to increased productivity and better conditions of service in order to disabuse our minds that “the government pretends to be employing, while workers pretend to be working”.
In effect, all of us are collectively not doing enough to propel the economy into a middle-income status by the year 2015.
In order to achieve better conditions of service for ourselves, workers and their management must move away from pursuing any coercive agenda during negotiations of collective bargaining agreements.
To some groups of workers in the country, the only way to get better conditions of service is through the blackmail of industrial action.
On the contrary, the DAILY GRAPHIC believes that if organisations are managed in an open and transparent manner, working people will appreciate the challenges and be prepared to sacrifice for a better future.
Many organisations are pale shadows of themselves today or have collapsed as a result of the intransigence of their workers and sometimes their managers. As we make strides in our democratic dispensation, organised labour and management must also accept that the only way to progress lies in tolerance and accommodation.
We salute all working people on the occasion of May Day and appeal to them to rededicate themselves to selfless service to the nation.
When they fulfil their part of the bargain as working people, then they can demand accountability from their leaders, their management and, indeed, the government.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
LET'S STOP THESE PUSHERS
NEWS that narcotic drugs are now sold in the vicinity of some junior high schools (JHS) in the nation’s capital and elsewhere is disheartening indeed.
This is much so because it points to one fact — that an increasing number of students in JHS are using drugs.
And, according to the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), the trend of drug use among this category of students is getting alarming, coupled with the fact that in some areas within the Accra metropolis, drug sales take place so much in the open that the selling points in the vicinity of some schools are known to almost the entire student population.
In line with NACOB’s preventive and educational functions, it visited 42 selected schools in Accra and its findings, which include a clever way of advertising drugs in the vicinity of schools, as well as some students’ admission of drug use and their dexterity in its preparation, must be of concern to all.
In the first half of last year, the Accra Psychiatric Hospital recorded a total of 265 mental cases among children, which included acute psychosis, neurosis, depression and drug abuse.
The commonest among these was drug abuse which involved marijuana, commonly known as “wee”, and cocaine use and the victims were students of first and second-cycle schools.
It came out then that while some of the victims were lured into drug use by their friends, drug barons, on the other hand, used the youth as couriers, in line with their slogan, “catch them young and they will get hooked”.
The NACOB lends further credence to this scenario by stating that some drug users in and around schools use students in the purchase of such drugs and that the failure to run such errands by the students results in their being flogged.
The picture painted by NACOB is so frightening that we cannot afford to ignore what the drug pushers are doing in our schools.
The fact is that they are destroying our children in the schools and something drastic should be done to stop them immediately.
The NACOB’s main goal is to ensure a drug-free society through simultaneous supply and demand reduction measures, which it is doing through the following:
• enforcement and control,
• education and prevention,
• treatment, rehabilitation
and integration.
It is imperative, therefore, that NACOB, the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Police Service liaise to come up with immediate and long-term measures to stop these dangerous pushers from destroying the future of our young generation who, in reality, are the future of our nation.
Already, some of our youth are committing heinous crimes like armed robbery, car snatching, as well as mobile phone and handbag snatching. Sometimes they kill and maim their victims.
These crimes are creating some insecurity in the country a situation which is quite disturbing.
Let’s all act to stop the drug menace.
This is much so because it points to one fact — that an increasing number of students in JHS are using drugs.
And, according to the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), the trend of drug use among this category of students is getting alarming, coupled with the fact that in some areas within the Accra metropolis, drug sales take place so much in the open that the selling points in the vicinity of some schools are known to almost the entire student population.
In line with NACOB’s preventive and educational functions, it visited 42 selected schools in Accra and its findings, which include a clever way of advertising drugs in the vicinity of schools, as well as some students’ admission of drug use and their dexterity in its preparation, must be of concern to all.
In the first half of last year, the Accra Psychiatric Hospital recorded a total of 265 mental cases among children, which included acute psychosis, neurosis, depression and drug abuse.
The commonest among these was drug abuse which involved marijuana, commonly known as “wee”, and cocaine use and the victims were students of first and second-cycle schools.
It came out then that while some of the victims were lured into drug use by their friends, drug barons, on the other hand, used the youth as couriers, in line with their slogan, “catch them young and they will get hooked”.
The NACOB lends further credence to this scenario by stating that some drug users in and around schools use students in the purchase of such drugs and that the failure to run such errands by the students results in their being flogged.
The picture painted by NACOB is so frightening that we cannot afford to ignore what the drug pushers are doing in our schools.
The fact is that they are destroying our children in the schools and something drastic should be done to stop them immediately.
The NACOB’s main goal is to ensure a drug-free society through simultaneous supply and demand reduction measures, which it is doing through the following:
• enforcement and control,
• education and prevention,
• treatment, rehabilitation
and integration.
It is imperative, therefore, that NACOB, the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Police Service liaise to come up with immediate and long-term measures to stop these dangerous pushers from destroying the future of our young generation who, in reality, are the future of our nation.
Already, some of our youth are committing heinous crimes like armed robbery, car snatching, as well as mobile phone and handbag snatching. Sometimes they kill and maim their victims.
These crimes are creating some insecurity in the country a situation which is quite disturbing.
Let’s all act to stop the drug menace.
LET'S STOP THESE PUSHERS
NEWS that narcotic drugs are now sold in the vicinity of some junior high schools (JHS) in the nation’s capital and elsewhere is disheartening indeed.
This is much so because it points to one fact — that an increasing number of students in JHS are using drugs.
And, according to the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), the trend of drug use among this category of students is getting alarming, coupled with the fact that in some areas within the Accra metropolis, drug sales take place so much in the open that the selling points in the vicinity of some schools are known to almost the entire student population.
In line with NACOB’s preventive and educational functions, it visited 42 selected schools in Accra and its findings, which include a clever way of advertising drugs in the vicinity of schools, as well as some students’ admission of drug use and their dexterity in its preparation, must be of concern to all.
In the first half of last year, the Accra Psychiatric Hospital recorded a total of 265 mental cases among children, which included acute psychosis, neurosis, depression and drug abuse.
The commonest among these was drug abuse which involved marijuana, commonly known as “wee”, and cocaine use and the victims were students of first and second-cycle schools.
It came out then that while some of the victims were lured into drug use by their friends, drug barons, on the other hand, used the youth as couriers, in line with their slogan, “catch them young and they will get hooked”.
The NACOB lends further credence to this scenario by stating that some drug users in and around schools use students in the purchase of such drugs and that the failure to run such errands by the students results in their being flogged.
The picture painted by NACOB is so frightening that we cannot afford to ignore what the drug pushers are doing in our schools.
The fact is that they are destroying our children in the schools and something drastic should be done to stop them immediately.
The NACOB’s main goal is to ensure a drug-free society through simultaneous supply and demand reduction measures, which it is doing through the following:
• enforcement and control,
• education and prevention,
• treatment, rehabilitation
and integration.
It is imperative, therefore, that NACOB, the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Police Service liaise to come up with immediate and long-term measures to stop these dangerous pushers from destroying the future of our young generation who, in reality, are the future of our nation.
Already, some of our youth are committing heinous crimes like armed robbery, car snatching, as well as mobile phone and handbag snatching. Sometimes they kill and maim their victims.
These crimes are creating some insecurity in the country a situation which is quite disturbing.
Let’s all act to stop the drug menace.
This is much so because it points to one fact — that an increasing number of students in JHS are using drugs.
And, according to the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), the trend of drug use among this category of students is getting alarming, coupled with the fact that in some areas within the Accra metropolis, drug sales take place so much in the open that the selling points in the vicinity of some schools are known to almost the entire student population.
In line with NACOB’s preventive and educational functions, it visited 42 selected schools in Accra and its findings, which include a clever way of advertising drugs in the vicinity of schools, as well as some students’ admission of drug use and their dexterity in its preparation, must be of concern to all.
In the first half of last year, the Accra Psychiatric Hospital recorded a total of 265 mental cases among children, which included acute psychosis, neurosis, depression and drug abuse.
The commonest among these was drug abuse which involved marijuana, commonly known as “wee”, and cocaine use and the victims were students of first and second-cycle schools.
It came out then that while some of the victims were lured into drug use by their friends, drug barons, on the other hand, used the youth as couriers, in line with their slogan, “catch them young and they will get hooked”.
The NACOB lends further credence to this scenario by stating that some drug users in and around schools use students in the purchase of such drugs and that the failure to run such errands by the students results in their being flogged.
The picture painted by NACOB is so frightening that we cannot afford to ignore what the drug pushers are doing in our schools.
The fact is that they are destroying our children in the schools and something drastic should be done to stop them immediately.
The NACOB’s main goal is to ensure a drug-free society through simultaneous supply and demand reduction measures, which it is doing through the following:
• enforcement and control,
• education and prevention,
• treatment, rehabilitation
and integration.
It is imperative, therefore, that NACOB, the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Police Service liaise to come up with immediate and long-term measures to stop these dangerous pushers from destroying the future of our young generation who, in reality, are the future of our nation.
Already, some of our youth are committing heinous crimes like armed robbery, car snatching, as well as mobile phone and handbag snatching. Sometimes they kill and maim their victims.
These crimes are creating some insecurity in the country a situation which is quite disturbing.
Let’s all act to stop the drug menace.
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