P.C. Appiah-Ofori, MP for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa

He has in effect, requested for the audited accounts of the MMT to enable Parliament scrutinize their operations before approving the loan to purchase the buses.

According to him, the MMT has failed on numerous occasions to submit its audited accounts, cash flow statements and amortization schedule for the period it has operated. He said until such a directive is complied, approval of the loan should not be entertained.

Mr. Appiah-Ofori said this in Parliament yesterday when he was contributing to the approval of a motion on the loan agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and Commerz bank AG of Belgium, for an amount of €8,210,129.00 for the financing of the second batch of fifty VDL Jonckheere buses and spare parts for the MMT.

“In 2003, the NPP administration brought a request to Parliament to give approval of a loan for the purchase of one hundred and fifty buses for the MMT, we approved it. In 2006, another request came for us to give approval for fifty buses. I was then a member of a member of the Finance Committee, and so when the matter was referred to us, I insisted that the MMT should render accounts for the money given to them, before additional money is approved.

Specifically, I asked that the company should submit to us their audited accounts for the period under review. I also requested for the cash flow statement and amortization schedule of the company to enable Parliament approve of the loan to MMT, so that at the end of the day, it will not become the responsibility of the Government of Ghana to pay this. They pleaded that we should allow for the approval of the loan and that they will bring the audited accounts to us, but till date, nothing has come before us,” he noted.

He argued that failure to scrutinize the operations of the MMT will amount to “dissipating state resources to the benefit of the MMT.”  “If they are not prepared to show us the amortization schedule, we should not sit down unconcerned for inefficiency to be passed onto government as a cost. People will misappropriate state funds, steal and at the end of the day, it will become a burden for the government, which we should not entertain that,” he added.

The MMT has 1,400 fleet of buses under its disposal, but only 800 are in good use. The remaining 600 are broken down. With this, MP for Old Tafo and Ranking member of the Finance Committee, Dr. Anthony Akoto Osei, in contributing to the motion urged the Minister for Roads and Highways to immediately decide on what to do with the broken down vehicles.

“We need to decide whether to scrap them and use the resources to buy new buses or we need to decide whether they are capable of being repaired and put back on the road,” he noted.

MP for Aowin, Mr. Mathias Kwame Ntow, on his part requested for equitable distribution of state resources to the benefit of all districts in the country. In its report to the house, Chairman of the Finance committee, Mr. James Klutse Avedzi said the facility is to enable the country to be supplied with the second batch of 50 VDL Jonckheere buses and spare parts to help boost the operations of the MMT.

In addition, the importation and use of the high occupancy buses would help reduce congestion in the cities and lower fuel cost which will be an added advantage to the passenger to pay less, the Committee noted.

Furthermore, the Committee noted that the buses would be delivered during the fourth quarter of 2010 and would be consigned to MMT for operations countrywide to alleviate the problems that the travelling public in both the urban and rural areas face.

However, Mr. Avedzi noted that some members advised that since Government continues to make investment into the MMT, the shareholder structure should be recalculated to reflect the true state of affairs.

In March 2003, the Ministry of Transport on behalf of the Government of Ghana and some financial institutions incorporated the MMT Limited to operate mass transport services throughout the country. The MMT currently operates in all the Regional Capitals and some major towns and cities in the Regions.
Following the actualization of the Government’s policy on the reintroduction of mass transportation, the Belgian Government in 2006 granted approval for the supply of 150 VDL Jonckheere buses under concessionary financing. All the 150 buses have since been delivered to the MMT.

In view of the durability and sustainability of the buses, the then Ministry of Transportation in 2008 made a request for additional buses. The Government of Belgium through a financial intervention with the Commerzbank AG, Brussels Branch again provided a credit facility for the supply of additional 150 Jonckheere buses to augment MMT’s bus fleet for its expansion program.

That notwithstanding, the Finance Committee noted that due to budgetary and production constraints, the Belgian Government has agreed to stagger the financing and the delivery of the buses into three batches of 50 buses per batch.

The first batch of 50 buses together with their spare parts and Global Positioning System (GPS) to track and monitor their movement and usage have been delivered to the MMT.

In pursuance of the deal, the Committee said the Belgian Government has made available a concessionary loan of €8,210,129.00 through the Commerzbank AG, Brussels Branch and an additional grant of €1,896,734.00 for the supply of the second batch of 50 buses.

The credit agreement has the following terms; total contract amount-€10,106.863(including insurance premium), loan amount- €8,210,129.00, interest rate- 0%, moratorium period- 18 months after signing of the loan agreement, repayment period- 7 years by 14 semi-annual installments, grant amount- €1,896,734.00 and grant element of 35.78%.

Umu Hawa Sow lies on a small hospital bed, groaning after going through an operation due to ruptured uterus. The 24-year-old has had a still birth at the Princess Christian Maternity Hospital (PCMH), east of the capital Freetown.

Sow was lucky. According to the United Nations, 1 in 8 women dies giving birth in Sierra Leone. This horrifying statistics places the West Africa nation among the worst places in the world for women to get pregnant and give birth.

On April 27, 2010, the All Peoples Congress government of Ernest Bai Koroma launched the free health care for lactating mothers, pregnant women, and children below five years. Up to 230,000 pregnant women and 1 million young children every year will now be able to receive essential health care free of charge. The expected benefits are a reduction in maternal and child illness and deaths. But like many women who live away from medical facilities, Sow lives at Tree Planting in the Western rural district village of Leicester.

Leicester is in the south of the city and many women with complication like Sow’s will have to be taken to the far east of the city for attention. At the hospital a nurse says she needs antibiotic, but the only available drugs on the shelves at the hospital were Gentamicine, Flagyl and Drips. She needs Seftrazon, which the free health care does not provide.

Tears run down her cheeks helplessly and her eyes stay fixed on the giant fan as if death was about to devour her. Her mouth could hardly open but she mutters with a voice just audible enough for a careful caregiver to understand. “If the medicine is not available please let my uncle get it for me outside to save my life, “cries Sow.

By this time, Sow’s deteriorating condition is entirely the worries of her poor relatives. So one of them rushes to a nearby drugs store and buys the remaining prescriptions.

Meanwhile, the medical director Dr. Ibrahim Thorlie is honest about the state of affairs around drugs shortage and the increased number of cases they contend with everyday. “We give and prescribe what is available for patients to recover. We want to save lives,” he told Concord Times. Dr Thorlie, also Sierra Leone’s consultant obstetrician and gynecologist, says some patients come for private treatment because “free things are not of high quality”.

But all is not doom and gloom. Elizabeth Sesay, who stays at Tengbeh Town, has given birth to a bouncing baby courtesy of the free healthcare project. She prays for the government initiated health project to last, even though she has to buy her own Ergotcine tablet which is not available in the hospital.

The Economic Advisor in the Ministry of Health and Sanitation, Natalie Quinn, says the financial base for the process is in good state but suggests that for continuity they need other means to raise funds to sustain it. She discloses that proposals are being prepared to make sure that the free healthcare gets more support apart from the budget allocation to the ministry.

Quinn says at the moment they are creating bank accounts for over one thousand Peripheral Health Units (PHUs) in order to accommodate operational costs. She says other means to sustain the process will be through the social health scheme, while expected revenue base of government improves.

Leakages must be dealt with. The Reproductive and Child Health Director, Dr. SAS Kargbo, observes that was a problem and that people need to report all such cases to the ministry so that action will be taken. “Ward committee members are involved in monitoring the process. We cannot sit in Freetown and expect to know all the problems,” he says, adding that some doctors from Nigeria and Cuba, with support from South Africa, will soon join them.

“The ministry has never operated the process. So there is bound to be some challenges both in terms of financial and human resources. Every 4,000 people are to one doctor, which is why we must make the best possible use of the resources we have,” he says.

The process is capital intensive. According to Dominic O’Neill, the head of the British department for international development, DFID in Sierra Leone, £5.5 million was provided to buy 12 months supply of essential drugs and supplies to support the Free Health Care initiative. This is part of the £16 million commitment to health between 2009 and 2012 in support of the implementation of the national Reproductive & Child Health Strategy of which free health care is a key component.

“Ensuring this initiative is the big issue that the government of Sierra Leone and its development partners are now tackling. The free health care initiative has focused the government of Sierra Leone and its development partners on the critical issues that need to be tackled if maternal and child health is to improve,” he says.

Meanwhile, the British are optimistic that as a direct result of the initiative there will be a stronger more coordinated approach to health care led by the government and supported by development partners, which will ensure the available funding is used more effectively and ensure that the health plan is financed over the longer term.

Support has also been provided by the UN’s child welfare agency UNICEF, the African Development Bank, the UN’s health agency, WHO and its agency for population activities, UNFPA. The World Bank is expected to come on board.

Minister of Finance Dr Samura Kamara says they have contributed a little over 12.5 million dollars to the free health care.

“We are looking for finance. We have to raise domestic revenue generation and double donor support. We have to make the free health care sustainable, it is our challenge,” he says. The minister also says that they are planning to increase government allocation to the health sector by the next budgeting year.

This is good news for the likes of Sow and so many poor women who rely on the process to access medication. She and her family continue to look up to the health care process to save her life. But the British are more reassuring in their support to the process.

“DFID is committed to helping the people and the government of Sierra Leone to reduce the number of women who die in childbirth and to reduce the number of children who die before they are five. The Free Healthcare initiative is a vital component of this, which DFID is supporting and will continue to do so,” says O’Neill.

The water and sanitation facilities and hygiene education program, initiated by Prime Minister of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, aims to directly benefit over 1.7 million children in both countries.

Dubai Cares said it considers access to clean drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities as an essential component to increasing school enrolment rates, decreasing pupil absenteeism, and promoting children’s overall health while also encouraging girls’ attendance.

Tariq Al Gurg, CEO of Dubai Cares stated, “Following the success of the 2009 ‘Thirst for Education’ campaign to promote ‘WASH-in-Schools’ in developing countries and this year’s worldwide Call to Action for ‘WASH in Schools’ during DIHAD, Dubai Cares has allocated $18 million dollars to better access and improve quality of education in Mali and Sierra Leone. These actions form an integral part of Dubai Cares efforts in implementing His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s vision to ensure quality primary education for children in developing countries”.

In Sierra Leone, only 39% of the population has access to improved sanitation while only 57% has access to an improved water source, according to UNICEF. Only 1 in 3 adults are able to read and write and 300,000 children are out of school. Poor sanitation facilities and shortage of clean water are one of the key factors affecting school attendance, particularly for girls.

Dubai Cares said it will support UNICEF and Plan International to implement fully integrated pilot “WASH-in-Schools” programs in two area districts. These will provide WASH facilities, peer education on healthy water and sanitation practices, as well as, on the community level, implement school and community-led total sanitation approaches to ensure the reach and sustainability of healthy sanitation.

The program will employ participatory learning techniques to allow school children to adopt positive hygiene practices. Essential School Sanitation Hygiene & Education (SSHE) materials will be distributed across all 5,000 primary schools in the country.

In Mali, 55% of schools do not have a water point and 54% do not have adequate sanitation facilities, according to national statistics. The lack of access to safe water and appropriate sanitation at schools, increase the incidences of water-born related diseases, which further negatively affect a child’s ability to attend and excel in school.

The organisation said its intervention will include a multi-partner, four-year integrated “WASH-in-Schools” program to be implemented by UNICEF, Save the Children, CARE, Oxfam GB and WaterAid. This wide ranging intervention will cover 726 schools in a number of regions across Mali.

At its core, the program will provide basic low-cost water and sanitation infrastructure to ensure a healthy and adequate learning environment. It will also focus on hygiene promotion in both the school and the community to ensure behavior change over the long term.

Mr Odinga went to the hospital Monday evening after presiding over a function and later feeling “some general exhaustion”.

“I would like to inform you and the nation that the Prime Minister is unwell but he is in a fit and stable condition,” said a statement from Mr Odinga’s office.

He is been treated for fatigue and is expected to remain in hospital for a few days.

Restrict access

“After tests, doctors started treating him for fatigue. The doctors have further recommended complete bed rest for a few days and they will confine him in hospital for that period.

“During that period, the hospital will restrict access to him to ensure he gets the rest that he needs,” said the statement.

His office, through spokesman Dennis Onyango, said the PM’s doctors had reported that he was in a good enough “condition to come to office and work as usual if he feels”.

“But they are not allowing that. They strongly recommend that he takes the rest.”

His office said it will update Kenyans on Mr Odinga’s condition in due course.

Mr Odinga had officiated at a function at the Nairobi Dam last evening, where he launched a project to reclaim the dam.

The US-based Global Peace Festival Foundation will remove water hyacinth that chokes the dam and turn it into organic fertiliser. The same organisation has been involved with efforts to clean the Nairobi River.

Hectic schedule

The PM is known to keep a hectic schedule and attends up to three functions a day.

On Monday, he attended a joint Parliamentary Group meeting of PNU and ODM at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi to lay strategy on ensuring the proposed constitution is passed at the referendum and in the evening he was chief guest at the Nairobi Dam event.

Mr Odinga has, in recent weeks, been actively campaigning in favour of a new constitution that will be subjected to a referendum on August 4. He spent two days in western Kenya last week wooing locals to vote for the document.

In April 2008, Mr Odinga underwent a laser eye surgery in Germany to correct an eye defect.

Exhibits of illicit drugs concealed in drums, Fante kenkey, artifacts, basket handles etc.

THE ACTING Executive Secretary of the Narcotics Control Board (NACOB), Yaw Akrasi-Sarpong has identified nightclubs, discotheques, bars and music festivals as grass root areas where messages against illicit drug trafficking in the country can be preached.

According to him, such locations alongside universities and colleges formed part of the hotspots for older adolescents and young adults to either trade or engage in the use of the narcotic drugs to satisfy their curiosities.

Mr. Akrasi-Sarpong was presenting a concept paper at a stakeholders’ workshop in Accra as part of activities marking this year’s International Day Against Illicit Drug Trafficking on the theme; “Fighting Against the Abuse of Trafficking in Illicit Drugs: Partnership between the State and Non-state Stakeholders.”

Also outlining more steps to fight drug menace in the system, he advocated, a principle of shared responsibility where both the government and the private sector would join hands to tackle the challenges posed by drug abuse and illicit trade.

Such strategies as addressing vulnerable groups and the population, Mr. Akrasi-Sarpong added, could reduce demand for drugs while creating initiatives for identified gaps or populations, which were under served.

“Drug education is an important prevention component in early adolescence. The most promising classroom drug education models ensure accurate, balanced information on drug risks and consequences and are provided in the context of exploring social influences and teaching key life skills such as coping, decision-making, critical thinking and assertiveness,” he emphasized.

In addition, the NACOB boss pointed out that the attempts by government to reduce the supply of drugs ought to be crucial part of the overall approach to flushing out drug problems in society.

He said “it is vital that government re-establishes the place of primary prevention alongside secondary prevention, which has dominated the debate in recent times. While the needs of those seriously involved with drugs must be addressed, promoting the non-use of drugs has public health benefits as well.”

However, he indicated that primary prevention by the government alone would not be adequate, hence the need to engage the private sector and other non-governmental organizations while policymakers commit resources to health promotions, child and youth development.

Highlighting on the threat of drug abuse to society, the Chief Psychiatrist at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital, Dr. Kwesi Osei noted that data on mental cases in four hospitals, Ankaful, Accra, Pantang and Valley View, stood at 1,945, the whole of last year.

Hinting that out of 8,639 mental cases recorded in the first quarter of this year, 666 were drug related cases. He said the drug related ailments were completely avoidable though.

Statistics show that among those who started abusing drugs in their teens, 70 per cent would be dead by age 45.

He illustrated that between the age group of 15 to 25 years, 226 mental cases were recorded whereas 66 to 75 recorded just four.

Dr. Osei described the age distribution as well as verbal reports in big schools bordering on drug abuse, as very frightening because it threatens the future of the country.

Also, the Country Director of the World University Service, Canada, Akwasi Addae Boahene called for support from all towards the crusade against illicit drug trafficking.

He said the weaknesses and factors, which seem to hinder the fight, should be carefully looked at and identified for possible solutions.

Improvement in the education sector, he continued must go beyond the provision of skills and knowledge.

Rather, it should ensure that people were able to survive in society besides schooling.

Mr. Boahene argued that if the people in the villages were also provided with other alternative livelihoods to better their living standards, they would no longer find the drug business lucrative and for that matter, something positive has been achieved.

He noted also that the fight against the canker should include education and policing while the legal system in the country is strengthened and put to good shape.

“If these are not tackled, then the war against drug trafficking would be defeated,” he said.

He indicated that each and everyone have the resolve to help create a future for the youth to be producers of wealth instead of drugs.

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