GOV’T LAUNCHES NATIONAL WASTE SEGREGATION PROGRAMME

GOV’T LAUNCHES NATIONAL WASTE SEGREGATION PROGRAMME

By Mohammed Awal

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI) has launched a National Waste Segregation Programme (NWSP) aimed at separating waste materials from source, to help improve efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery by waste management companies.

It will be done through the minimization of the amount of waste that is to be land filled and also to gain value from secondary raw materials.

Speaking at the NWSP launch in Accra on Thursday, the Executive Director of EPA, Mr. Daniel Amlalo said that the issues of solid waste management “is a challenge”, not only to developing countries but also to the “developed and well endowed.”

According to Mr. Amlalo, available statistics reveal that the per capita waste generation per person per day in Ghana is about 0.54kg. With a population of over 24 million people, approximately 12,960 tons of solid was being generated daily nationwide, he noted.

Again, he added that out of this quantum of waste generated daily by the nation, “only 60% is collected” and in “effect safe disposal remained a major challenge.”

Waste Recycling to fetch Ghana GH¢1.2b

To Mr. Amlalo, waste should be viewed as raw material for making economic gains, rather than merely waste material. 

According to him, a study by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) reveal that the Ghana could make about GH¢1.2 billion per year if waste was effectively recycled.

Besides the cash, it would also create employment opportunities, he added. The agency, he revealed, was committed to the initiative of waste recycling and for organic manure production for agriculture and landscaping.

Way forward and Efforts

The way forward, Mr. Amlalo noted, should be “a clear paradigm shift from ‘use and throw’ to ‘reduction generation, reuse and recycling’ that is value addition.”

According to him, waste recycling has become a viable economic option in the country despite the considerable “cost of collection.”

EPA, he said, has over the years made various interventions towards sustainable waste management through the development and publication of waste management guidelines.

He further noted that together with MESTI ‘Plastic to Cash’, the programme was launched as a way of creating awareness on waste as an economic resource.

The programme, he said, promoted the segregation, reuse, recycle of waste at households levels. Papers, plastics, glasses, organic matter and metal, he added, were recycled to usable materials under the ‘Plastic for Cash’ programme.

Effective segregation of this waste, he noted, would help conserve resources, foreign exchange, extend the life span of land fill sites and also reduce the cost of waste management and protect the environment from pollution.

The Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), Dr. Joe Oteng Adjei, in a speech read on his behalf by Dr. Sylvester Aminama, Chief Director MESTI said the NWSP would be implemented nationwide.

The first phase, he said, would commence in some selected schools and within the Ministry area in Accra.

He further added that the NWPS programme was a fulfillment of government’s national environmental policy in addressing the solid waste menace in the country, explaining that waste segregation “is an efficient and environmentally sustainable way of managing waste.

“It is envisaged to help reduce the amount of waste to be land filled and also to provide additional value from secondary raw materials which can be recycled into useful products to support economic  development,” he added.

Cost of waste collection weighing heavily on government resources

According to the Minster, cost of waste collection and disposal has been weighing hugely on financial resources of government.

Many Metropolitan and Municipal Assembles, he revealed, spend in excess of 60% of their financial resources on waste management, adding that “this leaves little for social and economic development projects”.

This, he said, necessitated the introduction of the “Polluter Pays Principle”, for people to contribute to pay for the collection and disposal of their daily waste.”

Media too powerful for novices –Chief of Staff

Media too powerful for novices –Chief of Staff

By Mohammed Awal

The media is too powerful a tool to be left in untrained hands, Chief of Staff, Mr. Prosper Douglas Bani said, during the 7^th congregation of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ), held in Accra.

 “We cannot downplay this point if we are to keep cohesion and survival of our nation. It is important to stress that this emerging culture will not augur well for our nation,” he reiterated.

He made this call at the 7^th congregation of the Ghana Institute of Journalism (GIJ) on Saturday, held under the theme: “Communication; a Vehicle for National Stability and Peaceful Development”.

According to him, “if media owners’ resolve were to give priority in their recruitments to non-professional journalists, they should immediately arrange for them to be taken through media training and capacity building programmes that will better prepare them for their roles,” he pleaded.

Mr. Bani further added that it would be in the interest of media owners to pay heed to this call, as recent reports of huge damages in defamation were awarded against media houses by the court.

This situation, he said, could have been avoided if they (the media) had allowed trained and professional journalists to bring their knowledge of the ethics of the profession to bear.

Journalists’ responsibilities

Communication, according to Mr. Bani, should be seen as a very important resource, comparable to the central nervous system of the human anatomy.

The media, according to him, has been a crucial cog in the communication chain, adding that “it is a vital organ for the development and nurturing of peace and stability.”

Its potency in the public sphere meant that it ought to be used with sobriety by the wielders, in order to maintain the peace and stability of the nation, mentioned the Chief of Staff.

The Journalist, as a professional, he added, has a responsibility to safeguard the peace of Ghana by applying his or her moral compass to the factors which unite us, rather than “the pursuance of divisive tendencies.”

Advice to journalists

Mr. Bani adviced the new graduates against complacency and challenged them to brace up for the ups and downs ahead, and to learn from history, so that together they help to make Ghana a better place.

He further entreated them (the Graduants) to be guided at all times by the ethics of the profession which they had been taught as part of their training and “as spelt out by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) and the Institute of Public Relations, Ghana (IPR).”

He urged journalist to be diligent, critical and tactful at all times to avoid breaching the laws of the country or ethics of the profession, as they go about their duties.

“As you graduate today, the mantle has fallen on your shoulders as part of the new generation of students to shine and light the path of Ghana’s democratic development in a stable environment.

“You must see yourselves as part of the new beginning to re-energise the national consciousness and also keep aloft Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah’s banner of an African Journalist or communicator who would use his pen for the emancipation of the African continent.”

He further called on them to be addicted to the truth, fight poverty and assist the state to rid the society of indiscipline, disease and ignorance, saying “you have the onerous task of watching over political environment.”

In this way, he said, “the responsibility of the media as an active agent in breaking down the barriers of secrecy and silence becomes more arduous.”

The Rector of the Institute, Mr. David Newton said this year’s congregation was very significant and historic in the sense that: “this is the first time the institute is awarding its own degrees to its own students, following the award of a Presidential Charter in 2009.”

Content with the Institute’s progress, Mr. Newton said “I can now look back with pride and give an account of our numerous achievements over the past fifty-four (54) years of the existence of the Institute.”

From a humble beginning as a Diploma awarding Institute under the Ministry of Information, the Institute, he gladly noted, has grown and matured into a fully-fledged University with its Charter to award Degrees and Certificates.

After two decades of multiparty democracy in Ghana, Mr. Newton felt the time was ripe to consolidate the gains of “our democracy”, tasking the media discourse to be devoid of “hatred, personal attacks and acrimony.”

The media, he pleaded, should contribute to the building of a new democratic culture based on tolerance, trust and respect for one another. The media, he further suggested, should encourage frank and open discussion of national issues devoid of partisanship.

In all, a total number of 404 students, both from diploma and degree programmes respectively, successfully completed.

In the degree programme, 23 students obtained first class honours, 93 obtained second class upper division and 64 second class lower division.

With respect to the Diploma programme, out of 256 students who sat the final diploma examination, 224 passed, while 32 fell short of the requirements for the award of diploma.

Journalists Call For Passage Of RTI And Broadcasting Laws

Journalists Call For Passage Of RTI And Broadcasting Laws

By Mohammed Awal

The President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), Dr. Affail Monney, has passionately called on the Mahama-led government and Parliament to speed up the passage of the Right To Information (RTI) bill, and the broadcasting laws of the country.

According to him, Ghana could not afford to wait any longer for perfect conditions to implement these vital media laws.

The laws, he said, when passed, would help regulate the media landscape in the country, adding that these laws were needed to regulate the industry, motivate those who employ it for good, and also to deter those who may consciously, or unconsciously, use it stir confusion and violence.

Dr. Monney made the call at the GJA-PAV Ansah Journalist of the Year Award for 2012, and the 18^th Awards Night held in Accra over the weekend to celebrate hardworking journalists, who, amidst untoward hardships and meager remunerations, strive tirelessly to uphold the ethics and guiding principles of the profession.

On the broadcasting law, he stated: “The GJA considers the passage of such a law very crucial to promoting greater professionalism and decency on the air waves. We cannot afford to leave the development of an influential medium as broadcasting to chance.”

In spite of this, “any law we fashion out should not be allowed to gag or stifle democracy. It should be crafted in a manner that would set standards, in terms of technological applications, frequent reach, syndication, programming, sanctions in breach of ethics, and the likes,” he stressed.

Efforts made by GJA to get the laws passed

Dr. Monney, who is also the Acting Director of Radio Ghana of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), lamented how present and successive governments lazily dealt with the efforts of the GJA and others in ensuring that the RTI bill was successfully passed.

The governments glossed over this persistent request, offering flimsy excuses that “even under the Constitutional provision of ‘the people’s right to know’ we need to put in place all the appropriate measures, to enable us carry out any policy of free and easy access to information,” he added.

 “On this matter, the GJA agrees with the famous writer, Mark Twain, who simply says ‘continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.’ There can be no more time to waste, in the name of conditions are not fully ripe,” he noted.

Media’s role in a Democratic State

On the media’s role in ensuring credible elections, Dr. Monney said that important indicators of free, fair, and transparent elections was free, fair and unbiased media coverage.

However, to achieve that, he said “there ought to be both a high sense of professionalism on the part of media personnel, especially, journalists, and an equally high sense of peaceful political campaigns and responsiveness to media relations by political parties.”

The colourful ceremony, themed “Promoting Healthy Partisanship and Fruitful Partnership in Governance: The Role of the Media”, was attended by dignitaries, including Her Ladyship Justice Georgina Wood, Chief Justice of Ghana, Mallam Mohammed Garba, President, Federation of African Journalists, Mahama Ayariga, Minister of Information and Media Relations, and Madam Ruby Sandhu-Rojon, UN Resident Coordinator to Ghana

Awards

A reporter of Radio Ghana of GBC, Kingsley Obeng Kyere, won the Best Journalist of the Year 2012, with a story entitled ‘Where did half the ladle go?’

The story saw him scoop the ultimate from a line-up of formidable and capable journalists whose hard work had been duly noted over the period of estimation, review, and consideration.

The same story also earned him the award of being the best in science reporting. His work unearths and exposes the dangers associated in the usage of metallic cooking utensils in cooking. Shortly after being adjudged the 2012 GJA-PAV ANSAH Journalist of the Year, Mr. Obeng Kyere expressed his heart felt gratitude to the almighty God for his mercies, saying he takes consolation from the Word, and appealed to the media fraternity to devote their hearts and give their best in the field of work.

“I never relent on anything I did provided it is serving the needs of society, and that the policy of development is my hallmark in the discharge of my duty,” he added.

He further urged colleagues journalists to eschew journalism of divisiveness, equalisation, and assume the role of apostles of development, gate keeping, and enlightenment.

Below is the full list of award winners
Honorary Awards 

Cyril Acorlatse

Ms Wendy Asiamah

Mr Tom Dorkenoo

Mrs Margaret Sarfo

Mr Theophilus Mawusi Afele

Journalist of the Year - Kingsley Obeng Kyereh - GBC Radio

Best in News Reporting (Print) - Charles Benoni Okine - Graphic Business

Best in News Reporting (Radio) - Kwaku Owusu Peprah - Joy FM

Best in News Reporting (TV) - Manasseh Azure Awini - Joy FM

Best in Feature (Print) - Edmund Kofi Yeboah - Daily Graphic

Best in News Reporting (TV) - Odelia Ofori - TV3

Best in Investigative Reporting - Kwetey Nartey - TV Africa

Best in Photojournalism - Emmanuel Quaye - Daily Graphic

Best in Sports - Dzifah Tetteh - The Ghanaian Times

Best in Arts/Entertainment & Domestic Tourism - Rebecca Awuah - GTV24

Best Entry in Small and Micro Scale Enterprises - Maxwell Akalaare - Graphic Business

Best in Environmental Report - William Asiedu - The Mirror

Best Report in Health - Rebecca Quaye - The Mirror

Best Report in HIV and AIDS - Jamila Akweley Okerchire - Daily Guide

Best in Development Journalism for furthering MDGs - Efua Acquaah-Harrison - TV3

Best in Rural Reporting - Gifty Andoh Appiah - Joy FM

Best in political Reporting - Konrad Kakraba - GTV

Human Rights (focus on Child Rights) Fanny Nana Ampong - GTV

Best Report on Disability - Rosemary Gaisie - GBC Radio

Best Report on Peace, Democracy and Peace Building - Radio XYZ

Best Report on Education - Seth Bokpe - Daily Graphic

Best Report in Agriculture - Isabella Owusu Oppong - GTV

Best radio/TV programme - Akan - Radio Peace (Winneba)

Best radio/TV programme - Ga - Obonu FM

Best Report on Science - Kingsley Obeng Kyere - GBC Radio

Young Promising Journalist of the Year - Hannah Acheampong Amoah - Junior Graphic

Young Promising Journalist of the Year (Runner-up) David Adadevoh - The Ghanaian Times