Wa: Three Pick up SSNIT Outstanding Awards

Three outstanding pensioners in the Upper West Region have received awards from the National Pensioners Association of Ghana as part of their silver jubilee celebration.

According to a statement signed by the secretary of the Pensioners Association in the Upper West Region A.A Moomin, similar awards have been given to both national and regional executives for their hard work and service to the association.

The three awardees that were selected this year from the Upper West Region included Fongu Kaniboh from Sombo, a former regional chairman of the association, Lariba Osmani from Wa, former vice-chair person and Abel Kwaku Yenli from Jirapa Duori, former chairman.

The statement indicated that the awardees were all given a citation each and undisclosed amount of money for their efforts in the development of the association.

It stated that the hard work of past and current Regional Executives has collectively grown the association from six locals to 25 and the membership also increased to 3,400. The statement however identified two challenges that the association is facing in the region.

It stressed that banks in the region are not complying with the Regional Minister’s Directive that says that banks should allocate separate cashiers to pensioners on their pay days.

It revealed that S.GSSB and the Agricultural Development Ban continue to box pensioners with able bodied civil and public servant when they go to the banks for their pay.

In terms of access to health care for pensioners, the statement lamented that Lawra, Tumu, Bole, and Wa have not signed any contract with Liberty Mutual Health LTD to enable pensioners access health services.

The statement therefore appealed to Liberty Mutual Health LTD to as matter of urgency, sign contracts with the remaining hospitals in order for pensioners to also enjoy the Health Insurance that they pay.

The Wa Branch Manager for Social Security and National Insurance Trust, Hansen Kwasi Adjor acknowledged the nobility of the awardees and reminded that once you

Wa: Two Government Appointees Thrown Out of Assembly Meeting

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Angry Assembly members of the Wa Municipal Assembly hijacked proceedings of sessional meeting for hours prompting the intervention of the Wa Central Member of Parliament Hon. Rashid pelpuo and the MCE for the Wa Municipal Assembly Tahiru Issahaku moomin. The standoff hit the roof when one member drew the house’s attention to a “stranger” in the midst of the assembly members. Explaining to the members, the presiding member, Hon. Karim Abdul Rahman Topie affirmed that Ahmed Mustapha, whose legitimacy was being contested, was a Member of the assembly because he was one of the fourteen –member appointees of the president. However, the belligerent and irritated assembly members would not have any of the explanations from the already incensed presiding member who threatened to invoke a local government act that would see the warring member’s eviction from the meeting. Little did the presiding member knew that he has aggravated the anger of Hon. assembly member of the Jonga Electoral area, Daubile A. Ibbrahim who called the presiding member incompetent and ask him to step aside to allow proceedings to go on. At this juncture, the deteriorating situation called for the intervention of the municipal chief executive to call for quick resolution of the stalemate in order for the proceedings to continue. He therefore asked the disputed members, Ahmed Mustapha and Diaullah Yussif all president appointees to leave the proceedings until they were duely sworn in by a judge. The Hon. Wa Central Member of Parliament also preached peace and decorum and admonished members to bear with the presiding member if he tries to exhibit strong leadership qualities because he has to be strong to be able to preside over the assembly. Following the advice from the MCE and the MP, nerves were calmed leading to the withdrawal of the earlier motion that was moved by Hon. member for the Jonga electoral area that demanded the presiding member to step aside because he was incompetent. After calm was restored, the Municipal Chief Executive addressed key areas that bordered on the day-to-day running of the Wa municipality. The areas comprised governance, security, finance, sector performance of the social services, local economic development initiatives among others. He reported that the Wa municipality remained relatively peaceful but for some armed robbery and stealing cases that were recorded in the fourth quarter. Hon. Issahaku Tahiru noted that armed robbery and stealing cases that were recorded on monthly basis declined from 54 to 30.