Correspondent Hashmin Mohammed reported Wednesday, January 28, that “lots of drugs have been burnt”. “At the moment as we speak now, fire officials have been able to bring the situation under control,” Hashmin added. Medical equipment and medicines worth thousands of Ghana Cedis have been destroyed. He said medical officers and nurses of thefacility were helping to salvage some items when he arrived at the scene.The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. But the Tamale incident follows a similar but more disastrous one at the Central Medical Stores in Tema in the Greater Accra Region, which officials suspected was arson. A number of people have been arrested whilst others were interdicted over the incident.

Students in Yagaba Kubore Constituency of the Northern Region are benefiting from a GH¢40,000 endowment fund set up by the MP of the area. Students from the constituency pursuing education at universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and nursing training colleges will be eligible to benefit from the fund. The New Patriotic Party (NPP) MP, Mr. Mustapha Ussif, said the money, which was sourced from his Education Scholarship Fund is aimed at alleviating the suffering of students and their families in their quest for higher education. “As contribution towards promoting education and in recognition of the fact that education remains the bedrock of social change and development, I shall endeavor to pay my dues by sponsoring as many of my constituents from my MP's Common Fund,” he said. According to him, the constituency is lagging behind in education with many educational institutions urgently needing basic facilities to support effective teaching and learning. Mr. Ussif sai...

A senior Officer at the Mion District Social Welfare and Community Development Department, Iddrisu Alhassan Ganiyu, has raised alarm over the rate at which teenage pregnancies are being recorded in the district. According to him, between 30 and 40 teenage girls become pregnant in the district every year and that 90% of the number do not get men to take responsibility for their pregnancies, because they flirt with married men who already have many children. Speaking in an interview with The Chronicle at Mion, in the Mion District of the Northern Region, Mr. Ganiyu revealed that every year, an estimated 15 to 20% of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates in the district get pregnant or give birth to children even before their final exams. According to him, the Social Welfare and Community Development department had done its assessments and could confirm that the rate of teenage pregnancy in the district was prevalent in the rural parts of the District. He revea...

Whatapp has extended its services to online now and you can chat with friends on your Chrome browser in your PC. Here how to enjoy it: 1. Update you WhatsApp messenger on your phone. 2. Tap Menu >>> WhatsApp Web in the menu list 3. Visit web.whatsapp.com on your computer and scan the QR code 4. You can now whatsapp all your contacts right in your Chrome browser on your PC Note: The new Web client is actually a simple mirror from the WhatsApp app on your phone, so in order to use it, you’ll need to have an active connection on your phone, not just your computer. And sorry iOS users you have to wait for a while. YFMOnline

A directive by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) asking Muslim girls to remove their headscarves or hijab, before taking passport pictures for their Basic Education Certificate Exam (BECE) registration has displeased the Islamic Unit of the Ghana Education Service (GES). Joy News correspondent Kwame Owusu Peprah has reported that the tussle over religious rights is happening in some basic schools in the Western Region. The Islamic unit finds the position of the WEAC officials unacceptable, describing it as an attempt to violate their religious freedom. WEAC's directive is asking that the girls show at least their ears and part of the forehead while taking the passport photos. Head of the GES’ Islamic unit Alhaji Mohammed Sanni told Joy News “the hijab is part of our Islamic traditions. If you take off the hijab then where lies the Islam?” He said the Unit has petitioned WAEC over the directive. Alhaji Sanni accused WAEC of  “dilly-dallying” with their petition and wa...

Outspoken critic and Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper, Kwesi Pratt Jnr. has been enskinned Yelvuhi Naa by the Gulkpe Naa in Tamale. Yelvuhi Naa loosely translates into Chief of Freedom of Speech in Dagbani. The Gulkpe Naa, Alhassan Abdulai, who conferred the title on Mr. Pratt on Sunday in the northern regional capital, is traditionally the representative of the Ya-Na in Tamale. Mohammed Rashad, the Secretary to the Gulkpe Naa, told Myjoyonline.com Mr. Pratt’s fearless criticism of authority and unflinching pursuit of the truth earned him the titled – the first ever. He said the senior journalist was in Tamale to participate in the Damba festival of the Dagombas but the chief thought it was proper to confer the title on him. Mr. Rashad said the honour is meant to encourage Kwesi Pratt “to continue to speak the truth for Ghana. When he sees the truth, he shouldn’t paint it.” Commenting on the conferment of the title on Mr. Pratt on Facebook, a ...

Teachers from 10 schools in the Northern Region have been trained on how to teach comprehensive reproductive health. They received the training from a Tamale based NGO, the Savanna Signatures. The aim is to help educate teenagers at the junior high schools (JHS) about their bodies and the impact of early sexual activities on their lives. The training is under the NGO’s teacher facilitation training of ‘My World and My Life’ (MWML), which is being piloted in some schools to equip the beneficiary teachers with skills to teach sex education. Mr Stephen Agbenyo, Executive Director of Savanna Signatures speaking at the opening of the one-week programme advised participants to freely discuss issues of reproductive sexual health with their pupils saying, “The more we don’t tell them the truth about sex, the more they want to explore”. He said the NGO would continue to embark on projects that would help improve the welfare and smooth growth of younger pe...

Results of the licensing examination of 56 nursing trainees of the Holy Family Nursing and Midwifery Training College in Berekum in the Brong Ahafo have been cancelled. This is because the students were found to have cheated in the examination hall using the whatsapp platform on their phones during the examination. They are said to have taken pictures of the question papers, sent them to an external collaborator who answered them and then sent the answers back to the students in the examination hall via whatsapp. The college has been de-recognised by the Nurses and Midwives Council (NMC) as an examination centre for three years, while the students will not be permitted to write the licensing examination for two consecutive times. According to Mr Felix Nyante, the Registrar of the NMC, the students were found to have cheated in the examination hall after the mobile phone one of them had smuggled into the examination hall had fallen from her panties onto the floor of the hall. He sa...

The Tamale Airport is expected to be completed by September 2015 for operation as a second international airport in the country. Airport authorities say the finished airport will have all the facilities of a modern airport, and have spacious maintenance bays and hangers for airlines. “The project will be completed by September and inaugurated the same month,” an airport source told the B&FT The project, funded with a loan facility from the Brazilian government, is expected to cost about US$174million. It is being undertaken by Brazilian company Geiroz Galvao Construction – the same company working on the Kwame Nkrumah Interchange in Accra. The first phase of the project consists of extending the runway from the current 2,480 metres to about 3,940 metres, and the installation of a complete lighting system to accommodate bigger aircraft so as to serve as the second international airport in the country. It is supposed to serve as an alternative to the Kotoka Intern...

Today I’m going to tell you about something. This thing which makes one say “turn on the A/C, it’s too hot” only for the other to say “turn it off, it’s too dry”. This thing which makes my doors creak and my books bend. This thing for which my fog lights are rendered useless. This thing which makes you sweat and makes you cold at the same time. This thing which makes you wake up breathing through your mouth only for your nostrils to dry up to bleeding point by midday. This thing which makes highlands of Aburi and the students at Adisadel loath the morning shower. This thing which makes you think twice about smiling broadly. This thing, this lousy weather, called harmattan. The term Harmattan apparently originated from an Arabic word Haram, which literally means the evil thing. And I guess that is a fair description. Some also say it is an Akan cognate, but the root word haramata doesn’t convey so much meaning to me. This so called north-easterly trade winds bring in a lot of dust, a...

Roads and Highways Minister, Alhaji Inusah Fuseini has been enskinned as Lamashegu Mali-zali Naa by the chief of Lamashegu, Alhaji Ziblim Abdulai, The honor is in appreciation of his contribution to the chieftaincy institution in Dagbon and his efforts at developing the Tamale metropolis. At a colourful ceremony at the Lamashe-naa palace, Alhaji Ziblim said elders of the Lamashegu skin arrived at the decision to honor Alhaji Fuseini after a thorough consultation with prominent people in the Dagbon traditional area.  He said since his assumption as Roads and Highways Minister, Alhaji Fuseini has undertaken major infrastructural projects including the construction of several roads in the metropolis. Alhaji Ziblim hoped the new chief will be encouraged by the honour done him and do his best to advance the cause of development in the region. On his part, the Mali-zali Naa Alhaji Fuseini said he will work to ensure that the people of Dagbon live in peace, dignity and happiness. He...

Chiefs in Tamale have welcomed the inauguration of a five member committee by the Northern Regional Security council to investigate allegations of illegal sale of state lands in the Tamale Metropolitan assembly and Sagnerigu District. Rising tensions, and accusations from chiefs over alleged illegal sale of state lands to private developers in the two assemblies necessitated the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna to inaugurate the five-member fact-finding committee chaired by  principal state Attorney, Salia Abdul Kudos to look in to the allegations. The committee has up to the first week of March to submit its report to the Northern Regional Security Council. The Committee has been charged among other responsibilities to ascertain the veracity of allegations and determine the extent of the practice as well as recommend measures to deal with the illegal sale. Spokesperson of the paramount chief of Tamale  Saha-Na Alhaji Latif Alhassan told Joy news a...

It is truly sad, our state of affairs. To Allah alone complain. We have so many people who are so full of anger and hatred, towards the rest of humanity, towards their fellow Muslims, towards students of knowledge and scholars and activists, that it appears they have wiped out their basic humanity and mercy. We have uneducated, self-taught followers who believe they are so qualified to give religious verdicts that they can make someone else's life permissible, without ever actually having studied with a single scholar. Googling fatwas and quoting random incidents from the Seerah is enough these days to become a faqih. We have opened up the doors of 'takfir' (excommunicating other Muslims): something that even the greatest of scholars would rarely use against their most heretical opponents is now being tossed around like candy against anyone who disagrees with your position. We have obliterated the concept of husn al-dhann (thinking the best of others), and filled oursel...

Over 300 aspirants have filed their nominations with the Electoral Commission to contest the impending District Assembly and Unit Committee elections in the Tamale Metropolitan Area. Their posters are visibly displayed on the walls of public toilets, households, school buildings, trees and at various market squares. Ten aspirants have filed for the Dohin-Naayili electoral area whilst twelve aspirants filed for the Bilpela electoral area. The Kukuo electoral area has four aspirants contesting; Danjumah Lukman Sayibu, Abdulai Ziblim Hafiz, Adam Awal and Mohammed Laminu Awal. The 28-year old Danjumah Lukman Sayibu told Citi News he was motivated by the youth of Kukuo to join the contest. “If you go to the grassroot everybody thinks I can do the job, some people came to me personally and said I should come out and contest: the youth, the elderly, the chiefs and the Imams are behind me and I won’t put them in shame.” He added, “I have seen that development of the Kukuo area is very do...

About 300 nursing service personnel posted to various health facilities in the Northern Region have served notice of withdrawing their services at the end of January, 2015. They are protesting against the delay in the payment of their five months accumulated salaries. They have accused authorities of the Ministry of Health of paying lip service to their concerns. The Diploma holders in nursing, told Citi News their threats are non-negotiable. They therefore asked the National Service Secretariat to immediately address their grievance ahead of the stipulated period. Their Spokesperson, Amadu Suweidu explained, “We started the service in September 2014 like all other service personnel in the country and up to date we are still not paid our allowances meanwhile the other service personnel are getting their allowances.” “The service is for one year, we are approaching the sixth month and our fate is still hanging in the balance: one would have thought that due to the...

Are your Facebook friends posting some strange legalese about privacy guidelines? Yeah, that’s a bunch of garbage. A viral post claims that Facebook (FB, Tech30) recently updated its terms of service to take ownership of all of your personal data — even if you delete your account. By copying and pasting that legal mumbo jumbo into a status update, you supposedly exempt yourself from Facebook’s new guidelines. Except that’s not the case. You can’t protect yourself from a site’s terms of service by claiming to be exempt — you agree to the terms by signing up for an account. But, more importantly, Facebook doesn’t claim to own your data. You own it. The whole thing is a big hoax. According to Internet rumor repository Snopes.com, the Facebook hoax has been around since 2012. CNN wrote about it then, too — and it has cropped up every now and again over the past several years. In fact, Facebook commented on the hoax in a 2012 post: ...

Public Service workers who do not have Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) numbers on their pay-slips will soon have their salaries withheld. This is the warning issued by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department, as part of measures to rid Government’s payroll of ghost names. With effect from April 2015, valid SSNIT numbers will be mandatory for workers on the mechanised payroll to access their salaries. Head of Payroll, George Kofi Baah informed JoyNews, “a series of interventions are being rolled out by the Controller and Accountant General’s Department”. One of the interventions, he said, is to “use the social security number as one of the mandatory checks in the payroll system”. Workers would have up to “March this year to update their records with the department”, after which all those without assigned SSNIT numbers will have their salaries withheld. This, according to Mr Baah, would help curb t...