Alhaji Limuna Muniru, Northern Regional Minister  The Northern Region Regional Minister, Alhaji Muniru Limuna has pulled out of the National Democratic Congress’ (NDC) parliamentary race. His special aide, Rahman Ecomog confirmed this to Citi FM’s Northern Regional correspondent Abdul Karim Naatogma. A group calling itself Friends of Alhaji Muniru (FOAM) just a fortnight ago, launched a campaign to get the Minister into Parliament to represent the people of Damongo. There are no clear reasons yet for his decision but sources close to his camp say after critical assessment of his chances on the ground, the minister decided to let go. Incumbent NDC MP for the Damongo constituency, Adam Mutawakil, is said to have strong ties with the constituents and seems to be their favorite. Meanwhile President Mahama had commended him for his efforts in getting the Fufulso-Sawla road completed. That road project had been on the country’s budget for several yea...

Zaina Lodge After six years living and working within the northern part of Ghana, initially as a Peace Corp Volunteer, Harvard graduate Andy Murphy knew that the only way to sustain the developmental effort of the Savannah region through tourism was to invest in high-end accommodation facilities that would bring in generous returns. In order to better link his intrinsic understanding of the nexus between the land, communities and people he had lived with, and from whom he married, he went back and did his masters in Business Administration, developed a thorough business plan and put it out together with his business partner and former boss, John Mason. Luckily, investors, including a couple of Ghanaians, who believe in the potential of Ghana’s three northern regions, bought into the idea, and now, Zaina Lodge, the first luxury bush safari accommodation in West Africa, is near completion. PaJohn Bentsifi Dadson just returned from experiencing it. Before lunch in the afterno...

“I love teaching. I know God will see me through to land my dream profession”, may sound very optimistic statement from a 21-year old woman. For Lordina Amoah, however, this remains wishful thinking unless a miracle happens. Despite gaining admission to St. Louis College of Education in Kumasi, raising Gh¢2,500.000 to pay admission means her dream of becoming a teacher could fizzle out or, at least, be put on hold indefinitely. The former student of Armed Forces Senior High School, also in Kumasi, has been nursing an ambition to join the teaching fraternity and contribute Ghana’s human resource development effort through, in her own words, “quality teaching”. Lordina’s sole sponsor is her 60-year old mother, Afua Serwaa, who saw her through basic and second-cycle education, as a single parent. Though her spirit may be willing it’s obvious the body is becoming too weak to carry on, perhaps, when it matters most. Madam Serwaa is a seamstress but without a shop of her o...

More than 313,000 senior high school (SHS) day students are to benefit from government’s progressively free SHS policy. The beneficiary students are from selected 591 SHSs, with 102 and 88 of such schools in the Ashanti and Volta Regions respectively. Eighty-two, 67, 56 and 54 are in the Eastern, Brong Ahafo, Western and Central regions respectively, while 46 and 45 such schools are in the Greater Accra and Northern regions respectively. In all, 313,301 senior high school day students are to benefit from the free SHS policy in the 2015/2016 academic year. A statement signed and issued by the acting Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Jacob A.M. Kor, added that 28 and 23 of those schools were in the Upper East and Upper West regions respectively. Government committed The statement, therefore, gave the assurance that the government was committed to the progressively free SHS policy, starting from the 2015/16 academic year and insisted that the releas...

He is the highest recipient of awards in four decades at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). The 24-year-old Charles Dzugah’s broke the 40-year old record by raking in 8 out of the 15 available awards at the end of his seven-year- course at the university. He received the awards which included the Dr. Wereko-Brobby and Dr. Kwame Addo Kuffuor awards, at the induction ceremony at KNUST. The interesting twist to Charles Dzugah’s intriguing story is how he has maintained his consistent academic excellence from the basic to tertiary level of education. Reminiscing about awards he swept during the induction ceremony, Charles said on the Traffic Avenue on Citi FM: “It was a blur of emotions on that day. It just happened so fast… I don’t remember what I was thinking but I was just excited.” He dispelled notions people had about him that he was the “serious type,” who is always behind his books studying. “No I have a lot of fun. I party and chill w...

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has released approved fees for second-cycle institutions for the 2015/16 academic year. Boarding students are expected to pay GH¢724.50, while day students will be required to pay GH¢405.50. The Director-General of the GES, Mr Jacob A.M. Kor, who signed the letter on the approved fees to be forwarded to all heads of second-cycle institutions, said admission fees would be GH¢20 and examination fees GH¢10 for boarders, day and technical students. Breakdown The letter said for boarders, feeding fee at GH¢3.30 per day would amount to GH¢308, while entertainment, library and SRC fees would be GH¢2, GH¢3 and GH¢2 respectively. Others such as cumulative records, sports and culture fees will be GH¢5, GH¢5, GH¢3, respectively. However, boarders would each pay GH¢2 as maintenance fees. Uniform and clothing For uniform and clothing, made up of school uniform (two sets), house dress (two sets) and P.E. kits, each student, boarder or day student, wou...

This year’s Best teacher award ceremony will be held in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital. This was disclosed by the Northern Regional Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Alhaji Haruna Cambodia. The day which is set aside by government to recognize the efforts of hard working teachers will take place on October 5, 2015. Alhaji Haruna Cambodia said a committee has already been set up and tasked to organize the event. The event will take place at the Tamale Jubilee Park.

Eight local artisans have been jailed for stealing building materials meant for the Tamale Airport expansion and upgrading project. Some of them were charged for siphoning fuel whilst others were jailed for diverting large quantities of cement. According to the Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna, some of the unruly local artisans have been sacked for various offences. “Some of them have been sacked for truancy and everyday they siphon fuel from that place and everybody knows.” He revealed this during the 2015 International Youth Day Celebration held in Tamale. He described the situation as shameful. “We are talking about youth unemployment, yes is true but in our little way we try to see how we can engage you but your attitudes are the problem.” Alhaji Limuna said the chiefs of Tamale impressed upon him to take advantage of the project and secure employment for some of the youth. “Dema Naa came with the chiefs of Tamale to confront me that the ...

President John Dramani Mahama yesterday said he has resurrected from the land of the dead, as he is no longer a ‘dead goat’ but a living one. “I am a living goat not a dead goat,” he said jokingly, after the backlash from his ‘dead goat syndrome’ comment. The President, addressing Ghanaians living in Botswana in March this year, said he had become impervious to threats of strikes and demonstrations back home and adopted what he termed a “dead- goat syndrome”, telling agitating labour groups and the opposition that a dead goat does not fear the knife. His comment at the time caused public uproar and his political opponents in particular had since used the ‘dead goat’ analogy against him in almost every political discourse. However, in an interview on state-run Uniiq FM in Accra in commemoration of the World Youth Day, President Mahama backtracked and said he had now changed from a dead goat to a living one, as strike actions by agitating public sector workers overwhelmed hi...

Government is appealing to the family of the late Nakpaa-Naa Alhaji Salifu Dawuni to soften their stance and bury the chief. Government has admitted that the delays in burying the late chief is a major cause of the ceaseless chieftaincy crisis in the Nanun Traditional Area. The late Nakpaa-Naa Alhaji Salifu Dawuni’s corpse is currently at the Yendi Government Hospital morgue. The family refused to bury the remains because of confusion over the burial site. The family argued that the late Nakpaa-Naa Alhaji Salifu Dawuni should be buried in line with the customs of the Nanun Traditional Area as paramount chief of Bimbila. The other side of the chieftaincy divide, the Andani family is strongly opposed to this demand. This is why the Northern Regional Security Council (RECSEC) has made a passionate appeal to the bereaved family to soften their stance. The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna in a Citi News interview said, “We are engaging the regional peac...

There was near bloodbath Tuesday afternoon when a group of unidentified macho men in a Hollywood movie style stormed the premises of the National Democratic Congress youth group, the Founders’ Fun Club where an anti-Haruna Iddrisu press conference was ongoing. The macho men who the NDC Founders’ Fun Club accuses of being members of the camp of the Tamale South Member of Parliament threatened to beat up the members of the youth group and the pressmen covering the news conference if it was not brought to an end. Justice News’ Abubakari Yussif who was covering the news conference reports that a scuffle that lasted for not less than 20 minutes ensued between the macho men and the youth group. He said journalists who were covering the press conference had to run for cover and watched from a safe distance as the scuffle continued. Yussif said it took the intervention of some community members in Kakpagyili, a suburb of Tamale to bring the situation under control. He reports th...

The Government has served notice it may not pay any public sector worker who has embarked on an illegal strike action. Government has consequently directed heads of government establishments where workers have embarked on illegal (partial or full) strike actions to compile and submit to their respective ministers of state the list of workers who have been absenting themselves from work as a result of a strike or protest. A statement by the Minister of Employment & Labour Relations, Haruna Iddrisu, which explained that the decision is in line with provisions of the Labour Act 2003 (Act 651), which states among others that a worker on strike “may forfeit his/her remuneration in respect of the period during which he/she is engaged in the illegal strike,” further asked that "The compiled lists are to be submitted to the Ministry of Finance on or before Friday August 14, 2015 for necessary action." The "Government is once again appealing to public sector workers presen...

453 students who took part in this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) have had their entire results cancelled, according to the West African Examination Council. 1,859 students also had their subject results cancelled while eight candidates, who had their entire results cancelled, have been barred from taking any of WAEC’s exams for two years. The entire results of candidates from 185 schools have been withheld pending the conclusion of investigations. This was revealed Friday at a press conference to announce the release of the results written in May/June this year. WAEC added that the malpractices recorded were exposed by the innovative measures introduced. The provisional results of the 2015 WASSCE can, however, be accessed by candidates online while the hard copies have been dispatched to the various schools. A total of 268,812 students from 810 schools sat the examinations. But 1,015 of them were absent.