INFO. MINISTER, JOHN TIA TOURS UE
INFO. MINISTER, JOHN TIA TOURS UE October 25, 2010
BY P. ATOGEWE WEDAM
ISD-BOLGATANGA MUNICIPAL
The Honourable Minister of Information who is also the Member of Parliament for the Talensi Constituency, Mr. John Tia Akolgo is in the Upper East region for a three day working visit to departments and agencies under his ministry. He will also interact with traditional rulers, assembly persons and heads of decentralised departments.
The essence of the visit is for the minister to communicate government policies and programmes such as the free school uniform to basic school pupils, enhanced capitation grant, subsidy on fertilizer, improved agriculture and other laudable interventions by government and in return, get feedback from implementing authorities.
In a meeting with regional heads of department at Bolgatanga, Mr. John Tia tasked the various departmental heads to regularly educate the public on infrastructural development and other transformational changes in their departments. He observed that for the past 20 months since the Mills’ administration took office, a lot has been done such as stablising the Ghana Cedi which has attracted more investors to the country.
Mr. John Tia also talked of infrastructural development for all senior high schools in the country, assistance to the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Police Service among other sectors. He said particularly, the assistance given the Ghana Police Service has helped to reduce the high incidence of armed robbery cases in the country.
The Information Minister also observed that a number of projects designed for the health, education and the ICT sectors are being stalled as a result of land owners either refusing compensation or demanding very high compensations from the state. He therefore appealed to chiefs and opinion leaders to persuade their people to readily release land for purposes of national development.
According to Honourable John Tia, President Atta Mills’ recent visits to China and Japan has yielded positive results as 14.5 billion Dollars and another 1.5 billion Dollars were secured for the execution of several projects. These include the rehabilitation and extension of rail lines from southern Ghana to the north and also add more to the road infrastructural lay out of the country.
Later in the company of a director at the Information Ministry in charge of finance and administration, Mr. G.B.L. Siilo, the honourable minister met with staff of the Information Services Department [ISD] where he gave the assurance that the fair wages and salaries commission is doing everything possible to put all public and civil servants on the Single Spine Salary Structure. He however, advised public and civil servants to be impartial and non-partisan in the discharge of official duties.
The Upper East regional director of the ISD, Mr. Nelson Mba speaking on behalf of his staff expressed worry about delayed promotions of staff to other ranks and absence of in-service training for staff. Mr. Mba also appealed to the minister to ensure that qualified people are employed to fill vacancies in various district offices of the ISD in the region.
The information minister also visited URA Radio- the regional FM station of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, the Ghana News Agency, Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times which are all under the purview of the Ministry of Information. After listening to their concerns, problems and suggestions, Honourable John Tia Akolgo promised that on his return to Accra, he will call the national heads of the respective agencies to a meeting during which he will present his findings to them for appropriate action.
BY P. ATOGEWE WEDAM
ISD-BOLGATANGA MUNICIPAL
The Honourable Minister of Information who is also the Member of Parliament for the Talensi Constituency, Mr. John Tia Akolgo is in the Upper East region for a three day working visit to departments and agencies under his ministry. He will also interact with traditional rulers, assembly persons and heads of decentralised departments.
The essence of the visit is for the minister to communicate government policies and programmes such as the free school uniform to basic school pupils, enhanced capitation grant, subsidy on fertilizer, improved agriculture and other laudable interventions by government and in return, get feedback from implementing authorities.
In a meeting with regional heads of department at Bolgatanga, Mr. John Tia tasked the various departmental heads to regularly educate the public on infrastructural development and other transformational changes in their departments. He observed that for the past 20 months since the Mills’ administration took office, a lot has been done such as stablising the Ghana Cedi which has attracted more investors to the country.
Mr. John Tia also talked of infrastructural development for all senior high schools in the country, assistance to the Ghana Health Service and the Ghana Police Service among other sectors. He said particularly, the assistance given the Ghana Police Service has helped to reduce the high incidence of armed robbery cases in the country.
The Information Minister also observed that a number of projects designed for the health, education and the ICT sectors are being stalled as a result of land owners either refusing compensation or demanding very high compensations from the state. He therefore appealed to chiefs and opinion leaders to persuade their people to readily release land for purposes of national development.
According to Honourable John Tia, President Atta Mills’ recent visits to China and Japan has yielded positive results as 14.5 billion Dollars and another 1.5 billion Dollars were secured for the execution of several projects. These include the rehabilitation and extension of rail lines from southern Ghana to the north and also add more to the road infrastructural lay out of the country.
Later in the company of a director at the Information Ministry in charge of finance and administration, Mr. G.B.L. Siilo, the honourable minister met with staff of the Information Services Department [ISD] where he gave the assurance that the fair wages and salaries commission is doing everything possible to put all public and civil servants on the Single Spine Salary Structure. He however, advised public and civil servants to be impartial and non-partisan in the discharge of official duties.
The Upper East regional director of the ISD, Mr. Nelson Mba speaking on behalf of his staff expressed worry about delayed promotions of staff to other ranks and absence of in-service training for staff. Mr. Mba also appealed to the minister to ensure that qualified people are employed to fill vacancies in various district offices of the ISD in the region.
The information minister also visited URA Radio- the regional FM station of the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, the Ghana News Agency, Daily Graphic and the Ghanaian Times which are all under the purview of the Ministry of Information. After listening to their concerns, problems and suggestions, Honourable John Tia Akolgo promised that on his return to Accra, he will call the national heads of the respective agencies to a meeting during which he will present his findings to them for appropriate action.
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