Five students from the School of Agriculture are set to construct a modern for the people of Duakor, a fishing community in the Central Region. They are Messrs Osei Emmanuel, Danso Tony and Godswill Hygienus Miss. The rest are Miss Adeisu Diana Vigah and Miss Adjoa Owusuwaa. The gesture formed part of a seed capital of GH¢ 10,000 the students won during the 2017 Community Service Project initiated by the Osei- Kusi Foundation (OKF) and Selfless for Africa. Out of the amount, the students will use GH 7,000.00 to build the modern fish smoking device. Usually, fishmongers in the Duakro community use firewood to process fish and indulged in unhygienic fish handling and post-harvest practices. Additionally, this method of processing fish has dire health implications for the fishmongers. It is against this backdrop that the students, led by the Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences, Prof. L.K Sam Amoah, paid a visit to the Chief of Duakro, Togbe Ahiadu Ayivi II, at his Palace. During the meeting, Mr. Danso Tony, who spoke on behalf of the students, briefed the Chief about the project and requested a plot to construct the machine. According to him, the high-powered machine would prevent fish processors from inhaling smoke and also safeguard their health. The Dean of the School of Agriculture, Prof. Elvis Bediako, called for collaboration of the fishmongers to make the project a success and pleaded with them to embrace the new technology to improve on their health. For his part, Togbe Ahiadu Ayivi expressed gratitude to the students for the gesture of goodwill. He was of the firm assurance that a plot would be zoned to enable the students to put up the device. It would be recalled that the students represented the University at a Community Service Project Award in 2017 at the Accra International Conference Center. At the end of the fiercely contested competition, the students won the community project. For their prize, the students were presented with a seed capital of 10,000 Cedis to build a modern fish smoking device for fish mongers in a community called Duakro, near Cape Coast in the Central region. Present at the meeting were Dr. Francis Kumi, a lecturer at the School and the College Registrar, Mrs. Mildred Asmah.  

The Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences of the University of Cape Coast, Professor Livingstone Kobina Sam-Amoah, has asked chiefs in the country to have development plans to elevate their communities out of poverty. According to him, chiefs must be initiators of development projects. Speaking at a public lecture at Assorku in the Shama District of the Western Region to commemorate the one year anniversary of the chief of Assorko, Nana Brekrom II, Prof. Sam-Amoah, who is also the Provost at the College of Agricultural and Natural Sciences at the University of Cape Coast, noted that chiefs are in a position to demand corporate social responsibility projects to improve the living standards of their people. He said “there is no company or organization that will operate in a community without getting land from the chiefs. In return, chiefs could demand for corporate social responsibility projects that will elevate the status of their people. When the sources of livelihood of the people are developed, it brings relief to the people, in the area of financial liberation. Our chiefs must encourage companies in their operational areas to invest in social intervention programs. That will help our communities to develop”. Prof Sam-Amoah believes chiefs are important stakeholders to drive development in communities even though they are not as powerful as they used to be. He encouraged all chiefs to emulate the steps taken by Nana Brekrom II, who has written a book outlining his vision for Assorkorman. The book titled: “Doing our part for the community we aspire” is a 24 page simplified masterpiece which spells out how traditional leaders can rethink and envision their communities. “It’s a step in the right direction which we will encourage our chiefs to emulate. It helps avoid disjointed courses of development for communities, and also deals with the loss of vision when one leader passes on to eternity. I am impressed with the step Nana Brekrom II has taken to follow the path of his predecessor Nana Brekrom I”. Prof. Sam-Amoah observed. Among topics in the book are “a look through my own eye: my ten inspirations, the makeup of the community we aspire, the bits and parts to play, the time we must give ourselves, the new mindset, and what we stand to lose if we fail to develop”. Credit:citifmonline.com  

The Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Joseph Ghartey Ampiah, has reiterated his administration’s continuous commitment to work with the leadership of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) branch of the University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG-UCC). “My administration will continuously work with UTAG-UCC to champion academic freedom. I encourage UTAG-UCC to always let us discuss issues. If we jaw-jaw, blows will never have a place,” he said. Prof. Ampiah was speaking at the handover and swearing-in ceremony of newly-elected executives of UTAG-UCC at the Main Auditorium. He advised the new executives to work beyond reproach and maintain the long-standing collaboration that exist between management and the Association. “They (old executives) did not sink the boat, so the boat is still floating. Therefore, we expect that the incoming ones will keep the boat afloat,” said the Vice-Chancellor, who swore the new executives into office. Prof. Ampiah called for a conducive academic freedom between faculty and students geared towards teaching, learning and research. He, however, cautioned: “Leave all other freedoms where it belongs and don’t confuse academic freedoms with other freedoms”. Whilst congratulating the new executives, he urged them to let their impact be felt in their new roles, wishing the immediate past executives well in their future endeavours. For his part, the president of UTAG-UCC, Dr. Eric Opoku Mensah, expressed gratitude to members of the Association for the confidence reposed in the new executives and pledged to work hard to justify such trust for the betterment of the Association. He gave an assurance that his administration would cooperate with management to achieve a common purpose for the forward march of the University. Dr. Opoku Mensah appealed to management to take a second look at the issues of promotion of its members, annual leave matters, timing for the orientation of newly appointed lecturers, among others. The immediate past President of UTAG-UCC, Prof. Kwame Osei Kwarteng, expressed gratitude to management and members of the Association for their support during his tenure. He implored the new members not to erode the gains made by successive executives and also urged them to work hard to consolidate the remarkable feats they had inherited. The ceremony was chaired by Mr. Emmanuel Abole, a Senior Lecturer at the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences. The new executives are Dr. Eric Opoku Mensah (President), Dr. Eunice Fay Amissah (Vice-President), Dr. Bert Boadi-Kusi (Secretary) and Dr. Kojo Okyere (Treasurer).  

Participants at a day’s training workshop on gender have called on health authorities to grant paternity leave to male workers. According to them, the leave would afford husbands to spend enough time with their spouses and new-born babies. They underlined that husbands would also be able to experience many of the great moments in the early stages of their children’s lives. The participants made the call during an interaction session at a workshop on the theme “Gender Sensitive Ethical Practice in Healthcare Delivery”. It was organised by the Centre for Gender Advocacy Research and Documentation (CEGRAD) in conjunction with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the University of Cape Coast for health workers and managers at the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital. The participants also called for extension of maternity leave from three to six months for mothers. That, the participants noted, would help nursing mothers to exclusively breast feed their babies and take good care of them. Making a contribution, the former Director of CEGRAD, Prof. Akua Britwum, said fathers have the responsibility to take care of their children and, therefore, needed time out of their work to be with their babies. She chided employers who use pregnancy and childbearing as labour market penalty to deny competent women employment. Consequently, she urged all women to support the campaign for paternity leave. “So let me tell you , my sisters, we have to support paternity leave for just this selfish reason”, she said, in reference to the labour market penalty used by some employers to deny women jobs. She announced that CEGRAD was jointly working with a Spanish institution to research on family friendly benefits, which include paternity leave. Topics treated at the workshop included Gender Sensitive Ethical Practice in Healthcare Delivery, Health Sector Gender Policy, Strategies for Gender Sensitive Programme Reforms and Practices and Introduction to basic concepts in Gender.