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Ho Polytechnic opens School of Graduate Studies

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The Ho Polytechnic Tuesday added a School of Graduate Studies and a Faculty of Applied Social Sciences to its repertoire of academic disciplines.

The Polytechnic now has five Faculties; Engineering, Applied Science and Technology, Business and Management Studies, Art and Design and Liberal Arts giving effect to Schedule C of its current Statutes which spelt out the structure of Faculties it must establish.

“This decision is not new it has been on the drawing Board for five years as part of our five year strategic plan,” Professor Emmanuel Kodzo Sakyi, Rector, said at the inaugural event and swearing in of an interim boards of the two entities.

The action gave effect to Section 18 of the Polytechnic’s establishment Act and Statute 41 (a) which among others provides that “There shall be established a School of Research and Graduate Studies which shall be headed by a Dean, to be assisted by a Vice Dean”, Dr Christopher K. Amehoe, Registrar of the Polytechnic explained.

The acting Dean of the School of Graduate studies is Dr Peter Agbodza, with Mr Simon Amegashie-Viglo as the Dean of the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences.

In a statement, Dr Ben Hoenyenugah, Vice-Rector, Academic Issues, said the Graduate School is expected to host all Post Bachelor programmes and the African Journal of Technical Education Management.

“This places enormous responsibility on Deans and Heads of Departments to develop innovative and national development oriented Master degree programmes in the shortest possible time.”

On the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences, Dr Hoenyenuga said, “This Faculty which has the mandate to humanise the Polytechnic also falls in line with existing faculties in Universities of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands and Germany where the arts and social sciences find a place among engineering and science faculties.”

In line with the norms of the National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) the Faculty of Applied Social Sciences will begin with the Departments of Multidisciplinary Studies and the Department of Applied Modern Languages and Communication.

The Polytechnic’s Chinese Intercultural Centre, Centre for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology Transfer, HIV and Reproductive Health Centre, Centre for African Traditional Leadership and Governance and Centre, Conflict Transformation and Management all come under the this Faculty, Dr Hoenyenugah said.

“This makes Ho Polytechnic Internationally compliant,” he said.

Source GNA

BNI, EOCO called upon to arrest Transport Minister, Smartty’s boss over MMT rebranding deal

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A group calling itself Taxpayers League Ghana is pressing upon the country’s security agencies to pick up persons complicit in the GH¢3.6 million rebranding of 116 metro mass transit buses.

The public outcry over the deal has resulted in the resignation of the Minister of Transport, Dzifa Aku Attivor.

Chief of Staff Julius Debrah, who directed a review into the deal, has also charged the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Marietta Brew Appiah-Oppong, to recover GH¢1.9 million from Messrs Smartty’s Management Limited as “excess payment made for the services rendered”.

But Taxpayers League Ghana in a statement issued on Thursday, December 24 said: “Since government has accepted that there was a wrong doing, the Minister must face the music and cough the taxpayers’ money back.”

It is, therefore, demanding an immediate arrest of not only Mrs Attivor but also the Chief Executive Officer of Smartty’s Management Limited, Selassie Ibrahim.

“We need the full amount back into the consolidated fund,” the statement said, mentioning the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, the Bureau of National Investigations and the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) as the agencies to lead the arrest operation.

By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|tv3network.com|Ghana

Twitter: @kwame_amoh

25 doctors snub posting to U/E Region

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The Upper East Regional Health Directorate has issued a 31st December deadline to 25 doctors, who are said to have ignored postings to the region.

Though there have been assurances of incentives, these doctors – made up of 24 medical officers and a dentist – have refused to report to duty.

It is unclear what the reason may be but our correspondent said an appeal by Dr Kofi Issah to get them to post has gone unheeded.

TV3’s Tanko Rabiu Mohammed said among these medical officers are some who even hail from the region.

The doctors are likely to forfeit their salaries if they report after the deadline as the Directorate has made it clear financial clearance expires then.

Source: tv3network.com|Ghana

MMT bus saga: Gov’t to retrieve Ȼ1.9 million from Smartty’s

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Chief of Staff Mr. Julius Debrah has ordered the Attorney General to retrieve a total of GHC1.9 million from the private company which handled the controversial rebranding of some 116 Metro Mass Transit buses.

It emerged two weeks ago that the government spent an outrageous GHC3, 649, 004 [That is GHC3.6 million per bus] from the Ghana oil funds to re-brand the 116 buses; something that has attracted hue and cry.

The Chief of Staff consequently ordered the AG to investigate the saga and submit its report within two days. The report was presented to the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah on Tuesday.

In her report the AG, Mrs. Marietta Brew Appiah-Opong found that there were no cost comparisons to what was submitted by the private company, Smartty’s Management, because of the method of procurement and the procedures used.

A statement issued by Mr Debrah said “the procurement method did not also ensure value for money,” and consequnetly directed the AG to retrieve the GHC1.9 million being what the statement described as “excess payment made for the service rendered”.

“Independent consultations made by the Attorney General with some leading motor firms in the country confirmed that the contract would have been executed at a cheaper cost if other bids were considered and price comparisons made,” the statement said.

Meanwhile, the backlash from the public Wednesday forced Transport Minister, Dzifa Attivor to resign her ministerial portfolio, and thanked the NDC government for “for the opportunity offered her to serve, first as Deputy Minister of Transport under the late President JEA Mils, and later as the substantive Minister”.

By tv3network.com

Former CHRAJ boss commends Transport Minister but demands AG’s report

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Former Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) Justice Francis Emile Short has commended the Minister of Transport, Dzifa Aku Attivor, for resigning in the wake of the public furore over the GH¢3.6 million metro mass transit bus rebranding deal.

“Her decision to resign is commendable,” Mr Short said on TV3’s News 360 on Wednesday, December 23, adding that the gesture should be followed by other public officials who have been cited in graft cases.

Mrs Attivor announced her resignation in a statement dated December 22 and issued by her personal assistant, Egypt Kobla Kudoto.

The statement said “as the Minister with oversight responsibility for the activities of the metro mass transit (MMT), she has tendered in her resignation as Minister due to the current issues surrounding the branding of the 116 buses”.

But the former retired Supreme Court justice in commending the Transport Minister demanded a publication of the report of the Attorney General over the deal.

The AG was ordered to review the deal by the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah.

“Provisionally this decision is welcomed but we haven’t seen the report of the AG to the Chief of Staff.”

Already, the Attorney General and the Transport Minister are facing a legal suit at an Accra High Court filed by some private citizens over the deal.

By Emmanuel Kwame Amoh|tv3network.com|Ghana

Twitter: @kwame_amoh