Baba Yara Stadium is now ready for CAN 2008.


Monday, May 31, 2010

Fire destroy City Style Hotel in Kumasi

A DEVASTATING fire said to have started during repeated fire outages in Kumasi last Saturday razed down the City Style Hotel at Amakom near the Baba Yara Stadium.
The hotel, opened about two years ago and located close to Ashh FM on the Afful Nkwanta-Stadium road is one of the most modern in the metropolis.
Apart from a fridge and other few documents, everything in the 14-room facility was destroyed in the blaze.
Guests and workers were evacuated before the fire swept through the rooms in the two-storey building.
A combined team of fire fighters from Manhyia and Amakom that was called in to battle the blaze fought fruitlessly as the inferno devastated the building.
A visibly shocked owner of the hotel, Mr I.N. Amissah, said the fire started in the evening when the area was experiencing a series of power outages.
He said a staff of the hotel detected smoke from the top at a corner of the building and the fire service was immediately informed.
When fire personnel arrived, the fire had already engulfed the building causing massive destruction to property.
Fire personnel said they were yet to determine the cause of the fire, as investigations had not been concluded.
Mr Amissah however indicated that the hotel was insured and that he would be informing the insurance company in due course.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

KMA demolishes 'Abinkyi' slum in Kumasi

A SPRAWLING slum in Kumasi popularly called "Abinkyi slum" has been razed to the ground in a major demolishing exercise undertaken by the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA) at dawn last Tuesday.
The slum also known as "Sodom and Gomorrah" is located close to the offices of the Cocoa Waste Buying Company and the Volta River Authority (VRA) Offices.
The exercise sent the several slum dwellers said to be about 2000 bag packing and looking for alternative places to lay their heads.
Several wooden and mud houses in which the residents, mostly of northern extraction lived, came crumbling down by a caterpillar as officers of the KMA together with armed policemen supervised the demolition exercise.
The exercise formed part of a firm commitment by the Kumasi Mayor, Mr Samuel Sarpong, to ensure that law and order was maintained in the metropolis by demolishing all unauthorised structures.
In 2006 the Metropolitan Security Committee after studying complaints of emergence of slums and the attendant problems of harbouring criminals decided that all the unauthorised structures should be cleared or demolished.
The authorities attributed their decision to the belief that unplanned settlements were fast growing into slums with the attendant problem of becoming dens of criminals.
Consequently in 2007, the KMA commenced demolishing of the Sodom and Gomorrah slum but following protests from the dwellers for the authorities to allow them some time to look for alternative accommodation, the city authorities gave them a respite.
It was however later detected that instead of moving out of the place, new structures were rather springing up.
The KMA this year commenced discussions with the dwellers and made them to understand that they could not continue to be at the place.
"Indeed the leadership of the dwellers accepted that they were illegally occupying the place," Mr Clement Kegeri, a Public Relations Officer at the KMA told the Daily Graphic.
Consequently, he said, the authorities gave them a two week ultimatum which elapsed on Saturday May 22, 2010.
According to Mr Kegeri, while some people packed bag and baggage and left, others stayed on anticipating that the warning was a fluke.
It however came as a surprise to them on Tuesday as the caterpillar arrived to demolish the structures. There was virtually no resistance from them.
A number of the residents had gone out when the exercise took place and those who were around had to struggle to pull away their personal belongings.
Some wailed uncontrollably as they picked their belongings and pleaded with the authorities to offer them an alternative place of abode.
The Abinkyi slum is allegedly associated with vices including prostitution and gambling, but the leaders of the community have continuously denied that allegation. Mr Kegeri told the Daily Graphic that the decision to demolish the slum was long overdue as the area was simply not zoned for human habitation and the general conditions there were nothing to write home about. The sewer system from the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) ran to the area and it was an eyesore to see human beings living with all sorts of unhealthy materials at the place. Again, the VRA and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) had their sub stations very close to the area, which was dangerous for the residents.
Mr Kegeri said the decision to demolish the place was taken long ago when the KMA informed the residents but the leaders of the community petitioned the KMA to extend the deadline for the exercise and the Assembly agreed.
Asked whether the KMA would look for an alternative place for the residents to live, the PRO said the KMA was not duty-bound to look for a place for them.
He said the KMA was planning to put up market stores there to serve as an alternative place for traders who would be moved out of the central market for the reconstruction of the market into a modern one.
Indeed construction works had began in portions of the area to pave way for the national exercise to reconstruct the Kumasi Central Market.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Chiropractic and Wellness Centre opens in Kumasi

The Ministry of Health has planned to mainstream complementary health practices including Chiropractic and Traditional Medicine as part of efforts to ensure a good quality health for all.
Consequently, the Ministry was on the verge of drafting a Bill in that respect for approval by Cabinet and consideration by Parliament.
The Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo who made this known said it formed part of a wider reform of all health sector legislations.
He said regenerative health and nutrition programme was also being mainstreamed into health education on lifestyle diseases, most of which were non-communicable.
Chiropractic is a health care discipline and profession that emphasises diagnosis, treatment and prevention of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially the spine, under the suggestion that these disorders affect general health via the nervous system.
It was founded in 1890 in the United States of America (USA) and was well established in the USA, Canada and Australia. It is generally categorised as complementary and alternative medicine, and has more of the attributes of a medical specialty like dentistry.
Mr Mettle-Nunoo who was speaking at the official opening of a modern Chiropractic and Wellness Centre in Kumasi said the demands of modern business necessitate long working hours, short deadlines with fewer resources and this has resulted in an increase in obesity, unmanaged stress and stress-related illnesses within the work place.
This, he said had resulted in many people in Ghana increasingly facing the challenge of maintaining a healthy balance between the degree of wellness and disease status, while maintaining a good quality life at home and the workplace.
He said Ghana was experiencing an increase in lifestyle related health conditions and that most people may know people with complications resulting from unmanaged stress, sedentary lifestyles and poor nutrition.
These conditions, Mr Mettle-Nunoo said led to cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes.
“Together they are responsible for more than 60percent of all deaths globally. The problem is growing faster in low and middle income countries and almost half of those who die from chronic diseases are in their productive years”, he noted.
The Deputy Minister of Health said the Chiropractic and Wellness Centres were now spearheading the wellness programme in the country and was targeting the home and workplace.
He said the benefits of chiropractic and wellness assessments included improved health, reduced medical claims, improved morale, reduced staff turnover, reduced absenteeism, improved stress management and effectiveness and efficiency at work.
Explaining, he said for Ghana as a whole, the implications would be greater if one member of the family usually the bread winner were to be part of a workplace wellness programme, the benefits would not only reach the person alone but their families too.
“Wellness of our management class and employees, will translate to better health for the entire family as they also have access to information on nutrition, exercises and preventable health care”, he said.
The Deputy Minister said the resultant ripple effect would be a generation of healthier Ghanaians who would pass on their knowledge and healthy lifestyle habits to the next generation.
“You can see the bigger picture begin to unfold. This culture of wellness will be deeply entrenched in our society translating to generations of healthier Ghanaians.”
Mr Mettle-Nunoo said it was a good idea that the Chiropractic and Wellness Centres were rebranding wellness programmes to use workplace as a platform to lead Ghana to greater wellness and longevity through establishment of a “wellness culture” and to partner with the working population, majority of who are also the most influential members of their households to ensure entrenchment of a wellness culture.
He congratulated Dr Marcus Manns, Founder and Chief Executive of the Chiropractic and Wellness Centres for his foresight and vision to bring about a “Wellness Revolution” in Ghana based on prevention and a distinct drugless care that is non invasive.
Oheneba Adusei Poku, Akyempimhene on behalf of the Asantehene officially opened Chiropractic and Wellness Centre (CWC) in Kumasi, which was part of an effort to bring high standards in chiropractic and wellness care in Ghana.
The Akyempimhene said the average Ghanaian life expectancy which was around 58years was not acceptable.
He said all the education, job opportunities and even wealth were useless if they were to be buried in the grave.
“The life and longevity of our people must be our absolute highest priority for without life nothing else matters”, he said.
The centre has advanced equipment such as adjustment and massage tables and a high-tech nervous system scanner.
According to Dr Marcus Manns, the Founder and CEO of CWC, the motive for establishing the centre was to help extend and save lives of people in Ghana.
He explained that the Kumasi centre was the fifth centre to be opened in Ghana, where there were two in Accra and one each in Takoradi, Cape Coast and Kumasi.
“Chiropractic must be irreplaceable cornerstone to any healthy lifestyle plan you create”, he said.
He said human beings were born with an innate ability for the body to heal, repair and constructively develop itself and that the body uses the nervous system to control all the activities and functions of the body.
He said any interference to the nervous system would compromise the body’s ability to heal and that the interference was the underlying cause of many conditions, sicknesses, diseases and unfortunately early deaths.
Dr Manns said any correction of interference, allows the body’s magnificent self-healing capabilities to be optimised.
“Chiropractics unique and distinct speciality is to detect and correct these life robbing interferences on as many families as possible”, he said.