Upper West Regional Minister

RESUMPTION OF COMMERCIAL FLIGHT TO UPPER WEST

Upper West Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih commends some Ministers for the crucial role they played towards the resumption of commercial flights operation at the Wa Airport.
Commercial flights to Wa Airport in the Upper West Region began in October 2019, making the citizens, especially the region’s business community, very happy.
However, in March 2020, the sole commercial flights operators (African World Airline) halted their services to and from the Wa Airport, demanding that a Vodafone mast and other objects that obstruct their smooth operation (smooth take-off and landing) be removed before they resume operation.
Following the decision of the airline, the Upper West Regional Minister, Hon. Dr Hafiz Bin Salih, who was instrumental in the operationalization of the Wa Airport, initiated moves to get commercial flights back to the region. The Minister met with the Telecommunication Network that owned the mast and other parties involved to remove and relocate the mast. Vodafone Ghana agreed to do so but made certain demands that were not within reach of the Regional Minister and the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC).
As a result, Dr Bin Salih had to lobby some top government functionaries and other relevant authorities for their support to get the issues addressed. Similarly, he led some eminent chefs from the region to meet President Nana Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House, and one of the concerns of the chiefs was the absence of commercial flights to and from the Wa Airport. They appealed to the President to intervene and get the issues addressed.
Accordingly, on June 2, 2021, the Transport Minister Hon. Kwaku Ofori Asiamah visited the Upper West Region and met with the Upper West Regional Minister Hon. Hafiz Bin Salih took him (the Transport Minister) through all the obstacles impeding the smooth landing of the flights at the Wa Airport.
The Transport Minister assured the Upper West Regional Minister of his commitment to ensuring that the telecommunication mast is removed. He indicated that he would get the challenges addressed together with the Ministry of Communication and Digitisation, the Ministry of National Security, and the Interior Ministry.
Due to the multifaceted nature of the situation, the Communication and Digitalization Minister, Hon. Ursula Owusu-Ekefful and the Interior Minister, Hon. Ambrose Dery also played diverse roles in their outfit in getting the matter resolved.
On July 27, 2021, a check at the site of the Vodafone telecommunication mast located at the Kpaguri residential area shows that the mast had been removed, paving the way for smooth landing of aircraft at the Wa airport. Additionally, the Regional Minister supervised the cutting down of some big trees located close to the Wa Airport; those trees were obstructing the airlines’ operations.
Meanwhile, on behalf of the chiefs and people of the region, the Upper West Regional Minister expressed gratitude to the President, H.E Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Transport Minister Hon. Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, Interior Minister Hon. Ambrose Dery, and Hon. Ursula Owusu, Minister in Charge of Communication and Digitalization, for their immense contributions to ensuring commercial flights return to the region after getting the mast and the other stumbling blocks resolved.
Dr Hafiz again thanked the Chiefs and people of the Upper West West Region and all stakeholders who contributed significantly towards resolving all the issues paving the way for the resumption of commercial flights in the region, which is expected within the shortest possible time.
The Minister is optimistic that the resumption of commercial flights operations at the Wa Airport will benefit the people of the region.
Dr Hafiz Bin Salih also indicated that he had written letters to all the relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Transport, Ghana Airport Company and African World Airlines, to notify them of the removal of the mast and other stumbling blocks hoping that they resume their services as soon as possible.
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GREEN GHANA DAY FOR UPPER WEST REGIONAL COORDINATING COUNCIL

The government of Ghana intends to plant five million trees in a day across the country as an initial programme under its Green Ghana Project.
The trees are scheduled to be planted on June 11 this year and Ghanaians would be mobilised to plant trees on the day and nurture them to maturity as a way of contributing to the preservation of the environment.
In the Upper West Region, the exercise would commence with the Upper West Regional Minister Dr Hafiz Bin Salih planting a tree. Join the Uppe Regional Minister tomorrow 11th June 2021 to plant a tree under the Green Ghana Project to preserve our vegetation. The Upper West Region is expected to plant 150,000 trees across the region.

THE UNICEF COUNTRY REPRESENTATIVE TO GHANA CALLED ON THE UPPER WEST REGIONAL MINISTER.

THE UNICEF COUNTRY REPRESENTATIVE TO GHANA CALLED ON THE UPPER WEST REGIONAL MINISTER.

 

Over the years, UNICEF has been supporting the Upper West Region to carry out key health interventions, particularly in the maternal and child health nutrition services including the expanded program on immunization, provision of water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities, provision equipment and capacity building for health staff.

In the past two years, the focus of UNICEF support is geared towards improving access to quality maternal and newborn health services in the Upper West Region. In this regards, a number of health facilities in some selected districts have been provided with Neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) equipment and capacity of staff is being built in the area of quality maternal and newborn care.

In a brief remark to the Upper West Regional Minister in his office, the country representative of UNICEF to Ghana, Anne-Claire Dufay indicated that the purpose of their visit was to officially handover some of the equipment to the health facilities, assess the status of implementation of some of the agreed projects and interact with Frontline staff and key stakeholders.

On her part, the Upper West Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih assured the team of doing everything possible within his capacity to ensure progress in the development of the region and that, the Regional Coordinating Council would not allow retrogression in the activities of the region.

He indicated that, he would ensure that the whole of Upper West Region is declared Open Defecation Free. He said, currently it is only the Upper West Region that has a district been declared Open Defecation Free in the Country. He added that it was an indication that with efforts, the entire region would be declared ODF.

DONATED COVID-19 ITEMS WOULD NOT BE SOLD OUT IN MY REGION UNDER MY LEADERSHIP- UPPER WEST REGIONAL MINISTER.

DONATED COVID-19 ITEMS WOULD NOT BE SOLD OUT IN MY REGION UNDER MY LEADERSHIP- UPPER WEST REGIONAL MINISTER.

The Upper West Regional Minister, Dr Hafiz Bin Salih has assured that various COVID-19 items donated to support the fight against the novel disease in the region would not be sold out by any institution in the region under his leadership as the Regional Minister. The Minister gave this assurance when a team belonging to an association known as the Freemason, Grand Lodge of Ghana paid a courtesy call him in his office today. The Grand Lodge of Ghana is an association and charitable organization in Ghana and the world at Large.

The District Grand Lodge of Ghana (EC) Isaac O. Hood in a brief remark to the Regional Minister, indicated that, as part of the fight against the novel Corona virus disease in Ghana, the charitable organization has been donating items to some health facilities to support the fight against the pandemic. Notable among places they donated to support the fight against COVID-19 include, the Mampong Herbal center, the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research where they donated an ultra-low freezer and test kits to support their work. The next place the association donated some items was the Kumasi Centre for Collaborative Research where they donated another ultra-low freezer and test kits and finally a donation to support the Manshia Palace humanitarian project.

 

A team from the association has come to the Upper West Region to donate some PPEs to the Regional Hospital to support the fight against COVID-19. The PPEs include, Nose masks, Aprons and Hand sanitizers. The Minister, appreciated their kind gesture to the region, stating that the donation would go a long way to assist the Regional Hospital in the fight against COVID-19. He assured that the items would be put to good use, adding that ” let me assure you that COVID-19 items would not sold out in any Institution in this Region like it happened elsewhere in Ghana in a BBC investigative piece I watched today. I would make sure the items donated to the region to support the fight against COVID-19, are used for its intended purpose”.

THE UPPER WEST REGIONAL MINISTER DR HAFIZ BIN SALIH APPEALED TO MEDIA PRACTITIONERS IN THE REGION TO FOCUS THEIR ATTENTION ON DEVELOPMENTAL BASE ISSUES RATHER THAN PAYING MUCH ATTENTION ON POLITICIANS.

THE UPPER WEST REGIONAL MINISTER DR HAFIZ BIN SALIH APPEALED TO MEDIA PRACTITIONERS IN THE REGION TO FOCUS THEIR ATTENTION ON DEVELOPMENTAL BASE ISSUES RATHER THAN PAYING MUCH ATTENTION ON POLITICIANS.

He indicated that, the focus of the media in the Upper West Region is on politicians, while there are other pressing developmental issues in the region that go uncovered.

He said most of the news items that emanated from the region were either on what the Regional Minister, a District Chief Executive or a Municipal Chief Executive had gone somewhere to do or say. Dr. Bin Salih said this when the new Regional Director for the Upper West Regional Ghana Broadcasting Corperation (GBC), Mr Christopher Asiedu, called on him on Tuesday, to among other things, introduce him to the Minister and consolidate the relationship between the GBC and the Regional Co-ordinating Council (RCC).

“What I have observed about the media in the Upper West Region is that, the focus is always on us the politicians, most of the news items are either Regional Minister went and did this here or the MCE or the DCE”, he explained.

Dr Bin Salih, however, stressed the need for the media in the region to go beyond the politicians and to bring to the fore, some other developmental issues in the region. “Because of the absence of information out their people have wrong and negative perception about the Upper West Region. Therefore, it is your responsibility to tell the world that the perception that they have about the region is not what it is”, he explained.

Dr Bin Salih urged the leadership of the GBC in the region not to perpetuate politics of insults through their airwaves as that could mar the relative peace the region was enjoying. He advised all Media Houses in the region to blacklist anybody engaging in politics of insult from their stations. He is of the believe that, when media houses don’t entertain such people at their stations, they would not get the opportunity to be trading politics of insult.

He stated that the New Patriotic Party (NPP) would engage in issue based campaign, comparing the performance of the NPP government to that of other political parties. On his part, Mr Asiedu said the media and for that matter, the GBC was mandated to project the region, play advocacy role, and provide information and education to the general public. He thus sought the support and co-operation of the Regional Minister and the RCC in the discharge of his duties to ensure the corperation achieved its objective.

ROYAL COSY HILL HOTEL POPULARLY KNOWN AS JIRAPA DUBAI BASED IN JIRAPA IN THE UPPER WEST REGION DONATED ITEMS WORTH GH¢120,000 TO THE UPPER WEST REGIONAL COORDINATING COUNCIL TO HELP FIGHT COVID-19 IN THE UPPER WEST REGION.

ROYAL COSY HILL HOTEL POPULARLY KNOWN AS JIRAPA DUBAI  BASED IN JIRAPA IN THE UPPER WEST REGION  DONATED ITEMS  WORTH GH¢120,000 TO  THE UPPER WEST REGIONAL COORDINATING COUNCIL TO HELP FIGHT COVID-19 IN THE UPPER WEST REGION.

 

The items donated included 160 Veronica bucket, 100 Veronica bucket stand, 83 gallons of Hand sanitizers, 294 gallons of liquid soap , 96 tissue paper rolls, 1,500 COVID-19 educative  posters and 10,000 flyers. The Project Manager, Mr. Charles Dwamena who presented the items on behalf of the company to the RCC noted that the donation was part of the company’s corporate social responsibility, in the fight against COVID-19 in the region.

The Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih, who received the items on behalf of the Chiefs and people of the region, expressed his gratitude to the company and assured  them that the items donated will be put into judicious use. He added that, the items were going to be distributed among all the eleven Municipal/District Assemblies in the region stating that the RCC will ensure that the items serve the purpose for which they were acquired.  ” Government alone cannot shoulder all the responsibilities, that is why we consistently appeal to all and sundry to come to the aid of government”. He added

Dr. Bin Salih seized the opportunity to appeal for more support to the RCC to stem the disease stating that we must have all “hands on deck” to conquer the disease.

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Deputy upper West Regional Minister urged all professionals in the nurses and midwifery to be more professional in how they handle the sick.

The Deputy Upper West Regional Minister, Hon. Amidu Issahaku Chinia has called on all professionals in the Nurses and Midwifery profession to emulate the the shining example of Florence Nightingale and be more professional in how they handle the sick in the health facilities.

Hon Chinia said this while addressing health professionals on behalf of the Regional Minister Hon. Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih at the Climax of the 2019 Nurses and Midwives week celebration in Wa on 18th May, 2019.

The Minister added that, Health professionals should also be more friendly to the relatives of Patients so that people who visits our health facilities would be happier and can appreciate the good work nurses and Midwives do on daily basis.

He noted that, nurses and Midwives are pivotal to the success of every health system in the world and that without them, no health system can effectively function.

“This is especially so in health facilities in rural areas where their are no doctors or physician assistants, and nurses or midwives have to play multiple roles to manage cases that are brought before them. Some of you are good and you handle such situations well on daily basis for no special reward but your pay as a nurse or midwife”, he explained

Hon. Chinia noted that, government was taking steps to improve the finances of health facilities in the country and that it has cleared most of the debts that was accumulated under the National Health Insurance Scheme. He said, government has also increased the tariffs by twenty percent to help address the funding challenges the scheme is currently faced with and ensure regular payment of claims to facilities.

The Minister indicated that government has given clearance for the recruitment of health professionals such as doctors, nurses and Midwives and that the Regional Health Administration has completed the recruitment process of nurses, midwives, nurses assistants and community health nurses and was currently posting them to various Districts of the region to begin work.

He assured them that government was ready at all times to work with the Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwifery Association, the nurses and Midwives Council, and all relevant bodies to improve the working conditions of nurses and nurses trainee.

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“Be more Nationalistic and Vigilant by Reporting all Criminals we are Shielding in our Communities to the Appropriate Security Agencies” –Upper West Regional Minister to the People of Upper West.

The Upper West Regional Minister, Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih has called on the people of Upper West Region to be more nationalistic and vigilante by reporting all criminals they are harboring or shielding in their communities, to the appropriate security agencies to bring them to book. He also cautioned the security personnel to be disciplined and professional whenever such miscreants in society are reported to them; that is, by shielding the identities of the informants.

“When the identities of such informants are exposed to the criminals, their lives will be put in serious danger. I wish to further state that, for the fear of informant’s identity being revealed, people who know the criminals among us do shy away from giving information to the Police and other security agencies”, he noted.

He reiterated that, without adequate and reliable information, it will be very difficult in fighting crime such as: armed robbery, tribal and chieftaincy conflicts, political vigilantism, terrorism, among others in the region.

The Minister made the call whiles addressing the Regional Coordinating Council Meeting on 14th May, 2019 in Wa.

Dr. Bin Salih indicated that, the Government is aware of the inadequate security personnel and logistical constraints in the country and has embarked on the recruitment of more security personnel in all the sectors. He said, the Ghana Police Service has also been equipped with vehicles and other logistics to carryout highways patrols throughout the country; and the establishment of the Counter-Terrorism Unit, have helped reduce the armed robbery and other criminal cases, of late.

Apart from the general security issues confronting the nation, the Minister used the opportunity to appeal to the Upper West Regional House of Chiefs to use their institution to resolve all pending chieftaincy disputes in the region. He acknowledged the important role that the chieftaincy institution plays in the development of the nation. As such, the smooth succession to thrones, if well codified will help eliminate or reduce the spate of disputes that threaten the peace of the region. He entreated the representatives of the Regional House of Chiefs to take the matter for serious consideration at their next meeting.

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Upper West Regional Minister expressed his disappointment with his MMDCEs and MDCDs over late attendance to the Regional Coordinating Council meeting in Wa.

The Upper West Regional Minister , Dr. Hafiz Bin Salih, expressed his disappointment at his Municipal/District Chief Executives, Municipal/District Coordinating Directors and Heads of decentralized departments for attending the Regional Coordinating Council meeting late.

The RCC meeting that was supposed to start at exactly 9:00am, saw the MDCEs and some DCDs arriving after 10:00am. The Minister, Dr. Bin Salih who doesn’t joke with time management was seated with his Deputy exactly 9:00am with only two DCEs present without any coordinating director.

The Minister in addressing the council meeting, cautioned council members against late attendance to meetings and programs. The Minister urged all Heads of Departments to be time consious and take time Management very serious since it retrogress productivity in the region.

The Council meeting is often organized to discuss on developmental issues in the region, give account on what has transpired over the period, possible ways of improving service delivery and the way forward.
The National Security Ministry used the meeting to sensitize members on terrorism and terrorist attacks. The Ministry was embarking on an awareness creation exercise to prepare the minds of Ghanaians on some precautionary measures to take in the era of terrorism.