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Don’t be deceived by men who praise your beauty – Speaker tells young girls

The Speaker of Parliament, Rt. Hon, Alban Sumana Kingsford Bagbin has encouraged young female footballers to concentrate on their career and eschew acts that have the potential of prematurely terminating their football career.
He said that staying focused meant“staying away from unscrupulous men who would use sugar-coated or deceptive words to lure young girls into sexual relations and finally abandon them after making them pregnant”.
“Every young person is beautiful or handsome, until they begin to develop wrinkles as a result of old age so do not allow yourselves to be deceived by men who sing your beauty just for their own parochial interest”, he cautioned.
Mr Bagbin stated these when he donated some items to one of the oldest female football clubs in the Upper West Region, Real Crusaders Ladies Club, at his residence at Wa, on Sunday.
The presentation which included 18 sets of jerseys, 18 pairs of soccer boots, 18 sets of knee-high socks and five Federation of Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) branded balls, is testament of the Speaker’s love for soccer and commitment to the development of women football in the region and Ghana in general.
He said that he was a supporter of females’ progress in whatever chosen field and would love to see the girls work harder to attain high laurels in their pursuit of excellence.
Mr Bagbin charged the girls to concentrate on their training to become perfect and do away with unhealthy boy-girl relations that could truncate their journey to stardom.
“Aside your chosen career of football, you need to devote time to studying and ensuring that you attain academic qualification,”
Even on the field of play, you need that intellect to be able to dribble and so you should not relegate education to the backyard,” he said.
The Speaker encouraged the girls to be disciplined and law-abiding so that they would not end their profession prematurely as had happened to other players.
The coach of the team, Mr Umaru Farouq commended the Speaker for the gesture and assured him that he would work together with his technical team to ensure that the girls progressed in football and education respectively.
The Real Crusaders Ladies Club was formed in 2005 at Wa and has since featured in the Ghana Premier League as well as the Division One League depending on its performance at the end of a season.
The team which has produced three players for the Ghana women’s national football team, Black Queens, as well as enabled many young girls to access scholarships for university education, is currently playing in the Division One League.
From Lydia Darlington Fordjour, Wa
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Oppong Nkrumah scholarship programme supports 22 students with GHS134,000

The Member of Parliament for Ofoase Ayirebi, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, has disbursed GHS134,000 to 22 students under the latest round of his Scholarship and Bursaries Programme.
According to a statement from his office, the 22 beneficiaries are enrolled in 16 tertiary institutions across the country.
They are studying various courses, including medicine, marketing, law, public health, midwifery, business administration, education, and secretaryship.
The MP’s office commended the beneficiaries, especially the five students currently studying medicine and physician assistantship, encouraging them to remain committed to their studies.
The statement indicated that the scholarship initiative, which began in 2017, aims to support brilliant but needy students from the Ofoase Ayirebi Constituency to further their education. So far, about 700 students have benefited from the program.
By: Jacob Aggrey
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Four ‘Pragya’ Operators fined GH¢ 2,400 for obstructing public road at Agbogbloshie

Four tricycle operators, popularly known as ‘Pragya’, have been prosecuted and fined GH¢600 each equivalent to 50 penalty units by the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Sanitation Court for obstructing public roads at the Agbogbloshie Market.
The offenders, who were arrested by Public Health Officers of the AMA during a routine enforcement exercise, pleaded guilty to the offence and were subsequently convicted by the court.
The four operators were among the 21 offenders recently arrested at the Agbogbloshie Market for various sanitation and public order violations, including selling on open drains, obstructing walkways, and trading at unauthorised locations.
Speaking after the court proceedings, the Head of Public Health at the AMA, Madam Florence Kuukyi, said the court was lenient with the offenders since it was their first appearance, hence the fine, and warned that subsequent offenders would face stiffer penalties, including imprisonment.