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Stop youth from excessive gambling – Nii Ashittey Tetteh
Asafoatse Bebe Foli Kangni Mathais sitting on the stool and holding the walking stick
The acting chief of Amomole and head of the Okortsoshishi family at James Town, Accra, has appealed to the government, the clergy, and the chiefs to do something drastic to stop the excessive gambling and betting of the youth.
He said it was not uncom¬mon to see the numerous gaming and gambling centres, full to the brim by the idle youth and students. It could destroy their future, he said.
Nii Ashittey Tetteh made the appeal last Saturday during the celebration of the Homowo festival by the Okort¬soshishi families from both home and abroad.
He said this gambling addict could be minimised or eliminated if government pro¬vided these idle youths with employable and self-sustaining jobs.
“Some use their school fees to gamble,” he lamented.
Nii Ashittey Tetteh said such family gathering during the Homowo celebrations, presented a perfect oppor¬tunity to talk to the youth about the dangers of gambling and other vices like stealing, engaging in drugs, prostitution and other social vices.
He said the Homowo festi¬val is not only about feasting and merry making, but also a rallying point to teach them centuries-old traditions and customs of the Ga people who migrated from Notsie in Togo to settle in Ghana.
He said the Homowo fes¬tival was a sacred event as preparations towards its cele¬bration included the teaching of chastity, housekeeping and general hygiene of young girls before they married.
The young boys he said, were taught honesty, hard work, courtship traditions and customs before they were ushered into marriage.
The acting Ga-Mantse (Ge Tiega) in Togo, Asafoatse Bebe-Foli Kangni Mathias who led a delegation of Ga-Adang¬be people from Togo, was honoured by the Okortsoshishi family.
He was presented with a citation, a stool, a walk¬ing stick and other gifts for promoting unity between the Ga- Adangbe people and that of Togo for several years.
The Member of Parliament for Nsawam Adoagyiri, Frank Annoh Dompreh, has expressed concern over delays in the release of the District Assemblies Common Fund, warning that the situation is stalling development across the country.
On his facebook page, he described as a matter of urgent national importance, the Minority Chief Whip pointed to what he sees as a growing crisis of unpaid contractors, abandoned projects, and halted infrastructure works in many districts.
He noted that several communities are grappling with half completed schools, unfinished health facilities, abandoned markets, deteriorating roads, and stalled sanitation projects.
According to him, many contractors who have executed projects for district assemblies have not been paid, forcing some construction firms to demobilise from sites while workers lose their jobs.
He stressed that the District Assemblies Common Fund is not a discretionary allocation but a constitutional requirement under Article 252 of the 1992 Constitution, intended to support development at the local level.
In his view, years of delayed releases and accumulated arrears have weakened district development financing and disrupted projects meant to improve living conditions in communities.
He further argued that some payments made in recent years were largely the settlement of old debts rather than funding for new or ongoing projects, a situation he believes has affected contractor confidence and local economic activity.
He described the issue as more than a budgetary challenge, characterising it as a development emergency and a governance concern.
He therefore urged the appropriate authorities to pay outstanding DACF arrears, settle contractors who have completed their work, and ensure that transfers to districts are automatic and predictable.
He maintained that decentralisation can only succeed when district assemblies receive adequate and timely funding to carry out development projects.
He emphasised that stalled projects directly affect ordinary citizens, since they rely on such infrastructure for education, healthcare, transportation, sanitation, and economic activities.
He called for renewed attention to grassroots development, insisting that national progress should not be concentrated only in major cities but extended to all communities.
By: Jacob Aggrey
Richard Appiah, the footballer who killed two children and stored part of their bodies in a fridge at Abesim in the Bono Region in 2021 has been handed a lifetime sentence.
This was after a five member panel of judges at the Accra High Court returned a verdict of guilty against the convict.
Appiah, 32, also a draughtsman would spend the rest of his life in prison after he was convicted of murder.
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BY MALIK SULLEMANA
