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Risking for nothing: Private security guards paid GH¢100 as monthly salary?
● Some members of the Upper West Regional Youth Parliament
Private security guards (watchmen) in the Upper West Region are said to be underpaid as they received between GH₵100 and GH₵399.00 as their monthly salary.
This was among a number of findings of a study that was launched into the activities of private security operatives in the Upper West Region following the recent murder and disappearance of private security guards in the Wa Municipality of the region.
The research which was conducted by the Upper West Youth Parliament titled “Assessing Private Security Accountability in the Wa Municipality of the Upper West Region” involved 50 respondents which included private security guards, staff of private security companies and owners of facilities that engaged the services of the security guards.
For a job that was of a high risk, the study revealed that persons who were engaged in the field were mostly not given any training or logistics to better protect themselves, making it riskier than was expected.
Presenting the findings to the media at a meeting at Wa, the Speaker of the Youth Parliament, Mr James Baba Anabiga expressed concern over the salary that was paid to persons engaged in the service and said it was nothing to write home about considering the risk involved.
“These are mostly married men with children who do not even live around their places of work, they have to ride several kilometres to get to their workplaces only to take such meagre amount at the end of the month”, he lamented.
He explained that among the group, older men who were engaged as private security guards for schools were the least paid as they did not have any job contract to even show how much they received.
“Many of the security guards are old men and some do not take even up to GH₵200.00 a month yet have to stay at their workplaces which are mostly in isolated places through the night without any logistics to protect them,” he said.
He revealed that those who were engaged through private security companies received less salaries even though their companies were paid above GH₵600.00.
The study, he said, uncovered that young men rejected the job for the old men to do due to the meagre salaries they were paid.
The Youth Parliament further suggested that the aged watchmen be withdrawn from such job and rolled onto the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) Programme.
From Lydia Darlington Fordjour, Wa
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Cervical Cancer alert: Avoid sex at early age
The Programmes Manager of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Mary Efua Commeh, has advised young girls to avoid sex at an early age.
This, she explained, will give the cervix the opportunity to mature before they become sexually active.
“You need to delay what we call the first sexual intercourse as much as possible to give the cervix the opportunity to mature before the person becomes sexually active,” she said.
Dr Commeh stated this in an interview with The Spectator in Accra on Tuesday as a part of the Cervical Cancer awareness month.
According to her, cervical cancer was the second leading female cancer in Ghana with a total of about 3,072 cases annually, and out of that, 1,815 deaths are recorded, representing more than 50 per cent.
She indicated that “If young girls are going to be sexually active, then you need to talk to your parents about being vaccinated.”
She explained that vaccinating young girls against human papillomavirus (HPV) has been found to be a very effective way of preventing cervical cancer.
“There are countries that started HPV vaccination years ago and they are not seeing any cervical cancers now because they would have eliminated most of the high-risk HPVs in their women. So if the high-risk HPV is not there, then obviously the results on cervical cancers are going to go down,” she added.
Dr Commmey said the HPV vaccination is recommended for young girls aged nine to 14 years, adding that it had been found to be highly effective, not just for cervical cancers but for other HPV-related cancers, such as anal cancers, cancers of the vagina, genital warts, amongst others.
She further elaborated that the idea is to put up a barrier before the HPV comes in and that once a young female encounters it, she is already protected.
She also mentioned that for cervical cancers, the main cause is called HPV infection, saying generally, all sexually active women acquire HPV at some point in their lives.
However, the Programmes Manager of NCDs at the GHS mentioned that the body has a way of clearing the HPV, explaining that it is a natural mechanism that goes on, unfortunately, there are a few women whose HPV persists.
Moreover, she noted that the numbers for Cervical Cancer tend to be much higher because at times, clients would wait, and try all sorts of medications before they finally report to the health facility saying “we actually lose some women before they get to the hospitals with over 75 per cent of the cases coming in its third and fourth stages.”
Dr Commey, therefore, called for public awareness while ensuring the availability of information for prevention and control.
By Jemima Esinam Kuatsinu
Entertainment
Maxi Sway teams up with Kweku Darlington on ‘Efie Bayie’
One of Ghana’s fastest-growing musicians, Maxi Sway known in private life as Alex Bonsu, has teamed up with music sensation, Kweku Darlington on ‘Efie Bayie’.
The song is off his new External Play (EP) dubbed, ‘Love and Life’ which is made up of five songs.
The EP written and performed by Maxi Sway, drew inspiration from real life situations.
According to Maxi Sway, ‘Efie Bayie’ was inspired by something unfortunate which happened in the life of his producer Ssnowbeatz.
He revealed that “some years back as it was almost close to the B.E.C.E examinations, Ssnowbeatz fell sick and had to write the exams at the hospital with a few Security Personnel around.”
“Ssnowbeatz told me it was a very difficult time because he was out of school for a while and had no time to even revise or prepare for the exams. He failed the papers because of his health and even didn’t go for the results,” he said.
According to him, after hearing the story of Ssnowbeatz, “It got me thinking and it inspired the song Efie Beyie.”
The video was directed and shot by Mista Morgan.
The songs on the EP include, Meganja, Efie Bayie, Wayo Love, Come Closer and Seke.
The songs making waves were produced by Klassic Beatz and Ssnowbeatz.
