PAA BOATENG DROPS'KOKROKOO

It common these days to find young gospel musicians,no doubt about it.Every musician has a motive and challenges.
Young and talented kumasi-based gospel sensation,Paa Boateng,started as an instrumentalist until he discovered his talent and love as singer at age nine.
At the age of 15,he came out with the album,Onyame ba,which had eight sensational tracks,including Nkuguo,Me hia agyenkwa and M'aso ne mu,all under New Age Records in 2006.
In 2007,after he had completed his Junior High School(JHS)education,he came out with his second album,Ohia Abaaba,which also had eight hit tracks,such as Maye Hyira and OyeOnyame,among others,with the same producer,Mr.Eric Apreko Gyamfi,CEO of New Age Ventures.
Paa Boateng,the last born of the late Rev.John Jude Mensah and the late Jemima Agyenim Boateng,belives he was anointed by God to do his work.And,this may partly account for why everyone who hears his songs onders how'a young boy'could sing this way'.
After his second album,Paa embarked on a tour in Europe to minister the word of God through music and thus performed with the likes of Christiana Love,Ernest Opoku,Ohemaa Mercy and Kwaku Gyasi.
"i've been silent for the past three years because i was ministering the word of God through music and also,scheduled my time for music according to my calender",he said.
But,he is now out with his third album titled Kokrokoo which seeks to adore how great God is."We must worship and praise God because even cocks are praising him",remarked Paa in an interview with Spectator Agoro,last Thursday.
Some of the songs on the nine-track album are Yie ne adoye and Aseda.He admires musicians like Ohemaa Mercy,Christiana Love,Jane and Bernice,Soul Winners,Oware Junior but do not wish to be exactly like them.
"i like them but don't want to be myself",he told Spectator Agoro.
Although he is a gospel musician, he really enjoys listening to musicians like Echo,Obrafour,Praye,Asem,Richie and Okyeame Kwame.

MISS MALIAKA'10 TAKES OFF

The search for who takes the baton from Miss Gezelle Addai, winner of last year’s Miss Malaika Beauty pageant, kicked off last Friday night at the Royal Richester Hotel in Accra.Sixteen (16) pretty ladies, aged between 18 and 25, were unveiled as the contestants to ‘battle’ for the ultimate this year, which are a brand new KIA car, the opportunity to become the country’s ambassador of Malaika and other souvenirs.One after the other, the glamorous ladies lined up on a dais set up for that purpose, having earlier delivered snippets of riveting catwalks to the admiration of their patrons.This year’s event will be the eighth season of the pageantry since 2002 when it was introduced by CharterHouse, and the contestants will be housed for the next 13 weeks at the Royal Richester Hotel to work their ways out to the crown.Since a high premium is placed on intelligence in determining who becomes the next queen, the contestants throughout the season will undergo drills in varying forms, to determine their eloquence, elegance, intelligence-quotient (IQ) and self-confidence.There will also be cooking sections, alongside grooming sections to improve their public-speaking capabilities.As an early indication of their preparedness for the season, the contestants wowed their audiences when they exhibited their talent in styles during a fashion show with clothes designed by renowned designers in Ghana.Launching the event, Ms. Anitabel Asante, an Event Manager at CharterHouse, explained that the “motive behind this contest is to give young ladies the platform to show their talents and the ideas they have for the country.”

LISTEN TO STORIES OF REMAND CHILDREN

I write with pain in my heart about the issue of children in remand homes.Many people have the perception that every child at the remand home is a bad child,which could be true but i strongly believe there are some there who have sad reasons for ending up there.
some ended there because of the treatment they received at home either through maltreatment or a rape case,among others.
Also,parents send their wards there for them to be reformed because of the way they behave towards their parents.
In 2003,there was a case of a girl who was sent to the remand home by a business women who plies between Ghana and Nigeria.The woman met this poor girl stranded somewhere on her way to book her ticket for the next car.
She questioned the girl and got to know that she was brought up by her step-mother's friend who tired to sell her to someone else,so she ran from the woman's house to the station.she was brought to Ghana and was sent to the remand home.
There are a lot of innocent children at the remand homes whose stories need to be listened to.
I am pleading with Ministry of women and children Affair to come to the aid of these innocent children.

ANCILLA PUPILS SHOW CLASS

Pupils of Ancilla preparatory and Junior high school,at Haatso in Accra,proved to parents how talented they are when they put up a variety of performances last Saturday to climax their school's 10th anniversary celebration.
The school's cadet corp,smartly dressed,performed a military drill that thrilled guest who were present to witness the occasion.
Most of the pupil were involved in various perfomances.
Whilst the class six pupil dished out beautiful renditions in hausa,there was a cultural display by other pupils as well.
Outstanding pupils were given prizes including all teachers who were honoured for their immense contribution to the school.
Some parent including Mrs Georgina Quaittoo,were awarded for their support.
Mr. Peter Mike Bakufan,a parent,sponsored the erection of a human-sized statue of our Blessed virgin Mary.
Mrs Fati Bodua Seidu,of the Netherlands Development Organisation,who was the guest speaker said,many people still hold the view that learning happens only in school.Rather,it is a shared responsibility between teachers and parents.
"Education is the all round development of personality and not just academics",she noted.
Mrs Seidu,called on all stakeholders to contribute their quota to make education meaningful.
The headmistress of the school,Sister Juliana Gyamfi,congratulated the graduands and presented them with certificates.
The Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra,His Grace,Most Reverend Charles Gabriel Palmer Buckle graced the occasion.
The theme for the celebration was "Educating Future Leaders:A shared Responsibility.

GO FOR MOVIETASTIC

“All work and no play make Jack a dull boy,” goes a popular, age-old maxim.One cannot work all day without cutting down stress. There are interesting places to relax and have fun in Ghana. Nevertheless, there is only one name which many people, particularly those with class, trust as their bet to watch movies. It’s obviously the Silverbird Cinema, located inside the sprawling Accra Shopping Mall.Silverbird Entertainment Ghana, a joint venture between Silverbird and Global Media Alliance, can boast of excellent locations in Kenya, with 18 screens at the five other premier shopping centers on the continent.At the Silverbird Cinemas in the country, costumers enjoy nothing less of professional treatment and state-of-the-art facilities fitted to five cinema halls to make watching movies pleasurable.The cinema shows movies on super-giant screens every day from 10:30 am till 12 o’clock midnight. The cinema also have in stock, movies for kids, couples, young and adults, from local to continental blockbusters.There is also the Movietastic Tuesday, where Silverbird collaborates with Zain telecommunications network to reward their loyal customers with tickets to watch movies every Tuesday.Raffles are also held, where lucky winners are randomly awarded souvenirs and other exciting prizes.This is what Carmen Bruce-Annan, the head of Corporate Communications and External Affairs, regards as “unique opportunity to enjoy a relaxing experience with Movietastic, where you also choose the movies you like to watch.“Don’t be left out!”

DRESS TO KILL

Does marriage mean women can't dress neatly and attractively at home and even at work?
I say NO to that perception because as soon as you get married,you have to dress to look sharp and presentable to honour your husband especially.
This should also serve as an example to young ladies or those who are getting into marriage.Many people are at the opinoin that married women should ofen wear traditional slit and kaba,an African print or long dress to cover their bodies,but i protest.
Married Women can wear any attractive but decent dress at anytime especially at home and work.
Some married women just wear dress which are not presentable or even attractive.They leave their hair so unkempt and mistyled at times,friends and relatives try to advice them but they question if they are now searching for husbands.This behaviour drives away men because most men are attracted by what they see.
When married men see young and funshionable ladies,some are easily attracted to them and end up going out or going out or dating them.They tend to neglect their wives and spend so much on these young ladies.
Even when they are supposed to go for a funchion with their wives, they rather prefer these young ladies because their wives can't dress neatly and attractively and no man will love to go to function who will disgrace him with her dressing,because many men loves to be praised.Most married women dont know how to dress appropriately.They have a misconception that since you are married,dressing is not all that needed.
As sooon as married me start to date a fashionable or a lady who dress appropriately,they reduce the amount of house-keeping money meant for their wives and children to the young ladies.
Dressing appropriately means married women should know which dress will be suitable or acceptable for a particular circumstance or occasions.Most married women are fond of putting on cover cloth on their waist and even in the bedroom while they are about to sleep.
Instead of wearing night wears or something suitable for sleeping,they wear attires which are not suitable for bedrooms.
Most people blame and insult men for chasing after young ladies while married without finding reasons why it happens that way.
As we are learning to dress to kill husbands,let's also learn how to treat our husbands well because no man will love to be with a rude,nagging and discouraging woman.
Iam pleading with married married women to dress attractively but decently and also respect their hhusbands at home and even outside to make their husbands proud and maintain them to reduce the rate at which broken homes are occurring in societies.

CHECK CAR BOOTH TOO

I want to alert the Inpector General of Police (IGP)on some of the mistakes the policemen commit.I have observed that most policemen do not check car booths and even the inside of the cars.They only check the licence and other parts of the cars as to whether they are in order or not.I am not protesting against thier inspection but it will be more useful to check car booth especially at night.It has also come to my notice that whenever the policemen stop a car,they use thier torch -light to look inside the car and justask them to drive on.Sometimes,they do not check some people's cars or licence .They just say "oh boss how"and that's all.How will they know if there's any dangerious item or stolen goods in the car?Whenever i see that situation,i just feel like questioning them but there is no way i can try that since they are supposed to know better.I wonder if they can determine a criminal by using their tourch to look at the faces.I have also noticed that the policemen sometimes do not stop flasy cars and i do not know why they do that.How will these policemen know if someone inside needs rescue or whether there is a dead body in the booth of the car?This issue is very dear to my heart because i have witnessed it many times.Since no one is above the law,it will better if the policemen check on Government officials.Iwill be happy if the IGP,does somthing about this issue.

VALUE FOR LIFE C'SSIONS LIBRARY

Value for life,a non-Governmental organisation(NGO),has constructed a library atthe cost of 80,000ghana cedis for students in Madina-Abokobi and Adenta municipalities.
The library is furnished with books on all subjects for primary,junoir and senior high schools.
The CEO of value for life,Ms Dzifa Gomashie,said the library contained books that would impart knowledge and values to shape the outlook of students in the municipalities.
She said the NGO had also organized reading and civic clubs in schools in the municipalities to inculcate the habit of reading in the students.
she,therefore,entreated parents and the general public to support the NGO in that exercise.
"our reading and civic clubs members will also have the opportunity to identify their talents which we will help them nurture through the help of professionals in the various disciplines;she said.
The member of parliament for Adenta constiuency,Mr.Kojo Adu Asare ,thanked the NGO for its contribution to the development of education in the area.
he was optimistic that the library would increase the knowledge base of the students in the area and urged the students to take full advantage of it.
He expressed commitments to develop basic education in the constituency and called on other NGO'S and institutions for support.
Mr.Asare,however,entreated parents to invest in providing quality education for their wards to give the country a brighter future.

ROBBERS OPERATING FROM AWUDOME CEMETERY

i sometimes argue with people who sit back home to criticize policemen until i recently witnessed one case.I always know the Police were suppose to protect us while we also report criminals or even cases beyond our power to them. Recently,a young lady's bag was snatched around Awudome leading to Royal house Chapel.Because the place was a bit dark,robbers hide in the cemetery to snatch people's bag.When the Lady reported the case to two policemen passing by,all they could say was"what were you doing around that place at this time"and even went to an extend of saying "if am given all the big guns in the world,i will never go to that place". Even at the incident,there were two Policemen standing around the Barclays Bank while the victim cried for help but none came to her aid.All the policemen could say was they were not assigned to Patrol over that place.I am appealing to the interior ministry, the Inspector General of Police and the National Security to come to our aid.

WHERE ARE THE MEN?

It about time we voice out problems Single Parents go through.it seems Ghana is so relaxed patterning the issues of Single Parenting. To be a sole provider for your children is never easy at all especially when it comes to a point women feel very cheated and lonely than it generates to insults and sometimes hatred on the children because of what the man did to the woman. One can not tell whom the fault came from but no matter the case,it takes two to make babies so it should also take two to cater for the children unless may be the man is dead but what do we see and hear?Men just neglect the children and even deprive them the fatherly love.all the responsibilities is left on the women alone. At times, women look foradditional source of income in order to cater for the family s needs.they play both the role of mother and father.Due to this,most children go through severe agony which sometime generates hatred for Men and even hatred for their own father. From research made,the benefits,tax credits and all related government rewards are given to the woman since April 2003 in united Kingdom and with this Practice,under no circumstance will a man abandon a child as it easily done in this country. This issue pertaining to Single Parenting always makes me sad because it becoming part of Ghanaian.I therefore plead on Government to take actions or implement a policy pertaining to this issues of Single Parenting since it affect both Women and Children

LETS ENSURE CLEAN ENVIRONMENT

Ghanaian always want the country to be clean without setting good example themselves for others to follow. The Zoomlion Company is doing its best to put the country in a good shape but individuals would still keep the country dirty.Everyone seems to be innocent about the dirt in our community.Talking about dirt in our community comes to mind the pure water waste,the fanice among others which flies on the street,ending up choking the gutters. After drinking water we must give the waste back to the seller or drop it in a waste bin if around or even put it in our bags and drop it at our destination.Because sellers of pure water and these fanice sellers perceive Zoomlion as being responsible for cleaning the street,they just drop their waste on the street after selling.some trotro mates and drivers also park beside the road to clean their cars only to throw the rubbish from their cars onto the street and leave them. I think if Government introduces a recycling machines it will help the communities to be clean and even create jobs for the youth.Waste items such as pure water rubbers or fan milk product waste among others can never rot no matter the years it takes on the land. Thousand of people are losing lives and properties due to floods and i strongly believe if we all come together to keep our communities clean,we will always have no problems during raining seasons or even be free from flood.The question on board is Who litters the street?Is it the Seller,driver or the final Consumer?And who ensures we live in a neat and clean community?