Catholic Women call on government to release feeding grants

Tamale, June 3, GNA- Catholic Women in the Northern Region, have appealed to the government to, as a matter of urgency, release in full, the feeding grant for northern schools to avoid creating an artificial education gap between the north and the south.

Ms Agnes Gandaa, Secretary to the Tamale Ecclesiastical Pastoral Province Conference (TEPPCON) on Women's Commission made the appeal in Tamale at the weekend at a "Poverty and Pornographic" workshop organised by the National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW) in Tamale. The one-day workshop was on the theme: "The effects of Poverty and Pornography on our faith, the role of Catholic Women" sought to brainstorm and gather ideas on how to collectively transform society. Ms Gandaa said the poverty gap between the north and south could never be narrowed if policy implementers did not pay critical attention to education, which was the bedrock of poverty reduction. "It is very painful to us as women that the government and all those concerned about the feeding grant are playing politics about its release".

"Students in the three northern regions are still at home for the past six weeks and are expected to write the same examinations with their counterparts in the south," she said. Ms Gandaa asked all aspiring political leaders to come out boldly and tell the people of the north how they would solve the late release of feeding grants when voted into power, before they can get the people's vote.

The Rev. Monsignor Christopher Bazaanah, Vica General of the Archdiocese of Tamale, who spoke on the theme, said poverty and health problem are major problems confronting the nation. He said government and Christian have to work collectively to ensure that matters of poverty, hunger, disease and ignorance were carefully addressed to enhance the country's development. The Rev. Bazaanah attributed the excruciating poverty in the north to ignorance, illiteracy, superstition, negative cultural practices and frequent conflicts, which needed to be addressed to reverse the trend. He also expressed fears that the Northern Scholarship would one day be faced out by a radical government and advised northerners to take their destiny into their own hands and work for the development of the north.

Rev. Bazaanah expressed his disappointment in northern leaders, who did nothing to ensure that the north became a haven of businesses while chiefs and other traditional leaders were selling land and were not doing enough to end needless conflicts. On pornography, he said the problem had taken an alarming proportion in the country and needed the support of all, including religious leaders and parents to constantly advice the youth on its harmful effects. Some of the women conceded that some Christian Mothers were guilty of indecent dressing and pledged to help ensure that young women in their localities dressed decently.