Government Urged To Support Efforts To Empower The Boy ChildTema ECG embarks on meter replacement exercise

The National and County governments have been urged to complement efforts by non-governmental organizations to uplift the welfare of men and boys. According to Pastor Alice Theuri, the founder of Orphan Reach Network, a non-governmental organization that supports orphans and rehabilitates street children in Nyeri County, the many years of affirmative action in favor of girls has resulted in unbalanced youth with girls benefiting but boys being left behind. While acknowledging the critical role that men play in society, Pastor Theuri is now calling on both levels of government to collectively work to bridge this societal imbalance by supporting causes that ensure that both boys and girls are accorded equal opportunities. 'We want to call upon the National and County governments to assist in the empowerment of the boy child. We should love the boy child because it is our responsibility as a county to come out and support these children,' she said. She was speaking during the launch of a boys' empowerment f orum in Nyeri town on Saturday where eight teenage boys from needy backgrounds were selected to join the programme. The beneficiaries will receive counseling and life skills mentorship sessions during school holidays. They were also issued with school fees cheques to cater for the 2024 term one school fees with the organization pledging to further support them by catering for their first term shopping money. 'We want to walk with the boy child and if we can, we want to pull even one boy to change the life of our community,' she said. One of the beneficiaries, David Ndung'u could not hide his joy after joining the programme. Ndung'u, who is an orphan, told KNA that through the program he was now assured of finding a mentor in addition to getting financial support to help him complete his secondary school education. 'I am very grateful because my family was not in a position to support me to complete my education. I am also happy because I have found a new family and when I become successful I will join the organization and give back to society,' he said. Source: Kenya News Agency The Tema Regional Office of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG), has started a mass meter replacement project to provide customers with upgraded prepaid meters. Ms Sakyiwaa Mensah, the Tema Regional Public Relations Officer of the ECG, told the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Tema that the new meters function remotely without an intermediary.? Ms Mensah said the exercise sought to replace all prepaid meters that use cards, which required the credit to be loaded onto the cards for the cards to be shown and swiped in the meter before they would be loaded for use.? She stated that the new meters, known as smart prepaid meters, work in such a way that once customers buy the credit, it will be loaded directly into the meter as they do not use any such cards. She said the exercise would cover customers using older versions of prepaid meters within the Tema Metropolis, Prampram, Afienya, Nungua, and Ashaiman areas. The PRO said these replacements do not cost the customer, even if they would include re- routing.? Nii Kwei Codjoe, the Marketing Officer for ECG Tema Region, encouraged customers to be on the alert in order not to succumb to any possible fraud issues, as unscrupulous people often call unsuspecting customers whenever such projects are being worked on to dupe them. He reminded customers that ECG does not accept payments on the field, adding that the organisation had gone cashless and that all transactions must be made digitally to the organisation and not physically.? On the need to change from one prepaid meter to another, he said that as technology kept growing and changing, the company was also positioning itself to change with the times. He added that the smart prepaid meters being deployed would also bring more convenience to customers, as instances of missing cards and the need to replace them would be a thing of the past.? He asked the public to be receptive to ECG field workers, question them if in doubt, and demand to see their ID cards where needed. Source: Ghana News Agency