College of Art and Built Environment

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    Immovable property tax administration in Kumasi metropolis. Prospects and challenges
    (KNUST, 2015-06) Acquah-Ababio, Ama Serwaa
    ABSTARCT Property tax is a major source of local revenue throughout the world and Ghana is no exception to this phenomenon. In Ghana, it has been proven that for many local governments (MMDAs), property tax forms about 40-50% of the assembly’s revenue base. Regardless of its potentials of being source of a higher revenue generation, property tax administration in Ghana has not seen the desired results. The study takes a look at the prospects and challenges in the property tax administration in the Kumasi Metropolis and among other things to examine the structure of property taxation in Kumasi Metropolis. The research was conducted in the First class residential areas in Kumasi with Ahodwo as the focal point. This is because it is easier to find property owners to interact with than other first class residential neighbourhoods in the Kumasi Metropolis. Findings from the survey among other things revealed that property tax collection is undertaken through out-sourcing and in-housing. Due to excessive cost of carrying out the revaluation, the Assembly rarely undertakes revaluation, and that delay in fixation of the rate impost attributable to the bureaucratic procedures that are involved. The major challenge in the administration of property tax is that, the Local Government Act mandates the MCE as both administrative and Political head. There is therefore the possibility of manipulations by Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE) especially in the area of tax evasion to avoid prosecutions for familiar people. There is the possibility of the MCE interfering in the work of the Rating Division of the assembly. The challenge is in the administration of the rate is the absence of education on projects that have been executed by KMA using revenue from property rate. This discourages taxpayer’s commitment to the payment of the tax Some recommendations were made which includes creating an awareness of projects that have been undertaking as a result of revenue from property rate. The research is limited to property tax administration by Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA)
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    Interventional approach to plaque design in Ghana; Tafo cemetery for a study
    (KNUST, 2016-06) Ansah-Asiedu, Junior
    ABSTRACT Plaques have been used in Ghana for many years. They have been used to commemorate buildings, monuments and the dead. In spite of the numerous purposes they serve and their usage in the country, it is one of the profitable local industries that much attention has not been given to. The advocacy for developing small scale industries to reduce unemployment rate in the country is of paramount importance to every nation, which the local plaque industry is no exception. However, a major setback identified in the local plaque industry, specifically on plaques produced at Tafo cemetery is that, “the text on the base material fades easily” debasing the desired effect of the plaque; imperatively, plaque is supposed to last for a lifetime to be able to serve its intended purposes. Moreover, findings made reveal that no proper research work has been done to study the local plaque industry to explore its avenues to see where it falls short and how it could be improved to support national development and livelihood. The researcher is of the view that developing the local plaque industry in terms of plaque production is another important ground for national development since it is one of the lucrative industries which when looked into will generate avenue for employment for the unemployed graduate artists and also improve the quality of plaque produced by the industry. It is in this light that this research into local plaque industry in Ghana has been done. The researcher adopted the experimental, descriptive and case study research methods based on the qualitative research approach for the study; this was used to analyze and describe the processes, methods employed to execute the project work as well as the experiments conducted in manipulating the selected materials, processes and techniques adopted through data collected towards the production of the sample plaque(s). The purposive sampling was employed to select artist or artisans who must have produced a plaque(s) for academic work/project or artists/artisans who produce plaques for commercial purpose. Simple random sampling was also used to select plaque buyers and scrap dealers. Moreover, the researcher used interview guide and observation as data collection instruments for the study. Findings made are as follows: 1. Aluminium and ceramics can be manipulated creatively to produce plaques 2. Silicone sealant can be used to create permanent text inscription on ceramic base 3. Anodize/painted aluminium can be used to create text that can resist corrosion 4. Metals can be used in their smaller quantities to make them unattractive for stealing
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    An assessment of the nexus between youth livelihoods and urban poverty in slum communities: the case of Aboabo and Ayigya Zongo in Kumasi.
    (KNUST, 2015-09) Essel, Victor
    ABSTRACT Currently, slum dwellers make up about 43 percent of Ghana’s urban population with a huge proportion being youth. With youth migrating to cities to live and work, the face of urbanisation is now a young one. Although existing literature on slum and their impacts on youth have largely focused on the negative effects of the dire economic conditions and inadequate basic services, there are recent empirical evidences in Ghana of positive social, economic and improved wellbeing of youth who find themselves in slums. This multi directional and mixed outcome of urban poverty on youth livelihoods provides a gap for investigation. Drawing on structured and semi-structured questionnaires completed by 388 slum youth in Aboabo and Ayigya Zongo communities located Kumasi (Ghana’s second largest urban city), the study examines whether or not there is a relationship between urban poverty and youth livelihoods in slum communities. The study reveals that, the livelihoods of youth as well as multidimensional poverty characteristics prevalent in these communities could be understood in the light of the Sustainable Livelihood Framework and the subculture of poverty theory (that poverty is transmitted generationally). This is important because of the extensive studies and debate over the extent to which slum youth livelihoods are influenced by the perpetuation of poverty in the slum environment. The study realised that 42.6 percent of respondents employed in the private informal sector were mainly business activities inherited from their parents whiles the highest education level of parents were positively correlated to the educational levels of youth and also influenced how much youth earned monthly. The findings of this study advance existing knowledge by not only linking non-monetary poverty to slum growth in Ghana but by also demonstrates that multiple forms of poverty takes place concurrently in the slum environment. In view of the findings, some recommendations were made. Firstly, the acknowledgement of the slum residents with a ‘right to the city’ is crucial to their participation in the urban economy. Secondly, adjustment in business registration procedures is vital to formalize the informal enterprises of youth in slums. Thirdly, the sustained pursuit of participatory slum upgrading programmes with inputs from all city governance stakeholders and finally collaboration of the Metropolitan and Municipal Assemblies with other relevant institutions to provide basic services such as refuse bins, regular power supply and access routes/roads to slum dwellers.
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    Learning difficulties among primary pupils: (a case study in KNUST primary, Kumasi.)
    (KNUST, 2015-11) Narh, Sylvester Kofi
    ABSTRACT A keen look at ways in identifying and dealing with pupils with learning difficulties so as to give pupils with or without difficulties equal rights and also experiencing the same or similar training has the potency of ensuring the achievement of universal primary education for all children. This research adopted the qualitative research method to study with the focus on the KNUST primary as a case study. The school is located in the Oforikrom sub metro of Ghana. Basically the research sort to help teachers identify pupils with learning difficulties and also how to handle them by using adaptive instructions to meet their needs. The purposive sampling method was adopted for the study. Data gathered revealed that teachers were aware of pupils with learning difficulties but not the specific type of learning difficulties and also teachers were not really equipped to use adaptive instructions to meet their needs. Some children from Knust Primary School exhibited writing, reading and spelling challenges, and at that level pupil should have been able to overcome these challenges but they still had the difficulties. Data collected and analyzed concluded that there was a gap as far as teachers and their learners are concerned and this needs to be checked. Nonetheless most of the pupils after the teacher used the document on how to use adaptive instructions to meet their needs, almost 25 which forms 63% of the sample started responding positively. It is recommended that further research be conducted in other Primary school to verify the findings of this research.
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    Accessibility and Utilization of Family Planning Services in Selected Districts in Central Region of Ghana
    (KNUST, 2015-08) Amankwaa, John
    ABSTRACT Family planning has been considered to contribute immensely to child survival and reduction in maternal mortality, hence targeted as one of the main reproductive health services in achieving the fifth millennium development goal (MDG 5). The 2011 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey report indicates that use of modern contraceptives in Central region has improved from 17.0 percent in 2008 to 29 .1 percent in 2011 and subsequently decline of unmet need for contraceptives from 49.7 percent to 22.6 percent for the same years respectively. In spite of this improvement, there is huge variations in utilization of family planning methods especially between districts in the region, particularly in Upper Denkyira East and Mfantsiman, and the causes of this variations are not clearly known. Hence, the main aim of the study is to assess the level of accessibility and utilization of family planning services in the selected districts and factors influencing them. The study design adopted was descriptive cross –sectional, using both quantitative and qualitative approach for data collection. The sample size was 373 women of reproductive age 15 – 49 years. Again, 66 husbands/male partners were also interviewed to solicit for their views about the subject matter. Eight health institutions as well as 22 religious establishments were also interviewed. The study revealed high knowledge level of modern contraceptives among women of reproductive age (93 percent) and men (88 percent) in general. There is little (0.3 percent) difference in contraceptives use between the Upper Denkyira East (25.9 percent) and Mfantsiman (25.6 percent) district. Poor data management in facilities in Upper Denkyira East was accounting for the huge variations. Factors such as proximity to facility or clinic (12.5 percent), privacy and confidentiality at clinic (19.5 percent), wanting to delay pregnancy (49.2 percent) among others motivate use of contraceptives whiles factors such as desire for many children (14.8 percent) , health concerns (9.7 percent) and fear of side effects (7.6 percent) accounted for non-use. Again, social issues such as stigma of use (3.5 percent), husbands/partners opposition (4 percent) and religious prohibition (1.6 percent) among others hinder the use of contraceptives among women. There is good physical accessibility with respect to location of clinic providing family planning services in all study districts. Again financial accessibility to family planning services is good despite unapproved charges for family planning services by health facilities in the study districts. Social accessibility regarding service providers’ attitude, privacy and confidentiality is also good in FP facilities, however social factors such as stigmatization, husband/partner opposition, religious opposition among others hinder access and utilization of contraceptives. To improve on family planning services in the study districts, there is the need for family planning (FP) data collection tools’ training for all FP service providers in the facilities in order to improve on FP data quality. Also, family planning awareness or education should be intensified particularly with respect to health concerns, side effects as well as prices of contraceptives or FP services.