Ghana Broadcasting Corporation

It is worrying that after Ghana made strides in reducing HIV and AIDS, the trend has suddenly changed and new infections are being recorded especially among young people. The question is what went wrong? Is it because there was complacency on the part of the Ghana AIDS Commission, the body mandated to handle coordination, policy formulation, resource mobilization and management of HIV and AIDS response that people were okay with the messages and would stick to them and change their behavior? Or there was not enough funding for continuous sensitization. Indeed it is really not good to forget at any point in time in one’s life to keep healthy and be out of danger. HIV is not contracted in a vacuum but through an activity. These are unprotected sex, blood to blood contact and exposure to HIV before, during birth or through breastfeeding. It is on record that every minute 10 people become infected with HIV globally. UNAIDS report 2016 estimates that more than 36 million people are living w...

Passport is the universally recognized document needed by all wishing to travel to and from nations especially using the sea and airports. The acquisition of this document in Ghana since independence has been cumbersome. Unfortunately succeeding governments were unable to deal with the challenges adequately. The reason for this is well known. Despite the rapid increase in Ghana’s population from six million at independence to 29 million today, we have only one passport processing office in Accra to serve all the huge number of passport applicants daily. No wonder, all those who want to acquire the document from all corners of the country from north, south, east and west had to travel to Accra. A visit to the National Passport Offices in Accra reveals long queues of people young and old, women, children and the physically challenged attempting to acquire passports. The intervention of past and present governments to make passport acquisition easy through online application and processin...

Despite persistent calls from environmentalists and other interest groups, Government is unable to ban the use of plastics in Ghana due to the absence of a policy. However, according to the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation Professor Frimpong Boateng there are consultations to develop such a policy. Plastic waste contributes the bulk of filth engulfing the nation. Ghana has a history of half a century of plastic manufacturing, with companies currently producing over 30,000 metric tons of plastic products, complemented by thousands of plastic products imported into the country. Against the prediction that by 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish, the United Nations has dedicated its Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 14) Ocean Conference to fighting the plastics menace. It is a known fact that nations that have banned the use and production of plastics or have imposed taxes on companies producing or using plastics have seen significant drops in...

The advancement and use of technology in the modern world has helped to address the numerous challenges and rising demands facing mankind in society. Technology has solved many problems and made life easy on a number of issues in various sectors across globe, leading to high productivity, rapid economic growth and development. The use of automated teller machines by banks, for example, has facilitated and speeded up the rendering of improved customer service in respect of withdrawals and deposits in the banking halls. It is in the same vein that the mobile money interoperability launched by the Vice President last week is seen as an appropriate technology-oriented move to see to the transfer of money across networks of telecoms, banking institutions and business entities to promote business and economic growth. The economy of Ghana is made up of formal and informal sectors. While cash flow in the formal sector is made available to and controlled by banks, this is not the case with the ...

Without a doubt Ghana's movie industry has come a long way and has improved tremendously. As far back as the days of Osofo Dadzie, Keteke, Obra, Adabraka Drama troupe to Kwaw Ansah's movies such as Harvest at 17 and Concert Party one can easily say that the movie industry has made progress although there is more room for improvement. Nevertheless, the craze by Ghanaians for foreign movies and soap operas especially those from Mexico and India is fast eroding the gains made in the industry. It is common to see people especially women passionately watching these movies. Even at work, some workers watch these movies damning the consequences. Others may leave the office and go home early just to watch these telenovelas. It is unfortunate that TV stations that are supposed to promote made in Ghana movies for Ghanaians to be interested in, are rather telecasting these telenovelas. They have also doubled the nuances in these foreign movies, by translating them into the Akan language f...

All is well that ends well. Colin Powell once said "there are no secrets to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work and learning from failures. “This is exactly what Ghana has experienced in hosting the 25th edition of World Press Freedom Day attended by about 700 Journalists, media practitioners, editors and media owners all over the world. That three day event was declared by UNESCO, the organisers as very successful. This is no exaggeration. It provided the platform to inform the global community of fundamental issues of press freedom and highlighted critical matters such as threats and violence against Journalist. The forum also reminded governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom and professional ethics. There is no gain saying the fact that Journalists the world over are often exposed to violence, threats and self-censorships. These include psychological violence, humiliation, intimidation, limitation, slandering and smear campaigns. It i...

One great challenge facing the world today is unemployment, particularly among the youth. According to the United Nations, most comprehensive global campaign, Decent Jobs for Youth Initiative, Africa’s unemployment statistics for the youth stands at about 12 million. In Europe and Central Asia also, about eight million youth are also unemployed. In Ghana, not less than one hundred thousand graduates come out of tertiary institutions every year for jobs, a crucial challenge that faces us as a nation. If unemployment, as a threat to national security, has been with us for years then we need to sit up as a people and be positively committed to addressing the issue, seeing that it has worsened in the recent past. Communal violence, needless social tension and insecurity, dishonest lifestyles and armed robbery, among others, are all symptoms of the dreadful challenge of unemployment. The country needs to put itself in a strategic position for short and long-term approaches aimed at addressi...

President Akufo Addo on May 1 launched the National Builders Corps, NABCOP, an initiative by government to create one hundred thousand graduate jobs. The initiative is expected to reduce significantly the number of unemployed youth who hold diploma and degrees from accredited tertiary institutions across the country. NABCOP is a major policy intervention introduced by the Akufo-Addo administration to tackle unemployment after the introduction of the National Youth Employment Program by former President Kufuor which was later changed to GYEEDA, and YEA under former President Mahama. It will be in seven (7) prioritised areas defined as these modules: Educate Ghana: Heal Ghana, Feed Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Digitised Ghana, Enterprise Ghana; and Civic Ghana. Graduates must also have completed one year mandatory National Service. By the time NABCO trainees exit the scheme, which is for a 3-year period, “the requisite work readiness skills and experience, often deemed a barrier to their employ...

President Akufo Addo on May 1 launched the National Builders Corps, NABCOP, an initiative by government to create one hundred thousand graduate jobs. The initiative is expected to reduce significantly the number of unemployed youth who hold diploma and degrees from accredited tertiary institutions across the country. NABCOP is a major policy intervention introduced by the Akufo-Addo administration to tackle unemployment after the introduction of the National Youth Employment Program by former President Kufuor which was later changed to GYEEDA, and YEA under former President Mahama. It will be in seven (7) prioritised areas defined as these modules: Educate Ghana: Heal Ghana, Feed Ghana, Revenue Ghana, Digitised Ghana, Enterprise Ghana; and Civic Ghana. Graduates must also have completed one year mandatory National Service. By the time NABCO trainees exit the scheme, which is for a 3-year period, “the requisite work readiness skills and experience, often deemed a barrier to their employ...

On Wednesday May 3, Ghanaian Journalists will have the privilege to host their counterparts around the world in Accra to the UN General Assembly's proclaimed World Press Freedom Day. The day provides an opportunity for journalists globally to celebrate the fundamental principles of press freedom; assess the state of press freedom throughout the world; defend the media from attacks on their independence; and above all pay tribute to journalists who have lost their lives in the line of duty. The question that comes to mind is why Ghana? What makes Ghana stand out in this time and space of Press Freedom and Freedom of Speech? Some Journalists in Ghana have criticised heavily the failure of recent and the past governments to pass the Right To Information Bill, RTI into Law. Many believe that the RTI Bill if passed will give true meaning to Ghana's 1992 Constitution, Chapter 12 Article 162 and 163 which guarantees freedom and independence of the media. Why then was Ghana chosen to h...

Leaders of the 53 member countries of the commonwealth together with their foreign, business, investment and trade ministers, among others met from 16th to 20th April in London for the 2018 edition of Heads of government summit. Nearly 80 forums christened, business, youth, women and the peoples forums were held to explore topics like the global economic outlook the position of the commonwealth, security, restoring public confidence in businesses, trade without frontiers, reimaging migration, legislative reforms in the commonwealth, a look at the environment among other global matters. At the end, a number of proposals and measures were put on the table for action. Paramount among these were the urgent need to find means to development and sustain the oceans, intra-Commonwealth trade, sharing of ideas and supporting each other especially the 31 smaller countries within the organisation. The Heads of government concluded that member states must galvanize intra-commonwealth trading activ...

The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary league of sovereign and independent countries that were once governed by the British. It was formed under ratification in the year 1949, with eight countries by the then King of England, King George IV. Over the years, it has grown as an international organisation in wealth and in numbers. Today, it has a numerical strength of 53 nations including both advanced economies and developing countries from the Pacific, Africa, Caribbean, Asia and North Americas. The theme for the 2018 summit “towards a common future” raises a lot of interesting issues even about the name of the organisation - the common in the wealth. This literally suggests that member states have a wealth, which is common to all. In her first interaction with the accredited media personnel at the summit, the Secretary General, Patricia Scotland was of the view that there are several common themes among member nations, which need very urgent attention. These she said include, the c...

The Commonwealth of Nations is a voluntary league of sovereign and independent countries that were once governed by the British. It was formed under ratification in the year 1949, with eight countries by the then King of England, King George IV. Over the years, it has grown as an international organisation in wealth and in numbers. Today, it has a numerical strength of 53 nations including both advanced economies and developing countries from the Pacific, Africa, Caribbean, Asia and North Americas. The theme for the 2018 summit “towards a common future” raises a lot of interesting issues even about the name of the organisation - the common in the wealth. This literally suggests that member states have a wealth, which is common to all. In her first interaction with the accredited media personnel at the summit, the Secretary General, Patricia Scotland was of the view that there are several common themes among member nations, which need very urgent attention. These she said include, the c...

Parliament is again in the news for the wrong reasons, this time around allegations of some appointees of the previous government taking double salaries. The August House is yet to dust off the fall out of similar allegations of bribery at the appointments committee. Although a Committee set up by the Speaker of Parliament has cleared the House of any wrongdoing, that perception is still lingering in the minds of many Ghanaians. These fresh allegations defeat the very purpose on which our democratic system is built. There are different systems of democracy being practiced all over the world. The most notable one worthy of mention is the Parliamentary and Presidential systems of governance being practiced by the UK and USA respectively. Under the Parliamentary system, the Prime Minister who is the Head of government is elected from parliament. But under the Presidential system, the President who is the Head of State is elected by the citizenry through a popular vote. He then appoints hi...