Ghana Broadcasting Corporation

In a comprehensive sense, meaningful security in a country implies the assurance that any person or a group of people, including foreigners, found in any part of a country can have a peace of mind that they deserve to co-exist with one another and contribute their quota to the country’s socio-economic development. In this connection, it is essential for all residents in the country to view security matters within the context of the level of care a nation gives to them rather than over-blowing any one-off or a few incidents out of proportion to exaggerate the reality of the situation. When the report about the three, now four, missing girls in Takoradi came out, painful as it was and it is now, it was politicised to create the impression that the security apparatus in the country was not working as expected. However, this cannot be said to be the case in view of the fact that the security agencies carry out effective operations in different parts of the country to ensure the safety o

August 31st is exactly 84 years the fabulous club, Kumasi Asante Kotoko was founded. The formation of the club was engineered by one Kwasi Kumah, an Ashanti from Nyankyerenease near Kwadaso, a suburb of Kumasi. He was the chauffeur of an English soldier Colonel Ross in the colonial days. Soccer historians give Kwasi Kumah credit for having returned from Accra to begin Ashanti United in 1924, which was later renamed Kumasi Titanics. The team was to an extent handicapped because most of the players worked in government institutions and were transferred from Kumasi to other areas. In 1934 Titanics had a new name, Mighty Atoms. Still the club did not see much progress and in 1935, J.S.K. Frimpong, then a teacher of the Kumasi Government School organized some boys from his school and proposed a name change from Titanics to Kumasi Asante Kotoko Football Club. Permission was then sought from the Asantehene because the name “Kotoko”, meaning “Porcupine” is the official symbol of the Ashanti K

According to the World Health Organization, through the Environmental Protection Agency’s report on Global Environment Day, close to three thousand people died in 2015 within three Metropolises in Greater Accra, as a result of air pollution. This situation should be of much concern to every individual, the regulatory agencies and government in particular. Air pollution is basically the process by which the healthy air we breathe is contaminated through human activities. These include, emissions from vehicles and heavy duty machinery, welding activities, fumes from burning of plastic materials, dust from saw mills, quarries and construction sites, smoke from industries, residue from substances such as paints, cigarettes, narcotics, odors from poorly designed air vents from septic tanks, liquid waste discharged from drains, factory wastes, open defecation, leaked liquefied gases from homes and fuel stations, bush burning among others. These hazardous environmental practices, according t

The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, GBC, the nation’s state broadcaster, is 84 years old and as per its tradition a lecture has been organised to commemorate the milestone. It was a real diagnosis of the institution, by way of its relevance, prospects, leadership, and challenges. A renowned Communications professional, one-time Director General and Board Chairman of the GBC, Professor Kwame Karikari made fascinating revelations and recommendations as to the way forward for the state broadcaster. The topic under discussion “The State of the State Broadcaster” was key because this is the exact time for the GBC to tread in a well-defined route of effective public broadcasting to the nation as per its primary objective. GBC had over the years enjoyed absolute monopoly on the airwaves until the early 1990s when it was faced with severe competition. Competition we say is very good. It provides avenues for quality and excellent production and provision of highly qualitative content for t

Democracy requires that issues of national interest are freely discussed by people so as to create understanding, harmony and socio-economic development. This implies that people must feel free to contribute to issues of national importance and generate consensus for the good of the country. Democracy and freedom do not imply unnecessary attacks on others as well as insults that could lead to confusion and fighting in society. When utterances are negative, they result in disillusionment, dissatisfaction and needless fighting among members of society. On the other hand, positive utterances encourage various sections of society to live in peace and social harmony. Ghana is a beautiful country that must be valued by all its nationals so that this can lead to rapid socio-economic and political development. When people keep away from rancor and bitterness, and concentrate on matters that lead to peace and social harmony, the result will be an increase in investor confidence. It is in

“How are the mighty falling in the midst of battle” is a popular bible quotation which can aptly describe the situation that befell about nine members of Parliament of the NDC in last Saturday’s primaries held in 157 constituencies in sixteen regions. The likes of Ras Mubarak, MP for Kumbungu, Joseph Yieleh Chiereh, former Health Minister and MP for Wa West, Daniel Ashiamah MP for Buem, Matthias Ntow, Aowin in the Western Region and Nii Okai Laryea, Mp for Amasaman among others unfortunately lost seats and would eventually bid Parliament farewell in 2020. Fortunately for the NDC majority of its sitting MPs who contested the primaries were retained by their constituents.  It will be in the interest of the party if the remaining of the 70 who will be contesting in the next round of primaries will pass the test. This is because experience counts a lot in the law-making House. It is against this background that we commend MPs like Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, John Jinapor, Alhassan Sahiyini

There is a saying that, “if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?” This can be paraphrased to mean if the criminals are killing the security personnel, what will happen when they mean to kill civilians? Yes, it is a very important question to look at as the odds are severely against the citizens of this country in respect of safety and security. With the rising number of killings of police personnel in this country recently, it appears that the safety and security of the citizenry appear very gloomy but the security experts say it is not that bad. What makes the situation bothersome is the fact that, the very security personnel who are supposed to provide security to the citizens are themselves not secured. In Akan, there is a fascinating adage which literally means, when a naked person promises you clothing, listen to his name. The killings of the police, these days are becoming one too many and such situation creates the impression that th

The African continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA) is aimed at promoting intra-African trade so that member countries will be able to maximize their returns in trade relations among their members. It is in the light of this positive development that entrepreneurs in the country need to seize the opportunity offered by the Free Trade Area to expand their business to meet global standards. In so doing, all entrepreneurs will have to keep to applicable standards and make the issue of quality an essential part of their operations. The purpose of the Free Trade Area Agreement is to create a single continental market for goods and services which will lead to Continental Customs Union. It is also to expand intra-African trade through better harmonization and coordination of trade liberalization and facilitation regimes. Again, it aims to address the challenges of multiple forms of membership and expedite regional and continental processes. Furthermore, the Agreement seeks to enhance

The Bank of Ghana on 16th August 2019 revoked the licenses of 23 insolvent savings and loans companies and finance house companies in line with Section 123(1) of the Bank and Specialised Deposit Taking Institution Act, 2016 (Act 930), and section 7 of the Non-Bank Financial Institution Act, 2008 (Act 774). Section 123(1) of the bank and specialised deposit taking institution Act, 2016 (Act 930) requires the Bank of Ghana to revoke the license of a Bank or Specialised Deposit Taking Institution where the Bank of Ghana determines that the institution is insolvent. The Bank of Ghana contended that those institutions have no reasonable prospects of recovery and their continued existence poses severe risk to the stability of the financial system and to the interests of their depositors. That action by the Bank of Ghana is in line with the clean-up exercise that the bank under the current leadership commenced two years ago. It began with clean-up of universal banks, continued with the cle

Tuesday, 20th August 2019 should resonate in the minds of all though it has been remembered or celebrated on a very low key despite the huge knowledge it brought to bear on a very tiny insect called mosquito which has been a thorn in the flesh of humans. World Mosquito Day was instituted by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Diseases when the link between mosquito and malaria transmission was discovered by a British doctor, Sir Ronald Ross in 1897. The day is celebrated to raise awareness on the causes of Malaria and how they can be prevented as well as raise funds for research into the cure of the disease. Again, the day offers the opportunity to celebrate the achievement of scientists and researchers globally in their bid at controlling the disease. It might interest you to know that there are more than 3,500 species of mosquitoes, with some of the dangerous mosquito borne diseases being Yellow fever, Dengue fever, Zika infection malaria. Malaria is an infectious disease ca

There is no doubt that the leadership style in Africa needs to be propelled to higher levels where excellence would become the hallmark of performance in order to bring in the desired good governance, progress and economic development. This is due to the abundance of natural resources available on the continent. To be able to achieve economic recovery, a set of certain fundamentals will have to be put in place. One of them is getting sound programs in place for rapid economic growth. In Ghana, President Nana Akufo-Addo has been able to put in place projects like one-village, one-dam, one-district, one-factory and others like planting/rearing for food and jobs. All these will take some time before results can be seen or experienced. What is important now is that Ghana is on the right path of economic recovery. President Nana Akufo- Addo came into office when things were not the best economically. The free SHS, for example, has helped enrollment at the second cycle level to increase f

Education is an important tool by which society can be transformed from poverty to economic prosperity. It is education that makes it possible for the human resource base to be equipped with the right skills and knowledge to be used for the rapid transformation of a country’s socio-economic development. The success of operators in various sectors of the economy greatly depends on education. For example, a well-educated society is able to turn out skillful people to operate successfully in sectors such as manufacturing, trade, telecommunication, health, building and construction industry, among others. It shows that education is what provides the antidote to various sectors of the economy, thereby, speeding up the process of economic development. It is in the light if this, that the free SHS introduced by President Akufo Addo is commendable, seeing that it has increased access to education at the second cycle level. However, good the free SHS system is, we need to ensure that all chi

In view of the importance of the youth in World affairs, the United Nations has found it necessary to institute a youth day on August 12, every year. This is meant to highlight the important role that can be played by the youth when guided to pursue relevant agenda in the world. Today, the world can boost of about 1.8 billion young people who are aged between ten (10) and Twenty-four (24) years. This constitutes the largest segment of population in the world. Looking at the size-able number of the youth in the world, there is the need for every country to pursue programs aimed at giving hope to the youth and directing them to do the right things so that at the end of it all the world as a whole will benefit from their potential abilities. The theme for the celebration on Monday, August 12 was, “Transforming education.” This places a heavy burden on all countries to use more resources not only in education for the youth, but transforming the educational system to make young peo

Literally, Hajj is an Arabic word which means, “a specific and spiritual journey to the Holy City of Makkah for the performance of the Pilgrimage which is an act of worship”. So, whosoever intends to perform the Hajj has to be in a state of preparedness to execute it. A Pilgrim performing the Hajj has to avoid sexual intercourse with his wife, and eschew sins. Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam as reported by an Apostle called Ibn Umar who said Islam was built on five pillars, first testifying that there is no god but Allah, and that Prophet Muhammed is his messenger, secondly establishing regular prayers and paying Zakat which is two and half percent of ones wealth to be given to the poor. Next is fasting in the Holy Month of Ramadan and finally the journey to Makkah. The word EID-UL-ADHA meaning, “Feast of the sacrifice, also called the Sacrifice feast,” is the second Muslim holiday celebrated worldwide each year, and considered the holier of the two. It honors the willingness of P

The United Nation estimates that there are 370 million indigenous people in the world, living across 90 countries and they constitute 15 percent of the world’s poorest. They speak 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures. Indigenous populations according to the WHO are communities that live within, or are attached to, geographically distinct traditional habitats or ancestral territories, and who identify themselves as being part of a distinct cultural group, descended from groups present in the area before modern states were created and current borders defined. They retain their social, cultural, economic and political characteristics that are distinct from those of the dominant societies in which they live. Despite their cultural differences, indigenous people from around the world share common problems with regards to their rights. They have sought recognition of their identities and right to traditional lands and natural resources for years. Yet throughout history,

The Institute of Economic Affairs, IEA, seems to have stirred the hornets’ nest with its call on government to re-examine the Free SHS policy to determine how to reduce government’s expenditure.  According to the Institute, government could use means testing scheme to get financially capable parents to pay for their wards instead of covering the fees to their wards in the Senior High School. The Economic Think Tank believes government should agree on a cost sharing arrangement with parents whereby government pays for say academic fees and charges, books and boarding while parents pay for feeding and uniforms. This suggestion in fact is not new as it has been said several times by a number of people including the Finance Minister, Ken Ofori Atta and Kwame Addo Kufuor. Free SHS is a major campaign promise of the NPP and a flagship programme aimed at ensuring Senior High School education for all eligible students. Under the policy, government would remove cost barriers, expand infrastr

Article 25 of the 1992 Constitution of Ghana states that quote ”Secondary education in its different forms including technical and vocational education, shall be made generally available and accessible to all by every appropriate means, and in particular, by the progressive introduction of free education. ‘Unquote. This constitutional provision has witnessed efforts by successive governments to progressively fulfill the mandate. These efforts seem to be triggered further by Goal 4, Target one of the Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs which states that; by 2030, all boys and girls should complete free equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes”. Based on the above and anchored on Removal of cost barriers, Expansion of infrastructure, Improvement in Quality and Equity, and Development of Employable Skills, Ghana’s current policy of free SHS was introduced in 2017. This policy as stated by government means that the provisi