Ghana Broadcasting Corporation

Agriculture is said to be the main foundation on which the socio-economic development of the country hinges. It provides food for Ghanaians and also offers job opportunities for majority both at the formal and informal sectors of the economy. The sector engages both academics and non-academics in its management to ensure that the nation is secured in food production for domestic use and for export. Regrettably, the country over the years in spite of the favourable agriculture environment continues to suffer and register unappreciable growth to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP. One is quick to refer to General Kuntu Acheampong’s popular Operation Feed Yourself that saw the nation triumph in food production, producing enough to feed the population and for export. It is worrying that the same cannot be said now with improved technology. Agriculture, about 40 years ago, despite the constraint on land acquisition, lack of technology, unfavourable weather pattern, high interest rate ...

Development interventions have been part of nation building since time immemorial. Governments have over the years committed significant resources to a wide range of development interventions designed to improve the well-being of the citizenry. It is important to mention that a Government’s development intervention programme can be said to be successful if it is progressive in relation to its development targets to ultimately benefit the people. Some development policy analysts have said that the major challenge that has historically faced the development of this country is not the ability to formulate good and credible development interventions but rather the capacity to monitor their implementation to ensure optimum utilization of the Nation’s resources for fruitful results. The New Patriotic Party won the mandate of Ghanaians to govern on the back of some interventions outlined in their manifestos. Since last week some Ministers of State designate have gone through the vetting proce...

Year in, year out, Ghana faces cholera outbreak which claims innocent lives. According to reliable statistics, in 2014 a severe cholera attack killed 250 people and infected as many as 25,000 people between January and December. Figures from the Ghana Health Service indicate that the situation was severe in the Capital city of Accra which recorded more than 18,000 cases and 114 deaths. The causes of cholera and these preventable deaths can be attributed to poor sanitation or insanitary condition in our communities. This year, it is predicted that there would be early but heavy rains. Rain is a blessing particularly to our farmers. But again the same rain may be a curse to those of us living in low lying areas, with choked gutters. The situation is worsened with the reckless waste disposal practices among others. Governments over the years rolled out various sanitation policies starting from the first President Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah up to the immediate past President John Mahama’s r...

Health is wealth. This is one statement that is often repeated when there is the need to stress why it is important to maintain the highest standard of well-being. For some people, this statement is often taken for granted not by openly saying health is not important but due to the action taken in relation to what should be done to maintain perfect health status. It will be recalled that in the latter part of the last millennium, there was a slogan – HEALTH FOR ALL BY THE YEAR 2000. Unfortunately, the year 2000 came too soon and that goal was not realised. It must be stated that the mere fact that that declaration was made showed the need to radically move from the status quo. To a large extent, it gave the global community some sense of urgency to improve the deteriorating health status of the population of many developing countries. Ghana had had what was called the Danfa project to address this concern. Essentially, the medical model of health has informed many decisions in the heal...

Recent happenings in The Gambia are intriguing. Blotted by the 1994 coup by the beleaguered President Yahya Jammeh, the country had enjoyed relative peace. It is not clear whether the tranquil in the Gambia was as result of authoritarian rule but it had been very impressive until the recent political stalemate. The Gambia is threatened to go the way of some countries where similar situations had sparked civil wars and social disorganization. The world, including the diehard cynics, applauded President Yahya Jammeh for his swift response, initially conceding defeat to Adama Barrow in the last December Presidential election. As all waited with baited breathe to see a smooth transition, President Jammeh made a U-turn and refused to abide by the election results, alleging fraud. Following the sharp twist in events, the Gambia has been in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Issues like Jammeh being the only surviving coup-maker still in power, his tainted human-rights record and his id...

A new dawn has broken. The celebrations are over. It is time for real business. And President Akufo-Addo is off the blocks with the naming of his Cabinet to govern the country for the next four years. As the new administration seeks to fulfill its mandate to Ghanaians, the media must also stand in readiness to fulfill their watchdog mandate to the citizenry. So, this is the time to get the cameras rolling, microphones set, and printers in motion to monitor the government every step of the way. The 1992 Constitution of Ghana, specifically Article 162(5), mandates the mass media to uphold the responsibility and accountability of the government to the people of Ghana. This is an absolute constitutional mandate the media must never abdicate. As a former Chief Justice, F. K. Apaloo, said in a Keynote Address at the Annual New Year School in 1999, there is, indeed, no modern institution that is more potent in keeping the government in check and exposing its wrongdoing and other acts of misgo...

It said that those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat the mistakes of the past. The December 2016 election has come and gone, with the successful inauguration of Nana Akufo-Addo as the Fifth President of the Fourth Republic. While this success story has received the commendation of the international community, the activities of some people going round seizing State facilities and even brutalising political opponent is denting Ghana's enviable democratic credentials. In spite of the fact that this lawlessness by party activists occurred in the past and was condemned, its recurrence anytime there is a change in political power democratically requires collective national effort to nip it in the bud. Allowing people to assume they have the power to storm State-owned institutions like the Tema Port and the Passport Office suggest lawlessness to the highest degree. The danger in this phenomenon is the apparent helplessness of the Police Service who are mandated to ensure l...