Ghana Broadcasting Corporation

The National Service Scheme is established in 1973, with the mandate of deploying a pool of skilled manpower drawn primarily from tertiary institutions to support development efforts of both the public and private sectors. It offers opportunities to the youth who were trained at the taxpayer’s expense to give back to society. This is also a way of inculcating the culture of volunteerism and patriotism in the youth. In the last few years, the scheme had deployed an average of 70,000 national service personnel each year to various user agencies, with education being the greatest beneficiary. The Scheme as currently constituted provides newly qualified graduates the opportunity to have practical exposure on the job, both in the public and private sectors, as part of their civic responsibility to the State. It also provides user agencies the opportunity to meet their manpower needs and affords communities that would otherwise have difficulty in accessing mainstream development initiatives,...

The 2017 African Media Barometer report, a handbook which analyses the media landscape on the continent makes interesting observation. The seventy eight paged manual which is an in-depth description of national media environments on the African continent serves as a practical tool to lobby for media reforms. According to the report, even though there was freedom of expression including independent media publications in Ghana which were effectively protected and promoted, there were no laws that allowed the public free access to information from official sources. The report noted that even though the media environment was open, free and vibrant, the sector faced challenges of ethics and professionalism. It observed that the three basic principles of objectivity, cross checking of facts and separating comments from facts were compromised. In his remarks at the launch of the report in Accra, the Acting Resident Director of the Friedrich, Ebert Stiftung, a German foundation, Christopher Fo...

Yet again, the nation has witnessed an encounter with the President in a remarkable meet the press session. This staple of our political system, started by the Kufuor administration continues to enjoy the admiration of both the political class and the citizenry, deepening the country’s democratic credentials in the geopolitical space. There are some who are of the opinion that six months into the presidency is too short for this engagement. One can say without equivocation that, July 18 exercise was needed to understand the broad vision of the president on the direction of the State six months into his administration. This is because quite a lot of things have happened and were talked about within the last six months, some of which were clear to the people and others not so clear that the people needed clarity, and direction from the president. To adapt the good old cliché, six months is quite a long time in politics. The question is how useful was the exercise? In answering this quest...

It may appear that Ghana is not a safe place and it has been unsafe for some time now. There have been repeated episodes of political violence which have made names like Agbogbloshie, Akwatia, Baffoe, Kumbungu, Kulungugu, Lamagushie and others famous. Places like Yendi, Bawku and others remind many of bloodshed rather than the grandeur of chiefs. The recent murder of Major Adam Mahama and others have shaken our assumptions about who we are. To make matters worse, last week, two police officers were shot in broad daylight at Lapaz in Abeka, here in Accra. This should however not surprise us. We are part of Africa. According to former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair's Africa Commission report, since 1980, violence has killed more people in Africa than on any other continent. These conflicts have displaced 13 million people and created 3.5 million refugees. Ghana may have a reputation as a peaceful and stable country, but the sad reality is many Ghanaians are living in fear. Our se...

Recent statistics released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) revealed that about 80% of businesses operating in economies across the globe fall within the category of small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs). Indeed, about 80% of business establishments in Ghana are SMEs. However, access to credit by (SMEs) from lending institutions is a major challenge for such businesses. Some finance experts believe several factors account for the banks’ reluctance to lend to SMEs. For instance, the Bank of Ghana reported non-performing loans of 4.2 billion cedis. This amount increased to 6.2 billion cedis in 2016, representing about 48 percent rise in non-performing loans over the period. The experts noted that the surge in non-performing loans and other extraneous factors account strongly for the banks’ decision to “relax” lending to SMEs. It must be emphasized that the lending decisions of financial institutions depend on a set of principles, including liquidity, safety, divers...

In recent times, miracles and prophetic teachings have been the main feature of Christianity in Ghana. Unfortunately, over reliance on prophesies and prosperity messages have not only plunged many citizens including some self-acclaimed men of God into a state of confusion, but also risk setting the expectations of believers in God to very absurd levels. It was refreshing when at this year's May Day parade in Accra, President Akufo-Addo entreated church leaders to impress upon their members to be hard working and desist from over reliance on miracles for success. It is mind boggling, how all of a sudden, Ghanaian Christians are losing the very good values and principles of Christianity. Many years ago, hard work, humility, cleanliness and respect for the law were the attributes of Christians. But the insatiable quest for quick wealth has led to the erosion of such admirable values. The President was right when he stated that these days, we are in danger of getting things out of bala...

Every year, thousands of young children write the Basic Education Certificate Examination conducted by the West African Examinations Council. As the name suggests, this examination is for both certification and selection to Senior High Schools and Technical Institutions. The obvious question is what is the use of this certificate if it cannot guarantee job opportunities for such children after graduation? It is important to note that even Socrates who was credited as the most influential thinker in the fifth century questioned why things were done the way they were, while never settling for simple and mundane answers. If education is the soul of a nation, and a mind is a terrible thing to waste, then we cannot conspire to ruin the future of our children. Why have we subjected innocent children to writing this examination for the past thirty [30] years with 50% failure every year? Let it not appear that due to lack of facilities, government hides under this examination to deny children ...