Public Agenda articles from April 2010

Public Agenda archives from April 2010

World Bank Should Be Consistent On Nation's Fortunes.
April 30, 2010... The role of the World Bank in the affairs of developing countries has been the subject of countless forums. Some of the reforms within the Bank have emanated from years of positive criticisms of the activities of the Bank; and it is certain that...

Higher Education in Africa Time to Pull Out the Stops.
April 30, 2010... Byline: Christopher Thomas At a candid discussion with African ministers of education and a range of education experts from the public and private sectors, one thing was very clear that higher education was recognized by everyone in the room...

Govt Reduces Mining Royalty Rate.
April 30, 2010... Byline: Steve Manteaw The Atta Mills government has back down on its earlier proposal to vary the mineral royalty rate payable by mining companies in Ghana, from a range of 3% to 6% to a fixed rate of 6% , Public Agenda can confirm. The...

Give 10 Percent of Oil Money to Education - GNECC Advocates.
April 30, 2010... Byline: Akwasi Fredua Mr. Nicholaus Akyire of the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) has said government's commitment to education is still inadequate. Consequently, he has urged the Government of Ghana to commit 10% of...

Govt's Financial Commitment to Child Trafficking Too Low.
April 30, 2010... Byline: Akwasi Fredua The 2009 National Database on Human Trafficking in Ghana report has revealed that government's support to combating human trafficking in the country constitutes only 0.7% of the total capital generated for the operation....

Nkrumah's Pictures are Resource for Nation's Accurate History.
April 30, 2010... Byline: Gifty Mensah It has been submitted that the pictures of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, the first Prime Minister of Ghana, would serve as an invaluable resource for the chronicling the accurate and objective history of Ghana. Prof Emeritus...

Disparity, Inequality Between Rich and Poor Have Widened Among Locals.
April 30, 2010... Byline: Irene J. Mensah Dr. Yao Graham, the Co-ordinator, Third World Network-Africa, has debunked claims by the World Bank Country Director, Mr. Ishac Diwan that Ghana is an amazing success relative to poverty reduction. While agreeing that...

Planting the Seeds of Africa's Growth.
April 30, 2010... Byline: William A. Masters After decades of bad news, at least three major trends are turning Africa's way: agricultural policies, rural demography, and farm productivity all promise improved opportunities for farm families across the...

One -Third of Accra Residents Live in Slums.
April 30, 2010... Byline: Cindy Dilys Asamoah The Sub Metro Director of Okaikoi South, Mr. Nathaniel Adzotor, has disclosed that, about one-third of residents in Accra live in slums and as a result do not enjoy adequate social services. Mr. Adzotor...

Disability Unfriendliness Costs Miklin Hotel.
April 30, 2010... Byline: Frederick Asiamah Section 60 of the Persons With Disability Act, 2006 (Act 715) provides that "The owner or occupier of an existing building to which the public has access shall within ten years of the commencement of this Act make...

Reduce the Cost of Banking to Encourage Savings.
April 26, 2010... The role of domestic savings in national resource mobilization for the purpose of development financing cannot be over-emphasized. However, very little has been done over the years to encourage a culture of savings in Ghana. Bank charges have...

Country Hunts for Money.
April 26, 2010... Byline: Frederick Asiamah Amid calls for government to scale up its financial commitments to the water and sanitation sector to improve access to basic sanitation and water services, the Minister for Finance and Economic Planning, Dr kwabena...

Ghana Targets 75 Percent Reduction in Malaria By 2015.
April 26, 2010... Byline: Mohammed Suleman Ghana is determined to reduce the malaria disease burden by 75% by the 2015 in consonance with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) has announced. Mr. James...

Newmont Seeks Favourable Public Opinion.
April 26, 2010... Byline: Frederick Asiamah Many people look back on hundred years of mining in Ghana and described those years as wasted years because of stark poverty, deprivation and environmental degradation in mining areas. On countless occasions,...

Country is an Amazing Success - Ishac Diwan.
April 26, 2010... Byline: Irene J. Mensah World Bank Country Director, Ghana, has observed that Ghana is an amazing success story of reducing poverty when relative to other countries other developing countries. He said income poverty in Ghana has reduced from...

Why Lower Interest Rates Won't Create Growth.
April 26, 2010... Byline: Kwame Osei About a fortnight ago, the Bank of Ghana (BoG) decided to cut the base rate from 16% to 15%. This follows after the BoG cut rates from 18% to 16% the previous month. The cut by the BoG to 16% still means that Ghana has...

Pregnant Women And Children Under Five Still Vulnerable to Malaria.
April 26, 2010... Byline: Ama A. A. Baafi and Roberta Kodzitse Health experts say pregnant women and children are most vulnerable to malaria disease. In Ghana last year, about 1500 children under-five years and 80 pregnant women died from malaria. Out of a...

Women Still Under-Represented in Assemblies.
April 23, 2010... Byline: Basiru Adam An administrative instruction has over the years asked that 30% of the membership of district assemblies in the country should be made up of women. Women have, however, continued to be under-represented in Ghana 's...

Quota System Will Increase Representation of Women in Decision-Making.
April 23, 2010... Most women rights advocates have often expressed dissatisfaction at what they consider to be discrimination against women, resulting in their low representation in the administration of the country both at the local and national levels. To...

Africa Must Capitalize On Improved Environment to Attain MDGs.
April 23, 2010... Byline: Ama Baafi and Mohammed Suleman The next decade has been predicted to become Africa's decade for significant strides and gains. Consequently, the continent has been urged to take advantage of its current opportunity of improve policy...

Government's Must Show More Commitment to Education.
April 23, 2010... Byline: Akwasi Fredua Mr. Nicholaus Akyire of the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) has criticized the government for not showing enough commitment to education. To tackle the problems in the education sector effectively, he...

Lack of Investment in Sanitation, Water Undermines Development in Poor Countries.
April 23, 2010... Poor targeting of aid for sanitation and water is undermining all development efforts, leaving the poorest of the poor entrenched in poverty, said international development agency, WaterAid following the release of a new report today. The...

Vodafone Marks Its First Anniversary.
April 23, 2010... Byline: Roberta Dzifa Kodzitse It's a year since Vodafone took over the management of the Ghana Telecommunications Company (GT), after acquiring 70 per cent shareholding in the company in August 2008 and becoming the majority partner to the...

Mental Health Service Users Called to Action.
April 23, 2010... Users of mental health services in Africa - people who have experienced mental illness and their primary care-givers - have been urged to form strong user groups in order to demand from service providers and duty bearers their right to determine...

Women Demand Justice in Alleged MP Rapist Case.
April 23, 2010... Three women's rights groups have urged the Deputy Majority Chief Whip in Parliament to immediately put a stop to what they described as insensitive and humiliating attempt to scuttle the ends of justice. The groups expressed their revulsion...

Nation Needs 200 Years to Achieve Water MDGs.
April 19, 2010... Byline: Frederick Asiamah Ghana is seriously off-track on sanitation services and will need more than 200 years to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on sanitation, while the whole of sub-Saharan Africa will need on...

Ghana Must Show Greater Commitment to Tobacco Control.
April 19, 2010... A team led by Dr. Ahmed E. Ogwell Ouma from the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was in Ghana last week to assess the country's level of implementation of provisions of the convention. The team met with the media and the Civil...

Tariff Adjustment Should Be Proportionate to Service.
April 16, 2010... Byline: Ama A.a. Baafi and Mohammed Suleman The Vice President, John Dramani Mahama, has charged the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to ensure that whatever decision it would arrive at in respect of the proposed tariff increase...

Making Free Compulsory Basic Education a Reality.
April 16, 2010... For any country to ensure a continuous supply of its manpower requirements there should be a steady progression of those in school right from nursery to its tertiary institutions. The institutions connected with education must work to prevent...

WAMDEF Boosts Media Capacity in West Africa.
April 16, 2010... Byline: Roberta Dzifa Kodzitse Currently, there is an estimated 5,000 private media enterprises in West Africa, most of which are faced with various levels of critical financial challenges that could undermine their sustainability and growth...

Nyariga-Doone Mothers Club - Empowering Today's Woman for Tomorrow.
April 16, 2010... Byline: Irene J. Mensah That poverty is a pervasive phenomenon in the Upper East Region is a pedestrian fact that no one will dispute. Although the incidence of poverty does not discriminate against victims, many researches into poverty in...

Making Oil a Blessing Through Local Participation.
April 16, 2010... Byline: Frederick Asiamah Although significant revenues are expected from the Jubilee Field oil production, various analyses suggest the expected revenue will have little impact without the engagement of local companies to render various...

Are Politicians Not the Cause of Corruption in State Institutions?
April 16, 2010... Byline: Kwaku Baah-Acheamfour The recent expose by Ghana's most prolific investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, of corruption within the Ghanaian society including the security services, has indeed caused many a Ghanaian to wake up...

Holding Chiefs Accountable.
April 16, 2010... Byline: Cindy Dilys Asamoah The Ghana EITI multi stakeholder's steering committee has been urged to request the Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands to make public disclosures of royalty disbursements to traditional authorities in...

CHF Uses Fun Games to Promote Hygiene At Avenor.
April 16, 2010... Byline: Gifty Mensah German Stars, a football team based in Avenor, Accra, shrugged off the challenge of three other teams in the community to win a soccer competition organized last Saturday at the Avenor Park to raise awareness about...

How Are We Upholding Children's Right to Education?
April 16, 2010... Byline: Cindy Dilys Asamoah The Fourth Republican Constitution provides that children's access to basic education is a fundamental human right. Article 25(1)(a) stipulates, "All persons shall have the right to equal educational opportunities...

Service Providers Blamed for Near Collapse of NHIS.
April 12, 2010... Greed, selfishness and unpatriotic conduct of some health care providers, had been identified as the underlying factors for the current financial challenges faced by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). Mr Rojo Mettle-Nunoo, the...

Security Threat Could Become Catastrophic.
April 12, 2010... Ghana Network for Peacebuilding (GHANEP) has warned that unless the appropriate authorities quickly move to address the current volatile multifaceted security in the country, the situation may become catastrophic. It says, the threats to...

Health Minister Outlines Measures to Combat H1n1.
April 12, 2010... Byline: Mohammed Suleman The Minister of Health, Dr. Benjamin Kunbuor, has announced a national strategic plan to combat the incidence of H1N1 pandemic in certain parts of the country. According to him, the strategy has already been activated...

MFWA Launches Media Development Fund Tomorrow.
April 12, 2010... The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) will tomorrow, Tuesday, April 13, 2010, launch a fund to provide low-interest credits to address the financial challenges of small and medium private and independent media in West Africa. This new...

Korle-Bu Power Outage.
April 12, 2010... Byline: Basiru Adam Aging power distribution cables at Ghana's premier and largest hospital, Korle-Bu collapsed under what is believed to be overloading of the system last Thursday, plunging about half of the hospital into darkness and...

Korle-Bu Power Problem Demands Urgent Attention.
April 12, 2010... Last Thursday, several departments and units of the nation's premier health facility - the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital - went without electricity for almost the whole day. As reported on the front page, work at the affected units came to a...

Ghana Reviews Mining Law.
April 12, 2010... Byline: Frederick Asiamah Ghana's Minerals and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703), which has been described as a perfect example of a "neo-colonial law" is being reviewed by a committee put together by the Ministry of Environment, Science and...

Media Devote Minimal Space to Gender Issues.
April 12, 2010... Byline: Ama A. Amankwah Baafi A recent study on the Ghanaian media's coverage of gender issues has revealed that out of a total 6053 issues in news editorials, only 1.6% (96 editorial frequency) were given to women, compared to issues on...

Ghana to Host International ICT Conferences.
April 12, 2010... Ghana is to host two major international Information and Communication Technology (ICT) conferences this year to promote and enhance the development of internet usage in rural communities. They are the International Telecommunication Union...

World Cup to Promote African Businesses.
April 12, 2010... KDN Consultancy, an event planning company has launched a special project aimed at promoting African business and interrelations between Africa and the world during the 2010 Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) World Cup in...

Managing VRA, TOR, ECG Debts And Oil Revenue With Privatization.
April 12, 2010... Byline: Kofi Amoabin The debt level of Volta River Authority (VRA), Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), and the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) pose such a significant threat to government revenue that unless steps are taken to control the debt,...

Time to Resolve This Brong - Ashanti Conflict.
April 12, 2010... Byline: Kofi Kyeremeh The recent disturbances at Techiman and Tuobodom have opened up one of the old fault lines of potential communal strife engulfing our dear nation. We hope that government will not let the death of three people at...

CSOs Schooled in Project Development and Management.
April 9, 2010... Byline: Irene J. Mensah The first in a series of training workshop on Project Development and Management to build the capacity of environmental non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs) has ended in Accra....

Ottolizz Foundation Responds to Social Welfare Department's Appeal.
April 9, 2010... Byline: Mohammed Suleman OTTOLIZZ Foundation, a non-governmental organization (NGO) based at Asuogyaman District in the Eastern Region, has donated items worth thousands of Ghana cedis to institutions under the Department of Social Welfare in...

Local Women to Engage in Climate Change Decision Making.
April 9, 2010... Byline: Ama A.A. Baafi and Mohammed Suleman A project aimed to achieve long term impact on the promotion of women's rights and gender responsiveness of climate change policy making, mitigation and adaptation measures in Ghana has been...

Local Kids Lauded for Supporting Haitian Counterparts.
April 9, 2010... Caring Kids International, organizers of the ONE4HAITI campaign, has commended the children of Ghana for donating generously to support their Haitian counterparts who were devastated by the earthquake that struck that country. The campaign...

Group Calls for Introduction of Mobile Number Portability.
April 9, 2010... Byline: Cindy Dilys Asamoah The Consumer Protection Agency, a Ghanaian Non-Governmental group, has called for the immediate introduction of mobile phone number portability in Ghana to enhance competition, quality of service delivery, and to...

Adequate Funding and Accountability Key to Gender Equality.
April 9, 2010... Byline: Roberta D. Kodzitse and Mohammed Suleman The National Programme Coordinator of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), Mrs. Afua Ansre, has said that proper funding must be allocated and accountability ensured to...

GMA Serves Fresh Strike Notice.
April 9, 2010... The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) has served notice that it will not accept any partial implementation of the agreement between the Association and the Ministry of Health regarding the "On Call Duty Facilitation Allowance" and "expects all...

Mobile Number Portability to Begin in 2011.
April 9, 2010... Byline: Gifty Mensah The National Communication Authority in collaboration with Telecom Industry operators will define the technical parameters for the smooth implementation of Mobile Number Portability which comes into force next year, the...

Govt Should Bring Reckless NDC Youth to Book - NUGS Demand.
April 9, 2010... The National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has condemned recent violent acts by some youth purporting to be disgruntled members of the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC). In a statement signed by Wonder Madilo, NUGS President, the Union...

World Water Day Demands of Governments to Prioritize Water Quality Profile.
April 6, 2010... Byline: Ama Kudom-Agyemang On Monday March 22nd, 2010, Ghana joined the international community to celebrate World Water Day, amidst a public outcry against the water scarcity being experienced in diverse ways all over the country. The public...

Nation and Germany Partner to Promote the Agric Sector.
April 6, 2010... The Government of Ghana and KfW, the German Development Bank, acting on behalf of the German Government last Monday signed a loan and financing agreement for a 10.0 million Euros loan and a 1.0 million Euros grant for the establishment of an...

Achimota Eco-Park Project.
April 6, 2010... Byline: Robert Benjamin Wilson In 1888, the colonial government of the Gold Coast sent sample wood from the colony to England for tests on their working properties as industrial and construction timber. Following the favourable results from...

Reforms Must Address Land Inequality for Women.
April 6, 2010... Byline: Ama Achiaa Amankwah A recent survey to assess gender sensitivity of land policy and land reform processes and their impact on women has revealed that due to the long registration processes most women, particularly in rural areas,...

CSOS Hail Disclosure of Petroleum Bill.
April 6, 2010... The National Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas has applauded the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning for making the full text of the draft proposal for the Petroleum Resource Revenue Management Bill available on the Ministry's website,...

Policy to Address Child Kayayei Needed.
April 6, 2010... Byline: Ama A. A. Baafi and Roberta Kodzitse A recent study has revealed that there is no policy in Ghana that specifically addresses the phenomenon of Kayayei and subsequently 'child' Kayayei, although there are various legal frameworks...

CSOS Urge Govt to Ban Mining in Forest Reserves.
April 6, 2010... Byline: Basiru Adam Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in the Natural Resource and Environment (NREG) sector have, at the end of a three-day annual review meeting in Accra, called on government to, as matter of urgency, revoke the mining...

World Bank Policies Not Helping Africa.
April 6, 2010... Byline: Akwasi Fredua A member of the United Nations Committee on Development Policy, Prof. Alice Amsden, has tasked African countries to move away from what she described as the World Bank's "One policy fits all approach" to the Oil...

Need for Data for Planning Cannot Be Ignored.
April 6, 2010... The importance of research data for the purposes of diagnosis and appreciation of problems, planning and programming, implementation and evaluation of projects cannot be overemphasized in present day economic governance. Without proper data,...

West African Govts Urged to Invest in Data Collection.
April 6, 2010... Byline: Irene J. Mensah A lecturer at the Department of Economics, University of Ghana, Dr. William Baah-Boateng, has urged West African countries to see data collection as a necessary tool for development. He observed that in West Africa...