Public Agenda articles from August 2008

Public Agenda archives from August 2008

DCE Flees for Dear Life.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Oppong Baah Like the Biblical Moses who saw Canaan but could not set foot on it, Mr. Richard Aboagye, Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Amansie East, saw a mammoth gathering but could not join in the celebration. His role...

Aid Effectiveness Forum.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Amos Safo Two days from today (September 1-3), top government officials from 100 countries will convene in Accra to kick off the Third High Level Aid Effectiveness Forum with the hope to consolidate the Paris Declaration. Its...

Flagbearers Snub Trade Issues.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Frederick Asiamah Many potential voters are probably not aware that all the promises presidential candidates are making in a desperate bid to win their votes hinge on the outcome of the controversial Economic Partnership...

NDC Fights to Win Back Kwahu Seats.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Iddi Moro Kwahus have been urged to actively support the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in this year's election. The call was made by the former District Chief Executive (DCE) of Kwahu south, Mr. Opoku Preko, who was also...

Gender Equality Can Turn Aid Effectiveness into Development Effectiveness.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Ama Achiaa Amankwah A recent study on Aid Effectiveness and Gender Equality by European Commission (EC) and the United Nations (UN) has recommended the consistency of data on aid flows published in a simple and accessible manner....

Health NGOs Advocate Better Health Care for All.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Ama Achiaa Amankwah and Aseye Nyandudzi The Ghana Coalition of NGOs in Health (GCNH) has expressed concern about delays in reimbursement to health institutions under the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). It said the...

Modern Forms of Slavery Rekindle Memories of Slave Trade.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Basiru Adam Officially, slave trade was abolished ages ago, both in Europe and the Americas, where the cartingaway of able-bodies men and women from Africa for forced labour held sway. Today, some 200 years after 1807 and...

Germany Promises More Aid to Country.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Kwaku Osei Bonsu German Chancellor, Angela Merkel has pledged her country's resolve to deepen economic relations and ensure continued development support to Ghana. "Ghana is on a promising road and good example of how...

Disabled's Career Under Threat Unless.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Frederick Asiamah "Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you're needed by someone," Martina Navratilova, the onetime tennis star once said. Benjamin Nyameye, a 34-year-old physically...

Country's Arts And Crafts On Exhibition.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng A side attraction at the just ended UN Conference on Climate Change at the Accra International Conference Centre was the exhibition show mounted at the forecourt of the State House by the Into Clothing...

Why Alima, Boniface Lost NPP Veep.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Castro Danquah The 'contest' for the New Patriotic Party running mate was the hottest ever. It assumed a different dimension and as those who showed interest intensified their lobby, the supporters began to engage in dirty and...

Environmental Issues Missing in Election 2008 Campaigns - Wacam.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Selorm Amevor The Executive Director of WACAM, Mr. Daniel Owusu Koranteng has expressed disappointment at the failure of presidential candidates to include in their political campaign messages or manifestos the numerous...

Plastic Sachet Blues - Pricing the "Right to Litter".
August 29, 2008... Byline: Dr. Edward Kutsoati By the end of a typical business day in Accra, Ghana's capital, tons of waste is generated, mostly from the plastic sachets that held drinking water at the beginning of the day. A large fraction of this waste...

Marcus Garvey's Birthday Celebrated At Bono-Manso.
August 29, 2008... Madam Aisha Abdul-Mumuni, Nkoranza North District Finance Officer, has commended the Center for African Art and Civilization, an NGO, for its contributions towards the development of the ancient Bono-Manso Slave Trade Market Center to boost...

Climate Change Threat, is Country Taking It Serious?
August 29, 2008... Byline: From the Editor Ghana was privileged to have hosted the United Nations Talks on Climate Change which ended last Wednesday, where it emerged that the threat climate change poses to human existence is enormous and should not be...

Majority & Minority Must Unite to Defuse Executive Dominance.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Ebenezer Hanson An ex-Minister in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) administration has submitted until the Majority and Minority caucuses in Parliament forge together as independent entity, the Executive will always take...

CPP to Introduce National Nutrition Policy.
August 29, 2008... Byline: Selorm Amevor A Convention Peoples' Party (CPP) government would develop a national nutrition policy to ensure the promotion of healthy lifestyles amongst Ghanaians based on foodstuffs locally produced. The flag bearer of the...

Health Minister Urges Pharmacists to Embrace Gov't Programme.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Mahama Zakaria-Tamale The Minister of Health Major Courage Quashigah (RTD) has urged the members of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana to complement the government policy on regenerative health and nutrition to promote the...

Heroes Are Better Honoured Alive.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Kwaku Baah-Acheamfour Nana Kow Ackon V, Twafohen of the Oguaa Traditional Council has called for the strengthening of the policy of honouring individuals who excel in their fields of endeavours. She explained that the honours...

'There Can Be No Development Without Communication' (1).
August 25, 2008... Byline: Amos Safo In the past two weeks, I started a discourse on the need for the media to be used as development tools, rather than being used by their owners and politicians to pursue their personal interests. The media as has been...

Parliament Not Springboard for Joining Executive.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Ebenezer Hanson The debate over whether the fusion of Parliament and the Executive, the peculiar system of government being practiced in Ghana, has served the ends of democracy is becoming an interminable one. The seeming,...

Can the Fight Against Climate Change Be Won?
August 25, 2008... Byline: Basiru Adam Once again, another round of talks has brought the world together in Accra. This time, the 'developed world' is not being asked to fulfill hovering promises of handouts to poor, needy countries, but to show more...

Women Make Peace in Conflict Areas.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Ama Kudom-Agyemang Despite instances of gender discrimination against women that is often manifested in the form of sexual abuses and the general ignorance about women's rights and privileges, women in some African countries such...

UN-Ecowas Team to Probe the Killing of 44 Ghanaians.
August 25, 2008... The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) has welcomed news that a joint UN-ECOWAS team has been formed to investigate the cold-blooded murder of 44 Ghanaians in the Gambia in July 2005. "We hope this action will bring the...

CSOs Advocate Aid Model for Poverty Reduction.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Jennifer Benewaa Adjei & Nyaduudzi Aseye Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Ghana are advocating a new aid effectiveness model that would ultimately reduce poverty. They say this can be done when government is obliged to...

Empowering Women to Promote Peace.
August 25, 2008... It is heartening to hear that women have decided to be proactive in the search for a peaceful general election on December 7, 2008. Women Aglow International Ghana has been organizing prayer and thanksgiving sessions across the country to...

France Based Philanthropist Donates to Tomo-Ni Orphanage.
August 25, 2008... Byline: From Iddi Moro, Mpraeso The Ghanaian Queen mother of France, Nana Yaa Owusua, has presented a number of items including toiletries, soft drinks, food items etc to the Tomo-Ni orphanage at Kwahu Obomeng in the Kwahu south district...

Greater Accra Women Leaders Join Peace Campaign.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng Women Leaders in the Greater Accra Region are the latest to join the campaign train for a peaceful election in the country. The urgent call for peace by the women leaders was made last Thursday, at a...

Procurement Authority to Decentralize Activities.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Frederick Asiamah Processes are ongoing to allow for the establishment of zonal offices of the Public Procurement Authority (PPA) as part of a decentralization process. Initial consultations regarding the establishment of...

Waging War On Human Trafficking.
August 25, 2008... Byline: Damian Avevor Human trafficking has become a major menace in Ghana and the African continent. In recent past, the miseries and stultifying effects of the cruelties of the slave trade and slavery which Africa suffered from four...

Out of School Children Reintegrated Into Formal Education.
August 22, 2008... Byline: Pearl Gyasi Six hundred and eight (608) out of school children in the Sawla/Tuna/Kalba District have successfully completed a nine month complementary education programme organized by Partners in Participatory Development, in...

IDEG Urges Stakeholders to Rid Register of Unwanted Names.
August 22, 2008... The Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), has urged all stakeholders, especially the Electoral Commission to purge the register of the names of dead, under-age and aliens from the voter register. IDEG charged political parties,...

2008 Elections is Not a Do Or Die Affair - Palmer-Buckle Stresses.
August 22, 2008... Byline: Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng The Metropolitan Catholic Archbishop of Accra, Most Rev. Charles Gabriel Palmer- Buckle has added his voice to several eminent Ghanaians for the country to ensure a peaceful, united country before and after...

As NPP & NDC Battle Over Economic Success, Professor Says Country Is Asleep.
August 22, 2008... Byline: Basiru Adam As the ruling NPP and opposition NDC engage in the battle over which government has a better economic management record, a Ghanaian born Prof of Anthropology says Ghana has indeed been sleeping for the best part of...

Combating Armed Robbery Needs a Holistic Approach.
August 22, 2008... Byline: William Akita Ghana has become the breeding ground for a dangerous strain of armed robbers. Known for our hospitality and warm heartedness, Ghana seems to appear easy prey to some of the criminal elements that have developed...

Aid Effectiveness Forum.
August 22, 2008... Byline: Amos Safo Ghana is due to host the 3rd Aid Effectiveness Forum from September 2-4. This is one of the high level conferences to be held here in Accra mainly due to Ghana's resurgence, not only as the political voice of Africa,...

CPP Promises to Support Research Into Rural Dev't.
August 22, 2008... Byline: Selorm Amevor The Convention Peoples' Party (CPP) Presidential Candidate, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom has said that a CPP led administration would introduce and expand specialized studies of rural economies and societies in order to...

Cepil to Present Parliament With Memorandum On Intestate Succession Bill.
August 22, 2008... Byline: Ama Achiaa Amankwah A large number of cases that are handled by the courts and human rights institutions in Ghana involve intestate succession, despite the existence of Interstate Succession Law, 1985 (PNDC Law 111), which...

Taps And Toilets for Everyone.
August 22, 2008... Two out of five people worldwide lack access to a toilet. One out of six does not have access to safe drinking water. This lack contributes to two million child deaths a year, reduces school attendance, and is a fundamental deprivation of...

Olympic Games Fiasco.
August 22, 2008... Ghana's delegation returns from the 29th Olympic Games, Beijing 2008, empty-handed, except organizers decide to award Ghana one or two boardroom medals for the nation's high official-athlete ratio. Reports said thirteen officials...

Incessant Change of MPs Not the Best.
August 22, 2008... Byline: Kwaku Baah- Acheamfour Mr. Aboagye Kumanyene, an educationist in Cape Coast has called for a policy of evaluating the performance of MPs in parliament other than allowing polling station chairmen and other individuals to use their...

Leaders Need Insight On Climate Change - DFID.
August 22, 2008... An expert on climate change on Tuesday said even though climate change had grave implications for the cocoa, water, mining and food production sectors of African countries, African leaders were yet to fully grasp the phenomenon and its...

PNC & CPP Promise to Separate A-G From Justice Ministry.
August 22, 2008... Byline: Ebenezer Hanson Efforts over the years to uproot official corruption have not yielded the intended fruits, at best only minimal success. But the People's National Convention (PNC) and Convention People's Party (CPP) claim...

Economics of Sanitation.
August 22, 2008... Byline: Ms. Jaehyang So Every year in mid-August, the world's leading water experts gather to focus on one subject that preoccupies the international community. This year, the Stockholm International Water Institute is hosting those...

Prez Kufuor Calls for Sub Regional Effort to Combat Cocoa Diseases.
August 22, 2008... Byline: Selorm Amevor President John Agyekum Kufuor has called for an integrated sub-regional approach to the fight against diseases affecting the cocoa industry in the subregion. He said despite the numerous strides made in the...

Media Urged to Stimulate Aid Effectiveness Debate.
August 22, 2008... Byline: Nyadudzi Aseye And Jennifer Benewaa Adjei Ghanaian media have been urged to advocate for greater responsiveness to concerns of the vulnerable in society, especially those of women and children in the upcoming Third High Level...

Bottom-Up Industry the Way to Go for Country?
August 18, 2008... Byline: Bright B. Simons Even mighty South Africa, once a contender in the same leagues as Brazil and Israel, with its nuclear bomb-making antics and machine fabrication edge, is today in a subtle retreat from manufacturing into the...

Women Miss the Mark in 2008 Elections.
August 18, 2008... Byline: Ama Achiaa Amankwah Ghana will hold both presidential and parliamentary elections in December this year, without women making a significant impact. Ghana's record of women in parliament has not been encouraging over the...

Crime Prevention Needs a Partnership Approach.
August 18, 2008... Byline: William Akita Crime refers to acts or omissions which violates the provision of the criminal code and are punishable by law. Crime has been one of the major social problems confronting a developing country like Ghana. It has...

Cape Coast Police Commander Accused of Intimidation.
August 18, 2008... Byline: : Jennifer Benewaa Adjei A group calling itself concerned Members of the Mosama Disco Christo Church have accused the Cape Coast Regional police commander, DCOP Rose Atenga of using the police to intimidate and harass officials...

African Women Organisations Fight HIV/Aids.
August 18, 2008... African women's organizations have showcased their activities to combat the HV/AIDS pandemic at the XVII International Aids Conference in Mexico. Following this, the African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) at a press conference launched...

Country's Eye Disease Prevalence On the Rise.
August 18, 2008... Byline: Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng Glaucoma is one of the major eye related disease affecting most Ghanaians on the quiet especially people within the ages of 30 and above. The public has therefore been advised to visit the eye...

Shell Oil Ghana Introduces New Product.
August 18, 2008... Shell Oil Ghana Limited has introduced a new diesel product unto the Ghanaian market known as "Shell Diesel Extra". The new product, developed by 3,000 scientists working at Shell research laboratories in seven countries globally, is an...

The Media As Development Tool.
August 18, 2008... Byline: Amos Safo Recently a group of communications experts and practitioners met in Accra on how both traditional and new media can be harnessed to promote development. Prof. John DowNing co-founder of OURMedia, global network...

A Good Cause for the Environment.
August 18, 2008... An interesting scenario happened at the Central Region last week. Kojo Mensah, a farmer from Assin Kushea in the Assin North District was on Wednesday fined GH¢20 by the Assin Fosu magistrate's court for living in unkempt environment....

Govt Asked to Seal Possible Oil Revenue Leakage.
August 18, 2008... Byline: Selorm Amevor Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and other stakeholders are urging the government to reconsider the current fiscal regime in the extractive sector in the wake of Ghana's oil discovery. The stakeholders are...

Chieftaincy Institution, Vital for National Development - Asantehene.
August 18, 2008... Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, Asantehene, has said that chieftaincy institution was the only institution which could determine the type of sustainable arrangement for national development plan towards the attainment of middle-income status. He...

Obed Asamoah Urges Citizenss to Call NPP And NDC to Order.
August 18, 2008... The Founder of the Democratic Freedom Party (DFP), Dr. Obed Yaw Asamoah, has called on Ghanaians to be bold to call the country's two leading political parties to order, saying they were on a collision course. Dr Asamoah held that the...

"Legislate Permanent Funding for Scientific Research"- Dr. Peter Atadja.
August 18, 2008... Byline: Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng A renowned Natural Scientist and an Engineering researcher, Dr. Peter Atadja, is advocating for parliament to institute a permanent funding for scientific research in the country. The legislation, he...

Good Call Tema Circuit Court.
August 15, 2008... Byline: The Editor At last the Tema Circuit Court 'A' trying the mother of the baby twins, Mrs. Lamisi Baba on Wednesday acquitted and discharged her after the police dropped the charges of dealing in hard drugs against her. Mrs....

First Chief Nursing Officer Deservedly Honoured.
August 15, 2008... Byline: Ama Achiaa Amankwah The First Ghanaian Chief Nursing Officer, Dr. Docia Angelina Naki Kisseih received as her 89th birthday gift, an honorary degree conferred on her by the University of Ghana, Legon, during a special congregation...

Our Day of Olympic Shame.
August 15, 2008... Byline: Basiru Adam Derrick, the dogged sprinter, Yul, the no nonsense strongman, Junior, the unassuming 'Dada bee' and Sanka, the easy going sack of comedy would bring Jamaica a rare kind of honour at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul ,...

Mother of Baby Twins Gains Her Freedom.
August 15, 2008... The Tema Circuit Court 'A' trying the mother of the baby twins, Mrs. Lamisi Baba on Wednesday acquitted and discharged her. Mrs. Baba was among a group of suspects who were arrested at Tema Site One in a police swoop. Subsequently she was...

Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, Nana Addo's Running Mate.
August 15, 2008... Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia is an economist and banker of international distinction and repute. His political pedigree in the Danquah-Busia tradition goes back to the very foundations of the United Party from which the New Patriotic Party draws...

Use Communal Service to Reform Prisoners.
August 15, 2008... Byline: Kwaku Baah-Acheamfour Nana Ponko Hagan, a civil servant in Cape Coast, has called for the embracement of communal service as an alternative to long-term jail sentences for convicts in the country. He was of the view that long...

Country Needs a Mental Health Law Urgently.
August 15, 2008... Byline: Frederick Asiamah Absurd! Isn't it? To think that in this day and age, a human being will consider chaining another human in the name of administering healing because that person is mentally ill. And it is not just one case,...

What the Public Needs to Know!
August 15, 2008... Byline: Sandow Seidu Kpebu The term politics itself originated from spin, according to classical records of Greek history. It originally meant state or city (polis) which later metamorphosed into politics. We are therefore living with a...

Gagged NPP MP Against GT Sale.
August 15, 2008... Byline: Ebenezer Hanson Despite being prevailed upon by his colleagues not comment on the controversial sale of GT on the floor of Parliament yesterday, Hon. Paul Collins Appiah-Ofori, the NPP MP for Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa in an earlier...

Divine Chocolate to Pay Dividends to Cocoa Farmers.
August 15, 2008... Byline: Oppong Baah For the second successive year the Directors of Divine Chocolate - a Fairtrade Company based in United Kingdom (UK) and co - owned by cocoa farmers - have recommended dividend to shareholders. The largest...

Fireworks in Parliament Over GT.
August 11, 2008... Byline: Ebenezer Hanson Parliament is poised to witness one of the fiercest debates in recent times as the House reconvenes tomorrow to deliberate what some political watchers and financial analysts have termed as the controversial Sale...

Dr Nkrumah Would Have Been a Capitalist Today.
August 11, 2008... Byline: Ebenezer Hanson & Nyadudzi Aseye If Dr. Kwame Nkrumah were alive, he would be a capitalist much to the surprise of many political novices, Dr. Kwesi Aning, Head of Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution Department of the...

Appointment of Ministers From Parliament Not the Best.
August 11, 2008... Byline: Kwaku Baah-Acheamfour Mr. Joseph Asunka, the Programmes Officer of Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana), has called for an amendment of the constitutional provision that allows the government to appoint majority of...

Money Saving Tip for Ghana Government.
August 11, 2008... Ghana has hit hard times. There is no denying that fact. It is sad that the authoritative Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA) has not launched a macroeconomic outlook paper since 2003. This extract from the last CEPA review available to...

Parliamentary Candidate Bemoans State of Under Development At Obuasi.
August 11, 2008... Byline: Selorm Amevor The National Democratic Congress (NDC) Parliamentary Candidate for Obuasi, Mr. John Alexander Kobina Ackon has said that although gold, which is the nation's main foreign exchange earner, is mined in the...

Who is to Blame for the E-Waste Menace?
August 11, 2008... The dumping of electronic waste on Ghana by the industrialized countries has reached disastrous proportions, as each week several container loads of obsolete, computers and television sets are cleared at the Tema Harbour and driven into town...

CHRAJ Washes Hands Off Unibank Case.
August 11, 2008... The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has observed that it does not have the mandate to enquire into the substantive case of whether or not Unibank allegedly used a collateral security of its customer, Mr. Robert...

Journalists, Our Dearest Enemies.
August 11, 2008... Byline: Basiru Adam "If journalists are unethical, it is because the rich and powerful who control the destiny of society operate without ethics" - Prof. Ansu-Kyeremeh One of the most famous quotes journalists the world over would...

Consumer Watch.
August 11, 2008... Byline: Selorm Amevor A research conducted by Greenpeace, an independent global campaign organisation has revealed that water bodies and land sites at the Agbogbloshie market area have been contaminated with hazardous chemicals from...

Support Women, Reduce Poverty.
August 11, 2008... Byline: Ama Achiaa Amankwah About 40% of the estimated 20.7 Ghanaians live below the poverty line. Seventy percent of the classified poor live in rural areas where there is limited access to basic social services, less developed...

Attacks On Journalists, Whose Fault?
August 11, 2008... Byline: Amos Safo On daily basis attacks on media and journalists across the world are on the increase. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on July 28 condemned the Hamas leadership in Gaza "for arresting Palestinian...

Media Urged to Help Maintain Peace.
August 11, 2008... Byline: Jennifer Benewaa Adjei Media practitioners have been urged to discard the use of negative propaganda in the run-up to the December general elections. According to Ms. Cecelia Anderson, a member of the World Vision Ghana If...

NDC And NPP At It Again.
August 8, 2008... Byline: Basiru Adam This was how a giant looking police officer ranted as he tried to ensure peace between political party agents who kept bickering at the Accra Technical Training Centre (ATTC) where scores of people had queued to...

Zimbabwe And Ghana - a Tale of Two Countries.
August 8, 2008... Byline: Colleen Lowe Morna As I breeze through to check in formalities at Accra international airport on my non-stop evening flight to Johannesburg, I cannot help but flashback 27 years ago to when I first started travelling to my second...

'Prophets' Need Psychiatric Treatment, Sam Okudzeto Suggests.
August 8, 2008... Byline: Frederick Asiamah & Jennifer Benewaa Adjei Mr. Sam Okudzeto, a lawyer and human rights advocate has suggested that pastors who subject mentally ill persons to all kinds of abuses at prayer camps rather need psychiatric treatment....