Public Agenda articles from May 2012

Public Agenda archives from May 2012

Vote for a Leader Who Empathises With the People - W/R NPP Youth.
May 28, 2012... Byline: Estelle Graciela Boateng The Western Regional Youth Organiser of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Mr Moahammed Abdul Ganiyu, has called on Ghanaians to vote for a leader who empathises with the people and believes in democracy. ...

Use Law On Obscenity to Fight 'Sex Sells' ADs.
May 28, 2012... The issue of gender empowerment has gained a lot of currency in recent times. The reason is not farfetched: many of our gender activists have been very active with a number of activities, all geared towards deepening society's understanding of...

Mining, Quarrying Records Highest Producer Inflation.
May 28, 2012... Byline: Laud Nartey Mining and quarrying recorded the highest year-on-year producer price inflation (PPI) of 24.3% as a result of a decrease in gold prices on the world market followed by manufacturing with 16.2% whereas utilities recorded...

MPs Must Expedite Passage of RTI Bill.
May 28, 2012... Byline: Ayuureyisiya Kapini Atafori and Laud Nartey Members of Parliament (MPs) have been asked to expedite the passage of the Right to Information Bill instead of dilly dallying with it and blaming civil society organisations (CSOs) for the...

Maximum Growth Organises 2nd Health and Safety Confab.
May 28, 2012... Byline: Mavis Otinkorang Maximum Growth Limited, an organisation into environmental and Climate Change activities, has organised the 2nd National Health and Safety Conference in Accra. The three-day fair was under the theme a Healthy...

Oil Platform Says ...
May 28, 2012... Byline: Frederick Asiamah Hon. Samuel Atta Akyea, Member of Parliament (MP) for Akim Abuakwa South, has been cautioned that he risks being in conflict of interest if he proceeds to serve as counsel in a case that Lushann Eternit Energy...

Free Media Environment Hinders Women Empowerment.
May 28, 2012... Byline: Mavis Otinkorang A resource person for ABANTU for Development, Mrs Faustina Boakye, says research has revealed that a liberalised media environment, with its attendant commercial pressures, often produces news and programmes that do...

GOIL Rebrands for Effective Competition.
May 28, 2012... Byline: Mohammed Suleman Ghana Oil Company Limited (GOIL), the leading indigenous oil company in Ghana, has outdoored a new brand logo in readiness to compete effectively in the country's oil industry. The new company logo is represented...

Nation Ranked 10th in the Burden of Breast Cancer.
May 28, 2012... Byline: Alhaji Bashiru Zakari Ghana has been ranked 10th on the league of African nations with the burden of breast cancer disease, according to Globocan sources. In 2010, according to Globocan, over 1, 300,000 women died from breast...

UN and Pupils Mark AU Day With Poetry.
May 28, 2012... Byline: Laud Nartey As part of activities marking this year's African Union Day (AU) celebrations, the United Nations (UN) Information Centre, in collaboration with Splendors of Dawn Poetry Foundation, organised a youth forum to enlighten...

Equipment Malfunction Tops Biometric Difficulties.
May 21, 2012... Byline: Laud Nartey Equipment malfunction, including breakdown, repair or replacement of components of the registration kit, constituted the most common set of challenges which faced the recently-ended Biometric Voter Registration (BVR)...

20 Mining Communities Receive Legal Education.
May 21, 2012... Byline: Frederick Asiamah The Centre for Public Interest Law (CEPIL), a rights-based non-governmental organisation, has received plaudits from more than 120 members of about 20 communities affected by mining in three of Ghana?s resource-rich...

Prez Must Ensure Compliance With Directives He Issues.
May 21, 2012... One trait of the Mills Presidency that appears pervasive, or is it unprecedented, is the tendency for directives of the highest office of the land to be ignored by appointees. Ghanaians will recall that In 2009 the President?s directive to...

Food Security, Climate Change and Global Resource Scarcity.
May 21, 2012... Byline: Stephen O'brien Global demand for food will double in coming decades, through population growth and rising levels of consumption. Ensuring the planet produces enough food for all in a sustainable way will be a real challenge, and...

MTN Launches High Capacity Cable.
May 18, 2012... It has been six years since MTN boldly pioneered and committed over US$ 100 million into Africa's largest capacity submarine fibre optic cable. Last Friday marked the commercial launch of the much-anticipated ultra high-capacity West Africa...

Government Must Show Commitment to PIAC.
May 18, 2012... The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), an additional public oversight in the management and utilisation of the country's petroleum revenues, as reported on our front page, launched its maiden report yesterday at the Coconut...

Ghana's Oil Export Faces Ban.
May 18, 2012... Byline: Frederick Asiamah Ghana could soon freeze future exports of its crude oil entitlements, which are held by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC), in order to meet local consumption needs. There is also the intention to...

Tribute to the Memory of the Late Rt. Rev. Victor Buer Nartey-Tokoli.
May 18, 2012... Byline: Daniel Owusu-Koranteng I believe that if we fail to acknowledge the good deeds of our fellow human beings, we would find it difficult to show gratitude for God's gift of abundant resources. It is common for people to wrongly assume...

Leave the Crude Oil in the Soil.
May 18, 2012... Byline: Mohammed Suleman Oil watchers around the African continent have initiated a campaign, calling on African governments and oil transnational companies to leave the oil in the soil because the balance sheet of oil production has...

Supporting Food Security Through Remote Sensing Technology.
May 18, 2012... Byline: Michael Anthony Using data from space to analyse matters on Earth has become more common lately. Satellites can produce very valuable information for better crop management if the capacity exists to decode and digest such information....

Election 2012- CFI endorses Police commitment to law enforcement.
May 18, 2012... The Civic Forum Initiative (CFI) has commended the Ghana Police Service for assurance that it will demonstrate its neutrality by being accountable to the law and all Ghanaians. It noted that the perception held by sections of the public that...

Newmont Forges Partnership With Host Communities.
May 18, 2012... Byline: Iddi Moro NEWMONT GOLDEN Ridge Limited Akyem Project, a mining company has organized a matriculation and promotion ceremony for beneficiaries of its apprenticeship programme. Under the theme: Developing our people in pursuit of...

PIAC Launches First Report.
May 18, 2012... Byline: Irene J. Mensah The Public Interest and Accountability Committee (PIAC), established under the Petroleum Revenue Management Act 815 and mandated to monitor the use of the oil and gas revenue, made public its maiden report in Accra...

Govt Should Regulate Fees of Private Universities CSOs Charge.
May 18, 2012... Byline: Laud Nartey Government has been asked to regulate fees charged by tertiary private universities, which fees have been considered unaffordable and thus depriving majority of qualified students from accessing tertiary education. ...

Ministry Prepares for Child Labour Day.
May 14, 2012... Byline: Mavis Otinkorang The Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare has begun elaborate preparations towards the celebration of this year's World Day Against Child Labour which falls on June 12. The week-long programme to mark the...

Inappropriate Language Still Pervasive On Radio.
May 14, 2012... The fourth week report of the Media Foundation for West Africa's (MFWA) Monitoring Language Use on Radio Project has revealed that the employment of inappropriate language is still pervasive. Seven reports which contained indecent expressions...

As Elections Draw Near.
May 14, 2012... Byline: Alhassan Hardi It is election time and the political demagogues are here once again. This time the politicians come with renewed promises, vigour and energy. Before I begin this article I had two questions in mind .Firstly, as a...

Chase Politicians Out of Public Service - GII Urges.
May 14, 2012... Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) has called on all public officers who contested their parties primaries, and are proceeding to contest the impending general elections, to resign their public positions immediately, urging the chairperson of the...

Election Special.
May 14, 2012... Byline: Dr Kwame Osei We will be looking at a policy that may be deemed as controversial but one that is necessary for the total emancipation of women in this country. In an election year I have been compelled to write this article as a...

A Salute to Our Noble Mothers.
May 14, 2012... Yesterday, May 13, was celebrated globally as Mothers Day: a day on which we expressed our tons of gratitude to our mothers (biological and sociological) for their immeasurable contribution to society and humanity in general. The parental...

NIB Declares Profit Again.
May 14, 2012... For the second year in a roll, Ghana's foremost Bank in Project Financing, the National Investment Bank (NIB), has declared profit. The Bank recorded an after-tax profit of GH7.5m for the year ended December 31, 2011. The Bank?s profitability...

As I Reflect ?
May 14, 2012... Byline: Ebenezer T. Hanson There are many things in life which I find mind boggling and others heart rendering; some defy explanation while for others you just have to ignore. I have heard times without number, the whining about the lack of a...

MPs, Experts Bash Majority Leader.
May 14, 2012... Byline: Ayuureyisiya Kapini Atafori & Laud Nartey MPs, lawyers, media experts, human rights activists and civil society groups have descended hard and heavily on Majority Leader Cletus Avoka for publicly stating, without any hesitation,...

Mothers' Day Celebration?
May 14, 2012... Byline: Mohammed Suleman Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF), a gender-based non-governmental organization, has donated items worth over one thousand Ghana cedis to the Maternity and Buruli Wards of the Amasaman Hospital in the Ga...

Strong Support for Education Thresholds for MPs.
May 14, 2012... Byline: Michelle Dawson & Lucas Rutherford A survey undertaken by The Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has found high levels of support throughout the country for the introduction of a minimum level of education requirement for Members...

Labiofam Partners Health Ministry to Fight Malaria.
May 14, 2012... Byline: Laud Nartey LABIOFAM entrepreneurial group, a Cuban Government-owned company which produces probiotics and some bioplaguicides used to kill mosquitoes? larvae, has partnered the Ministry of Health to help eradicate malaria in Ghana....

Inflation Rate Jumps to 9.1 Percent.
May 14, 2012... Byline: Laud Nartey The rate of inflation has moved up to 9.1% in April from 8.8% in March this year, with food and alcoholic beverages group recording an average year-on-year rate of 4.8%, slightly up from the 4.4% recorded in March. The...

Nation Gears Up for Rio+20.
May 14, 2012... Byline: Mohammed Suleman As the days for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) draws nearer, the country is feverishly preparing its delegates to participate in this all-important event which is scheduled to take...

Pokuase Residents Schooled On RTI.
May 14, 2012... Byline: Laud Nartey In the quest to ensure the full participation of indigenous people in the development agenda of the country, residents of Pokuase in the Ga West Municipal Assembly of the Greater Accra Region have been schooled on the need...

Responsible Medical Practice.
May 11, 2012... In the Monday May 7th edition of Public Agenda we carried a story on the refusal of most hospitals and laboratory facilities in the country to have their equipments and instruments calibrated by the Ghana Standards Authority. The risk that this...

Government Blamed for Homelessness.
May 11, 2012... Byline: Laud Nartey Though the United Nations' Convention on Economic, Cultural, and Social Rights enjoins state parties to either provide affordable housing for their people or create an enabling environment for the citizens to provide for...

Specific Law On Mandatory Calibration Imperative.
May 11, 2012... One of the imperatives for the enactment of laws in a country is to aid development and thus improve the wellbeing of citizens. In the absence of laws, unscrupulous persons exploit the vacuum and perpetrate all manner of nefarious activities,...

Stats Service - Bawumia Got It Wrong.
May 11, 2012... Byline: Laud Nartey Acting Government Statistician Dr Philomena Nyarko says New Patriotic Party (NPP) running mate Dr Mahamudu Bawumia got it wrong with his analysis that the months-long single digit inflation rate has not translated into...

Good Leadership Critical for Achieving Health Goals.
May 11, 2012... Byline: Mathias Aboba The Upper East Deputy Regional Director of Health Services in charge of administration, Mr Lucio Dery, has observed that leadership development in the health sector is very critical for accelerating the achievement of...

Zoomlion Supports Cardiothoracic Centre With GHC 5,000.
May 11, 2012... In pursuance of the company's Corporate Social Responsibility agenda, Zoomlion Ghana Limited has donated GHC 5,000 to the National Cardiothoracic Centre of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital to help cater for patients with cardio-related problems....

State of Maternal Health in Country Lamented.
May 11, 2012... Byline: Mavis Otinkorang Ghana has made significant progress in increasing access and utilisation of maternal health services. And although statistics from the Ghana Health Services (GHS) show some reduction in Maternal Mortality ratio of 740...

Dr Beatrice Wiafe Addai Named Millennium Development Ambassador.
May 11, 2012... Byline: Alhaji Bashiru Zakaria The Global Educators for All Initiative, a growing network of interdependent educators, has named Dr (Mrs) Beatrice Wiafe Addai, as Millennium Development Ambassador (MD). The award is a global recognition of...

Association of the Deaf Calls for Promotion of Sign Language.
May 11, 2012... Byline: Mohammed Suleman Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD) wants government to encourage more people to learn sign language and employ more sign language translators in order to promote equal participation in the country's...

Bigen Africa's Growing African Footprint to Boost Country.
May 11, 2012... Bigen Africa, a South African infrastructure development firm with a fast-growing presence in Africa, is set on accelerating infrastructure development in Ghana. An added benefit will be the upliftment of local communities to empower them...

EPA Will Thwart Africa's Industrialisation Efforts.
May 11, 2012... Byline: Mohammed Suleman The Economic Justice Network (EJN), a coalition of Ghanaian civil society organisations fighting for economic justice, has cautioned African countries involved in the negotiation of the Economic Partnership Agreements...

A Question for You, Hon. Minister.
May 11, 2012... Byline: Charles Kofi Fekpe Charles Kofi Fekpe has been musing over the state of national affairs and seems unenthused about the direction the country is going. Through a series of questions for our sector ministers, he brings to the fore some...

Prof. Akilagpa Slams World Bank, IMF Policies.
May 7, 2012... Byline: Ayuureyisiya Kapini Atafori The policy prescriptions of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have failed to change the fundamentals of the economies of African countries and must be re-examined for the continent to...

Patients' Lives in Danger...
May 7, 2012... Byline: Mohammed Suleman Public Agenda's investigations have revealed that many Ghanaians must have died unnecessarily and many more may be suffering needlessly through the misdiagnosis of their ailments. Information available to the paper...

Ellembelle Fishermen Receive Relief Items.
May 7, 2012... Byline: Estelle Graciela Boateng Fishermen in the Ellembelle District in the Western Region have received food items, worth about GH?12,000 from the district assembly. The items comprised 70 bags of rice and 42 boxes of cooking oil. The...

Traditional Deities Clash With Development Projects.
May 7, 2012... Byline: Kofi Akosah-Sarpong In Ghana/Africa, some development projects could be difficult to discharge when it is entangled in rigid traditional beliefs. In some places, such as Kumasi, capital of the Asante Region and Ghana?s second largest...

Govt Committed to African Integration.
May 7, 2012... Byline: Mohammed Suleman Ghana has reassured the governments of Africa that it would remain committed to actualising and sustaining the integration of the continent in order to ensure that the African Union and Economic Community of West...

No More Excuse for Opacity.
May 7, 2012... The world has never been the same since the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, where the global quest to reverse the resource curse syndrome that plague many natural resource dependent countries began. Johannesburg saw...

Call for Ratification of Child Labour Conventions.
May 7, 2012... Byline: Mavis Otinkorang Children who enter the labour market prematurely are deprived of critical education and training that can help to lift them, their families and communities out of a cycle of poverty. Child labour, in its worst forms,...

Media Must Act Responsibly As Elections Draw Near.
May 4, 2012... Yesterday was World Press Day and the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) held a flag-raising ceremony and a symposium in Accra to commemorate the day. The global theme for the commemoration of this year's World Press Freedom Day, which was also...

Top Book On African Economies Launched.
May 4, 2012... Byline: Ayuureyisiya Kapini Atafori A new complete book on contemporary economies of African countries, which is now on bookshelves of many bookshops and libraries all over the world, has been launched in Accra with indications that its...

Tribalistic Tendencies in Local Politics - Resolving the Misunderstandings.
May 4, 2012... Byline: Kofi Akosah-Sarpong The pronouncement by the Assin North Member of Parliament from the opposition National Patriotic Party (NPP), the hot-headed Kennedy Agyapong, on the Accra-based Oman FM station, which he owns, that people from the...

New Who Country Representative Calls On Health Minister.
May 4, 2012... The World Health Organisation (WHO) is to help Ghana in revamping the pharmaceutical industry in the country to enable local pharmaceutical companies to build on their capacity in order to produce essential drugs and vaccines. It will also...

Bawumia Deflates NDC Inflation Stats.
May 4, 2012... Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, New Patriotic Party (NPP) Vice-Presidential Candidate for the 2012 elections, has shredded the current single-digit 'unprecedented inflation achievement' of the Prof. John Evans Atta Mills government, arguing that the...

Tribute - Passing of Three Journalists.
May 4, 2012... Byline: Ayuureyisiya Kapini Atafori Death be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not soe, For, those, whom thou think?st, thou dost overthrow, Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill mee.? ? John...

Govt Tasked to Help Private Sector to Create Jobs.
May 4, 2012... Byline: Irene J. Mensah A businessman in the automobile industry, Mr Jacob Mensah, has challenged the government to put in place a deliberate policy to help and protect the growth of the private sector. According to Mr Mensah, the...

Nduom Laments Mass BECE Failures.
May 4, 2012... Byline: Estelle Graciela Boateng Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom, presidential candidate for the Progressive People's Party (PPP), has pledged that an Nduom-led government would facilitate job creation, focusing specially on the private sector to create...

Biometric Registration - National Human Security Early Warning Alert.
May 4, 2012... Reports generated from GHANAWARN database coupled with information received from WANEP-Ghana's Inter-Party Youth Dialogue Committees (IPYDCs) members of its Youth in Election Project, indicated that a total of 14 incidents have been recorded. ...

Sanitation - Our Collective Responsibility.
May 4, 2012... Byline: Dan Osman Mwin Sanitation has been defined variously to include "measures to protect public health through proper solid waste disposal, sewerage disposal, and cleanliness during food processing and preparation." One school of...

Govt Will Not Entertain Shoddy Works - Minister.
May 4, 2012... Byline: Estelle Graciela Boateng Mr Paul Evans Aidoo, Western Regional Minister, has warned contractors to sit up and deliver quality works because government will not entertain shoddy works. Speaking at the 4th annual general meeting...

Radio, TV Ownership...
May 2, 2012... Byline: Ayuureyisiya Kapini Atafori Experienced media practitioners, a lawyer and governance experts say politicians cannot, and must not, be banned from owning radio and television stations since that violates Ghana's supreme law and smacks...

Public Agenda's Editor Addresses EU Parliament.
May 2, 2012... The Acting Editor of Public Agenda, Dr Steve Manteaw on Thursday, addressed the Legal Affairs Committee of the European Parliament as industry lobby moved to water-down draft EU legislation on Transparency and Accountability in the operations of...

Agrah and the New Face of Sports Development.
May 2, 2012... Byline: Phillibert Deku The much touted green book launched by Vice-President John Maham may perhaps be an understatement of government achievements over the past three years. The lack of adequate reference to the successes of the National...