This is a space for intellectual exchanges

Coups don’t fix long-term problems. Ghana has had three interruptions of democracy in the past and what do we have to show for it? A few brilliant ideas here and there but did that bring us lasting change? If it did, we wouldn’t be here, would we? I love the army. I respect the decision of our soldiers to lay down their lives for our country if the need arises. I have many passions but I don’t count laying my life down for Ghana one of them. So when some people willingly choose to do this, I respect it. Having professed my undying love for our soldiers, it is no brainer that soldiers are not necessarily good rulers. The rigid discipline of the army can be useful in small doses for national morale but in policy formulation and international negotiations, it may not be very useful. Now let us talk about trust in the future. For all our flaws as a country, we stand a better chance of crawling our way out of poverty than reversing the gains we have made over the last 20 years through a...

The UN says African refugees in Libya are paying their way into detention centres in the hope of eventually being resettled out of the war-torn, lawless country. But why would they not? In The Gambia, the country does not appear to have any plans for their citizens who have returned from Libya. Leading social scientists are saying it is morally wrong for the IOM and EU to repatriate Gambian nationals. Listen to the latest edition of the 77 percent as I explore the challenges faced by returnees. https://www.dw.com/en/the-77-percent-what-should-africa-do-with-people-who-leave-but-are-forced-to-return/av-50937239

By Dr. S. Kwaku Afesorgbor, Centre for Trade Analysis and Development The depreciation of the Ghanaian Cedi has now become a perennial crisis. Overtime, we have come to the realization that the depreciation of the currency is structural and not necessarily due any form of mismanagement of the economy by the government in power. This mainly because this trend of annual depreciation is historical and successive governments have failed to stall its occurrence. Ghana’s current vice president, Dr. Bawumia, in a series of public lectures, highlighted the discrepancy between the exchange rate and inflation. Figure 1 below provides anecdotal evidence of the continuous discrepancy between inflation and exchange rate overtime in Ghana. Discrepancy between inflation and exchange rate The theoretical underpinning of the relationship between inflation and exchange rates is the relative purchasing power parity (PPP). Through PPP, the appreciation or depreciation of the exchange rate shoul...

April 10, 2018 J. Atsu Amegashie Prof of Economics University of Guelph Ontario Canada In fulfillment of his campaign promise of creating six new regions or facilitating the process for the possible creation of six regions, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, created the position of minister of regional re-organization and development and, in accordance with article 5(2) of the Constitution, he also "appointed a commission of inquiry to inquire into the demand and to make recommendations on all the factors involved in the creation, alteration" of the new regions. The Commission -- chaired by Justice Stephen Brobbey, a retired Supreme Court judge -- is soliciting the views of the general public. Proposals to split regions in Ghana are not new. During his vetting in parliament, Dan Botwe, the minister of regional re-organization and development, said that the NDC proposed five new regions while the NPP proposed four new regions. He referred to this as “a meeting of ...

 -Why laws don’t engender disclosure of sexual abuse in Ghana. She was five or six, Mary can’t recall but she remembers vividly what happened on several nights for the next 5 years while she shared a room with her cousin. “He would approach my bed each night” she says, “pull down my pant and …”. “It was Christmas, 2006”, NY recounts. “After church service, my sister and I followed him home because he said he wanted to change his outfit and take us out”. Later she recalls that her mother called her sister to assist her in making dinner so she was left alone with him, he locked the door. She was 16, he was 25. “It was early morning, I went to the staff common room to ensure that everything was in place,” says MJ, a third victim of sexual abuse. Then she met a teacher who had come in early to prepare for his class. “He asked me to help him with something, when I got close, he tried to hold my breasts”. These three women do not want to be named, they fear the stigma of sexu...

Introduction In a world where the concept of space is constantly changing, (Scholte, 2005, p. 59) one issue in one corner of the globe affects other parts. That is the case for Hunger. This paper analyses Hunger in Africa as seen by the media in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. The paper evaluates two news reports on Hunger within the four main paradigms of International politics (realism, liberalism, international political economy (IPE) and constructivism). The paper will then identify some of the common biases and trends inherent in the reports. Much of the analysis will rely heavily on statistics, data and theories forming the basis for argumentation. The concluding part of the paper will argue for a multi-approach to analyzing problems within International Relations. This paper holds the view that problems cannot be understood sufficiently by relying on a single paradigm. It is by adopting this multi-paradigm approach that the media can improve on its re...

The world over, issues of succession have often generated conflict. The concept of itself is a thorny issue especially in situations where there are no clear lines of succession and there are many ‘rightful’ heirs to a seat of authority. History is awash with man examples of this problem. notable among them is the Spanish Succession (1701–14) which arose out of the disputed succession to the throne of Spain following the death of the childless Charles II.  Then there is an example that you may be quite familiar with in our own country, the issues to do with Andanis and Abudus or the Dagbon crises. Historically when chieftaincy or ruler-ship feuds mix up with religion, the death tolls are often very heavy. This is particularly true because often in religion, arbitration is done by humans on behalf of the divine and who knows that the divine wants? This brings me to the crust of my epistle this evening. Years ago, a rift was opened between Sunni and Shiad moslems over the suc...

The Deputy Greater Accra Regional Minister-designate Isaac Vanderpuije has stated that he would support any action to deal with the Okada menace in the capital. Even though commercial motorbike activity has been banned; the business seems to be flourishing in the capital. Taking his turn at the vetting committee Isaac Vanderpuije indicated that since there is a law that deals with people who infringe on the law, he is ready to work with the Minister to curb the situation. “Once Okada is outlawed in our statutory book I will support any action by my regional minister or any institution to deal with this menace” he said. He advised that the Okada riders should be approached in a humane way.

The Republic of Ghana is named after the medieval West African Ghana Empire,[1] The Empire became known in Europe and Arabia as the Ghana Empire by the title of its emperor, the Ghana. The Empire appears to have broken up following the 1076 conquest by the Almoravid General Abu-Bakr Ibn-Umar. A reduced kingdom continued to exist after Almoravid rule ended, and the Kingdom was later incorporated into subsequent Sahelian empires, such as the Mali Empire several centuries later. Geographically, the ancient Ghana Empire was approximately 500 miles (800 km) north and west of the modern state of Ghana, and controlled territories in the area of the Sénégal river and east towards the Niger rivers, in modern Senegal, Mauritania and Mali. Historically, modern Ghanaian territory was the core of the Empire of Ashanti, which was one of the most advanced states in sub-Sahara Africa in the 18–19th centuries, before colonial rule. It is said that at its peak, the King of Ashanti could field 500,0...

Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in more than 200 countries. It is produced by the Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta , Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke. Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century by John Pemberton, Coca-Cola was bought out by businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft-drink market throughout the 20th century. The company produces concentrate, which is then sold to licensed Coca-Cola bottlers throughout the world. Millward Brown’s 2005 report on the world’s most valuable brands placed Coca-Cola at number one with a value of $55 billion. Millward Brown’s seventh annual BrandZ report of 2012 published on 24th May 2012 once again placed Coca Cola at number 6 of the world’s most valuable brands. Based on Interbrand's best global brand 2011, Coca-Cola was the world's most valuable brand. These points are indications of Coca Cola’s success ...

Love is a fragile thing and we are not always its best caretakers. We just muddle through and do the best we can and hope this fragile thing survives against all odds. So it’s another day in my life. It’s actually morning. Today I am off-duty so am lying in bed staring at the ceiling wondering what I can do with my day. Just as I lay there I drift off into imaginations. Am rudely snapped out of my introspective time by the buzzing of my phone, I reach for it behind the pillow. My fingers caress the phone, I feel the vibration, lazily, I haul the phone to me. I look on the screen. Displayed on the screen is a familiar number, I feel my facial muscles move; I can’t tell if it’s a smile or a meaningless neurological activity. Like the north and south poles of a magnet, my phone is quickly attracted to my ear. The words escape from my lips ‘hello’. In the first try my voice is hoarse so I clear my throat and try again ‘hello’, this one sounds better. The voice on the other s...

EU to sanction Cote d'Ivoire - Africa - Al Jazeera English

About this time last year, many American families were sharing Thanksgiving leftovers and curious conversations about a traffic accident involving the world's most famous golfer. Almost a year has passed since the Tiger Woods' car accident outside his Florida home that spiraled into a sex scandal that dominated headlines, ended his marriage and caused him to take a break from golf. While his story last year was filled with scandal, talk around the Thanksgiving table this year may be more about redemption. "Obviously, this has been a very difficult year for me and my family, on and off the golf course," Woods wrote this week on his official website. The Thanksgiving-weekend accident last year outside the couple's home in Florida shattered Woods once tightly-controlled image and led to the golfer's admission that he had engaged in multiple affairs during his nearly six-year marriage. Authorities were alerted of the crash near Woods' Orlando-area hom...

The National Service Scheme (NSS) has deployed a total of 50 000 personnel to serve in various sectors of the economy as part of their national service. Mr. Vincent Senam Kuagbenu, Executive Director NSS disclosed this yesterday at a press conference to officially announce postings for the 2010/2011 service year. He said over 32,375 personnel have been posted to the educational sector, 5,135 to the health sector, 200 are to go into promotion of tourism, and 2,281 are to provide support in the private sector. Mr. Kuagbenu continued that 10,278 personnel have been posted to government institutions to provide support for governance institutions, 400 personnel are to go into forestry, 170 personnel are to provide support services for Persons with Disability (PWD), and 200 have been posted to the Ghana highway authority. According to him, 400 national personnel have been posted to various houses of chiefs to provide support for the chieftaincy institution. The Executive Director...

Babies in the Kasina-Nankana district of the Upper East Region with disabilities till this day suffer at the hands of clansmen who deprive these children of their lives with the belief that the children are spirits sent by the gods to harm them. In the Kasina-Nankana district indigenes hold the belief that children born with physical deformities or with complex medical conditions are ‘kinkirogo’ or ‘spirit children’ who have been sent to bring calamity on the family to which the child is born. These revelations were contained in a report submitted to the Ghana Federation for the Disabled (GFD) by the Network of Journalists for the Promotion of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa-Ghana chapter (PROMOAFRICA) yesterday in Accra. The report contains findings of research on abuses against persons with disabilities in Upper East and Volta regions. The report continued that when such a child is born the family of the child sends that child to a fetish priest who gives ...