November 2018

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 28 November, 2018.   His Grace Charles Gabriel Palmer-Buckle last Sunday declared the official celebrations of the 125th anniversary of the Accra Catholic Mission closed. I arrived at 7:55am at the Independence Square, Accra; I had been warned – nay, I knew that if I did not arrive early, I could struggle to find a seat. At the east end the usual rubbish pile was in full view. ‘No need to take pictures; I will always find this rubbish here,’ I always assured myself anytime I passed by with my phone’s batteries running low. On Good Friday, after DagRead More →

  By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 26 November, 2018. The University of Ghana (UG) main campus at Legon offers many scenic attractions; there are many places that students and former students have still not seen. But since virtually everyone goes through the main gate, the Bush Canteen is unmistakable. It is a stone’s throw right of the main gate, seated southeast of the campus and showing the shameful retrogression in the entire nation’s pursuit of truth and integrity; our compromise with mediocrity; our spineless approach to solving existential problems. ‘You mean students eat there?,’ a friend asked when I showed him the pictures. ‘IRead More →

  By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 24 November, 2018.   Media owners and managers in Ghana are struggling; and they appear to shout with one voice, ‘Are we in business or we are in voluntary service?’. How can we forget TV Africa? Today, it only produces a voice over blended with library files popularly referred to as post production. Another example, is the EIB Media Network of Dr Kwabena Duffuor, former governor of Bank of Ghana and former finance minister. It should have been easy, for, having established a bank and an insurance company, his media managers could expect a ready-made client base thatRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra- 21 November, 2018. The University of Ghana (UG) has introduced a four-hour document request service – and it works! But you will spend the whole day there if you want to prove its efficacy. The usual 2 days, 3 days, one week or two weeks waiting period for documents is still there; nothing has changed except the cost per printed copy. Going to the UG registry in pursuit of such documents is an uphill task –both literally and figuratively. If you are not a millennial, I am sure you still have mixed feelings of the walk up and down theRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra- 19 November, 2018. At the 23rd Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) Awards, individual journalists working with the Graphic Group won 11 out of 36 individual awards, that is, nearly a third. The Graphic Group also won four institutional awards. Whilst the Graphic Team is celebrating, the rest of the discerning public is saying: ‘Who buys Graphic anyways and who reads Graphic at all?’ ‘Content will still be important….writing will still be relevant,’ Professor Audrey Gadzekpo, dean of the School of Information and Communication Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, observes on the death of the newspaper. Writing, as in print journalism, isRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra- 16 November, 2018. Yesterday’s 2019 budget speech by Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s finance minister offers several teaching points. Let us begin by looking at the speech writing and presentation angle. The speech was widely advertised on social media as beginning at 10am. From that time onwards, listeners and media houses that wanted to broadcast it live had scheduled their programming to accommodate that. The finance minister ended at 2:16pm. ‘Honourable Minister, you may wait,’ the speaker announced as the heckling became overbearing.‘ I may have to extend the time if I have to.’ When the chamber of Parliament became quieter, theRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra- 14 November, 2018. The cat is out of the bag; Consolidated Bank Ghana (CBG) is a poisoned chalice. This was confirmed by Thiaru Ndugu, deputy managing director of CBG at a meeting with the staff in Accra this week, reports Nana Oye Ankrah for citibusinessnews.com on 12 November, 2018. ‘We are trying as much as possible to consult the customers and make them understand exactly what is happening. We were given a bond and that is the only cashflow we can pay depositors with. We held a meeting with them [financial institutions, and savings and loans companies who have investmentsRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra- 12 November, 2018. ‘Prof Paul K. Nyame, chairman of the Ghana Medical and Dental Council has advised medical students to wear their white coats while on study clerking or studying as students,’ myjoyonline.com has reported. ‘He noted that the wearing of the white coat onwards needs to be enforced by hospital authorities even when they have graduated as doctors and dental surgeons. According to him, patients feel reassured to see a doctor who turns out in a professional look.’ The distinguished professor was speaking at the fifth White Coat Ceremony (WCC) of the School of Medicine and Dentistry held onRead More →

By Isaac A to MENSAH Accra- 9 November, 2018. Dr Francis Ibrahim-Betonsi, let us call him FBI, is newsworthy for his resilience. After he’s spent six years of suffering in limbo, the Ghana Health Service has this week started restoring him to the status quo ante; to his schedule as medical officer; it is not a promotion. ‘The general practitioner…was victimised and falsely accused of a mental illness by some superiors and subjected to four psychiatric assessments all of which saw him cleared as normal, reported ghanaweb.com on 7 November, 2018. ‘When he refused to submit himself for yet another psychiatric examination, he was subtlyRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra- 7 November, 2018.   On 12 October, Catherine Afeku, minister for tourism, arts and culture launched the maiden issue of See Ghana Magazine. The venue was the Kempinski aka the go to place for the posh; the latest craze in town, the upscale location that lends class, and gravitas to functions. The Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City Accra is located right next to the government ministries at Ridge Accra; it is just a stone’s throw from Tema Station, at the entrances of which stand several public toilets!!! It has a taxi rank in front of it and a few tableRead More →