April 2019

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 29 April, 2019 Last Tuesday, Joy FM, an Accra based radio station featured a tourism story on its business news monitored between 1:10 and 1:14pm. After the news anchor had introduced the story the voice over was just about 60 seconds, describing tourism in Ghana, Morocco, South Africa…..it was too short with very little detail. But you cannot blame the reporter; it was not a feature story. The report stated that Ghana had a shoreline of about 560KM, compared that with Morocco’s and talked about Morocco focusing on two of its most important tourist departure nations and granting theirRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 26 April, 2019 When she said, “I shall speak from the heart,” it became a poor speech delivery moment for Ursula Owusu Ekuful, Ghana’s minister for communications. What followed was a public relations disaster. This was when she inaugurated (“dedicated”) the Wisconsin University studios in Accra on Wednesday. In the end, she stated: “His Excellency President Akufo-Addo has told the nation he is in a hurry, so he has given all of us [appointees] the marching orders”. This is not a petty matter, for, I had to take time to explain to university students studying communications the import ofRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 24 April, 2019 The Adom TV African movie broadcast on Holy Thursday is unpardonable; it was titled “Cocoa Krakye Part 3” and aired between 10:20 and 10:45am. During this period the protagonists, led by Kojo Nkansah popularly called Lil Win, repeatedly used the terms Fante woman and Ashanti man, and used expressions and actions to stereotype Fante women as very caring people who use their cooking skills to snatch other women’s husbands. Conversely, Ashanti men were portrayed as aggressive and playboys who will abandon all their responsibilities just to date a woman, using their wealth as a bait. ItRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 22 April, 2019 Old students have been helping their alma mater for years, but some of the details will shock you. Let us take the case of two secondary schools in Ghana to highlight a serious national problem, one more example that confirms my mentor’s quip “underdevelopment has many facets”. First Legon Presec in Accra. The 1994 year groups (of the O and A Level old system, and the current system) by tradition will host this year’s speech and prize giving day and donate a project to mark their 25th anniversary. These old students want to donate an e-library.Read More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAHAccra – 19 April, 2019 Lecturing or teaching in Ghana’s academic institutions has never appealed to the aspirational class. This is a personal observation for which I have no hard data, but nothing in the history of Ghana points to the contrary. When our secondary school Economics teacher asked how many will like to teach, I was the only one who raised my hand, and the teacher promptly used that to justify his absences and why he wanted to leave. Everyone empathized with him. “Most of our College or University lecturers don’t hold the PhD. So we have given them time toRead More →

By Lilly Adjorkor ADJEI Tema – 17 April, 2019 There are groups of people I have found are especially misunderstood, labelled and teased for what they are not: people who practice sexual abstinence and wait until marriage and Tom boys or Tom girls. A voluntary decision to abstain from engaging in any sexual activity, usually for religious reasons is what is defined as chastity. It has been with mankind for thousands of years. But these days such persons are labelled “Holier than Thou”, or classified together with those who identify as lesbian or gay. In Ghana, this brings untold pressure on women in their 20sRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 14 April, 2019 This article is for every shade of opinion about the man of the week; mythical figure; dreadlock Rastafarian; Nazarite; Nazarene; Son of Man; son of God. “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth”, authored by Reza Aslan, is considered controversial. Aslan gives facts about the events surrounding the Passion Week (Holy Week), sourcing from Josephus, and other true and proper evidences of Biblical knowledge. He then places everything in context so that the reader can see a justification for why Jesus could not have escaped the events of Good Friday. Aslan leads arguments toRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 12 April, 2019 The Woodin photo of a poolside model is not good enough and exposes how we continue to cavort with ignorance. If Woodin intends to show us a swimming costume then Ghana is in even more serious trouble. We shall not even get into the hair design and accessories; we must be charitable. Three culprits are identifiable; first, the ad agency; second the Woodin corporate affairs team; and third, the standards of the society within which such life-threatening communication thrive. Ad agencies the world over have such a meticulous process of managing an account. Let us examineRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 10 April, 2019 The Sunday evening rains gave Ghana the most appropriate theme for World Health Day 2019, but the health authorities stuck with their plan to highlight non-communicable diseases. And that itself shows the layers of crises Ghana faces; talk about leadership that is asleep. For some years now, the Institutional Care Division of the Ghana Health Service has sought to drum up attention to the threat posed by non-communicable diseases – diseases such as diabetes that are not infectious but are ending lives. The theme for this year still kept that promise: “Universal Health Coverage [UHC]: Everyone,Read More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 8 April, 2019 Something very significant happened in the Jubilee House last month; the inauguration of the National Population Council (NPC). Using the appropriate development communication tools such as public education through radio and TV, the NPC can reorient the nation’s thinking about population matters. Dr Gladys Norley Ashitey, former deputy health minister and chairperson of the newly inaugurated 23-member NPC, responding to the president, said: ‘We are encouraged by the President’s vision to give Ghanaians a better life’. And what did the president have for the NPC board? ‘I want to assure you of government’s support in thisRead More →