July 2019

By Isaac Ato MENSAH/Augustine WILLIAMS-MENSAH Accra – 31 July, 2019 Recently, Cecilia Dapaah, Ghana’s sanitation and water resources minister, was heard chastising an intern journalist with Adom FM. If she had just thought for a moment that the intern could be a mystery client, she certainly would have answered the caller whom she did not know more professionally. The problem however was caused by Adom FM, who decided to record the minister without her consent, kept the audio for more than a week, and exercised a poor editorial decision to publish it. Funnily enough the conflict has been resolved the ghanaian way – the ministerRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 29 July, 2019 The Thanksgiving Mass for the late Clement K. Tedam, 94, was held successfully on Sunday at the Martyrs of Uganda Catholic Church, Mamprobi, Accra. The usual church and state bromance was present – presidential delegation arriving late with a siren when the Gospel was being read; paid party hirelings chanting right into the entrance to disturb the solemnity of the occasion; soldiers and policemen moving about with guns; a poor address by a party general secretary who told us when introducing the delegation that “it is not in order of hierarchy” yet mentions POTROG in thatRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 26 July, 2019 Our blog, writersghana.com, is one year old today – and we have been publishing thrice weekly since 26 July 2018. To God be the glory. “The only way to learn how to write is to write,” says my mentor. So I started writing to elevate my writing skills and continuously improve. To do this we decided to subject any article or story written for this blog to international peer review. Today’s blogpost is number 153. The learning has been tremendous. For our prospective clients what this means is that any work we undertake for them meetsRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 24 July, 2019 Martin A.B.K. Amidu, the Special Prosecutor (SP), has had his say in his first published article since he got the job. The message is clear; he is being frustrated. Our unsolicited advice; he should pack his personal files and walk. Amidu is strong willed and determined but perhaps the current situation has rendered his mission a bridge too far. Let us read carefully the first paragraph of his latest article published 16 July, 2019 on martinamidu.com. “The biggest challenge facing the Office of the Special Prosecutor as an anti-corruption investigatory and prosecutorial body in spite ofRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 22 July, 2019 The literature tells us that when the Trojan war had gone on for some years, there were many who did not even know what started the war but they continued fighting. Today, on the Gregory Afoko matter, many are “talking some” ……offering opinions, or “bad comments” without knowing how the war started. Lawyers are bashing each other about whether Gregory Afoko had properly met his bail conditions before the attorney general went shopping for another high court to keep him incarcerated. First let us list the dramatis personae in this melodrama and then as always weRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 20 July, 2019 The raging debate over the public universities bill leaves so much to be desired. Ministry of Education (MOE) reps and university dons are needlessly attacking each other. It is not at all clear which principles if any are in the picture. Let us examine the philosophy behind the proposed bill. We have surmised four main objectives. First; uniform conditions of service for all staff of Ghana’s public universities. Second; a uniform financial management regime. Universities are spending without regard to the Public Financial Management Act. Third; uniform governance structures. Fact: this aspect predates the KNUST andRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAHAccra – 15 July, 2019 Free Secondary Education (FSE) in Ghana or anywhere in the world has nothing to do with affordability. “Whatever we can do….. wherever we can find the resources…… we should and we MUST do it,” President Akufo-Addo has once said. The prevailing national statistics on literacy are disconcerting. Published research evidence show that an educated population will keep a healthier environment and improve personal hygiene which has a correlation with better health outcomes within the population, especially for women. Thus, FSE is a laudable equal opportunity policy which when properly executed will also bridge social status gaps withinRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 12 July, 2019 The National Science and Math Quiz (NSMQ) has barely had any positive effect on national attitudes and development. On Thursday, before the quiz, we visited PRESEC, five time winner of the quiz and now eight times finalists to see the sanitation situation there. Fasten your seat belts for the facts are not pleasant. Right behind the administration block and close to the Science labs and the classroom blocks is a huge refuse dump, adjoining a toilet. By toilet we mean a urinal, without water closets. There was open defecation on the urinal floor. “The teachers alwaysRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAHAccra – 10 July, 2019 Can someone please tell Trump he and his administration have just proven that they are “inept” and “uniquely dysfunctional”, and that the White House is divided? Ambassador Sir Kim Darroch, sent by the UK to Washington has done a professional job and sent a PRIVATE report home! I hear myself shouting, “It is a private report. It is not addressed to you…..Am I not entitled to write my observations?…….. This is a matter of convention…… I will not withdraw………It is not addressed to you……..I will not apologize,” in response to a similar battle. Diplomats are not onlyRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAHAccra – 8 July, 2019 This past week has been extremely rough for ghana’s political class. The whole Parliament and several ministers have been caught with their trousers around their ankles on account of wanton arrogance and dishonesty. A.S.K. Bagbin, Second Deputy Speaker, stated on 3 July, 2019 when presiding over the controversial chamber pot debate in Parliament: “What is happening now is eroding the pillar of democracy in the country which is Parliament – that is the pillar of democracy in this country – in fact all over the world and so we should be courteous, careful and cautious about howRead More →