Isaac Ato Mensah (Page 11)

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 6 September, 2019 The Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG) has released a report on their probe into the Ghana Banking Scandal – after one full year! So yet again, true to form – as happens in ghana every week, at least one high public official or institution does or says something that raises more questions than provides answers; this time it is the ICAG…..and a few others. The ICAG report details “errors” committed by auditing firms – not individual auditors – against International Accounting Standards (IAS) and recommends punishment in the form of huge monetary fines, but onlyRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH 5 September, 2019. BlueCrest University College has opened up to community participation its online radio that was initially restricted only to student practice. At the same time Ms. Sreemoyee Thapa Dasgupta, the Head of the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism, has announced Isaac Ato Mensah as the new Station Manager. “We are henceforth forming a BlueCrest Radio Club,” stated Dr Anand Agrawal, Rector of BlueCrest College at a meeting last Thursday called to discuss the new direction for BCC Radio. “We are inviting the general public to join and the club will be modelled on the best university clubs anywhereRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 2 September, 2019. The directive by Ambrose Dery, Ghana’s interior minister, that traffic police should carry arms is dangerous. It’s only value is to boost police morale. But it could also easily be the beginning of many more gun battles in an indisciplined nation with millions of unlicensed light weapons and porous borders. Yet again, our underachieving politicians have resorted to knee-jerk reactions aided by woefully ill-prepared special assistants who cannot dare disagree with their bosses on the basis of facts, evidence and reason. “The police will be provided with bulletproof equipment, vests and helmets to enable the policeRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAHAccra – 28 August, 2019 Professor Ransford Gyampo’s article with the title “African elections thrive on fame and popularity” published on ghanaweb.com on 26 August, 2019 is not airtight. In a society where according to Ghana’s Ministry of Education, the average publication per lecturer per year is 0.5 or one publication every two years, any publication by a faculty member is welcome and should be carefully appraised. We must read them keenly since some of the students, ( – if they read!), that employers will hire would have been influenced by such perspectives and precepts. Let us examine the thinking behind theRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 26 August, 2019 Arnold Boateng resigned last week from the board of Ghana’s National Youth Authority, with a curiously worded letter. He alleged wrongdoing and yet refused to disclose details on grounds of an “oath of secrecy”. “It all beggars belief,” my mentor concluded in exasperation. “An oath of secrecy does not cover wrongdoing or illegality.” To those who might want to debate what an oath of secrecy is not: Will you accept that Bank of Ghana officials refuse to disclose to a judge details of the banking scandal because they swore an oath of secrecy? The position ofRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 22 August, 2019 Senyo Hosi, Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber of Bulk Oil Distributors is the latest to criticize the poor state of education in Ghana. A video of his comments has gone viral. Prof. Peter Quartey, also an alumus, in his response to Hosi’s scathing criticism said that they the lecturers do “think” but “the students do not read”. Interestingly, Prof. Ransford Gyampo, a UG lecturer, who has been relentless in advocating academic freedom has responded to Hosi, telling him in a write-up, “I wasn’t there else I would have stopped you, trust me,” and suggesting furtherRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 19 August, 2019 Last weekend Ga Mashie celebrated the Homowo (Hɔmɔwɔ) – the festival for hooting at hunger. On Saturday, Nuumo Blafo, the priest of the Blafo deity of Asere (Asɛrɛ) in Ga Mashie invited his friends to celebrate with him at the Asere ancestral home in Ga Mashie close to Usher Fort, Accra. The home has been in existence for over 300 years. Blafo is a deity the Asere took from the Akwamu in a compromise deal. The Ga gave it to Nii Oto, Otublohum Mantse to assist him during a war. The Otublohum people are the AkwamuRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 14 August, 2019 Last weekend at the 2nd Eastern Regional Ghana Journalists Association awards, the Okyenhene charged journalists to “speak truth to power”. We have in the recent past quoted DM Ofori-Atta, his spokesperson in the “Atewa Range Forest Reserve” article, “Okyenhene ɔse ɔnkasa biom,” meaning, “The Okyenhene says he won’t speak about the Atewa bauxite matter again”. But his message in Koforidua was clear and powerful: journalists should speak truth to power! What is he to do again when he has cautioned forcefully and tactfully against mining bauxite in a natural, protected, internationally recognized, West African Rainforest withRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Takoradi – 12 August, 2019 The recent death of Toni Morrison, 88, the revered African-American novelist and Nobel Prize winner has motivated us to revisit the debate about qualification for a teaching position in Ghana’s universities. This August, as a new semester begins, many lecturers are losing their positions because they are a “skirt and blouse”. As per the policy of our National Accreditation Board (NAB), “Skirt and Blouse” simply means your bachelor’s and Masters and or PhD are in different disciplines. And by NAB standards, you cannot teach undergrad students in your PhD field because that is not what youRead More →

By Isaac Ato MENSAH Takoradi – 9 August, 2019 The recent ill-advised comments by prophet Emmanuel Badu Kobi have enraged the whole nation. But sadly stereotyping is not at all uncommon in Ghana. Many people place strange labels on Ashantis, Fantes, Ewes, “Northerners”, “Southerners”, soldiers, policemen or Whites; they make sweeping conclusions without any basis. What Ghanaians should learn from today is what my mentor has always said: “Academia and practice can never be divorced from each other”. Next time you declare something sweeping or even particular about say teenagers, give your audience “a reference point…..a chapter and verse” as my mentor has always insisted.Read More →