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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 3 March, 2020 There have been many times in ghana when other professionals have rightly accused journalists of a lack of simple comprehension of the facts. This therefore calls for a constant watch on our public discourse by all and sundry. It is a tough assignment since every single day all kinds of factual errors and unenlightened thoughts and ideas are bandied about in our ghanaian public space. Worst of all, these are often written up and lodged on the Internet proving disgraceful and dishonorable to the country as a whole. Policing and exposing these terrible ideas is almostRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 28 February, 2020 Professor Aaron Michael Oquaye, Ghana’s Speaker of Parliament has an “Ahenfie mentality” – a term I borrowed from my mentor. That means Mr. Speaker acts as if the House is a chief’s palace where he is lord of all he surveys, a place where he should be patronised at all times. On Wednesday, Mr. Speaker summoned the dean of the Parliamentary Press Corps (PPC) and the director of Public Affairs of Parliament to a meeting and threatened that since journalists left the press gallery to cover a press briefing by the Minority MP for Ellembele, heRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 26 February, 2020 At the 70th anniversary lecture of Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in November, Dr. Kweku Rockson, a former Rector of Ghana Institute of Journalism was given advance notice as speaker to define who a journalist is. Unfortunately, he dodged the question. But the reality is that just as the GJA was seeking clarity from an academic who obfuscated, undergraduate mass communication students in Ghana will always corner lecturers, and ask where to specialise. On Monday, Ms X, sitting alone in a classroom cornered me about whether she will be on the right path if she chooses Journalism.Read More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 17 February, 2020 Gaso is tomato gravy with spices; it was not soup, but so much water was added and some other ingredients that gave it the appearance/look of gas oil, hence Gaso. At the Presbyterian Boys Secondary School, Legon, Accra, Gaso was often served on boiled rice or with Ga kenkey. Choco Milo; these were chunks of corned beef about the size of a small match box which did not feature everyday in the Gaso, had a queer taste and boys often wondered whether it had expired. And when we complained, the message often got to the headmaster,Read More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 12 February, 2020 Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s finance minister’s strategy of external borrowing while using the GDP as a yardstick of debt sustainability is problematic. This month USD3bn has been added to our sovereign debt; and in March he plans to borrow another USD750million. Often we hear henchmen say: “Keep quiet and let’s listen to expert opinion; Do you know more than Ken?”; his educational credentials are used as a basis to deflect critics. Last week when Frank Laporte, the World Bank Country Director visited the Speaker of Parliament, he reportedly told the Speaker that Ghana’s debt status is atRead More →

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By Desmond Osae-Amponsah(BlueCrest College BA MassComm Class of 2023)BlueCrest Accra – 7 February, 2020 I went to Avatime Vane on a Pauline mission on 1 November 2019, responding to the cry “Come to Avatime and help us”. Despite their poverty, my “Woezor” or welcome was so special that I have decided to research and uplift the town and link it to the fortunes of BlueCrest College, where I am schooling. I had wanted to visit Avatime due to a story published on 4 July 2011 on ghanabusinessnews.com culled from GNA. In the story, Evans Ostyina, Vice President of Avatime Gemi Otoga Eco-tourism Society, announced atRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 31 January, 2020 Public service broadcasting (PSB) shall always be relevant in the midst of media pluralism, more especially in our present continuously deteriorating national circumstances. Hence, the recent formation of a committee of National Media Commission (NMC), headed by Elizabeth Ohene, to among other things determine whether Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) can continue with PSB is ill-advised and a waste of our taxes. There are numerous other reasons. First, the 15-member NMC itself should be capable of advising GBC. Second, GBC has a board of directors appointed by NMC. Third, GBC has a management team. Fourth, can theRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 29 January, 2020 The huge financial malfeasance involving Isabella dos Santos, Africa’s richest woman and aided by international professional bodies, as recently revealed by the mammoth stack of documents procured by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, has highlighted the need to scrutinize the private and public lives of ghanaian business gurus. In a previous business project, friends directed me to an auditing/advisory firm guru for advice on how to get corporate clients in ghana, since he had provided advisory services for years in the country with great success. Let me rephrase and paraphrase the perspective the guru profferedRead More →

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By Ummu Kusum Mohammed Accra – 27 January, 2020 Last year, there was an argument in my class between my lecturer and myself about the wearing of wigs by us female students in our mid twenties, instead of our own beautiful curled natural hair. That debate remains a burning issue but maybe the Miss Universe pageant 2019, won by Zozibini Tunzi, Miss South Africa in December will help the matter rest. “I am not just teaching you to write and pass an exam, but it is also my duty, as your lecturer to shape and brand you as who you are – real Africans. OurRead More →

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By Andra Nana Akua Mensah (BlueCrest College BA MassComm Class of 2023) BlueCrest Accra – 24 January, 2020 We have bad news from Glefe: yet again, a lagoon -a Ramsar site, is being destroyed by turning it into a garbage dump. Instead of the refuse collectors popularly known as Borla Borla, who use tricycles fixed with buckets, taking the refuse and dumping it at the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) recognized dump sites, they take it to Glefe instead. “This place is very good for us because we save fuel and also we pay less to dump the refuse here,” said one Borla Borla man. TheRead More →