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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – Friday 2 September, 2022 Reverend Sister Mary Consolata Agyapong HDR has attained the big 8-0 – happy birthday and congratulations to you Reverend Sister!  Even at 80, the modesty that has characterised Sister Consolata’s more than 50 years as a nun is still evident: the celebration is low key, with this article being the only high pitch sound marking the octogenarian’s present station in life. True to convention, when I informed Sister that I wanted to write this article she asked to preview it before publication all in a bid to ensure modesty.  Yes, even the Teacher from GalileeRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – Friday 28 January 2022 As I enter into birthday mode, it is time to share a bit more about myself with our favourite readers. Some say I am a “fake writer”; that I do not exist.  Others still believe some people have been writing for me.  I do not begrudge them; they’re not alone in that belief; my friends/acquaintances may be puzzled that an introvert could be so blunt. At age 22, I was asked at 24 hours notice by Reverend Father Joseph Egblewogbe, then assistant parish priest of Martyrs of Uganda Catholic Church, Mamprobi, Accra, to deliver inRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – Tuesday 25 January, 2022 Anumnyam Anumnyam, formerly known as Nii Anum Telfer, a 71 year old poet and art lover, has made history by discovering and compiling primary source records on the peri-independence years of Ghana accumulated by his grandfather – hidden in plain sight in his home. I first met Anumnyam when as a radio station manager, I arranged an interview for him at Radio Latenu 96.1MHz in 2017, in order to publicise “Olewu”, his book on leadership.  Olewu is a children’s story book approved by the Ministry of Education’s erstwhile Curriculum Research and Development Division, for moralRead More →

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By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – Thursday 20 January, 2022 Does Ashesi University have a writing centre and a customer service protocol?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  I went to Ashesi University at Brekuso, on Monday 17 January, but was turned away by a hostile trio of security guards or gatemen.   Ashesi has branded itself as an atypical ghanaian institution so I went there to seek a collaboration with their Writing Centre for my writing consultancy business.  On reaching the main entrance, to my shock and dismay, a security guard told me emphatically, “There is no writing centre here”.  I asked them whether it was their expectationRead More →

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  Authored by Rev. E.A.W. Engmann; Regnum Africa 2021: ISBN 9 789988 3 19625    Manuscript compiled by Rev. Dr. Philip T. Laryea, Akrofi-Christaller Institute   Review by Isaac Ato Mensah, Accra – 30 December, 2021 When I was growing up in Accra, never once was I made to feel awkward for being literate in Ga or for speaking Ga, which is not my ethnic language.  Sadly today, I have become accustomed to being asked whether I am a Ga indegene anytime I speak Ga in public.  It is a sign of the times for such a question does not make sense.  But I am not naive: stereotypesRead More →

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By Isaac Ato MENSAH Accra – 27 December, 2021 There were strong feelings, sadness and even manifestations of grief from mature men with strict morals at the Borstal Institute, Dzorwulu, Accra, on Thursday 23 December when the United Grand Lodge of England, English District in Ghana held a luncheon with the inmates.  The five-member delegation from the District Grand Lodge was led by the District Grand Master, and included the District Grand Secretary. Brother MA, a key advocate of the visitation, who was part of this second annual visit on Thursday could not hide his emotion. The visit had clearly stirred something in him. EarlierRead More →

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  By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 20 December, 2021 Contracting leprosy was one of the most tragic things that could have happened to an individual in the ancient world.  Whenever a person with leprosy [- not leper!] was around other people, they were required to shout “unclean, unclean,” so passersby would know to keep their distance.  People affected by leprosy were required to live “alone, outside the camp,” so as to reduce the risk of transmitting their disease to others (Leviticus 13:45-46). To become infected with leprosy was to be isolated and humiliated perpetually. In order to remove this stigma from people affected byRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 15 December, 2021 “I’d like to see a situation where women have just as much freedom as the men do. Maybe I’m talking ahead of my time. Because women in Ghana traditionally do not have so much freedom,” said Eudora Quartey, circa 1974.  Those words were contained in the BBC documentary “A Girl Named Eudora”, accessed on Youtube on 8 December 2021. Mrs Eudora Quartey-Koranteng, the respected Ghanaian diplomat who until her sudden passing on 20 October this year was ambassador to Italy with concurrent accreditation to several other nations, was known for dressing elegantly and appropriately; she wasRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 7 December, 2021 “Exams do not define us, exams cannot define you,” was one of the maxims I created to intersperse my whiteboard lessons as I took the whole of 2021 off blogging to homeschool my two teenage sons.  We had all the time to complete the various WASSCE and BECE syllabi, and even go “above sylla” into American College Board, the O- and A-Levels, Indian curricular, and university level courses.  We created breaktime and holidays, but we worked harder than at regular school; we started at 6am and closed at 10pm daily.  The COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana forcedRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 12 February, 2021 A letter signed by Beatrice Ama Ntanu, Director of Valley View University Basic Schools and dated Feb 3 2021, notified parents that the teaching of Ga language will be phased out for lower primary due to lack of teachers; it immediately went viral. An insider staff familiar with the matter confirmed the letter to writersghana.com, and explained that the students who had  elected to read Ga had been performing poorly at the BECE.   This Valley View University’s Basic School Ga language policy is unacceptable for many reasons.  From the beginning, the National Council for Tertiary EducationRead More →