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By Isaac Ato Mensah, Accra – 13 June, 2020 The vice chancellors (VCs) of ghana’s public universities ought to be made of sterner stuff; they should not act like lightweights. When they met POTROG at the Jubilee House, Accra, on Thursday, Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu, Vice Chancellor of University of Ghana (UG) who was their spokesperson said: “You gave an order; that was a Presidential order, that Universities should reopen on the 15th of June. I think somewhere last week, some of the media carried news and I am sure probably some may have gotten to you; that some universities have defied the President’s ordersRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 6 June, 2020 The recent tragic events in the US concerning George Floyd should lead us to understand correctly the underpinnings of race. Otherwise, we run the risk of claiming to work for its rejection while still utilizing its bogus framework. Such a flawed understanding will lead to Elizabeth Ohene’s article “George Floyd: I can breathe here” published Wednesday 3 June on graphic.com.gh, Facebook, and many other places. There are no races only human beings. Kwame Anthony Appiah, the philosopher and many other scholars have succinctly explained this; scientists have proven this. Therefore in 21st century journalism it isRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 3 June, 2020 Individual members of the Catholic Association of Media Practitioners-Ghana (CAMP-G) have bared their fangs in response to our article titled “The Silence on Ghana’s Roman Catholic Front”. While none of them have disputed any of the facts and questions/issues raised in the article, there are insistent concerns about what the motive of the article is. Sadly, some have demeaned themselves by hurling a baseless charge of “hatred” of the church. Does the Catholic church in ghana not complain about National Health Insurance Scheme arrears, comprehensive sexuality education, etc, etc? So, if there is a trending globalRead More →

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By Lilly Adjorkor AdjeiAccra –  2 June, 2020 “All the advances we made [are] in terms of equality [but] now so many women are going to end up back in their homes,” Laura Baena, the Spanish gender activist/campaigner has said. “We’re going to be the big losers in this [novel Coronavirus] crisis.” She was speaking to The Guardian of the UK on 29 May, about a petition launched by Yo No Renuncio, a social movement group. “The messages I’m getting are desperate,” she added. “The objective right now is survival”. Her message resonates with many women across the globe. But how did income disparities forRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 31 May, 2020 The Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC) has been uncharacteristically quiet over the long trending sex abuse scandals among its priests that has stretched from Auckland to Aberdeen and from Guam to Guadalajara. Why is that so even as the Catholic church in Ghana has organised various professional groups to help in its indispensable work? Among these are Guild of Catholic Lawyers; Guild of Catholic Doctors; Catholic Association of Media Practitioners-Ghana, formerly called Guild of Catholic Journalists, Guild of Catholic Nurses, etc. It is hard to miss the unconscionable silence of these groups. We should all beRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 22 May, 2020 In an article titled “Why are Africa’s coronavirus successes being overlooked?” Afua Hirsch, the Guardian columnist, selected Senegal and Ghana as best practice examples for the management of the Coronavirus pandemic.  She wrote on Thursday about work on a possible USD1 test kit from Senegal that should use saliva or antibodies versus a 250 pound sterling test kit in the UK that uses polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to test for the novel coronavirus. And in the case of Ghana, she referenced pool testing in which multiple blood samples are tested and then followed up as individualRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 20 May, 2020 Days of both intermittent and constant water shortages are trending in the Accra-Tema conurbation.  Yet, “the president of the Republic” himself, H.E. Nana Akufo-Addo, who has appointed a minister for sanitation and water resources, says Ghana’s approach to managing the Coronavirus pandemic has resulted in the country’s low COVID-19 infection, hospitalisation and death rates, some of the lowest in Africa and the world, according to presidency.gov.gh.  POTROG made the spurious claim at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital on 15 May.  Here is one report on Ghanaweb culled from GNA: “ ‘Our policies are working,’ he said, andRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 15 May 2020 Vicky Quarshie, a headache nurse at the Hull NHS Trust, will be laid to rest today 15 May. The burial service will take place at Haltemprice Chapel at 12:30 UK time. It will be available to Facebook friends and on the funeral home’s website. The middle aged nurse died after a short illness. Born Victoria Louise Banks, the British nurse married my uncle Samuel Ofori Quarshie, a nurse, whom she met at University of Hull, UK. They had two children Lauryn and Robert. Once upon a time Vicky came to Accra to visit her Ghanaian family.Read More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 14 May, 2020 Persons appointed as supreme court justices or to any office of responsibility must be of sound judgement and strict morals. But this week we saw a quintessential ghanaian in action – Justice Honyenuga. On 11 May, to our collective national embarrassment the Appointments Committee of Parliament vetted Justice Clemence Honyenuga, a supreme court nominee, appeals court judge and Paramount Chief of Nyagbo Traditional Area in the Volta Region (stool name; Torgbui Ashui Nyagasi V). Justice Honyenuga had in February been in the news for endorsing President Akufo-Addo for re-election, and had come under a storm orRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 29 April, 2020 Sodom and Gomorrah, a slum on the eastern banks of the Korle Lagoon, on Wednesday April 15 suffered yet another demolition. Mohammed Adjei Sowah, Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Chief Executive Officer told Paul Adom-Otchere’s Good Evening Ghana the next day: “I think that the dredging will not last long. It’s for a couple of weeks and then they can come back to normal”. He explained the strategy: “… We wanted to take advantage of the lockdown period to change the way people behave in the city and also the clear the city of the filth thatRead More →