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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 13 March, 2020 The University of Ghana, Legon, has a proud history, but there is a widespread and persistent basic misunderstanding of its name. Legon, is a Ga village – it belongs to the people of La, Accra – where Lɛɛ, “a small kind of antelope” according to an old Ga dictionary, roamed its hills with its litter ahead of it. On account of this common sight, the indigenes called the environs between Okponglo and Achimota, Lɛɛgon, meaning antelope hill. The University of Ghana registry, Great Hall and Vice Chancellor’s residence are located on top of the hill calledRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 9 March, 2020 The 360-degree feedback system is fraught with serious problems, but many organizations still use it. Let us therefore present a review of the literature so that HR practitioners may be accordingly guided. Monalisa Mohapatra (2015) reviewed the scholarly work of 30 different authors about the 360-degree feedback spanning a period of 19 years, namely 1996 to 2015, and concluded that “Until and unless the process and the purpose of the implementation is clear to the people within the organization it will never be a success”. The literature shows clearly that where soft skills are being measuredRead More →

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By Isaac Ato Mensah Accra – 6 March, 2020 The Baba Yara Sports Stadium Friday saw a mixture of Ghana and ghana – nostalgia and some sub-par performances. Let us share our observations. National pledge – the president placed his right hand on his belly instead of his heart/left breast. A cameraman, was seen running in front of the president’s moving SUV, and later other cameramen ran through the president’s convoy while security personnel looked on. The resplendent police mounted squadron again escorted the president because we run a civilian administration and the police are designated for civilian duties. But then the parade inspection wasRead More →

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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 Isaac Ato MensahAccra – 10 February, 2020 A concerned friend, Engineer O, asked me over the weekend, “So can Nana Addo not see what is going on, and especially about these ‘missing excavators’ can’t he sack about 50 District Chief Executives?”. People are frantically seeking to understand what is going on within this administration. Let us offer our perspective. During his inauguration speech at the Independence Square on 7 January 2017, President Akufo-Addo said: “For myself, I am in the unique position of being able to draw on the wisdom and experience of three former Presidents of the Republic, their [Excellences] Jerry John Rawlings,Read 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 →