THE THOUGHTS ROOM

The concept of the theory of separation of powers is to check the growth of absolute power in the hands of an individual or a group of individuals. History has shown that with absolute power concentrated in the hands of a few, there is a tendency of the few to use the power against the rights and liberties of individuals. The concept is therefore meant to achieve effective control of the governmental machinery by those who govern. John Locke in his book “The Second Treatise on Civil Government” stated that, “the three arms of government must not get into one hand for it may be too great a danger for the same persons to have the power of making laws and executing them at the same time. Whereby they may exempt themselves from obedience of the law they make and suit the law both in its making and execution in their own interest.” Wade and Phillips sort out the issue of separation of powers by saying that the same persons should not form part of more than one arm of government. They made i...

Ghanaian and Japanese scientists have struck a deal to conduct medical research into emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, such as the H1N1 (swine flu), Avian Influenza and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). The research collaboration is to allow the scientists to find out the causes of the infectious diseases and strategise how to prevent their spread and ensure their effective treatment. They would also provide scientific data for the promotion of regional public health and build the capacity of young researchers. This follows the launch of a research collaboration between the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR) of the University of Ghana and the Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) and the Research Institute for Tuberculosis of Tokyo, in Accra last Wednesday. The research collaboration is being funded by the Japanese Government. The President of TMDU, Prof. Takashi Ohyama, said the collaboration would not only promote research but would also ...

Story: Jasmine Arku THE first batch of prison inmates in the Nsawam and Kumasi Central prisons will sit for the West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in 2011. The inmates will write the examination in Business and General Arts, comprising English Language, Mathematics, Integrated Science, Social Studies, Geography, Economics, Business Management, Accounting and Information and Communications Technology (ICT). The Centre for National Distance Learning and Open Schooling Programme (CENDLOS), in partnership with the Ghana Prisons Service, is providing the opportunity for formal education for inmates in the country’s prisons. This was made known at a durbar with prison officers in Accra to discuss issues facing the service and how they can be tackled. The acting Director of the Prisons Service, DGP Michael Kofi Bansah, said the first batch of 12 inmates from the Nsawam Prison sat for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and passed with aggregates...

Story: Jasmine Arku My Child Your Child Foundation, an NGO that seeks for the welfare of women and children, in partnership with the Osu Wolaiste, Nii Odartey Akuma IV have launched an educational fund for the people of Osu Alata with a seed money of GHC 4000. The fund which is established at the Agriculture Development Bank (ADB) would be used to support parents to educate their children. At the launch, books and life jackets valued GHC 1000 and GHC 2000 respectively were also donated to ten nursery schools and fishermen within the Osu Alata community respectively . The purpose of the donation was to encourage the parents in the community to send their wards to school. Speaking to the Daily Graphic, the director of My Child Your Child Foundation, Mr Samuel Yeboah Ocquaye said, the Osu Alata community comprised mostly of fishermen. He said due to this, most of the children in the community were engaged in fishing or found loitering about during school hours. He said these activities...

Story: Jasmine Arku The Minister of Trade and Industry, Miss Hannah Tetteh has unlocked a door to symbolise the opening of every door that had been shut and was preventing the nation from achieving its better Ghana agenda. She did this symbolic representation at the national end of year thanksgiving service organised by Aglow International Ghana. Miss Hannah Tetteh said “there was a lot of reason to be thankful to God for the rich soil that has provided us with a variety of food crops and natural resources that help to boost the economy”. She recounted the contributions of women in the Bible that led to great success, adding that women had important roles to play in the country and thanked the Aglow International Ghana for their contributions in the form of prayer. The minister prayed for God’s blessings in the coming year, adding that the oil find would be a blessing in abundance to improve the life of every individual in the country. A Justice of the High Court, Justice Mrs Gifty ...

Story by: Jasmine Arku The former President of Namibia, President Dr Sam Nujoma has donated US$5000 to the Princess Marie Louise Hospital to aid the completion of a 3 storey block on the hospitals premises. President Nujoma made the donation on behalf of Air Namibia as part of its first anniversary since it started operations in Ghana. The block which was started in May 2009 is hoped to be completed by January 2011. After completion, the block would consist of two surgical theatres, an intensive care unit and an emergency ward. Mr Desmond Amunyela, who was part of the entourage accompanying the former president also made a benevolent donation of US$500 to the hospital. Rev. Father Campbell who received the donation on behalf of the hospital called on institutions, banks, non-governmental organisations and generous benefactors to aid with the completion and furnishing of the block, adding that US$400,000 was needed to equip the various units. He added that, so far GH¢200,000 had been...

Story by: Jasmine Arku The Minister of Information, Mr John Akologo Tia has disclosed that the Ministry of Finance had been mandated to prioritise the budget allocations of under resourced areas of the Ministry of Information. He said he was disappointed at the state of nature of the Cinema Section and the National Audio-visual Centre of the Information Services Department (ISD) which made up part of his ministry. He said he was disappointed because the two departments of the ISD which were huge potentials for revenue generation in the country had been neglected, adding that the Ministry served as the image of the government thus if it could not maintain its self, it could not carry out its mission of communicating government development policies and programmes to the people. . The Minister disclosed this when he made a familiarisation tour to the two departments of the ministry to acquaint himself with the activities of both departments. The Technical Officer at the Audio-visual Ce...

Story: Jasmine Arku SIXTY-NINE students of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) today (Friday) graduated amidst fun fair and jubilation. Among the graduates was a traditional ruler, Nana Appiagyei Danka Woso I, the Omanhene Kyeame of the Juaben Traditional area who was awarded an Executive Masters in Business Administration. The ceremony witnessed 36 students awarded Masters degrees in the Public Sector Management Programme (PSMTP),13 other students received an International Diploma and Certificates from the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport while Bachelor and Master’s Degree in other GIMPA programmes were conferred on 20 others. The PSMTP programme which is being funded by the African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) for Anglophone West African countries is a one-year programme designed to give participants the rigorous academic and mental preparation needed for management decision making. The programme is also aimed at subjecting parti...

The 2011 edition of the Spingboard Africa Road Show has been launchecd in Accra under the theme "The Turning Point". The 2011 Roadshow which is organised by Legacy and Legacy, a human capital development firm, in association with corporate Ghana would fulfill a long-held continental dream of the event promoters since for the first time the tour would visit Gambia and Nigeria after the grand finale in Ghana. The 2011 Road Show would be the 5th in the series since its inception in 2007.The event is scheduled to take place from January 8, 2011 to February 5, 2011 in Ghana, February 12, 2011 and February 17, 2011 in Banjul, Gambia and Lagos, Nigeria respectively. The continental outlook of the 2011 Road Show would be captured in the new slogan "One message! One Continent! One Amazing Experience!". The 2011 event would have 25 motivational speakers on board, with each speaker having the opportunity to share about their own moments of adversity, provocat...

The President of the National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Mr Anthony Abotsi Afriyie, has called on the President, Prof John Evans Atta-Mills to call the government officials who have involved themselves in the activities of NUGS to order. He said these government officials namely, Mr Samuel Okudjeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of Information,Dr J. S Annan, Deputy Minister of Education and Mr Mahmud Khalid, the erstwhile Upper West Regional Minister had tried to manipulate and control the student leadership body in the country. He said the involvement of these government officials in the affairs of NUGS was creating a scuffle among members of the Union. Mr Afriyie explained that the dilemma began when the Mr Okudjeto Ablakwa involved himself during the 2010/2011 SRC elections at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the involvement of Dr J. S. Annan who instructed that this year's NUGS congress be hheld at the Jehans Training College in Wa. ...

Government through the Danish Embassy has sourced US$1.2m to embark on training programmes for over 1000 master craftpersons in four trade areas from 40 districts across the country. The areas include the garment making, electronics, automative and cosmetology. This is in line with government's recognition of the responsibility of master craft persons to deliver quality training which reflects skills and competencies demonstrated by apprentices after undergoing training in various vocations. This was made known at the 7th graduation ceremony of 339 hairdressers and beauticiations of the Ghana Hairdressers and Beauticians Association from the Greater Accra Region under the theme "Emphasising the importance of Education in the hair and beauty industy". The Executive Director of the council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET), Mr Dan Baffour-Awuah, explained that the training programme would involve the recruitment of 200 craftsmen who would unde...

Story by: Jasmine Arku The Acting Director of the Ghana Institute of Languages (GIL), Mr Christopher K. Angkosaala, has called on the Government to review the condition of service of members of staff of the institute to reflect its tertiary status. He said since the institute attained its tertiary status in 1999, it was still being governed by the NLC Decree Act 324 of 1969, of which the institute had outgrown. Mr Angkosaala made the call at the 9th matriculation of the institute of 300 admitted students. He explained that, the condition of service of members of staff had affected their renumeration which did not commensurate the work they did at the tertiary level, adding that, "it is an immesurable sacrifice that qualified staff have worked for a lifetime in the institute only to live on dregs and coins at the time of retiement". Mr Angkosaala grieved that the state of affairs had resulted in high turn over of staff and the refusal of potential employees to accept appo...

The Minister of Information, Mr John Akologo Tia has disclosed that the Ministry of Finance has been mandated to prioritise the budget allocations of under resourced areas of the Ministry of Information. He said he was disappointed at the state of nature of the Cinema Section and the National Audio-Visual Centre of the Information Services Department (ISD) which made up part of his ministry. He said he was disappointed because the two departments of the ISD which were huge potentials for revenue generation in the country had been neglected, adding that the Ministry served as the image of the government thus if it could not maintain its self, it could not carry out its mission. He disclosed this when he made a familiarisation tour to the two departments of the ministry to acquaint himself with the activities of both departments. The Technical Officer at the Audio-Visual Centre, Mr Paul Quarcoo, said, the centre used to be a place where government works were projected through photo e...

The Natoional Union of Ghana Students (NUGS) has passed a vote of no confidence on the NUGS president, Anthony Abotsi Afriyie, to be removed from office. The decision was made at the emergency congress organised by NUGS to deliberate the numerous challenges facing the union. According to a statement released by the Union, the President had embarassed the union by deliberately stampeding USAG's authority after the Senate had taken the decision to put on hold the swearing in of the Co-ordinating Secretary, of which the President ignored and did the swearing in by himself. The statement further explained that, the President had breached the Article 54(b) of the constitution by swearing in members of the Judicial Board without approval from the National Secretariat NEC and the Central Committee. The Union therefore does not recognise those members who were sworn in by the President since it was not constitutional. At the congress, it was resolved that a student of ...

Story: Jasmine Arku The Government of Japan has signed a grant contract of US$ 103,481 with the Sunyani West District Assembly under the Japanese Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGHSP) scheme. The grant would be used to construct eight spring water tanks, each with hand pumps in eight communities in the Sunyani West District Assembly for the Project for Protectioin of Spring Water for Community Water Resources in the Sunyani West District. The towns which would benefit from the project are Obiri Yeboah, Beposo Away, Nkonsia, Ndwabensua, New Town, Gyasee No 1, Gyasee No2 and Canada. The Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Japan, Hisanobu Mochizuki, signed the contract on behalf of the Japanese government. He said it was estimated that over 22,600 inhabitants would benefit from the project in order to access potable water for their daily consumption since several communities in the Sunyani West District relied on ground water such as springs as their main s...

Rev L. J. K. Dzakpasu, former Synod Clerk of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana has inaugurated a GH 25,000 ICT Department block at St K. Michael School at Nii Boi town in Accra. The ICT department is quiped with 30 computers and internet facilities to train pupils and students of the school. Inaugurating the facilities, Rev Dzakpasu urged Christians to always link with Good to ensure good fortune and the best results. He said, "Except the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain they that build it, except the Lord keeps the city, the watchman watches but in vain". Rev Dzakpasu who is also the District Pastor at the Bubuashie circuit of the EP Church, Ghana, advised the teachers to use the good things that would prepar them in this electronic world. He commended the director of the school, Mr M. K Kuvor for the expansion and the modern technology supply. The administration block has an apartment for the secretary, Headmaster, Director and a staf...

Story: Jasmine Arku Donewell Life Company Limited has commissioned an Information Communication Technology (ICT) Centre valued at GH 6000 for the Teacher Mota Primary School as part of its Community Relations Programme. The centre which is made up of a Desktop Virtualisation Platform would depend on one main sever, therefore making it cost effective since electrical power would be drawn from one power source. The Managing Director of Donewell Life Company Limited, Mr Samuel Oduro recognised the role ICT played in the daily personal, social, educational and business activities in a developing nation. He said, “studies have shown quite conclusively that investment in ICT correlates quite directly with a country’s economic growth and prosperity”. Mr Oduro expressd the hope that the Cluster of Schools within the Osu Community would have the opportunity to access the centre so they could be introduced to the basics of computer literacy. He said when that was done they would be abreast with ...

Story: Jasmine Arku THE Executive Cordinator of Curious Minds, a youth media advocacy, Mr Kingsley Obeng-Kyereh, has called on the government to inculcate a step down approach of the 2011 budget in order to meet the needs of the youth. He said allocation of resources to the youth was vital for the development of the youth. He said when issues of the youth were prioritised by giving them the first call on resources, it would encourage youth development in the country. Mr Obeng-Kyereh made the call at the Quarterly Youth Colloquium organised by the Children and Youth in Broadcasting (CYIB) under the theme "Matching commitments with resources; the 2011 budget and young people". The purpose for the colloquium was to provide a platform for the youth to interact with relevant stakeholders on the 2011 budget and how the youth was to benfit from it. Mr Obeng-Kyereh therefore called on the youth to take interest in issues that affected them by asking questions ...

Story: Jasmine Arku The Ark Foundation Ghana, under its Church Anti-Violence Project has called on church leaders to help in dealing with sexual and gender based violence against women and children. The call was made at a church leaders conference and a launch of a handbook for churches on responding to sexual and gender based violence. The conference was to create a platform for pastors and church leaders to discuss issues of sexual and gender base violence within the church with particular emphasis on the role of the church in responding to the issue. The head pastor of the Dzorwulu branch of the International Central Gospel Church (ICGC), Pastor Ralph Langdon explained that, the church was a place for resolving such conflicts because in the church “all were equal children of God” and emphasised however that the church had contributed in worsening issues of sexual and gender based violence. He added that the problem was due to the misinterpretation of the scriptures by some church le...