THE THOUGHTS ROOM

Member of Parliament for Aburi-Nsawam, Mr  Osei Bonsu Amoah has welcomed the move by government to partner any private investment company to see to the development of the Aburi Botanical Gardens. He has also, however, thrown a word of caution to government to be circumspect in its handling of the matter. He says, any plans to privatize the Aburi Botanical Gardens should be done in a transparent, fair and open manner. The Insight newspaper in its Friday, September 28 edition carried a headline story which read that the Aburi Gardens had been put up for sale. Mr OB Amoah said on e.tv Ghana’s Breakfast TV that he had not received any official information concerning the sale of the place which falls under his jurisdiction. He said, “at least I am aware unofficially that for the past years there have been discussions as to how best to run the place; whether Private Public Partnership (PPP) or wholly privatized or government should maintain it.” “Officially I ...

NACOB Boss, Mr Akrasi Sarpong has confirmed the seizure of around 1.5 tonnes of cannabis by border officers at Heathrow Airport in London. In a telephone interview off-air with sister radio station, Happy FM, Mr Akrasi Sarpong declined to comment on the issue on-air because, according to him, investigations are ongoing in the matter. It was reported yesterday that, border officers at Heathrow Airport made their biggest cannabis seizure in three years after containers arriving on a plane from Ghana were found with drugs worth £4.3million. The drugs were found in three separate freight containers filled with fresh fruits and vegetables. Confirming the incident, Mr Akrasi Sarpong told Happy FM that his guys were not at post on that particular day that the consignment was flown to the UK. He, however, added that, they have been rounded up to assist in investigations. According to him, his refusal to speak on the matter is that people have started going undergr...

General Secretary of the People’s National Convention, Bernard Monarh has discredited running mates who have been touted as economist in the two major political parties in Ghana; blaming them for the decline in the cedi and gradual collapse of the Ghanaian economy. According to him, “those who are economists simply are doing something that is uneconomic and therefore harming this nation and denying us of resources that we could have put at the disposal of the poor in the society.” Mr Monarh expressed these sentiments when he made an appearance on e.tv Ghana’s Breakfast TV. His comments come in the wake of the selection of a running mate for the party’s flagbearer, Mahama Ayariga. Although it is already known in the media that the PNC flagbearer was likely to settle on a female running mate, Mr Mornah disclosed that at the moment there were two contenders; “one is a woman and the other a man and at the end of the day we will see whether it is the woman from Greater Acc...

Many Ghanaians are unknowingly killing themselves slowly through their diet. Many are unaware that re-using cooking oil to fry another food is deadly. The Food and Drugs Board says this practice can cause oxidation, serving as a prelude to several diseases. According to the Head of the Food Inspectorate Department at the Food and Drugs Board, Mr Ebenezer Kofi Essel, re-using cooking oil can be detrimental to one’s health. Mr Essel who made this known in an interview with e.tv Ghana news explained that “the repeated use of oil can result in both physical and chemical changes in the composition of the oil. You may have increased viscosity of the oil, the oil becomes thicker and you also have darkening of the oil.” He said, “It may even affect the quality of the food and these things have very detrimental effects on one’s health.” “It can lead to the formation of materials which can block the blood vessels. It can eventually lead to cardio-vascular illness and some of the ...

The International Telecommunications Union, the global body that regulates telecommunications activities is planning to introduce new regulations that will require anyone whose information has been published on the internet to pay for the many internet users who access the information online. The new move is expected to take effect come December 2012. The proposed amendments to the International Telecommunication Regulations seek to impose charges to those whose works are accessed online. If the publisher cannot pay, then the information cannot be released to those who want to access it. Experts believe this will stifle information flow and jeopardize the objective of the International Telecommunication Regulations, developed at the 1988 World Administrative Telegraph and Telephone Conference 20 years ago. Its purpose is to facilitate “global interconnection and interoperability” of telecommunications traffic between borders. This has largely encouraged free-flow of informa...

Deputy Central Regional Minister, Aquinas Tawiah Quansah says the contractual agreement under which some 57. 2 million Ghana cedis loan was secured by brother of President Mahama was done in 2007 at the time when the NPP was in power. This revelation comes in the wake of an accusation by the NPP that the President played a vital role in securing the loan for his brother, Ibrahim Mahama in his company’s name, Engineers and Planners Limited. The loan which represents 19.1 per cent of the total debt of Merchant Bank, according to the NPP, has led to the collapse and gradual sale of the Merchant Bank to First Rand of South Africa. The issue became topical during e.tv Ghana’s Breakfast TV when NPP Member of Parliament for Asante-Mampong, Mr Francis Addai-Nimoh and the Deputy Central Regional Minister took their seats in the studio. When Mr Addai-Nimoh was asked his take on the matter, he accused the NDC government of corruption and questioned the credibility of the gov...

                                                                                      Name: Jasmine Arku                                                                                       Class: Level 300 (Top-up Evening) Over the years, several models of communication have been developed to define, describe and discuss the way and manner in which an audience receive, accept, refuse or react to a message. These models have been used in several communication fields to cause an effect in a targeted or perceived audience. Most often than not, the chan...

President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Cardinal Peter Appiah Turkson is calling on “the powers that be” to be cautious in the manner with which the creation of new constituencies is currently being handled in the country. According to him, “There are a whole lot of unfortunate incidences because three months away from the elections it’s even likely that what could otherwise have passed would now awaken. This lies within the wisdom of the leaders of the land to evaluate this.” Cardinal Appiah Turkson made these observations in an interview with e.tv Ghana’s JOT Agyeman. When asked his advice concerning the issue which is creating a lot of debate in Ghana, the Cardinal refrained from it noting that, “I’m refraining from directly answering your question that what would I advice because it can be prejudicial.” Rather, he said, “Let’s expose what the problem is and entrust it to the wisdom, sagacity, prudence of the powers that be to see how they can best...

Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan is demanding an immediate end to the accusations being leveled against him with regards to the creation of 45 new constituencies in just few months to the December 7 polls. According to him, he has on no occasion received bribe from government in the execution of his duties. The EC boss has in recent times been bashed for insisting on the creation of the new constituencies irrespective of several calls for him to rescind on it. Speaking at a forum organised by the Institute for Democratic Governance (IDEG), on electoral reforms in Accra, the EC boss hit back at his critics stating that he will “frightened.” He said there had been many discussions across media platforms targeted at his person and accusations of him receiving “between five to ten million dollars” bribe from government.  He noted that, “During the Rawlings regime, they said the same thing – we [EC] were in bed with government. During ...

A mother of two is crying for justice from a London-based court to give custody of her children back to her. The mother, a Liberian now resident in Ghana walked into the offices of e.tv Ghana to narrate the ordeal she has had to go through in the last three years whilst in the UK in an attempt to rescue her children, 8 and 6 from the hands of foster parents. Agnes Malano, who looked very emotionally unstable, explained that whilst in the UK her son, who was then five years old, sustained an injury from hot water in the kitchen. She said, he was quickly rushed to the Chelsea and Westminster hospital by his father (also a Liberian) and upon arrival the hospital authorities called the social service and police to arrest the father for deliberately causing harm to the boy. She said, her husband was further charged and sentenced to 11 months imprisonment and they were told by the social service department that “we wouldn’t be allowed to see our children again until they ...

President John Dramani Mahama has given the assurance to work within the next three weeks with Non-Governmental Organisations within the water sector to find a lasting solution to end the problems facing the sector. Outlining his policy plans for the next three months, the President noted that the implementation of many crucial programs had stalled and “I am trying to reprioritize the execution of critical projects.” “Almost every ministry runs some kind of social safety net program. We aim to consolidate these. By enhancing coordination, we hope to more substantially improve people’s lives,” he said. President Mahama admitted the challenges being faced in the production and supply of potable water in the country noting that, “Water supply production and distribution remains a challenge, and citizens are already paying a lot for potable water. Poor rural residents do not have proper access to these water sources. NGOs are helping us to address these problems. Within t...