THE THOUGHTS ROOM

Flashback: President Mills breaking the ground for the commencement of the project Government is to recover all assets and investment into STX, the Korean Company contracted to provide 200,000 affordable housing units nationwide within a period of five years. Prior to signing the contract with its Korean partners, the minority NPP had raised concerns over the deal and for that matter walked out of the debate, save PC Appiah Ofori, MP for Esikuma,-Odoben-Brakwa, when the controversial deal was laid before parliament.   Nonetheless, the Majority went on to ensure that the deal was passed and on January 27, 2011, President John Evans Atta-Mills cut the sod for the commencement of the project which included the provision of 30,000 housing units for the security agencies at a cost of 1.5billion dollars. The Tesano Police Training School was expected to be the first beneficiary institution with a total of 1,980 housing units. However, at a press conference in ...

Prophet One Touch walking out of the prison gates Prophet Nana Kofi Yirenkyi alias Jesus One Touch has invoked God’s punishments on him if he ever lied about having any sexual intercourse with his daughter. In tears, the prophet said, “God should punish me if I’m lying. How can I do this evil? What do I want from this world? I know nothing about it.” For more than two minutes, Prophet One Touch who was speaking on e.tv Ghana’s morning show, Awake , poured his heart out in tears and pronounced, “Serving God is difficult but I thank God for vindicating me.” Prophet One Touch was given a 10-year jail sentence by an Accra Circuit Court after he was found guilty of defiling his ten-year old daughter. However, after an appeal, he was set free by the court. Although there had been two medical examinations on the girl who was allegedly defiled, none of them correlated; one medical examination disproved the possibility of defilement, while the other suggested a possible s...

Embattled chief of Oblogo, near Weija, was on Easter Sunday killed by unknown assailants when he returned to claim the stool at Oblogo. According to a Daily Graphic report, a purported triumphant entry of the 47-year old chief after almost a year’s absence was overtaken by events when he, some of his supporters and workers he had engaged to renovate the palace were attacked by gun men. Nii Kwaku Bibini II is said to have hung a piece of white calico on the burnt-down palace on Sunday morning when he entered the town. Meanwhile, the police have arrested and detained six persons believed to have taken part in the attack and are currently stationed in the town to maintain law and order. A number of BB cartridges and one AK47 pellet were also retrieved from the crime scene. Nii Afotey Agbo, Greater Accra Minister has also given the police a three-week ultimatum to find the killers of the late chief. The Weija District Police Commander, Assistant Superintendent of...

A consumer protection rights activist, Mr Kofi Kapito has called for a halt in the blame game being played by politicians with regards to the erratic power supply in the country. According to him, pragmatic steps which need to be taken to ensure that players in the production, supply and distribution of electricity in the country are being ignored while trivial issues as to who has done what and who has not are rather being discussed. Mr Kapito who was speaking on e.tv Ghana’s Awake Morning show noted that the Electricity Company of Ghana’s (ECG) demand for $700 million for its operations in the wake of current poor services is not justifiable. In April 2011, Vice President John Dramani Mahama announced a $400 million approval to the Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCO) and the ECG to expand their infrastructure and rehabilitate existing ones. However, in the wake of the erratic power supply in the country, the ECG has come out again asking for an additional $700 million (...

Dr Onsy Anwar Nathan Kwame Nkrumah A 55-year old man claiming to be the first born son of Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, has surfaced. According to an online news website, citifmonline.com, Dr Onsy Anwar Nathan Kwame Nkrumah claims he was born on March 17, 1957; 10 days after Ghana attained independence. According to Dr Onsy Nkrumah, he was born to an Egyptian mother by name Isis Nashid who was then dating Dr Kwame Nkrumah before he got married to Fathia. He said he has been in and out of Ghana for the past 30 years and has now “decided to settle here.” According to citifmonline.com, Dr Onsy Nkrumah was “unveiled” at a ceremony in Accra where several members of the family had come from Dr Kwame Nkrumah’s hometown to praise him for renovatinf and refurbishing the family house which had been in a deplorable state for years. However, the online news website reported that all known children of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, Gamel, Samia, Sekuo and...

An estimated 1.5 million illegal weapons are said to be in the hands of unknown people in the country.  The number was derived from the number of licensed guns which have been registered with the Ghana Police Service as at December 2011.  According to the Executive Secretary of the Ghana National Commission on Small Arms and Light Weapons (GNCSALW), Mr Jones Borteye Applerh, an estimated 500,000 licensed weapons are owned by individuals in the country.  Mr Applerh who was speaking on e.tv Ghana’s Awake Morning Show said the illicit ones were difficult to know.  According to him, “out of every one legal weapon found out there, there are five more out there we don’t know of.”  As the country prepares for the upcoming 2012 general elections, the incidence of armed violence is likely to undermine Ghana’s democratic credentials and development efforts.  Already, some violent incidences have been reported in some areas where the biome...

Presidential candidate for the Independent People’s Party (IPP), Mr Kofi Akpaloo, says Ghanaians will vote for him to win the 2012 elections because of his looks.   According to him, he has the charisma as did ex-President Jerry John Rawlings when he won the 1992 general elections.  “People will vote for me because of my looks. Rawlings was voted for because of his looks. I have what it takes to make people happy and comfortable.”  Speaking on e.tv Ghana’s Awake Morning show, the 41-year old Chartered Accountant reiterated that he is going to win the elections hands down without any fear or intimidation from the leading two political parties; NPP and NDC.  According to him, his party has been receiving massive support from individuals prior to the issuance of a certificate by the Electoral Commission on March 30, 2012.  “I believe if elections should be held today ahead of the December polls, I will be the third political force in the coun...