THE THOUGHTS ROOM

Electoral Commission Chairman, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan Chairman of the Electoral Commission, Dr Kwadwo Afari-Gyan has told the Supreme Court that presiding officers were given the discretion to admit unstamped ballots as part of valid votes cast during the 2012 general elections. He told the court, Wednesday that, “the presiding officer and those who are at the polling station may decide upon doing certain investigations that ballot (unstamped ballots) may be acceptable.” Dr Afari-Gyan made this admission when lead counsel for the petitioners, Mr Philip Addison pointed out to the second respondent that there were some irregularities on the pink sheets as presiding officers had appended their signatures to the pink sheets before voting started, whereas some presiding officers failed to sign the pink sheets even after the results had been declared at the polling station. Dr Afari-Gyan explained to the court that although he did not know of such occurrences, irregularities were bou...

Nana Akomea, NPP Communications Director Communications Director of the New Patriotic Party, Nana Akomea has said the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party followed due process before reaching the decision to suspend one of its members, Dr Charles Yves Wereko-Brobby. According to him, Dr Wereko-Brobby’s decision to reject the letter containing his suspension notice does not invalidate the action taken by the NEC. Dr Charles Wereko-Brobby, in an interview with Joy FM, an Accra based radio station on Monday said he rejected a letter purported to have contained his suspension which had been sent to his house on behalf of the party. He explained he refused to accept the letter because it had “illegal” contents. The letter addressed to Dr. Wereko-Brobby, dated May 31, 2013 and signed by Deputy General Secretary of the NPP, Abdulai Fuhlanba said Dr Wereko-Brobby had breached Article 3D (duties of a member) I, II, III and IV of the party’s constitution. However, ...

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is urging governments to ban all forms of tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship as part of the full implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). In its key message to commemorate the World No Tobacco Day 2013, the WHO stated that banning tobacco advertising and sponsorship was one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce tobacco use. Observing the day on the theme “Ban tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship”, the WHO is also urging governments to be mindful of tactics used by the tobacco industry to evade those laws. According to the WHO, tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death globally and is currently responsible for killing one in 10 adults worldwide. It is estimated that over 6 million people die yearly from tobacco use , while another 600,000 people die each year from exposure to second-hand smoke and over 90% of these tobacco related deaths occur in developing countrie...

Dr Vladmir Antwi-Danso A senior research fellow of the Legon Center for International Affairs and Diplomacy (LECIAD) of the University of Ghana, Dr. Vladimir Antwi-Danso, has reiterated the need for Africa to craft her own democracy and not necessarily follow the European model. According to him, democracy is a contractual type of system where the ruler and the ruled have a relationship that helps to foster transparency and good governance. Dr Antwi-Danso made the observation at the first of three roundtable discussions organised by the Institute for Democratic Governance, themed “Ghana’s Democratization Process So Far: The African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG) in Focus”. The roundtable discussion which was organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration was a commemoration of the golden jubilee of the African Union. The ACDEG enjoins AU member states to promote the universal values and principles ...

Award winners (L-R): Naa of Roots by Naa, FashionistaGh, Ghana Decides, Dream Oval and Leti Games The Ministry of Trade and Industry with support from Google has launched an “Innovation Ghana”, an initiative to get Ghanaians to appreciate the use of the internet and its impact on the Ghanaian economy. Innovation Ghana is aimed at strengthening and encouraging local products and services created by Ghanaians for Ghanaians. The launching was also used to recognize six outstanding Ghanaian innovators, “Innovation Heroes”, who have used the internet to positively contribute to the economy by developing and infusing creative ideas into products and services. Innovation Ghana was born from a study conducted by Dalberg and commissioned by Google which revealed the socio-economic impact and potential of the internet in Ghana and how small and medium enterprise (SME) owners expected that the internet would help them grow their business. One of the key findings of the study ide...

Some 2.4 billion people, representing one-third of the world’s population will remain without access to improved sanitation in 2015, according to a joint WHO/UNICEF report. The report, entitled “Progress on sanitation and drinking-water 2013 update”, warns that, at the current rate of progress, the 2015 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving the proportion of the 1990 population without sanitation will be missed by 8% or half a billion people. While UNICEF and WHO announced last year that the MDG drinking water target had been met and surpassed by 2010, the challenge to improve sanitation and reach those in need has led to a consolidated call for action to accelerate progress. WHO Director for Public Health and Environment, Dr Maria Neira noted that, “There is an urgent need to ensure all the necessary pieces are in place – political commitment, funding, and leadership – so the world can accelerate progress and reach the Millennium Development Goal sanitatio...

The Executive Secretary of the Bureau of Public Safety, Nana Yaw Akwada has described as rhetoric, the directive by Vice-President Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur to the Ministry of Interior to institute an investigation into the cause of recent fires in Accra and Kumasi, and advise government on steps to be taken to forestall future occurencies. The fire has taken away the livelihood of about 800 traders According to him, the Vice-President’s directive was oratory since the same directive had severally been given to find out the causes of fires at several markets such as the Mallam Market, Madina Market, Kumasi Central market and the recent fire at Sodom and Gomorrah. He questioned what had been done with previous reports which had been submitted to government by committees of enquiries following the incidents of fire outbreaks in various markets. He argued that none of the recommendations have been implemented as of now. The Kantamanto market, in the early hours of Sunday was ...