THE THOUGHTS ROOM

The Forum for Education Reform (FFER) is calling on government to channel its resources to expanding infrastructure at the existing thirty-eight colleges of education in the country rather than forging ahead with its plans to establishing an additional ten. According to the Forum, government’s decision to establish another ten colleges of education is a step in the wrong direction. Speaking on Accra-based Joy FM , Retired Diplomat and Educationist, and member of the Forum, Dr K. B Asante explained that the Forum was not against government’s interventions in the educational system, but if government goes ahead to inject funds into the project, it would result in the dissipation of funds into “unnecessary areas”. Members of the forum include Sir Sam Jonah; Chairman, Jonah Mining, Prof. Stephen Adei; former Rector of GIMPA, Prof. Seth Buatsi; formerly of University of Ghana; Mr. Kenneth Quartey, a businessman; Ms. Adelaide Ahwireng, Managing Director of Fio Enterprises...

Dr Alfred Oko Vanderpuije, CEO-Accra Metropolitan Assembly An event does not cease to be an event because the media choose to ignore it.  Nor do the people and events highlighted by the media necessarily leave any marks on history.  Mrs Indira Gandhi. Thomas Carlyle has submitted that, “no great man lives in vain.  The history of the world is the biography of great men”.  There is also an Irish proverb to the extent that, “you have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was”. President John Dramani Mahama did the honourable thing by ordering the Accra Metropolitan Chief Executive to rescind his scramble to confer honour on the late President John Evans Atta Mills, and for openly acknowledging that the act was a sad mistake arising out of overzealousness.  But, the inordinate act could have been nipped in the bud.  Dr  Alfred Oko Vanderpuije may have acted in good faith to reward Prof. Mills for bringing him from obs...

Mrs Theodosia Okoh National hockey star, Mrs Theodosia Okoh has spoken vehemently against the re-naming of the hockey stadium in Accra after the late President John Evans Atta Mills. According her, the name change was not right and that it has 'annoyed' her greatly. “It is annoying me at the moment. When I was lobbying for the construction of the pitch he was then in class three. When I have gone ahead to do something which can be named after me when I pass on, now you say you want to name it after him because he has taken lead (dead). Is that how it is done?”, Mrs Okoh who spoke in the Fante language told Accra-based Peace FM, Thursday morning. The 91-year-old is a hockey star who once chaired the National Hockey Association and also designed the Ghana national flag. She was instrumental in securing the present site for the hockey stadium at a time the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) tried to take over the land for an expanded lorry station. ...

President John Dramani Mahama has called on Ghanaians to rededicate themselves to the principles that his predecessor, the late President John Evans Atta Mills stood for. He said at the wreath-laying ceremony in honour of the late president that the occasion should be used to relive the nature of the late professor who was an epitome of peace and social justice. He said although the sudden death of the late president left Ghanaians humbled and speechless, it caused us to re-evaluate the harshness, the scorn and cynicism with which he was often treated in his attempt to recapture the fellow-feeling and ethical values that had kept Ghana united for generations. Irrespective of the treatment which was meted to him, President Mahama recalled that the late President Mills stood by his vision to build a country of a united people devoid of deep-seated partisan interest, while being a father for all and developing Ghana into a country of equal opportunities without reg...

Editor of the Daily Searchlight newspaper, Mr Ken Kuranchie Editor of the Daily Searchlight newspaper, Ken Kuranchie who was released from prison Thursday morning says he would have preferred paying money to avoid his 10-day prison experience. Nonetheless, he says the experience was worthy, as it has given him the opportunity to experience the “other side of Ghana.” “If I was asked to pay to avoid experiencing this, I would have begged for money to avoid that experience,” he said in an interview on Accra-based radio station, Peace FM. Mr Kuranchie gained his freedom after being found guilty of criminal contempt by the Supreme Court hearing the ongoing election petition. His imprisonment witnessed outcries by his family and some members of the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) who accused the Prisons Service of denying them the opportunity to visit him and shuffling him in and  out of one prison to the other. Public Relations Officer of the Prisons Ser...

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, ...