News Articles

The Head of the National Population Council, Dr. Leticia Appiah has charged government to prioritize population management if it wants to see remarkable growth in the nation’s economy.

According to her, although government is instituting social intervention programmes such as the one-factory, one-district programme, and the school feeding programme, attention should be shifted to controlling the numbers.

“We should be looking at the supply side of the population and not only the demand side…population growth is key to national development,” she told the host of The Lounge, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo last Friday.

Dr. Appiah pointed out that uncontrolled population growth increases government spending, affects quality of life of citizens, as well as the environment.

She said just as families in Accra with fewer children are able to support other relatives with 1o and eight children in the village, it is the same way the West are able to give financial aid to African countries because they have effectively controlled their population growth rate.

“In the 60s when we were struggling with population growth, the West were also struggling but now they give us money because they can save…Mauritius was the first African country to have a population policy in 1958. Their population was 700,000. In 2015, their population is just 1.3 million.  Slow growth rate translates to better economy,” Dr. Appiah explained.

Social Marketing Consultant and Population Evangelist, Alex Banful revealed that Ghana has a population management strategy but is not being implemented.

“There is a population management strategy but if you take a look at the 40-year plan developed by the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), it talks about what will be driving the plan but nowhere is population mentioned. We’ve already lost the battle before we start,” he said.

The Solution

Dr. Appiah advocated for family planning to be put on the same pedestal as immunization by making it easily accessible, affordable and available.

“My village has immunization centers and the women know when the public health nurses will come for immunization and that is how accessible I would want family planning to be – mobile family planning clinics with a schedule,” she recommended.

She again charged the media to help the cause by “talking about the advantages and the beauty of manageable family size. We have to make it enticing and appealing to the population.”

Mr. Manful on his part advised that religious leaders should also be roped in to help because they are very influential.

“In every district, there are more churches than schools.  People get up every Sunday, go and sit in front of the clergy and say talk to me so they are an important constituency whom we need to rope in,” he said.

Source: Starrfmonline.com

Ghana’s reading culture is said to be improving gradually, but industry players have been challenged to employ creative means of encouraging the public to purchase more books and read.

In a conversation with the host of The Lounge, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, Ghanaian author, Rodney Nkrumah-Boateng suggested that one of the ways through which the country could experience an upsurge in its reading culture is by “recalibrating how we push the product [books] out there onto the market.”

He indicated that following the launch of his fourth book, ‘Faceoff with the International MP’, he together with his team decided to do direct deliveries, both personally and through distributors to interested readers.

This practice, he said, has resulted in an impressive request from Ghanaian readers albeit the little cost attached to it.

“If you create a system where it is easier for people to access books rather than keep them on the shelf and then just forget about it expecting that people will find somewhere to park in the crazy traffic, walk and buy your book, I think then you have to understand that every consumer wants convenience and that’s why people who sell on the streets make money because you can actually shop from your car,” he explained.

He again pointed out that good books naturally attract readers. “I think that if the material available is good quality, there will be a market for it. In the 80s we had a lot of African writers…and the quality was there and you knew you could get a good book. You actually read because you know you will enjoy it. If there is good quality material, it will draw people.”

Attractive Libraries

Another Ghanaian author, Kofi Akpabli advocated for reading activations and attractive libraries.
“When you have a book that is published and the book is sent to the bookshop and it sits on the shelf without any activation, without any event on that book; it won’t attract people to buy and read,” he said.

“We don’t have libraries that are attractive. Have you seen any library that is so attractive that a young couple can say let’s go there this Saturday?” he asked.

Investment

On his part, renowned Ghanaian author, Nana Awere Damoah called for more investment within the sector.

“The reading culture is not really changing quickly but I think that if we want to see results, we need to invest some more and that is why we have been doing our ‘Read-athon’. We don’t believe that you’d get your results in a year, two years or three years. I think we are getting there but it’s still early days yet. We need the publishing industry also to pick up because it’s a whole continuum – it’s an ecosystem,” he explained.

The Lounge with Kwaku Sakyi-Addo airs live on Starr FM every Friday from 7pm to 8pm and on GHOne TV on Sundays from 8pm to 9pm.

Source: Starrfmonline.com

Ghana will soon launch a second satellite into space to monitor illegal mining activities and deforestation in the country.

The satellite which will be christened Ghanasat 2 will have a high resolution camera to take better and clearer photos than the Ghanasat 1 which was launched in June this year.

The Ghanasat-1 is the country’s first satellite in space and it has two on-board cameras which will undertake earth imaging of Ghana, and also broadcast music including the country’s national anthem from space to the All Nations University ground station.

In a conversation with the host of The Lounge, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo last Friday, the Director of the Space Systems and Technology Laboratory at All Nations University, Dr. Richard Damoah said the Ghanasat-1 will help the country to visually monitor its coastlines, as well as predict natural disasters.

Mrs. Sharon Sappor-Quaye, an engineer and assistant manager at the All Nations University’s Space Systems and Technology Laboratory indicated that the images being captured by the Ghanasat-1 could be sold to other countries as data to generate income for Ghana.

“We can’t always just go buying data from the West. If we go buying, then that means we will be begging all the time but if we have our own, people will now come to us,” she said.

The Ground Station Engineer at the school, Aaron Yankey said he together with his team are determined to move away from the qualitative way of looking at problems onto the quantitative way.

He said: “What satellite gives you is just data but what matters is how you interpret that data. What you do with the data the satellite gives you is what is important. A lot can be seen from the data. We are looking at having a system through which we can get the data and then develop a system where we can use this data to address issues that are close to us. Data is so expensive when you are buying it from outside.”

In a related development, policy makers and key government institutions have been charged to use the data derived from the satellite to address environmental issues affecting the country.
Dr. Damoah also appealed to researchers and institutions which have undertaken various research work key to the development of the nation to release them.

Recounting the difficulty he encountered in gathering data for his doctorate thesis, Dr. Damoah lamented saying, “In our region, data is very difficult to come by. When I was doing my Phd in Germany, I needed metrological data – temperature, wind direction, wind speed and I couldn’t get it. People are measuring these things here but access to the data is the problem. You will make a request and there is no response. People have the data and they sit on it. It’s not only in Ghana, it’s across the continent.”

“NASA have their data free on the internet. You don’t have to struggle to get it. They have provided a lot of data but we are not processing it to get information,” he added.

The Lounge with Kwaku Sakyi-Addo airs live on Starr FM every Friday from 7pm to 8pm and on GHOne TV on Sundays from 8pm to 9pm.

Source: Starrfmonline.com

The outgoing UK High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin has dismissed assertions that he spends a considerable amount of time on Twitter rather than working.

“Contrary to what some people think, I don’t actually spend nearly as much time as people think on Twitter. It’s a small part of what we do. Public diplomacy is incredibly important,” he said during a conversation with the host of The Lounge, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo Friday.

Mr. Benjamin has served in Ghana over the last three years and is set to be replaced by Iain Walker effective August 2017.

His tenure in Ghana has been deemed by many as controversial due to his outspoken nature and has on some occasions been at the receiving end of harsh criticisms from Ghanaians over certain utterances.

According to him, although some may disagree with his utterances and actions, he believes such disagreements could be made devoid of insults and attacks.

“I very much welcome disagreements and I think disagreements should be polite, I think it should address the issue. I am not a big fan of this attack dog, raining insults on people when you don’t want to address the issue,” he explained.

While some have lauded his diplomatic style, others believe it is unfitting.  But he is of the view that the world is presently in an era of mass communication and it is important for diplomats to descend from their “ivory towers” to interact with not only the elites in the nations in which they serve, but the entire populace.

“Diplomats for too long in history have been these rather remote, elite, distant people in their ivory towers who only deal with the most elite people of the societies they find themselves working in and I think there is room for conversations with millions of the ordinary citizens so I always try and make myself available and respond to questions,” he said.

He added that he is not the only British Ambassador who has this approach to public diplomacy.

The Lounge with Kwaku Sakyi-Addo airs live on Starr FM every Friday from 7pm to 8pm and on GHOne TV on Sundays from 8pm to 9pm.

Source: Starrfmonline.com

The outgoing UK High Commissioner to Ghana, Jon Benjamin has indicated that despite the few confrontations he had with some appointees of the Mahama administration, he generally had a great working relationship with the past government.

He also clarified that under no circumstance did he have a bad relationship with ex-President John Mahama.

“I didn’t have a bad relationship with the last government. In fact, I had a very good relationship with President Mahama…I enjoyed working with President Mahama and the relations with this government is also very good,” he told the host of The Lounge, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, Friday.

According to him, diplomats are expected to work cordially with whichever government is power and he has so far enjoyed working with both the Mahama and Akufo-Addo governments saying, “I’ve enjoyed working with both governments and I’ve had excellent relations with Ministers across the board.”

Mr. Benjamin explained that “Britain is a democracy, Ghana is a democracy and both countries have to work with whichever government is elected in the other country. There is never a complete agreement on anything but what is important is honesty and a good relationship so you can deal with difficult issues when they come up.”

Corruption

On the issue of corruption, the outspoken diplomat said the practice which is “deeply ingrained” in Ghana is causing immense damage to the country’s future.

“I’m a big fan of Ghana…but I don’t like corruption; I’ve made no secret of that but not because of some kind of moral crusade but it’s because corruption does immense damage to where Ghana could be and should be because it’s a diversion of resources meant for the good of the entire populace than going to enriching certain individuals,” he said.

He opined that corruption which is of great concern “has gotten worse in Ghana and that is my honest opinion.”

Mr. Benjamin however clarified that the practice is not specific to one government saying, “It’s not about one government and one period but the tendency over a long period is concerning. No body of any great stature in Ghana has gone to prison for corruption for a significant period which spans several different governments. The less people get punished, the more the temptation grows because there is a feeling of relative impunity.”

The Lounge with Kwaku Sakyi-Addo airs live on Starr FM every Friday from 7pm to 8pm and on GHOne TV on Sundays from 8pm to 9pm.

Source: Starrfmonline.com

The father of the late ace broadcaster, Komla Dumor, has revealed he will soon publish a book about his son.

Professor Ernest Dumor, a retired academic and public servant, also indicated that aside from the book he has authored, he is currently working on a post-doctoral thesis on his son.

“I’m doing a post-doctoral thesis and the post-doctoral thesis happens to be on Komla. I’ve written a book on him but it’s not yet ready for publication,” Prof. Dumor told the host of The Lounge, Kwaku-Sakyi-Addo, Friday.

The late BBC presenter died in 2014 in London after a short illness. For 10 years, Komla hosted Accra-based Joy FM’s Super Morning Show. In 2006, he proceeded to the BBC where he hosted a number of programmes including the BBC World News, Focus on Africa, Network Africa.

Until his death, Komla was the only West African news reader on the BBC World news. He was described by many as an exceptional journalist who made extraordinary impact. The BBC launched an award in his honour. The award is given to outstanding individuals living and working in Africa who combine strong journalism skills and exceptional talent in telling African stories, with the ambition and potential of becoming a star of the future.

Narrating how he dealt with the death of his son, Prof. Dumor said: “Many people tell me that I was so calm that they couldn’t really come to terms with how I was handling the situation. I had bottled everything in. I stayed very calm. It was well after the event that the explosion came but the good thing is that the funeral was helpful. Funerals do help a lot.”

The Lounge with Kwaku Sakyi-Addo airs live on Starr FM every Friday from 7pm to 8pm and on GHOne TV on Sundays from 8pm to 9pm.

Source: Starrfmonline.com

The Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Prof. Ken Attafuah has disclosed that he nearly became a victim of mob action in 2003 at Kaneshie in Accra.

Recounting his ordeal to the host of The Lounge, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo on Friday, Prof. Attafuah who is a lawyer and a criminologist said: “I personally came dangerously closed to be lynched right in front of Kaneshie Police Station in 2003. I had just returned from New York, somebody had given me a parcel to pass on to another person at the Kaneshie Market.”

“As I was passing in front of the Police Station, all I heard was ‘Onie, Ono aa” and all of a sudden, I was surrounded. They were already prepared; holding stones and sticks and a Police woman was sitting by idly watching the spectacle that was just about to happen,” he narrated.
According to him, the mob said he resembled someone who had supposedly fleeced an individual in a taxi sale scam.

“He [alleged suspect] had bought a taxi and paid a little bit and bolted and they had made a report at the Police Station and were watching and lo and behold, I passed,” he said.

The nation has been thrown into a state of shock and anger following the lynching of an army commander, Captain Maxwell Adam Mahama last Monday by some residents of Denyira-Obuasi in the Upper West Denkyira district of the Central region on suspicion of being an armed robber.

So far, 25 people have been arrested and are on remand while seven out of the 16 have been charged with murder.

Prof. Attafuah believes everyone in Ghana is a potential victim of mob action “because we have not contained this crime… If you say ‘julor’ in Accra, you will get an army of ready young men and women who will pounce on the victim.”

He further stated that the news of the lynched officer did not surprise him saying, “truthfully, I wasn’t shocked. I was hurt, I was disappointed in us as a people but I wasn’t shocked the least by the fact of his death, the manner of his killing, where he was killed or the circumstance. Nothing about this story is new. The only new thing is the personality; the person who was the victim of the most heinous crime.”

He mentioned that Ghana’s history is replete with the killing of people of all persuasions “on the flimsiest of excuses – a strong dose of suspicion, a good number of motivated offenders and absence of capable defenders.”

Ghana among the most lawless nations

The NIA Executive Secretary indicated that the perception that Ghanaians are peaceful and decent is deceptive.

“We have cultivated for ourselves a very positive, super benevolent image of Ghanaians being better than our neighbours next door. We have somehow succeeded in deceiving ourselves that we are the best people in the world. Every Ghanaian thinks of himself as decent and law abiding and yet the reality is that we are among the most lawless nations in the world,” he said.

The Lounge with Kwaku Sakyi-Addo airs live on Starr FM every Friday from 7pm to 8pm and on GHOne on Sundays from 8pm to 9pm.

Source: Starrfmonline.com

Dancehall artiste, Charles Nii Armah Mensah Jnr., known in show business as Shatta Wale, says until Ghanaian artistes begin to see their craft as a business, they will not thrive in the industry.

This, he said, is what has contributed to his continued success in the music industry.

“Some people see this whole music thing to be an occupation, some people see it as something fancy to let me just wear a chain, come on stage, jam and let people jump around. Some people see it as a business and that’s why we call it show business. Even though we are performing to people, we also think about the business,” he said.

In a conversation on The Lounge last Friday, the ‘We’re taking over’ singer told the host, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, “I believe when you really want to go far with your music, you really have to see it as a business because when you don’t see it as such, that’s when you come once and you just go back.”

According to him, Nigerian musicians are thriving because they see music as business and in order for their Ghanaian counterparts to effectively compete, they must see it as such.

Contributing to the discussion, Nigerian singer and songwriter, Tiwa Savage was of the firm believe that African musicians have the potential of excelling should they stay true to who they are.

“We really have a shot to make it work. We are not a small [continent]; we are a huge continent and I believe even without global success, I think we have enough people in Africa to make a huge career out of it as a musician,” she said.

My name is from God

Explaining how he came about the stage name ‘Shatta Wale’, he said: “It’s a name from God.”

“I’m always a serious person…I saw myself to be one guy who always wants to get whatever I wanted so I felt, why don’t I get a name that may sound or mean serious and the only name that came into my mind was Shatta and Wale was an abbreviated word I was using from school – World Alerted Lyrical Entertainer,” he added.

The Lounge with Kwaku Sakyi-Addo airs live on Starr FM every Friday from 7pm to 8pm and on GHOne on Sundays from 8pm to 9pm.

Source: Starrfmonline.com

Businesses in Ghana have been advised to invest in quality software to protect them from potential cyber-attacks.

This comes in the wake of the WannaCry ransomware attack which affected over 10,000 organizations and 200,000 individuals in over 150 countries last weekend.

A cyber-security expert and an ethical-hacker, Dr. Peter Tobin charged corporate organizations using “free and cheap software that you can’t have patches” to desist from such practice as it opens them up to possible cyber-attacks.

“It will surprise you that most corporate organizations in Ghana are not using paid and properly licensed software. They just go online and download software. Free antiviruses give you a false sense of security. You need to buy an antivirus that has the right engine to prevent any harm and also get your system regularly and properly updated,” he told the host of The Lounge, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo Friday.

An IT professional, Mrs. Audrey Mireku on her part explained that free software are usually paid for by people who then “attach a worm to it so when you download it, the worm works in the background and you are not even aware of what is happening.”

Dr. Tobbin said it is high time Ghana began enforcing its laws on internet security to protect sensitive data and prevent possible attacks.

“At the moment, we have two main laws – the Electronic Transaction Act and the Data Protection Act but like every other law we have in Ghana, it’s the enforcement that is the problem. The average Ghanaian doesn’t really know what is in the Act and even those who are supposed to enforce it are doubting, they don’t fully appreciate what they can do with the Act. If the right legislation is in place, it will serve as a threat to people. We can do better with our laws,” he said.

Personal Internet Security

Dr. Tobbin again charged the general public to develop a sense of awareness and a proper security consciousness when using the internet.

He indicated that the world is moving from a “physical realm towards a virtual realm and that move comes along with different thinking so we need to be a bit more careful with what we do when we are on the internet.”

“I find it very interesting when people use Snapchat every day; I can see Snapchats of a person’s life and I can actually tell you what they do with their whole life and to me it’s risky. You are making data available; you are giving people too much information about yourself and that is dangerous.

“You can actually map a person’s whole family by going to Facebook and that is dangerous. We have to be cautious that the internet is not the same – the physical eyes are no longer there. In the virtual world, we cannot see the way we see things physically and so we have to be very cautious when dealing in the virtual world,” he said.

Benefits

A software entrepreneur and CEO of Soft Tribe, Herman Chinery-Hesse said despite the risks associated with the virtual transformation of the world, there are enormous benefits.

“Going electronic will hold back corruption, create instant communication, we can move large volumes of data quickly. It’s a great tool for research, great number crunching – our system can run the whole government payroll under an hour. So the benefits, you cannot argue about. It’s just an arena that comes with its own dangers and we just have to learn to deal with it,” he advised.

Mrs. Mireku added that, “we [Ghana] shouldn’t slow down on transforming our systems into electronic. We shouldn’t otherwise we will be left behind. The world is moving fast and the risks are also increasing, but it’s not by choice that we have to stop and not care. We have to move because the world is moving.”

The Lounge with Kwaku Sakyi-Addo airs live on Starr FM every Friday from 7pm to 8am and on GHOne on Sundays from 8pm to 9pm.

Source: Starrfmonline.com

The president of the Ghana Mathematics Society, Professor Sitsofe Anku is advocating for a revolution in the teaching and studying of mathematics in Ghana to help advance the development of the country.

He was of the view that the failure of Ghanaians to overcome their aversion of mathematics is the cause of the many fundamental problems the country is saddled with.

“Everything is about numbers, the economy is based on numbers. Potholes develop on our roads because there is a mathematical aspect to it. Did you know Single Spine failed because of a math problem? That’s why its spine broke. When it comes to measurement, our artisans don’t measure well. That’s why everything in Ghana is shoddy,” he told the host of The Lounge, Kwaku Sakyi-Addo Friday.

There is growing concern over the high rate of failure of mathematics and science among Senior High School (SHS) students who sit for the West African Senior High School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

The Chief Examiner’s Report from the West African Examination Council (WAEC) revealed that over the last five years, SHS students have performed poorly in mathematics and science. Early this year, the Education Minister, Matthew Opoku-Prempeh pledged to ensure the restoration of student interest in mathematics and science because the two subjects are critical to the country’s development agenda.

Prof Anku attributed the fear of math and science among students to three key factors; the teachers, the curriculum and the students themselves.

“With the teachers, most of them don’t understand the mathematics they are teaching and they carry the fear they have in themselves into their students. They intimidate them in the classroom so from the very beginning they begin to hate the subject mathematics,” he explained.

“Our curriculum is too loaded and it’s too much theory so the students tune off… We don’t practice mathematics. We only wait for formulas to solve problems so it doesn’t make it enjoyable. The students are also part of the problem; they are always on WhatsApp,” he lamented.

An electrical engineer and CEO of Airtel Ghana, Lucy Quist who was also a guest on the show advised that if Ghana allows itself to embrace math, “we can understand life better. We need to break math down for people to find their place in life.”

Quist who is a strong advocate of Science, Technology and Maths Education (STEM), especially among girls stressed the important part math plays in critical thinking saying, “math helps us to think critically and analyse problems. We can’t run away from math. As a continent and a country, we can’t move forward without STEM.”
On her part, Jane Egerton-Idehen, a Nigerian engineer who works with Ericsson in Ghana blamed the fear of math to cultural perceptions.

“There is this cultural perception that math is difficult and not for girls. I decided at an early age that I wanted to study engineering but my parents said it was difficult but I did it anyway,” she recalled.

Source: Starrfmonline.com