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Jobs, justice and equity in Africa

Nana Esi Monney- Editor — Fri, 11 May 2012 17:05:15 +0000

Africa is rising and African economies are growing faster than those of almost any other region in the world. Private sector investment is impressive, democracy is growing deeper roots and human development has improved. However, the current pattern of trickle-down growth is not benefiting enough people. Indeed, benefits measured by poverty reduction, maternal mortality and childhood survival fall far short of what Africans have a right to expect. These deep and enduring inequalities in evidence across the continent are economically inefficient and potentially politically destabilizing.
The 2012 Africa Progress Report, which will be launched on May 11 during the World Economic Forum on Africa, in Addis Ababa, looks at the issues concerning jobs, justice and equity that are required to ensure that Africa’s impressive economic growth is translated into shared growth for all Africans. The report highlights Africa’s “youth surge” as one of the key five global trends that are shaping the continent’s future, including food insecurity, the rise of emerging powers, the exponential uptake of technology, as well as the emergence of social movements and the spread of public attitudes contesting what is viewed as unacceptable levels of inequality.
The future is never entirely predictable – but there are three areas, covered in detail in the report, in which the Africa Progress Panel believes that policy failure today will have highly predictable, and damaging, consequences for the future:
Youth Unemployment
The first is youth unemployment. Africa’s youth population will rise from 133 million at the start of the century to 246 million by 2020 – requiring another 74 million jobs over the next decade simply to prevent youth unemployment from rising. Thirty million children are out of school and a failure to tackle the twin crisis in access to school and learning in school limits the right to education, undermines economic growth and wastes human potential.
Africa must, therefore, reap its demographic dividend to harness youth potential and creativity. The report calls for a greater focus on education and skills, and on investment beyond natural resources to sectors such as manufacturing and services that have greater potential to create jobs.
Agriculture and food security
The second area that requires urgent policy attention is agriculture and food security. A key focus must be smallholder farmers, many of whom are women, where there is great potential for dramatically increasing productivity and employment. The report identifies “land grabs” by foreign investors and speculators as a significant threat and urges African governments to consider stronger regulation.
Millennium Development Goals
The third area is a “final push” towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, which is urgently needed if the 2015 targets are to be met. Failure to accelerate progress towards the MDGs would diminish the credibility of any post-2015 commitments.
An overall decisive issue for Africa remains governance. Leadership that is more transparent is being demanded across the continent. But there is also a growing demand globally for more transparent support from aid partners and from the private sector. This is especially critical for natural resources where too much of Africa’s resource wealth remains in the hands of foreign investors and powerful elites. Effectively utilized, however, revenues from natural resources could close some of the glaring inequalities and justice gaps identified in the report.
Africa is a region of immense potential, much of it unfulfilled. With greater focus on jobs, justice and equity, there is now an opportunity to unlock that potential and to set course for shaping Africa’s transformation and a future of shared prosperity, more equal opportunity and greater political stability.
By Caroline Kende-Robb
Kende-Robb is the Executive Director of the Africa Progress Panel (APP), a group of distinguished individuals, chaired by Kofi Annan.

Emotional affairs – How does it start?

Nana Esi Monney- Editor — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:22:14 +0000

Do all affairs have to revolve around making out? Sometimes, it doesn’t take intimacy to start an affair. All it takes are emotions. And that’s when we have an Emotional Affair.
When Harry met Sally, he told her men and women can’t be friends. Physical attraction always gets in the way, so the friendship is doomed anyway.
“What if they don’t want to make out with you?” Sally demanded, when he admitted men pretty much want to sleep with every woman they meet.
“Doesn’t matter,” he shrugged. “The physical attraction thing is already out there.”
We’ve all seen the movie. We know that in the end, Harry and Sally couldn’t just be friends. But his philosophy isn’t always true. After all, there are a lot of men and women who are very close to a member of the opposite group. And there’s absolutely nothing going on between any of them.
Remember the last time you had a long leisurely lunch with a person of the opposite group? It was perfectly innocent. All you did was have a nice long chat and had a good time. Though, of course, you haven’t quite got around to telling your spouse. But obviously, you have nothing to hide, do you?
Naturally, you flirt a bit, tease each other and share the odd friendly hug and pat on the back. But it doesn’t mean anything. It just brightens your day. And here’s the crucial, get-off-the-hook bit. The both of you haven’t even kissed, much less slept together. So what harm can it possibly do?
But it can. Actually, it can do quite a lot of harm. This is just another thing that is known as an emotional affair. Having an emotional affair is the new infidelity. It seems sharing secrets, dreams and fears with another person can be just as dangerous to your marriage as the old-fashioned exchange of bodily fluids.
Women shouldn’t be surprised by the news. Men and women have markedly differing attitudes towards relationships. Despite the rise of casual lovemaking and ladies who are as generous with their bedroom favors as the boys, women tend to equate physical intimacy with love. A woman who bares her soul to a man feels intensely attached to him, even if she doesn’t actually sleep with him. Men are able to distinguish between the two more easily. Women give physical intimacy to get love while men give love to get physical intimacy.
A man will see absolutely nothing wrong in developing a relationship with a woman, as long as it doesn’t become physical. By and large, it takes the cement of physical attraction to bind a man to a woman. Without it, for a man, the relationship, however intense it seems, remains casual. As Harry observed in the movie, “No man can be friends with a woman he finds attractive. He always wants to make out with her.”
Harry could have got it a wee bit wrong there, but that’s something we can’t be entirely sure of, anyways. These days the number of men and women having extramarital affairs is on the rise, whether physical or emotional and with it, the heartache that all too often follows. And it’s easy to understand why. As women have flooded the workplace, the opportunity for friendships, platonic and otherwise, has increased.
So if you’re indulging in an affair, whether the physical kind or an emotional affair, do remember that this is one of the little things in love that can throw a big boulder between you and your spouse. Especially if it’s a secret!

Source: lovepanky.com

Why Did Judas Betray Jesus?

Nana Esi Monney- Editor — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:04:48 +0000

In two weeks’ time, the first and second important days on the Christian calendar will rear their heads to be celebrated worldwide-Good Friday and Easter Sunday.
Already, radio, TV and newspapers adverts and announcements are all over, injecting the atmosphere with importance and uniqueness of the two aforesaid holy days– whose impact gives me the urgency to discuss some aspects of them this week and the next. I therefore apologise to my readers for my failure to continue last week’s argument on Libation, which can be held immediately after the Easter.
It is common within the world’s Christendom that the whole crucifixion saga that got climaxed in the death of Christ on Good Friday was triggered off by a singular act of betrayal of one person –Judas Iscariot, an apostle of Christ. A quick recap of the essentials of the events will reveal the facts:
Midnight. The branches of the bushy brambles and the blooming olive trees that stood in the dark Gethsemane garden sadly bowed in still silence. Occasionally, they nodded disapprovingly to the pitiable prayer of the agonising Jesus. Suddenly, some trudging footsteps of soldiers, led by Judas himself, came on over. A kiss on Jesus’ cheeks by Judas. A stampede in the darkness. Jesus was arrested. And as he was being whisked away, the disciples ran helter-skelter through the bushes. Now followed some rapid cascading pietas- those mournful scenarios depicting severe slaps in Jesus’s ear, and bitter beatings and foul floggings that opened wounds and oozed blood droplets from the nailed palms and feet, all to drench Christ’s sweating dying body on the Cross! This sad episode is known to have been caused by Judas’s betrayal, an act which has earned him the contemptuous tag- the traitor.
But some pundits do not agree to that condemnatory accolade- “traitor,” which to them, is wrongly pinned on Judas. Their point is that since without Judas, it would not have been possible to have had Jesus arrested to save mankind from God’s wrath over sins, he (Judas) did no wrong in betraying Jesus. And therefore he does not merit the “traitor” insignia; or any condemnation.
To them, Judas is, at best, God’s sub-instrument of salvation; at worst, a medium through which part of the Christological prophecies (ie. prophecies about Christ) was fulfilled. “By his betrayal act” remarked a scholar recently, “Judas was proving to the world that the scriptures are true, and Christ’s prophecies that someone would betray him, were true”. In a religious symposium held some time ago in Accra, a pro-Judas Bible scholar argued: “people mistakenly condemn Judas for betraying Jesus. But if the betrayal had to be carried on by someone else who never knew the movements and whereabouts of Jesus effectively, could that have been implemented to cause the arrest of Jesus which led to our salvation?”
True, Jesus had been a slippery figure who had, on several occasions, mysteriously disappeared from the hands of the scribes and Pharisees (his sworn enemies) whenever there was an attempt to arrest him. Indeed, to arrest him in an ordinary manner was always illusory, impossible. For one thing, it was all the while difficult for the outsider to distinguish Jesus from the rest of his disciples, since all of them wore similar robes and round beard, and therefore looked alike. For another, it was hard for a stranger to locate precisely the particular secluded spot in the vast Gethsemane woodland where Jesus often retired with his disciples to pray in the night (Luke 22:39). He could only be “caught” there!
In this connection, there was, it was held, the need for an insider to be used to point to the person of Jesus, or where he is, for an effective arrest. It was here that Judas, an insider, came in handy. It is on this view the argument is built to the effect that it was not the intention of Judas to betray Jesus so to be killed. As a believer in the kingdom-is-near theory preached by Jesus (Matthew 3:20), Judas (as De Quincey argues) wanted to simply create a “compromising situation” in which Jesus would bestir himself and manifest his miraculous powers to seize political power in Israel or to secure the earthly kingdom before his(Jesus’) impending departure into heaven.
Two motives are said to be hidden behind Judas’s pressure on Jesus for a coup d’état in Israel. First, his desire to bring into reality the ‘Hossana… blessed is (Jesus) the King of Israel’ idea (John12:13) loudly proclaimed on Palm Sunday. Jesus should by all means be a practical king in Israel. Second, as argued elsewhere, Judas was to create opportunity for himself so to assume his much-desired political office of Minister of Finance of Christ’s expected earthly kingdom of Israel. After all, he had experientially held the position of treasurer of the apostles’ money for the three years (John 12:6), why couldn’t he be the Minister of Finance? A reference point citied to back the argument that Judas meant no harm to Jesus is: Judas’s return of the ‘betrayal money’ (the 30 pieces of silver) to the high priests, when he found that his political kingdom manouevres had backfired into those that were leading to the unfortunate crucifixion of Jesus.
“I have sinned, I have betrayed innocent blood” are the repentant remarks of Judas said to portray his good intentions. But all these arguments are denounced by lots of people who consider the betrayal act as an error of the greatest magnitude: a serious mortal sin committed by Judas. “The argument that without Judas, Christ could not have been arrested to be crucified for our salvation is an intellectual hoax, a big lie” remarked a University don at Legon in our recent discussions on the subject. It was argued there and then that since the Crucifixion for mankind’s salvation was a divinely ordained plan, a freak opportunity could have occurred for the arrest of Jesus even in the streets, in so far as the time for his prophesied death on the Cross had come. The conclusion was that Judas became a causative factor in the arrest and crucifixion of Christ because he was a big bundle of various vices whose intensity was heightened by the fact that:
One, he wrongly felt himself to be side-lined, enstranged or discriminated against by the almost all-Galilean apostles of Christ. His surname Iscariot means: “a man of Kerioth,” a little town in Judea, a different ethnic area. Judas was the only Judean amongst the lot, and he possibly envied the natural cultural links between the Galilean apostles.
Two, he had, as Rev. Professor James Stewart says, “a streak of covetousness in his nature . . . which made him indulge in petty pilfering,” a secret which he feared might be exposed one day to his disgrace.
And three, his dashed hopes for the worldly kingdom in which he would be a high-profile personality – a kind of deflated paranoia – so stung him as to fill him with revenge plans against his master Jesus. From all these, it can be correctly inferred that what exactly actuated the betrayal deed of Judas was outright viciousness, a hidden desire to eliminate Jesus and nothing else. By this logic, the verdict of many men has been, – Judas did err in betraying Jesus. And this error was acknowledged by Judas himself, on the basis of which he hanged himself – a fact which places him squarely in hell, and a lesson to those who indulge in greed, envy, or (nkƆnkƆnsa) betrayal gimmicks in the society.
The contempt against Judas is currently expressed in Bishop Bob Okala-like satirical song: “nea Judas yƐiyi, ƐyƐanaa. . . ?”(literally, what Judas did, was it good . . . ?) Your answer might be as good as mine!

It’s time to deliver for girls and women

Nana Esi Monney- Editor — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 12:18:31 +0000

A few weeks ago, on March 8, the world celebrated International Women’s Day, which serves as a clarion call to honour girls’ and women’s contributions to their families, communities and nations. As our global population swells to over seven (7) billion, we must heed this call by working to ensure that every girl and woman lives a long, healthy and happy life.
Here in Africa, we are doing just that. On March 27-28, policymakers, researchers and advocates from across the continent – including former Ghanaian Minister of Health (1996 to 1998), Ambassador Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah, Ghanaian Member of Parliament, Hon. Dr. Richard W. Anane and international reproductive health adviser Dr. Fred Sai – are gathering in Kampala, Uganda, for a regional consultation on maternal and reproductive health.

At this meeting, convened by Partners in Population and Development and global advocacy organisation Women Deliver, experts will discuss lessons learned, best practices and challenges for improving the health and wellbeing of girls and women.
Across Africa, far too many women die while giving life. Africa has the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with 48% of all global maternal deaths occurring in this region. A woman in Ghana has a 1 in 66 lifetime risk of dying in pregnancy or childbirth, and this risk is even higher in other African countries. Hundreds of thousands more women are injured while giving birth.
In rural areas, the outlook for women and girls is often even bleaker. Rural girls and women are less likely to receive an education, own property or be financially independent, despite the contributions they make to our societies and economies. They are also less likely to receive the health services they need, such as family planning or skilled care before, during or after birth.
A recent study found that 640 rural women die during pregnancy and childbirth per every 100,000 live births, as compared to 447 urban women. Many women in rural areas do not have the financial resources and transportation needed to travel to far-off health facilities, and if they do make it to a facility, many encounter language barriers, unaffordable fees or shuttered doors.
Many of Africa’s maternal deaths could be prevented with increased access to family planning services. Unfortunately, many women do not have this access. In Ghana, for example, 38% of rural women want, but do not have access to, family planning services and, overall, only 17% of married women report using modern contraceptives regularly.
If we provide girls, women and their partners with family planning information and services we can empower them to decide the number, timing and spacing of their children – and whether they want to become pregnant at all. Intended pregnancies are safer and healthier pregnancies.
Despite the many challenges, there is some good news. According to the World Health Organisation, an estimated one-third fewer women worldwide are dying from complications during pregnancy and childbirth now than in 1990. In sub-Saharan Africa in particular, maternal mortality has declined by 26% over the past two decades.
We have also seen greater political commitment towards reducing maternal deaths. In recent months, both First Lady Mrs. Ernestina Naadu Mills and Health Minister Alban S.K. Bagbin, have stressed the importance of prioritising women’s health.
The Campaign on Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality (CARMMA), launched in 2009 with more than 30 African countries’ support, sets clear pathways to reach measurable goals around maternal health.
The Office of the United Nations Secretary-General’s Every Woman Every Child campaign and the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health are two global initiatives that have each convened government, civil society and corporate leaders to improve the lives of women and children.
The recent decline in maternal deaths in Africa and increase in political will are welcome signs that real and lasting progress can – and will – be a reality. The Kampala consultation will provide Africa’s leaders with an unprecedented opportunity to work together to build on past successes and pave a way forward for improving the lives of girls and women in Ghana and worldwide.
The time is now to deliver for girls and women. Let’s join together to celebrate them every day by making their health and wellbeing a top global priority.

By Dr. Jotham Musinguzi

Dr. Jotham Musinguzi is the Regional Director of the Partners in Population and Development Africa Regional Office in Kampala, Uganda.

Once A Taboo, Now A Fashion

Nana Esi Monney- Editor — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 11:39:02 +0000

Gone are the days when tattoo were supposed to be the preserve of never-do-wells in society. In fact, unless it was a tribal tattoo, it was unheard of to insert coloured materials underneath one’s skin surface.
Although some people still view tattoos as a stigma, it seems to be the craze these days. In recent times, tattoos have become more of a rage. It has become a fashion statement which people feel it adds a zing to their personalities. While some see it as a personal thing which has some emotional significance, others wear tattoos in places that can be seen to make fashion statements just like clothes.
Here, some of our celebs who have marked their skins talk about the significance of their tattoos and the experience they went through to get them.
According to Van Vicker “I had my tattoo in 2007 and I have never regretted doing it. The tattoo on my shoulder has my name, my wife’s and the initials of my three kids. My tattoo means a lot to me and I don’t really care what people say about it.

Since getting a tatto involves the peircing, I was aware that tattoo at the arm is usually not painful and throughout the process I never felt any pain, in just about two hours, it was done.
On the part of Vicky Zugar, the tattoo she has on her shoulder and thighs doesn’t have any meaning; she just loves tattoos that’s why she decided to do it. She added that, “the comments I get sometimes is not encouraging but I don’t really mind because I love tattoos and it is what makes me happy’’.
Vicky revealed that she had it a year ago and no one pushed her into doing it, ‘’ I just love it and did it. However, at a point I nearly gave up because I couldn’t bear the pain but for the love I have for it, I stomached it all. The one on my arm was not that painful but that on my thighs hurt badly”, she added.
Just like Vicker, Praye Tenten has no regrets for the tattoos he has on his arm and tummy for close to 3 years. He disclosed he has no regrets because he comes from a royal family hence the tattoo he has. ‘I have a lion wearing a crown as my tattoo and I feel so proud of it’’ He said. He says he took it cool with the tattoo he has on his arm but the tommy was so painful. “ I had made up my mind to do it so no matter how painful it was because I loved it, I stood for it” Praye Tenten added.

Although Captain Planet’s two-year-old tattoo has no emotional significance, he seems to love it to bits. He believes it looks good on him. He said ‘’it looks really nice on me that is why I have it there’’.
Actress Lucky Lawson also has her name inked on her arm and her son Jason’s name at the back of her neck. She’s had the two for the past 11 years and has no regrets because people admire them and tell her they are nice and neat.

Unlike Vicky, Luckie said “the one who did it for me is a professional and had promised me it’s not that painful. In fact, I did it without feeling any pain.
Afia Schwarzenegger, presenter of Drive Time(Ayekoo) on Happy FM disclosed that she has several tattoos all over her body. “ The one on my left leg is eight years old, the ones on my waist, arm and butterfly at my back are five years old.
She said while some people like her tattoos, others don’t and they ask whether it is painful or not. Afia added that she doesn’t care about what people say about her tattoos because she loves them.”
I love all my tattoos and it didn’t really hurt getting them. I took the process very easy. I closed my eyes in the process and before I realized they were done. It just tickles but talking about pain, I didn’t experience any.
Actress, Kafui Danku describes the tattoos she has been sporting on her waist and arm for two years as some of the beautiful things on her body. “ Apart from the one I have on my arm, I have a very big one on my waist. I love rose flowers and that is what I have on my arm. I am in love with my tattoos but sometimes I receive not-so-nice comments from friends that I sometimes wear clothes to conceal them at certain programmes. It wasn’t very painful”, she said.
Source: Kofi Duah/Grapic Showbiz

Is mobile technology over-hyped?

Nana Esi Monney- Editor — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 16:51:31 +0000

At an event at the New America Foundation in DC and in a recent article in Slate, Sascha Meinrath and Jamie Zimmerman argue that mobile technology in general and mobile money in particular have been overhyped as game-changing tools for the poor.
They claim that mobile technology “creates a greater economic divide” and that Kenya’s M-PESA mobile money system is “leaving a substantial portion of the nation’s poor in even more dire straits.”
Tavneet Suri and Billy Jack and separately Kevin Donovan have already beaten me to the counterpunch with cogent rebuttals. Here’s my own two cents:
The idea that mobile technology “leaves the poor further and further behind” in Kenya has a surface plausibility but is not supported by either casual observation or rigorous evidence. Mobile phones are so pervasive here that it would be a struggle to find someone without one. Everyone from a woman selling sukuma at the market in Nakuru to the furniture makers on Ngong Road to security guards at the Nakumatt superstore has at least one phone.
This is clear in the latest hot-off-the-presses data from the very recent Kenya Afrobarometer survey. Part of my new working paper with Aaron Thegeya is based on this data.
Some headline figures:
A stunning 93% of Kenyan adults use mobile phones. This includes the 80% who own their own phones, 10% who use phones owned by others in their households, and 3% who use phones owned by people outside their households.
81% of Kenyan adults speak on the phone at least once a day. 61% send or receive a text message at least once a day.
The average Kenyan household owns 2.4 mobile phones.
Gender and urban vs. rural gaps in mobile phone use overall are negligible. Women and rural residents are, however, slightly less likely to own their own phones and more likely to use someone else’s phone.
Mobile money usage is even more prevalent than previously recognized: 73% of Kenyan adults use mobile money, and 23% use mobile money at least once a day.
It’s true that in its initial stages, mobile technology reached only the wealthy. In 1999, just 1 in 1000 Kenyans had a mobile phone, and those few were not the poor. Likewise, after the M-PESA mobile money system was launched in 2007, the first customers were better off Kenyans. But as Jack and Suri show in their own response and as I showed in work with colleagues in the December 2010 Kenyan Economic Update, mobile money use has quickly spread to the poor.
In short, the broad reach of mobile phones and mobile money usage in Kenya is not in doubt. I have more to say about the effects of mobile technology and mobile savings in particular, but I will save those thoughts for future posts.
By Gabriel Demombynes
Gabriel is Senior Economist at World Bank’s office in Nairobi
Source: blogs.worldbank.org

Is the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission dream on course?

Nana Esi Monney- Editor — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:25:22 +0000

“In this age of science and technology, and in this age of atomic revolution, neither Ghana nor Africa can afford to lag behind nations or ignore scientific developments of our time. Indeed, we start with certain definite advantages over many nations, which have preceded us in the scientific revolution.
“We in Ghana are committed to the building of an industrialised socialist society. We cannot afford to sit still and be mere passive onlookers. We must ourselves take part in the pursuit of scientific and technological research as a means of providing the basis for our socialist society for socialism without science is void.”
These were the exact words of Ghana’s first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, when he laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) in 1964.
His desire to introduce nuclear technology for the peaceful use of atomic energy for national development unfortunately has not fully materialised because of his overthrow in 1966 and subsequent death in 1972.
Forty-eight years down the lane, his dream to establish a Soviet Reactor designed solely for research, production of isotopes for medical and industrial applications has not fully materialised.
He saw in his mind’s eye that GAEC would become the leading contributor to sustainable national prosperity through the effective utilisation of nuclear, biotechnology and other related technologies.
Most importantly, it was for the development of manpower to support the introduction of nuclear power to generate electricity for the country to accelerate economic growth.
During his tenure as President of Ghana, he realized the need to use Science and Technology (S&T) for national development, mankind and for Ghanaians to be equipped with greater scientific knowledge to give richer service to Ghanaians and Africans.
S&T is said to be the bedrock or the driving force of development in any nation and Ghana was fortunate to have a President who was keenly interested in S&T issues and willing to ensure that Ghana moved along with other countries to catch up with the technological world.
Osagyefo Dr Nkrumah’s passion to ensure that Ghana joined the scientific community led to the establishment of Ghana’s Atomic Reactor Centre now known as the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC).
Established in 1964, the Centre was to enable Ghana to participate in developments in Atomic Science.
The Commission was established by an Act of Parliament, Act 204 of 1963, but ever since the Osagyefo’s overthrow, the Commission has faced many difficulties and is still facing serious challenges thus stalling these noble dreams.
Despite the series of setbacks after the overthrown of Dr Nkrumah, the Commission has remained the sole national nuclear research institution in the country serving other neigbouring countries as well.
It has over the years created three institutes and five centres which are equipped with facilities for investigations into various problems in physics, chemistry, reactor technology, radiation protection radiotherapy, nuclear medicine, radiation processing biotechnology, food and nutrition, human health, animal production and entomology.
The major facilities to carry out these projects are a 30-kilowatt research centre, a Gamma irradiator, two radiotherapy centres, secondary standard dosimetry and tissue culture laboratories. These facilities are operated and utilized for the benefit of society without posing safety and security problems.
With all these achievements, one may ask, whether the GAEC is receiving the needed attention to ensure that it does not compromise safety and security.
Speaking to the Ghana News Agency, the outgoing Director-General, Professor Edward Akaho, said the safety and security of GAEC had recently been under threat posing a source of worry to both the nation and the international community.
Some of the achievements of the Commission include excelling in the application of nuclear techniques to address problems of human health, food and agriculture, industry and environment.
Chronic diseases are re-emerging rapidly and there is the need for powerful nuclear and isotopic techniques to complement the conventional techniques for diagnosis and treatment.
Cancer is gradually becoming a great health concern in Ghana. Even though Ghana lacks a national data on non-communicable disease, it is said to be on the increase.
It is said to be the fourth largest killer in the country and would be the largest killer in most developing countries by 2020 if a holistic approach is not adopted to include all aspects of cancer control to involve prevention, detection, diagnosis, treatment and palliative cases.
Over the years, cancer patients were sent outside the country for treatment but GAEC in partnership with the International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, and Ghana’s Ministry of Health, has established two national centres of Radiotherapy and Nuclear Medicine in Korle-Bu and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospitals in Accra and Kumasi respectively. A new radiotherapy centre is also being built at Tamale General Hospital to serve the three northern regions and neighbouring countries.
These two teaching hospitals are actively engaged in the diagnosis and treatment of various kinds of cancers, saving the country foreign exchange.
Prof. Akaho noted that GAEC had also installed a SPECT camera at the Nuclear Medicine Unit of the Korle- Bu Centre for the detection of cancers of various forms and for nuclear cardiology.
“The Commission in conjunction with the Ministry of Health has explored the possibility under the Agency’s Programme of Action for Cancer Therapy (PACT) to establish partnership with World Health Organisation, the International Agency for Research on Cancer and other international agencies to develop strategies for a comprehensive programme in cancer therapy in Ghana.”
With regard to food and agriculture, rich results have been achieved and when promoted, would enhance food production, safety and security. This has been possible through the use of Tissue Culture Research.
Through the use of radiation mutation technique, scientists of the Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute (BNARI) of GAEC, in collaboration with staff of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, have developed the “Tek Bankyi”, a variety of cassava.
Adapting irradiation technology can play a vital role in the reduction of post-harvest losses and for quarantine treatment to allow export of fruits and vegetables to the United States, Europe and other international markets.
According to Prof. Akaho, though it is not economical to use the weak source designed purposely for Research and Development, they are compelled to undertake commercial irradiation, because of lack of funds to run their activities.
Currently, GEAC is negotiating with a financier and Government to establish a commercial cobalt-60 irradiator so they can satisfy their numerous exporters and manufactures of medical products such as intravenous infusion sets, cotton wool and syringes as well as fresh yam and pineapples.
BNARI’s use of tissue culture technique can produce two million planting materials and clumps of MD2 pineapple in a year for sale to farmers and multiply other crops like cassava, banana, plantain, sugar cane and sweet potato.
This tissue culture has resulted in savings in foreign exchange, which would have been spent to import clumps of MD2 pineapple.
Under Industrial Applications, GAEC continues to maximize the commercial application of radiotracer and sealed source technologies to solve problems in sectors such as the petroleum industry and mineral ore processing plants to attain increased productivity, safety and environmental impact.
In addition, nuclear technologists are engaged in the use of non-destructive testing of welds in the construction and manufacturing industries.
The Commission has established a Digital Electronic and Nuclear Instrumentation Centre where they design, repair and undertake preventive maintenance of scientific instruments and nuclear medicine equipment.
In the area of Nuclear Safety and Security, the Commission has developed adequate systems for radiological protection of patients and the control of exposure in diagnostic and interventional radiology and radiotherapy in line with international standards.
Prof. Akaho explained that the staff of the Radiation Protection Institute of the Commission had developed radiation protection infrastructures in other IAEA member states and their laboratories continued to attract scientific visitors, fellows and participants from other IAEA member states.
The Commission in 2008 established a School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences.
The new Act of Parliament, Act 588 of 2000, has given the GAEC the mandate to promote the commercialisation of Research and Development results to create a Business Development Unit to raise competitiveness and productivity of industrial enterprises within the Commission.
It has therefore prepared a Corporate Strategic Plan to ensure that whatever challenges they might encounter were properly addressed to meet the expectations of stakeholders.
To be able to achieve all these under strenuous conditions, the Commission wants to behave as the giraffe which stretches its long neck to see very far away.
As the Commission continues to upgrade and expand nuclear facilities, it is also conscious of the fact that the accumulation of knowledge based on technical information in the form of scientific analysis of engineering systems also includes tacit knowledge embodied in people.
It is for this reason that preservation and management of nuclear knowledge in Ghana has emerged as a growing challenge to the sustainability of nuclear programmes and activities in the country.
Ghana will be better placed to introduce nuclear power to solve our electricity generation and supply problems if human resource development and strengthening of basic infrastructure in nuclear science and technology are successful.
Though the Government has done well in support of the science and technology, a lot more needs to be done.
With the recent hullabaloo about who owns the land around GEAC fresh in our minds, the question of whether the big dream of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah of making Ghana’s Atomic Energy a centre of excellence is on course remains valid.
If Ghana really wants to make science and technology the bedrock of development, then, we need to give the various science and technology institutions the needed full attention and support.

Asamoah Gyan: The rollercoaster journey of a hero turned villain

Nana Esi Monney- Editor — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:17:18 +0000

Asamoah Gyan is a name synonymous with both happy and sad moments in Ghanaian football. At one point in time he was a cult hero, but today the 26-year-old is the most hated footballer for many in the west African country.
Local football fans feel that they have had enough of Gyan breaking their hearts. The striker can no longer stand the heat and has called it quits with regards to international football, at least for now. The forward took a difficult but prudent decision at a time when no one expected him to, but it has been embraced by the majority of his critics.
The Al Ain talisman said he needs time to recoup – but what for? He let Ghana, and, for that matter, Africa as a whole, down at the 2010 South Africa World Cup, which could have seen an African nation reaching the semi-finals of the global showpiece for an historic first time.
But Gyan failed, and Ghana missed that opportunity by a whisker. It was a few minutes to the end of proceedings. Uruguay’s Luis Suarez was given his marching orders for blocking a goalbound header with his hand. The only hurdle that stood between Ghana – the only African team left in that tournament – and the last-four berth was to convert from the spot kick.

The under-fire player ballooned his penalty kick into the air and that pre-empted Ghana’s exit. The four-time African champions left the tournament with heads high, but the circumstances leading to their exit left them with plenty of regrets and wondering what might have been.
Ironically, the Baby Jet, as Gyan has been nicknamed in his native country, holds the enviable record as the first Ghanaian player to score for the Black Stars at their first-ever World Cup appearance six years ago in Germany. That strike also happened to go down in history as the fastest in that edition of the tournament.
The stiker’s love for the Ghanaian No. 3 jersey has been put through the wringer ever since he joined the senior national side in their desperate hunt for a title, especially at the continental level over the past 30 years and counting.
Gyan has time and again come under Ghanaians’ scrutiny because the country lacks attackers and he has seemed to be their only option. The fans cannot accept anything but a top-notch performance from their striking hero. It may sound naive, but traditionally Ghanaians have mastered the art of hyping a player in record speed, while at the same time sticking to the theory that missing a chance that could have brought them glory comes with a huge price to pay. That is the problem which he is experiencing at the moment.
Who said that Ghanaians have forgotten the Gyan who scored against the USA at the 2010 World Cup when a goal was badly needed to better their previous World Cup record of a last-16 finish? It may be wrong to conclude that Ghanaians are unaware of the fact that it was the same marksman who led what has popularly been called “the one-goal project” at the same year’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Gyan was a superman in Angola, especially after his header against Nigeria which took them to the final against eventual-winners Egypt. The vociferous fans in the west African country have not forgotten that it was the former Rennes player who rescued them from defeat in a crucial and historic international friendly against the Three Lions of England. His positive moments with the Black Stars have been abundant.
Unfortunately, the same Gyan who can take Ghana to the top also brings them down – an oxymoron and a puzzle that has taken forever to decipher. The player himself is going through a great deal of psychological and emotional discomfort after having missed the greatest chance to put Ghana into the final at the recently-concluded Afcon, a tournament touted as theirs to lose. That was the last straw. Hearts were broken. Tempers flared. Insults rained. Curses were cast. Gyan was crucified.

Upon sober reflection and consultation with his family, the happy-go-lucky personality, on loan from Sunderland, took the decision to retire. It was a bitter pill to swallow, but it seems that Gyan would rather take an indefinite break from international duties than hold onto the gargantuan backlash that will have eaten into him emotionally and shattered his confidence completely.
Arguably, Gyan is Ghana’s most experienced and reliable striker at the moment. But he now needs to go through a healing process. He has to give way to try out different players. He has gone through a great deal and must take a back seat. He has made a decision and hopefully, if he decides to return, it will be when he is better-focused.
Gyan brought many smiles to Ghana, yet was the very man who also took them away. He will not only be forever remembered as the player who scored the Black Stars’ first goal at the World Cup, but as the one who proved himself a saviour and, at the same time, the player essentially thwarting their efforts.
Ghana need Gyan and vice versa. Very soon people will start calling for his return. But he must not rush his comeback.
The striker should take as much time as he needs to relegate the past to distant memory and launch a new beginning that can add to the four-time African champions’ trophy cabinet.

Source: Goal.com

SIM registration, the law and the arguments

Nana Esi Monney- Editor — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:33:02 +0000

For your information, on March 3, 2012 all telecoms operators in Ghana have been legally mandated by the SIM Registration Regulation, LI 2006, to deactivate all unregistered SIMs in the country, or they (the operators) would be penalized.
This means, all SIM cards in mobile phones, modems, tablets and any other device, which are not registered or not properly registered, would be deactivated and they would stop functioning instantly.
This is in line with the licensing requirement of all the telecoms operators as provided in the Electronic Communication Act, Act 775, 2008, which mandates all telecoms operators to keep the data of their subscribers. You don’t need to know the law to know about SIM registration, because it has been a topical issue in Ghana for more than a year now, since it started.
March 3, 2012 is a Saturday, which is obviously a weekend, but the thirty days grace period, which the law gave the telecoms operators to mop up all unregistered and improperly registered SIM cards, begun from February 2, when the regulation was passed, and ends on March 2, 2012, which is Friday.
Some industry watchers have asked whether the deadline falling on a Saturday does not mean anything in law; and sources at the National Communications Authority (NCA) said to the extent that telecoms operators work on Saturdays and people use their phones on Saturdays, the law can also be applied on a Saturday.
But between now and Saturday, you have at least five final opportunities to check if your SIM is registered or not. Just send a blank message to short code 400 on all networks – MTN, Vodafone, Tigo, Airtel and Expresso.
There are three possible replies you can get if you send a blank message to short code 400 – that your SIM is registered or that your registration is pending or that your SIM is not registered; registered means you are safe, but pending and unregistered means you need to go to your service provider with one of the five legally required valid ID cards – Passport, Voter ID, Drivers’ license, National Health Insurance Card or National Identification Card.
Lots of people, take the process for granted, but on February 6, 2012, the NCA released a report, which indicated that of all the ID cards submitted for verification, a large number, 5,580,875 came out as invalid.
Let’s put that in perspective – that is over one million more than the subscribers of Vodafone; and obviously more than those of Tigo, Airtel and Expresso. In fact it is about the subscribers of Tigo and Airtel put together.
But that is not all; the NCA says those who have registered so far – valid and invalid – constitute 98% of the total mobile subscriptions in the country. This means there is some two per cent which have not bothered to even register their SIMs.
This is where the argument begins – the telecoms operators said as far as they are concerned, all of those IDs submitted for registration were valid, so the millions of “invalid” registrations is largely due to the ‘poorly implemented manual verification process.’
The telecoms operators rightly noted that they are not ID issuing agencies, so they could not have validated the IDs people presented for their registration; and that is why they have had difficulties rectifying a lot of those registrations returned to them by the NCA as invalid, because the persons involved came back with the same IDs they presented for the original registration.
They also argue that the manner the manual verification was done, left room for lots of human error. They said the process was nothing more than people manually cross-checking ID cards against volumes of largely hand-written or printed booklets, and that is suspect, because those who did the checks themselves had not been examined to know if their eye sights were fit to undertake such a strenuous exercise.
The telecoms operators have always said that the country’s ID system itself, like almost all other national records, is not in good shape so it was going to be difficult to do any meaningful and reliable validation of people’s IDs.
It is important to note at this point that a particular telecoms operator supported the whole SIM registration idea right from the start, even while the others raised objections and sought for the flaws in the national ID system to be fixed first. Now that telecoms operator has joined the others raising the same issues.
The NCA, admitted there could have been some errors during the verification process so long as it was implemented by humans; but the NCA also insists the mistakes from that could only be very few because an overwhelming part of the mess had already been caused by the shoddy work done by the agents hired by the telecoms operators to do the SIM registration.
The NCA argued that the telecoms operators hired mostly illiterate and semi-literate agents to do the SIM registration on commission basis – i.e. the telecoms operators paid agents according to how many subscribers they registered per day.
It said because those agents wanted to be paid more money, they cut corners and registered several SIMs wrongly, and the operators did not monitor the agents properly, and that is why there are millions of invalid registrations as shown by the verification process.
Besides, the NCA said it is not true that the verification process was largely manual, because a large chunk of the data used by the respective ID issuing agencies is computerised.
So what are subscribers also saying; very few subscribers can tell exactly how the verification was done, but they are talking about their experiences at the registration point and how that has affected the current status of their SIMs.
Some subscribers say some agents registered their SIMs without taking subscribers’ ID details – others say they presented valid IDs for registration but later checks indicated their SIMs are registered in the names of other persons they do not know – Indeed some reported that some agents gave them an option to either buy an already registered card or one that they would have to queue to register; and some subscribers obviously opted for the already registered SIMs to save time.
These were agents supposedly trained by the operators and regularly monitored. Indeed, the operators have also admitted that they found some agents to have registered people improperly, and even illegally sometimes, and they either sacked or handed some of those agents to the police. This is partly an admission that there were hitches during the registration, but it also means the operators monitored the agents and dealt with the recalcitrant ones.
So obviously, there is blame everywhere, but whereas the NCA insists very little of the problem could be attributed to verification errors, the telecoms operators also insist very little of the problem could have come from registration.
Meanwhile, the two parties agree that quite a number of those found to be invalidly registered may either be dormant numbers sitting on the operators’ networks, or registered SIMs being held by SIM box fraudsters waiting to use them for fraud.
Moving away from that argument, it should be noted that aspects of the LI 2006 itself leave room for speculation.
The law, for instance, requires citizens to use one of five specifically stated ID cards, or any other to be specified by the NCA for registration; and it requires foreigners to use passports or any other travel document.
Out of the five; passport, NHIS card, NIA card, Drivers License and Voters ID, only one, the NIA card, is legally mandated for all citizens and persons resident in Ghana to have; the other four are by choice. Meanwhile registration for, and distribution of the NIA cards are still ongoing, and yet the law makes it mandatory for those who do not have NIA cards yet, and do not also have any of the other four, to use anyone of the five or they cannot register a SIM in their names.
Again for foreigners, the law says passport or any other travel document, and yet the NCA insists it must be either a passport or lasser passé for ECOWAS citizens, and strictly passport for other nationals outside of ECOWAS.
But under immigration rules, particularly for ECOWAS citizens, the Ghana Immigration Service accepts all ID cards issued in the name of any ECOWAS state, be it a National ID of that state, passport or lasser passé; but the NCA says to the extent it does not accept other ID cards in Ghana, there is no way it will accept other ID cards from other states apart from passport and lasser passé.
So the question is, is it for the NCA to interpret the law in such limited manner, or it is for the courts to determine whether or not all ID cards accepted by the Ghana Immigration Service as valid for travel into Ghana, that document qualifies as an ID for SIM registration? The lawyers must speak to this issue.
Again, the law requires that if a subscriber assigns a SIM registered in his/her name to another person, he/she should inform his/her operator in writing within one week, and the one to whom the SIM has been assigned should also provide the same particulars the original subscriber provided to effect a transfer of the SIM into his/her name.
The question here is what if one assigns a number to someone because that person did not have the required ID in the first place – is that not why the law allows one person to register at least five SIMs in one person’s name – does it mean if someone does not have the required ID, that person cannot use a mobile phone, and cannot even use a number belonging to a family member or a friend who has legally registered the SIM – does it means if one assigns a number to another person who does not have a valid ID, one has broken the law?
These are questions that would engage the minds of industry players going forward. But answers need to be found to these questions fast before they become another baggage in this whole process, intended to generate a reliable national demographic data, prevent crimes like SIM box fraud, and also stem the situation where people use anonymous phone numbers to threaten others.
But would the telecoms operators really deactivate people’s SIMs on March 3, 2012; and if they do or do not, how would the NCA know?

Stability Shields: The Uneven Impact of New Mining Taxes

Nana Esi Monney- Editor — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 12:03:12 +0000

Questions of equity are beginning to emerge over tax-hikes in the mining industry as companies wielding so-called stability agreements appear to be protected and less aggrieved.
At least two miners, Anglogold Ashanti and Newmont, have signed such agreements with the government that freeze taxes, royalties and other conditions over 10-15 years, and have said they do not expect to be immediately affected by the new rules.
Anglogold Ashanti Limited, which signed a stability agreement with the state in 2004, has said it will not scale-back planned investments at the Obuasi mine, its biggest operation in Ghana, despite the tax-changes — which include an increase in the corporate tax from 25 to 35 percent, a windfall-profit tax of 10 percent and changes to capital allowance rates.
The company says it expects to invest at least US$150million for a second year in the mine. Obuasi has had a difficult last few years with output shrinking and costs rising, but Anglogold believes it will remain fecund for at least the next 30 years.
“We’re committed to Ghana in the long-term so we’ll continue to invest, but we’ll continue to engage government,” said Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Anglogold’s Vice President (Ghana) in charge of corporate affairs.
When early indication of the government wanting to review the mining regime and contracts was given two years ago, Newmont’s CEO Richard O’Brien said the company had reminded the government of its stability pact, but was nonetheless “willing to “talk”.
Meanwhile, there are more than 20 large-scale companies that cannot seek solace in any stability agreement, and are subject to any changes or new rules that come into effect in the industry. Gold Fields, which operates the Tarkwa and Damang gold mines, said in the wake of the tax-hikes that planned investments worth about US$1billion at the mines could be dealt a deathblow by the new development.
But shedding light on these initial comments, made by chief executive Nick Holland in Johannesburg, the company’s head of corporate affairs in Ghana, Mrs. Pamela Djamson-Tettey, said the miner is having to reassess its plans because, unlike others, it is “directly exposed” to the hikes.

“We need to look at [Gold Fields’ position] in the context of the mining regime in Ghana. Some of the mining companies have stability agreements that protect them, but Gold Fields does not have such an agreement with the government.
Therefore, Gold Fields is exposed whenever there is new legislation or new taxes are introduced,” she said. More biting, in respect to Gold Field’s capital-injection plans, according to Mrs. Djamson-Tettey, would be the lower capital allowance rate of 20 percent for five years, from 80 and 50 percent at different periods in the past.
“That specifically impacts on project work, and it’s going to impact our plans so severely in terms of the feasibility and viability of future projects,” she stated. While its initial action is going to be unevenly felt within the industry, the government has already put together a seven-member team to renegotiate stability agreements in the industry.
“[Your] first task is to review and re-negotiate any part of a stability agreement between the Republic of Ghana and any mining company that is not in the best interest of the country,” Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor told the team at its inauguration in Accra last month.
The team, led by academic and jurist Prof. Akilagpa Sawyerr, will be assisted by a local resource team and advised by international mining experts in discharging its duties. Anglogold has said it is yet to be contacted over the review of its stability agreement, and will not react now in order not to pre-empt any future event.
“These [stability] agreements are binding in international courts, and it’s not likely that the government will succeed in changing them,” said one industry source not willing to be mentioned. According to Addo-Kufuor, Anglogold’s stability agreement was legally procured, and he said he believed there is mutual value in it for the state and his company.
But the government has often said it is not getting a fair share of miners’ profits and revenues, which have soared during the last decade as gold and other metal prices spiked to record levels.
“What we are looking for is a win-win situation in which mining companies and the people benefit equally,” Duffuor said.

Yet, Dr. Toni Aubynn, chief executive of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, has blamed the country’s inability to devise a “comprehensive vision” and framework for local participation in the industry’s value-chain for its failure to derive maximum benefits from mining.
“The best way to keep the mining industry as an integral part of the country’s economy is to put in place deliberate and sustained local-content and capability-development policies, backed by legislation and enforcement mechanisms — and not just resorting to appeals or pleas to mining exploration and production companies,” he said.
In a new study published this month on the industry in West Africa, the World Bank said both governments and companies need to do more to expand the benefits of mining to communities. It reckoned the industry would have a bigger impact on economic growth if companies purchased more equipment, supplies and services from locals.
Countries have to enact policies that encourage local procurement, while helping locals to be able to utilise the opportunities, the bank said. For their part, companies will have to give fair access to locals to opportunities and provide information to communities on their procurement needs.
The bank said, also, that regional economic blocs could promote cross-border procurement by harmonising incentives and taxes linked to activities in the industry’s supply-chain. Ghana is taking such steps, Lands, Forestry and Natural Resources Minister Mike Hammah has said, with new regulations already finalised to boost participation of locals in the industry.

Source: B&FT